Los Angeles Blade, Volume 08, Issue 12, May 17, 2024

SoCal surf contest warned it must allow trans surfer to compete

“Surf contests

in

state waters must be carried out in a lawful manner that does not discriminate based on gender”

By BRODY LEVESQUE

HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – The California Coastal Commission sent a letter warning the American Longboard Association that its ban on Australian trans surfer Sasha Jane Lowerson participating this Saturday in the Huntington Beach Longboard Pro competition, was a violation of state law.

California Coastal Commission spokesman Joshua Smith said: “Surf contests in state waters must be carried out in a lawful manner that does not discriminate based on gender,” as first reported on by the BBC’s Los Angeles bureau.

“Prohibiting, or unfairly limiting, transgender athletes from competing in this or any surf competition that takes place in the coastal waters of California does not meet the requirements of the public access policies of the Coastal Act.”

In its letter Coastal Commission warned that local sporting events that do not allow transgender women to compete in female divisions could be shut down. The agency stated that a ban on transgender women from competing “is not consistent

with the public access, recreation and environmental justice policies of the Coastal Act,” the BBC reported.

Todd Messick, a Huntington Beach resident and owner of Art in Motion Designs, a local surfboard manufacturer, and a spokesperson for the American Longboard Association had announced on April 25 that the two-day Huntington Beach Longboard Pro contest would not allow transgender women to compete in the women’s division, saying he wanted to “offer an equal playing field for all athletes.”

Messick told the BBC’s Emma Vardy he was “surprised by the amount of anger” that the decision generated, but added: “What I found too is that there was a lot of people very appreciative of me speaking up.”

“For me, I was trying to do the right thing. It wasn’t something I ever expected to have to deal with really, not in our little longboard community,” he said.

The BBC also reported:

Lowerson – an Australian who previously won men’s events in her home country – said she had encountered mostly positive attitudes in the world of competitive surfing when she began living as a woman.

“Three years ago I had just started my transition, and I made a phone call to Surfing Australia,” she said. “I was really well-received. They were very forthcoming on being inclusive and being progressive.”

In 2023 the World Surf League (WSL), announced a new policy on trans participation, which allows trans women competitors to compete in women’s events if they maintain a testoster-

one level below a certain limit for at least 12 based on a policy created by the International Surfing Association, the governing body of professional surfing.

PinkNewsUK reported that earlier this year, Lowerson was featured as part of a Rip Curl campaign, which resulting in a backlash on social media. Professional surfer Bethany Hamilton joined in the criticism alongsideformer college swimmer Riley Gaines, and Lowerson’s photos were removed from the surfing sportswear manufacturer s social media platforms.

In the world of sports there has not been a uniform consensus in dealing with participation by trans athletes.

The international governing body for swimming, World Aquatics, has effectively banned trans womenfrom competing in top female swimming events.

World cycling’s governing body, the UCI, has similarly ruled that trans women athletes will be preventedfrom competing in international women’s events.

A new ground-breaking study, partly funded bythe International Olympic Committee, found that transgender athletes could actually be disadvantaged in some competitive sports, contrary to claims by transphobic pundits, politicians and rightwing media.

Scientists found significant differences between trans women and male athletes who were not transgender, aka cisgender men, and noted how similar they were to cis women.

“These differences underscore the inadequacy of using cisgender male athletes as proxies for transgender women athletes,” said the researchers.

LA’s lost an iconic entertainment reporter, Sam Rubin dies at 64 Rubin was a longtime fixture in the entertainment landscape beloved by celebrities and the public alike and spending his career solely at KTLA

By BRODY LEVESQUE

LOS ANGELES – A beloved and respected member of the entertainment press corps in Southern California, KTLA’s Sam Rubin, died Friday morning at the age of 64 after suffering a fatal cardiac arrest.

A source close to the station confirmed to Variety that Rubin died at his home in Brentwood of a heart attack after doing his regular Hollywood news segments on KTLA’s 7-9 a.m. “Morning News” program on Friday.

Rubin was a longtime fixture in the entertainment landscape beloved by celebrities and the public alike and with the rarity of spending his professional career solely at KTLA.

In a statement to Variety, Perry Sook, chairman and CEO of Nexstar, called the entertainment news anchor “an icon” for the region and the industry.

“Sam was an icon in Los Angeles and the entertainment industry and he was a beloved member of our Nexstar Nation. My prayers are with his family and the KTLA family as we mourn his passing. He will be missed.”

KTLA reported:

Rubin joined KTLA 5 Morning News in Los Angeles in 1991, where he instantly made an impact with his unmatched, encyclopedic knowledge of film and television. Over the years, his reports and interviews informed and entertained millions of television viewers in L.A. and beyond.

“The Sam that you saw on the air is the Sam that was off the air,” Rubin’s longtime colleague and friend Frank Buckley

said in announcing his passing on live television. “To all of us he shared his mornings with on television, and to those he worked with behind the scenes at KTLA, we will not forget him.”

According to his KTLA biography:

Since joining the show in 1991, he has established a reputation as someone who goes beyond the entertainment headlines of the day. His insights and exploration of the deeper meaning and impact of the stories within the entertainment industry generate conversation within the business, as well as outside it.

Sam is a multiple-Emmy winner; has received the Golden Mike Award for best entertainment reporter; has received a lifetime achievement award from the Southern California Broadcasters Association; and has been named best entertainment reporter by the Los Angeles Press Club.

Sam was honored by the National Hispanic Media Coalition with its 2013 Impact Award for outstanding integrity in broadcast journalism.

He is the author of two published books, and has seen his work published in both print and online around the world. Sam regularly appears on BBC television and radio in the United Kingdom, and is a regular contributor to Triple M radio and Channel 9 television network in Australia.

Sam is one of the founding members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest organization of film and television critics in the United States with more than 200 members.

