Peppermint - Oct. 8, 2020

Contents

October 8, 2020

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Volume 27 Issue 20

DANGEROUS DISSENT

Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito call for the overturn of marriage equality.

By John Riley

CANDY CRUSH

On her new EP A Girl Like Me, Peppermint stands up for the Black trans community, and opens up about past relationships.

Interview by André Hereford

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DISCO SHEEN

Róisín Murphy’s fifth solo album is almost an hour of quirky nu-disco goodness.

By Sean Maunier

SPOTLIGHT: WELCOME TO THE BLUMHOUSE p.5 QUEERX LIVE! AWARDS p.6 SOCIAL DISTANCE p. 7 GREENPEACE’S PLANETA G p.10 HUMAN RESOURCES p.13 GLASS ANIMALS p.14 FUTURE ISLANDS p.15 SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES p.17 QUEER THREADS: CURIOUS SPACES p.19 SAVOR: MAPLE BOURBON BACON JAM p.20 SMITHSONIAN FOOD HISTORY WEEKEND p.22 KNIGHTSBRIDGE’S JUST REWARDS p.23 OBERGEFELL’S DECLARATION p.28 UNJUST INJUNCTION p.34 TEACHING HATE p.36 HELPFUL ANNOUNCEMENT p.40 BALL PLAY p.41 PUNISHING PARENTS p.43 DRIVING PRIDE p.44 GALLERY: SPEAK YOUR TRUTH p.56 REVIEWS: THE FORTY-YEAR-OLD VERSION p.58 RETROSCENE: HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2003 p.61 LAST WORD p.63

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Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 26 Years 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 Illustrators David Amoroso, Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, 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 Chi Chi Devayne and Lady Red Couture Cover Photography James Michael Avance During the pandemic please send all mail to: Metro Weekly PO Box 11559 - Washington, D.C. 20008 • 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.

© 2020 Jansi LLC.

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Spotlight: Film The Lie

Nocturne

Evil Eye

Welcome to the Blumhouse

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UST IN TIME FOR SPOOKY SEASON, Amazon Studios has teamed up with renowned horror producer Blumhouse Productions to offer “Welcome to the Blumhouse,” four new, unsettling Blumhouse thrillers releasing this month on Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service.

The first two films, which released earlier this week, are Black Box, starring Mamoudou Athie and Phylicia Rashad, in which a single father who lost both his wife and his memory in a car accident opts to undergo agonizing experimental treatment that causes him to question who he really is, and The Lie, which stars Mireille Enos and Peter Sarsgaard as parents forced to do the unthinkable and help their daughter (Joe King) after she confesses

to impulsively killing her best friend.

Releasing on Tuesday, Oct. 13 are Evil Eye, based on Madhuri Shekar’s audio play about a seemingly perfect romance that turns into a nightmare when a mother (Sarita Choudhury) becomes convinced her daughter’s new boyfriend has a dark connection to her own past, and Nocturne, a supernatural horror from Zu Quirke set in an elite arts academy, where timid music student Juliet (Sydney Sweeney) begins to outshine her more accomplished and outgoing twin sister (Madison Iseman) after discovering a mysterious notebook belonging to a recently deceased classmate. All of the films will be available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. For more information, visit www.primevideo.com. —Rhuaridh Marr OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Spotlight: TV

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QueerX Live! Awards

ENNIFER LOPEZ, ANGELICA ROSS, Carmen Carrera, Isaiah Thomas, and GLAAD’s Sarah Kate Ellis are among those set to appear at QueerX Live!, an awards show presented by Revry, “the first LGBTQ+ virtual cable TV network.” Marking National Coming Out Day this Sunday, Oct. 11, starting at 8 p.m., the program will include the Revry Visibility Awards, viewer-selected winners in the QueerX film festival competition, special musical performances by Debby Holiday, Vincint, and Rob.B, plus a performance by House of Balmain, winners of the ballroom competition on HBO Max’s Legendary.

All of the “Official Selections” from the QueerX festival, including international films, digital

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series, and music videos, will be available for streaming from QueerX TV, Revry’s newest free, 24/7 TV channel, throughout the month of October. Also available for streaming on QueerX TV: Amplify Voices, a people-of-color-driven panel series hosted by Joshua “Zeke” Thomas and featuring openly gay U.S. Ambassadors James (Wally) Brewster, Rufus Gifford and James Costos, political analyst and Fox News contributor Donna Brazile, World Cup Gold Medalist gymnast Eddie Penev, trans musician Mila Jam, and RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Laganja Estranja.

Look for Revry in all major app stores and on mainstream platforms including Comcast Xfinity X1, Apple TV, and the Roku Channel. Visit www.Revry.tv or www.queerx.com. —Doug Rule

Spotlight: TV

(L to R) - Brian Jordan Alvarez, Max Jenkins and Peter Vack

Zoom In

Social Distance gets up-close and personal telling stories of disparate lives during the pandemic. By André Hereford

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T WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE TO CAPTURE in several episodes, or even several seasons, of television just how strange it’s been to live through Pandemic 2020. Yet, the new Netflix anthology series Social Distance, from the team behind Orange Is the New Black, definitely has a knack for tapping into the odder realities of this moment, from the mundane to the momentous.

In the dramedy’s screen-based world of Zoom funerals and remote learning, VR chats and Grindr hookups, a cast of familiar faces — including OITNB’s Danielle Brooks, Scandal’s Guillermo Díaz, and Will & Grace’s Brian Jordan Alvarez — reflect the myriad ways people are staying connected, while forced to remain apart.

Creator Hilary Weisman Graham says the series started as “a crazy idea” she had in early March, when COVID-19 lockdowns first altered our sense of what it means to be distant. “It was Monday, March 16th, that I woke up in a full-scale panic,” she says. “This is basically right after the

first weekend, where we were all processing the closure of the New York City school system, and like Tom Hanks had it, and all of that, when it was like, 'Oh, shit, shit's getting real.' And I was in a panic thinking about all of it.”

All of it, for Graham, as with anyone else, included her own livelihood as a TV writer and screenwriter. “What studio or network is going to let us into a soundstage with two hundred other people, and really ancient ventilation systems, and make a movie or TV show? Why would they want to pay for it? I mean, writers are neurotic, prone to paranoid spiraling,” she jokes. “And then out of that, came this idea. It's like, ‘Well, this is the only way we can do it. We'll have to shoot remotely.’”

After kicking the concept around with award-winning OITNB producers Jenji Kohan and Tara Herrmann for about a week, Graham was eager to get the show on the road. “I remember just being like, ‘I bet other people are going OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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to think of something like this — we have to go to Netflix.’ I texted Jenji and she's like, 'I already emailed them.' We ended up pitching it to Netflix on March 31. April 20 we started in the writers room. And June 12, we started shooting.”

Social Distance conveys that immediacy both in its storylines, which generally steer clear of overt politics, and in the array of apps and devices that characters use to stay connected. In the show’s fourth episode, for example, a gay couple (played by Alvarez and Max Jenkins), at odds over lockdown housekeeping, turns to a Grindr threesome to spice up the monotony. The episode’s writer, Anthony Natoli, says he didn’t have to look farther than his phone for inspiration. “Day one of the two-week lockdown, I was still getting messages on every app to meet and hook up. And that did not stop throughout all of the lockdown,” he recalls.

“I just thought it was really interesting the way that the gay community that I was seeing, at least through the apps, was dealing with this thing, because it wasn't expected. And my status on the apps was ‘Not Meeting,’ like ‘Chat Only,’ or whatever. But a lot of people were not on that same page. It's just, I guess, the reality.”

Intent on portraying many dimensions of an unprecedented reality, the show isn’t intend-

ed as an historical record of the pandemic. “It’s about a moment in time,” says Graham. “And about our feelings and about the complexity of it all and the everyday emotional rollercoaster that's sometimes like a minute-by-minute emotional rollercoaster.

“Listen, I think that a lot of people turn to TV to escape, and I often do, too. I'm very much looking forward to the newest episode of The Great British Baking Show tonight. Wonderful. But it's not always why I turn to TV. I think another reason is that people want to see stories that feel relevant to them. They want to see their lives reflected. And this is what our lives look like right now. We have such a diverse slate of stories, and within that, there's hope in every story, or at least a little bit. And laughter, and a lot of sadness.

“Coming from Orange is the New Black, we were really threading the needle between tragedy and comedy all the time,” she continues. “You know, it's women in prison. That is not happy.

And we made it fun and funny, because that's what life is and that's what people do. And that's part of what hope is: bringing joy and humor to something. But at the same time, we're not like, ‘The pandemic's so hilarious.’ You know, it's just we're hoping that people find catharsis and are entertained.”

Social Distance streams on Netflix starting October 15. Visit www.netflix.com.

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PHOTO COURTESY OF GREENPEACE

Spotlight: Streaming

Mojica and Stack

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Greenpeace’s Planeta G

RYSTAL MOJICA AND FELLOW Greenpeace USA communications specialist Valentina Stack are the co-hosts of a recently launched bi-weekly web series from the environmental organization that aims to engage Latinx audiences by demystifying environmental topics and boosting Latinx voices within the environmental movement. “It’s no coincidence that Latinxs, particularly Latinxs of color, are disproportionately impacted by the climate crisis. We’re often not given the same access to adequate healthcare, education, and housing as our white counterparts,” says Mojica. “As a Brown, queer environmentalist, I hope Planeta G will provide the Latinx community a space to feel seen and heard.”

Jamie Margolin, a queer Colombian-American youth climate activist and author of Youth to Power: Your Voice and How to Use It, was featured in an early episode entitled “I am the gay cousin” and focused on the importance of

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amplifying LGBTQ and minority voices leading today’s climate movement. Meanwhile, Colombian actress and activist Carolina Guerra joined for an episode last month titled “10 Reasons Latinxs Should Vote This Election,” which noted that “Latinxs hold the key to this election of a lifetime.” Last week, the series celebrated World Vegetarian Day by showing “How to Make Vegan Empanadas that Will Fool Your Latinx Mom,” as cooked up by Destiny DeJesus from Veggie Mijas, a nationwide BIPOC collective passionate about food justice and accessibility, plus a report about how the meat and dairy industries are fueling the climate crisis from Greenpeace Mexico Food and Agriculture Campaigner Nancy Viridiana Lázaro Lembrino. Episodes, varying in length from 10 to 20 minutes, are accessible to English- and Spanish-speaking audiences and can be streamed from @GreenpeaceUSA on Instagram and YouTube. Visit www.greenpeace.org. —DR

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Spotlight: Stage

Clockwise from top left: Allen, Chen, Jung, Tolani, Nelson, Lunnie and Now

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Human Resources

SCAPE DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE OF an automated telephone menu into a world of immersive audio dramas with Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s first offering in its new digital season, a collaboration with the Telephonic Literary Union. A parody of a customer service hotline, Human Resources plays out entirely on one’s cell phone as a choose-your-ownadventure type of experience through a company’s phone tree, allowing patrons to call back as many times as they like to explore all of the available recordings. As one recording wryly puts it: “There are so many lonely people, we are sorry to hear you are one of them. This can’t be helping.”

