SPECIAL SECTION
LGBT HISTORY MONTH
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EDITIORIAL:
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GROUPS THAT LOVE US
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page 40
pages 15 – 19
October 19, 2011 • Volume 2 • Issue 41
G R O U P S T H AT
HATE YOU
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
3
page
Dolphin Dems Awards Reception
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page
Lauderdale Film Festival
32
page
Ben Cohen Gets Personal
page 8
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FITNESS GUY:
Which Foods Burn Fat?
Winner of the 2011 Stars of the Rainbow Media Star Award
Life-and-Death Power of AIDS Funding By Sir Elton John and Sen. Bill Nelson
For several reasons, these cuts will only lead to higher costs to taxpayers in the long run. ast year, Steven Dimmick, 31, sold First, patients who lose their assistance his car and home in Jacksonville, Fla., then filed for bankruptcy pro- and are forced off HIV medications could develop drug-resistant strains of HIV — tection. He needed cash to purchase the which may well be more difficult to manage. drugs that keep him from dying of AIDS. Second, denying treatment to lowDimmick was one of the 9,039 lowincome, HIV-positive people will most likely income Americans living with HIV/AIDS who are on waiting lists to receive medica- result in increased transmission of the disease. A recent, groundbreaking study by tion through public AIDS Drug Assistance the National Institutes of Health demonPrograms. These are people with families strated that people living with HIV who and jobs — productive citizens. But they lack health insurance. And they don’t make receive effective drug treatment are 96 percent less likely to pass the virus on to enough to afford lifesaving drugs. their uninfected partners. Some have died waiting. Third, while HIV/AIDS medications are All 50 states now have assistance expensive, the emergency room and hosprograms for people with low income, living with the disease. But, in an increasing pital care required by people who do not receive them is far more costly. number, the need for these medications is Right now, more than 1 million Americans greater than federal and state funding. As a are infected with HIV/AIDS and 56,000 new result, 13 states have already reduced the cases occur every year. AIDS is the leading amount of drugs offered – and increased cause of death for young African-American the number of people on waiting lists. women in the United States. Things now look as if they are about to The epidemic has hit hard in New York, get much worse. Many states facing severe California, Florida and Texas. In Florida, for budget shortfalls are considering plans to drastically cut eligibility. Florida — with the example, one in every 205 white men, one in every 113 Latino men and one in every nation’s longest waiting list at more than 42 African-American men is HIV-positive. 3,900 people — is proposing changes in In the 30 years since the Centers for Diseligibility that would not only leave more people like Dimmick on the waiting list but ease Control and Prevention made its first cut off more than 1,600 from the program. report on AIDS, there has been enormous scientific progress in treatment and prevenFederal, state and local governments must understandably tighten their belts. But tion, but there’s still a long way to go. In these difficult times, we must not focusing on such short-term savings is horlose sight of the fact that prevention and ribly shortsighted.
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THE REGULARS
By Karl Hampe
care remain a critical weapon against this epidemic — which is why we must have affordable and accessible treatment for those living with HIV/AIDS. Until this week, Dimmick had relied on a drug company’s assistance program. But now his future — whether he continues to live with AIDS medication, or dies without it — is uncertain. He had temporarily joined the state’s assistance program but learned Wednesday of his removal again. This spring, President Barack Obama asked Congress for an increase in AIDS medication funding. The president requested $940 million for the next fiscal year. A key Senate appropriations subcommittee recently approved $900 million. In the days ahead, Congress will have to decide. On this issue, we see no reason to argue — and there’s precious little time to wait. This isn’t a partisan issue. As President George W. Bush noted in 2008, it’s a question of our moral interest. As Bush said of America’s AIDS programs, “We believe in the timeless truth:To whom much is given, much is required. And we believe that the power to save lives comes with the obligation to use it.” We believe Congress has the power — and with it the obligation — to save the lives of 9,039 Americans. Sir Elton John, the musician and songwriter, is the founder of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, which has raised more than $225 million for HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention since 1992. Sen. Bill Nelson is the senior U.S. senator from Florida, one of the states hardest hit by AIDS.
October 19, 2011 • Volume 2 • Issue 41
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Local News
Dolphins Honor Trailblazers By Denise Royal
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publisher, a Wilton Manors bar owner, an attorney and two politicians are among the honorees at this year’s Dolphin Democrats Equality for All Awards Reception. The Dolphin Democratic Club is Florida’s oldest and largest LGBT political organization. The event recognizes outstanding leaders who have demonstrated the strength to lead and a vision to improve the lives of those in the LGBT community and all deserving citizens. It will be held Sunday, Oct. 23 at the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame in Dania Beach. The evening will include a VIP Reception and cocktail reception from 6 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. There will also be a silent auction starting at 6 p.m. and ending at 7:45 p.m. A portion of the proceeds being donated will go to the Children’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center (Children with AIDS) House of Hope and Stepping Stones. “This year’s event brings together the many people who are determined to rediscover their focus and resolve in order to maintain the momentum for change engendered by President Obama, and to insure the election of those who support his agenda and the rights of the LGBT community,” said Dean Trantalis, Co-Chair of the event. Jennifer Morales and Laurie Whitaker will be honored with the Jamie Bloodworth Award. The prestigious award goes to any self-identifying woman who has shown excellent leadership in improving community relations in the LGBT Community. The two women have been together for more than 30 years. Whitaker is a co-owner of Sidelines Bar in Wilton Manors. Morales handles public relations for the bar. Sidelines has contributed to many Wilton Manors’ charitable organizations and major fundraising events including sponsoring the Florida AIDS Walk. In addition, both women have been instrumental in the Dolphin’s Get out the Vote Campaigns. Morales and Whitaker tell SFGN: “We are incredibly honored and proud to receive this award. When we opened Sidelines Sports Bar over 5 years ago, our focus was as business people working hard to be successful while giving back to our community. We never intended to receive such accolades and high praises, but it certainly is nice to be recognized in this way. Thanks must also go to an incredible staff of dedicated and hardworking
people who each day step up and make us look good!” The Trailblazer Award will be awarded to Patricia Windowmaker, Counsel to the Broward County Sheriff’s Office. She worked for transgender rights on a national level and included it in the hiring at the BSO. Windowmaker will be a newlywed when she accepts her award, after being legally married in Massachusetts to Broward Judge Lisa Porter. Peter Clark will receive the Media Award. Clark is the publisher of Hotspots Magazine. Last year, Hotspots celebrated its 25th anniversary as part of Florida’s gay community. Clark is proud to be a Founding Member of Gay and Lesbian Community Center of South Florida and equally proud to support many other community organizations. Maroone/AutoNation will receive the Humanitarian Award. Gale Butler, the company’s corporate vice president will accept the award. Maroone/AutoNation is a major sponsor of the International Rodeo, Broward House and the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival. Congressman Ted Deutch will take home the Political Alliance Award. Rep. Deutch serves Florida’s 19th district in the House of Representatives. He first won election to Congress in a special election held on April 13, 2010 and was then elected for a full term Nov. 4, 2010. Congressman Deutch co-sponsored the Student Non-Discrimination Act of 2011 to combat harassment and bullying of LGBT children in public schools. Anne Sallee, Vice Mayor of Oakland Park is being honored as well. She was selected for her hard work in the Dolphin’s Get out the Vote Campaign. It’s a crucial political time for South Florida and the rest of the state. “Florida Republicans are trying to redistrict in their favor. To win the election for the Democrats, Broward needs to register more Democrats, get them the info needed to absentee vote, and early vote in the shortened early voter timeline. Broward needs to have over a 250,000 lead to help win the state. Every GLBT person 18 and older needs to register and vote,” says Event Co-Chair Richard Cimoch.
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Tickets for the Dolphin Democrats’ Awards Reception can be purchased online at www. DolphinDems.org. Individual tickets are $75, which includes the reception, dinner awards presentation and silent auction. VIP tickets are $150 per person also includes a VIP reception.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Passages
Two LGBT Civil Rights Leaders Die Paula Ettelbrick
Frank Kameny
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Early Leader of Gay Marriage Movement
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EW YORK (AP) — Attorney Paula Ettelbrick, a pioneering advocate for gay rights, has died. According to the Stonewall Community Foundation, the 56-year-old Ettelbrick died of cancer in New York. She was the group’s executive director. The mother of two helped broaden the legal definition of family to include same-sex partners. In the 1980s, Ettelbrick argued publicly that gay and lesbian couples should have the right to marry. She was involved in a key legal victory: persuading New York City to grant domestic partner rights and benefits equal to those of traditional spouses. Ettelbrick also held top positions in groups such as the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, and the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force.
Announcement
Survey to Help LGBT Seniors
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unServe, in conjunction with the Aging Institute at Florida Atlantic University, is doing a survey of South Florida LGBT Seniors, and their caregivers. This survey will help SunServe to determine the needs of LGBT seniors and their caregivers as they face the daily challenges of aging, now and more importantly, into the future. “The greater Fort Lauderdale area has a large population of older LGBT residents, and increasingly, we are getting calls for help. These folks, of all economic backgrounds, do not want to go back into the closet. SunServe is researching how our community would like to have services delivered,”
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said Mark Ketcham, Executive Director. Please take a moment and go to SUNSERVE. ORG/SENIORS to take the anonymous survey. There is one for seniors, and one for their caregivers. Do one or both, and it takes about 1 minute to complete. The more data the better, so please share this with your friends. We will finish data collection on October 31, 2011. SunServe provides high quality services to the LGBT community; the Noble A. McArtor Senior Center, Individual and Group Mental Health Services, and a Suicide Prevention and Esteem Building program for Broward’s LGBTQ youth.
Gay Rights Leader and Founder of Mattachine Society ASHINGTON (AP) - Frank Kameny, who was fired from his job as a government astronomer in 1957 for being gay and became a pioneer in the gay rights movement, died last week at his home in Washington. He was 86. Bob Witeck, a friend of Kameny’s for three decades, confirmed his death. Kameny had been in failing health, and a medical examiner said he suffered a heart attack or heart failure, Witeck said. Witeck said plans for a memorial in November were being discussed. Kameny told The Associated Press in 2009 that his contributions to the gay rights struggle had only recently begun to sink in. He said at the time he wanted to be remembered most for coming up with the slogan “Gay is Good” in 1968 to counter an onslaught of negativism aimed at gays and lesbians. Gay rights groups mourned his passing Tuesday, noting that it came on National Coming Out Day, when many gay people celebrate coming out and encourage others to have the courage to do the same. “While so many have been impatient about the pace of progress, there was Frank, insisting we recognize that, in the last two years, he was regularly invited as a guest of honor by the very government that fired him simply for being gay,” said a statement by Rea Carey, the executive director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. Joe Solmonese, the president of the Washington-based Human Rights Campaign, a gay advocacy group, said in a statement that Kameny “set a path for the modern LGBT civil rights movement.” Kameny had been an astronomer for just five months when he was asked to meet with federal investigators. They told him they had information he was gay, and he was dismissed. Kameny didn’t leave quietly, however. He contested his firing by the U.S. Civil Service Commission by writing letters to the agency, both houses of Congress and eventually the White House. He sued and lost in lower courts, but pressed on with a lengthy brief in 1961 that is now regarded as the first civil rights claim based on sexual orientation to be brought to the U.S. Supreme Court. Soon after, he co-founded the Mattachine Society of Washington, which advocated for equal rights for gays and lesbians. In 1965, Kameny and 10 others became the first to stage a gay rights protest in front of the White House and later at the Pentagon and elsewhere. Many of Kameny’s signs as well as buttons and leaflets from that time are now housed at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. In the last years of his life, Kameny was increasingly recognized for his work as a gay rights pioneer. He was honored in 2009 during Washington’s annual Capital Pride celebration and that same year received a formal apology for being fired solely based on his sexual orientation. The apology came from the successor to the U.S. Civil Service Commission, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management. The office is headed by John Berry, who is openly gay, and Kameny attended his swearing-in. When gay marriage became legal in the U.S. capital in 2010, Kameny was at the first weddings. “Being gay has become infinitely better than it was,” he said earlier this year when documents from his collection of gay rights history went on display for the first time at the Library of Congress. “The fundamental theme underneath all of that is simply equality.”
For an extended profile, go to page 15.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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SFGN BRIEFS By Associated Press
Special Election in Iowa Threatens Gay Marriage By Mike Glover Associated Press
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ARION, Iowa (AP) _ A special election for a state Senate seat could threaten Iowa’s status as the only Midwestern state where gay couples can marry. Gov. Terry Branstad’s decision to appoint Sen. Swati Dandekar to the Iowa Utilities Board ensures Republicans will have a shot at sharing control of the Senate. Democrats have used their 26- to 24-seat majority to block a number of GOP efforts, most notably a proposed constitutional amendment to overturn Iowa’s gay marriage law. Branstad and the Republican-controlled House support beginning the multi-year process of referring a constitutional amendment to voters. A 25-to-25 split wouldn’t ensure they would succeed in the next legislative session, but their odds would improve. Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Matt Strawn says the Nov. 8 election could be the state’s most expensive legislative race.
Support for Gay Marriage Repeal in NH Falters
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URHAM, N.H. (AP) -- A new poll suggests strong support for allowing same-sex marriage to continue in New Hampshire. The WMUR Granite State poll (http://bit.
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The photos have a local connection: Santos, a professor of drawing and printmaking at San Alejandro School of Fine Arts in Havana, is currently a visiting artist at Hampshire College in Amherst, invited at the request of film and photography professor Jacqueline Hayden, who helps administer Smith College show the college’s study-abroad program in Cuba. Hayden and her husband, bookmaker Steve chronicles life of Daiber, met Santos about three years ago in gay Cubans Cuba and fell in love with his work. Through his Florence-based business, Red By Steve Pfarrer Trillium Press, Daiber has produced a bound Daily Hampshire Gazette version of the El Muro photographs. He says ORTHAMPTON, Mass. (AP) About six years ago, Cuban artist he was struck not only by the unique physical presentation of Santos’ photos _ they Eduardo Hernández Santos was were printed on outdated paper, with ``exwalking in a section of Havana near what’s hausted’’ chemistry, a function of a shortage known as the Malecón, a five-mile seafront of fresh materials in Cuba _ but by the joy wall and esplanade that stretches along the Gay Marriage Caribbean coastline from Old to Central Ha- and determination that his subjects radiate. Campaign Ends in NC vana. It’s a popular place, he says, for people “He really captures their spirit, their sense After 2 Weeks that they are not going to hide,’’ said Daiber to relax and socialize, and to escape the in a recent interview at the Smith College SHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) _ A campaign tropical heat and the crowded apartments exhibit, where he was joined by Santos. The that many share in Cuba’s capital. protesting North Carolina’s ban portraits, Daiber writes in a description One night, Santos found himself in a on same-sex marriage is wrapping in his book, show ``a historical underclass two-block section along the wall that was up after two weeks of activity in Asheville. Organizers of the ``We Do’’ campaign say distinctly different: It was a regular gathering emerging from hiding to contest efforts to control their lifestyle.’’ place for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgenthey’ll have a rally in front of the Buncombe Santos, who was born in 1966, explained der Cubans who, he says, felt empowered in County Courthouse Friday along with a through an interpreter that he spent several that setting to express themselves without blessing of same-sex couples from clergy months in 2005 getting to know the people reservation, in the face of a conservative members in attendance. who gathered at night along this section of society that had mostly ostracized them. Participants repeatedly challenged North Suddenly, Santos recalls, he felt he had to do the Malecón. He approached the project a Carolina’s laws by applying for marriage something more than be an observer: “I had bit like an anthropologist, he noted, wanting licenses in Buncombe County. Organizers to record “this moment in time,’’ but also to document this.’’ say 18 couples were denied licenses while In his photo exhibit, “El Muro’’ (The Wall), wanting to show something of the spirit his two were allowed to register their marriage subjects projected. on display at the Smith College Museum of licenses from other states. “They knew they were being photoArt through Nov. 2, Santos has done just Next May, voters will be asked whether a that. The photos, purchased by the college in graphed, and they were proud of that,’’ he said. People who otherwise might be the past year and exhibited publicly for the cautious about expressing their sexuality, he first time in the United States, consist of 10 added, “were not afraid to be who they were large-scale black-and-white portraits of the when they came out here at night.’’ people Santos came to know in 2005. Shot The images, all shot against a dense black entirely at night with a flash, the luminous backdrop _ much of Havana tends to be images _ of homosexuals, cross-dressers, underlit at night, due to electricity shortages transgenders _ are presented as triptychs, _ include some straight-on portraits, like with each portrait flanked by images of the sea wall, on which Santos has superimposed the one Santos calls his favorite, ``Marilyn & Manson,’’ two women who are adorned in text from Cuban writer Virgilio Pinera. The photos have impressed critics in Cuba leather, body piercings and rings. In another, a woman flaunts her rear end as she dances, and several other countries; some see the in high heels, on top of the wall, while people backdrop of the sea wall as a metaphor for near her laugh. a societal barrier that many non-straight The text that Santos added to the accompeople face. As Professor Anca Cristofovici of panying photos of the sea wall is drawn from the University of Caen, France, wrote, ``It is the extended poem ``La Isla en Peso’’ (The such invisible walls that Eduardo Hernández Santos’ powerful work brings into visibility. His act of courage and his artistic accomFor the complete article, plishment should be hailed by the community go to: sfgn.com/gaycubans of human beings throughout the world.’’
ly/pctLIF) shows that 50 percent of state residents are strongly opposed to repealing the law that made gay marriage legal in 2009. Twenty-seven percent support repealing same-sex marriage. The percentages are similar to a poll asking the same question in February. The University of New Hampshire Survey Center conducted the poll of 500 randomly selected adults by phone from Sept. 26 through Oct. 2. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percent. Eight percent of residents said they thought legalizing same-sex marriage had a major effect on the state, 38 percent said they thought it had a minor effect, and 47 percent said it had no effect.
ban on same-sex marriage should be written into North Carolina’s constitution. Supporters of the ``We Do’’ campaign say Asheville is just the beginning. They plan to roll out similar protests across the South next year.
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
National News
courtesy of lambda legal
Supreme Court Decision Leaves Unmarried Parents in Limbo
Jon Davidson
By Lisa Keen
Keen News Service
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he U.S. Supreme Court on October 11 refused to hear a case that challenged a sort of “back door discrimination” against a gay couple by a Louisiana state official. The case, Adar v. Darlene Smith, was filed by Lambda Legal Defense on behalf of a gay couple who sought an amended birth certificate for a Louisiana boy they adopted in New York. Couples who adopt children routinely seek amended birth certificates to establish the legal relationship between the parents and the child. Louisiana’s Registrar, Darlene Smith, routinely grants them to heterosexual married couples. But Smith refused to provide Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith (no relation to the registrar) with an amended certificate, saying she was barred from doing so by a Louisiana law prohibiting unmarried couples from adopting. Given that most states do not allow gay couples to marry, the Louisiana law discriminates against same-sex couples and their children in an indirect way. (Adar and Smith lived in New York before that state allowed same-sex couples to marry; they now live in California, which does not currently enable them to marry.) But the inability to obtain an amended birth certificate can have direct consequences, making it more difficult for the parents to verify their family relationship to schools, medical providers, insurers, and even law enforcement and customs officials. Jon Davidson, legal director for Lambda
Legal, said he believes Louisiana’s Registrar would have refused the amended birth certificate even if the gay couple had been able to marry in New York. He notes Louisiana also has a constitutional amendment that bars recognition of same-sex relationships. “I believe they would say that Louisiana does not recognize their marriage… so that the couple, for purposes of Louisiana law, is still unmarried,” said Davidson. “Their position likely would be that they do not provide amended birth certificates reflecting the names of two unmarried parents and they consider this couple unmarried.” Lambda had argued that the state official’s refusal to grant the amended birth certificate violated the couple’s right to equal protection of the law, as well as the “full faith and credit” clause of the U.S. Constitution. The “full faith and credit” clause requires that, “Full faith and credit shall be given in each state to the public acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other state.” Lambda said that covers the state’s Registrar; but, Louisiana argued that it covers only courts and judges, not non-judicial officers. And, in an 11 to 5 vote, the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals agreed. By refusing to hear Lambda’s appeal of the 5th Circuit ruling, the U.S. Supreme Court allows that ruling to stand for the three states of the 5th Circuit Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. But Jenny Pizer, legal scholar for the Williams Institute, said the implications are “potentially very substantial.” “As states continue to diverge with some offering full equality to LGBT people and others still moving firmly in the other direction,” said Pizer, “interstate questions are likely to proliferate, especially with respect to family issues involving same-sex couples, transgender people, and their children.” Pizer noted that the U.S. Supreme Court takes only a “tiny fraction” of the cases brought to it each year and that it is also possible the high court will wait until a different circuit court rules differently from the 5th Circuit to take an LGBT-related full faith and credit case. “But it’s difficult for those affected during that process,” said Pizer, “especially when a new limiting principle newly closes courthouse doors and the needs of parents and children are ignored and, in most instances, ultimately denied.”
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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COVER STORY
18 Anti-Gay Groups Three of these groups are in Florida with one right in our backyard
By Evelyn Schlatte
Southern Poverty Law Center
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Coral Ridge Ministries Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
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he late Rev. D. James Kennedy started turning fundamentalist Coral Ridge Presbyterian into a mega-church in the 1960s, adding Coral Ridge Ministries (CRM) as its action arm in 1974 and claiming some 10,000 members by the 1990s. During the fiscal year ending in June 2009, CRM raised almost $18 million and spent more than $6 million of that on television and radio outreach efforts. Over the years, Kennedy emphasized anti-gay rhetoric, particularly in his TV ministry. He recommended as “essential” the virulent work of R.J. Rushdoony (see Chalcedon Foundation, above), who believed practicing gays should be executed. In an especially nasty 1989 edition of a CRM newsletter, Kennedy ran photographs of children along with the tagline, “Sex With Children? Homosexuals Say Yes!” After Kennedy died in 2007, Coral Ridge Presbyterian seemed to change course, merging in 2009 with New City Presbyteri-
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Jarrett Terrill
ven as some well-known anti-gay groups like Focus on the Family moderate their views, a hard core of smaller groups, most of them religiously motivated, have continued to pump out demonizing propaganda aimed at homosexuals and other sexual minorities. These groups’ influences reach far beyond what their size would suggest, because the “facts” they disseminate about homosexuality are often amplified by certain politicians, other groups and even news organizations. Of the 18 groups profiled below, the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) will be listing 13 next year as hate groups (eight were previously listed), reflecting further research into their views; those are each marked with an asterisk. Generally, the SPLC’s listings of these groups is based on their propagation of known falsehoods claims about LGBT people that have been thoroughly discredited by scientific authorities and repeated, groundless name-calling. Viewing homosexuality as unbiblical does not qualify organizations for listing as hate groups.
an Church under its pastor, Tullian Tchividjian, a grandson of evangelist Billy Graham. Tchividjian began to move the church away from divisive social issues; some 500 members of Coral Ridge, including Kennedy’s daughter, left as a result. Today, Tchividjian says that the church, with 2,400 congregants, is entirely separate from CRM. CRM, however, has continued its hardline course. In 2009, it hired anti-gay activist Robert Knight as a senior writer and Washington, D.C., correspondent. Knight has used the work of discredited researcher Paul Cameron (see Family Research Institute, below). In one recent essay on the CRM website, he argued against allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the military, saying that “Bible-believing Christians would quickly find themselves unwelcome in Barney Frank’s new pansexual, cross-dressing military.”
