2010-11-01 outlook: columbus

52-01_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:54 PM Page 2

outlook The save our youth Issue

nov 2010 • vol 15 issue 6

inside: snapshot vigil lots of letters sam steward EO & EHEA Beyond Limits training Julie Serovich GLBT Bullying & Suicide Comedian Jason Stuart trippin’ out Yellow Springs & Local Celeb Shaun

02-51_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 10:59 PM Page 1

y

2

nov 2010

In Quark, the word “special “ in this ad looks like “sexual”. We like that.

outlookcolumbus.com

50-03_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 10:59 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

If there’s a room in your home, Janet Garrison would like to rent it. Or at the very least, squat there. Gooeyz didn’t work out, gurrrl.

nov 2010

3

04-49_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:24 PM Page 1

4

nov 2010

I would like to see Kyle Kline as the meat in a Vivi Velure/Viva Valezz sammy. Let’s do it.

outlookcolumbus.com

48-05_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 5:45 PM Page 2

5

you are here

6

snapshot

9 hey!

11

hey!

12

q-munity

14

polisigh

16 small pond

OWNERS AND PUBLISHERS Michael Daniels & Christopher Hayes HEADQUARTERS Outlook Media, Inc. 815 N High St, Bsmt Ste ii Columbus, OH 43215 614.268.8525 phone 614.261.8200 fax www.outlookmedia.com SUBSCRIPTIONS & DISTRIBUTION Call 614.268.8525 BUSINESS DIRECTOR Michael Daniels: mdaniels@outlookmedia.com ADVERTISING ACCOUNT REPS Chad Frye cfrye@outlookmedia.com Mary Malone mmalone@outlookmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Rivendell Media - 212.242.6863

18 open kimono

Bullying, Babies and Better Days Ahead Being a politically-minded monthly does have one major disadvantage, we always have to wait a month to talk about the elections. We’ll be on press long before early voting is even closed, so who knows what’s happening as you read this.

Did Fisher pull it off? Did Nickie decide well maybe not? Have Stinzi’s eyebrows gotten bigger? In this election cycle, it’s hard to say. What I can say is I’m over it. I’m so glad November is here and I don’t have to hear one more posturing lie or misconstrued fact. My commercials will be bright entertaining bits of consumerism instead of the negativity and fearmongering. I’m glad just to move on, whatever the outcome.

And in that spirit, I’ll move on to the something more cheerful, my new niece, Layna Grace Yakovich. Layna came into the world during production week last month (I would talk to her about her timing, but she did wait ‘til we were home from San Fran, soooo…) and she’s been occupying my time ever since. If you’ve known me at all over this past year, I’ve had baby fever bad. Call it my clock ticking, or just the shift in things I want out of life – babies became very important to me. Fueling this fire has been my circle of friends, who’ve been popping kids out all over the place. First Kim had her twins, then Anna had Elena and Bridget and Chuck popped out Jameson. I couldn’t get enough, and it made me want my own even more. So of course I’ve been super excited for my baby sister, who’s also one of my best friends, to have her first kid and the first granddaughter to our clan.

Whereas my four nephews all live in Toledo, my sister lives here in town, so my role in Layna’s life will be much more day to day, and it’s been in the back of my mind that if children don’t happen for me, she will be the closest child I will help raise. Not at all a bad gig, so every chance I get I go see her. Newborns are fantastic. They are basic, they are complex and they are in tune with themselves and in a way we forget. They make you forget everything else around you. I could hold Layna for hours (and have). Holding her, feeding her, staring into her eyes I live in the present moment (a presence that I’ve needed this month) and the rest of the world fades away.

lenges lately, challenges that don’t typically culminate at the same time for most of us. And where usually I’m able to cope well with adversity, I found myself battling depression in a way I never had before. The anxiety first manifested in my heart where for over a month I could feel it pounding, misbeating and burning in my chest. I kept telling myself that if we could just get past one hurdle it would settle back down, but when those hurdles got taller my thoughts moved to a place that had me thinking taking a bottle of pills was easier and more relieving than dealing with all the crap on my plate. I knew then it was time for some help. Luckily for me I had the faculties to tell my mom, my sister and my business partner I was in a bad place.

Getting it out of me was the first step, seeing my doctor and my therapist was the next, and then getting proactive on my problems was the last.

Some beta blockers, anti-anxieties and regular discussions later, I’m stable-ish. Things are moving forward. I am doing my best to live in the present, living just for today. And that is always my biggest challenge. Whether getting too far ahead of myself, or dwelling on what we should have done in the past, I often find in hard to stay in the now and that is when I spin. As I said, I’m lucky. I was able to find help and pull myself out. Unfortunately, many of our youth can’t. They don’t know how. They have no one to turn to… or at least it feels that way.

20 general gayety 23

super mario world

24

complete the circuit

25

calendar

MANAGING EDITOR Jon Dunn jdunn@outlookmedia.com EDITORIAL ASSISTANT Phillecia Cochran pcochran@outlookmdia.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Regina Sewell, Romeo San Vicente, Jack Fertig, Simon Sheppard, Dan Savage, Mickey Weems, Michael Daniels, Chris Hayes, Jon Dunn, Chad Paul Frye, Mackenzie Worral, Phillecia Cochran, Mario Pinardi, Gloria McCauley, Leslie Robinson, Gregg Shapiro, Aaron Leveanthal, John Stuart, J. Eric Peters, Abby Hollingshead

about town

30

feature: 14

33

feature: cascade

35

feature: bullied comedian

36

feature: gloria

INTERNS Dominic Presutto, Mackenzie Worrall, Sam Malone

38

bookmarks

40

deep inside hollywood

CYBERSPACE http://www.outlookcolumbus.com http://www.outlookmedia.com http://www.networkcolumbus.com http://twitter.com/outlookcolumbus facebook @ outlook: columbus

42

creative class

46

savage love

47

community resources

48

local celebrity

48

astro forecast

NEXT MONTH

Chris Hayes Co-Publisher

She has been my saving Grace. Both personally and professionally there have been many chaloutlookcolumbus.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF & ART DIRECTOR Christopher Hayes hayes@outlookmedia.com

28

44 tripping out The irony doesn’t escape me that all this culminated during a rash of suicides in our community. Or that we gathered to rally against losing our youth. So as this issue came together, which was much more focused on a variety of GLBT health issues, it seemed more appropriate to address just one: mental health. It’s our save our youth (and everyone else) issue. Suicide happens when there is no hope. It is important that we find ways to reach out to each other, remind each other we are not alone, remember things will get better, instill hope in those that need it and believe better days are not far to come. Let’s not lose anyone else in our community.

ADVERTISING DEADLINES Reservations by the 15th of each month.

Art in by the 20th.

The masthead went verticle, bitches! Like a snowboarder!

The Healthy Holidays Issue

CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS Robert Trautman, Dominic Presutto, Chris Hayes, Scott Surovjak CONTRIBUTING DESIGNER Robert Trautman

outlook columbus is published and distributed

by Outlook Media, Inc. the first day of each month throughout Ohio. outlook columbus is a free publication provided solely for the use of our readers. Any person who willfully or knowingly obtains or exerts unauthorized control over more than 5 copies of any issue outlook columbus with the intent to prevent other individuals from reading it shall be considered guilty of the crime of theft. Violators will be prosecuted.

The views expressed in outlook columbus are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or personal, business, or professional practices of Outlook Media, Inc. or its staff, ownership, or management. outlook columbus does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or reliability of any interpretation, advice, opinion, or view presented.

Outlook Media, Inc. does not investigate or accept responsibility for claims made in any advertisement. Outlook Media, Inc. assumes no responsibility for claims arising in connection with products and services advertised herein, nor for the content of, or reply to, any advertisement. All material is copyrighted ©2010 by Outlook Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

nov 2010

5

06-47_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:07 PM Page 1

#) SCARLET & GAY @OSU SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

SCARLET & GAY @OSU SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

SCARLET & GAY @OSU SEPTEMBER 17, 2010

Jerry-Atric

Hey look!

Two guys!

OoH! Three guys!

ART FOR LIFE SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

ART FOR LIFE SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

ART FOR LIFE SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

What’s with all the men?

I wonder what Candied Traut would taste like...

Was is das art? Ja?

3 is a magic number

OBAMA RALLY @ OSU OCTOBER 17, 2010

OBAMA RALLY @ OSU OCTOBER 17, 2010

OBAMA RALLY @ OSU OCTOBER 17, 2010

OBAMA RALLY @ OSU OCTOBER 17, 2010

GoBama!

November 2nd. Do it.

John Legend meets Patton

Stop photographing the photographer

SPIRIT DAY VIGIL OCTOBER 20, 2010

SPIRIT DAY VIGIL OCTOBER 20, 2010

SPIRIT DAY VIGIL OCTOBER 20, 2010

SPIRIT DAY VIGIL OCTOBER 20, 2010

You, You light up my life...

Kids Rule!

OMG! I can see my reflection in their sweet shades

ART FOR LIFE SEPTEMBER 25, 2010

No polyester shirts were harmed at this vigil

6

nov 2010

Rock it girls!

For more pictures head to our facebook fan page: outlook; columbus.

outlookcolumbus.com

46-07_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:03 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Samantha Rollins and Briggs Cormier are the only vampires we know, and they don’t look like this!

nov 2010

7

08-45_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:09 PM Page 1

8

nov 2010

Bob and his boys are the best in the biz. And they’re smart too. Please see the next page.

outlookcolumbus.com

44-09_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:04 PM Page 2

Ken Mehlman and the Red Herring Party To the Editor: “Gay baiting” is the nefarious tool used to insinuate that a political opponent is gay, without saying the actual word gay or homosexual in the broadcast of the message. Ken Mehlman, the campaign chairman for President George W. Bush and former chair of the Republican National Committee, orchestrated this strategy to intimidate unsuspecting voters that gay Americans were somehow a danger to our society, culminating in the re-election of Bush in 2004.

After the guile Mehlman has perpetrated upon our community, he now admits he is gay and asks that we accept him with open arms.

Before we extend the olive branch of forgiveness to Mehlman, a man who suppressed the gay community and pushed our cause and the entire country epically backward, we implore you to consider a few facts. Mehlman was the architect of a gay bashing party started in 2004 – one which exploited the gay community and made us a red herring designed to distract the American people from the concerns of the day: the war in Iraq, global warming, the implementation of sound tax policy and equality for ALL of our citizens. He disparaged our community wherever he could to attain votes. What he did was not only unethical - it was overtly immoral and wicked as well. After all of the damage he has done, he would now like a pardon as though nothing has happened.

We believe we speak for most in the LGBT community when we say, “not so fast, Nancy.”

Compassion is important, and the gay community is known for being empathetic - especially in cases where someone is struggling to come out. However, Mehlman’s case is no ordinary one of struggle. By exploring what he did, in our own backyard of Ohio, we can appreciate why this man is unworthy of forgiveness without first demonstrating measurable contrition.

It is important to understand that Mehlman was the protégé to the most deplorable political strategists of our day - Karl Rove. He was also a member of the Republican team that brought us George W. Bush in 2000. As financial advisors, it is our job - regardless of our political views – to consider historical facts when rendering our opinion on the economic climate to our clientele. These memorialized economic facts concluding the Bush years follow: • Over his eight years in office, George W. Bush brought us two major stock market crashes* – a result unprecedented in any eight-year presidential cycle in our nations’ history.

• The last of these crashes was a 58 percent decline in the equity markets (which took place in the 17 months from October 2007 through early • Bush created a negative average annual return in the S&P 500 during his tenure, an event not seen in 75 years! The cost during those eight years to the average IRA, 401(k) and

outlookcolumbus.com

403(b) owner was considerable.

• As a consequence of these events, Americans lost 14 trillion in household wealth in real estate and in the stock market, which evaporated into thin air in Bush’s second term.

How did Rove and Mehlman manage to accomplish re-electing a man who was unworthy of the job, and quite frankly, in over his head?

Well, it took tremendous cunning. They dusted off the old GOP playbook and used fear to attain their objective. As a smart, closeted gay man, Melman likely knew that his own party would reject him if he were to come out. So did he use his own self-loathing to create his strategy? We may never know, but we do know the message he conveyed was about nothing more than hate. Mehlman ensured the Gay Marriage Amendment was placed on the ballot in Ohio in 2004 in tandem with other similar ordinances around our state. He used Ohio’s gay community as red herring to bait church-going folk to the polls – and it worked. During his tenure as RNC chair, Mehlman had bills banning samesex marriage placed on state ballots across the country. Here are the states where he and the Republicans were successful: Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia and Wisconsin. Mehlman and Rove knew Ohio held the golden key to the White House in 2004 and the election would be won or lost in the Buckeye State – it was. Without Ohio, John Kerry would have been elected President in 2004.

Mehlman realized gay-baiting white “churchgoing folk” was not enough. So, he crafted a second strategy targeting socially conservative African-American and Latino communities.

Leading up to Election Day, Mehlman sent thousands of Republican operatives into working class neighborhoods throughout our state like Madisonville, Willoughby and Greater Hilltop - passing out flyers insinuating that casting a vote for John Kerry put their heterosexuality at risk. His team designed and mailed ads to these communities reading: “One Man One Woman - One Vote Could Make a Difference in Making Sure It Stays That Way” – among many other despicable examples of right-wing propaganda.

Under Mehlman’s instruction, the Republican Party successfully intimidated tens of thousands of Ohioans to vote contrary to their own economic self-interest. Gay-baiting prevailed Bush won an undeserved second term that has had horrific and deadly consequences for this country and the world. Mehlman’s attacks on us were a direct assault on our rights as citizens to be free, get married, and to have the same tax benefits as our straight siblings, family and friends. As a result, Bush won almost 13% of the African-American and Latino vote in

Ohio in ‘04, a four-fold increase over the prior presidential election. We estimate gay-baiting produced about 600,000 state-wide votes, enough for Bush to win Ohio and the Electoral College. Bush won Ohio and the White House by fewer than 119,000 votes!

After this misery wrought upon all of us, his desire to become an accepted member of our community begs the question: Why should we forgive this man?

Not long ago, Ken Mehlman remarked: “It’s taken me 43 years to get comfortable with this part of my life.” Well, that statement is disingenuous. According to reliable sources, Mehlman patronized gay bars in the D.C. area when he worked on Pennsylvania Avenue. So, like his tea party cronies, the facts contradict his version of the truth. Some have argued we should feel empathy for the stunted growth of this man’s self-awareness. Others in our community have argued that we should pardon his past offenses because Mehlman can put cheeks in the seats at fundraisers he supports.

However, before letting this man “off the hook” as he would like, here are the pertinent questions we need to ask ourselves: • How do we have any sense of integrity, dignity or PRIDE as people if we accept this man’s request for acceptance and let him “walk” without showing any remorse for what he has done?

• Without measurable contrition on his part first, given the atrocities perpetrated on our community, how do we know he is not a ruse or Trojan horse?

• Plenty of gay folks have not taken 44 years to get ‘comfortable with’ themselves, and while Ken Mehlman was growing up he created an atmosphere of contempt and loathing toward the gay community which will take years to overcome.

Now that the damage is done, he wants our collective forgiveness. Well, we intend to look closely at what he does, not at what he says.

We need to see genuine contrition on his part first and foremost. These are our requests before we will consider listening to a single word from him: • Mr Mellman, it is estimated in 2009 that 12,000 young adults committed suicide*. More than 35% of these adolescents were gay. For every completed suicide, another 100 to 200 attempts take place. Suicide is the third leading cause of death in this age group, and the second leading cause of death on our college campuses. The anti-gay fervor you surreptitiously energized only stoked the flames to this fire of self-hatred. We suggest that you meet as many of these families as possible who have lost a gay son or daughter in order to understand their anguish for which you bear great responsibility.

We also recommend you make generous donations to The Trevor Project, GLSEN and to loveislouder.com. All are amazing resources for gay, bisexual and transgendered youth who are on

He’s got neon buggers... gross!

the brink.

• Congratulations! You profited eminently from your gay-bashing work in Ohio and around the country and last year you were able to purchase a $3.77 million condo in the gay neighborhood of Chelsea in New York. Surely you can afford at least a $1 million donation to the Human Rights Campaign.

• Third, Polaris Financial Partners LLC, invites you to attend the Columbus PRIDE Brunch in 2011, as our guest. Our firm will pay for your lodging, meals and airfare. Here, we request you make a formal apology and convey you are truly sorry for your role in developing the most homophobic presidential campaign in our nation’s history. We insist that you explain why you developed the strategy resulting in your boss threatening to veto every major bill containing hate crimes legislation originating from Congress.

• We request that any time you are interviewed by anyone – especially Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and Bill O’Reilly of FOX Noise – you openly acknowledge what you did was wrong, and that your party needs to get right on the issues of social justice for Gay, Lesbian, Bi-sexual and Transgendered Americans.

Unless you are willing to show genuine contrition, Mr. Mehlman, you are not forgiven. You amassed a mountain of wealth bashing your fellow Gay Americans by spearheading hate campaigns for one party, and now you want to make more money “being gay”? At the intersection of Broad and High in Columbus - this appears as nothing more than superficial chicanery. Many of us have experienced the anguish of hiding our sexual preference for fear of persecution or losing careers. Everyone has a right to privacy, Mr. Mehlman, but not the right to hypocrisy. You sir, have been a hypocrite.

When you were in a position of power where you could have spoken out on the salient issues of equality and freedom for all of us, you became a traitor who designed a campaign to send us back into the closet – one that you exited after procuring millions for yourself.

Gay Americans get the fact that life is not fair.

However, what you did was not only unfair – it was unconscionable. You exploited millions of Gay Americans in the pursuit of greed, power and money – nothing more. The recent coming out party you orchestrated for yourself is just another red herring. Your only task, Mr. Mehlman, is practicing repentance. We hope to see a genuine effort from you atoning for your shameful actions. But unlike the gay men and women whom you denigrated for years, who persevere to create, work and live fearlessly each and every day, we doubt that you have it in you.

