2013-10-01 outlook columbus

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the history & halloween issue • october 2013 / vol 18 • issue 5 inside: gsa yearbook / the race for city council / bayard rustin / mario & debbie / lynn greer & steve shellabarger / wilgefortis / historic lgbt ohioans / straight people / 10 bars we miss / puzzle

outlook magazine • outlookcolumbus.com

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Come out of the closet on Oct 11, and then go to Out of the Closet’s opening on Oct 19. outlookcolumbus.com

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the history issue: vol 18 • #5 3

you are here

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snapshot

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10 gsa / gsa yearbook 14 polisigh 16

complete the circuit

18 the other side 20 coming out stories 22 mario & debbie show 24 out & about 26

feature: lynn greer & steve shellabarger

28 feature: wilgefortis whatever 30 feature: happened to? ohio lgbt 32 feature: people of history deep inside hollywood

36 36 creative class 38 interview: valentine road 40 bookmark: straight guide nightlife: 42 i10♥ the bars we miss

44 savage love 45 the divine life guest bloggers

outlook’s staff and intern army

46 & puzzling

Looking Back and Moving Forward In our Pride issue a few months ago, I wrote about how the 300,000 people who celebrate today get their inspiration from the smaller numbers who’ve marched before them.

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OWNER & PUBLISHER Christopher Hayes

you are here

The handful who came out for the first Columbus Pride in 1981 were inspired by the LGBT people in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles who observed the first anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall riots with demonstrations and newly formed gay-liberation groups.

But who inspired the people at New York’s Stonewall Inn, who decided on a June night in 1969 that they’d been harassed and humiliated once too often by police, that it was time to stand up and fight for their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?

It was people like the ones you’ll read about in this month’s outlook. October is LGBT History Month, and do we have stories to tell you.

A collection of statues on the Statehouse lawn commemorates Ohio’s military generals and political leaders. A female figure from Roman history stands atop the monument as if to show them off

Most of them left Ohio.

Its inscription reads: “These Are My Jewels.”

Ohio’s jewels shimmer in LGBT history, too, and in cooperation with our friends and colleagues at the Gay Ohio History Initiative, we’re proud to show them off.

Their stories are remarkable. Natalie Clifford Barney published love poems to women under her own name - in 1900. At a time when homosexuality was still classified as a mental disorder, Dr. Howard Brown came out at the podium of a national medical conference in 1973 and then helped convince the American Psychological Association to leave the dark ages.

We profile 20 LGBT Ohioans on Pages 32-35, including my favorite: Billy Strayhorn. The jazz composer’s story is different from other mid-20th century tales of artists who hid their sexuality in order to achieve fame and fortune. Strayhorn instead chose what biographer David Hadju called “mainstream obscurity,” giving up the possibility of musical immortality to live his life as an openly gay man.

Talk about inspiration.

But while we have every right to be proud of the achievements of LGBT Ohioans, our state’s leaders should take note of where our 20 fellow Buckeyes made their marks on the world.

Places like Paris and New York and Los Angeles have always lured creative, ambitious people from every corner of the world, to be sure. Paul Lynde might have played an Ed Sullivan-loving dad from Sweet Apple, Ohio, but in any era he would have had to leave his hometown of Mount Vernon gain stardom.

But in 2013, the stubborn adherence by Gov. John Kasich and other political leaders to degrading and discriminatory laws, their refusal to extend basic civil rights - to marriage, to job security and access to housing - will send even more LGBT Ohioans to freer, greener pastures.

And once that happens, no amount of corporate tax breaks will ever bring them back.

Bob Vitale Editor-in-Chief bvitale@outlookmedia.com @Bob_Vitale

About our cover: That hot and horrifying vampire on this month’s cover is Helena Troy, queen of Columbus’s Glamazons and a regular performer at Level and Wall Street. She’s about to take a bite out of James McGuire, a personal trainer and owner of Shape Fitness. Andrew Williams shot the photo at Wall Street.

SALES Chad Frye / cfrye@outlookmedia.com Alexis Perrone / aperrone@outlookmedia.com Logan Fisher / lfisher@outlookmedia.com NATIONAL ADVERTISING Rivendell Media - 212.242.6863 ADVERTISING DEADLINES Reservations by the 15th of each month.

Art in by the 20th.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Bob Vitale / bvitale@outlookmedia.com MANAGING EDITOR Erin McCalla / emccalla@outlookmedia.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Catie Cline, Debé, Jennifer DeLuke, Molly Duerré, Linda Flickinger, Pete Lovering, Erin McCalla, Tom Muzyka, Mario Pinardi, Maryam Rezayat, David Ryan, Romeo San Vicente, Dan Savage, Ian Schwartz, Gregg Shapiro, D.A. Steward, Debbie Van Bommel, Bob Vitale, Mickey Weems

ART DIRECTOR Christopher Hayes / chayes@outlookmedia.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / DESIGNERS Chris Hayes, Andrew Williams COVER PHOTO: Andrew Williams CYBERSPACE http://www.outlookcolumbus.com http://www.outlookmedia.com http://www.networkcolumbus.com http://twitter.com/outlookcolumbus http://facebook.com/outlookcolumbus outlook columbus is published and distributed

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puzzling solution - puzzle on pg 46

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ARC Ohio’s Red Party September 7, 2013 @ Landmark Aviation

Network Columbus September 11, 2013 @ Camelot Cellars

KYC Garden Party September 22, 2013 @ Lankford Bethel Estate

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Glamazons September 22, 2013 @ Wall Street Nightclub

There more photos on our Facebook pages: Outlook Columbus Magazine & Network Columbus.

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Go toward the light Carol Anne.

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Poll Shows Ohioans Split on Marriage Equality

Shantay, They Stayed Along the Side of I-70

Equality Ohio, the Human Rights Campaign, Freedom to Marry and the American Civil Liberties Union have started “Why Marriage Matters” (www.whymarriagemattersoh.org), which Holford said will go county to county for one-on-one conversations and community meetings.

by Bob Vitale and Maryam Rezayat Most Ohio voters want to protect gay and lesbian people from on-the-job discrimination, but they’re not so sure about extendThe old drag-queens-stranded- Detox, Manila Luzon, Sharon Nee- ing marriage rights to same-sex couples. in-a-small-town tale is the plot dles, Alaska Thunderfuck and A poll released in September by a national tour host Michelle Visage were of about 300 gay movies. think tank found more than two-thirds of stranded for about 45 minutes.

Hilarity ensues. Unlikely friends They were rescued by firefighters Ohio voters in favor of a proposed state law that would forbid employers from firing gay from Clayton, Ohio. are made. Everybody, dance! and lesbian workers because of their sexual orientation. More than 80 percent think It happened on the side of I-70 “It’s To Wong Foo Two,” tweeted Willam, who posted a video of the such a law already exists. outside Dayton in September out-of-drag adventure on when a tour bus carrying RuBut 51 percent said they would vote YouTube. One of Manila’s FacePaul’s Drag Race performers overheated on the way to a show book followers suggested another against a potential 2014 ballot measure that would allow gay and lesbian couples name for the ordeal: Manila, in Cleveland. to marry.

Queen of the Desert.

Willam Belli, Pandora Boxx, “It shows the complexity of the issues,” 20-Man Mob Attacks said Elyzabeth Holford, executive director of Equality Ohio, whose group helped launch Cleveland Bar Patron a statewide effort in September to raise awareness about how Ohio’s 2004 mar-

riage ban hurts same-sex couples.

Ian James, founder of Freedom Ohio, the group pushing for a vote on marriage equality next year, said he wasn’t worried by the poll results because the 2014 election is more than a year away.

He also questioned the wording used by pollsters, who didn’t tell people that the proposed amendment exempts religious institutions from marrying people they don’t like. Supporters consider that language key to expanding support.

“We understand … that you have to be able to respect and protect religious freedom and define that in the amendment,” James said.

Although Equality Ohio and Freedom Ohio differ on the timing of a marriage-equality campaign, both leaders said the poll shows activists have work to do in winning support around the state.

It’s a playbook that has been part of successful marriage-equality campaigns in other states, she said.

Holford, one of a number of LGBT leaders who’ve questioned the timing and tactics of Freedom Ohio’s effort, said the poll by the Public Religion Research Institute didn’t discourage her, but she said it highlights the need for a solid strategy.

Support for marriage equality has remained around 50 percent or lower in Ohio despite a high-profile endorsement from Republican U.S. Sen. Rob Portman and the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in June to strike down part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act. “Right now the numbers indicate that there is work to be done,” Holford said.

The poll was conducted from Aug. 8 to 15 through telephone interviews of nearly 900 Ohio voters. It had a margin of error of 3.9 percent.

Out of the Closet Thrift Store to Celebrate Grand Opening Oct 19

by Molly Duerré The world’s most fabulous thrift store is opening in Columbus.

Out of the Closet, which boasts the title for fabulosity, will open its doors at 1230 N High St on Saturday, Oct 19.

20 young men on Sept 1 as he crossed the street and walked toward Cocktails, 9208 Detroit Ave It’s run by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which will open a free walk-in, rapid HIVin Cleveland. testing site at the same location, complete Although Cleveland police were A 13-year-old boy was arrested a with counseling, referrals and a pharmacy. week later. quick to call the attack a hate Although the Columbus store is the 23rd crime, The Plain Dealer reported Out of the Closet location in the country, it that they also sent the bar’s A police official called the letter owner a letter saying his 911 to Cocktails “an unfortunate co- will be the first in the Midwest and only the calls about threats to customers incidence,” and The Plain Dealer second that the foundation has built from the ground up. It’s at 5th Avenue and High were an “inappropriate burden” said Mayor Frank Jackson oron law enforcement. dered police to work with the bar Street in the Short North. to address safety concerns.

Out of the Closet is a nonprofit chain of Jared Fox, 26, told WKYC-TV that thrift stores whose revenue funds medical he was surrounded by a group of A group of 20 young men attacked a man headed into a gay bar on Cleveland’s west side over Labor Day weekend.

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care for patients with HIV/AIDS. The AIDS Healthcare Foundation is a Los Angelesbased global organization that provides medical, preventative and educational resources for patients.

Foundation leaders say 96 cents of every dollar earned from sales in Out of the Closet stores goes toward testing, treatment and advocacy in the global fight against HIV/AIDS. The organization operates in 14 states and 30 countries in Asia, Europe, Latin America,

For news as it happens, visit outlookcolumbus.com.

the Caribbean and Africa.

In Columbus, Out of the Closet’s grandopening party will run from 10a-2p on Oct 19. You can register to win a Vespa from Motohio while enjoying stilt walkers, cotton candy, sign spinners, a DJ and food catered by the Good Frank.

The store will sell adult clothing, consumer electronics, furniture, jewelry, handbags, shoes and books. It accepts donations as well and offers free pickup for items that are too large for donors to bring in. outlookcolumbus.com

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Did anyone else ever see the all-male Swan Lake?

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Short North’s HighBall Halloween Grows to Two Nights Christians Counter Anti-Gay Messages

by Pete Lovering There’s a popular little adage out there about Halloween being Gay Christmas.

Seeing how there’s costumes, drag, gender-bending, revealing clothing and countless other types of revelry, it isn’t difficult to understand how that notion came about.

Christians now have a public forum to express their love and acceptance of LGBT friends and family.

Christian faithful.

Like It Gets Better, the new project features people’s supportive video messages to LGBT people.

The NALT Christians Project - in- The website also includes information about the Bible and hospired by Dan Savage’s It Gets Better campaign - is a joint proj- mosexuality, as well as resources for people struggling with their ect of Christian author John faith and their sexual orientation Shore and Truth Wins Out, a group that counters religious ex- or gender identity. tremism.

“The NALT Christians Project aims to inspire Christian LGBT NALT stands for “Not All Like That.” The NALT Christians Proj- allies to move their support from ect (notalllikethat.org) is an on- the shadows into the public line platform to directly challenge square,” said Wayne Besen, Truth Wins Out’s executive director. the idea that anti-gay people speak for all or even most of the

ENDA Calls, Cards Aimed at Portman senators targeted as potential supporters by a coalition called Americans for Workplace Opportunity. The effort includes LGBT civil-rights groups, labor unions and other organizations.

Thousands of postcards and phone calls coming his way are designed to help U.S. Sen. Rob Portman make up his mind on the federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Volunteers from the Human Rights Campaign and Equality Ohio began collecting signed postcards in September. They’re also hosting twice-weekly phone banks in Columbus that will patch supporters directly to Portman’s office.

Portman is one of 11 Republican

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Portman, who has a gay son, announced in March that he believes gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry.

But while supporting the “concept” of an anti-discrimination law for LGBT workers, he also has expressed reservations about its impact on religious institutions and its potential for lawsuits.

“He’s officially undecided,” said Rob Young, a Columbus-based field organizer for the Human Rights Campaign. “We don’t know which way he’s going to go.”

For the past six years, HighBall Halloween has been the premier local event for the year’s spookiest holiday. Nearly 15,000 people packed the streets of the Short North last year for a party that includes costume contests, performances, and drag and fashion shows.

What started as a festival for a few thousand guests has quickly blossomed into one of the biggest Halloween parties in the Midwest.

This year’s festivities are going to be bigger and better than ever, because HighBall is expanding from one night to two, on Oct 25 and 26. Events take place on High Street, which will be shut down between Nationwide Boulevard and Goodale Street.

Friday night features the Costume Couture Fashion Showdown, a showcase of more than 100 models, designers, makeup artists and other fashion gurus competing for the top prize of $1,000. Also featured: performances from Nina West and others, as well as the 5K Costume Zoom, a new event in which costumed runners will weave their way through the streets with groups of drag queens and dressed-up

dogs cheering them on.

Friday night’s fun starts at 6p.

Saturday is jam-packed, with family activities beginning at noon, including a kids costume contest and a competition for the best-dressed dog. Saturday is also the chance for everyone else to show off costume creativity; show up any time between 7p and 10p to be considered in one of many prize categories.

John Angelo, who’s been the coordinator of HighBall since its first year, couldn’t be more excited about all the new things the festival is offering this October.

“If you’re going to close High Street on a weekend, it damn well better be worth it,” he said.

One of the additions to HighBall’s traditional lineup is a Dia de los Muertos sec-

tion with traditional Catrina face-painting and sugar skulls and, obviously, Latin cuisine. There also will be a tailgate party for the OSU game where they will award a prize for the best Gordon Gee costume.

Angelo knew that scheduling HighBall during a Buckeyes home game - especially a night game - would be tricky.

“We did a surveys, and half of the respondents said that they’d hate to choose between us and the OSU game,” he said. “So we decided to do a tailgate experience with a HighBall twist: We’ll have the game on a Jumbotron, but you’ll also see some crossdressing cheerleaders.”

