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Gay Homeless Youth: the Next Battle for Equality Page 4
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March 14, 2012 • Volume 3 • Issue 11
The Ex-Gay Myth
INSIDE THIS ISSUE
3
page
New Wellness Center in South Beach
10
page
Opinion: New Hope for HRC
22
page
Kate Clinton Does Stonewall
39
page
Page 16-18
NHL Stars Support Gay Athletes
Winner of the 2011 Stars of the Rainbow Media Star Award March 14, 2012 • Volume 3 • Issue 11
Local News
Editorial Offices
Mutual Benefits Brothers Charged Again
2520 N. Dixie Highway • Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Phone: 954-530-4970 FAX: 954-530-7943
Norm Kent Publisher norm.kent@sfgn.com Pier Angelo Guidugli
One time gay philanthropist jailed without bond
Chief Executive Officer
In 2001, as Chair of the Arts for AIDS event, Steven Steiner, then on the Board of Directors of Center One, presents a Lifetime Achievement Award to Liza Minnelli at the DCOTA in Dania Beach. Today, Steiner is in jail in Miami, held without bond, on federal charges of criminal fraud.
By Richard Gary
T
wo principals charged in a $1 billion Mutual Benefits viatical scam were charged recently in a new indictment with fraudulently getting personal health insurance. Brothers Joel Steinger and Steven Steiner, who founded the Fort Lauderdale-based company, were charged with mail and wire fraud in a new case that includes Steiner’s life partner, Henry Fecker (even though they are brothers they have different last names). Once a renowned local gay philanthropist, Steven Steiner is already in federal custody, having his bond revoked on the first case by a second indictment charging him with perjury late last year.
THE REGULARS
By Karl Hampe
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Creative Director. . . . . . . . . . George Dauphin george.dauphin@sfgn.com
In yet another new case, the latest federal charges accuse both Steiner and his partner Fecker of plotting “to unlawfully enrich themselves by obtaining money and property, including health insurance coverage, reimbursement for claimed health care expenses and provision of health goods and services.” The men were accused of making false representations and omissions to CIGNA, Blue Cross & Blue Shield and Assurant Health since 2006. They were charged in 2009 with running Mutual Benefits as a fraud from 1994 to 2004. It is one of the largest Ponzi schemes alleged in American history. The federal government has said Mu-
tual Benefits bought life insurance policies from seniors and terminally ill people at discounts, planning to profit when policyholders died. However, improvements in treatment for HIV and AIDS thwarted their business plan. Federal regulators originally shut the company down with an SEC civil action in 2004. The criminal indictments followed five years later. Amongst those criminally charged with Steve Steiner in that case, and still at liberty fighting the accusations, is Fort Lauderdale based gay civil rights attorney, Anthony Livoti. Jr. Steiner and Livoti once both served on the Board of Directors of Center One, in its day the oldest and largest AIDS service agency in the county. Both were well known and distinguished LGBT activists, instrumental in bringing to the community the annual Art for AIDS Auction at the DCOTA Center, which would typically raise $50,000 in a single night for HIV support. Livoti, who also undertook many pro bono causes for the LGBT community, continues to practice law while asserting his innocence and preparing his defense. He is in no way connected to the new charges against Steiner. Fecker’s attorney,Valentin Rodriguez of West Palm Beach, interviewed by the Daily Business Review, said the newest charges were false, and tantamount to “piling on” to get leverage in the other cases. Steiner and Fecker were also charged in an indictment last year with hiding assets that were supposed to be turned over to compensate Mutual Benefits’ 30,000 investors. Steiner’s bond was revoked at the time.
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Editorial Editor in Chief. . . . . . . . . . . . Jason Parsley jason.parsley@sfgn.com Copy Desk Chief . . . . . . . . . Michael Anguille News Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gideon Grudo Arts/Entertainment Editor . . . JW Arnold jw@prdconline.com International Travel Editor. . . Joey Amato Business Editor . . . . . . . . . . . Richard Gary Senior Features Correspondents . . . . . . . . . . T ony Adams Jesse Monteagudo Correspondents. . . . . . . . . . . D onald Cavanaugh Gideon Grudo Lisa Lucas Mike Rothman Denise Royal Tana Velen
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Susan Estrich Brian McNaught Victoria Michaels Leslie Robinson Dana Rudolph David Webb
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
AHF Opens New Wellness Center in South Beach
By Elliott Joseph
T
he AIDS Healthcare Foundation last weekend opened its South Beach Wellness Center—its ninth Wellness Center in the U.S.— which offers free sexually-transmitted disease (STD) screenings, including HIV testing. The newest location is at a specialized clinic on the floor above the Out of the Closet Thrift Store at 1510 Alton Rd. in Miami Beach. The facility will be open on Monday and Thursday evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Walk-ins are welcome. Visit www.freestdcheck.org, or call1-877-259-8727 for more information. The AHF Wellness Centers are designed to make testing for STDs accessible, convenient and affordable, as well as to encourage regular sexual health screenings as part of routine health care for all sexually-active people. Services offered include: free Chlamydia screening and treatment; free gonorrhea screening and treatment; free syphilis screening and treatment; vaccinations for Hepatitis A & B at cost and free HIV testing and linkage to care, if needed. “We are pleased to be opening this latest AHF Wellness Center in the South Beach area—our fourth in Florida—offering free and low-cost services to the community,” said Albert Ruiz, Deputy Director, Public Health Division, AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Our hope is that by offering these services in a friendly, non-threatening venue that is also accessible and affordable, more people in South Beach will consider sexual health screenings a regular part of their health maintenance – like going to the gym and getting a yearly check-up at the dentist. There is effective treatment for most STDs, so it truly is better to know your status – for your health and for the health of your partner or partners.” In addition to the new South Beach location,
AHF operates Wellness Centers in Fort Lauderdale, North Miami Beach, Wilton Manors and Pensacola. The organization also operates sites in California and Washington D.C. AHF is the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to more than 125,000 individuals in 26 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. In Florida, AHF serves more than 15,000 Floridians living with HIV/AIDS through a variety of programs, including free HIV testing and prevention programs; HIV/AIDS health care centers located in Ft. Lauderdale, Miami and Jacksonville, eight AHF Pharmacies located throughout the state, a statewide disease management program; and its Positive Healthcare Managed Care program.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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H o m e le s s Yo uth
The Next Battle for Gay Equality
Aiding homeless youth the next battle in gay equality;White House to consider housing needs By Verena Dobnik Associated Press
Despite the hardships,
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EW YORK (AP) — Iro Uikka clutches his throat as he describes the violent clash that led to spending his nights sleeping in New York City subway cars. “When I told my mother I was gay, she grabbed me by the neck and threw me out,” he says. “Then she threw my coat on top of me and shut the door.” That was five years ago when he was 18, still living at home in Florida. Uikka is among tens of thousands of homeless youths across America who are LGBT. Most are on the streets because they have nowhere else to go — outcasts who leave home after being rejected by family members or flee shelters because residents bully or beat them. LGBT young people represent a dramatically high proportion of an estimated 600,000 or more homeless youths across the country — between 20 percent and 40 percent, according to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force Policy Institute. But only about 5 percent of youths identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “We’ve won battles for gay marriage and gays in the military,” says Carl Siciliano, founder and executive director of the New York-based Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization for LGBT youth. “This is the next frontier, the next battle: helping these youths.” The White House has taken notice. Members of the Obama Administration are hosting a national conference on housing and homelessness in America’s LGBT communities on Friday in Detroit. They’ll discuss these issues with advocates, community leaders and the public. Detroit City Council President Charles Pugh, who is openly gay, is one of the participants. “I take this discussion personally because I know too many people who have been kicked out of their homes because of their orientation,” he told The Associated Press. “To get this kind of attention from the White House is exactly what we need to raise conscientiousness and to help parents find a way to deal with their kids’ orientation.” Detroit has the only nonprofit agency in the Midwest that focuses on LGBT youth — the Ruth Ellis Center, co-host of the Friday conference. But the largely voiceless, powerless youth are fighting to survive from coast to coast.
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the city is a magnet for young people who grew up with conservative traditions, whether among immigrants from Caribbean and Asian countries or parts of the United States where residents are less accepting of sexual diversity.
They live on streets, in subways and train stations, on river piers, in parks and abandoned houses. They’re robbed, raped and assaulted. Some are murdered. And they’re invisible to most Americans. Lesbian, gay and bisexual youth are about four times more likely to attempt suicide than their straight peers, according to the CDC. And one in three is thrown out by their parents, according to data collected from youth across the country by the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University. Some youth use “survival sex” to land in a warm bed, or they move from home to home of friends and acquaintances. In the past, Ryan Kennedy resorted to survival sex. He lists his education on Facebook as “Urban Survivalism at University of NYC Streets.” He adopted a rebellious middle name for his page, calling himself “Ryan TransEquality Kennedy.” “I wouldn’t be alive today if I didn’t get some help,” says Kennedy, a transgender youth whose Connecticut family threw him out at 15. He says he was a girl who felt like a boy. He’s now transitioning to male. After years living on the streets, Kennedy, now 22, has a bed thanks to The Door, a New York nonprofit that offers shelter, food, counseling and job training programs. On any given day, there are almost 4,000 homeless youths in New York City, and at least 1,000 are LGBT, according to a 2008 census released by the City Council. Meager government funds and private donations cover about 350 New York beds for homeless youth. Hundreds more are on wait-
ing lists, providers say. In recent years, the New York state Legislature has cut funding to support homeless youth programs in general by about 70 percent. Somehow, these vulnerable Americans survive, without beds. Each night, some fill tables at a fast-food shop off Manhattan’s Union Square. One is a lively 19-year-old bisexual man from Virginia. When he leaves in the late evening, Baresco Escobar goes to the far end of Brooklyn to sleep in an abandoned house with dozens of homeless kids, covering bare floors with blankets and cuddling for warmth. “Home is where you’re supposed to have stability, unconditional love, support, a foundation,” he says. Instead, back in Virginia, “I was in a place of dysfunction, with expectations that didn’t apply to me — full of judgment, discrimination and hypocrisy.” Escobar goes to the Ali Forney drop-in center on Manhattan’s West Side, which offers clothing, counseling, workshops in life skills, showers, laundry facilities and HIV testing. A nurse is available for quick checkups, sending clients for follow-ups with doctors. Escobar does not live in Ali Forney’s emergency housing units, which have a total of only 47 beds in Brooklyn and Queens assigned for a few months at a time. The center also has limited transitional housing where residents get coached on how to prepare for job or school interviews. The Ali Forney Center opened in 2002. Siciliano named it after a transgender youth who was kicked out of his home at 13. He was found shot to death on a Harlem sidewalk in
1997, at 22. By then, he had become a counselor to his homeless friends. Siciliano knows of five other LGBT youths who were killed in New York over the years. Despite the hardships, the city is a magnet for young people who grew up with conservative traditions, whether among immigrants from Caribbean and Asian countries or parts of the United States where residents are less accepting of sexual diversity. Gizmo Lopez, 19, comes from a staunchly Catholic family with Puerto Rican roots. She now sleeps on the subway. “I’m bisexual, and my stepfather didn’t approve; he said it’s wrong,” said the teenager, whose mother died two years ago. Her stepfather moved to Puerto Rico with her two half-brothers, leaving her behind — alone in the family’s apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. One afternoon, when she came home from school, “I found a pink slip on the door.” She was evicted. “I took my stuff, cried and left,” she says. “We’re nomads.” In the Midwest, the only nonprofit agency for LGBT youth is Detroit’s Ruth Ellis Center, which offers meals and other basic services and has 10 beds. The support saved Demetrius Smith, an 18-year-old who left his great-grandmother’s Michigan farm years ago because “she whipped me, and she beat me with an umbrella because she thought I acted like a girl.” He bought food and other necessities by working as an escort. That ended last August. An older friend is letting Smith stay with him and the teenager is finishing high school. Siciliano believes there’s a new reason for the rising number of LGBT youths seeking shelter. As some states legalize gay marriage and the military welcomes openly gay soldiers, “Many kids think, ‘Oh, I’m ready to come out,’” he says. As a result, the average age of young people declaring their sexuality — or at least sharing their doubts about it — has dropped dramatically in recent years to as young as the early teens, according to the Family Acceptance Project. Some families are not ready for them, nor are segments of society, he says. Each rejection turns into a homeless youth looking for a bed. And there aren’t enough. “These kids are the collateral damage of our cultural wars,” Siciliano says.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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LIOPADate: O D01t 3101 1231 • Cl 12ent G lea t March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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mon Common s e efside ectseffects associated associated w th with OM COMPLERA: LERA •e trouble sleep ng sleeping (insom(insomnia), a), abno mal abnormal drea dreams, s head headache, che, dizziness, dizziness, diarr diarrhea, ea, nausea a, rash, trash, red ess tiredness, and ep andession dep ession Other s de side f ectseffects associated associated w th with OM COMPLERA: LERA it vomiting, ng stom stomach ch pa n pa r dis n oromfort discomfo skint, skin isco orat discoloration o (sma (small spots spots or freckles) or freckles), ain and pain Tell ur your ealt healthcare care provider provider if you have f you an haves de anyeffe s det effect that bothers that bothers you o you thator that does ot gonot away go away. TheseTh arese notare a lntht all p the ssible possible side effec s de seffects of COMPLERA of COMPLERA For moFore more mation, information ask your askhealt your healthcare care provider provider or pharmacist. or pharmacist. Call our Call your ealt healthcare care provider provider edi for medical al a viceadvice about about side ffec s de seffects. re Youencouraged are encouraged to re to ortreport negative negative s de side f ectseffects of prescr of prescription p ion drugsdtougs theto the Visit FDA.www Visitfda www.fda.gov/medwatch gov/medwatch or a or l -80 call 1-800-FDA-1088. DA- 088 COM Take COMPLERA LERA exac exactly y as your asheal yourhcare healthcare provide provider tel s tells o toyou ta to e take it a• Always s take COM take COMPLERA LERA wi h with meala meal Takin Taking COMPLERA C MPLERA with awith me al meal s important is important to to help et theget right t eamount right amount of edof m inedicine in yourin your ody. Abody. protein A protein dr nk does rinknot does repnot acereplace al meal • Stay nde under t e c the re care f yourofhealthcare your healthcare provide provider du i gduring treatment treatme with t with COMPLERA LERA and see andyou seeheal yourhcare healthcare rovider provider regularly regularly
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FDA-Approved Patient Labeling Patient Information COMPLERA® (kom-PLEH-rah) (emtricitabine, rilpivirine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) Tablets
COMPLERA may help: • Reduce the amount of HIV in your blood. This is called your “viral load”. • Increase the number of white blood cells called CD4+ (T) cells that help fight off other infections.