Robert T. Deitrick and Justin M. Drake Polaris Financial Partners, Columbus

nov 2010

9

10-43_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:11 PM Page 1

10

nov 2010

Goku is a four letter word...

outlookcolumbus.com

42-11_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:04 PM Page 2

I Trust Rob Portman To the editor, Last evening while watching the candidates who are running for U. S. Senate I made up my mind who I am supporting. I was looking for precise, clear answers, I was looking for sincerity and boldness. I saw this and more in candidate Rob Portman. Rob Portman has my support, I trust him. Mr. Fisher and I say Mr. Fisher because of his lack of performance and his failure to stand strong for Ohioans, the trust he has broken, I do not feel that he desires to be call Lt. Governor. He constantly repeated himself it is clear that he does not have what it takes to lead and represent Ohioans. Mr. Fisher refuses to take reasonability for the thousand and thousand of lost jobs, failing and to stand up for Ohioans under the Strickland administration. Mr. Fisher wants to pass the buck and takes no blame himself. He insults me and my fellow Ohioans if he thinks that we are buying his excuses and explanations for this mess that he helped create.

I will vote for Rob Portman and I will encourage others to do so as well. I believe Rob Portman will stand strong and refuse to fold and give up under pressure. I believe Rob Portman will fight tirelessly for Ohioans and remain honest and true. I believe Rob Portman will get Ohioans back to work. I believe Rob Portman will return us back to a strong Ohio and make us proud that we have placed him in the Senate. Rob Portman is one of us, he has not forgotten where he comes from, he will stand up for Ohioans and fight big government. Rob Portman will not come back to us with excuse and failures. Ohio’s future, my future and my children’s future will be in his hands and I trust Rob Portman.

Brenda L. Mack Canfield, Ohio

A Former Gay Democrat; Now A Gay Tea Party Republican To the Editor: I am Gay, and I have spent nearly half a century as a thoughtless “liberal” gay-clone, believing everything the gay ghetto and my labor union has told me. I have blamed the decimation of gay men dying of AIDS on Reagan, Bush, Cheney, Rove and Gingrich. I have dutifully voted Democratic in almost every election since John F. Kennedy. I have called for a “French Revolution” in America and preached the socialist gospel of European superiority to anybody who would listen. But I have changed!

What brought about this change? In one word: Obama !!!

His taxpayer bailouts of the incompetent rich contradicted his beautiful rhetoric of condemning the rich when he campaigned for President. His health-care reform is a farce and does not control costs for any age group. His star has faded. His luster is diminished, just as millions of people have lost their homes and their employment. He blames Bush, but unemployment used to be almost half of what it is in today’s Obama-world.

He has left us so deeply in debt that China, our primary creditor, is almost certain to become the world’s most powerful economy. Even crumbling socialist Europe is telling Obama he is going in the wrong direction.

He implores us to vote for Democrats; and if we don’t, there will be no funding for AIDS. Yet Bush spent of

outlookcolumbus.com

millions on AIDS, as did Reagan and Gingrich. I no longer believe Gay propaganda, Gay editorial writers or the Gay blogosphere.

I am tired of being expected blindly to follow a Democratic Party that usurps my Gayness to raise millions, only to raise my taxes and to promote bogus fear of Republicans to extort even more money from my friends and me.

The Human Right Committee, one of the nation’s largest gay political action groups, always wants more money from Gay activists to repeal, “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell”, the military policy that does not allow open homosexuality. And, of course, they urge all Gays to vote Democratic.

Frankly, “Don’t Ask; Don’t Tell” actually works. The military leaves your private bedroom behavior alone and discreet, patriotic Gays can focus on serving their country. If some Gays want to get thrown out of the military by forcing their Gayness in their commander’s face, then obviously they don’t have the bearing to be in the military.

During this campaign season, I have attended numerous GOP and “Gay” GOP events. None of the Republican candidates or GOP activists treated me like an alien. All of them welcomed my patriotism and my gayness. Now I realize how much “so-called progressive gay activists” lie and exaggerate about rightwing homophobia.

I am fed-up with being told that because I am Gay, I must vote Democratic! Otherwise, I will hate myself. I am tired of Gay left-wing demagoguery in the Gay blogs and publications.

In 2008, over one out of three Gay voters voted for John McCain in an otherwise dismal year for the GOP. They must have been on to something. I can only hope, for my country and for my unemployed friends and family that even more Gays will vote Republican in November.

A faithful reader, Peter Ryskewecz Retired Public School Teacher Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Most Gays Will Vote Democrat, But More Gays Will Vote Republican To the Editor: Not all Gays believe that they cannot support and integrate today’s GOP. There are Gay GOP Clubs everywhere in metropolitan America, and they are often attended by many high-profile, even religious, conservative Republican candidates and Party officials.

The GOP is definitely changing regarding Gays.

In California, the victorious lead lawyer, Ted Olsen (Google him), in charge of overturning Proposition 8, which denies same-sex marriage, is a conservative Republican. He represented George Bush in Bush v.

Gore before the Supreme Court in a 2000 decision that decided that election. A few months ago this “right-winger” won a monumental victory for Gays and for “marriage equality”! Not surprising then, that many Gays will quietly vote Republican this November.

Frankly, Gay Republicans have it right: The gay press and political class are not very honest with the GLBT community and want us to remain forever paranoid of exaggerated GOP homophobia. Yet roughly half or more of Republicans now support “civil unions”, and support GLBT non-discrimination in the work place.

Today’s GOP routinely welcomes Gays into their Big Tent in every urban center in this country.

Oh Chad, that tea party drag queen stole your dress!

And, yes, many Gays want repeal of much of Obamacare, resent being in a position where half of their federal taxes go simply to marginally pay the interest on the $1,300,000,000 national debt, and don’t believe the new Democratic Party line that Obama saved us from a Depression. Most gays only want more employers and reasonably secure jobs to return to American life, not more people on food stamps and facing home foreclosures in record numbers.

Obama has hopelessly mismanaged the bad situation of “Big Government a la George W. Bush,” only to worsen it with even more “Goliath Size Government”.

He borrowed $800 billion from the Chinese, $700 billion from the Japanese, and $400 billion from the Saudis; and yet unemployment has doubled since the Democrats have run the Congress.

Now Obama admits, to the New York Times, that he blew it and is guilty of “perverse pride” in his economic and health care policy decisions (his words).

The only thing Obama has done right is to keep the Bush timetable to pull back in Iraq and to bring at least half of the combat troops home.

Bottom line: While most Gays will continue, reflexively, to vote Democratic in this election, we will learn that an increasing, elucidated block of Gays will vote Republican; even if some, in the Gay press and in the Gay political establishment, will disparage it and will not acknowledge it.

Matthew Tsien, Washington, D.C. former Log Cabin Republicans MD State Chair

Slavery on American Soil The fastest growing criminal industry in the world today is slavery. Human beings are being bought and sold in an industry that generates $36 billion every year. Both sex and labor trafficking are a national and global concern, but it is ultimately at the local level that the problem can be identified and remedied.

Within the United States modern slavery occurs in every state, including Ohio, but Ohio has no legislation making human trafficking a stand-alone felony.

In Ohio, the Trafficking in Persons Commission estimates that there are almost 3,500 foreign born and almost 3,000 American born youths at risk. According to a 2007 Rand study that examined several sex trafficking cases, juvenile victims of sex trafficking were almost exclusively female, ranging in age from 10 to 17, and were equally likely to be black as white. In a typical example, a trafficker will befriend a young runaway girl by first providing food and shelter, to later exploit her through forced prostitution or labor. In another example, victims of human trafficking can be forced into prostitution after being kidnapped and repeatedly raped and beaten.

Hopefully, change is on the way. A number of legislative actions have been initiated to strengthen Ohio’s laws against human trafficking. State Senator Teresa Fedor (D-11) has introduced Senate Bill 235, which aims to make human trafficking in Ohio a felony. The bill was co-sponsored by Tim Grendell (R-18) of Chesterland. If passed, this legislation will make Ohio law consistent with the federal definition of human trafficking, which has proven an effective tool for federal law enforcement, netting convictions of over 500 traffickers and rescuing over 900 child victims of human trafficking. Companion legislation has also been introduced in the House, as HB 493.

These bills are awaiting legislative action and each faces some opposition, but public awareness of this crucial issue may turn the tide. All Ohioans should contact their legislators and help put an end to slavery on American soil.

Jon Powell Administrative Aide, Office of State Senator Fedor

nov 2010

11

12-41_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/26/10 10:57 AM Page 1

qmunity

THE SAMUEL PEPYS OF HOMOSEXUAL BEHAVIOR

By Mackenzie Worrall Picture a hunky college professor, done up in professor garb (elbow patches and all). The envy of every girl on campus back in his OSU days (and he didn’t even play football!) – a real intellectual man’s man. So much so, that he had men swooning at his feet.

Oh, the gay Twenties. They were everything but.

The gay world can thank Ohio for Sam Steward, that hunky professor and tattoo artist, who kept meticulous notes on the thousand-plus men he rendezvoused with over the course of half a century. His “stud file” included pictures, body dimensions, penis measurements, what they did together, dates and times of meetings – Sam Steward was the Samuel Pepys of gay sex. But he didn’t collect these studs for nothing. Steward proved a priceless resource for Alfred Kinsey, becoming his unofficial collaborator on his study of the sexual behaviors of men. He was particularly handy in filming BDSM activities for Kinsey’s studies.

This whip-toting gay-ographer was born in 1909 in Woodsfield, OH (I’ll save you unearthing the map – it’s in Monroe county). Later, when the economy crashed, he made the same choice as many students now and just stayed in school, finally graduating from OSU in the 1930’s with a B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. in English. Perhaps his drive and work ethic came from his unsuccessful attempts to ‘fit’ in Woodsfield. Maybe it was that which drove him to Columbus to pursue a degree, and alcoholism. After his mother died when he was little, and his father became only a recurring character in his life, Sam led a solitary and lonely life.

While he had encounters with countless men, none of them stuck.

He never took up with anyone nor did he lead particularly intimate

12

nov 2010

relationships. With each man he touched, Sam lost a bit of himself in their sensuality. Unlike his previous troubles with alcoholism, this sexual obsession fed the fires of his documentation and art. Each night drove him to write more, and work harder. Before now, Sam was best known for his erotic gay stories, written under the name of Phil Andros. The pen name existed to keep his teaching career out of jeopardy, but it only delayed disciplinary action. He was dismissed from the State College of Washington for a sympathetic portrayal of prostitutes in Angels on the Bough (a novel of sexual desire set in what is probably Columbus). His career jumped around for a while before he gave up of professorship and pursued tattooing. Like his love life, Sam’s work never settled on one thing. He was a tattoo artist, professor, pornographer, erotica author and collaborator. “I think that like many writers and poets, he was essentially a solitary person who shared the best of himself through his writing,” Justin Spring, author of the new biography Secret Historian, comments.

The recent attention given to Sam, is thanks to Spring and his biography. After spending a year searching for Sam’s journals and papers, he discovered them stored safely away in an attic. This trove of data led to seven years of writing on Spring’s part. Naturally, the manuscript had to be pared down significantly. Spring indulges his fascination for 1950’s America with biographies, memoirs and oral histories. Sam’s name continued to appear in these histories, which got Spring thinking. “I already knew the name Phil Andros, his pen name, through my reading of gay pulp fiction and gay pornography of the 1960’s and 70’s.” And thus, the creative spark connected. “So when I suddenly realized that Steward and Andros were one and the same I got very excited.” Justin Spring will speak at the Wexner Center on November 2 at 4p.

The talk is the brainchild of Debra Moddelmog, Professor of English at OSU and co-coordinator of the Sexuality Studies Program.

She had been looking through various funds the English department had acquired and came across the Steward-Walborn fund.

Eric Walborn had been a grad student in 1986 and died of AIDS related complications shortly thereafter, but no one knew who the Steward half of the fund was named after. It had been gifted much earlier for the purpose of funding LGBT resources, but no one had touched it in years. The result? Debra discovered a cache of fifty thousand dollars for LGBT activities - and all thanks to an unknown donor.

“But then, serendipitously, my colleague forwarded me an email,” she said. The message was about a new biography of an OSU English grad. When she saw Sam Steward’s name, Debra realized that the man documented in this new book gifted the fund. Subsequently, Spring’s talk is the first use of the Steward-Walborn fund. Debra plans to use a large portion of the mountainous fund on an academic queer conference sometime next year. While Sam is seeing a renewed queer interest, so are two other places close to home in his world: OSU and Columbus.

Even though living in the academic spotlight is refreshing, both Debra and Spring agree that Sam’s greatest legacy is his horde of notes and journals. What he has given us is a window into the life of men with homosexual tendencies (as he would put it), in a time of otherwise undocumented encounters that challenged the social norm. He tried to be honest about his life in his time, and only now has Sam achieved the openness he wanted.

Debra Moddelmog is Professor of English and co-coordinator of the Sexuality Studies Program at The Ohio State University. Justin Spring’s book, Secret Historian, is out now in hardcover and available for $32.50. Learn more at his website, www.secrethistorian.com.

If you ever get to London, be sure to goto the National Portrait Gallery to see the above portrait in person.

outlookcolumbus.com

40-13_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:05 PM Page 2

LOW (od

outlookcolumbus.com

Have you got your Outlook shirt yet?

nov 2010

13

14-39_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:15 PM Page 1

EHEA Will Pass The Ohio Senate - If It Gets Out Of Committee

by Sue Doerfer, Executive Director, Equality Ohio The Equal Housing and Employment Act (EHEA) will protect all Ohioans against discrimination in housing, employment and public accommodations based on sexual orientation and gender identity/expression. Previous versions of similar bills have been introduced five times to the Ohio legislature with no success. In 2009, EHEA was introduced in the Ohio House of Representatives, was assigned to committee, testimony was heard and the Ohio House of Representatives passed the bill with a bipartisan vote.

EHEA still has a chance to get through the Senate and be signed into law in 2010. Senate President Bill Harris, has the bill but has not assigned it to committee for review. The inaction of Senator Harris has stalled the progress of the bill. After multiple efforts to convince Senator Harris to assign the bill to committee, including phone calls, emails, letter writing and in-person meetings, Senator Harris has indicated that he will assign EHEA to committee after the election on Nov. 2nd.

14

nov 2010

The Senate will return to session on November 3rd and will be in session until the Winter break in mid to late December. Although this short time frame makes the passage of this bill a challenge – it is not impossible. The staff and board of Equality Ohio are fully committed to working to get EHEA assigned to committee, passed by the Ohio Senate and signed into law

by Governor Strickland.

Although Senator Harris has not yet indicated which committee he will assign EHEA to, it is most likely that the bill will be given to either the Rules or Civil Justice committees. The assigned committee will have a chance to review the bill and then vote to either pass it to the full Senate for a vote or to let it die in committee. It is a longstanding tradition of the Ohio General Assembly that bills that pass one chamber with bipartisan support always get committee hearings in the other chamber. We expect this tradition to be honored for HB176.

Senator Harris may chose to keep EHEA to the Rules Committee of which he is the Chair. This would give him a chance to maintain an amount of control over the bill and its progress.

Leadership of the Rules Committee also includes Tom Niehaus (R) as the Vice Chair, Capri Cafaro (D) as the Ranking Minority Member.

Members of the committee are; Steve Buehrer (R), John Carey (R), Kevin Coughlin (R), Keith Fabor (R), John Husted (R), Ray Miller (D), Shirley A. Smith (D) and Jason Wilson (D). Six members of the Rules Committee would need to vote “yes” to ensure its passage to the full senate.

The Democratic Caucus of the Senate have committed a uniform “yes” vote on EHEA and sent a letter to President Harris, earlier this year, urging him to assign the bill to committee.

Senate floor for a full vote. A majority (of 17 votes) will be required to pass the bill and for it to be sent to the Governor’s office. Although some Senators will need education and some persuasion regarding EHEA, we do have the votes to get the bill through the Senate – as long as the bill gets out of committee and to the Senate floor. Governor Strickland has indicated that he will sign the bill into law when it reaches his desk.

It is also possible that Senator Harris will assign the bill to the Civil Justice Committee. This committee is led by Bill Seitz (R) – chair, David Goodman (R) – vice chair, and Eric Kearney (D) – ranking minority member. Membership includes; Steve Buehrer (R), Keith Faber (R), Tim Grendell (R), Dale Miller (D), Joe Schiavoni (D) and Kirk Schuring (R). Five positive votes are needed from the Civil Justice committee for EHEA to make it to the Senate for a full vote.

The progress of EHEA has been slow but progress is being made. Equality Ohio will do everything possible to ensure the passage of this bill and we need your support. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Ohioans have lived without these protections for too long. As long as EHEA has a chance of passage in 2010, our efforts will be focused on that passage. We, at Equality Ohio, are committed to creating an Ohio where everyone feels at home. You can help by staying in touch through our Facebook page or by signing up for our contact list on our website, http://equalityohio.org.

When EHEA is passed through the Rules or Civil Justice committee, the bill will be sent to the

Sue Doerfer is Executive Director for Equality Ohio. For more info: www.equalityohio.org.

Also checkout www.dowhatsrightohio.com

outlookcolumbus.com

38-15_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:06 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Impero Coffee: Fueling Outlook’s caffeine habit since December 09’

nov 2010

15

16-37_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:09 PM Page 1

Beyond Limits Training Finds a New Home Beyond Limits Training Finds a New Home

by Jon Dunn In their first year of business, Beyond Limits Training encountered a challenge that rarely faces a new business; they had to move. They were comfortably ensconced in the Seneca Building and had begun assembling a roster of clients to train. The location seemed perfect; the center of town, residents who were eager to become clients and 10 flights of stairs to run up and down in the modest Columbus high rise.

However, jump cut to September and the training facility now suddenly finds itself out on East Long Street in a new space. Wait a minute, how did that happen?

“We were basically asked to leave our last location because some residents in the building were complaining about the sound of barbells being dropped on the floor,” co-owner James McGuire explains, shaking his head in disbelief.

“But, both parties came to an agreement and we went our separate ways. Then we had 60 days to find a space and then finish the gym before we had to be out of the previous location.”

Now the challenge of growing a new business was complicated exponentially. Clients were still training at the original facility while James and his partners rushed to locate, secure and build out a new location. Once they had located the E Long Street facility, they began building their dream - all over again.

The facility doesn’t resemble one of the large, big-box gym “fitness factories” that have sprouted up in Columbus. You walk into a dojolike sanctum that immediately relaxes and focuses you for the task ahead. The former art supply store has high ceilings and exposed brick walls that James feels adds a “warmth and natural light to the rooms.” As part of the remodeling process, they discovered high archways connecting the two rooms. James capitalized on the happy accident, using the subtle design feature as an entrance into the rooms.

16

nov 2010

Passing through the reception area in front leads to an aerobics workout room, complete with ballroom floor and mirrored walls, flanked by two shower rooms and a tanning room.