HighBall tickets are $5 for general admission. VIP tickets range from $65 to $85 depending on when you purchase them and include stage-side access for performances, complimentary hors d’ouvres and beverages, and more. All proceeds go to the Short North Arts District. Go to www.highballhalloween.com for more information.

LGB, Meet T: October Event Aims to Boost Understanding

by Maryam Rezayat Too often, the T in LGBT is invisible.

That’s why Pride Leadership, a training project of the United Way of Central Ohio, has scheduled an introduction to transgender topics for LGB and straight allies alike.

It will take place Oct 22 from 6p to 8:30p at the Longaberger Alumni House, 2200 Olentangy River Rd. “Let’s Talk Transgender: A Community Conversation on Creating Inclusive Environments” is designed to provide a better understanding of the barriers transgender people face, and it promises suggestions for the larger community to effect change.

It’s targeted toward human resources and

diversity/inclusion professionals, educators, LGBT people and anyone who’s interested.

Pride Leadership is a yearly series of classes to help LGBT people step into community leadership roles. This year’s 12 participants organized the event.

“None of us has any experience with the trans community, and that’s horrible,” said Chris Rutter, a Pride Leadership member and event project manager. “They’re a part of the LGBT community, our brothers and sisters.”

Cory Frederick, an Ohio University gender and sexuality professor, will be the keynote speaker and cover basic terminology, share

his experiences, touch on current events and explain laws that affect trans people.

Frederick, who started his female-to-male transition in Columbus, said he’s optimistic about fostering positive change in the city’s workplaces.

Local companies like Nationwide, Abercrombie & Fitch and Cardinal Health offer benefits that help their transgender employees. Many do not.

“We hope people want to be more inclusive in the workforce,” Frederick said. “I think businesses are trying to learn more to become better providers of services and avoid litigation.”

Want to help the ENDA effort? Email HRC’s Rob Young at roby@workplaceopportunity.org

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Don’t forget to have your furnace serviced before it gets cold. Regular maintenance is important.

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School Ties: Gay-Straight Alliances Help LGBT Youth

by Catie Cline At about 40 schools in Central Ohio, LGBT students and their allies have joined forces to create supportive atmospheres, safe spaces to socialize and platforms for fighting homophobia.

Gay-straight alliances are controversial at some schools and in some parts of the country, but advocates say they’re always helpful. According to the National Association of GSA Networks, young people at schools with gay-straight alliances report less harassment based on gender identity or sexual orientation.

“LGBT identity is marginalized, and because of that kids need a safe place to be themselves ... to connect with other people,” said Jimmie Beall, the middle-school resource counselor for Columbus City Schools.

Although the GSA movement is flourishing in California - more than 900 middle schools and high schools in that state have organized groups - it’s still getting off the ground here.

Columbus’s Kaleidoscope Youth Center, which coordinates GSAs across the state, said there are now more than 40 in Central Ohio. Beall said there were six alliances in Columbus schools last year. Kaleidoscope leaders, Beall and grad-stu-

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dent volunteers from OSU are planning a workshop Oct 12 that will help young people start GSAs, expand existing groups, overcome resistance, plan events and educate peers.

“Adding the GSA helped bring more people together,” said Haley Sanders-Turner, who participates in a three-year old group at Columbus North International School.

It will take place from 8:30a to 4:30p at OSU’s Multicultural Center.

Although Haley and most others in the group are straight allies, she said she hopes its mere presence is a show of support for LGBT classmates who’ve not yet come out. The group hopes to do more work in the community this year, she said.

“Some of our GSAs are strong and visible, while others are new and just getting off the ground,” Beall said. The groups need lots of support, she said, “and we are working on it.”

Jacob, a member of Kaleidoscope’s Youth Leadership Council, said the goal is to get more Ohio schools, particularly in rural areas and small towns, to join a statewide network of GSAs. People are coming out at ever-younger ages. A June poll by the Pew Research Center found that more than half of gay men and more than a third of lesbians had come out by the age of 19. The median coming-out age is 17 for the youngest generation.

The national GSA network cites research showing that LGBT students who feel safe and supported in school are less likely to smoke, drink, use drugs and get low grades. They’re less likely to miss school, less likely to carry a weapon and less likely to consider suicide.

In community meetings following the April firing of Bishop Watterson High School teacher Carla Hale, parents and students at the Catholic school said their requests to start a gay-straight alliance had been denied several times. Since Hale’s firing, though, Watterson students have been invited to take part in the GSA at nearby Whetstone High School.

Lindsey Matthews, one of the public school’s GSA advisers, said Whetstone invites members from several schools in its area that don’t have alliances of their own. The group meets to discuss issues and perform volunteer work, she said, and it hosts an awareness week at the school called “Love is Love.”

The old three-story house in the University District is very much a home, complete with kitchen and computer lab, living room and pool table. Weekly events such as Tuesday’s Check-In allow participants to come and share their day, their issues and other topics with their peers. Fridays are pizza and movie nights.

Executive Director Amy Eldridge said the center is a safe space for all who enter. All youth are welcome.

“No one has to present a gay card at the door,” she joked.

For some, it’s a first step in coming out; for others, it’s just a place to hang out with friends. Kaleidoscope does have rules: Confidentiality and respect are the top two. But it’s truly a space where kids can be themselves, which includes being called by the name or gender pronoun they prefer.

Kaleidoscope has worked with more than 60 schools interested in forming GSAs. Coordinator Latreece Whitfield said some are proactive and some are low-key and somewhat secretive. Alliances in 33 states are part of the national organization, which hopes to be in all 50 by 2020.

Kaleidoscope Youth Center is another place for LGBT kids in Columbus.

It’s like the United Colors of Benetton.

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It’s like a Brian C Hawkins hair spooktacular.

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Outlook High School The Mighty Fighting Unicorns

G AY - S T RA I G HT A L L I A N CE The 2013 Gay-Straight Alliance was bigger and more active than ever. Taking its cause to the hallways and the streets, GSA made great inroads in fighting homophobia and educating classmates about the GLBT community. Not only does this group boast members with ambitions to become tomorrow’s politicians, radio and TV personalities, publishers, restaurateurs, professional athletes, business owners, designers, entertainers and community advocates, they also throw some of the best parties in Unicorn Country. Go Mighty Homophobia-Fighting Unicorns. Naaaay!

Chris Bradley Jimmie Beall (adviser) Kate Burdett Cherno Biko Blake Compton

Edward Feighan Ed FitzGerald Elyzabeth Holford Diamond Hunter Liz Lessner

Tommy McClure Mary B. Relotto Chet Ridenour Karla Rothan Mikey Sorboro

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Thanks to our friends and allies for sharing their photos!

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R E E U Q _____

2013 YEAR Book Staff Chad Frye Chris Hayes Erin McCalla

Alexis Perrone Mr Uhuru (adviser) Bob Vitale

„The pen is mightier than the horn.‰ Coley Cummiskey Leslie Edwards Amy Eldridge

Angela Pace Aaron Pickering Mario Pinardi

Nina Turner RJ Umberger Eunice

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Chris’s high school mascot was the Trojans. Yah, that joke never got old.

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polisigh

Get Out and Vote Three Columbus Council Seats on November Ballot

by Bob Vitale Three seats on the Columbus City Council are on the Nov 5 ballot, and incumbents are touting two votes in the past term that expanded rights for LGBT residents and city employees.

elected from districts and four would be elected citywide. The current system was designed in 1914, when Columbus had fewer than 200,000 people, he points out.

Bainbridge also supports cutting the current 2.5 percent income tax on people who work in the city. The incumbent Democrats all backed a 2009 tax increase that was approved in a special election.

Greg Lawson, a former Fifth by Northwest Area Commission member from the Northwest Side, also wants district-based representation on council and says it would make govern-

Council members A. Troy Miller, Eileen Paley and Priscilla Tyson all voted in 2010 to extend health coverage to the domestic partners of city workers.

All three also voted in 2012 to create a domestic partner registry at City Hall for lesbian and gay couples. It’s a largely symbolic gesture, but it can help people establish legal proof of their relationships.

“City Council’s definitely an ally of the LGBT community,” said Paley, a lawyer from the Far East Side who is seeking her second full term. “To be open is smart. You lose out on a lot of talent and a lot of great people if you’re not accepting of everyone.”

The three incumbents, all Democrats, face challenges from Republicans Brian Bainbridge and Greg Lawson and independent candidate Nicholas Schneider.

Bainbridge, Lawson and Schneider each has proposed changing council’s makeup by adding district-based representatives.

Right now, the seven-member council is elected citywide, and all first gained office through appointment by the Franklin County Democratic Party. The incumbents want to preserve the current system.

Voters will choose three candidates in the six-way Columbus City Council race, and the top three finishers will serve four-year terms.

Here’s where the candidates stand on the issues: Brian Bainbridge, a former Greater Hilltop Area Commission member from Westgate, has proposed expanding council from seven members to 11.

Seven would be

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ority for Columbus. She chairs City Council’s public service and transportation committee.

“If we let it lapse, then it becomes an issue,” she said.

Paley wants to install ramps at more street corners to make the city accessible to people with disabilities. She also wants to install streetlights in areas that still don’t have them.

She said she also supports efforts to engage people in neighborhood beautification projects.

Nicholas Schneider, a resident of Clintonville, scoffs at the notion that citywide council elections make representatives more accountable to voters.

ment more accountable.

“If you have a [district] system, you have someone you can go to who’s your City Council person,” he said.

Lawson supports scaling back the income-tax rate once the city replenishes a so-called rainy day fund within its annual budget. He said he wants to give neighborhood groups more authority - and possibly money - to tackle problems.

A. Troy Miller, a Far East Side resident who was appointed to the council in 2009 and elected to a full term later that year, has sponsored two projects to help Columbus residents get their small-business ideas off the ground.

In April, KickStart Columbus gave free storefront space Downtown to two budding entrepreneurs.

In September, there was another competition for people seeking investors for their product ideas.

“I’m trying to make Columbus that place with a culture for entrepreneurs,” he said.

Eileen Paley, another Far East Side resident who was appointed and elected to the council in 2009, has identified street improvements and other infrastructure issues as a pri-

His example: Miller, Paley and Tyson voted in 2011 to buy Nationwide Arena from its private owners even though local voters rejected the idea of a government-financed building in 1997.

“When you have the voters telling the politicians … they don’t want something and they do it anyway… it’s about stifling dissenting views,” Schneider said.

Schneider proposes an 11-member council with seven district representatives and four elected citywide.

Priscilla Tyson, an East Side resident who was appointed and elected to the council in 2007, disagrees with candidates who want to lower Columbus’s income tax.

Money from the 2009 increase has kept police and firefighters on the job, funded work in neighborhoods and maintained the quality of life in the city, she said. Columbus has high marks with national credit-rating agencies, which lets the city sell bonds on more favorable terms.

“We’re in a really great financial situation,” she said.

Tyson said her priorities in a new term would be maintaining city safety services, improving parks and recreation programs and enhancing Columbus’s quality of life.

Exercise your right to vote on Nov 5.

Outlook Endorses Bond Issues and School Levy ISSUES 1, 2, 3 & 4 One of things that makes Columbus great is that we continually invest in the city through the sale of bonds. For the past 57 years, the city has not raised taxes to pay for debt services. Instead, because of consistent and responsible fiscal practices, we have been able to maintain a AAA rating, which gives us a lower interest rate and therefore frees up more money for infrastructure maintenance and improvements. Currently, 25 cents of every dollar of income tax goes to infrastructure. The current issues on the ballot are a continuation of this long-standing practice and help improve our quality of life without raising taxes. Items covered in this bond package include fire trucks, water and sewer improvements, bike paths, pools, bridges, sidewalks, street resurfacing, refuse equipment, street lighting and athletic facilities.

We fully endorse approval of Issues 1, 2, 3 & 4.

For more info: www.columbusbondissues.com ISSUES 50 & 51 It’s no secret what a mess the Columbus public school system is in coming off one of the largest scandals of attendance misreporting in the country. That being said, this is a new day for Columbus schools. It has to be.

With a quarter of Columbus students dropping out before graduation, we can’t afford not to pass this levy. Of course we have concerns with the tax increase and how the money will actually be handled. We also have concerns about how the city and school board will evaluate and appropriate money to charter schools. Don’t get us wrong, we are behind charter schools, but overall this plan will help fix and modernize our school system to benefit the students that have been neglected for the past decade. This levy not only improves classroom technology, increases meals available to students and increases arts-focused institutions, it also creates an independent auditor to make sure your money is going exactly where it should be. We need a school system that is capable of educating the workforce of the future. For that reason, we endorse Issues 50 & 51.

For more info: www.NewColumbusSchools.com

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Join us for the Big Gay Tailgate at 5p on Oct 5 in the Garage parking lot.

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HIS STRUGGLE

complete the circuit

by Mickey Weems Smoke rose from thousands of incense sticks in the temple near downtown Honolulu. A huge golden Guan Yin, the merciful deity who is both woman and man, watched over us as nuns chanted sutras for the salvation of all sentient beings. Scores of people milled about, performing their individual devotions.

I bowed my head to the floor three times and placed oranges before the redfaced warrior god, Guan Yu, in honor of my father, a soldier neither Buddhist nor Chinese, who embraced all humanity, good and bad.

A shelf in my

parents’ living room holds three sacred texts: the Holy Bible, Lives of the Saints and Mein Kampf (in German). Daddy was fascinated with the Third Reich, the beauty and horror of a people who had gone so wrong, but looked so good doing it.

WWII was his first war. As a sailor in the Pacific theater, he didn’t fight the Germans he loved so dearly. Daddy left the Navy, joined the Army Special Forces, skipped the Korean War to marry my mother, and did a tour in Vietnam during the worst of the conflict. He survived encounters with the enemy unscathed, only to suffer chronic health problems from Agent Orange.

Charges were brought against my father for a stunt he pulled while in ’Nam. The officer in charge of Daddy’s battlefield unit wanted a clean Jeep, so he ordered a young private to wash it in a nearby stream that was outside the protective perimeter. The boy didn’t come back.

Daddy was one of the soldiers sent to find him. First they located the Jeep.

Then they found pieces of the young private.

My father stormed into his commanding officer’s tent, pistol in hand. Daddy put the gun to the man’s head and promised to kill him if he ever again endangered another soldier for something so trivial.

At the court marshal, Daddy avoided jail by claiming the weapon was not loaded.

I asked him about the incident, and he told me the truth.

Divine truth visited him in the person of a Buddhist priest who was walking right into a battle zone my father had just left. Referring to gravestones in a nearby cemetery, Daddy spoke to the priest in French:

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“Mon père, why are the names in Chinese and not Vietnamese?”

The venerable monk looked at my father with infinite compassion, put his hand on Daddy’s shoulder, and said, “Mon fils américain, my poor, ignorant son! Don’t you know? God only speaks Chinese.”

Five years ago, I gave my father a vertical silk banner for his Roman Catholic funeral. The silk is white with black Chinese calligraphy, bearing his name so that God would know him. He was ecstatic.