In 1996, the BFCA began the Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, now regarded in the same tier as the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. The 2013 Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, hosted by Sam, was seen in more than 2 million homes, making it the No. 1 rated show in Los Angeles and other major cities. It was also the No. 1 trending topic on Twitter that evening and generated more than 500 million impressions online.

Sam is the owner of SRE, Inc., a television production company that has produced more than 200 hours of broadcast and cable programming, including several “Live From” red carpet shows and 120 episodes of the talk show “Hollywood Uncensored.”

Off the air, Sam supports various non-profit organizations including putting together a KTLA team for the annual MS 150 Bay to Bike Tour, the premiere cycling event in Southern California raising funds to find a cure for multiple sclerosis. He also is interested in revitalizing Los Angeles schools, including support for literacy programs and events such as the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books.

Sam received his Bachelor of Arts degree in American studies and rhetoric at Occidental College in Los Angeles.

Sam lived in Brentwood with his wife Leslie and their four children.

Sam’s son, Colby, joined KTLA 5 Morning News on Monday, May 13, 2024 to reflect on his father’s passing and share a message to him.

Australian trans surfer SASHA

JANE LOWERSON freestyling in the waters off Perth, Western Australia in 2022. (Facebook photo by Perth based Social Worker, Ecotherapist, Personal Trainer and freediving underwater photographer Sharon Morris)

EXCLUSIVE: White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on speaking out

and showing up

On the two-year anniversary of her appointment, she says, ‘representation matters’

By CHRISTOPHER KANE |

ckane@washblade.com

Karine Jean-Pierre sat down with the Washington Blade for an exclusive interview in her office on Tuesday, a week before the two-year anniversary of her appointment as America’s first Black and first openly queer White House press secretary.

Her history-making tenure has come at an especially fraught time for LGBTQ people.

The Biden-Harris administration has been widely celebrated as the most pro-equality in history. Over the past four years, rights and freedoms were expanded through the passage of landmark legislation and the enactment of bold new policies by federal agencies like the FDA and U.S. Department of Education, while the president elevated record-breaking numbers of LGBTQ appointees to serve in the highest levels of government.

At the same time, conservative Republicans have led an unprecedented legislative assault on queer people, especially transgender and gender-expansive youth, which has been accompanied by an escalation of dangerous fear and hate-mongering rhetoric against the community and spikes in bias-motivated acts of violence as well as depression, anxiety, self-harm behaviors, and deaths by suicide.

On these matters Jean-Pierre has often spoken out, addressing reporters from the lectern in the West Wing’s James S. Brady Press Briefing Room in remarks that have often gone viral and driven news coverage.

Reflecting on her tenure, the 49-year-old press secretary explained why she is uniquely positioned to leverage her influence as the most visible spokesperson for President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and the administration — at this pivotal moment for LGBTQ people both at home and abroad.

“Representation matters,” Jean-Pierre said. “And the president was certainly very aware of that, and wanted to make sure that he put together the most diverse administration,” she said, “and he did that.”

About 14 percent of appointees in the Biden-Harris administration identify as LGBTQ, including U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Adm. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary for health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In his first term, Biden has appointed a record-breaking 11 LGBTQ judges to the federal bench, tying with the number who were confirmed under former President Barack Obama over the course of eight years.

“I am in this job because the president of

the United States believed and wanted me to speak on behalf of him and said, ‘You have my voice, and you know how to speak for me, and this is the role that I want’ — I mean, that’s why he chose me,” she said.

Jean-Pierre stressed that she is able to condemn “these bad bills, these awful bills, these really hateful, prejudiced, anti-LGBTQ+ bills” because of “this president” — and not just by virtue of his appointment of her to the role of press secretary, but also because “he believes it is important to speak out.”

“Silence is complicit,” she said. “You know, that’s something that you hear from this president all the time: We cannot be silent in this moment. We cannot. Not when we see these anti-LGBTQ+ bills” nor when attempts are made to restrict reproductive rights or other freedoms.

When vulnerable queer youth are being targeted, Jean-Pierre said, “we have to do everything that we can — as an administration, as the White House, as the federal government — to protect them, and that’s what I get to do” because “this president allows me to speak out and show up.”

Jean-Pierre also pointed to Biden’s remarks in defense of the LGBTQ community and other marginalized groups during his State of the Union addresses and other major speeches.

“One of the things that he has said that always touches me is he says, ‘trans kids are some of the most impressive, brave people’ that he has seen,” she said. The president understands that “This is not about politics. This is about the right thing to do. And protecting lives.”

“And I say all of this to say it matters. It matters who sits behind that Resolute Desk. It matters who’s the president of the United States,” Jean-Pierre said.

The press secretary added that Biden’s actions as president affirm his verbal commitments to protect, support, and defend the LGBTQ community.

“The president signed an executive order to make sure that we were lifting up LGBTQ+ rights on the federal level, to make sure that policies that we were putting out there were taking steps toward protecting families, protecting youth, addressing mental health amongst young people, and in the community, and that was something that was really important for the president to do.”

She described a pivotal moment in the White House when, after the U.S. Supreme

Court struck down Roe v. Wade’s constitutional protections for abortion with a 6-3 ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022), conservative Justice Clarence Thomas signaled his interest in revisiting other cases, including those that established the right to marriage equality.

“So, one of the things that came out of Congress in a bipartisan way was protecting marriage, protecting marriage equality,” JeanPierre said, “and I remember when the president signed [the Respect for Marriage Act] in December of 2022, and how beautiful that was knowing that that was protected by law.”

“We have made sure to do what we can on the federal level,” she added, noting that, “Obviously, there’s legislation that we have to continue to push for,” including the Equality Act — which would codify nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ Americans — “but we do what we can from this side of things.”

The president also understands the value of narrative storytelling in policymaking and governance, Jean-Pierre said, noting how Biden often talks about economic issues by relating to the struggles of working families with his journey from humble beginnings in Scranton, Pa.