(Hector Padron, CRM’s executive vice president, wrote last May that such a change would post a “grave threat to the military.”) In 2002, before joining CRM, Knight wrote that gay marriage “entices children to experiment with homosexuality” and that accepting homosexuality leads to “a loss of stability in communities, with a rise in crime, sexually transmitted diseases and other social pathologies. Still another is a shortage of employable, stable people.”
Dove World Outreach Center Gainesville, Fla.
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he Dove World Outreach Center was founded in 1986 by Don Northrup and described itself as a “total concept church” in which all would be served. But Northrup died in 1996, and his successor brought in
long-time Northrup associate Terry Jones as Dove’s leader in 2001. Since then, Jones has spouted increasingly vicious attacks on gays and Muslims, culminating in a plan that drew worldwide condemnation this September to hold an “International Burn a Koran Day.” Jones and his family had spent some 20 years in Cologne, Germany, running a church that was allied with Dove. When he was asked to take over the Gainesville church, he apparently divided his time between the two until 2008, when the Cologne church was closed amid criticism of Jones by its congregants. Jones pushed himself into the headlines last March, when he surrounded Dove with signs aimed at Craig Lowe, a Gainesville city commissioner who was running for mayor, that said “No Homo Mayor.” After an electioneering complaint was filed with the IRS (nonprofit churches cannot intervene in political campaigns), Jones had the signs shortened to the more generic “No Homo.” At one point, Jones and 30 of his congregants joined an anti-gay rally by the Westboro Baptist Church, which runs the Godhatesfags.com website and regularly pickets the funerals of U.S. soldiers, saying God is killing soldiers because America is a “fagenabling” nation. Jones is also the author of a book entitled Islam is of the Devil, and he has used that phrase on another set of signs posted around his church and sent his followers’ children to school in T-shirts bearing that slogan. (The school refused to let the children wear the shirts, and the ACLU filed suit against it as a result.) He regularly repeats the phrase on his “Braveheart Show,” an Internet video program where he asserted last April that “[h]omosexuality makes God throw up.” Jones and his tiny congregation became momentarily famous this September, when he said he would burn Korans to protest Islam, which he describes as “an evil religion.” The threat drew public condemnation from Gen. David Petraeus, the commander of U.S. troops in Afghanistan, and several leading members of the Obama Administration, and sparked anti-U.S. rallies in Muslim countries. In the end, Jones withdrew his threat and rapidly sank back into political obscurity.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
COVER STORY
and Their Propaganda Liberty Counsel Orlando, Fla.
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reated in 1989, Liberty Counsel is affiliated with Liberty University Law School in Lynchburg, Va., a legacy of the late conservative icon Jerry Falwell. It was founded and is still chaired by Mathew (Mat) Staver, who also serves as director of the Liberty Center for Law and Policy at Liberty University, and provides legal assistance with regard to religious liberty, abortion and the family. The organization may be best known for its campaigns to ensure that “public displays of religion” are maintained during the Christmas holiday, and it has adopted broad right-wing views, including the allegation that the Obama Administration has a “socialist liberal agenda.” But it also has focused heavily on anti-gay activism. In 2009, J. Matt Barber, formerly with Concerned Women for America and Americans for Truth About Homosexuality (see above for both), joined Liberty Counsel as director of cultural affairs (also becoming Liberty University’s associate dean for career and professional development). A year earlier, Barber had argued that given “medical evidence about the dangers of homosexuality,” it should be considered “criminally reckless for educators to teach children that homosexual conduct is a normal, safe and perfectly acceptable alternative.” The Counsel also has been active in battling same-sex marriage, saying it would destroy the “bedrock of society.” In 2005, the group’s blog said: “People who … support the radical homosexual agenda will not rest until marriage has become completely devalued. Children will suffer most from this debauchery.” A 2007 blog posting said same-sex marriage would “severely impact future generations.” Like other anti-gay groups, Liberty Counsel argues that hate crime laws are “actually ‘thought crimes’ laws that violate the right to freedom and of conscience” an opinion rejected by the Supreme Court. In fact, the laws raise penalties for crimes already on the books assault, murder and so on that were motivated by hatred of people based on their sexual orientation. They do not, and could not under the Constitution,
punish people for voicing opinions. Since 2006, Liberty Counsel has also run its “Change is Possible” campaign with Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays to protect people who say they’ve changed from gay to straight from “discrimination” by “intolerant homosexuals.”
Heterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment Downers Grove, Ill.
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eterosexuals Organized for a Moral Environment (HOME) was founded by 62-year-old Wayne Lela, a former Catholic who now describes himself as an agnostic. Until recently, the 20-year-old group has had a fairly low profile. The group, which is entirely focused on the alleged evils of homosexuality, attacks gay people on a wide variety of levels. But it keeps coming back to the idea that gay sexual activity should be illegal. “[P]enalizing people for engaging in homosexual behavior is clearly not discrimination, just like penalizing people for exhibitionism or incest is not discrimination,” HOME’s website says. In a second website comment, it adds, “[H]eterosexual activity is not illegalizeable … while homosexual activity is definitely illegalizeable.” And in a third, it insists that “legalizing homosexual deviations” leads to a “confused and sick society.” HOME doesn’t stop there. It says that gays should apologize “for all the STDs [sexually transmitted diseases] they’ve spread, and all the money those STDs have cost, and especially for setting bad moral examples for our children.” It accuses homosexuals of having a “pathological attitude” toward the opposite sex. It says homosexuality shouldn’t have been removed from the American Psychiatric Association’s list of mental disorders. It says gays threaten free speech because they seek hate crime law protections. It argues that gay film directors are working to “condition men to bond with other men at the expense of women.” And it claims that pedophilia and necrophilia are a sexual orientations like homosexuality, going on to suggest that they could therefore be legalized. And then there’s this: Freemasonry may be connected to “the homosexual movement,”
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
with members evidently engaging in sodomy and “homosexual orgies.” Thus, HOME says, there is a “very real possibility that this group is using its influence to try to impose pro-homosexual ‘values’ on the public.”
Abiding Truth Ministries Springfield, Mass.
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biding Truth Ministries serves mainly as a launching pad for an international anti-gay campaign. Its founder, Scott Lively, is also responsible for a book, widely cited by gay-bashers, accusing homosexuals of running the Nazi Party. Lively first emerged as an anti-gay activist when he became communications director for the Oregon Citizens Alliance, which was backing that state’s notorious Measure 9 vote in 1992. The measure, which failed, would have added language to the state constitution listing homosexuality, along with pedo-
philia and masochism, as “abnormal behavior.” Lively later served as California director of the American Family Association, another particularly hard-line anti-gay group. Lively is best known for co-authoring, with Kevin Abrams, The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party. The book makes a series of claims that virtually no serious historian agrees with: that Hitler was gay, that “the Nazi Party was entirely controlled by militaristic homosexuals,” and that gays were especially selected for the SS because of their innate brutality. The claims are entirely false; in fact, the Nazis murdered significant numbers of gays and made homosexuality a death penalty offense in 1942. In the foreword, Abrams adds that homosexuality is “primarily a predatory addiction striving to take the weak and unsuspecting down with it. … They have no continued on page 10
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Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
continued from page 9
idea of how to act in the best interests of their country… . Their intention is to serve none but themselves.” Lively has taken his message abroad to Eastern Europe (see Watchmen on the Walls, below), Africa and Russia. In a 2007 open letter to the Russian people, he asserted that “homosexuality is a personality disorder that involves various, often dangerous sexual addictions and aggressive, anti-social impulses.” In 2009, he went to Uganda to speak at a major conference on the evils of homosexuality, saying, among other things: “The gay movement is an evil institution. The goal of the gay movement is to defeat the marriage-based society and replace it with a culture of sexual promiscuity.” He also met with Ugandan lawmakers. A month after Lively left the country, a bill was introduced that called for the death penalty for certain homosexual acts and prison for those who fail to disclose gays’ identities. In 2008, Lively started the Redemption Gate Mission Society, a church that seeks to “re-Christianize” the city of Springfield, Mass., where he lives.
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mericans for Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) was formed as a part-time venture in 1996 by long-time gay-basher Peter LaBarbera, who reorganized it in 2006 as a much more serious and influential, if often vicious, operation. A one-time reporter for the conservative Washington Times, LaBarbera has been an energetic campaigner against “the radical homosexual agenda” since at least 1993, when he launched The Lambda Report, which claimed to do first-hand reporting to expose its gay enemies. Over the years, he has been an official with Accuracy in Media, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council and the Illinois Family Institute (see below for the last three). He left the Illinois Family Institute, where he’d been executive director, in 2006. AFTAH is notable for its posting of the utterly discredited work of Paul Cameron (of the Family Research Institute; see below), who has claimed that gays and lesbians live vastly shorter lives than heterosexuals. Among the Cameron propaganda published by AFTAH are 2007 claims that gays and
P e r s o n a l I n j u ry • f r e e c o n s u ltat I o n
lesbians in Norway and Denmark live 24 fewer years than heterosexuals. Reviewing that claim, Danish epidemiologist Morten Frisch found that it had no scientific basis. LaBarbera himself, in 2002, compared the alleged dangers of homosexuality to those of “smoking, alcohol and drug abuse.” Similarly, AFTAH’s website carries essays describing homosexuality as a “lethal behavior addiction,” a “dangerous” practice that is “neither normal nor benign.” In 2007, LaBarbera claimed there was “a disproportionate incidence of pedophilia” among gay men yet another false assertion. The same year, he posted an open letter to the Lithuanian people from long-time gay-basher Scott Lively (see Abiding Truth Ministries, above), who has made a series of false claims about gays running the German Nazi Party. In the piece posted to the AFTAH website, Lively said homosexuals are trying to take away free speech from all opponents of gays and to silence all religious opinions on the matter. The AFTAH site repeats bogus claims like the idea that a proposed bill in California would “promote cross-dressing, sex-change operations, bisexuality and homosexuality” to kindergartners and other children. And it ran anessay that falsely asserted that hate crime laws would “restrict our speech.”
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Led since 1986 by Gary DeMar, American Vision is one of the primary exponents of the doctrine of “Christian Reconstruction” the idea that the U.S. was founded as a “Christian nation” and that its democracy should be replaced with a theocratic government based on Old Testament law. As a practical matter, that means American Vision, which describes its goal as “restor[ing] America’s Biblical foundation,” backs the death penalty for practicing homosexuals. DeMar has modified that dictum slightly in the past, saying that homosexuals wouldn’t all be executed under a “reconstructed” government, but that he did believe that the occasional execution of “sodomites” would serve society well because “the law that requires the death penalty for homosexual acts effectively drives the perversion of homosexuality underground, back into the closet.” More recently, while hosting American Vision’s “The Gary DeMar Show” in December 2009, Joel McDurmon, the group’s research director, agreed that the Bible does call for killing homosexuals. And, he said, “when most of a society is Christian, is biblical, then it [execution of
COURTESY OF CHICAGO INDEPENDENT MEDIA CENTER
18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA
AFTAH leader Peter LaBarbera
gays] is perfectly normal; it should definitely be in place.” In April 2009, DeMar said: “Homosexuals aren’t content with only having the bedroom. They have taken their perversion into the classrooms, teaching that such practices are normal. There is nothing normal about what homosexuals do.” DeMar, who was closely allied with the late D. James Kennedy of Coral Ridge Ministries (see below), is a central figure in Reconstruction theology, which was founded by R.J. Rushdoony (see Chalcedon Foundation, below). He is co-author of Christian Reconstruction: What It Is, What It Isn’t with Gary North. DeMar has also said that a “long-term goal” should be “the execution of abortionists and their parents.” Islam is another enemy, he said in August 2010: “The long-term goal of Islam is the abolition of our constitutional freedoms.”
Concerned Women for America Washington, D.C. San Diego, Calif., activist Beverly LaHaye, whose husband Tim would go on to become famous as co-author of the Left Behind novels depicting the end times, started Concerned Women for America (CWA) in 1979 to create an anti-feminist group that matched the power of the National Organization for Women. Today, CWA claims more than 500,000 members organized into state chapters, a radio program that reaches more than 1 million listeners, and a cadre of attorneys and researchers devoted to the group’s mission of promoting biblical values. LaHaye has blamed gay people for a “radical leftist crusade” in America and, over the
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
18 ANTI-GAY GROUPS AND THEIR PROPAGANDA values and to harass, sue and punish people who disagree.” Last year, CWA accused the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), a group that works to stop anti-gay bullying in schools, of using that mission as a cover to promote homosexuality in schools, adding that “teaching students from a young age that the homosexual lifestyle is perfectly natural … will [cause them to] develop into adults who are desensitized to the harmful, immoral reality of sexual deviance.”
American Family Association Methodist minister Donald E. Wildmon formed the National Federation for Decency in 1977, changing its name to the American Family Association (AFA) in 1988. Today, the group, which was taken over by Tim Wildmon after his father’s 2010 retirement, claims a remarkable 2 million online supporters and 180,000 subscribers to its AFA Journal. It also broadcasts over nearly 200 radio stations. The AFA seeks to support “traditional moral values,” but in recent years it has seemed to specialize in “combating the homosexual agenda.” In 2009, it hired Bryan Fischer, the former executive director of the Idaho Values Alliance, as its director of analysis for government and policy. Taking a page from the anti-gay fabulist Scott Lively (see Abiding Truth Ministries, above), Fischer claimed in a blog post last May 27 that “[h]omosexuality gave us Adolph Hit-
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
courtesy of cwa
years, has occasionally equated homosexuality with pedophilia. In 2001, she hired prominent anti-gay propagandists Robert Knight (now with Coral Ridge Ministries; see below) and Peter LaBarbera (now with Americans for Truth About Homosexuality, above) to launch CWA’s Culture and Family Institute. Matt Barber was CWA’s policy director for cultural issues in 2007 and 2008 before moving on to similar work with the Liberty Counsel (below). While at CWA, on April 12, 2007, Barber suggested against all the evidence that there were only a “miniscule number” of anti-gay hate crimes and most of those “may very well be rooted in fraudulent reports.” In comments that have since disappeared from CWA’s website, Barber demanded a federal probe of “homosexual activists” for their alleged fabrications of hate crime reports. CWA long relied on and displayed Knight’s articles and talking points, including claims that “homosexuality carries enormous physical and mental health risks” and “gay marriage entices children to experiment with homosexuality.” Most remarkably, Knight cited the utterly discredited work of Paul Cameron (see Family Research Institute, below) to bolster claims that homosexuality is harmful. Today, CWA continues to make arguments against homosexuality on the basis of dubious claims. President Wendy Wright said this August that gay activists were using same-sex marriage “to indoctrinate children in schools to reject their parents’
CWA predisent Wendy Wright
ler, and homosexuals in the military gave us the Brown Shirts, the Nazi war machine and 6 million dead Jews.” (Ironically, the elder Wildmon was widely denounced as an anti-Semite after suggesting that Jews control the media, which the AFA says “shows a genuine hostility towards Christians.”) Fischer has described Hitler as “an active homosexual” who sought out gays “because he could not get straight soldiers to be savage and brutal and vicious enough.” He proposed criminalizing homosexual behavior in another 2010 blog post and has advocated forcing gays into “reparative” therapy. In a 2010 “action alert,” the AFA warned that if
homosexuals are allowed to openly serve in the military, “your son or daughter may be forced to share military showers and barracks with active and open homosexuals.” Gays aren’t the AFA’s only enemies. In late 2009, Fischer suggested that all Muslims should be banned from joining the U.S. military. “Islam is a totalitarian political ideology,” Fischer added in August 2010. “It is as racist as the KKK. ... Allowing a mosque to be built in town is fundamentally no different that granting a building permit to a KKK cultural center built in honor of some King Kleagle.” A little later, according to the Huffington Post, Fischer said that whatever the government does to “to make it unthinkable for America’s youth to join a white supremacist group,” it should also do “to make it as unthinkable for a resident of America to embrace Islam.” Around the same time, the Huffington Post said, he blogged that Muslim values are “grossly incompatible with American values,” and therefore no place in America should allow a mosque to be built. And then there are the promiscuous. On his May 26, 2010, radio show, Fischer recounted the biblical story of Phineas, who used a spear to kill a man and a woman who were having sex. Citing the nation’s “rampant sexual immorality,” Fischer said, “God is obviously looking for more Phineases in our day.” For the complete article, go to: sfgn.com/hate
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Another Former ‘Ex-Gay’ Therapist Repudiates Controversial Practice By Ryan Lenz
Southern Poverty Law Center
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submitted photo
ohn Smid, the former executive director of a prominent “reparative therapy” practice that seeks to turn gays straight, has repudiated the practice after years preaching that homosexuality is a sickness. In a piece published last week on the website of his new ministry, Grace Rivers in Germantown, Tenn., Smid expressed disgust at “Christians pervert[ing] the gospel Rehabilitation scene from the movie A Clockwork Orange as it relates to homosexuality.” He went on to castigate “ex-gay” therapists for sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that peddling a philosophy that “homosexuals sexual orientation can be changed.” Such therapeutic practices have much to aren’t welcome in the kingdom unless they do with battling the gay rights movement by repent (which many interpret to change.)” “One cannot repent of something that is trying to prove that sexuality is a choice, rathunchangeable,” Smid wrote. “I’ve never met er than an immutable characteristic like race a man who experienced a change from ho- or gender. If sexual orientation is a choice, after all, that means people can change who mosexual to heterosexual.” Such sentiments were not born suddenly they’re attracted to and religious right orfor Smid, and, in fact, had been develop- ganizations can portray themselves as mereing since he left Tennessee-based Love in ly seeking to keep people away from “sinful” Action (LiA) three years ago. It was there, practices. Some ex-gay programs have also Smid wrote, that he sought refuge from his become full-fledged propaganda machines own sexuality. “I tried my hardest to create depicting gays as sex-addicted, mentally ill heterosexuality in my life but this also cre- and/or stunted heterosexuals. As it happens, the Southern Poverty Law ated a lot of shame, a sense of failure, and discouragement. Nothing I did seemed to Center yesterday joined Truth Wins Out, an organization that opposes ex-gay therapy, change me into a heterosexual.” It’s a remarkable statement, considering in rolling out a national campaign targetSmid’s history. For years, he sat on the board ing conversion therapy centers across the of Exodus International, a major umbrella country. In the coming weeks, a series of group that now represents about 270 ex-gay community meetings will be held in Maryministries in 18 countries. In a 2007 piece land, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., about the growth of ex-gay ministries across for survivors of the practice to share their the United States, the Intelligence Report stories survivors who are in many ways also noted that Smid was then running the like Smid and other practitioners who have LiA compound in Memphis that subjected abandoned their ways. And Smid is hardly many who had come for “treatment” to les- alone in giving up on reparative therapy. In June 2007, for example, three former sons aimed at correcting their sexuality lessons that focused on things like throwing leaders of Exodus International issued an apology for harming those they had claimed a football and changing motor oil. Such lessons and many more that mimic to help. “Some who heard our message were the bizarre therapies depicted in the cult film compelled to try to change themselves and “Clockwork Orange” make up the core so- their families. Although we acted in good called reparative therapy. Based on a founda- faith, we have since witnessed the isolation, tion of pseudo-science, the practice has been shame, fear and loss of faith that this mescalled sharply into question by virtually all sage creates,” Darlene Bogle, Michael Busmajor American medical, psychiatric, psy- see and Jeremy Marks, each Exodus leaders, chological and professional counseling orga- wrote at the time. In the weeks and months ahead, perhaps nizations. In 2006, for example, the American Psychological Association criticized the many more will come to the same conclupractice by declaring, “There is simply no sion.
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Jesse’s Journal
Who Really Wrote Frankenstein? Oresteia: The Medwin‑Shelley Translation by Aeschylus, translated by Percy Bysshe Shelley & Thomas Medwin; Edited and with Foreword by John Lauritsen; Pagan Press; 192 pages; $14. Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus, translated by Thomas Medwin & Percy Bysshe Shelley + Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley; Edited and with Foreword by John Lauritsen; Pagan Press; 211 pages; $16.
