Media Mogul: GLAAD's Sarah Kate Ellis

CONTENTS

February 21, 2019

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Volume 25 Issue 41

BREWERS AND SHAKERS The gay-owned Red Bear Brewing Co. hopes to open its doors to D.C.’s discerning gastronomists very soon.

By John Riley

MEDIA MOGUL

Led by Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD holds the line for the LGBTQ community on many diverse fronts.

Interview by André Hereford

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KILLING FIELD

Shakespeare Theatre’s Richard the Third is fantastically devious and delightfully fun.

By Kate Wingfield

SPOTLIGHT: LOLITA p.7 OUT ON THE TOWN p.10 BREWERS AND SHAKERS: RED BEAR BREWING p.12 ART WITHOUT BORDERS: ATLAS INTERSECTIONS p.15 THE FEED p.19 COMMUNITY: FUN, FROLIC, AND FUNDRAISERS p.21 COVER STORY: MEDIA MOGUL p.24 FILM: INTO THE OSCAR POOL p.31 STAGE: RICHARD THE THIRD p.33 MUSIC: BETTY WHO p.34 NIGHTLIFE p.37 SCENE: ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 10TH ANNIVERSARY p.37 LISTINGS p.38 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.39 PLAYLIST: ED BAILEY p.42 SCENE: FLASHY SUNDAYS p.44 LAST WORD p.46 Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994

Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Jack McFarland Cover Photography Amy Mayes Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2019 Jansi LLC.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight

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Lolita

F HE HAD TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN, STANLEY KUBRICK once said he probably wouldn’t have bothered adapting Vladimir Nabokov’s novel. The late, legendary filmmaker did not anticipate the level of controversy, criticism, and censorship he faced in bringing the drama to the big screen in 1962 — something he was only able to do after acceding to restrictions by the Motion Picture Association of America that forced him to tone down the more provocative aspects of the tale, about a middle-aged lecturer who becomes sexually obsessed with a young adolescent girl.

Ultimately, it’s a wonder Lolita got made at all, something that seems especially implausible in today’s #MeToo and #TimesUp era.

And yet, critics today pretty uniformly regard it as a masterpiece, with filmmaker David Lynch, for one, citing it as his favorite Kubrick film.

You can see if you agree as well as consider reappraising Lolita next week, when Landmark’s West End Cinema returns the work to the big screen as part of its invaluable Capital Classics series. Starring James Mason, Shelley Winters, Sue Lyon, and the inestimable Peter Sellers.

Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202-534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com/washington-d-c/west-end-cinema.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Spotlight BIG SAM’S FUNKY NATION

For the third year in a row the Hamilton Live! hosts concerts dubbed the official after-parties for the Tedeschi Trucks Band shows taking place around the corner at the Warner Theatre. On Saturday, Feb. 23, comes a band some consider New Orleans’s “best kept secret,” the boisterous blend of funk, jazz, rock, and hip-hop known as the Funky Nation, a six-piece outfit led by “Big Sam” Williams, a former member of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band who had a recurring role on the HBO series Treme. Doors at 11:30 p.m. 600 14th St. NW. Tickets are $10. Call 202-787-1000 or visit www.thehamiltondc.com.

THE OLD MAN, THE YOUTH, AND THE SEA

GALA Hispanic Theatre presents the world premiere of a play it commissioned from Irma Correa, one of Spain’s rising young playwrights, who takes on the tale of Spain’s renowned poet and philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, forced into exiled almost a century ago due to his opposition to the dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera. Helen Hayes Award-winning director José Luis Arellano (2016’s Yerma) helms GALA’s production of El viejo, el joven y el mar, performed in Spanish with English surtitles featuring a cast led by Horacio Peña as Unamuno. The play explores the notions of conflicting loyalties to one’s country and to the moral fight for a just society. Now to March 3. Tivoli Square, 3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $30 to $48. Call 202-234-7174 or visit www.galatheatre.org.

FLEETWOOD MAC

Lindsey Buckingham is out, Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreaker and Neil Finn of Crowded House are in as part of a revamped lineup of the legendary rock band that Mick Fleetwood founded 52 years ago. They join band veterans John McVie, Christine McVie, and the indelible Stevie Nicks on an extensive North American stadium tour presented by LiveNation. Tuesday, March 5, at 8 p.m. Capital One Arena, 601 F St. NW. Call 202-628-3200 or visit www.capitalonearena.com.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight JONATHAN VAN NESS: ROAD TO BEIJING

He’s long made his career as a hairstylist to the stars in Hollywood.

Yet in the past year, Jonathan Van Ness has become known as the breakout star of Netflix’s Emmy-winning Queer Eye reboot, where he’s the grooming guru and self-care advocate. Even so, Van Ness isn’t content with any of that, or in the knowledge that he’s made everyone cry via Queer Eye. In fact, at the moment he wants to make you laugh, touring around with his own standup show. If you’re a Van Ness fan in need of some good laughs, you’ll have to take a number, and make your way to Baltimore, as his debut stop at the Kennedy Center on Friday, March 1, is sold out. Tickets remain for the show Saturday, March 2, at 7 p.m. Hippodrome Theatre, 12 North Eutaw St., Baltimore. Tickets are $65 to $146. Call 410-547-SEAT or visit www.france-merrickpac.com.

THE JULIAN BLISS SEPTET: CELEBRATING GERSHWIN

Virtuoso clarinetist Julian Bliss leads his band on “A Stroll Down Tin Pan Alley,” sharing anecdotes and stories in between performances of American Songbook standards written by George Gershwin and his contemporaries. The program includes a suite from iconic Porgy and Bess, an excerpt from the beloved Rhapsody in Blue, plus classic tunes from “I Got Rhythm” to “Embraceable You” to “Lady Be Good.” Friday, March 1, at 8 p.m. Merchant Hall in the George Mason University Center for the Arts, 4373 Mason Pond Drive, Fairfax. Tickets are $28 to $46.

Call 888-945-2468 or visit www.cfa.gmu.edu.

THE WASHINGTON BALLET: THE SLEEPING BEAUTY

Julie Kent and Victor Barbee, famed alumnus of New York’s American Ballet Theatre, now work as a married team leading the Washington Ballet as Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director, respectively. Their latest collaborative project: ushering in the Washington company’s first full-length production of this quintessential classical ballet, inspired by the timeless fairy tale about the power of true love’s kiss and the triumph of good over evil. Kent and Barbee have overseen the staging plus added enhancements to Marius Petipa’s classic choreography, set to Tchaikovsky’s famed score. Performances begin Wednesday, Feb. 27. To March 3. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $25 to $160. Call the Kennedy Center Box Office at 202-467-4600 or visit www.thewashingtonballet.org.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Out On The Town

SCHITT’S CREEK: UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL

One of the most popular series available for streaming on Netflix, Schitt’s Creek is a quirky, thoroughly Canadian show that has spread like wildfire for all the right reasons. The series wouldn’t be half as strong or hilarious without Eugene Levy and Catherine O’Hara’s over-the-top portrayals of Johnny and Moira Rose, a formerly rich and famous couple who’ve washed up in a dreary small town — proverbially without a paddle. Yet Schitt’s Creek wouldn’t exist at all were it not for Daniel Levy, who enlisted his father to help turn his inspired kernel of an idea into a full-fledged series, and proceded to cast himself as David Rose, the pampered gay son. As it happens, it was also the younger Levy’s idea to take the show on the road, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and insights and taking questions from the audience. “The idea of putting a live show together really stemmed from the enthusiasm of the fans and the desire to provide a venue where we could celebrate the show with them,” Levy told the Los Angeles Times. In addition to the Levys and OHara, the tour features Annie Murphy, who plays Alexis, the Roses’ other spoiled, self-absorbed spawn, as well as Emily Hampshire (motel manager Stevie) and Noah Reid (David’s boyfriend Patrick). Unfortunately, enthusiasm among D.C. fans was so great, the one-night-only show, set for this Friday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m., sold out long ago. That said, tickets are available via online resellers such as StubHub and VividSeats, ranging in price from $100 to $150 each. D.A.R. Constitution Hall, 1776 D St. NW. Call 202-628-1776 or visit www.dar.org/conthall.

Compiled by Doug Rule

FILM ARCHITECTURE & DESIGN FILM FESTIVAL/ADFF D.C.

This weekend, the National Building Museum hosts the second annual D.C. offshoot of the largest film festival devoted to design and the built environment. A particular focus is on documentaries featuring many of the field’s leading practitioners and exploring challenges to address issues of social justice, diversity, technology, and equity.

Two dozen films are on the dock-

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et, including: the D.C. premiere of Ultan Guilfoyle’s Frank Gehry: Building Justice, which follows the celebrity architect’s investigation into all aspects of prison design in the U.S., screening Thursday, Feb. 21, at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 23, at 4:45 p.m.; Basia and Leonard Myszynski’s Leaning Out, which tells the story of Leslie Robertson, the lead structural engineer of New York’s World Trade Center and a pacifist forever haunted by 9/11, on Friday, Feb. 22, at 6:30 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m.; Mies on Scene, Barcelona in Two Acts,

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

which shines a light on the revolutionary work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich via their temporary 1929 Barcelona Pavilion, on Friday, Feb. 22, at 6 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 2:30 p.m.; Carlos Saura’s Renzo Piano: The Architect of Light, focused on the Italian architect behind the Center Pompidou and the New York Times Building, on Friday, Feb. 22, at 8:30 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m.; and Premjit Ramachandran’s Doshi, focused on the contemporary Indian architect and 2018 Pritzker Prize winner Balkrishna Doshi,

on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 12:15 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 4:15 p.m.

Films will screen in three separate theaters, including one in the Great Hall, and a number of the screenings will be followed by panel discussions and filmmaker Q&As. This year’s festival also introduces a Film Festival Lounge and the intimate, 14-seat Sony Home Theater, where six short films will screen throughout the festival. 401 F St. NW. Tickets are $12 to $15 per film program, or $135 for an All Access pass. Call 202-272-2448 or visit www.nbm.org for a full schedule and information.

SCOTT HENRICHSEN

THE CRYING GAME

BREWERS AND SHAKERS

The gay-owned Red Bear Brewing Co. hopes to open its doors to D.C.’s discerning gastronomists very soon.

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T WAS THE DESIRE FOR A CAREER CHANGE AND A CROSS-COUNTRY MOVE that sparked the idea for Red Bear Brewing Co., a new tavern set to open in D.C.’s NoMa neighborhood this spring. Seattle resident Simon Bee told his friend Bryan Van Den Oever about his plans to open up a nanobrewery in Washington, D.C. “Overnight, I thought about it and called him the next morning asking if he was looking for a partner,” says Van Den Oever, one of the new establishment’s three co-owners.

Along with Cameron Raspet, they launched Red Bear — a reference to the owners’ roots in Washington State and its large bear population, as well as the fact that Bee and Van Den Oever are redheads — in one of D.C.’s most rapidly gentrifying neighborhoods.

“We wanted to be able to brew our own beer, serve it with food, and open up a community space where everyone would feel welcome,” says Van Den Oever, who adds they’re intentionally making the 7,000 square-foot space a safe place for all populations.

“We definitely want to be a comfortable space for the community to come into,” says Van Den Oever. “We are cognizant of the ADA population, so most of our tables are ADA height.

As we hire folks to work here, we request that everyone starts or continues to learn ASL for the deaf community, which makes sense given how close we are to Gallaudet University.”