Likewise, Jean-Pierre said that drawing from her lived experiences “helps me understand policy a little bit more and telling stories around policies a little bit more.” For example, she sees the danger of anti-LGBTQ laws targeting youth not just because of her identity as a member of the community — but also as the mother of a nine-year-old.

In February, Jean-Pierre spoke out repeatedly after a nonbinary Oklahoma teen named Nex Benedict died, in what was later ruled a suicide, after enduring months of bullying over their sexual orientation and following their state’s passage of a bill prohibiting trans students from using restrooms and facilities consistent with their gender identity.

“I know that for many LGBTQ+ students across the country this may feel personal and deeply, deeply painful,” Jean-Pierre said in remarks to reporters during the opening (the “topper”) of her press briefing on Feb. 23.

“Nex Benedict and so many young people are dying by suicide,” she told the Blade. “And that hurts. That’s an incredibly hurtful thing. Because they were bullied, because they were attacked, because they don’t feel free.”

“As a parent, as a mom, I do everything that I can to make sure that [my daughter] is protected,” Jean-Pierre said. “And what I want for

my child, I want for every child, so that does hit differently, because it’s very personal.”

The press secretary recalled how she met two mothers at an event last year and, in separate conversations with the women, learned how they planned to leave their respective home states — Texas and Oklahoma — because they had trans children and felt unable to protect them amid the legislative attacks.

“Can you imagine,” she asked, “you’re raising your child in a community that you are familiar with” when suddenly, “there is a piece of legislation that’s going through the state legislature that gets signed by the governor and it is telling you that your child is in danger?”

Jean-Pierre also recognizes how her professional background and experience have equipped her for the briefing room and other duties of her role as White House press secretary.

Prior to joining Biden’s 2020 campaign and then the Biden-Harris administration, she worked as a political analyst for NBC News and MSNBC, having also served as a senior adviser and national spokesperson for MoveOn, the progressive public policy advocacy group.

Jean-Pierre began her career working on political campaigns and fundraising before joining the faculty of her alma mater, Columbia University, where she was a lecturer in international and public affairs.

“There’s something to growing and experiencing and taking chances and jumping from one thing to another,” she said, “understanding that you’re learning from the last thing and what you’re learning from the last thing you’re going to take to the next experience.”

The president, Jean-Pierre said, “had watched me do TV and watched me in my roles prior, and really believed that I was the person that he wanted” for the press secretary role. Ultimately, “whether it’s making sure I am empathetic, sympathetic to what people are going through as a mom, as someone that belongs to multiple communities, I get to do that. Whether it’s the media and understanding how the media works, how TV works, how communicating with the press works, I’ve done

White House Press Secretary KARINE JEANPIERRE (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

that, so I’m able to bring that to the podium,” she said.

‘Lifting up issues that matter‘

In the immediate aftermath of Benedict’s death, Jean-Pierre noted that LGBTQ advocacy groups and individuals had sought to “get more attention to what happened there,” while the Biden-Harris administration wanted folks to understand “that we’re watching, we’re seeing what is happening, and we’re going to speak” about it.

“We’re not going to be silent, here,” she said. “We were very purposeful about it.”

In hindsight, Jean-Pierre said, her remarks from the podium made a real impact. “It brings coverage; it brings the White House press corps and others to cover what we’re saying. That is why it is so important what we do at the podium; it is so important what we do in this press briefing room — lifting up issues that matter to the American people.”

The press secretary added, “sometimes it’s not even an issue that’s popular. It’s something that needs to be spoken to, because it is something that could lead to a dangerous situation; something that could oppress a community, harm a community — and we get that; this president gets that, this administration gets that.”

Initially, there was very little press coverage

of Benedict’s death, Jean-Pierre said, but “we wanted to really lift up what was happening,” because “it wasn’t just Nex Benedict. It was a story of many, many people in that community who were being bullied, who were being attacked. And we needed to speak to that” especially amid the hundreds of bills targeting the rights of queer youth in Oklahoma and across the country.

In another instance recalling her comments from the briefing room, Jean-Pierre stressed how it was important for the administration to “take on the governor” of Florida, Ron DeSantis (R), over his efforts to target the LGBTQ community by banning books, imposing curriculum restrictions, and limiting educators’ ability to be out at work.

Doing what’s right — regardless of the backlash

Jean-Pierre was quick to brush aside the question of whether she considers the risk of incurring backlash from the right when deciding whether to speak out on matters of LGBTQ rights.

Blowback “happens all the time,” she said. “Every day!” So, “I just don’t pay attention to it. We have to do the right thing and we can’t live in fear, here.”

The choice to be silent about a problem is the choice to be complicit, and not only does

silence forestall any progress toward addressing the issue at hand, but it also constitutes an abrogation of one’s responsibility as a leader, Jean-Pierre said.

“The president is very clear about that,” she said. With respect to issues like dangerous anti-LGBTQ legislation, “you can’t be silent” because “people’s lives are at stake.” Ultimately, “The backlash is going to be the backlash, but we’ve got to do the right thing and history will remember where we stood.”

The Biden-Harris administration believes this principle extends to America’s leadership on the international stage, Jean-Pierre said, in her response to a question about U.S. Rep. Tim Walberg’s (R-Mich.) travel to Uganda last year to speak in defense of the country’s draconian Anti-Homosexuality Act.

She stressed that the law, which criminalizes homosexuality and imposes the death penalty in some cases, is “dangerous and undermines the rights of all citizens. And the president has been very clear, the Biden-Harris administration has been very clear, that no one should live — and I’ve said this before — in constant fear.”

Rather, Jean-Pierre said, “They should feel safe in their community, they should feel protected, and no one should be subjected to violence and discrimination. It is not what we believe, whether it’s here in this country or

abroad.”

Since the legislation was made effective in May 2023, she noted, “we’ve taken several accountability actions, including restricting visa entry to the United States, restricting economic support to the government, and sanctioning officials who abuse human rights.”