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n 2007, John Lauritsen published The Man Who Wrote Frankenstein, in which he argued that it was Perry Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and not his second wife Mary, who wrote that great novel. “The evidence,” Lauritsen says, “both textual and extra-textual, conclusively shows that Mary Shelley had neither the imagination nor the technique to write ‘Frankenstein.’ Every page of ‘Frankenstein’ shows the hand of Shelley: his ideas, imagination, passion, and mastery of prose.” Not surprisingly, Laurit-
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sen’s book caused some controversy among academic and feminist circles. This “academic reaction,” Lauritsen believes, is “due to two things: 1) Mary Shelley was an icon, a sacred cow, to academic feminists, and 2) many or even most of the leading scholars of English Romanticism were invested in what I call ‘the Mary Shelley myth.’ That is to say, reputations were at stake.” “Frankenstein” was not the first time that Lauritsen wrote about, or published, the works of Shelley. “My personal interest in Shelley began when I first read his translation of Plato’s Dialogue on Eros: ‘The Symposium’ (or what Shelley titled ‘The Banquet’). This greatest of Plato’s dialogues, devoted to male love, came fully alive, and I was hooked. Since then my admiration has increased for Shelley’s principled radicalism, his atheism, his imagination, and his mastery of both poetry and prose.” In 2001 Lauritsen’s Pagan Press -- which he founded in 1982 to “publish books of interest to the intelligent gay man” -- published an edition of Shelley’s translation of Plato’s “The Banquet.” Lauritsen and his Press continue in this tradition with two more volumes of Shelley translations from the Greek; this time of plays by Aeschylus (524-456 BC). The first volume, “Oresteia,” contains the Oresteia trilogy: Agamemnon, Choephori (or Libation Bearers), and Eumenides (or Kindly Ones). The second volume, a veritable Promethean feast, includes Aeschylus’s play “Prometheus Bound,” along Shelley’s own poem “Prometheus Unbound,” an appreciation of the same by John Addington Symonds, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s poem “Prometheus.” In translating Aeschylus, Shelley collaborated with his cousin, Thomas Medwin (1788-1869). Both the “Oresteia” and the “Prometheus” translations were published after Shelley’s death by Medwin, who then and since has gotten sole credit for those translations. Lauritsen uses both biographical and textual evidence to argue that Shelley’s contributions to these editions are at least as significant as his cousin’s: “No other English poet was capable of the brilliant versification on display in the Aeschylus translations. Shelley’s hand is also manifest in the dialogue passages, where he masterfully uses pentameter (the meter of Chaucer and Shakespeare) as he did
wikimedia
By Jesse Monteagudo
Portrait of Percy Bysshe Shelley by Amelia Curran, 1819
in his own poems, most notably ‘Prometheus Unbound.’” These are not “slavishly literal, word-for-word translations” but recreate “the full and entire sense the energy, wit, irony and pathos of the original.” As a gifted translator on the level of Pope and Dryden, Shelley produced translations that are poetic masterpieces in their own right; ones that “could effectively be put on the stage.” Though Shelley married (eloped) with two women Harriet Westbrook and Mary Godwin and was linked to others, Lauritsen is convinced that Shelley was gay, or at least bisexual. Actually, Lauritsen “insists on using ‘gay’ to comprise both the exclusively gay and the ‘bisexual’ categories. A gay man is aware of, acknowledges and accepts, his erotic attraction to other males, and it is irrelevant whether he is also attracted to females, or is capable of having sex with them. The main evidence for Shelley’s gayness is in the many homoerotic references in his works, some of them coded and intended only for the ‘initiated,’ but others remarkably direct.” The “one great love of his [Shelley’s] life was Thomas Jefferson Hogg, with whom Shelley wrote a subversive pamphlet that caused both men to be expelled from Oxford. Shelley’s letters to Hogg, Lauritsen tells me, were written in anguish and heart-felt sincerity.” Shelley’s last “beloved
friend,” Edward Ellerker Williams, drowned with him in a boating accident in the Gulf of Spezia (July 8, 1822). Both men were cremated; their ashes were mixed (like lovers) and buried in the Protestant Cemetery in Rome. There is enough in these Pagan Press editions to interest any intelligent gay man. In fact, as Lauritsen points out, “all of the authors and artists in my two latest books were or are gay: Aeschylus, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas Medwin, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, John Lauritsen, and Jerry Harding, who did the cover art for ‘Oresteia.’ The eroticism of the painting used for the ‘Prometheus’ cover strongly suggests that the artist, Jean-Louis-Cesar Lair was also gay.” From reading Shelley’s writings or translations, an intelligent gay man will get “pleasure from the sounds, images and ideas of great poetry.” Visit PaganPressBooks.com/jpl for more info. Jesse Monteagudo, Senior Features Correspondent, has been a writer, journalist and South Florida resident for almost 50 years. His articles, essays, interviews and short stories have appeared in three dozen publications and an equal number of anthologies. He and Michael Greenspan, his partner of 26 years, are active in the LGBT community. Jesse can be reached at jessemonteagudo@comcast.net.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
LGBT
History Month
Frank Kameny: Gay Rights Leader and Preserver of History By Jesse Monteagudo
tion, one which led to the APA’s 1973 ike many of you, I mourn the passing of Dr. Franklin Kameny, who passed decision to remove homosexuality from away on October 11 at 86 years its list of mental illyoung. I wrote about Kameny in 2006, nesses. He also ran when he donated his personal papers for Congress as an to the Library of Congress. Here is that openly gay candidate article, slightly revised: and co-founded both History - and the LGBT community for the National Gay which they did so much - have neglected Task Force and the the pre-Stonewall “homophile” activGay Rights National ists. Even today many histories of the gay Lobby, which is now movement begin with the Stonewall Riots the Human Rights of 1969, thus ignoring decades of groundCampaign. Author breaking political, educational and social Frank Kameny in Paul Russell discredwork. With a few exceptions, activist leadJune 2009 ited himself when he ers of the 1950’s and 1960’s are ignored; left Kameny out of their achievements unrecognized or forgot“The Gay 100,” his controversial list of noten by the GLBT generations who came table lesbians and gay men. Russell, however, after them and to who they owe so much. did include Madonna. Hopefully, posterity will be kinder to Political pressure has kept government Franklin Kameny (1925-2011). A one-man libraries, archives and the Smithsonian Inhistory of the LGBT movement – “I have stitution from preserving and exhibiting the become something of a walking history history of LGBT Americans. Thus many of us book” -- he said - Kameny has been at the were delightfully surprised center of events for when the Library of Conthe past fifty years. In gress graciously accepted the 1950’s Kameny on October 6, 2006 Frank challenged the fedKameny’s donation of eral government after his personal papers and it fired him from his historic artifacts. Kameny’s job as an astronomer unique gift to the nation with the Army Map consists of over 70,000 Service on account of letters, documents and his homosexuality. In memorabilia that Kameny, the sixties, Kameny and a self-described pack rat, Jack Nichols founded amassed for over half a the Mattachine Society century in his Washington, of Washington, D.C., a D.C. attic. then-militant group that “Nearly fifty years ago, fought U.S. government the United States Governand military discriminaKameny running for Congress in 1971 ment banned me from tion and led the first employment in public service because I am queer protests in front of the White House a homosexual,” Kameny said. “This archive and the Pentagon and Liberty Hall in Philais not simply my story; it also shows how delphia. It was Kameny who, in 1966, coined gay and lesbian Americans have joined the the then-radical slogan, “Gay Is Good.” American mainstream story of expanded In the 1970’s, Kameny waged a campaign civil liberties in the 20th century. Today, by against the American Psychiatric AssociaPhoto by Kay Tobin Lahusen courtesy Jack Nichols collection
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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accepting these papers, the nation preserves not only our history but marks how far gay and lesbian Americans have traveled on the road to civil equality.” Incredibly, Kameny was not eligible for a federal tax deduction for his unprecedented donation. Fortunately, grants from former Congressman Michael Huffington (Arianna’s ex), Charles Francis and other philanthropists made Kameny’s generous gift possible. “This is the real deal, Frank,” said Francis, who also heads the Kameny Papers Project. “This means that the papers are going from Frank’s attic to the nation’s attic.” The Kameny Papers include half a century’s worth of letters, government correspondence, testimony and photographs. Replicas of some of those documents, as posted in the Kameny Papers Project’s Web site (KamenyPapers.org), indicate the breadth of Kameny’s activities and interests. Here are some of Kameny’s early testimony before committees of Congress, his letters to influential congressmen and said congressmen’s outraged responses. “In all my six years of service in the United States Congress, I have not received such a revolting communication,” wrote an appalled Rep Charles E. Chamberlain of Michigan. Kameny’s memorabilia collection includes
photos of early gay rights demonstrations, groundbreaking court decisions and early issues of the Washington Mattachine newsletter, “The Homosexual Citizen.” The Kameny papers are housed in the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress (loc.gov/rr/mss), where they are available to historians and researchers. Not included in Kameny’s impressive donation are six placards that Kameny used in his demonstrations in front of the White House and the Pentagon, a campaign poster announcing Kameny’s run for Congress, and half a dozen pamphlets from the early 1960’s. After he considered spreading his wealth around various LGBT archives and libraries, Kameny decided to donate these precious items to the Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, which is the largest collection of its kind south of Washington, D.C. Stonewall gratefully gave Kameny its Heritage of Pride Award, an honor that allowed the good doctor to visit Fort Lauderdale for the first time. He had visited Miami in 1977, during Miami-Dade County’s “gay rights” referendum campaign. Kameny’s donation to the Stonewall National Museum and Archives is indicative of that organization’s increasing importance as a repository of LGBT movement material.
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LGBTMonth History
LGBT Past, Present & Future Lives at Stonewall National Museum By Denise Royal
Knicely may be new to Stonewall, but he’s not new to museums. Previously he worked GBT history comes alive at the Stoneat the Museum of Art in Fort Lauderdale. wall National Museum and Archives. Prior to relocating Fort Lauderdale, he was The good, the bad and the ugly are showcased in the most comprehensive library the president of the Greater Columbus Arts of gay and lesbian materials. From the success- Council in Columbus, Ohio and assistant ful campaign to end “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” to director and accessibility coordinator for the the Stonewall riots and Anita Bryant’s anti-gay Maine Arts Commission in Augusta, Maine. He’s received many awards for his past campaign in Miami, it’s all there. creative work and service including ManWhat began as a small pioneering library ager of the Year in State Government at the in 1973 has grown into a national historic Maine Arts Commission (twice) along with and cultural institution that documents the two Golden Arrow Awards and two Silver accomplishments and struggles of the past while looking ahead to the future.The archives Arrow Awards from the Maine Public Relaare rows and rows filled with boxes of photos, tions Council. He says the staff at Stonewall comprises of buttons, news clippings, anything and everyhimself and one other person. The museum thing documenting LGBT history. gets a lot of help from volunteers. People are Bryan Knicely is Stonewall’s president since always needed to work at the library’s front April. Knicely has a Master of Arts from Ohio desk and the museum is always looking for State University, and was trained at the Harvard Business School in Performance Measure- people that have marketing, design and library science experience to lend their time. ments for Effective Nonprofit Organizations. These days the venue is on its way to becoming a “must-see” for tourists, locals and anyone who wants to learn more about LGBT history and culture. Among the many treasures in the archives are an extensive pulp fiction collection; organizational records of local, regional and national LGBT organizations; personal records of local and national personalities; and film, audio and oral histories. “Our focus is on everything, not just on things that happened since the Stonewall riots. There are not a lot of artifacts out there. People did not know what to save or what not to save. We encourage people to send us what they have.” Recent acquisitions include a copy of Walt Whitman’s 1876 “Two Rivulets.” It’s one of only 100 leather bound copies. It’s personalized by Whitman and contains handwritten changes to the text. Another important new item is a Susan B. Anthony handwritten fourpage letter written in January 1888. The letter was sent to a woman’s suffrage advocate inviting him to a special gathering of other pioneering leaders of women’s liberation. New items arrive by the box load every week. Knicely credits Chief Archivist Paul Fasana for organizing each item. “He knows everything in the archives. It’s pretty miraculous,” he said. Stonewall’s circulating book collection
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Denise Royal
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includes more than 20,000 titles and each week new items are added.The circulation DVD collection contains more than 1,000 titles, ranging from classic gay cinema to the most recent releases. Stonewall members are able to check out books and movies. Members can also read the more than 60 national and regional periodicals available in the library’s John Graves Reading Room. Membership costs $35 for individuals and $50 for families.
Stonewall’s circulating book collection includes more than 20,000 titles and each week new items are added. The circulation DVD collection contains more than 1,000 titles, ranging from classic gay cinema to the most recent releases.
After their Florida showings, Stonewall’s Museum exhibitions travel extensively and have received national attention. Knicely describes them as Stonewall’s “best kept secret.” Each one tells a story of based on items in the archives. Some of the past exhibits include The Harlem Renaissance: As Gay as It Was Black, Stonewall:The End of the Beginning of Gay Liberation and Days Without Sunshine: Anita Bryant’s Anti-Gay Crusade.
Throughout the year, Stonewall hosts readings, lectures and book signings by LGBT authors. Separately, four writer’s workshops are held each year, designed to help both established and aspiring writers hone their craft. Each Friday, there’s a film series that highlights LGBT cinema. The Stonewall National Library and Archives will honor Elaine Noble and Joel Burns with their Stonewall Heritage of Pride and Stonewall Spirit of Pride Awards at its Our Stars event on November 11. Elaine Noble, who in 1975 became the first openly gay person in American history to be elected to a statehouse, and “Man of the Year” Joel Burns, the Fort Worth City Councilman whose tearful speech on bullying to his colleagues was seen by over two million people around the world on YouTube. The event will exhibit new items for the archives donated by celebrities including Carson Kressley, Barney Frank, the Hat Sisters, Martina Navratilova and Lily Tomlin. Tickets for the event are still available.You can email info@stoneallnationalmuseum. org for more information. Stonewall is funded in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners. The library also receives grants from other organizations, private donors and memberships. Stonewall National Museum & Archives is located at 1300 East Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33304. Visit the museum online at StonewallNationalMuseum.org or on Facebook for more information.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
LGBTMonth History
Col. George Middleton: Black Revolutionary War Hero By Kevin Trimell Jones
Exclusively for South Florida Gay News National Gay History Project
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uring the time of the American Revolution, George Middleton (1735-1815) was recognized as a great fighter for liberty and independence, and a respected leader among the community of blacks living in Boston, Mass. Local politicians, neighbors and other contemporaries viewed him as a central figure in promoting and garnering freedoms while advancing America’s cause. Throughout his life, Middleton possessed an unconventional style of leadership, a commanding voice and an encompassing presence that motivated the allegiance of those connected to him. Middleton stands out in Boston and queer histories because of his relationship and the home he built and shared with Caribbean friend Louis Glapion. According to the History Project’s “Improper Bostonians: Les-
bian and Gay History from the Puritans to Playland,” Middleton and Glapion maintained a peculiar relationship. As bachelors, they “built the oldest standing house on Beacon Hill,” and “lived together until 1792, when Glapion married and the house they shared was divided in two.” In 1781, Middleton married Elsey Marsh. According to the 1790 census record, Middleton was the head of household for a family of three. While there exists no concrete proof that Middleton and Glapion had a romantic relationship, it was common at the time for gays and lesbians to marry individuals of the opposite sex and have children, while maintaining separate same-sex relationships. At his time of death, Middleton left his possessions to his “true friend Trimstom Babcock.” Life was probably nothing short of interesting on Beacon Hill. Middleton and Glapion live in a home together. Glapion, who was from the French West Indies, ran a hair salon
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
out of the house, and maintained the business throughout his years (his wife later ran the business from 1813-32 at the Middleton House). The home probably served as a central place for community organizing and other social gatherings for the early abolitionist movement. Lydia Maria Child, one of their white neighbors, recalls the house being “thronged with company.” Middleton’s home is a featured stop on the Boston AfricanAmerican National Historic Site tour. For the most part, Middleton was wellliked and received by most of his neighbors. Child’s father, who had a “natural compassion for the ignorant and the oppressed,” always greeted Middleton. He enjoyed listening to Middleton play the violin each summer evening, and would often visit the Middleton home to see Middleton’s “power in subduing mettlesome colts.” Despite this recognition and respect from her father, Child stated that Middleton was “not a very
good specimen of the colored man,” and had questionable morals for being “passionate, intemperate and profane” — perhaps attributes that would later advance Middleton’s causes for independence. During the American Revolution, Middleton used his leadership abilities to command The Bucks of the Revolution, an all-black regiment of volunteers assigned to protect Boston from sabotage and guard the property of local merchants. While the unit and Middleton’s rank are left unrecorded in official military records, these men and their contributions standout. In fact, Gov. John Hancock and his son presented the unit and it colonel with a flag of distinction to acknowledge their efforts. The ensign was a painted silk, and included the initials J.H. and G.W. (likely for John Hancock and For the complete article, go to: sfgn.com/middleton
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submitted photo
© Jane Philomen Cleland
© Equality Forum
LGBTMonth History
Daniel Hernandez Jr.
Victoria Kolakowski
“I don’t think I’m a hero—the heroes are people who spend their entire lives trying to help others.”
“I have been very fortunate to have a successful career as a public servant, and I feel an obligation to serve my community as a role model as well.”
National Hero b. January 25, 1990
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niversity of Arizona student and congressional intern Daniel Hernandez Jr. garnered national recognition when he saved the life of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. President Obama acknowledged him for his heroism. Raised in Tucson, Arizona, Hernandez has two younger sisters. His mother is a Mexican immigrant and his father is a first-generation Hispanic American. Hernandez became politically energized in response to Arizona’s immigration policies and worked on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. Thereafter, he began his studies in political science at the University of Arizona. While attending college, Hernandez served as a campaign manager for State Representative Steve Farley, the minority leader in the Arizona State House. Hernandez is an openly gay member of Tuscon’s City Commission on GLBT Issues. He worked with the Arizona Students’ Association to lobby the state legislature for students to be excused on Election Day to vote. Hernandez met Congresswoman Giffords while working on her 2008 election campaign. He began as her congressional intern shortly before Giffords and 18 other people were shot in January 2011. Hernandez is credited with saving the congresswoman’s life. He stepped into harm’s way and used his emergency medical training to keep Giffords alive until the paramedics arrived. In his words, “It was probably not the best idea to run toward the gunshots, but people needed help.” His actions resulted in President Obama and others calling him a national hero. He rejects the honor in the belief that any good person would have done exactly the same. Hernandez spoke to a crowd of more than 27,000 people and 500 media outlets at “Tucson:Together We Thrive,” the memorial event for the shooting victims. At the event, President Obama acknowledged Hernandez and invited him as the guest of the president and first lady to the 2011 State of the Union. Equality Forum presented Hernandez with the 2011 National Hero Award. He resides in Tucson and plans to devote his career to public service.
David Kato
Judge b. August 29, 1961
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ictoria Kolakowski is the first openly transgender person to be elected a trial judge in the United States. Born in Queens, New York, Kolakowski graduated from Stuyvesant High School. She was the first person in her family to attend college. Kolakowski earned master’s degrees in biomedical engineering, electrical engineering, public administration and divinity. She received a law degree from Louisiana State University. In 1990, Kolakowski moved to Berkeley, California. She served on the Oakland Budget Advisory Committee and was an administrative law judge for the California Public Utilities Commission. In 1994, the East Bay Lesbian/Gay Democratic Club named her Woman of the Year. In 1995, she received the Outstanding Woman of Berkeley Award. In 2010, Kolakowski campaigned for a judgeship on the Superior Court of Alameda County, California. She won by 10,000 votes. Her victory was significant, not only for the transgender community, but also for women, who occupy a small percentage of judgeships. She received Equality California’s Equality and Justice Award. Kolakowski co-chaired the Transgender Law Center, an organization dedicated to the well-being and protection of transgender individuals. She serves on the California Council of Churches and is a volunteer clergy member at the New Spirit Community Church. In 2004, Kolakowski married Cynthia Laird, editor for the Bay Area Reporter. The couple lives in Oakland, California.
Activist b. February 13, 1964 d. January 26, 2011 “What they’re doing now is to make it more harsh on people, anyone promoting homosexuality is being criminalized.”
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avid Kato was the founder of Uganda’s LGBT civil rights movement. He was an outspoken advocate for equality in a country with some of the harshest anti-gay laws. His murder brought global attention to the plight of LGBT people in Uganda and Africa. Kato and his twin brother were raised in a conservative family in a small Ugandan village. He recalled being brainwashed to believe “it was wrong to be in love with a man.” He attended some of Uganda’s best schools before moving to South Africa in the mid-1990’s to pursue a teaching career. Inspired by South Africa’s LGBT civil rights movement, Kato became an activist. In 1998, intent on dismantling the homophobia, Kato returned to Uganda, where homosexuality is a crime punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment. Uganda’s minister of ethics and integrity stated, “Homosexuals can forget about human rights.” Despite the risks, Kato held a televised news conference pressing for LGBT civil rights. As a result, he suffered several arrests and beatings. Undeterred but cautious, Kato continued to lead the movement while supporting himself as a teacher. In 2004, he cofounded Sexual Minorities Uganda Group (SMUG), Uganda’s first LGBT civil rights organization. In 2009, the Ugandan legislature proposed a bill designating the death penalty for homosexuality. The following year, a Ugandan national newspaper published the names and photographs of gay rights activists, including Kato. It explicitly called for homosexuals to be executed by hanging. Four months later, Kato was bludgeoned to death in his home. Local authorities claim his death had nothing to do with his sexual orientation. In response to Kato’s death, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said, “This crime is a reminder of the heroic generosity of the people who advocate for and defend human rights on behalf of the rest of us—and the sacrifices they make.”