We were not close when I was growing up. I feared him, his mercurial temper, the cruel teasing that drove my mother from the dinner table in simmering protest. Mutual dislike inspired me to look for reasons to despise him. When my 19-year-old self made a homophobic remark, he chided me, saying that some of the finest men he had ever met were homosexual. I said nothing, but thought to myself, Yeah, you say that because you are a faggot just like them, Daddy.

It was not easy for either of us to love the men who brought us into this world.

His own upbringing was so severe that his step-granddaddy, a red-headed Yankee with the lofty KKK rank of Grand Dragon, threatened to send men in white sheets to horsewhip my grandparents if they did not treat their son better. As soon as my father turned 16, he joined the Navy and got the hell out of Mississippi.

I came out to my parents in 2000 after I moved to Ohio and fell in love with Kevin. Daddy told me just the year before about brave soldiers who died in Vietnam, Gay men whose bones were still there, and their blood ran just as red as his. I was confident that he would not get upset when he learned the truth.

century earlier, he told my younger brothers and me that he was sick of us and was leaving the family.

I had forgiven him years before, the incident long forgotten. Not Daddy. The memory festered quietly within him until that very moment. My heart melted, and I told him another truth: I had been attracted to men for as long as I could remember.

My coming out gentled us, bonded us.

From 2006 to 2012, I called my father every Nov 11 so we could sing “Quand Madelon,” a mildly erotic battle song about a barmaid, in honor of his father who served in the Army during World War I. Sometimes my husband joined us.

My father met my man during the celebration of my parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. Kevin immediately won Daddy over by handing him a vintage copy of The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich, which Daddy promptly enshrined next to Mein Kampf, Lives of the Saints and the Holy Bible.

“I don’t love Kevin like a son-in-law,” Daddy told me. “I love him like a son.”

I did not attend Daddy’s funeral at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church near San Antonio. The truth is I feared showing my ass if conversation with some of my LGBT-intolerant siblings went wrong. It has happened before.

Instead, I made my small offering for Ray Martinez-Weems in the crowded, incense-filled temple dedicated to the Goddess/God of Mercy.

I was wrong. When I called my folks in Texas and gave them the news, my father asked my mother if he could speak to me in private.

Never before had I heard my father weep. He asked me if something he did during a trip to Colorado had turned me homosexual: In a flash of anger a quarter-

Our condolences to Mickey and Kevin.

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Becoming a member of Network is easy... just show up!

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the other side

Finally Out Front

Bayard Rustin Gets His Due as Civil Rights Hero

by D.A. Steward LGBTQ History Month is my favorite time of the year. Yes. You read that right. I’m a bona fide, card-carrying nerd, especially when it comes to queer history.

The Times of Harvey Milk, Brother Outsider, How to Survive a Plague, Transgeneration and For the Bible Tells Me So are some of my favorite movies.

My excitement over discovering new queer-focused documentaries is my version of Bieber Fever.

I secretly look forward to the day each October when the Equality Forum releases its annual “31 Days, 31 Icons” list on LGBTHistoryMonth.com. I hope to find a few historical figures I haven’t heard of for Internet-surfing fodder. This may sound over the top to you. And maybe it is. We all have our quirks.

This year has been particularly exciting for a queer history buff because of all the honor and public praise given to Bayard Rustin during the 50th anniversary commemoration of the 1963 March on Washington. Rustin planned the march where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech that changed history.

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The country paused for a moment on Aug 28 to pay homage to King. President Obama spoke and Washington’s National Mall filled with marchers once again, but this time they called for restoration of the Voting Rights Act, immigration reform, passage of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and marriage equality.

Prior to the week’s festivities, I was lucky enough to listen in on a press conference where anniversary organizers and LGBT advocates discussed plans and priorities for the event. It featured Wade Henderson from the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign; Sharon Lettman-Hicks from the National Black Justice Coalition; and the Rev. Darlene Nipper from the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

Each took a moment to highlight parallels between the gay-rights and civil-rights movements and why the two need to intersect.

It was a truly awe-inspiring moment for me. It’s my mission to promote, analyze and provide a safe space for the intersections of race, sexuality and gender.

During Rustin’s time it was made very clear that he was to keep his sexuality out of the mainstream dialogue when it came to civil rights. He was very good friends with King, some say one of his best friends, but he was often pushed to the back when the cameras were rolling.

This time, LGBT rights were an expected part of the conversation.

In President Obama’s speech at the 50th anniversary commemoration,he mentioned rights of LGBT Americans twice. Earlier in August, the president posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his efforts as an openly gay leader in the Civil Rights Movement.

I often wonder, as Rustin and other LGBT Americans marched alongside King during that historic day, did they ever think we’d see a time when our president acknowledged their racial and sexual identity? Did they believe there would be a day when marriage equality was legally recognized by our Supreme Court?

Before he died in 1987, Rustin left one last historic legacy with a controversial speech, “The New N***ers Are Gays,” in which he stated: “Today, blacks are no longer the litmus paper or the barometer of social change. Blacks are in every segment of society, and there are laws that help to protect them from racial discrimination.

The new ‘n***ers’ are gays. ... It is in this sense that gay people are the new barometer for social change. ... The question of social change should be framed with the most vulnerable group in mind: gay people.”

To say this ruffled - and still ruffles - a few feathers is a gross understatement, but the theology behind his statements proves more relevant than ever. The most vulnerable among us, those who are persecuted because of race, creed, sexual orientation, disability or otherwise, should be fought for under a united Human Rights Movement.

I have to admit, I think Bayard would have enjoyed this moment in history as well.

Did their dream include the possibility of a march of that magnitude including a focus on gay-rights legislation?

D.A. Steward hosts Queer Minded, an online radio show that airs live every Thursday at 8p at talktainmentradio.com. You can find more on all his projects at www.dwaynesteward.com.

“I believe in social dislocation and creative trouble." – Bayard Rustin

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It’s time for a new house and fall flowers to plant around it. Call Misty and Flora today!

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toasters for everyone

Forbidden Fruit

by Linda Flickinger

“The O-N-L-Y sanctioned relationships are those between a M-A-N and his WI-F-E ... in the HOLY bonds of MATRIMONY ... You C-AN-N-O-T live in S-I-N and get to heaven,” the booming rhythmic bass voice from the pulpit proclaimed.

“Amen” is enthusiastically shouted on this typical Sunday morning in 1976 in rural Ohio, the church sanctuary filled with 200 faithful members perched on wooden, red-cushioned pews.

I sit next to my best friend, my love. Yet no one knows we are in a “sinful” relationship. The preacher said “homosexuals” are the worst of all sinners.

Editor’s Note: Linda Flickinger approached us months ago with a proposal to collect and share coming-out stories as a way to ease the coming-out process for our fellow Central Ohioans who are just beginning the journey.

We loved the idea, and we’re happy that she is the first to share her story.

Oct 11 is National Coming Out Day, and to all those who have recently or are about to come out, welcome. Please step up to claim your toasters.

With Linda’s beautiful story, we launch this series. We invite you to share your own coming-out stories, whether they’re funny, painful, happy or heartbreaking. We’ll post them on outlookcolumbus.com and create a space on our website where they’ll be archived as a coming-out resource.

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She gives me every opportunity to stop her, but I don’t. Her lips gently touch mine. Pressing in, she caresses my lips with hers.

Somehow my lips respond like they know what to do and I surrender. I want another; knowingly, she responds.

What a wonderful beginning.

Over the next weeks, we move to her bedroom and share love physically and emotionally, enjoying each other for who we are. True love blossoms, deepens, and our secret is secure.

I’ve always followed the rules, but I have fallen for Ann (not her real name) and I don’t want to give her up. It doesn’t feel wrong, wanting to be together all the time, snuggling, teasing and touching.

We are not alike, yet we are. She is tennis shoes; I am heels. I am makeup; she is el naturale. She is social; I am shy. I am lip gloss; she is ChapStick.

She is a little chunky, I am thin. I carry a pocketbook, she uses a pocket. She is flannel and jeans; I am polyester and cashmere. I have a Volkswagen Beetle, she has a Barracuda. We are good together.

One seemingly typical Friday night, the late show ends and the console television transitions to static.

My lightly sweaty hand holds hers under a blanket on the couch as her family sleeps upstairs. A bit of moonlight glows through the patio door.

My religious teaching rises up as a smoke signal in the distance calling me. By kissing her, have I tasted the proverbial apple like Eve in the Garden of Eden?

Are we barred from heaven? Would any man want me now? Is that even what I want?

Her head is slowly closing in and I fix my eyes on the snowy screen straight ahead. Closer. What is she doing? My heart is racing; I’m barely breathing.

Two years later, and a day changes everything. Mom’s voice has that cold tone again, and it will be one of “those” talks. She sighs deeply, “I talked to the pastor, and he said he knows all about you and Ann. It is a sin, Linda. He blames you and that you are obviously corrupting Ann. He said to keep you away from her or he will

I want her to kiss me. I hope she kisses me.

Her breath is warm on my cheek.

take further action.”

Her face is filled with pain and distance, and my body stirs uncomfortably. I could be exiled emotionally and may be homeless. I know the cycle of my life and my place in it.

“Is what the pastor said true? Are you... more than friends?”

“Yes.” I will not lie.

“You are never to see her again. Do you understand?”

Twenty-seven years have passed since I have looked into those blue-gray eyes of Ann’s. Maybe I should consider contacting... No, I can’t. It was, is, forbidden.

Things are different than in 1978, but has God changed his mind? Perhaps God doesn’t believe what Christians believe.

Perhaps I just need closure. A note would work.

After 11 drafts, it’s finally written.

Dear Ann, How are you? I know it’s been a very long time… too long… you have always held a special place in my heart.

“Yes, Mom.” My compliant answer releases her to leave in cold silence.

Done.

The tears burn and flow freely down my freckled cheeks. Feebly my legs carry me to my bed and my broken heart pours into my pillow while I try to stifle the pain.

That first long year my room held my secret tears that soaked my pillow every night. I prayed for Ann to find happiness, love I couldn’t share with her, to forgive me for leaving without explanation.

Life moved on and I did find a man, of sorts. Ten years later with two small children, a domestic violence survivor, desperate financial issues, emotionally empty and considering suicide, I found the strength to leave him one final time.

Maybe I can find some peace. I had settled for so much less than true love.

My sons are teenagers now. Maybe I can try dating. Maybe I can trust again. But a man?

Want to tell your coming-out story? Contact Linda at comingout@outlookmedia.com

Thirteen long days later and the mail brings a response! It’s her handwriting! She opened up, but I could sense the caution.

More letters, then phone calls and finally a get-together.

The August morning is warm. The 99-mile drive from my driveway to hers passes like minutes.

I see those eyes sparkling!

Smiling, she breathes out an extended “Hhhhiiii!”

She is still tennis shoes; I am still heels. I am still makeup; she is still el naturale. I am still lipstick; she is still ChapStick. I still carry a purse; she still has a pocket.

Eight years have passed since that day, and our former lives are hard to remember. Last year we made the trip to New York, and on Dec 22, 2012, we were married.

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The pink zone is for the immediate loading and unloading of gays only. No standing.

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mario Debbie

the mario & debbie show

vs

Lady Gaga’s “Applause” vs. Katy Perry’s “Roar” I like them both, but since I have to choose: “Applause.” Gaga’s energy and pop savvy is again triumphant. The song is an ode to her fans and the energizing “applause” that they give her. She has historical references and even parodies herself in the video. I find Gaga fascinating to watch, and I appreciate her Julliard training, plus she loves her queers like Lauper.

Lady Gaga’s “Applause” vs. Katy Perry’s “Roar” How can you ask a dyke to pick between two hot gals? OK...

Video goes to Gaga. Music goes to Gaga. Message goes to Perry.

Best body goes to both. Doability-factor most definitely goes to Perry! Meowww.

Will we ever have a gay president?

Man or woman?

(Bonus points for naming names)

Will we ever have a gay president?

Man or woman?

(Bonus points for naming names)

I think there is a possibility to have a gay president, the Queen of the United States, maybe. I think it will be a woman. Men, mostly white and rich, control the political arena and these politicians find the concept of two men becoming intimate with each other frightening; it is pure anal phobia. Now, fantasizing about two women doing some sexy scissoring is hot for these influential rich white guys. I see Ellen or Tammy Baldwin becoming our first gay president; both are influential women who have the money and the donors to back them.

I thought we already had one. That would be James Buchanan, 15th president of USA, a “life-long bachelor” (hint, hint) who lived decades with his gentleman (ahem) friend, William Rufus DeVane King. A 2012 Time article reported: “Their relationship was reportedly so close that Andrew Jackson and other contemporaries referred to them as “Miss Nancy” and “Aunt Fancy.”

What was your best Halloween costume?

Hubby and I are not the stereotypical gays who wear overpriced panties and body paint, and you never want to see our fat asses doing this either. My best costume had to be our Day of the Dead outfits.

We were painted so creepy but had snazzy outfits.

What was your best Halloween costume?

I melted a Barbie face mask on the dash of my car one year, and as the plastic shell remained with most of the coloring run off, I continued to wear the mask and everyone I knew loved how distorted it looked!

Now that I think back, I was Courtney Love.

What will you be this year?

We are doing a Cirque du Soleil-meets-a-rock-star theme lots of freaky makeup. The outfits are simple and will allow mobility, but the makeup will be the best accessory. I need to get new heels, though. Any drag friends have something in red in a woman’s 11?

I’m wrapping myself in aluminum foil, wearing my rain boots and a fisherman’s hat and going as a Gorton’s package of frozen fish fillets. Tartar packet(s) included.

Crying Songs

Crying Songs “To Sir With Love.” I love the original; however, Natalie Merchant did an awesome version with Michael Stipe from R.E.M. This song makes think about my Dad and how he “promised us the moon and the stars” and he never judged us for wanting to chase a dream. I wish he was still here, but he is watching over me. And, I am still trying to chase my dreams, Dad, no matter how beaten down I get.

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What will you be this year?

I cannot just give one up as a) I’m a sap for sad songs and b) I’m a girl, after all, so five come to mind: “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis, “Unbreak My Heart” by Toni Braxton, “Nothing Compares to U” by Sinead O’Connor, “I Grieve” by Peter Gabriel, and “Muskrat Love” by Toni Tennille and the Captain. That last one makes me really cry because why would anyone put out a song like this?

Tell us about your coming out, in haiku

Tell us about your coming out, in haiku

Butt sex on the floor A boy unwound, untangled Rainbows, glitter, sun

Age 10 and I know Cute girls make my heart beat so Kisses on playground

oct 2013

outlook haiku: 5am Wednesday; Magazine to the printer; Sunshine, McMuffins

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Chad often dress up like his idol Charlie Chaplin, but he always gets mistaken for Hitler.