Jean-Pierre added that, “we’re also deeply troubled by the copycat anti-LGBTQ+ legislation around the world,” which is “why it’s important what we do as the United States, because we’re leaders. And when you’re seeing other countries trying to implement and copycat the same thing, you need the United States to stand up and speak out against it. And that’s leadership.”

The administration’s robust response “sends a message around the world, that we do believe in human rights; we do believe that people should be protected; we do believe that violence and discrimination is not OK,” JeanPierre said. “And we lead by example.”

Likewise with respect to her comments from the podium, she said. “And [those remarks] went viral, because we spoke to it very loudly, very clearly,” in what was “an important moment for the community here but [also for] the community abroad, to hear from us, [that] we’re not afraid to talk about this because we have to and we understand our role in the world.”

Newsom releases revised budget, cuts spending, state vacancies

The budget proposal — covering two years — cuts spending, makes government leaner, and preserves core services without new taxes

By LA BLADE STAFF

SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today released a May Revision proposal for the 2024-25 fiscal year that ensures the budget is balanced over the next two fiscal years by tightening the state’s belt and stabilizing spending following the tumultuous COVID-19 pandemic, all while preserving key ongoing investments.

Under the Governor’s proposal, the state is projected to achieve a positive operating reserve balance not only in this budget year but also in the next. This “budget year, plus one” proposal is designed to bring longer-term stability to state finances without delay and create an operating surplus in the 2025-26 budget year.

In the years leading up to this May Revision, the Newsom Administration recognized the threats of an uncertain stock market and federal tax deadline delays – setting aside $38 billion in reserves that could be utilized for shortfalls. That has put California in a strong position to maintain fiscal stability.

“Even when revenues were booming, we were preparing for possible downturns by investing in reserves and paying down debts – that’s put us in a position to close budget gaps while protecting core services that Californians depend on. Without raising taxes on Californians, we’re delivering a balanced budget over two years that continues the progress we’ve fought so hard to achieve, from getting folks off the streets to addressing the climate crisis to keeping our communities safe,” Newsom told an audience of reporters and officials.

Key Takeaways:

A BALANCED BUDGET OVER TWO YEARS.

The Governor is solving two years of budget problems in a single budget, tightening the state’s belt to get the budget back to normal after the tumultuous years of the COVID-19 pandemic. By addressing the shortfall for this budget year — and next year — the Governor is eliminating the 2024-25 deficit and eliminating a projected deficit for the 2025-26 budget

year that is $27.6 billion (after taking an early budget action) and $28.4 billion respectively.

CUTTING SPENDING, MAKING GOVERNMENT LEANER.

Governor Newsom’s revised balanced state budget cuts one-time spending by $19.1 billion and ongoing spending by $13.7 billion through 2025-26. This includes a nearly 8% cut to state operations and a targeted elimination of 10,000 unfilled state positions, improving government efficiency and reducing non-essential spending — without raising taxes on individuals or proposing state worker furloughs. The budget makes California government more efficient, leaner, and modern — saving costs by streamlining procurement, cutting bureaucratic red tape, and reducing redundancies.

PRESERVING CORE SERVICES & SAFETY NETS.

The budget maintains service levels for many key housing, food, health care, and other assistance programs that Californians rely on while addressing the deficit by pausing the expansion of certain programs and decreasing numerous recent one-time and ongoing investments.

NO NEW TAXES & MORE RAINY DAY SAVINGS.

Governor Newsom is balancing the budget by getting state spending under control — cutting costs, not proposing new taxes on hardworking Californians and small businesses — and reducing the reliance on the state’s “Rainy Day” reserves this year.

According to a statement from the governor’s office, California’s budget shortfall is rooted in two separate but related developments over the past two years.

• First, the state’s revenue, heavily reliant on personal income taxes including capital gains, surged in 2021 due to a robust stock market but plummeted in 2022 following a market downturn. While the market

bounced back by late 2023, the state continued to collect less tax revenue than projected in part due to something called “capital loss carryover,” which allows losses from previous years to reduce how much an individual is taxed.

• Second, the IRS extended the tax filing deadline for most California taxpayers in 2023 following severe winter storms, delaying the revelation of reduced tax receipts. When these receipts were able to eventually be processed, they were 22% below expectations. Without the filing delay, the revenue drop would have been incorporated into last year’s budget and the shortfall this year would be significantly smaller.

The governor maintains that with his revised balanced budget, it sets the state up for continued economic success. California’s economy remains the 5th largest economy in the world and for the first time in years, the state’s population is increasing and tourism spending recently experienced a record high. California is #1 in the nation for new business starts, #1 for access to venture capital funding, and the #1 state for manufacturing, high-tech, and agriculture.

Fremont, California man convicted in Grindr robbery and assault

Silveria is currently in custody.  He faces up to twelve years in state prison for his crimes.  Sentencing is scheduled for May 22, 2024

By LA BLADE STAFF

SAN FRANCISCO – San Francisco District Attorney

Brooke Jenkins announced this week that her office secured a conviction of Ronald Anthony Silveria (27), of Fremont, after a trial by jury for attacking and stealing from a man he met on the Grindr application.

Silveria was convicted of first-degree robbery (PC 211), false imprisonment by violence or menace (PC 236/237(a)), identity theft (PC 530.5(a)), and misdemeanor assault (PC 240) and false imprisonment (PC 236).

“The jury’s verdict holds Mr. Silveria accountable for his

despicable crimes,” said District Attorney Jenkins.  “My office will always stand with victims of crime and work to ensure there are consequences for criminal behavior.”

According to evidence and other testimony presented at trial on September 15, 2022, Silveria met a man in Fremont through the Grindr app.  They traveled in separate cars to a San Francisco motel where the victim had rented a room.

After hanging out in the room for a while, Silveria pulled out a gun and tied the victim, who was naked, to the bed. He then proceeded to go through the victim’s bags and electronics, hitting the victim and demanding passwords for bank apps. Silveria eventually agreed to release the victim if he withdrew $400 from an ATM and gave it to him.