This page brought to you by Equality Forum. Each day in October they are featuring a different LGBT icon on their website at LGBThistorymonth.com
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
LGBTMonth History
George Washington: Gay-Friendly Father of Our Country By Victoria A. Brownworth
Exclusively for South Florida Gay News National Gay History Project
New York Public Library
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ea Party leaders have taken a revisionist view of early American history, insisting that the Founding Fathers were not revolutionaries and radicals, but arch-conservatives. Among the Republican presidential contenders for 2012, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Rep. Michele Bachmann both contend the men who built America (with slaves who were, according to Bachmann, deeply grateful to be slaves) were red-staters before there were even states. Delving into the Founding Father’s own papers indicates something altogether different. Some of the Founding Fathers leaned right, but the majority were antimonarchists, Freemasons and atheists who held what modern historical language would term a secularist and globalist view. In some cases — like George Washington’s — this included a strongly gay-friendly attitude. Among the Founding Fathers there were definitive class biases. Most of these men, like Washington (1732-99) and Thomas Jefferson, were wealthy land- and slave-owners who led aristocratic lifestyles and were elitist toward the “lower” classes. (Washington noted in a letter, for example, that those not of the upper classes were to be “treated civilly” but to be kept “at a proper distance, for they will grow upon familiarity, in proportion as you sink in authority.”) Socialists these men were not.Yet some of their personal ethics and standards would reveal that they were more open to what would be considered a “modern,” 21st-century perspective on life, love and sexuality than might be presumed in the stodgy, postPuritan 18th-century colonies. This was particularly true of Washington, whose stance on homosexuality, which at the time was punishable by imprisonment, castration and even death throughout the colonies, was noticeably — even dramatically — relaxed in comparison to many of his cohorts. His personal correspondence and diaries bear this out. As his letters (over 17,000 have been collected at the University of Virginia) and diaries affirm,Washington was above all a pragmatist. That pragmatism made him a superb military strategist and also increased his wealth as a
Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart
Virginia landowner long before he headed the Continental Army or became the first president (president, as he refused to be made king, because of his anti-monarchist stance). Washington’s views on democracy, liberty and the codified “pursuit of happiness” that current U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy cited specifically in his ruling in Lawrence v.Texas (2003), which overturned federal sodomy laws, were straightforward. Washington’s letters, diaries, military papers and conversations with friends and colleagues of his era were all succinct: He believed in freedom with discipline; he was left-leaning, but no anarchist. He looked the other way on matters that may have otherwise raised eyebrows when it was the pragmatic thing to do, as he would throughout his tenure as both military leader and leader of the nation. One of these issues was homosexuality in the military. Many historians have tried to place Washington on the modern political spectrum in revisionist categories, but Washington was a diligent, even obsessive recorder of every detail of his life down to minutiae of his personal, military, political and even agricultural experiences. His own records of his life and that of his milieu stand for themselves. In 2007, Washington’s home in Phila-
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
delphia was excavated in an archeological dig, reviving questions about his slaveholding in the first White House in Philadelphia. An example of Washington’s shift in personal politics, however, is his stance on slavery. When Washington was 11, his father died, leaving him 10 slaves. Washington increased his slaveholding between wars to more than 100 slaves as he acquired land in Virginia as a monied aristocrat. But then he inserted a codicil to his will that his slaves — 318 in all — were to be freed upon his death. Such acts were contrary to the Southern politic on slaveholding and Washington died in 1799 — well before abolition had taken hold in the country. Even more dramatic, however, was Washington’s stance on homosexuality, which evolved well before his views on slavery as has been chronicled by historians and military documents (Washington’s own and others) from Valley Forge. It’s impossible to overstate the impact Washington had on both the founding of the nation and, of course, the winning of the Revolutionary War. Part of Washington’s genius as a strategist was his ability to rally troops — literally. All the documentation from the era states without equivocation that Washington inspired tremendous loyalty in all levels of his military. By all accounts, a man’s man, Washington was superb at all kinds of sport. Considered the best horseman of his time — Jefferson wrote extensively about Washington’s prowess — and one of the strongest men any of his compatriots had ever met, his feats of strength were regularly recorded. That personal strength combined with a strength of purpose and integrity; he had values and he didn’t waver on those. This is what drew other men to him and what made him a great leader. Washington’s letters state that he was less than thrilled with marital life (“not much fire between the sheets”) and preferred the company of men — particularly the young Alexander Hamilton, who he made his personal secretary — to that of women, as his letters attest. His concern for his male colleagues clearly extended to their personal lives. This was especially
true of Hamilton, who he brought with him to Valley Forge, giving Hamilton a cabin to share with his then-lover, John Laurens, to whom Hamilton had written passionate love letters, which are still extant. Washington himself had married late for the time — at 28 — and to a wealthy widow, Martha Custis. They raised her two children from her first marriage, but had no children of their own. (Washington was thought to be sterile either from a bout of smallpox or a fever in childhood.) Letters of Washington’s make clear that while he cared deeply for Martha and her children, there was no passion between them. Nor are there records of Washington’s dalliances with other women, as there are with Thomas Jefferson, for example, who was a womanizer with both colonial and slave women. For the complete article, go to: sfgn.com/washington
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Steve Jobs on the Meaning of Life W
hen I was 17, I read a quote that went something like: “If you live each day as if it was your last, someday you’ll most certainly be right.” It made an impression on me, and since then, for the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?” And whenever the answer has been “No” for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something. Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no rea-
son not to follow your heart. About a year ago, I was diagnosed with cancer. I had a scan at 7:30 in the morning, and it clearly showed a tumor on my pancreas. I didn’t even know what a pancreas was. The doctors told me this was almost certainly a type of cancer that is incurable, and that I should expect to live no longer than three to six months. My doctor advised me to go home and get my affairs in order, which is doctors’ code for “prepare to die.” It means to try to tell your kids everything you thought you’d have the next 10 years to tell them in just a few months. It means to make sure everything is buttoned up so that it will be as easy as possible for your family. It means to say your goodbyes. I lived with that diagnosis all day. Later that evening I had a biopsy, where they stuck an endoscope down my throat, through my stomach and into my intestines, put a needle into my pancreas and got a few cells from the tumor. I was sedated, but my
Wikimedia / Matt Yohe (talk)
Apple Founder’s Memorable Address to Stanford Grads
wife, who was there, told me that when they viewed the cells under a microscope, the doctors started crying because it turned out to be a very rare form of pancreatic cancer that is curable with surgery. I had the surgery, and I’m fine now. This was the closest I’ve been to facing death, and I hope it’s the closest I get for a few more decades. Having lived through it, I can now say this to you with a bit more certainty than when death was a useful but a purely intellectual concept: No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because death is very likely the single best invention of life. It is life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true. Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They
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somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary. When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors and Polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: It was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions. Stewart and his team put out several issues of The Whole Earth Catalog, and then when it had run its course, they put out a final issue. It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early-morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitch-hiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay hungry. Stay foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. And, now, as you graduate to begin anew, I wish that for you. Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
‘ F ootloose’ So Much Gayer than You Thought Film’s director and star on updating a classic, its subliminal gayness and the making of a new heartthrob
Courtesy of Paramount Pictures
By Chris Azzopardi
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ootloose is known just as much for its dancing as it is for the guy who did most of it: Kevin Bacon, who played Ren McCormack in the cult classic. But there’s a new heartthrob cutting loose on the dance floor in director Craig Brewer’s remake of the 1984 film. Meet Kenny Wormald, a professional dancer out of Los Angeles who knows what he’s in for with his first film: lots of gay fans. The 27-year-old, who stars alongside Burlesque actress/Dancing with the Stars winner Julianne Hough, takes on the star-making lead role, about a big-city boy moving to a small town where the local community rules that the root of so many problems is dancing. So, they ban it. How could something so harmless be illegal? There’s more to it than you think, Brewer tells us, discussing how the point of Footloose may have more to do with gay rights. Sitting down in a Detroit hotel suite, the Hustle & Flow director – along with Wormald, who said he’s ready for all the gay adoration (if you saw him face-to-face, you’d
know he has no choice) – also chatted about the missing shower scene, what was so gay about the ’80s and how you don’t have to be gay to get footloose. Craig, what were important updates to make to a film that’s over 25 years old? Craig Brewer: The biggest update was the thing that initially bumped with me about doing a remake, because I’m sure there are plenty of people who are angry and asking why we’re doing this – I was one of those people. The head of the studio called me to say, “I just refuse that you’re not going to do Footloose. You have the story, you have the music, you have complete creative control over this. What’s your Footloose?” That made me stop and think. Footloose was the most important movie to me in my young adult life; it really made me who I was. I was a kid in community theater, a singin’-anddancin’ kid, and seeing that movie was an important seminal moment for me when I was 13.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
I thought to myself, “If I did Footloose, I needed to make it less about God damning kids to hell for dancing.” It wasn’t so much about the ban on dancing as much as – what’s kind of our new American pastime – overreacting. So if something happens, we make a bunch of laws. But sometimes those laws cause more harm than they do good, and it usually takes somebody outside of the tragedy, outside of the whole town trauma, to say, “This is actually not right. This should be my right – I should be able to dance anyway I want.” It’s another way of looking at the gay rights struggle. CB: That may have been part of the intention all along. Dean Pitchford wrote the original movie and the lyrics of the song, and I think there was something there – that you could be a guy who wore a skinny tie and spiky hair and go to a school that does not dress this way, that you know is going to make fun of you for being really into gymnastics. There is a defiance that Ren McCormack represented. As a kid who
grew up in the ’80s with gay friends, Ren McCormack was a hero. People refer to it as a gay movie at times because of the dancing and the cheese factor, to some extent, and I understand that and I get it – but there’s a bigger theme there, which is, are you respectful and mature and confident in your own self that you can stand up in front of people and say, “Hello, my name is Ren McCormack”? After giving us so much Justin Timberlake skin in Black Snake Moan, I was very sad to see the notorious shower scene cut out of this Footloose. CB: I am so glad you brought that up! So glad! (To Kenny) I don’t know if you know what he’s talking about, but let’s just say if the camera went down just an inch you’d see some junk.
For the complete article, go to: sfgn.com/footloose
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
By Brian Swinford
Have an event you want to list? If so send me an email at Calendar@sfgn.com.
*denotes new listing
Theatre Broward County
*THRILL ME: The Leopold and Loeb Story
Based on the true story of Leopold and Loeb, the so-called thrill killers who murdered a young boy in 1924 in order to commit the perfect crime. While this crime was previously depicted in the film dramas Hitchcock’s Rope and Compulsion, this is the first musical version, and reveals the couple’s mutual sexual attraction. Takes place Oct. 21 to Nov. 20. Visit Risingactiontheatre.com
Paula Poundstone
Comedian Paula Poundstone in concert Saturday, Oct. 22 at The Mardi Gras Casino in Hallandale Beach. It’s impossible to attend a Poundstone performance without marveling at her ability to interact spontaneously with audience members in conversations bound to garner riotous laughter. Visit Playmardigras.com
Beauty and the Beast
The most beautiful love story ever told comes to life at the Broward Center on Nov 15-27. Based on the Academy Award winning animation feature film, this eye popping spectacle has won the hearts of over 25 million people worldwide. Visit BrowardCenter.org
Palm Beach
The Brundibár Experience
Ms. Weissberger will speak about her experiences as a young Jewish girl coming of age in 1940’s Czechoslovakia as a prisoner in the Terezin concentration camp, Hitler’s “Model Ghetto” on Oct. 22. Ela was chosen to play the role of the cat in Hans Krása’s children’s opera, Brundibár, performed over fifty times by the children of Terezin. Visit Kravis.org
Mamma Mia!
Mamma Mia! Is the ultimate feel-good show. On the eve of her wedding, a daughter’s quest to discover the identity of her father brings three men from her mother’s past back to the Greek island they last visited 20 years ago. The show features many of ABBA’s timeless songs. Oct. 25-30. Visit Kravis.com
STAGE DOOR
By J.W. Arnold Finally, a degree someone can really use!
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aomi Wilzig, owner and curator of the World Erotic Art Museum in Miami Beach, was recently bestowed the degree Honoris Causa Doctor of Art in Erotology and Sexuality by The Institute for Advanced Study of Human Sexuality, the “Harvard” of human sexology study -- not surprisingly located in San Francisco. The degree was conferred based on Wilzig’s “lifelong contribution to humanitarian causes of art education” and her creation of “a magnificent collection and museum,” said president Robert Theodore McIlvenno. Wilzig has been a strong advocate for the LGBT community. To learn more, go to WEAM.com.
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
This morality play about the cost of lying and the price of truth telling, examines a troubled family and a father who placed duty to his family above the lives of others, and now must face the consequences. This play is showing at The Palm Beach DramaWorks Clematis Theater Nov. 12 through Dec. 11. Visit PalmBeachDramaWorks.org
Turn off the TV Theatre: The Good Life!
Every Saturday at The Luna Lounge in Lake worth for an evening of community Theater featuring burlesque, variety, comedy, and entertainment. Turn off the TV Theater hosts an evening of entertainment in downtown Lake Worth Florida! The dinner theater offers a 3-course meal and two shows every sat night. Dinner at 8:30 p.m. and shows at 9:30 p.m. Visit Turnoffthetvtheater.com
Miami
*Horror at Honeymoon featuring: Bare
The BARE sound is a product of deep roots in rock, west coast hip-hop (as part of the Vital Mindz collective) and aggressive drum ‘n’ bass (as past alias Reborn). These influences, combined with ultra-crisp drum programming, slick melodies and mind altering bass modulation, spawn face melting dubstep anthems that practically rewind themselves. Come see this concert Oct. 28 at the beautiful Fillmore. Visit Fillmoremb.com
*KORN with Datsik & Downlink
Korn comes to the intimate Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theatre on Wednesday, Nov. 9, at 8 p.m. This is part of the Cruzan Concert Series. Korn’s cathartic alternative metal sound positioned the group among the most popular and provocative to emerge during the post-grunge era. Visit Fillmoremb.com
Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol
Get ready for a holiday treat Dec. 7 through Jan. 1 at the Actors Playhouse. Move over Scrooge, it’s time for Jacob Marley to tell his story! Join Marley and his heroic behindthe-scenes effort to save old Scrooge’s soul - and in the process save his own, in this delightful gem of a show. Visit Actorsplayhouse.org
continued on page 25
No wire hangers!
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hirty years after spilling all the family secrets in “Mommie Dearest,” Christina Crawford is back with more in her one-woman multimedia show, “Surviving Hollywood,” Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Miniaci Performing Arts Center at Nova
Southeastern University. The show covers 100 years of entertainment history and includes film clips, archival interviews and photographs from both Crawford and her
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
adoptive—and allegedly abusive—mother. Tickets are $35 at BrowardCenter.org.
“This Art is So Gay!” – Call for Artists
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iami Beach’s LGBT Visitor Center plans to showcase the works of local artists in a new exhibition, “This Art is So Gay!,” that will run from Nov. 5 through Art Basel, Dec. 5 in the center, 1130 Washington Ave. All art will be for sale with proceeds benefitting the Miami-Dade Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s LGBT scholarship program. Artists who wish to be considered should submit a bio or resume, artist’s statement and two images to the center’s executive director, Cindy Brown, by Oct. 21 at Cindy@TheCenergySolution.com.
Fun facts to bore your friends, or not….
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hether you love architecture or you’ve just been besieged by visitors escaping the coming winter months
up north, here’s your chance to learn more about historic Miami Beach: The Miami Design Preservation League is offering its Art Deco and MiMo Tour Guide Academy, which focuses on the history, architecture and preservation of the Art Deco district. Participants must complete two days of lectures and walking tours and they will also be certified to become a local tour guide of the district. Cost is $80 per person and classes will be held Nov. 5, 12 and 19. For more information, go to MDPL.org or call 305-672-2014.
The truth is out there
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on’t miss your last chance to see “Circumstance,” at Coral Gables Art Cinema, 260 Aragon Ave. This film, set in contemporary Tehran, just before the 2009 presidential elections, is part psychodrama, part “Iranian Girls Gone Wild,” and will definitely dispel the stereotypes of young people growing up in the Islamic theocracy. Tickets are $15. For tickets and showtimes, go to GablesCinema.com.
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SoundBiteQ Notes from Publisher Norm… New newsworthy news
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ean Trantalis not only celebrated a birthday last week, the former Fort Lauderdale City Commissioner is going to try his hand at talk radio, hosting a weekly Sunday evening show which debuts October 30, the night Wilton Manors will host its signature Halloween event at Hagen Park. Disregard Dean’s ads, which read ‘WFLT.’ He does not use us to copy edit. It’s on WFTL 850 AM at 9 pm. Dean’s got some tough competition. On the same evening, the ‘Pink Church’, (the First Presbyterian in Pompano) will be hosting its ‘Halloween MONSTER CONCERT’ – Terrifying Toccatas & Haunting Harmonies- on the Great Pipe Organ at 7 pm. Joey Amato, the former managing editor, is doing well in Nashville as the Editor of OMG Magazine. Congratulations to the entertainment publication, Hotspots, for earning a media award from the Dolphin Democrats, who will be hosting their annual dinner this weekend, written about on another page in this issue. Speaking of which, the former classified manager of Hotspots, well-liked Mike Trottier will be joining the staff of SFGN as the Sales Manager. John Fugate will be promoted to the role of National Marketing Manager as SFGN.com prepares for the New Year with its debut Victoria Michaels of a new site, www.nationalgaynews.com. Meanwhile, Sebastian Fortino is leaving SFGN to work on some fiction writing, but SFGN is emboldened by the freelance contributions of new writers Denise Royal, Victoria Michaels, and David McNaught. Also want to throw praise on Brian Swinford, for his open and honest first-person ‘Catch My Breath’ features, the second of which appears today. If there is a story you think we should cover, or you want to write, email our Editor in Chief Jason Parsley at Jason.Parsley@sfgn.com. CNN.com is asking my assistance in helping them create a news story about the number of Floridians thrown onto the ADAP waiting list for AIDS medications, and the consequences and havoc this has created in the community. If you want to tell your story, please drop me an email at norm.kent@sfgn.com There has been no greater terror visited upon HIV patients then being denied accessibility to their medicines. Congratulations to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation for repeatedly standing up to this injustice and to The South Florida Human Rights Campaign for hosting a forum on the issue this past Monday at the Pride Center at Equality Park. By the way, if you are looking for low priced costumes for Halloween, check out AHF’s ‘Out of the Closet’ Thrift stores for scarily low prices. We have frequently written about the World Erotic Arts Museum, and can offer nothing but warm applause for the recognition recently awarded to Dr. Naomi Wilzig, ‘Honoris Causa Doctor of Arts in Erology.’ Congratulations too are in order for Drew Miller and the first GLBX luncheon at the Riverside Hotel on Las Olas, which featured Wilton Manors mayor, Gary Resnick, addressing the issues of ‘domestic partnerships’ being offered in more and more cities. We get many press releases and have to sift through which to publish, but from the Michigan based ‘Whirlpool Corporation’ it seems 8 of their employees have to their credit released ‘It Gets Better’ anti-bullying videos. Going to buy a washer or dryer soon? The company, which celebrates its 100th anniversary next month, has earned a 100 percent score on the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Corporate Equality index for more than seven years. Support those who support you. Especially our advertisers. We need them, and they need you, and they help us bring you the news.
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
To Submit Listings Email: Brian at Calendar@sfgn.com Fax: 954-530-7943. Please include a brief description, address, phone number, date, time and cost.
Community Calendar Broward
Substance Abuse/ Use Recovery Group
On Nov. 5, from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. enjoy the best tunesfrom the 70’s to today, along with great food and drink from the Manor. Get a Greek coffee & get your grounds read by The Amazing Helena. Tickets are $18 in advance/ $20 at the door. Your ticket stub will get you a discount to Congregation Etz Chaim’s next dance Jan 22. Visit Livingthechailife.org or call 954-564-9232
Fort Lauderdale Ghost Tour
*Rock The Manor
*Jay Michaelson
Jay Michaelson will be speaking at Congregation Etz Chaim on Wednesday Nov. 2, at 7:30 p.m. The event is free. His book, God vs. Gay will be available for purchase. Congregation Etz Chaim is located at 1881 NE 26th Street, in Wilton Manors. Call 954-564-9232, or visit Etzchaimflorida.org
*Bereavement Support Group
Bereavement Support Group is a support group led by a Hospice of SE FL social worker to assist those who have lost a loved one in the grieving process. Light refreshments will be served. This group will meet beginning Oct. 18 from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and every 3rd Tuesday of the month at American Burial and Cremation at Jennings Funeral Home 1801 E. Oakland Park Blvd. Call for reservation 954-731-4321
Senior Health Expo
On Saturday, Oct 22, come to the Pride Center at Equality Park for an epic, annual health fair and trade show will feature various LGBTQ-friendly medical, professional and financial services that benefit our Seniors. Seminars, booths, vendors, food and more! One-of-a-kind day at the Center. Visit PrideCenterFlorida.org
Sheriff’s Community Day at the Pride Center
The Pride Center at Equality Park will holding a huge community and family outreach day collaboration with Broward Sheriff’s Office on Oct 29 and will include police vehicles, paintable fire truck, snow cones, MacGruff the Crime Dog, music, food, sketch artist, a Kid’s Costume Contest and more. Visit PrideCenterFlorida.org
Gay Men’s HIV+ Long Time Survivors’ Group
This is a support group that gives men who have been HIV+ for a long time (5 yrs +) the opportunity to give and receive support around topics of interest and issues for concern that are raised by the members. This group meets on 1st and 3rd Thursday at Sunserve 2312 Wilton Drive from 6:30 – 8 p.m. There is no cost, but donations are welcome.
Gay Male Empowerment Group
Topic discussions include issues and concerns about being a gay man in South Florida. Meets on Thursdays at the Pride Center from 7 - 8:30 p.m. Call 954-353-9155 or e-mail info@ sunserve.org.
PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays)
Meets on the 2nd and 4th Tues. of the month at the Sunshine Cathedral at 1480 SW 9th Avenue to support the parents of LGBTQ youth in Broward. No charge. Visit community.pflag. org/pflagfortlauderdale for more information.
SunServe Therapy Groups
Provided for the LGBT community at SunServe on a regular basis. Groups require an intake interview. Call the Intake Coordinator at 954-764-5150 to learn which therapy groups have openings. Visit SunServe.org
Weekly group designed to support one another, share struggles of recovery, and find different ways to maintain sobriety. October 5, between 7 and 8:30 p.m. There will be a mental health professional to facilitate the group and participants will gain an understanding about substance use/abuse, treatment, and recovery. Visit SunServe.org The 60- to 90-minute walking tour of the ghosts of historic Fort Lauderdale begins on Las Olas Blvd. and ends near the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Tour guide John Carr also reveals the history of Fort Lauderdale and the stories of pioneers such as Ivy and Frank Stranahan and the Philomen Bryan family. Fridays and Saturdays at 8:45 p.m. $20 for adults; $15 for children under 10; and free for children 5 and under. Visit Fortlauderdaleghosttour.com
Pumpkin Patch Time
The time for carving pumpkins are back at Kiwanis Club. Come to this great pumpkin patch in Wilton Manors at five points and 26th St. The opening day is October 9, so come get your mini pumpkins, corn stalks, Indian corn and a limited supply of White Pumpkins. Call Randy Comer 954-303-3565
Fusion Wilton Manors - Connections Gay men’s group discussion. Different subject every week. Dr. David Fawcett, a gay therapist, who has been in private practice in Fort Lauderdale for the last ten years, leads the event. No charge with no commitment to attend every week. Starts at 7 p.m. Call Fusion Monday-Friday at 954-630-1655.
Meth911
Group is held Mondays at the Pride Center at Equality Park between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. This is a free, weekly, drop -in group for confidential, non-judgmental information and support regarding gay men, substance abuse, and wellness. The key focus of the group is meth. Call 954-548-4602.
Gender Benders
Support Group for Youth who cannot-will not-choose not-do not confirm to gender “norms.” This group meeting is held 7:00pm-8:30pm on Monday night’s at SunServe’s Youth Room at 1480 SW 9 Ave in Ft. Lauderdale.. Call 954-764-5150
Women4Women Personal Growth Support Group
This is a safe and loving place to explore all the concerns and topics raised by group members. This open drop-in meeting is held Wednesdays at 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the New Sun Serve Building at 2312 Wilton Drive in Wilton Manors. Call 954-764-5150
Beach Boot Camp with The Health Colonel
Thinking of dropping a few pounds…The Health Colonel is here to help you keep in shape. Monday and Wednesday at 7 p.m., and Saturdays at 8 a.m. Individual classes $15. Every session incorporates three elements – cardio, strength, and flexibility. The colonel says “The real issue has nothing to do with food -- or exercise for that matter. It has everything to do with how you think.” Visit NoMoreCryBabies.com
Cardio Strip & Pole Dancing Class
Every Thursday at The World Fitness Association grab that brass pole and shake that cellulite away. Cardio Strip & Pole Dancing Classes are fun from beginning to end. Wrap your thighs around a stiff pole and sweat those pounds away. The best thing about these classes is that your first one is free. Call 954-564-6743
MUSIC SPOTLIGHT
By Brian Swinford
Palm Beach Mack Mixer
MACK coined the term ‘Gay Owned. Straight Friendly.’ by launching their first business networking groups for the South Florida business community in March 2005: Power Lunch and Mack Mixer. Five years later, MACK continues to be a trusted name for the LGBT business community and its supporters. Come to Cantina Laredo on Oct. 19 for a great networking experience. Visit Mackplanet.com
Yoga On The Waterfront
Lake Pavilion at 101 S. Flagler Drive, West Palm Beach, FL / Yoga On The Waterfront in downtown West Palm Beach on Wednesday Evenings at 5:45 PM. Residents $40 per 8 week session, Non-Residents $50 per 8 week session, Drop-ins $10 per class. To register, please call 561-804-4902.
