Los Angeles Blade, Volume 07, Issue 50, December 15, 2023

(Photo Credit: County of Los Angeles)

Hate crimes surge raises alarms, PAGE 02

DECEMBER 15, 2023 • VOLUME 07 • ISSUE 50 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

CALIFORNIA

Hate crime surge raises alarms, adds safety concerns for minorities

LOS ANGELES - A disconcerting surge in hate crimes, as revealed by the Los Angeles County Human Relations Commission’s 2022 Report on Hate Crime, is posing a severe threat to the safety and well-being of minority communities in greater Los Angeles. Released on Nov. 29, the report dis(Photo & graphic credit: County of Los Angeles) closed alarming statistics, indicating the highest level of reported hate crimes in 21 years.

According to the report, hate crimes surged by 18% in 2022, reaching 929 reported incidents, the highest since 2001. This uptick reflects an ongoing trend, with hate crimes escalating by 143% since 2013, signaling a deeply concerning trajectory for the city.

The press conference, attended by influential figures such as Supervisor Hilda Solis, District Attorney George Gascón, Sheriff Robert Luna, LAPD Assistant Chief Blake Chow, Human Relations Commission President Ilan Davidson, and Executive Director Robin Toma, underscored the gravity of the situation.

Black residents experienced a higher rate of hate crimes, witnessing an increase from 219 to 294 incidents, marking the second-largest number of anti-Black crimes ever reported. Meanwhile, Latino residents faced a rise to 121 incidents, accompanied by the highest rate of violence among all racial/ethnic groups.

The report also highlighted a record-breaking number of anti-transgender crimes, a surge in hate crime violence, and an alarming 41% increase in religion-based crimes, with Jews being the primary target.

One of the most disturbing aspects is the continuous underreporting of hate crimes, as acknowledged by county officials. The LA vs Hate initiative has undoubtedly facilitated more robust reporting, resulting in increased numbers. However, the report emphasized that a substantial number of hate crimes likely go unreported, with nearly half of all violent hate crimes remaining undisclosed to law enforcement, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Concerns Deepen Amidst LAPD’s Historic Shortage Amidst the rising tide of hate crimes, Los Angeles is grappling with a severe shortage in its police force, the most significant shortfall since the 1990s, according to Mayor Karen Bass. In a recent announcement, Mayor Bass expressed her apprehension about the dwindling numbers in the LAPD, meeting with the newest batch of officer recruits.

“Today L.A. Mayor Karen Bass met with the newest batch of officer recruits. Afterwards, she and Chief Michael Moore talked about how to address the department’s officer shortage,” noted the announcement.

The LAPD’s officer workforce has dwindled to its lowest

point since the 1990s, adding another layer of concern to an already precarious situation. The shortage is a multi-faceted challenge, impacting both sworn officers and civilian professional staff, affecting the overall efficiency of the department.

Addressing the shortage, Mayor Bass emphasized the importance of not only recruiting new officers but also improving working conditions, enhancing facilities, and upgrading technology. These measures, she believes, are crucial for making a marked difference in the path forward for a safer Los Angeles.

Navigating the Intersection of Hate Crimes and Police Shortages The convergence of a historic surge in hate crimes and a substantial shortage in the LAPD poses a complex challenge for Los Angeles. The safety and security of minority communities hang in the balance as the city navigates the intricate dynamics of bias-motivated crimes and law enforcement capabilities.

In response to these challenges, the LA vs Hate initiative emerges as a beacon of hope. Recognizing the limitations of traditional reporting methods and the hesitancy within certain communities to engage with law enforcement, the initiative provides an alternative avenue for reporting hate crimes. The initiative’s comprehensive approach involves community engagement, education, and support services to empower individuals to stand against hate.

As Los Angeles grapples with the daunting task of rebuilding its workforce and addressing the heightened concerns over public safety, city officials, community leaders, and law enforcement agencies must collaborate closely to implement comprehensive strategies. These strategies should not only combat hate crimes but also fortify the city’s resilience against a backdrop of increasing challenges.

In this critical juncture, the urgency of addressing both hate crimes and police shortages cannot be overstated. Los Angeles must rise to the occasion, fostering a community that stands united against intolerance and equipped with the resources needed to ensure the safety and well-being of all its residents. The LA vs Hate initiative, with its focus on community-driven solutions, offers a promising path forward in these challenging times.

The statistics at a glance: Following two years of double-digit increases, reported hate crimes in Los Angeles County grew 18% from 790 to 929, the second largest number in more than 20 years. For the past 8 years, hate crimes have been trending upward and since 2013 there has been a 143% increase.

The report’s significant findings include the following: • 72% of hate crimes were of a violent nature, the second highest percentage in at least 20 years.

• Racial, sexual orientation and religious hate crimes all grew sharply. But racism was by far the most common motivation, constituting 57% of all hate crimes. Racist crimes jumped 14%, from 476 to 545.

• Although they only comprise about 9% of the coun-

02 • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

ty’s population, African Americans were again disproportionately targeted and comprised 53% of racial hate crime victims. While anti-Black crimes climbed, all other major racial and ethnic groups experienced slight increases or declined significantly.

• Anti-Latino/a crimes rose 3% and they again were the second largest group of racial victims. This was the seventh year in a row that Latino/as experienced the highest rate of violence (93%) of any racial/ethnic group.

• Anti-Asian crimes, which had soared to record highs during the pandemic, declined 25%. However, the 61 crimes reported were the second largest number in this report’s history.

• Sexual orientation crimes comprised the second largest motivation (18%) and grew 20%. 81% of these crimes targeted gay men.

• Religious crimes spiked 41% and comprised 16% of all hate crimes. Eighty-three percent of these crimes were anti-Jewish.

• There were 44 anti-transgender crimes, the largest number ever documented. Ninety-one percent of these crimes were violent, a rate much higher than racial, sexual orientation, and religious attacks.

• After skyrocketing 48% the previous year, hate crimes in which anti-immigrant slurs were used continued to climb another 12% from 84 to 94. This was the largest number ever recorded. Suspects used anti-immigrant language in 55% of anti-Latino/a crimes and in 25% of anti-Asian offenses.

• Hate crimes committed by gang members remained elevated and comprised 6% of all hate crimes. 74% of these were racially-motivated.

• After declining the previous hear, hate crimes that contained evidence of white supremacist ideology (most often the use of swastikas in vandalism) increased 66% from 97 to 140 crimes. This was the largest number in 13 years. They comprised 15% of all reported hate crime. There was evidence of white supremacist belief systems in 38% of all religious hate crimes and 9% of racial crimes.

• Similar to the previous year, the largest number of hate crimes (251) reported in 2022 took place in the Metro Service Planning Area (SPA) Region IV (which stretches from West Hollywood to Boyle Heights) followed by San Fernando Valley SPA Region II (141). This represents large increases in the number of hate crimes in both regions. However, if one compares the populations of the regions to the numbers of reported hate crimes, the Metro SPA had the highest rate followed by West SPA Region V (which includes part of West Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, Culver City, and a number of beach communities). These two regions have had the highest rates for several years in a row.

To view the complete report, including hate crime maps, graphs, and tables, please visit hrc.lacounty.gov. Some hate crime data is limited by the current searchability of the database only for the time period of 2003 to 2022.

SIMHA HADDAD

Long Beach

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CALIFORNIA

Nonprofit leader aims to be 1st out Santa Cruz County Supervisor

FELTON, Calif. - Despite its reputation as a coastal liberal bastion, Santa Cruz County has yet to see an LGBTQ leader elected to its Board of Supervisors. Recent elections have seen the out candidate running for a seat on the countywide governing body come up short.

Nonprofit executive and MONICA MARTINEZ is queer mom Monica Martinez running for the Santa is aiming to break through that Cruz County Board of Supervisors. pink political glass ceiling with (Photo Credit: Courtesy the candidate) her bid for the board’s open District 5 seat. With another local leader opting against entering the race and instead endorsing Martinez, she is aiming to win the seat outright on the 2024 primary ballot.

“I don’t want to take anything for granted,” Martinez, 41, told the Bay Area Reporter about the campaign. “Certainly, my goal is to win in March and avoid a runoff in November.”

If she does win the race for a four-year term, Martinez will be the first woman elected to the District 5 seat; she told the B.A.R. a woman was appointed to it in 1979 and served two years. She would also be the first woman to serve on the county board since 2012 and the first elected since 2008.

“I am ready to work as hard as I can all the way through the election because diverse candidates like myself, we don’t have the privilege of walking into these seats,” said Martinez. “I am ready to work hard to understand the needs of our district so I can represent it well as a supervisor.”

Last June Supervisor Bruce McPherson announced he would retire at the end of his third term rather than run for reelection next year. It opened the door for Martinez, CEO of the county’s largest health and human services nonprofit, Encompass Community Services, to seek the seat that covers the northern section of the city of Santa Cruz and Scotts Valley.

The fifth supervisorial district also includes the San Lorenzo Valley and its communities of Ben Lomond, Boulder Creek, and Felton, where Martinez resides. Most of it is unincorporated, with the county board providing services and governance.