The victim agreed and Silveria allowed him to dress, then forced him to wipe down the room, and get into his car to drive to a nearby ATM.  After taking the $400, Silveria refused to return the victim’s car keys and belongings. Silveria then drove across the Bay Bridge and abandoned the victim

in Emeryville, California at 4:30am.  He drove off with all of victim’s belongings including his phone, iPad, and wallet.

The case against Silveria was successfully prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Edward Mario, with assistance from District Attorney Investigator Mike Beaver, and paralegal Melissa Cruz.  The case was successfully prosecuted based on the thorough investigation of the San Francisco Police Department’s Robbery Division and the ongoing participation from the victims.

“Mr. Silveria preyed on a man who was in a trusting, compromised, and vulnerable position,” said Assistant District Attorney Edward Mario.  “I thank the victim for his bravery in testifying and re-living traumatic life events. This conviction ensures accountability for Mr. Silveria’s actions and provide a measure of justice for the victim.”

Silveria is currently in custody.  He faces up to twelve years in state prison for his crimes.  Sentencing is scheduled for May 22, 2024.

California Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM releases the revised state budget on May 10, 2024. (Photo Credit: Office of the Governor)

San Francisco District Attorney BROOKE JENKINS (Screenshot/YouTube KGO-TV ABC Bay Area)

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CALIFORNIA

WeHo’s Rainbow Neon Dog gets public art dedication

Community members gathered at Williams S Hart Park for a public art dedication of the public artwork

Rainbow Neon Dog on Friday, May 10, 2024

By PAULO MURILLO

WEST HOLLYWOOD – Community members gathered at Williams S Hart Park at 8341 De Longpre Avenue for a public art dedication event for the installation of the public artwork Rainbow Neon Dog on Friday, May 10, 2024.

The event offered some words by Rebecca Ehemann, WeHo Arts Manager of the City of West Hollywood, who introduced Mayor John Erickson to the podium with Pet Mayor Winnie. “This is the best part about being in the City of West Hollywood,” said Mayor Erickson. “We have our amazing Arts Department. Thank you so much for all of the amazing work that you do. We are just so excited to welcome the Rainbow Neon Dog as part of our city’s urban art collection.”

The mayor made a joke about his motor being slow every now and then in reference to the neon art that stopped rotating shortly after being installed. “We’re excited to see it start spinning again and have it at this entrance right here at our beautiful historic William S. Hart park at 10 feet high 10 feet wide. And three feet deep as radium barking neon dog is the perfect way to announce a presence here at this park.

Also in attendance were council member Chelsea Byers and council member Lauren Meister.

The Rainbow Neon Dog may not spin, but it still lights up. There was a countdown to its lighting as part of the ceremony. Community members had an opportunity to enjoy the art installation and walk away with a custom pin in the shape of the neon art as a memento.

There were rumors that some local residents were going to use the dedication to protest improvements coming to Hart Park; however, the rumors turned out to be false. The ceremony happened in perfect harmony.

The Rainbow Neon Dog is the most recent addition to the City’s growing Urban Art Program and consists of a reconditioned, electrically rotating neon sign in the shape of a barking dog set atop a supporting pole that raises it above street level to be enjoyed by pedestrians and vehicles alike traveling along Sunset Boulevard in either direction.

The sign measures 10-feet-high by 10-feet-wide by 3-feet-deep. It was designed in 1990 by Wilson Ong for the Collar & Leash pet store formerly located at 8555 Santa Monica Boulevard. In 2020, after the closure of the store, the owners gifted the sign to the City of West Hollywood for inclusion in the Urban Art Program collection.

At its new location along the iconic Sunset Strip, the sign is guaranteed to become a novel cultural attraction and will serve as a wayfinding device for the entrance to Hart Park while continuing the City’s efforts to activate Sunset Boulevard with pedestrian-friendly experiences.

The Urban Art Program provides a mechanism to integrate free and accessible art into the urban fabric of the City. In particular, the Urban Art Program is motivated by a desire to ameliorate some of the effects new development has on the community. New development often results in intensified use of land where larger structures seem imposing and inaccessible to the public. Urban art can help soften this effect and provide interaction and connection between the public and private domains.

Dedication of the Rainbow Neon Dog Art Installation. (Photo by Paulo Murillo/WEHO TIMES)

(Photo by Paulo Murillo/WEHO TIMES)

(Photo by Paulo Murillo/WEHO TIMES)

(Photo by Paulo Murillo/WEHO TIMES)

Celebrating 15th anniversary of Harvey Milk Day

A powerful reminder that one person can make a difference

By JAMES PATTERSON

Harvey Milk’s birthday, May 22, is offi cially a Day of Special Signifi cance in California. Other states also honor Milk.

Milk was the fi rst openly gay man elected to public offi ce in U.S. history. In 1977, he was elected to a seat on the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco. His term began in January 1978 and ended in November when disgruntled former Supervisor Dan White assassinated Milk and Mayor George Moscone at City Hall.

In his 1982 book “Mayor of Castro Street: The Life and Times of Harvey Milk,” Randy Shilts wrote a moving account of San Francisco’s 1978 memorial for Milk. A “massive crowd stretched the entire distance from City Hall to Castro Street, some 40,000 strong utterly silent,” Shilts wrote. The crowd “ostensibly memorialized both George Moscone and Harvey, but few speakers quarreled that the crowd had amassed chiefl y to remember the gangly ward politician [Milk] who had once called himself the mayor of Castro Street.”

Shilts quoted Board of Supervisors President Dianne Feinstein, at the time acting mayor, telling the mourners that Milk “was a leader who represented your voices.” Another speaker said Milk “was to us what Dr. King was to his people. Harvey was a prophet [who] lived by a vision.” Equality was Milk’s vision.

