2014-10-01 Outlook Ohio Magazine

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The Voice of Ohio’s GLBT and Ally Community

The Politics Issue • Outlook Endorsements • Ohio’s Out Office-Holders • 2014 Races to Watch • Our Mayors, Our Allies • Coming Out on Campus • News: PrEP’s Next Step • Business: Danceville, USA • Books: Muse Unexpected • Movies: Dayton LGBT Film Fest • Style: CMH Fashion Week • Out & About: HighBall • Interview: Mary Lambert

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vol 19 • #5

the politics issue

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you are here snapshot

qmunity briefs

qmunity: coming out day small pond: danceville, usa

feature: endorsements feature: youth and politics feature: out candidates feature: ohio lgbt office-holders

feature: ohio mayors the other side

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complete the circuit

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creative class: cap pride & cgmc

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dayton lgbt film fest

deep inside hollywood

interview: mary lambert

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bookmark: muse unexpected

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out & about

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i lgbt bar roundup

I ♥ the nightlife cmh fashion week

I ♥ the nightlife highball halloween savage love

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the divine life

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couple of guys

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blogoqueer

puzzling

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you are here

Boo!

Happy Halloween everyone! Are you ready for a spooktackular October? I can’t say I’m exactly ready for fall, even though it’s one of my favorite times of year. I wanted one more month of thinking about going to the pool. It seems like we are all scratching our heads wondering where summer went. But like it or not, cooler weather is upon us and with that means plenty of events to go to and a plethora of politics to get into.

Let’s start with politics. It’s an off-year election cycle, but that doesn’t mean we should be any less concerned. If you had told me last year that Governor Kasich would have a shot in hell of getting re-elected after his overwhelming fail at trying to dissolve unions, I would have said you’re crazy. But how soon we forget. His handlers were smart and have been great at keeping him off mic and away from trying to dismantle any more major institutions. Playing it on the DL while our economy has improved and people’s jobs seem secure, has had that old tried and true “well things aren’t so bad here with the incumbent” effect on the voters. He must be a Big Brother fan, because he is absolutely the definition of a floater.

And let us take lessons from the addictive summertime show, if we don’t get him out now, we will end up losing everything.

PUBLISHER Christopher Hayes

guise of a representative of the State of Ohio.

Despicable. Let’s show him he doesn’t represent us and get our butts to the polls and help elect David Pepper as the new AG. You can read all of our endorsements starting on Page 23 for the statewide offices. I know our Columbus audience is used to hyper-focused Central Ohio endorsements from our editorial board, but now that Outlook is statewide, we’ve had to retool how we do things a bit here. Not that we are at all less concerned about the myriad of other races like state representatives, we just have a lot more to cover and can’t get everything in print. We will, however, put those candidates we do endorse on our website at outlookohio.com.

Case in point, our friend state Rep. Michael Stinziano (D-Columbus) who has been a champion for LGBT rights, spearheading work on adoption laws and efforts to allow us the ability to get married at the Statehouse, has our complete endorsement.

But enough about November, let’s talk about October and all the cool stuff going on. The big one, of course, is National Coming Out Day on Oct 11.

I’ll be celebrating 18 years since I officially came out and I encourage everyone in the closet to take the leap and let your friends and family know who If you think he is going to sit on his laurels in the you really are. There is nothing more freeing than second term, when he’s got nothing to lose, you’ve kicking that closet door down, and nothing more got another thing coming. Unions, gays, fairness important in our quest for equality that will will all be on the chopping block again. We have change the hearts and minds of those not familto rally and get not only our community, but the iar with our community. Resources for those on whole community to the polls and show Kasich we that path can be found on Page 19. didn’t forget. And especially for our community, don’t we want to governor who actually will stand Also this month is a variety of charity/community up and fight for our equality? Ed FitzGerald does events like Kaleidoscope Youth Center’s Garden that, with or without a driver’s license.

Party in Columbus and LGBT Heritage Day in Cleveland, pumpkin festivals, concerts, fashion I’m worried about the absolute apathy that has shows, Halloween drag shows, Halloween parties seemed to take over this election cycle. Not only is and, my favorite, haunts. Ohio has over 50 differthe state’s Grand Poobah on the ticket, but so are ent attractions that will make your hair stand up the attorney general, secretary of state, auditor on end. From Cedar Point’s HalloWeekends to the and treasurer. We have to get Mike DeWine out of JC’s Haunted house, there is a type, size and style office. Talk about actively working against our of scary that is just right for you… if you dare! community. He doesn’t care if we are dead or alive, he wants to make sure our relationships are Have a fangtastic month! never recognized and spends a lot of time out of state petitioning for the same thing under the Christopher Hayes, Publisher

On the Cover:

HEADQUARTERS Outlook Media, Inc. 815 N High St, Bsmt Ste G, Columbus, OH 43215 614.268.8525 phone / 614.261.8200 fax SALES Chad Frye / cfrye@outlookmedia.com Conner McClure / conner@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 Noah Alexander, James Blackmon, Alisa Caton, Bryan Cole, Debe, Hannah Douglas, Bill Hardy, Erin McCalla, Tom Muzyka, Romeo San Vicente, Dan Savage, Gregg Shapiro, Bob Vitale, Mickey Weems ART DIRECTOR Christopher Hayes /chayes@outlookmedia.com CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS / DESIGNERS Chris Hayes, Andrew Williams, Ray LaVoie, Michelle Stivers CYBERSPACE http://www.outlookohio.com http://www.outlookmedia.com http://www.networkcolumbus.com http://twitter.com/outlookcolumbus http://facebook.com/outlookcolumbus Outlook is published and distributed by Outlook Media Inc., on the first day of each month throughout Ohio.

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

The views expressed in Outlook are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily reflect the views, policies, or personal, business, or professional practices of Outlook Media Inc., or its staff, ownership or management.

Outlook Media Inc., does not investigate or accept responsibility for claims made in any advertisement. Outlook Media Inc., assumes no responsibility for claims arising in connection with products and services advertised herein, nor for the content of, or reply to, any advertisement. All material is copyrighted ©2014 by Outlook Media Inc., All rights reserved.

CORRECTION: Last month we accidently labeled the pictures for The Pork Chop Shop as photographed

by Noah Alexander when they were really taken by G.L. Honaker of VISION VIDEO PHOTOGRAPHY. We apologize for the misprint. puzzling solution - puzzle on pg 54

Andrew Williams captures the artistry of Vanessa Williamson, queen of the Zombie Walk, after her makeover of cover zombie Joe Knapik, better known as Columbus’s zombie priest. You can check out more of Nessa’s work on Facebook and Instagram.

Check out ohiovalleyhaunts.com for reviews of Ohio haunts.

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Did you know HighBall is offering costume help this year? See Page 50 for details.

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Mr Freedom Valley Leather 2014 9/6/14 @ Freedom Valley Campground

Network Columbus 9/10/14 @ Crew Stadium

Dayton LGBT Center Dinner 9/13/14

Cincinnati Trans Community Group 9/13/14 @ Cincinnati Museum Center

Art for Life 9/13/14 @ Ohio History Center photos by Ray Lavoie

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Submit your event photos for publication to art@outlookmedia.com.

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10/31/14

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Don’t forget to put your jack o’ lantern out to keep away bad spirits. For good spirits, head to Strongwater.

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ARC Ohio Begins Clinics for HIV-Prevention Drug Federal funding for ARC Ohio doesn’t cover doctor visits and drug prescriptions for HIV-negative patients. Anna Wuerth, director of healthcare operations, said those who enroll through its PrEP clinics must have health coverage or pay out of pocket.

May to consider prescribing Truvada to HIV-negative patients considered at substantial risk of infection.

In those with the virus, Truvada stops HIV from reproducing inside the body, lowering its level within their blood. For those who are HIVnegative, Truvada as a PrEP tool AIDS Resource Center Ohio began taking appointments in September blocks the virus from ever attaching at its Columbus medical clinic from to blood cells. (Outlook columnist Mickey Weems writes about the HIV-negative adults interested in the PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) topic on Page 36.) regimen, which includes a daily dose of the drug Truvada to reduce Seeing HIV-negative patients is new territory for ARC the risk of HIV infection.

Ohio, which proARC Ohio’s Dayton Medical Center is vides testing and scheduled to begin taking appoint- HIV education but has limited its medical care and social ments during October. services to people who are HIV-posiThe federal Centers for Disease Con- tive. trol and Prevention advised doctors in A drug that has been hailed as perhaps the biggest advance in HIV prevention since the recommendation for condom use is now being offered by Ohio’s biggest HIV/AIDS service provider.

The program consists of more than a daily drug. Patients will need to take an HIV test and see a doctor every three months. Counselors also will continue to stress condom use.

PrEP Info • To learn more about PrEP and the use of Truvada for HIV prevention, visit ohioprep.org.

A series of proposed charter changes dealing with how city government operates includes what backers call a more permanent version of a policy that prohibits discrimination in city-government hiring and access to city services.

Adding the policy to the charter makes it more difficult to remove. Right now, four votes on some future City Council could erase pledges that Columbus won’t discriminate against LGBT employees. Adding the policy to the charter would require a citywide vote to undo.

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supporters,” he said. “The groundwork has been laid for us to move forward and continue to educate others and advocate for equality, fairness and social justice.”

Crafts will replace Sherry Tripepi, who guided Equality Toledo for five years and advocated for LGBT-inclusive policies in local governments and corporations and promoted open and affirming faith communities.

Dave Crafts, whose work as director of student life at Mercy College of Ohio included advising LGBT student groups, has been appointed as the new executive director of Equality Toledo.

Tripepi will remain on the Equality Toledo board and help guide its Safe Schools anti-bullying program.

“The US, Ohio and Toledo are all at a critical time in LGBT history right now, and I am excited to work with the board of Equality Toledo in serving as a voice and representative of Toledo’s LBGT community and our

Crafts has worked on issues of hate crimes and safe spaces, and he is a member of the National Diversity Council.

• If you have questions about ARC Ohio’s PrEP clinics, email prepinfo@arcohio.org.

• To schedule an appointment at the clinic in Columbus, call 614.340.6777.

• To schedule an appointment at the clinic in Dayton, call 937.853.3650.

• ARC Ohio advises people interested in PrEP to ask their doctors about it as well.

Anti-Discrimination Policy on the Ballot in Columbus Columbus voters have a chance to put a non-discrimination policy into the city charter on Nov 4.

Equality Toledo Has New Leader

“It makes a statement for the city,” said Dawn Tyler Lee, a member of a charter review commission that recommended the amendment. “This is something we care about. It’s not something we want to see changed.”

The amendment would prohibit the city and its employees from denying equal access to city services or equal opportunity for city employment and promotion based on someone’s race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, family or military status, or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.

Ohio’s anti-discrimination laws don’t cover gender identity or sexual orienation.

Human RIghts Campaign

We Are Pleased to Announce...

Jennifer Diederich and Christy Echevarria were married on July 11, 2014, at DuPont Circle in Washington, DC. They had a reception upon returning to celebrate their nuptials with family and friends at the Grange Audubon Center in Columbus.

Jennifer and Christy currently reside in Columbus near German Village with their two golden retrievers, Indie and Jager.

Outlook publishes wedding and engagement announcements every month for LGBT couples in Ohio. Send your photos and announcements (200 words or less, please) to erin@outlookmedia.com.

According to the CDC, Truvada can lower one’s risk of HIV infection by up to 92 percent.

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The Month in Marriage

Arizona: Dolores Huerta, who co-founded the United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez, was among 20 Latino leaders from across the state who spoke out in favor of marriage equality to kick off Hispanic Heritage Month in September.

New Chicago Archbishop Seen as a Gentler Voice

Tom Wojtowick have been together more than 30 years and married last year in Washington.

Nevada: Among those at a Sept 8 appeals court hearing who listened to opponents’ contention that same-sex marriage is bad for children: 43-year partners Beverly Sevick and Mary Baranovich and two of their adult chilColorado: The 10th Circuit US Court of Appeals, which has upheld marriage-equality dren. rulings in Oklahoma and Utah, said on Sept 22 that it will wait to review the fate of ColTexas: A Houston-area woman who took her orado’s ban until the US Supreme Court takes wife’s surname after their 2013 marriage in action.

California was denied a Texas driver’s license, even though her Social Security card, financial records and California ID all have her new Florida: Attorney General Pam Bondi will have a busy fall. She’s appealing four sepa- name. rate court rulings that strike down the state’s marriage ban.

Utah: They had to go there. Eighty state lawmakers filed a brief with the US Supreme Idaho: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, Court contending that same-sex marriage will which struck down California’s marriage ban lead to polygamy and people marrying sibin 2012, heard an appeal of a marriagelings. equality ruling for Idaho on Sept 8.

Virginia: Attorney General Mark Herring has Indiana: Although the 7th Circuit US Court refused to defend the state’s marriage ban in of Appeals affirmed a lower court’s ruling for federal court, so Republicans in the House of marriage equality on Sept 4, couples who Delegates voted Sept 18 to use taxpayer want to marry must wait until the US money to hire a lawyer on their own.

Supreme Court rules again on the issue.

West Virginia: A federal judge in Huntington Louisiana: A string of 21 federal court rul- put a challenge to the state’s marriage ban ings in favor of marriage equality ended on on hold pending a decision by the US Sept 3 when US District Judge Martin FeldSupreme Court. man upheld the state’s marriage ban. The 12 plaintiffs likely will appeal.

Wisconsin: It took just a week for the 7th Circuit US Court of Appeals to uphold a lowercourt ruling in favor of marriage equality on Montana: A Catholic priest in Lewiston kicked a gay couple out of the church choir Sept 4, but it’s on hold until the US Supreme and suggested they divorce. Paul Huff and Court takes up the issue again.

People hoping for a more moderate tone in the Catholic Church see hope in Pope Francis’s appointment of a new archbishop for Chicago.

Blase Cupich, who now serves the church as a bishop in Spokane, Wash, was vocal in his opposition to the 2012 referendum that brought marriage equality to Washington. But he also debated the issue with a softer tone than some other Catholic leaders in the United States.

Pope Francis appointed Cupich on Sept 20 to replace the retiring Cardinal Francis George, who was described by The Associated Press as “an aggressive defender of orthodoxy.”

Dignity/Chicago, part of the national

“Pope Francis has stepped up and acted on his intentions for a new, more welcoming Church by appointing Bishop Cupich, who by all appearances invites dialog and envisions a more inclusive church that respects everyone’s faith and interest in living Gospel values,” spokesman Chris Pett said, according to the Windy City Times.

But not all are impressed, the LGBT newspaper reported.

“Nothing’s going to change,” Joe Murray, part of a group called the Rainbow Sash Movement, told the Times. “I think the tone will be different, but the substance is going to stay the same.”

Give Them a Toaster

Patricia Yurena, a two-time Miss Spain who was first runner-up in the 2013 Miss Universe pageant, came out in late August via Instagram. The 24year-old posted a photo in the embrace of her girlfriend, singer and DJ Vanesa Cortes.

It was captioned, “Romeo and Juliet.”

“Que viva el amor,” or “Long live love,” read one of the comments that accompanied the nearly 9,900 likes.

“I appreciate the outpouring of support and even more, to rejoice in my happiness,” she wrote later. “Thank you!!”

outlookohio.com

group that advocates for LGBT Catholics, said

But does Chip have a boyfriend?

Chip Sarafin, a 6-foot-6, 320-pound offensive lineman for the Arizona State Sun Devils, became the first active player in major-college football to come out.

In an August interview with Compete, a Phoenix magazine that covers LGBT sports, the redshirt senior said he began telling teammates in the spring.

“It was really personal to me, and it benefited my peace of mind greatly,” he said.