YOGA Among the Orchids
It’s time for Yoga Among the Orchids at the American Orchid Society, 16700 AOS Lane, Delray Beach. Relax and replenish the flower inside with an hour of breathing exercises, toning, and yoga poses under a canopy of lush orchids. This is orchid headquarters so pick up a few pointers from the pros in between sun salutations. Classes are Wed. at 9 a.m. Cost is $20 and RSVP is suggested. Call 561-404-2011. Visit OrchidWeb.org
Jazz on the Palm
Jazz on the Palm - Downtown West Palm Beach Waterfront - Gather with friends and family to enjoy the diverse vibrant sounds of jazz under the stars every 3rd Friday of month at the new Downtown West Palm Beach waterfront concert series. Free and open to the public. Guests are encouraged to bring blankets and chairs. From 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. Visit Wpbgo. com/2010/06/jazz-on-the-palm
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Daniela Brooker
ollowing a wildly successful trip to the States this past summer, pop’s newest darling, Daniela Brooker, crosses the pond to partner with Hard Rock International’s PINKTOBER. The tour will follow the recent release of her debut single, “Summer Love.” The 18-year-old star will be performing Thursday, Oct. 20 at the Hard Rock Café in Miami. The singer has managed to juggle studying for her A-levels with a relentless schedule of song writing, recording and performing live. Now her hard work has paid off, with Brooker building a solid fan base as well as attracting rave reviews. That’s not bad for someone who’s just left school. If I were you I wouldn’t miss this awesome concert at the Hard Rock. Visit DanielaBrooker.com or HardRock.com for more information.
Sunday on the Waterfront
Sunday on the Waterfront is a free concert series, which takes place the third Sunday of most months in the beautiful downtown West Palm Beach Waterfront area. Bring blankets, chairs, and coolers or purchase treats at the concert. Free parking in all city lots and at city meters. 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. May through October. Visit OnTheWaterFront.com
BrothasSpeak
This group is a black gay men’s discussion group that is held at the Compass in West Palm Beach. Every Wednesday from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. this group will be directed toward issues for and about black men. Visit Compassglcc.com
Paths
Paths is a social/discussion group held at Compass in Lake Worth. This men’s group takes place every Monday from 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Paths men’s group will be discussing relationships, coming –out, safer sex issues and more. Visit Compassglcc.com
Yoga
Yoga with Deborah will change your life. Bring a mat and get ready to stretch the stress away every Tuesday at The GLCC in Palm Beach from 6 to 7 p.m. This yoga experience will uplift and transform your life. $6 Entry Fee. You must bring your own mat. Visit Compassglcc.com
Living Buddhism
On the 2nd Tuesday of every month at 7 p.m. Compass in Lake Worth will be holding a discussion group for overcoming obstacles and obtaining happiness. This group is great for getting internal enlightenment. Release your inner stress, and become free. Visit Compassglcc.com
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Sting: Back to Bass Tour
ting, will perform his hits in a strippeddown style, and bring his tour to the Fillmore Miami Beach on Nov. 12. The charismatic Sting will be backed by a five-piece band performing exclusively in intimate theater settings on the tour, which also supports the release on Sept. 27 of the box-set collection Sting: 25 Years. The tour set list will include songs from his 1985 solo debut The Dream of the Blue Turtles through his latest release, Live in Berlin. The tour will also include a selection of The Police’s greatest hits. Expect to hear new treatments of Grammy winners “Brand New Day” and “If I Ever Lose My Faith In You,” plus fan-favorites “Englishman In New York,” “Desert Rose” and “Roxanne.” Visit Fillmoremb.com for more information.
IMMIGRATION LAW ATTORNEY Attorney At Law 12000 Biscayne Blvd Suite 704, Miami, FL 33181 P.305-899-0333 F.305-899-9005 October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Questions About Residency? Asylum? Deportation?
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To Submit Listings Email: Brian at Calendar@sfgn.com Fax: 954-530-7943. Please include a brief description, address, phone number, date, time and cost. Good Orderly AA
These meetings take place at Compass, and geared toward recovering alcoholics. Every Tues. and Thurs. at 7 p.m. and on Sat. at 6 p.m. These meetings will help recovering alcoholics cope with the stress of everyday life without the use of alcohol.
Miami
*Networker Mixer – Brickell
The Miami-Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce presents its Chamber spotlight mixer from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on October 19 at the “EPIC Hotel” located at 270 Biscayne Boulevard Way. Mingle and network with fellow members and guests. Free appetizers & Grey Goose Vodka with a cash bar and a drawing for great prizes. Complimentary admission for MDGLCC members. $10 general admission. Special reduced valet parking rate of only $5. RSVP requested at mdglcc@ bellsouth.net or 305.673-4440.
*Business Builders Luncheon — Upper Eastside
MDGLCC presents its monthly networking program held on the 2nd to the last Thursday of each month. On Oct. 20 at Soyka’s Restaurant, 55th Street Station , 5556 NE 4th Ct. 305-759-3117. Registration 11:30am with luncheon/ networking from noon to 1:00 pm. Cost: MDGLCC members ($30), Potential Members ($40, $10 applied to new MDGLCC membership). Includes lunch. RSVP requested: 305-673-4440 or mdglcc@bellsouth.net.
*Business Builders Luncheon – Downtown
MDGLCC presents its new addition to the monthly networking program held on the last Thursday of each month. City Hall The Restaurant on Oct. 27. 2004 Biscayne Blvd, 305-7643130. Registration 11:30am with luncheon/networking from noon to 1:00 pm. Cost: MDGLCC members ($30), Potential Members ($40, $10 applied to new MDGLCC membership). Includes lunch. RSVP requested: 305-673-4440 or mdglcc@ bellsouth.net.
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Dine Out Lauderdale
Save Dade Presents Hellrotika: Seed of the Beast
Dine Out Lauderdale, a sixweek celebration of the area’s top restaurants, chefs and cuisine. From October 1 through November 10. Greater Fort Lauderdale restaurants are offering specially-created, three-course menus at a $35 fixed price. Enjoy the very best restaurants set amid a tropical backdrop of turquoise waters, golden sands, emerald palms and sun kissed skies. Visit Sunny.org
Hellrotika: Seed of the Beast, SAVE Dade’s 17th Annual Halloween event, to be held Saturday Oct. 29, 8 p.m. at Jungle Island’s Sabal Palm Courtyard. Last year the event brought out 1,200 partygoers, and more are expected to attend this year’s celebration, which is praised as the “premier” Halloween event in South Florida. The VIP experience includes premium open bar and hors d’oeuvres. Tickets are $125 in advance and $150 after Oct. 21 and at the door. Free valet parking. All VIP ticket holders will also receive a special gift bag. Visit Hellrotika.com
Ability Explosion Blast-Off
A 5-day series of events helping to create awareness and improve the lives of people living with disabilities on Oct. 19. The Blast Off Party will be held in the Banyan Room at the beautiful Miami Beach Botanical Gardens. Festivities include a performance by acclaimed performer Maryel Epps. In attendance will be Mayor of Miami Beach, Matti Herrera Bower. All proceeds benefit Access Now/Ability Explosion and will help people living with disabilities. Visit AbilityExplosion.org
13th Annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony
This year the IGFA inducts the 13th class into the Fishing Hall of Fame on October 25th. John Chibnall, Al Lindner, Allen and Buddy Merritt, Frank O’Brien, Jr., and Paxson Offield will join the ranks of fishing’s luminaries at the annual induction ceremony, emceed by 2004 Inductee Mark Sosin. Next to the privilege of having a great fish on the line, the event is one of fishing’s highest honors. Igfa.org
Dolphins Cycling Challenge 2011
Registration fee of $150 for all rides. The ride will be Nov 5-6. Registration fee includes: in-ride and post-ride food, beverages, medical supplies, mechanical assistance, Dolphins Cycling Challenge ride jersey, commemorative water bottle, two (2) tickets to the Miami Dolphins DCC celebratory game on Dec. 4, versus the Oakland Raiders, etc. An on-field ceremony will be held to at this game honoring cyclists and participants in the DCC. Visit Miamidolphins.com
80’s Baby
Come to Badrutts Place every Tuesday and re-visit the days of bad fashion-sense and egos bigger than baggy pants. Happy hour is on Tuesday nights. European tradition and cuisine, with an 80’s twist, meet for a night that’s a bit more tasteful than acid-washed jeans. DJ Lenym plays 80’s favorites and there’s half off drinks from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Ladies drink complimentary cosmos until 10 p.m. Visit Badrutts-place.com
Miami to Key West Ride
This coming Nov. 18 and 19 will be the Miami-Key West Ride for Charity. Every year, the SMART Ride donates 100 percent of donations to benefiting agencies. Not only that, you decide which agencies receive the funds you’ve raised. Visit TheSmartRide.org
Key West Headdress Ball
Come to the Southernmost on the Beach at 8pm for this “over the top” Headdress Contest that includes an extravagant and entertaining show with lots of Key West razzle dazzle! You never know what’s going to happen next at the Headdress Ball. This is an official event of Fantasy Fest Oct. 25. Visit Gaykeywestfl.com
Fantasy Fest Street Fair
Join most of Key West for Duval Street’s mile-long entertainment extravaganza, featuring arts and crafts, food vendors, lively libations and costumed frivolity! The Street Fair is on Friday, October 28, 2011 from 12 p.m. - 10 p.m. Visit Fantasyfest.net/street-fair.cfm
August: Osage County
In Key West at the Waterfront Playhouse on Dec 20, it’s August in Oklahoma. A father is missing, a mother is in the grip of addiction, a marriage is unraveling and lies are being exposed. This raucous dark comedy transforms one family gathering into an evening filled with sex, secrets, and really inappropriate behavior. One of the most lauded plays of the decade, August: Osage County is a can’t-miss hilarious and stinging look at the American family. Visit WaterfrontPlayhouse.org
Dead Man’s Cell Phone
In a quiet cafe a cell phone rings. And rings. The stranger at the next table has had enough. She confronts the owner of the cell phone, but, well...he’s dead. She begins to answer his calls and suddenly finds herself enmeshed in his life and family. Unfortunately, the dead guy has quite a number of shady loose ends. This plays opening night is Feb 2 at The Waterfront Playhouse at 8pm. Visit Waterfrontplayhouse.org
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
To Submit Listings Email: Brian at Calendar@sfgn.com Fax: 954-530-7943. Please include a brief description, address, phone number, date, time and cost.
CLUBS SPOTLIGHT
By J.W. Arnold WHAT TO DO, WHERE TO GO THIS WEEKEND
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Birthday Tribute to Gwen Stefani at the Alibi
Wednesday, Oct. 19 t’s Gwen Stefani’s birthday and the Alibi is celebrating. Catch Diva on the main stage at 9:45 p.m. and enjoy birthday cupcakes and drink specials all night long. The Alibi is located in the Shoppes of Wilton Manors.
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Thursday, Oct. 20 et an early start to the weekend in Miami Beach at Bar 721, 721 Lincoln Ln. This cool lounge serves up $5 cocktails on 4Play Thursdays and hunky DJ Maximus 3000 is in the booth spinning rock, pop and sexed up house all night long.
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he older we get, the quicker the days seem to pass. Thanksgiving and the White Party are just around the corner and Winter Party Festival isn’t far behind! In fact, on Tuesday, Oct. 25, the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force will be hosting a volunteer outreach reception from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Dapur Kitchen, 1620 N. Federal Hwy. in Fort Lauderdale. The festival, which runs Feb. 2 to March 5, requires hundred of volunteers to coordinate all the dance events, cultural programs and socials, in addition to marketing and soliciting sponsorships. If you’d like to get involved, plan to attend by emailing VolunteerWPF@TheTaskForce.org. Halloween will be here in less than two weeks and the action is starting to pick up again at South Florida’s bars and clubs as the holiday approaches. Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the upcoming week:
Friday, Oct. 21 his weekend, Johnny’s is celebrating the birthdays of three of the area’s hottest DJs, Surreal,TPROMix and Mr. Sittuation.We know you like great music and at Johnny’s you get hot bodies, too, with some of the hottest dancers performing nightly. In Miami, you’ll find the action at 62 NE 14th St. and in Fort Lauderdale, at 1116 W. Broward Blvd. We love Mova even more! The trendy off-Lincoln Road martini bar is always a fun place to party, but on Fridays it’s better with Edison Farrow’s Hype. DJ Bryan Zero is in the booth and the unforgettable Pusilla is your hostess. Sip on $6 Finlandia and $8 Stoli drinks all night long as you groove the night away. Mova is at 1625 Michigan Ave.
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Saturday, Oct. 22 he place for all things Latin is The Manor.The weekly Noche Latina party celebrates una Noche en el Tropicana beginning at 10 p.m. with performances by Viva Mirage and Eduardo Nuñez, Miss and Mr. Noche Latina 2011, along with popular band Tropical Dreams in the Windsor Lounge. Meanwhile, in the Epic Nightclub, DJ Michal Tank and gang pay tribute to Havana B.C. (Before Castro) with performances by Gina D’Angelo as Celia Cruz and Erika Norell as Gloria Estefan.The Manor Complex is located at 2345 Wilton Dr. in Wilton Manors. Dudes is going dark tonight with a 2(x) ist underwear party. Located at 3270 NE 33rd St. in Fort Lauderdale, this beach bar will offer underwear giveaways and lots of drink specials all night long.
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Nightlife Broward 321-Slammer
Bathhouse. 321 W Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, 33311. Slammer sex club the best place to cruise for the hottest gay men. Thursday’s is leather night, fri-sat night live dj’s. Monday & tuesday -- $9 entry fee
Atomic Boom
2232 Wilton Drive ,Wilton Manors, FL 33305, (954) 630-3556 Best Sound & Light Show in Broward County. Mondays Porn Bingo with Desiree Dubois. $3 Margaritas, $1 Draft
Bill’s Filling Station
2209 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305, (954) 567-5978. Large Bar/ Nightclub, Amazing. Drink Specials in Wilton Manors. Wednesday’s After 9pm $10 Miller Lite Beer Bust
Boardwalk
1721 North Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311. (954) 463-6969. A Cute Little Hangout in Fort Lauderdale PoolRoom/Game Room on One Side and a Bar-Strip Club on the other. Mondays $3 Well & Dom, after 9pm $3 U-Call-It Shots
The Club Fort Lauderdale
Bathhouse. 110 Northwest 5th Avenue,Fort Lauderdale, FL ,(954) 525-3344 Good. Clean. Fun. 1/2 price rooms...Tuesday Nights and 1/2 price Lockers. Thursdays Nights. Always busy.
Clubhouse II
Bathhouse. 2650 E. Oakland Park Blvd , Fort Lauderdale, Florida (954) 566-6750. A Private Club for Bi/Gay men. Bear and Cub Thursday $4 Off For Bear & Cub. Tuesday Leather Night - $4. off wear any type of leather.
Corner Pub Bar
1915 North Andrews Ave, Wilton Manors, FL 33311, (954) 564-7335. Redefining What a Bar Should Be. Thursday’s Margarita. Madness $4, Monday’s Underwear Night. 2 for 1 until 9:30 p.m.
Cubby Hole
823 North Federal Highway ,Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304, (954) 7289001. The Cubby Hole is one of Fort Lauderdale’s Most Unique and Popular Neighborhood Bar for Men. Underwear Wednesday’s. Boxers n’ Briefs get 2 for 1 on Drinks 9 p.m. till Close
The Depot Cabana Bar and Grill
2935 N Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304, (954) 5377076. Voted the “Friendliest” Gay Bar in Fort Lauderdale. Monday’s $1.99 Drinks and $.50 Wings Open to Close
Georgie’s Alibi
2266 Wilton Drive ,Wilton Manors, FL 33305 ,(954) 565-2526. Fort Lauderdale’s Best & Longest Happy Hour. Wednesdays $2 Domestics & $1 Schnapps after 9 p.m. Wednesdays
Johnny’s
1116 West Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, (954) 5225931. Monday Dragon with TP Lords, Daisy D. and DJ Rob Sky No cover, drags/trans drink free 10 p.m. to midnight . Everyone else gets $3 drinks all night!. Finally something fun to do on Monday 18+
The Manor
2345 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 (954) 626 0082 Come Dine, Dance, Drink, Mingle and of course Relax. 2-4-1 Happy Hour Tues-Friday 3-9pm. Indoor/Outdoor Dining. Dance the night away Thursday - Sunday. Live Music Weds, Fri, Sat, Sun - Visit themanorcomplex.com FOR MORE DETAILS.
Matty’s on the Drive
2426 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 (954) 564-1799. Matty’s is one of the few bars in Wilton Manors that’s just that –a bar. Wild Wednesday’s $.75 Drinks, 13 Drinks for less than $10. 5 p.m.
Mona’s
502 East Sunrise Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304, (954) 525-6662. The eclectic décor and a friendly staff makes. Mona’s a great place to have fun in Fort Lauderdale. Thursday’s College Boy’s Night 8pm Enjoy College Boy’s Choice 2 for 1
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Sunday, Oct. 23 candals Saloon, 3073 NE 6th Ave. in Wilton Manors, hosts its fourth annual Country Fair this weekend. The fair begins on Saturday and continues today from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. Don’t miss the bakeoffs, dunk tank, pie eating contest and all sorts of other down home fun and games. You won’t find this kind of fun anywhere else in South Florida, that’s for sure. After the fair, catch a game.You can’t get more All-American than football and the place for sports is SideLines, 2031 Wilton Dr. in Wilton Manors. South Florida’s only sports bar is offering up specially-priced beer buckets to accompany the NFL games on their hi-def flat screens.
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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To Submit Listings Email: Brian at Calendar@sfgn.com Fax: 954-530-7943. Please include a brief description, address, phone number, date, time and cost. Monkey Business
2740 North Andrews Ave, Wilton Manors, FL 33311, (954) 514-7819. The Monkey Business Bar is a Small Outdoor Bar Among The Shops Just off Marina Blvd. No Frills But Comfortable and a Great Place to Stop and Meet Good People. Happy Hour 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Naked Grape Wine Bar
2039 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305, (954) 563-5631 A Casual, Hip, Fun Experience and if You Have a Taste for Deliciously Unique Wines, You Need to Make This Your Next Stop! Happy Hour All Night on Thursday
New Moon
2440 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305, (954) 563-7660 Your neighborhood lesbian bar in the heart of Fort Lauderdale and just minutes from Ft. Lauderdale Beach. Wednesday All the fun, half the price 2-4-1 All Day, All Night
PJ’s Corner Pocket
924 North Flagler Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304, (954) 533-0257. One of The Most Diverse Bars in Fort Lauderdale. $2 Drinks Every Wednesday, Spades Every Thursday
Ramrod
Sidelines Sports Bar
2031 Wilton Drive, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33305, (954) 563-8001 Sidelines Sports Bar and Billiards is a unique, friendly, And accepting place to relax with a cold beer, great drinks and Martinis. Happy Hour M-F 4pm to 2am
Smarty Pants
3038 North Federal Hwy, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306, (954) 561-1724. Great Local Hangout in Fort Lauderdale with Great Drink Specials. Saturday’s Free Breakfast to Order – 8 a.m.
The Stable
205 East Oakland Park Blvd., Oakland Park, FL 33334, (954) 565-4506 A neighborhood bar with a different theme every night, from drag shows and bingos, to bears and underwears.
Torpedo
2829 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, (954) 587-2500. Your Dance Destination Till Dawn. Open Late for You To Devour The Night. Open 7 nights a week till 4 a.m.
Palm Beach
Bourbon Bar Cabaret in Key West The Lounge
1508 NE 4th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304, (954) 763-8219 South Florida’s Leading Levi, Leather and Uniform Bar/Club. Every night is Bear Night. Bear Happy. Hour Every Thursday. Caged Hunks Sat Night
The Cottage
522 Lucerne Ave, Lake Worth, Fl, 33414. (561) 586-0080 Great Service, Great Food, Full Stocked Bar, Great Professional Tea-Dance every Sunday
517 Clematis St, West Palm Beach, FL 33401. (561) 6559747. The most unpretentious South Beach styled lounge in West Palm Beach. Great Drink Deals Tues-Thurs 9 p.m. - 3 a.m.
Rosie’s Bar and Grill
Fort Dix
The Mad Hatter
2449 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305, (954) 567-1320 Wilton Manor’s Best Burger in Town. Try the Fat Elvis. Happy Hour 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Scandals Country Western Bar
Oakland Park, FL 3334, (954) 567-2432. Scandals Gay and Lesbian Country Western. Dance Bar in Wilton Manors. Tuesdays Pool League, and Free Dance Lessons
6205 Georgia Ave, West Palm Beach, Florida 33405 Directions, (561)533-5355. Mostly local crowd looking to mingle and relax. Place rocks with a Fabulous DJ on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sunday T-Dance.
H.G. Rooster
823 BELVEDERE ROAD, WEST PALM BEACH FLORIDA 33405, (561)-832-9119. H.G. Roosters is West Palms oldest gay club. Sunday’s Complimentary BBQ 5pm, Hot Male Dancers 6 p.m., Karaoke 11 p.m.
1532 North Dixie Hwy ,Lake Worth, FL 33460. (561) 5478860. Cheap drinks, friendly bartenders, and free pool Sunday-Thursday. Stop by and relax at this no-attitude haunt.
Tag Bar
25 Northeast 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33483 954-8013247. Delray Beach’s only Gay Bar. Mon - Sun: 4 p.m. - 2 a.m. Awesome Drink Specials
Miami
Club Space
34 NE 11th St ,Miami ,Florida, 33132,(305)350-1956 Space Miami Voted Best U.S Club IDMA 2011. The go-to venue for any nightlife enthusiast in the nation,The club is proudly marching on into its second decade of operation.
Club Sugar
2301 SW 32nd Ave, Miami, Florida, 33145,(305)443-7657. All the Sweetness you’ll need in one Club. Every Thursday Drag Wars with TP Lords. $5 House Drinks & $4 Domestic Beers all night
Discotekka
950 NE 2nd Ave, Downtown Miami, Florida 33132,(305)3509084 One of the Best Night Clubs In Miami. Every Saturday The Hottest DJ’s from the Top Performers. Drink Special Every Saturday
Johnny’s
Miami 62 NE 14 Street Downtown Miami Florida (305)640-8749 No Cover 7 nights a week. The hottest men in the universe strip shows nightly from 6 p.m. Sexy from Wall to Wall. Saturday SEPT 3 in Miami FIRE & ICE at the SPOT…The Hottest POP, Hip Hop and Latin alongside the COLDEST Electro and House Beats. all on Miami’s Best Sound System.
Score
727 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach, Florida, 33139,(305)561-5521. Score is located in the heart of South Beach, In the thriving and infamous promenade, Lincoln Road. Bigger Saturday’s Sexy Male Dolls
Twist
1057 Washington Ave, Miami Beach , Florida , 33139, (305)538-9478 Never a Cover…Always a Groove. Resident star DJ Mika spins tribal. Every Saturday TWIST is full of the hottest men in Miami. Muscle boy dancers taking it off in the Bungalow Bar.
Key West
801 Bourbon Bar
801 Duval St., Key West, Florida,(305)294-4737 Cabaret shows upstairs with nightly performances by famed performers Sushi, Kylie, RV Beaumont, Margo, and others. Happy Hour specials daily from 11a.m. – 8 p.m.
Club Aqua
711 Duval St.,Key West, Florida,(305)294-0555 Monday’s Dueling Bartenders. Your Bartender’s sing, shake, and stir their way through happy hour 5:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Kwest
705 Duval St. , Key West, Florida,(305)292-8500 Key West All-Male Strip Club. Daily Happy Hour from 3-8 p.m., And a piano sing-a-long every Wednesday night.