Important: Ask your doctor or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with COMPLERA. For more information, see the section “What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking COMPLERA?”
Reducing the amount of HIV and increasing the CD4+ (T) cell count may improve your immune system. This may reduce your risk of death or infections that can happen when your immune system is weak (opportunistic infections).
Read this Patient Information before you start taking COMPLERA and each time you get a refill. There may be new information. This information does not take the place of talking to your healthcare provider about your medical condition or treatment. What is the most important information I should know about COMPLERA?
COMPLERA does not cure HIV infections or AIDS. • Always practice safer sex. • Use latex or polyurethane condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with any body fluids such as semen, vaginal secretions, or blood. • Never re-use or share needles.
Ask your healthcare provider if you have any questions about how to prevent passing COMPLERA can cause serious side effects, including: 1. Build-up of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis). Lactic acidosis can happen in HIV to other people. some people who take COMPLERA or similar (nucleoside analogs) medicines. Lactic Who should not take COMPLERA? acidosis is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. • Do not take COMPLERA if your HIV infection has been previously treated with Lactic acidosis can be hard to identify early, because the symptoms could seem like HIV medicines. symptoms of other health problems. Call your healthcare provider right away if you • Do not take COMPLERA if you are taking certain other medicines. For more get any of the following symptoms which could be signs of lactic acidosis: information about medicines that must not be taken with COMPLERA, see “What • feeling very weak or tired should I tell my healthcare provider before taking COMPLERA?” • have unusual (not normal) muscle pain • have trouble breathing What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking COMPLERA? • have stomach pain with Before you take COMPLERA, tell your healthcare provider if you: - nausea (feel sick to your stomach) • have liver problems, including hepatitis B or C virus infection - vomiting • have kidney problems • feel cold, especially in your arms and legs • have ever had a mental health problem • feel dizzy or lightheaded • have bone problems • have a fast or irregular heartbeat • are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if COMPLERA can harm your unborn child Pregnancy Registry. There is a pregnancy registry for women who take antiviral medicines during pregnancy. Its purpose is to collect information about the health of you and your baby. Talk to your healthcare provider about how you can take part in this registry. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms • are breast-feeding or plan to breast-feed. The Centers for Disease Control and of liver problems: Prevention recommends that mothers with HIV not breastfeed because they can pass • your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice). the HIV through their milk to the baby. It is not known if COMPLERA can pass through • dark “tea-colored” urine your breast milk and harm your baby. Talk to your healthcare provider about the best • light-colored bowel movements (stools) way to feed your baby. • loss of appetite for several days or longer Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription • nausea and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. • stomach pain 2. Severe liver problems. Severe liver problems can happen in people who take COMPLERA or similar medicines. In some cases these liver problems can lead to death. Your liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and you may develop fat in your liver (steatosis) when you take COMPLERA.
You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are COMPLERA may affect the way other medicines work, and other medicines may female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking COMPLERA or a similar affect how COMPLERA works, and may cause serious side effects. If you take certain medicines with COMPLERA, the amount of COMPLERA in your body may be too low and medicine containing nucleoside analogs for a long time. it may not work to help control your HIV infection. The HIV virus in your body may become 3. Worsening of Hepatitis B infection. If you also have hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection resistant to COMPLERA or other HIV medicines that are like it. and you stop taking COMPLERA, your HBV infection may become worse (flare-up). A “flare-up” is when your HBV infection suddenly returns in a worse way than before. Do not take COMPLERA if you also take these medicines: COMPLERA is not approved for the treatment of HBV, so you must discuss your HBV • COMPLERA provides a complete treatment for HIV infection. Do not take other HIV medicines with COMPLERA. therapy with your healthcare provider. • the anti-seizure medicines carbamazepine (CARBATROL®, EQUETRO®, TEGRETOL®, • Do not let your COMPLERA run out. Refill your prescription or talk to your healthcare TEGRETOL-XR®, TERIL®, EPITOL®), oxcarbazepine (TRILEPTAL®), phenobarbital provider before your COMPLERA is all gone. (LUMINAL®), phenytoin (DILANTIN®, DILANTIN-125®, PHENYTEK®) • Do not stop taking COMPLERA without first talking to your healthcare provider. ® ® • If you stop taking COMPLERA, your healthcare provider will need to check your health • the anti-tuberculosis medicines rifabutin (MYCOBUTIN ), rifampin (RIFATER , ® ® ® ® , RIMACTANE , RIFADIN ) and rifapentine (PRIFTIN ) RIFAMATE often and do regular blood tests to check your HBV infection. Tell your healthcare provider about any new or unusual symptoms you may have after you stop taking • a proton pump inhibitor medicine for certain stomach or intestinal problems, including esomeprazole (NEXIUM®, VIMOVO®), lansoprazole (PREVACID®), omeprazole COMPLERA. (PRILOSEC®), pantoprazole sodium (PROTONIX®), rabeprazole (ACIPHEX®) • more than 1 dose of the steroid medicine dexamethasone or dexamethasone sodium What is COMPLERA? COMPLERA is a prescription HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) medicine that: phosphate • is used to treat HIV-1 in adults who have never taken HIV medicines before. HIV is the • St. John’s wort (Hypericum perforatum) virus that causes AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome). If you are taking COMPLERA, you should not take: • contains 3 medicines, (rilpivirine, emtricitabine, tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) • other medicines that contain tenofovir (VIREAD®, TRUVADA®, ATRIPLA®) combined in one tablet. EMTRIVA and VIREAD are HIV-1 (human immunodeficiency • other medicines that contain emtricitabine or lamivudine (EMTRIVA®, COMBIVIR®, virus) nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs) and EDURANT is an EPIVIR® or EPIVIR-HBV®, EPZICOM®, TRIZIVIR®) HIV-1 non-nucleoside analog reverse transcriptase inhibitor (NNRTI). • rilpivirine (EDURANT™) It is not known if COMPLERA is safe and effective in children under the age of 18 years. • adefovir (HEPSERA®)
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March ew l 14dd2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Also tell your healthcare provider if you take: The most common side effects of COMPLERA include: • an antacid medicine that contains aluminum, magnesium hydroxide, or calcium • trouble sleeping (insomnia) carbonate. Take antacids at least 2 hours before or at least 4 hours after you take • abnormal dreams COMPLERA. • headache • a histamine-2 blocker medicine, including famotidine (PEPCID®), cimetidine • dizziness (TAGAMET®), nizatidine (AXID®), or ranitidine hydrochloride (ZANTAC®). Take these • diarrhea medicines at least 12 hours before or at least 4 hours after you take COMPLERA. • nausea ® ® ® • the antibiotic medicines clarithromycin (BIAXIN ), erythromycin (E-MYCIN , ERYC , • rash ERY-TAB®, PCE®, PEDIAZOLE®, ILOSONE®), and troleandomycin (TAO®) • tiredness • an antifungal medicine by mouth, including fluconazole (DIFLUCAN®), itraconazole ® ® ® (SPORANOX ), ketoconazole (NIZORAL ), posaconazole (NOXAFIL ), voriconazole • depression (VFEND®) Additional common side effects include: • methadone (DOLOPHINE®) • vomiting Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you are not sure if your medicine is • stomach pain or discomfort • skin discoloration (small spots or freckles) one that is listed above. Know the medicines you take. Keep a list of your medicines and show it to your • pain healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. Your healthcare provider and your pharmacist can tell you if you can take these medicines with COMPLERA. Do not start any new medicines while you are taking COMPLERA without first talking with your healthcare provider or pharmacist. You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for a list of medicines that can interact with COMPLERA. How should I take COMPLERA? • Stay under the care of your healthcare provider during treatment with COMPLERA. • Take COMPLERA exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to take it. • Always take COMPLERA with a meal. Taking COMPLERA with a meal is important to help get the right amount of medicine in your body. A protein drink does not replace a meal. • Do not change your dose or stop taking COMPLERA without first talking with your healthcare provider. See your healthcare provider regularly while taking COMPLERA. • If you miss a dose of COMPLERA within 12 hours of the time you usually take it, take your dose of COMPLERA with a meal as soon as possible. Then, take your next dose of COMPLERA at the regularly scheduled time. If you miss a dose of COMPLERA by more than 12 hours of the time you usually take it, wait and then take the next dose of COMPLERA at the regularly scheduled time. • Do not take more than your prescribed dose to make up for a missed dose. • When your COMPLERA supply starts to run low, get more from your healthcare provider or pharmacy. It is very important not to run out of COMPLERA. The amount of virus in your blood may increase if the medicine is stopped for even a short time. • If you take too much COMPLERA, contact your local poison control center or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away. What are the possible side effects of COMPLERA? COMPLERA may cause the following serious side effects, including: • See “What is the most important information I should know about COMPLERA?” • New or worse kidney problems can happen in some people who take COMPLERA. If you have had kidney problems in the past or take other medicines that can cause kidney problems, your healthcare provider may need to do blood tests to check your kidneys during your treatment with COMPLERA. • Depression or mood changes. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any of the following symptoms: - feeling sad or hopeless - feeling anxious or restless - have thoughts of hurting yourself (suicide) or have tried to hurt yourself • Bone problems can happen in some people who take COMPLERA. Bone problems include bone pain, softening or thinning (which may lead to fractures). Your healthcare provider may need to do additional tests to check your bones. • Changes in body fat can happen in people taking HIV medicine. These changes may include increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the main part of your body (trunk). Loss of fat from the legs, arms and face may also happen. The cause and long term health effect of these conditions are not known. • Changes in your immune system (Immune Reconstitution Syndrome) can happen when you start taking HIV medicines. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that have been hidden in your body for a long time. Tell your healthcare provider if you start having new symptoms after starting your HIV medicine.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com LIO D te: 01 1 12 • Client G lea
Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away. These are not all the possible side effects of COMPLERA. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects. You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088 (1-800-332-1088). How do I store COMPLERA? • Store COMPLERA at room temperature 77 °F (25 °C). • Keep COMPLERA in its original container and keep the container tightly closed. • Do not use COMPLERA if the seal over the bottle opening is broken or missing. Keep COMPLERA and all other medicines out of reach of children. General information about COMPLERA: Medicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than those listed in a Patient Information leaflet. Do not use COMPLERA for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not give COMPLERA to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have. It may harm them. This leaflet summarizes the most important information about COMPLERA. If you would like more information, talk with your healthcare provider. You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about COMPLERA that is written for health professionals. For more information, call (1-800-445-3235) or go to www.COMPLERA.com. What are the ingredients of COMPLERA? Active ingredients: emtricitabine, rilpivirine hydrochloride, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate Inactive ingredients: pregelatinized starch, lactose monohydrate, microcrystalline cellulose, croscarmellose sodium, magnesium stearate, povidone, polysorbate 20. The tablet film coating contains polyethylene glycol, hypromellose, lactose monohydrate, triacetin, titanium dioxide, iron oxide red, FD&C Blue #2 aluminum lake, FD&C Yellow #6 aluminum lake. This Patient Information has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Manufactured and distributed by: Gilead Sciences, Inc. Foster City, CA 94404 Issued: August 2011 COMPLERA, the COMPLERA Logo, EMTRIVA, HEPSERA, TRUVADA, VIREAD, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. or its related companies. ATRIPLA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2012 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. 202123-GS-000 02AUG2011 CON11970 2/12
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Guest Opinion
By John-Manuel Andriote
I
t only makes sense that the Human Rights Campaign’s new president, Chad Griffin, played a leading role in trying to overturn California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. HRC has had its sights set on same-sex marriage for some time. In fact, even longtime activists say HRC has a case of tunnel vision in its focus on an issue that doesn’t rank high on the priority list for a great many LGBT people in this country. “The lack of access to marriage is not exactly a crisis,” said noted historian John D’Emilio in an interview. “But think of the mobilization and energy that has gone into that in the last five to 10 years, as opposed to an issue in which thousands of people are dying each year. AIDS is much more of a crisis than marriage.” D’Emilio continued, “Marriage appeals to people who have social and economic status. AIDS hits more strongly people who don’t have economic status.” Personally, I can’t look at HRC -- or the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF) --
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without recalling the fact that the two largest national LGBT political organizations were able to rise to national prominence only because the AIDS epidemic brought so many people out of their closets and into the “movement” for equality. As well-insured, middleclass gay men — with enough disposable income to attend pricy black-tie dinners and write biggish checks — have checked HIV/AIDS off their list of personal worries, it’s perhaps not surprising that the national organizations they support likewise have moved HIV/AIDS far down their list of priorities. On the other hand, I can’t think of anything more shocking than the degree to which gay America’s two leading “voices” in Washington have muzzled themselves when it comes to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic in gay America. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that:
Rex-Wockner
Will HRC Rediscover HIV in Gay America?