Michael Sam, the first openly gay college football player to be drafted by an NFL team, came out in February after his season ended at the University of Missouri. october 2014

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Around the State

Athens: Ohio University has added an LGBTQ Studies certificate to its course offerings this fall. The university also has renamed its Women’s and Gender Studies Program; it’s now Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

Cincinnati: Equality Cincinnati has endorsed 13 LGBT-friendly candidates in the Nov 4 elections for offices in Southwest Ohio: Jim Tarbell for Hamilton County commissioner; Cecil Thomas, Ohio Senate District 9; Joe Otis, Ohio House District 27; Micah Kamrass, Ohio House District 28; Mark Zeek Childers, Ohio House District 30; Denise Driehaus, Ohio House District 31; Christie Bryant, Ohio House District 32; Fanon A Rucker, 1st District Court of Appeals; Jerry Metz, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court; Jennifer Branch, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court/Juvenile; Charlie Luken, Hamilton County Common Pleas Court/Probate; Ray Pater, Hamilton

Curtain Rises for Queer Cabaret Troupe County Common Pleas Court/Domestic Relations; and Patricia A Bruns, Ohio State Board of Education, District 11.

The group will host a Meet the Candidates Night at 5:30p on Thursday, Oct 2 in the community room of the American Building, 30 E Central Pkwy, Cincinnati, 45202. A $10 donation is encouraged.

Cleveland: There’s a new LGBT student group on campus this fall at Case Western Reserve University. QGrad, for graduate and professional students, plans to host workshops and other events, President Paul Cheng told The Daily, a campus news site. Email qgrad@case.edu for more information.

Columbus: Art for Life, the annual art auction and reception, raised more than $500,000 for AIDS Resource Center Ohio on Sept 14.

“The whole question of sexual identity has gotten so blurred in the press lately...

Girl-on-girl movies, more and more and more, they get straight actresses to play lesbians and straight men to play homosexuals, it’s just...”

- Pat Robertson Target Ignores Boycott, Backs LGBT Families Don’t count Target among American corporations that fear a bigoted backlash for taking a pro-equality stand.

The anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, Liberty Counsel and the American Decency Association called for boycotts of the national retailer in August after Target signed on to a legal brief supporting marriage equality.

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Crimson Lace Cabaret, a new queer dance troupe in Columbus, has a lineup of shows scheduled for the rest of the year.

Janine Aquino, Pandora Foxx and Eileen Galvin are the three co-owners of the Crimson Lace Cabaret brand, which they started in April.

Since then, they’ve performed at Wall Street Night Club and Camelot Cellars, which Aquino owns.

They plan to perform at Bluestone for TRAUMA on Oct 31, at Axis Night Club for Burlesque is a Drag, Bitch!!! on Nov 8 and at the Garden Theater for their Crimson Lace Cabaret Holiday Show: Seasons Teasings on Dec 13.

All 13 members identify as a part of the queer community, and the group is an eclectic, diverse mix of dancers. The troupe performs cabaretstyle and classic burlesque

dances. Foxx and Galvin both perform, and Aquino handles the business side of things.

At TRAUMA, the annual fetish Halloween party, the troupe’s theme will be “mystical gods and goddesses,” and it will be one of their dramatic numbers.

“Our shows are vibrant and exciting,” Aquino said.

“You’re gonna get goosebumps.”

How did Target respond in September?

By airing an ad that included two gay dads.

“It is our belief that everyone should be treated equally under the law, and that includes rights we believe individuals should have related to marriage,” Target Executive Vice President of Human Resources Jodee Kozlak wrote on the company’s blog.

20 years later, 40% more people know a family member or friend who is gay. Do your family and friends know?

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paid advertisement

NOTICE OF ELECTION ON PROPOSITION Notice of Election on Proposition

ISSUE 6 - NOVEMBER 4, 2014 Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Columbus of Columbus, Ohio, passed on the 21st day of July, 2014, and based on recommendations of the 2014 Columbus Charter Review Commission, there will be submitted to a vote of the people of City of Columbus at the General Election to be held at the regular places of voting, on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 2014, the question of The Amendment proposed by Ordinance No. 1747-2014 would amend sections 26, 32, 61, 93, 118-120, 122124, 128, 149, 194, and 231 of the Columbus City Charter, repeal sections 121 and 133-141, and enact new sections 236-238 to, including, but not limited to: • Prohibit the city and its agents from denying equal access to city services or equal opportunity in city in employment and promotion, or the benefits thereof, on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identification or expression, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, age, disability, family or military status, or any other status protected by federal, state or local law.

• Require that Recreation and Parks Commission members be residents of the city of Columbus and make changes with respect to appointment of members.

• Require the appointment of a charter review commission in 2022 and each 10 years thereafter; provide that the five commission members be Columbus residents, cannot hold office or employment with the city, and cannot be paid; require the commission to make findings and recommendations to council regarding the charter for possible submission to the electorate; and require that the commission be a public body.

• Provide that the mayor's budget estimate be published as a permanent, electronic public record, rather than a copy distributed to public libraries; and require the city clerk to compile the annual report of the city and publish it electronically as a permanent public record, rather than in book form.

• Provide that the Sinking Fund and all references thereto shall be repealed, effective July 1, 2015; provisions related to debt obligations shall be transferred to city officials; and city investments and sales thereof shall be regulated by ordinance.

• Apply charter provisions regarding water to all city public utilities; repeal the water depreciation fund and cash deposits for utilities; require the city to set aside sufficient funds from city utility revenues, or other necessary sources, to cover the city's outstanding utility debt obligations; and update a provision permitting council to create a fund to relieve some or all of the utilities bills of non-profits located in the city and serving disadvantaged persons.

• Grant authority to incorporate strictly limited, nonsubstantive technical changes into the charter by unanimous vote of council, and provide that such action shall not be by emergency ordinance and shall be subject to the referendum.

• Change from one to three years the period for reinstatement of an employee in the classified service to the eligible list, who is separated from service or reduced in rank without fault.

• Reserve to the city the right to prevent unjust discrimination in service or rates if it authorizes a grant to an entity to provide public utility services. outlookohio.com

Shall the proposed Amendment to the Columbus City Charter be adopted?

The polls for the election will be open at 6:30 a.m. and remain open until 7:30 p.m. on election day.

Andrea Blevins, CMC City Clerk City of Columbus, Ohio

Notice of Election on Proposition ISSUE 7 - NOVEMBER 4, 2014 Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Columbus of Columbus, Ohio, passed on the 21st day of July, 2014, and based on recommendations of the 2014 Columbus Charter Review Commission, there will be submitted to a vote of the people of City of Columbus at the General Election to be held at the regular places of voting, on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 2014, the question of The Amendment proposed by Ordinance No. 1748-2014 would amend sections 41-46, repeal sections 47-51, 53-56, 200-206, 210-211, 215-223, and 234, and enact new sections 41.1-.6, 42.1-.16, 43.1-.4, 44.1-.6, 45.1-.5, and 46.1-.5 of the Columbus City Charter to, including, but not limited to: • Restate that city elections be nonpartisan.

• Permit the city to regulate campaign finances and disclosure of contributions for political candidates and municipal ballot issues.

• Reorder and renumber sections related to elections; and apply state election law, unless otherwise provided by the charter or city ordinance.

• Use state law for the form of candidate and issue ballots.

• Regarding candidate petitions: use state law for nomination of candidates at a nonpartisan election; use state petition form and circulation requirements; and eliminate provisions that a petition signer pledges to vote for the candidate and that the candidate file an acceptance of the candidacy.

• Apply state law provisions for replacement of candidates in case of death, disqualification or withdrawal.

• Regarding petitions for initiative, referendum, recall and charter amendment: provide that the city clerk produce petition templates; require a pre-circulation certified copy and all petitions be filed with the city clerk; be printed in a uniform color; contain a title in 14 point font on each page, a notice to signers in 12 point font on each signature page, a full text with no ancillary information, and in the circulator's statement an identification of the employer; require the city attorney to determine if a petition addresses a single subject and is legally sufficient; specify the form of petitions; require disclosure to the city clerk anything of value provided to circulate, supervise, manage or organize a petition; petitioners must file an initiative or charter amendment petition within 1 year after filing a certified copy; if 2 or more conflicting proposals are adopted at the same election, the proposal receiving the highest vote shall prevail.

• Regarding the initiative and referendum: require signatures of at least 5% of the votes cast at the last regular election for mayor to initiate an ordinance or referendum; determine the sufficiency of a petition in a public meeting by ordinance of council within 14 days of the board's report on the number

of valid signatures and the city attorney's report on the legal sufficiency of the petition; and if a petition is sufficient, require council to act within 30 days to either submit the proposal to electors, or pass the initiated ordinance or repeal the ordinance subject to referendum.

• Regarding proposed initiated ordinances, referendums and charter amendments: provide that council prescribe a brief summary for placement on the ballot; and council may prescribe arguments for and against the issue to be placed in each voting location.

• Regarding recall petitions: restate that all elective officeholders in the city of Columbus are subject to the recall; eliminate a provision that recall petitions be signed at city fire houses or the city clerk's office; change the signature requirement from 15% of registered voters to 15% of the total vote cast at the last regular election for mayor; allow up to three officers to be subject to recall at the same election; set the period for holding the election at 60-120 days after the petition is found sufficient; prohibit filing a recall petition within 90 days of a regular election for the office; and eliminate a requirement that an initial petition with 1,000 valid signatures be filed to begin a recall.

• Require that no city officer may consider the subject matter of a petition when determining the legal sufficiency thereof, unless required to assure compliance with applicable law.

Shall the proposed Amendment to the Columbus City Charter be adopted?

The polls for the election will be open at 6:30 a.m. and remain open until 7:30 p.m. on election day.

Andrea Blevins, CMC City Clerk City of Columbus, Ohio

Notice of Election on Proposition ISSUE 8 - NOVEMBER 4, 2014 Notice is hereby given that in pursuance of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Columbus of Columbus, Ohio, passed on the 21st day of July, 2014, and based on recommendations of the 2014 Columbus Charter Review Commission, there will be submitted to a vote of the people of City of Columbus at the General Election to be held at the regular places of voting, on Tuesday, the 4th day of November, 2014, the question of The Amendment proposed by Ordinance No. 1749-2014 would amend sections 3-6, 8-11, 13-19, 31, 33-34, 58, 64, 66-67, 78-79, 87, and 227, repeal sections 7, 12, 59, and 145, and enact new sections 5.1-.2, 9.1-.3, 10.1-.2, 11.1-.2, 15.1-.5, 64.1-.3, 78.1-.2, 87.1-.2 and 239-240 of the Columbus City Charter to, including, but not limited to: • Apply to city officers and employees state laws that prohibit unlawful interest in public contracts, theft in office, improper compensation, bribery and other provisions; and require loss of office or employment for violations, in addition to any state penalty.

• Provide that records of the city be made available to the public in accordance with state law.

• Provide that public bodies of the city hold open meetings in accordance with state law if members are appointed by a city officer and it is established for the sole purpose of advising any city officer or de-

Election Day is Tuesday, November 4.

cision making body.

• Establish a citizens' commission on elected official compensation to recommend, every four years, the salary for city elective officeholders; prohibit council from setting salaries higher than commission recommendations; provide that the commission's recommendations include an annual cost of living adjustment which does not exceed the 4-year average increase in the consumer price index; provide that the 5 commission members be Columbus residents and cannot hold office or employment with the city or be paid.

• Provide that special and emergency meetings of council may be called in accordance with state law or ordinance; special and standing council committees, and rules therefore, may be established by council; council may expel or punish members for specified acts; the council president establishes meeting agendas and appoints committee chairs and members; a new council president be elected if the office is vacated; establish the office of council president pro tempore; allow a vote for acting president pro tempore in the absence of both president and president pro tempore; allow council to appoint a person to conduct investigations; repeal a provision for council to appoint a public defender for indigent persons charged with offenses in the municipal court; and prohibit council appointment of officers and employees except as provided in the charter.

• Require the following be maintained as a permanent electronic public record: council and committee minutes, council's journal, ordinances and resolutions adopted by council, and the city bulletin.

• Provide ordinances may be introduced in electronic or digital form.

• Consolidate duties of the city clerk and repeal the bureau of information and publicity in the city clerk's office and place duties with the clerk.

• Provide an elective officeholder may file a declaration of temporary inability to discharge the duties of the office and such period may not exceed 6 months; and provide if the officeholder is unable to discharge the duties of the office for 90 consecutive days and did not have a declaration of temporary inability in effect, the office shall be forfeited and the appropriate official shall seek a court action in quo warranto to vacate the office; and provide for filling a vacancy in office resulting from ceasing to hold any qualification for office and consistent language for creation of vacancies.

• Provide the city attorney may appoint a deputy who shall have the power to perform the city attorney's duties.

• Require council to adopt an ordinance regarding prohibited uses of public funds.

• Provide consistent language that elective officeholders must reside in Columbus, and may not hold any public office other than notary public, state militia or US Armed Forces Reserves.

Shall the proposed Amendment to the Columbus City Charter be adopted?

The polls for the election will be open at 6:30 a.m. and remain open until 7:30 p.m. on election day.

Andrea Blevins, CMC City Clerk City of Columbus, Ohio october 2014

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Out on Campus

qmunity

National Coming Out Day Remains a College Rite of Passage

by Bryan Cole On Oct 11, LGBT college students across Ohio will kick down closet doors and emerge as their authentic selves.

Since its inception in 1988, National Coming Out Day has served as a day of awareness by bringing attention to openly LGBT individuals and encouraging others to join them. Founders Robert Eichberg and Jean O’Leary felt the need for a positive, celebratory day to counter the efforts of those seeking to equate gay with sin.

The increased awareness and positivity definitely were needed.

“I started teaching 26 years ago when students weren’t comfortable coming out at all,” said Alison Williams, director of the Multicultural Resource Center at Oberlin College, rated recently by the Princeton Review as one of the most LGBT-friendly colleges in the nation.

In the course of Williams’ career, LGBT identities have slowly entered the mainstream, permeating popular TV, movies and books. Terms like closeted and out, once in-group lingo, have gone mainstream.

And within a generation, the once-fledgling National Coming Out Day - an attempt to commemorate the 1987 18

october 2014

National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights - has become a hallmark of contemporary college life.

Tim Bortner, president of YSUnity, an LGBT student group at Youngstown State University, has seen the latter half of this shift firsthand.

more widespread acceptance is pushing it into younger territory.

“I think it’s moving down into the high schools,” said Elliott Lemberg, referring to young people’s increased willingness to come out before college. Lemberg is a teacher and adviser for the New Albany High School Gay-Straight Alliance in suburban Columbus.

mented seismic shifts in political opinion. In 2009, Gallup released poll data showing that Americans who know someone who is gay or lesbian are more supportive of marriage equality and are more comfortable around gay people.

“I definitely think it’s trending downwards.”

Ohioans saw that firsthand in 2013 when US Sen. Rob Portman wrote a moving piece about loving and wishing the best for his gay son. He also became the first Senate Republican to support marriage equality.

Even at the high school level, Lemberg noticed the same tipping point that college officials have described. “It took a while,” he said of student involvement in the club, “[but] last year it really took off.”

“I think people are feeling like we’re finally coming to terms with these issues,” said Lemberg, noting that the Defense of Marriage Act and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell both have crumbled within the lifespan of National Coming Out Day.

The growth of National Coming Out Day is largely attributed to the openness and community found at most universities.

College campuses have long had a reputation for nurturing self-exploration, in addition to serving as a safe space for those coming from more conservative hometowns.

The fact that National Coming Out Day is approaching its 27th year speaks to the foundational role coming out plays in LGBT life. Few acts are as powerful, and the event’s longevity shows that coming out has never left our cultural consciousness.

The future of public coming-out events appears bright, if a bit uncertain. As LGBT civil rights advance, National Coming Out Day will continue to make visible what was once a hidden identity.

The old idea of “finding yourself” at college exists for good reason, and residential communities in particular can help foster a sense of inclusion, Williams added.

From Ellen DeGeneres to Michael Sam, high-profile declarations have normalized the process of standing up and being counted, and youth increasingly see coming out as a viable option.

But just as coming out was settling into its role as a collegiate rite of passage,

And as LGBT Americans have come out in greater numbers, pollsters have docu-

“I think in the last two years it’s gotten a lot more progressive,” he said, noting that the group’s coming-out programming has nabbed statewide sponsors, as well as encouragement and recognition from the university.