Shilts presciently titled the last section in his book “The Legend Begins.” In 1979, after a jury gave assassin White a light seven-year sentence, LGBT rioters rocked San Francisco in what is called “The White Night Riots.” During the riots, Shilts wrote that “a lesbian university professor yelled into a feeble bullhorn: ‘Harvey Milk lives.’” Since 1978, Harvey Milk’s courageous leadership has been celebrated globally.

Over four years, 2006-2010, San Francisco reminded the country that Milk was a gay man worthy of great honors. The 2008 movie “Milk,” fi lmed partly in San Francisco, with Sean Penn as Milk, ignited greater public interest in the legendary gay activist. Gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and Penn won Academy Awards in 2009.

The fi lm led Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to sign legislation making Milk’s birthday a Day of Special Signifi cance. Also, President Barack Obama awarded Milk with a posthumous Presidential Medal of Freedom. On Milk’s 84th birthday, the U.S. Postal Service issued a commemorative Forever stamp in his honor.

California’s Harvey Milk Day recognizes Milk for his contributions to the state. It also encourages public schools to conduct

“suitable commemorative exercises” to honor Milk.

“To me, [Milk] was a man who was a capitalist, and an entrepreneur who happened to be gay,” said Republican Sen. Abel Maldonado, the only Republican to vote for the bill to create Harvey Milk Day.

The newer scholarship about Milk provided additional insight into his activism. “An Archive of Hope: Harvey Milk’s Speeches and Writings” edited by James Edward Black, Charles Morris, and Frank Robinson, published in 2013 by the Univ. of California Press, is an excellent example.

The book’s title is drawn from Milk’s 1978 speech called “The Hope Speech.” He spoke about people [gays, seniors, Black Americans, disabled, Latinos, Asians] “who’ve lost hope.” He proceeds to talk about inspiring hope in others who are struggling when the “pressures at home are too great.” It is a passionate speech, based largely on Milk’s conversations with people in the Castro. In a review of the book for The Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide, I wrote it is: “An important contribution to the corpus of work on Harvey Milk as a writer and orator.”

Milk believed that it was important for members of the LGBTQIA+ community to come out. If more people were aware of their LGBTQIA+ associates who were their friends, family, and loved ones, then discrimination would end. To Milk, coming out would lead to ensuring LGBTQIA+ civil rights.

In 2007, during Pride in San Francisco I worked at a nonprofit’s booth in Civic Center Plaza. A man stopped to talk. I mostly listened. He was a veterinarian from a small town in Arkansas. He was gay and closeted. He regularly visited San Francisco for Pride. Afterward, he regularly returned to his closeted life in Arkansas. I felt sorry for him. Though I was a stranger to him, he needed to come out to me. I was reminded of Milk’s wisdom about the freedom of coming out.

Harvey Milk Day is for all people who need hope. Milk’s life is a lesson that one person can make a diff erence. A strong, united community inspired by Milk and others has changed and continues to change the world.

Milk’s short political career led to long-term LGBTQIA+ political leadership from the Bay Area to Washington, D.C. to Miami to Seattle. To paraphrase a Woody Guthrie song: This LGBTQIA+ Land is Our Land. Happy Milk Day 2024!

James Patterson is a lifetime member of the American Foreign Service Association.

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‘Interview

with the Vampire’ returns in triumph

Long-awaited season 2 continues to get story exactly right

By JOHN PAUL KING

When AMC debuted its long-awaited series adaptation of “Interview With the Vampire”Anne Rice’s seminal proto-postmodern horror novel that set the stage and paved the way for a decades-long literary franchise that has kept millions of readers, queer and straight alike, passionately engaged since first reading its thinly veiled allegorical document of life as a being with heightened awareness on the edge of human existence - in 2022, we were among the first to sing its praises as a triumph of narrative storytelling, We were not the last. The series, created by Rolin Jones in collaboration with Christopher Rice – the original author’s son and a successful horror novelist in his own right – and the late Anne Rice herself, was one of its season’s best-reviewed shows, earning particular praise for its writing, in which the queer “subtext” of Rice’s original works was given the kind of unequivocal full weight denied to it in the Brad Pitt/Tom Cruise-starring Neil Jordan-helmed film adaptation from 1994.

Though purist fans of the original boom series took occasional umbrage to some of the show’s leaps – changing the historical period of the story to illuminate themes of racism and deepen its resonance for those living as “others” on the fringe of society, and making the book’s protagonist, Louis Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), a closeted Black Creole man in early 20th-century New Orleans – the series won most of its naysayers over by its season finale. It delivered a deliciously subversive, unapologetically queer interpretation that remained true to Rice’s original gothic re-imaginings while expanding the scope to encompass social and cultural factors that have become central to the moral and ideological conflicts that plague us in the first quarter of the 21st century.

shelter while investigating rumors of old-world vampires who might provide a link to their “family history.”

To put it bluntly, the show’s willingness to embrace the story’s countercultural queer eroticism and place its transgressively amoral “moral compass” front and center was more than enough to smooth over any nitpicking over faithfulness to narrative detail or tone that might otherwise have kept Rice’s legion of acolytes from signing on to the new-and-contemporized vision of the book that Rollins built as the foundation for his daunting project.

Now, after a buzz-tempering delay borne of last year’s actor’s strike, the series has returned for its second season. And we’re happy to assure you that its feet hit the ground running, keeping up both passion and narrative momentum to pick up the story with electrifying energy after leaving off (at the end of season one) with the shocking murder and seeming elimination of Lestat (Sam Reid), the exquisitely amoral “rock star” vampire who served as both protector and lover of Louis, and the departure of the latter and his perpetually juvenile “daughter,” Claudia (Bailey Bass) on a quest to find others like themselves.