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THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 SWINGIN’ WITH THE CJO What the World Needs Now: Bacharach, Brubeck & Beyond @ Southern Theatre, 21 E Main St, 614.340.1896, www.jazzartsgroup.org: The Columbus Jazz Orchestra welcomes back Grammy Award-winning bassist/composer/arranger John Clayton to lead the orchestra. 7:30p (Fri-Sat 8p, Sun 3p); $36.35-$60.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 SING THE BLUES Double Take: Blues for Smoke @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 1871 N High St, www.wexarts.org: OSU faculty members give their take on the Wex’s newest exhibition, Blues for Smoke, a look at the enduring power of the blues. The exhibition itself runs through Dec 29. 12:30p-2:30p; free.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31 THE QUEST NARRATIVE Miwa Matreyek @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 614.292.3535, www.wexarts.org: This World Made Itself, Matreyek’s latest solo work, is an intricate and spellbinding work of shadow play chronicling the history of the world into today’s almost hyperreal setting. 8p-10p (also Fri 8-10p, Sat 2-4p, Sun 8-10p); $16-$18.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 BLUE CROON Emeli Sandé @ Newport Music Hall, 1722 N High St, 614.294.1659, www.promowestlive.com: She’s best known across the pond as the “Abide With Me” performer in the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 7p; $22 advance, $25 day of.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE Grand Opening @ Out of the Closet, 1230 N High St, www.outofthecloset.org: It’s a party at the opening of the long-awaited thrift store where money from sales goes to fight and treat HIV/AIDS. Register to win a Vespa from Motohio while enjoying stilt walkers, cotton candy, sign spinners, a DJ and food catered by the Good Frank. 10a-2p; free.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13 AND A 1, AND A 2...

New Albany Symphony: Beethoven’s Ninth @ Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center, 100 W Dublin-Granville Rd, 614.323.1237, www.newalbanysymphony.com: The symphony’s sixth season opens with the Capital University Chapel Choir. 3p-5p; $9-$18.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 CIAO, I MIEI AMICI Columbus Italian Festival @ Italian Village, Hamlet St, 614.294.8259, www.columbusitalianfestival.com: Celebrate Italian culture all weekend with live entertainment, markets, dancing, games and of course, great Italian cooking. 5p-11p (also Sat noon-11p, Sun noon8p); $5, 12 and under admitted for free.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 THE COLUMBUS CAVALIERS Cleveland Cavaliers vs.

Philadelphia 76ers @ Schottenstein Center, 565 Borror Dr, 614.292.2624, www.schottensteincenter.com: Out to prove they can still be elite in a post-Lebron world, the Kyrie Irving-led Cavs come to Columbus for a preseason game. 7p; ticket prices TBA.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 WELCOME TO THE GAYBORHOOD Merion Village Festival @ 1330 S 4th St, www.merionvillage.org: Merion Village has combined its Crafters and Artisan Market with its annual block party, and it will take place just outside Moeller Park. Noon-6p; free.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 ENTERTAINMENT! Phoenix @ The LC, 405 Neil Ave, 800.745.3000, www.promowestlive.com: With a Grammy win to its name, the French alt-rock group brings its eclectic melding of rock and synth.

6:30p; $29.50.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 YOUTH IN REVOLT TedXYouth 2013 @ COSI, 333 W Broad St, 614.629.3237, www.tedxcolumbus.com: TEDTalks in Columbus celebrates its third year with short TEDx talks from the youth of the city and a workshop to develop the ideas of the attendees. 9a-4p; $10.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 YOU’VE BEEN...

CUT OFF Improv Wars 2013 @ Studio 35, 3055 Indianola Ave, 614.638.8711, www.studio35.com: Improv Wars will run for two months as the audience votes which troupe from each night deserves to go to the final showdown, scheduled for Nov 19. 7p-9p; $8.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 I’M NOT SURE I GET IT You Call That Art? Opening @ Cultural Arts Center, 139 W Main, 614.645.7047, www.culturalartscenteronline.org: This is the exhibit you’ve been hearing about. CAC’s October exhibit is eye-opening, envelope-pushing, and awe-inspiring. 5p-9p; free.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 TOUCHDOWN! Big Gay Tailgate @ Garage Resurrected Parking Lot, 40 E Long St, 614.268.8525, www.outlookcolumbus.com: Come watch the Buckeyes put a hurtin’ on the Northwestern “Mildcats” while enjoying an ice cold beer and grub from your favorite food trucks. Be sure to arrive for a pre-game performance from the Fabulous Johnson Brothers. Part of the proceeds to benefit Huck House. 5p; $5.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ Young Frankenstein @ Wall Street Night Club, 144 N Wall St, 614.464.2800, www.imagineproductions.com: Mel Brooks’s reinterpretation of the story by Mary Shelley has become a cult classic. Think they got an actor who has eyes similar to Marty Feldman? 7:30p; $17.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 MUSIC LINKS US TOGETHER Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses @ Ohio Theatre, 39 E State St, 614.469.0939, www.capa.com: Relive the Zelda video games in a combined digital and musical experience.

Highlights from the games will play on screens behind the orchestra as the musicians take you on a journey into the past.

8p; $41.40-$101.40.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL FANdemonium! @ Crew Stadium, 1 Black and Gold Blvd, 614.477.CREW, www.TheCrew.com: Come out and cheer on the Crew during its final regular season game vs. the New England Revolution and receive a scratch card good for any number of prizes. 4p; $23-$48.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18 NO NATALIE AND MILA KISSING HERE BalletMet: Swan Lake @ Ohio Theater, 39 E State St, 614.229.4860, www.balletmet.org: Relive the timelessness of Tchaikovsky’s score, featuring more than 45 dancers from BalletMet and the Cincinnati Ballet. 8p (also Sat 8p, Sun 2p); $25-$80.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 HIGH STREET HIGH JINX HighBall Halloween @ High Street & Short North, 614.299.8050, www.highballhalloween.com: Half Mardi Gras, half Carnivale, and all Halloween, this festive tour de force celebrates the creative ingenuity of art, fashion, music and dance by amateurs and professionals alike. 6p-1a (also Sat 6p-1a); $5, $65 VIP.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 STRANGERS WITH CANDY Trunk or Treat @ Easton Town Center, 160 Easton Town Center, 614.416.7000, www.eastontowncenter.com: Forgo the traditional trickor-treat experience and go car to car instead! Rusty vans, come at your own peril. 6p-8p; free.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Circleville Pumpkin Show @ Downtown Circleville, 159 E Franklin St, www.pumpkinshow.com: The biggest pumpkin festival in the United States celebrates all things pumpkin. Vendors offer art, crafts, games and food.

5p-10p (also Wed 9p-11p, Thu-Sat 10a-11p); free.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer @ Riffe Center Studio 2, 77 S High St, 614.469.0939, www.catcoistheatre.org: With a 50minute running time, this interpretation of the Mark Twain classic is sure to delight children of all ages.

7:30p; $20 adults, $10 kids.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 WHEN BOYS LEAVE HOME The Hitchcock 9: Downhill @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 614.292.3535, www.wexarts.org: One of Hitchcock’s earliest and darkest works, this silent film charts a schoolboy’s decline as he’s expelled from school and disowned by his father. 7p; $7-$9.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 GOODS AND SERVICES Columbus Flea @ Seventh Son Brewing, 1101 N High St, 614.421.2337, www.columbusflea.wordpress.com: Come buy vintage goods, handmade jewelry, art and more to help benefit the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.

11a-5p; free.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4 HERE WE... GO! Columbus Blue Jackets vs.

Calgary Flames @ Nationwide Arena, 200 W Nationwide Blvd, 800.NHL.COL, www.bluejackets.com: Is this the year we win it all? 7p; ticket prices vary.

out & about

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24 SWINGIN’ WITH THE CJO What the World Needs Now: Bacharach, Brubeck & Beyond @ Southern Theatre, 21 E Main St, 614.340.1896, www.jazzartsgroup.org: The Columbus Jazz Orchestra welcomes back Grammy Award-winning bassist/composer/arranger John Clayton to lead the orchestra. 7:30p (Fri-Sat 8p, Sun 3p); $36.35-$60.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23 SING THE BLUES Double Take: Blues for Smoke @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 1871 N High St, www.wexarts.org: OSU faculty members give their take on the Wex’s newest exhibition, Blues for Smoke, a look at the enduring power of the blues. The exhibition itself runs through Dec 29. 12:30p-2:30p; free.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31 THE QUEST NARRATIVE Miwa Matreyek @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 614.292.3535, www.wexarts.org: This World Made Itself, Matreyek’s latest solo work, is an intricate and spellbinding work of shadow play chronicling the history of the world into today’s almost hyperreal setting. 8p-10p (also Fri 8-10p, Sat 2-4p, Sun 8-10p); $16-$18.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 BLUE CROON Emeli Sandé @ Newport Music Hall, 1722 N High St, 614.294.1659, www.promowestlive.com: She’s best known across the pond as the “Abide With Me” performer in the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. 7p; $22 advance, $25 day of.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 19 COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE Grand Opening @ Out of the Closet, 1230 N High St, www.outofthecloset.org: It’s a party at the opening of the long-awaited thrift store where money from sales goes to fight and treat HIV/AIDS. Register to win a Vespa from Motohio while enjoying stilt walkers, cotton candy, sign spinners, a DJ and food catered by the Good Frank. 10a-2p; free.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13 AND A 1, AND A 2...

New Albany Symphony: Beethoven’s Ninth @ Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center, 100 W Dublin-Granville Rd, 614.323.1237, www.newalbanysymphony.com: The symphony’s sixth season opens with the Capital University Chapel Choir. 3p-5p; $9-$18.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 11 CIAO, I MIEI AMICI Columbus Italian Festival @ Italian Village, Hamlet St, 614.294.8259, www.columbusitalianfestival.com: Celebrate Italian culture all weekend with live entertainment, markets, dancing, games and of course, great Italian cooking. 5p-11p (also Sat noon-11p, Sun noon8p); $5, 12 and under admitted for free.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 21 THE COLUMBUS CAVALIERS Cleveland Cavaliers vs.

Philadelphia 76ers @ Schottenstein Center, 565 Borror Dr, 614.292.2624, www.schottensteincenter.com: Out to prove they can still be elite in a post-Lebron world, the Kyrie Irving-led Cavs come to Columbus for a preseason game. 7p; ticket prices TBA.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 WELCOME TO THE GAYBORHOOD Merion Village Festival @ 1330 S 4th St, www.merionvillage.org: Merion Village has combined its Crafters and Artisan Market with its annual block party, and it will take place just outside Moeller Park. Noon-6p; free.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 3 ENTERTAINMENT! Phoenix @ The LC, 405 Neil Ave, 800.745.3000, www.promowestlive.com: With a Grammy win to its name, the French alt-rock group brings its eclectic melding of rock and synth.

6:30p; $29.50.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10 YOUTH IN REVOLT TedXYouth 2013 @ COSI, 333 W Broad St, 614.629.3237, www.tedxcolumbus.com: TEDTalks in Columbus celebrates its third year with short TEDx talks from the youth of the city and a workshop to develop the ideas of the attendees. 9a-4p; $10.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 1 YOU’VE BEEN...

CUT OFF Improv Wars 2013 @ Studio 35, 3055 Indianola Ave, 614.638.8711, www.studio35.com: Improv Wars will run for two months as the audience votes which troupe from each night deserves to go to the final showdown, scheduled for Nov 19. 7p-9p; $8.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 I’M NOT SURE I GET IT You Call That Art? Opening @ Cultural Arts Center, 139 W Main, 614.645.7047, www.culturalartscenteronline.org: This is the exhibit you’ve been hearing about. CAC’s October exhibit is eye-opening, envelope-pushing, and awe-inspiring. 5p-9p; free.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5 TOUCHDOWN! Big Gay Tailgate @ Garage Resurrected Parking Lot, 40 E Long St, 614.268.8525, www.outlookcolumbus.com: Come watch the Buckeyes put a hurtin’ on the Northwestern “Mildcats” while enjoying an ice cold beer and grub from your favorite food trucks. Be sure to arrive for a pre-game performance from the Fabulous Johnson Brothers. Part of the proceeds to benefit Huck House. 5p; $5.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 PUTTIN’ ON THE RITZ Young Frankenstein @ Wall Street Night Club, 144 N Wall St, 614.464.2800, www.imagineproductions.com: Mel Brooks’s reinterpretation of the story by Mary Shelley has become a cult classic. Think they got an actor who has eyes similar to Marty Feldman? 7:30p; $17.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 26 MUSIC LINKS US TOGETHER Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses @ Ohio Theatre, 39 E State St, 614.469.0939, www.capa.com: Relive the Zelda video games in a combined digital and musical experience.

Highlights from the games will play on screens behind the orchestra as the musicians take you on a journey into the past.

8p; $41.40-$101.40.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 27 ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL FANdemonium! @ Crew Stadium, 1 Black and Gold Blvd, 614.477.CREW, www.TheCrew.com: Come out and cheer on the Crew during its final regular season game vs. the New England Revolution and receive a scratch card good for any number of prizes. 4p; $23-$48.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18 NO NATALIE AND MILA KISSING HERE BalletMet: Swan Lake @ Ohio Theater, 39 E State St, 614.229.4860, www.balletmet.org: Relive the timelessness of Tchaikovsky’s score, featuring more than 45 dancers from BalletMet and the Cincinnati Ballet. 8p (also Sat 8p, Sun 2p); $25-$80.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25 HIGH STREET HIGH JINX HighBall Halloween @ High Street & Short North, 614.299.8050, www.highballhalloween.com: Half Mardi Gras, half Carnivale, and all Halloween, this festive tour de force celebrates the creative ingenuity of art, fashion, music and dance by amateurs and professionals alike. 6p-1a (also Sat 6p-1a); $5, $65 VIP.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 30 STRANGERS WITH CANDY Trunk or Treat @ Easton Town Center, 160 Easton Town Center, 614.416.7000, www.eastontowncenter.com: Forgo the traditional trickor-treat experience and go car to car instead! Rusty vans, come at your own peril. 6p-8p; free.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 16 ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK Circleville Pumpkin Show @ Downtown Circleville, 159 E Franklin St, www.pumpkinshow.com: The biggest pumpkin festival in the United States celebrates all things pumpkin. Vendors offer art, crafts, games and food.

5p-10p (also Wed 9p-11p, Thu-Sat 10a-11p); free.

The Adventures of Tom Sawyer @ Riffe Center Studio 2, 77 S High St, 614.469.0939, www.catcoistheatre.org: With a 50minute running time, this interpretation of the Mark Twain classic is sure to delight children of all ages.

7:30p; $20 adults, $10 kids.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 15 WHEN BOYS LEAVE HOME The Hitchcock 9: Downhill @ Wexner Center, 1871 N High St, 614.292.3535, www.wexarts.org: One of Hitchcock’s earliest and darkest works, this silent film charts a schoolboy’s decline as he’s expelled from school and disowned by his father. 7p; $7-$9.