Youngstown State has even expanded its National Coming Out Day festivities to encompass a whole week.

Really, that unicorn is gay? I had no idea!

But maybe, Lemberg said, LGBT people might one day have a strong enough presence in society that a special awareness day will no longer be needed.

“My hope is that it will have transformed from a Coming Out Day to a Celebrate You Day,” he said.

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COMING OUT ADVICE

Come Out! Come Out! Wherever You Are!

National Coming Out Day Is October 11

PFLAG: For parents and family whose loved ones come out, do say, “I love you.”

St, Columbus, 43201; 614-9302276; stonewallcolumbus.org: Discussions about knowing and Here are coming out tips from LGBT accepting yourself, maintaining your organizations: COMING OUT GROUPS health during a time of significant change and getting to know the Human Rights Campaign: There is no right way or wrong way to A complete list of LGBT resources for LGBT community. To register, email outwomen@stonewallcolumbus.org communities across Ohio is availcome out. It’s a lifelong process of or call. being ever more open and true with able at outlookohio.com. Here are regular meetings whose sponsors yourself and others - done in your COMING OUT ON say address coming-out issues: own way and on your own terms.

Trevor Project: Keep in mind that other people’s reactions are more about them than you. You’ve had time to think about your feelings, but they are learning something new for the first time. When you come out, they begin their own acceptance process. It may take some time for them to fully understand your news.

AKRON New Pride Coming Out Group @ Highland Square Public Library, 807 W Market St, Akron, 44303; 330.252.1559; canapi.org: Akron’s LGBT center hosts this support group on the first and third Tuesdays of each month. 6:15p.

CLEVELAND Safe Schools Coalition: If your Our Journey @ LGBT Center of Greater Cleveland, 6600 Detroit Ave, school is a dangerous place, if you Cleveland, 44102; 216.651.5428 are pretty sure your family would x18; lgbtcleveland.org: A discussion kick you out or beat you up, if you can’t afford the emotional or practi- group for women 18 and older includes topics related to coming out. cal costs of coming out right now, Our Journey meets on the first and know that you are entitled to walk third Thursday of every month. 6pthe journey at your own pace.

7:30p.

Bisexual Resource Center: We may need to come out more than COLUMBUS Kaleidoscope Youth Center Coming once if we experience a shift in our own identity. Someone formerly iden- Out Group @ KYC, 1904 N High St, Columbus, 43201; 614.294.5437; tified as gay may decide that the word bisexual is a better fit. Or vice kycohio.org: A group for LGBT youth ages 12-20 meets every other week versa. Or you might have fallen in love with one particular man when (Oct 7 and 21). 7p-8:30p. you had previously only fallen in love Men’s Coming Out Group @ with women. Or vice versa.

Stonewall Columbus, 1160 N High Advocates for Youth: There is no St, Columbus, 43201; 614.299.7764; obligation to tell anyone about your identity. However, many people find it stonewallcolumbus.org: Meetings very important to share who they are the second and fourth Monday of with others, especially if they plan to every month for men who are coming out. 7p. transition publicly. If you decide to share your identity, first tell people Women’s Coming Out Group @ with whom you are comfortable and Stonewall Columbus, 1160 N High that you feel will understand. outlookohio.com

CAMPUS

Here are the events scheduled on college campuses around Ohio in conjunction with National Coming Out Day. Some schools don’t have their events firmed up yet, so we’ll add them to our online calendar at outlookohio.com.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 14 Coming Out Stories @ Interfaith Center: 5p-7p @ Interfaith Center OHIO UNIVERSITY LGBT Center ohio.edu/lgbt

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 National Coming Out Day Rally @ Front Room, Baker Hall Fourth Floor: 10a-1p.

WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY GLBTQA Resource Room wright.edu/glbtqa MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 Movie: ‘Pay it No Mind: The Life and Times of Marsha P Johnson’ @ GLBTQA Resource Room: 1:30p3:30p.

BOWLING GREEN STATE UNIVERSITY TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 LGBT Resource Center bgsu.edu/multicultural-affairs/lgbt- Coming Out Door @ Student Union Market: You can literally come out of resource-center.html the closet. 11a-3p.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 Not So Straight Skate @ BGSU Ice Arena: 9p-11:30p.

CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY LGBT Center case.edu/lgbt FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 Bracelets and Ally Pledges @ Tinkham Veale University Center Food Court: Noon.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 Come Out and Make Sundaes on Saturday @ Tinkham Veale University Center: 3p-6p.

MIAMI UNIVERSITY GLBTQ Services miamioh.edu/glbtq

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 Equality Ohio/Rock Painting @ Medical Sciences 127: After learning social-movement strategies with Equality Ohio, participants will show their GLBTQA pride by painting the campus rock. 7:30p-9p.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 Coming Out Door @ Student Union Market: 11a-3p.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 6 Coming Out Closet Door Photo Shoot @ First Floor of the Kilcawley Center: 10a-3p.

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 7 LGBTQIA Organization Fair @ First Floor of the Kilcawley Center: 9a1:30p.

No Bullying Allowed BRAVO Workshops @ Kilcawley Center Presidents Suite: 2p-4p.

GetREAL Speaker @ Kilcawley Center James Gallery: 5p-7p.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 YSUnity Bake Sale @ First Floor of DeBartolo Hall: 9a-2:30p.

Equality Ohio Speaker @ Kilcawley Center Jones Room: 5p-7p.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 NOH8 Photo Shoot @ First Floor of the Kilcawley Center: 9a-3p.

Transgender and Bisexual Discussions @ Kilcawley Center Jones Room: 5p-7p.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 YSUnity Information Table @ First Floor of the Kilcawley Center: 9a-2p.

Diversity Prom @ Kilcawley Center Chestnut Room: It’s Hollywood themed, so come dressed as your favorite movie or TV character. There FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 NOH8 Photo Shoot @ Student Union will be a dance floor, raffles, a redcarpet photo shoot and a live perAtrium: 11a-2p. formance by Korby Lenker, a singer/songwriter whose song, “ForPride Rally @ Student Union bidden Fruit,” has been featured on Atrium: 2p-4p.

ABC Family’s The Fosters. 7p-10p; $5 in advance or $6 at the door.

YOUNGSTOWN STATE UNIVERSITY YSUnity ysunity.webs.com

One of the most important things you can do to advance civil rights is come out to people you know.

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Oh to be at that pool right now. Where did our summer go?

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small pond

Shall We Dance?

Danceville, USA Hosts Twice-Monthly LGBT Night in Columbus

by Erin McCalla

And the LGBT Night is extremely welcoming - so welcoming that it seems like everyone is your new Finally. Finally, there’s somewhere else for same-sex partners to dance friend when you step through the besides the fog-clouded floors of gay door. There’s spiked punch on the bars, a place for people who would table, rainbow streamers hung from the ceiling, and the dance floor is rather dance cheek to cheek than full of couples who are finishing up hip to hip or groin to groin. private lessons and students wanting to get in some extra practice.

Keith Michael opened Danceville, People are mingling and putting USA in Columbus’s Short North neighborhood in March and has their drinks in the studio’s refrigerabeen hosting an LGBT Night on the tor. (LGBT Night is BYOB.) second and fourth Tuesdays of every month from 8:30p to 10p. The sleek Then, after a round of complimenand sexy ballroom dance studio is on tary, introductory kamikaze-like Lincoln Street, a block east of High shots, the class sections off into Street. leaders and followers - the usual male and female positions in dance, “I knew that there needed to be a respectively. There are plenty of men dance studio in the Short North, be- and women who opt for “opposite” cause it’s an arts district and there gender roles on the dance floor and as partners continue to switch, it’s is nothing like that here,” said Michael, who moved from Dayton to likely you’ll dance with both men start the business. “When we and women throughout the evening opened, we had an influx of same- - no matter which side you pick. sex couples coming in to take lessons. I had maybe one or two in a The lesson of the night is the four-year span [in Dayton], but here Merengue, and the steps are fairly it was 30 percent of the clientele. So easy to learn. As partners are traded, we wanted to open the doors and you dance opposite varying skill levmake it more welcoming.” els. Everyone smiles, and no one seems to mind nervous, sweaty outlookohio.com

palms. Every two weeks, a new dance is taught, and standards like the Cha-Cha and Salsa are often punctuated by video or concert choreography like Madonna’s “Vogue.”

night without her,” Michael said.

“Her spirit was so welcoming, and she’s tasteful and tactful.”

After Sexton’s first performance, the dance instructors begin placing The studio’s sparkling chandeliers, chairs in the center of the room for an adult version of Musical Chairs. It wall-sized mirrors and raised, seems somewhat juvenile at first, wooden dance floor make you feel but the crowd gets into it as they very professional and, yes, even a little fancy as you twirl and spin and dance to a mix of Britney Spears, maybe step on a few toes. The float- Backstreet Boys and Madonna and ing floor absorbs shocks, a nice fea- circle the ever-shrinking supply of folding chairs in order to win free ture for dancers to preserve their joints. dance lessons or admission to the next LGBT Dance Night.

“When I think of ballroom, I think sophistication, glam, sparkles, pretty Now it’s instructor Tatiana Gonzadresses, and this room embodies lez’s turn. She and her dance partner that,” said instructor Katie Gurley. perform a Cha Cha that Dance Director Tony Meredith has choreoAfter everyone is loose from both the graphed; it will be their competition alcohol and the introductory lesson, vehicle in the coming months. the drag performance begins. BeMeredith is a world-renowned cause it wouldn’t be an LGBT night dancer and choreographer and has without a little drag, right? appeared in films The Thomas Crown Affair and Dance With Me Amaya Sexton, a Dayton drag queen, starring Vanessa Williams. He most performs three separate numbers recently has worked on the hit show, throughout the evening when she’s So You Think You Can Dance? not mingling with the crowd.

While his accomplishments are vast, “I really wouldn’t have done the he is the one to dole out compli-

Better dance movie: Dirty Dancing or Center Stage?

photo: Michelle Stivers

ments to Michael, his boyfriend and his reason for moving from New York City to Columbus.

“He’s a great teacher and inspiration. He’s a great motivator,” Meredith said.

After the drag and parlor games, the shot tray is passed around and the class toasts again. Then it’s more Merengue and a line dance.

Michael is proud of the popularity of Danceville, USA’s LGBT Night.

“I love seeing people’s lives change through dance. They may be insecure, or they may be overweight or whatever reason. There’s always a hidden reason why people start dancing, and finding that reason and satisfying that need is the most rewarding thing.”

Danceville, USA 47 E Lincoln St Columbus 43215 614.223.1774 dancevilleusa.com FB: LGBT Night at Danceville, USA october 2014

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Speaking of bats, who else is loving Gotham?

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outlook endorsements

For Governor: Ed FitzGerald Civil-rights advocates held their fire last year when Gov. John Kasich blundered and blustered his way through the issue of marriage equality.

last recession in 2008. Ohio, however, still lags 120,000 jobs behind, The Plain Dealer of Cleveland reported.

One day, Kasich called himself a supporter of civil unions. The next his spokesman pleaded ignorance on the governor’s behalf. The former congressman and Fox News host didn’t really know what the term meant and didn’t support government recognition of same-sex relationships, after all.

On LGBT issues, there is no comparison.

FitzGerald supports marriage equality. Kasich tests the waters but can’t even bring himself to support civil unions, a decade-old fallback position for politicians too timid to support equality.

FitzGerald supports legislation to ban employIt was taken as some sign that Kasich was evolv- ment and housing discrimination against ing.

Ohioans based on their gender identity or sexual orientation. Kasich used to say, generically, that We know now that he’s as unevolved as ever. Ka- he opposes discrimination against LGBT people, sich left Congress in 2001 with a 10 percent rat- but he inexplicably removed gender identity from ing from the Human Rights Campaign, and he’s an anti-discrimination policy in state hiring that no better now when it comes to supporting equal- was enacted by his predecessor, Gov. Ted Strickity or even basic dignity for LGBT people. land.

Outlook endorses Ed FitzGerald for governor. He’s fully evolved, and he would be the most LGBTfriendly governor in Ohio history.

So let’s get what apparently passes as the big issue in this campaign out of the way first.

FitzGerald, according to media reports, drove for 10 years without a regular driver’s license. He was waging an uphill fight to begin with, and the revelation became an excuse for many to jump his campaign ship.

Here’s what FitzGerald told Outlook in May 2013: “I believe in full equality for all Ohioans, and that includes the LGBT community, and that includes issues not just related to marriage, but also employment and housing. If it’s on the ballot I’m going to vote for it. If something comes across my desk when I’m governor, I’m going to sign it.”

And here’s what Kasich told The Columbus Dispatch in April: “The people of the state, including me, voted years ago on a constitutional amendment to say that marriage is between a man and a woman.”

We don’t care.

FitzGerald, by all accounts, is a competent and successful elected official. A former councilman and mayor in gay-friendly Lakewood, he became Cuyahoga County’s first elected executive in 2010.

According to Governing magazine, he ended a culture of corruption in Ohio’s largest county, slashed the government payroll and saved taxpayers millions while increasing economic-development efforts.

Kasich is stuck in Old Ohio, the state from a rapidly receding past when people thought it was entirely reasonable to restrict marriage rights to opposite-sex couples because that was just the way things always were.

He is dog-paddling against the tide of history and ignoring this fact: More than 1.5 million Ohioans between the ages of 18 and 27 - that’s 17.5 percent of all current eligible voters in the state were not old enough to cast a ballot when the anti-marriage amendment passed in 2004.

Kasich, meanwhile, oversells an economic comeback for Ohio that, to the extent it exists, is more the result of a national rebound than anything he has done.

Today’s Ohioans believe in fairness and equality, and they deserve a state government that believes in those same values.

This spring, the number of jobs nationwide officially surpassed the number at the start of the

We can’t keep waiting for John Kasich to drag his knuckles into the 21st century.

outlookohio.com

Never say die!

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outlook endorsements

For Attorney General: David Pepper The fact that Mike DeWine thinks corporations deserve the rights of people isn’t the reason he deserves the scorn of LGBT and allied Ohioans.

It’s the fact that he thinks LGBT people don’t deserve the rights of people.

Ohio’s attorney general doesn’t just oppose the right of his fellow human beings to marry, hold a job, rent an apartment or order a cup of coffee regardless of how they identify or whom they love.

In his first term as the state’s chief legal officer, he has used every ounce of his power to ensure they won’t get those rights. And in a second term he has promised his anti-gay allies that he’ll do even more on their behalf.

DeWine, on the other hand, wants to add exclamation points and underscores to that message of intolerance.

As attorney general, he has fought dead gay men whose widowers want the last government record of their husbands’ lives to accurately reflect their status as legally married. He has fought children whose gay and lesbian parents simply want birth certificates to list both married moms or dads.

Equally troubling, DeWine promised Cincinnati Right to Life in a 2014 candidate survey that he would “work actively” if re-elected to rescind all local laws in Ohio that might upset someone’s religious beliefs.

The hardest-working homophobe in Ohio politics deserves the same ignominious retirement he was handed by Ohio voters who ousted him from the US Senate in 2006.

If that right-of-conscience argument sounds familiar, it’s because it’s the foundation of a short-lived push by Ohio legislators earlier this year to exempt people and businesses from government regulations they oppose on religious grounds.

Outlook instead endorses David Pepper, whose track record over nine years in public office underscores his vow to be an attorney general who will end DeWine’s taxpayerfunded crusade against LGBT civil rights on Day One.

Opponents of an identically worded bill in Arizona, where it drew national attention and a gubernatorial veto, dubbed it the Turn Away the Gays Bill because of its potential to sanction discrimination against LGBT people.

Pepper deserves the vote of every Ohioan who believes our state can’t afford to be viewed as a Midwestern Mississippi, straining against the arc toward justice and preserving intolerance in the guise of what DeWine, like racists of a generation ago, calls “tradition.”

It’s an idea DeWine likes. He used Ohio taxpayers’ money to research, write and file a brief with the US Supreme Court this year that supported the right of corporations to act out their owners’ religious beliefs.