Red Bear will offer a core group of beers on draft, based on their popularity among customers, as well as 64 draft wines, cider, and mead. Customers will be able to order craft cocktails, made with spirits from local distillers like Republic Restoratives and Green Hat. Most of the beer will be produced for in-house consumption, but some will be stored in kegs and distributed to local bar.

While all three owners are gay, and the company will sponsor the Washington Renegades Rugby Football Club, the space is not solely intended for LGBTQ clientele.

“It will be a mixed crowd,” says Van Den Oever. “I think we’ll have a fairly decent showing from the LGBTQ community, especially because we’re trying to be so welcoming, but we’ll have to see.”

The bar is scheduled to open next month, so long as there are no bureaucratic delays.

“Our grand opening could be around St. Patrick’s Day weekend,” Van Den Oever says. “That would be amazing, especially since we did a collaboration beer with Lough Gill Brewing in Sligo, Ireland. To have that on tap by St. Patrick’s Day would be ideal.” —John Riley Red Bear Brewing Co. is located at 209 M St. SE. To be informed about its official opening date, sign up at www.redbear.beer.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Joshua Vogelsong (Donna Slash) continues his queer Screen Queen series at the 35-seat, living-room cozy Suns Cinema in Mount Pleasant. The February run is focused on some of the most raw and brutally honest stories about trans experiences. It concludes with one of the first films to bring mainstream attention to the cause: Neil Jordan’s drama from 1992.

Metro Weekly selected The Crying Game for its original “25 Gay Films Everyone Should See” list in 2009, noting that, “Amid a tale of Irish terrorists and intrigue, Jaye Davidson as Dil stole the show. [His] portrayal of a sexy, transgender seductress brought gender issues to the fore as few movies have before or since.” Patrons can enjoy snacks, including fresh offerings from Suns’ vintage popcorn machine, as well as drinks from the full-service bar, which will remain open afterwards to encourage post-show discussion.

Monday, Feb. 25, at 8 p.m. 3107 Mount Pleasant St. NW. Tickets are $5. Visit www.sunscinema.com.

STAGE AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’

Joe Calarco directs Signature Theatre’s production of Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show, for which he converted the Shirlington complex’s large Max Theatre into a 1930s-era Harlem nightclub in tribute. Iyona Blake, Kevin McAllister, and Nova Y. Payton lead an all-star cast performing the Waller-penned hits from the Tony-winning musical, including “The Joint Is Jumpin’,” “Honeysuckle Rose,” and “Handful of Keys.” Mark G. Meadows serves as musical director and onstage pianist, with choreography by Jared Grimes.

To March 10. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington. Call 703-820-9771 or visit www.sigtheatre.org.

BLOOD AT THE ROOT

A black student disrupts the status quo at her high school merely by venturing into an area typically occupied by white students, unintentionally provoking an uptick in hate speech, violence, and chaos.

Playwright Dominique Morisseau was inspired by the Jena Six, the black teenagers who were reflexively condemned and excessively charged after a 2006 altercation with a white student turned brutal in their Louisiana small-town.

Directed by Raymond O. Caldwell, this Theater Alliance production features choreography by Tiffany Quinn and an 11-person cast including Molly Shayna Cohen, Billie Krishawn, Emmanuel KyeiBaffour, Deimoni Brewington, Paul Roeckell, and Stephanie Wilson.

Blood at the Root is touted as a moving, lyrical, and bold examination of the complexities of race and

are $40 to $95. Call 202-488-3300 or visit www.arenastage.org.

THE KING AND I

From the opening strains of its lush overture, The King and I announces its commitment to pomp and pageantry. The Tony-winning revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s beloved musical is cast with greater sensitivity towards verisimilitude than that original 1951 production.

Director Bartlett Sher’s sumptuous rendition is engineered to please both Rodgers & Hammerstein fans and musical theater traditionalists, however it is not a destination for the artistically adventurous: The underlying musical is showing its age. Thursday, Feb. 21, and Friday, Feb. 22, at 8 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 23, at 2 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, at 1 and 6:30 p.m. Hippodrome Theatre, 12 North Eutaw St., Baltimore. Tickets are $52 to $173.50. Call 410-547-SEAT or visit www.france-merrickpac.com.

MUSIC ADELINE

This French-Caribbean dynamo has spent the past decade as the unforgettable, undeniable diva of Escort, she of the “buttery R&B” voice (per NPR). Fortunately, Adeline Michele is still associated with that funky nu-disco orchestra from New York. Yet the bass-playing singer-songwriter has also branched out to try her hand at a mononymous solo career. Adeline is currently touring in support of her self-titled debut album, which nods to obvious influences such as Chaka Khan and Curtis Mayfield as well as to her contemporaries, from Hercules & Love Affair to, well, Escort. D.C.’s Mixxstress, a “multi-hyphenate entertainer” as vocalist/songwriter/DJ/producer, opens. Sunday, Feb. 24.

Doors at 7 p.m. Union Stage, 740 Water St. SW. Tickets are $12 in advance, $15 at the door. Call 877-987-6487 or visit www.unionstage.com.

individual freedoms, as well as the link between justice and identity. Previews begin Saturday, Feb. 23. Opens Friday, March 1. Runs to March 24. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $40 to $50 and half-off during previews. Call 202-241-2539 or visit www.theateralliance.com.

CYRANO

An athletic, commedia dell’arte retelling of Edmond Rostand’s world-famous story that, in true Synetic Theater fashion, is also wordless — brought to the stage

by Vato Tsikurishvili, the son of Synetic’s founders in his directorial debut. Cyrano revolves around the plight of Cyrano de Bergerac, a brilliant poet and soldier who decides to woo his beloved Roxane with the help of his charismatic and confident friend Christian. What

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could possibly go wrong? To March 10. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington.

Tickets are $20. Call 800-811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.

THE HEIRESS

Arena Stage’s Deputy Artistic Director Seema Sueko directs a new production, staged in the round, of this classic thriller suggested by the Henry James novel Washington Square and focused on a 19th-century young woman’s journey to find her voice. Laura C. Harris portrays Catherine Sloper while Jonathan David Martin is her possible suitor in a production also featuring Lise Bruneau, Lorene Chesley, Janet Hayatshahi, Nancy Robinette, Kimberly Schraf, James Whalen, and Nathan Whitmer. To March 10. In the round in the Fichandler Stage, Mead Center for American Theater, 1101 6th St. SW. Tickets

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

ANJALI TANEJA

Equally influenced by Sam Cooke and Ravi Shankar, this D.C. native singer-songwriter aims to infuse R&B and pop music with Bollywood rhythms to bring the sounds of her heritage to a wider audience.

A recent graduate of Princeton University who sings in Hindi, Punjabi, French, and English, Taneja gets a chance to showcase her musical efforts at Strathmore as part of a series of concerts featuring the 2019 class of the organization’s esteemed program Artists in Residence. Grammy-nominated Christylez Bacon, The Voice contestant Owen Danoff, and Princeand Stevie Wonder-collaborator Frédéric Yonnet are just three of the 80-plus young musicians who have been mentored through the program since 2005. Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7:30 p.m. The Mansion, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda.

Tickets are $17. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

BROTHERS OSBORNE

Although one of today’s hottest acts in country music — as the reigning Vocal Duo of the Year at the CMAs for three years running — brothers John and T.J. Osborne are not the genre’s typical shrinking violets when it comes to politics. They campaigned and performed for the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for Texas governor last year, for one thing. They’ve also been relatively provocative with their music videos — lampooning Trump’s “Space Force” initiative in “Shoot Me Straight,” and celebrating diversity through inclusion of same-sex as well as interracial couples in “Stay A Little Longer.” The Osbornes grew up on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland, and whether that

plays any part in their willingness to engage or provoke politically, it certainly did influence their folksy yet stadium/big-room country-rock sound — something of a cross between Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger, with a little Tom Petty and a little more Willie Nelson thrown in for good measure. Both brothers sing and play guitar, but John the elder, aged 36, is the lead shredder while his little brother by two years takes center stage with his thick and deep baritone powering song after song. Ruston Kelly, aka Mr. Kacey Musgraves, opens. Saturday, Feb. 23. Doors at 6:30 p.m. The Anthem, 901 Wharf St. SW. Tickets are $40 to $75. Call 202-888-0020 or visit www.theanthemdc.com.

WASHINGTON BACH CONSORT

Dana Marsh, the consort’s new artistic director, kicks off the spring season with the first of two Italianinfluenced concerts that, as he puts it, “showcase Bach’s attempt to out-Italian the Italians.” The consort’s acclaimed chorus takes center stage with the program “Soavi accenti: Glories of the Italian Madrigal,” focused on 16th-century madrigals written by Claudio Monteverdi. Akin to today’s pop music, these songs spread throughout Europe via traveling musicians and would go on to inspire composers in England and Germany — naturally including Bach — to apply their own styles to the form.

Drinks will be available before the performance in the new lobby Bach Bar, and chocolate tastings will be on offer after the show courtesy of The Chocolate House. Friday, Feb. 22, Live! at 10th and G, 945 G ST. NW. Tickets are $10 to $35. Call 202-628-4317 or visit www.bachconsort.org.

COMEDY BECOMING: THE COMEDY SHOW

Inspired by Michelle Obama’s memoir Becoming, the bestselling book of 2018, Novel Comedy presents a program of stand-up, readings, and reminiscences about the “good ol’ days” of pre-Trump Washington. Area comedians will share stories about the Obamas and read excerpts from the book, as well as recount attempts to follow the former First Lady’s eating guidelines. The event is being advertised as “the next best thing to a Michelle Obama book tour.” Friday, Feb. 22.

Doors at 7:30 p.m. Solid State Books, 600 H St. NE. Tickets are $5 for a guaranteed seat. Call 897-4201 or visit www.solidstatebooksdc.com.

ART & EXHIBITS DAVID R. IBATA: I SEE A DARKNESS

Logan Circle’s small but mighty gallery Transformer presents a

Here are some highlights, several of particular LGBTQ note: JANE FRANKLIN DANCE — Border,

Saturday, Feb. 23, at 5:15 p.m. Tickets are $25. *DISSONANCE DANCE THEATRE

— The top-notch professional company founded and led by gay AfricanAmerican choreographer Shawn Short presents Fluid, an evening-length contemporary ballet drawing inspiration from physical theater and Afromodern dance, set to the music of Ezio Bosso. Sunday, March 3, at 2:30 p.m. tickets are $30. *RIOT BRRRAIN: READING & ROUNDTABLE — An unconventional

musical, first presented at last year's Capital Fringe, and billed as an “epic punk-filled journey” that follows a neurosyphilitic man’s quest “to track down the culprit who passed on the pox.” Sunday, Feb. 24, at 3 p.m. Free.

*CITY AT PEACE WITH THE GENOUT YOUTH CHORUS — The Gay Men’s

Dissonance Dance Theatre

ART WITHOUT BORDERS

*THE IN SERIES: DUKE ELLINGTON’S NEIGHBORHOOD — Designed with

Exploring the options and opportunities at the Atlas Intersections festival, celebrating its 10th year.

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Chorus of Washington’s youth ensemble will be the special guests of City at Peace, the youth development program, directed by Sandi Holloway of the Atlas. Saturday, March 2, at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $15.

S A SOCIETY, WE PUT UP FAR TOO MANY BORDERS — AND NOT ONLY IN the Literal, wall-building physical sense. There are also “those dividing lines that people often experience in their lives for one reason or the other because of their race, their gender,” Jane Franklin says. “There are all those groupings and sub-groupings.