SUNDAY OCTOBER 6 GOODS AND SERVICES Columbus Flea @ Seventh Son Brewing, 1101 N High St, 614.421.2337, www.columbusflea.wordpress.com: Come buy vintage goods, handmade jewelry, art and more to help benefit the Mid-Ohio Food Bank.

11a-5p; free.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4 HERE WE... GO! Columbus Blue Jackets vs.

Calgary Flames @ Nationwide Arena, 200 W Nationwide Blvd, 800.NHL.COL, www.bluejackets.com: Is this the year we win it all? 7p; ticket prices vary.

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Fighters: The stories of people hiding their faces at the first Pride parade, about windows being covered at the first Human Rights Campaign dinner, they’re our community’s legends. Back when people could have lost everything just for being gay - let alone fighting for LGBT rights - a handful of people risked it all.

The result of their efforts is the Columbus we have today, a city that consistently ranks among the nation’s most open for LGBT people.

We asked some of our community’s pioneers to sit down with Brooke Cartus and talk about the Columbus they helped build. Steve Shellabarger and Lynn Greer accepted our invitation.

Steve helped organize the HRC locally, helped raise money and awareness to fight AIDS in the ’80s and helped create the Columbus Foundation’s Legacy Fund to sup-

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How Steve Shellabarger and Lynn Greer Helped Shape LGBT Columbus

port LGBT organizations. Lynn has worked for LGBT civil rights in Columbus and at the national level; she also was a Legacy Fund founder, an early AIDS activist and the first co-chair of the Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

Here are excerpts of their conversation with Brooke. Head to outlookcolumbus.com for the full interview.

WORKING TOGETHER: Steve: Lynn and I have had a lot of great experiences together, good and awful and everything in between.

Lynn: He was one of my brother’s friends and when I lost my brother [Lynn’s brother, Michael, died of AIDS in 1986], this guy stepped up and took care of me. He kind of showed me the ropes.

Steve: ... and we socialized together, and we had more fun together ... This is one of the

beautiful things about Columbus, too, you have the real meshing of men and women in Columbus that very few cities have.

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN: Steve: I’ve always said that one of the reasons that Columbus is such a great gay city is because of German Village. Because when I first came out in 1967, the first people I met lived in German Village, gay guys that lived in German Village. ...

The reason German Village succeeded was because of gay men.

Period. It’s the reason Victorian Village succeeded, was gay men. ... It was the guys that had the vision and the talent to go in and fix houses and make them fabulous in these old sections. So, German Village was happening and other people began to see this, and so you began to get some shakers and movers.

THE POWER OF PERSUASION: Lynn: The lesson that I would love the readers to get from some of our stories, never underestimate the power of lobbying. When Equality Ohio has their lobby days, I was appalled this last year at the number of gay people that were there.

There were PFLAG parents there fighting for their kids, there were transgender people there because they don’t have their full equality. ...

You can feel comfortable in your neighborhood here and in our city.

But the reality is, for me the frustration is, all the talk around marriage when we don’t even have workplace protections. You know you can’t take the cart before the horse. You’ve got to ... build the foundation.

STARTING THE STONEWALL DEMS: Steve: Stonewall Dems was started because I was doing all this HRC stuff, and at that point in time it still existed, but there was

Columbus is great for LGBT people in large part because of folks like Lynn and Steve. Thank You!

a big huge group called the Log Cabin Republicans.

Lynn: HUGE! I think it probably had 200 members.

Steve: And they had a ton of money, because there were a lot of the rich boys. HRC would try to be bipartisan. We tried to support Democrats and Republicans, and I will tell you, we supported Republicans. But to try and be both, we bent over backwards. And constantly the Log Cabin people - the loggers as we liked to call them the loggers were continually attacking HRC as being a Democratic organization, and you couldn’t answer back.

So, I got together with some other folks and said, “You know, this just isn’t right, we need a gay Democratic club that can counter the Log Cabin so that when the Log Cabins start to scream, the gay Dems can counter them instead of having nothing on the left.”

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Lynn: They [Log Cabin Republicans] were firm to their convictions and ... many of them put party before gayness, and I think most of us in the gay Dems put gay first and then our party.

Steve: We were Democrats because we knew that’s where we were going to make progress, but to be honest with you, I really think there are people who put money ahead of their civil rights and I’ll just leave it that.

the two of us were Mr. and Mrs. Suburbia. We went to every social function there ever was in this city.

Steve: A lot of fundraisers, because we knew it was a way to meet people who we were then going to ask...

Lynn: They needed to meet gay people and so we had to put a face on it. So we literally would do that. ... I would get up, make some calls. I would be at the Statehouse, if they were in session, every day. At night, almost AIDS IN THE 1980S: five nights out of seven, I was either at a Steve: It was dreadful. board meeting or going to some sort of politLynn: Dreadful. Funerals were also a big part ical function. of our lives.

The other thing we did really well early on Steve: My first partner died in 1990. And so was [with] the candidates that didn’t look the last couple years of his life I spent taking like they had a chance, or they were just new care of him. And we tried to take care of our and green and coming into the campaign, we friends as best we could. And there were al- would get on them and tutor them and have ways people sick, and always people dying. a little house party for them and if you raised $1,000 back then, they thought you were a ... really big deal.

Lynn: ... and it was quick before, and it was ugly.

EDUCATING OFFICIALS: Steve: The great meeting was held when we were doing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, and we had Steve: When people started getting sick, the meeting with [U.S. Sen. John] Glenn, and when they’d find out, they’d be gone in six we took servicemen, we took openly gay sermonths, maybe a year. A few years ago vicemen, in uniform, to the meeting. ... And someone from Ohio State was doing their paper on the AIDS crisis in Columbus, Ohio, it was a pretty good size group, there were and someone gave them my name and I dug probably 15 to 20 of us there. ... It was very into my stuff and found a long yellow sheet nice, and everybody talked and there was no animosity. But I don’t think he had moved. that was [from when] we raised money for the Anderson Foundation.

Lynn: He did not get it.

The money eventually went to the CATF, [Columbus AIDS Task Force] but John Ander- Steve: ... and at the end of the meeting we had a photographer there, and so we wanted son was the first gay man to die in Columto have a picture taken. And everybody got bus. up to have the picture taken, and the two guys in uniform didn’t get up. They sat there.

Anyway, I’m sitting here and I pull this list out and I’m talking to the guy, and I’m going And the senator said, “Come on, guys, we’re going to take this picture,” and they said, down the list. There might have been 75 names ... and as I’m going down through the “Senator, we can’t do that because we would list, more than 50 percent of the people who immediately face discharge if we had this picture taken,” and it was like BOOM! donated to that very first fundraiser would eventually die of AIDS themselves.

ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: Steve: Learn your history.

I completely lost it in the interview. And that’s one reason why we don’t often dwell on this stuff, because it’s still very upsetting. I Lynn: Be participatory. mean, people and kids today don’t realize Steve: ... and get involved. how lucky they are that the medical advances have been as good as they have. They Lynn: ... and you can be participatory in lots aren’t perfect yet, and we can’t oversell it of ways. You can be participatory by having because the dangers are still too great. lunch with your Great Aunt Lucy and have a conversation. ... It doesn’t just happen. We A DAY IN THE FIGHT: Lynn: For me, it would be a lot of calls in the don’t just get there. morning. Part of what I learned really early on was the work in the community was imSteve: Do something. portant, but the work outside of the community was more important. So I started making Brooke Cartus is an OSU law student and comedian who sure I was on the right boards, meaning that writes the blog BrookeCartus.com. outlookcolumbus.com

Issues 1, 2, 3 and 4 are no-brainers. They make Columbus a better city without raising taxes. oct 2013

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Wilgefortis, Sacred Drag and the Power of a Beard

by Mickey Weems It is a fundamentalist Christian’s worst nightmare: Jesus, on the cross, in a dress.

But it’s actually a centuries-old tradition.

There are images all over Western Europe of what appears to be the crucified Jesus in women’s clothing.

Appearances can be deceiving, though. The images are of Saint Wilgefortis, a Christian girl in the Roman Empire who lived in what is now Portugal. Her father ordered her to marry a Pagan man, but she refused. Fearing she would be forced into the marriage, she prayed to God for deliverance, and God granted her wish by causing a beard to grow on her lovely face.

The Pagan who fancied her was shocked when he saw the bearded Wilgefortis, and he called off the marriage. Her father was so enraged that he had his daughter crucified. Wilgefortis became the patron saint of women avoiding or trapped in bad marriages.

Images of Wilgefortis on the cross date back to the Middle Ages. She typically looks

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like Christ in drag, but there are clues that the image is not Jesus. There are ropes around her wrists, not nails through her hands. She sometimes has one shoe on and a fiddler standing below her. But her similarity to the crucified Christ gives the image its power.

Wilgefortis lost her status as a Roman Catholic saint in the 1960s when the church said there wasn’t enough evidence of her existence. But the rise of LGBT scholarship and spirituality led to her rediscovery and reinterpretation as an icon.

She is now venerated in a new canon of holy queers, which include the Hindu saint Ramakrishna, who disguised himself as a woman and had homoerotic spiritual experiences; Adhanarishvara, a Hindu god who is half male, half female; Mexican nun Juana Inés de la Cruz, famous for her love letters to other women; Muslim Sufi poet Rumi, infatuated with a man named Shams-i-Tabriz; Buddhist bodhisattva Guan Yin, who started out as male when he was in India and transformed into female when she reached China; and Hawaiian goddess Hi’iaka, who lost her female lover when she enraged her sister, Pele, the god-

dess of volcanoes.

Scholars in comparative religions point out that cross-dressing is a worldwide spiritual practice. Take Ramakrishna in 19th-century India: He had been donning women’s garb off and on since he was a boy. Divine Hindu drag didn’t start with Ramakrishna: The Hindu saint Chaitanya did the same thing centuries before.

Joan of Arc dressed as a man after she received revelation from heaven to lead the French to victory against the English. In West African traditions of the Yoruba, the masculine god Xango dressed as a woman to escape from ghosts, and the deep-water version of Yemanja, goddess of the sea, has a beard. The list goes on.

What makes Wilgefortis particularly interesting is her beard. In LGBT culture, a “beard” is somebody who helps a closet queen pass as straight. In her case, the beard is a sign that she was Christ-like.

By having a beard, Saint Wilgefortis accomplished two things. Virginity is important in the identities of women saints and her facial re-packaging took away her ap-

She looks a lot like Chad, or Sherri, which is Chad or...

peal to a potential pagan husband. And looking like a man symbolically brought her closer to God. The teachings of the early church about women don’t resonate with post-1960s Catholics, so Wilgefortis became an oddity, a spiritual freak. With the rise of women’s liberation and LGBT awareness, however, she morphs into a powerful icon who resisted the control that others tried to exert over her. She also can be interpreted as trans, lesbian and the patron saint of drag kings.

Thanks to LGBT activists, Saint Wilgefortis has been rediscovered and repurposed, born again as a source of inspiration for all oppressed people who are denied the right to marry who they choose. Christian activists such as Kittredge Cherry (check out her site, jesusinlove.blogspot.com) are instrumental in making this happen.

Saint Wilgefortis’s feast day is July 20, a few weeks after the Stonewall anniversary.

Save a votive candle for the date. Since the Catholic Church chose to let her go, she’s all ours now.

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As of press time, Bob is happy with the Indians. That could all change by distribution.

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feature

Whatever Happened To...?

by Molly Duerré

right is wrong.”

If gay Bostonians had had their way in the 1970s, we’d all be waving purple-rhinoceros flags at Pride.

That attitude is largely rejected today, as more and more men are wearing earrings for no other reason than because they want to.

The pages of LGBT history are full of abandoned traditions and symbols. Yellow was an early color for our community, and we’ve used green carnations, red ties, pink triangles and those purple rhinos through the years. Perhaps that’s why we use rainbows today.

Hanky Code

Some of our culture is long gone, while other bits have faded slightly.

Earrings In 1991, archaeologists found the fully intact mummy of “Otzi the Iceman,” who lived around 3300 BC and showed evidence of having worn an earring.

The original use of earrings was steeped in legend. Ancient civilizations believed metal prevented evil spirits from entering the body, and thus their earrings would protect them.

Fast forward to the 1980s when large numbers of American men started wearing earrings again. This time, though, a pierced right ear meant a man was gay. There was this cringeinducing saying: “Left is right, and

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LGBT historian and outlook columnist.

“But the whims of fashion are difficult to predict. A future generation could bring it back. I doubt it will ever disappear entirely, because the hanky is such a recognizable and sexually coded accessory to an outfit.”

Vladimir Putin’s anti-gay crusade in Russia.

fortable using.”

Homosexuality

Personal Ads

We’ve taken the word fag away from our haters, but we’ve given them homosexual in return.

Helen Morrison placed the first-ever personal ad in the Manchester Weekly Journal in 1727, stating that she was lonely and looking for a nice person to share her life with.

Pink Triangles Think of the hanky code as a fabric version of Grindr.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, many gay men wore colored bandanas in their back pockets as a way of expressing their sexual interests and fetishes. Woe to the color-blind, because there were dozens: Dark blue meant you were interested in anal sex, black was for S&M, red for fisting, light blue for oral, etc. A bandana in the left pocket meant you were a top; in the right it meant you were a bottom.

Some say the code started during the Gold Rush, when there were far more men than women in California. At allmale barn dances, men used bandanas to distinguish themselves as someone who was leading the dance or someone who was following.

Online socializing largely did in the hanky code, although it’s still part of the leather scene. Torso’s outlet at Exile still stocks them.

“Like other trends, the code has seen its heyday,” said Mickey Weems, an

During the Holocaust, pink triangles identified gay men who had been sent to the concentration camps. From 1933 to 1945, the Nazis arrested 100,000 German men - lesbians and non-German gays were spared - and sentenced 50,000 to prison for being gay.

Between 5,000 and 15,000 were sent to the camps, according to the U.S. Holocaust Museum, but no one knows how many were killed.

The gay community reclaimed the pink triangle as a symbol for its emerging civil rights movement after the 1972 publication of The Men With the Pink Triangle, an autobiography by Holocaust survivor Josef Kohout.

Pink triangles were slowly supplanted by the rainbow flag and rainbow colors, but they remain in logos for many LGBT organizations. BRAVO, the Buckeye Region Anti-Violence Organization, is among local groups that use the symbol still. It also has re-emerged in the past months as people protest

Man, that guy is versatile!

Read or listen to their rhetoric. Many religious conservatives refuse to call people gay. We’re homosexuals who fight for a homosexual agenda through homosexual organizations.

What’s the difference?

GLAAD, the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, says homosexual is an “outdated clinical term” that’s considered derogatory. Most newspapers have abandoned its use.