Billed as an ensemble that “makes stories for very small audiences using phones, thoughtful-

ly curated environments, and the theater of the mind,” Telephonic Literary Union has packaged a set of audio anthologies written by commissioned artists Brittany K. Allen, Christopher Chen, Hansol Jung, and Zeniba Now, with additional audio works by Union members Sarah Lunnie, Stowe Nelson, and Yuvika Tolani. Actors featured in the production are Marc Bovino, David Greenspan, Jin Ha, Mia Katigbak, Brian Quijada, and Ikechukwu Ufomadu.

“To file a claim or plan your escape, dial 1-800804-1573,” reads the press release — but first, one must purchase tickets, priced at $7 and redeemable over any four-day period, Thursday through Sunday, starting Oct. 8 and ending Sunday, Oct. 25. Visit www.woollymammoth.net. —DR OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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POONEH GHANA

Spotlight: Music

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Glass Animals

VER THE SUMMER THIS 10-YEARold psychedelic pop band from the U.K. scored major success with the release of its third set Dreamland. Comprised of four white guys who grew up as friends in Oxford, Glass Animals notably delayed the new album’s release by one month after the groundswell of Black Lives Matter-related protests in the U.S. because, as a lengthy post to the band’s Instagram put it, the “fight for civil rights is so much bigger and more important than any single piece of music.”

Led by the singles “Tokyo Drifting” and “Your Love (Déjà Vu)” — both bona fide chart hits in the U.S. — Dreamland would go on to debut near the top of both the U.K. chart — with only Taylor Swift’s Folklore standing in the way of No. 1 — and the Billboard 200 in the U.S., where a No.

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7 debut made it the highest-charting set from a British Alternative Band since the last three albums from The 1975.

Next week, Glass Animals will offer a onetime-only virtual live show that also doubles as the first time the band has been able to properly celebrate the release of Dreamland. “Live in The Internet” will feature a full band performance, special guests, and “creative fan interaction.”

“The Internet is good for interacting in a different way, [and] you can do things on the Internet that you can’t do in real life,” says the band’s lead vocalist and guitarist Dave Bayley. “We’re going to try to do something with that in mind, instead of just performing live to a totally empty room.”

Thursday, Oct. 15, at 8 p.m. Tickets are $17, or $32 for a VIP package including a concert poster.

Visit www.opensource.glassanimals.com. —DR

JUSTIN FLYTHE

Spotlight: Music

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Future Islands

HE BALTIMORE ELECTRO-INDIE act Future Islands rose to national fame with a performance on David Letterman in 2014, when lead singer Samuel T. Herring began beating his chest, punching the air and dropping to his knees, belting out the lyrics to “Seasons.” Herring’s bombastic performance resonated on TV just as it does live — with Consequence of Sound referring to them as “one of the best live bands around.” Herring’s gruff, idiosyncratic voice is what gives Future Islands its sense of immediacy and rawness, as he shouts and bellows one minute and quavers over some tearful realization the next.

This Friday, Oct. 9, at 10 p.m. the band — also featuring keyboardist Gerrit Welmers, guitarist William Cashion, and drummer Michael Lowry — will perform a livestream concert from its Baltimore base as a special party for its new album As Long As You Are, released that day. Led by previously released singles “For Sure” and “Thrill,” the new set is described in a press release from its label 4AD as another dose of newwave synth-pop “full of bright melodies and heavenly choruses...as euphoric and uninhibitedly joyful as anything the band has done in their 14-year career.” Tickets are $15 plus service fees.

Visit www.futureislands.com. —DR OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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AMANDA TIPTON

Spotlight: Music

Takács Quartet

Shriver Hall Concert Series

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ILLED AS “BALTIMORE’S PREMIER presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists,” the Shriver Hall Concert Series has updated its fall programming to feature three virtual concerts, each followed by Q&A sessions with the artists. The series launches this Sunday, Oct. 11, at 5:30 p.m., with an hourlong performance of the Takács Quartet, recorded at the Chautauqua Auditorium in the quartet’s home of Boulder, Colo. Movements from string quartets by Mozart, Debussy, and Bartók, and Coleridge-Taylor’s Five Fantasiestücke will be performed by the ensemble, in a concert marking the debut of new member violist Richard O’Neill.

Next month — Sunday, Nov. 8 — the Shriver Hall series continues with a special collaboration between renowned pianists Garrick Ohlsson and Kirill Gerstein and recorded from the

San Francisco Conservatory. The recital will feature piano duos, including Busoni’s rarely heard Fantasia contrappuntistica as well as Rachmaninoff’s Symphonic Dances and Ravel’s La valse.

And on Sunday, Dec. 6, comes a performance featuring New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill and his brother Demarre McGill, principal flutist with the Seattle, Dallas, and San Diego symphonies, accompanied by Michael McHale, one of Ireland’s leading concert pianists. Works by Poulenc, Debussy, Paul Schoenfield, Guillaume Connesson, and Chris Rogerson will be featured.

Tickets are $15 for each concert, $30 for a three-concert subscription, or $99 for a premium digital subscription that includes an artist encore for each concert plus access to additional online offerings. Visit www.shriverconcerts.org. —DR OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Spotlight: Art

Crowns

Darn

Queer Threads: Curious Spaces

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RANSFORMER, LOGAN CIRCLE’S avant-garde boutique art gallery, offers an artistic spin on the concept of window shopping in the age of COVID-19. Thread-based artworks from two emerging queer artists are prominently displayed through site-specific, mixed-media installations in two storefront windows. Zoe Schlacter and André Terrel Jackson are interdisciplinary artists/craftsmakers who use materials more likely found in a hardware store or a sex shop than a fine art supply store, in ways that “speaks to the resourcefulness of marganalized communities” and ultimately “queer[s] the way art is made and displayed,” according to the exhibition press release.

Visible like a diorama through Transormer’s P Street storefront (1404 P St. NW) is Zoe

Schlacter’s Darn, an installation of loom and paper mâché sculptures and fabric paintings made from everyday craft materials for a reimagining of traditional textile mechanisms that “celebrates the queer, creative impulse.” On display through Nov. 14. Meanwhile, two blocks up 14th Street in the Community Window of The Corner at Whitman-Walker (1377 R St. NW) is Crowns, an installation by André Terrel Jackson celebrating Black creativity, femme energy, gender nonconformity, and body positivity. Surrounding a nearly life-sized, nude self-portrait, Jackson has created “a royal court of crowns fit for queens,” a triptych of hand-crochet headpieces inspired

by Nina Simone, Venus and Serena Williams, and Alice Walker. On display through Oct. 24. Visit www.transformerdc.org. —DR OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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Savor

Maple Bourbon Bacon Jam Recipe and Photography by Craig Bowman

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F YOU’RE LOOKING FOR THE PERFECT condiment to transition from summer to fall, this is it. Bacon jam makes everything better. Add it to scrambled eggs. Put it in a grilled cheese. Spoon it over a roasted pork loin. Include it on your fancy cheese platter. Top a burger. Or just eat it from the jar.

2 tablespoons butter

Ingredients

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup strongly brewed coffee 1/2 cup bourbon (optional) 1/2 cup pure maple syrup 1/4 cup sorghum molasses vinegar (or apple cider vinegar) 1 teaspoon pepper

2 pounds smoky bacon

1 teaspoon cumin

1 large red onion

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 large sweet onion (or 3 small)

1 teaspoon thyme leaves

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

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Cook the bacon over medium heat until crispy (it will foam).

Remove the bacon using a slotted spoon and drain on

paper towels. Pour off all but about 3 tablespoons of the bacon fat (freeze the rest for another use).

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Dice the onions into 1/2 inch pieces, and add to the bacon fat in the Dutch oven. Add 2 tablespoons butter and cook over

medium-low heat until deeply caramelized, about 45 minutes, stirring often. Add the minced garlic and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the bourbon to deglaze the pan, scraping up all the brown bits. Increase the heat to medium and add the maple syrup, coffee,

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Chop bacon into 1/2 inch pieces and add to a Dutch oven.

vinegar, and brown sugar. Stir and cook for 2 minutes. Add back all of the bacon. Stir in all of the

remaining spices and simmer over low heat until thick and syrupy, 3-5 minutes. Carefully pour the mixture into a food processor or

blender and pulse 4-5 times. Eat immediately, or spoon it into jars.

Refrigerate for up to 1 month.

Questions? Text to Craig at 202-217-0996 or email Savor@metroweekly.com.

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ASHLIE LEVY

Savor

Modena’s Yogurt Panna Cotta

Knightsbridge’s Just Rewards

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HREE DOWNTOWN RESTAURANTS part of the Knightsbridge Restaurant Group, Ashok Bajaj’s local chainlet of eateries, have teamed up for a Just Rewards fall program introducing three-course prix fixe offerings at each restaurant plus a reward for frequent diners. At the Bombay Club, Oval Room, and Modena, patrons can enjoy menus priced at $50 per person (excluding tax and gratuity) for dining-in or $45 per person for dining at home.

Additionally, diners who eat at all three restaurants during a one-month period will earn a $25 reward card redeemable for a future dinner at the restaurant of their choice. “We want to thank our patrons for supporting us with something special while we all weather this uncertain time,” says Bajaj, adding that the program will continue into 2021 if the fall launch proves successful.