We seem to find ourselves pulled apart from...people who are different.”

The Arlington-based choreographer explores those themes in a new work that her eponymous dance company will perform at this year’s Atlas Intersections Festival.

Border is based on interviews that Franklin conducted with nearly two dozen community members — many of them immigrants pursuing citizenship or refugees seeking asylum — whose experiences, told in their own words, helped shape the piece’s movement. Border is a perfect fit for Intersections, whose tagline is “where the art world and the real world intersect.”

“We're always looking to present art and artists that...in many ways informs and educates us about issues and concerns and themes of the day,” says Douglas Yeuell, executive director of the Atlas Performing Arts Center. Now in its 10th year, Intersections, over the next two weekends, will present 50 performances and roughly 200 artists, ranging from musicians to filmmakers, dancers to speakers.

It’s a great, welcoming festival with a wide range of things happening,” says Franklin, an Intersections participant for several years. “And it’s a wonderful opportunity for us.

Since so much of our work is very collaborative, the festival is really appealing to us, [presenting] opportunities to work with other artists from other disciplines to experiment.”

children and families in mind, the program features a live jazz trio and singers paying tribute to the homegrown jazz pioneer who influenced the Harlem Renaissance and helped shape the cultural history of D.C. Saturday, March 2, at 11:30 p.m. Tickets are $15. *NOT WHAT YOU THINK — Started as

an a cappella ensemble of the former Lesbian and Gay Chorus of Washington, the group pursues equality and social justice through performance of pop, jazz, and folk. Sunday, March 3, at 5:15 p.m. Free.

— Doug Rule Intersections kicks off with a Launch Party on Thursday, Feb. 21, from 6:30 to 8 p.m., and runs this weekend and next at the Atlas, 1333 H St. NE. A festival pass is $75; individual ticket prices vary. Call 202-399-7993 or visit www.atlasarts.org/intersections for a full schedule and details.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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MXDC

NATIONAL MARGARITA DAY

Everyday is National Margarita Day for some of us, but officially, it comes just once a year: Friday, Feb. 22. Among the offerings around town, you can’t do much better than the “wallet-friendly” fare at Todd English’s modern Mexican restaurant in the historic Garfinkel’s building. Priced from $6 to $12 each, MXDC will feature four of its popular margaritas that day, including the Margarita Blanca with Don Julio blanco, MXDC cordial, fresh lime juice, and agave and the Cadillac Margarita with Don Julio reposado, Grand Marnier, agave, and lime. MXDC will also offer four specialty shooters for those who prefer their tequila straight as a shot. All libations will be available from 11:30 a.m. to midnight. 600 14th St. NW. Call 202-393-1900 or visit www.mxdcrestaurant.com.

El Rey, the popular U Street taqueria and beer garden part of the local Hilton Bros. empire, is another good option for some good old margarita magic, especially if you’ll be imbibing in a group, party-style — or if you prefer your margs frozen. Enthusiasts can risk a brain freeze with a lime, strawberry, or mango slushie, or can pucker up with ’rita on the rocks in varieties including classic, blueberry, strawberry, or mango. The price rises slightly as the sun goes down: all margaritas are $7 apiece from noon to 7 p.m., or $9 fro 7 p.m. to close — unless you prefer to order by the pitcher, which will run $24 to 7 p.m., $32 after. 919 U St. NW. Call 202-506-6418 or visit www.elreydc.com.

new series of paintings from Ibata in its 16th Annual DC Artist Solo Exhibition. A copyist at the National Gallery of Art educated at the Corcoran College of Art & Design as well as New York Academy of Art, Ibata reflects the complexities of growing up in an American culture steeped in violence and focuses on the psyches of hardened men.

On display to Feb. 23. Transformer, 1404 P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit www.transformerdc.org.

FAX AYRES: LIGHTPAINTING PHOTOGRAPHY

The Charlottesville-based artist Fax Ayres combines the aesthetics of photography and painting with a focus on everyday objects and scenes, presenting the mundane in new ways and in unlikely, whimsical compilations, imbuing subjects with an almost surreal quality.

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Through his “lightpainting” technique, Ayres tries to extract beauty and personality from everyday things by staging still-life vignettes in the dark, then carefully painting individual components with light, and finally assembling multiple images together to create the final photograph. What results are surprising compositions hinting at dramatic back stories, or suggesting larger, and sometimes darker, uses for the piece or pieces of equipment, food, gourd, or toy depicted.

To Feb. 24. The Athenaeum, 201 Prince St., Alexandria. Call 703548-0035 or visit www.nvfaa.org.

HILL CENTER GALLERIES: REGIONAL JURIED EXHIBITION

Over the years, this exhibition, featuring works in various mediums and subjects, has grown to include over 80 artists from D.C., Virginia,

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

and Maryland. This year’s juror is Caitlin Berry of Hemphill Fine Arts. Artists represented include: Lory Ivey Alexander, Katherine Altom, Fabiola Alvarez Yurcisin, Kasse Andrews-Weller, Kimberley Bursic, Elizabeth Casqueiro, Marilyn Christiano, Kim DiDonatoMurrell, Christopher Fowler, Ric Garcia, Paul Hrusa, JoAnn Lamicella Laboy, Phet Lew, Rashad Muhammad, Khanh Nguyen, Zachary Reid, Judy Searles, Carol Ward, and Acquaetta Williams.

On display to March 3. Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE. Call 202-549-4172 or visit www.

HillCenterDC.org.

MARK BRADFORD: TOMORROW IS ANOTHER DAY

The Baltimore Museum of Art showcases the work of the gay

African-American artist specifically through an installation of painting, sculpture, and video first presented at the 2017 Venice Biennale.

The installations on display in Tomorrow Is Another Day weave a complex, multi-layered narrative incorporating themes and figures from Bradford’s personal life as well as from Greek mythology and the universe. One example is Spoiled Foot, a behemoth collage installation inspired by the story of Hephaestus, the god of artists and makers, that hangs from the ceiling and literally bears down on visitors, pushing them to the periphery of the room. The exhibition also conveys a belief in art’s ability to expose contradictory histories and inspire action in the present day, particularly among those in traditionally marginalized communities — by featuring silk-screened t-shirts and tote bags created by local youth from Baltimore’s Greenmount West Community Center with support and guidance from the Los Angelesbased artist, all available for purchase in a pop-up shop adjacent to the exhibition. To March 3. 10 Art Museum Dr. Baltimore. Call 443573-1700 or visit www.artbma.org.

PERFUME & SEDUCTION

The captivating evolution of perfume bottles and accessories from the 18th through the mid-20th centuries is told through the display of nearly 150 pieces, those taken from Hillwood’s collection as well as from Givaudan, the Swiss manufacturer of fragrances and cosmetics. Complementing the exhibition are a “scented suite of workshops,” such as the Hands-on Workshop: Fragrant Floral Design in which participants will create an arrangement of blooms, offered on Saturday, Feb. 23, at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. On display to June 9.

Hillwood Estate, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested donation is $18.

Call 202-686-5807 or visit www.

HillwoodMuseum.org.

REDISCOVERING BALTIMORE’S FORGOTTEN MOVIE THEATERS

A survey of Baltimore’s movie-going past from 1896 to the present, this Flickering Treasures exhibition at the National Building Museum features oral histories, architectural fragments, theater ephemera, and of course photography — particularly vivid, contemporary shots from Baltimore Sun staff photographer Amy Davis. All of it illuminates themes of memory, loss, and preservation, as well as the importance of movies and movie houses in 20th century American life. While only a handful of more than 240 theaters built in Charm City still function today, many survive in some form, as documented in this exhibition.

On display to Oct. 2019. 401 F St. NW. Call 202-272-2448 or visit www.nbm.org.

of the National Institute on Drug Abuse at the National Institutes of Health, Corey Waller of Health Management Associates and the American Society of Addiction Medicine, and Martha R. Temple of Optum Behavioral Health.

Wednesday, Feb. 27, at 7 p.m. The William G. McGowan Theater, Constitution Avenue between 7th and 9th Streets NW. NW. Free, with reservations recommended; first-come, first-seated. Call 202357-5000 or visit www.archivesfoundation.org.

LANDLESS THEATRE COMPANY

CAPITAL REMODEL + GARDEN SHOW

THE DOYLE AND DEBBIE SHOW / PUFFS

The eccentric Landless Theatre Company returns with two shows staged in repertory at the District of Columbia Arts Center. There’s Bruce Arnston’s parody The Doyle and Debbie Show, which simultaneously lampoons and idolizes country music’s tradition of iconic duos and their subsequent battle of the sexes, starring Andrew Lloyd Baughman and Karissa Swanigan-Upchurch and directed by John Sadowsky (Gutenberg! The Musical!). And then there’s Puffs, or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic, Matt Cox’s tale of those who just happened to attend Wizard School at the same time as a certain boy wizard, dedicated to “anyone who has never been destined to save the world.” To March 30. District of Columbia Arts Center (DCAC), 2438 18th St. NW. Call 202-462-7833 or visit www.dcartscenter.org.

SPARKPLUG: LIGHT LIMINAL

Karen Joan Topping, a founding member of the Sparkplug Collective, curates an exhibition of 10 artists who literally and symbolically employ light and darkness, as well as explore themes of communication and empathy, in painting, drawing, sculpture, and photography. On display at the District of Columbia Arts Center will be works

by Tom Greaves, Sarah J. Hull, Shana Kohnstamm, Alanna Reeves, Azadeh Sahraeian, Elizabeth H. Sampson, Alexandra Silverthorne, Sarah Stefana Smith, Madeline A. Stratton, and Steve Wanna.

Opening Reception is Friday, Feb. 22, from 7 to 9 p.m. On display to March 24, with a Closing Reception with Artists & Curator Talk set for Sunday, March 17. 2438 18th St. NW. Call 202-462-7833 or visit www.dcartscenter.org.

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FOOD & DRINK RAMEN WORLD 5

Modeled after epic ramen halls in Japan, local food incubator Mess Hall once a year offers D.C. gourmands a taste not only of the city’s best ramen, but also of the hottest Asian food and restaurant concepts. This year’s event, which raises funds for the Capital Area Food Bank, features offerings from #RamenAllStars including Bad Saint chef Tom Cunanan, Himitsu’s Kevin Tien, Daikaya’s Katsuya Fukushima, Paper Horse’s Erik Bruner-Yang, Fat Nomads, Uzu’s Hiroaki Mitsui, plus the PhoWheels food truck steered by Huy Nguyen.

In the #FriendsofRamen category, there’s Momo Yakitori desserts cooked over Japanese charcoals by Andrew Chiou, Karen Hoefener’s Nomad Dumplings, the confectionary Matsukawaya, and Kombini’s twist on onigiri. Wash it all down with beer from Kirin Ichiban, craft cocktails featuring Suntory spirits and Pratt Standard Syrups, or liquor from the Frederick, Md.based American Shochu Company.

Ticketed in two-hour rounds, at

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

noon and 3 p.m., on Sunday, Feb. 24. 703 Edgewood St. NE. Tickets are $97.10 (with fees) for general admission with unlimited food and drink plus a take-home bottle of Tamari Soy Sauce or San-J Marinade. Visit ramenworld4. eventbrite.com.

ABOVE & BEYOND ADDICTION: DOCUMENTARY SCREENING WITH PANEL DISCUSSION

Next week, the National Archives offers a free screening of Sarah Holt’s PBS Nova documentary that looks at addiction not as a moral failing but as a chronic, treatable medical condition — and one that has become the deadliest epidemic in U.S. history due to easy access to heroin, fentanyl, and Oxycontin.