Chad Griffin In 2008 one in five (19 percent) of gay and bisexual men in 21 major U.S. cities were infected with HIV; nearly half (44 percent) didn’t know they were infected. In 2007 “men who have sex with men” were 44 to 86 times as likely to be diagnosed with HIV as other men, and 40 to 77 times as likely as women. From 2005 to 2008 the estimated number of new HIV infections among gay/bi men increased about 17 percent. White gay/bi men are still getting infected with HIV at extraordinary levels, accounting for nearly half (46 percent) of new infections in 2006. Among black gay/bi men, there were more new HIV infections (52 percent) among young black men between 13 and 29 years old. Some may find it acceptable, even “normal,” that gay/bi men in America have far higher rates of a deadly virus — which still does great harm even with treatment — than the hardest-hit, most impoverished areas of the developing world. I do not. The CDC says that unprotected sexual risk accounts for most of these HIV infections. No surprise there. The CDC further notes that alcohol and illicit drug use contributes to the increased risk for HIV infection and other sexually transmitted infections among gay/bi men. Again, no surprise. But what jumps off the page is where CDC says “stigma and homophobia may have a profound impact on the lives of MSM [men who have sex with men], especially their mental and sexual health.” University of Pittsburgh medical anthropologist (and gay man) Ron Stall describes the “syndemics” — the convergence of “epidemics” of psychosocial health conditions, such as childhood sexual abuse, partner violence, depression, and drug use — that reinforce and make each other worse. Men who are most strongly affected by one of
these also tend to be at high risk for HIV transmission or infection. Gay and bisexual men from lower income or culturally marginalized ethnic groups are especially vulnerable to syndemic effects. These men, of course, don’t tend to be supporters of HRC or NGLTF -- even though they are as much a part of gay America as the groups’ educated, white, middle-class donors. Why hasn’t HRC or NGLTF called for a major national campaign, funded from the CDC’s nearly $1 billion HIV prevention budget, aimed at supporting programs that help gay men of all colors and income levels to be healthy and well? HIV prevention researchers and educators tell me in interviews this is what’s needed to finally control HIV in gay America. Shouldn’t it be a top priority for HRC and NGLTF? HIV/AIDS in gay America stopped being a priority around the time white, middle-class gay men stopped dying in large numbers from AIDS thanks to effective treatment. This is why a March 5 search of HRC’s website found this nugget buried in the “health” sub-page: “HIV/AIDS continues to be a critical issue for the LGBT community and for the Human Rights Campaign.” It then reaches back to President Obama’s 2009 lifting of the 22-year-old ban on HIV-positive visitors and immigrants coming to the United States as an example of a “major victory” — even though the lifted ban didn’t benefit gay Americans. For its part, NGLTF’s website is still quoting from its 2009 World AIDS Day statement. The group issues a “statement” every World AIDS Day. I had to look back 11 years in the list of policy reports it has produced to find a 2001 report on HIV/AIDS among American (Latino) gay/bisexual men. While the bubbly flows at HRC headquarters in Washington, D.C. to celebrate the new leader of the group that used to be nicknamed the “Human Rights ‘Champagne’ Fund” because of the homogeneity of its particular homosexual constituency, perhaps the group will consider broadening its priorities beyond the narrow interests of a narrow segment of the LGBT population. It’s fine to fight for the equal right to marriage. Those who choose to marry a same-sex partner will be able to thank HRC and NGLTF for helping to make it possible. But the organizations dishonor their own history by not advocating more forcefully and directly on behalf of the far larger number of American gay and bisexual men at risk for and living with HIV, who don’t have the luxury of moving HIV/AIDS down its list of priorities. John-Manuel Andriote has written about gay culture, politics and the HIV epidemic since the 1980s. He is the author of Victory Deferred: How AIDS Changed Gay Life in America (victorydeferred.com).
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Local Businessman Offers New App It Technology
submitted photo
An opportunity to grow your sales with 21st century marketing
Jason-Patrick Chuyko
By Brian Swinford
I
n a world now relying on smart phone and iPad technologies, downloading the newest app, which has the potential of enhancing your social life, or furthering your business ventures, has become ever so important. One local businessman, Jason-Patrick Chuyko, is at the cutting edge of this new technology. You may have seen his ads for AppItMobile, in our newspaper, and you may want to call him to find out if he can develop an App which might help make your own business a little bit more successful, and easier to get to for your customers. Chuyko has an intimate knowledge of the app world, mobile technology industry, as well as instructional design and development. Using those skills, he decided to open AppItMobile, Inc. after years of learning, testing, and then mastering the systems. If you type in “AppItMobile” in the search field of the App Store or Android Market, you will see a host of the Apps were created for many local and regional businesses, including our own here at SFGN, Chi Spa, the Florida Agenda, and Golden Crowne Limousine and a few in development, such as, Majestic Limousines Miami and Center Stage Magazines. Chuyko advises that running AppItMobile is like working in any other business, that you have to pay attention to a customer’s needs and service the product, especially in this field, with its constantly evolving and emerging technologies. “You have to stay on top of your game, stay current, and stay active in the changes which come so quickly with these new
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technologies,” he says. Studies have shown that when a person has their laptop and Mobile Device in front of them, 53 percent will use their laptop, the other 47 percent will use their Mobile Device to either search the App Store / Android Market locally or the Mobile Browser. Chuyko suggests adding an app for your business will add customers to your business; that it is an option which can help grow your client base. He says, “Once you are on your customer’s handset, you are always visible. This will also assist with your Customer Retention. They don’t have to fumble around for your number or call for an appointment. We add one-touch dial, email, and GPS map as well as an Appointment Request form. AppitMobile offer’s high quality Apps without all the un-needed “fluff” are available at a very reasonable cost.” AppItMobile offers low cost, interest-free installment payments to assist with your budgeting. AppItMobile also has a new App Rental Program. Jason and his company doesn’t just build you an App, leaving you alone with a technology you are not used to. He is committed to learn about your business and your goals, and then build your App while building a business relationship with you. He says that “we care about the overall success of our clients, because that makes us more successful too.” The Mobile App World may be confusing and you may still have a lot of questions. Give a member of our community a call and an opportunity to help you out. You can reach him at Jason at, AppItMobile, Inc. inquiry@AppItMobile.com 954-871-APP1 (2771).
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Passages
Local Gay Attorney Commits Suicide Stephen Jerome, 61, Had Been ‘Out’ For Decades By Norm Kent
carry out its duty to search the computers in heater and acting was his passion, order to determine if pornographic files were and on Friday evening, March 9, Ste- housed on them. “It’s our obligation,” Detecphen Jerome was set to star as Max tive Montgomery stated, “to identify them in Bialystok in the opening of the Pembroke case there are potential victims.” Twenty years before, in 1992, Jerome had Pines Theater of the Performing Arts producserved five years probation for possession of tion of ‘The Producers.’ Instead, on that very morning, the talented child pornography. It was a terribly difficult thespian, a prominent open and out gay 61- time for him. While his law license was susyear old bankruptcy lawyer, took his own life pended, he spent time delivering pizzas. As Jerome returned to the practice of law, he by leaping from the 11th floor of his law office building, located at 1600 South Federal High- developed a reputation as a successful bankruptcy lawyer, while cultivating his passion, way in Pompano Beach. His death came within hours of his having participating in theatrical groups throughout the county. He played been released from the Luther in South Pacific, Broward County Jail on Mushnick in Little Shop a $1,000 bond, for chargof Horrors, and Charleges of Possession of Oxymagne in Pippin, along codone, Marijuana, and with a host of other starDrug Paraphernalia. ring roles. Twenty-four hours be“Theater enriched him,” fore, on Thursday mornsaid Keith Kramer, a feling, at his home in Fort low cast member in The Lauderdale, Jerome had Producers. been served with a search Over the years, during warrant, by the multi the Holiday Season, Jeagency task force known rome would dress as Sanas L.E.A.C.H., the Law Enta Claus and walk from forcement Against Child courtroom to courtroom, Harm Task Force, which regaling crowds and singtargets Internet predaing Christmas carols for tors of children and child the judicial staff. With pornography. The wara marvelous voice that rant, signed by a Broward ranged from high bass to County Circuit judge on Monday, March 5, provid- Jerry Levy, 69, his legal assistant, a re- high tenor, Jerome once ed for the seizure of Je- tired attorney, said of Jerome, “He lived even appeared as a solorome’s home computers. his life with drama and flair, and with ist on an Alan King televilove and caring, and a song on his lips sion special. DetectiveJenniferMontand in his heart; a good attorney who His fellow cast memgomery of the Broward served his clients well.” bers at TOPA in Pembroke Sheriff’s Office and her Pines have dedicated this team executed the warrant on March 8. She was troubled by Jerome’s show to him. One of those community actors, renowned death, stating, “No one feels good about an outattorney Alvin Entin, remarked “Stephen was come like this.” In fact the team of detectives who executed a bundle of joy and energy and brought enthe warrant returned to his law office the next thusiasm and passion to his role and the cast. day to express their regrets to his law partner We are all deeply saddened.” It was Jerome’s former law partner, Jodi and staff. One even offered to adopt Jerome’s dog, a small mixed shepherd, affectionately, Fisher, who would pick Jerome up from the Broward County jail at 4 a.m. on Friday mornnamed ‘Nudnick.’ He was arrested on Thursday, not for child ing. She drove him to his Fort Lauderdale pornography, but for the possession of illegal home, where they chatted about “the future” narcotics that he did not have a prescription for a few hours, and how to deal with the arfor, that deputies say, “were in plain view as rest, the practice, and other issues. “Of course,” she said, “he was distraught. the warrant was served.” Nevertheless, the task force will have to But he picked himself up and went to work.
was my little nerdy brother I could never get rid of. He was my office husband, a wonderful law office partner, and my best friend. People thought we were married.” “This is terrible news,” Aaron Humphrey, Esq., emailed his colleagues, “Stephen was a great attorney who will be missed.” Added Dean Trantalis, “It represents the passing of another important member of our community, and is a loss for everybody. The circumstances under which he died are very painful to everyone, but our hearts go out to his family and friends.” A 1977 graduate of the University of Miami who was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, family members are planning a burial and funeral service for Jerome tomorrow in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Local members of the Gay and Lesbian Lawyers Network will be gathering at his home to celebrate Stephen’s life, Thursday, at 7 p.m.