Examples of offerings include an appetizer of 22

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Crab Ularthu, Duck Kebab, Mustard Scallop, or Sweet Potato Shikampuri, an entree of Cilantro Shrimp, Adraki Lamb Chops, Halibut Moilee, or a Vegetarian Platter, and for dessert, Carrot Halwa, Mango Panna Cotta, Spiced Chocolate Mousse, or Green Cardamom Rice Kheer at the Bombay Club (815 Connecticut Ave. NW; www. bombayclub.com); a starter of a Ratatouille Tart, Hot Smoked Arctic Char, or Pork Belly, a main of Atlantic Salmon, Beef Short Rib Bourguignonne, or Duck Leg Confit, and a sweet end of Poppy Seed Madeleines, Crème Fraiche Cheesecake, or Lemon Tart at The Oval Room (800 Connecticut Ave. NW; www.ovalroom.com); and a primi of Foie Gras Mouse, Polpette meatballs, or Amatriciana, a secondi of Pan Roasted Amish Chicken Breast, Aquerello Rissotto, or Braised Short Rib, and dolci of Yogurt Panna Cotta or the Tiramisu from Modena (1100 New York Avenue NW; www.modenadc.com). —Doug Rule

PHOTO COURTESY OF SMITHSONIAN

Savor

Julia Childs’ kitchen in the Smitsonian’s National Museum of American History

Smithsonian Food History Weekend

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OOD FUTURES: STRIVING FOR JUStice” is the theme of the sixth annual food-focused event organized by the National Museum of American History. This year’s “From Home” programming kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 15, with a virtual presentation of the Julia Child Award to Food Tank co-founder Danielle Nierenberg also featuring past award recipients Jacques Pépin, Rick Bayless, Danny Meyer, Mary Sue Milliken, Susan Feniger, and José Andrés.

On tap for Friday, Oct. 16, is “Last Call: Beer Futures,” a virtual conversation featuring several innovators who are imagining — and creating new futures for American beer, “from grain and flower to glass,” according to the official description. Les the DJ will offer an hour of live music

prior to the conversation, which can be supplemented by a Beer Box containing unique brews selected by panelists and available for $35.

Other virtual highlights are four Deep Dish Dialog panel discussions, three cooking demonstrations, and a gallery featuring artworks and museum collections documenting historical food justice movements and a curated collection of perspectives from individuals striving for equity in the food system. Participants include chefs Nico Albert, Jocelyn Ramirez, Dennis Malcolm Byron, Latiesha Cook, Devita Davison, Gabrielle Eitienne, Vinny Eng, Jon Gray, Juan Felipe Herrera, Amanda B. Moniz, E. Carmen Ramos, Laura Reiley, Cheryse Sana, Vimlendra, Sharan, Les Talusan, Claudia Zapata.

Through Saturday, Oct. 17. Events are free but require registration. Click here for details. —DR OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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U.S. SUPREMEM COURT OFFICIAL PORTRAITS

theFeed

Dangerous Dissent

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Thomas and Alito

Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito call for overturn of marriage equality. By John Riley

WO U.S. SUPREME COURT JUSTICES have called for the overturning of samesex marriage laws, after the court rejected an appeal from Kim Davis, the Kentucky clerk who refused to issue same-sex marriage licenses back in 2015 due to her personal religious beliefs opposing homosexuality.

On Monday, the Court rejected an appeal from lawyers representing Davis, after a lower court decision found that some of the couples who had been denied licenses had a right to pursue a lawsuit against her.

In their dissent, Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas argued that the court had bypassed the democratic process in its 2015 Obergefell decision which legalized marriage equality nationwide.

Davis, the former clerk for eastern Kentucky’s

Rowan County, refused to issue licenses to any couple, straight or gay, until the commonwealth allowed her to remove her name and title from any licenses issued by her office, lest she be seen as “endorsing” same-sex marriage. (The legislature later removed clerk’s names and titles from all marriage licenses issued in the commonwealth.)

Her lawyers argued that the lawsuit — brought against Davis by two straight couples and two gay couples who were unable to obtain licenses from her office — should be dismissed on the grounds that she, as a public servant acting on the government’s behalf, was shielded from civil lawsuits under a legal doctrine known as qualified immunity.

But a federal judge found that the couples could proceed with their lawsuit, a finding that was upheld by the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Because the Davis case was not a “clean vehiOCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed cle” for challenging the Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court overturned all bans on same-sex marriage, Thomas and Alito agreed with their fellow justices that Davis’s appeal should be dismissed.

That means the lawsuit against her will be allowed to move forward.

But Thomas, joined by Alito, penned a scathing dissent arguing that the Supreme Court had overstepped its bounds in 2015.

“In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Court read a right to same-sex marriage into the Fourteenth Amendment, even though that right is found nowhere in the text,” Thomas wrote. “Several members of the Court noted that the Court’s decision would threaten the religious liberty of the many Americans who believe that marriage is a sacred institution between one man and one woman. If the States had been allowed to resolve this question through legislation, they could have included accommodations for those who hold these religious beliefs. The Court, however, bypassed that democratic process.

“Worse still, though it briefly acknowledged that those with sincerely held religious objections to same-sex marriage are often ‘decent and honorable,’ the Court went on to suggest that those beliefs espoused a bigoted worldview. The dissenting Justices predicted that ‘[t]hese . . . assaults on the character of fairminded people will have an effect, in society and in court,’ allowing ‘governments, employers, and schools’ to ‘vilify’ those with these religious beliefs ‘as bigots,'” Thomas continued, quoting from Alito’s dissent in the Obergefell case. “Those predictions did not take long to become reality.”

Thomas and Alito’s dissent casts Davis as a martyr for religious liberty, writing: “Davis may have been one of the first victims of this Court’s cavalier treatment of religion in its Obergefell decision, but she will not be the last.” They contend that those with sincerely-held beliefs opposing same-sex marriage will find it “increasingly difficult to participate in society without running afoul of” the court’s decision in Obergefell.

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through the democratic process, with the people deciding not to provide statutory protections for religious liberty under state law,” Thomas’s dissent continues. “But it is quite another when the Court forces that choice upon society through its creation of atextual constitutional rights and its ungenerous interpretation of the Free Exercise Clause, leaving those with religious objections in the lurch.”

Thomas’ dissent also bemoans the fact that some people have labeled opponents of samesex marriage as “bigots” because of their refusal to amend their religious beliefs to fit prevailing views of marriage as a constitutional right for LGBTQ people.

“By choosing to privilege a novel constitutional right over the religious liberty interests explicitly protected in the First Amendment, and by doing so undemocratically, the Court has created a problem that only it can fix,” the dissent concludes. “Until then, Obergefell will continue to have ‘ruinous consequences for religious liberty.'”

The stated desire of at least two of the court’s justices to overturn same-sex marriage laws highlights the urgency of the coming fight over the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to replace the recently deceased Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, part of the court’s liberal wing, given Barrett’s embrace of an “originalist” or “textualist” view of the law.

The Human Rights Campaign denounced the justices’ dissent in a statement while warning that the confirmation of Barrett would potentially threaten same-sex marriage rights for the next two generations.

“This morning, Justices Thomas and Alito renewed their war on LGBTQ rights and marriage equality, as the court hangs in the balance,” HRC President Alphonso David said in a statement.

“The language related to this denial of certiorari proves yet again that a segment of the Court views LGBTQ rights as ‘ruinous’ and remains dead set against protecting and preserving the rights of LGBTQ peoples.”

David warned that a 6-3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court would likely “water

theFeed down” marriage rights for same-sex couples by allowing exemptions that would deny them legal status, refuse them certain legal rights, such as medical decision-making, or allow businesses to actively deny goods or services to them “Our love is valid, our love is equal, and our rights must be,” David added. “Amy Coney Barrett has openly claimed to hold similar views to Scalia, who Thomas and Alito channel with this opinion. That fact, along with Barrett’s ties to anti-equality extremist groups who aim to criminalize LGBTQ relationships in the United States and abroad, shows that Barrett will only embolden these anti-equality extremist views on the Court.”

The American Civil Liberties Union also blasted the justices’ dissent.

“It is appalling that five years after the historic decision in Obergefell, two justices still consider same-sex couples less worthy of marriage than other couples,” James Esseks, the director of the ACLU’s LGBT & HIV Project, said in a statement.

“When you do a job on behalf of the government — as an employee or a contractor — there is no license to discriminate or turn people away because they do not meet religious criteria. Our government could not function if everyone doing the government’s business got to pick their own rules,” Esseks continued. “That’s exactly what’s at stake in a case that will be argued on Nov. 4 — Fulton v. City of Philadelphia. We will fight against any attempts to open the door to legalized discrimination against LGBTQ people.”

Obergefell’s Declaration Jim Obergefell: “Marriage must not be restricted” for LGBTQ couples. By John Riley

J

IM OBERGEFELL, THE LEAD PLAINtiff in the landmark 2015 Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges which overturned bans on same-sex marriage nationwide, has spoken out after two Supreme Court justices argued for the court’s marriage equality decision to be reversed.

Obergefell said that a dissent penned by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and joined by Justice Samuel Alito, is the “canary in the coal mine” for the fate of LGBTQ rights under a conservative 6-3 Supreme Court.

Thomas and Alito recently sided with their fellow court colleagues in rejecting a petition from former Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis regarding a lawsuit brought against her by four couples — two of whom are same-sex couples — who wish to sue her personally for damages.

Davis, the former Rowan County clerk, had previously refused to issue any marriage licenses in the county due to her personal, religious-

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ly-based opposition to same-sex marriage, and her desire to see her name and office removed from marriage licenses lest it be misinterpreted that she condoned or “endorsed” same-sex marriages.

But Thomas and Alito went further, saying that while Davis’s petition to have the lawsuit against her dismissed was not the right “vehicle” for challenging the high court’s 2015 Obergefell ruling, that the ruling should be ultimately be reversed, with same-sex couples’ ability to wed left up to individual state legislatures.

The justices claimed the reasons for this were that the court overstepped its bounds by assuming powers granted to the legislative branch, and, because it was not equipped to write laws, created one that contains insufficient exemptions for people with sincerely-held religious beliefs opposing homosexuality and same-sex marriage.

Speaking with reporters and LGBTQ advocates on a call arranged by the Human Rights

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Obergefell

Campaign, Obergefell — now a staff member of the LGBTQ advocacy group Family Equality — called Thomas and Alito’s remarks “deeply troubling, not only for our country, but for the LGBTQ community specifically and for me personally.”

He recounted how his fight to be listed on his husband John’s death certificate as his spouse — the two had legally married in Maryland because same-sex marriage was not legal in Ohio — was “an insult added to the injury of losing him.”

Quoting former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s decision in his own case, Obergefell noted that same-sex couples seeking to marry are not interested in disrespecting or degrading marriage, as some conservatives claim, but want to “find its fulfillment for themselves” rather than being “condemned to live in loneliness.”

“Marriage is a vital, important part of life, and 30

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it is something that must not be restricted based on who you are or whom you love,” Obergefell said. “It was the honor of my life to be able to marry my late husband, John. And it is unthinkable that Alito, Thomas and others on the Supreme Court but want to take away that right and the dignity that comes along with it.”