(James is a certified tanning operator.) The next room features the stationary machines and continues the brick and mirrors theme. The large room in back is what they call “The Playground.”

The playground features the free weights and some unconventional training devices, such as chains, a large tractor tire and 40 feet of thick rope. Each of these items is a tool to provide a different kind of workout, and serve as way to gauge a client’s level of fitness. “You get winded pretty quickly doing these exercises,” co-owner Rich Lauro notes with a smile. “They also break up the routine of the workouts, too.”

The idea of starting a gym together happened over three years ago, and they shared the philosophy that the gym should set itself apart from the usual training facilities. Beyond Limits is a natural gym: no steroids for clients, trainers or anyone. “We sponsor the Natural Buckeye Classic, a competition that features athletes who are drug free,” says Rich. “We like to practice what we preach and set an example for our clients.” The hard line against steroids could put off some potential clients, but these are not the clients that Beyond Limits wants to train.

So has that hard line hurt their business? “No, it hasn’t,” explains Rich, “Some clients have been to gyms like that, and we’re a breath of fresh air.

It’s a friendlier environment, less competitive. In fact, it’s been an opportunity for us.” All of the trainers were “hand picked for their abilities, commitment and for training steroid free. They are just as committed to their clients as they are to their own goals. Of the seven trainers, five have gone on to compete in natural bodybuilding events. The walls at Beyond Limits are lined with trophies and pictures of clients holding poses or sporting their own awards. James points to a picture with seven clients, six who took first place in competitions at the Cardinal

Classic held in Akron earlier this year. These are a subtle testament to the Beyond Limits philosophy of setting goals and training to reach them.

“We like to think of ourselves as a ‘results-driven’ shop,” James says, “Everyone coming in here has a goal and we want them to see results.” In fact, a blackboard on the playground’s wall displays a list of client’s goals and accomplishments. Rich explains that “A lot of gyms have generic training programs, but we don’t do it that way. If you come in here and say to us ‘My goal is to learn to surf,’ I’m gonna write on the blackboard Jon wants to surf, and we will make sure that you achieve that goal.”

Because of the smaller size, the gym fosters a feeling of a community, like it’s a team effort. “If I’m training you and another client walks in, I’ll be sure to introduce you to them,” James says, adding “This way, if you wind up working out next to each other, it won’t feel strange; you’ll know each other.” This attitude stretches across all the trainers and is the principal philosophy that James and Rich are trying to get across, that all are welcome and can train together without exclusion.

“Everyone should be comfortable here, not just jocks.” says Rich. “Anyone who wants to get a good workout and feel like they can belong is welcome.” This welcome extends to all age groups, ability levels and members of the LGBT community. “In a city with such a large constituency of GLBT residents, it would be foolish not to welcome members of the community.

Both Rich, James and their business partner, Greg Woods, have family and friends who are gay, as well as a number of gay clients. And surprisingly, James says that the majority of BLT clients are female, and they have the pictures and awards lining the walls of the studio to prove it.

A testament to James’ dedication is displayed when he shows you where he stayed for the last few weeks. In a small corner off to the side of

The puking means it’s working.

the main workout room, James has a small “efficiency” apartment set up with a bed, microwave and access to the facilities. Of the Spartan existence, James added that it was “easier to stay here and work on the gym, just to get it ready. We’ve had clients, family, friends... everybody’s been helping us out.” He estimates that he spent nearly 20 hours per day working on the gym during the renovation period. “I had practically no time for anything else...”

He did, however, find time to keep training intensely for his competition at the INBF Naturalmania Nationals in NYC back in September. The hard work paid off: James was the WBNF Pro Card Winner, taking first place. Make sure to visit the Beyond Limits Training website and Facebook to see pictures of James during the competition, he looks positively huge! With only a little prodding, James peels off his shirt to pose that winning physique for some photos in the gym.

When he describes his past as an HVAC and construction worker, it’s easy to believe that the robust, muscular man speaking to you would hold these kind of jobs, but James is just as quick to explain that five years ago, he was not the man he is now.

“I weighed about 135 pounds, smoked too much and drank too much, was going through a divorce and just did not feel good.” He made a turnaround when he saw Rich compete early in 2005. “Rich started training me in the fall of that year and a year later I won the ONBF Natural Ohio competition. It’s amazing what you can do when you set a goal and then find the way to reach it. If I can do it, anyone can.”

Beyond Limits Training is located at 294 E. Long Street and you can reach them @ 614.824.BODY (2639) or visit the website at beyondlimitstraining.net or on Facebook. Contact James via email at jameshmcguire@hotmail.com. The facilities also feature supplements from The Nutrition X.com line of products. Beyond Limits Training is open 24 hours a day, 7 days week with membership keycard and they also offer free off-street parking.

outlookcolumbus.com

36-17_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:06 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

My meat of the month is free.

nov 2010

17

18-35_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:16 PM Page 1

Know Your Serostatus, Then Get To Know Julie Serovich OSU Professor Engages in Pioneering Research on HIV Disclosure

by Michael Daniels It’s not possible to talk about HIV and AIDS without talking about knowledge and disclosure - do you know your HIV status, and do you communicate that to your partner(s)? Understanding the factors that lead men who have sex with men (MSM) to disclose or not disclose their HIV status, and giving them strategies to mitigate those factors is critical to fighting the spread of HIV and AIDS. Enter Julie Serovich, Professor and Chair of Human Development and Family Sciences at The Ohio State University. Serovich has long had an interest in couples and families, beginning her career as a couples and family therapist.

“My interest has always been in families, however you define ‘family,’” Serovich says. “It has, for me, always been about communication and relating to one another.”

It would be easy to assume that Serovich, an openly lesbian counselor, researcher, and professor, got her interest in HIV/AIDS disclosure research by being a member of the GLBT community. But the roots of her interest in this topic lie not within her GLBT family, but within her blood family. “In 1989, my grandmother became infected with HIV,” Serovich says. “Thus my entire family became affected by HIV, and we just didn’t know how to talk about it. Should we mention it? To whom? How? What should we say to grandma, to each other, to friends? And I knew if we didn’t understand these dynamics even within our own family, then we didn’t un-

18

nov 2010

derstand them within the greater community.”

And thus her passion, and her research, was launched.

Research into the topic of HIV status disclosure between MSM has been fraught with debate. If everyone were to have safe sex every time, disclosure would be unnecessary is one line of thinking. Some states, including Ohio, have criminalized failure to disclose by HIV positive people, thus ‘forcing’ them to reveal their status or face severe criminal charges. Shouldn’t these messages and penalties be enough?

Research data, including some of Serovich’s own findings, indicate not. A Centers for Disease Control report in 2007 found that despite widespread educational campaigns and interventions, only minimal progress has been made in curbing HIV transmission rates between MSM. “And why must it be the responsibility of the HIV positive person to disclose status?” Serovich asks. “Why can’t HIV-negative people be expected to disclose? The question really is do you really want to communicate openly and honestly with each other or not, and if you do, do you have the tools and strategies you need? Frankly, it would be a large moral injustice to not undertake this work.”

I’d never thought of it that way before. I’d never doubted that, as Serovich writes in her AIDS Education and Prevention article in 2009, “(that) nondisclosure of HIV-positive status may be a key contributor to HIV transmission because it may leave partners with a false sense of secu-

rity when engaging in risk-related behaviors.”

That made sense. But then I read her next sentence. “Willingness by a potential partner to engage in unprotected sex without disclosure of a negative status may be interpreted by some HIVpositive persons as a sign that the partner is positive.”

It was one of those eureka moments for me. We all view the world from our own point of view.

Most straight folks assume everyone is straight until they’re told different. Many of us assume anyone in the gayborhood or in our bars is gay, bi, or lesbian, until they introduce us to their opposite-sex date. Those of us who are HIV-negative often assume everyone is negative until we are told otherwise. Why wouldn’t HIV-positive people assume that everyone is positive unless they disclose themselves as HIV-negative?

Serovich is currently undertaking the only fullyrandomized clinical trial for intervention and understanding HIV status disclosure among MSM in the nation, funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health. “Disclosure is a process, not an event,” she says. “Some men may give hints, seeking feedback from potential partners. Some are fearful of rejection based on their HIV status. Some may have different disclosure strategies depending on where they pick up their partners, how seriously they feel about that person as a potential long-term partner, or where they are in various aspects of their lives.”

convincing them to do so. It’s about understanding why some do and some don’t, finding out what the fears and obstacles to disclosure are, and then coming up with tools and strategies that we can give MSM so that they can make more informed, rational decisions. In that way, it’s about keeping a community healthy with everyone taking an active part.”

Truly, every one of us, gay and straight, HIV-positive and negative, male and female, top and bottom, has an active role to play in keeping our community healthy. Thanks to the willingness of the HIV-positive and MSM communities in central Ohio, Serovich and her team are pioneering work that could result in a prevention and disclosure program for HIV/AIDS organizations across the nation. Columbus is once again on the cutting edge, and our community is lucky, proud, and honored to have Julie Serovich fighting alongside us, with us, and for us, in the battle against HIV and AIDS. Contact Professor Serovich at serovich.1@osu.edu. Learn more about her research study and get involved at www.researchprojectoffice.com or 614.688.4168. HIV-positive MSM ages 18 and older, can earn up to $235 for their participation. Read her paper in AIDS Education and Prevention, 21(3), pp 207-219, ©2009, The Guilford Press. Know your own HIV status and get tested regularly – visit the Columbus AIDS Task Force at www.caft.net or just show up at their standard walk-in testing times, every Tues 3:30p-7p and every Weds 11a-2p at 4400 N High St, or The Tobias Project at www.tobiasproject.org and their walk-in testing times every Mon and Weds, 3-7p at 1000 Atcheson St, 2nd Floor.

Take care of yourself - Take care of your community.

“Our research isn’t about persuading people to disclose,” Serovich continues, “nor is it about

Get tested - Know your partners status. Know yours!

outlookcolumbus.com

34-19_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:07 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Chad is no longer training at the gym. He’s training for a heart attack. Chris and Jim however are kicking butt.

nov 2010

19

20-33_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:15 PM Page 1

DADT’S HECTIC Autumn

by Leslie Robinson

Boy, there’s been a lot of action around Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) lately. Let’s all follow the bouncing ball.

On September 9, a federal judge in California declared DADT unconstitutional. Judge Virginia Phillips of Federal District Court struck down the military’s ban on openly gay soldiers after the plaintiffs challenged the law under the First and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution. It was the Log Cabin Republicans that brought the suit.

On September 10, every gay organization kicked itself for allowing the gay GOP’ers to get there first.

On September 12, two gay and two lesbian soldiers, all DADT victims, escorted Lady Gaga to the MTV Video Music Awards. The five people involved wore dress uniforms - for Lady Gaga, an Alexander McQueen ensemble including tall gold feathers on her head is a dress uniform. The former military members looked dignified and handsome.

On September 13, I wondered if I could get a military escort for going to Safeway.

On September 20, Lady Gaga turned up in Portland, Maine, to speak at a rally aimed at pressuring the state’s two senators to vote for DADT repeal. She suggested a new policy for straight soldiers who are “uncomfortable” being around gay soldiers.

She said, “Our new law is called ‘If you don’t like it, go home!’”

On September 21, every American soldier in Afghanistan and Iraq claimed to be uncomfortable around gay soldiers and asked to go home.

Also on September 21, political D-Day arrived. The “D” wound up standing for “Doofuses.” In the Senate, each Republican and two Democrats voted against repealing DADT. Everybody accused everybody of playing politics, and everybody was right.

This vote was a blow to the gay solar plexus. But it’s possible the

20

nov 2010

Senate might address the issue again after the elections. We can hope during a lame-duck session the senators will act more like owls and less like ostriches.

Often in our struggles we’ve had to count on politicians, judges and voters treating us fairly because it was the right thing to do.

Now we actually have public opinion on our side - according to a recent ABC News/Washington Post poll, over 75 percent of Americans think gays should be allowed to serve openly in the military.

Such approval feels weird, but I could force myself to get used to it.

Again on September 21, the GLBT site JoeMyGod.com reported on the Senate vote, and someone left this comment: “All Faggots must die.” The message was traced to the office of Georgia Republican Sen. Saxby Chambliss.

On September 22, Chambliss’ office issued a statement saying that so far it was unknown which person there left the comment.

Then I issued a statement saying apparently the senator hires staffers with the soul of a plum pit.

On September 23, U.S. government lawyers filed to stop Judge Phillips (see September 9) from issuing an injunction that would immediately halt DADT. They argued she should confine any injunction to the 19,000 members of the Log Cabin Republicans.

Now there’s a bizarre idea. Only Republican gays can be soldiers.

In further bizarreness, the White House tried to explain why government lawyers were defending a policy President Obama wants to eradicate. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs must go through Excedrin like candy.

On September 24, a federal judge in Tacoma, Wash., ruled that Maj. Margaret Witt, a lesbian and decorated flight nurse booted from the Air Force, should get her job back. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton, an active Republican, became emotional as he recalled some of Witt’s testimony.

He decided her discharge advanced no legitimate military interest, and in fact weakened her squadron. So an open lesbian is My what a big gun you have.

going back to the military.

Two weeks of a DADT roller coaster. Forget cautiously optimistic— I’m nauseously optimistic.

On Oct.12, Phillips issues a permanent injunction barring the U.S. military from enforcing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." There was much rejoicing, and almost immediately the Pentagon issues Oct 14 The Obama administration, insisting that it supports repeal of the ban but favors a political solution over a court-imposed one, asks the judge to lift her injunction while the case remains under appeal.

Oct. 18, Phillips tentatively rejects a request by the U.S. Department of Justice to lift her injunction.

Oct. 20, After the Justice Department files for a stay, the 9th federal appeals court in California grants a temporary stay, reversing the worldwide injunction of DADT issued by Philips. The action means the Pentagon’s ban on service members who are openly homosexual is, once again, in full force. The Obama administration makes it clear that the Justice Department is required to uphold standing law, and that while the President once favors the repeal of DADT, the administration wishes to make certain that the matter is handled in a way that makes the reversal of repeal nearly impossible.

Oct. 21, Under orders from Defense Secretary Robert Gates, only a small handful of officials, including the secretaries of the Army, Navy, and Air Force, can decide whether or not to discharge service members under the law that prohibits openly gay service members from being in the military. Any such moves now require their “personal approval.” They must further do this “in coordination” with the Pentagon’s top lawyer, Jeh Johnson, and Clifford Stanley, undersecretary of defense for personnel.

Almost two months on the DADT roller coaster. Forget cautiously optimistic--I'm nauseously optimistic.

Leslie Robinson goes through candy like candy. E-mail her at lesarobinson@gmail.com, and check out her blog at www.generalgayety.com. outlookcolumbus.com

32-21_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 3:49 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

With closets like these, who would ever come out?!

nov 2010

21

22-31_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:14 PM Page 1

22

nov 2010

Now, Dr. Walker is good -we know. But, there ain’t nothing wrong with this feller.

outlookcolumbus.com

30-23_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 6:33 PM Page 2

Sometimes the Bully has a Friendly Face

by Mario Pinardi If you believe that only straight folks bully gays, then you are extremely delusional & are still trippin’ on Ecstasy. While my heart goes out to the families that are in so much pain because their loved one has taken their own life, there is still a lot of harm done within our own imperfect land of rainbows. So, listen up, fuck-o and get your head out of your so-called “I am so victimized by the straights” ass. Look around you, and acknowledge the bullying and harassment that goes on in the gay community everyday.

What? Gays can’t bully other gays? Bullying has no sexual orientation or identity, dickhead. I know this month’s rant will piss people off, well, so what. I am angry because there are kids taking their lives because they have been bullied and not accepted because of who they are, and I am angry because there are gays who feel constantly excluded because of our actions, our behaviors, and our over-inflated egos.

Before I go any further I would like to define the term, “bullying.” bul·ly [bool-ee] noun: 1. a blustering, quarrelsome, overbearing person who habitually badgers and intimidates smaller or weaker people; 2. a man hired to do violence. verb (used with object) 3. to act the bully toward; intimidate; domineer. verb (used without object) 4. to be loudly arrogant and overbearing. Well, many of these words describe some of shitheads I encounter on High Street on any given night. Also, many of these words describe some density that is displayed in forums of social media. I think the timing of this story is appropriate for me to write because I recently had an unfortunate encounter at one of my favorite restaurants on High Street.

Hubby and I were having a lovely date night and a dear friend of mine came into the restaurant, so of course, I went over to exchange pleasantries with him and meet his guest. I noticed two men sitting next to my friend that were giving me the “toe to

outlookcolumbus.com

head” scan and overtly giggling, several times. Now, I do not claim to be a fashionista, but I do dress body type appropriate & I like to invest in nice clothing when possible. I am a pretty tough cookie, but the overt giggling and staring made me feel like a big gay faux pas at that moment. Now, if I was a straight man (I know, that’s hard to imagine) and if I decided to giggle and stare at those two gays who were making fun of me that would be construed as bullying or hostile and I might be removed from the restaurant. We, the gays, call it catty when we do it to our own and we also find this acceptable. Catty is still bullying in another form because being catty creates an atmosphere of intimidation and arrogance. Now, we are all guilty of being catty with our “homo homies” towards each other because we are familiar with each other, but being catty to the point of malice is not acceptable and is plain hateful. I have found that I have been a receiver of more bullying in the gay community than in high school and in growing up in Steel City, and this is not the kind of receiver I want to be.

Gays are also the masters of social media. We are the pioneers of social media because the World Wide Web was the easiest way for us to get some worldwide cock. On the flip side of this, we also use social media to denigrate and demean our own gay brothers and sisters. I know I am a Facebook floozy, and I love to read my friend’s posts and reactions to my posts, especially when I have hit a nerve or pushed my limit. Recently, I started a discussion about Halloween and costumes, and I found a “Cheeri-O” outfit from Glee in my size, so I stated that this would be a hoot and I might try it. Most of my friends gave me a “you go girl,” and then one friend tried to politely suggest that I dress as Sue Sylvester, and that the other more fit friend of ours should be the “CheeriO.” I thought “Wow.” Fatsophobia, maybe? I firmly believe that this friend did not have a negative intention in stating his costume suggestion for me, however, understanding the context of the conversation and the person involved (me), a truer friend

would have exercised a bit of sensitivity. There is a difference in being honest and tactful with feedback, instead obviously recognizing a difference as a negative thing, meaning me, being bigger, should not publicly wear a cheerleading costume. I know you laugh or scoff, but it is this type of subtle negativity that makes a person feel devalued and feel not included. This subtle negativity is still a form of bullying. The message is that “you are not as aesthetically attractive as I, therefore you are a lesser person.”

