O&AN | August 2017

MAKING ROOM UNDER THE RAINBOW AUGUST 2017 / VOLUME 16 / ISSUE 08 FIRST ISSUE FREE - ADD’L COPIES 50¢ EACH

A PREVIEW OF BORO PRIDE MEET THE FOUNDERS OF SCRUFF

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From State of the Art: Jonathan Monaghan (b. 1986). Rainbow Narcosis, 2012. High-definition computer-animated video, 8 minutes, 46 seconds. Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas.

O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H V I L L E .CO M AUGUST 2017 Photo: Courtesy of the artist and Curator’s Office, Washington, DC

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CONTENTS 8

A LOOK INTO MURFREESBORO PRIDE COMING IN SEPTEMBER

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LGBT CHAMBER PROFILE: RON SANFORD PRODUCTIONS

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CURB RECORDS’ PRIDE PRE-PARTY IMPRESSES

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LGBTQIA+? MAKING ROOM UNDER THE RAINBOW

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THE FOUNDERS OF SCRUFF HOST PARTY IN NASHVILLE

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PRIDE RETURNING TO MURFREESBORO FOR A SECOND YEAR EVENT PROMOTES LGBT UNITY, ACCEPTANCE

Returning for a second year in a row, Boro Pride is a program of the Tennessee Equality Project’s (TEP) Foundation and is presented by TEP Rutherford County Committee, a local arm of the TEP Foundation. This year’s event will be held on Saturday, September 9, 2017, from 3:00–10:00 p.m., with the Boro Pride Walk starting at 4:00 p.m. in front of the Rutherford County Courthouse on the side facing East Main St. Boro Pride was organized with one goal in mind: to foster and nurture a more diverse and inclusive atmosphere in Rutherford County. The event aims to bring the LGBTQ population together, along with allies, to promote unity in the county and in the city of Murfreesboro. Boro Pride is thus family friendly and open to the general public.

As Boro Pride Committee Chair/TEP Liaison Brittany Benefield said, “Having a Pride event in Murfreesboro meant a lot to the LGBT community who call this city home. It’s hard to believe that almost 1,000 people came to last year’s inaugural event… Rutherford County has a large LGBT and supportive community; it was long overdue for us to have a Pride event of our own. Like all Pride events, Boro Pride is important because it supports the rights of LGBT people and helps them be who they truly are. The Boro Pride Committee hopes the event will help Rutherford County become more supportive of its LGBT community.“ This year’s emcee and headline performer is Iona, from Chameleons’ Lounge drag cast. She was a crowd favorite last year and will undoubtedly be so again this year. The full entertainment lineup for the event will be released prior to the event on its Facebook page.

Last year’s event drew a great crowd and a lot of vendors, and interest has only increased. Currently the event’s vendors/ sponsors include O&AN, of course, as well as Alpha Lambda Zeta Fraternity, Ben Griffith Artist, GLSEN Tennessee, Jennifer White Henna, Kaleidoscope, Lambda Car Club, Lucent Vignette Photography, Murfreesboro Little Theatre, MT Lambda, My Boro Agent, Nashville Animal Advocacy, Open Table Christian Church, PFLAG Nashville, Rainbow Rutherford, Rutherford County Democratic Party, Simply Pure Sweets, Suntrust, The Change Project, and U.S. Bank.

Boro Pride will be continuing to accept vendors as long as space permits. The event is also lining up food trucks, so you’ll want to check that out as well!

For more information about Boro Pride, check out the event’s page at Facebook.com/events/661417734058952.

The event will be updated regularly as more entertainment and vendors are signed. See you on September 9 out at Boro Pride!

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PHOTOS: LUCENT VIGNETTE PHOTOGRAPHY

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RON SANFORD PRODUCTIONS

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The Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce surpassed 300 members in June. The diversity, expertise, and quantity of members have helped improve Chamber programs and events. TASTE and the Excellence in Business Awards, which benefit the Nashville LGBT Chamber Foundation, are two events that have consistently grown and improved. Ron Sanford Productions has been a key contributor to both events since 2015. Ron’s experience and contacts in the event business have helped the LGBT Chamber attract a growing number of sponsors, attendees, media, vendors, and participants for its events each year.

The LGBT Chamber met Ron when partnering to cohost The Perfect Wedding Guide, an educational event helping wedding vendors better prepare to work with same-sex couples. Ron has been a Gold member of the LGBT Chamber since that event in 2015. In 2017, Ron Sanford Productions was certified by the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce as an LGBT Business Enterprise. He is attending his first NGLCC Business & Leadership Conference this month.

BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS, NOT WALLS.

With over 25 years of experience in the fields of event and wedding planning, entertainment, and hospitality. Ron got his professional start in Atlanta, GA and was quickly enamored with the glamorous world of drag and male entertainers there. Firmly implanted in the gay nightlife scene so close to the Center for Disease Control, Ron was recruited to spread news of the HIV/AIDS epidemic rapidly growing throughout the nation. This is where the backbone of Ron’s charity work developed.