“We haven’t had a representative who has lived in San Lorenzo Valley since 2002, even though we make up 60% of voters,” said Martinez. “Because we are unincorporated, we don’t get another elected voice.”

Two other candidates in the race, Christopher Bradford and Theresa Bond, have been focused on water issues in the district, while Tom Decker, who works for a company that builds accessory dwelling units, pulled papers last month to run. Santa Cruz County Sheriff Jim Hart ruled out also vying for the seat and endorsed Martinez in late October.

Last month, statewide LGBTQ advocacy organization Equality California endorsed Martinez along with several other out supervisor candidates on March ballots across the state, as the B.A.R. previously reported. She told the B.A.R. it is time for Santa Cruz County’s board to have LGBTQ representation.

“I think Santa Cruz does have a reputation of being very progressive. However, this has been a glass ceiling that hasn’t been broken yet,” said Martinez. “I think it is an important voice that has been missing from the county board.”

Becoming the first out supervisor from the board’s most conservative leaning district would also be significant, she not-

ed. Particularly at a time when attacks against LGBTQ rights have broken out across the Golden State, added Martinez.

“I think it would send a really strong message to our county and region if the first openly LGBTQ supervisor in Santa Cruz County came from the fifth district,” she said. “I think it would be a really significant change and signal support for the values of inclusion and acceptance in our entire county, including in this district.”

First-time candidate A first-time candidate for public office, her candidacy is already an example of how far the LGBTQ community has come in her lifetime, said Martinez. She never imagined in her childhood that she would seek to be elected one day.

“Originally being from Bakersfield, I just never thought as an out LGBTQ woman who is Latinx that I would be electable,” she said. “I have dedicated my life to public service and have been serving those in need in our community for my entire career.

Over the last decade a lot has changed in what is valued in elected representation. My lived experience could be an asset; I could really help advance policy in our community.”

Born and raised in Bakersfield at the southernmost end of California’s Central Valley, Martinez grew up in a union household. Her father is a retired Kern County fire captain, while her mother is a retired public elementary school teacher.

Looking for a more welcoming environment post high school, Martinez enrolled at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo along the state’s Central Coast. As she worked toward earning her B.A. in political science, Martinez landed a summer job after her freshman year with the YMCA of San Francisco at its Camp Jones Gulch in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

Nineteen and not wanting to return to her hometown during her break between semesters, Martinez told the B.A.R. the camp was “a beacon” for her where she met like-minded, accepting people in the other employees.

“I met the first lesbians I’d ever met there. They took me to my first Pride in San Francisco. This was in 2001,” she recalled.

“I continued to work there for another five years during the summers.”

She also noted that she hasn’t missed Hardly Strictly Bluegrass, the free annual music festival held in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, in 15 years. (It was held virtually during the first two years of the COVID pandemic.)

“I love it. I love music,” said Martinez, who had just visited the city’s LGBTQ Castro district for the first time since the start of the health crisis in 2020 when she spoke with the B.A.R. by phone in mid-November.

After Martinez earned a master’s in public administration at the University of Southern California, she worked to provide services to homeless women living on Los Angeles’ Skid Row. In 2010, the nonprofit Housing Matters of Santa Cruz County hired her as its executive director.

She co-founded the 180/180 Initiative, a community partnership aimed at helping to house homeless individuals in the county. By 2014, Martinez had taken over the leadership of Encompass Community Services.

Martinez is a co-parent with her two children’s other mom, from whom she is separated. Because the couple adopted them out of the foster care system, Martinez is keeping their identities private, though she did tell the B.A.R. they are elementary school students ages 8 and 9 who are not biological siblings.

04 • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

She and her family had to evacuate their home during the CZU Lightning Complex Fire that tore through the Santa Cruz Mountains in August 2020. They were able to return after being displaced for a month.

“We were fortunate to have a home to come home to,” said Martinez.

That experience, and navigating the COVID pandemic as a parent working from home, provided her a unique perspective that she now wants to bring to the county board. In addition to knowing the inner workings of the county government due to her nonprofit work, Martinez has also chaired the Santa Cruz County Parks and Recreation Commission and serves on the executive committee of the Santa Cruz County Health Improvement Partnership.

“Given my experience navigating public services and county funding, I feel like I have a lot to offer,” she said. “I won’t be green in the job because I have been navigating these systems professionally my whole career. I feel really ready and that this is a natural next step for my career.”

Should she be able to secure the supervisor seat in the March 5 primary, it would allow Martinez to help usher in a new executive director at her agency before she is sworn into the supervisor seat next December ahead of the board’s first meeting in January 2025.

“The real reason I want to win in March is I run a large human services organization. If I have time to transition out of the role and support the organization in hiring and training a person during that time period, it will be good for the organization and the services we deliver in our county,” said Martinez. “I’d much rather have time to do that from March to January rather than have to campaign.”

To learn more about her candidacy, visit her website at martinezforsupervisor.com.

EQCA endorses out Santa Cruz council candidate Another candidate looking to make political history in Santa Cruz County next year also picked up the support recently of EQCA. Joe Thompson is aiming to become the first nonbinary individual elected to the Santa Cruz City Council.

A former union organizer at Starbucks, Thompson came up short last year in their bid for a state Assembly seat. Thompson is now running for the District 5 council seat in Santa Cruz, as is former assistant city manager Susie O’Hara.

It includes the Pogonip open space area and the majority of the UC Santa Cruz campus, plus the city’s Upper West Side and Harvey West Park areas. (The coastal enclave is transitioning to having six district-based council seats plus an elected mayor, which began with the 2022 elections for two of the seats and a new mayor.)

Like the county’s supervisor races, the council race will be on the 2024 primary ballot. With just two candidates in the race, it is likely one of them will receive more than 50% of the vote come March 5 to win it outright and avoid a runoff race on the November ballot next year.

According to a map of LGBTQ elected officials maintained by the LGBTQ Victory Fund, there are no out members currently on the City Council in Santa Cruz. Former lesbian councilmember Donna Meyers left in 2022 after serving one four-year term, which included her becoming the city’s first lesbian mayor when she held the former ceremonial role in 2021.

MATTHEW S. BAJKO

CALIFORNIA

Hate crime arrest in Beverly Hills attack on elderly Jewish couple Beverly Hills detectives have arrested a 44-year-old Los Angeles man and charged him in a racially motivated attack and attempted robbery on an elderly Jewish couple Saturday morning in the city.

In a statement released by Beverly Hills Police Department (BHPD) spokesperson Lieutenant Reginald Evans: On Saturday, December 9, 2023, at approximately 9:03 a.m., BHPD patrol units responded to the area of North Rexford Drive and North Santa Monica Blvd regarding a reported assault with a deadly weapon.

Officers responded quickly and located an elderly victim who had sustained a laceration on his head after being struck with a belt. During the commission of the crime, the suspect made anti-Semitic statements to the victim. The victim was accompanied by his spouse during the time of the crime.

According to the BHPD, the male victim was treated by the Beverly Hills Fire Department at the scene and did not require further medical attention and was not transported to hospital.

BHPD personnel searched the immediate area as the suspect had fled the scene prior to police arrival. An in-

dividual matching the suspect description was witnessed fleeing by a BHPD Senior Forensic Specialist. Officers used the information provided to quickly find, detain, and identify the suspect.

“Our officers quickly apprehended the suspect and he is in custody,” said Beverly Hills Police Chief Mark Stainbrook.

“This despicable act of hate against a member of our community will not be tolerated.”

BHPD arrested Jarris Jay Silagi, a 44 year old male resident of Los Angeles and charged him with four felonies including Assault with a Deadly Weapon; Attempted Robbery; Hate Crime and Elder Abuse. Silagi is being held on $100,000.00 bail and is currently in-custody at the Los Angeles County Jail.

According to the Beverly Hills Police, he has an initial court date of Dec. 12, at the Los Angeles Airport Criminal Court. There is an ongoing investigation by the Beverly Hills Police Department Detective Bureau.

A man claiming to be the victim’s son posted on X, formerly Twitter, that his parents were on their way to shul — the Yiddish word for synagogue — when the attack was carried out.

Included in the post was a picture of a bloody shirt al-

(Los Angeles Blade file photo)

legedly belonging to the victim.

Anyone with information about this crime is urged to call the Beverly Hills Police Department at 310-285-2125. Anonymous reports can be made by texting TIP BHPDALERT followed by the tip information to 888777.

You can also call Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477. To access Crime Stoppers, download the “P3 Tips” Mobile APP or use the website http://www.lacrimestoppers.org.

BRODY LEVESQUE

New poll: Adam Schiff has a five-point lead in U.S. Senate race SAN FRANCISCO - A new Public Policy Institute of California poll shows that U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Burbank) has a five-point lead in the race for the U.S. Senate seat that had been held by the late Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein.

The seat is currently occupied by Newsom-appointee, Democrat Laphonza Butler, the first Black lesbian to serve in the Senate. Butler, announced in October that she would not run for a full Senate term in 2024.