Following the screening of the hour-long documentary, which originally aired last October, comes a panel moderated by Miles O’Brien, the national science correspondent for the PBS NewsHour, and featuring Holt, Admiral James “Sandy” Winnefeld and Mary Winnefeld of the SAFE Project, Nora Volkow

Clint Harp, the dumpster diving, reclaimed wood-loving carpenter from HGTV’s Fixer Upper who also provides quality furniture and home goods through Harp Design Co., his new venture with his wife Kelly Harp, headlines this show at the Dulles Expo Center. Presented by Marketplace Events, the focus of the February show is on gardening and landscaping. In addition to Harp, who appears on the Main Home Stage on Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, this year’s show also features Mike McGrath, garden editor for WTOP News Radio and host of the nationally syndicated public radio show You Bet Your Garden, who appears on the Main Home Stage on Saturday, Feb. 23, and Sunday, Feb. 24. Attendees also will be able to solicit advice, gather information and purchase services from experts in the home remodeling, renovation, home décor, landscape and garden design fields.

All told, more than 300 exhibitors are set to attend. A central feature is on the more than 4,500 square feet garden space overseen by four large local garden and landscape companies — Vista Pro Landscape & Design, Blue Sky Landscaping, Meadows Farms, and Premium Lawn & Landscape — showcasing new looks, techniques, and technology to inspire attendees to start their spring projects in everything from gardening and landscaping, to patios and outdoor furniture, to water features. In addition, local floral design artist May Bernhardt of Mayflowers will lead hands-on workshops in the art of succulent arranging throughout the weekend, and the Merrifield Garden Center will present a Flower Market filled with fresh flowers and plants and related goods for purchase. Friday, Feb. 22, and Saturday, Feb. 23, from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Sunday, Feb. 24, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

4320 Chantilly Shopping Center, Virginia. Tickets are $12 at the box office or $9 online, or free for federal employees with government ID. Call 800-274-6948 or visit www. capitalremodelandgarden.com. l

theFeed

STOPPING HATE

Trump administration planning global campaign to end criminalization of homosexuality. By Rhuaridh Marr

T

HE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION IS PREPPING a global campaign that will push for an end to the criminalization of homosexuality. NBC News spoke to U.S. officials on Tuesday who said that U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, the highest-ranking gay person in Trump’s administration, will lead the campaign. The push to end criminalization began tonight at an event in Berlin, where LGBTQ activists meet for a strategy dinner. Details have still to be finalized, but the campaign will focus on decriminalization, instead of a wider gamut of LGBTQ issues such as transgender rights or same-sex marriage.

The campaign, which is somewhat at odds with the Trump administration’s actions targeting or affecting the LGBTQ community in America, is in part designed to shame Iran over its human rights record.

Homosexuality is currently illegal in Iran, with samesex sexual activity punishable by imprisonment, corporal punishment (including lashings), and even execution. After the 1979 Islamic Revolution in the country, the country executed “homosexuals, prostitutes and adulterers,” according to the New York Times.

As of 2018, there are 73 countries — mainly in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia — where same-sex sexual activity

is still criminalized, according to LGBTQ rights website Equaldex.

“It is concerning that, in the 21st century, some 70 countries continue to have laws that criminalize LGBTI status or conduct,” one of the officials involved in the Berlin meeting told NBC News.

The campaign, which will reportedly work with a number of international organizations — including the United Nations and European Union — and nations with strong LGBTQ rights records, was apparently devised after the recent hanging of a young gay man in Iran. According to the Jerusalem Post, a 31-year-old Iranian man was hanged on Jan. 10 on charges of same-sex sexual activity and kidnapping.

In a column for German newspaper Bild, Grenell called reports of the hanging a “wakeup call for anyone who supports basic human rights.”

“This is not the first time the Iranian regime has put a gay man to death with the usual outrageous claims of prostitution, kidnapping, or even pedophilia,” he wrote. “And it sadly won’t be the last time they do it either. Barbaric public executions are all too common in a country where consensual homosexual relationships are criminalized and punishable by flogging and death.” l

BLOCKING HATE

Federal judge halts discharges of HIV-positive Air Force members. By John Riley

A

FEDERAL JUDGE HAS ORDERED THE U.S. Department of Defense and Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan to halt discharge proceedings against HIV-positive Air Force members who sued in order to keep their jobs.

The lead plaintiffs, known as “Richard Roe” and “Victor Voe” to protect their identities, are two Airmen who were given discharge orders and deemed “unfit for military service just before Thanksgiving despite having met all of the medical and physical requirements to serve, and receiving support from both their medical providers and commanding officers.

Leonie Brinkema, a U.S. District Court Judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, rejected the government’s request to dismiss the men’s lawsuit, and issued a preliminary injunction to block the discharges of the two Airmen and other HIV-positive service members.

In her opinion, Brinkema found that the classification of Roe and Voe as “nondeployable” due to their serostatus was based on outdated medical science, and that the two were more than likely to succeed in proving that they were discriminated against.

“The military is an institution like no other in our system of government. It has unique institutional interests and experience. The decisions it makes are thus entitled to deference from the coordinate branches, and particularly from the judicial branch, whose officers are largely shielded from the exigencies of military life,” Brinkema wrote.

“Nonetheless, the military remains a branch of government and so is bound to follow the Constitution and laws of the United States. And the judiciary’s responsibility remains to enforce those laws and protect the rights of individuals vulnerable to arbitrary exercises of governmental authority.

“Courts must examine questions of military policy with

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

19

theFeed care and humility — but examine them they must,” she continued. “Here, plaintiffs have made a strong preliminary showing that the Air Force’s approach to service members living with HIV is irrational, inconsistent, and at variance with modem science.”

Lawyers for the two Airmen celebrated the injunction, which will prevent their clients from being discharged as the case works its way through the courts.

“This is a major victory in our fight to ensure everyone living with HIV can serve their country without discrimination,” Scott Schoettes, counsel and HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal, said in a statement. “These decisions should be based on science, not stigma, as today’s ruling from the bench demonstrates. Despite President Trump’s promise to improve the lives of people living with HIV at the State of the Union this month, his administration continues to defend these policies and others discriminating against people most impacted by HIV. Lambda Legal will keep fighting until these brave and qualified Airmen can serve without limitation.”

OutServe-SLDN, which has signed on as an organizational plaintiff to represent the interests of some of its HIV-positive active-duty service members, also praised Brinkema’s decision.

“We are thrilled that Judge Brinkema recognized not just that the military’s policies were harming our members who are living and serving with HIV, but also indicated that, at least on the evidence before her, the military’s decisions were based on outdated medical science and are categorical-

ly denying people living with HIV the same opportunities as their fellow service members.”

The lawsuit, which will now move forward on its merits, strikes at the heart of the Pentagon’s February 2018 “Deploy of Get Out” policy, which was originally drafted to justify the separation of transgender troops. Under that policy, the Pentagon is to identify service members who cannot be deployed to military posts outside of the United States for more than 12 consecutive months.

But in addition to flagging transgender service members, military leaders within the Air Force have begun flagging HIV-positive members for discharge, even though someone who is adhering regularly to antiretrovirals is unlikely to pass on the virus and would be able to deploy anywhere at a moment’s notice, if needed.

Other branches of the military have made clear they will not be discharging HIV-positive service members under the “Deploy or Get Out” policy. Nonetheless, Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN have filed two other lawsuits challenging the military’s classification of HIV-positive individuals as “nondeployable.” One of those cases involves a challenge brought by by Sgt. Nick Harrison, a member of the D.C. Army National Guard who was denied a position in the Judge Advocate General Corps because he was HIVpositive.

“This is a big win,” tweeted GLAAD following Brinkema’s decision. “No service member should face discharge from the Trump Administration simply because they are living with HIV.” l

MILE-HIGH EQUALITY

Six U.S. airlines will offer non-binary gender options for passengers. By Rhuaridh Marr

S

IX MAJOR U.S. AIRLINES WILL INTRODUCE gender nonspecific options for passengers during the ticketing process.

Alaska, American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest and United will allow passengers to identify themselves as other than male or female, the Associated Press reports. The new gender options will include “undisclosed,” “unspecified,” and possibly the title “Mx.” “We certainly have a very diverse customer base,” Matt Miller, a spokesperson for American Airlines, said. “This will be well-received, and we’re happy to do it.”

United Airlines tweeted that the change would come into effect “in the coming weeks.” They added: “Customers will be able to select the gender with which they most closely identify during the booking process.”

A new international standard has been approved by members of Airlines for America (A4A), the airline industry trade group, and the International Air Transport Association, and will come into effect on June 1.

“U.S. airlines value a culture of diversity and inclusion, both in the workplace and for our passengers, and we work hard each day to accommodate the needs of all travelers,

20

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

while delivering a safe, secure and enjoyable flight experience,” A4A said in a statement.

Delta, which isn’t part of A4A, said in a separate statement that it was making the change as part of its “ongoing efforts to accommodate the needs of diverse customers throughout our business.”

LGBTQ organizations hailed the move by the airlines as an important shift towards equality.

“It’s a significant step forward for nonbinary individuals,” the Human Rights Campaign’s Beck Bailey told the AP, “so they are not faced with a mismatch between their ticketing information and their legal identification.”

In a statement, the National Center for Transgender Equality applauded the move by the airlines to reflect “the diversity of their passengers.”

“Non-binary people face unnecessary, invasive, and discriminatory scrutiny by airlines, airports, and security services alike,” sais spokesperson Arli Christian. “A4A’s work is in line with other states who offer gender neutral designations on IDs and is an important step toward ensuring safe and smooth travel for all passengers regardless of their gender.” l

Community THURSDAY, FEB. 21

CONNOR MCLAREN

AGLA hosts a meeting of its new AGLA MONTHLY BOOK CLUB at Crystal Thai Restaurant to discuss The End of Eddy, by Edouard Louis.

Everyone welcome. Please RSVP in advance. You may also wish to optionally dine (separate checks) if you desire. 7:30 p.m. 4819 1st St. N., Arlington, Va. To RSVP or for more information, email info@agla.org.

Flip Cup

FUN, FROLIC, AND FUNDRAISERS Whether it’s a video game tournament or playing league flip cup, some of the best weekend action can be found at local bars.

I

F YOU’RE SEARCHING FOR WEEKEND FUN IN D.C., SOMETIMES ALL YOU need to do is check out the local watering holes. Take, for instance, Cobalt, where DC Gaymers holds twice-monthly tournaments on alternating Friday evenings. “We want to make our events accessible to as many people as possible,” says Miguel Miranda, administrator of the group of LGBTQ video game enthusiasts. “We want people to try out different games, introduce them to other gamers, and give them a chance to win prizes.”

In the past, Gaymers have held tournaments for Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and a number of other games. This month, they’ve selected Street Fighter V for their game night on Feb. 22.

“Street Fighter is one of those original fighting games that people grew up playing,” says Miranda. “We want to appeal to people’s sense of nostalgia, and encourage some of the game’s biggest fans to come out and play with us.”

The tournament is free to enter, and consoles will be set up with other games for attendees to play while the competitors are duking it out on Street Fighter.

If video games aren’t your thing, two days later the members of Face Down, Cups Up, a team in the Flip’d competitive flip cup league, will be holding a fundraiser at the Satellite Room, at 2047 9th Street NW, to benefit the Wanda Alston Foundation. The team will be selling shots for $3 apiece, and two for $5.