As a City Council member in Cincinnati, Pepper was part of the 2004 effort to rescind Article 12, an item in the city’s charter that prohibited anti-discrimination laws, hate-crime statutes or anything else that would have addressed biases based on sexual orientation.

Pepper said Article 12 was a blight on Cincinnati, and he uses the same terms to describe bigotry’s effect on Ohio.

Although that court case involved birth control coverage mandated by the Affordable Care Act, DeWine argued that the exemption eventually granted by justices “applies broadly to any sincere religious exercise.”

Ohio needs to put DeWine and the intolerance he espouses where they belong - in its past.

David Pepper will be an attorney general who puts our state on the side of freedom, equality and justice. In doing so, he’ll put Ohio on the right side of history.

“If we’re a state that puts up a big billboard that says ‘We Discriminate,’ and all these other states are no longer doing that, we will lose,” Pepper told Outlook in June. (Visit outlookohio.com to read that story.)

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David Pepper is also endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign.

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For Secretary of State: Nina Turner How big of a voter-fraud problem is Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted trying to solve with his never-ending crusade to curtail early voting?

Americans have cast more than 1 billion ballots since 2000 in elections for everything from municipal offices to president, according to Loyola University law professor Justin Levitt.

Levitt has counted just 31 possible incidents of fraud in that same time.

That makes it pretty obvious that Husted and others who fight to make it harder for Ohioans to vote - Statehouse Republicans passed a bill, Gov. John Kasich signed it, and Attorney General Mike DeWine is appealing a federal judge’s ruling against them - all have other motives for their actions.

We think politicians should fight to win people’s votes, not fight to keep people from voting. Outlook endorses Nina Turner for Ohio secretary of state because she’ll fight even for your right to vote against her.

Turner is a six-year state senator from Cleveland who has been one of the Ohio General Assembly’s most vocal champions for voting rights. She is also a strong and reliable ally of LGBT Ohioans, supporting marriage equality and co-sponsoring a Senate bill to add gender identity and sexual orientation to Ohio’s anti-discrimination laws.

The Democrat wants to protect a full month of in-person early voting options adopted after the hours-long lines and uncast ballots from a disastrous 2004 election in our state.

While Husted has sent every eligible Ohioan a vote-by-mail request form, he has gone to court to lop off the first week of in-person early voting, shut down the final weekend and stop evening voting hours.

It just so happens that older people, the biggest 2012 voting bloc for Husted’s fellow Republicans, are most likely to vote by mail. And according to a 2012 study by the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, reliably Democratic black voters in Cuyahoga County were those most likely to vote early in person.

Ohio’s chief elections official can’t play politics that way.

Turner doesn’t advocate in-person early voting at the expense of mail-in ballots. She calls the ballot box “the one place where your age, beliefs and wealth have no impact on how powerful your voice is.” She wants to make voting easier for all.

Although the secretary of state doesn’t make decisions that specifically affect the day-to-day lives of LGBT Ohioans the way our governor and attorney general do, Turner’s advocacy on our behalf can’t be ignored.

Husted wouldn’t tell The Columbus Dispatch last year where he stands on marriage equality, but he sure wants religious conservatives to know. He told Cincinnati Right to Life in a 2014 candidate survey that he believes marriage rights should be restricted by federal and state governments to opposite-sex couples only.

He also pledged to “work actively” to rescind any law anywhere in Ohio that goes against a person’s religious conscience. If he’s true to his word, he’ll push to undo ordinances in at least 20 Ohio communities that ban discrimination based on a person’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

No matter how difficult Husted makes it, a vote to remove him from office will send a message that his brand of politics isn’t worthy of our state.

For Treasurer: Connie Pillich For Auditor: John Patrick Carney Ohio’s state treasurer collects taxes and invests the state’s money. Ohio’s state auditor makes sure that money isn’t spent illegally.

Neither job can make Ohio a more or less open, fair and tolerant place, but the men holding the two jobs still feel the need to assure religious conservatives that they’re sufficiently spiteful toward LGBT people.

Treasurer Josh Mandel and Auditor Dave Yost both pledged to Cincinnati Right to Life this year that they will work to revoke local laws across Ohio that bar discrimination based on a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity. Such laws are among the targets of people who advocate “Turn Away the Gays” bills outlookohio.com

in Ohio and elsewhere under the guise of protecting religious freedom.

We find the pandering to an intolerant base on issues that have nothing to do with their elected offices almost as disgusting as their support for people who would fire LGBT employees or refuse to serve LGBT customers. same length of time.

Outlook endorses Connie Pillich for treasurer and John Patrick Carney for auditor.

Pillich, a US Air Force veteran who served in the 1991 Persian Gulf War, has represented a suburban Cincinnati district in the Ohio House since 2009. Carney has represented a portion of Columbus in the Ohio House for the

Pillich and Carney both support marriage equality. Both are among lawmakers who’ve co-sponsored the Equal Housing and Employment Act, a bill in the Ohio General Assembly that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to the state’s anti-discrimination laws.

If you’re not registered to vote, you have until October 6.

Since Mandel and Yost feel the need to bring LGBT issues into races that have little, if anything, to do with them, we hope they’ll have the courage to tell all Ohio voters what they tell their most radical supporters.

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feature

PASSING THE TORCH

Young Generation Brings New Life to the Movement

by Noah Alexander

A whole new generation of young Americans is rapidly entering the workforce, political arena and community. And to them, the world looks very different than it did for the generation just a few years ahead of them.

Jacob Manser, a 23-year-old campaign consultant who works for JVA Campaigns in Columbus, is acutely aware of the shift.

“Young LGBT people working in politics today are almost a different generation than [those who started working] three or four years ago,” he says. “They came out in a different world, with a different perspective.”

For Manser, the challenge is no longer about mere LGBT visibility. “LGBT issues are now quite popular to talk about in mainstream politics. Now, it’s all about implementation.

It’s about operationalizing.”

To that end, Manser works as a data analyst for JVA, focusing primarily on the digital aspect of campaign management. Resource allocation, mail communications, voter targeting and advertising all fall under the scope of his work. “I’ve been fascinated by the political process for as long as I can remember; it’s the best way to impact as many people as possible.”

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Lily Briggs, 28, a trans-identified organizer working for non-profits in Toledo, has also been doing her part to, as Manser says, “operationalize.” As the first-ever trans president of the student government in her time at Owens Community College, she orchestrated a successful movement for genderneutral bathrooms on campus. She went on to graduate from Owens with a degree in political science.

Briggs now works on the Feed Your Neighbor campaign, a program sustained solely by donations that feeds Lily Briggs more than 650 families a month. She also works to facilitate outreach ministry for LGBT-identified youth in the Toledo area.

Briggs’s involvement in politics began after she got into a violent altercation at age 19 targeted, as she says, “for being who I am.”

She was charged with felonious assault and sentenced to six years in prison.

“In prison, I felt like such a number. And no one gives a fuck about a number.” Her experience of utter powerlessness in prison catalyzed her eventual involvement in politics as a means, ultimately, of coming to terms with

those feelings.

Briggs’ story is a reminder that the road to full inclusion is by no means clear of obstacles. Today’s young adults are guaranteed no smooth sailing into tomorrow. Gus Carlos, a 22-year-old intern with Why Marriage Matters Ohio, wants to ensure that more voices are heard in the discourse.

“The trans community has been left out of the marriage debate,” he says. “People of color are also often underrepresented.”

During his time with Why Marriage Matters, Carlos has advocated for the Equal Housing and Employment Act, a proposal in Ohio that would prohibit job and Gus Carlos housing discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. He has worked specifically to include the transgender community in the effort.

“We need to be sure we are moving forward with the entire community,” Carlos warns.

It’s your life. Get involved. Be informed.

But he says what he views as the biggest challenge in the LGBT civil-rights movement actually plays to the upcoming generation’s greatest strengths: “I think young people bring a more intersectional perspective to the debate.”

“There’s a lot of talk of drama between different groups and organizations,” he says. “I think younger leaders will be able to build these bridges between them.”

Still, Carlos’s optimism is tempered by concerns about full inclusion for marginalized communities within the LGBT world. Briggs, too, professes a similarly cautious optimism.

“It’s all a continuation,” she says. “LGBT kids are growing up in a more inclusive society, but we’re still experiencing deprivation and exclusion.”

So LGBT youth know that now is not the time for complacency. They face a society and culture in which discrimination against the queer community is entrenched.

They’re not complacent, despite what you might hear. They aim for progress at a pivotal moment in America when power is changing hands.

All eyes now turn to them. outlookohio.com

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The state is salty enough. Let’s add some more Pepper!

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RACES TO WATCH feature

The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, which works to elect LGBT people to office at all levels of government, has endorsed 79 candidates this year in races ranging from the US House to register of wills in Howard County, Md. Here are some of races worth watching on Nov 4.

Clay Aiken US House, North Carolina The Democrat and former American Idol runner-up isn’t running as a celebrity, but his supporters include Ruben Studdard, who bested him on the show, and Kathy Griffin, who made him the butt of pre-coming-out jokes.

Richard Tisei US House, Massachusetts The former state senator who served 26 years as a legislator would be the only gay Republican in Congress.

Sean Eldridge US House, New York The 28-year-old Democrat grew up in Ottawa Hills, a suburb of Toledo, and was named by the New York Observer as one of New York’s most powerful gay figures in 2011 for his work in the state’s fight for marriage equality. He’s married to Chris Hughes, one of the founders of Facebook.

JD Ford Indiana State Senate The Youngstown native and University of Akron grad is running as a Democrat against one of Indiana’s loudest anti-equality lawmakers, incumbent Republican Mike Delph, who represents suburban Indianapolis. Ford would be Indiana’s first openly gay state lawmaker.

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Mary Gonzalez Texas House of Representatives The 30-year-old Democrat, first elected in 2012, is the nation’s first openly pansexual elected official. She won a primary challenge in her El Paso district with nearly 70 percent of the vote and is unopposed in November.

Mary Yu Washington Supreme Court The daughter of a Chinese father and Mexican mother, Yu’s appointment to the Washington Supreme Court in May 2014 was historical in several ways: She is the first openly gay justice in her state, as well as the first Asian-American and the first woman of color to hold the office. She is running this fall to stay on the court.

Maura Healey Massachusetts Attorney General As the head of the civil rights division in the office she now seeks to lead, Healey led the first successful challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act. A Democrat, she would be the first openly gay attorney general in the nation.

Mike Michaud Maine Governor The six-term Democratic congressman came out in November 2013 and could become the first openly gay candidate ever elected governor of a state. He’s running against Tea Party Republican Paul LePage, dubbed by Politico as “America’s craziest governor.”

Paula Sophia Oklahoma House of Representatives She won’t be on the ballot come election day, but we think she still deserves recognition. The Army veteran and retired Oklahoma City police officer fell 22 votes short in a September runoff in her quest to be the nation’s first transgender state lawmaker.

Steven Kerrigan Massachusetts Lieutenant Governor The Democrat is a former aide to Ted Kennedy.

David Catania Mayor of Washington, DC The independent was first elected to the DC Council in 1997 as a Republican, but he split with the party in 2004 when President George W Bush favored a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage rights.

That’s Congressman Gay Claiken to you, Kathy Griffin!

Lori Droste Berkeley (Calif) City Council The Ohio native grew up in Circleville, a small town south of Columbus where her mother served as mayor.

Droste now lives in Berkeley, where she chairs the city’s Commission on the Status of Women. outlookohio.com

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Marque Snow Omaha School Board As his mother served in the military, Snow spent the first five years of his life with his grandparents in Marion. He now runs youth programs for the YMCA in Omaha.

Kim Ogg Harris County (Texas) District Attorney Ogg has been a chief prosecutor, anti-gang task force leader and Crime Stoppers director in the nation’s third-biggest county, which includes Houston.

Joan Garner Fulton County (Georgia) Commissioner The former director of the nonprofit that spearheads preservation of Atlanta’s Martin Luther King Jr National Historic District, Garner was first elected in 2010. outlookohio.com

Four of these LGBT candidates are Ohioans who left their home state. That’s telling.

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Out and Elected feature

From a village board in suburban Cincinnati to the Ohio House of Representatives, there are 15 openly gay people serving in elected office across the state.

Nickie Antonio State Representative, Lakewood The first openly gay person elected to the Ohio General Assembly represents Lakewood and parts of Cleveland’s West Side, including the Detroit Shoreway and a section of Ohio City.

Mary Wiseman Montgomery County Common Pleas Court, Dayton Dayton’s first openly gay city commissioner (1997-2002) became Ohio’s first openly gay judge when she was appointed to a vacancy on Montgomery County’s Common Pleas bench in 2007. She won a six-year term in 2010.

The Democrat has sponsored legislation to expand Ohio’s anti-discrimination and hate-crimes laws to outlaw bias and violence based on someone’s gender identity or sexual orientation.

She was first elected in 2010 and is seeking a third term on Nov 4.

Tim Brown State Representative, Bowling Green The second openly gay person elected to the Ohio General Assembly quickly joined his colleagues as a sponsor of anti-discrimination and antihate crimes bills.

Chris Seelbach Cincinnati City Council The founder of Xavier University’s gay-straight alliance became Cincinnati’s first openly gay City Council member when he was elected in 2011.

Brown is one of just two gay Republicans nationwide who serve as state legislators. He was first elected in 2012 and is seeking his second term on Nov 4.

Terry Brown Franklin County Recorder, Columbus In 2012, Brown was the first openly gay person elected to Franklin County office when he defeated the Republican incumbent with 58 percent of the vote.

Sandra Kurt Summit County Council, Akron Before her first term was up on Akron’s City Council, Kurt was appointed to fill a vacancy on the Summit County Council. She won a term of her own in 2012 and is currently the council’s vice president.

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Jerry Larson Akron Municipal Court The former assistant prosecutor in Akron was appointed to a vacancy on the city’s Municipal Court in 2009 and won a sixyear term in that year’s election.

Jeremy Blake Newark City Council The former Newark School Board member was elected to his first term on the City Council in 2013 with 65 percent of the vote.

Newark is a city of about 47,500 east of Columbus.

Richard Trojanski Maple Heights City Council Elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 to the City Council in the Cleveland suburb of 23,000, he championed legislation this year that added sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s fairhousing law.

Kevin Wadsworth-Johnson Portsmouth City Council The former US Marine and US Senate aide was elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 to the City Council in the Ohio River town of 20,000.

Ron Hirth Golf Manor Village Council In the Cincinnati suburb of 3,600, Hirth was appointed to the Village Council in 2013 and elected later that year to a full term.

Mary Jo Hudson Columbus School Board The only openly gay person ever to serve on the Columbus City Council (2004-2007) was appointed to a vacancy on the Columbus School Board in February.

Patrick Bravo Akron School Board He won a write-in campaign for a four-year term in 2011.

Joe Lacey Dayton School Board First elected in 2005, he was the top vote-getter out of five candidates in his run for a third term last fall. Lacey lost in the Democratic primary in May, though, for a seat in the Ohio Senate.

Carol Fey Bexley School Board The former president of the parent-teacher organization at her children’s school was first elected in 2009 and re-elected in 2013 in the suburban Columbus district.

Several qualified LGBT candidates have applied for a vacant Columbus City Council seat.

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xxx

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feature

Friends at

City Hall

by Hannah Douglas

Mayor Jackson Mayor Cranley

Ohio’s Mayors Are More LGBTFriendly Than State Leaders

“I think you see it in the way cities are redeveloping their downtowns with housMayor Coleman ing, where they have unique spaces, where Mayor Healy they carry the diversity of really the state. And Bush got rewon’t so supporting the LGBT community and equalelected and Ohio cast a ban speak out either ity and rights is something that’s kind of at on gay marriage, our peoin favor or But big-city mayors across the state are show- the core of what cities are.” ple the progressive peoagainst it. He ing their support for the LGBT community and ple of Cincinnati rejected said he’ll “follow promoting diversity despite scant support Cleveland and Akron saw the benefits that Article 12 and then immethe law” when from their colleagues at the state level. come to diverse and welcoming cities in Audiately we passed a human marriage equality gust. They were chosen to host the Gay rights ordinance, and then all comes to Ohio, and Current state laws prohibit same-sex marGames, an international event staged every the things since then.”