Anti-gay writers, however, don’t like gay and lesbian because the words give people an identity. They would rather focus on what people do in bed.

A conservative activist named Ryan Sorba wrote in 2011: “If we continue to use this term that is grounded in an identity ... we’re arguing on their terms. He who defines the terms controls the debate and by extension public opinion. What we need to do is state that ... this is either same-sex attraction, or maybe they’re engaging in same-sex intercourse or sodomy - whatever word you’re com-

Unfortunately, there was no happy ending. The mayor thought her ad was wildly inappropriate and had her committed to an insane asylum for four weeks.

Newspapers printed the highest number of personal ads in the 1950s and ’60s, a time when it was difficult and often dangerous to find a partner of the same sex. Ads were often discreet and listed sexual orientation in a way that wasn’t obvious to anyone outside the gay community.

The concept of personals is alive and well, but it’s another bit of culture that has migrated online. By the time outlook stopped carrying personal ads in 2009, Publisher Christopher Hayes said, they were few and far between.

Nearly 20 million Americans now use online dating sites and social apps such as Grindr and Brenda.

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Look online for our July story on The Kitchen owners Jen Lindsey and Anne Boninsegna.

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Making History

by Maryam Rezayat, Jennifer DeLuke & Bob Vitale

Sin ad Oh

Berenice Abbott 1898-1991 Birthplace: Springfield

Nickie Antonio 1955Birthplace: Cleveland

Natalie Clifford Barney 1876-1972 Birthplace: Dayton

Elizabeth Birch 1956Birthplace: Dayton

Howard Junior Brown 1924-1975 Hometown: Ravenna

Ju 19 Bir

The day after she graduated from high school in Cleveland, Berenice Abbott had a barber cut off the long braided hair that hung down her back. She arrived at OSU in 1917 with a short bob that she said “startled the campus.”

As she spoke in June on a bill that would ban discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity, state Rep. Nickie Antonio told her fellow lawmakers about the contributions made by LGBT Ohioans.

The Francophile website Bonjour Paris calls Natalie Clifford Barney “arguably the most candid and daring lesbian of her time.”

From 1995 to early 2004, perhaps only Ellen rivaled Elizabeth Birch as the voice of gay America.

Jud be ble tho she He the

She left after a year for Greenwich Village and later moved to Paris. She became one of the premiere photographers of her time.

“We work, we worship, we pay our taxes, we send our children to school, we attend school, we are civically engaged in our communities,” she said.

“And on days such as this we introduce legislation, testify in committees and work for the ideals of fairness and equity for all Ohio citizens.”

When he was sworn in as New York City’s health commissioner in 1966, Dr. Howard Brown greeted his partner in a receiving line as if he just was another well-wisher. A native of Illinois who grew up and was educated in northern Ohio, he later helped end the secrecy and shame that once marked the lives of LGBT people.

Abbott photographed much of Paris’s lesbian intelligentsia of the 1920s, women such as Jane Heap and Sylvia Beach. She came back to New York by the mid-1930s and turned her attention to the urban landscape. She also was known for her scientific photography and photos of American life.

1890s The color yellow was seen as symbolic of “homosexual decadence.”

Sources: GLBTQ.org; Lambda GLBT Community Services; Cassell’s Encyclopedia of Queer Myth; Joseph Goodwin’s More Man Than You’ll Ever Be!: Gay Folklore and Acculturation in Middle America. Compiled by Jennifer DeLuke.

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Antonio, who got her political start on Lakewood’s city council, became Ohio’s first openly gay legislator in 2011. She was re-elected in 2012 with 75 percent of the vote in a district that includes Lakewood, Linndale and parts of Cleveland.

Early 1900s Green carnations and red ties or neck scarves signaled the same-sex interests of the wearers. Green carnations were associated Oscar Wilde’s circle, and red ties were seen in the paintings of Paul Cadmus.

She published love poems to women under her own name. Her life - and love life - inspired characters in 12 different books.

Barney was born into a wealthy family and lived most of her life in Paris. She hosted a literary salon for about 60 years for guests such as Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas, F. Scott Fitzgerald and Truman Capote.

Barney published her first book of love poems, Queleques Portraits: Sonnets de Femmes (Some Portraits: Sonnets of Women) in 1900.

In 2009, she became the first LGBT person honored with an Ohio historical marker. The plaque near the Dayton Metropolitan Library acknowledges both her sexuality and cultural contributions.

1940s “Friend of Dorothy” began as a term for gay men.

As head of the Human Rights Campaign, she was the go-to guest for cable talk shows as marriage equality, hate-crimes legislation and other issues landed on the national agenda.

Birch famously asked a sponsor of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act whether he was defending his first, second or third marriage. After the 1998 murder of Matthew Shepard, she put the blame squarely on right-wing demagogues: “They create an environment of intolerance and give license to those who seek to vent their rage or frustration on an entire community.”

Brown resigned his post in 1967 over fears that a news reporter was writing a story about gay people in city government. But by 1973, he stood up and made front-page news.

HRC grew from 100,000 members to 600,000 during Birch’s tenure. Its equal-sign logo joined the pantheon of LGBT-rights symbols.

Brown went on to help start the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force and convince the American Psychological Association to stop classifying homosexuality as a mental disorder.

1940s, 1950s

1970s The labyr - a double-bladed ax - became a symbol of lesbian and feminist strength and self-sufficiency. It’s from the goddess Demeter (Artemis) and was originally used in battle by Amazon warriors.

Pinky rings were a self-identifying symbol in the gay community.

“I am publicly announcing my homosexuality in the hope that it will help end discrimination against homosexuals,” he told a medical conference.

Bob likes to wear a carnation, ruby slippers and a pinky ring just so there is no confusion.

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Since 2006, outlook and the Ohio Historical Society have been working to preserve our stateÊs LGBT history through the Gay Ohio History Initiative. In addition to recording personal and community histories, photographs and other pieces of our past, GOHI has catalogued the achievements of LGBT Ohioans spanning more than a century. Here are some of their stories.

Judith Butler 1956Birthplace: Cleveland

Hart Crane 1899-1932 Birthplace: Garrettsville

Michael Cunningham 1952Birthplace: Cincinnati

Eric Fanning 1968Hometown: Centerville

Fallon Fox 1976Birthplace: Toledo

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Judith Butler’s interest in philosophy began at age 14 after she got in trouble at her synagogue. Her rabbi thought she was too talkative and said she wasn’t serious about her studies.

Her response was to study existential theology.

Hart Crane has been described as one of the most difficult-to-grasp American poets. Ricocheting between bouts of depression and ecstasy, his life was reflected in his work.

Michael Cunningham found his muse and his vocation when he read Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway at age 15.

Just two years after the end of the ban on openly gay people in the U.S. military, a gay man is leading the U.S. Air Force.

Fallon Fox was 17 when a daytime talk show taught her about the things she had felt most of her life.

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She’s best known in academic circles as a groundbreaking philosopher in feminist theory, sexuality studies, and social and political thought. The University of California, Berkeley, professor is the author of Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity (1990).

Butler also was referenced in a popular Israeli film, Ha-Buah, or The Bubble, which used the phrase “don’t Judith Butler me” to talk about someone who had negative views toward men. Butler told an Israeli website she thought the line was funny but inaccurate.

A purple hand became a short-lived symbol for gay rights. Protestors against a homophobic editorial at the offices of the San Francisco Examiner had purple ink poured over them in retaliation, so they stamped purple handprints all over the side of the building. outlookcolumbus.com

Writing primarily in New York’s Greenwich Village during the mid-1920s, Crane’s modernist poetry reflected his bohemian and tumultuous life. The Bridge, which scholars say includes veiled gay themes, is considered one of the 20th century’s major works.

Recently, Crane was the subject of James Franco’s The Broken Tower, completed for the actor’s master’s thesis at New York University. Franco attempted to capture Crane’s complexities and relate his importance to a larger, contemporary audience.

The astrological symbols for Mars and Venus - more commonly seen as the symbols for men and women - were doubled as gay and lesbian pride symbols.

His 1998 book, The Hours, told the stories of three women from three eras one a lesbian and the others arguably gay or bisexual - as they relate to Woolf’s classic. One of the characters is Woolf herself.

“Human happiness is only interesting to me in its ability to survive disaster, so I write about people who are undergoing some kind of terrible change in their outer lives or some kind of inner crisis,” Cunningham once said.

The Hours won the Pulitzer Prize in 1999. The 2002 movie starring Nicole Kidman, Meryl Streep and Julianne Moore was nominated for Best Picture.

Cunningham also wrote A Home at the End of the World (1998).

1970 The Greek letter lambda was chosen by the Gay Activists Alliance of New York.

The group thought it looked like a college fraternity symbol and would thus be ignored by the majority of the population. It also signifies unity under oppression.

As acting secretary of the Air Force, Eric Fanning is the highest-ranking openly gay official at the Department of Defense. He was confirmed as an undersecretary in April and became acting secretary in late June; he’ll run the Air Force until President Obama nominates a permanent replacement for retired Secretary Michael Donley.

Fanning is a civilian who has held staff positions in the U.S. House, the Clinton White House and the Defense Department. He was born in Michigan but raised in western Ohio.

“I think that the military is stronger, institutions are stronger, and society is stronger the more inclusive that we are,” he told the Washington Blade in May.

1974 A purple rhinoceros was created by activists in Boston to bring LGBT issues into public view. It was placed as street art in subways but soon became too expensive for the creators and never caught on.

“It’s hard because the phrase ‘woman trapped in a man’s body” is thrown around a lot, but that’s like shorthand,” she told Sports Illustrated this year. “It’s deeper than that. There’s so much more to it.”

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Fox, a Navy veteran who drove trucks cross-country to raise money for gender reassignment surgery in 2006, came out publicly earlier this year as a transgender woman.

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Her standing as a top fighter in women’s mixed martial arts touched off debate about whether transgender women have physical advantages over their cisgender rivals. Experts and advocates say they don’t.

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Fox has withstood the abuse often heaped on barrier-breakers. At a July bout, her opponent had Aerosmith’s “Dude Looks Like a Lady” blared in the arena. Fox won the fight and qualified for an upcoming title match.

The rhino was considered a maligned and misunderstood animal that in actuality is a gentle creature. But when angered it fights ferociously. It was purple to align with a widely recognized gay pride color, and a heart was added to represent love and the “common humanity of all people.”

Men are from Mars. Women are from Venus. Alexis is from Steubenville.

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Barbara Grier 1933-2011 Birthplace: Cincinnati

Philip Johnson 1906-2005 Birthplace: Cleveland

Paul Lynde 1926-1982 Birthplace: Mount Vernon

Jean O’Leary 1948-2005 Hometown: Cleveland

Mary Oliver 1935Birthplace: Maple Heights

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Feeling that she was lesbian by age 12, Barbara Grier researched the topic after walking up to a librarian’s desk and asking for “a book about homosexuals, please.”

Architect Philip Johnson redesigned America’s urban landscape and dominated its big-city skylines for five decades.

In the 1960s and 1970s, Paul Lynde was a staple on TV variety shows, game shows and sitcoms, known for what wasn’t yet known by the masses as gay wit, high camp and serious shade.

LGBT-rights activist Jean O’Leary is the woman who, according to Gloria Steinem, “helped the women’s movement to recognize the universal cost of homophobia, and the gay movement to see that marginalizing the voices of lesbians would only diminish its power.”

Poet Mary Oliver’s curiosity is stirred by nature, much of it grounded in her memories of Ohio, where she was raised, and realized during her daily walks in Provincetown, Mass., where she has lived for decades.

Me ter mo ser Pa

Grier began writing book reviews in the late 1950s for the lesbian magazine, The Ladder, and she eventually became its editor. By 1973, she and her partner, Donna McBride, started a lesbian-oriented publishing house called Naiad Press.

His fondness for glass and steel structures, minimalism, and function over ornamentation came to be known as the International Style. Among his many projects are PPG Place in Pittsburgh, the Seagram Building in New York, the Wells Fargo Center in Denver and Williams Tower in Houston.

The two donated their huge collection of books, monographs, manuscripts, photos and memorabilia - the Naiad Collection - to the San Francisco Public Library.

In Columbus, Johnson designed OSU’s Mathematics Tower and its Science and Engineering Library. In his hometown, he designed a 1983 addition to the Cleveland Play House.

Photo: (c) 2013 JEB (Joan E. Biren)

His taste in politics was less refined.

He praised Nazism in the 1930s and helped organize a short-lived fascist political party in the United States, neither of which harmed his career.

A 1974 poll named him America’s favorite comedian.

He played Harry McAfee in Bye Bye Birdie (1960), Uncle Arthur on Bewitched (1965) and Templeton the Rat in Charlotte’s Web (1973), but he’s best remembered as the celeb with the funniest lines on Hollywood Squares (1968-79).

Among his classics: Q: What do you call a man who gives you diamonds and pearls?

A: I’d call him “darling”!

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1974 Jeans Day started at Rutgers University, and it continues on college campuses today in conjunction with World AIDS Day, Gay Equality Day, Gay Pride Week, and/or National Coming Out Day.

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1978 A black triangle was used by lesbians and feminists as a symbol of pride and sisterhood.

The first rainbow flag, by artist Gilbert Baker, debuted in San Francisco. It had eight colors: pink for sexuality, red for life, orange for healing, yellow for the sun, green for nature, turquoise for art, blue for harmony, and violet for spirit.

She is credited with laying the groundwork that established the Democratic Party as LGBT-friendly. She organized the first White House meeting with LGBT leaders, hosted by President Carter in 1977.

O’Leary left the male-dominated Gay Activists Alliance in 1972 to help start a group called Lesbian Feminist Liberation. She later led the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.

After finding herself without a pencil once on an especially inspiring walk near her home, Oliver began hiding them in trees.

In pe one pe the lice

Although feminist critics contend she oversimplifies the relationship between women and nature, she was described

by The New York Times as “far and away, [America’s] best-selling poet.”

Her collection, American Primitive, was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1984.

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She also helped found National Coming Out Day in 1988. “Our invisibility is the essence of our oppression,” O’Leary once said.

1979 After Harvey Milk’s assassination, San Francisco Pride organizers adopted Gilbert’s flag to show the community's solidarity. Production limitations meant the flag couldn’t have pink though, and the desire for symmetry eliminated turquoise.

I’ll take Paul Lynde in the center square for the win.

1980s Pink triangles, the symbol used by Nazis to identify gay men in concentration camps, were reclaimed as a symbol of the fight for LGBT civil rights.

They’re still used often in logos and have been adapted through the years.

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Andre 1980 Birth Mel Roberts 1923-2007 Birthplace: Toledo

Samuel Steward 1909-1993 Birthplace: Woodsfield

Jermaine Stewart 1957-1997 Birthplace: Columbus

Billy Strayhorn 1915-1967 Birthplace: Dayton

Jacqueline Woodson 1963Birthplace: Columbus

Mel Roberts first demonstrated his interest in film by shooting 16mm movies of friends as a teenager. He served as a cameraman in the South Pacific during World War II.