“Every season, we choose a nonprofit to raise money for,” says Michael Creason, a member of Face Down, Cups Up and one of the lead organizers. “We started with donating to the American Civil Liberties Union after some racial comments were made about one of the Latino members of the team, and we wanted to address it. The next year, we brought it closer to home, to donate to an LGBTQ organization, and donated to The Trevor Project.

This year, we voted and the team decided on the Wanda Alston Foundation because of their work with LGBTQ youth.”

Past fundraisers for charitable organizations have raised as much as $400, and the team is hoping to match that amount. “We were originally inviting just other teams in the league, and then people started inviting their friends and it got bigger and bigger,” says Creason.

“Our attitude is ‘the more, the merrier,’ so we’re hoping for a good turnout.” —John Riley DC Gaymers’ Street Fighter V: Arcade Edition tournament is Friday, Feb. 22 from 6-10 p.m. at Cobalt, 1639 R St. NW. For more information, visit www.facebook.com/DCGaymers.

Face Down Cups Up’s “Shots for Wanda” fundraiser is on Sunday, Feb. 24 from 3-6 p.m. at the Satellite Room, 2047 9th St. NW. For more information about Flip’d, visit www.flipdleague.com.

The DC Center holds a meeting of its POLY DISCUSSION GROUP, for people interested in polyamory, non-monogamy or other nontraditional relationships. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. Visit www. thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION offers free

walk-in HIV testing by appointment from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. at its Blair Underwood Wellness Center, 2141 K St. NW, and its AHF Healthcare Center, 4302 St. Barnabas Rd., Suite B, Temple Hills, Md., and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at its Benning Road location, 1647 Benning Rd. NE, Suite 300. For more information, visit www. hivcare.org.

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

offers free HIV testing and HIV services (by appointment). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit www.andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

session at Takoma Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

ning/walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterward. Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

gay and lesbian square-dancing group, features mainstream through advanced square dancing at the National City Christian Church. Please dress casually. 7-9:30 p.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-930-1058 or visit www. dclambdasquares.org.

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds practice. The team is always looking for new members. All welcome.

7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www. scandalsrfc.org or dcscandals@ gmail.com.

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar. For more information, visit www.dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:305 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 20 S. Quaker

Lane, Suite 210, Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid” HIV testing and counseling by appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Must schedule special appointment if seeking testing after 2 p.m. Call 703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-849-8029.

STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit www. whitman-walker.org.

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics

Anonymous Meeting. The group is independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, call 202-446-1100.

FRIDAY, FEB. 22 GAMMA is a confidential, volun-

tary, peer-support group for men who are gay, bisexual, questioning and who are now or who have been in a relationship with a woman.

7:30-9:30 p.m. Luther Place Memorial Church, 1226 Vermont Ave NW. GAMMA meetings are also held in Vienna, Va., and in Frederick, Md. For more information, visit www.gammaindc.org.

The DC Center holds its CENTER

AGING MONTHLY LUNCH AND YOGA social for members of D.C.’s senior community. Lunch will be provided after the yoga session.

The class is open to all, regardless of skill level, physical fitness, abilities, or mobility. 12-2 p.m. 2000

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org or call 202-682-2245.

The DC Center’s TRANS SUPPORT GROUP provides a space to talk for transgender people and those who identify outside of the gender binary. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

WOMEN IN THEIR TWENTIES (AND THIRTIES), a social discus-

sion and activity group for queer women, meets at The DC Center on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Group social activity to follow the meeting. 8-9:30 p.m.

2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

SATURDAY, FEB. 23 ADVENTURING outdoors group

hikes eight strenuous miles with 2500 feet of elevation gain to spectacular Mary’s Rock overlook in Shenandoah National Park. Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, layered clothing, and about $15 for fees. Carpool at 8:30 a.m. from the East Falls Church Metro Station Kiss & Ride lot. Contact Peter, 202-302-9606 or visit www.adventuring.org.

Join The DC Center as it volunteers for FOOD & FRIENDS, packing meals and groceries for people living with serious ailments.

10 a.m.-noon. 219 Riggs Rd. NE. Near the Fort Totten Metro. For a ride from the Metro, call the Food & Friends shuttle at 202-6696437. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org or www. foodandfriends.org.

The DC Center holds a monthly VOLUNTEER ORIENTATION for those interested in helping out at The DC Center, especially as a Support Desk staffer. Volunteers will also be asked to do tasks like sorting through book donations, taking inventory, or assembling safe-sex packets. Space is limited to 25 people per session. 11 a.m.-1 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

To register, visit www.thedccenter. org/events/centervolunteering.

SUNDAY, FEB. 24 CHRYSALIS arts & culture group

visits the National Portrait Gallery in the Old Patent Office Building downtown to see exhibition “Eye to I: Self-Portraits from 1900 to Today.” Free admission. Lunch in the neighborhood follows. Meet at noon inside the 8th and G Street lobby, near the 9th Street exit of the Gallery Place Metro Station. For more info, contact Craig, 202-4620535 or craighowell1@verizon.net.

MONDAY, FEB. 25 MONDAY NIGHT SKATING

brings together members of the LGBTQIA+ community and allies for roller skating on the last Monday of every month. All people welcome and celebrated.

7:30-10:30 p.m. The Laurel Roller Skating Center, 9890 Brewers Ct., Laurel, Md. For more information, visit www.meetup.com/ MondayNightSkating or email MondayNightSkating@gmail.com.

Weekly Events AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION offers free walk-in

HIV testing by appointment from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-5 p.m. at its Blair Underwood Wellness Center, 2141 K St. NW, and its AHF Healthcare Center, 4302 St. Barnabas Rd., Suite B, Temple Hills, Md., and from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at its Benning Road location, 1647 Benning Rd. NE, Suite 300. For more information, visit www.hivcare.org.

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH offers free HIV testing

and HIV services (by appointment).

9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit www.andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit www. swimdcac.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 9 a.m.-6 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12:30 p.m. and 1:30-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 20 S. Quaker

Lane, Suite 210, Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid” HIV testing and counseling by appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Must schedule special appointment if seeking testing after 2 p.m. Call 703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER offers

free, rapid HIV testing. No appointment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. For more information, call 202-849-8029.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-

ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, Arlington. Appointments: 703789-4467.

STD TESTING is available at AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s Benning Road location, 1647 Benning Rd. NE, from 2-6 p.m. on Mondays.

For more information, visit www. aidshealth.org.

STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

The DC Center hosts COFFEE

DROP-IN FOR THE SENIOR LGBT COMMUNITY. 10 a.m.-noon. 2000

14th St. NW. For more information, call 202-682-2245 or visit www. thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gay

men’s evening affinity group for GBT black men. Light refreshments provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome.

Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org.

WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH HIV/AIDS SUPPORT GROUP

for newly diagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m. Registration required.

202-939-7671, hivsupport@whitman-walker.org.

TUESDAY, FEB. 26 GENDERQUEER DC, a support and

discussion group for people who identify outside the gender binary, meets at The DC Center on the fourth Tuesday of every month.

7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27 The CENTER HEALTH WORKING GROUP, a volunteer-driven advocacy initiative, meets at The DC Center to discuss health and wellness issues affecting the LGBTQ community. 6:30-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

The LAMBDA BRIDGE CLUB meets at the Dignity Center, across from the Marine Barracks, for Duplicate Bridge. No reservations needed.

Newcomers welcome. 7:30 p.m. 721 8th St. SE. Call 202-841-0279 if you need a partner. l

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Media Mogul Led by Sarah Kate Ellis, GLAAD holds the line for the LGBTQ community on many diverse fronts.

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Interview by André Hereford

S THEY SAY IN SPORTS, THE BEST OFFENSE is a good defense, and for nearly 35 years, GLAAD, formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, has maintained a vigorous line of defense on behalf of the LGBTQ community. Agile enough to act as media watchdog, a progressive policy advocate, a crucial education and networking resource, or, simply, as moral support, GLAAD works to cover the community’s back, while pushing forward.

Known in previous years more for the organization’s glitzy annual GLAAD Media Awards, and chummy relationship with A-list celebrities, GLAAD, under the stewardship of current president and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis, seems to have pivoted towards balancing Hollywood caché with the pragmatic duties of being what Ellis calls a “culture change agency.” Whether responding to a rise in teen bullying with an anti-bullying movement called Spirit Day, or distributing the GLAAD Media Reference Guide to help define inclusive and respectful language for writing and reporting on LGBTQ issues, GLAAD champions initiatives on the ground that genuinely impact the crusade for fair representation and treatment of LGBTQ people.

And, of course, with progress comes pushback from those who oppose equal rights and seek to legislate or adjudicate their intolerance of the LGBTQ community. During our interview, Ellis, who recently marked her fifth anniversary as the organization’s leader, referred more than once to the fight for hearts and minds, not just rights.

“Ever since the election of 2016, we've seen the LGBTQ community being attacked on a daily basis,” says Ellis. “We’ve moved from what was an offense to now a defense in the past two years. Here at GLAAD, once this administration was elected, within days, we started up our rapid response team that we had 24

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

had years ago, and we didn't need it during the Obama years.

We have been tracking the attacks from this current administration against the LGBTQ community. We're at 94. It's called the Trump Accountability Project. It's on our website, glaad.org.

In that, you can see starting with day one of this administration being sworn in, and ever since, a daily barrage on the LGBTQ community.”

That barrage perhaps has led to an increase in violence and acts of abuse or intolerance against members of the community, as noted in GLAAD’s Accelerating Acceptance research study.

Armed with data to reinforce the case for change, GLAAD has stood with victims, and spoken up for them.

Recently, the organization had added its voice to the overwhelming support for Empire actor Jussie Smollett in the weeks since he reported being the victim of a brutal, anti-gay attack on the streets of Chicago. As that extraordinary case, roiled by speculation, misinformation, and conflicting accounts, continues to cast doubt on details of Smollett’s initial story, Ellis remains steadfast that GLAAD will continue to be a voice for victims.

“There’s no question that racism, homophobia, and hate violence exist today and urgently need action taken against them,” says Ellis.

“While the world waits to learn what happened in the Jussie Smollett case, we need to make sure that those very real issues and threats are not forgotten.”

METRO WEEKLY: What do you consider to be the main function of

GLAAD right now, and has that changed in the five years of your tenure?

SARAH KATE ELLIS: It absolutely has changed in the five years that I've been here. When I started my post at GLAAD, we were in a time where we saw great acceleration for the LGBTQ com-

AMY MAYES

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

25

JASON MERRITT-GETTY IMAGES FOR GLAAD

munity, both in policy and in culture change work. Now we are equality forward. That's how we do our global work. seeing a rollback and our rights threatened and acceptance roll- MW: In this age of intersectionality, how does GLAAD work with ing back as well. The main focus of GLAAD right now is trying to other advocacy groups like Time's Up or HRC, for instance? hold the line on the rollback, both from losing hearts and minds, ELLIS: We are very aligned with Time's Up. I'm not sure if you and also from a rights and policy perspective. saw our recent story on Bryan Singer, the director in Hollywood.

MW: Like everything else in the world today, GLAAD seems more [In light of accusations that Singer either raped or otherwise politically oriented than, say, ten years ago when it appeared a victimized a number of young men and teenage boys, GLAAD little more Hollywood-focused. How does GLAAD's role in dealing removed Singer’s film Bohemian Rhapsody from contention for a with Hollywood differ from dealing with Washington?