Winning Mr. Gay World in 1986 elevated Ron to a role model position that helped springboard his philanthropic endeavors into happier territory, making a career in partyplanning a viable path. Given his newfound fame, he opened Lipstix, a successful female-impersonation club which launched many drag divas. Putting on a show every weekend easily led to planning large-scale events, including Atlanta Pride Fest.

This resulted in a collaboration between Ron and Road Shows catering, an on-set catering company for movie and television film crews. As Road Shows’ presentation specialist,

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KICKBALL

DODGEBALL

VOLLEYBALL

GLSEN, and The Conductors.

Ron Sanford Productions has proudly sponsored the VIP areas of Nashville Pride for three years, won the 2017 Nashville Pride Philanthropic Business Award. He is a member of the LGBT Chamber of Commerce Event Committee for both TASTE and the Business Awards and was even a finalist for the 2017 Nashville LGBT Chamber of Commerce Business Awards’ Mark Lee Taylor Community Service Award.

If you’re involved in a charity and looking for a sponsor to make your event great, all you need is to reach out to Mr. Sanford!

PHOTOS: KRISTOFER REYNOLDS, HENPECK LANE, OLIVIA ERICKSON, RON SANFORD

Ron was introduced to Ted Turner and the Omni Hotel, where Turner’s offices were located. Becoming the Omni’s chief planner, Ron’s parties were touted as toast of the town, snagging him an integral part as a member of Elton John’s on-set crew during the filming of “The Circle of Life” music video.

It was hard to leave Atlanta with such a vibrant portfolio, however Ron needed to be closer to his aging mother. Moving to Nashville in 1995 Ron became general manager of The Connection, the south’s largest gay club at the time. That year Ron saved the day when he brought Nashville Pride out of the rain and into the club! One thing lead to another and in 2000 Ron was chair of Nashville Pride—the only year the parade came down Broadway.

In the years since, Ron has continued to work with famous clients, from Carrie Underwood to Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban. Ron produced Jenny Gill’s wedding, despite the Nashville flood that devastated so many.

As Ron Sanford Productions starts out on its third year of operations, Ron can proudly list the company as a producer of An Evening with Scott Hamilton and Friends (where Ron is affectionately known as ‘Swoosh’), Miss Gay U.S. of A., Miss Gay America, the Montgomery Bell Academy prom, the Miss Kentucky Pageant, and Celebrate Nashville at the Ryman. The company is also chief planner and producer for the Tennessee Kidney Foundation’s Spring Soiree at the Omni Hotel.

In his very limited spare time, Ron travels the country as a wedding and event planner and is currently looking into real estate development back home in Nashville and abroad in the Dominican Republic. Watch out, world, Ron Sanford Productions may go international!

When in his Nashville, Ron can most often be found in his natural habitats: Play Dance Bar, Tribe, The Stirrup, Trax, Lipstick, and Canvas. If you see him, don’t be shy! He works hard so that he can play hard and is always willing to pay it forward to the Nashville LGBT community, eagerly supporting local LGBT charities such as Nashville Cares, Mr. Friendly, the Music City Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, the Oasis Center,

The Nashville LGBT Chamber is a professional and consistent resource to find businesses who are inclusive of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and ally customers and clients. The Chamber directory at www.nashvillelgbtchamber. org/list will help you find Ron Sanford Productions and other LGBT-friendly businesses and organizations.

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NASHVILLE SHOWED ITS PRIDE AT CURB KICKOFF

This year’s Curb Records Pride Pre-Party was held on June 22, 2017, from 6:00—9:00 p.m. at Grand Avenue, sponsored by Curb Records, Grand Avenue, Olmsted Nashville and Ron Sanford Productions.

Pride Friends With Benefits, LGBT Chamber Members, and Pride Festival volunteers receiving complimentary tickets to the event. The event also served as the LGBT Chamber’s June Brewing Up Business event.

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PHOTOS: CODY STALLINGS

PRE-FESTIVAL EVENT ESTABLISHED ITSELF AS MUST-ATTEND PARTY

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MAKING ROOM UNDER THE RAINBOW JAMES GRADY, WITH SHAWN REILLY, ISAIAS VASCO, AND OLIVE

ay. Gay and Lesbian. Gay, Lesbian, and Bisexual. Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT). Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender (LGBT). The conventions about how our community has referred to itself have changed over the years, gradually expanding to include other minorities of gender and sexuality. Rarely have these shifts been uncontroversial, as they are driven by political and social commitments that may not be universally held even within the community.

Adding the ‘B’ to the spectrum may seem like it ought to be unproblematic… But how many of us has not heard, or even said, something in our safe, private, LGBT spaces to the tune of, “He’s gay but in denial.”