He added: “The comments this morning from Justices Alito and Thomas are deeply disturbing and upsetting. They signal that they are still willing to roll back progress to report rights away from LGBTQ+ people, and that, if given the chance, it would work to overturn the right to marriage that I and so many activists and advocates have fought for.”

Obergefelll also questioned the justices’ logic, asking whether a person’s particular interpretation or religious beliefs should take precedence over another’s, and, if so, whether people who

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theFeed oppose interracial marriage, hold anti-Semitic beliefs, or believes Christians are infidels could similarly discriminate against couples who are interracial, Jewish, or non-Muslim, for example.

He argued that Thomas and Alito’s vision for marriage would give precedence to one view of marriage held by practitioners of certain religious faiths.

Obergefell then turned to the pending confirmation of Trump nominee Amy Coney Barrett, saying her presence on the court would bring the country “closer to a reality in which LGBTQ+ rights could be stripped away by an unbalanced Supreme Court,” noting that Barrett has previously criticized the Obergefell decision.

He urged LGBTQ people and allies to “vote like our lives depend on it this year” to ensure future vacancies on the Supreme Court — and the lower courts — will be filled by judges that see LGBTQ people as deserving of equal treatment under the law.

HRC President Alphonso David slammed Barrett in his own remarks on the press call, noting that she has ties to Alliance Defending Freedom, a right-wing legal organization that challenges laws in the United States seeking to expand LGBTQ rights, has called for the criminalization of homosexuality and same-sex relationships both domestically and abroad, and has even advocated for the sterilization of transgender people.

He also pointed to a defense she made of the dissenting justices in the Obergefell case, saying that her past comments embracing a strict interpretation of the law leave no doubt how she would rule on crucial cases affecting LGBTQ people — and by extension, other marginalized populations.

With Barrett on the high court, David said, the conservative majority “could significantly water down what marriage means for LGBTQ couples across the nation to what the late, great Justice Ginsburg called ‘skim-milk marriage.’

“How would you feel if you were not allowed to visit your husband in a hospital because the hospital does not recognize him as your spouse? And what if those same officials allowed family members, who had not spoken to your spouse in years, to make life-or-death decisions on his behalf?”

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asked David. “This is what ‘skim milk’ marriage could mean for LGBTQ people. We have been here before, and we are not going back.”

Liberty Counsel, a right-wing law firm representing Davis, the Kentucky clerk, celebrated the Thomas-Alito dissent even as their client lost her appeal of a lower court’s decision finding she could be sued for denying marriage licenses, vowing to bring the case back up to the high court to challenge the Obergefell decision, which it believes to be wrongly decided, in the future.

“There has been no final ruling on whether Davis is liable for damages,” the group wrote in a press release. “Depending on how the case finally concludes at the lower court, Liberty Counsel will then file a petition to present the opportunity for the Supreme Court to address Obergefell.”

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver added: “Even though the High Court declined to take up qualified immunity, Justices Thomas and Alito are inviting future challenges regarding Obergefell and to fix the mess the Court created.”

The LGBTQ law firm Lambda Legal warned that LGBTQ rights will be under attack under a 6-3 conservative majority.

“The nightmare of a hostile Supreme Court majority is already here,” Lambda Legal CEO Kevin Jennings said in a statement. “The confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett haven’t even started yet and Justices Thomas and Alito are already creating a laundry list of cases they want to overturn. And unsurprisingly, marriage equality is first on the chopping block. Confirming Judge Barrett would be the final puzzle piece they need in order to make it happen.

“Overturning our right to legally marry the person we love and to protect our families would only be the beginning; none of the hard-fought rights that we have won in the courts are safe,” Jennings added. “That includes the right to marry, to work, or to be recognized as the legal parents of our children. But we will not be forced back into the closet. Lambda Legal has taken on tough fights before, beginning in 1973 when we had to sue for our very right to exist under New York law, and we’re ready for this one, too.”

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ANDREW NEEL

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Unjust Injunction

Trans students could be outed to their parents after Wisconsin ruling. By Rhuaridh Marr

A

N INJUNCTION SERVED AGAINST A Wisconsin school district could force schools to out transgender students to their parents.

Madison Metropolitan School District was sued by conservative law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty (WILL) on behalf of 14 parents, arguing that the district’s Guidance & Policies to Support Transgender, Non-binary & Gender-Expansive Students was unconstitutional and violated parental rights.

The guidance, implemented in 2018, prohibited staff from discussing “any information that may reveal a student’s gender identity to others, including parents or guardians and other school staff, unless legally required to do so or unless the student has authorized such disclosure.”

It was intended to allow trans, non-binary, 34

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and gender-expansive students to embrace their gender identity within school property without fear of being outed, noting they have “the right to discuss and express their gender identity and expression openly and to decide when, with whom, and how much to share private information.”

“If a student chooses to use a different name, to transition at school, or to disclose their gender identity to staff or other students, this does not authorize school staff to disclose a student’s personally identifiable or medical information,” the guidance said.

But in a ruling last month, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Frank Remington issued an injunction against part of the guidance, The Cap Times reports.

Remington’s ruling prevents the district from “applying or enforcing” any parts of the guid-

theFeed ance that “allows or requires District staff to socially transition to a different gender identity conceal information or to answer untruthful- at school without parental notice or consent, rely in response to any question that parents ask quires all teachers to enable this transition, and about their child at school, including informa- then prohibits teachers from communicating tion about the name and pronouns being used to with parents about this potentially life-altering address their child at school.” choice without the child’s conWILL celebrated the win, sent,” the complaint stated. with attorney Luke Berg saying Three LGBTQ student it “sends a pretty clear warning groups have joined the lawsuit to the district that its policy is to defend the guidance, with problematic.” Berg also urged one of the groups, Gender Eqparents to ask their child’s uity Association at Memorial, school to out them following the telling the Cap Times that it is injunction, saying “the school “just incomprehensible to me now can’t lie to you.” that anyone would target these “They don’t have to reach rights and do it with not a care out to you and they won’t noabout the students, about kids.” tify you if your child is dealing “This [lawsuit] isn’t for the with this, but they can’t lie if betterment of others, this is beyou ask directly,” Berg told Cap cause you are scared that you — Student Amira Pierotti Times. “Parents should just be don’t know what’s going on ever-vigilant and paying attenwith your kids and that you’re tion to what’s going on with their kids as they afraid they’re trans or gender-expansive because always should and ask their school if they have you are transphobic,” said Memorial student concerns.”

Amira Pierotti.

Tim LeMonds, spokesman for MMSD, said in Despite suing to stop trans students’ gena statement that the district would comply with der identities potentially being withheld by the the injunction, but noted that it does not “con- school district, the parents behind the lawsuit strue or interpret the guidance to support or aren’t so keen to have their own names made encourage MMSD officials to misrepresent or public. conceal anything from parents, and the Court The injunction against the school’s pro-trans did not otherwise require MMSD to change its guidance was issued as part of an appeal by existing approach.”

WILL, after a previous court decision found that “MMSD prioritizes working in collaboration the parents had to disclose their identities to the with families to support our students and it is school district. always our preferred method of support,” he In issuing the injunction, Remington noted wrote. “MMSD will continue to prioritize the that the parents were unlikely to prevail, noting safety and wellbeing of every individual student that he understood why they “desire to remain to the best of our ability.” anonymous,” but doing so prevents the district The injunction came as part of an ongoing le- from engaging in discovery or properly respondgal battle between parents and the district, after ing to the lawsuit. the lawsuit was initially filed at the start of the “By remaining anonymous and by asking this year arguing that allowing trans students to ex- court to make evidentiary findings regarding irpress their gender identity openly at school vio- reparable harm or an adequate remedy unfairly lated the constitutional rights of parents to “di- deprives the Defendants a meaningful opporturect the upbringing [of ] their children.” nity to challenge Plaintiffs’ factual assertions,” “The policy enables children, of any age, to Remington wrote.

"This [lawsuit] isn’t for the betterment of others, this is...

because you are transphobic.”

OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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FACEBOOK

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Teaching Hate

Charlestown High School

Indiana mother plans to sue school for discriminating against her lesbian daughter. By John Riley

A

N INDIANA MOTHER SAYS SHE plans to sue her local school district after her 17-year-old lesbian daughter was discriminated against and harassed because of her sexual orientation.

Melissa Hart, of Charlestown, Ind., sent a letter of intent last week to Greater Clark County Schools indicating that she will be suing the district.

She claims that faculty and staff at Charlestown High School discriminated against her daughter, humiliating her in front of fellow students, making derogatory comments about her orientation, and failing to protect her from bullying at the hands of a teacher and an administrator.

“It is time to stop brushing these issues under the rug,” Hart wrote in her complaint. “It is time for Greater Clark County Schools to 36

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take decisive action against homophobia and discrimination of any kind taking place within the walls of our schools. Additionally, Greater Clark must invest in comprehensive training for staff regarding how to compassionately deal with LGBT students.”

She is seeking unspecified monetary damages for pain and suffering, a public apology, and the termination of three school district employees who took part in or contributed to creating a hostile environment for her daughter after learning her daughter was in a relationship with a fellow female student, according to the Jeffersonville-based News and Tribune.

Hart claims that one of her daughter’s teachers “humiliated” the teenager on multiple occasions, making derogatory comments about the

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theFeed girl’s sexual orientation in front of other students. On another occasion, when she was late to class, the teacher told her, “You wouldn’t be late if you hadn’t been kissing and hugging on that girl.”

On Monday, Hart claims, her daughter skipped that teacher’s class, along with her girlfriend. A school official caught them skipping class, and the girl admitted to eating cookies and watching TikTok videos while she and her girlfriend hid in the school restroom. Hart says her daughter called her and put the phone on speaker, at which point Hart heard the administrator yell “get your shit and get your gay asses out of there.” Her daughter confirmed the name of the administrator who yelled the slur.

Hart said she remained on speaker phone as two school officials spoke to her daughter in the hallway and in the administration office. She admitted to skipping class. They then asked if she was in a romantic relationship with the other student, and if they had been having intimate relations. Her daughter replied that they had only been watching videos and eating cookies while hiding out.

Hart claims the administrators’ questions made her daughter “feel uncomfortable and isolated as she was forced to answer questions about the fact she identifies as a lesbian,” Hart told the News and Tribune in an email.

Hart later learned that a school official had previously confronted her daughter about complaints from teachers who had objected to her holding hands with her girlfriend. When Hart asked why her daughter was being singled out, she was told the Charlestown community isn’t ready to deal with same-sex relationships.

“I told him, ‘she has rights, my daughter does have rights,” Hart said, recounting her discussion with the administrator. She claims he responded: “No, ma’am, she doesn’t.”