GLAAD Media Award.] We came out on Bryan Singer, after the ELLIS: I would say that GLAAD is Atlantic article came out, with Time's a culture change agency. That's our Up. We work very intersectionally. job. It’s to see where the culture is It's always been core to who we are as and then get in there and accelerate an organization. We also worked very acceptance for the LGBTQ communiclosely recently with Color of Change ty. Right now, whenever you turn on a on a video that we put together in television and put on the news, politics support of justice and all that. We are is at the center of that. It's not that always working with brother, sister we’ve become more political, if you or sibling organizations and have had will, but what we have done is we have leaders of Black Lives Matter on our taken what is the current culture and stage to talk about their experience, climate right now and gone in there to talk about the work that they're doing. make change.

We have always, under my leadOur work with Hollywood, though, ership, worked intersectionally. We is absolutely more important than ever can't do our work without working because they actually are the people with each other. The LGBTQ commutelling stories. They are humanizing nity represents people of color, people LGBTQ people. We're working very with disabilities, obviously women, closely with them to do that. We do and all marginalized communities. annual reports that are called the We take that really to heart here, and Studio Responsibility Index. One is it is part of all of the work that we do. on the major film studios, and one is MW: GLAAD's statement about Bryan on the network and streaming conSinger and the rescinded film nominatent providers. Both of these, we meation made a point that other films that sure the amount of LGBT content that involve Bryan Singer "now or in the they're producing and also the quality future" should take note of potential of it. You can see that there has been backlash. Is there any danger in casting Ellis with her wife Kristen and their twins a great uptick in that, both the quality that outrage ahead? What if, somehow and the quantity. There's still more to be done there, a lot more in the future, Singer were exonerated? to be done there, but we still work very closely with Hollywood ELLIS: I would love to see this not be true. This has been a story and now more than ever. that's been reported for years. We have been in touch with vicGLAAD now works on multiple fronts at multiple times in tims who we've spoken directly with. I think that in this time, in order to continue to accelerate acceptance for the LGBTQ com- this day and age, we have to hold people accountable for their munity. Most recently, I just got back from the World Economic actions, and it's been widely reported at this point. I'm not a Forum, which was hosted in Davos, Switzerland. The reason judge and jury, and that needs to be seen, but I think that it's that we go there is because two years ago, we realized very important that we're out there on this and especially protecting quickly that there is a lack of moral leadership in this country, young boys in Hollywood. that we are not a country on the forefront of human rights any MW: Keeping with the awards, talking about the Stephen Kolzak longer. We needed to go to the top CEOs in the top companies Award, which is presented to a media professional who has “made globally, multinational companies, to put pressure on them to a significant difference in promoting LGBTQ acceptance.” Since take this leadership position, to fill the void that has been cre- the announcement that this year's recipient will be Sean Hayes, ated by this administration. Our job at GLAAD is to go to these I've had conversations with people who would argue that Hayes' centers of culture change and power and have the conversation Will & Grace character, Jack McFarland, promoted a cartoon to move people forward to accelerate acceptance. stereotype of gayness. How do you respond to that?

MW: The organization has branched out overseas — you now have ELLIS: I responded to this, too, in the New York Times when Will GLAAD UK in London. What's been the result of operating from & Grace was rebooted. I think there are all different versions of Europe as a base for your international mission?

LGBTQ people. There are [Jack McFarland’s] in the world. We ELLIS: About two years ago, we started the GLAAD Media are in a position now where we have a good amount of repreInstitute. It takes a lot of our best practices, codifies it, builds sentation that we can celebrate all the colors of the rainbow in curriculum around it so that we can train more people and give the LGBTQ community. I think that there are a lot of hearts and more people the tools for culture change. Our GLAAD Media minds that Will & Grace has changed. There were a lot of moms, Institute does trainings around the globe, and it is everybody grandmas, dads, grandfathers out there who were able to underfrom the C-suite of major Fortune 500 companies to front-line stand their son a little bit better because of the character of Jack activists who are trying to decriminalize and move marriage McFarland. I don't think that we have to segment it.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

MW: This year marks a pretty important milestone for the Media

Awards.

ELLIS: This year is our 30th anniversary of the GLAAD Media Awards, if you can believe that. Just to give a little bit of history on that, 30 years ago when the GLAAD Media Awards started, it was held in a conference room, and it was very small. It was less than a hundred people, if it hit a hundred, and we would rotate hosts between Judith Light and Phil Donahue because those were the only two people who would step in the room and be supportive of our community. We've come a long way.

MW: Looking at the big media picture, it seems that people don't talk enough about giant mergers like Disney swallowing Lucasfilm, Marvel, and now Fox. Should people be concerned about the steady encroachment of these behemoths gaining control of the media world?

ELLIS: Yeah, that's a great question and it's something that we do talk about. It's also not dissimilar from losing small local newspapers or how we've lost more people in journalism over the past 20 years than in the coal mining business. We have a challenge with media, both entertainment and news, and journalism — merger and acquisitions and, quite frankly, some of it just going away. I think especially in a time where our free press is being challenged like we've never seen before within our own country, it's a really important topic. It's a time to be talking about the distribution of content, the mergers that we're seeing. I think that there's another thing that is happening, which is just as fascinating and interesting, which is more people are in control of their own platforms than ever before with the rise of social media. People are able to tell their stories like they've never been able to tell before. I think that is a bright light of some of this, but it is absolutely something that we talk about at GLAAD and that we focus on. When Sinclair was looking at a merger and taking over a lot of local newspapers, that was something that we were very vocal in and around because we saw the dangers there as well.

MW: What does GLAAD do to advocate for access to media?

Because everybody is not experiencing the representation renaissance if they can't get to it.

ELLIS: At GLAAD, we get a lot of calls, as you can imagine, from people who want to tell their stories. Last year, we gave out a completion grant for a film called “TransMilitary” that we helped executive produce. That actually will be shown in D.C. on April 3rd [at the U.S. Capitol]. We are trying to step in as best we can and continue building that muscle at GLAAD so that we are helping to get content created and more exposure to the content.

MW: Do you see an end to net neutrality as presenting a barrier to accessing media, or do you see that policy shifting at all?

ELLIS: We've been very vocal on net neutrality. I think that we see this as a potential barrier, and we will continue to be very vocal on this topic. This really can get to a very slippery slope. If we see the stripping away of net neutrality, it's going to disproportionately affect marginalized communities.

MW: With thriving representation in media spaces, it seems that

LGBTQ people are finding their physical spaces more threatened, and their actual physical bodies threatened. What actions is GLAAD involved in to also protect our physical spaces?

ELLIS: I'm going to take this a little bit. We do a research study called Accelerating Acceptance. Annually, we do it with Harris Poll. We measure how people really feel about LGBTQ people.

Over my first four years, we saw it either stay the same or grow, accepted, grow a little bit more. Last year when we did this, we saw all seven indicators roll back, three of them statistically significantly. You couple that with the FBI reporting that they're seeing a sharp rise in hate crimes against the LGBTQ community. It's 16 to 17%. Our job at GLAAD is to educate and inform.

That is why the content that gets out there is so important, and that's why we take our relationship with Hollywood to talk about these issues. When I find this out or when we do our study, I go to Hollywood. I have meetings with the studio executives, the network executives and talk to them about what's threatening our community. We're seeing more violence against people of color. We're seeing less acceptance of people of color. We're seeing more violence against the LGBTQ community. We're seeing less acceptance. The culture in this country has changed dramatically over the past two years. Our job is to humanize people by making sure that their stories are being told.

MW: On an anecdotal level, it's obvious that there's more violence directed towards marginalized communities in general. But as some ray of hope, you also can point towards the successes of Kyrsten Sinema, Danica Roem, or South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, with the question are we ready for a gay president? Since we're talking about hearts and minds, what do you think?

Are we ready?

ELLIS: I don't think anything works in a vacuum. I think that the 2018 midterm election was a sharp cry from pro-equality candidates and people to say that we don't want to see our work rolled back. We actually think that there's more work to do. I do think that part of the resistance is showing itself up. It doesn't mean that the daily lives of everyday Americans aren't more unsafe, aren't less accepting, but I think that what it is doing is provoking an entire generation to step up like they haven't stepped up before. There was complacency. I actually have research on where the complacency was prior to the 2016 election. I think that you have a lot of forces. I do believe that, in the end of all of this, and when we do get, hopefully sooner than later, an administration that is pro-equality, that we will make amazing and great strides. Right now, we’re in a position where we're fighting for our lives and our visibility and our safety.

MW: Also, we see people like Troye Sivan, Hayley Kiyoko succeeding in their spaces as gay out media artists, but recently Sivan wondered in an interview if he might be reaching an even larger audience if he weren't so out and proud about being gay. Do you feel there's truth to that?

ELLIS: I think it's complicated. We still don't have major, major

“WE STILL DON’T HAVE MAJOR, MAJOR HOLLYWOOD STARS WHO ARE OUT. I think that’s why acceptance rollback is alarming and heartbreaking. We still don’t see a pro athlete who is at the top of their game out, but we know they exist.”

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Hollywood stars who are out. I think that is telling in and of itself, and that's why acceptance rollback is alarming and heartbreaking because we still don't see a pro athlete who is at the top of their game out, but we know they exist. There is a lot of work to be done, and there is a lot of headway that we still have to make both on the acceptance front and on the policy front.

MW: Would you agree that this was a good year for LGBTQ representation at the Academy Awards?

ELLIS: I would. I think I'm going this year. One of the reasons that I'm going is because of all the representation that is at the Oscars. I think it's an important moment to reflect on how we got here, but also to make sure that all the powers that be are keeping that pace up.

MW: Are there any films or performers you're particularly rooting for?

ELLIS: I love The Favourite. It's such a fabulous film. It's so well done. There's definitely The Favourite that I'm rooting for, and Black Panther. I went and saw that twice. I thought that was phenomenal.

MW: With The Favourite, I read an interview with an expert on British royal history who was questioning the lesbian content in the movie by saying that, from what we know of Queen Anne, she “was so prim and so pious and she made such a show of her conservatism that she never would have had a relationship with a woman.” Which, hearing that, I'm thinking, well, this woman doesn't understand how homophobia works, or being in the closet.

ELLIS: Thank you! I'm so glad. Thank you.

MW: The question is, do you feel it's part of your mission also to make sure that people understand what oppression and homophobia/transphobia look like?

ELLIS: Oh, absolutely. Unless we unravel homophobia, transphobia, and people have an awakening to how it's internalized in them, we deal with homophobia in our own community.

It's so internalized. I think that growing up feeling shameful about yourself and being taught that you should feel shameful about yourself has lasting and deep ramifications. I think that our non-LGBTQ allies also need awareness around that and what privilege they bring to the conversation. Education about homophobia, transphobia is very, very important. We do that through stories because just telling people might not do it, but showing people can really help unlock it.

MW: You’ve just passed your fifth anniversary at GLAAD. First of all, congratulations.

ELLIS: Thank you.

MW: Looking back, what do you consider the organization's hallmark achievements of the past five years? And for you personally, what are you really proud of?

ELLIS: I think from an organizational standpoint, it is setting up the GLAAD Media Institute, creating the Accelerating Acceptance Index, restarting our news and rapid response team.

There's a lot. I think that's plenty.

Personally, I think our relationship with Hollywood, we are on speed-dial in most cases from Hollywood because we are a partner on so much of the work that comes out of Hollywood.