I remember when I told a close friend, early in my own coming out process, that while I did identify mostly as gay, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the term. I felt like, since the attraction ratio was more like 80%/20% favoring men, I was gay but strictly speaking maybe I ought to refer to myself as bisexual? I was being earnest and opening up a secret space, and the response I received? “You’ve been in the closet too long—you’re just experiencing ‘bi now, gay later.’”

But I wasn’t. And now I felt like I had a new closet to inhabit, as I no longer felt comfortable expressing the nuances of my own identity. And that nuance— despite the commonness of bi denial within the gay community— is one that is much more widely accepted than many of the newer identity terms.

Transgender is problematic as part of the spectrum as originally prescribed, but has opened the community to both sexual and gender minorities in fruitful ways: we now hear not only of transgender but gender non-conforming, bigender, agender, twospirit, etc.

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Adding the Q—some understand questioning but most believe queer—was cause for anger and alarm among some under the rainbow, and that grew loud and pointed when the suggestion arose that the whole community might be served by adopting not an “alphabet soup” as its identifier but simply fly the queer colors.

To part of a generation queer is an irredeemable slur, while to a younger generation it is a reclaimed term that rejects both the heteronormative structure of heterosexual versus homosexual, which allows only two options, as well as the community’s seeming desire to reduce sexuality to a few well-defined possibilities, all over and against heterosexuality.

Both of those approaches privilege heterosexuality as the thing we all define ourselves in comparison to, and neither do justice to the complexities of sexual orientation and gender, neither of which it seems is as rigid as they were once held to be.

While I do understand the resistance to the use of the term queer—I myself don’t think it serves well as a blanket term, but do think it does well describe many people’s identity in its reformed use—I’d like to point out to the negative experience of the word queer is not universal. For example, the terms that was used to try to break my spirit when I was in school all centered on the term “gay.” We have a way of trying to dictate according to our own experience, and we should beware that urge.

Speaking of slurs, the term “alphabet soup” has often been used derisively as an attack on the socially progressive momentum of the community, by both internal and external critics. Social conservatives ridicule us for our many colored banner and our manyfaceted membership, but those same people within our tribe who engage in bi-denial, gay misogyny and transphobia, and demand that people conform to a narrow range of human sexualities/genders behave

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PHOTOS: CODY STALLINGS

no differently. Every addition to the “alphabet soup” rankles them.

I sort of enjoy the term alphabet soup, for all of its metaphoric opportunities: all the possible combinations of letters are in it, waiting to rise to the surface and be arranged by our joyous inner child into a chain that fit’s just right. But only an unfettered inner child, who hasn’t been told there is only one order, can truly find the right word for us, and more importantly for him/her/themselves.

Rather than string together a lot of arguments about how the current letters floating on the surface of our soup make perfect sense, and rather than defending theoretically the legitimacy of identities that are not my own, I’ve chosen a different route. Frankly, defending the legitimacy of these identities gives too much dignity to those who presume to tell people who they are and who they can be.

Many things which are foreign and unknown cause fear and distrust, creating a vicious cycle. So I asked a few folks who identify with the QIA+ to talk some about why it’s important to be open to a broader set of letters than just LGBT, what it means to them, and how it has impacted their feelings of belonging within the community. Get to know them a little, and see if you can’t find your way to help make a little more room under the rainbow banner.

MEET SHAWN REILLY (THEY-THEM-THEIRS)

I identify as queer, sexually. As far as gender, I identify as genderqueer. I do get pushback from people who claim more historically mainstream LGBT identities.

My mom’s best friends are a gay man and a gay woman.

They’re rad, rockstars for their generation. But even they affirm my mother’s worries and doubts that my gender and sexuality is somehow a phase, or something unsettled. And in a way, it is unsettled.

I still feel uncomfortable at times with the finality of choosing a label. That’s why queer and genderqueer are best for me—they’re fluid, and don’t nail me down to any type of behavior, thought patterns, or identities.

I think it’s human nature to put things in boxes. And it’s human nature to fall back on what’s comfortable. Terms that have become more popular recently—genderqueer, gender fluid, bigender—folks, even many in the transgender community, are not familiar with. And if we don’t understand it, we reject it.

But I believe in a deeper human capability to fight these urges to simplify and box up others. I believe, I know, we can be better. Right now we live in a world of labels: Democrat/ Republican, documented/undocumented, straight/gay, white/black.

As they say in Broad City, we’re headed to a world where we’re all caramel and queer. People feel comfortable in binaries and specificities, but in reality, we all live in grey spaces.

Who agrees with every single view of one party or the other? Who feels comfortable claiming that they’re straight, have never had any queer thoughts or actions, and will be straight for the rest of their life? And how is that a happy life?

Once we let go of specifies and stop putting each other, and ourselves, into pigeonholes, we all will be freer.