Pearl’s Patio Bar
525 United Street, Key West, FL(305)293-9805 ext. 156 Pearl’s Patio is a great place to enjoy a drink and relax. Happy Hour – every weekday from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Friday’s are Extended Happy Hour 5pm-9pm
Virgilio’s
524 Duval St, Key West ,Florida, (305)296-8118 Classic Cocktails, Italian Cuisine ,Live Music. $5 Martini Mondays, Late night dancing in Their Garden Bar Setting.
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Film
Vampire Film a Shocker at Film Festival everyday Americans, all the while sharing their dreams and fears, especially the realization that their born-again mother in North Carolina might shun them after hearing their story. Director John Lanvin effectively captures the aspirations of the young men and will be on hand to discuss the project following the movie.
“Dreaming American” – Shown as part of Short ’N Sweet, GLBT Short Films
Scene from Vamperifica
By J.W. Arnold
T
he longest running festival in the country, the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival (FLIFF) is again highlighting several LGBT films among the 100 selections to be screened, Oct. 21 – Nov. 11. In addition to the festival’s home, Cinema Paradiso, 503 SE 6th St. in Fort Lauderdale, this year, according to organizers, films will also be shown in locations across Broward County and in the Bahamas. LGBT films are scheduled for Broward College’s Bailey Hall, the Muvico Pompano in Pompano Beach, Sunrise Civic Center and The Manor in Wilton Manors. Again this year, tickets are $10 general admission, $8 senior citizens/students and $6 for festival members, available at FLIFF. com or by calling 954-525-FILM. Several films will be of interest to LGBT audiences including:
“Vamperifica” Friday, Oct. 21, 11 p.m. and Monday, Oct. 31, 9 p.m. at Cinema Paradiso Vampire lore has long inspired homoerotic fantasies and the latest film to join the crowded genre is Bruce Ornstein’s “Vamperifica.” Imagine what happens when the 200 year old spirit of the vampire warrior king is reincarnated in a flamboyant, twenty-something college student who dreams of one day being a star on the stage. The result is a campy—occasionally annoying—romp complete with gory B-movie effects. There are no werewolves and little boys won’t be swooning over gangly vamp Carmen McCoy, but somehow this film differentiates itself from the pack.
Sunday, Nov. 6, 2 p.m.,The Manor;Thursday, Nov. 10, 9:30 p.m., Cinema Paradiso Survival is the order of business for a young Albanian immigrant who first escaped his poor country and now must keep his dignity in New York as he fights for a piece of the American dream. Along the way, he dreams of acting but finds himself dancing on top of the bar at a gay club instead. Dreaming American is dark, but there is always that glimmer of hope that makes the short so compelling.
“Troupers” Thursday, Oct. 25, 4 p.m., Saturday, Oct. 29, 5:30 p.m., Sunrise Civic Center; Sunday, Oct. 30, 11 a.m., Cinema Paradiso; Fri. Nov. 4, 1 p.m., Muvico Pompano Acting is not an easy profession and each year, tens of thousands of hopefuls head to New York and Los Angeles in the hopes of making it big. This documentary from Saratoga Ballantine and Dea Lawrence, interviews a band of actors who beat the odds and discuss their careers over nearly 80 years in the industry. They survived the rejection, disappointment, black lists, bad directors and the challenges of growing old in an industry that celebrates youth, all to do what they love: act. The interviews are alternately humorous and poignant, and always touching. A complete festival schedule can be found at FLIFF.com, along with information about special appearances by filmmakers and actors.
“Hollywood to Dollywood”
Sunday, Oct. 23, 7:30 p.m. at Cinema Paradiso This documentary follows twin gay brothers Gary and Larry Lane as they travel across the country from Los Angeles to Pigeon Forge, Tenn. to pitch a film script to their idol, Dolly Parton. With the blessing of actors Leslie Jordan and Beth Grant (“Sordid Lives”), they take off on the journey in a motor home they dub, “Jolene,” Scene from Hollywood to Dollywood meet a wide array of
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
29
21st Century Quotes on Being Gay
– Actress Betty White on why the gays love her
30
submitted photo
“Throughout my career, I’ve always portrayed characters that were humorous, but also weren’t afraid to speak their minds, especially when it came to racy or controversial topics. I think this struck a chord with the LGBT community. We both also share a very strong love for animals. When you combine the two, it’s a very strong match.”
Creating an Arts Magnet in Delray Beach By Donald Cavanaugh
I
f you don’t have a scorecard, you might not be able to follow the play but the play, the playing, the displaying and the plain old fun are what it’s all about at Delray Beach’s newly forming global arts Mecca – the Arts Garage. Located at 180 NE First Street, the Arts Garage occupies the storefront space on the lower level of Old School Square Parking Garage. So parking is not only free and easy, it’s a weather-friendly traverse from parking place to performance space – and what a space it is. The Arts Garage launched in April, 2011 with a program called “The Jazz Project,” which was well-received and continues to draw crowds on the first and fourth Saturdays of the month. According to Program Director Matthew Farmer, the Arts Garage hopes to make Delray Beach the center for jazz in South Florida. But jazz isn’t all. On Oct 1 they celebrated the opening of the new season with “live.art” and “Creation!” described on their website as “a night of musical performance, movement, song, spoken word, poetry and live creation of art.” And it grows from there. The Arts Garage is under the direction of Alyona Ushe, executive director, and Farmer who is not only the emcee at every show but is also a participating professional crooner, having earned his vocal chops on Celebrity Cruise ships and more recently as choir director at St.Thomas More Catholic Church. “We were looking for Matthew,” said the Ushe, who comes from Russia and has spent most of her life in Washington, DC where she created and ran a theater company. “We just didn’t have his name when we wrote the ad.” While Farmer said: “When I saw what they were trying to do, I knew I had to be part of it. It just had my name on it.” She obviously loves what he’s doing and he obviously loves doing it as he rattles off all the events, projects and programs he is orchestrating for the coming months. “We’re making this an arts magnet,” he said. “Not only for Delray Beach and South Florida but nationally and internationally as well,” he added, citing a newly developed
submitted photo
Queer Speak
Arts
partnership with Alliance Française of South Florida that will bring French artists to the Arts Garage. And it’s not just Ushe and Farmer who are doing this. It’s a concerted effort by the City of Delray Beach and the Delray Beach Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA). And, according to Ushe, the commitment of the downtown community at large. “For example,” she said, “Chuck Halberg, the president of Stuart & Shelby Developers designed and built the moveable walls and stage. One of the many unique features of the project is the “BYOW” (bring your own whatever) policy at every performance along with cabaret seating at the front of the audience space and auditorium seating behind.
“We want to make it feel a little like Tanglewood where you can bring your food and drink and have a family experience,” said Farmer. “It’s also a little easier on our visitors’ wallets,” he added. The Arts Garage has something for just about anyone who likes any of the arts. In addition to the music, there are plays and movies and dance and painting and photography and more. There are educational programs for kids and adults and “mature audience” puppets for adults and on the last Sunday of the month “female illusionists,” (drag queens) entertain before retiring down the street to Tag Bar for some much needed R&R. Genres and performances are many and prices vary so take a tour of the website to decide what to experience and buy your tickets and help make Delray Beach the arts capital its planners plan it to be. Visit DelrayBeachArts.org for more information.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
The Rare Reporter
LGBT Media Then and Now By David Webb
I
f an LGBT person went into a coma a decade or so ago and came out of it today, they likely wouldn’t be able to believe their eyes when they recovered enough to survey the media landscape. There was a time not so long ago when gay activists literally had to plead with or rant at editors and reporters at mainstream publications and television stations to gain coverage of LGBT events. Even editorial staffs at alternative publications often dismissed political and cultural events in the LGBT community as unimportant to the majority of their audience. Editors and reporters at traditional media outlets who happened to be members of the LGBT community often stayed clear of gay issues to fall in line with the prevailing policies in the newsroom set by the publishers. Often, they were deep in the closet or if not, just afraid to challenge the status quo. I know all this to be true because as late as the early 1990s I was engaged in legendary battles with my straight editor at an alternative publication who only wanted two or three “gay stories” per year. After the first quarter of one year I heard the editor telling another writer that I had already used up the newspaper’s quota for gay stories for the whole year.
Today, you can hardly turn on the television or pick up a newspaper or magazine without hearing or reading about something related to LGBT news or gay and lesbian celebrities and politicians.
This long-standing scarcity of coverage opened the door for the launch of gay newspapers to fill the void and the thirst for information that was coming not only from LGBT people but also straight allies, straight enemies and the non-committed in the gay rights movement. After about two decades of working for the mainstream media and later at the alternative publication for a few years, I moved to a gay newspaper. Upon hearing about it, my
former editor advised me that job sounded “perfect” for me. At the gay newspaper I not only covered LGBT issues, but I also liked to scrutinize and comment on the coverage or lack thereof I observed in mainstream publications. It was at the time a dream job for me. I was flabbergasted to learn that no one at the newspaper had ever before obtained a media pass from local law enforcement officials nor received official recognition at local law enforcement public relations departments. What gay activists and enterprising journalists had come to realize was that straight people were just as interested in what our community was doing as we were. I also realized that elected and appointed public officials, civic and religious leaders, law enforcement officials and most others love media coverage, and the fact that it was a gay publication featuring them didn’t much matter at all. As a result gay publications across the country were providing coverage that gay and straight readers couldn’t find anywhere else, and those newspapers were flying out of the racks at the libraries, municipal buildings and on the street in front of the big city newspapers as fast as they disappeared from gay and lesbian nightclubs. What it amounted to was that gay publications were enjoying a lucrative monopoly on LGBT news and in the process helping LGBT communities to grow strong in major urban areas. It’s amazing how long it took the powers that be at the giant media companies to figure out what was going on, but they eventually did. I would love to say that a social awakening was responsible for the new enlightened approach to LGBT issues by the mainstream media, but alas I fear it was more motivated by dollars and cents. Publishers began to realize that those small gay publications were raking in lots of advertising revenue from car dealers, retail stores, real estate agencies and many other businesses where the owners knew LGBT people spent money.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Today, you can hardly turn on the television or pick up a newspaper or magazine without hearing or reading about something related to LGBT news or gay and lesbian celebrities and politicians. When I fired up my laptop today, I received an email from the Huffington Post directing me to a story written by Arianna Huffington announcing new features that included the
debut of “HuffPost: Gay Voices,” a page that will compile all news LGBT together each day for the convenience of the readers. With the power of the Internet and its
capacity for documenting and archiving news stories, information about the LGBT community for both the present and the past will always be at our fingertips, except for those three decades between about 1970 and 2000 when the mainstream media couldn’t be bothered with us because they had no idea what a force we would one day become. For information about that period of time we are going to have to scour the coverage of gay newspapers and magazines published before the days of the Internet, read fiction and non-fiction published by LGBT writers and encourage older members of our community to share their recollections in written and oral form. It’s vitally important to the history of our culture that we not lose those stories, and it’s largely thanks to our communities’ own publications that we won’t. David Webb is a veteran journalist who has covered LGBT issues for the mainstream and alternative media for three decades. E-mail him at davidwaynewebb@ yahoo.com.
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By Paul Domenick
V
al Marmillion and Juan Pisani held a special reception at their home Sunday evening, in honor of ex-rugby player, Ben Cohen. Cohen, the first straight, male, celebrity athlete to fight for LGBT rights, spoke to us candidly about his reasons for championing his StandUp Foundation, the first of its kind dedicated to anti-bullying.The event was catered by J. Marks restaurant. Cohen spent most of his rugby career keeping a “relaxed, level-thinking field.” He adheres to this same principal in advocating for the acceptance of all perceived as different from the rest. He was not bullied as a youth, nor was he ever considered an outsider. It’s for this reason, though, that he started this foundation. “Rugby made me the person I am today. I learned to respect my team as a family,” he said. “Teams are supposed to be inclusive of everyone. Because I wasn’t bullied, and because I’m not gay, is precisely the reason I
ought to be doing this.” One of the goals of Cohen’s Foundation is to educate teachers and coaches of the danger in bullying and the reason it doesn’t fit with the team model. “I went and spoke recently to 50 people in the sports industry and explained to them why teams fail. The ones that fail are not inclusive of others,” he said. Although he admits that many teachers, coaches, and athletes have “shackles” around their feet when it comes to the issue of homophobia, he says that anti-bullying is simply this: “common courtesy that costs nothing.” Cohen admits that he’s comfortable with his heterosexuality and that his comfort is transformative. His wife, another advocate and friend of the LGBT community, supports his efforts. Rugby is a chapter in Cohen’s life that he was happy to end. He actually entered the profession by accident, and although he enjoyed this tackling career, he’s glad it is over.
Paul domenick
Rugby’s Anti-Bullying Superstar Gets Personal
“I’m no longer a warrior in the physical sense. I won every trophy I could. My values are now different,” he said. Bullying is something he cannot accept in this world because it is “persistent, consistent, and repetitive.” That’s why he especially taps into the “moveable middle”-open-minded, carefree individuals, who understand the current need to “kick homophobia out” with a strong network, huge grants, and a persistent message. Cohen’s next undertakings involve creating a type of Livestrong action and to sup-
COTTAGE FUNDRAISER TO BENEFIT CAP+SMART RIDE Photos by J.R. Davis
Cottage owner Tony Lufty, Sam Davis and friend
Andrew Day with friends
port new educational software that can be used universally by educators and athletes. During the program part of the evening, Val Marmillion, one of the hosts, made it clear how important the issue of anti-bullying should be. In relating to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s efforts, Marmillion made it clear there are differences between the ways in which kids cope with bullying. Along the spectrum, he purports, gays have it the worse because they “...don’t have the comfort of going home and saying to their parents, ‘mommy and daddy’, I was called a ‘faggot’ today.’” Instead Cohen says, “These kids have to become new people all together, and this is much more frightening.” Another host of the reception, Lumd Heinie, saw the need for this cause and the need to have Cohen in the community when a woman to whom he lives next door said her daughter was being bullied at school. Kids in this case also used the Internet as one of their strongest weapons.
VIEWS OF THE NEWS
Fans enjoy the evening
Luis with the Palm Beach Drag Society
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
CompassPoints… biweekly column from compass in lake worth
Ditch the Internet and Try Meeting New People Face to Face By Lorenzo Lowe
“W
ith age comes wisdom.” I think we are all familiar with this saying. Usually people who say this phrase have an understanding of themselves and situations they may have gone through or are going through currently. I tend to feel differently and usually say, “With age comes more questions.” As a 31-year-old gay black male, my million-dollar question is “Why is dating such an obstacle course?” I find myself in the stage of looking for a life partner rather than the “hooking up” stages of my twenties and believe I have found the solution to combat the solitude.
First, get up off the chair, get out of cyberspace and get out of the house! Being the HIV Prevention Coordinator at Compass, I run into many straight, gay, and bisexual community members who are in both committed and open relationships. In addition to testing, I give daily advice on better safe sex practices with their
partners and many people share their experiences with online dating websites. Many have found their life partners online, despite wading through the waters of outdated headshots and pumped up profiles. With online dating and social network sites, you are missing the sun on your face and the wind in your hair as you sail across the Internet instead of enjoying everything that South Florida has to offer. Palm Beach County boasts great culture and diversity in places to meet many interesting new people. Thanks to the Palm Beach County Human Rights Council, and their work in prohibiting sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodations, a welcoming and supportive atmosphere has been instilled amongst the small and large businesses for many years. With longtime gay establishments such as H.G. Roosters, The Mad Hatter, Fort Dix, and The
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Lounge, we no longer have to join the Friday evening mass exodus to Broward County for a boys’ night out on the town. From the newest opening Art Garage and Tag Bar in Delray Beach to Downtown at The Gardens, there truly is something for everyone. For instance, I love to write and perform poetry and sometimes share my art at a gay-friendly spot called ‘The Stage’ in West Palm Beach. I can mingle with those who love different forms of art, while being myself and comfortable in my surroundings. Other areas like CityPlace, Clematis by Night and the bohemian flair of downtown Lake Worth, provide magic in the air that makes anything possible.
There are many ways to meet others and the best way is to get involved and know your community. Many find that by volunteering for what they are passionate about, brings them closer to people they can relate to and provides an exciting opportunity for new social networks. Social groups such as New Alternatives and BrothasSpeak, were born out of a desire to enjoy new faces in an alcoholfree space. Monthly mixers hosted on alternating Wednesdays by both Mack and Compass’ Pride Business Alliance, provide a great social atmosphere for gay and “gay friendly” professionals and business owners. With all of these things to do here, I have retired my Blanche Devereaux method of meeting other men and am just now realizing the many opportunities we are afforded in Palm Beach County. The key to success is thinking outside the box when meeting others, because there will always be room to let something new inside. Season is upon us and the green markets are opening, so make a promise to yourself to seize the day, enjoy the community and be open to alternative ideas in spending time in the neighborhoods you live in.Who knows? You just may meet that special someone at the next poetry slam or while shopping for butternut squash at the local green market. Lorenzo Lowe is the HIV Prevention Coordinator at Compass Community Center in Lake Worth, FL and can be reached at Lorenzo@compassglcc.com
33
Crossword Puzzle
The Kiss of Life Across Down 1 Move the ball between your legs 1 Russian River deposit 5 Frat hazing sounds 2 Ancient shipwright 9 Gaze at gays, e.g. 3 Opening amount 13 Actress Skye 4 Voyeur’s station 14 Designed for all grades 5 Women who date men who date 15 Poetic adverb men 16 A little behind 6 Aquarium buildup 17 Like sharp cheese 7 “Beg pardon ...” 18 British public school 8 Bench a jock 19 With 46-Across, why 33-Across said 9 At Swim,Two Boys writer Jamie she enjoyed the mouth-to-mouth 10 Become disentangled with 22 Duck down 11 Many August people 23 Slow period 12 Coastal eagle 24 Where to find ‘er Majesty’s navy? 20 Earhart’s milieu 27 Jock strap for Adam and Steve? 21 Refused to budge 30 Member 24 Didn’t use a greasy spoon 31 Collette of United States of Tara 25 Bea Arthur’s TV maid Esther 32 Home st. of Harper Lee 26 Attacker of cotton balls 33 Celeb who recently called 911 27 Heavy mists because of chest pains 28 On your toes 37 Not in the pink 29 Does without oral gratification 38 Rock group? 31 Golf pegs 39 Left to pirates 34 Bête ___ 40 Lesbians in training, e.g. 35 They hold your drawers 42 Work periods 36 Homer, for one 44 Big rabbit features 41 How a male stripper makes a living? 45 All the rage 42 Stood out 46 See 19-Across 43 Body part to shoot from 51 Do road work 45 Whodunit start 52 St. Patrick’s land 46 Surfer’s ride 53 Bars for gay chefs 47 Touch off 54 Malevolent 48 Fitzgerald of jazz 55 Hoar 49 Top priority of a top 56 Sparkle 50 Niles and Frasier to Martin 57 Depend (on) 51 P of mph 58 Went lickety-split 59 Seamen See solution on page 39
34
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
The
Fitness Guy By Peter Jackson, CPT Which Foods Burn Fat? Q: Is eating grapefruit really good for burning fat? I have a friend who swears he’s lost 10 pounds this way, but I have been eating it every day for a month and haven’t lost a pound. – Gary T. A: Neither grapefruit nor any other food “burns” fat. There are foods that contribute to an increase of your metabolism because of the energy required to digest them. For instance, more calories are used to digest proteins than carbs or fats. For every 100 protein calories you consume, your body uses 25 to 30 just for digestion. By comparison, roughly half that number of calories, about 10 to 15, are used to digest 100 calories of carbs or fats. Lean meats such as turkey, chicken and fish, especially salmon, along with whole grains, green tea, oatmeal, broccoli and almonds top the list of healthy foods which dietitians say may help to give your metabolism a boost. The bottom line is this:You lose weight by increasing your physical activity and using more calories than you consume. Strive to eat balanced meals with plenty of fruits and veggies – and stay away from the latest diet fad. Q: I noticed in your recent article that you advised to avoid alcohol. In social environments, is there any such thing as an alcoholic drink that isn’t as bad for your body that you can have in moderation? –Darryl S. A: If you have undertaken a fitness program with serious and specific goals, it behooves you not to consume alcohol – especially if those goals include serious fat loss. Otherwise, my advice is to drink moderately and sensibly. Alcohol has a detrimental effect on your body’s fat burning process and can lower your testosterone level in addition to stimulating your appetite. But the reason has little to do with the calories in your favorite booze. When you consume alcohol of any kind, it quickly reaches the stomach where about 20 percent is absorbed into the bloodstream while the balance continues to the intestines where it then also enters the blood stream. In the liver, enzymes break down the alcohol and produce a substance called acetate. This acetate then enters the bloodstream and replaces fat as the fuel your body uses for energy. In other words, it signals the body to stop burning fat. Not good if you’re trying to burn fat and build lean muscle! A wild night of drinking with your buddies will also significantly lower your testosterone level for 12 to 24 hours and increase the muscle-devouring hormone called cortisol. With excessive alcohol use, estrogen levels can rise and lead to the development of breast tissue in men, a condition
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
called gynecomastia. Scientists believe this is why excessive drinkers have less muscle than people who consume little or no alcohol. Moderation is the key: limit yourself to just a couple drinks.Your best bet is to stick with a glass or two of red or white wine (70 to 75 calories) or light beer (90 to 105 calories). Mixers such as carbonated soda, orange and cranberry juices contain high levels of sugars—so be careful with your selection of mixed drinks.
TRY THIS EXERCISE: SINGLE-LEG HIP RAISE This is a terrific exercise to tighten your booty and strengthen your hamstrings
(back of your upper leg).
TIP OF THE WEEK
➊ Lie on an exercise mat with
STRAWBERRY-BANANA SHAKE
your left knee bent and your right leg raised
Try this quick and easy protein shake after your next workout. Ingredients: 2/3 cup fresh or frozen strawberries; 1 medium banana, sliced; 2 heaping Tbs. protein powder; ½ cup orange juice; 1 cup light vanilla yogurt; 2 cups of ice cubes. Instructions: Combine all ingredients in a blender except the ice cubes. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and blend until desired consistency is achieved. Calories: 325; Protein: 21g; Carbs: 62 g; Fat: 1 gram. Peter Jackson is a certified personal trainer and the owner of Push Fitness, a private, full-service personal training gym in Oakland Park which offers a variety of fitness programs for individuals, couples and small groups. Peter welcomes your questions: e-mail peter@PushFitnessFTL. com or visit him online at www.PushFitnessFTL. com or www.PozFitness.com.
straight off the mat.
➋ Thrust your hips upward,
keeping your right leg elevated.
➌ Slowly lower your hips to the mat and repeat.
Do 8 to 12 reps then switch legs and repeat.