I think that we've moved from being in a time of a watchdog — we’ll always be a watchdog, we're glad we'll always be a

watchdog — but we have so many people fighting to do the right thing. Oftentimes, they just need the consultation and education to do the right thing. I'm really proud of that, our relationship with Hollywood. I'm also really proud of our relationship with CEOs and our presence at Davos. One of the things about the World Economic Forum, is that they call it, I don't know if it's self-proclaimed, but “the masterminds of the world.” These are all the political leaders and the CEOs, the corporate leaders who decide what's important in the world.

In two short years, GLAAD has gone in there and made sure that LGBTQ is important. That's no small feat, so I'm really proud of that as well.

MW: On a personal level, how much do you and your family, or you and your wife, feel represented in the media that you consume, or in the options that are on the table for you?

ELLIS: In the past five years, I've actually seen it pump up. I was just watching a show the other night with my daughter, and it was a Disney show, and the young woman on the show said, "Well, my moms don't feel that way." I jumped from my seat.

I'm glad we started the Family and Kids category at the GLAAD Media Awards. Last year, we announced and launched that because we've worked with a group of advisors in Hollywood who do kid and family programming, and there was actually enough content to have a category. One of the things we struggled with in the past was actually having enough people to be nominated or choose to be nominated.

We're seeing it more and more. This year also, we launched a partnership with Bonnier Publishing’s Little Bee Books that we are producing children's books. I hear it more often than not, a lot of people don't know that we're involved in it, and they'll say to me, "I just got the Prince & Knight," because these are children's books and it's the representation of families like us, like ours. We have a few of those projects in the works and we're really excited to be doing those partnerships to getting that content out there. At Barnes & Noble, they're going to have endcaps that have these books in them, in the family section, in the kids section. We're really excited about that.

MW: As GLAAD continues to advocate for acceptance and change, what’s the next great battle that you foresee on the horizon?

ELLIS: I think for us at GLAAD, it is really going to be in the digital space. We're making sure that there's access to information, and it's accurate information. There are so many complexities with the social media companies. We sit on councils on Facebook, on Twitter and have these conversations about how to make sure that LGBTQ content isn't restricted. There are so many complex questions, that I think that is one of the biggest places that we're going to have to be doing a lot of work over the next few years. l

“THERE ARE A LOT OF HEARTS AND MINDS THAT WILL & GRACE HAS CHANGED. There were a lot of moms, grandmas, dads, grandfathers out there who were able to understand their son a little bit better because of the character of Jack McFarland.”

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The 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles will be handed out March 28 at the Beverly Hilton. Tickets are $500 to $55,000. The 30th Annual GLAAD Media Awards in New York will be handed out May 4 at the New York Hilton Midtown in Manhattan. Tickets are $500 to $45,000. For more information on the awards and GLAAD in general, visit www.glaad.org.

Movies

Roma

Into the Oscar Pool

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Predicting one of the most wide-open Oscar races in years. By André Hereford

EGARDLESS OF WHAT ANYONE THINKS THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS year’s Academy Awards nominees, no one knows who will win until someone does. In a competitive race, it can be easy to choose a favorite, and hard to pick a winner. But a world of Oscar-pool players and prognosticators will place their bets on a few frontrunners, although there are no foregone conclusions.

SUPPORTING ACTOR

From the category boasting the sentimental favorite to the category featuring the de facto favorite: Golden Globe, SAG, Bafta, and Critics’ Choice winner Mahershala Ali, for his forceful yet subtle work in Green Book. However, giving in again to passion, a different actor’s performance stands out for a character who seemed virtually to leap offscreen and grab a seat right next to you in the movie theater, Richard E. Grant’s desperate hustler Jack Hock in Can You Ever Forgive Me? The veteran actor could pull off the upset win, but odds are he’ll have to be happy with having created a memorable addition to his long line of cinema scoundrels.

WILL WIN: Mahershala Ali SHOULD WIN: Richard E. Grant SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Actually, another sentimental favorite has emerged in the major categories: six-time nominee Amy Adams, who has yet to win an Oscar. It seems inevitable that some year she will, but will it be this year for her spitfire performance in Vice as Lynne Cheney?

If Beale Street Could Talk player Regina King has cleaned up this awards season, and probably can ride out the sentimental wave breaking for Adams, as well as the vote-splitting support for The Favourite’s co-nominees Emma Stone and Rachel Weisz.

Roma’s Marina de Tavira could play spoiler, and Weisz is magnificently wicked in The Favourite, but the category favorite is King.

WILL WIN: Regina King SHOULD WIN: Rachel Weisz LEAD ACTOR

The box office success of controversial Freddie Mercury and Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody wasn’t surprising, but it certainly wasn’t preordained. The producers took a huge gamble casting anybody as Mercury, and star Rami Malek met that enormous challenge with a gutsy performance. He’s been well-rewarded for it, and will be by the Academy, too, although Bale’s Dick Cheney is the portrayal that truly inspires shock, awe, amusement, anger, and even nightmares.

WILL WIN: Rami Malek SHOULD WIN: Christian Bale LEAD ACTRESS

Ah, the one category this year most likely to be decided by sentiment for an actor long overlooked by the Academy, rather than by passion for any one performance.

Seven-time Oscar also-ran Glenn Close is riveting in The Wife, but so then are leading lady newcomers Yalitza Aparicio in Roma, and Gaga in A Star Is Born. Olivia Colman gives herself over fully to the role

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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directors whose work this year demonstrated invigorating, impassioned filmmaking, from Adam McKay’s structural leaps in Vice, to Yorgos Lanthimos’ vividly skewed worldview in The Favourite. Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman synthesized a wildly improbable period piece into a searing political statement about the period we’re living through now. But it’s Cuarón’s remarkable achievement in one-man-band authorship, as Roma’s writer, co-producer, cinematographer, and co-editor, that should see him take home his second directing Oscar.

WILL WIN: Alfonso Cuarón SHOULD WIN: Yorgos Lanthimos Can You Ever Forgive Me?

of Queen Anne in The Favourite, baring moving vulnerability.

Yet, such accolades also apply to Melissa McCarthy’s underrated turn in Can You Ever Forgive Me? If Jack Nicholson can nab an Oscar playing the rude and unpleasant writer protagonist of a spurious ’90s rom-com (As Good As It Gets), surely McCarthy should not be ignored for playing the deeply damaged ’90s writer protagonist of this clever dramedy. But probably she will be.

WILL WIN: Glenn Close SHOULD WIN: Melissa McCarthy DIRECTOR

Passion seriously comes into play in this race between five

BEST PICTURE

In the 90-plus years the Academy has been handing out awards for film achievement, no foreign language film has ever been named Best Picture. Well, there’s a first time for everything, and Roma, Cuarón’s deceptively simple love-letter to his native Mexico City, has come along at the right time to break that barrier. (The film will also likely make history by taking the award for Best Foreign Film, for which it’s also nominated.) In another 90 years, though, it might be McKay’s dark, loopy vision of a dark, turbulent time that endures as the film that viewers still need to see.

WILL WIN: Roma SHOULD WIN: Vice l

Read our full list of predictions and play our Oscar Contest at www.metroweekly.com.

The 91st Academy Awards air on Sunday, February 24 at 8 p.m. ET on ABC. Visit www.oscar.go.com.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

SCOTT SUCHMAN

Stage

Killing Field

The Shakespeare Theatre’s Richard the Third is fantastically devious and delightfully fun. By Kate Wingfield

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RRIVING BY WAY OF INDUSTRIAL CHIC WITH A STRONG WHIFF of American Horror Story’s sense of the macabre, the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Richard the Third (HHHHH) joins last season’s Hamlet in delivering the Bard through an unflinchingly modern lens. And as with Hamlet, it is fantastically devious. You are embraced, enthralled, and absorbed almost before you realize it’s coming via the complex music of Elizabethan English. Bring your jaded other half, your theater-resistant teen, your adventurous granny — this is fun, original, and delightfully nasty.

Setting the tone is Matthew Rauch’s Richard, played with an effectively grim parade of masks, donned to manipulate a court he loathes. Rauch gives Richard something reptilian in his frozen, observant postures and wide, contemptuous eye, and it works exceedingly well. Could his opening monologue have been in a lower, more bitter key, giving us something more of this man’s emotional backstory? Sure. But it’s more than made up for later in his relentless appetite for murder and ascension, which brings the energy and continuity the play needs. And Rauch savors the language, reveling in its power to deliver this man’s disgust with the world and, ultimately, himself.

That said, if there is a flaw for the discerning, it’s that there is a slight lack of female emotional power in this production (save for one performance, but more on that later).

With a plot centered around Richard ripping through the court, killing husbands, fathers, and children to gain an uncontested crown, the anger and drive behind such systematic carnage must be matched by the horror and despair it wreaks. Without credible reaction, it will all teeter on the mundane, or worse, the silly. Shakespeare gives this balancing power to Lady Anne (Richard’s reluctant wife), the Duchess of York (his mother), and Queen Elizabeth (whose sons he has killed). Each must convince and give

context in her own way and, at least in this production, all three fall somewhat short.

Perhaps the most challenging of these roles is Lady Anne, newly widowed after the murder of husband Edward. In the space of single conversation, Richard not only confesses to the murder, but — defying all reason — convinces her to marry him. It’s a tall emotional order and Cara Ricketts brings so much fire and brimstone, her about-face is just too hard to believe. On the other end of the spectrum is Robynn Rodriguez’s Queen Elizabeth, who, though beautifully regal and offering a velveteen delivery, feels lukewarm in the face of her tragedies. Her beautiful boys have been slaughtered — where is the bowl-born agony? How can we thrill to the horror of this Richard without such powerful nerves being touched? Indeed, Rodriguez only seems to come credibly alive at the end, when she suddenly activates to protect her daughter from Richard’s dreadful gaze. Finally, there is Sandra Shipley’s Duchess of York, mother to the monster. Though quite majestic (especially thanks to the lovely costuming

by Murell Horton), we get no sense that this woman has raised Richard, nor that she has watched him evolve into a power-grasping murderer. Her final denunciation feels more like a rousing speech continues on page 35

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Music

Whoville

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A newly independent Betty Who spreads her wings on her stellar third album. By Sean Maunier

UST A FEW YEARS AGO, BETTY WHO WAS MORE OF A QUESTION THAN a name. Two albums and a runaway success of an EP later, the Sydney native has made that question mark vanish. Jessica Anne Newham, better known by her stage name, may have reached the mainstream with her covers of Donna Lewis and Kylie Minogue, but her latest album shows us that she is more than ready to be taken seriously on her own talents as a songwriter.

Her mononymic third album Betty ( ) also happens to be her first as an independent artist. On first listen, it is clear that she is still most comfortable with the dreamy, often highly personal brand of not-quite-dance pop that we have come to know her for, although it has evolved into something noticeably more complex 34

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

and dynamic. We find Betty Who a little more energetic and self-assured than she has been in the past, and her vocals are deployed across a greater range of moods and subjects.

The warm, hazy instrumentation has evolved to keep pace, but her voice is still the main event here. The vulnerability on display on her last album is certainly present, notably on the fantastic “Just Thought You Should Know,” but tracks like “Marry You” also showcase a simple, casual confidence that will no doubt make the song a staple of weddings this summer.

The self-assured frame of mind she finds herself in on Betty is apparent from the opening track “Old Me,” which is as much a general declaration of personal empow-

erment as it is a pointed clapback to a particularly terrible ex.