I’m not sure how important it is to identify specifically with a queer or LGBT community, especially because there are such diverse viewpoints and ideas among us. It’s more important to me to identify with a progressive community— folks that, no matter their gender, sexuality, race, religion, want to move toward a more inclusive and intentional community for all historically marginalized peoples.

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There are some rad progressives in the LGBT community. But there are also “Gays for Trump” and gay white supremacists. It’s less important for me to identify with LGBT than to identify with the folks that fight against that each day.

What do you say to those gays object to queer as a slur they just will not allow to become normalized?

Times change. Black used to be a slur. It has been reclaimed by the young, and those who don’t feel comfortable being pushed into specificities of “gay” or “lesbian” or even “bisexual.” There has been much hurt through the word queer, this is true. But I believe it is the most powerful act to claim something that has been used against you. Like the pink triangle from the Act Up movement (it was used during the holocaust to identify queer people in camps), it is important we reclaim things that have been used against us.

MEET ISAIAS VASCO

very inclusive. The “+” sign also includes more identities not commonly known or talked out about, but it does not mean they are not as equally important as the other ones.

The “G” term does not cover it for me when it comes to my gender identity, although it does for my sexual orientation. Such is the case for many of us out there. I have recently learned that sexual orientation is not the same as sexual identity. This was a tough one for me to comprehend, but I am glad I was able to understand it with time.

But how did I come to such conclusions? Well, I watch and follow a lot of documentaries, TV-shows, YouTube miniseries, social media posts, etc., by which I was inspired and learned a lot about my sexual identity.

Gender fluidity makes more sense to me. I do not want to solely identify as male because I highly identify as female too—sometimes as both, sometimes as female, but never as male alone. It really depends on the occasions or even the people. It may seem silly, but it’s perfectly fine with me.

I strongly believe that diversity is what really makes us interesting. I know there are a lot of ways to identify, and yes, it gets confusing. The way to overcome the confusion is to get educated and have a student’s mind. That is how I learn about new things in life.

MEET OLIVE

Hi, my name is Isaias, and I identify as a gay gender fluid person. Why? Because being just gay and male does not cover it all, but an umbrella term as “gender fluid” or even “gender queer” does.

I have to be honest. Many of these terms are very new to me, but they make a lot of sense. Even the fact that I came out about two years ago is at times new to me. Even so, I have come to know myself better within these last two years than I have in the previous twenty-two.

Coming out for me was among the best things that ever happened to me. It freed me from the notion that I was bound to love women in a sexual way. So now I feel free to love guys because I am past that stigma.

Part of coming out also opened the door to a new world to me. It can be very overwhelming and extremely confusing if you are not patient with yourself. This world is known to many as the LGBT community, or as I prefer to call it the LGBTQIA+ community.

Why then do I feel the need to add more letters after the “T”? Because I have learned that there is so much more than those 4 letters. The “Q” is a great one because it is

How do you identify and have you always identified that way or was it kind of an evolution?

I identify as agender. I haven’t always identified as such. Just a year ago I identified as genderfluid. My gender identity has been in a bit of flux as I learn more about about these terms and explore which ones feel most right. If you had asked me 3 years ago, I would have said cisgender.

How would you identify in terms of sexuality?

I’m bisexual, with a bit of asexuality. That’s complicatedsounding. I used to be mostly asexual. Sexuality is a fluid thing, so it makes sense that mine would develop into bisexuality. But my former asexuality still hangs around a good 20% of the time. It’s weird but comfortable.

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Your identity, and your developing understanding of it, is complex. Do you get pushback from people who claim more traditional LGBT identities?

I do. I’ve come to expect that, in a sense. Because it’s my identity, I certainly don’t expect anyone else to understand it as well as I do. I’m often told to just simplify things and call myself a traditional term, but that wouldn’t account for a lot of nuance.

The nuance represents important differences in identification. When one identifies as a man and says so, people get specific ideas of what that means. Same thing with calling oneself a woman. These gender handles have certain associations. For me to call myself one or the other instead of agender would be to take on those social expectations, as well as certain personal expectations. To let go of the nuance in this way would be to lie.

I think many people see it the other way around; if one identifies outside of the gender binary, that seems like a lie. People like having social frames and boxes, and when people like me break those constructs, it must feel to them like a frivolous rebellion. They might be uncomfortable with my identity, but they’re uncomfortable because they don’t want to rethink what they’ve been taught.

Why do you think some people in more sexual traditional orientations or gender roles are so invested in

pigeonholing people rather than welcoming a diversity of identities?

I’ve often heard the concern that too many sexualities under the umbrella will make lines blur past the point of distinction, that a plethora of sexualities could end up including any and all sorts of people, thereby making the whole point of the community useless. There’s a strong fear that our protective community boundaries will erode.

How do you feel about that? Have the responses you’ve gotten made you feel less welcome in the community in term of gender and sexuality?

Responses like that have definitely made me feel less free to express my full identity at times in the community.