Mayor Whaley he said he won’t tolerate riage and offer no protection on the job, in four years, and drew more than 20,000 specdiscrimination in housing or in public accommodations from tators to venues in the two cities over their Recently, Cranley supported creating a dohis city even discrimination on the basis sexual orientation weeklong run. mestic partnership registry, and in August, though and gender identity.

Cincinnati became the first city in Ohio to state law “We literally have done everything we can to cover medical procedures for transgendoesn’t That hasn’t stopped Ohio cities, though, from make this an inviting, warm, welcoming comder city workers. forbid fostering welcoming environments. munity,” Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic said as it the Games opened. He joked that the influx of Whaley noted that a week after she ofAkron, Athens, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Colum- LGBT tourists into Northeast Ohio this year ficiated commitment ceremonies for against bus, Dayton and Toledo are among Ohio cities might have received a warmer welcome than same-sex couples in Dayton, the mayor LGBT that bar housing and job discrimination Republicans will get when they host their of Pittsburgh officiated weddings. Unlike people. against LGBT people.

2016 national convention in Cleveland.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Attorney General Mayor Plusquellic Mike DeWine, state leaders in Pennsylvania “Any community Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton and Toledo are Plusquellic and Whaley, along with Mayors decided not to keep fighting federal court rulthat isn’t diverse and accepting is a chalamong cities that maintain registries for do- Frank Jackson of Cleveland, Mike Coleman of ings in favor of marriage equality. lenged community,” Collins said. “I will not mestic partners, a largely symbolic but legally Columbus, John Cranley of Cincinnati and support anything that would challenge the helpful government documentation of same- William Healy of Canton, are among 20 Ohio “If you’re looking at two communities trying to equal rights and lawful relationships of any sex relationships. mayors who’ve registered their support for attract talent and trying to citizen of this city or any visitor to this marriage equality through a national group attract millennials who city.”

“We have to be open and welcoming and be called Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. value diversity, which attractive to diverse communities. That’s a big city are they going In Cincinnati, Mayor John Craneconomic driver,” said Dayton Mayor Nan Coleman has said he wants to be the first to pick?” she said. ley was part of the effort as a Whaley, who officiated commitment ceremayor in Ohio to officiate a ceremony when member of the City Council to monies for six same-sex couples at this year’s same-sex marriage is made legal in the state.

Cranley said state overturn Article 12, a 1993 city Dayton Pride. leaders could learn charter amendment that prohib“The mayors are the closest to the people. We a thing or two from ited all forms of LGBT civil rights Her city also has in initiative called Welcome recognize and are a part of the essence of our Ohio’s cities about creprotections.

Mayor Collins Dayton, which seeks to promote Dayton as an own communities,” he said. ating a welcoming enviimmigrant-friendly community. Diversity and ronment for their citizens.

It was rescinded by voters in 2004. development go hand in hand in Ohio cities, Toledo Mayor D Michael Collins calls himself “I think we all would be better off in the state Whaley said. “neutral” on marriage equality and says he of Ohio if the state would follow suit.”

“In Cincinnati 10 years ago, in the year that The people who run state government in Ohio are unanimous in their opposition to marriage equality and silent on pretty much everything else that has to do with civil rights.

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Mayors of Youngstown, Lima, Lyndhurst and Whitehall also are among marriage-equality supporters.

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The Glamazons return? Where have they been?

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the other side

Gay-Straight Alliance

Who Says Gay Men and Straight Men Can’t Be Friends?

by James Blackmon

Conventional wisdom suggests that gay men and straight men can’t be friends. Gay guys are pansies, and straight guys are Neanderthals. We’re oil and water. We don’t mix.

In reality, of course, gay and straight men are far more diverse than the myth that all gay guys are Broadway-loving fashionistas and all straight guys are ESPN-loving slovenly homophobes. The truth is, there are lots of fashion-challenged gay dudes into sports and there are just as many well-groomed metrosexuals who know the lyrics to “Defying Gravity.”

It’s also true that not all straight guys are homophobes. Many simply don’t understand us. We’re foreign to them.

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Steve, Greg and Ron are my college buddies from the University of Alabama theater department. Southern boys from Alabama, Louisiana and Oklahoma. We’ve been close friends for 27 years.

BF

cause to them, I am. I’m not the gay guy. I’m just Jay.

like to talk about hot guys. Just as you discuss the details your life, so do I.

And then there’s Dave. We met 2½ years ago while working for Holland America Cruise Line.

We couldn’t be more different. He’s 6-feet-7.

I’m 5-feet-9. He’s a big straight white guy, and I’m a little gay black guy. Dave’s from a Midwestern, Republican, Catholic family, and I’m from a Southern, Democratic, Baptist family.

For Dave, that’s taken some getting used to, but not because he’s anti-gay or homophobic.

Gay is just foreign to him. At least it used to be. He’s heard me talk as much about gay rights and liberal politics as he’s heard me talk about Ohio State and Alabama football.

And, we talk a lot. For hours.

Although I was “straight”

ame s, Dave & J 2012 Fs s in c e

But that’s understandable.

American men are conditioned from birth to be “real men” and fear all things homosexual. However, I’ve discovered that lots of straight men aren’t so much afraid of “gay” as they’re leery of what they don’t understand. But I suppose that’s human nature. Fearing the unknown.

Yet there are straight guys who rise above their conditioning and are open to friendships 34

with gay guys. It seems gay men and straight men can be friends. Real friends. BFFs. I have four.

Not all straight guys are homophobes.

Many simply don’t understand us. We’re foreign to them.

when we met, I came out that semester. But nobody cared. Ron described it as a complete non-issue.

“More than acceptance, which is different.

Non-issue. No passion about it either way. It would be like having a strong opinion about somebody being left-handed or something.”

And that’s our friendship. I’ve always felt normal around them. Like one of the guys. Be-

Obviously we’ve had some... umm... disagreements.

My friendship with my college buddies is effortless; my friendship with Dave is a little less so. Yet I love the guy to death. And he

loves me, too.

Part of the problem is, unlike Steve, Greg and Ron, Dave had the privilege of meeting the seasoned, opinionated, 44-year-old me who had been out for 25 years and “married” for 19.

My husband and his girlfriend call us “boyfriends.” They’re joking, of course. I’m not attracted to Dave. I was to Steve, though, back in school. That was a really difficult time for me at 19 struggling with my sexuality. But it never affected our friendship. At least not in a bad way.

I’ve never had many gay male friends or close straight female friends. My husband is good with straight women. I’m the opposite. I’ve always been like that.

I like straight dudes. Not sexually. I don’t want to sleep with them. I just have a lot in common with some straight men. Or perhaps they have a lot in common with me. Either way, it works because we have far more in common with each other than our sexual orientation.

My straight “boyfriends” love me and would Although Dave knew other gay people from cut a bitch if I asked them to. work, I’m definitely his first gay friend. And, to be my friend, you have to accept that I don’t Thanks guys. Love you, too. edit my life. You like to talk about hot girls. I

Why can’t we be friends?

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Baby wearing is the hottest parenting trend right now.

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complete the circuit

Weinstein

Kramer

Signorile

Who’s the Whore Now?

Gay ‘Leaders’ Bask in Anti-PrEP Spotlight

by Mickey Weems

Whoring has a proud LGBT history. In fact, Gay used to be slang for whore.

Before gay became synonymous with fabulous, it referred to streetwalkers as well as homosexuals and gender outlaws. Fast-forward to the glory days of circuit parties - crack whore was a term of affection. Circuit boys rejected slutshaming from moralists such as Michelangelo Signorile who condemned them.

This is not to say that all circuit children are angels. Among the crack whores who populate the dance floor from White party to Black & Blue, there have always been those hot messes who are built like gods, high as heaven and well on their way to utter collapse.

To paint everyone in the scene with the same brush, however, is to place just another stigma on Gay men that they do not deserve. It’s like what Rush Limbaugh had done when he slut-shamed women on contraceptives, and trashing the circuit was especially irresponsible when done by respected spokespeople such as Signorile, who surely doesn’t see himself as a Gay Limbaugh.

But Signorile might have more in common with Limbaugh than he would care to admit. Like Rush, he’s not necessarily a respected spokesperson. Time and time again, Signorile has shown himself to be a media whore addicted to the spotlight. Like his rival, Dan Savage, he says outrageous things that will get him the next fix.

Not that there is anything wrong with being a media whore. Or a street-walking whore, crack whore, Bible-pimping whore or corporate whore. We make our way in this world any way we can. But

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some whoring is unacceptable, and when those of us in the media belittle others for no other reason other than to make a name for ourselves, we give media whoring a bad name.

Spokespeople who no longer speak from a place of compassion and fair play become a different kind of prostitute - a vicious one who preys on easy human targets. Such is the case for Signorile, author Larry Kramer and AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein.

Kramer is an LGBT icon who made a name for himself by trashing Gay men in his novel, Faggots, then by pimping out the deaths of his friends from AIDS in The Normal Heart.

And a magnificent whore he was. In the early days of the AIDS crisis, Kramer basked in the media spotlight as the Angry Gay Activist, a role in which he excelled. He helped found the Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the radical activist group, ACT UP, the AIDS Committee to Unleash Power. For everything he did (except for Faggots), he deserved the praise he received.

The Normal Heart brought the tragedy of The Plague into American homes, proof that there is something to be said about pimping out the dead in service of the living. But reverence for any icon is contingent upon continued ethical behavior. Fame can be addicting, and Kramer has proven himself an addict.

That is OK. But being a fame junkie is no reason to act like a jackass.

Kramer gets his latest rush by trashing Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, an HIV-prevention strategy that uses the drug Truvada to significantly lower the risk of seroconversion. It’s one of the

most important breakthroughs in stopping HIV transmission in the history of AIDS. But there’s no telling how many men have seroconverted in the last couple of years because they listened to Kramer, the same man who brayed incessantly about losing so many friends to AIDS in The Normal Heart. His recent behavior suggests the noble causes for which he fought were just vehicles for his own self-aggrandizement.

Other whores have cast their lot with the vicious at the expense of the vulnerable. The most noteworthy is AHF’s Michael Weinstein. He dismissed Truvada as a party drug, thus tying it to irresponsible and frivolous behavior.

If Truvada is a party drug as Weinstein says, then a Truvada whore is a crack whore. But that blatant attempt at gaining media attention by trashing Truvada is about as logical as it is ethical. Apparently, Weinstein has no clue what a party drug actually does. There is no evidence that Truvada enhances music, causes a craving for pretty light shows or inspires three-day bootyshaking marathons.

Weinstein should get out more and slutshame less.

Kramer and Weinstein are media whores who use their powerful positions in the LGBT community to condemn PrEP, not caring who they hurt as they court the paparazzi. Perhaps they seek the ultimate prize for the vicious media whore: lucrative paychecks and regular TV appearances as commentators on Fox. I wish them the best of luck.

There’s no shame in how you prevent HIV.

This is What We Have Been Fighting For

by Bill Hardy President and CEO, AIDS Resource Center Ohio

For three decades, we’ve fought for the kind of advances we now have. Even just five years ago, I couldn’t have believed we’d see the outcomes that are in our grasp today.

It especially appalling that we must pause our efforts to address stigmatizing epithets like Truvada Whore, petulantly hurled at those taking advantage of Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP. Weren’t we all outraged by right-wingers calling women whores because they use contraceptives?

Our battles against HIV and LGBT oppression have always included fighting bigotry and shaming. Words have been used as weapons to attack us, to bludgeon us, to single us out and ostracize us.

“Those people” got “what they deserved.” “They” are shameful and don’t deserve the same rights. Isn’t it ironic that shaming is again showing its ugly head, this time, from within our own ranks?

Columbus is now No. 21 among US cities for new HIV infections. Like everywhere else, these are mostly among young gay men. This demonstrates again that condoms are not being consistently used by large numbers of our community.

PrEP can help us turn this number around. Not embracing it is a public health and ethical failure.

ARC Ohio enthusiastically supports PrEP as another tool in our prevention arsenal, and we have begun offering PrEP at our Dayton and Columbus medical centers this fall. ARC Ohio will do everything it can to empower individuals to live full and healthy lives. That includes trusting their decisions and encouraging them along their paths.

No matter how opponents of PrEP try to spin it, the science is clear and compelling. Taken as directed, PrEP is up to 99 percent effective in preventing HIV infection among HIV-negative individuals.

This is no different than every other medication on our pharmacy shelves: They work when you take them.

PrEP shaming within our community is a malignancy. It is ugly, destructive and perplexing. But mostly, it is a waste of our time and resources. Its campaigns, tactics and shrill tantrums cannot distract us from seizing another remarkable opportunity to create a world without HIV/AIDS. outlookohio.com

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creative class

THE BIG GAY SCREEN Dayton LGBT Film Festival Features 7 Films, 8 Shorts

by Erin McCalla

In its ninth year, the three-day Dayton LGBT Film Festival that takes place Oct 10-12 at the Neon theater has something for every letter of the LGBT community.

its large auditorium. Passes are available for the entire weekend, including the opening night party, for $50. Tickets for each movie individually are $8, and the festival is expected to sell out for a handful of screenings.

It’s a veritable queer smorgasbord.

“The least-attended screenings for the past two years have been documentaries. But both years, the films have won the audience award,” McNeal said. “It’s interesting to see that the least attended films have been the audience’s favorites. I encourage people to give films a chance that they think might be boring or they haven’t heard much about.”

Jonathan McNeal, the Dayton LGBT Film Festival director and manager at the Neon, has been involved since the festival’s inception when there were just four screenings and he made the selections himself.

This year, the opening night movie is the feature film, The Way He Looks. It started as a short film, I Don’t Want to Go Back Alone, that the Dayton festival screened a few years ago. It won the audience award for best short.

“I got feedback that it was all too serious and maybe a little too maudlin. I definitely was finding the best out there and in my opinion, the best was usually foreign material,” McNeal said. “We certainly don’t shy away from that now, but we look to make the selections a little broader with more accessible stuff, a little lighter. It’s a nice, diverse mix.”

The Brazilian film, directed by Daniel Ribeiro, is a comingof-age drama about Leonardo, a blind, gay high school student who has plans to study abroad until a new boy arrives at school and causes him to rethink his decision.

The fest will highlight both feature-length and short films, including The Foxy Merkins for the lesbians, Lilting for the gays, Appropriate Behavior for the bisexuals and 52 Tuesdays for trans people.

The festival has grown over the years, and there are currently eight screenings. A committee works together to track down films that have been popular at other festivals and asks filmmakers to submit their work for consideration.

The Neon, Dayton’s independent movie theater, seats 144 in 38

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The Way He Looks has been winning awards around the word. It won the Teddy Award - the official queer award - at the Berlin International Film Festival and the audience awards at the San Francisco and Los Angeles film fests earlier this year. Brazil has also chosen the film as its official entry into this year’s Academy Awards race.

That’s why McNeal encourages film fans to attend the Top Drawer Shorts, a collection of eight short films, on Saturday, Oct 11 at 3p. He said the shorts often are jumping

blocks for directors and windows into who may become the “next big thing.”

“People think, ‘Oh, shorts; I can see those on YouTube.’ But we purposely choose films that you don’t have the ability to see anywhere else,” he said. “They are films where you may get the inside scoop on what’s up and coming.”

This year, the closing film is Lilting, with English actor Ben Whishaw (Skyfall) in the role of Richard, a man who mourns the untimely death of his lover alongside his lover’s mother. The drama was a favorite among the committee members.

Film fans should pay attention to the festival selections, McNeal said, because the committee is often ahead of the curve.

In 2008, the festival screened Prodigal Sons in the prime Saturday evening spot. The documentary follows a trans woman who went back to her small hometown in Montana for a high school reunion and focuses on the relationship with her estranged brother. It was the least-attended screening at the festival.