Mo’Nique said in her book that skinny bitches are evil, well, unfortunately, most of them are and most of them are bullies with a more subtle style.

This rant is for all of the hypocrites and for all of my bullied, but beautiful gay & transgender brothers and sisters. For the hypocrites, understand that while it is acceptable to feel pain & sorrow for those who took their lives & to broadcast your feelings on Facebook or Twitter, however, it is not acceptable to be malicious & exclusive to your own community. Bullying is not initiated by straights only. And, for my bullied gay & transgender brothers & sisters, do not accept disrespectful behavior from your own in order to be included. And, do not feel that you have to fit a stereotype in order to be included. Believe that you are beautiful, and believe that you have friends that are good people and love you for who you are, and not what image you’ve been positioned to create.

Please think twice before being a catty bitch, and please understand that there is always a consequence for your actions and words. I believe in karma & I believe that good will always be recognized. Don’t fuck with karma, because she will fuck you back.

And, to the guys who chose to giggle and eye ball me at the restaurant, remember this fact: you will get fat and old, and someone else will make fun of you in a few years, so get over yourselves now, because I am stronger and I have more insurance.

Chad Frye asked for his chin to be photoshopped... I did what I could with them.

nov 2010

23

24-29_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:12 PM Page 1

God Damn You

by Mickey Weems When Cain killed Abel, God approached Cain, and asked him the whereabouts of his murdered brother. Cain smarted off to the Almighty, saying, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” God replied, “I heard your brother’s blood cry out to me from the ground.”

I am almost deaf from the sound of blood. I wake up in the morning hearing victims crying out. They call to me throughout the day until I fall asleep.

I must write this article before the voices of queer dead youth cross the border from my waking consciousness into my dream world. Sleep is the only place where I am not in a state of being perpetually pissed off.

I call to Heaven against the perpetrators: God Damn You.

We often talk politics, Daddy and I. He is staunchly (but often atypically) Conservative. I am extremely Progressive, to the point where even many Progressives think I go too far. Conversations with my father are wonderful because we both love to grandstand. We appreciate each other’s verbal dexterity and (more than a little) melodrama as we make our respective points. It may be my inheritance from him- of his 5 sons, I am the only one with his birth name (Ray, my middle name) and the name of his patron saint (Michael the Archangel - Daddy’s a paratrooper).

When I came out to my family, the one person I did not worry about was my father. He had served with homosexual soldiers, saw one competent officer stripped of his rank, and knew another soldier who volunteered to serve in Vietnam, only to die there. For years, Daddy has been vocal against the military’s discrimination based on orientation.

Baseline Compassion: Like Father, Like Son My father, Ray Martinez-Weems, called me three times in one day last week. When I did not respond, he called my husband, Kevin. I thought it was a family emergency.

Same-sex marriage, however, is something else.

We do not see eye to eye. His solution to me marrying Kevin, the love of my life: Daddy does not accept Kevin as his son-in-law, but rather as his son. Nice dodge!

Daddy was upset about the suicide at Rutgers University, when 18-year-old Tyler Clementi killed himself after his roommate made a video of him making out with another guy and broadcast it. Such bullying angered my father to the point where he needed to vent it with me.

Despite our differences, my parents and I share a baseline compassion that overrides our politics. Some things are simply unacceptable. I suspect that neither Tyler nor the young man who spread the video came from such a family.

In addition, Tyler’s murder (and I do believe it was murder) was a group effort that includes

24

nov 2010

every person who watched the video, laughed, and told others.

The Invisible Ones “They should be shunned,” Daddy said about Tyler’s torturers.

For me, shunning is not enough. Most of the bullies are invisible - they are never confronted, never accused, never punished. But they are murderers nevertheless, responsible for a rash of suicides by youth who were taunted and physically assaulted for being queer or even looking queer. Dan Savage put out an emotional, rather maudlin response to these kids: he wishes he could have spoken to them, assured them that things would get better. Tim Gunn’s message is more blunt- he talks about his own teen suicide attempt.

As kindhearted as Savage’s message is, it misses the point. He tells a twelve - or thirteenyear-old that things improve after high school.

In other words, young queer, you have at least five more years of unbearable hell. Truthfully, his message is mostly for those of us who are already adults so we feel better, so we feel like we are doing something, anything.

But there is a second, more devastating issue.

For many of these kids, the problem was not simply that they were bullied. It is much deeper, starting at home and reinforced in school, reli-

Cane sugar is known for being sweet, and unrefined...

gious training, and everyday social interactions. So many of our queer youth have been brainwashed into believing they could not possibly be homosexuals or transpeople. They are bombarded with this message: better dead than a faggot.

Nothing personal.

And things surely didn’t improve for Tyler Clementi once he left high school.

To Dan Savage, Ellen DeGeneres, and other LGBT personalities: many of these young people would not have spoken with you in the first place, no matter your intentions. You’re So Gay, and that’s exactly what they so desperately do not want to be. Even if you were Straight, the implication of queerness induces internalized panic. Like their peers who beat them up, many of these kids crave to be unnoticed, invisible.

They are presented no other option.

And don’t believe that enforced invisibility and suicide are new phenomena. When my Kevin was a teenager in the early 1990s, he was sent to an insane asylum for suggesting that he might feel same-sex attraction. Yet nobody even outlookcolumbus.com

Japanese ceramics. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artists at DAC on Tues., Nov. 9 from 6p-8p. Show Nov 9-Dec 17.

your digestive system that is Thanksgiving! 9p-4a.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25 GOBBLE X 3 Thanksgiving @ Grandma’s!

Okay, Thanksgiving at Grandma’s isn’t a necessity, but the food is just so much better. Toss aside qualms of saving your girlish/boyish figure and dive in! Give in to the carbs - the stuffing is the best part. Eat then drive to Jeffersonville Outlets at midnight to get an early start on shopping..

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 VICTORIA’S SECRET HAS IT RIGHT: “PINK FRIDAY” Black Friday @ every goddamn store, food vendor, daycare, whatever you can think of! Get your holiday shopping done in just a couple of hours.

Except for me. I usually use it as an excuse to buy myself a bunch of shit I don’t need. Upside? Starbucks and other coffee shops generally open earlier than the stores to keep shoppers happy! Nothing like a tasty white mocha at 3a.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Saturday Night of the long Holiday Weekend!

DJ Rob Engel @ Axis, 775 N High St, 614.291.4008, www.columbusnightlife.com: Spinnin’ discs in a different way. 10p, cover.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28 MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF ONES LEFT AFTER JEFFERSONVILLE Strippers @ Score Bar, 145 N 5th St, 614.849.0099, www.scorebarcolumbus.com.

Jocks, sweaty dollars, fingers in orifices… ‘Nuff said. 9:30p.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29 GET IT? GET IT? Karaoke @ AWOL, 49 Parsons Ave, 614.621.8779, www.awolbar.com: Show off your nineoctave range at a neighborhood favorite. 10p; free.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30 16 MEN AND A BOTTLE OF RUM Glee @ Trafik, 205 N. Fifth St, 614.222.2401: You know you love it… even you “butch” guys. Watch with your people here. Glee rules dude.

28-25_Calendar 10/22/10 11:11 PM Page 1

will be creating a beautiful costume collection for this production. This is Anna’s farewell performance. Nov 5 & 6, 8p; $10 (adv), $15 (door).

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 JUST DON’T FEED THEM...

GO GREEN! WITH ENVY… Green Gala @ Columbus Biker Bear Happy Hour @ Athenaeum, 32 North Fourth Tradewinds II, 117 E Chestnut St, www.theoec.org: Join the St, 614.461.4110, Ohio Environmental Council www.tradewindsii.com: A Board, staff, members and happy and hairy time with the Ohio’s environmental-conser- Columbus Ursine Brotherhood vation community to celebrate and their bear, cub and admirthe power of green! Enjoy a full ing friends; Happy hour from evening of dinner, cocktails 4p-9p; No cover. and a silent auction to honor the winners of the 2010 Envi- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 ronmental Achievements THAT THING NEEDS REWRITTEN ANYAwards. 6p – 9p; $50 (mem- WAY… bers), $75 (non-members, in- The Most Fabulous Story Ever cludes one-year membership), Told @ Trafick Bar & Nightclub, 205 N Fifth St, www.face$450 (table of ten). book.com/olympictheatreprodu ctions: High camp. Comedy.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 I’m sold. Hop on over to Trafik ELBOW, WRIST, ELBOW, WRIST Miss Wallstreet Pageant 2011 for this gay retelling of the @ Wallstreet Nightclub, 144 N Bible for the first act, while the Wall Street, www.wallstreetsecond act flashes forward to nightclub.com: Strut your stuff a Christmas party in Chelsea. for a chance to win $1,000 in 7p - 10p; $15 (single), $25 cash and prizes. Embrace the (half table for 2), $50 (full theme “glitz and glamour” table for four). however you want! The contest is open to the first 10-15 girls FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 you register, so get on it. 8p - NOT THEY BLOW...

1:30a; $5 cover (free for con- The Blow with Melissa Dyne testants); $30 table (seats 4- @ Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St, 5).

614.292.3535, wexarts.org: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8 Khaela Maricich, who performs I Think its Welsh... delightfully wry, lo-fi electroNext @ Wex @ Wexner Center pop under the name the Blow, returns to the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St, 614.292.3535, wexarts.org: with a special show that furThis popular series introduces thers her keen interest in young indie scene music inno- boundary-blurring performvators in our intimate black ance cabaret with a shimmying beat. 9p; $12. box venues and welcomes breakout bands to larger theaters. First up is The Joy Formi- SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 dable, a Welsh trio now based JUST KEEP SAYING “WAKE UP, in London, have built an inter- WAKE UP!” national buzz with darkly omi- Nightmare at Shadowbox 2 nous fuzz-toned slabs of sound @ Shadowbox Live, Easton riding sugar-sweet melodies. Towne Center, Mon, Nov 8, 2010 @ 9:00p in 614.416.7625, shadowthe Performance Space at the boxlive.org: This Fall ShadWexner Center. Tickets are $12 owbox Live turns tricks and treats into fright night with at the Center. its newest theme Nightmare at Shadowbox. Original sketch comedy and live rock ‘n’ roll will give you thrills, chills, and a glimpse into the dreamscape we call nightmares. Tickets are $30 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 You Break it, You Bought It Masayuki Miyajima: Refined Function @ DAC Main Gallery, 7125 Riverside Dr, Dublin, 614.889.7444, www.dublinarts.org: a solo exhibition of

AND NEUTERED! SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14 PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE...

CATS* @ The Palace Theatre, CAPA presents The Tempta- 34 W Broad St, 614.469.9850: tions @ The Ohio Theater, 39 E Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, State St, 614.469.0939, www.ticketmaster.com: Work- and with music by Andrew ing my way back to Lloyd Webber, CATS won seven 1983 Tony Awards including you…Tempting, very tempting. 7p; $20-$50.

Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting and MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15 Best Costumes. Meow. Nov 1921. 8p; $45-$80.

HEY, GARGOYLE! Service Industry Night @ Level Dining Lounge, 700 N SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 High St, 614.754.1342, A DAY TO REMEMBER www.levelcolumbus.com: $1 International Transgender Domestic Draft, $2 Domestic Bottle, $3 Well Cocktails, Com- Day of Remembrance is set aside to memorialize those plimentary Nacho Bar. Starts who were killed due to antiat 9p. transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 November to honor Rita Hester, DIRTY ROTTEN BASTARDS! Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI) whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our @ Newport Music Hall, 1772 Dead” web project and a San N. High St, 614.294.1659, www.promowestlive.com/venu Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. es: Punk rock legends Dirty Rotten Imbeciles perform a rare local show at the Newport. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21 MUSIC AND PASSION ARE ALWAYS IN 7p; $13 (adv, $16 (door).

FASHION AT...

Latin Dance Night @ Wall WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 Street, 144 N High St, WHO WANTS A THREESOME? 614.464.2800, www.wall3 Wise Men Night @ Exile, streetnightclub.com: Every 893 N 4th St, 614.299.0069, month on the first, second and exilebar.com: The cheapest third Sundays. Pretend you three-way you’ve had this year… or is it? $3.50 Jack, Jim know how to salsa at 8p. or Jose. 4p; free.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22 I THINK THE TITLE PRETTY MUCH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18 COVERS IT… BLOW JOB The Puppet Queers in Holiday Hot Glass Studio Nights @ Thongs @ Club Diversity, 863 Franklin Park Conservatory, S High St, 1777 E Broad St: Working www.clubdiversity.com: alongside gaffers at the Con- Naughty puppets. Get your servatory Hot Shop, create your tickets fast! This show sells own colorful piece of blown out every year. Nov 22 -24; glass artwork. No previous 7:30p; $12 (adv), $15 (door). glassblowing experience is necessary. This week, make a TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 holiday candy bowl! Advance IT’S ALL IN THE TWIST registration required by the Torso Tuesday @ Havana, 862 Monday prior to each Thursday N High St, 614.421.9697, class and the cost is $72-80 www.columbusnightlife.com: for each session.

Shirts not required. Hotness encouraged. 10p; free.

REMEMBER Columbus - Transgender Day WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 of Remembrance @ King Av- THE ROAD TO PERDITION enue United Methodist Church, Heaven and Hell Dance 299 King Ave: Come to this Party @ Wall Street, 144 vigil to remember our lost Wall St. www.wallstreetcommunity members. 7p; free. nightclub.com: The season’s biggest dance party!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 Perfect way to exercise beDON’T FORGET TO HAVE THEM SPAYED fore the Tet Offensive for

• • • • • • • • • • • about town • • • • • • • • • • • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1 I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS, I WANNA SHOOT THEM DOWN $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club Diversity, 863 S High St, 614.224.4050, www.clubdiversity.com: $2 well drinks all night; Starts at 4p.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 JUST START CHANTING “WE WANT CLAIRE! WE WANT CLAIRE!” 30 Seconds to Mars @ Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave, www.promowestlive.com: He may be the Thirty Second front man, but we’ll never forget Jared Leto as the dreamy Jordan Catalano from “My So-Called Life.” However you love him and you know you do - see them live on an otherwise mundane Tuesday. 6:30p; $30.75.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 HIPS DON’T LIE Bombay Bellywood @ Lincoln Theatre, 769 E Long St, www.capa.com: Catch the world’s premiere belly dance troupe doing what they do best. 8p; $38.30 & $47.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4 ALL I CAN THINK OF ARE THE COMMERCIALS THAT ALWAYS COME ON DURING “THE PRICE IS RIGHT” Pride Comes in All Ages: A Conversation with AARP Ohio @ Stonewall Columbus Center on High, 1160 N High St, www.stonewallcolumbus.org: Join Stonewall Columbus and AART Ohio in a conversation on LGBT aging. Through an open exchange of ideas you can discover new way of ensuring that our LGBT citizens and their needs are equally represented and considered within the AART organization. 6:30p; free.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5 GET IT? GET IT? Plastic Pleasure @ Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave, www.amerifluff.com: Plastic Pleasure will star Anna The Annadroid and feature an army of her virtual clones, The Annadroids. In this onewoman show, she tells a twisted story through original music, dance, aerial dance and surreal video projections.

Kelli Martin of Project Runway

1

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q

29

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 7:30 PM The Puppet Queers in Holiday Thongs @ Club Diversity 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

22

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

15

9:00 AM BNI Group One-to-Ones @ Panera Bread (Bethel) 12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

8

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

Monday

2

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

30

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

23

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Dirty Rotten Imbeciles @ New! port Music Hall 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam!

10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

16

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

9

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam!

9:00 PM 30 Seconds to Mars@LC Pavil!

10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

Election Day

Tuesday

&

3

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

1

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Heaven and Hell @ Wall Street 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

24

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

17

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 6:00 PM Network Columbus @ Ohio 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

10

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 8:00 PM Bombay Bellywood@Lincoln 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

Wednesday

4

11

18

4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score

2

25

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 7:00 PM Cbus Trans Day of Remem! brance @ King Ave Church 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score

Thanksgiving

5

6

7

8

1

T W

F 3

S 4 9 10 11

2

T

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 7:00 PM First Friday @ Wall St 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

Black Friday!!!!

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM CATS! @ Palace Theatre 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

5

3

26

19

12

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 7:00 PM First Friday @ Wall St 8:00 PM Plastic Pleasure @ Cbus Per! forming Arts Center 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis

Friday

6

4

Page 1/1

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 8:30 PM Best Ass Contest @ Exile 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level

27

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis

International Trans Day of Remembrance

20

12:00 AM The Blow w/Melissa Dyne@Wexner Center 8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St

13

6:00 PM Green Gala@Columbus Athenaeum 8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 8:30 PM Best Ass Contest @ Exile 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis

Saturday

26 27 28 29 30 31 31

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 7:00 PM The Most Fabulous Story Ever 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

Veteran's Day

6

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 6:30 PM AARP @ Stonewall 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

Thursday

5

9 10 11 12 13

4

December 2010 S M

28 29 30

8

3

S

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

7

2

F

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

9

1

T

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

8

2

1

T W

November 2010 S M

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

7

S

F

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

6

5

3

T

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

4

T W

S M

October 2010

: our history, our culture

In addition to being featured in individual shows and group exhibitions nationwide, Farmer has lectured for National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institution and has taught at American University. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Farmer also chronicled many political races, from local to national. In 2004, she served as the head photographer for Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

During her stint at the White House, Farmer captured many prominent events, including the handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and the swearing in of Nelson Mandela as the president of South Africa.

In 1993, she was hired as a White House photographer, a fast-paced job in which she used approximately 3,000 rolls of film per year and traveled the globe on a moment’s notice. In 1999, she was promoted to director of White House photography.

The Associated Press hired Farmer for a photojournalism internship during her senior year. After graduation, she returned to her hometown of Washington, D.C., where she became a freelancer and photographer for album covers.

Born in Washington, D.C., in 1951, Farmer was interested in photography from a young age. She discovered the power of the medium looking at pictures in her family’s encyclopedia. Farmer attended Ohio State University, intending to study bassoon. She quickly switched her major to photography and honed her skills on the staff of the yearbook.