Full Charge Bookkeeping Services
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He was at the law office by 9 a.m.” Fisher had herself just begun working there again, contemplating a renewed business relationship with Jerome. But Fisher would later find out that Jerome, upon returning to the office, executed a new will, naming her as the Personal Representative only moments before leaping to his death. Jerome’s life partner, Balvino Berrera, 48, was in Guatemala with his family. According to Fisher, Jerome had planned on retiring in the next few years to Guatemala to be with Berrera full time. Jerome also wired Berrera funds early Friday morning. His final words to a staff member at his office that morning was to excuse himself “to go to the bathroom,” but instead he wound up leaping to his death from a small balcony on a higher floor. Said Fisher, who had just recently begun returning to the office to work with Jerome, “He
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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The Transvestigator
City of Fort Lauderdale Hires Transsexual Former Lake Work City Manager Susan Stanton By Victoria Michaels
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he City of Fort Lauderdale recently missioner Mary Gray Black, apparently the hired transsexual Susan Stanton, for- only commissioner Stanton had not personmer Lake Worth City Manager, as an ally informed of her plans, called for a special accountant in its Housing and Community meeting of the city commission to discuss Stanton’s contract and future employment. Development Division. A special meeting of the city commission City spokesman Chaz Adams stated, “Her position in Fort Lauderdale is considered was held on Feb. 27, 2007. It lasted four hours “temporary full-time, and her annual sal- and was attended by 444 members of the ary works out to $58,739.” Adams further public. Approximately 60 individuals, mostcommented, “She’s going to provide some ly Largo residents, testified. In a five to two management assistance to the Housing and vote, the commission voted to place Stanton on administrative leave until her termination Community Development Division.” Of course triumph almost never comes could be made final. Transgender activists immediately prowithout scrutiny, as there are several posttested the decision. ings on the Internet slamming The Human Rights Campaign Stanton for being transsexureported that if the vote to fire al and stating that she is under Stanton is upheld, the Largo city qualified for the job because of commissioners will be “in direct her gender identity issues and violation of the city government’s transsexual lifestyle. own internal non-discrimination She was dismissed as Lake policy... that explicitly prohibits Worth’s City Manager in Decemdiscrimination in public employber which created an uproar in ment on the basis of gender identhe LGBT community, however, tity and expression,” referring to Lake Worth officials insisted her the city’s discrimination and habeing transgender had nothing rassment prohibition policy. to do with it. In fact one of the Despite community support commissioners who voted to fire Susan Stanton Stanton was officially fired on her is openly gay himself. Prior to Lake Worth, she was the city man- March 23, 2007. It is extremely hard to find employment if ager of Largo, Fla., but was fired after she announced plans to transition from male to you are transgender because we still live in a female. She was also the subject of a CNN world where people aren’t educated enough about people who have gender identity issues, documentary titled: Her Name Was Steven. One of Stanton’s confidantes leaked her and most people/employers hold phobias and intentions of gender change to the St. Peters- prejudices towards transgender people and/ burg Times, and on Feb. 20, 2007 a reporter or their lifestyles because they don’t underwent to Stanton’s office for a regular weekly stand them. Transgender people experience higher rates meeting and informed her that the paper had received a tip. Stanton had little choice but of discrimination than the LGB population. A to sit for an interview, even though she had survey of transgender and gender non-connot yet discussed the situation with her son. forming people conducted by the National Stanton was accompanied by Largo Mayor Center For Transgender Equality found 90 percent of respondents experienced harassment, Pat Gerard during the interview. Following the breaking of Stanton’s story, mistreatment, or discrimination on the job or emails and faxes to the city from Largo resi- took actions like hiding who they are to avoid dents were mostly negative, while non-Lar- it. In comparison, a review of studies congo residents sent mostly positive notes. One ducted by the Williams Institute found that concern commonly expressed by both city transgender people experienced employment residents and city employees was whether discrimination at a rate of 15 to 57 percent. It’s very refreshing to see the City of Fort Stanton’s gender change would be paid for by taxpayers; in fact, Stanton’s counseling and Lauderdale hire a transsexual. Hopefully this hormonal treatments were paid for by Stan- will be the start of more opportunities for transgender people to gain respectful employton herself. By the end of the week following Stan- ment. Thank you Fort Lauderdale, and welton’s public outing on Feb. 21, 2007, Com- come to town Susan Stanton. You go, girl!
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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NARTH Becomes Main Source for Anti-Gay ‘Junk Science’ By Ryan Lenz Southern Poverty Law Center
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HOENIX — Michael Brown took the dais in a sterile Marriott ballroom last fall, beaming for the 40 or so therapists who form the devout core of the National Association for Research and Therapy of Homosexuality (NARTH). With a hulking frame packed tightly into a three-button black suit, one of the nation’s most vociferous anti-gay activists began his speech with a dire warning. The “homosexual agenda” is on the march, he said, and shows no signs of slowing. Gay rights activists, aggressively working to undermine Christian values and the traditional family, have infiltrated the nation’s schools, civic centers and places of worship. The war for the heart of the country is on. “We need you. I need you,” pleaded the guest speaker, author of the 2011 self-published book A Queer Thing Happened to America. Brown added, “You may be condemned today, but you will be commended tomorrow.” The urgency was not lost on the therapists in the room, an embattled group that finds itself struggling against a powerful tide of public opinion and accusations that it has produced faulty research to support an antigay agenda. Billing itself as the counterweight to the two most prominent mental health authorities — the American Psychiatric Association and the American Psychological Association — NARTH pushes the idea, with the zeal of a religious movement, that no one is born gay and that a person’s sexual orientation can be changed through what is known as “reparative” or “conversion” therapy, also commonly called “ex-gay” therapy. At the heart of this argument is the belief that homosexuality is an unnatural deviation from normal sexual development, a form of mental disorder. With these views, NARTH has emerged as the preeminent source of what many regard as “junk science” for the religious right — psychology that underpins the anti-gay movement’s fervent opposition to equal rights and stigmatizes LGBT people as mentally sick. Without the research NARTH provides, there are few avenues remaining for the religious right to condemn homosexuality, at a time when the American public is growing more accepting of LGBT people and more open to extending equal rights to samesex couples. “There’s no other play in the playbook except going back to the fire and brimstone,” argues Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, one of several watchdog groups monitoring the reparative therapy industry.
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But even as NARTH is held up as an authority on the science of homosexuality by both fringe groups and politically potent national organizations like the Family Research Council, its claim that LGBT people can be “cured” of their homosexuality is not backed by the evidence. In fact, every major American medical authority has concluded that there is no scientific support for NARTH’s view, and many have expressed concern that reparative therapy can cause harm. Most strikingly, in 2006, the American Psychological Association (APA) stated: “There is simply no sufficiently scientifically sound evidence that sexual orientation can be changed.” The APA added, “Our further concern is that the positions espoused by NARTH and Focus on the Family create an environment in which prejudice and discrimination can flourish.” And flourish it has. The LGBT community is overwhelmingly the group most targeted in violent hate crimes, according to an Intelligence Report analysis of 14 years of federal hate crime data. Gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people are more than twice as likely to be attacked in a violent hate crime as Jews or blacks; more than four times as likely as Muslims; and 14 times as likely as Latinos. Despite this hate-inspired violence, antigay groups continue to employ virulent rhetoric that demonizes gay men and lesbians, some of it based on NARTH’s research. This strategy of using science, however flawed, to fortify their religious condemnation of homosexuality was articulated five years ago by the Family Research Institute’s Paul Cameron, a
psychologist whose research has been thoroughly discredited by mainstream scientists. “We can no longer rely — as almost all pro-family organizations do today — on gleaning scientific ‘bits’ from those in liberal academia. ... [W]e must subvert the academy by doing original, honest research ourselves,” Cameron wrote. Original, maybe. But honest? NARTH’s many critics argue otherwise.
The ‘Purple Menace’ Like many anti-gay activists, NARTH claims that homosexuality is caused by psychological trauma or some other aberration in childhood. Its founding was rooted in a nearly 40-year-old schism that rocked the psychiatric community. In 1973, the American Psychiatric Association removed homosexuality from the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the compendium of known mental disorders. Not all therapists agreed with the decision. Among them were Charles Socarides, Joseph Nicolosi and Benjamin Kaufman, who formed NARTH in 1992 to confront the growing acceptance of homosexuality. These dissidents believed that the official recognition of homosexuality as a natural variant in human development was a travesty and most certainly the product of an insidious plot now widely derided as the “homosexual agenda.” As Kaufman wrote in an essay published at the time, the mission of their brave new collective was to “understand the homosexual condition and the factors which drive this self-destructive behavior.” NARTH was a strategic answer to a division that pit-
ted socially conservative therapists against their progressive counterparts. Socarides, a psychoanalyst and the most famous of NARTH’s founders, had gained prominence in the 1960s for his view that homosexuality was a treatable mental illness. “Socarides offered the closest thing to hope that many homosexuals had in the 1960s: the prospect of a cure,” The New York Times wrote three years after NARTH was formed. In his book Homosexuality: A Freedom Too Far, Socarides explained that same-sex attraction was a “neurotic adaptation” that could be traced to “smothering mothers and abdicating fathers.” Not only did he believe that LGBT people could be cured, he thought they should be cured. When speaking to The Washington Post in 1997, he offered a startlingly grim forecast of what he feared acceptance of gays and lesbians would bring. “Homosexuality is a psychological and psychiatric disorder, there is no question about it,” Socarides claimed. “It is a purple menace that is threatening the proper design of gender distinctions and society.” While Socarides, NARTH’s first president, died of cardiac arrest in 2005, his sentiments continue to guide the group. Nicolosi, who became president, shared his predecessor’s views, seeing his work in the vein of psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud, whose work dealt with sexual paraphilias (commonly thought of as perversions). A devout Catholic and endlessly confrontational, Nicolosi was once a spokesman for Focus on the Family, a powerhouse of the anti-gay religious right, and has been a tireless critic of conventional psychiatric thought for most of his career. In 2009, he asserted that “if you traumatize a child in a particular way, you will create a homosexual condition.” He also has repeatedly said, “Fathers, if you don’t hug your sons, some other man will.” But his loathing for “the homosexual condition” goes even deeper. In his book A Parent’s Guide to Preventing Homosexuality, which he wrote with his wife in 2002, Nicolosi offered a perspective on homosexuality that seemed to position NARTH closer to the anti-gay activists of the religious right. “Traditionalists wince at the mental images conjured up by the thought of what homosexuals do in the act of intercourse,” he wrote. “Almost feeling guilty about their visceral reaction, they still cannot help but see such acts as perverse and, in fact, unnatural.” When the book was published, there was no need for Nicolosi to court the “traditionalists” who opposed homosexuality. Many had already come calling.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
Though some anti-gay groups have moderated their positions on homosexuality, and a number of reparative therapists have recanted their beliefs, NARTH remains a bastion of hard-core activists who have dug in even as they are being politically marginalized. “We live in a climate where it is only politically correct to share misinformation about this topic,” said Julie Hamilton, a former president of NARTH, at the group’s annual conference last November in Phoenix. “We as an organization are swimming against the stream.” True to form, the people speaking at that conference were not therapists promising revelations about human sexuality, but rather prominent culture warriors of the religious right, like Brown. Sharon Slater, whose Family Watch International argues that homosexuality is an “assault on marriage, the family, and family related issues” was one of them. In one of the policy briefs on her group’s website, Slater argued that “homosexuality is relatively rare” and, what’s more, treatable. Like many of her fellow anti-gay leaders, Slater has ties to activists in Uganda who are lobbying for the so-called “Kill the Gays” bill, but she made no mention of that in Phoenix as she catalogued a global effort to undermine family values through United Nations-sanctioned “comprehensive sexual education” programs. The UN, she argued, is seeking to indoctrinate children into the “gay lifestyle.” In Slater’s assessment, fighting homosexuality is “the battle of our time.” These are not new associations for NARTH. Since its founding, the group has aligned its mission with some of the most venomous purveyors of anti-gay propaganda. In 1995, for example, NARTH featured Scott Lively, co-author of The Pink Swastika: Homosexuality in the Nazi Party, at its annual conference. Lively’s book argues that the Nazi Party recruited gay men because of their inherent savagery and that gay men largely orchestrated the Holocaust — a claim roundly rejected by all reputable historians. NARTH has also promoted the work of Paul Cameron, who remains director of the Family Research Institute despite being ejected from the American Psychological Association and the American Sociological Association (ASA). The ASA declared, “Dr. Cameron has consistently misinterpreted and misrepresented sociological research on sexuality, homosexuality, and lesbianism.” One NARTH critic, a former member, says these associations are the results of work that has been patterned to conform to an ideology. “When it comes to science, you can’t let your religious views color what is. And I think NARTH does that all the time,” said Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at a Christian college and past president of the American Mental Health Counselors Association who has counseled clients conflicted
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Controversial Supporters
Michael Brown about their sexual identity for years. NARTH’s constituents, he added, are usually “the rightwing groups who feel they needed that information to offset gay rights initiatives.” In recent years, NARTH has suffered several embarrassing episodes, caused not by its alliances but by its own members. In 2007, Nicolosi came under fire after an essay seeming to justify slavery appeared on NARTH’s website. In the piece, “Gay Rights and Political Correctness: A Brief History,” Dr. Gerald Schoenewolf, a New York psychotherapist and member of the group’s science advisory committee, wrote, “Africa at the time of slavery was still primarily a jungle. ... Life there was savage ... and those brought to America, and other countries, were in many ways better off.” (Nicolosi stepped down as NARTH president after criticism mounted, but he remains instrumental in the group.) Then, in 2010, George Rekers, a psychologist and also a scientific adviser to NARTH, was photographed at Miami International Airport with a 20-year-old male prostitute who had accompanied him on a 10-day European vacation. Rekers insisted he had hired the man, who advertised his services on Rentboy.com, merely to carry his luggage. The man disagreed. He told reporters he had given Rekers daily nude massages that included genital contact. While such very public controversies would normally tarnish an organization, NARTH has proven lastingly resilient. “They are still a force to be reckoned with,” said Besen of Truth Wins Out.