California’s 2024 senate race already has a crowded field that includes Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee of Oakland, Katie Porter of Irvine and former Dodgers Major League Baseball star Steve Garvey, a Republican, also running.

The survey was conducted last month from Nov. 9 to 16 and involved 1,100 likely voters and has a 3.2% margin of error.

Rep. ADAM SCHIFF speaking at a private campaign event in Santa Barbara, California in August, 2023.

(Photo Credit: Adam Schiff for Senate/Louise Palanker Facebook)

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PPIC found that 21% of those surveyed would support Schiff in the primary race while 16% would vote for Porter.

Republican Garvey had 10% support, while Lee polled at 8%.

As with other prior California Senate surveys, PPIC found a large percentage of voters are still undecided. While still relatively slim, it is Schiff’s largest lead to date.

KTLA 5 News noted that a November Inside California Politics/Emerson College poll showed several other candidates, James P. Bradley, Lexi Reese, Eric Early, Christina Pascucci, Jonathan Reiss and Sarah Liew with support in the low single digits. That same poll found Schiff with a three-point lead over Porter, while a June survey showed Schiff and Porter in a virtual tie.

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CALIFORNIA

The Hollywood sign is officially a century old

LOS ANGELES - The iconic symbol marking Los Angeles as the entertainment capital of the world marked its 100th birthday on Friday, Dec. 8. Universally recognized across the globe, the sign began its sojourn as a literal billboard sign to advertise an upscale residential real estate development. The sign was first illuminated on Dec. 8, 1923, originally saying “Hollywoodland.”

According to the sign’s official preservation website: Hollywood, which by now represented not just a city, but also an industry, a lifestyle and, increasingly, an aspiration, was officially crowned when the “Hollywoodland” sign was erected in 1923. Built by Los Angeles Times publisher Harry Chandler as an epic $21,000 billboard for his upscale Hollywoodland real estate development, the Sign soon took on the role of giant marquee for a city that was constantly announcing its own gala premiere.

Dates and debates swirl about when the Hollywoodland Real Estate development – and the massive electric sign that advertised it – actually came into being. But a review of local newspapers from the era (i.e., The Los Angeles Times, Holly Leaves, Los Angeles Record, Los Angeles Examiner and the Hollywood Daily Citizen) clears up any confusion. For instance, a Hollywoodland ad in the Los Angeles Times (June 10, 1923) states that the real estate development launched in late March of that year and that by June, 200 men were employed, 7 miles of road had been cut and 300,000 cubic yards of dirt had been moved.

And while some sources still cite that the Sign was born in 1924, the correct date is indisputably 1923. The earliest found

mention of the Sign appeared on December 14, 1923 in a Holly Leaves article about the Mulholland Highway soon to be built, which would extend from “…from the western end of the (Griffith Park) road, under the electric sign of Hollywoodland, around Lake Hollywood and across the dam.”

Just two weeks later another Los Angeles Times article (December 30, 1923) with the headline “Hollywood Electric Sign Reached

by Car,” reported on actor Harry Neville’s epic, experimental trip to test whether a motorcar could reach the Sign on the unpaved grade, and whether the car’s brakes would work on the precipitous path down. According to the article, “A motley crowd of hillclimbers, workmen, salesmen and curiosity thrill-seekers … stood by with fear and trembling as the loose dirt began to give way but Neville stuck by the ship…” to make it safely back to the “wide smooth roads of Hollywoodland.”

There has also been debate about whether the Sign was originally erected without lights (with the thousands of bulbs added later). However, historic photos from the Bruce Torrence Hollywood Photograph collection, taken just as the Sign was being erected, show workers carrying parts of the Sign that include the original lights in frames or “troughs.” Bruce Torrence, curator of the photo collection, notes that the shape of the light boxes indicate that these sections were probably part of the letter “A” and possibly the “L.” Confusion solved: by the end of 1923, the Hollywood Sign was fully erected, a high-profile beacon – lights ablaze – for the

A survey crew laying out the upscale residential real estate development neighborhoods circa 1924 a few months after the erection of the now globally recognized billboard sign.

(Photo Credit: The Los Angeles Public Library system archives/photographs collection)

fast-growing Los Angeles metropolis.

The “billboard” was massive. Each of the original 13 letters was 30 feet wide and approximately 43 feet tall, constructed of 3×9′ metal squares rigged together by an intricate frame of scaffolding, pipes, wires and telephone poles.

All of this material had to be dragged up precipitous Mt. Lee by laborers on simple dirt paths.

Few know that a giant white dot (35 feet in diameter, with 20-watt lights on the perimeter) was constructed below the Sign to catch the eye. The Sign itself featured 4,000 20-watt bulbs, spaced 8 inches apart.

At night the Sign blinked into the Hollywood night: first “Holly” then “wood” and finally “land,” punctuated by a giant period.

The effect was truly spectacular, particularly for pre-Vegas sensibilities.

Originally intended to last just a year and a half, the Sign has endured more than eight decades – and is still going strong.

LA BLADE STAFF

City of WeHo Arts installs new public art by Rebekah Rose WEST HOLLYWOOD - The City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division has installed a new temporary public artwork, Rebekah Rose’s Peaches and Tea. It is on the ground floor of the West Hollywood Park Five-Story Parking Structure, located at 625 N. San Vicente Boulevard. This 9’-by-9’ vinyl mural installation WeHo Arts Installs New is planned to be on display Public Art by Rebekah Rose through April 2025.

(Photo courtesy WEHO TIMES) “This one is for the queens,” said Rebekah Rose in an artist statement. “The gender expansive they/she/hes who are breaking boundaries and busting binaries every day in a society that threatens to erase them.

It is a wish for the queer community to enjoy simple pleasures and experience ease everywhere they go. These three queens

have chosen each other as family and are enjoying a gay day in the park. They serve up tea and eat peaches in broad daylight, and no one bothers them as they enjoy each other’s company. They represent the joy and love that everyone under the LGBTQIA+ umbrella deserves to experience every day.”

Rebekah Rose is a queer non-binary illustrator, muralist, and trauma-informed yoga and mindfulness teacher. In addition to their work as an artist and as a teacher, they work as the Program Manager for a Los Angeles-based nonprofit organization, the Arts for Healing and Justice Network. They have a BFA in illustration from California State University Long Beach. Their artwork centers on issues related to queerness, consent, body image, mental health, and social justice. They firmly believe that the path towards collective liberation is only possible by centering the needs of those most impacted by oppressive systems and actively working on healing the subsequent trauma that gets stored in the body through movement and creative expression.

Previous artworks installed at this location include Travion Payne’s Heteronormative Death of the Golden Child; Mei Xian Qui’s Let A Thousand Flowers Bloom; Yuri Boyko’s The Persona, and Rajab Sayed’s Partition.

The City of West Hollywood’s Arts Division delivers a broad array of arts programs including Art on the Outside (temporary public art), City Poet Laureate, Drag Laureate, Drag Story Hour, Free Theatre in the Parks, Grants, Holiday Programming, Human Rights Speaker Series, Library Exhibits, National Poetry Month, One City One Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival, Summer Sounds + Winter Sounds, Urban Art (permanent public art), and WeHo Reads.

For more information about City of West Hollywood arts programming, please visit www.weho.org/arts.

For more information about this artwork, please contact Marcus Mitchell, the City of West Hollywood’s Public Art Administrator, at (323) 848-3122 or at mmitchell@weho.org.

PAULO MURILLO

California’s youngest Assistant District Attorney is only 18 VISALIA, Calif. - Peter Park can safely be categorized as a child prodigy and academic wunderkinder having entered high school at age 13, passing the rigorous California State Bar exam at 17, and just this past week becoming the youngest practicing prosecutor in California at age 18.

On Wednesday, December 6, Tulare County District Attorney, Tim Ward swore Park in. According to the biography furnished by the Office of the Tulare County District Attorney; In a legal history making moment, Tulare County District Attorney law clerk Peter Park passed the rigorous California bar exam on his first attempt making him the youngest person to ever pass the exam at age 17. According to research,

the previous record holder was 18 years old. Park received his test results on November 9 after taking the exam in July.

At the age of 13 in 2019, Park began high school at Oxford Academy in Cypress, CA. Simultaneously, Park enrolled in a four-year juris doctor program at Northwestern California University School of Law utilizing a state bar rule that allows students to apply to law school through the completion of College Level Proficiency Exams (CLEPS).

After graduating high school in 2021 by taking the California High School Proficiency Exam (CHSPE), Park focused on law school and graduated in 2023. Park became a law clerk with the Tulare County District Attorney that August.

06 • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

“It was not easy, but it was worth it. It required discipline and strategy to pass the Bar, and I made it in the end. I am extremely blessed to have discovered this path, and my hope is that more people will realize that alternative paths exist to becoming an attorney,” Park said. “I aspire to become a prosecutor because I am driven by a moral obligation to uphold liberty, equality, and justice in society. I admire how prosecutors keep our community safe and bring closure to victims.”