While she agrees her daughter should have been punished with detention for skipping class, she said in her letter of intent that she is “disgusted with the behavior of the CHS administration.” She says school district officials have offered to have her daughter transfer to another class or another school — an option she does not 38

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want — instead of upbraiding Charlestown High administrators for their behavior.

In her letter of intent, Hart has said that if her daughter encounters “any additional homophobic remarks or targeting” from the school, she will file a complaint with the Indiana Department of Education.

“Let me be clear, this is homophobic discrimination plain and simple,” she said. “You do not have the right to interrogate my daughter regarding her sexual orientation. [The school official] should be ashamed of himself for targeting my daughter with his homophobic remarks in front of her and the entire class. The CHS administration should be ashamed of themselves for condoning, promoting, and participating in this behavior.”

Greater Clark County Schools Superintendent Mark Laughner said in a statement that the district takes the allegations seriously and has opened an investigation into Hart’s allegations.

He declined to comment on the status of, or any findings related to, that investigation.

“Greater Clark does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including transgender status, sexual orientation, and gender identity),” Laughner said. “We follow all federal and state laws concerning reports of discrimination. In addition, all staff complete mandatory anti-discrimination training.”

Evan Stoner, the founder and board president of Southern Indiana Pride, told the News and Tribune that the school district should create a plan to address anti-LGBTQ discrimination, and needs to take allegations of discrimination, like those raised by Hart’s daughter, seriously, rather than ignoring them.

“I think any teacher or any administrator who thinks it’s OK to bully a student, a student that identifies as LGBT — they should not be in a classroom, and they should not be in the school,” he said.

Stoner also called on Greater Clark County Schools to “immediately find ways to invest in training for teachers and staff to know how to compassionately deal with students who identify as LGBT.”

OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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GAGE SKIDMORE

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Helpful Announcement

Quinto

Zachary Quinto felt he had an ‘obligation’ to come out as gay. By Rhuaridh Marr

Z

ACHARY QUINTO HAS SAID HE FELT an “obligation” to come out as gay, in hopes that it would help youth struggling with their own sexuality. The Star Trek and American Horror Story star spoke to Variety about his decision to come out publicly in 2011, saying it would have been hypocritical to enjoy success in his career and not acknowledge his own identity.

Quinto said he entered Hollywood in 1999, when there was still “explicit stigma” about being openly gay: “I did feel like me coming out would have potentially had an impact on my career and it wouldn’t have been a good one.”

In 2011, he decided to confirm his sexuality publicly, saying it came at a time “when a lot of 40

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young gay kids were killing themselves around the country because of bullying. There was a huge spate of teen suicides that were happening.”

“I just felt like I had an obligation at this point,” he said. “Having enjoyed a certain level of success, I felt like the hypocrisy was too much to bear for me to be enjoying this life that I had created for myself and not acknowledging my identity as a gay man. I felt like it was actively harming a group of young people who the choice to come out could benefit.”

Quinto has since taken on a number of gay roles, including in American Horror Story and 2015’s I Am Michael, with his most recent being

theFeed Netflix’s film version of Mart Crowley’s groundbreaking 1968 gay play The Boys in the Band, in which Quinto stars as Harold — a role he also portrayed in the 2018 Broadway production.

He recently addressed the use of “reprehensible” language in the film that might shock modern audiences who aren’t aware of Crowley’s play or William Friedkin’s 1970 film adaptation.

Quinto told Digital Spy that though there’s some “truly not nice” language, it was necessary to maintain it, given the film’s ’60s setting.

“I think it’s important because it’s a reflection of where society was at that time which was not that long ago,” he said. “As a bellwether for how far we’ve come and how much we’ve integrated ideas of respect and inclusivity, I think that we can’t shy away from it.

“It characterizes this as a real period piece in the truest sense,” he continued. “Some of these characters talk in ways that are really ultimately reprehensible.”

In a feature interview with Metro Weekly, Joe

Mantello, director of both Netflix’s The Boys in the Band and the 2018 Broadway production on which its based, said that Crowley’s play was a good reminder of gay history.

“I think it’s always good to honor our history and those who came before us, to have empathy for them, to understand that by applying modern standards to their actions will only leave you feeling frustrated, and that what’s important to understand is the context, the history, the culture that they were living in,” he said. “When we were doing the play, I found an article on the front page of the New York Times. It was a story about ‘homosexuals,’ as they referred to them, and cracking down on crime.

“And in the piece — quite blatantly and more than once — the words ‘degenerate’ and ‘perverts’ were used to describe gay men,” he continued. :This is the New York Times in the mid-60s.

No one said anything, there wasn’t any pushback, there wasn’t any backlash, no one got canceled.

It was just an acceptable term.”

Ball Play

No MLB players used anti-gay slurs during regular season for first time in four years. By John Riley

N

O MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL PLAYers used anti-gay slurs or were involved in any recorded, on-field anti-gay controversies for the first time since the 2016 season, according to the LGBTQ sports website OutSports.

Normally, the regular baseball season features 162 games. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 season was shortened to only 60 games before teams headed into the playoffs.

Yet despite the shortened season, the fact that no on-field controversies emerged in a sport where players occasionally become mired in controversies for using anti-LGBTQ rhetoric was notable.

In 2017, Kevin Pillar, an outfielder for the To-

ronto Blue Jays, and Matt Joyce, an outfielder for the Oakland Athletics, were each suspended for two games for using homophobic slurs.

In 2018, Atlanta Braves pitcher Sean Newcomb, Washington National shortstop Trea Turner, and Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Josh Hader came under scrutiny for past tweets using homophobic or racial slurs, with Hader’s tweets dredged up while was playing in the MLB AllStar Game.

Last year, George Springer, an outfielder for the Houston Astros, was suspended for lobbing an anti-gay slur at an umpire for what he thought was a bad call.

OutSports notes that the only incident involving anti-gay slurs this season came from CincinOCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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ALL-PRO REELS VIA FLICKR

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Washington Nationals pitcher and LGBTQ advocate Sean Doolittle

nati Reds announcer Thom Brennaman, who was suspended, and ultimately resigned, after being caught on a “hot mic” making an anti-gay slur.

Seemingly unaware that Fox Sports Ohio had returned to the live broadcast from a commercial break, Brennaman could be heard saying that an unknown location was “one of the fag capitals of the world.”

Not only was Brennaman’s comment condemned by the Cincinnati Reds organization, but relief pitchers Matt Bowen and Amir Garrett took to Twitter to denounce the remarks and expressed solidarity with the LGBTQ community, while first baseman Joey Votto expressed sympathy for those LGBTQ people who were subjected to the slur when they simply wanted to 42

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watch a baseball game.

Washington Nationals pitcher Sean Doolittle, a longtime advocate for LGBTQ issues, told OutSports the reactions to Brennaman showed that attitudes in the sport are changing — perhaps a testament to efforts that MLB has attempted to take to combat homophobia in recent years, including naming former outfield Billy Bean as an “ambassador of inclusion.”

Doolittle recounted an incident in Philadelphia last year, when a fan called him a “fag” while he was warming up in the bullpen. Doolittle’s teammates confronted the fan, called security, and had the fan ejected from the stadium.

“They knew, even as far as a fan heckling, there is no room for that in our game at the ballpark,” Doolittle said. “I thought that was awesome.”

RUSSIAN LGBT NETWORK

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Punishing Parents

A protest on LGBTQ rights in Russia

R

Russia threatens to arrest gay men fathering children via surrogacy. By John Riley

USSIAN AUTHORITIES ARE REPORTedly threatening to arrest gay men who have fathered children to surrogate mothers, in yet another move to crack down on sexual minorities.

A report by The Independent cites a source in Russia’s Investigative Committee, who equated LGBTQ surrogacy to “baby trafficking,” on the grounds that it is an offense for men with “non-traditional orientation” to provide sperm for in vitro fertilization.

“We plan to arrest a number of suspects, single men, and Russian citizens, who have used surrogate mothers to give birth to children,” the source, whose identity was not revealed, told the British newspaper.

The Kremlin has not yet issued a statement

supporting the source’s allegations. But a quote in Russia’s state news agency, TASS, appeared to signal that the government will be probing into the private lives of its citizens in order to demonstrate its hostility to surrogacy.

State investigators recently arrested seven adults in relation to a case involving the death of a baby who appears to have died of SIDS. The baby was discovered with two women and four other children in a Moscow apartment.

Investigators claimed the baby and the other children were victims of trafficking, and arrested medical staff and lawyers who had facilitated the arrangement.

The children, conceived via surrogacy, were being cared for by two nannies and were waiting to be taken home by Filipino parents. The parOCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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theFeed ents are now suing the government for “abducting” their children.

“Babies, unfortunately, do die, and especially when we are talking about [in vitro fertilization] technology,” Igor Trunov, a lawyer for the parents, said. “Whatever you do, you should not believe state investigators when they say they are acting out of interests of child welfare. They have chosen to send three eleven-month-old kids to a children’s psychiatric facility.”

Trunov claims state investigators’ case against his clients was weak, and public opinion largely sided with the parents. So, to change public opinion, the government began talking about gay men fathering children and linking surrogacy, tenuously, to human trafficking.

“They want to connect baby trafficking to the idea of sexual orientation, knowing how that resonates with the wider public,” Trunov said. “They understand no one is going to stand up for gays.”

Russian law allows for couples and single women to consent to in vitro fertilization treatments, but has no law explicitly granting that same right to single men. However, courts have

previously ruled in favor of men who father children via surrogacy.

State media reports claim investigators are poised to arrest at least 10 unmarried men and charge them with trafficking children.

But LGBTQ activist Igor Kochetkov said that while people have a right to be concerned about the government’s rhetoric, he didn’t want to jump to conclusions as to future actions authorities might take.

“This could be the initiative of the State Investigative Committee alone,” he said. It could just be their own very weird point of view. We can’t yet be sure it’s a done deal across the government.”

Last year, Russian authorities threatened to use the country’s 2013 law prohibiting the dissemination of “gay propaganda” to revoke the parental rights and seize the children of a samesex couple.

That family later fled the country to avoid the children being taken away, while Russia’s Investigative Committee launched a criminal case against the social workers who had allowed the couple to adopt the children.

Driving Pride

Capital Pride to host “Out Brigade,” a socially distant Pride parade, on Oct. 10. By John Riley

O

N THE AFTERNOON OF SATURDAY, Oct. 10, the Capital Pride Alliance will host its first-ever “Out Brigade,” a socially distant Pride parade where people are encouraged to decorate their personal vehicles in bright colors, flags, and other symbols designed to show their Pride.