zations listed as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2010, a move that prompted the group to quietly implement a campaign to soften its image. The hate group listing was Sprigg’s concern. “I wonder if you have any advice to countering a charge of hate,” Sprigg asked Brown, who had been encouraging the people in the room to be courageous in their opposition to homosexuality. “[Hate] is the label that is always thrown at it, and I’m realizing that it begins to take effect.” Brown could only encourage Sprigg to be compassionate. Several weeks later, the FRC released a policy paper called “Debating Homosexuality: Understanding Two Views.” In the paper, Sprigg relied heavily on NARTH’s research to argue that homosexuality is “objectively harmful” to people and communities. In the same paper, he offered an olive branch to gay men and lesbians: reparative therapy. Even though activists like Sprigg continue to tout reparative therapy and cite NARTH, it seems clear the group is quickly approaching a crossroads. Not only is NARTH being condemned by LGBT rights activists, its insistence that gay men and lesbians can be “cured” is increasingly being criticized by practitioners who have abandoned reparative therapy. John Smid, the former executive director of the Tennessee-based Love in Action (LiA), an ex-gay Christian ministry, recently cas-
tigated reparative therapists for peddling a false philosophy that condemns homosexuality on moral terms. On his personal blog he wrote, “I have still yet to hear one man [after therapy] say I am completely heterosexual, and I am no longer having any sexual attractions to men.” Meanwhile, one major player in the industry appears to be in serious financial trouble. Ex-Gay Watch, which investigates reparative therapy, has reported that Exodus International, one of the largest practitioners of reparative therapy, was nearing financial ruin in November and in dire need of a new message — something softer, something more tolerant. But NARTH, for now, doesn’t seem interested in softening its stance. With a new generation of reparative therapists and anti-gay activists continuing to take up the cause, more groups have turned to NARTH. As Nicolosi proudly claimed in a 2010 video touting the benefits of reparative therapy: “The strategy of the gay activists, the strategy of gay psychiatrists within the American Psychiatric Association, was to ignore us. We can’t be ignored.” Maybe Nicolosi hasn’t noticed, but LGBT rights activists are no longer ignoring NARTH. Rather, they’re seeing it as roadblock to be swept aside in their march toward equality. Evelyn Schlatter contributed to this report
The Defiant Future One of those attending NARTH’s conference last fall was Peter Sprigg, senior fellow for policy studies for the Family Research Council (FRC), a politically prominent anti-gay group that has made numerous false claims denigrating the LGBT community. Sprigg has encouraged deporting LGBT people and recriminalizing homosexuality. During a question-and-answer session at the conference, Sprigg asked a question that offered a revealing look at the state of the anti-gay movement and the future of reparative therapy. The FRC was one of 13 anti-gay organi-
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Besen’s ‘Truth Wins Out’ Fights Ex-Gay Myth By Richard Gary
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ruth Wins Out is best known for last year’s undercover sting operation where the group used hidden cameras to show that the clinic of Rep. Michele Bachmann’s husband, Marcus, was practicing “ex-gay” therapy. The results of TWO’s investigation made international headlines and the group was featured on ABC’s World News Tonight, Nightline, Good Morning America, and NBC’s The Today Show. What many people don’t know is that the organization’s founder, Wayne Besen, is originally from South Florida and was inspired to a life of advocacy in Fort Lauderdale. “When I was eighteen and too young to get into bars, I would go extra early to the Copa and sneak in before the doorman was outside,” recalled Besen, of the iconic Fort Lauderdale nightclub. “With time to kill before the crowd arrived, I would read the gay newspaper TWN from cover-to-cover and learn about the LGBT movement.” Besen’s first brush with LGBT activism came during a stinging defeat in a 1990 referendum attempting to amend the Broward County Human Rights Act to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. The fight was nasty and brutal with Tom Scott, executive director of the Christian Coalition of Florida, comparing LGBT people to pornographers and child molesters. One of Besen’s fist activism memories was seeing an anti-gay “Save the Children” billboard in Davie. The LGBT community lost the vote by a 3-2 margin and licked its wounds at a campaign “party” at the original Georgie’s Alibi on Sunrise Boulevard. While Besen did not actively participate in that campaign, the bitter memory of defeat was seared in his brain. “I’ll never forget the funeral-like atmosphere at Georgie’s that evening,” Besen said.
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“There was music playing, but people were emotionally spent and psychologically devastated. The opposition only won because they grotesquely distorted our lives and used blatant lies to terrify voters.” “I learned four key lessons that evening that inform my activism today,” Besen continued. “First, to win we must be vigilant about debunking misinformation about our families. We can never allow smear campaigns to go unanswered. Second, our opponents are unscrupulous and will use their religion to justify and rationalize the most despicable words and deeds imaginable. Third, it is critical that we hold our foes accountable and force the media to focus on their lies. Fourth, it is the primary job of activists to make it easy for the masses to come out of the closet — which eventually will undermine the stereotypes and misconceptions promoted by our enemies.” Besen’s initial foray into activism occurred a year later while he attended the University of Florida as a journalism student in Gainesville. He joined the campus organization GLSU and agreed to participate in panels, where a handful of LGBT students would go into classrooms and answer the students’ questions. “Sometimes, students would snicker when we entered a classroom. After hearing us speak, the same students who mocked us would shake our hands, telling us that our presentation changed their minds,” recounts Besen. “To watch the light bulb of knowledge in their eyes turn on was exhilarating. It showed me that people could be persuaded to support us and that each one of us has the power to have an impact and make a difference. The experience hooked me on advocacy and I’m still just as hooked and enthusiastic today.” While still in school, Besen co-founded
which would prohibit marriage equality in the U.S. Constitution. Besen decided that the “ex-gay” message needed to be debunked, so he founded Truth Wins Out (TWO) the same day the “ex-gay” activists came to DC. By all accounts, the organization has been a huge success, with Besen regularly appearing on television shows, such as FOX’s The O’Reilly Factor, MSNBC’s The Rachel Maddow Show, Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and Current TV’s Countdown with Keith Olbermann. Last year, TWO launched a successful petition drive signed by 160,000 people that convinced Apple to remove an “ex-gay” iPhone app. The group also broke the story of comedian Tracy Morgan’s homophobic rant in a Tennessee nightclub. Portrait of Wayne Besen by Michael Murphy This year, TWO already pressured the powerful Chicago his first LGBT organization in 1993, Sons & Archbishop, Cardinal Francis George, to Daughters of America (SDA), with a college apologize for comparing the LGBT commufriend, Carlos Muina who now lives in Miami. nity to the Ku Klux Klan. “What I am most proud of, however, is orThe group’s goal was to show people that they had nothing to fear from their LGBT friends, ganizing the American Prayer Hour a couple family members, neighbors, and co-workers. of years ago, which was one of the first maSDA relocated to Fort Lauderdale and for two jor efforts to bring attention to the ‘Kill the years ran public awareness ads that included Gays’ bill in Uganda,” Besen said. “As a result a pro-LGBT billboard on Federal Highway, a of our work, President Obama and Secretary gay teen anti-suicide PSA on local cable tele- of State Clinton denounced the bill at the Navision, and a Broward County bus board cam- tional Prayer Breakfast. It was rewarding to paign with the slogan, “Gays and Lesbians, see the efforts of the coalition I helped assemble have a tangible impact.” Valued Friends and Family.” TWO, which is now based in Burlington, “In many ways SDA was way ahead of its time,” Besen said. “The messaging that we VT and has a staff of three, has become one used was eventually adopted by every na- of the most trusted sources of research and action against the religious right. From a tional LGBT organization in the nation.” Besen eventually moved to Washington, huge Chicago protest the group helped orgaDC where he worked for a major public re- nize against called ‘Focus on the Family,’ to lations firm that included corporate clients. its founding of the Center Against Radical While it was not as satisfying as LGBT advo- Extremism (TWOCARE), to its recent defacacy, it did teach him how to run top-notch mation lawsuit against Parent and Friends PR campaigns that he applies to his current of Ex-Gays (PFOX), TWO has emerged as a nightmare for LGBT opponents. work for the gay and lesbian community. “I take pride in the fact that we actually go It wasn’t long before activism again called and the Human Rights Campaign hired to our opponents’ hate conferences and conBesen, where he served as a spokesperson duct original research,” Besen said. “What from 1998-2003. While at HRC, Besen photo- we provide that most other groups don’t, is graphed John Paulk in a gay bar, an infamous firsthand reporting from inside the ‘belly of “ex-gay” activist who appeared on Oprah the beast.’ We know our subject well and that and on the cover of Newsweek. The incident is why we are respected by our friends and helped inspire Besen to write a book in 2003, feared by our enemies.” Besen still has strong ties to South FloriAnything But Straight, exposing the harm caused by the “ex-gay” industry, which is da and visits often, with his parents living in Miami Beach and his grandmother residing headquartered in Orlando. In 2006, George W. Bush invited “ex-gay” in Sunrise. “In many ways, South Florida is still home activists to the White House to help promote the Federal Marriage Amendment, and always will be.”