Brian Tyson demonstrates the Single-Leg Hip Raise
35
Catching My Breath (part 2)
By Brian Swinford ‘Catching My Breath’ is a personal reflections column about gay life. If you want to ‘catch your breath,’ submit your stories to editor@southfloridagaynews.com’
A
fter I published my first story last month about how my mother had abandoned me at the age of 5-years-old, I got a Facebook message from a girl who asked me what my mom and dad’s names are. Are you ready for some heartbreak with a side of love? A few emails back and forth, and I found out I had a sister, alive and well. The last time I saw her was 24 years ago, when my mother left me on my dad’s doorstep and took off for a life of her own. She had told my dad he could ‘take me or leave me,’ she did not care. And just like that I was disposed of like a bag of garbage. I never saw or heard from my sister or mom again. I actually thought my mom was dead. To my shock, I find out my sister, Nikki, was living in Jacksonville with my natural mom. So I decided it was time for a road
trip and closure in my life. I drove to Jacksonville with my boyfriend and met up with my sister and took her out to a nice dinner. At dinner, I asked questions about my mom and what has been going on with her. To my surprise, I found out that she is crazy and not just a little crazy but full blown nutso, a few croutons short of a salad. My sister, as it turns out, is also bisexual. She tells me that our mother was very mean to her and repeatedly called her demeaning names such as “faggot, bitch,” and other names that I would rather not publish. I wanted to talk to my mom and find out what was going on, from why she left me to why she was being a total bitch to my sister. But this was not a Hollywood story with a happy ending. I was not welcomed back. To my utter surprise, she told me “I need to keep out of their lives,
courtesy of brian swinford
Life Did Not Prepare Me for This
Nikki and Brian at the game
because I was never around.” I told her I would have been around if she hadn’t dropped me off at my dad’s doorstep when I just a kid. What type of a mother would do that? Oh yeah that would be my mother. Then she went and sent my sister emails saying how bad a kid I was and that I always wanted to hurt her. When I was 4 and 5? What was I, the seed of Chucky? Wow, I wait 24 years to find my mom and she is off the charts. After hearing all of this I knew from that point that I didn’t need her in my life. At least I found satisfaction in trying to put the first foot forward. Now my sister and I hit it off like we have known each other our whole
Guest Column
“GREEN is the New Black” By Chef Marci Boland
W
e love to throw a party! There is the food, the cocktails, the friends, the music, and décor. So much fun. The one thing we don’t like is the waste. As a caterer and event planner in South Florida, I became more concerned with that waste. As we enter into the season of entertaining, the good news is that with a bit of creativity and a little know-how, you can have a fun festive affair, without it taking a toll on the environment.
Some tips for this season: Supplies – Think like Grandma- Use the Good Stuff- break out the china, crystal and linens. If the event requires disposables look into the new lines of bamboo and plant starch plates, cups, utensils and napkins, they are biodegradable from a continual renewable supply with little negative impact on the environment.
36
lives. Before we knew it we were hanging out and even went to a Jacksonville Jaguars game together the first weekend we met. We have both decided that no matter how much our mother does not want to be in our lives we will have each forever and always. Not only do I have closure with my mom, I found a sister who was hidden from me that I can always be close to. I feel like I can do anything as long as I love me for me and have people in my life that love me back. It may not be my mom, but that is her loss and her problem, not mine. I have my boyfriend, my sister, my friends, and a part of my life back that was stolen away from me.
Food – Leave behind you global thinking this time and think local. Shipping ingredients from other parts of the world requires a tremendous amount of fuel. Look to your local farmers market or CSA- Community Supported Agriculture. The food will be fresher, taste better and generally more cost effective. Décor – Be resourceful. Use things you already have in a new and different way. Use a potted plant orchid or fresh herb, wrap the pot in a cloth napkin and display on a glass block or cake stand for the center of each table. Afterwards, plant in garden and reap the rewards. Drinks – Simplify here and take advantage of local or seasonal ingredients by serving a signature cocktail and just some select wines and sparkling waters for your event. My favorite this year is our “Florida Snowball Martini” a mix of coconut waters, vodka a triple sec. Fun, Festive and Memorable. Keeping it stylish and unique without the waste. For more info on how to have a green party or event and other eco-friendly food, drinks and entertaining tips call 954-568-2383 or email www.OrganicCateringandEvents.com. Always in Good Taste, Chef Marci Boland
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
To place an ad, call Brian Swinford
954.530.4970
or fill out form online at SouthFloridaGayNews.com/classifieds
Share Coral Ridge home $800/month. Share beautiful 4700sqft hom e. 1.5 mi fr beach. 1.5 mi to Wilton Dr Mstr Bdrm w/pvt mstr bth. jacuzzi, pool. pvt yard. 954-609-9405 -------------------------------------------------PERFECT VACATION RENTALSLOW SUMMER RATES. From $69/Night & $395/Week. Beautiful Studio, 1 & 2 BR Apts. with Full Kitchens. Clothing optional heated pool, laundry, parking. Close to Gay Dania & Nude Haulover Beaches. Incl. Cable, Tel. & Wi-Fi Internet. Pets Always Welcome. Call (954) 927-0090 or visit www.LibertySuites.com ------------------------------------------------Stay-cation rentals from $465 per week. Studio’s, 1 BR Apartments with full kitchens. FREE parking, clothing optional pool, extended cable, FREE Wi-Fi. Located on Ft. Lauderdale Beach, close to Sebastian Street. The perfect stay in town vacation. Call 954 260 6568 or visit www.palmplazaresort.com
ACCOUNTING/financial Are you pregnant? Considering adoption? Childless married couple seeking to adopt & provide loving home, education, and travel. Financial security. Expenses paid. Lisa & Raymond (888)517-0112 #0150789 ------------------------------------------------$$$ ACCESS LAWSUIT CASH NOW!!! $$$ As seen on TV.$$$ Injury Lawsuit Dragging? Need $500-$500,000++within 48/hrs? Low rates APPLY NOW BY PHONE! Call Today! Toll-Free: (800)5688321 www.lawcapital.com ------------------------------------------------Lafontaine & associates ACCOUNTANTS Individual and Business. We offer strategies that limit your tax liability and increase your total return. www.FLTaxMan.com 954-495-4565
Adoption A childless, young, successful woman seeks to adopt. Will provide loving home/doting grandma. Large extended family. Excellent support. Financial security. Expenses paid. Jessica or Adam. 1-800-790-5260. Bar#0150789 ------------------------------------------------Are you pregnant? Considering adoption? Childless married couple seeking to adopt & provide loving home, education & travel. Financial security. Expenses paid. Lisa & Raymond. (Ask for Michelle/ Adam) (800)790-5260. FL bar #0150789 -----------------------------------------------PREGNANT? CONSIDERING ADOPTION? A childless energetic, spiritual, committed couple seeks to adopt. Financially secure. Healthcare professionals. Expenses paid. Gil & Dave (888)580-ADOPT (2367). FL Bar#0150789
-----------------------------------------------A childless couple seeks to adopt. Flexible work schedule. Will be HANDS-ON parents. Financial security. Expenses paid. Catherine & Michael. (ask for michelle/ adam). (800)790-5260 FL Bar#0150789 -----------------------------------------------Are you pregnant? Considering adoption? Childless married couple seeking to adopt & provide loving home, education, and travel. Financial security. Expenses paid. Lisa & Raymond (888)517-0112 Bar#0150789
Announcements Advertising that Works. Put your ad in Over 100 Papers throughout Florida for one LOW RATE! Call (866)742-1373 or visit: www.florida-classifieds.com ------------------------------------------------NEED MORE RESPONSE? Advertise in Over 100 Florida Papers reaching MILLIONS of people. Advertising Networks of Florida, Put us to work for You! (866)7421373 www.florida-classifieds.com. ------------------------------------------------NOTICE: Calling this number will subject you to HUGE savings on statewide advertising in over 100 newspapers. Advertising Networks of Florida, Put us to work for You! (866)742-1373 www.florida-classifieds.com.
Auctions AUCTION- MOUNTAIN BROOK COTTAGES, Sylva, NC. 30+ Acres, Farmhouse, 14 Furnished, fireplace cottages. Auction: October 22, 2011, 11:00 AM. www.auctionEbid. com. Marsha Howell (404)822-3525. Auction Management Corporation. NCAL#7403 ------------------------------------------------LAKEFRONT HORSE FARM 5-Bedroom Home, 3-Stall Barn, Large Workshop, Garage, Scenic Lake Frontage, Dock, Pier. Price reduced $799,000. Owner Financing. Lake Tillery, East of Charlotte, NC. Iron Horse Properties. (800)997-2248. www.ironhorseproperties.net
Auto Repair Mobile Auto Repair. Gierse’s Mobile Garage, Inc. BMW & Mercedes Specialist. All Makes & Models Welcome. Licensed & Insured, Credit Cards Acpt’d http://giersesgarage.webplus.net/ Call 954-557-6530 for appointment
Autos wanted CASH FOR CARS! Any Make, Model, or Year. We Pay MORE! Running or Not. Sell Your Car or Truck TODAY. Free Towing! Instant Offer: (888)420-3807
Business Opportunities 6 FIGURE INCOME 100,000 RX Discount Cards Placed in 80 Pharmacy Locations @.03 each. You earn $1.50 for each new prescription & $.75 for refills. Accumulating residual income. (877)308-7959 Ext.231 www.freerxadvantage.com
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
BRIAN’S POP ad OF THE WEEK!
EDUCATION ALLIED HEALTH career training-Attend college 100% online. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. SCHEV certified. Call (800)481-9409 www.CenturaOnline.com
‘JEWISH BROADWAY’ & CHUCK PRENTISS
EMPLOYMENT WANTED
Chuck Prentiss will discuss ‘Jewish Broadway’ (featuring extraordinary clips of young Joel Grey, Eddie Cantor, Molly Picon, Sammy Davis, and many others) with Phil Blazer on “Main Street” Sunday, October 16th, from 1 to 2 PM EST on JLTV.
Highly qualified information technology professional and Veteran seeks IT position. 10+ years experience in help desk and desktop support. Will consider other career opportunities in South Florida. Please call Michael at 954.243.7175 -------------------------------------------------All food handling experience. I can prepare all seafood. Sauté, Sous Chef, Line Cook, Short order Breakfast, Baker, Prep, and also Catering. With over 23 Experience. Please contact Butch at 754-204-8463.
Equipment For Sale Alan Light
ACCOMMODATIONS
-----------------------------------------------THINK CHRISTMAS, START NOW! Own a red hot! Dollar, dollar plus, mailbox or discount party store from $51,900 worldwide! 100% Turnkey (800)518-3064 www. drss20.com -----------------------------------------------Investors - Outstanding and immediate returns in equipment leasing for oilfield industry. Immediate lease out. Tax benefits and high returns. We need more equipment! (800)397-2639 -----------------------------------------------THINK CHRISTMAS, START NOW! Own a red hot! Dollar, dollar plus, mailbox or discount party store from $51,900 worldwide! 100% Turnkey (800)518-3064 www. Drss20.Com -----------------------------------------------Movie Extras Earn up to $250 per day To stand in the backgrounds for a major film production experience not required. All looks needed. Call NOW!!! (877)435-5877
Cleaning Services NINA’S CLEANING. Exceptional Cleaning Service. If honesty, integrity and experience are of utmost importance to you, you’ve come to the right place. Your home will be treated with respect and attention to detail. 12 yrs of experience/ references (954) 601-6141 or e-mail me at jabn1999@yahoo.com ------------------------------------------------Cleaning Services. Years of Experience. Condos, Apts, Homes, Offices, Move Ins/Outs. Weekly or Bi-Weekly. Wilton Manors, Oakland Park, Middle River Terrace, Fort Lauderdale Area. Great References. Call BJ 954-512-3957
Joel Grey
------------------------------------------------GET IT CLEAN NOW! JOTA. Home & Office Cleaning Excellent Professional home and/or Office cleaning in Broward County. From Simple Dust & Tidy Cleaning to Complete and thorough Deep Cleaning. Excellent References from Private & Office Customers. Call Jorge. 561-577-9285 -----------------------------------------------ItalianO Home Cleaning Service. Honest, Reliable, Quality cleaning for your home. Bi-Weekly or one-time available. I guarantee my work. Serving Broward Area. Call David 954-608-8913.
COMPUTER/TECH Computer/Network Support For Home or Office. Personable and Reliable Computer Network Support. Professional with over 15 years of Enterprise Level Experience. Affordable Rates. Contact Peter at (954) 816-4126 Or peter@netechsystems.com ------------------------------------------------Fast, reliable service, at your place or ours! New PC’s and Laptops • Virus Removal. Hardware Repairs • Telephone Systems. PCLauderdale • 279 E Oakland Park Blvd. 954.636.3322. www. pclauderdale.com
Counseling ADVICE ABOUT PHIMOSIS OR TIGH Do you suffer from the heartbreak of phi? We will be able to help our counseling is free to men write to: williamhuntermd@aol.Com
SAWMILLS -Band/Chainsaw -SPRING SALE - Cut lumber any dimension, anytime. MAKE MONEY and SAVE MONEY In stock ready to ship. Starting at $995.00 www.NorwoodSawmills.com/300N (800)578-1363 Ext.300N
FARM & RANCH HORSE LOVERS-Make $$ for yourself or charity. Hold a Competitive Trail Challenge. Call ACTHA at (877)99-ACTHA (22842) or visit www.actha.us Great fun, great $$$
for sale Bedroom Furniture. Mattress & Bedroom sets. King $200 Queen $150 Full $130 Twin $100 Frames $39. Six piece bedroom set $479. Come in five colors. Pillowtop king $250 can Del. Call 954-465-6498. ------------------------------------------------SELL YOUR RV FAST! Online at RVT.com Millions of RV Shoppers Thousands of RVs SOLD - Serving RV traders since 1999 www.RVT.com or Call (888)347-7570
handyman services INEXPENSIVE ELECTRICIAN. Electrician 55.00 an hour or set price. Residential,Commercial & Industrial work Fans,Outlets, Service changes Licensed and Insured, EC0001777. 954-931-5121 ------------------------------------------------Locksmith & Glass Services All Pro Locks & Glass, Inc.. 24/7 Commercial & Residential. 954-780-5188 office / www.aplag.com. Servicing Southeastern Florida
Help wanted Driver $2000 Sign On Bonus! Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. CRST EXPEDITED (800)326-2778 www.JoinCRST.com
------------------------------------------------Need 13 Good Drivers Top 5% Pay & 401K 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 www.meltontruck.com ------------------------------------------------Medical Billing Trainees Needed! Hospitals & Insurance Companies hiring now! No experience? Local Training & Job Placement Assistance! HS Grad or GED & Home computer needed. (888)528-5548 ------------------------------------------------Seeking CNA/RTA for Seniors GLBT Organization needs Cert CNA/PCT for Senior Day Care. Full time,benefits,must like seniors,fun,energetic,creative. ------------------------------------------------Drivers-NEW PAY INCREASE FOR TANK DRIVERS. Lots of Freight, Great Miles, 3 Weeks Paid Vacation, Incentives, Insurance & 401(k). Food Grade Products. CDLA & 1 Year OTR Experience Required. Call (877)882-6537. www.OakleyTransport.com ------------------------------------------------Driver- Weekly Hometime! Part & Full-time. Daily or Weekly Pay. Steady Miles Means MORE MONEY! Excellent Benefits! CDL-A, 3 months recent experience required. (800)414-9569. www. driveknight.com ------------------------------------------------Medical Billing Trainees Needed! Hospitals & Insurance Companies hiring now! No experience? Local Training & Job Placement Assistance! HS Grad or GED & Home computer needed. (888)528-5548 ------------------------------------------------NETWORK MARKETERS Get in too late? Income disappointing? International Marketing Firm entering momentum phase expanding in this area. Products endorsed by world famous doctor. Call (877)313-7794 ------------------------------------------------Mac Expert Needed Looking for an expert Mac user. Come to my Ft. Lauderdael hame and show me how to use my Apple products correctly and efficently.Please Email qualifications, hourly rates, and availability to: macxprt2011@yahoo.com -------------------------------------------------Driver- Recession proof freight. Plenty miles. Need refresher? No outof-pocket tuition at FFE. $1000 Bonus for CO’s & $1500 Incentive for O/O’s. recruit@ ffex.net (855)356-7121 -------------------------------------------------Driver $2000 Sign On Bonus! Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. CRST EXPEDITED (800)326-2778 www.JoinCRST.com -------------------------------------------------$5,000 Sign-On Bonus! Frac Sand Haulers with complete Bulk Pneumatic Rigs only. Relocate to Texas for tons of work! Fuel/Quick pay available. (800)491-9029
Continued on next page
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Continued from page 37 -------------------------------------------------Driver - Up to $2500 Sign on Bonus. Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. CRST EXPEDITED (800)326-2778 www.JoinCRST.com -------------------------------------------------Executive Assistant Needed (Pt-Ft) Assistant needed for a (semi) retired international ececutive. You will join my exisiting household staff so the ability to work well with others is essential. This position requires the confidence to take the initiative and exellent communication skills. Candidates will be able to multi-task and prioritize a number of ongoing projects. Candidates must posses a clean driving record (driving is required) and pass a criminal background check. You must have or be able to get a passport, (travel may be required) Candidates should have knowledge of SOME COMBINATION of the following skills: Bookkeeping, Photoshop,Word,Exel,Cookig,Pet Care, Clerical,Shopping, Ebay & Craigslist Sales Experience, Houseman (chores), Gardening (green thumb), Apple Products. Please send cover letter with salary requirements, qualifications, and why you should be considerded for theis position along with a resume to: Occupant PoBox 2213 Fort Lauderdale,Fl 33303 ------------------------------------------------Driver- Southern Freight needs Drivers!! Solo, Team, Company & O/O. We have LOTS of FREIGHT!!! Call (877)8939645 for details. ------------------------------------------------$5,000 Sign-On Bonus! Frac Sand Haulers with complete Bulk Pneumatic Rigs only. Relocate to Texas for tons of work! Fuel/Quick pay available. (800)397-2639 -------------------------------------------------Apply Now, 12 Drivers Needed Top 5% 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)2588782 www.meltontruck.com
------------------------------------------------HBI has immediate career opportunities in the telephone industry for: *Area Managers *Foremen *Cable Plow/ Backhoe Operators *Aerial Technicians. Must relocate to Wisconsin or Arkansas. Email: hbicareers@holtger.com Call: (800)831-0754 EOE by AA -------------------------------------------------$5,000 Sign-On Bonus! Frac Sand Haulers with complete Bulk Pneumatic Rigs only. Relocate to Texas for tons of work! Fuel/Quick pay available. (800)397-2639 -------------------------------------------------Bi Lingual Saleman - Miami Sales of store fixtures, warehouse rack. $10/hr. Exp prefered. Must be bondable and have car. M-F, 8-5, no nites/wkends. Send resume to Viking517@comcast.net -------------------------------------------------Frac Sand Haulers Wanted! Complete bulk pneumatic rigs only. Relocate to texas for tons of work. Great company/pay. Gas cards/quick pay available. (800)397-2639 -------------------------------------------------DRIVERS- WEEKLY HOMETIME for most lanes. Up to 42cpm! Daily or weekly pay. No forced dispatch to NYC or Canada. CDL-A, 3 months recent experience. (800)414-9569. www.driveknight.com -------------------------------------------------A Few Pro Drivers Needed Top Pay & 401K Great Equipment & Benfefits 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 www.meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------Freight Up = More $ 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 Text Melton to 50298 www.meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------Drivers- No Experience ~ No Problem. 100% Paid CDL Training. Immediate Benefits. 20/10 program. Trainers Earn up to 49¢ per mile! CRST VAN EXPEDITED (800)326-2778 www.JoinCRST.com -------------------------------------------------ASAP! New Pay Increase! 34-46 cpm. 300 Newer Trucks. Need 2 months CDL-A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 www.meltontruck.com
-------------------------------------------------Need CDL Drivers A or B with 2 yrs recent commercial experience to transfer motor homes, straight trucks, tractors, and buses. www.mamotransportation. com (800)501-3783. -------------------------------------------------A Better Career With Melton Great Equipment & Benefits 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 www. meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------Driver Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. Recent Grads or Exp Drivers: Sign On Bonus!CRST EXPEDITED (800)3262778 www.JoinCRST.com -------------------------------------------------$$$ OTR DRIVERS $$$ WANT A JOB THAT GETS YOU HOME? BONUS OPPORTUNITIES AVAILABLE! *Excellent Home Time/ Benefits *Class A CDL Required (866)3751591 or www.superservicellc.com ------------------------------------------------Movie Extras Earn up to $250 per day To stand in the backgrounds for a major film production experience not required. All looks needed. Call NOW!!! (877)435-5877 -------------------------------------------------Landscaping/Gardening. Position available, 3 to 4 days/week. Small, owner operated business looking for permanent helper. Call 954 563 6193, leave name & number. -------------------------------------------------A Few Pro Drivers Needed Top Pay & 401K Great Equipment & Benfefits 2 Mos. CDL Class A Driving Exp (877)258-8782 www.meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------ACT NOW! New Pay Increase! 37-46 cpm. New Trucks in 2011. Need 2 months CDL-A Driving Exp. (877)258-8782 www.meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------OTR DRIVERS- Food Grade Tank Drivers. CDL-A w/tank endorsement, Good MVR & Hazmat within 90 days required. Up to 42cpm w/additional mileage incentives & benefits. (877)882-6537 or www.oakleytransport.com
-------------------------------------------------Driver- PAY UP TO 42cpm! 2012 tractors arriving daily! No forced dispatch to NYC or Canada. CDL-A, 3 months recent experience required. (800)414-9569. www. driveknight.com -------------------------------------------------Driver-Drivers choose from Weekly or Daily Pay. Regional, OTR or Express Lanes, Full or Part-time, CDL-A, 3 months recent experience required. (800)414-9569 www.driveknight.com -------------------------------------------------Drivers Earn Up to 39¢/mi HOME SEVERAL NIGHTS & WEEKENDS 1 yr OTR Flatbed exp. Call: (800)572-5489 Susan ext. 227 Joy ext. 238 SUNBELT TRANSPORT, LLC -------------------------------------------------Driver- Not getting enough miles? Join Knight Transportation and increase your income with our steady freight. New Trucks! CDL-A, 3 months recent experience. (800)414-9569. www.driveknight.com -------------------------------------------------Driver Start a New Career! 100% Paid CDL Training! No Experience Required. Recent Grads or Exp Drivers: Sign On Bonus!CRST EXPEDITED (800)3262778 www.JoinCRST.com -------------------------------------------------Driver- Great Miles! Great Pay! $1000 Sign-on for experienced CO’s & $1500 Incentives for O/O’s. Driver Academy Refresher Course available. recruit@ffex. net. (855)356-7121 -------------------------------------------------Stylist w/clientele wanted Chair rental, Private, Professional Hair Studio setting. Must be responsible, professional and a person without any substance abuse problems. Contact Dean Allen @ 954-564-1377. www. deanallen-ahairstudio.com -------------------------------------------------Drivers- 100% OWNER OPERATORS. Paid Weekly. Practical Miles. Unique Fuel Surcharge Program. Own Truck or Lease Purchase. CDL-A with Hazmat required. Call (800)496-4696. www. drivefaf.com
-------------------------------------------------JUST GRADUATE? Play in Vegas, Hang in LA, Jet to New York! Hiring 18-24 girls/ guys. $400-$800 wkly. Paid expenses. Signing Bonus. Call (877)259-6983 -------------------------------------------------17 DRIVERS NEEDED! Top 5% Pay! Excellent Benefits New Trucks Ordered! Need 2 months CDL-A Driving Exp. (877)2588782 www.meltontruck.com -------------------------------------------------Frac Sand Haulers with complete bulk pneumatic rigs only. Relocate to Texas for Tons of work. Great company/ pay. Gas cards/Quick Pay available. (800)491-9029 -------------------------------------------------CLAIMS ADJUSTERS NEEDED due to active Storm Season. JEL’s 5-day Boot Camp, Nations #1 hands-on trainer can prepare you. High Income www.JELTraining.com - Companies waiting -------------------------------------------------Sales Position: FoodMats is now hiring strong individuals. You must be energetic, upbeat, a great closer, willing to work hard, organized, a go getter and have reliable transportation. In return make excellent money. This is a commission paid job. You will earn 40% of the profit. Email seanrmatt7@aol.com and let us know why you are the one! Please paste your resume in the email if you have one. -------------------------------------------------A Beautiful & upscale New Gay Bar located in the heart of Downtown Miami is opening soon- we are looking for Barbacks, Security, Bartenders, Cocktail Servers, DJ’s, MC, VIP Host, Cashier, Male Dancers. Also looking for experienced Bar Mgr. & Dance Mgr. Excellent Pay and benefits. Send Photos, Resume, Contact Info to- newmiamiclub@gmail.com -------------------------------------------------CDL-A DRIVERS. Central Florida company seeks Solo & Team Drivers. Tank and Dry Van positions offering some regional. 1yr OTR & Good MVR required. (877)882-6537 or apply www.oakleytransport.com
------------------------------------------------The New Rodeo Restaurant: For line cook positions, please have experience with Flat Top, Sautee, and/ or Fryer station skills. Ability to work with a team and speed is a must. Some prep and cleaning is required. $9/hour. For serving position, we are looking for FRIENDLY, high energy, multitasking team players with a positive attitude. Primarily looking for lunch shift (10:45am 5pm), with future possibility for dinner shifts as well. Please email resume with references to RodeoFTL@ yahoo.com. Visit RodeoFL.com for more information ------------------------------------------------HouseKeeping: position available, at The Royal Palms Resort, 2901 Terramar St., Ft. Lauderdale Beach. Attention to detail essential. Must be reliable. Stop in to fill out an application.