Park turned age 18 in late November and was sworn in yesterday in Visalia as one of California’s youngest practicing attorneys and prosecutors.

BRODY LEVESQUE

NATIONAL

U.S. Supreme Court upholds Washington’s conversion therapy ban The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday allowed Washington State to continue enforcing its ban on conversion therapy for minors, another blow to the dangerous and discredited practice of endeavoring to change a patient’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

With a 6-3 vote declining to hear a challenge brought by the anti-LGBTQ Alliance Defending Freedom, the Supreme Court allowed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit’s decision protecting the law to remain in effect.

Conservative Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas voted to take up the case, with Thomas writing a five-page dissent in which he argued “licensed counselors cannot voice anything other than the state-approved opinion on minors with gender dysphoria without facing punishment.”

“In recent years, 20 States and the District of Columbia have adopted laws prohibiting or restricting the practice of conversion therapy,” Alito wrote in a brief dissent. “It is beyond dispute that these laws restrict speech, and all restrictions on speech merit careful scrutiny.”

“This is a huge victory, albeit by the narrowest of margins given that three justices would have taken the case,” Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR), told the Blade in a statement reacting to Monday’s decision.

“It is chilling that the dissents focused on transgender youth and appeared to endorse conversion therapy to prevent them from being who they are,” he said, adding, “Now that we have been given this reprieve, we must do everything possible to educate the public about the terrible harms of conversion therapy for all LGBT youth, including those who are transgender.”

NCLR represents one of the litigants in the case, Equal Rights Washington, which was involved in defending the law -- which allows providers to discuss conversion therapy with patients younger than 18 or recommend that it be administered by a religious counselor, but prohibits licensed therapists from performing it.

Major scientific and medical groups as well as LGBTQ and other civil rights organizations support conversion therapy bans for minors, which have passed in 22 states and D.C. according to the Movement Advancement Project.

Judge Ronald M. Gould, writing for the three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit, argued in his decision on the case challenging Washington’s ban that, “States do not lose the power to regulate the safety of medical treatments performed under the authority of a state license merely because those treatments are implemented through speech rather than through scalpel.”

Gould noted that Brian Tingley, a family counselor and ad-

vocate for conversion therapy who challenged the law, was still able to communicate about conversion therapy, express his personal views on the subject to his patients, practice conversion therapy on adults, and refer minors to counselors not licensed by the state.

“For decades,” wrote Washington state Attorney General Robert W. Ferguson in a brief, “this court has held that states can regulate conduct by licensed professionals, even if the regulations incidentally impact speech.”

“Conversion therapy,” he added, “puts minors at risk of serious, long-lasting harms, including increased risks of suicide and depression.”

“The Supreme Court has allowed a lower court’s ruling on Washington state’s ‘conversion therapy’ ban to stand—a decision that should have been status-quo and not at all controversial,” Cathryn Oakley, senior director of legal policy at the Human Rights Campaign, told the Blade in a statement.

“But given the recent decisions of this Court, today’s ruling is an important victory as we fight to protect the rights and wellbeing of LGBTQ+ youth across the country,” Oakley said. “Thank you to NCLR for fighting so tirelessly everyday to safeguard these hardfought rights.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Bomb threat during drag show shuts down Maryland businesses TAKOMA PARK, Md. - Police cordoned off a popular strip in Takoma Park, Maryland on Saturday after a bomb threat shut down businesses, including a holiday performance by drag artist Tara Hoot.

MotorKat General Manager Mike Rothman told the Washington Blade that Takoma Park police notified them of a bomb threat to their business around noon.

Tara Hoot was delivering a holiday brunch performance at the MotorKat when the evacuation order came in. Rothman said they were notified “five minutes into her final performance.” Tara Hoot herself told the audience to leave for their safety.

Police proceeded to tape off the area and evacuated all businesses between Eastern and South Carroll Avenues, including TakomaBevCo, which is co-owned by MotorKat Wine Director Seth Cook.

Cook told the Blade that police brought in “bomb-sniffing dogs” to clear the area before allowing businesses to reopen around 2 p.m. “The timing is unfortunate as this is one of the busiest weekends before the holidays,” Cook said.

Rothman was also disappointed by the lost revenue due to what ultimately was a false threat, but he was firm that the Takoma Park LGBTQ community is resilient and would continue to thrive despite this setback.

“Takoma Park is a pretty proud and resilient community,” he said. “I don’t expect people to lay down and be scared by this.”

MotorKat and TakomaBevCo reopened for business around 3 p.m.

PHILIP VAN SLOOTEN TARA HOOT was performing at MotorKat in Takoma Park, Maryland on Dec. 9, 2023, when a bomb threat forced the business’ evacuation. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Neo-Nazi group sued for harassing LGBTQs by Massachusetts AG civil rights laws and unlawfully interfered with BOSTON, Mass. - This past Friday, Massapublic safety. The complaint asserts claims for chusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Camppublic nuisance, trespass, civil conspiracy and bell’s office filed suit against a neo-Nazi white violations of the Civil Rights Act and Public Acnationalist/supremacist group the Nationalist commodations Law. Social Club a.k.a. NSC-131, alleging conduct “NSC-131 has engaged in a concerted that violated state civil rights laws and unlawcampaign to target and terrorize people fully interfered with public safety. across Massachusetts and interfere with The lawsuit filed in Suffolk County Superior their rights. Our complaint is the first step Court names two NSC-131 leaders, ChristoMassachusetts Attorney General ANDREA JOY CAMPBELL speakin holding this neo-Nazi group and its leadpher Hood and Liam McNeil, noting that the ing at a press conference earlier ers accountable for their unlawful actions pair were responsible for fomenting an escathis year. (Photo Credit: Office of the against members of our community,” said AG lating series of unlawful and discriminatory Massachusetts Attorney General/Facebook) Campbell. “My office will continue to do all it incidents. can to protect our residents’ and visitors’ civil rights and public These incidents include situations where NSC-131 memsafety.” bers repeatedly attempted to disrupt and shut down events The complaint alleges that between July 2022 and January organized by LGBTQ+ community groups, and targeted hotels 2023, NSC-131 repeatedly targeted Drag Queen Story Hours, providing emergency shelter to recently arrived immigrants which are children-oriented events commonly hosted by the through the Commonwealth’s Emergency Assistance program.

LGBTQ+ community and others to promote inclusivity of The Attorney General’s Office alleges that, in connection with LGBTQ+ individuals. these incidents and others, NSC-131 members engaged in vioIn late 2021, NSC-131 announced that its members would lent, threatening, and intimidating conduct that violated state

“SHUT DOWN DRAG QUEEN STORY HOURS IN THE NEW ENGLAND AREA UNTIL ALL RELATED EVENTS CEASE.” NSC-131 subsequently targeted four events in Massachusetts, during which NSC-131 members allegedly attacked members of the public; engaged in other threatening, intimidating and coercive behavior; and unlawfully interfered with access to event spaces in public libraries.

The events targeted by NSC-131 took place in July 2022 and August 2022 in Boston, December 2022 in Fall River, and January 2023 in Taunton.

The complaint further alleges that on at least five separate occasions between October 2022 and October 2023, NSC-131 targeted hotels providing emergency shelter to recently arrived immigrants.

On social media, NSC-131 has stated that it targeted the hotels because they were providing housing to “invaders” from “Haiti,” “Central America,” and “Africa,” while espousing conspiracy theories promoting the idea that the shelters were part of a plot to implement “White replacement.”

CONTINUED AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • 07

NATIONAL

Incoming Penn. school board chair takes oath on banned books

a manner considered stereotypical of gay BUCKS, Pa. - Newly appointed Central men.” The graphic novel includes characters Bucks Board of School Directors, Karen discussing pornography, erections, masturSmith, was sworn into office Monday, howbation, penis size, and an illustration that ever, unlike other her newly sworn fellow depicts naked teenage boys.”

Board members who placed their hands on Journalist Chris Ullery reporting for the the more traditional Bible, Smith opted to Bucks County Courier-Times newspaper notuse a stack of books on LGBTQ+ themes and ed: Smith, named president of the board, race that had been banned by the previous and the other Democrats on the board have board.

Newly appointed Central Bucks Board of School Directors, KAREN long cried foul as the former GOP-majority Smith, an incumbent Democrat, who won SMITH, was sworn into office forged ahead with controversial library polre-election on Nov. 7 was sworn in as the Monday. (Photo by Diana Leygerman/Twitter) icy that critics said was a defacto book ban. new Central Bucks school board president According to the Courier-Times, the book after a vote by the board. In her remarks on top of the stack Smith was sworn in on was “Night” by Holoshe told the audience, “Thank you for your trust in me. I do not caust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winning author Elie Wietake this hand lightly. I feel it as a very heavy responsibility, and sel, which was part of a February controversy over books. you have my word, I will do my best for everyone,” Smith said.

The Philadelphia Inquirer, reported that a Central Bucks “To my supporters, I am so very thankful. To those of you who South High School librarian’s ninth grader sent him a quote have challenged me, I will do all I can to hear your voices and from Wiesel’s 1986 Nobel Prize acceptance speech. concerns.”