Sharon Farmer was a White House photographer during both terms of the Clinton presidency. She was the first woman and first African-American to direct the office charged with chronicling nearly every second—from the mundane to the monumental—of the nation’s highest office.

“Never turn down a chance to show what you can do.”

b. June 10, 1951

White House Photographer / OSU Alumn

Sharon Farmer

www.outlookcolumbus.com remembering... always

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Sunday Night Players @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

28

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

21

11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

14

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 8:00 PM Miss Wall Street @ Wall Street 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

Daylight Savings Time Ends

7

31 11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Sunday Night Players @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

Halloween

Sunday

Bars-Clubs

Pride Holiday Events

Networking

Special Events

US Holidays

November 2010

26-27_Calendar 10/22/10 11:12 PM Page 1

1

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q

29

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 7:30 PM The Puppet Queers in Holiday Thongs @ Club Diversity 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

22

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

15

9:00 AM BNI Group One-to-Ones @ Panera Bread (Bethel) 12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

8

12:00 PM Dollar Days @ Flex 1:00 PM Happy Hour @ Tremont 4:00 PM $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club D 5:00 PM Happy Hour @ Blazers 8:00 PM Martini Monday @ Havana 8:00 PM Karaoke Monday @ U 8:00 PM Monday Night Football @ Score 9:00 PM Service Industry Night @ Level 10:00 PM Trivia & Comedy @ Q 10:00 PM Karaoke @ AWOL

Monday

2

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

30

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

23

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Dirty Rotten Imbeciles @ New! port Music Hall 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam!

10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

16

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ Club D 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam! mers 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

9

9:00 AM SRJNG Tuesday Tune Up @ Espresso Yourself Cafe 4:00 PM Karaoke @ Q 4:00 PM Technicolor Movie Night @ 5:00 PM Top Shelf Tuesday @ Havana 8:00 PM Team Trivia Tuesdays @ Level 8:00 PM Glee & Family Fued @ Score 8:00 PM Cheap Date Night @ Slam!

9:00 PM 30 Seconds to Mars@LC Pavil!

10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile

Election Day

Tuesday

&

3

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

1

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Heaven and Hell @ Wall Street 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

24

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

17

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 6:00 PM Network Columbus @ Ohio 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

10

… Glee & Family Fued @ Score 12:00 PM CMC Lunch Forums @ Ath! letic Club of Columbus 4:00 PM LevelTini Night @ Level 4:00 PM Biker Bear HH @ Tradewinds II 5:00 PM Prime Timers "Boys Night Out" @ Club D 7:00 PM Fiesta Night @ U 7:00 PM Trivia & Karaoke @ Score 8:00 PM Bombay Bellywood@Lincoln 9:30 PM Karaoke Bingo @ Exile 10:00 PM Boy Night @ Wall St

Wednesday

4

11

18

4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score

2

25

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 7:00 PM Cbus Trans Day of Remem! brance @ King Ave Church 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score

Thanksgiving

5

6

7

8

1

T W

F 3

S 4 9 10 11

2

T

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 7:00 PM First Friday @ Wall St 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

Black Friday!!!!

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM CATS! @ Palace Theatre 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St

5

3

26

19

12

… Karaoke @ Score 4:00 PM Get Your Mojo @ Level 7:00 PM First Friday @ Wall St 8:00 PM Plastic Pleasure @ Cbus Per! forming Arts Center 8:00 PM Flirtinis @ U 9:00 PM Live Bands @ Havana 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM College Nite @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Fierce Tease @ Axis

Friday

6

4

Page 1/1

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 8:30 PM Best Ass Contest @ Exile 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level

27

8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis

International Trans Day of Remembrance

20

12:00 AM The Blow w/Melissa Dyne@Wexner Center 8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St

13

6:00 PM Green Gala@Columbus Athenaeum 8:00 PM Margaritas @ U 8:30 PM Best Ass Contest @ Exile 9:30 PM Live Music @ Club D 10:00 PM Lesbian Dance Night @ Wall St 10:00 PM DJ Jeremy James @ Level 10:00 PM Dance Your Ass O" @ Axis

Saturday

26 27 28 29 30 31 31

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 7:00 PM The Most Fabulous Story Ever 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

Veteran's Day

6

19 20 21 22 23 24 25

4:00 PM Leather & Fetish @ Flex 4:00 PM $3 3 Olives Night @ Level 4:00 PM 3 Wise Men @ Exile 6:30 PM AARP @ Stonewall 8:00 PM CW & HipHop @ Wall St 8:00 PM Disco Night @ Martini Park 8:00 PM Long Island @ U 9:00 PM Tom Crumley at the Piano @ Club D 10:00 PM Karaoke @ Score 10:00 PM Trafik Jam @ Trafik

Thursday

5

9 10 11 12 13

4

December 2010 S M

28 29 30

8

3

S

21 22 23 24 25 26 27

7

2

F

24 25 26 27 28 29 30

9

1

T

17 18 19 20 21 22 23

8

2

1

T W

November 2010 S M

12 13 14 15 16 17 18

7

S

F

14 15 16 17 18 19 20

6

5

3

T

10 11 12 13 14 15 16

4

T W

S M

October 2010

: our history, our culture

In addition to being featured in individual shows and group exhibitions nationwide, Farmer has lectured for National Geographic and the Smithsonian Institution and has taught at American University. She resides in Washington, D.C.

Farmer also chronicled many political races, from local to national. In 2004, she served as the head photographer for Senator John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

During her stint at the White House, Farmer captured many prominent events, including the handshake between Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, and the swearing in of Nelson Mandela as the president of South Africa.

In 1993, she was hired as a White House photographer, a fast-paced job in which she used approximately 3,000 rolls of film per year and traveled the globe on a moment’s notice. In 1999, she was promoted to director of White House photography.

The Associated Press hired Farmer for a photojournalism internship during her senior year. After graduation, she returned to her hometown of Washington, D.C., where she became a freelancer and photographer for album covers.

Born in Washington, D.C., in 1951, Farmer was interested in photography from a young age. She discovered the power of the medium looking at pictures in her family’s encyclopedia. Farmer attended Ohio State University, intending to study bassoon. She quickly switched her major to photography and honed her skills on the staff of the yearbook.

Sharon Farmer was a White House photographer during both terms of the Clinton presidency. She was the first woman and first African-American to direct the office charged with chronicling nearly every second—from the mundane to the monumental—of the nation’s highest office.

“Never turn down a chance to show what you can do.”

b. June 10, 1951

White House Photographer / OSU Alumn

Sharon Farmer

www.outlookcolumbus.com remembering... always

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Sunday Night Players @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

28

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

21

11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

14

11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Latin Dance Night @ Wall St 8:00 PM Miss Wall Street @ Wall Street 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

Daylight Savings Time Ends

7

31 11:00 AM Brunch & Showtunes @ U 11:00 AM Broadway Brunch @ Level 8:00 PM Sunday Night Players @ Wall St 9:30 PM Strippers @ Score 10:00 PM Strippers @ Exile 10:30 PM Strippers @ Havana 11:00 PM Strippers @ Tradewinds II

Halloween

Sunday

Bars-Clubs

Pride Holiday Events

Networking

Special Events

US Holidays

November 2010

26-27_Calendar 10/22/10 11:12 PM Page 1

Japanese ceramics. The exhibition opens with a reception for the artists at DAC on Tues., Nov. 9 from 6p-8p. Show Nov 9-Dec 17.

your digestive system that is Thanksgiving! 9p-4a.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 25 GOBBLE X 3 Thanksgiving @ Grandma’s!

Okay, Thanksgiving at Grandma’s isn’t a necessity, but the food is just so much better. Toss aside qualms of saving your girlish/boyish figure and dive in! Give in to the carbs - the stuffing is the best part. Eat then drive to Jeffersonville Outlets at midnight to get an early start on shopping..

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 26 VICTORIA’S SECRET HAS IT RIGHT: “PINK FRIDAY” Black Friday @ every goddamn store, food vendor, daycare, whatever you can think of! Get your holiday shopping done in just a couple of hours.

Except for me. I usually use it as an excuse to buy myself a bunch of shit I don’t need. Upside? Starbucks and other coffee shops generally open earlier than the stores to keep shoppers happy! Nothing like a tasty white mocha at 3a.

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 27 Saturday Night of the long Holiday Weekend!

DJ Rob Engel @ Axis, 775 N High St, 614.291.4008, www.columbusnightlife.com: Spinnin’ discs in a different way. 10p, cover.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 28 MAKE SURE YOU HAVE PLENTY OF ONES LEFT AFTER JEFFERSONVILLE Strippers @ Score Bar, 145 N 5th St, 614.849.0099, www.scorebarcolumbus.com.

Jocks, sweaty dollars, fingers in orifices… ‘Nuff said. 9:30p.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29 GET IT? GET IT? Karaoke @ AWOL, 49 Parsons Ave, 614.621.8779, www.awolbar.com: Show off your nineoctave range at a neighborhood favorite. 10p; free.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 30 16 MEN AND A BOTTLE OF RUM Glee @ Trafik, 205 N. Fifth St, 614.222.2401: You know you love it… even you “butch” guys. Watch with your people here. Glee rules dude.

28-25_Calendar 10/22/10 11:11 PM Page 1

will be creating a beautiful costume collection for this production. This is Anna’s farewell performance. Nov 5 & 6, 8p; $10 (adv), $15 (door).

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10 SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 6 JUST DON’T FEED THEM...

GO GREEN! WITH ENVY… Green Gala @ Columbus Biker Bear Happy Hour @ Athenaeum, 32 North Fourth Tradewinds II, 117 E Chestnut St, www.theoec.org: Join the St, 614.461.4110, Ohio Environmental Council www.tradewindsii.com: A Board, staff, members and happy and hairy time with the Ohio’s environmental-conser- Columbus Ursine Brotherhood vation community to celebrate and their bear, cub and admirthe power of green! Enjoy a full ing friends; Happy hour from evening of dinner, cocktails 4p-9p; No cover. and a silent auction to honor the winners of the 2010 Envi- THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 11 ronmental Achievements THAT THING NEEDS REWRITTEN ANYAwards. 6p – 9p; $50 (mem- WAY… bers), $75 (non-members, in- The Most Fabulous Story Ever cludes one-year membership), Told @ Trafick Bar & Nightclub, 205 N Fifth St, www.face$450 (table of ten). book.com/olympictheatreprodu ctions: High camp. Comedy.

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7 I’m sold. Hop on over to Trafik ELBOW, WRIST, ELBOW, WRIST Miss Wallstreet Pageant 2011 for this gay retelling of the @ Wallstreet Nightclub, 144 N Bible for the first act, while the Wall Street, www.wallstreetsecond act flashes forward to nightclub.com: Strut your stuff a Christmas party in Chelsea. for a chance to win $1,000 in 7p - 10p; $15 (single), $25 cash and prizes. Embrace the (half table for 2), $50 (full theme “glitz and glamour” table for four). however you want! The contest is open to the first 10-15 girls FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 12 you register, so get on it. 8p - NOT THEY BLOW...

1:30a; $5 cover (free for con- The Blow with Melissa Dyne testants); $30 table (seats 4- @ Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St, 5).

614.292.3535, wexarts.org: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8 Khaela Maricich, who performs I Think its Welsh... delightfully wry, lo-fi electroNext @ Wex @ Wexner Center pop under the name the Blow, returns to the Wexner Center for the Arts, 1871 N. High St, 614.292.3535, wexarts.org: with a special show that furThis popular series introduces thers her keen interest in young indie scene music inno- boundary-blurring performvators in our intimate black ance cabaret with a shimmying beat. 9p; $12. box venues and welcomes breakout bands to larger theaters. First up is The Joy Formi- SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 13 dable, a Welsh trio now based JUST KEEP SAYING “WAKE UP, in London, have built an inter- WAKE UP!” national buzz with darkly omi- Nightmare at Shadowbox 2 nous fuzz-toned slabs of sound @ Shadowbox Live, Easton riding sugar-sweet melodies. Towne Center, Mon, Nov 8, 2010 @ 9:00p in 614.416.7625, shadowthe Performance Space at the boxlive.org: This Fall ShadWexner Center. Tickets are $12 owbox Live turns tricks and treats into fright night with at the Center. its newest theme Nightmare at Shadowbox. Original sketch comedy and live rock ‘n’ roll will give you thrills, chills, and a glimpse into the dreamscape we call nightmares. Tickets are $30 TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 9 You Break it, You Bought It Masayuki Miyajima: Refined Function @ DAC Main Gallery, 7125 Riverside Dr, Dublin, 614.889.7444, www.dublinarts.org: a solo exhibition of

AND NEUTERED! SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14 PAPA WAS A ROLLING STONE...

CATS* @ The Palace Theatre, CAPA presents The Tempta- 34 W Broad St, 614.469.9850: tions @ The Ohio Theater, 39 E Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, State St, 614.469.0939, www.ticketmaster.com: Work- and with music by Andrew ing my way back to Lloyd Webber, CATS won seven 1983 Tony Awards including you…Tempting, very tempting. 7p; $20-$50.

Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Best Lighting and MONDAY, NOVEMBER 15 Best Costumes. Meow. Nov 1921. 8p; $45-$80.

HEY, GARGOYLE! Service Industry Night @ Level Dining Lounge, 700 N SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 20 High St, 614.754.1342, A DAY TO REMEMBER www.levelcolumbus.com: $1 International Transgender Domestic Draft, $2 Domestic Bottle, $3 Well Cocktails, Com- Day of Remembrance is set aside to memorialize those plimentary Nacho Bar. Starts who were killed due to antiat 9p. transgender hatred or prejudice. The event is held in TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16 November to honor Rita Hester, DIRTY ROTTEN BASTARDS! Dirty Rotten Imbeciles (DRI) whose murder in 1998 kicked off the “Remembering Our @ Newport Music Hall, 1772 Dead” web project and a San N. High St, 614.294.1659, www.promowestlive.com/venu Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. es: Punk rock legends Dirty Rotten Imbeciles perform a rare local show at the Newport. SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 21 MUSIC AND PASSION ARE ALWAYS IN 7p; $13 (adv, $16 (door).

FASHION AT...

Latin Dance Night @ Wall WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 Street, 144 N High St, WHO WANTS A THREESOME? 614.464.2800, www.wall3 Wise Men Night @ Exile, streetnightclub.com: Every 893 N 4th St, 614.299.0069, month on the first, second and exilebar.com: The cheapest third Sundays. Pretend you three-way you’ve had this year… or is it? $3.50 Jack, Jim know how to salsa at 8p. or Jose. 4p; free.

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22 I THINK THE TITLE PRETTY MUCH THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 18 COVERS IT… BLOW JOB The Puppet Queers in Holiday Hot Glass Studio Nights @ Thongs @ Club Diversity, 863 Franklin Park Conservatory, S High St, 1777 E Broad St: Working www.clubdiversity.com: alongside gaffers at the Con- Naughty puppets. Get your servatory Hot Shop, create your tickets fast! This show sells own colorful piece of blown out every year. Nov 22 -24; glass artwork. No previous 7:30p; $12 (adv), $15 (door). glassblowing experience is necessary. This week, make a TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 23 holiday candy bowl! Advance IT’S ALL IN THE TWIST registration required by the Torso Tuesday @ Havana, 862 Monday prior to each Thursday N High St, 614.421.9697, class and the cost is $72-80 www.columbusnightlife.com: for each session.

Shirts not required. Hotness encouraged. 10p; free.

REMEMBER Columbus - Transgender Day WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 24 of Remembrance @ King Av- THE ROAD TO PERDITION enue United Methodist Church, Heaven and Hell Dance 299 King Ave: Come to this Party @ Wall Street, 144 vigil to remember our lost Wall St. www.wallstreetcommunity members. 7p; free. nightclub.com: The season’s biggest dance party!

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 19 Perfect way to exercise beDON’T FORGET TO HAVE THEM SPAYED fore the Tet Offensive for

• • • • • • • • • • • about town • • • • • • • • • • • MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1 I DON’T LIKE MONDAYS, I WANNA SHOOT THEM DOWN $2 Bitchy Mondays @ Club Diversity, 863 S High St, 614.224.4050, www.clubdiversity.com: $2 well drinks all night; Starts at 4p.

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 2 JUST START CHANTING “WE WANT CLAIRE! WE WANT CLAIRE!” 30 Seconds to Mars @ Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, 405 Neil Ave, www.promowestlive.com: He may be the Thirty Second front man, but we’ll never forget Jared Leto as the dreamy Jordan Catalano from “My So-Called Life.” However you love him and you know you do - see them live on an otherwise mundane Tuesday. 6:30p; $30.75.

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 3 HIPS DON’T LIE Bombay Bellywood @ Lincoln Theatre, 769 E Long St, www.capa.com: Catch the world’s premiere belly dance troupe doing what they do best. 8p; $38.30 & $47.

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 4 ALL I CAN THINK OF ARE THE COMMERCIALS THAT ALWAYS COME ON DURING “THE PRICE IS RIGHT” Pride Comes in All Ages: A Conversation with AARP Ohio @ Stonewall Columbus Center on High, 1160 N High St, www.stonewallcolumbus.org: Join Stonewall Columbus and AART Ohio in a conversation on LGBT aging. Through an open exchange of ideas you can discover new way of ensuring that our LGBT citizens and their needs are equally represented and considered within the AART organization. 6:30p; free.

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 5 GET IT? GET IT? Plastic Pleasure @ Columbus Performing Arts Center, 549 Franklin Ave, www.amerifluff.com: Plastic Pleasure will star Anna The Annadroid and feature an army of her virtual clones, The Annadroids. In this onewoman show, she tells a twisted story through original music, dance, aerial dance and surreal video projections.

Kelli Martin of Project Runway

24-29_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:13 PM Page 2

explained him the real reason they locked him up - people didn’t talk about these things with their children. Why was he there? Because his parents (who love him very much) were told by a trusted doctor that same-sex desire would drive Kevin to kill himself, not realizing that, had they not committed him, the thought would not have entered his mind.

Our oldest LGBT people grew up with scenarios even more devastating than what Kevin suffered. Things have changed for the better for openly Gay adults. We’ve got it much better since Stonewall. But this does not stop the pervasive American folk custom of festive mistreatment of young people who are different, a form of domestic terrorism that reaches a frightening crescendo in high school.

But don’t worry, it’s just a phase.

It is for this reason that I issue my appeal to Heaven. We are no longer pre-Stonewall, nor are we in the 1990s. By 2010, everybody knows better - ignorance is no longer an excuse.