The three-hour-long event will feature participants, identified by Pride flags, flags representing subsets of the LGBTQ community, or Black Lives Matter flags, driving around the city and visiting checkpoints in all eight wards. Out Brigade participants also have the option of incorporating into their design symbols or flags that encourage or stress the importance of voting 44

OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

during an election year.

“We’ve identified checkpoints in each ward and they each have some sort of historical significance,” says Ryan Bos, the executive director of the Capital Pride Alliance. “Currently, the plan will be between 2-4 p.m., individuals have the opportunity to go to as many checkpoints as they want, based on their own schedule. And then between 3:30 and 5 p.m., the final checkpoint will be open on Third Street SW, between Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue, where we will never videographer filming and capturing folks as they drive by.”

At each checkpoint, volunteers will check off a list of participants who registered. Those ve-

TODD FRANSON

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hicles that make stops at every checkpoint will have the chance to win special prizes or awards.

Due to concerns about large-scale social gatherings due to COVID-19, the Capital Pride Alliance has not yet decided whether it will make the locations of the ward-level checkpoints available to the public or just participants, in order to discourage spectators.

“We may publish the list of the checkpoints in sort of a ‘scavenger hunt’ format where we describe each checkpoint and then have folks do a social media experience to try and identify what they are,” notes Bos. Participants will be asked to register beforehand, with fees varying depending on the type of multi-passenger vehicle, such as a car, truck or van — costing $100 to register — or single-person vehicle, such as a motorcycle, bike, scooter, or wheelchair — costing $25 to register.

“Every registrant will get two signs, at least one of which will need to be placed on their vehicle so they can be identified as part of the brigade,” adds Bos, “but people are encouraged to create their own decorations or designs.”

Out Brigade participants have the opportunity to have their registration fee refunded

if they choose to create their own fundraiser, based on the number of checkpoints they visit, in which a multi-passenger vehicle is asked to raise up to $250 and a single-person vehicle asked to raise up to $100. Up to five vehicles can band together as a “team” and collect pledges or donations, with the aim of raising $1,000 per team.

Funds raised from the event benefit The DC Center for the LGBT Community, Capital Pride Alliance, and partner organizations. Participants may also choose to “earmark” the money they raise for specific uses by designating it as for one of four specific areas, such as an events fund and an educational fund. Additional prizes will be awarded to the top personal fundraiser and the top team fundraiser.

Following the Out Brigade, Capital Pride Alliance, in conjunction with Broccoli City and Events DC, will host a drive-in screening of camp Halloween classic Hocus Pocus at historical RFK Campus Lot 5, on the grounds of the old Robert F. Kennedy Stadium, at 7 p.m. Participants in the Out Brigade will receive a $5 discount on their movie ticket. The first 10 vehicles to register for the Out Brigade will receive a free ticket.

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Candy Crush On her new EP A Girl Like Me, Peppermint stands up for the Black trans community, and opens up about past relationships.

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Interview by André Hereford

NOWN AS NEW YORK’S sweetest diva, Peppermint really can turn the world on with her smile and her talent.

The performer can also light up a conversation with the wit and wisdom of a woman who has learned, seen, and accomplished a lot in her career as nightlife promoter, actress, singer, Broadway ingenue, and RuPaul’s Drag Race royalty.

The effervescent quality certainly can be fun and entertaining. Just try, for example, to get through the viral clip of Peppermint and Bob the Drag Queen cracking each other up on the Drag Race recap show The Pit Stop without laughing along in delight.

But Peppermint has also been highly visible sharing her wisdom in a more serious light, as an activist for trans awareness and racial justice. In the wake of weeks of protest sparked by the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor, she and Bob the Drag Queen were handed the reins to NYC Pride’s centerstage event to host a Black Queer Town Hall.

“We were really fed up with the videos that we were seeing, the tragic stories,” says Peppermint. “And we really wanted a way to be able to celebrate Black queer joy, in addition to being reverent of what was going on. We didn't want to distract or ignore what was going on, but we wanted to be able to have some space to be able to celebrate Black queer joy, artistry, and also recognize our pain and talk about those things.”

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Organizing events like the Black Queer Town Hall is work for no mere influencer, but for a true leader, a role that Peppermint embodies as one of the few Drag Race performers to openly identify as trans. She also co-hosts OUTtvgo’s pioneering talk show Translation, with Drag Race alums Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, and Sonique. And with her debut Broadway role in Jeff Whitty’s 2018 Go-Go’s-inspired musical Head Over Heels, she became the first out trans woman to originate a role on the Great White Way. She describes the experience as “life-changing.

It was great to be a part of the Broadway community.” But she believes theater, like many other systems, is still one in need of reform. “There’s some real reorganization that Broadway has to do,” she says.

“I think that's really tragic, and of course, the world of entertainment and definitely the world of Broadway has seen a major hit,” she adds, acknowledging that many have lost their lives or livelihoods during COVID. “But this time is a gift that Broadway producers better take advantage of when it comes to reopening. We better see more people of color and more queer people and more trans people on that stage when you open next year. This is a warning to Broadway.”

Peppermint sends another heartfelt “time’s up” in the form of her new EP A Girl Like Me: Letters to My Lovers, led by the slinky first single “Best Sex.” The first of a trilogy of albums exploring a recent relationship that ended, A Girl

MAGNUS HASTINGS

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Like Me puts the subject, and stigma, of a cisgender man dating a trans woman front-and-center. “There's really not many other places where we can see a trans woman, or a trans person for that matter, in their relationship where the trans person doesn't end up dead,” Peppermint notes, once again taking up the mantle to lead a conversation that needs to be had.

“When I talk to you about stories and television and movies, name one where the trans person doesn't end up dead. I'm sick of the tragedy porn. I want to be able to show people tenderness.”

METRO WEEKLY: I interviewed Bob the Drag Queen

on the eve of your Black Queer Town Hall, so I wanted to ask you first about that. How did you feel it went? And, in general, why is it important for you not to just show up and perform at these sorts of events but to organize?

PEPPERMINT: Well, I'm happy to show up and perform at events like this. Certainly, before June, there really weren't that many events that were focused on Black queer entertainers that I was able to see. I'm sure there were some, but they weren't that common all over the place, which is part of the reason why we decided to put together the NUBIA Tour, with me and BeBe Zahara Benet and Bob the Drag Queen and Shea Couleé and Vixen and Monique Heart, and so many other talented Black queens.

Obviously, the tour was stopped, but within the Drag Race community, there was definitely a feeling... I guess we were able to read the tea leaves as queens of color and as people of color in general. A lot of the stuff that we've been talking about with regard to systemic racism and the necessary change, that's something that we've been talking about and experiencing our whole lives. So it certainly wasn't new to us, the Black queens from Drag Race and Black queens in general. That was a conversation that we've been having in the inner circle.

So the question wasn't whether or not to have it or whether or not to do it, whether or not to be involved. The question is, how do we do it and engage everyone else and get them to be as excit-

ed about these conversations, about these types of events or shows, as we are? Of course, after the tragic summer that we’ve had, the times brought us to that moment. It wasn't about a handful of Black entertainers or Black people trying to convince everyone that we should be talking about these things. Suddenly, we found ourselves in a situation where other people who don't identify as Black folks and Black queer folks were asking about these things and wanting to engage and wanting to hear our story. And the Black Queer Town Hall was such a success that we did another event in Minneapolis that was more locally-centered. We were able to raise over $30,000 to pay the performers and everyone. Those were both really good events. We're actually gearing up for a third initiative that I can't announce just yet, but it's a voting initiative with Black Queer Town Hall and our partners at Vice [Media]. It's been fantastic so far.

MW: Something cool about Black Queer Town Hall is how it brings together movements. Right now, a lot of people are perceiving that there's not enough queer representation in the Black Lives Matter movement. Through doing Black Queer Town Hall and other events, have you felt that gap being bridged a little?

PEPPERMINT: It's early yet, so I'm sure there will be many more opportunities for people who are considered “in the mainstream” or at least have access to a more mainstream identity. Being cis and hetero is mainstream. Being Black isn't necessarily. But people who are in that larger segment of the Black Lives Matter movement, and all of those efforts, I think there's going to be many more opportunities for them, unfortunately, to fight for us as queer people and really be able to walk the walk. So, yeah, I hope that that continues.

There are a couple of people that I really admire that I think are doing a really good job. Me saying to somebody, "You should be more open-minded," or, "It'd be great if you could learn this or that," is one thing, but being able to see them take those ideas and speak about them in a way that shows that they take it to heart, and that you can see that has an effect on them, that's where the OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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payoff really is. So, people like George Lee, aka The Conscious Lee, people like the actors Matt McGorry and Kendrick Sampson, [podcast host] Lex Numan. These are people in my area that I'm able to see. These conversations are taking hold, and thinking of LGBTQ people isn't just an afterthought or add-on, and they seem to understand the nuances and the urgency behind including LGBTQ people in their stories. One step further, they understand the sensitivity when it comes to not only feminism and misogyny, the flip sides, but also understanding the urgency of taking care of Black trans women, specifically in light of the alarming murder rate that seems to just be breaking its own record every year.

And I speak about those folks because these are the people that I consider are part of the mainstream, and they don't have to acknowledge Black queerness or Black transness, right? But they do, and it seems to be central in a lot of their conversations. I think that's good. I think it's necessary. It's important that we see men grasping true feminism. It's important that we see heterosexual men, cisgender heterosexual identified men, grasping the importance of learning about Black trans lives and those things.

MW: I haven't seen your talk show Translation with Carmen Carrera, Jiggly Caliente, and Sonique, but...

PEPPERMINT: You probably won't unless you

move to Canada. For some reason we're only airing in Canada.

MW: Is it too reductive to say it's like The View, but from the perspective of four women who are trans?

PEPPERMINT: No, I think that's the best way to sum it up. It is us literally sitting and talking at the table, and we'd be remiss if we didn't give some credit to Barbara Walters and all the ladies that have sat around that table at The View for 20 years now. If you like The View and you're open-minded, then you'll probably like Translation. It's very similar. I can't even say it's through a queer lens. It is completely us creating our own space. It's a bunch of trans women creating our own space to talk about what we want to talk about first. Even in the past, an LGBT-focused event, two, three, four, five years ago, would've looked like 10 white gay men, one Black lesbian, and maybe someone who's trans. You know? And so it's a lot different. Out of the four of us, there's three people of color.