“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human Fox News and conservatives including the former GOP-mabeings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take jority board members labeled one of the books Smith used to sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence be sworn in to office as ‘sexually explicit.’ That book, “Flamer,” encourages the tormentor, never the tormented,” said Wiesel. written by openly gay author Mike Curato, received a LambThe librarian included the quote along with a copy of Night da Literary Award for Children’s and Young Adult Literature in a library display; however, this was shortly after the former in 2021. Curato is a Filipino-American writer and illustrator of school board passed a “neutrality” policy that barred classroom children’s books. displays advocating politics or social policy unless related to a Fox characterized ‘Flamer’ as “It tells the story of a characlesson. ter who is bullied at a Boy Scouts summer camp for “acting in

School officials at the direction of the former GOP-majority Board ordered the librarian to remove the display, though that order was rescinded the next day and the posters allowed. The incident went viral on social media generating a flood of criticism for the district, which later apologized and said it regretted the decision to remove the posters.

That neutrality policy, Policy 321, was one of four policies placed on a freeze by Smith and her colleagues when they took office on Monday.

In addition to ‘Flamer,’ the Courier-Times noted, Smith brought along three other titles she was prompted to read when they first appeared on the Woke PA list.

Donna Gephart’s “Lily and Dunkin,” a copy Smith borrowed from Holicong Middle School for Monday, follows the story of the friendship between two eighth graders, a transgender girl and a boy with bipolar disorder.

“Lily and Dunkin” was said to contain “strong sexual content”

by Woke PA and some parents who complained to the district, a claim Smith told the Courier-Times gave her pause.

“I read all the way through the book and there’s nothing.

There’s not even a kiss,” Smith said.

The only reason Smith could determine for the “sexual content” warning was the fact that one of its main characters was transgender she said to the paper.

“Just the existence of a transgender student in the book was enough for some folks who want to challenge it, and it’s a beautiful story,” Smith added.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Endocrine Society corrects mis-info about gender affirming care WASHINGTON - The Endocrine Society, the world’s oldest and largest organization dedicated to the clinical practice of endocrinology, released a statement correcting misinformation about gender affirming healthcare that was spread at the fourth Republican presidential primary debate on Wednesday night.

The group said comments in which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) characterized care for transgender and gender-diverse youth as child abuse and genital mutilation “do not reflect the health care landscape” and contradict “mainstream medical practice and scientific evidence.”

“Pediatric gender-affirming care is designed to take a conservative approach,” the Endocrine Society wrote. “When young

children experience feelings that their gender identity does not match the sex recorded at birth, the first course of action is to support the child in exploring their gender identity and to provide mental health support, as needed.”

The statement continues, “Medical intervention is reserved for older adolescents and adults, with treatment plans tailored to the individual and designed to maximize the time teenagers and their families have to make decisions about their transitions.”

Notwithstanding the remarks by DeSantis, other debate participants, and moderator Megyn Kelly, “gender-affirming genital surgery is rarely offered to anyone under the age of 18,” the statement says.

Additionally, “More than 2,000 scientific studies have examined aspects of gender-affirming care since 1975, including more than 260 studies cited in the Endocrine Society’s Clinical Practice Guideline.”

Other major scientific and medical groups like the American Medical Association, the American Psychological Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics are “in alignment” with the Endocrine Society on “the importance of gender affirming care,” the statement notes.

Further, research shows it “can be life saving for a population with high suicide rates.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

New bill to protect LGBTQ businesses from lending discrimination WASHINGTON - A bicameral bill introduced on Wednesday by U.S. Sens.

Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), along with U.S. Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-N.Y.), would require financial institutions U.S. Capitol Dome to collect data on access to (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key) credit and capital by LGBTQ+ owned businesses.

The legislation would thereby allow regulators to better identify and potentially remedy instances of anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in these areas.

CNBC reported in June that a study by the Movement Advancement Project found LGBTQ+-owned businesses encoun-

tered more rejections than non-LGBTQ+-owned businesses that applied for funding, amid a tightening of lending standards across the board.

Specifically, the bill would “clarify that Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank) requires financial institutions to collect the self-identified sexual orientation and gender identity of the principal owners of small businesses, in addition to their sex, race, and ethnicity,” according to a press release by Padilla’s office.

The California senator said “With anti-LGBTQ+ legislation and hate crimes on the rise, LGBTQ+ business owners continue to face persistent and unjust barriers to financial success,” adding that “LGBTQ+-owned small businesses are a cornerstone of local economies, and they deserve equitable resources to help them grow and thrive.”

08 • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

Padilla’s press release notes the legislation “would also add a definition for businesses owned by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex individuals to the ECOA statute.”

Additionally, “The legislation also includes a Sense of Congress confirming that sexual orientation and gender identity are already covered under the ECOA (including the current data collection requirements)” while clarifying “that the sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity of the principal owners of a business should be collected as three separate forms of information.”

The Congressional Equality Caucus, Ali Forney Center, Center for American Progress, Destination Tomorrow, Drag Out The Vote, Human Rights Campaign, Immigration Equality Action Fund, InterAct, and New Pride Agenda have backed the bill.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

SPORTS The Griners’ holiday message: Remember Americans still detained

Brittney Griner to tell all to ABC’s Robin Roberts and ESPN and the support of many of you, our PHOENIX, Ariz. — Pro basketball family was one of the 58 families player Brittney Griner announced made whole by this Administration,” she’s cut a deal with Disney ABC, the the Griners wrote in the message, owner of ESPN, to at long last tell her which was posted to Instagram. story. One year after her release from In addition to her first sit-down a Russian gulag, Griner says she’s deinterview with Roberts, the Phoenix cided to share her experiences with Mercury star will also appear in an Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning ESPN documentary.

America, herself a former basketball Griner’s wife will serve as an execuplayer and, like Griner, an out married tive producer on the projects, Cherelle gay woman.

WNBA star BRITTNEY GRINER (Photo via InstaGriner said in a statement.

“The last two years have been the gram) and news anchor ROBIN ROBERTS (Photo “Throughout BG’s detainment and most harrowing, transformative and via ABC’s Good Morning America) in the time since, ESPN, ABC and Disilluminating period of my life, and I ney were supportive and caring in regards to the human side am grateful to be in a place now to share my story with the of this saga,” she said. “Love and family were at the center of world,” said Griner in a press release, announcing multiple the fight to get BG home, and with that in mind, there is no projects. “I’m proud to partner with ESPN and Disney to share better, more trusted partner to tell that story with us.” this very personal story because of its incredible potential to According to the Griners, the documentary will feature exinspire hope around the world and their proven ability to do clusive footage and rare archival material that will shed new just that.” light on their story, including the circumstances that led to the Except for news conferences, this will be the first time the Mercury center playing overseas in her off-season, what she world will hear Griner speak at length about her arrest, trial experienced during her long detainment and her separation and imprisonment in Russia, her release and return to the from her wife, as well as the fight to gain her freedom and her hardwood. advocacy for the release of other wrongfully-held detainees.

Griner and her wife Cherelle announced the projects just Brittney Griner’s life story will also be developed for a limitdays after posting a holiday message on their Instagram to ed series from ABC Signature, again with her wife at the helm. mark the first anniversary of the WNBA player’s release from No air date was given for these projects. that Russian penal colony, as the Los Angeles Blade reported.

DAWN ENNIS “One year ago today, because of President Biden, his team

PHOENIX, Ariz. - Phoenix Mercury star Brittney Griner and her wife, Cherelle released a holiday message on their Instagram marking the first anniversary of the WNBA player’s release from a Russian penal colony.

“One year ago today, because of President Biden, his team and the support of many of you, our family was one of the 58 families made whole by this Administration,” the WNBA star and her wife wrote in the message, which was posted to Instagram.

“We must not forget that our work is not done,” they added.

“There are Americans still wrongly detained in countries around the world, including Paul [Whelan] and Evan [Gershkovich] in Russia and several Americans in Venezuela.”

The couple were referencing former U.S. Marine Paul Whelan, who has been imprisoned in Russia since 2018, and Wall Street Journal journalist Evan Gershkovich, who was detained in March of 2023.

Russian customs officials in February detained Griner at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport after they found vape canisters with cannabis oil in her luggage. A court later convicted her of importation of illegal drugs and sentenced her to a 9-year prison sentence in a penal colony.

President Joe Biden on Dec. 8 announced Russia had released Griner in exchange for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who is serving a 25-year prison sentence in the U.S. Griner returned to the U.S. the following day.

The Griners wished everyone “a joyous holiday” and urged Americans to “share a story, send a letter or call a representative about one of the many Americans being held away from their families this holiday season.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

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LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • 09

KATHI WOLFE

a poet and writer, is a regular Blade contributor. Wolfe is the winner of the 2024 William Meredith Award for Poetry. Her most recent collection is ‘The Porpoise In The Pink Alcove’ (Forest Woods Media Press).