Her self-love anthem “All This Woman” takes this mood to its body-positive extreme, and is a joy to listen to. The interplay of confidence on the one hand and vulnerability on the other is a constantly recurring theme of Betty. Towards the end of the album, she brings the two moods together on the power anthem “The One,” which finds her mourning a spurned love with full awareness of what this anonymous guy is missing out on.

The lyrics often sound like a litany of pop cliches, a forgivable and probably inevitable result of her introspective songwriting and her focus on love and relationships. Even so, she has become a more mature and nuanced writer, and the album does give us some clever, memorable lines. Aside from having some of the catchiest hooks, “Language” is a song that is as fun to listen to as it must have been to write, subverting our expectations with every other line. “Excuse my language,” she sings before dropping lines more bluntly devastating than any combination of expletives the listener could imagine — “Just shut your mouth.”

“Taste” is another infectious number, probably best summed up by the sadly relatable line, “The worse they are, the better they taste.” Of all the tracks, the downtempo closer “Stop Thinking

About You” sounds the most like a throwback to her last album.

It is a decent song, but it also happens to be the weakest on the album, mostly memorable as a footnote to the variation and complexity that comes before it.

Betty Who’s reputation for delivering almost annoyingly catchy singles is well-deserved, but Betty is further proof that there is more to her than the occasional bop that finds its way onto the charts. Perhaps because of the immense personal investment she seems to put into the album, or simply as a result of her thoughtful creative process, she avoids becoming trapped in the all-too-familiar formula of a couple of good songs, plus filler. Every song in the album is strong and worth a repeated listen, and each one sounds ready-made for inclusion on a playlist for any phase of a relationship. The great strength of this album is the range of emotional complexity it packs into a collection of distinct, well-crafted and instantly memorable songs.

Betty is an early contender for one of the best pop records of the year, full of familiar genre tropes given a shine and made into something unique by Betty Who’s distinct sound and her newly apparent gift for songwriting. l

SCOTT SUCHMAN

Betty can be purchased on Amazon.com and iTunes, and is available on most major streaming services.

continued from page 33

than the heartrending disavowal of a conflicted mother.

Still, there is one woman who virtually steals the night and truly delivers the goods.

Appearing in the gallery like a strange witch, Lizan Mitchell’s Margaret, the former queen, is almost otherworldly. She creeps along, strangely silent and watching until she is suddenly in full, spectacular voice, delivering her condemnation and prophecy with showstopping rage and power. If this performance doesn’t make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, nothing will.

If Mitchell finally brings the emotive churn, the story itself is strongly carried by Richard’s confidantes, who do an excellent job of showing how their loyalty to Richard

goes from eager to fearful. Particularly convincing are Derrick Lee Weeden as a nicely-dimensional Lord Hastings and the always exciting Cody Nickell as the ill-fated George (and later as Tyrell). John Keabler is a capable Catesby, looking increasingly mournful, while Christopher Michael McFarland offers presence as the Duke of Buckingham, if no real color. In smaller roles, mention must be made of David Bishins whose King Edward IV is delivered with a beautifully-crafted emotional and physical frailty, and a quietly charismatic Sam Midwood as Lord Lovel, who seems in need of a bigger part. Finally, Evelyn Spahr brings genuine warmth and charisma to her Earl of Richmond.

With a big cast and lots of opportunities for younger actors to take a line, there is a lot going on, and director David Muse does an excellent job of keeping the cohesion and the pacing taut. His choice to add an aural tapestry of sound, such as sharpening knives and sticks, sometimes works, while his use of the ensemble to create rhythmically, tribal crescendos as the tension mounts, always does. Kudos to scenic designer Debra Booth for her grimy space and more for Lindsay Jones’ cleverly apropos metal music.

This is Shakespeare at his most accessible yet uncompromised, murderous mayhem bound to utter beauty. What better diversion from our own winter of discontent? l

Richard the Third runs to March 10 at Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Sidney Harman Hall, 610 F Street NW. Tickets are $44 to $118. Call 202-547-1122 or visit www.shakespearetheatre.org.

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NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

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Scene

Ziegfeld’s/Secrets 10th Anniversary - Saturday, Feb. 16 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, February 21 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets

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of Beer all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close

TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers • Open Dancers Audition • Urban House Music by DJ Tim-e • 9pm • Cover 21+

Friday, February 22 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all night long • Ottermatic 2: Electric Boogaloo, 10pm-close • Hosted by Grant Collins • Music by The Barber Streisand and Jesse Jackson NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm

PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • National Margarita Day!!

— Margarita Specials all night TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Otter Happy Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm • Night of 1000

Moiras • Come dressed as Moira Rose for a chance to win prizes • Hosted

by Summer Camp • DJ Ed Bailey ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • Cover 21+

Saturday, February 23 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by Doug Rule

AVALON SATURDAYS DC @Sound Check 1420 K St. NW LGBTQ Dance Party, 10pm-close • Music by DJ Kris Sutton • General admission $15 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • JOX: The GL Underwear Party, 9pm-close • Featuring DJs C-Dubs and Chaim • $5 Cover (includes clothes check)

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-3am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Jawbreaker: Music of the ‘90s and 2000s, featuring DJs BacK2bACk PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am • Visit pitchersbardc.com

NIGHT OF 1,000 MOIRAS Moira Rose is as unreal and untouchable as any diva, and every bit as deserving of a themed party paying over-the-top tribute to her looks and fashion. Trade will do the honors this Friday, Feb. 22, starting at 11 p.m., with what the gay bar winkingly refers to as an “official-unofficial after party” for “Schitt’s Creek: Up Close and Personal” at DAR Constitution Hall. There will be prizes for the best Moira lookalikes, including the top prize of “a bag of Schitt.” The evening will be hosted by Summer Camp and soundtracked by Ed Bailey from “the DJ pulpit.” Trade is at 1410 14th St. NW. No cover, and no guarantee of entry once capacity has been reached. Call 202-986-1094 or visit www.tradebardc.com.

PITCHERS DRAG PICNIC You have options galore around town if you want to sashay away to a weekend brunch with drag queens. But this Saturday, Feb. 23, comes the first pitch for a monthly queens picnic — at Pitchers, no less.

Brooklyn Heights will host a drag feast starting promptly at 1 p.m., also starring Iyana Deschanel, Katrina Colby, Sasha Adams, and Venus Fastrada. For this picnic, you don’t need to pack your own basket, as food from the venue’s menu will be available along with drinks at the bar. To ensure a spot in the limited seating area, reservations can be made by email — PitchersDCReservations@gmail.com. Pitchers is at 2317 18th St. NW. Call 202-733-2568 or visit www.pitchersdc.com.

CRYFEST: THE CURE VS. THE SMITHS DANCE PARTY Live music shows may be its bread and butter as well as its m.o. as a concert venue, but over the years the Black Cat has also become known for the many popular DJ-driven, battle-of-the-bands themed events it hosts. This Saturday, Feb. 23, the 14th Street institution welcomes back one of the longest-running and certainly mopiest of ’em all — and if you’re not a fan of mopey ’80s rock, the party very well could turn into a veritable cry fest. FYM Productions presents the 17th Anniversary CryFest with DJs Steve EP, Missguided, and Killa K, who will take turns spinning tunes with Robert Smith’s signature forlorn croons alternating with those featuring the whines of Morrissey — in what is promoted as “the largest Cure/Smiths dance party in the U.S.” Doors at 9:30 p.m. Black Cat is at 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $12 to $15. Call 202-667-4490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.l

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers

Sunday, February 24

TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Gayborhood Night Piano Bar, 5-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close

ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm-4am • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:30pm and 1:45am • DJ Don T. in Ziegfeld’s • DJ Steve Henderson in Secrets • Cover 21+

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-1am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open Noon-2am • $4 Smirnoff, includes flavored, $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm • Video

Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner-n-Drag with Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@ gmail.com TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Monday, February 25 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong

Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Playlist

ED BAILEY JOYPUNKS Big Wild LIKE AN EGYPTIAN Vassa EDGE OF SEVENTEEN CHASEDOWN Remix

Stevie Nicks GET UP GET OUT MSC Remix

Born Dirty feat. jstlbby SO REAL (WARRIORS) Too Many Zooz, KDA ft. Jess

Glynne GIANT Calvin Harris & Rag'n'Bone

Man WITHOUT ME Futose & Charlie Lane Remix

Halsey I SAY A BITCH Agua Sin Gas, Antoine Clamaran SO CLOSE DRAMÄ Remix

NOTD, Felix Jaehn & Captain Cuts Feat.

Georgia Ku LIKE SUGAR Ken's Disco Stomper

Chaka Khan Ed Bailey will be spinning at Trade on Friday, February 22, for the Night of 1000 Moiras party. You can follow him on twitter at @EdBaileyDC.

Tuesday, February 26 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover

Follow @metroweekly on Spotify to listen to this playlist.

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com

Wednesday, February 27

SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm • DC Bocce, Second Floor, 6:30pm

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am

TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports

GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for

SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets available at nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Visit pitchersbardc.com SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Piano Bar with Jill, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Women’s Crush Wednesday, 5-10pm l

Scene

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Flashy Sunday - Sunday, Feb. 17 - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“I looked him up on Facebook and, of course, he’s a skinny Korean kid with pimples on his cheek.”

— Mayor of West Hollywood JOHN DURAN, 59, in an interview with WeHo Times, refuting that he behaved inappropriately towards Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles member Jason Tong, 23, as well as two other members. Of Tong, who accused Duran of putting his hand inside Tong’s underwear before a show, Duran added, “Look at this guy. It’s just not happening. It’s not credible.” API Equality-LA called Duran’s comments “victim-blaming and racist.”

“I’m not gay,

but I have so many gay friends and I accept everybody for who they are.

”

— DOLLY PARTON, speaking to British tabloid The Sun about persistent rumors that she has been in a decades-long secret relationship with her best friend Judy Ogle. “People love to talk, but sometimes that’s your best publicity,” said Parton, who has been married to husband Carl Thomas Dean since 1966. “I don’t care what they say as long as they don’t hurt other people I love.”

“If I had to put it another way, I don’t think I have experienced a specific connection with a woman.”

— MATTHEW GRECH, “ex-gay” advocate and subject of pro-conversion therapy documentary Once Gay, in an interview with Pink News confirming that he is still attracted to men. “Just because my flesh has not changed, does not mean I have not changed,” he continued, “I’m simply saying I have moved away from the homosexual lifestyle.” Despite Grech’s assertions, multiple former “ex-gay” advocates have recently come out as gay and rejected the efficacy of the practice.

“It was really important to me that...we cast an openly gay actor for the role of Donny so that the character could not in any way be construed as mocking a gay guy.”

— REBEL WILSON, speaking to the LA Times about casting the role of her gay best friend in her satirical comedy Isn’t It Romantic.

Gay actor Brandon Scott Jones portrays Donny in the film, and Wilson added that the film makes “a really clever comment about how gay characters have been marginalised in the past few decades.”

“The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church. ” — An excerpt from an open letter by AMERICAN CARDINAL RAYMOND BURKE AND GERMAN CARDINAL WALTER BRANDMÜLLER, published in the National Catholic Register, arguing that the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandals are part of a “much greater crisis” facing the church. “The plague of the homosexual agenda has been spread within the Church, promoted by organized networks and protected by a climate of complicity and a conspiracy of silence,” they wrote, blasting those in the clergy who have “gone away from the truth of the Gospel.”

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FEBRUARY 21, 2019 • METROWEEKLY