Fans of the book might, in fact, find new reasons to take exception to the show’s adaptation, which, as in season one, makes significant departures from the original narrative. After moving the story’s setting forward by roughly half a century, Louis and Claudia’s secretive sojourn now takes place in the traumatized landscape of post-WWII Europe, and spins a scenario in which the two ex-pat vampires, navigating their way through the perils of Soviet-occupied Central Europe after the fall of the Nazi regime, spend time in a refugee

When we rejoin this pair of relative fledgling vampires, their undead existence is a far cry from the decadent elegance they enjoyed in the New Orleans setting of season one. Enduring a near-feral existence as they make their way through a war-ravaged landscape, they find no shortage of prey in the aftermath of the Third Reich, but the “creature comforts” of their former “afterlives” are now only a memory. Louis is devoted, as always, to Claudia (now portrayed by Delainey Hayles, presumably due to scheduling conflicts for original actor Bass, who is set to reprise her role from “Avatar: The Way of Water” in the next installment of filmmaker James Cameron’s high-dollar sci-fi franchise), but remains haunted by his vampire maker and former lover Lestat, whose undead corpse remains buried on another continent but whose charismatic presence manifests itself in his private moments, nonetheless. In the first episode, the pair have used their supernatural wiles to journey into the “old country” long associated with their kind, tracking human tales of monstrous terrors in the night in hope of connecting with more of their kind. Louis, as always, struggles with his compassion for the mortal beings around him, while the more savage Claudia simply sees them as prey, and holds little hope of finding other vampires, if they even exist. For her part, Claudia has forgiven – but not forgotten – his refusal to ensure Lestat’s demise by burning his body, and is now solely focused on finding others like her. Of course, the adventures of these two undead companions are only half the equation in “Interview With the Vampire.” The past is, as always, merely a flashback, as Louis relates the story of his afterlife experiences to mortal journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian). In the present, the skeptical Molloy casts doubt on the truth of his memories, forcing the vampire to re-examine them as he goes. Perhaps more interestingly, in the long game of a series which, if it comes to full fruition, will eventually encompass the entire Rice vampire saga, these contemporary scenes give us a look at the relationship between Louis and Armand (Assad Zaman), revealed in the season one finale to be not a mere servant in Louis’ household but a centuries-old fellow vampire who is now Louis’ lover and companion.

Fans of the books, of course, know that Armand plays a significant role in the story of the past, too, and while we won’t spoil anything, we can say that history begins to unspool as season two progresses – but that’s getting ahead of ourselves. For now, what we can say is that season two’s first episode, while it may veer away from the familiarity of Rice’s original tale in service of reimagining it for 21st-century audiences, continues the first season’s dedication to breathing thrilling new life into this now-iconic, deeply queer saga; superb performances all around, an elegantly cinematic presentation and literate writing, and a lush musical score by Daniel Hart all combine to sweep us quickly and irresistibly into the story, making us not just fall in love with these vampires, but want to be one of them.

That, of course, is the gloriously sexy and subversive point of Rice’s “Vampire Chronicles,” and this long-awaited series continues to get it exactly right.

ASSAD ZAMAN and JACOB ANDERSON (Image courtesy of AMC)

Journalist Erin Reed wins Best Blog at 35th annual GLAAD awards

Los Angeles and Washington Blade(s) contributor, journalist Erin Reed, took home a GLAAD media award for her reporting on LGBTQ+ laws, people

By BRODY LEVESQUE

NEW YORK – Los Angeles and Washington Blade’s contributor, journalist Erin Reed, took home a GLAAD media award this past Saturday as she was honored for her reporting on LGBTQ+ laws, people, and moments around the world with special emphasis on indepth reporting on issues affecting the trans community, of which she along with her fiancée Montana State Rep. Zooey Zephyr (D-Missoula) are part of.

Reflecting on her recognition by the world’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) media advocacy organization winning for Outstanding Blog: Reed said:

“When I started reporting on queer and trans issues several years ago, I never envisioned myself becoming a journalist in this space. Instead, I was simply trying to help people understand where to get their healthcare resources, what laws challenged those resources, and what they could do to advocate for themselves through the legislative process and courts. I moved to writing long-form content almost two years ago when I realized that major media outlets were leaving a giant void in reporting on queer and trans issues. I have been so blessed to be in the position I am in, where I can tell our stories every day. I cannot do this without standing on the shoulders of giants—the trans kids I saw tonight at the Gender Cool Project, the trans elders who fought for our healthcare long before us, and the activists in every single state messaging me every time they see something important. I also could not do it without all of you, the subscribers who make this work sustainable Thank you from the bottom of my heart. You make this work worth it.”

The 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards:

“Jennifer Hudson Surprises HIV Activist with $10,000” The Jennifer Hudson Show received the GLAAD Media Award for  Outstanding Variety or Talk Show Episode presented by Carla Gugino and Mary McDonnell Red, White, and Royal Blue  received the GLAAD Media Award for  Queer Fan Favorite  presented by Cody Rigsby and Beanie Feldstein

GLAAD also announced these winners in an offstage video reel in New York:

Outstanding Podcast: Las Culturistas (iHeart)

Outstanding Film – Streaming Or TV: Rustin (Netflix)

Outstanding Documentary:  Beyond the Aggressives: 25 Years Later (MTV Documentary Films), Kokomo City (Magnolia Pictures), and The Stroll (HBO | Max Documentary Films)

Outstanding New Series:  The Last of Us (HBO)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Live Action: Heartstopper (Netflix)

Outstanding Broadway Production:  Melissa Etheridge: My Window, by Melissa Etheridge

Outstanding TV Journalism Segment: “New York City Gay Bar Deaths Classified as Homicides” (NBC News Now)

Outstanding Live TV Journalism – Segment or Special: “Indiana Students Put on LGBTQ-Themed Play Themselves After it’s Canceled By the School” Yasmin Vossoughian Reports  (MSNBC)

Outstanding Print Article:  “As Drag Bans Proliferate, Maren Morris Goes Deep With Drag’s Biggest Stars on Why the Show Must Go On” by Stephen Daw (Billboard)

naissance: A Film by Beyonce (AMC Theatres), The Tennessee Holler, Yes I Am: The Ric Weiland Story, Drag Latina (Revry / LATV), Enamorándonos (UniMás), El sabor de la navidad (ViX), Wendy, perdida pero famosa (ViX)