Norman Lear’s legacy resonates among queer viewers Thank you for provoking, entertaining, and inspiring us

You know we all will die.

Yet, every so often, someone dies who you thought would live forever. Even if they lived for more than a century, and you felt like they knew your family, though you and your family never knew them.

That’s how I, along with so many others, felt when we heard that TV writer and producer Norman Lear, who transformed American media and culture, died at the age of 101 on Dec. 5 at his Los Angeles home.

Lear, who produced “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons,” “Good Times,” “One Day at a Time” and other groundbreaking TV shows in the 1970s, never slowed down.

This was fortunate for the millions of viewers who were moved, provoked, surprised, and entertained by the many memorable characters he created from Archie Bunker to Maude to George Jefferson.

Lear’s TV series were especially meaningful to queer people.

Before Lear, families and characters in TV sitcoms were sometimes funny, gentle, unintentionally camp and/or delightful: from the Ricardos in “I Love Lucy” to June and Ward Cleaver in “Leave It to Beaver” to Paul Lynde in “Bewitched” to Rob and Laura in “The Dick Van Dyke Show.”

But the families and situations on these shows were sanitized.

You never heard a toilet flush. Comedy was rarely used to address anything political or provocative. Characters didn’t talk about race, the Vietnam War, or the emerging second wave of the feminist movement.

You rarely saw queers on sitcoms. Certainly not in positive ways. LGBTQ folk are still not adequately represented in movies or TV. The movie “Happiest Season” produced a frisson of delight and discomfort when it began streaming on Hulu in November 2020. I was thrilled to finally see a lesbian couple kiss and meet the parents in a holiday movie on a mainstream streaming service (that even had an homage to “It’s a Wonderful Life”). A relative told me that she was fine with “gay people,” but she didn’t like seeing them kiss in “Christmas movies on TV.” Yet though there’s a long way to go, things are indescribably better now than they were when Lear’s pioneering series aired in the 1970s.

Then, 50 years before “Nyad,” “Rustin,” “Bros,” “Fire Island,” “Queer as Folk” and “Fellow Travelers,” nearly all of the queers

you saw on screen were sick, dead, or in jail.

That didn’t do much for your self-esteem if you were LGBTQ. Being queer was illegal in many states. You could be fired from your job for being queer. And people would have wondered what planet you were on if you’d have said you were going to marry your same-sex lover. You were lucky if you could talk at all to your family about your sexuality.

In this landscape, Lear’s shows were often an oasis. His shows never pretended that being queer would be easy – that everything would be OK. But they did provide some hope that even bigots like Archie Bunker might come to see queers in a more human light.

To honor Lear, I watched “Cousin Liz,” just one of the episodes of his shows that positively depicted queer folk.

“Cousin Liz” was an episode of “All in the Family.”

As I watched, I remembered how freeing it was when I first saw the show in the 1970s.

In the episode, Edith’s cousin Liz has died. At her funeral, Edith and Archie learn that Liz was lesbian and meet Veronica, who was her lover. At first, Archie insists that Veronica give Liz’s tea set, which was an heirloom in Edith’s family, to him and Edith.

When Veronica refuses, Archie threatens to out her at her job.

Edith makes Archie see that this would hurt Veronica and that he wouldn’t be “that mean.” Archie, though reluctantly, and saying Veronica needs a man, lets Veronica keep the tea set.

This may not seem radical today. But in the 1970s, it was revolutionary. The idea that a lesbian lover could not only talk openly to a family member at a funeral but ask to keep a family heirloom was breathtaking.

In 1981, to combat the religious right, Lear founded the progressive advocacy group People for the American Way. Peter Montgomery, who is gay and based in Washington, D.C., is research director for People for the American Way. Lear “understood the threat of [the religious right’s] divisive rhetoric and authoritarian agenda earlier than most,” Montgomery emailed me.

Lear was wholeheartedly supportive of LGBTQ equality, he added. “Norman was thrilled when Dan and I got married in 2012,” Montgomery said, “and at his invitation we spent our honeymoon at his family’s lovely farm in New England.”

Thank you for provoking, entertaining, and inspiring us. Rest in peace, Norman Lear.

V O L U ME 07 I S S U E 50

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10 • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

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KAREN OCAMB

is the former news editor of the Los Angeles Blade.

She is an award-winning journalist who, upon graduating from Skidmore College, started her professional career at CBS News in New York.

Why LGBTQs must fight to save democracy WEST HOLLYWOOD - The great Maya Angelou once said: “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

So why do so many people shrug off Donald Trump’s dangerous proclamations of near divinity and absolute immunity from the rule of law?

Recently, in response to an avalanche of reports about his “authoritarian bent” and dire warnings of an “increasingly inevitable” Trump dictatorship in a second term, Trump – who’s already been convicted of fraud in a New York civil lawsuit and faces up to 91 charges in four significant criminal cases - told Fox’s Sean Hannity that he won’t be a dictator, except on Day One. “I love this guy,” Trump said. “He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than Day One. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.’”

After that? Does anyone believe Trump hasn’t already developed a taste for dictatorship, having long boasted: “I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”

The twice impeached Trump is doubling down on Watergate-disgraced former President Richard Nixon’s assertion: “Well, when the president does it, that means that it is not illegal.”

And Trump has friends in high places. Democracy Docket’s Marc Elias notes that newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson “was a ringleader” in the coup attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election. “He used his position as a lawyer and member of Congress to legitimize the fringe legal theory underpinning the ‘Big Lie.’ Other than former President Donald Trump, he is arguably the most culpable federal elected official in what transpired on Jan. 6, 2021.”

The Brennan Center for Justice notes: “Johnson has ties to a movement that incorporates election denial into evangelical Christianity. Members of the movement held prayer sessions in which they asked for divine intervention to reverse the 2020 result….In 2024, Mike Johnson will hold the gavel. That should scare us all.”

Johnson is now doctoring footage of the January 6th riot against the Capitol to prevent the Department of Justice from identifying and investigating the insurrectionists. Trump has already promised to pardon “a large portion” of Jan. 6 rioters convicted and jailed on federal offenses. Those rioters

include Proud Boy whose members have shown up at drag readings and school board meetings, sometimes prompting anti-LGBTQ violence.

LGBTQ people should be seriously concerned. For nearly a decade, Johnson worked at Alliance Defending Freedom, “the far-right Christian group that has recently sought to ban the abortion medication mifepristone and public drag performances,” according to The New Republic.

(Los Angeles Blade graphic)

Additionally, one of Johnson’s clients was anti-gay activist and former radical Christian preacher Grant Storms. Johnson “helped convince New Orleans officials to grant Storms a permit for a protest against an annual Pride celebration. Storms’s protest ended up getting national attention when an anti-gay protester attempted to murder a man with a steak knife.

Storms said the attacker was not part of his organization, but the assailant later told police he went to Storms’s event because he wanted to ‘kill a gay man.’”

LGBTQ people have long been targets for cruelty and hate.

But the Trumpification of America has made it worse.

Last June, the New York Times reported: “There were more than 350 incidents of anti-L.G.B.T.Q. harassment, vandalism or assault in the United States from June 2022 through April 2023, according to a new report [by the Anti-Defamation League and GLAAD], reflecting a climate in which bias against gay and especially transgender people has become widespread.”

Another report from the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism at California State University, San Bernardino

“shows a 52 percent increase in anti-L.G.B.T.Q. hate crimes around the country in 2022 and a 28 percent increase in the narrower anti-transgender category,” and “a 47 percent increase in hate crimes against gender-nonconforming people, which the report defines as including drag performers.”

When out progressive MSNBC host Rachel Maddow interviewed former Rep. Liz Cheney, the staunchly conservative Republican who co-chaired the House Jan. 6 Committee, they both were adamant about setting aside their serious political disagreements to join forces to stop Trump and prevent a Republican House majority in the 2024 election.

Cheney described it as “the cause of our time.”

This is essential for LGBTQ folks, especially as we continue to be ignored unless we somehow make news. We are still considered an “issue,” not an intersectional minority that deserves equality. Even the Supreme Court ruled against us based on a hypothetical possibility where the key document turned out to be fake.

We need to take a lesson from Stonewall and ACT UP and FIGHT BACK however we can.

And that includes me.

Last year Max Huskins - a straight Millennial friend of mine – and I decided to produce the YouTube series “Race to the Midterms,” in partnership with the Los Angeles Blade. This fall, I realized we needed to do another series for the 2024 elections.

But the scope is too large to do as a cause/hobby to my fulltime job. So I talked with my friend Steve Ralls (formerly with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network and Immigration Equality) – the VP of External Affairs who recruited me to Public Justice – and we worked out an arrangement where I will step away from my full-time staff position there and instead, be under contract to work exclusively on the Public Justice Emeritus Legacy Project, allowing me to devote the majority of my time to this new initiative.

This is our fight. Parental rights? These are our LGBTQ kids who’ve already suffered too much trauma, assaults and death by suicide. As Harvey Milk said: “We must give them hope.”