God Damn You, school administrators, if you sit idly by while bullies terrorize young people under your care. God Damn You, Fundamentalist Christian parents, if you send your kids to be psychologically, physically, and spiritually warped by sadistic adults in reparative therapy.

God Damn You, Spirit-Filled Christians, if you submit your children to the humiliation of an exorcism. God Damn You, Mormon parents, if you sell out your own flesh and blood so you can have preferred seating in the Celestial Kingdom.

God Damn You, Muslim parents, if your daughter fears for her safety because male kinfolk may do her physical harm if they find out about her girlfriend, and you do not assure her otherwise. God Damn You, Catholic and Orthodox (both Christian and Jewish) parents, if you do not confront the blatant hypocrisy of your leaders who cover the asses of those who abuse young people, all the while screaming about how same-sex love destroys civilizations. Condemn these perversions, all of you, and do it loudly enough so that your queer children can hear you.

Damn Any Of You who have the nerve to blame the LGBT community for the suicides.

I promise you, parents, some of your children have rendered themselves so invisible that you do not have a clue as to what they are going through. At this very moment, daughters and sons of yours are struggling with their orientation. Act on their behalf before you find them dangling with a belt around their neck, or a bullet in their cranium in the ultimate act of lonely defeat.

Realize that those poor kids who killed themselves have called down upon their oppressors the worst curse of all.

It was because my father (with whom I fought constantly before going to college) was vocal against the mistreatment of homosexuals in the military that I never had to go through my own suicide watch. And I don’t think there is any force in the universe that my mother would not have confronted, should I have been threatened when I was a teenager.

The Day of the Lord I do not lightly call damnation upon anyone. I do so as a last resort.

To the bullies, be you parents, politicians, police, pundits or popes: do you honestly believe that God is pleased by your antics, or that you will be welcomed into Heaven with open arms for your iniquity?

My curse against you is simply this: may the full horror of your actions be revealed to you. Then we will see who contemplates suicide.

It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him.

Will not the day of the Lord be darkness, not light pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies.

The damnation I call upon you is the only source for your salvation, should you finally come to terms with your folly before you kill somebody. If Amos is not enough, let’s bring in Jesus (Luke 17:2): It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

And translated from the Qur’an (17:13-14): Every man’s work We have fastened on his own neck, and on the Day of Judgment We shall bring out for him a book which he will see spread open, saying: “Read your own book! Enough for you this day that your own soul should call you to account.”

I am seriously struggling right now. My anger is at times barely contained. I must consciously check myself from going off on people for the least little provocation, and I don’t always succeed. Recently, I took out my rage against a guy for no good reason - I realize I was projecting my frustration on him (an openly Gay man, no less!), simply because I cannot directly confront the murderers who have inspired suicides, who have beaten, raped, and belittled my queer children. And, yes, these kids are mine. Too many of their parents, educators, and religious leader have abandoned them, turning them into an invisible population of orphans.

I claim them, living and dead.

To the offenders: I pray you are speedily smacked upside the head with God’s Damnation so you can repent from your wrongdoing and prevent more murders, suicide or otherwise.

The more vicious part of me wants to add, “or kill yourself, and rid the world of your filth.”

Nothing personal.

For more information about the severity of the situation, check out these sites: www.gayamericanheroes.com. Talk with Scott Hall, its founder. Also, www.thetrevorproject.org.

Believe me, it’s worse than you thought.

My Own Private Jihad In Islam, there are two jihads, the Lesser Jihad, which is the struggle against Allah’s enemies, and the Greater Jihad, which is the struggle against one’s own evil inclinations.

Let me quote the Hebrew prophet Amos (5:1823): Why do you long for the day of the Lord?

That day will be darkness, not light.

And God

outlookcolumbus.com

Cain was a little salty, but fancy. Refined, like a Goldman-Sachs executive. And a murderer.

nov 2010

29

30-23_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:33 PM Page 1

14

by J Eric Peters

Suicide has claimed 14 young members of our community in just the past few months. All were under 21. Two were only 13. These were precious, unique individuals, not mere statistics or political abstractions.

On July 9, Justin Aaberg, a 15-year-old cellist who had broken up with his boyfriend that week, hung himself in Anoka, MN. Billy Lucas, 15, took a leather lead he had used with his horses and hung himself on September 9 in a rural area near Greensburg, IN. A friend said he had heard people bullying Lucas, telling him to kill himself since he was gay.

Cody Barker, 17, hung himself on September 13.

He had attended a weekly GBLT support group and had made plans to start a gay-straight alliance at his school.

Tyler Clementi, 18 and a freshman at New Jersey’s Rutgers University, on September 22 jumped off a bridge after his roommate surreptitiously filmed Clementi’s intimacy with another guy.

Asher Brown, a 13-year-old Houston youth, used a 9 mm Beretta that his stepfather had stored on a closet shelf to shoot himself on September 23. His parents reported he had endured years of vicious bullying that targeted his sexual orientation, religion (Buddhism), physical condition (short stature) and clothing (i.e. poverty).

Chloe Lacey, in Eureka, CA shot herself on September 24 just days before her nineteenth birthday. She complained of feeling terrified of being bullied for her gender expression.

Harrison Chase Brown, 15, “died suddenly,” his obituary reports, in Rand, CO on September 25.

He had been Senior Patrol Leader for Boy Scout Troop 191 while working toward his Eagle award. Friends told Perez Hilton that Brown killed himself because of anti-gay bullying.

30

nov 2010

Zach Harrington, 19, committed suicide in Norman, OK one week after listening to hours of brutally anti-gay testimony during a city council meeting’s open comment period focused on a GBLT issue, which passed. PFLAG had awarded him a college scholarship.

ment overwhelming in both its frequency and intensity. Adults who fail or refuse to act to control and quash such bullying leave kids at risk for a wide range of pathology including suicidality. The suicide rate among GBLTQ youth has risen to what may be epidemic levels.

Seth Walsh, 13, hung himself on September 19 from a tree in his Tehachapi, CA backyard and died September 28. Police said some students who had bullied him for being gay broke down in tears and said they had never anticipated his death.

GBLTQ youth - our community’s future - face tragic and outrageous conditions. Campus Pride and the Q Research Institute reported a survey of a nationwide sample of over 1000 folks (students, faculty and staff) on college campuses.

GBLQ respondents “were significantly more likely” to experience harassment when compared with their heterosexual counterparts and twice as likely to be targeted with derogatory remarks or stared at.

Raymond Chase, 19 and openly gay since his sophomore year in high school, hung himself in his Providence, RI dorm room on September 29 at Johnson & Wales, a prestigious school where he was studying culinary arts.

Alec Henrikson, an 18-year-old computer programmer and student at Earlham College in Richmond, IN was found dead on September 30.

Pride in Utah noted that he was gay.

Caleb Nolt, 14, killed himself in Ft Wayne, IN on September 30. His survivors include his twin brother and friends who reported he had endured a long history of anti-gay bullying.

Aiyisha Hassan, a 20-year-old student at Howard University, a historically black university where she participated in the LGBT student group, committed suicide in Marin County, CA on October 5. A friend said Hassan had been “having a lot of trouble with a lot of different things, but mainly her sexual identity.”

It’s even worse for transgender students. Harsh Realities: The Experience of Transgender Youth in our Nation’s Schools, the first comprehensive study of transgender students, released recently by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network indicate that transgender youth face “extremely high levels” of violence in schools, even more so than their non-transgender GBL peers.

Nearly nine out of ten transgender students experienced verbal harassment at school in the past year and more than half experienced physical assault. Some of that abuse came from school staff.

Some queer kids got bullied in Columbus Public Schools today (if not, then last week). The odds don’t lie.

THE BIG PICTURE

Bullying can be deadly when it leads to suicide.

The Journal of Adolescent Health published a study that analyzed data from the 1995 Youth Risk Behavior Survey including 9,188 high school students including 315 identified as gay, lesbian or bi. GBL students who were most victimized (compared with all other students and with heterosexual students experiencing very high levels of bullying) exhibited “the highest levels of health risk behaviors” including suicidality, substance use and sexual risk behaviors.

GBLTQ teens face bullying, abuse and harass-

Our kids - our community’s future - are killing

Terrel Williams, 17, hung himself “just hours after being attacked by five other high school students, and pushed and thrown into a brick wall at Clover Park High School in Lakewood, WA” on October 13” according to LGBTQ Nation.

Spirit Day with its candlelight vigils was one week later.

If you’re feeling alone, you’re not. We’ve all been where you are. For support and help, call 866.4UTREVOR

themselves. Carol Goodenow and colleagues produced a study published in the book Psychology in the Schools showing both that “sexual minority adolescents report higher rates of victimization and suicidality than their heterosexual peers” and that “sexual minority adolescents in schools with LGB support groups reported lower rates of victimization and suicidality.”

BUT THERE’S HOPE Gay Straight Alliances (GSAs) make a difference in schools. Helpful information for starting and developing GSAs has been made available by Kaleidoscope (www.KYCohio.org).

This writer’s personal experience as a suicide survivor and years of reflecting back on that very difficult time have yielded the following thoughts. If you attempt suicide, either you kill yourself or you don’t. If you do, then you might just be ending your life at the worst time your life will ever know and depriving yourself of much, much better years. What a fucking rip off! If you don’t die, then whatever method you use might leave you with blindness, paraplegia or brain damage. It’s happened to other people; every method has failed (or, perhaps better, saved) somebody.

Ending suicide among LGBTQ youth is the top priority for The Trevor Project, which “provid[es] life-saving and life-affirming resources including [a] 24/7 crisis intervention lifeline, digital community and advocacy/educational programs” according to their mission statement (www.TheTrevorProject.org). They maintain the 24/7 Trevor Lifeline at 1-866-4-U-TREVOR. Dan Savage the sex advice columnist started a community response to the recent epidemic of teen queer suicides. Savage’s efforts opened the door for a community response that has produced hundreds of videos on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/user/itgetsbetterproject) all making a single point: it gets better.

outlookcolumbus.com

22-31_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:14 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Who else is excited about the GLBT issue of Who’s Who!

nov 2010

31

32-21_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:08 PM Page 1

32

nov 2010

I think non-flossing is a deal-breaker for me

outlookcolumbus.com

20-33_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:15 PM Page 2

Personal Video Testimonies Sway Hearts and Minds of Teens & Policy Makers

by Jon Dunn There is something about the intimacy and non-judgmental gaze of a camera lens that lets people speak more freely and open up about themselves like they wouldn’t do among others, let alone total strangers. Yet, all over the Internet, men, women, activists, celebrities and anyone with a voice are sharing their stories and asking the viewers on the other side to make changes and to hold on, it does get better.

Dan Savage had an epiphany one day while sitting in the airport.

The Seattle-based writer and columnist (for outlook: columbus, among other publications) was waiting for a plane when he read about the suicide of 15-year-old Billy Lucas in Indiana, who committed suicide after being bullied in high school because his classmates thought he was gay. Savage realized he was waiting for someone’s permission to talk to these kids - but he didn’t need to.

“I thought, ‘If I could only have talked to him for five minutes, to tell him it gets better, maybe he wouldn’t be dead,’” said Savage.

After retuning to Seattle, Savage and his husband, Terry Miller, decided to shoot a video of them discussing their 16-year relationship and life with their 12-year-old adopted son, DJ. In it they tell gay and lesbian teens that life does get wonderful after high school.

this fall impelled many of them to tell their stories online, speaking of the harassment and bullying they endured in middle and high school. Each video that’s posted generates dozens and sometimes hundreds of comments. Some are attacking, but many more are from grateful teens themselves.

Sadly, gay teen suicides are nothing new, says Charles Robbins, director of the Trevor Project, a suicide-prevention organization for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth that operates a 24/7 crisis hotline. But a nationwide string of them in September brought the issue more attention. Teens “often feel like they’re the only person who’s going through what they’re going through, and these videos will, we hope, let them know that there are others who have gone through the same thing and there is hope and there is help,” says Robbins.

While the It Gets Better and Trevor projects use the power of video to change young minds, the Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is using the voices of the young to change the minds of lawmakers. They are using video testimonials from students, teens and others to help illustrate the need for better sexual education and healthy sexual awareness. The use of video and the Internet have made sharing your own story in a relevant context into a new form of activism.

“If you can live through high school, which you can ... you’re going to have a great life. It’s going to be the envy of all those people that picked on you,” Miller says in the video, which has been viewed 1.6 million times. The project has grown rapidly, with over 200 videos uploaded in the first week from adults of all sexual orientations, including many celebrities. The project’s YouTube channel reached the 650 video limit in the next week, and is now organized on its own website, the It Gets Better Project.

CAP played a strong role in gaining the passage of HB 2509, a new Oregon state law requiring all public elementary and secondary schools to provide age-appropriate human sexuality education. CAP worked as part of TPP/SHP (Teen Pregnancy Prevention/Sexual Health Promotion Partnership), a coalition of state and local community based organizations focused on youth sexual health, which includes two Planned Parenthood affiliates and the Oregon Department of Education. CAP’s peer education program Teen2Teen sent members to Salem, the state capitol, to testify about the critical importance of this program.

They sit down in front of the camera, and they start to talk. Some speak in English, in Spanish, in American Sign Language. They proudly wear their U.S. Marine uniforms or wedding rings or hold squiggly, giggling children. Most of them gay, each has a message for gay teenagers who may be contemplating suicide. “It gets better!” these adults tell them, in heartfelt videos posted to the YouTube channel. A string of suicides by gay youth nationwide

The National Coalition for Sexual Health is a coalition of HIV/AIDS organizations, service providers and allied agencies united by a shared commitment to promoting healthy sexuality by advocating for public policies that help to prevent HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, STIs, unintended pregnancy, and sexual coercion and violence. It’s about collaboration between allies to make a greater impact than just one agency/individual. As Public Policy Coordinator for Cas-

outlookcolumbus.com

National Suicide Prevention Day is November 20th

cade AIDS Project (CAP) and a Founding Partner of Sexual Health Advocates BJ Cavnor, can recite plenty of hard facts to show policy makers why comprehensive sexuality education matters: • Every hour, another young person aged 13-24 becomes infected with HIV in the United States.

• Half of all sexually active young people contract a sexually transmitted infection by age 25.

• Over 750,000 teenagers in the United States will become pregnant this year - that’s one of the highest teen pregnancy rates in the developed world.

But when it comes to persuading policy makers to reach the right decisions - like requesting comprehensive sexuality education funding under the new Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) and rejecting the failed Title V abstinence-only program - statistics aren’t nearly as meaningful as personal stories.

So Cavnor decided to share his own: I was diagnosed HIV positive 19 years ago. Being diagnosed with HIV in 1991 was much different than it is today in 2010. For one thing, we have so many more treatment options available today than we did then. And we also have better support services. When I tested positive I was the youngest person in my support group by 20 years!”

Today there are peer-based medically accurate sexual health education programs, like CAP’s Teen2Teen. Peer groups like Teen2Teen and others provide counseling that is more approachable than regular counseling situations can offer. Teens can learn from each other in a safe and supportive environment. There are also the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs, ADAPs, in each state to provide help for people who cannot afford their HIV medications.

“We have come a great distance, but we still have far to go. And you can help: Please take a moment to share your story about your work and why comprehensive sex education matters to you,” says Cavnor.

Take a moment to compose your thoughts, wait for the red light to come on and just tell us your story. And make a difference.

Look for the It Gets Better project on YouTube and www.itgetsbetterproject.com/ and find out more about CAP at http://sexualhealthadvocates.org,

nov 2010

33

34-19_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:07 PM Page 1

34

nov 2010

Michael can’t go see the Nutcracker because of his fear of mouse furries... seriously!

outlookcolumbus.com

18-35_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:16 PM Page 2

Bullied Comedian

by Jason Stuart I was that kid. I could have been Asher Brown, Seth Walsh, Tyler Clementi or any of the other teens that ended their young, precious lives. I grew up in the 1970s when being gay was still considered to be a mental illness by some. I would go to sleep hoping not to wake up, simply because I liked men. While much has changed over the last 30 years, feelings of isolation remain, much of it brought on by peers.

Like those boys and so many others, I was bullied in school. I guess my locker had some pheromone that attracted people that hated people that were somewhat different, because in the first week of 7th grade a kid scraped the word “fag” on my locker with something sharp like a pocketknife or a nail. Even though I could only see that word when I fumbled with the combination, the sadness and loneliness that the word made me feel lingered in the back of my mind every day of those horrific three years, a feeling that continued until I finally came out publicly on television in 1993. This one act and other daily forms of abuse by my classmates changed my life and my ability to learn and participate in friendships and relationships. The fear that I had because I was different was so strong it convinced me not to attend college; I was not prepared for what the repercussions might be if people knew I was gay.

When I finally was in my 30s and starting to act, I was completely guarded with my secret, convinced I had to suppress it and pretend it was non-existent. It was so detrimental to me that I only wanted to be with other “professional” actors, where I felt safe. Where I knew that as long as I was in this box of mine, life was going to be safer. “Just DON’T be yourself.” That’s what I believed and in doing so, I missed so many potential experiences and relationships that I will never know what “could have been.”

I regret not having the experience of going though the same things at the same time as my peers. Folks often say, “You can go to college now.” Of course, it wouldn’t be the same. I often travel to universities to do stand-up or lecture, and I learn so much just being around students, faculty and members of gay-straight alliances.

Recently, after a performance, I had a good cry when I was back in my hotel because I had been outlookcolumbus.com

Fag is derived from old french meaning “bundle of sticks”

in the presence of these students who are not afraid of being out and accepting who they are.

It impressed me immensely.

When I was 21, I made a call to a suicide prevention lifeline because I realized I needed help. I was starting to have thoughts of suicide and I needed someone to stop me, to save my life. I began seeing a counselor after that, who I knew kept everything confidential, but even with my back to her chair, I sat there and lied that I was bi-sexual, uncomfortable to even speak the truth. It was too hard and I was afraid for my life.

Career-wise, I wanted to be an actor while some in the industry would say I was “too light in the loafers.” Memories of all these kids who beat me up and humiliated me all through school came back to me repeatedly in my early years of pursuing my career. Being afraid of people and relearning how to trust them is a daily reminder of where and how far I have come.

Now I am an actor, a comedian and an advocate for equality. I have been able to get past my childhood and work in my chosen profession. I also have been able to give back to my community by being chair of the Screen Actors Guild National LGBT Actors Committee and a mentor for LifeWorks, which supports LGBTQ youth between the ages of 12-24. I have also produced and performed in a comedy benefit for the past five years to raise money for these kids and to show them there is hope out there.