GLAAD also previously announced that +Life Media received the Barbara Gittings Award for Excellence in LGBTQ Media. The following winners were announced at the 35th GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles on March 14th:

Outstanding Drama Series: Yellowjackets (Showtime)

Outstanding Comedy Series: Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series:  Fellow Travelers (Showtime)

Outstanding Film – Wide Theatrical Release:  Bottoms (Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer)

Outstanding Film – Limited Theatrical Release:  Monica (IFC Films)

Outstanding Reality Competition Program: RuPaul s Drag Race (MTV)

GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, introduced by Attorney General of New York Letitia James, said in part: “Ten years ago when I started at GLAAD, It was a much different landscape…And now we have the urgent need to protect it all. Our latest poll shows that more than half of American voters are turned off by candidates who are anti-trans. Hating us is becoming a losing proposition. We have to keep telling our stories, raising our voices, pushing back on the rhetoric.”

GLAAD presented the following awards onstage in New York:

“Our America Who I’m Meant to Be – Episode 3” received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding TV Journalism – LongForm presented by Don Lemon

Family Karma  received the GLAAD Media Award for  Outstanding Reality Program  presented by the cast of  We’re Here (Jaida Essence Hall, Latrice Royale, Priyanka, Sasha Velour)

Melissa Etheridge: My Window  received the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Broadway Production presented by Uma Thurman

Outstanding Online Journalism Article: “The AP Interview: Pope Francis Says Homosexuality Not a Crime” by Nicole Winfield (AP.com)

Outstanding Online Journalism – Video or Multimedia:  “7 Remarkable Trans Elders Share Lessons for the Next Generation” (them.us)

Outstanding Blog: Erin Reed – Erin in the Morning

Spanish Language – Outstanding Online Journalism Article:  “Personas mayores LGBTQIA+ ‘tienen que regresar a un clóset para poder buscar vivienda‘” por David Cordero Mercado y Joaquín A. Rosado Lebrón (PeriodismoInvestigativo.com & ElNuevoDia.com)

Spanish Language – Outstanding Online Journalism –Video or Multimedia: “Conoce a la primera diputada negra y trans de Brasil” por Natalia Barrera Francis, Joyce García, David von Blohn, Paula Daibert y Claudia Escobar (Descoloniza – AJ+ Español)

GLAAD previously announced Special Recognition awards for The Dads (Netflix), Love in Gravity, Relighting Candles (Hulu), Re-

Outstanding Music Artist: Renee Rapp, Snow Angel (Interscope)

Outstanding Breakthrough Music Artist: David Archuleta (Archie Music)

Outstanding Children’s Programming: “Blue River Wedding” Ada Twist: Scientist (Netflix)

Outstanding Kids & Family Programming or Film – Animated: Hailey’s On It! (Disney Channel)

Outstanding Magazine Overall Coverage: Out

Outstanding Video Game: Baldur’s Gate 3 (Larian Studios)

Outstanding Comic Book;  Star Wars: Doctor Aphra, written by Alyssa Wong (Marvel Comics)

Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology: Four-Color Heroes, by Richard Fairgray (Fanbase Press)

Outstanding Scripted Television Series– Spanish Language: Las Noches de Tefía (Atresplayer)

Outstanding TV Journalism – Spanish Language: “Adolescentes trans relatan su experiencia” Noticiero Telemundo (Telemundo)

Montana State Rep. ZOOEY ZEPHYR (D-Missoula) with her fiancée journalist ERIN REED at the 2024 GLAAD Media awards held in New York City. (Photo courtesy of Erin Reed)

TAYLA PARX performs during the after party for the 35th Annual GLAAD Media Awards New York on May 11, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Siskin/Getty Images for GLAAD)

“Queen of Knives” Film Premiere Q&A, Los Angeles, California10 May 2024

By SIMHA HADDAD

A new fi lm is carving out a unique space in queer cinema, showcasing a modern family dynamic that deviates sharply from the traditional narratives many of us are accustomed to.

The Los Angeles Blade attended the “Queen of Knives,” premier this past Friday at the Laemmle Santa Monica Film Center.

The fi lm centers around the Benetto family, a diverse and scattered group trying to navigate their interconnected lives in Brooklyn, NY. The narrative converges at a pivotal family dinner hosted in what served as their family home prior to the divorce, a setting ripe with history and emotional baggage.

At this dinner, the conventional family archetype is upended. The family patriarch introduces his new, younger girlfriend—an old trope that quickly takes a backseat to more groundbreaking revelations. His ex-wife announces she is moving in with her lesbian lover into the very house where they once raised their children, one of whom unalived himself fi ve years prior due, in part, to his father’s refusal to accept him. Adding to the mix, one of their daughters, accompanied by her nonbinary partner who prefers the pronouns she/they, brings her own nuances to the family dynamic. In a surprising twist, the father reveals his newfound penchant for drag bars, signaling a personal transformation that mirrors the broader shifts in soci etal norms.

“Queen of Knives” delves into the complexities of sexuality, gender fl uidity, and the evolving defi nitions of family. The fi lm features sharp, witty dialogue and a blend of comedy and drama.

The fi lm’s portrayal of risky behaviors, shifting relationships, and generational adaptability off ers a fresh perspective on what it means to be an adult in a rapidly changing world. With secrets unveiled and unexpected consequences, “Queen of Knives” promises to be a compelling addition to the landscape o f LGBTQ+ cinema.

Directed by Jon Delgado and co-written by fi lmmaker Gene Pope, the movie boasts an impressive cast including Golden Globe-nominated Mel Harris.

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SCOTT MANTZ, MEL HARRIS and GENE POPE (Stewart Cook/Shutterstock for Pope 3 Enterprises, LLC)