“Six months later, Oprah did an hour on that woman and the documentary and we started getting phone calls asking if we would ever bring that film to town. We had to say, ‘We brought it six months ago and hardly anyone came!’ We urge people to trust our opinions because potentially, we are cooler than Oprah.”

Looks like she is totally out of toliet paper. Bummer.

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THE BIG GAY FILM SCHEDULE

man sexually and violently confronted them and a fight ensued that was caught by nearby security cameras. The women were charged with gang assault and attempted murder, and the media was quick to call them a “Gang of Killer Lesbians.” 1p.

Friday, October 10

The Way He Looks, Brazil, directed

by Daniel Ribeiro, 95 minutes Leonardo is a blind teenager yearning for his independence. After deciding to study abroad to the disappointment of his best friend, the arrival of a new student at school makes Leonardo rethink his plans.

7:30p.

Opening Night Party @ Salar Restaurant and Lounge; 400 E 5th St, Dayton, 45402: Directly following The Way He Looks. (Festival passes or tickets to The Way He Looks are required for entry.)

Top Drawer Shorts, 3p Barrio Boy, USA, directed by Dennis Shinners, 8 minutes A young Latino barber’s romantic fantasies about his cute customer must remain a private voiceover.

Bombshell, USA, directed by Erin Sanger 15 minutes A 10-year-old tomboy must grapple with her loyalty to her trusted older brother.

Dream Date, UK, directed by Andromeda Godfrey and Diana Juhr-De Benedetti, 4 minutes Two women check into a hotel for a night of fun, but is all as it seems?

Good Morning, Canada, directed by Stephen Dunn and Peter Knegt, 10 minutes A breakfast-table comedy between a man who is hung over from his 30th birthday party and the 17 year-old stranger in his apartment.

Saturday, October 11

Queens and Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo, USA, directed by Matt Livadary, 92 minutes The documentary chronicles a complete season of the International Gay Rodeo Association. Roping and riding across North America, the IGRA’s cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. 1p.

A Long Walk, USA, directed by Chinonye Chukwu, 15 minutes When a father publicly ridicules his child, a neighborhood onlooker laments over what he could have done to prevent the incident.

The Foxy Merkins, USA, directed by Madeleine Olnek, 90 minutes Two lesbian hookers make their way through a world of bargain-hunting housewives and double-dealing conservative women in this subversive buddy comedy, an homage to and riff on iconic male hustler films. 9p.

Sunday, October 12

Mum, USA, directed by Alex Bohs, 11 minutes A deaf swimmer tries to attract a guy he has his eye on but wonders if his hearing impairment will get in the way.

Scaffolding, Spain, directed by Juanma Carrillo, 14 minutes Two neighbors barely exchange words for six months until construction work forces them to share a balcony.

Trunk, Australia, directed by Jack Taylor Cox, 12 minutes Neil is an Australian college lad visiting home for his grandfather’s funeral, and there’s an elephant in the living room.

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Appropriate Behavior, UK, directed by Desiree Akhavan, 90 minutes Shirin is struggling to become an “ideal Persian daughter,” politically correct bisexual and hip, young Brooklynite. But she’s not quite Persian enough, not quite gay enough, not quite anything enough.

7:30p.

Out in the Night, USA, directed by Blair Doroshwalther, 75 minutes This documentary is about a group of young, African-American lesbians who were walking in a gay-friendly part of NYC on an August night in 2006. As they walked under the hot neon lights of tattoo parlors in the West Village, an older

Columbus Urban Pride will host a screening of Out in the Night at the Drexel in October.

52 Tuesdays, Australia, directed by Sophie Hyde, 109 minutes Already dealing with her own sexual identity, 16-year-old Billie’s reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans for gender transition. 3p.

Lilting, UK, directed by Hong Khaou, 91 minutes Set in contemporary London, Lilting tells the story of a Cambodian-Chinese mother mourning the untimely death of her son. Her world is suddenly disrupted by the presence of a stranger. Although they don’t share a common language, a translator helps to piece together the memories of a man they both loved.

5:30p.

Tickets and film trailers are available online at daytonlgbt.com. The Neon is located at 130 E 5th St, Dayton, 45402.

Call 937.222.8452.

The Crowne Plaza, across from the Neon, is offering discounted rooms for festivalgoers. It’s at 33 E 5th St, Dayton, 45402.

Call 937.224.0800. october 2014

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creative class

As Good As it Gets?

Gay Men’s Chorus, Capital Pride Band to Share Columbus Stage

by Alisa Caton

CapPride in the summer of 2006 and CGMC later that holiday seaIt’s been 25 years since five men started the Columbus Gay son. Being a part of both organiMen’s Chorus and 11 years since a lone trumpet player started zations can be a little crazy at the Capital Pride Band. times, he said, especially around Pride. But it’s the kind of hectic he enjoys.

What could be better than having both GLBT musical groups in one city? Bringing them together for their debut collaboration “I am extremely excited about the upcoming concert. I know it concert, “Does it Get Any Better?,” at the Capitol Theater on has been a long time coming, but I feel people will be in for an Oct 18 and Oct 19. evening of great entertainment and look forward to future collaborations between the chorus and band,” said Helsel, who “The planets aligned,” said Leigh Briggs, artistic director for will play his French horn and sing bass in the concert. the Capital Pride Band. “Tim Sarsany [artistic director for the chorus] has been an avid supporter of ours, coming to conThe title of the show has two meanings. While the excitement certs, and a couple years ago he came backstage and was of the partnership is obvious, the concert will end with an origlike, ‘We have to do something.’” inal piece, “It Gets Better,” by Central Ohio music teacher Adrian Helser arranged just for the joint performance. Briggs Although this is their first collaboration, Briggs said the two heard Helser perform the piece one Sunday at King Avenue groups have supported each other for years. Capital Pride United Methodist Church in Columbus and was immediately President Rick Rasko said the chorus has set the bar for the interested. success a GLBT arts group can achieve in Columbus. Briggs added: “They are the litmus test for us. We want to emulate “I was honored that Leigh appreciated my performance of the the success they have had.” piece enough to give me this incredible opportunity to have my music performed and thrilled that many more people will get to Each group will have at least 80 members on stage for the hear its message,” Helser said. “This song is so dear to me, joint performance. The strength and growth of CapPride and and I truly believe in its potential to impact and change lives.”

CGMC will be obvious both visually and musically.

The lyrics touch on one’s darkest moments, when it feels hard “It’s one of those things that for a while everyone has wanted to go on. The chorus has supported The Trevor Project, a nato do because you know what kind of power is going to come tional nonprofit for suicide prevention among GLBT youth. from it,” Rasko said.

“I have personally seen the effects of teen suicide after workThe collaboration is especially exciting for the handful of ing closely with high school students for a number of years, artists who are members of both groups. Jeremy Helsel joined and there is nothing more tragic to me than when a young per40

october 2014

It’s like gay Double Mint gum!

son feels so alone that they take their own life,” Helser said. “I feel it is our responsibility as human beings to love and support each other, regardless of sexual orientation, especially the younger generations. Even if hearing this song saves a single life, it was well worth the effort.”

“It Gets Better” will resonate strongly with those who have struggled to find comfort with their identity, said Patrick Roehenbeck, president of CGMC. “People still live in bubbles. Most of Central Ohio is a good bubble, but the rest of the country isn’t like that and we have to remember that.”

Sarsany said the message of the song will have an even greater impact when’s delivered by more than 160 voices and musical instruments. He hopes others will take the song and continue to spread its hope.

“The song is written with schools in mind, so that people can take it to programs in schools. It’s always good to not just present things but also have a gift to the community. It is something they can use to carry your message,” he said.

Tickets for “Does it Get Any Better?” at the Capitol Theater, 77 S High St, Columbus, 43215, are $25 in advance or $30 at the door and can be purchased at cappride.org or columbusgaymenschorus.com. outlookohio.com

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Man, some of that beef looks good. And I’m not talking about the sandwich!

october 2014

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deep inside hollywood

Ezra Miller

Ezra Miller Takes Role in Fake-Prison Movie

Kristen Wiig Delivers in a Dramatic Role

You can watch all the Orange Is the New Black you like, but the fact remains that real prison is unpleasant. It also turns out that fake prison isn’t a picnic, either.

Did you know that there’s a new wave of moviemaking happening in Chile’s film culture?

This was proven in 1971, when Stanford University psychology professor Philip Zimbardo - commissioned by the US Office of Naval Research - conducted his notorious experiment on two dozen male students.

The men played the roles of prisoners and guards in a days-long scenario that resulted in traumatizing psychological torture and abuse.

Elizabeth Streb

Gay director Kyle Patrick Alvarez (C.O.G.) is prepping a feature film on that dark moment in academia, The Stanford Prison Experiment. Co-written by first-timer PW Hopsidor, Edge of Tomorrow’s Christopher McQuarrie and South Park alum Tim Talbott, the movie will feature queer actor Ezra Miller (The Perks of Being a Wallflower) and Michael Angarano (The Knick).

Dance’s Daredevil in New Documentary If you care even a little bit about the world of dance then you’ll want to commit Elizabeth Streb’s name to memory.

Kristen Wiig

Her star is on the rise and with good reason. The choreographer and Out 100 honoree has been dubbed the Evel Knievel of Dance for her wild, athletic, laws-of-physics-defying style.

And now, a new documentary from filmmaker Catherine Gund, Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs.

Gravity, is coming soon to reach what will certainly be an army of new fans.

Well, there is. And one of its more successful directors, Sebastian Silva, has a couple of critically acclaimed movies you should catch up on: 2009’s The Maid and 2013’s English-language Crystal Fairy & the Magical Cactus, which starred Michael Cera.

His latest project is another English-language feature, produced by lesbian mogul Christine Vachon, titled Nasty Baby. It stars Kristen Wiig and Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat, and it’s about a gay couple (Silva and actor Tunde Adebimpe) who enlist their friend (Wiig) to help them conceive a baby.

Sounds funny, right? Well, it’s a drama. That shouldn’t shock you, because Wiig has been popping up in those lately. She most recently turned in an affecting performance in the comedy-drama The Skeleton Twins. She’s more than capable of switching gears.

So get ready: The Target Lady has a somber side, and you’re about to see a lot more of it.

Daniel Franzese Isn’t Too Gay for ‘Looking’ Mean Girls’ Damian, the young man who introduced the concept of “too gay to function,” is back.

OK, so his name’s not Damian. It’s Daniel Franzese, and he’s an actor. Mean Girls was 10 years ago (even if we just finished watching it again for the 53rd time), and Franzese has worked in critically acclaimed comedy projects like The Comeback and Party Down since then.

But none of that lessens the affection we have for his breakthrough role or the pleasure in knowing that the skinny bitches on HBO’s hit gay non-com will have to deal with, as the actor describes himself on Twitter, “the new bear in town.”

The Brooklyn-based Streb has her own dance company - STREB Extreme Action - that works through her routines like the committed, daring (and possibly a little crazy) athletes they are, soaring through the Franzese will play Eddie, a potential love interest for air via bungee cords and narrowly escaping danger- one of the characters. And that’s all we know. That’s ous objects (cinder blocks) being hurled at them. all we need to know.

Daniel Franzese

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If it all sounds like too much, then that’s exactly the point. The film began its run in September in New York and Los Angeles and then aims itself right for your face as the fall rolls on.

Danny DeVito! I love your work!

Romeo San Vicente was born to fly, too. Just never in coach. He can be reached at DeepInsideHollywood@qsyndicate.com.

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Support groups in your community that support LGBT kids.

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interview

by Gregg Shapiro Mary Lambert is grateful for her newfound popularity. The out singer/songwriter and performance poet’s swift and meteoric rise to fame occurred via her collaboration with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis on the groundbreaking song, “Same Love.”

A YouTube sensation and hit single, the song received Grammy nominations and was performed live during the Grammy telecast that included a mass-wedding of same-gender and other couples.

Shortly thereafter, Lambert released Welcome to the Age of My Body, featuring “She Keeps Me Warm,” a song that expanded on her contribution to “Same Love.”

In this interview, Lambert speaks about her career and new album, Heart on My Sleeve, out this month.

OpenHeart

Mary Lambert’s Second Album Is Out This Month

changing for me. I feel so fortunate that this is the song that will be remembered for years to come. I feel very lucky that it’s the song for which I will be known for sure.

people know me. But this felt like the absolute right thing to do. It felt so good to have two absolutely fucking fierce female MCs on it.

GS: Guest rappers on tracks are nothing new, and your song “Ribcage” features K.Flay and queer rapper Angel Haze. Why did you choose to work with them?

ML: I’m a huge fan of both of those women. I met K.Flay about two years ago in Austin during SXSW. I was such a fan of her already, and I was so excited to meet her. We really hit it off. I guested at a couple of her concerts and surprised the audience.

GS: Your torch song reinvention of Rick Springfield’s “Jessie’s Girl” is nothing short of brilliant. You take ownership of the song!

Why did you choose to cover that song?

ML: I love that song! “Jessie’s Girl” is one of my favorite songs that has ever been written.

I have equal admiration for Angel Haze. I think she’s one of the fiercest MCs making music today. ... I was hesitant to have any rap on [the album], because I would like to step out of that capacity in which

There’s the intensity behind it, when you break down the lyrics. ... I love that line, “She’s watching him with those eyes/And she’s loving him with that body.” That line is so poetic. ... I know it’s an upbeat, angsty kind of song, but I just thought, “If you’re a gay person, you’ve undoubtedly had feelings for someone who’s straight.” I felt like those feelings were similar.

Gregg Shapiro: Mary, I’m sure you’ve been asked about your Grammy performance with Macklemore and Ryan Lewis a million times, but now that there is some distance between that night and now, what was the experience like for you?

Mary Lambert: It’s a life-altering experience. Performing for that many people and being nominated for a Grammy is pivotal enough for an individual. But what the song stands for, and what I’m singing about and what I’ve written, that to me is more gratifying.

I also love the non-gender-specific name Jessie. It was so awesome to sing it. To me, the intent behind it is a little subversive, in terms of wanting to connect with the gay community in that way. But I also think taking it down-tempo and adding strings to it gave it a different kind of life.

GS: Like Beth Ditto, you have become a body image advocate, most recently launching the Body Love Campaign. What can you tell me about it?

ML: The Body Love Campaign is something I feel very strongly about. It’s just the idea of self-worth and self-care and propelling that in our culture when our culture is so invested in breaking down women; women asking for validation from men.

I don’t think it’s anybody’s fault, but I think it’s perpetuated by both genders.

Something I really wanted to attack was the fact that it starts before you are 16 or 17.

That was the peak of it for me, when I felt pressured to be somebody that I wasn’t and then feel really guilty about it. I wanted to make a declaration of “You are beautiful, just the way you are.”

But I also didn’t want to smooth over it the way a lot of other people do ... I think it’s about girls selfharming, drinking heavily and escapism because the pain of our bodies and our self-destruction.

The actual content and the social impact, it was life-

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Mary Lambert will play at the A&R Bar in Columbus on October 29.

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Good Muse

bookmark

by Tom Muzyka

TM: The story revolves around a Greek family and their lineage Vasilios Birlidis’s father used to read from Ancient Greek mythology: a him Greek myths. main focus is the mother-daughter “Unfortunately he did relationships this at bedtime, between which led to my several mother screamof the ing at him and charnumerous, acters. anxiety-filled Did you sleepless nights take infor me,” he said. spiration from your It also led to Muse Unown family dyVasilios Birlidis expected, the Columbus namics to create writer’s first novel. It’s part ancient these characters and their Greek mythology and part comingrelationships? of-age story, where ancient mythol- VB: Yes, various aspects are based ogy clashes with the modern world. on my own experiences. The relationship between Georgia and her Tom Muzyka: What was your inspi- daughter, Callie, is loosely based on ration for writing about a mythical my relationship with my own mother.

Big Fat Greek Family?

I loved my mother dearly, but our reVasilios Birlidis: [One] pool of inspi- lationship was based on the love we ration came from the many strong felt for each other and the constant men and women who have made me friction we had because we were the person I am today. My mother, very much alike. grandmother, my partner/soon-to-be husband and many more all are fea- There are also parts of Callie and tured in this book. ... It’s almost like Georgia’s relationship based on my a love letter to them, but mashed up observations between my partner in an epic adventure about the Greek Joel’s mother and his sister. I won’t gods. point out what part of their relationship is featured, because I would like I know, kinda strange. to live to see another sunrise.