Some of my own friends who are also LGBT don’t even know that I’m agender. Especially recently, I’ve learned that people can still judge “degrees of queerness.” I don’t fully trust my own community to not show aggression.

That being said, I connect with other agender and gender nonconforming people as much as possible and enjoy spending time with people of other identities. Even if I can’t identify fully with most of the community, there’s so much to learn and experience. The community is evolving every day, there’s always someone new to welcome, and it’s really the place I feel most safe.

26th Annual

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PUTTING THE SOCIAL BACK INTO THE APPS

JOHNNY SKANDROS

Scruff Founders Visit Nashville’s Own Tribe

ERIC SILVERBERG

ver the past decade, it has seemed like the number of “social apps” aimed at the LGBT community—in particular the gay community—has increased exponentially: Grindr, Scruff, Growlr, Hornet, Adam4Adam’s Radar, etc.

The list is so very long, and has been further expanded as apps traditionally associated with straight dating, like Tinder, have expanded to include same-sex “dating.”

Some might roll their eyes at calling these social apps, demanding that such apps are “just for hookups” or that, at best, one might find a short term fling there at best. And one doesn’t need to interview dozens to find that many people have been turned off, or at least burned, by these apps and the way they are used. That doesn’t mean that they’re swearing off, mind you… A person has to have an outlet, you know.

At least one of these apps, however, has tried to put the social back into their app, both in terms of building a community of sorts and in terms of social responsibility. Industry leader Scruff, and founders Johnny Skandros and Eric Silverberg, have made this a top priority for their company, which has grown from a niche-filling social app to boasting a loyal base that includes not only its original target, bears and otters, but also users from across the gendersexuality spectrum.

In late July, Skandros and Silverberg, who travel the country and the world spreading the word about their app and talking to their customers, made their first joint visit to Nashville representing their brand.

Scruff of course has made its presence felt in Nashville before, of course—notably when it sponsored the Bingham Cup held here in 2016—but the duo came bearing gifts of swag and beer for Scruff’s most loyal. On July AUGUST 201723, from 5-9pm at Tribe Nashville, they

O U T A N D A B O U T N A S H V I L L E .CO M

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF SCRUFF

JAMES GRADY

hosted a beer bust during Showtunes Sunday and offered free pitchers of beer to the first 120 guests to show their SCRUFF apps at the door. They also had many other giveaways, from t-shirts to premium membership upgrades.

In advance of the visit, the two sat down with O&AN to talk about their company, and its mission. When they entered the market, “There weren’t a lot of apps at the time,” said Skandros.

“We felt there was a niche market that needed to be served… We started with the bear community, and then just grew as people started hearing about it. As the years went on we got a lot more diverse, but it really did hit a niche in the beginning.”

Key to growth was getting the word out about the new app. “Whether I was out there in shirts, on social media, on the app talking—24/7 my goal was to make sure people knew what Scruff was,” Skandros added. “As the company grew we started to be more strategic about how we marketed, and how we reach our members, but at the beginning it was pounding pavement, for me especially.”

As the target audience expanded and diversified, the company has tried not only to keep up with changing attitudes but also to be on the leading edge of that change. A number of features that have been added or adapted over the years reflect that strategy, which is driven not only by consumer drive but also social consciousness.

“From the beginning,” Skandros explained, “we had trans members, and one especially, a guy named Heath reached out and said, ‘I am trans and you are the first app where I’ve been able to find a friendly face, where people in the community accept me for who I am.’ So that really prompted us to think about adding … really as

many categories as we could to connect people… We were the first app to add a transgender option, and military as well…

Even drag we added recently. So it’s listening to our readers and hearing what they need.”

“When it comes to HIV status,” Silverberg said, “we thought long and hard about it because it’s such a sensitive and important subject, and we spent quite a while talking to and listening to our members to try and figure out the best way to let our HIV-positive members feel accepted, included, and welcomed… We added a poz community a couple of years ago. I know in the past other apps have done it differently, but we felt by adding a community it was something our members could affirmatively join, we could bring people together to share more about themselves and connect with other poz members without feeling excluded.”

“We are also proud,” Silverberg added, “to be one of the first apps to allow you to include your safer sex practices in your profile and to help create awareness of the newer options in safer sex practices. I’ve heard anecdotally that the growth of PREP in different metro areas is correlated with the increased

summarizing the laws and inviting you to click a link providing more information.”

Scruff draws its data for this from information in the public domain compiled by International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA). “We took this report that they publish regularly, adapted it for the mobile web, and published it and put it in the public domain. This allows anyone—any app—to include gay travel advisories,” Silverberg explained.

“We view this as a public good, something we wanted to do to make sure that people are informed and stay safe as they travel around the world.”