Insurance & Financial Allstate Direct: personal auto, home, condominium,boat and life insurance. For a free quote call Joe Mier 305-754-7414 -------------------------------------------------SECRET WALL ST. INVESTMENT 14% yearly interest, $30,000 returns $350 per month interest: secured 200% by automobile contracts and other guarantees alden (863)678-0195 -------------------------------------------------CASH NOW! Cash for your structured settlement or annuity payments. Call J.G. Wentworth. (866)494-9115. Rated A+ by the Better Business Bureau. -------------------------------------------------$$$ ACCESS LAWSUIT CASH NOW!!! $$$ As seen on TV.$$$ Injury Lawsuit Dragging? Need $500-$500,000++within 48/hrs? Low rates APPLY NOW BY PHONE! Call Today! Toll-Free: (800)568-8321 www.lawcapital.com
marketplace allaboardanimal.com 954.785.7780 1413 S. Dixie Hwy., East Pompano Beach, FL 33060
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October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
LAND FOR SALE GA LAND SALE 32 AC - $1,650/AC Perfect small hunting tract. Creek, hardwoods, planted pine. Visit our website. stregispaper.com (478)987-9700 St.Regis Paper Co. -------------------------------------------------UPSTATE NY FARM LIQUIDATION! October 29th & 30th! 3 to 41 acre lots, $12,900 - $49,900! Less than 3 hrs NYC! Call to register! (877)352-2844. www. newyorklandandlakes.com -------------------------------------------------GA LAND SALE 69 AC - $995/AC Will not divide. Other tracts available. Visit our website. stregispaper.com (478)987-9700 St. Regis Paper Co. -------------------------------------------------ONE DAY ONLY Oct. 22. New lake property release. Offered at up to 60% below market value! Lakefront land on private mountain lake only 1 hr from Atlanta! Lake living from $49,900. 1.5 to 5 acre homesites available. Call (877)535-3307 or www.livelaceola.com. -------------------------------------------------BANK FORECLOSED, LAND LIQUIDATION, from $9,900, Blue Ridge mountains, paved roads, utilities, county water, panoramic views, excellent financing. Sale September 24th, Call now! (888)757-6867 ext. 214 -------------------------------------------------ABANDONED LAKESIDE FARM! 4 acres - Lake access - $16,900; 10 acres - Huge view - $29,900; 8 acres - Lakefront $69,900. Foreclosure priced land in Upstate NY’s So. Tier!! Survey, clear title! (877)352-2844. www.newyorklandandlakes.com -------------------------------------------------GA LAND SALE - 17 Tracts to choose from. Creeks, pond sites, wooded, clear cut, etc. Visit our website. stregispaper.com (478)987-9700 St. Regis Paper Co. -------------------------------------------------LAKEFRONT BARGAIN! 1+ Acres -only $49,900 DOCKABLE DEEPWATER! Was $89,900. Prime lakefront parcel with direct access to Gulf. On 12,000 acre recreational lake covered in huge live oaks! Close to the city. Paved roads, county water, power, phone, community boat launch. Excellent financing. Call now (866)952-5302 -------------------------------------------------Lender- Ordered Lake Liquidation Sale! Saturday 8/27 only! 2+ acres with free boat slips only $19,900. Was $59,900. Boat, ski, fish on 160,000 acre Kentucky Lake. All infrastructure completed. Own for pennies on the dollar. Excellent financing. Call now (800)704-3154 -------------------------------------------------NY – SOUTHERN TIER FARM SALE! 9 acres - $24,900. Woods, lake rights, mins. North of the PA border! Survey, clear title! Call (877)458-8227 or click: www.NewYorkLandandLakes.com.
-------------------------------------------------UPSTATE NEW YORK FARMLAND SACRIFICE!5ACs - $19,900. Gorgeous views, apple trees, woods & meadows! Nearby lakes & state land! Perfect for country getaway! (877)458-8227 www. NewYorkLandandLakes.com
Legal Services Creditors Calling? Call Us! The Law Offices of George Castrataro, PA. Serving Clients With Integrity and Compassion 954-573-1444 -------------------------------------------------Proudly serving the South Florida GLBTX Comm. since 1993. Law office’s of Robin L. Bodiford, PA specializes in Bankruptcy, Probate, Wills&Trust. Call 954-630-2707 -------------------------------------------------Selzer & Weiss, Attorneys at Law Last Will & Testament, Living Will. Health Care Power of Attorney (POA) w/HIPAA release, Durable Financial POA, for $399.00. PERSONAL INJURY: Free consult, if no recovery, no fee or cost to you. 954-567-4444. -------------------------------------------------Boost Testosterone! Free 30 Day Supply! Progene for Men! All Natural, Herbal Supplement Higher Energy! More Strength Call (877)878-0475 Now For Free Month’s Supply! www.progene.com
MORTGAGES Access Reverse Mortgage! Floridabased: Application & closing in your home. Experience: almost 1,000 reverse mortgages funded. Award-winning customer service. BBB A rating. NMLS #4566. (800)806-7126
MOVERS Rainbow Moving & Delivery. Free estimates. Short Notice Expert Packing, Commercial & Residental Moves, Office Moves, Licensed & Insured. 10% off with Ad. Terry 954-776-6683
Personal Training If you are ready to make a healthier you a lifestyle call Christy Fritch,BS CPR certified 954-445-2540
Professional Services Free Roof Inspections. Free written Detailed Roof Evaluation. By State licensed Roofing Contractor. Lic # RC29027398 (954) 580-1818 Or (561) 955-0700 -------------------------------------------------Butler Plumbing One of South Florida’s best plumbing service companies - Professional plumbing services along with kitchen and bath remodeling. 100% quality work. One year warranty on workmanship. Call 561-613-7338 www.butlerplumbinc.com
REAL ESTATE
Solution to Crossword Puzzle on page 34
BANK FORECLOSURE! FLORIDA WATERFRONT CONDOS! SW Coast! Brand new upscale 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,675sf condo. Only $179,900! (Similar unit sold for $399,900) Prime downtown location on the water! Buy & get $8,000 in flex money for a limited time. Call now (877)888-7571, X63 Terra Mar Island 3/2 Paradise -------------------------------------------------VERY PEACEFUL RESIDENCE Lakeridge house: very private, immaculate XLg 1BR, private gated entry, CAC, WD, tile flooring, walk-in closet, ample storage off street parking, fenced patio ZEN meditation/orchid gardens front/rear VERY quiet. Minutes to Publix, $985/mon. Call Joe: 954-610-6712.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
-------------------------------------------------Auction - Over 110 Properties: AL & FL. October 24th-28th. Commercial, Homes, Condos, Acreage & Lots. Sperry Van Ness www. BidOnBankREO.com. Auctioneer#1832 Broker#000058515-0 / FL Auctioneer#AU220; Broker#CQ1036111 -------------------------------------------------Developer Closeout Sale! Sat. 9/3 Only Prime Panama City Beach Waterfront Condo 3 Bedroom, 3 Bath, Only $289,900! Similar Unit Sold For $751,000. Bonus: NO CLOSING COSTS Over 40 units sold in just 6 weeks! Only 9 units remain. Call before they’re gone! (877)888-2296 x90 -------------------------------------------------20 Acre Ranch FORECLOSURES! Near Growing El Paso,TX Was $16,900 Now $12,900 $0 Down, take over payments, $99/ mo. Beautiful views, owner financing. FREE color brochure (800)755-8953 www. sunsetranches.com -------------------------------------------------Walk to Beach. Private heated pool & spa Fenced Butterfly Garden, impact windows. Secure 3/2 + office, LR, FR & sc.patio. Formal DR,Comm. AC.Upgrades. Bob@KellerWilliams Call 954-562-7692. -------------------------------------------------1/1 close to Wilton manors & downtown, half duplex, quiet community, private parking, water/garbage included 600/mo + one month security call 954-736-7583 -------------------------------------------------BANK FORECLOSED, LAND LIQUIDATION, from $9,900, Blue Ridge mountains, paved roads, utilities, county water, panoramic views, excellent financing. Sale September 24th, Call now! (888)757-6867 ext. 214 -------------------------------------------------Andrews gardens: Oct. 1st Occupancy. 5111 NW 1st Ave., cozy, clean, happy 2/1 private home. Patio, fenced, paver drive, close to everything. 985/mo. (1st + sec.). 954-629-0393. -------------------------------------------------BANK FORECLOSED, LAND LIQUIDATION, from $9,900, Blue Ridge mountains, paved roads, utilities, county water, panoramic views, excellent financing. Sale September 24th, Call now! (888)757-6867 ext. 214 -------------------------------------------------Auction 24 Beautiful Home Sites in Mountain Blue Saturday, August 27th, 11:00AM Jackson County, NC 10% BP NCL # 1787 (800)241-7591 www.jltodd.com (800)289-7512 www.wcproperties.com -------------------------------------------------620 NE 7th Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 For Sale: 250,000. 3 Bedrooms 2.5 Bath. Call John Castelli at (954) 563-9889 -------------------------------------------------KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY- Ted Adcock, Realtor Cell: 954-609-4393 tedftl@aol.com -------------------------------------------------WATERFRONT CONDO LIQUIDATION! SW Florida Coast! Brand new, upscale 2 bedroom, 2 bath, 1,675sf condo. Only $179,900! (Similar unit sold for $399,900) Prime downtown location on the water! Call now (877)888-7571, x28 -------------------------------------------------North Carolina Mountain Lakefront lots. New gated waterfront community. Dockable lots with up to 300’ of shoreline, Low insurance, Low property tax. Call Now (800)709-5253 -------------------------------------------------NC mountain property must go. 4.5 acres with outstanding views and privacy. $25,000 OBO, great for home or cabin. (828)394-9298. Ask for Richard -------------------------------------------------DEVELOPER FORCED LIQUIDATION Smoky Mountain TN. Lake Condos & Lots Priced @ Foreclosure/Short sale! Up to 100% Financing/5% interest. 2Acre Lake Lot w/dock, $19,900 (866)434-8969ext100
------------------------------------------------Two Bedroom Middle River Homes Condo. Two bedroom, two bath condo in pet friendly building with wash/ dryer in unit. Close to Wilton Manors. First and second floor units available March 1. $975 f/l/s. Jimmy Cunningham licensed Real Estate Agent Castelli RE Services 954-303-7380. -------------------------------------------------LUSH 2 BEDROOM HOME FOR SALE Oasis close to restaurants & highway Private & landscaped yard for relaxing Hardwood flooring in living room Call Ana Salazar @ Keyes 954-593-3089 -------------------------------------------------2836 NE 23RD ST, Fort Lauderdale, FL $1,095,000.00. A free service of Larry Revier 2810 East Oakland Park Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, FL MLS # F1130335 • 3733 square feet. 5.00 bedroom(s), 5 bath(s) -------------------------------------------------THE SHAPIRO GROUP INC. Residential Property Management LICENSED REAL ESTATE BROKER. www.shapiroproperty. com 954-434-0175 -------------------------------------------------3321 NE 37TH ST Fort Lauderdale, FLORIDA 33308 Listing # F1113917: 4 Bedrooms 3 Bathrooms. Price: $825,000 call Jason Johnson Office Phone: (954) 563-9889 ------------------------------------------------HOLLYWOOD OCEAN FRONT CONDO FOR SALE ON PENTHOUSE LEVEL 2 Bed/2 Bath, Newly renovated. Only Motivated Buyers. 2,200 sqft. $570,000. Call 954-328-7412 Ronnie ------------------------------------------------DISCREET PRIVATE SECURE. FT LAUDERDALE BEACH CONDO $169,900. Building & Unit totally renovated. Ocean views from Bedroom Balcony Living Room. Intracostal Apartment elegant. Bob McGlynn Exit Realty. rebobmac@yahoo.com 954-478-6321 -------------------------------------------------GAY ANDREWS AVENUE Large 1/1, all utilities incl, granite, d/w, private fenced tropical yard, all tile, vaulted ceiling, adt security. $750. Call 772-626-1345
Rent/Lease Middle River Terrace Large 1 Bedroom, Tile Floors, On-site Laundry, Parking, Close to Wilton Drive, Dog Friendly. $750/month 954-815-2550 -------------------------------------------------MIDDLE RIVER / FT LAUDERDALE Spacious 2 bed/1 bath with central air & laundry on-site. 1 mile south of Pride Park. Quiet & very well taken care of. $850 / month + $700 security. Call Steve at 561-305-2333 ------------------------------------------------South Middle River / Ft.Lauderdale. Large 2 BD, 1 Bath Tile Floors, Parking, Lots of Closets. Half a Duplex, $850/month, Large 2BD/1 BA, Central A/C, Tile Floors, Washer/ Dryer Large Updated Kitchen, lots of closets, Fenced Yard, Dog Friendly, Call: 954-815-2550. -------------------------------------------------1/1 close to Wilton manors & downtown, half duplex, quiet community, private parking, water/garbage included 600/mo + one month security call 954-736-7583
-------------------------------------------------SPACIOUS OFFICE FOR RENT. Office suite in great building available approx 2500 sf set up as offices with conference room in two adjoining suites. Located at 1220 ne 4th ave just south of wilton manors. 954-7634214 To see. Rent $ 2500 with annual lease -------------------------------------------------Andrews gardens: Oct. 1st Occupancy. 5111 NW 1st Ave., cozy, clean, happy 2/1 private home. Patio, fenced, paver drive, close to everything. 985/mo. (1st + sec.). 954-629-0393. -------------------------------------------------2/2 WILTON MANORS. Quiet area, w/pool, laundry, small pets accepted. First and 1 month deposit. Call Astrid: 954-806-7607. -------------------------------------------------West Hollywood 2/2 Large Unique Duplex, Small office in unit, open kitchen w/ dishwasher, W/D, wood deck patio + privacy fence all around, we are extremely pet friendly, call Rita 954-549-9228 -------------------------------------------------1/1 Wilton Manors. Freshly painted, 1/1 in quiet community w/pool Laundry facilities on premises,Close to everything. $775/Mo. Call 954 566 4423 -------------------------------------------------Lakeridge Cottage. Nice quite studio w/ private sun deck, Minutes from beach & Wilton Manors, downtown. Includes All. $700/ Mo. Weekly or Monthly. Call Jeff 954-593-6833
Roommates Room 4 Rent in 2 bed/1 bath Clean! $500 mo. includes utilities North of Sunrise/East of Andrews Walk to Wilton Manors. Must be gay friendly male/female. Call 954-297-9270 -------------------------------------------------Roommate wanted to share townhouse in s. pompano. $450 a month. Everything included. Male or female. Call Margie at 954-829-3933. ------------------------------------------------Victoria Park Large Townhouse Lge. Pvt. Bedroom w/full use of home Key West Style Street with view. References with happy stable life. $625 plus 1/2 utilities. cbado@Live.com or 954.709.0505 ------------------------------------------------FTL-Coral Ridge Pool Home Male to share remodeled 4BD/4BA home w/2 males. Unfurn, W/D, chef’s kitchen, wi-fi, lg pvt backyard w/dive-in pool,1.5 mi to beach. $800/mo. 954-609-9405.
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Misc. Movie Extras People needed NOW to stand in the background for a major film Earn up to $300 per day. Exp not REQ. CALL NOW AND SPEAK TO A LIVE PERSON (877)435-5877 ------------------------------------------------ELECTRIC BILLS HIGH? GO SOLAR! 60% OFF SALE ends 10/1/11. FPL/Progress Cash Rebates up to $21,000. NO Money Down, NO Payment 12-months. (877)2474938; www.Rebate.SolarDirect.com ------------------------------------------------AIRLINES ARE HIRING - Train for high paying Aviation Maintenance Career. FAA approved program. Financial aid if qualified - Housing available CALL Aviation Institute of Maintenance (866)314-3769. ------------------------------------------------DIRECTV Fall Special! Free HD, 3 mos FREE HBO/Showtime/Starz/Cinemax! NFL SUNDAY TICKET Free - Choice Ultimate/ Premier - Pkgs from $29.99/mo. Till 9/30! (866)419-5666 ------------------------------------------------DISH NETWORK lowest nationwide price $19.99 a month. FREE HBO/Cinemax/Starz/Showtime FREE Blockbuster FREEHD-DVR and install. Next day install 800-652-9871. Restrictions apply call for details. ------------------------------------------------SAWMILLS from only $3997- MAKE MONEY & SAVE MONEY with your own bandmill- Cut lumber any dimension. In stock ready to ship. FREE Info & DVD: www.NorwoodSawmills.com/300N (800)578-1363 Ext.300N -------------------------------------------------ATTEND COLLEGE ONLINE from Home. *Medical, *Business, *Paralegal, *Accounting, *Criminal Justice. Job placement assistance. Computer available. Financial Aid if qualified. Call (888)2033179 www.CenturaOnline.com -------------------------------------------------DISH NETWORK lowest nationwide price $19.99 a month. FREE HBO/ Cinemax/ Starz/ Showtime FREE Blockbuster FREE HD-DVR and install. Next day install (800)908-2955. Restrictions apply call for details.
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SFGN Editorial by Norm Kent, Publisher October 19, 2011
Groups That Love Us T
his past weekend, in Washington, D.C., our nation celebrated the opening of the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial. Only seven days before that, also in the nation’s Capital, a ‘Values’ Summit held by leaders of the regressive right, paraded speaker after speaker to a podium announcing how homosexuality presents a threat to the nation’s security, families, and probably the solar system. It was a message of intolerance and fear. Dr. King would not have stood for that, nor should you. This week, emboldened by that conference, SFGN shares with you a front page feature story tendered to us by the Southern Poverty Law Center. It is a story of hate groups; organizations composed of people who don’t like you or what you stand for. They fear us because they don’t know us. They see the LGBT community as a threat to America. Had they known us better, they would have seen that the gay community is as loving and peaceful and caring as the Gay
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Men’s Chorus of South Florida, gathered above celebrating their first anniversary in song with music, harmony, and melody at the Pier 66 Rooftop on the 17 th Street Causeway in Fort Lauderdale. They would see that whether we are Dolphin Democrats or Log Cabin Republicans, we care about our community just as much as they do. Also, this weekend, the Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus returns with its ‘Fall Follies’ recital at the First Congregational Church. These groups are the voices of harmony and community. The only song sung by those religious right groups is of discord and disgrace. They speak in hate; we sing with love. The gay community, which includes lesbians, gay men, transgender individuals, bisexuals, those questioning themselves, and our friends that gay community is America. We are black and white, rich and poor, Christian and Jew, a mosaic of men and women coming together to simply survive and live our lives openly and honestly, de-
cently and with dignity. To do that, as Martin Luther King did, we have to “remember the fierce urgency of now.” Apathy and indifference can have no place in our lives. We can never be satisfied as long as the marriage or adoptive rights are different for gay men and women. We can never be satisfied if domestic partners and gay couples are treated differently by tax codes and ordinances, laws and regulations. We can never be silent with contentment when groups gather to censure and condemn us, simply because we are not who they want us to be. We don’t need reparative therapy to live our lives. We need to sit in and stand firm against those who would harm us. You can gather at the Fontainebleau in Miami with the Task Force at a national dinner, sing in harmony with a gay chorus, or march with Occupy Fort Lauderdale on the streets of a local city, but stand your ground and sound out your voice. Until we are ‘free at last,’ the first of us is not free.
The message from the citizen uprisings in Arab countries this past summer is now being heard in American cities this fall. Essentially, we are all asking to ‘occupy’ a seat at the table of fairness. We are experiencing a world of discontent, of unfulfilled aspirations. Here at home, in small communities and large cities, banks are screwing everyone, our economy is in shambles, our nation is still at war, and unsettling discourse surrounds every political corner. Ultimately, in a world being made so much smaller by technology, which is so much greater, we are all coming a lot closer. But let’s never forget that last week we celebrated not just ‘National Coming Out Day’ on October 11. We also commemorated the unspeakable brutality of Matthew Shepard’s murder in Wyoming, on October 12, 1998, only 13 years ago. Before freedom rings universally, there are hills and mountains still to climb; bridges to cross and roads to walk. May you find your path in those journeys.
October 19, 2011 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com