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october 2014

Columbus Writer Reimagines the Gods and Monsters of Greek Mythology

Now the relationship between Callie and her daughter, Sophie, is completely taken from my observations between Joel’s sister, Christine, and her daughter, Grace. I came into their lives when Grace was 3, and I have watched the mother/daughter relationship develop over these many years.

large cliffhanger. What are your plans for this series?

VB: There aren’t a set number of books. I plan to continue to write them until I decide it’s time to stop.

TM: The love interest for Sophie, Some of the characters will remain the protagonist, turns out to be de- throughout the majority of the books, scended from a mythological crea- but there will be some big surprises ture (no spoilers on what). Do you in Book 2. like a little monster in your man?

And can we expect more sexy The world of Muse Unexpected isn’t a Greek gods in future books? stable one, and it is ripe with conVB: I have to say you are the first in- flict. As the battle between good and terviewer to make me blush. The un- evil rages, both sides will suffer horpredictability and heightened sense rific losses, and no one will be imof danger can be intoxicating. So my mune to it, including Sophie. answer would be a resounding, “YES, OH GOD, YES!” Although I TM: If you could have a power from would prefer to drop any reference to the Olympic pantheon, what would “little.” you choose?

One of the gods that has a prominent role in the next book is known for a complete abandonment of morals. He’s an embracer and promoter of debauchery. So Sophie is going to struggle with temptations she’s never felt before. I’m going to have a lot of fun with it.

TM: So the book ends on a rather

VB: That’s really a good question. As I mentioned before, the first book was to establish the Muse Unexpected world. There is a lot thrown at the reader at a neck-break speed. So I was torn on how deep I wanted to delve into the personal lives of these characters outside of the main set.

That being said, there are actually several gay characters in the book, it just hasn’t been revealed. In the second book there will be several moments where a character’s sexuality will be revealed, including several that come as a huge surprise to Sophie.

VB: Wow, only one? It would be a tossup. Eternal youth is definitely tempting, as long as it comes with a Steve Grand Body, both from a boyfriend stance and a personal one.

I won’t be holding back regarding relationships between same-sex gods, goddesses and the demigods, and there will be several contemporary themes injected into the storyline regarding acceptance of one’s self and acceptance of others.

TM: One thing I noticed in your book was that you didn’t include any gay characters. Was that on purpose to make the novel more mainstream?

Muse Unexpected is available for $14 at amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

What do you mean you don’t eat no meat? That’s OK, I make lamb.

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xxx

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OHIO LGBT NIGHTLIFE ROUNDUP BARS & CLUBS Akron Adams Street 77 N Adams St Akron, Ohio 44305 330.434.9794 adamsstreetbar.com Cocktails 1009 S Main St Akron, Ohio 44311 330.376.2625 FB: Cocktails Akron Interbelt 70 N Howard St Akron, Ohio 44310 330.253.5700 interbelt.com Square Nightclub 820 W Market St Akron, Ohio 44310 330.374.9661 squarenightclub.com Tear-Ez 360 S Main St Akron, Ohio 44311 330.376.0011 tear-ez.com Canton Crew 304 Cherry Ave NE Canton, Ohio 44702 330.452.2739 crewnightclub.com Studio 704 704 4th St SW Canton, Ohio 44702 330.453.1200 Cincinnati Below Zero 1120 Walnut St Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.421.9376 belowzerolounge.com The Dock 603 Pete Rose Way Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.241.5623 FB: The Dock Complex

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Home Base Tavern 2401 Vine St Cincinnati, Ohio 45219 513.721.1212 hbtpride.com

Mean Bull / Aura 1313 E 26th St Cleveland, Ohio 44114 216.812.3330 meanbull.com

Level Dining Lounge 700 N High St Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.754.7111 levelcolumbus.com

Right Corner 105 E 3rd St Dayton, Ohio 45402 937.223.7418 FB: rightcornerbar

Mojo 115 N Erie St Toledo, Ohio 43604 567.315.8333 mojobartoledo.com

Old Street Saloon 13 Old St Monroe, Ohio 45050 513.539.9183 oldstreetbar.com

Twist 11633 Clifton Blvd Cleveland, Ohio 44102 216.221.2333 FB: Twist Sc

Slammers 202 E Long St Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.221.8880 FB: Slammers

Stage Door 44 N Jefferson St Dayton, Ohio 45402 937.223.7418 FB: The Stage Door

R-House 5534 Secor Rd Toledo, Ohio 43623 419.474.2929

On Broadway 817 Broadway St Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.421.2555 FB: On Broadway Bar

Vibe 11633 Lorain Ave Cleveland, Ohio 44111 216.476.1970

Southbend Tavern 126 E Moler St Columbus, Ohio 43207 614.444.3386 FB: SouthBendTavern

Lima

Columbus Serpent 4042 Hamilton Ave Cincinnati, Ohio 45223 513.681.6969 serpentbar.com Shooters 927 Race St Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.381.9900 FB: Shooters Bar Simon Says 428 Walnut St Cincinnati, Ohio 45202 513.381.7577 Cleveland Bounce 2814 Detroit Ave Cleveland, Ohio 44113 216.357.2997 bouncecleveland.com Cocktails 9208 Detroit Ave Cleveland, Ohio 44102 216.961.3115 FB: Cocktails Cleveland The Hawk 11217 Detroit Ave Cleveland, Ohio 44102 216.521.5443 thehawkbar.com Leather Stallion 2205 St Clair Ave NE Cleveland, Ohio 44114 216.589.8588 leatherstallion.com

AWOL 49 Parsons Ave Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.621.8779 FB: AWOL Bar Axis 775 N High St Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.291.4008 axisonhigh.com Cavan Irish Pub 1409 S High St Columbus, Ohio 43207 614.725.5502 FB: Cavan Irish Pub Circus 1227 N High St Columbus, Ohio 43201 FB: CircusShortNorth Club 20 20 E Duncan St Columbus, Ohio 43202 614.261.9111 FB: Club 20 Club Diversity 863 S High St Columbus, Ohio 43206 614.224.4050 clubdiversity.biz Exile 893 N 4th St Columbus, Ohio 43201 614.299.0069 exilebar.com

The Toolbox Saloon 744 Frebis Ave Columbus, Ohio 43206 614.670.8113 FB: TheToolbox Saloon Tremont Lounge 708 S High St Columbus, Ohio 43206 614.445.9365 FB: Tremont Lounge

Somewhere 804 W North St Lima, Ohio 45801 419.227.7288 somewherelima.com Mansfield Sami’s 178 Wayne St Mansfield, Ohio 44902 419.522.1500 FB: Sami’s Bar Sandusky

Union Café 782 N High St Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.421.2233 columbusnightlife.com

Crowbar 206 W Market St Sandusky, Ohio 44870 419.624.0109 sanduskycrowbar.com

Wall Street Night Club 144 N Wall St Columbus, Ohio 43215 614.464.2800 wallstreetnightclub.com

Springfield

Dayton Argos 301 Mabel St Dayton, Ohio 45403 937.252.2976 Masque 34 N Jefferson St Dayton, Ohio 45402 937.228.2582 clubmasque.com MJ’s Cafe 119 E 3rd St Dayton, Ohio 45402 937.223.3259 mjscafedayton.com

Diesel Bar & Nightclub 1914 Edwards Ave Springfield, Ohio 45503 937.324.0383 FB: Diesel Bar & Nightclub

Warren Funky Skunk NiteClub 143 E Market St Warren, Ohio 44481 FB: Funky Skunk NiteClub Youngstown Utopia Video Night Club 876 E Midlothian Blvd Youngstown, Ohio 44502 330.781.9000 FB: Utopia Youngstown

BATHS Club Columbus 795 W 5th Ave Columbus, Ohio 43212 614.291.0049 the-clubs.com Flex 2600 Hamilton Ave, Cleveland, Ohio 44114 216.812.3304 flexspas.com

GET LISTED!

Toledo Bretz 2012 Adams St Toledo, Ohio 43604 419.243.1900 FB: Bretz Nightclub Legends Showclub 117 N Erie St Toledo, Ohio 43604 567.315.8333 legendsbartoledo.com

Out & About

We want to make sure all Ohio LGBT bars and clubs are included in our roundup. To update or add your listing, contact Erin at 614.268.8525 or erin@outlookmedia.com.

Listings are free.

A full calendar of October events is available at outlookohio.com.

CINCINNATI / SOUTHWEST WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 The Imperial Sovereign Queen City Court of the Buckeye Empire’s Coronation XXIII @ various locations; isqccbe.org: “From Broadway to the Big Screen” is the theme of this year’s weekend confab for the LGBT charitable group. See the website for the full list of events, which includes drag shows on Thursday and Friday, a coronation ball on Saturday and a brunch and closing party on Sunday.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 Trans Community Pumpkin Pick @ Brown’s Family Farm Market, 11620 Hamilton Cleves Rd, Hamilton, 45013; 513.549.4447; transwellness.org/ctcg: The Cincinnati Trans* Community Group will host is annual fall outing, which also will include a corn maze and hay ride ($3). The group will meet at Caracole Inc (4138 Hamilton Ave, Cincinnati, 45223) at 12:30p, or participants can go right to the farm. 12:30p-4p.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 Choirs 4 Crayons @ Music Hall Ballroom, 1241 Elm St, Cincinnati, 45202; The Cincinnati Men’s Chorus and MUSE, the Cincinnati Women’s Choir, are among 13 organizations taking part in a concert to raise money for Crayons to Computers, a group that provides school supplies to young people. 2p; $15.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17 Women’s Dance @ Cincinnati Marriott Northeast, 9664 S Mason Montgomery Rd, Mason, 45040; FB: Fall Dance at the Marriott: Mingle among friends or meet one of the 320-plus ladies coming from seven states. The night features speed-dating, DJ Kim and colored bracelets to indicate whether you’re single or in a relationship. 8p; $15-$20.

a Saturday tour of the Hale Farm and Village in Bath, the group’s 25th anniversary dinner that night at Wallace Manor in Cleveland; and Sunday brunch and a Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railway tour.

Visit the website for times and registration info.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 11 Sistah Sinema @ SPACES, 2220 Superior Viaduct, Cleveland, 44113; 216.282.4434; SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 sistahsinema.com: The group that showcases films GLSEN Greater Cincinnati Youth Summit @ North- by and about queer women of color meets on the ern Kentucky University Student Union, Highland second Saturday of every month. This month’s Heights, 41099; 866.934.9119; glsen.org/chaptheme: Zombies! Four zombie-themed short films ters/cincinnati: Registration is free for the daylong Outside, A Night in the Woods, Good Night My Love, summit that includes workshops on topics ranging and Book of Lilith - all feature queer women of from being out at school to the biology of sexuality color. 6:30p; $10. to self-defense. It’s designed for youth 14 and older, as well as adult allies. And there’s a Halloween FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 party afterward. 11a-7p.

Fangtasia Friday @ Bounce, 2814 Detroit Ave, Cleveland, 44113; 216.3357.2997; bouncecleveland.com: The costume contest winner gets $500, and everyone gets to see a performance by Discordia, an exotic female performance group that dances and plays with fire. 9:30p for the contest and 11p for Discordia’s show; cover after 11.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 8 Cleveland Out and About Full Moon Hike @ Acacia Reservation, Cedar Road, Lyndhurst, 44124; clevelandoutandabout.org: Enjoy a two-mile hike with the LGBT recreation group along a gently rolling (and paved!) path during October’s full harvest moon. 7p.

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9 LGBT Heritage Day @ Cleveland City Hall, 601 Lakeside Ave E, Cleveland, 44114; 216.651.5428; lgbtcleveland.org: As part of Cleveland’s LGBT History Month observation, the city will honor four members of the community for contributions in the fields of faith, education, advocacy and health care.

Mayor Frank Jackson will take part. 5:30p.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 Arktos Bears Staycation Weekend @ various locations; arktosbears.org: The Northeast Ohio bears group has planned a weekend of activities close to home. There’s a Friday social at Cocktails in Akron, outlookohio.com

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18, SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19 Capital Pride Band/Columbus Gay Men’s Chorus Concert @ Riffe Center Capitol Theatre, 77 S High St, Columbus, 43215; 614.325.1590 or 614.228.2462; cappride.org or columbusgaymenschorus.com: For the first time ever, two of Central Ohio’s most popular LGBT performing-arts groups are combining their talents in one show. The performance includes an original piece arranged for the historic occasion. (See Page 40 for more.) 8p Saturday and 3p Sunday; $25.

DAYTON / WEST

THURSDAY OCTOBER 17 SUNDAY NOVEMBER 2 Nina West’s Heels of Horror VII: Sunset Ghoulevard @ Axis, 775 N High St, Columbus, 43215; 614.291.4008; axisonhigh.com: Nina and the West family set up shop at Axis for three weekends to perform their over-the-top annual Halloween show.

8p (doors open at 7p); $12-$15 for single tickets, $75-$100 for tables. (Oct 18 at 5p, 9p; Oct 19 at 8p; Oct 26 at 8p; Oct 31 at 8p; Nov 1 at 5p, 9p; Nov 2 at 8p. Doors open an hour before each show.)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31 Transylvania Time Warp: The Music of Rocky Horror @ Schuster Center, 1 W 2nd St, Dayton, 45402; 888.228.3630, daytonperformingarts.org: The Dayton Philharmonic teams up with rock ensemble Jeans n Classics to perform 14 songs from your favorite cult classic about a Transylvanian transvestite. Dressing in costume is encouraged. 8p; $15-$35.

TOLEDO / NORTHWEST SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 Bowling Green Lavender Women’s Dance Party @ Simpson Building, 1291 Conneaut St., Bowling Green, 43402; FB: Bowling Green Lavender Women: DJ Amy will spin at the women-only party for singles and couples. 7:30p; $10.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 19 Equality Toledo Annual Meeting @ The Law Offices of Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Schaffer, 3516 Granite Circle, Toledo, 43617; 419.407.6225; equalitytoledo.org: All supporters of Equality Toledo are encouraged to attend. There will be a speaker from Why Marriage Matters Ohio and presentation of Equality Toledo’s Equality Awards.

COLUMBUS / CENTRAL SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 A Little Bit Country, a Little Bit Rock & Roll @ Wall Street Night Club, 144 N Wall St, Columbus, 43215; 614.464.2800; stompers.org: The Columbus Stompers, the LGBT country and western dance group puts on a show to benefit the Kaleidoscope Youth Center. Performers include Britney Blaire, Ashley O’Shea, Diamond Hunter, Brent Fabian and Hellin Bedd. 7p silent auction, 8p showtime; $50 for a table of four and $75 for a table of six.

now that her brother has died. It includes the songs “Bosom Buddies,” “We Need a Little Christmas” and, of course, “Mame.” 7p on Tuesdays, 8p Wednesdays-Saturdays, 2p on Sundays (2p and 7p on Nov 2); $40-45.

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 26 LGBT Parenting Workshop @ Grange Audubon Center, 505 W Whittier St, Columbus, 43215: The Pride Leadership Council, a United Way project to train LGBT leaders, presents a session for LGBT parents and would-be parents. The day includes activities for the children. 2:30p-5:30p.

Columbus Urban Pride Film Series: Out in the Night @ Drexel Theatres, 2254 E Main St, Columbus, 43209; FB: Columbus Urban Pride: Out in the Night follows the journey of four lesbian and gender nonconforming African American teenagers who defended themselves after being confronted in a gay-friendly New York neighborhood and ended up being convicted of assault. 6:30p.

CLEVELAND / NORTHEAST SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5 Blazing River Freedom Band: A Little Chamber Music @ Archwood United Church of Christ, 2800 Archwood Ave, Cleveland, 44109; 321.745.7420; blazingriverband.org: Cleveland’s LGBT band offers an afternoon of solos, duets, trios and quartets performing selections from classical to hard rock to pop hits. 3p.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 OSU LGBT Alumni Society Homecoming Tailgate @ Ohio Union’s Archie Griffin Ballroom, 1739 N High St, Columbus, 43210; 614.292.2281; scarletandgay.com: The annual homecoming gathering features a traditional tailgate menu and cash bar.