What is the drive behind Scruff’s commitment to serving the good of the community? “We have this platform,” Skandros said, “and we feel a responsibility, like Eric said, to keep our members safe, to keep our members informed, in the best way we can… How can we do a lot of good on a global scale. Part of our mission is connecting members nearby with the global gay community, so we’re doing that… We are always thinking of how we can do good here with what we have, beyond dating and beyond hooking up—how can we give back? It

“Part of our mission is connecting members nearby with the global gay community, so we’re doing that… We are always thinking of how we can do good here with what we have, beyond dating and beyond hooking up— how can we give back?” visibility of PREP, including on apps like Scruff.”

Scruff’s founders take its social responsibility seriously, promoting inclusion as they mentioned but also giving back to the community. A few years ago, for instance, the company started offering “benevolads”—free advertising options for non-profits and community service organizations through Scruff’s platform to its local users.

“It really enables us to say yes to and work with any [qualified] LGBT organization here and around the world,” Silverberg said. “We thought deeply about how Scruff could do the most good with what we had, and that’s why we really invested a lot of engineering time to build in the features that allow organizations to interact directly with our readers.

Another option would have been for Scruff to become itself an advocacy or lobbying group, but we really felt that there are so many extraordinarily talented and dedicated LGBT non-profits around the world that we really wanted to empower them and help them do more with our app.”

Another tack the company has taken to increased social responsibility has been through its gay travel advisories initiative. “That really was about keeping our members safer when they travel. We were the first, and I think still only, app that will alert you to local laws and the state of LGBT acceptance in more than 90 countries around the world. So when you land in a country that has a travel advisory, you’ll get an in-app update

took Eric and the engineering team a year of hard work and we hope other companies follow suit… Why wouldn’t you? This is something that could save lives…”

“One interesting thing we did,” Skandros added, veering toward another example, “was sponsor the first Pride event in New Delhi. Scruff worked with organizers—it was basically a flash mob, if you watch the video people are wearing Scruff shirts and dancing, showing Pride in what I believe was the first large Pride celebration in India. Connecting with the community globally, that’s our mission…”

As Skandros, Silverberg and others travel around, they meet many members, and see the impact the company has had.

Skandros said one of his favorite things about these occasions to meet users is meeting “Scruff couples,” people who met on the app. Skandros laughed recalling having been asked to get licensed to marry some of those couples. One couple, the two shared, sent photos of their Scruff-themed wedding.

So Scruff is a business, but it’s more than just business for the founders and their team. It’s people, it’s community, and it’s a way of life. Skandros, who’s made himself the face of Scruff since the company’s inception, jokes, “After eight years, my closet is nothing but Scruff shirts. My friends make fun of me, but Scruff is my identity. It’s a company and brand that I’m proud of, and I want to show that and connect with members…

I really am proud of what we’ve become.” @OUTANDABOUTNASH 1 5 Y E A R S O F LG B T N E W S

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GRIZZLIES COMPETE IN LOCAL TOURNAMENT A DIFFERENT KIND OF GAME AT THE MUSIC CITY SEVENS CODY TRACEY

PHOTOS: RICK GODBOLD

On Saturday July 8, 2017, the Nashville Grizzlies participated in the third annual Music City Sevens tournament hosted by the Nashville Men’s Rugby Football Club. The event is not an International Gay Rugby (IGR) event.

Now, you may be asking yourself: “Self, what is sevens rugby?”

Well, since you asked, sevens rugby is a rules variant when each team has only seven players on the pitch, hence the name, as opposed to the usual fifteen. It also has seven minute halves, thus making it a much faster paced game.

The matches were held at Ted Rhodes Park, with the Grizzlies competing in the Men’s Social Division. The team started the tournament out strong, with the Grizzlies beating the Knoxville Awesome Possums 19-14. During their second match, the Grizzlies had some trouble going against Louisville, with the match going to Louisville and a final score of 38-17. In their last match of the tournament, which was against Chattanooga, the Grizzlies played their best, but were very narrowly defeated, with Chattanooga winning 15-12.

@OUTANDABOUTNASH

1 5 Y E A R S O F LG B T N E W S

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If you had to choose one thing to change about your drag style or look what would that be?

If I had to say what I would change about my style, it would be to be a more fluid queen. I say that because I would want to know every little aspect there is to know about the art of drag.

A KIKI WITH PAIGE TURNER | @PaigeTurner01

It’s that time again—when we get to know another lovely Music City queen. Our town is blessed with tons of different styles of talent, from Fish to Club queens. New talent and personas arriving on the daily—for instance, the ever so talented Bianca Santana Knight, who can often be found gracing the stages of Trax. This recently crowned Miss Americana—her first title earned since moving here—looks ready to take Nashville by storm! So let’s sit back, relax, and get untucked as we get to know this girl on fire!

Did you face any hardships growing up? Can you tell us about them?

Yes, I have, just like the next individual.

Growing up in a “God-fearing home,” being confused about my sexuality, and the stress of coming out as a black male…

How old were you when you first started doing drag?