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
More Victims Lineup in Manors Ponzi Scheme Law Firm now has 22 Clients
Jim and Janet Ellis
By Gideon Grudo
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hen SFGN first reported on the financial swindle that allegedly preyed on residents of Wilton Station, there were 13 people signed up with a law firm, readying themselves to sue those accused of defrauding them. There are now 22. The alleged victims have hired the law firm of Becker and Poliakoff, the same firm that once represented the victims of the Bernie Madoff scheme. Today they are after George Elia, who purportedly took their money while promising hefty returns that never fully materialized. The victims are claiming that a local resident, Jim Ellis, introduced them to Elia through parties hosted at Wilton Station and nearby bars, hosted by his own daughter, Janet, who also serves as the property manager at the condominium complex. Each claim no wrongdoing in the incident. While sources claim Elia is under investigation by the FBI, no criminal charges have been filed against him. As reported last month in the Sun Sentinel, a California family has sued him for fraud. Additionally, the Office of Financial Regulation, a federal agency, has also recently confirmed that its investigators are looking into the matter, while noting an investigation is not a barometer of guilt. One of the anonymous complainants in SFGN’s first report about the Ponzi scheme has now come forward. Previously identi-
fied only as ‘Jefferson,’ Wilton Station resident Rick Khun has acknowledged he poured upwards of $100,000 in investments into Elia’s scheme, and lost a small fortune. “I want to stand up for what is right and give the facts — and was earlier encouraged by legal entities to stay quiet,” he said. “But the serious nature of this situation begets the facts coming out now.” Khun said he wanted to protect his Wilton Station friends and fellow residents in moving forward, to stop any corruption before it may affect Wilton Station property values, and “see to it that the maximum civil and criminal penalties are given to all involved parties of this deepening and outrageous scam.” “Every day that this situation continues to exist,” he claims, the legal liability on the management company and on the board, individually, “goes exponentially up and up and up.” Khun had served on Wilton Station’s Board of Directors from 2008 to 2010. The Board of Directors issued a letter to residents and members on Feb. 29, stating its full support of Janet on the basis that she’d denied any wrongdoing. “I cannot understand why they have not acted in the best interests of the Wilton Station resident family,” Khun said. “The current Board of your Association has complete faith in the capability and integrity of Ms. Ellis,” the letter read, adding that the board “has found that the allegations against her do not impact her ability to continue to do an outstanding job for your Association.” Board member Tom Bluth declined to comment on the story, referring SFGN to board president Stanley Howard, who hasn’t responded to several interview requests. Another individual coming forward is Ryan Kirby, who never lived in Wilton Station, but is so far the longest-standing investor out of all the sources who have reached
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
out to SFGN. He first met Jim Ellis years ago, in additional third parties, but now claims those persons also lost money. In fact, a numwhen he was a house cleaner in his home. “I asked his opinion about investing, since ber of those friends of his tried to reach Elia he seemed to know a lot about it,” Kirby said, in the last month to get their money back, to no avail. citing Ellis’ fancy residence. Kirby is uncertain whether Jim Ellis had Within a week, Kirby said, he, Elia, and Jim Ellis were sitting at a table at Capital Grille, anything to do with the scheme. Asked to comment on any of discussing investment these matters, Ellis has mechanisms. steadfastly chosen not “Elia told me that he “I’ve always trusted Jim. to talk to SFGN, other was a day-trader,” Kirby said. “He said that I’ve known him for years, than once stating he too, is a victim of Elia. if I invest with him, the and his daughter Janet.” “I’m very mixed about returns would be 21 these stories that he may percent. I didn’t know a – Ryan Kirby be involved. I don’t want lot about investing and him to be involved, and I he seemed very sincere don’t think he is. I’ve always trusted Jim. I’ve and somebody I could trust.” Kirby now claims that after starting off known him for years, and his daughter Jawith an initial investment of $13,000, he net,” said Kirby. “He’s a nice guy — a very nice wound up giving Elia $68,000, which has not guy. I’ve always said ‘Jim Ellis would give you been returned. But the worst of it for him is the shirt off his back.’ Up until all of this hapthat he got his parents involved, who ended pened, that’s honestly how I felt.” Ellis had always advised Kirby to put as much up investing $18,000. “Since my parents were going to buy a car money as he could with Elia, nudging him and with cash, [Elia] suggested they invest with pointing out his own house and cars were prodhim, and the interest would pay for the car ucts of his Elia investments, Kirby said. “I know that Jim put most of his money payments,” Kirby explained. “They don’t even know this has happened yet…for George to do with George — he told me a couple times through the years — he would sometimes this and sleep with himself is astounding.” Kirby said he took Elia up on an additional say [with a laugh] ‘Oh, I gave more money to offer to reap financial bonuses if he brought George and now I’m broke.’”
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McNaught’s Notes
Heterosexism: Menacing Closeted Gay People By Brian McNaught
P
lease raise your hand if you think that Dharun Ravi, the Rutgers student accused of driving his gay roommate to suicide, is a closeted homosexual. To me, he’s a classic example of men who cover their preoccupation with their own homosexuality by condemning it in others. “Keep the gays away,” he wrote in an e-mail; translated, that means, “Keep homosexuality away from me, because if my parents find out they’ll hate me.” Train your web cam on your roommate’s sex life in order to see how many of your friends are disgusted with what you truly want to have in your own life. When I graduated from college, I was a conscientious objector to the war in Vietnam and served my alternative service at the Catholic newspaper in Detroit. I was afraid of coming right out and acknowledging my homosexuality, but I would hint at it in my weekly column. There was a man on our small staff of six people who was an alcoholic, closeted, gay
man who showed up late at work every day smelling of booze. He was sarcastic, and had a cutting wit. He knew that I knew about him. I knew that he knew about me. He was fired for incompetence, and shortly thereafter I started the Detroit chapter of Dignity, and came out in the national media. “Faggot! Faggot! Faggot!” he yelled at me from his parked car as I left work the day after the news broke. “You think you’re so special. You’re just a faggot!” Such open hostility from one homosexual to another, at least in the United States, is less common today, with the exception of people like Fred Phelps, the Baptist minister who carries signs that say, “God Hates Fags;” Paul Cameron, who made up research that said the average gay man dies in his mid-forties because of his “lifestyle;” and some of the other vitriolic male leaders of the anti-gay movement. Ken Mehlman, George Bush’s campaign manager, and architect of his anti-gay marriage positions, has just apologized for being the closeted, gay man behind that het-
submitted photo
By Brian McNaught
Ken Mehlman erosexist rhetoric. Not every male who dislikes gay men, or who thinks we ought not to have the same rights as heterosexuals do, is gay. But the ones who devote too much time to the issue are. Videotaping your roommate having sex with another man, and then blasting it on the Internet, is a sign to me of fear of one’s own sexuality. But more common today is the seething resentment toward gay men and women who are happy. The animosity or outright homophobia comes out when the selfhating gay men have had too much to drink. That’s when the words “faggot,” “queer,” and “homo,” start appearing more often in their sentences. But the person needn’t be drunk in order for others to pick up on their dis-ease with their being gay, and with other gay peo-
ple being happy. Any sign of “attitude” suggests there is a lack of self-love. Heterosexism is the value system that asserts being heterosexual is more normal, and more preferred than being homosexual. It’s like racism and sexism and all of the other “isms.” Believing that what you are is less valued by the universe or nature creates manifestations of resentment. But just as angry, poor, black people traditionally burn down their own neighborhoods instead of those of wealthy white people, our gay heterosexism targets our rage at our own gay people rather than at those heterosexuals we see as more “normal.” Raise your hand if every time you read a headline about sex with minors you assume it’s an adult man having sex with a young boy. That’s our heterosexism. Statistically, it will more often be an adult male on a young female. Raise your hand if you assume that kids who kill their classmates are gay. That’s heterosexism. Gay kids are more likely to kill themselves. Ray and I joined our friends, Jim and Peter, at a matinee performance of a play a couple of days ago, and during the intermission I started talking to a couple of guys whom I suspected were gay. One of them was fluffing the plastic plants in the lobby garden. I said, “It takes a gay man to make plastic plants look pretty.” His companion eyed me, and said, “How do you know he’s gay?” I replied, “Because he’s with you.” “What if we’re brothers?” he said. “Then you should read my latest book, Are You Guys Brothers? That led to a discussion of relationships. I pointed to Ray and said, “We’ve been together for 36 years.” One replied, “I haven’t been with anyone longer than 36 days.” The other man confessed, “I don’t know what love is. I’ve heard others describe it, but I’ve never known it.” As I headed back into the theater with my friends, who have also been together for many, many years, I thought about what conditions in one’s home would deprive a gay child from knowing and feeling love. Knowing the meaning of love begins with feeling love of self, and then believing that who you are is just as beautiful and natural as anyone else. Without a family that loves you for being gay, you may end up filming your gay roommate make love, and then saying, “Keep the gays away.” Or you just may go through life as an angry gay person. Brian McNaught was named “the godfather of gay diversity training” by The New York Times. He works with corporate executives globally, is the author of six books, and is featured in seven educational DVDs. He and his spouse Ray Struble divide their year between Fort Lauderdale and Provincetown. Visit Brian-McNaught.com for more information.
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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his “Stonewall portraits” segments. He had a lot to say about her. “She doesn’t just tell jokes, she makes you laugh about things that are going on: politics, your own life — she’s a comedienne you can take your mom and dad to go see,” he said, adding that she’s pretty, clever, and endearing. “She has such a strong following because she’s so thoroughly decent. She’s one of the most beloved lesbians in the country.You relate to her, she doesn’t come across as a performer who has a routine to do, but rather as one that constantly relates to her audience.” That’s part of the reason she’s getting the Spirit of Stonewall Award, said Bryan Knicely, president of Stonewall National Museum and Archives. This specific award is given to those who are on the way to accomplishing notable achievements and helping the LGBT community. While the Stonewall Heritage Pride Award is a lifetime achievement award, the Spirit award is given to those who are well on their way to consideration for the Heritage award. Knicely explained that Stonewall, founded 39 years ago, strives to give the younger generation of LGBT a historical constant on the past struggles and victories of the community. “We usually know least about our own history,” he said, adding that some people today don’t have a sense of their immediate past. “It’s important for anyone to know their sense of history and place in the community. Everybody needs to know where they come from. It’s similar to the holocaust — people want to be able to identify themselves to a culture or a country, so they can have a sense of pride about their origins.” Twenty years ago, Knicely explained, people couldn’t be openly gay. “If people understand what little rights they do have, it’ll help them fight for people to have even more rights in the future,” he said. “This is a way to record that and preserve that history.” Clinton will receive the award at a VIP reception immediately before her performance. If you’re considering coming, McNaught said he just thinks “you’ll fall in love with her if you haven’t already.”
Nationally Renowned Comedian to Receive LGBT Award, Perform By Gideon Grudo Kate Clinton learned how to work an audience in the classroom, where she taught English for four years before embarking on a lifetime career as a comic and LGBT activist.
“F
or the first three minutes, don’t say anything important,” she said about one of the valuable lessons she brought from the upstate New York high school where she taught to the stage. “They’re only looking at what you’re wearing.” Rather than gay or lesbian, Clinton identified herself as a humorist, laughing and saying she’d heard they live longer. She’s been at her craft for almost thirty years now and practices her own philosophy on how to work a stage. On March 17, the comedienne will receive a lifelong achievement award at a VIP reception at the Stonewall National Museum and Archives, which strives to hold a national collection of LGBT literature and media. The event is a part of an on-going campaign “Our Stars: Gifts From Celebrities” which features personal photographs and artifacts from famous LGBT celebrities. Following the event she will perform at 8 p.m. at the Parker Playhouse, in Fort Lauderdale. Clinton, who said she’s glad she doesn’t have to grade papers anymore, said that to this day she takes notes of her shows in an effort to improve the next one. She laughed.