Noon-2p; $20 for tailgate only and $105 for tailgate and game ticket.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 Young Gay and Proud Masquerade Ball @ RadisFRIDAY, OCTOBER 10 son Hotel at the University of Toledo, 3100 Glendale SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12 Ave, Toledo, 43614; 419.383.3683: The group for Dayton LGBT Film Festival @ The Neon, 130 E 5th young, gay African American men hosts a ball with St, Dayton, 45402; 937.222.8454; daytonlgbt.com: categories ranging from Sex Siren to HIV AwareThis ninth annual film fest will highlight both fea- ness. Anyone walking in any category must include ture-length and short films that are LGBT-themed. the color red in their look to promote HIV/AIDS Show times vary; $50 for festival passes, $8 for sin- awareness. 9p-2a. gle tickets. (See Page 39 for a list of all the films to be shown.)

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23 SUNDAY, NOVERMBER 23 Mame @ The Loft Theatre, 126 N Main St, Dayton, 45402; 937.228.7591; humanracetheatre.org: The Tony Award-wining musical is about Mame Dennis and her nephew, Patrick, who she must take care of

And, of course, there will be a Halloween party at almost every bar.

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i ♥ the nightlife

Columbus is Fashion Forward in October Fashion-Themed Events Fill the Fall Calendar

Columbus’s annual HighBall Halloween - a two-day, outdoor bash on a closed-down section of High Street in the Short North - has gotten bigger and bolder this year.

Back in Style CMH Fashion Week Hits the Runway

CMH Fashion Week turns five this year, and organizers of the Columbus event have a full schedule planned. As if fashion didn’t already pique the interest of the LGBT community, fashion week will host a Drag Fashion Show at Wall Street Night Club on Oct 13, when Helena Troy and the Glamazons will stomp the runway in their trademark avant-garde looks. Here are the events for the week:

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 12

High Fashion Tea @ the Westin Columbus, 310 S High St, Columbus, 43215: The official kickoff to fashion week is a sophisticated English afternoon tea with a fashionable twist.

Noon-2p: $50.

MONDAY, OCTOBER 13

HRC Federal Club Drag Fashion Show @ Wall Street Night Club, 144 N Wall St, Columbus, 43215: Helena Troy and the Glamazons will walk the runway in their most stylish and theatrical looks. Expect a few performances thrown in. 7p-9p; free.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 15

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 16

A Bridal Affair: 2nd Annual Bridal Runway Show @ Hollywood Casino, 200 Georgesville Rd, Columbus, 43228: A mix of classic wedding styles and nontraditional looks. 7p-9p; $30$40.

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FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17

IL Moda High Fashion Showroom @ The Social Room, 527 Park St, Columbus, 43215: Mingle with fashion industry professionals like designers, models, photographers and stylists at a showroom displaying contemporary and luxury brands. 7p-9p; free.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18

Finale Runway Show @ 32 N 4th St, Columbus, 43215: The week closes with 10 designers showcasing their best work. 8p; $35-$125 for single tickets, $1,000-$1,500 for four box seats.

To purchase tickets or get more information on CMH Fashion Week, visit cmhfashionweek.com. photo: FB:CMHFashionWeek

Philanthropy Meets Fashion: Meet Althea Harper @ Columbus College of Art & Design, 60 Cleveland Ave, Columbus, 43215: Althea Harper, a contestant on Season 6 of Project Runway, will speak about her journey into fashion. 5p-7p; $35, $10 for students.

It’s Just a Graveyard Bash Along with the usual festivities of the two-day street party like the Costume Couture Fashion Show and the HighBall Runway Run, Highball has opened a High Street headquarters where revelers can recycle and purchase lightly used costumes, attend workshops and, of course, purchase tickets.

Below are HighBall events throughout October to get you ready for the spooky street party.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 1 0 How to Beat a Mug @ HighBall Headquarters, 1127 N High St, Columbus, 43201: Learn how get your hair and makeup ready for HighBall from the staffs of Phia Salon and Reverse Vanity Spa. 6p.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1 1 Thrift-uming @ HighBall Headquarters, 1127 N High St, Columbus, 43201: Having trouble coming up with a costume for HighBall? The Out of the Closet thrift store, which funds services provided by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will lend its expertise in combing the racks for a perfect Halloween ensemble. 4p.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18 From Design to Center Stage @ HighBall Headquarters, 1127 N High St, Columbus, 43201: Artist Bruce Hanners will discusses the HighBall skeleton puppets he designed and teach you how to make similar ones in this interactive workshop. 1p.

Rock Your ’80s Glam @ HighBall Headquarters, 1127 N High St, Columbus, 43201: In this workshop, the staffs from Phia Salon and Reverse Vanity Spa will teach attendees to tease hair for “mall bangs,” as well as give makeup tips to achieve your Human League look. 6p.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 24 HighBall: On the Rocks @ HighBall Party Zone: The annual tribute concert’s theme this year is “The Big ’80s,” so bust out those shoulder pads, legwarmers and high-

Got that costume figured out yet?

waist acid-wash jeans - basically raid any hipster’s closet. 6p-1a; $5 general admission, $50 VIP.

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25 HighBall Runway Run @ HighBall Party Zone: Throw on a costume and lace up your sneakers for a timed 5K run.

Prizes are awarded to the top male and female finishers and for best costumes. The registration fee includes admission to HighBall, a ticket to the Gateway Film Center and $15 off VIP tickets. 5p; $40-$50.

Costume Couture Fashion Show @ HighBall Party Zone: Eight design teams present three ready-to-wear and one over-the-top costume and will compete for the cash prize of $1,000. 6p-1a; $5 general admission, $50 VIP. Public Costume Contest @ HighBall Party Zone: Contestants can enter in any five of the categories: Fierce and Fabulous, Front Page Fashion, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Group Action and Highballer’s Choice. Listen for the call for entries throughout the night and then get to the stage for your chance to win. 6p-1a; $5 general admission, $50 VIP. For more information on Columbus’s biggest Halloween party, visit highballcolumbus.org.

Top 10 Queer Halloween Costumes 10. Batman and Robin

9. Tinkerbell and Peter Pan 8. Ellen and Portia 7. Bert and Ernie

6. Anyone from Orange Is the New Black 5. Little Dutch Boy and the Dike

4. Top Gun’s Maverick and Goose

3. Michael Sam and Jason Collins 2. Peppermint Patty and Marcie 1. Adam and Steve

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From naughty to zombie... does that include naughty zombies?

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savage love

by Dan Savage

28-year-old pan-curious married guy from the Midq I’mwestaabout to move to San Francisco. I’ve been with my wife for 10 years (married four), and we’ve started to explore being monogamish. I am also re-exploring my bi attractions.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the opportunities for reinvention that our cross-country move might provide.

Too many people stroll into their first sex club or kink party expecting to find a room full of human Fleshlights at their disposal and are shocked to find a room full of other human beings with desires, preferences and limits of their own. So taking it one step at a time, communicating clearly, and being patient isn’t just for you and your wife - it’s for anyone you play with, NNBS, even if you may never see them again.

As for messing around with men…

My wife is GGG and fully supportive, but I still feel apprehensive about getting back out there. I’d like to believe that I am not a complete fool at being charming when it comes to dating, but after 10 years of monogamy, I am worried that my sex knowledge is the sex that works for my wife and me.

And there’s the fact that I am very new to guys, with just one short-term M/M relationship and one terrible hookup under my belt.

“After 10 years of monogamy with a woman, it’s not surprising he’s apprehensive about having sex with men,” Superstar said. “That’s totally normal! But I don’t believe that sexual confidence with new partners is the key to great hookups. There are a gazillion books out there teaching people techniques for self-confidence, but most of them just teach you how to be an asshole. He should just be himself and be real. Accepting that new sexual encounters can be awkward is the first step in making them less so.”

Any tips for bolstering one’s confidence and making new sexual encounters as fun and unawkward as possible? Is there a resource for dating, hookups, culture?

Superstar took the words right out of my mouth: Acknowledging and embracing the awkwardness is the only way to get past it. You know how a drunk never seems drunker than when he’s trying to pretend he’s not drunk? Pretending you I know the basics of safe-sex practices, but I know little of aren’t feeling awkward when you are makes you seem more clubs, kink parties, Growlr/Tinder, etc. I want to slut it up awkward. in SF, but I don’t know where to start.

So practice saying, “I’m new at this, I’m a little nervous, and - Newbie (New Bi?) Slut I’m feeling a little awkward.”

first piece of advice for anyone opening up their relaa “My tionship is to take things slow,” said Polly Superstar, co-

founder and hostess of Kinky Salon, a pansexual, pan-kink, pan-everything party/space/institution in San Francisco.

“Why jump off a cliff when you can take the stairs? However supportive his wife is of his new adventures, it’s likely to bring up some unexpected emotions, so just take it one step at a time, communicate clearly, and be patient with each other.”

And while your feelings and your wife’s feelings are paramount - you are each other’s primary partners, in poly parlance - the other people you hook up with have limbic systems of their own.

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Good people - people you might want to mess around with will make an effort to put you at ease. Shitty people - people you wouldn’t want to mess around with - will do you the favor of wandering off.

But whether you want to explore with men or women, Superstar - who has something of a bias - recommends sex parties. “They’re a great place to explore because there’s no commitment. You can meet someone, make out, fool around for a bit, and if you’re not feeling it, you can go do something else.”

Savage Love appears every month in Outlook and every week at outlookohio.com. You can email Dan Savage at mail@savagelove.net, follow him on Twitter at @fakedansavage or listen to his weekly podcast, Savage Lovecast, every Tuesday at thestranger.com/savage.

Who knew? Sunday lunch at The Club? Eat up, boys!

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the divine life by Debé

Libra (September 23 - October 22) There is a lot going on in your birthday month with Mercury retrograde and the occurrence of solar and lunar eclipses. It could be a roller coaster ride for you, so keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times. It might be bumpy, but it’s exhilarating. You are savvy in business this month, and it Taurus could pay off big time. You go, girl!

(April 20 - May 20) There might be drama on the home front. A vindicScorpio tive lover might want to stir up some dirt, so kick (October 23 - November 21) him or her to the curb. Put on your power suit (not This month’s focus is on your personal health and your birthday suit) and focus on career goals inhabits. So while everyone else is indulging, you are stead. getting things under control. As annoying as that is to others, it’s good for you. If you are trying to get Gemini rid of a bad habit (or person), the time is now, (May 21 - June 20) baby.

There is a lot of emotion swirling around you. You Sagittarius (November 22 - December 21) You are quieter and more introspective than usual, focusing on love and family. That’s so unlike you that you might have to assure people you’re not sick. You’ll be back to your loud, fiery self soon enough.

Capricorn (December 22 - January 19) A lunar eclipse in your fourth house can shake up your home life, so try to be more empathetic and patient. I know that’s a little outside the box for you, but it’s good to stretch. Make an effort; I promise it’ll be worth it.

Aquarius (January 20 - February 18) There is mojo brewing early in the month, so be extra careful with communications and travel.

Navigate those obstacles and you’ll find reward and recognition later. It’ll be like winning Survivor.

Pisces (February 19 - March 20) Do you have caviar taste and a beer budget?

Spending less money on shiny things and more time contemplating the meaning of life is more satisfying. You may feel a transformation coming on - cue the drag music!

Aries (March 21 - April 19) You are a busy little beaver! The lunar eclipse has you working on a new and improved you, but keep burning the candle at both ends and you’ll singe something. That would be a shame, because your “something” is in demand.

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may be feeling warm and fuzzy toward an ex, but that’s just autumn messing with you. You might have some stress at work, but you can handle it. I know you can play nice when you need to.

Cancer (June 21 - July 22) You’ve been Ms. Independent for a while now, but it’s time to go with the flow. You might have to adapt to some career changes and deal with some annoying personalities. Don’t snap at them. Kisses will be more effective than claws.

Leo (July 23 - August 22) It’s harvest time, so you shall reap whatever you have sown over the last few months. Feast or famine? The solar eclipse on Oct 23has you focused on love and family, so I hope you tended your garden well.

Virgo (August 23 - September 22) Financial and creative opportunities come your way despite Mercury going retrograde on Oct 4. Be careful with your communication and be nice to your neighbors this month. You’ll want an invite to the fab holiday parties.

Famous Gay Libras: Truman Capote, Martina Navratilova, Dan Savage, Annie Leibovitz Handy Tip: Mercury Line This line forms underneath the pinkie (Mercury) finger. A strong line indicates strong communication skills.

In astrology when Mercury goes retrograde, communications are disrupted.

High five!

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outlook’s blog squad

Every month in print and every Monday online, we ask Outlook readers to do our work for us as members of our blog squad.

If you want to share your rants, raves or observations, join the Squad! Contact Erin McCalla at 614.268.8525 x2 or erin@outlookmedia.com.

Tom Gay, Cleveland

Top 5 Favorite Track Sayings

5. Knee drive!

4. Stick!

3. Run fast, turn left 2. If you fall, you get back up 1. My high school coach yelling, “TOM GAYYYY!”

October 6 Topic: My Gay Games 9 Experience

Brother Michael Childs, Cincinnati

Top 5 Signs I’ve Seen at Marriage Equality Rallies

5. Would You Rather I Marry Your Daughter?

4. Yep, Your Gaydar Is Accurate!

3. Unless You Are Cool With Hate, Don’t Tell Us That God Is Against Love 2. If God Hates Gays Why Did He Make Us So Cute?

1. God Loves Cupcakes

October 20 Topic: Two Questions That Demand Answers

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Cry Me a River Across

1 Recess at St. Peter’s 5 “Come, come!”

10 Cruising greeting 14 Diva Celine 15 City where they sing “Hello, Dalai”?

16 Where pirates moor 17 Start of a quote by Joan Rivers 19 Some Feds 20 Flap by an opening 21 Kahlo’s misters 23 Us, to Rilke 24 Missionary position?

27 Inside scoop 28 More of the quote 31 Ball lover 34 Suffix with exist 35 Simpson trial judge Lance 36 Goes down 40 “The Lonely Goatherd” singer 42 Last letter in London 43 Melville’s whale hunter 45 Designer Wang 46 More of the quote 51 Protected from the wind 52 Words asked with a nudge 53 Aladdin’s monkey 56 Like a porn facial 58 Not as dusty

60 Chaplin widow 61 End of the quote 64 Greek war deity 65 Cole Porter title city 66 Words said near crystal balls 67 Head-turner 68 Dr. for the children’s hour?

69 Mauresmo’s dividers

Down

1 “... farewell, auf Wiedersehen ...”

2 Like people near a leaning erection 3 Turns 4 Env. in an env., e.g.

5 They get initiated at West Point 6 TV’s “Queen of the Jungle” 7 Went to bed with 8 Wall St. bears watch it 9 Small balls 10 Infomercial urging 11 ‘50s name for a gay activist 12 Person pigging out 13 Longs, to a Samurai?

18 Cosmetics name 22 Beat barely 25 Cyclops’s singleton 26 Like Elton John’s dancer of song

So a pastor, a gold medalist and a couple of lesbians walk on to Page 54...

28 Type of top 29 Sgt. or corp.

30 Scroll for the cut 31 Cold-cock 32 Lots of people go down on them 33 Bench locale 37 Frida star Salma 38 However, briefly 39 Performed like k.d. lang 41 She had no heterosexual parents 44 One who goes after your honey 47 Find new actors for 48 Emulates Paul Cadmus 49 ___ of the Field (Poitier classic) 50 Tommy’s gun 53 Biscotto flavoring 54 “John Brown’s Body” writer 55 First indications of orientation 56 Sitcom in which Billy Crystal played gay 57 High-pitched cries, doggy-style 59 Of the same sort 62 Writer’s enc.

63 In Cold Blood writer, to pals outlookohio.com

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