After three degrees from OSU and decades as a college English professor, Samuel Steward began publishing gay erotica under the pseudonym Phil Andros. (Philos is Greek for love; Andros is Greek for man.)

He had five other singles that appeared on the Billboard charts during the 1980s, but Jermaine Stewart will always be associated with “We Don’t Have to Take Our Clothes Off.”

Billy Strayhorn honed his talents after shifts as a soda jerk and drugstore delivery boy in Pittsburgh. In 1938, he introduced himself to Duke Ellington.

Jacqueline Woodson is the award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults that address themes of racism, poverty, sexual identity, interracial relationships, sexual abuse and violence.

In 1963, his photography first appeared in Young Physique magazine, one of the barely disguised and muchpersecuted gay beefcake magazines of the era. He was so harassed by L.A. police that he gave up his work by 1980.

Roberts took an estimated 50,000 photographs through the years, and his work reached a new generation in the 1990s when a producer approached him with a novel concept: putting his still photos on video.

Mel Roberts’ Classic Males led to three more videos and two books.

Throughout his life he kept extensive notes of 746 sexual partners - including Rudolph Valentino, Rock Hudson and Thornton Wilder - in a box labeled “Stud File.” He became friends with sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, who was not on the list.

A 2010 biography by Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward, Professor, Tattoo Artist, and Sexual Renegade, stands in stark contrast to the stories of repression from his era.

The 1986 single, which peaked at No. 5, was the first pop hit about safe sex.

“I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with sex,” Stewart told The Los Angeles Times. “In the song, I’m saying to kids that they don’t have to do anything they don’t want to in terms of sex.”

Stewart started his career as a dancer on Soul Train in Chicago and had a brief stint as an R&B recording artist before his death from AIDS-related liver cancer.

Collaborating with Ellington for 30 years, Strayhorn worked in what biographer David Hadju called “mainstream obscurity.” He chose the opposite path of many ambitious people of his day, sacrificing greater fame and fortune in order to live his life openly as a gay man.

Strayhorn wrote jazz standards such as “Take the A Train” and “Lush Life.”

He was a major influence on the career of singer Lena Horne and a friend of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. He wrote several pieces about King and the Civil Rights Movement.

Steward was the Hells Angels’ official tattoo artist. He maintained a long friendship with Gertrude Stein.

1991 A decade after the first cases of HIV/AIDS, a group called Visual AIDS created a red ribbon to raise awareness and show support for those with the disease. It was first worn by Jeremy Irons at the 1991 Tony Awards. outlookcolumbus.com

Mid-1980s ACT-UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) pointed the pink triangle upward to symbolize the need for an active fight rather passive resignation. It appeared above the motto “Silence = Death”

“Sexual abuse happens. Parents leave.

These things happen every day and people think that if they don’t talk about it, then it will just go away,” she once said. “Kids are exposed to this stuff every day, and we need a venue by which to talk to them about it and start a dialogue.”

1995 There’s a dispute over who should get credit for the design, but the International Bear Brotherhood Flag was chosen by men attending a Chesapeake Bay Bears summer pool party. The colors of the flag denote hair colors and skin colors of the human race.

2013 A red and pink version of HRC’s equality sign went viral in March when people began posting it on Facebook to show their support for marriage equality.

We don’t have to take our clothes off to have a good time... who are we kidding?

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Readers are not left disheartened, though, because Woodson creates characters with strength. While three of her works are written from a male perspective, most others have female narrators. One short story features a transgender narrator.

Woodson’s awards include two Newberry Medals and a Caldecott Award.

1995 The Human Rights Campaign unveiled a new logo that featured a yellow equal sign on a blue background, and it quickly became one of the community’s most visible symbols.

Andre catch of Flo again most

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deep inside hollywood

by Romeo San Vicente

ELEMENTARY: IAN MCKELLEN STARS AS SHERLOCK HOLMES

TCHAIKOVSKY IS STRAIGHT IN NEW RUSSIAN BIOPIC

‘CARDS’ IS THE NEW ‘ORANGE’ FOR GUEST-DIRECTING FOSTER

DANE DEHAAN IS LATEST TO TAKE ON JAMES DEAN

Dreamgirls/Twilight director Bill Condon’s latest drama, the WikiLeaks-themed, Benedict Cumberbatch-starring The Fifth Estate, recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, so the man has his autumn promotional tour already planned.

Re-writing history is a good way to control it.

Jodie Foster’s next feature as a director, Money Monster, is in that weird no-person’s-land known as pre-production. So in the meantime, the double Academy Award-winner has been dropping in for guest spots directing cool episodic television.

For a man who starred in a grand total of three films, James Dean still fascinates millions of fans generations after his death. In fact, more films have been made about him than by him.

But after that he’ll go back to his roots, working with Sir Ian McKellen on a project currently titled A Slight Trick of the Mind. The filmmaker and actor first collaborated in the ’90s on the acclaimed indie Gods and Monsters, a movie that earned McKellen a Best Actor nomination and won Condon an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Trick, though, promises McKellen in a role currently co-owned by both hyperactive Robert Downey Jr. and the hypnotic Cumberbatch - that of Sherlock Holmes. The new film Holmes, based on the novel by Mitch Cullin, will focus on the retired sleuth, haunted by a 50-year-old unsolved case.

Brilliant idea: Make it a vehicle for McKellen in multiple roles.

And that’s what’s happening right now as a new Russian biopic on the life of classical composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky plans to strip the man of his homosexuality. The film, partially underwritten by the Russian Ministry of Culture, will censor itself before anyone else gets a chance to.

If you’ve been living under a rock, you might have missed the avalanche of recent news reports about a terrifying, government-instigated wave of anti-gay laws and violence in Russia.

The film’s screenwriter, respected scribe Yuri Arabov, has, in a bizarre twist, been quoted as saying that Tchaikovsky was not a man who loved men, even though earlier drafts of the script suggested otherwise.

And in spite of all the historical evidence to the contrary, it looks like misinformation is going to rule the day, and the sanded-down version of the man’s unhappy life is the one the world will get.

Next for Russia? A remake of Behind the Candelabra where Liberace finally finds love with a good woman.

She helmed the fittingly titled “Lesbian Request Denied” episode of the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, and now she’ll step into David Fincher’s shoes to work on an upcoming episode of House of Cards, the critically acclaimed and Emmy-nominated political drama also from Netflix.

Producer/director Fincher is stepping back for the show’s second season, so Foster (in addition to stars Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright) reportedly will direct at least one episode.

If she keeps on working with Netflix, will Foster get her own special section of streaming product there? It would make it a lot easier to watch Freaky Friday and Bugsy Malone whenever we want.

And we really do want.

He has been portrayed by more than a few young, brooding actors - including James Franco - and now it’s time for the Millennial take on the icon.

Up-and-comer Dane DeHaan (Chronicle, Lincoln) will star as Dean in Life, the latest film from director Anton Corbijn. His co-star? Just some guy named Robert Pattinson, building on the cool cred and decent reviews for David Cronenberg’s Cosmopolis in his post-Twilight bid for a career beyond heartthrob status.

Pattinson will play photographer Dennis Stock, and the story will follow the friendship the pair forged when Stock was assigned to photograph the emerging star. Life is scheduled to go before the cameras in February, plenty of time for you to watch Rebel Without a Cause, East of Eden, Giant and every biopic on the man.

Romeo San Vicente loves plenty of good women, just not that way. He can be reached at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.

Women in Music Expands Opportunities

by Erin McCalla Since a lady doesn’t reveal her exact age, I can only tell you that Women in Music Columbus is well over a century old. (OK, I’ll fold: the female-run organization was founded in 1882.)

“We are old,” said Phyllis Byard, who is both the development committee chair and the finance committee chair and has been a member for more than 30 years. “Well, I’m not old... the organization is,” she clarified. A group of prominent Columbus women started the group to give women opportunities to play and perform when men dominated the field.

Today, members range in age from their mid 20s to their 70s, and they put on four performances a year with different disciplines featured, from singers to violinists to oboists. But these women are inclusive; they also invite gentlemen guest performers to take part.

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Women in Music Columbus also provides three yearly scholarships to young musicians, and both male and female candidates are encouraged to apply.

The upcoming fall performances are on Sundays, Oct 6 and Nov 17, both at 3p. The November performance will feature the winner of the Mary Lane Memorial Violin Competition that the organization hosts in late October.

All performances are in the Huntington Recital Hall at Capital University, and they’re free to attend. Because of the affordable ticket price, organizers of the concerts encourage attendees to bring children. “It’s how we grow artistic audiences for the future,” Byard said.

For information on becoming a member, applying for a competition/scholarship or to learn more about Women in Music Columbus, visit www.womeninmusiccolumbus.com.

Jeez, Pyotr was a bitter queen when he was alive. Just imagine now...

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I like to enjoy gold by the bottle... and diamonds.

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interview

Rocky Road HBO Documentary Revisits 2008 Murder of Transgender Teen

by Gregg Shapiro Like the towns of Columbine and Newtown, “hardly anyone knows where Oxnard, California, is unless they’ve heard about the story,” as one resident puts it.

The site of the 2008 classroom shooting of openly trans eighth-grader Larry King by classmate Brandon McInerney, Oxnard has been immortalized, but not in a good way. Valentine Road, an HBO documentary, explores the events of that day, what led up to the brutal act, and what happened after.

It premieres Oct 7 on HBO. Revelations of intolerance, white supremacy, and a system that failed two

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boys are at the heart of the story. The killing of Larry King is just one part of a story of rampant dysfunction, racism, addiction, hatred, loss and grief.

I spoke with Valentine Road director Marta Cunningham: Gregg Shapiro: Marta, do you remember where you were when you first heard about the shooting death of Larry King?

Marta Cunningham: I came to it later. I read an article, about five months after, in the Southern Poverty Law Center magazine. I was horrified that this event happened, that I had not heard about it and that it wasn’t still being talked about on the news. ... I immediately started doing as much research as I could and found that a lot of the

media coverage was victim-blaming, inaccurate.

GS: As a filmmaker, that was what drew you to the tragedy, finding a way to tell this story?

MC: Really what I wanted to do was show the complexities and not just focus on the incident. ... What really interested me the most was the complexities about both of the boys. What was similar, not just what was different. I wanted to go through that experience and bring in other voices who knew these boys.

GS: A very telling moment in the film occurs when a couple of the students being interviewed seemed unsurprised that a shooting occurred, much less that it involved Larry. What do you think that says about the way these kinds of occurrences have affected students and the way they view life?

MC: I think it’s fair to say that kids grow up in a different world than we did. School shootings are reported all the time. This is something that, unfortunately, our society has accepted as a part of the fabric of childhood, regardless of whether it’s Oxnard or Newtown,

a “nice” suburban middle-class town.

The problem is that we’ve accepted it. I don’t think it matters what neighborhood you’re in. They were so quick to be comfortable with the shooting because this is just part of our culture now. I think it’s horrific.

GS: Valentine Road is full of surprises, including the revelation that Brandon was a budding white supremacist and, as you said, the way jurors made Larry the cause of his own murder. Some of the jurors even wore “Free Brandon” bracelets when they were being interviewed on ABC at the time of the retrial. Were these things surprising to you?

MC: No, I wasn’t shocked because I had witnessed, by this time, so much homophobia. No, it wasn’t shocking to me at all. What was shocking to me was that they got to wear [the bracelets] in the courtroom. That was shocking.

GS: Marta, you make use of animation when it comes to the depiction of Larry’s trans alter-ego.

MC: I wanted to create a lightness of touch. That’s what Larry seemed to

The Transgender Day of Remembrance is Nov 20.

have. I wanted to keep that childhood notion alive, that fantasy aspect alive.

I talked to a lot of trans men and women who talked about depictions that they had when they were younger.

Sometimes they had to create alter egos to survive the amount of bullying and harassment that they went through. Having a magical, fairy tale power, a lot of them related to that. The butterfly is also kind of a symbol a lot of times for trans people.

At the New York screening there was a trans young man who came up to me and started crying. He said he was so happy that I had done the animation, because he was also like that as a child. He had so many different alteregos that he created and the magical element that was necessary to survive what he went through as a child.

The OSU OutLaws invite you to see the Columbus premier of Valentine Road Oct 2 at The Wex. Reception at 5:30p, screening and panel discussion at 6:30p. RSVP: www.homeboxoffice.com/rsvp/valentineroad_columbus. outlookcolumbus.com

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There’s nothing spooky about riding COTA. Map your route on cota.com today!

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bookmark

maybe just weren’t aware of it. Would our perceptions of and interactions with this species improve if we realized Heterosexuals were people like you and me, albeit with less hair product and fewer witty one-liners?

JS: They really are just like us. It’s funny: As an adult I always assumed they were this weird, rare breed of humans (having lived mostly in Los Angeles and Manhattan). But the truth is the differences between gay and straight people are few and far between. Sure they’re rarely as smart, creative, attractive, innovative and successful as us ... but they’re great at grilling hamburgers. My advice would be to love everybody for who they are. Even those that are born straight.

TM: I have a friend (not me) who read your book and was disappointed not to see a section detailing the elusive bi-curious Heterosexual. I think my friend speaks for a lot of readers who want to learn more about the mating habits of this breed of Heterosexual and was disappointed when he spent his whole weekend reading your guide cover to cover without learning anything more about how best to approach this skittish subtype.

JS: I can’t wrap my head around bi-curious Heterosexuals because I’ve never been around one long enough to find out anything other than how good a kisser they are. However, that is its own book and I’d love to explore bi-curious men within the NFL if anyone is interested in paying me to do that.

by Tom Muzyka While I count many straight people among my friends and family, I will admit that these fellow humans confuse me at the best of times.

Luckily, I came across a field guide to help me navigate the troubled waters. Writer, actor and heterosexual-watching enthusiast Jeffery Self has brought us the first-ever book on the subject, Straight People: A Spotter’s Guide to the Fascinating World of Heterosexuals. He was kind enough to help me make sense of this breed of breeders.

Tom Muzyka: What was your process for field research? Did you have to gain the trust of the Heterosexuals you studied before you could learn more about their patterns and behaviors? Do you recommend sugar cubes?

Jeffery Self: Luring Heterosexuals into my social circle wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done.

Especially considering all the pictures of Goldie Hawn I have hanging around the house. However, once the trust was gained it was pretty easy to observe my Heterosexual counterparts and their unique behavior. And by trust, I obviously mean getting them drunk.

TM: Have you made a study of the differences between Homosexual weddings and the Heterosexual version? Do the warnings against sarcasm during the ceremony and other such etiquette still apply to Homosexual weddings?

JS: I can only assume that if I were getting married I would have probably slept with the majority of my groomsmen at some point in the past so the “Does anyone have any objections?” part could prove to be tricky.