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“It’s a lot about performing — part of which is being very prepared,” Clinton said, adding that she considers her time with the audience very precious and therefore tries not to work the crowd too much, but rather do her piece. “Being prepared and being able to improvise is important — those are some of the skills from teaching.” While Clinton admits she still looks like a teacher, creating a cognitive dissonance between her appearance and what she called her radical joke, it might have very well been her itch to leave teaching that got her into doing shows in the first place. She taught her last class in 1979. Clinton said her students would give her stand up a passing grade, complete with “areas that need work.” She laughed. “The 80s was the beginning of the comedy boom — everybody was turning their places into comedy clubs,” Clinton said. Her best friend, sick of hearing about how Clinton wanted to try her hand at it, booked her for a show. From there, the rest is history. Another friend of hers, Clinton fondly remembers, was in a band and would end up booking her for the following five years, and sometimes gave her odd advice, like doing a 45-minute set, taking a break, and then another 45-minute set. That was normal for musicians, but not so much for comedians. Regardless, Clinton found she had a lot to say nonetheless. “There was plenty to talk about — it really made me write,” she said about including her coming out in her stand up. Through the years, Clinton would write three books, perform constantly, sometimes five times a
submitted photo
Kate Clinton to receive Stonewall Spirit Award, March 17 from Stonewall Natl. Museum
VIP Reception
day, and help out whatever organizations she could by using her talent as a speaker. “She’s a very generous woman in terms of any group in town that needs an emcee,” said Brian McNaught, a corporate diversity activist, author and journalist whom the New York Times called the godfather of gay sensitivity training. “She’s one of the funniest lesbian comedians — and one of the smartest.” McNaught knows Clinton because they both live in Provincetown, Massachusetts. He met her because she and her partner would jog the same shoreline as he and his partner would. He’d even interviewed her for one of
Where: Stonewall National Museum & Archives 1300 E. Sunrise Boulevard Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 When: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 17 How Much: $150-$1,000 (includes cocktails)
Kate Clinton Performing Where: Parker Playhouse 707 NE 8th St., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33338 When: 8 p.m. How Much: $26.50-$46.50
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Theater
By J.W. Arnold
Y
oung writers are often advised to write what they know. If that was the case with playwright Sarah Kane, then the young Brit was certainly a twisted, tortured soul in search of redemption who not surprisingly ended her own life in 1999 at the age of 28 by hanging herself with shoelaces in the bathroom of a London hospital. Kane left behind a small body of work—only five plays, a short film and a couple of newspaper articles—all intense and brutal. Two years ago, Joseph Adler’s GableStage mounted a Carbonell-winning production of Kane’s inaugural play, Blasted, a frightening, metaphoric view of sexual assault and the war in Bosnia that left the South Florida theater community buzzing. Now, Thinking Cap Theatre, under the direction of founding artistic director Nicole Stodard, has taken on Cleansed, Kane’s third play, at Fort Lauderdale’s Empire Stage in a spare, yet thought-provoking production that will leave audiences shocked, perhaps mortified, and forced to challenge every conventional assumption of love. The work is set a university sanatorium, but it’s really a chamber of horrors where patients are less likely to be healed and more likely to lose their struggle with life or have it ended for them. The audience is introduced first to twins Graham (Daniel Nieves) and Grace (Grace), whose sibling bonds extend well beyond the womb. Then come Carl (John Robert Warren) and Rod (Andy Herrmann), a gay couple that aren’t quite on the same page when it comes to commitment. The common denominator is Tinker (Jim Gibbons), their doctor, or is he? Tinker is Graham’s drug dealer, sending him into a stunning overdose in the first scene and leaving his body to be cremated. He then must deal with Grace when she checks into the clinic in an attempt to reconnect with the memory of her brother. When it comes to the relationship of Carl and Rod, Tinker takes it upon himself to hold the two accountable for what they say, barring Carl from communicating his love
Nicole Stodard
Sarah Kane’s “Cleansed”: Waiting for the A-Ha Moment for the non-committal Rod by first sadistically removing his tongue, then his hands and legs after raping him violently with a pole. I warned you this was intense stuff. Even when Kane tries to portray the sweetness of love, it takes a horrific turn as another inmate in the house of horrors, Robin (Robert Alter), tries to present Grace with chocolates. Tinker humiliates Robin, emotionally emasculating him before finally granting Grace a surprising gift, but don’t forget, Tinker’s not really a doctor. And Tinker is more than he seems, revealing his own insecurities to a mysterious female dancer in a peep show window (Desiree Mora) who is revealed when a few coins are dropped into the slot. Kane’s material is disturbing and bizarre and that “a-ha” moment—when it all comes together and makes sense—arrives late in the 75 minute play, if at all, judging from the befuddled audience reaction when the lights finally came up. But, then again, Kane was a little crazy. Director Stodard is the first to admit that Cleansed has been one of the greatest artistic challenges she’s tackled, but given Kane’s script, any seasoned director would struggle to mount a convincing production. She gets a lot from her mostly young cast and makes the most of Kane’s terse, fast paced and emotional dialogue. George Kun’s minimalist set effectively transforms Empire Stage’s tiny space into the cold, hopeless institution with just a metal examination table, bench and school desk, but it’s the creative lighting from Jeffrey D. Holmes and Nate Sykes and extensive sound effects from David Hart and the Thinking Cap team that complete the nightmarish scene.
Cleansed by Sarah Kane Thinking Cap Theatre Thursday – Saturday through March 31, 8 p.m. Empire Stage, 1140 N. Flagler Dr., Fort Lauderdale Tickets $30 at ThinkingCapTheatre.com or at the door
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By Brian Swinford
Have an event you want to list? If so send me an email at Calendar@sfgn.com.
Theater Broward County
The Look of Love: Carmen Sings Burt Bacharach
Carmen Rodriguez, Key West’s own conch diva (along with guest stars Bobby Nesbitt and Danny Weathers) will deliver music from the legendary composer/lyricist, Burt Bacharach. Saturday, April 21 at the San Carlos Institute. Visit Waterfrontplayhouse.org
*The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus Presents: “Comedy Tonight” The Fort Lauderdale Gay Men’s Chorus will present their 2nd concert of their 26th season April 27 & 28, at the Museum of Art, in Fort Lauderdale at 8 p.m. Tickets are $40 and $25. Visit TheFortLauderdaleGayMensChorus.org
Harvey
Palm Beach State College will present Harvey on March 29 through 31 and April 12 through 14 at 8 p.m. at Stage West, located at the college’s Lake Worth campus. Elwood P. Dowd is an affable man who claims to have an unseen (and presumably imaginary) friend Harvey. His sister, Veta, finds his eccentric behavior embarrassing and decides to have him committed to a sanitarium to spare her daughter Myrtle Mae from embarrassment. Tickets are $12 and $5 for students with ID. Call 561-868-3309, or visit https://web.ovationtix. com/trs/pr/897225
An Evening with Kate Clinton
*Red Barn Theatre presents: Match
Stonewall National Museum & Archives presents legendary comedian Kate Clinton on March 17 at The Parker Playhouse. Kate Clinton is a faith-based, taxpaying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer. Visit ParkerPlayhouse.com
Miami-Dade
*7th Annual Jazz in the Gardens Music Festival
On March 17th-18th Jazz in the Gardens will continue the magical annual tradition at the Sun Life Stadium, hosting an event that will surely surpass last years’ experience with another illustrious lineup that continues to make this festival second to none. Your Jazz in the Gardens weekend experience will include pre-festival events, after parties, fabulous shopping, community events and much, much more. Visit Jazzinthegardens.com
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This Broadway hit stars like the hysterical Tom Luna as Tobi Powell, an eccentric and endearing dancer, choreographer and teacher. A married couple arrives at Powell’s apartment to interview him about his life, but it is soon evident that their agenda is as multi-layered as Tobi’s life story. Call 305-2969911 or Email: info@redbarntheatre.com
Courtesy of jazz in the gardns festival
Palm Beach County
*The Chubs in Paradise
Key West
* denotes new listing
*Key West Pops presents: Kiss Me Kate The annual musical-in-concert features Cole Porter’s production starring Susan Powell and Richard White. This classic from the Golden Age of Broadway musicals is pure entertainment gold with hits songs and great dance sequences. The guest artist roster is to reflect the Pops’ usual practice of bringing together out-of-town artists and Key West favorites. Starts at 7:30 p.m. and is at the Tennessee Williams Theatre. Call 305-296-6059 or Email: info@keywestpops.org
Mary J. Blige at the Jazz in the Gardens Festival Come Fly Away
Come Fly Away is the new Broadway musical valentine to the legend that is Frank Sinatra, fusing his unforgettable voice, with a sensational live band and the creative vision of Tony Award-winner TWYLA THARP (Movin’ Out) into a musical spectacle that will make you believe “Ol’Blue Eyes” is right on stage, mike in hand. March 20 through 25 at the Ziff Ballet Opera House.
*Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival
The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival, screens films and videos in locations throughout Miami-Dade County. The 14th Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival will run Friday April 27 until Sunday May 6. Visit MLFF.com
This event is a gay men’s gathering for chubs, chasers and bears oh my! This event will take place at the Shubert Resort, which is also the host hotel on April 12, 13, and 14. If you like them big hairy and sexy this is one event that you will not want to miss. Chubs in Paradise Nightly Room Rates are: $99 Small Room, $109 Kings Suite off Pool, $119 King Suite Pool Side. Chubsinparadise.com/index.html
*NGPA’s Florida Fling 2012
On March 23 to 25, 23 miles of wide, sandy beach, and over 100 gay/lesbian owned establishments. The National Gay Pilots Association is an organization of LGBT aviation enthusiasts. Cocktail Reception and Event Registration for the NGPA on March 23, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pick up your registration packet, catch up with some old friends, and make some new friends. Visit Secure.ngpa.org
Opening the Heart
We want to love others, but how can we do this when they have so many faults? By learning to distinguish between people and their faults, we can love people without condoning or enabling inappropriate behavior. $10/class or $30/series includes March 15 -- “We Need Others: Viewing Living Beings as Supreme,” -- March 22 -- “People and their Delusions: Living Beings have No Faults,” March 29 -- “Learning from Everyone: Developing Humility.” Visit MeditationInFortLauderdale.org
JUNTOS program
Latinos Salud’s “Popular Opinion Leader” group is for Latino gay/bi guys ages 25-44. Join our free “Boot Camp” at Holiday Park from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday March 17 and 31. Call ahead. Also, join the JUNTOS gay networking dinners on Friday, March 9 and 23 at 8 p.m. Develop your community leadership skills over free dinner, and also play a role in keeping the safer sex message strong with your friends. Stop in for more info at 2330 Wilton Drive or call 954-765-6239. Visit Latinossalud.org.
Community Calendar Broward County
SOMOS program
Join Gordon Nebeker and all of his beautiful photography on Friday March 16. Nebeker will be showing off his art at the Law Office of Cal Steinmetz from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. as part of Island City Art Walk. Information: 2301 Wilton Drive, Suite 3 in the Heart of beautiful Wilton Manors. Visit WiltonDriveoOnline.com
Latinos Salud’s SOMOS program is for Latino gay/bi guys ages 18 to 30. Join our next SOMOS Group for a Pride themed BBQ and chat, March 15 at 6 p.m. FREE dinner plus incentive is provided. Also every Monday night at 7 p.m. join the Core Group, and help plan alternative activities throughout the week. Stop in for more info at 2330 Wilton Drive or call (954) 533-8681. Visit Latinossalud.org.
Life Coaching program
Eating Disorder Support group
*Gordon Nebeker Photography Exhibition-Wilton Manors
Latinos Salud’s Life Coaching program is for Latino gay/bi guys ages 18-44. Come by Monday through Friday 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. for free one-on-one life coaching with certified CRCS coaches. Set your goals, and meet action steps to make them come true. Stop in for more info at 2330 Wilton Drive or call 954-765-6239. Visit Latinossalud.org
Meets Friday evenings from 6 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. At Sun Serve’s Wilton Manors location at 2123 Wilton Drive, second floor. A “drop-in” psycho-educational support group. Free. No registration required. Donations welcome. Call 954-764-5150
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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. Sex and Love Anonymous
S.L.A.A. believes that sex and love addiction is a progressive illness which cannot be cured but which, like many illnesses, can be arrested. It may take several forms -- including, but not limited to, a compulsive need for sex, extreme dependency on one or many people, or a chronic pre-occupation with romance, intrigue, or fantasy. Meets at The Pride Center at Equality Park in Bldg A, Room 200 Fridays 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. Visit Slaafws.orgs
Exhibit of Nudes and Nature Studios
Mangum Gallery will host the first South Florida exhibit of critically acclaimed New York photographer Kelly Grider, involving 30 original works of romantic nudes and nature studios. The exhibition runs Feb. 17 to March 15. Grider’s work is a mix of the romantic and ethereal. “Grider blends sensuality, eroticism, awe and power.” Call Greg Mangum at 954-514-7149. Visit MangumGallery.com
A Survivor Support Group
A Survivor Support Group is being held on the first and third Wednesday of each month at the 211 Community Center, 250 NE 33rd Street, in Oakland Park. The Florida Initiative for Suicide Prevention (FISP) is sponsoring this free support group and is open to all family members and friends of those who have died by suicide. Call 954-384-0344 to register. Meets from 7-8:30 p.m. Visit Fisponline.org.