I was 23 years old, and I got started in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It was a Halloween drag contest at After Dark nightclub.

What sparked your interest in this art form?

The freedom it allows… As an inspiring designer, it allowed me to showcase my designs and creations. In middle school and high school, I’d always been on stage with show choirs and musicals. So it’s no surprise that I love being on stage and expressing myself.

I have to say that this art form was also a healing process for me, when I was in a broken dark place in my life.

How would you describe your drag style and persona, and who are your inspirations?

My style is creative, classy, and 34

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innovative. Several queens and performers have been huge influences, such as Beyoncé, Grace Jones, Lady Gaga, Vernessa Mitchell, Rubi Santana (Drag Mother), The Legendary Misty Knight Patti LaBelle, fashion designers like; Alexander McQueen and Vera Wang, RuPaul’s Drag Race the list can go on.

Of them all, who would you say has been the biggest influence in your drag career?

My drag mother Rubi Santana. She has been there for me through it all, along with a few others. I’ve cried, laughed, and fought with her, but through the years our bond has gotten stronger.

With endless support and love, I can always count on her to make me simile and motivate me to be a better entertainer.

How does your family feel about you doing drag?

My family is mixed with the whole idea, some love it and some hate that I do drag, but for the family members that have gotten to experience Bianca, their reaction is, “Damn, she makes a fine woman!

AUGUST 2017

What is the one thing you would never change about your drag style or look?

One major thing I wouldn’t change is my self-growth as a drag queen: never stop learning in this industry.

I will always stay true to myself, stay humble, and give 100% on stage.

Many say my drag style is fishy, I’ve learned over the years what that meant and learned to be proud of it.

What is your favorite song to perform, and why?

I have many songs that I love to

perform to, like “New Attitude,” “Crazy in Love,” and “Proud Mary,” but “Schooling Life” by Beyoncé will always be dear to my heart, because that was the first song I ever did, and it was the start of what is Bianca Santana Knight.

How do you feel when you perform that song?

I feel higher than life when I perform that song: it’s like I get a rush of energy in my soul. The rhythm and the beat takes over and my spirit is filled with power.

myself and other queens.

Where do you see yourself In five years as a performer?

I see myself still on stage, doing what I’m passionate about, growing and testing the waters of more pageantry. I see myself to continuing designing for

You can catch Bianca at a number of venues around town, but she most often performs at Trax. To stay upto-date on her events and designs, you can follow her on Facebook by searching Bianca Santana Knight.

What is the hardest obstacle you have face whether it been in your everyday life or as a performer?

To answer truthfully and honestly, the hardest obstacle I have to overcome would be myself, for not believing in myself more.

What makes you feel most accomplished as a performer?

When I can look out from the stage and see every patron engaged, with a smile. I know I have done my job.

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NASHVILLE SET TO OBSERVE BIANCA PAIGE DAY 2017 THREE STAGES, DOZENS OF ARTISTS LINED UP

JAMES GRADY & MATHU POTTS

PHOTOS: STEPHEN BLOODWORTH

Bianca Paige (Mark Middleton) is a true legend of LGBT Nashville.

As her friends and community began to suffer and die from the rising epidemic, this drag queen—over the course of her career— assisted in raising over a million dollars for HIV/AIDS research!

She fought ‘til the end, and when she passed, the city felt a great loss, holding a memorial that resulted in the closing of parts of Church Street to accommodate the overflow for the shows held after it. Mayor Karl Dean proclaimed the day of her memorial, August 27, a city holiday, honoring Bianca/Mark for all of his work.

This holiday has not been forgotten. Nashville Pride holds a Bianca Paige Day/Mark Middleton Day of Service, and also annually awards a prize in their honor in advance of Pride. The local community has also observed the day ever since. Mathu Potts, an organizer of Bianca Paige Day festivities notes, “Even though it started as two drag queens and a bucket raising what they could for Nashville Cares, the holiday grows each year! Last year’s event started at noon at TRAX, involved two continually running stages hosted by Nashville’s drag elite, bands signed by many of Nashville’s great recording labels, local comedy troupes, media personalities, and more. The program lasted until the very end of the night—3:00 a.m.”

This year the event is growing once more, with the addition of a fenced parking lot, a third outdoor main stage, and vendor booth availability. The current list of entertainers and speakers is still growing, and the Bianca Paige Day team is still interviewing and auditioning local performers, musicians and more, but they promise that this year’s event will be the most amazing yet!

Already, though, the lineup includes more than twenty drag entertainers, from Play Dance Bar’s Nicole Ellington Dupree to the Satin Dolls and the Misfit Mafia of Trax. Comedians include local talent like Thomas Prunier, as well as personalities including Canadian TV star Hannah Hogan. Musical talent includes both performers and well-known DJs. As the list grows and more acts confirmed, the organizers will post updated information in the event’s Facebook page.