We need to not only re-elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris – but determined candidates for elective and public office who see us as a people deserving of equality, decency and the fundamental right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

See you in the trenches next year as we Race to Save Democracy!

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • 11

Invitation to ‘Dance’: An interview with writer Andrew Holleran For countless gay men of a certain age, and many others in generations that followed, Andrew Holleran’s 1978 debut novel “Dancer From The Dance” is held in the highest regard. Groundbreaking, humorous, sexy, and tragic, with “Dancer From The Dance” Holleran paved the way for the gay literary boom of the early-to-mid 1980s that continues to this day. In other words, 45 years after its original publication, Holleran’s essential novel is as relevant as ever. In late 2023, following the 2022 publication of “The Kingdom of Sand,” Holleran’s fifth work of fiction, “Dancer From The Dance” was reissued in a new paperback edition featuring an introduction by gay writer Garth Greenwell (author of “What Belongs to You”). Holleran was gracious enough to answer a few questions after his appearance at the 2023 Miami Book Fair.

BLADE: “Dancer From The Dance” opens with a series of letters between two friends, one of whom is writing a novel. The letters are very funny, as well as still timely. For example, the line “the young queens nowadays are utterly indistinguishable from straight boys.” Also, the mention of sex work in the novel, and how that has in a way morphed into the age of Only Fans.

HOLLERAN: It’s funny, I just had dinner with a 24-yearold man who told me circuit parties are back (or perhaps never went away) when I asked what young gay men were doing for sex now. In other words, everything changes so that it remains the same.

BLADE: Speaking of timeliness, the subject of Malone’s death at the beginning of chapter one, and the narrator going through the dead man’s clothes, feels prescient in terms of what was to follow for many gay men beginning a few years later in the early 1980s. Does it feel that way to you, too?

HOLLERAN: I don’t know where that opening came from, since at the time nobody had ever heard of or could have imagined AIDS. But in retrospect, it seems a bit eerie.

BLADE: Andrew, since “Dancer From The Dance” was first published in hardcover in 1978, it has been reissued in a few different paperback editions. Do you have a favorite among the paperback editions’ cover art?

ANDREW HOLLERAN: For sentimental reasons, I suppose it would have to be the first, a Bantam paperback, white, with a shirtless young man in blue jeans looking out at us with a sweater tied around his neck — a model who, I heard, was alarmed that being on the cover might make people think he was gay.

BLADE: I’ve been streaming the gay-themed “Fellow Travelers” miniseries on Hulu. I know that you are a movie buff, so if “Dancer From The Dance” was adapted as a miniseries or movie, who would you like to see as Malone and Sutherland?

HOLLERAN: I do love movies, but since the pandemic, I’m out of it as to current actors.

BLADE: The new Harper Perennial reissue of “Dancer From The Dance” includes an introduction by Garth Greenwell. How does it feel to be a writer who now has a reissued book with an introduction written by another writer?

HOLLERAN: It’s an honor, though I never read things like that for fear of learning things about my writing I don’t want to know.

BLADE: Music and dancing play a significant role in “Dancer From The Dance.” You mention a variety of songs and artists in the novel. Were the songs that you chose personal favorites of yours that you wanted to include by

name, or were they songs that were simply popular in the clubs at the time?

HOLLERAN: Those were all songs I heard played in the clubs at the time, they still give me goosebumps.

12 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023

BLADE: “Dancer From The Dance” is being reissued at a time when book banning is popular among (mostly illiterate) conservatives. Have any of your books been banned?

HOLLERAN: Alas, no.

BLADE: What would it mean to you to be banned?

HOLLERAN: Publicity [laughs].

FILM

The haunting – and haunted – queer love of ‘Strangers’ Haigh’s vision makes this one of the best films of the year If you’ve read any “Best Of Queer Cinema” article written since 2011, you’re almost certainly familiar with Andrew Haigh’s “Weekend,” even if you’ve never seen it. A sexy but poignant tale of two men who fall in love during a one-night stand, it’s regularly ranked at or near the top when critics update their lists of such things, and for good reason.

It’s romantic without being sentimental, intelligent without being emotionally distant, and – most important of all – it “gets” contemporary gay love in a way that makes it a touchstone for a generation of queer viewers who came of age in the aftermath of the AIDS years.

That generation is now more than a decade older, and so is Haigh, whose reputation as a filmmaker has only been bolstered in the interim by critical acclaim for subsequent films and his creation of HBO’s “Looking,” the short-lived and controversial queer series that nevertheless found enough loyal fans to warrant a movie-length finale after cancellation. Now, with his latest big-screen effort, the British writer/director delivers another stylishly composed melancholy romance. But though it may be true to introspective form, it also reflects the inevitable shifting of perspective that comes with middle age, and while its meditations have much to do with the beginnings and endings of love, its focus expands beyond those finite moments to explore the things that linger and become eternal – or at least, feel to us as if they are.

PAUL MESCAL and ANDREW SCOTT in ‘All of Us Strangers.’

If that description sounds to you a little like the basis for a ghost story, you’re not wrong. “All of Us Strangers” – releasing on Dec. 22 – centers on Adam (Andrew Scott), a lonely 40-something Londoner living in a new-but-nearly empty London block of highrise flats, whose current project conjures painful memories of his parents. Traveling to his childhood home, he finds Mum and Dad (Claire Foy and Jaime Bell) still living there exactly as they were, despite their tragic death in a car crash 20 years earlier. Incredulous though he may be, he embraces the chance to reconnect with them, but a potential new beginning at home with one of his few neighbors – the handsome but palpably sad Harry (Paul Mescal) – might just be jeopardized by his growing obsession with dwelling in the literal past.

Based on the 1987 novel “Strangers” by Japanese author Taichi Yamada, Haigh’s film becomes a more personal expression by relocating the setting to London and reimagining the central character as a gay screenwriter. The scenes involving Adam’s interaction with his parents were even shot in his own childhood home. He also chose to downplay

the story’s supernatural leanings in favor of a more esoteric approach to the narrative; these are not the gloomy, terrifying ghosts we meet in a horror story, but fully self-aware shadows of humanity whose only intention is to enact the redemptive completion they were prevented from achieving by their fate. Far from being mournful specters anchored in the sorrows of the past, their purpose seems dedicated to helping everyone involved, living or otherwise, move onward toward an always-uncertain future. Indeed, there is nothing about them that suggests a lack of life, if not for the inescapable fact of their deaths – something easy to dismiss as irrelevant given the vibrant reality of their presence.

However, there’s more mystery to the story than a pair of friendly ghosts. Like many of the year’s best films, the impact of “All of Us Strangers” depends greatly on a gradual revelation of details that would inevitably lose their power if they were known in advance, and though we wouldn’t exactly categorize it as a movie with a “twist” ending, it’s still better left to personal experience to discover the deeper secrets that lie beyond the premise we’ve already divulged. Suffice to say that, in crafting its not-so-spooky narrative, it places more emphasis on hope than on haunting – though it suggests that the two may be inextricably linked, despite all our assumptive instincts to the contrary – and leaves us feeling uplifted rather than unsettled. To put it another way, we can safely offer the clue that, in the blurred and nebulous reality inhabited by Haigh’s movie, the boundaries of time, space, and physical existence seem less important than the bonds that are formed by our souls, for want of a better word.

What that means, of course, is that viewers who prefer a more straightforward narrative, grounded in the commonly shared experience most of us agree to call reality, might well find Haigh’s metaphysical (and metaphoric) conceit a step too far to accept the ideas it proffers about the enduring impact of love – and the heartbreaks with which it goes hand in hand – on our lives. But even if one cannot quite get on board for the transcendent leaps the filmmaker asks us to make within his autobiograph-ish parable of grief and reconciliation, it’s hard not to be won over by the tenderness of the love story that serves as both counterpoint and bookend to the inevitable sorrow that permeates it. In depicting the burgeoning romance between Adam and Harry – two men, a generation apart, attracted to each other by a mutual recognition of sorrow and broken-ness – Haigh manages to capture an irresistibly pure sense of heartfelt connection. It’s the kind of love we all dream of finding, and thanks to the sweetness and empathy with which it is delivered, it may well convince even the most cynical audiences to believe in the possibility of its existence.

Much of that effect hinges on the gifts – and the chemistry – brought into the mix by leading men Scott and Mescal. The former, an Irish thespian best known in the U.S. for his recurring turn as arch-nemesis Moriarty opposite Benedict Cumberbatch’s “Sherlock” in the cult-hit BBC series and his role as “Hot Priest” in Netflix’s “Fleabag,” delivers a breathtakingly raw performance as Adam. Without its being heavily expressed in his dialogue, he conveys the emotional quest on which his character’s life hinges without ambiguity or artifice and we feel it as if it were our own. As for Mescal, he brings a relatable and heartbreaking vulnerability to the clearly damaged Harry. Despite his heartthrob good looks, he makes us believe in the insecurity and despair that makes the equally damaged Adam feel like a lifeline for him, which helps the eroticism of their tasteful-but-unapologetic love scenes together seem as sacred as they are sexy. And though Bell and Foy’s characters embody a different aspect of love, their deeply affecting performances find an equivalent emotional resonance with the two leading men, tying it somehow together in an all-encompassing notion of love as a universal force that holds our hands both as we come into the world and as we go out of it.