Doing service for others and by accepting the support of others has been MY way of healing. I have been able to overcome my feelings of not being “enough.” I came to realize that the thoughts in my head are just that and can go out as easily as they entered those many years ago. I can create a new life story by which to live my life. It’s 2010 and I don’t have to be that kid in the 1970s who was abused and suicidal anymore. I often wish I could take that kid by the hand and show him the life I have now and tell him, “It will get better. I’m someone. Someone with a life and someone that matters. Just like you do.”

Jason Stuart is an out comedian and actor who has appeared in numerous movies, TV shows and live performances.

nov 2010

35

36-17_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 6:13 PM Page 1

One More Ruined Life Is Not Going To Be Tolerated Wednesday Oct 20 was Spirit Day, the day that the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation asked people to “Go Purple” to call attention to the deaths of six teenagers who committed suicide after reportedly being taunted because they were gay. The story of Tyler Clementi grabbed national headlines last month.

Tyler was a freshman at Rutgers University whose roommate, Dharun Ravi, allegedly live-streamed Tyler having sex with another man online.

Tyler’s belongings were found on the George Washington Bridge in New York the day after he reportedly posted a goodbye note on his Facebook page. Less than a week later Tyler’s body was found floating in a nearby river.

GLAAD wanted the “Go Purple” event will show other lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered youth who face the same pressures and bullying that there is a vast community of people who support them, as well as give a chance to remember those who, like Tyler, have fallen victim to bullying and felt that suicide was their only way out.

Here in Columbus, the day was honored with a poignant but hopeful gathering in Goodale Park Wednesday evening with hundreds of supporters holding candles aloft in the gathering dusk.

Many voices resonated throughout the evening and we found strength in the words of BRAVO’s Gloria McCauley: “Good evening everybody. As I look out at (this crowd) sea of purple I as struck by 2 things: First, I’m struck by who is here. We are the lucky ones…

Lucky to be alive - to have survived…

Lucky to be connected enough to our community to know about this vigil...

Lucky enough to be able to care about our youth.

Second, I’m struck by who is NOT here: Rural folks - especially youth - living in isolation and fear with no access to resources...

People - young and old - living in survival mode - homeless, poor, under employed - too busy just trying to make it day to day to worry about vigils.

And those we have lost…

36

nov 2010

Our Schools are NOT safe - Our kids are NOT safe.

Bullying is destroying kids lives Suicide is the ultimate consequence…

But youth who do survive - still struggle, They don’t do well academically, They drop out, They turn to substance abuse to numb their pain, and depression and mental health issues ruin their lives.

I don’t like numbers that much, but I’m going to read you some startling statistics:

To Interrupt - homophobic jokes and comments when we hear them.

We MUST hold Schools accountable - teachers, administrators and staff must protect all kids.

They need tools and training to do that effectively.

We must insist that they get those tools and that training.

We must hold our elected officials feet to the fire.

• 9 out of 10 queer kids experience harassment at school;

School boards must be made to have inclusive policies and provide adequate training.

• Suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death in youth, it is the 2nd on college campuses;

Our legislators must pass laws that are inclusive – whether anti-bullying bills or hate crimes laws.

• More than 1/3 of LGBT kids have reported suicide attempts;

We must - as a community - step up and DO SOMETHING!

• Queer kids are 4 times more likely to attempt suicide than non-queer kids;

Organizations that serve LGBT youth - need our dollars and our support.

• Over 50% of homeless youth are homeless because of family responses to their sexual orientation or gender identity;

Organizations that serve youth in general must be made safe and accessible to queer kids.

• In 2009 BRAVO took reports from over 100 victims under the age of 24;

LGBT Kids need our help - as role models, as mentors, as friends.

• The last several years BRAVO has taken 20 - 25 reports per year of incidents occurring in our schools and on college cam puses; And these represent the tip of the iceberg!

Bullying is Violence! We must look at violence as a continuum that begins with anti-gay jokes and comments and escalates through bullying - harassment assault all the way to suicide and murder.

It is up to those of us with ability - the privilege - the luxury of being “OUT” either as LGBT people or as allies of and advocates for LGBT people to speak up - about our experiences - our lives,

You better say it, lady!

Gay Kids have been dying for years - and nobody seemed to care.

Well the world needs to get the message.

That We have had it - ENOUGH is ENOUGH! One more teen suicide is unacceptable.

One more ruined life is not going to be tolerated.

Queer kids deserve a chance at success - at happiness - at life.

Thank you.

outlookcolumbus.com

16-37_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:36 PM Page 2

Afro Rhythm Aerobics with Pat Funderberg Wednesdays - 6:30p - 8p

outlookcolumbus.com

Bravo, Equality Ohio, Stonewall, Kaleidoscope, CATF -Thank you for being such great resources. Aquarius, you’re alright, too!

nov 2010

37

38-15_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:06 PM Page 1

Portrait Of A Page-Turner: An Interview With Author Bill Clegg

by Gregg Shapiro

GS: Once it began to take shape as a book, why did you decide to keep it in the memoir format as opposed to the liberties you Bill Clegg, a young, gay and attractive New York literary agent with might have been afforded in a fictional format? a boyfriend in the movie industry, details his struggle with the crack cocaine addiction that nearly killed him in the memoir PorBC: Because when other addicts and alcoholics have been candid trait of an Addict as a Young Man (Little, Brown, 2010). Told in un- about their experiences with me it gives me courage to be more flinching detail, Clegg moves back and forth in the book from his candid and more honest. Being honest about where my addiction childhood and complicated relationship with his family to his ex- took me, I feel less shame around it and I feel relief. If my being citing life in New York with partner “Noah” to his ultimate drug-fu- candid about my experience inspires anyone else to be honest and eled downfall with the momentum of a runaway train. I spoke with open about what’s going on with them and in that way lifts the Clegg, the author of this recommended summer read, shortly be- shame and torment of that in any way, then it’s worth it. Also, fore the publication of the book. when I went back through what I had written, the hardest thing to reoccupy was how desperately lonely the experience was. Even in the period that preceded those two months, when I was, on the Gregg Shapiro: Living as we do in a post-James Frey memoir surface, successful and living a crowded life, I was desperately world, was that something you were concerned about when lonely because I had this secret. Through the years preceding my writing Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man? crack up, I tried to manage my use. I tried to have only two drinks at night, to come home at two in the morning as opposed to 10 in Bill Clegg: Not at all. I didn’t think about James Frey’s book once the morning, and I failed every time. That struggle was a very (laughs) when I was writing this book. Part of that is that when I lonely, isolated one. It was loaded with shame. And nobody else first started writing it, I wasn’t necessarily thinking of it as a book. knew, aside from my boyfriend, that I was a crack addict. I was It was initially a transcription of memories and it began while I convinced that if anybody found out that I would be banished from was in rehab. When I arrived in rehab after that two month period the life that I occupied. The whole experience was incredibly lonely. which resulted in a suicide attempt, I surfaced from that period I thought I was the only person who struggled in the way that I did. sort of like somebody surfaces from a dream. So my memories I thought I was the only person who had a job like I did and was a what I said, what I saw, what I felt - I had this feeling that those crack addict. It all felt terribly singular. Of course now, in recovery, I would evaporate in time, that I wouldn’t have access to them later, know many recovering alcoholics and addicts who have struggled so I started writing them down in as much detail as I could. Part of like I did. So, if anybody recognizes themselves in my struggle and the urgency around that was that so much of the period was con- feels less lonely, and also sees how unsuccessful I was at managfused for me. I thought that if I wrote everything down, as much as ing it and how impossible it is to manage it, then they might be I could, I’d be able to make sense of it later and be able to distin- encouraged to step up and get help and be honest and not let it go guish the truth from the delusion once I had more distance from where it went with me. that period. The writing of it, initially, was as far away from imagining it as a book as it could possibly be. That experience of tranGS: As you mentioned, your drug of choice was crack cocaine. scribing memories went on for a couple of years. At the point of It’s interesting that the gay community is in the midst of a cryswhich it occurred to me, several years later, that there might be something book-shape, book-length there, the issue of James Frey tal meth epidemic, while you became addicted to crack, not crystal. or other addiction memoirs didn’t come up mainly because I hadn’t read those memoirs. It started as an incredibly personal and private thing. I never thought outside of the demands of the BC: There are straight people addicted to crystal meth, there are project itself. gay people addicted to crack. There are people addicted to chocolate cake and to sex. I think people struggle with addictions and it takes many forms. But I think its origins are common. There is

38

nov 2010

Paige Turner is a local Transvesticle, and she’s an ‘effin delight.

some hole that needs to be filled and how that manifests in life has a lot to do with where you are and where you grew up and what you had access to. If I grew up in Antarctica (laughs), I probably wouldn’t have had access to the same drugs. God knows what I would have been addicted to there. Penguin feathers or something (laughs).

GS: There is a sense that the book is more than just a memoir, that it is intended to be a tool to aid others.

BC: That’s the hope. That’s the reason that it exists as a published document. Otherwise it would have never been published. It was published to be useful. And I hope that it is.

GS: The book also has a cinematic quality. If there was a movie version, who do you think would be right to play you in film?

BC: Oh, God, I would never answer that question. I don’t know. Because to engage in a conversation about who would play me is also to engage in a conversation that glamorizes it. If ever there was a film that was made of it, I would hope that it would be respectful and with the same intent as the book itself. Shy of that I really don’t have an opinion about what it would be as a movie or not.

GS: Being in the literary world, do you think it was inevitable that you would write a book, whether it was about this experience or something else?

BC: No. I mean, there’s certainly a novel that I’ve been struggling with for over a decade, but I don’t think I’m going to torture the world by having it rear its head (laughs). What I would say about writing, and it’s what I do say to the writers that I work with, unless you have to do it, don’t do it. I think that should be the measure for all artistic endeavors. If you have to do it, do it. Otherwise, it’s not worth it. And I had to do this. It began in the earliest hours of my struggle to get sober and it never went away and it kept on returning as this urgent thing. At a certain point I stepped out of the way of it and let it happen. It was less of a choice to write it and absolutely a choice to make it public.

outlookcolumbus.com

14-39_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:15 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

What do you think they are going to name the baby?

nov 2010

39

40-13_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:05 PM Page 1

NEIL PATRICK HARRIS, DIRECTOR? Neil Patrick Harris has already done everything else in show business short of escaping Houdini-style from a locked trunk at the bottom of a lake (and don’t count out that option yet, given his lifelong interest in magic tricks), including directing television and stage productions. So the next step on the ladder is feature films. His first project for Fox 2000 is Aaron and Sarah, an indie comedy about a geeky guy and a popular girl who meet as freshmen in high school and become best friends. (Look, it could too happen.) Together they weather four proms and a funeral before – can you guess? –finally realizing what was standing right in front of them the whole time.

Emma Roberts and Josh Hutcherson will star in what could very well turn out to be the (500) Days of Summer that’s allowed a happier ending. And starring people who aren’t so old.

HOBBIT ON All that angst. All that negotiation. All that director drama. But now it’s official: The Hobbit is happening and Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings trilogy) will, indeed, direct. The bad news is that it’s going to be in that annoying 3D, but the good news is the potential for a powerhouse cast. Now here’s where it all turns into speculation, but the word is that Dr. Who star David Tennant is up for a role, as is Michael Fassbender (Inglourious Basterds), and that Martin Freeman (The Office, Hot Fuzz and the current BBC series Sherlock) is being eyed as Bilbo Baggins. Obviously some, but not necessarily all, characters from the earlier films will appear, but there will be Gandalf. At the moment, Sir Ian McKellen is listed as merely “rumored” to play that part on his IMDB page, but who else could step into those robes? Name one person. See? It’s impossible. And making this happen fast is definitely on the agenda since there’s the possibility of a February 2011 start date.

RON HOWARD WANTS JODIE FOR STROKE OF INSIGHT Harvard neuro-anatomist Jill Bolte Taylors’ 1996 stroke at the age of 37 turned her life upside down. Eventually, though, after eight years, she made a full recovery and her subsequent memoir titled My Stroke of Insight became a bestseller. Now Oscar-winning director Ron Howard plans to make the film version and he wants fellow Oscar-winner Jodie Foster to star as Bolte. Sounds like perfect cast-

40

nov 2010

ing. But Foster has yet to sign on. She’s already preparing to star in God of Carnage, so whatever decision she makes will have to wait for that to wrap. Whatever transpires, the inspiring story of Bolte’s miraculous recovery should be handled by an actor with the skills to play someone who loses and painfully, slowly regains movement, speech and memory. And Dakota Fanning is still too young, so someone get Jodie to say yes, OK? HIDDEN HUGO CABRET GETS HIGHLY VISIBLE CAST Highly dedicated readers with long memories will recall that back in 2007 Romeo reported on the new project from Martin Scorsese and Academy Award-nominated gay screenwriter John Logan (The Aviator) called The Invention of Hugo Cabret. In the three years since it was announced, the name has been shortened to just Hugo Cabret and the fantasy tale about a 12-year-old orphan living in the walls of a train station in 1930s Paris who solves a mystery involving a robot finally has a big A-list cast: Jude Law, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Lee, Sacha Baron Cohen, Emily Mortimer, Ray Winstone and Hollywood’s current child-actor It Girl, Chloe Moretz (Let Me In, Kick-Ass). The film is currently shooting and its mysteries will be revealed sometime in 2011. In the meantime, you can always go back and watch Scorsese’s Shutter Island again and try to figure out what that one was about.

AND NOW FOR SOME LEO/TOBEY/BAZ LUHRMANN RUMORS Romeo already reported that Baz Luhrmann wants to make his next film an adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. That news has been around for about a year now. Well, the flamboyantly straight/free-spirited/somewhat heterosexual-ish director does want to make Gatsby, and it’s firing up the blogs lately that Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Amanda Seyfried are in talks with Luhrmann to star. Now it’s true that there’ve been some talks, but Gatsby might not even be Luhrmann’s next film at all. He’s set up to direct a musical soon, as well, which is good news for all Moulin Rouge! fans. But ultimately what all this means is that anything you hear about this or any Luhrmann project right now is subject to total change. In other words, don’t go fantasy casting before the names are signed on the dotted line. It can only lead to heartbreak.

Pelotonia is a grass-roots bike tour with one goal: to end cancer.

LILI TAYLOR BRINGS THE BAD TO THE GOOD WIFE One of the great things about DVRs is that they allow you to catch your favorite actors in guest-star story arcs on shows you don’t otherwise watch. Case in point: We love Lili Taylor. Always have. From her “Joe Lies” songs in Say Anything to playing extreme lesbian would-be assassin Valerie Solanas in I Shot Andy Warhol to her heartbreaking role on Six Feet Under, there’s nowhere Lili Taylor can go that Romeo won’t follow. So when she shows up soon on The Good Wife as someone being described as a “romantic foil” for Archie Panjabi’s character Kalinda, the TiVo will be fired up and ready. No one likes spoilers, but it seems that Taylor’s investigator character may have been involved with Kalinda at some point and might be back in her life to cause some trouble. Not that it matters too much. Taylor could play Charles Manson and it’d be easy to enjoy watching her do it. The episodes are coming up in November.

GLEE’S JANE LYNCH AND LEA MICHELE WORK THE MICROPHONE They’re going to hide their faces but not their voices. The two Glee stars are each working on animated projects even as they continue to shoot the second demanding season of the elaborate musical TV show. Lynch is playing against type for hers, voicing the role of sweet, kind Aunt May Parker on the upcoming animated series Ultimate Spider-Man. Lea Michele, on the other hand, is stepping right into diva-red slippers as Dorothy Gale in the feature film Dorothy of Oz. The musical film features a mostly male voice cast, including Patrick Stewart, Dan Aykroyd, James Belushi, Hugh Dancy, Oliver Platt, Kelsey Grammer and Martin Short. And while some of those gentlemen can sing, none of them are most well-known for that talent, so this is definitely going to be a showcase for the young lady when it finally hits theaters sometime in 2012.

Romeo San Vicente thinks you should rent the Lili Taylor-starring early ’90s movie Dogfight. He can be reached care of this publication or at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.

outlookcolumbus.com

12-41_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:13 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

I hardly think loafers are proper dumpster diving attire.

nov 2010

41

42-11_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:04 PM Page 1

Familiarity & Reliability

by Abby Hollingshead As the air turns from crisp to frigid, department stores burst with over-the-top decorations and Starbucks brings back their peppermint mochas and gingerbread lattes, we’re reminded that the holiday season is here. With the season comes long drives home to the family’s house, dreaded visits with in-laws, added inches to waistlines, last minute shopping trips, and perhaps added financial stress. Just as we may feel economic strains this season, arts organizations stress about getting people in the door. However, many find hope through annual holiday traditions. One such tradition is BalletMet’s production of The Nutcracker, which continues to bring sugarplums, Tchaikovsky, and those gorgeous dancers to audiences every December.

BalletMet has presented The Nutcracker at the Ohio Theatre since 1978 and has continued to delight audiences with its winter spectacular. Anyone who has experienced BalletMet’s production can attest to the world-class talent of the company, who

42

nov 2010

continues to perform The Nutcracker for diverse, dedicated audiences.

So why is it that even during a shaky economy, the production still fills more seats than all other season productions? The answers seem to point to The Nutcracker’s ability to provide familiarity and reliability, creating broad audience appeal. Whether a family outing or a romantic date, The Nutcracker allows audiences to create new memories and recall moments from their pasts, as can be seen in countless audience testimonials.

“This is my 40th year of either seeing/performing/rehearsing Nutcracker. I won’t tell you how many this makes for my mom!”

“Thank you for such a wonderful night. I was ready to turn around and see it again right then but I guess it will have to wait. So all I can do is hope next year we will see you again and we will bring more ballet friends.”

It is often the culture and vibrancy of a city like Columbus that provides optimism and energy during difficult times. For those feeling holiday stress, looking forward to a performance or exhibition can keep us moving and give us something to be excited about and share with others despite our winter woes or inner Scrooge. Perhaps it’s this sense of reliability and guaranteed cheeriness that keeps people coming back to The Nutcracker.