Obviously, we're all trans women. So it's a really refreshing space, and these are the types of conversations that I have with my girlfriends, my other girlfriends, sitting around when I'm at home or not doing a TV show, or the people I call when I'm in need and the people who I know have my back and understand me. The first step is to see Laverne Cox or someone on Time Magazine, or

“At some point, you go from overlooking a certain group to specifically working hard to exclude them.

To not see us included in these spaces means that someone is actively working against that.”

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“It's important for straight cisgender men to just look across a room of women and see a trans woman as a viable partner.

That it isn’t something to be ashamed of, and that he won't get made fun of and called gay if he's dating a trans woman.”

Trace Lysette on television in a starring role. But then the next step is to be able to see queer people actually creating their own spaces and having authority and being able to be in positions of power, even within their own communities. We haven't really seen a lot of that with trans women. Seeing more than one trans woman on some type of a screen, talking about what's important to them, is just, I think, rare. I've never seen it.

MW: Obviously, one of these other talk shows could have one or more hosts who are trans. They already have hosts like The Talk’s Sara Gilbert, who is queer. But they don't have any trans women. Have you ever been approached about doing a show like that, and do you feel it's only a matter of time before we see that kind of representation?

PEPPERMINT: No, I haven't. Of course it would be a dream come true. Not necessarily for myself, I think it's inevitable. I don't necessarily mean we shouldn't fight for it, and it'll just come automatically. But I think that it's a goal that feels very attainable. At some point, you go from overlooking a certain group to specifically working hard to exclude them. In two, three, four, five years, talking about these issues and understanding who trans people are will be even less rare. So to not see us included in these spaces means that someone is actively working against that.

MW: What about representation in a different arena, on Broadway? I don't consider myself naïve,

but I was surprised to read that you were the first out trans woman to originate a role on Broadway.

Were you also surprised by that?

PEPPERMINT: Yeah. The truth is it's really difficult to know what that means, other than the literal, because when you think of Broadway, we can all name a handful of shows, at least. And when you think of one show, every single week, each cast has 10, 20, 30, sometimes 50 people as a part of the cast. For shows that have been playing for years, there are performers that come in and out of those shows. So one show probably has thousands of people who have auditioned, and been cast in these roles that just keep going on and living on for years. To know that Broadway is 100 years old, and we certainly know there's been queer people, but to think of not one of those people identifying as trans seems a little obtuse. I definitely think that some of these people have probably identified and maybe even lived as trans people at one point or another. I don't know who, but I'm just imagining. I have to hope and pray that there have been some really successful trans people who did make it onto a Broadway stage but no one knew. Who knows?

But, all that to say, yes, it was an honor. It was kind of a surprise.

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role? Was that always what the playwright Jeff Whitty wanted?

PEPPERMINT: I don't think so, especially considering my role wasn't a part of the original story.

The character that I played was not in the original script. When Head Over Heels was originally produced at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, my character was actually two different people.

The show was about three or four hours long.

Of course, it was a hit and they loved it and they wanted to bring it to Broadway. But when they revised it, they shortened the show a little bit and retooled some of the characters, and mine was one of them. So my character, Pythio, the nonbinary oracle, was born out of two different characters. Basically, it was a composite. So I'm not sure if it was a part of the original thinking, and I have no idea what the conversations were before I got into the room. But my sense is that they work from the outside in, if you know what I mean. I think that they knew it was a good idea, but I think that they just probably didn't know exactly how to implement it. On one hand, you're like, "Whatever, it doesn't matter. They're trans. Put them in the show, give them a script, and they perform." That's true, and that's what it should be. But there were some considerations that needed to be made when you're thinking about a trans performer and what their needs may or may not be versus some other people.

That's obviously a personal conversation that each performer has to have with the producers and the agency and everything. But I think that there was some learning. I learned a lot because it was my first Broadway show, and I also think that the producers and even the cast and the director, everyone, we learned a lot from each other, and I know that they learned a lot having worked for the first time, many of them, with a trans performer. So I would like to say it wasn't like I was walking into The LGBT Factor. It was not that, you know?

MW: Were you a Go-Go's fan heading into the show?

PEPPERMINT: Oh my God, yes! In fact, it felt like kismet because several years beforehand, I did a drag show and I was a back-up singer for Belinda 52

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Carlisle. That's a part of her act. When it's just Belinda and not the whole band, which sometimes that's what the budget is, she brought drag queens to be the other Go-Go's. So I was an honorary Go-Go for a few shows when she was touring years ago. And the song “Head Over Heels” was one of my favorite songs by The Go-Go's, and it was very prominent on my getting ready playlist. So years later, after auditioning, we were able to chuckle about having met, Belinda and I. We're still in contact to this day. We were actually just talking over her birthday last month.

I remember when I was doing the show, after months of rehearsal and even performing in San Francisco, I sat down on my first day to do my makeup and put on my drag getting ready playlist, and there's the song “Head Over Heels,” but it felt completely different and I had to take it off my playlist, because I was hearing it every single night and I was like, "Oh, not this." There was one time where the playlist came on, and the song “Head Over Heels” came on, while the cast was singing it. I was backstage. So while the cast was singing it onstage, it was playing on my player, and I was like, "This is too much Go-Go’s."

[Laughs.]

MW: Getting to your music, A Girl Like Me is billed as the first of a trilogy exploring your personal life.

How much of parts two and three have you already recorded, and when can we expect to hear them?

PEPPERMINT: Most of it's been recorded, and we'll probably hear them next year. I would never drop all three of them on the same day — I really want to give part one its own moment, especially considering it's the introduction and there's a lot there. Most of the feel-good stuff is in part one. All the other stuff, the breakup stuff, we don't want to rush to the breakup, do we? But next year is probably when part two and three will come out.

MW: If this is the feel-good part, does that make A Girl Like Me the slow jam, lovemaking part of the story?

PEPPERMINT: Oh, yeah, this is the slow jams, the lovemaking. There's some rock-and-roll and some upbeat stuff on the other albums, but for this one, I want people to really be able to en-

MAGNUS HASTINGS

“I was a back-up singer for Belinda Carlisle.

When it's just Belinda and not the whole band, she brought drag queens on to be the other Go-Go's.

So I was an honorary Go-Go for a few shows when she was touring years ago.” gage. I'm the only one who really knows what the rest of the songs sound like, but it's really important to me for people to be able to see the love and the tenderness, and what it looks like to care for and accept a trans woman and be proud of dating someone who's trans and uplift that and not want to hide it and show that off to the world. That's something that we don't always get to see, trans people don't get to see, and I think cisgender people — whether they're queer or not — I don't think a lot of people get to see that. I think it's important for straight cisgender men to be able to just look across a room of women and see a trans woman as also a viable partner. That it isn’t something to be ashamed of, and that he won't get made fun of and called gay if he's dating a trans woman.

I also think that gay men should be able to look across a room of men and go with who they're attracted to, whether he's trans or not, and have there be no stigma behind dating or having sex with someone who may have a vagina but he's a man. So I really want to be able to show people, at least create a world where those taboos are not necessarily as existent and the dominant is this love with this trans woman between herself and her partner and how much he adores her and how much she adores him. Because we need 54

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to be able to see that tenderness.

MW: A lot of the songwriting is from a first-person perspective, dealing with men who feel the social stigma or fear of being seen in public with a trans woman. It takes courage to put that reality on record in a first-person voice. Have you ever allowed yourself to be that vulnerable in your music before?

PEPPERMINT: Oh my God, no. This is definitely by far the most vulnerable, raw, and real I've ever been on an album or in music. I've always wanted to do it. On one hand, I thought that people weren't ready, but maybe I wasn't ready. Maybe I wasn't ready to really go there. Of course, I needed to have the relationship and the breakup to bring me to those spots, so I could speak from a place of truth. And I did. Last year, I had a relationship, a great relationship. It obviously ended. It allowed me a lot of space and time to grow and heal. I think this album and putting this out is a part of that healing process. Especially when I was in the heat of my breakup and the midst of my depression, if you had told me that I was going to write something, a story about this, songs about this relationship, that would end up being something that I was so proud of and that was so beautiful, I wouldn't believe you. But here we are.

MW: Has the other half of that relationship heard

any of the songs?

PEPPERMINT: I have no idea. I'd like to consider us friends, but there's some real space. So I haven't sent it to him. I don't really care what he thinks about it. I hope he buys it.

MW: That's a good attitude. In terms of collaborators, who is playing guitar on “Best Sex” because you have a good, sexy guitar sound on that song.

PEPPERMINT: That is Adam Joseph, my co-writer and producer. For anybody who's a Drag Race fan, you probably would definitely remember Adam Joseph's “Linda Evangelista” remix with Valentina and Aja, among other fabulous songs.

MW: Yeah, I'm partial to Vanjie's “Cookies.”

PEPPERMINT: Exactly. So that's Adam Joseph.

We've worked together for almost, good grief, 15 years now, we've been co-writers. He's co-written pretty much on all of my major projects. So that's who's doing the guitar.

MW: And who is dueting with you on “Every Morning?”

PEPPERMINT: That is Laith Ashley De La Cruz, if you know who that is. He is a singer, performer, model, and he's a trans activist.

MW: Yeah, I know of Laith, but I didn't know that he sang.

PEPPERMINT: Well, he does, and he did.

MW: And very well.

PEPPERMINT: He has lots of music out, believe it or not.

MW: When you're not listening to your own music, what is the music that you slow jam to?

PEPPERMINT: To be honest with you, I'm really into H.E.R., I'm into SZA, for sure. There's so much music out. I always end up boomeranging back to Erykah Badu, Jill Scott, Lauryn Hill.

Those are my R&B ladies, I can never forget them. I guess they have imprinted on my mind forever.

MW: I love all those ladies, especially SZA. Your album, for me, has a '90s kind of slow jam vibe.

PEPPERMINT: Oh, I'm so glad you say that because that's what we were going for. We were going for a '90s R&B vibe, throwback. Late '90s, early 2000s, there's some of all of that in there. But we wanted to do it with a fresh take and a fresh approach. So I'm hopeful that everyone else will

feel the same way.

MW: Final question. Since everybody had different

plans for 2020 than what 2020 turned out to be — PEPPERMINT: That's the truth.

MW: — how did this past year, the pandemic and the racial reckoning that has inspired some of your activism, affect what you were planning to do?

And what’s your headspace moving forward?

PEPPERMINT: I wish I could say that there was almost no effect and everything was a plan in motion. But I'd be lying. I certainly was not planning on sitting inside of my apartment for six, maybe even more, months, turning my living room into a TV studio. But initially we were going to release the album in May, and I would've been on tour by now. The first date was supposed to be at the end of May in London, and we were going to tour Europe and then come back to the States.