An impressive host of community partners has lined up to support this year’s event. In addition to Pride, organizations like Team Friendly, The Conductors, the Music City Sisters, Ron Sanford Productions, Grand Central Party, as well as Ajax Turner (Bud Light), Lipman Brothers (Jagermeister), and Det Distributing (Miller Lite), are helping produce the event, with many more being added as of this writing.

In order to make it easier for the community to attend, this year’s event will be observed a day earlier, August 26, 2017, with a start time of 3 p.m. Attendees can also look forward to giveaways from such local institutions as Rebel Yell Tattoo, Monolith Tattoo, Blackbird Tattoo and Gallery, Sinema Restaurant, and Peckers Bar and Grill.

For up-to-date info on this still-evolving event, visit Facebook.com/events/1539030152828509.

@OUTANDABOUTNASH

1 5 Y E A R S O F LG B T N E W S

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OVER

the RAINBOW

OLDER AND WISER JULIE CHASE

I have been called “too Anglo and not angry enough” by a lesbigay friend, the opinions of whom I do value. The truth of the matter is that this person may be right.

Soulmate and I entered college together in the early 1980s, just when the AIDS epidemic struck with full force. Being ever so slightly bisexual quickly went from “not optimal” to “rather bad” as a direct result.

There had been some blowback from the mainstream already because of the renewed conservative political culture, but AIDS was the real culprit, killing family and setting back the LGBTQI movement by roughly ten years or more. With college scholarships and starter employment prospects on the line, quiet and reasonably closeted seemed the better way to go for many of my kind back then.

Our gay/lesbian friends from college began integrating into the greater community soon after graduation, while the bisexuals in my crowd started getting cold feet upon hitting the real world. There was an obvious out in my case: Soulmate and I had managed to fall in love. We soon married, both of us relieved to have found a partner who shared an intimate secret.

Our happiness was not to be shared by friends who could not do the same.

They had no other choice but to forge ahead and be part of the revolution. There was no going back for them. Silence really could equal death ... and they knew it.

My bisexual friends were more than a little scared of going public with the unrequested blessing anyway. There were real consequences: shunning, lack of employment opportunities and the stigma of not committing to “either team” were just a few. We were also afraid of the bar culture...and very few of my churchcollege gang had ever seen—much less dabbled in—the recreational drugs that seemed to be making a strong comeback within the community by the 1990s.

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It was better to stay politely closeted and support The Tribe from behind a curtain, we reasoned. For me, the straight act worked fine for twenty-plus years until my near breakdown over gender dystopia.

I managed to not do anything too stupid in all that period of time, but just barely.

Severe life changes and the prospect of soon turning fifty does make one consider past actions. Not speaking out and shying away from the organized LGBTQI resistance then was a serious mistake on my part, and I am very sorry that I failed to do so. If we had to do it all over again, Soulmate and I would have become the openly lesbian couple that we are today from day one, and I would have willingly kissed the career possibilities goodbye in favor of happiness and sanity.

I imagine that we are not the only ones who could say this. I also imagine this category is chalk-full of mostly closeted bisexuals who could get away with the “looks straight” option while the gay/lesbian wing had to slug it out with organized bigotry. Thank goodness the so-called radicals of our community were leading the fight back then.

The simple truth of the matter is that The Tribe would be nowhere near where we currently stand without the folks who were willing to give all to obtain our full freedom, stigmas and consequences be damned.

This generation’s activists have their roots in groups like Act Up, descended from the Stonewall era, themselves growing out of the Daughters of Bilitis and the Mattachine Society. Often, “radical” really just means being ahead of the curve.

That’s where our community’s heroes have always been.

It takes that type of gutsy person to turn a page for society and history in everyday America. Were they so radical because they knew who they were and were fighting for their lives, their loves and their freedom? If I had a realistic chance of

AUGUST 2017

ILLUSTRATION: MELISSA GAY

The Confession of a Returning Bisexual

losing my lifemate because we lived in a society that could easily have thrown me in jail for openly loving her, I would easily have become that radical too.

I still tend to speak softly and try to use the powers of reason and love as my weapons of choice, but I am not as naive as I used to be. This is a true culture war, and we have no option as a people but to win it. Bigotry persist, metastasizing into far more dangerous forms. All progressive communities and their allies are now under direct threat, and thus the quiet types amongst us may no longer stay so polite and quiet.

Guilty consciences often breed determination to right past wrongs. As my generation and younger of formerly closeted bisexuals continue to stream back into the community, I predict many of these fellow souls will take a more open and active role in the fight, no matter who they love. That, in itself, will be a quiet victory for The Tribe.

The “radicals” of our tribe were right. I am very grateful to be amongst them now.

Julie Chase is the pen name for a local 40-something trans woman. A graduate of The University of the South at Sewanee, she loves butterflies, strong women and the Austrian School of Economics.

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AUGUST 2017