The Nutcracker also gives audiences the opportunity to support “home-grown talent.” Internationally recognized, BalletMet is among the largest ballet companies in the country. Though BalletMet’s 25 professional dancers come from all over the world, they have made Columbus their home. In addition to the company dancers, more than 100 student dancers from the Columbus area join the cast of The Nutcracker. By attending The Nutcracker, patrons support something with Columbus at its core. A recent study conducted by the Columbus Cultural Leadership Consortium reported that in Columbus, each non-resident arts patron spends an average of

For some reason that image of the nutcracker makes me hungry for pringles...

about $64 including meals and refreshments, souvenirs and gifts, transportation, and overnight lodging. BalletMet undoubtedly contributes to Columbus’s hip cultural scene in a significant way.

Featuring sumptuous sets and costumes, an endearing story, Tchaikovsky’s beloved score performed live by the Columbus Symphony and Gerard Charles’ exciting choreography performed by a talented cast of more than 100 dancers, The Nutcracker is a perfect way to escape this holiday season.

It is an unrivaled spectacle for all ages and an opportunity to make fantastic memories.

Abby Hollingshead is Marketing Intern for BalletMet Columbus, a member organization of the Columbus Arts Marketing Association. CAMA’s mission is to promote awareness of and participation in the arts and cultural opportunities in Greater Columbus through collaborative marketing and public relations projects, and to provide professional development opportunities for members. For information visit www.camaonline.org.

outlookcolumbus.com

10-43_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:11 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

This show always gets me in the holiday mood!

nov 2010

43

44-09_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:04 PM Page 1

YELLOW SPRINGS, OHIO: TRIPPIN’ BACK TO THE ‘60S

by Aaron Leveanthal The village of Yellow Springs, surrounded by cornfields and lush woodlands in rural southwestern Ohio, has been a bastion of creativity, activism and nonconformity for nearly two centuries.

Tecumseh, leader of the Shawnee nation, made frequent visits to the healing waters of Yellow Springs in Glen Helen. Renowned educator Horace Mann chose to serve as Antioch College’s first president in 1853, championing equal educational opportunities for both men and women. The Underground Railroad, Civil Rights struggle and anti-Vietnam demonstrations are all a part of the historic fabric of this funky Midwest college town of almost 4,000 residents (The college is currently closed, but will reopen in 2012.).

Recently, my wife Beth and I spent a delightful weekend in Yellow Springs. We stayed just outside of downtown at the Yellow Springs Country Bed and Breakfast; a restored 1820s home with a large living room, kitchen - with gourmet breakfasts served by the cook - and savored a few days of total rest and relaxation.

When we were ready for activity we enjoyed strolling down Xenia Avenue, the village’s main street with loads of specialty shops, art galleries, bookshops, boutiques, neighborhood pubs and excellent restaurants. Thankfully, you won’t find any franchise or big-box operations here. Many of the businesses are gay-owned and managed.

However, we discovered that there is no distinction here as to gay or straight businesses, since the entire community genuinely respects diversity and is uncomfortable labeling anyone by race, religion or gender.

There are hundreds of acres of nature preserves nearby with wooded trails to hike and bike. If wellness and spiritual quest are your passion, there are dozens of professional practitioners offering workshops and individual appointments from massage and yoga, to acupuncture and Tai Chi. In the evening, several cafés offer live music, and the Little Art Theatre shows independent films and documentaries.

The Great Outdoors: The 1,000-acre Glen Helen Nature Preserve east of town has 26 miles of foot trails, which take hikers past waterfalls, limestone and dolomite cliffs, and a pine forest and trailside museum. Native wildflowers are in continuous bloom. John Bryan State Park, adjacent to the Glen, is a 750-acre preserve with trails overlooking Clifton Gorge and Little Miami River. Bikers will enjoy the 78-mile Little Miami Scenic Trail, paved over a converted railroad corridor running through Yellow Springs.

Nearby Attractions: The historic Clifton Mill (www.cliftonmill.com) is one of the largest water

44

nov 2010

powered gristmills still in existence. The Mill hosts its popular Christmas show from November 26January 1, with more than four million lights, 3,500 antique Santas and a toy collection from the ‘40s through the ‘60s. The newest addition to the show is a replica of Script Ohio. The Mill offers breakfast and lunch daily, and dinner from Thursday-Saturday from 4p-9p.

Just outside of town is Brandeberry Winery and vineyard, (www.brandeberrywinery.com) which is open for wine tastings and light refreshments.

Young’s Jersey Dairy Farm (www.youngsdairy.com), located on Route 68 a mile from downtown, is nationally recognized for its homemade ice cream and farmstead cheeses.

Its Golden Jersey Inn has country-style entrees and sandwiches. The complex also includes miniature golf and batting cages.

Dining: Many of the eateries serve meals using fresh, local produce. The Winds Café and Bakery is a landmark and locals’ favorite. Sunrise Café offers eclectic cuisine and is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily. Williams Eatery and Gathering Place (101 Corry St.) features Peruvian specialties and tasty comfort food. The Ye Olde Trail Tavern has been serving pub meals since 1827.

CJ’s Southern Cookin’ serves homestyle meals, from barbecue ribs to ratatouille over noodles.

Main Squeeze is a juice bar with real fruit smoothies. With the exception of Williams, all the listed restaurants are located on Xenia Avenue.

Nightlife: Three cafés, Peach’s Grill, 104 Xenia Ave., Emporium Wines and the Underdog Café, 233 Xenia Ave. and The Gulch, 128 Dayton St., have live music and great food every weekend. In addition, it’s only a 30-minute drive to Dayton’s historic downtown Oregon district for excellent dining and entertainment.

Where to Stay: Lodging is plentiful and economical in Yellow Springs, especially during the winter season, with rates under $100 a night for double occupancy. Check out Arthur Morgan Bed and Breakfast, (www.arthurmorganhouse.com), Grinnell Mill Bed & Breakfast (www.grinnellmill.com), Springs Cottage (www.springscottage.com), Springs Motel (www.thespringsmotel.com) and Yellow Springs Country Bed and Breakfast (www.yscountrybedandbreakfast.com).

Getting There: Yellow Springs is about an hour’s drive from downtown Columbus. Take I-70 west to U.S. 68, 52A exit. Turn left and it’s eight miles to Yellow Springs.

For more information, log onto http://www.destinationyellowsprings.com/ or call 937.767.2686.

Columbus-based travel writer Aaron Leventhal has recently started a small group travel service. For more information, check out www.leventhaltravel.com.

like to roll down a grassy hill? I do.

outlookcolumbus.com

08-45_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:10 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Erectile dysfunction drugs have annual sales of more than $3 billion.

nov 2010

45

46-07_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:03 PM Page 1

by Dan Savage My husband and I have had an open marriage for the last two years. Up until five months ago, it was working beautifully. At that point, however, I was sexually assaulted by a former partner. Since that incident, I cannot stand sex with my husband. I completely flip out when he tries to initiate sexual contact. My skin crawls. I become panicked and feel repulsed. I just cannot handle it. Those times when I go along with it anyway leave me feeling enraged and disgusted.

I don’t think this is completely unheard of for someone who was relatively recently assaulted, and I am considering therapy to help me work through it. The immediate “problem” is that I have no difficulty having sex with my boyfriend. In fact, the sex with him is amazing and leaves me feeling loved and whole and wonderful.

This is breaking my husband’s heart. He has become incredibly jealous of my relationship with my boyfriend. He’s depressed.

He’s angry. He accuses me of no longer loving him, and he wants me to stop sleeping with my boyfriend until our marriage is back to normal. I feel like a horrible person, but I just can’t do that. I need that outlet. I need that support. And I admit I have a hard time believing that my husband and I will ever be able to go back to the way things were before.

I feel like I’ve already lost my former partner (fucked-up though that may seem) and my husband. It kills me to think about cutting out the one positive relationship remaining. On the other hand, I do love my husband - very much - and watching him suffer like this is unbearable.

Potentially Traumatized Sexual Deviant I’m sorry that you were sexually assaulted - that’s awful, PTSD, and I hope you went to the police and I hope you’re pressing charges. But I also hope you know that being the victim of sexual assault is not a Get Out of Being a Human Being Free card.

Just because you’ve been victimized doesn’t mean you operate in an alternate moral universe where you’re not obligated to take

46

nov 2010

other people’s feelings into consideration - particularly the feelings of people you profess to love and happen to be married to.

Your first priority in the wake of your assault had to be your own physical and emotional safety, of course, but your behavior toward your husband is both cruel and selfish.

If you truly loved your husband and valued your marriage, PTSD, you would’ve put the boyfriend on hold and gotten your ass into therapy without having to be told. So from where I sit - on the Bloomington Shuttle, headed to the Indianapolis airport - it looks to me like you want out of this marriage. But instead of taking responsibility for wanting out - not in love with the husband anymore - you’re playing the victim card while slamming both hands down on your marriage’s self-destruct button.

To sum up, PTSD: You’re being a total shit. Do you love your husband? Is your marriage a priority? Then start acting like it: Cut the boyfriend off - for the indefinite future - and get your ass onto a counselor’s couch. If you’re not willing to do those things, PTSD, then stop emotionally assaulting your husband and put both your marriage and him out of their misery.

I have two clits. How common is this? I have never been able to ride a bike because I have an earthshaking orgasm as soon as I get on the seat. I come on the bus - the soft vibrations are too much! Walking anywhere in tight pants gets me moaning. Is there anything I can do, or rub on myself, to avoid having multiple orgasms in public?

Two Much Fun I’ve never heard of someone with two clits - but I haven’t searched the medical literature or sought the opinion of an expert.

And I’m not inclined to search or seek when a letter is so transparently fake. (Opaque fakes are fine; every letter that makes it into the column is a good hypothetical question - for every reader save one.) People whose genitals are different or ambiguous or terrifying - maybe that’s not an extra clit but the tip of your parasitic twin’s nose - frequently have questions and concerns, TMF, but multiple earthshaking orgasms aren’t high on the list.

You don’t have a single clit, TMF, much less two. You’re a horny

Some varieties of dog food are labeled as "human-grade food".

boy with a dick, an e-mail account, and an obsession with/terror of a woman’s potential capacity for unlimited sexual pleasure.

And I’m hoping - I’m hoping against hope - that seeing your letter in print isn’t your peak sexual experience. But odds are…

I am a 47-year-old gay man who has a desire to be humiliated and degraded - by a straight guy! How do I make this happen?

Do I just walk up to a straight guy and tell him I want to get on my knees and clean his shoes with my tongue while he spits on me and calls me names? Or that I want to eat out of a dog dish on the floor while he laughs at me? How the hell do I make this happen? How do I approach some straight guy with my request without getting beaten up? Please don’t say, “Settle for a very straight-acting and straight-looking gay guy.” I have tried that, and it doesn’t work! The guy must be totally and completely straight! Otherwise, it’s just not a turn-on for me. I’m so desperate that I’m almost willing to pay for it!

Worthless Piece Of Shit Long odds: If you have a wide circle of sexually adventurous straight friends, WPOS, and you were open with all of your friends about your kinks in a friendly, nonthreatening manner, maybe one or two of your straight male friends might be indulgent/perverse enough to want to engage in a little role-play with you. (And, yes, it’s possible to make someone feel threatened by offering to lick their boots and take their abuse.)

Somewhat shorter odds: Don’t have friends like that? Well, there are a lot of BDSM groups and orgs out there that are mixed, i.e., they have gay, lesbian, straight, bi, and trans members, and most host mixed play parties. Get involved with one, be open about your kinks, and you’ll meet a few kinky straight male tops who would get a kick out of slapping you around.

Best odds: Pay for it, already.

CONFIDENTIAL TO LGBT YOUTH: Please check out the new, improved, expanded, and totally awesome It Gets Better Project site: www.itgetsbetterproject.com. And please don’t kill yourself.

Find the Savage Lovecast (my weekly podcast) every Tuesday at thestranger.com/savage. mail@savagelove.net

outlookcolumbus.com

06-47_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:07 PM Page 2

COMMUNITY RESOURCES SPONSORED BY MALCOLM RIGGLE & CMR INC.

outlookcolumbus.com

Once again, thank you to Malcolm for supporting the community.

nov 2010

47

48-05_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 8:03 PM Page 1

by Jack Fertig

n u a Sh

by Chris Hayes If you’re a man who has sex with men in this town, you’ve probably ‘hooked up’ with this month’s local celeb… hopefully before you’ve hooked up. 30-year-old Shaun Whybark is the MSM HIV Prevention Coordinator for the Columbus AIDS Task Force (CATF) and has the best smile this side of the Dixie Line.

Originally hailing from Hector, Arkansas, a small rural town of 449 people (that’s less people than I graduated with), Shaun found his way to Columbus with his ex boyfriend who helped him escape to our brighter pastures.

Before leaving AR, this man of many trades honed is professional portfolio as a mobile home set-eruper, a restaurant cook, and a store manager for Kirkland’s (I love that store!) and a community activist. All which help with his current position and passions.

Nowadays, Whybark focuses his energy on keeping our community sexually safe. How awesome is that?! As head of CATF’s MSM HIV Prevention, Shaun’s main jobs include outreach and education, Persons of Leadership (POL), and testing. Shaun works on getting condoms out to the bars that request them (they need volunteers to distribute - hint, hint) awareness days, online outreach (he’s on almost every site), and keeping the conversations about sex going in the world. He tells me that Ohio has a consistent 7% increase each year in infection rates and that Franklin County alone see 300 new cases each year. That’s one person infected every 32 hours. (Wrap it up already!) His main focus is getting ya’ll to first to know your status so you can make informed decisions, and second, dealing with the stigma that follows one finding out they are infected. “We have to talk about what it means to be HIV positive in the Central Ohio community and how that leads to more infections,” he says.

When not peddling protection,

48

nov 2010

Shaun spends his time with his boyfriend of over a year Mark Bryan (the West family dancing phenomenon), building sets for drag queens (we like a man that knows what to do with his hands), playing softball (fill in your own quip here), being the treasurer of Stompers (Yeehaw!), watching Razorback football (woooo-pig-sooie!), and occasionally throws your ass out of Wall Street when you become unruly (never happened to me, I swear).

If all that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, Shaun is also finishing his degree from University of Arkansas Little Rock with a Bachelor of Liberal Arts focusing on political science, history and criminal justice. He hopes one day to be a middle school History teacher. Those kids will for sure be hot for teacher.

If you see our papa of prevention out and about you don’t have to worry about your privacy - he will never acknowledge knowing you from getting tested; confidentiality is his utmost priority - but if YOU feel like saying hi, he’ll gladly talk to you. We suggest showing him appreciation with either a shot of Patron or a Georgia Tea (if the bartender knows how to make it).

And whether you buy him a cocktail or not, he’ll always give you this bit of advice: “Don’t ever take his word for it - get proof. It’s your life so be selfish with everything, especially when it comes to sex. Wear a condom EVERY time!”

Good words, my man, good words.

Shaun conducts free anonymous HIV testing Mon 1p-6p at Stonewall (1160 N High St) and Tue 3:30p-7p & Wed 11a-2p at CATF’s new location (4400 N High St; 3rd Fl). For more info: www.catf.net /299.2437.

“Get sick and twisted, Leo!” Mercury is trine to Jupiter, opening the mind to wonderful new ideas and observations.

But both are in water signs, so those new “ideas” will be more artistic, intuitive and emotional than logical – and then Mercury trines Uranus, sending those novel notions into wild new directions. Avoid drugs and booze. They’re just crutches for people with no insight or originality.

SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21): Asserting your own integrity and truly speaking your mind is sure to shake up your family or tribe. As Mark Twain said, you have to make people laugh when you tell them the truth.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 20): To unlock family secrets, ignore your siblings. They’re probably confused or lying. Parents are more likely to reveal the truth, especially when they would prefer not to. The truth could be shocking; the fall-out even more so. Is it worth it to know?

CAPRICORN (December 21 – January 19): As the world moves on, revising your ideas is sometimes necessary. Do old ideas still serve your core ideals? Philosophical and political arguments with your friends can prove very educational if you can approach them with an open mind.

AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18): Losing yourself in your work is a good way to screw up the job. Review your priorities and aims with your boss or a trusted expert. Getting clear on this issue is key to your advancement.

PISCES (February 19 – March 19): What comes out of your mouth may surprise you more than your friends, but pick your company carefully.

Guarding secrets may be like “trying not to think about the elephant.” Just keep your mind and the conversation elsewhere.

ARIES (March 20 – April 19): Speak your mind! Granted, that often leads to trouble, but now it should work out well.

You could start misunderstandings with your friends, but trust your instincts to clear up any trouble.

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20): Your partner wants the best for you, but taking his or her prods to your ambition too seriously can create more trouble than it will solve. Talk together about long-range goals beyond your work. A friend’s advice can be very helpful.

GEMINI (May 21- June 20): Impulsive actions on your own will likely cause arguments or accidents. Be very clear about your goals, and enlist help from your boss or the experts.

They’ll be glad to help you get ahead.

CANCER (June 21- July 22): Small adventures, especially in sexual experimentation, are likely to get you into a terrible mess. Grander, more daring experiments are a lot safer.

The real trick is to think ahead, be clear on safety issues, and trust your instincts.

LEO (July 23 – August 22): Old “tapes” from your upbringing can get in the way of a healthy partnership. OK, let go of “healthy” and get sick and twisted! A good erotic catharsis can be the best way to clear out the psychic junk.

VIRGO (August 23 – September 22): Advice from your partner will likely shock you, but all the more reason to at least consider it very carefully. Following that line of conversation with your sweetie will also help you avoid troublesome misstatements.

LIBRA (September 23 – October 22): Money problems can be dealt with, but not at the lottery or casino – and “retail therapy” is just a euphemism for “shopaholic.” Analyze the situation and work it out. A serious approach will find inspired solutions.

Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977 teaches at the International Academy of Astrology www.astrocollege.com. He can be reached for personal or business consultations at www.starjack.com,

Shaun also created Reason to Dine, the fundraiser on Dec 1 where dining out produces proceeds for CATF. See www.catf.net/reasontodine for restaurants.

outlookcolumbus.com

04-49_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/22/10 11:03 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Braid, Bangs, Shell-Necklace -you kids look promising. We’d foster you any day!

nov 2010

49

50-03_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:29 PM Page 1

50

nov 2010

It’s all in who you know, so get to Network Columbus this month and get to know some people.

outlookcolumbus.com

02-51_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/25/10 2:40 PM Page 2

outlookcolumbus.com

Being a cult leader is profitable, but being a cult member is more fun. I wonder if heaven and hell are similar?

nov 2010

51

52-01_OLW_24in_ODD_ 10/23/10 7:38 PM Page 1