That obviously didn't happen. So I really had to struggle with whether or not I was going to even release this album at all, or should we go ahead and push it out, or should we wait? We obviously decided to wait and refine a few things, so I'm actually glad we did, because I recorded most of this stuff a while ago, and then had the opportunity to go back in and do a little bit of rewriting and a little bit of rerecording, but this time all from home, from my apartment. I think it's even better because of it.

I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do with the music videos, for instance. Initially, we had a real traditional plan. Go on tour, film several music videos, and release them one by one.

But because of COVID and the way that everything's been affected, we had to do it all at the same time. So we all came together, quarantined, did everything as responsibly as possible with COVID protocols, and then shot a short film, which is scored by my music. It gave me the opportunity to really bring the whole story to life, and I think people are going to be really excited about that.

A Girl Like Me: A Letter to My Lovers is available on October 16 for purchase and streaming on all major music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Prime Music.

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Gallery

Victoria Walton: Deadweight

Speak Your Truth | Black Lives Matter

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N HER PAINTING DON’T SHOOT, HOLLY Cole depicts “the double jeopardy of a black man wearing a pandemic face [mask],” tying together this year’s two biggest issues — the COVID-19 pandemic and Black Lives Matter movement. Cole’s work is just one of several dozen pieces featured at the Athenaeum, the gallery in Old Town Alexandria that over the summer became one of the first to reopen with in-person displays during the pandemic.

Speak Your Truth | Black Lives Matter, however, is an online-only exhibition featuring area artists who were selected among those who responded to an open call for submissions tackling issues of race and racial justice.

KaNikki Jakarta, the Poet Laureate of Alexandria, selected the works of poetry and spoken word, displayed as written word texts or You56

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Tube video clips. Two among the many standouts in this category include Elise Marie Cleva’s Captions, sharing an illuminating anecdote about the Reverend Al Sharpton from when he was only 15 years old and a student in her father’s social studies class, and Kim B Miller’s “Black Crayon,” an evocative and metaphorical tale that begins, “I wonder if the black crayon knows it was never meant to color; I wonder if the black crayon knows how it is pronounced in Spanish and treated in English.”

Artist Victor Ekpuk joined Athenaeum Gallery Director Twig Murray to evaluate the visual art entrees by Shawnta Williams, David Mann, Brittany Greene, QuiChen Fan, Miranda J. Spurley, and Balaji Srinivasan, Ed Tepper, Gene Provenzo, and Victoria Walton. Now through Dec. 1.

Visit www.nvfaa.org. —Doug Rule

Erasto Curtis Matthews: We’ve Aways Mattered

David Manm: Lafayette Square 2020 Miranda J. Spurley: Onyx King

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JEONG PARK

Movies

She’s Got the Beat

Radha Blank writes, directs, and raps her way to a solid feature debut with The 40-Year-Old Version. By André Hereford

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TRIBUTE TO MIDLIFE REINVENtion, The 40-Year-Old Version (HHHHH) delivers consistent laughs for writer, director, producer, and star Radha Blank. Playing a formerly buzzed-about playwright also named Radha, Blank stands in for anyone who has felt the sting of failing to meet lofty expectations in either their art or career.

The onscreen Radha — a forthright Black woman coming up on forty, and still rocking a ’90s-style boho headwrap and doorknocker earrings — was once celebrated among the hot “30 Under 30” talents in theater. Ten years later, she’s teaching drama to an afterschool class of smart-mouthed teens, and constantly fielding versions of one question: What happened?

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plies responses both poignant and universal to that nagging query. Life happened, Radha’s mom died, a major relationship ended, her latest play manuscript was met with little enthusiasm. One patronizing patron, producer J. Whitman (Alexandria native Reed Birney, in a drolly pompous performance), even deems her script “inauthentic” in its Blackness, though, of course, Whitman happens not to be Black. But Radha doesn’t want to compromise in order to please the so-called Establishment. Although she has her pride and principles, she has no hits on her résumé, a deadly combo that does nothing for her longtime agent and gay bestie Archie (Peter Kim).

Still, Archie negotiates a deal to have Radha’s play produced, if she’ll agree to make changes. In a clever turn of the film’s script, just as Rad continues on page 50

Music

Disco Sheen

Róisín Murphy’s fifth solo album is almost an hour of quirky nu-disco goodness. By Sean Maunier

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HERE’S NO DENYING THAT DISCO has been having a year. With disco-adjacent sounds coming back into the mainstream and a slew of artists eager to embrace or co-opt its aesthetics, at some point it was inevitable that a veteran would get the itch to return and remind the kids how it’s done. Enter Róisín Murphy, the terminally underrated former lead singer of Moloko, once again walking the line between artsy electropop and disco on an album over a decade in the making.

Róisín Machine (HHHHH) began as a patchwork of standalone works, and it shows. The tracks show not only an eclectic artistic range, but also a literacy with the legacy of disco, right down to the blue pants and ripped fishnets she

wears in the promotional photos for the album.

Although this album could have easily have ended up as a dry collection of callbacks, Murphy puts her own spin on things and delivers several pleasant surprises throughout. The opener, “Simulation,” comes in with a voiceover, later revealed to be part of a monologue that appears in full later. “I feel my story is still untold, but I’ll make my own happy ending,” she announces before launching into an infectious slow burn of a track that celebrates the artificial as means of finding the authentic. “Incapable” is as cold and aloof as its subject matter, another subdued track carried by a precise, icy beat and hypnotic keyboarding.

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has an almost uncanny ability to fold many influences together into her own deeply idiosyncratic style. Despite her tongue-in-cheek claim in a recent interview that she was coming to snatch the wigs of Jessie Ware and Dua Lipa (who has more than once named her as an influence), Róisín Machine has an unmistakable pop sensibility running through it. Nods to pop can be heard in

the lilt in her voice in “Shellfish Mademoiselle” and in the dancefloor-friendly rhythms of “Murphy’s Law.” “Narcissus” stands out as the best example of her leveraging her strengths, with a strutting beat, vocals that are deep and breathy even by her standards, and carried by an intense and vibrant string section — all of it packaged together as a bright burst of disco-pop energy.

Along with her eclectic sound, Murphy’s lyrics are full of wry confessions and sharp observations that make them a joy to listen to. But they also offer glimpses into a personality that is both charmingly cocky and full of down-to-earth, self-effacing wit. Complex a figure as she is, she comes close to pinning down her whole ethos on “Shellfish Mademoiselle” with the verse, “How dare you sentence me/To a lifetime without dancing/When I’m already lost in the groove.”

If Róisín Murphy is as unjustly relegated to the fringes of the mainstream as her fans tend to claim, she seems effortlessly unbothered to be there. Whether inside or outside the spotlight, it’s hard to shake the feeling that she is exactly where she wants to be.

Róisín Machine is available for streaming and purchase on Spotify, Apple, and Amazon. continued from page 48

ha makes peace with compromise, she discovers a completely different outlet that allows her nearly total freedom of expression. She decides to become a rapper, and turns out to be a dope MC — “like Queen Latifah and Judge Judy rolled into one,” in the words of lesbian student Rosa (Haskiri Velazquez). Blank’s winning performance blossoms with self-confidence as Radha develops her flow and lyrical dexterity. Maybe she won’t need to produce the play after all.

But her budding rap career as “Radhamus Prime” doesn’t take off like a rocket, with one especially hilarious and cringeworthy flameout at a showcase organized by D (Oswin Benjamin), the enigmatic rap producer that Radha enlists to help her create

a mixtape. A much younger man of many beats and few words, D challenges Radha, and newcomer Benjamin certainly holds his own acting opposite Blank in the pair’s unlikely romance.

A bit overlong, the movie (co-produced by Twenties creator Lena Waithe) flows between D’s Brooklyn home studio, the classroom, the theater, and the beautifully-lensed streets of New York, steeped in an Insecure-meets-SpikeLee-joint, underground hip-hop vibe. The dense atmosphere serves Blank’s sharp humor and the plot’s underdog trajectory well. Meanwhile, Blank herself serves notice of a fresh, new comedic voice, and represents the glowing fulfillment of an artist who decided to circumvent the gatekeepers and create something utterly her own.

The 40-Year-Old Version is available for streaming on Netflix starting October 9. Visit www.netflix.com.

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OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

RetroScene

Photo highlights from 2003. Various venues.

By Todd Franson, Ward Morrison, Randy Shulman, Michael Wichita and other photographers.

For more #RetroScene follow us on Instagram at @MetroWeekly

OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

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OCTOBER 8, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM

LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“This is a show about the power of inclusivity.

The censorship of gay intimacy is making a harmful statement against that message.”

—DAN LEV Y, creator and star of Schitt’s Creek, writing on Twitter after Comedy Central India edited out a same-sex kiss from an episode of the show. “You showed the kiss between two women, you showed the kiss between a woman and a man, then removed the kiss between two men?” he wrote.

“The gay movement has been completely overshadowed by the trans movement.”

—RUPERT EVERETT, speaking with The Times Magazine. In the interview, Everett said he feels like “the wrong type of queen” and that the gay community has “completely lost our profile.” He then joked about transitioning, saying, “I might transition because it could be a way of reigniting my career, because in Hollywood now, if you’re a middle-aged director of second-rate television you’re finished.”

“ I am not proud of that choice, as I was young and naïve, but those experiences helped me to understand the exploitation young people face.”

—Democratic New Mexico House of Representatives candidate ROGER MONTOYA, in a statement revealing that he starred in two gay adult films while he was a student in the ’80s. “Those experiences do not reflect who I am, and they are insignificant in the scope of my life’s work, yet they helped inspire my dedication to my community and the work I do to make sure that youth have opportunities, support and confidence.”

“After I voted for Trump in 2016 and came out as one of his supporters I lost 90% of my friends, they found it unforgivable.”

—LGBT for Trump campaigner CHRIS MULVIHILL, telling Metro.co.uk that his support for Donald Trump has “eroded” his friendships.

“My friends saw him as evil and thought I shouldn’t support him as a gay man,” he said, adding, “I am one of the only gay people I know who supports Trump.”

“They told me I can’t come back until I cut my hair and take out my piercings.”

—SANAE MARTINEZ, a transgender teenager in Wharton County, Texas, who says she was banned from her high school and told not to come back until she adheres to a male dress code. “I do not like that because as a female, I should follow the female handbook and not the male handbook,” Martinez told Houston-area ABC affiliate KTRK. “It’s my senior year and I would love to go back to Louise ISD, but I don’t feel welcome at all.”

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