TM: What is your advice for someone who has never met a Heterosexual before? I’ve heard that it’s likely everyone has encountered a Heterosexual in his or her life, they

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TM: Reading through some common indicators that You Might Be a Heterosexual, I was startled to notice several areas that applied to me. (Are Heterosexuals the only ones who have cried to Adele’s “Someone Like You” or do they just make sure the door is closed before letting loose?) What does this mean for me, if I exhibit some Heterosexual symptoms? Should I consult my local reflexologist?

JS: I think the big difference here is Heterosexuals cry to Adele behind closed doors and Homosexuals do that too ... but we also do it in public, on stage and in really, really disrespectful drag performances in bars all across America.

TM: You mention in your closing statement that it is totally OK to be a Heterosexual in today’s society, and that it does, in fact, get better. That’s such a powerful and hopeful statement, and I think it’s great to remind your readers to accept who they are, different-gender-loving or not. But does this still apply to that breed of Heterosexual who wears socks with sandals? Or really, sandals at all?

JS: Yes. No matter the choices a Heterosexual makes in their life (minus homophobia and murder) they are all gonna be just fine.

We think faggots are fantastic, too.

Jeffery Self outlookcolumbus.com

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Don’t miss local author Joe Gentilini’s book reading Oct 17 at the Book Loft.

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i ♥ the nightlife

Bars Gone By: With the sleek décor and airy patios of gay bars today, it seems strange that many of us look back fondly on windowless places that had no signs outside and very little light inside.

But those were the gateways to the LGBT community for many of us, the places we felt welcome. Sometimes verrrrrrry welcome.

LGBT History Month seems like a good time to raise a glass to some of the gay gathering spots from Columbus’s past.

And we found the perfect guy to do it. David Ryan runs a website called ColumbusGayBars.com, which offers reviews of current places and memories of those past.

Here are the 10 bars he’d like to bring back to life.

1. The Eagle 232 N Third St, Downtown The Columbus Eagle was the bar I grew up on. It was my coming-out playground.

I was never invited to the mysterious upstairs room, but I was not that kind of boy. It did have a great sidewalk sale after the bar closed, though.

2. Tradewinds ll 117 E Chestnut St, Downtown It was right next door to the Eagle, and if you got bored of one bar, you just walked next

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door to the other.

Tradewinds had a fun but small dance floor. I loved the raised viewing platform; you could see the whole dance floor or make out with a guy on the benches in the back.

3. Herby’s Tavern 349 Marconi Blvd, Arena District

I remember the last night it was open, mainly because they were advertising nude strippers. It was illegal to have totally nude male strippers in an establishment that was serving booze, so they put the strippers behind a white sheet with backlighting.

We got to see shadow dicks. It was hot, silly and fun all at the same time.

Back then Herby’s was a place where hustlers hung out. Now, it’s a hangout for hockey players. It was located where Nationwide Arena stands today.

4. The Garage 40 E Long St, Downtown I know there’s a bar called the Garage that’s open now in the same place, but the old Garage was around for many years and had a great history behind it.

Damn, what a big dance floor!

You could walk completely around it, so it was perfect for cruising.

A Toast to 10 Places We Miss the Most

The Garage was the first bar I went to and said, “Hell yes, I’m not the only gay guy in Columbus!” That and, “Damn, look all the hot guys!”

5. Kismet 232 N Third St, Downtown I never went there because I was still stupid and in the closet, but I’ve heard about the good times people had there.

Kismet was located where the Eagle went in later.

Columbus but didn’t last long here.

8. Rudely Elegant/ Red Party 1005 W Broad St, Franklinton Corbett Reynolds was a local artist whose West Side disco drew headliners such as Grace Jones and Divine.

He also is recognized as a father of the circuit party. His annual Red Party outlived Rudely Elegant, which opened in 1977

and closed its doors in 1985.

The Red Party ended when Reynolds died in 2002.

But dammit, they did it anyway, and, damn, it sounded like fun.

10. Out on Main 122 E Main St, Downtown

9. Berwick Ball This isn’t a bar but an event.

Berwick Ball started in 1964 and ended in 2000.

Out On Main was more than a restaurant and bar. It was a gay history museum with good food.

It was a gay Halloween costume ball that started when it was very risky to do such a thing, as police would raid known gay gatherings.

I was always amazed that this place was in Columbus, as it was way too cool and ahead of its time. It was open from 1996 to 2002.

Everyone remembers annual picnics hosted by the owner, Doris. On my site, someone talked about how the jukebox and all dancing - would stop when Columbus police showed up during the early 1970s.

6. The Grotto II N High Street, Short North This place was insane! It was seedy as all hell with a scary entrance and drunken drag queens falling off the stage. I had many a crazy night at this place and somehow never ended up in jail.

The original Village Grotto was on S High Street in the Brewery District.

7. 1470s 290 E Spring St, Downtown There was also a 1470 West in Dayton, which is where Club Masque is today. The same owner tried to make a go of it in

Did you know there was a gay club called the Kit Kat Club where the Flatiron is today?

What LGBT g spots do yo athering u m iss most?

Look for th is story at outlo columbus.c om or find okus on Facebook to join the discussion !

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Double double your enjoyment. HighBall is now two nights!

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savage love

q

a

by Dan Savage

I’m a 23-year-old homo who came out one year ago.

Life has done good and bad things to me. Good things include success in the intelligence lottery, a full ride to college, and now a job with a six-figure income. Sadly, I find that my place in life is different from the place occupied by most other young gay men. When meeting someone, I am often bummed to discover that they are in a state of transience (between cities, between degrees), or bummed because I detect a difference in socioeconomic upbringing/status that will make it hard

for us to relate to each other, or bummed because they are not as smart as I am, or most often bummed over a combination of all these things. These thoughts sap my interest in new people, telling me that “it just wouldn’t work.” Am I right to think that and keep looking, or should I do some substantial “rounding up to one” and go on that second date, even though the odds of compatibility seem slim?

I’m tempted to tell you not to go on “that second date” with anyone you feel is beneath you intellectually, socioeconomically, or status- or upbringing-wise - not to spare you his ghastly company, LOFD, but to spare him the ghastliness of yours.

felt that being gay was a real moral blessing. I could have been so much worse a human being if I’d been straight.”

Andrew Sullivan wrote a beautiful post at The Dish a few weeks ago about the egalitarianism of getting laid. He recalled dancing all night in a gay club full of AfricanAmerican guys back when he was a “cute twinky English schoolboy.” And Andrew didn’t just dance with the black guys he encountered after moving to Washington, D.C.

Which is not to say that you’ll wind up alone. Refusing to date any gay man who doesn’t belong to the same club that Bunny Bixler does (and isn’t pulling in 100K+ a year) will complicate your search for love, LOFD, but there are other gay snobs out there. You could find a boyfriend who’s just like you, i.e., same class, same education, same income bracket, same snobbery and shittyass attitude. But I wouldn’t wish that kind of guy on anyone, LOFD.

- Lots Of First Dates

You’re young, LOFD, and I’m being hard on you. I don’t mean to step on your ping-pong ball. But if you don’t get Look, Gloria Upson, if dating gay men your own age a grip on your classism and snobbery, you will become so means exposing yourself to guys who are in “states of much worse a human being than you need to be. So snap transience” - completely normal states for dudes in their the fuck out of it, OK? And remember: We gay people are early 20s - then date guys in their 30s and 40s. Not that a tiny, tiny minority. If you reject as potential partners, dating older guys is a surefire recipe for romantic sucfriends and fuck buddies all gay men who aren’t of your cess: Your snobbery, classism and elitism are so repulexact same class, education level, social status (ugh) or sive that most older guys will be blocking your number salary level (barf), LOFD, you won’t be left with many before you can call about a second date. guys to date, hang out with or fuck.

“There’s nothing like dating or fucking a person of another background, race or class to help you see the humanity in everyone,” Andrew wrote. “How do you get scared of generic young black men when you’ve danced with them all night long?… In that sense, I’ve always

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I wonder how long he can hold that shake weight?

Not even on you.

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the divine life by Debé Libra (September 23 - October 22) This is your month to be self-indulgent. You are always balancing your needs with those of others, but it’s time to tip the scales in favor of your goals and dreams. Your energy and focus can get you what you want or get rid of what no longer works for you. What is in, and what is out, is up to you.

Scorpio (October 23 - November 21) You may seem a little brooding the first half of the month, but after the full moon on the 11th, you really start to open up. When things speed up, your sexy charm is on full display. Get ready for your close-up.

Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21) I know you want to play in the pretty leaves, but work obligations may keep you busy. It will be worth it when you get the recognition you deserve from hard work. You know you love the attention.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) It’s all about teamwork this month, as you find yourself collaborating with groups of people.

Don’t neglect your lover(s) though. Invite him, or her, or them, to the party and keep the appropriate party favors handy.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) This is a great month for success at work, and you can build some important bridges. Unfortunately, there may be some drama and bitchiness at home, so it’s a good time to stay late at the office.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20) Unexpected expenses may squeeze your finances, but you can make lemonade out of less and still make it fabulous. Take the initiative, get creative, and things will lighten up by the month’s end. You’ll be proud of your ingenuity.

Aries (March 21 - April 19) Somebody may be looking for a commitment, and important decisions in your relationship and career get you noticed. Be honest, but don’t bash people’s heads in with the truth. Just be tactful. Remember tactful? You can do it, girlfriend!

Taurus (April 20 - May 20) This is a strong month for relationships, and you are ready to charge anyone who slows you down. You like being in the lead and taking action, but don’t bite off more than you can chew.

Some lesser projects may have to go bye-bye.

Gemini (May 21 - June 20) You can be the queen of superficial when it suits you, but not this month. Look out when you twins get serious! When that happens, new relationships, work partnerships and creative adventures look promising.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22) You may get an offer you can’t refuse at work this month. That inspires and motivates you, even if the homefront is dragging you down.

You may cross a naughty line with a friend. Is it worth the risk? Stay sober until you decide.

Leo (July 23 - August 22) This month you need to balance your need to rule with the need to compromise. Sheath your claws, you big pussy. A spirit of cooperation can bring a new, refreshing perspective and maybe a new love. Purrrrrrrrrrr.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22) All that reflection on your life has sapped your energy, but it feels good to have a plan and put it in motion. Finances and family need attention. Luckily, you are very good at buckling down and getting busy.

Libra Broadway Babies - Julie Andrews, Hugh Jackman, Ben Vereen

Handy Tip Libra is an air sign (along with Aquarius and Gemini). An air hand has a “shoebox” quality, with a rectangular palm and long fingers.

Debé is a highly respected palmist, teacher and co-owner of Enchanted Elements. She is available for personal readings, parties, events and workshops. Contact her at 614.437.2642 or www.enchantedelements.com.

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Doesn’t Debé do a great job with our horoscopes. Let’s give her a hand!

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Every (You If you want to share month in print and don’t really your rants, raves or observaevery week online, we ask have to be a celeb. tions with the rest of Columbus, outlook readers to do our work This will launch call Erin McCalla at 614.268.8525, for us as Local Celebrity your career.) x2 or email her at emccalla@outGuest Bloggers. lookmedia.com. Or call. Email would be better.

Joe Jewett, CD102.5 DJ Top 5 Favorite Superheroes: 5. Spider-Man 4. Wonder Woman 3. Ace and Gary (The Ambiguously Gay Duo) 2. Underdog 1. Superman Oct 7 Topic: The “National Conversation” About Gun Control

Megan McCalla, middle school history teacher

Top 5 Favorite History Subjects to Teach: 5. World Religions 4. Ancient Civilizations 3. Native American Studies 2. Westward Expansion 1. World War II Oct 14 Topic: Handling Homophobia in the Classroom Becki Trivison, Gay Ohio History Initiative Top 5 Reasons to Support GOHI 5. We’re proud of Ohio’s GLBT history and want to tell its story.

4. We incorporate GLBT history in K-12 social studies/history classrooms.

3. Objects donated make the collection more interesting.

2. We have mad love for notable GLBT Ohioans (two words: Paul Lynde).

1. This is a unique and innovative project that’s Helena Troy, just plain awesome.

Queen of the Glamazons Oct 21 Topic: GOHI: Top 5 Tips for First-Time Queens Collecting Your History 5. Consult an established queen whose style you appreciate.

4. YouTube is the new drag mother to us all!

Check out those tutorials.

3. Carry a purse or travel with a friend who can keep your ID, cash, etc., safe for you.

2. Keep that breath fresh with mints or gum.

(This goes for ALL queens.)

1. Wear comfortable shoes. Don’t be a hero your first time out, or you’ll end up in the ER. Oct 28 Topic: Being a Drag Performer at Halloween

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Choke Up on the Batman 57 Elizabeth Perkins’ role in Weeds 1 Smack on the butt, 59 They aren’t straight e.g.

60 One way to buy an 5 Gay guy, in Brit slang item 9 Top, in a hierarchy 61 Trolley sound in a 14 It’s a curd in the Garland song kitchen 62 Castle in a board 15 Omar of ER game 16 City of Da Vinci’s 63 Big top, e.g.

Last Supper 64 Fingerprint part 17 Lesbos, e.g.

65 Enjoys South Beach 18 Moss in Jamie 66 And so O’Neill’s country 19 Trump ex 20 Batman & Robin Down star 1 Homosexuality, in 23 Sporty Mazda some cultures 24 Abundant 27 Matt Coles, for one 2 Go nuts 3 On the water 31 Fruits that gets 4 ___ Rico stomped 5 Cartoon skunk Le 32 Dallas setting Pew 34 Sports figure?

6 Crude cartel 35 Batman Returns 7 Lesbian character in star She’s Gotta Have It 40 Clergyman Bean 8 Size of Map41 Moonshine maker plethorpe’s opening 42 Test photos 9 Tchaikovsky’s Piano 45 Many gays, to Trio in ___ Madonna 10 Party day and night 50 Lease 11 Try to seduce 52 Queer, to straights 53 The Dark Knight star 12 Dynasty long before the Carringtons

Across

Last time I choked on Batman we realized the Batmobile needed new shocks.

13 Writer Castillo 21 Brooks of country 22 URL ending 25 Penn of Milk 26 Mass. setting 28 PBS helper 29 Former lovers 30 Site where Franklin, Winston, and Josef came together 33 Fail to grip the road 35 Horse that isn’t hung like a horse 36 Like a good alibi 37 Edith Head designed it 38 It spreads its limbs 39 Mork, for one 40 Putting your mouth on a stranger, perhaps 43 Search for food 44 ___ generis 46 Sales incentive 47 Rubber 48 Stirring up 49 Is responsible for 51 Peter I, and more 54 Drop ___ (moon) 55 PC picture 56 Seeks answers 57 “Suzie Q” band 58 Cole Porter, for one

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Pretty. Awesome. Pharmacy.

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