It’s Haigh’s vision, though, that is served by these awards-worthy performances, and the unexpectedly moving beauty of “All of Us Strangers” comes ultimately from him; and that it comes so eloquently despite a narrative that leaves us with more mysteries than conclusions – yet still manages to find a triumphant joy – makes it easily one of the best movies of the year.

JOHN PAUL KING

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • 13

AUTOS

Car crazy: Nissan Altima, Suburu Impreza Cars are out. Sport-utes are in. And electric vehicles will replace internal-combustion vehicles tomorrow. Eh, not so fast.

Doing everything possible to lower emissions and save the planet is a good thing, of course. But the gas-to-electric timing isn’t happening as quickly as many of us expected — or hoped. EV sales have stalled for various reasons: expensive sticker prices, higher interest rates, lingering range anxiety and a limited charging network. It will take time for those issues to shake out.

As for the car-versus-SUV debate, some drivers like me still like being able to opt for a sedan or hatchback. That’s especially true when a traditional car checks all the boxes: style, comfort, handling, eco-friendly and affordable. Luckily, both cars here do just that.

as, but the resolution here could be crisper.

Overall, it’s hard to ignore such responsive steering and solid build quality, along with the quiet cabin and high reliability ratings. Oh, and expect Altima pricing to get even lower as the eventual end date nears.

SUBARU IMPREZA

$25,000 MPG: 27 city/34 highway 0 to 60 mph: 7.8 seconds Cargo room: 20.4 cu. ft.

NISSAN ALTIMA

$27,000 MPG: 27 city/40 highway 0 to 60 mph: 8.0 seconds Cargo room: 15.4 cu. ft.

SUBURU IMPREZA

NISSAN ALTIMA

PROS: low price, high safety score, enjoyable to drive CONS: tepid acceleration, some cheap plastics, limited production IN A NUTSHELL: Looking at the Nissan sedan lineup, you can say sayonara to the fullsized Maxima. (Well, at least the gas-powered version. This flagship nameplate is returning in 2025 as a much-anticipated EV.) Ditto the itty-bitty Versa, which will be discontinued in two years.

As for the compact Sentra, its future is secure (at least for now) thanks to robust sales.

Then there’s the midsize Altima, which is set to follow the same fate as the Maxima and Versa, despite having similarly strong sales as the Sentra.

But wait! After a week testing the Altima, I found plenty of reasons to buy one before they’re gone.

This sedan is large enough to carry up to five passengers and scads of cargo, but small enough to park almost anywhere. There’s also affordability: Only 8% of new vehicles are less than $30,000. And at $26,000, the base-model Altima is about half the average price of a new car—which is a whopping $48,000.

As for gas mileage, the Altima averages 40 mpg on the highway, which ain’t shabby.

Same with the many standard features: keyless entry, push-button ignition, three USB ports, satellite radio and more. Notable options include heated steering wheel, 12.3-inch touchscreen, nine-speaker Bose stereo and heated side mirrors with turn-signal indicators. One minor glitch: Nissan offers one of the best 360-degree birds-eye backup camer-

14 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023

PROS: updated this year, full of features, surprisingly roomy CONS: low ground clearance, bit noisy inside, no more sedan IN A NUTSHELL: To better compete against the onslaught of SUVs and pickups, the Subaru Impreza has been redesigned this year. Gone is the sedan, but what remains is one hot hatchback. With a wider grille, bolder wheel arches and stiffer chassis, there’s now an edgy tuner-car vibe.

Fold down the back seats and — voila! — the stowage capacity more than doubles to 56 cubic feet. Plenty of storage in the console and door pockets, as well. Each of the center-console cupholders can hold 32-ounce containers, so fewer stops at Starbucks. And even the rear cargo area has water-bottle holders—a bonus during roadside stops or tailgating events.

Those dual 7-inch displays in the base model are fine but, well, a bit meh. Better to opt for the enhanced 11.6-inch vertical touchscreen, like those found in higher-end vehicles from Lexus and Volvo.

I test drove the performance-oriented RS trim level, which boasts more power, spiffy wheels, paddle shifters, wireless smartphone charging pad, and heated wipers and side mirrors. Options include sunroof, power driver’s seat and 10-speaker Harmon Kardon sound system.

The list of safety gear is equally fine, with adaptive cruise control, blind-spot monitor with rear cross-traffic alert, forward collision warning with automatic braking, evasive-steering assist and more. My favorite: adaptive LED headlights that swivel when turning the steering wheel to give better illumination in curves. Those LEDs also perform a razzle-dazzle light show when first turned on.

One quibble: interior road noise, which is a bit more than expected. But then, hey, you get to enjoy more of that sexy engine growl.

JOE PHILIPS

FEATURE

In Golden Globe nominations are queer stories needing to be told

HOLLYWOOD - According to Jamie Tabberer of Attitude, the movie May December has been dubbed “Gay Christmas” because it “stars two women beloved by ‘the gays’, as well as for its camp, melodramatic nature.”

Apparently, the movie is also part of “Golden Globes Christmas” as well since both the main actresses, and the film were on the list of this morning’s nominees. (Although in the world of political/strategic/illogical positioning, Julianne Moore is nominated as a “supporting role.” Hello? If one is the December of the title of the film? Anyway…)

Will cinematic “gay Christmas” become a “gay late Valentine’ on February 24th?

The ambiguity of what works, performers, craftspeople and themes are “LGBTQ” permeates the nomination list from top to bottom. From the aesthetics and principles of Barbie to the eroticism of Saltburn, to the LGBTQ adored diva Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, seek and you can find plenty of queer support and celebration. There are proudly out actors like Lily Gladstone, to ones we wish were queer, who presumably aren’t queer, playing queer characters like Bradley Cooper. There is also the newly outed Billie Eilish singing “What Was I Made For”, which was clearly not to be a proud out queer person for young people to emulate.

Due to the realities of the award show nomination processes, there never is a guiding philosophical eye lending critical thinking to the focus of what and whom is recognized. The process is a popularity vote crap shoot, guaranteed to accidentally produce interesting focus, and inevitable “snubs.” In the case of the Golden Globes, even who is doing the recognizing is still a matter of contention. In 2021 the Los Angeles Times threw the

show into what it calls “a credibility crisis” by revealing that not a single voter in its base was black. The Globes are back now under new ownership, and presumably a broader voter outreach.

Because of this haphazard nature, LGBTQ representation and interest can be equally logjammed and, at the same time, non-existent in spots. While there is not an ounce of queerness in the Male Actor in Musical or Comedy Motion Picture category, Timothee Chalamet’s gay following notwithstanding, the Male Actor in Drama Motion Picture category has queerness in four out of the six nominations.

The biggest queer takeaway from the nominations could be something incredibly positive and important however. It is not about what is queer, what characters are queer, what performers are queer, and what gay icons were recognized.

It is about what LGBTQ legacy, history and cultural impact is being immortalized. In this area, the Golden Globes have a chance to shine a spotlight. Clearly, nominee leader Barbie challenges the male toxicity-laden patriarchy of our society. Its Pepto Bismal pink coating covers medicine we need to absorb on a deeper significance level than its lighthearted presentation.

The Globes seek to commemorate three landmarks of LGBTQ history that have cried out to be told, and embraced.

Coleman Domingo plays Barnard Rustin in the film Rustin.

America’s Black Holocaust Museum calls Rustin the “unsung architect of the Civil Rights Movement.” He is credited for shaping the movement behind the scenes, hidden for his homosexuality. The movie, and now the Globes’ recognition are now giving him spotlight.

The Lavendar Scare was a time in the United States when

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queer people were literally “frightened to death”, according the National Archives. “Beginning in the late 1940s and continuing through the 1960s, thousands of gay employees were fired or forced to resign from the federal workforce because of their sexuality. The purge followed an era in which gay people were increasingly finding each other and forming communities in urban America.” This year brought us the Limited Series Fellow Travelers starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. The series and Bomer both received nominations. The series and now the Globe’s recognition bring awareness to an era of queer persecution that needs to be remembered.

Both Jodie Foster and Anne Benning are nominated for Nyad. Diane Nyad was the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. She did so when she was 63 after numerous failed attempts. The portrayal is inspirational on many levels. Foster and Benning play strong real queer women empowered and determined. Foster historically came out as queer in a Golden Globes speech after years of speculation about her sexuality. Nyad broke misconceptions on expectations around gender abilities, and the limitations of age. In many ways, these women and their enduring strength symbolize the queer movement as a whole. Now there is a movie, and the Globes is calling our attention to it.

In short, it is not really about the personalities nominated, not nominated and the exact identities and labels we can pin on them.

It is about the conversations The Globes, and other upcoming nominations, will inspire us to have.

Those promise to be queer as hell.

ROB WATSON

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LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • DECEMBER 15, 2023 • 15