Grief Support Group
Meets every 3rd Tuesday at American Burial & Cremation Center @ Jennings Funeral Home 1801 E. Oakland Park Blvd. from 2-4 pm. Call 954-731-4321.
Boardwalk Friday Fest
Come out to Hollywood Beach Theatre East of A1A at Johnson St and the ocean. Admission: Free every Friday of every month. Live jazz, blues, pop and everything in between along Hollywood’s signature 2.5 mile Boardwalk. Charming oceanfront cafes and restaurants serve up delicious innovative cuisine while you enjoy the best array of live music and tropical ocean breezes. Visit Hollywoodfl.org or call 954-924-2980
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SunTrust Sunday Jazz Brunch
First Sunday of every month. An ideal way to relax and enjoy Fort Lauderdale’s scenic Riverwalk. Live, outdoor concert series bringing the area’s best local jazz artists. Listen to the soulful sounds on four different stages. Well-behaved, leashed pets welcome. Plenty of room for chairs, blankets and picnic baskets.
Young Adult GLBT
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
Gay Men’s HIV+ Long Time Survivors’ Group
A social group open to all LGBT people ages 18-35. Meets Fridays at the Pride Center in Wilton Manors from 7:15-9 p.m. Meeting starts with a discussion on current events followed by introductions and then a group activity. Visit PrideCenterFlorida.org/contact-us
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. Meets on 1st and 3rd Thursday at Sunserve 2312 Wilton Drive from 6:30 – 8 p.m. No cost. Donations welcome.
Safe “T”
GreenMarket Pompano Beach
Safe “T” is a support group for gender variant adults. Meets Wednesday evenings from 6:30-8:00 p.m. at Sunserve’s Wilton Manors location at 2312 Wilton Drive, second floor. A “dropin” psycho-educational support group. Free. No registration required. Donations welcome. Call 954-764-5150.
Alternative MC Tuesday Night Eatin Meeting
Tue Nite Eatin Meeting will be held at The Alternative MC Clubhouse at 4322 NE 5th Ave in Oakland Park. Fun, food, and fellowship. There will be hamburgers, hotdogs, all the fixins, cold drinks, desserts, and snacks. Meeting begins at 8 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m. Visit Alternativemc.com/events/ florida-events
Gay Male Empowerment Group
Topic discussions include issues and concerns about being a gay man in South Florida. Meets Thursdays at the Pride Center from 7 - 8:30 p.m. Call 954-353-9155 or email 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
At the corner of Dixie Highway and Atlantic Blvd. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Includes the freshest fruits and vegetables, juices, baked goods, seafood, gourmet teas and coffees, as well as orchids, plants, and health-related products and services. Held every Saturday through April 28. Also features art shows, antique automobile shows, and environmental exhibits. Visit GreenMarketPompano.com
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. Starts at 7 p.m. Call 954-630-1655.
Women4Women Personal Growth Support Group
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
Man2Man Discussion Group
Man-2-Man talk is an informal discussion group of gay men, with all age ranges and backgrounds welcomed. Bldg A, Room 206. Visit Glccsf.org/calendar/
Toastmasters
Most Toastmasters meetings are comprised of about 20 people who meet weekly for an hour or so. Participants practice and learn skills by filling a meeting role, ranging from giving a prepared speech or an impromptu one to serving as timer, evaluator or grammarian. Toastmasters meet at the GLCC/Pride Center Monday at 7:15 p.m. Call Ted Verdone at 954-599-7916 or email: Tedverdone@comcast.net
Palm Beach County
*Deerfield Beach Wine & Food Festival
The 2nd Annual Deerfield Beach Wine & Food Festival is back April 27-28. Held at Quite Waters Park in Deerfield Beach. Friday night features two events, the VIP Dinner Under-TheStars; 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. which is an intimate 4 course wine and food pairing dinner with your own personal chef and wine sommelier, and the Grand Tasting Launch Party; 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m., with gourmet food tastings, wine and spirits, with live entertainment. Saturday begins with the Jazz Blues Brunch from 10 a.m. to noon, with plenty of Bloody Mary’s & mimosas and that evening, 50 chefs converge for the Grand Tasting event; 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Visit DeerfieldBeachWineAndFoodFestival.com
*Saint Patrick’s Day Parade
Sat March 17 the 44th Annual Delray Beach St. Patrick’s Day Parade. The Tribute to the International Firefighters will have firefighters from 13 states and a contingent from Down UnderAustralia! The complete parade route along Atlantic Ave. will be decorated at six key points with fire department ladder trucks from multiple fire departments with their ladders extended tip to tip, hanging huge flags that the entire parade will march under. Starts at 2 p.m. Visit FestivalManagementGroup.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
continued on page 30
March 14, 2012 • 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. Stage Door: Highlighting the Arts
By J.W. Arnold
Let’s talk television for a moment: Logo, the so-called gay network, continues to fill its schedule with pabulum of reruns of RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag U, and yet another broadcast of Latter Days. Programming execs there still haven’t realized we want more than drag queens and bittersweet coming out stories. Meanwhile, TLC hoped to tempt gay audiences this winter with Undercover Princes, a sorry British import about three lonely “princes” who go undercover in the seaside resort of Brighton while looking for love. Even if the ladies knew, I doubt they’d be knocking down the door of Prince Africa Zulu’s mud hut in the Serengeti. And, the gay gold diggers who might have considered going after India’s Crown Prince Manvendra, would be disappointed to learn his parents disinherited him after he came out. Fortunately for us, Bravo and Senior Vice President Andy Cohen have made his NBC Universal cable network the standard bearer for the community. While we’re mourning the end of the debut season of celebrity stylist Brad Goreski’s It’s a Brad, Brad World, and tart-tongued lesbian Tabatha Coffey continues to take on just about every kind of dysfunctional business, this week, Bravo debuts two more gay-sensible shows: Shahs of Sunset, a group of hip Persians living in Hollywood, including openly gay real estate mogul Reza Farahan, premiered on Sunday, March 11. Expect a fatwah to be issued by the mullahs in Tehran soon. On Thursday, everybody’s favorite gay,
OCD house flipper returns to the Bravo airways with Interior Therapy with Jeff Lewis. Crazy assistant Jenni is back, along with
Jeff Lewis, star of Bravo’s new show, Interior Therapy, along with co-stars, assistant Jenni Pulos and housekeeper Zoila Chavez
courtesy of bravo
The Realities of Gay TV
Zoila and the gang, as this new series focuses on the designer’s high-end projects in Los Angeles. Later this spring, Bravo is rolling out more gay chefs among the contestants of Around the World in 80 Plates, a sort of culinary Amazing Race. Stay tuned for more details.
And a Really Funny Lady Comedian Kate Clinton returns to Fort Lauderdale’s Parker Playhouse, Saturday, March 17 at 8 p.m. for one performance. Presented by the Stonewall Museum & Archives as part of the “Our Stars” series, Clinton is a faith-based, tax-paying, America-loving political humorist and family entertainer whose career has spanned 30 years. She still believes that humor gets us through peacetime, wartime, and economic down times. Tickets for “An Evening with Kate Clinton” are $26.5046.50 at ParkerPlayhouse.com.
March 14, 2012 • 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. Seniors vs. Crime
Seniors vs. Crime is a free service that provides help to seniors who have been victimized by businesses or service providers and need assistance. This event will take place at Mae Volen Senior Center at 1515 W. Palmetto Park Road. By appointment only so call 561-736-3820 or 561-395-8920.
*West Palm Beach Pride-Fest Events
This year’s West Palm Beach Pride-fest will rock your socks off with loads of pride events starting on March 19 at H.G. Roosters for Pride Bingo. On March 21 come to the Lounge at Mara at 6:3- p.m. for the Mack Mixer meets Pride Business Alliance which should be an unforgettable pride networking event. Also don’t forget about 19th Annual Pride fest of Lake Worth and the Palm Beaches on March 24 & 25 at Noon to 6 p.m.
Gay Polo Tournament
The Third Annual Gay Polo Tournament will be held April 14 at the Grand Champions Polo Club located at the corner of Lake Worth Road and South Shore Boulevard in Wellington from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The event will feature top polo players from the Gay Polo League (GPL). Visit GayPoloTournament. blog.com/tickets/ or call 561-753-3389. Cost: $20 General Admission. Please provide own chairs. $175 Tailgate space – Includes eight general admission tickets & one tailgate parking space.
Victory After Party
Dinner and dancing, featuring renowned DJ, Adam West, at the Victory After Party to celebrate the International Gay Polo Tournament sponsored by The Rotary Club of Wellington at Graffito at 3410 Equestrian Club Road, Wellington, FL. on Sat. April 14 at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $50 each and include twohour open bar, buffet dinner and fun. Contact: Maggie Zeller at 561 715- 9262. Visit Wellingtonrotary.com
PBC Gender Support Group
All ages support group dedicated for transgender individuals. This meeting happens the 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month at 7:30 pm. These meeting will take place at The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Palm Beach County. Visit Compassglcc.com
New Alternatives
Social group with regular outings and social mixers for LGBTQ ages 18 to 30. This meeting will take place at The Gay & Lesbian Community Center of Palm Beach County. Email matthew@compassglcc.com or Visit Compassglcc.com.
Good Orderly AA
These meetings now take place at Lambda North at 18 S J Street, and geared toward recovering alcoholics. Every Tues. and Thurs. at 7 p.m. and on Sat. at 5:30 p.m. These meetings will help recovering alcoholics cope with the stress of everyday life without the use of alcohol. Email tcamie@aol.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. Classes are Wed. at 9 a.m. Cost is $20 and RSVP is suggested. Call 561404-2011. 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
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
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
Sober Sisters AA
A meeting place for the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual & Transgender communities and friends in recovery. Hosts Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), Al-Anon, Crystal Meth Anonymous (CMA), Debtors Anonymous (DA), Narcotics Anonymous (NA), and Sex & Love Addicts Anonymous (SLAA), meetings. (305) 573-9608. 212 NE 24th Street. Miami. Visit Lambdadadeclubhouse.org
Support group is dedicated for lesbians who are recovering from alcoholism. Meeting happens every Monday at 7 p.m. at Lambda North Clubhouse. Visit LambdaNorth.net
Key West
BrothasSpeak
On June 6 - 10, come show your pride in our tropical paradise, and you’ll find yourself in the midst of a celebration unlike any other. From the opening party to the closing parade, you’ll discover quickly that the best place to show your pride is on an island whose official motto is “one human Family.” The welcoming island invites you to join us at Key West Pride! Visit Gaykeywestfl.com
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
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
Miami-Dade
MDGLCC invites its members over 50 to attend a free luncheon to discuss Intimate Partner Violence among older same sex couples. Thurs. March 8 @ 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at the Michael Aller Community Conference Room. Facilitator: Angela Diaz-Vidaillet, CEO, The Lodge Domestic Violence Shelter. Space is limited. Visit mdglcc@bellsouth.net
Women’s Empowerment Luncheon
MDGLCC’s popular Women’s Empowerment Luncheon series continues at the Sanctum Room of the Epic Hotel (270 Biscayne Boulevard Way), with special guest speaker Cristina Serralta, CEO of Amazon Services Inc. speaking on “Small Business Ownership from the LGBT Perspective”. 11:30 a.m. Registration; Noon - 1:30 p.m. Lunch at Epic Hotel. Cost: MDGLCC Members ($35), Potential Members ($45, $10 applied to new MDGLCC membership). A full sit-down luncheon with a Q&A to follow. Co-Sponsored by Aqua Foundation & NCLR. Visit mdglcc@bellsouth.net
MDGLCC/GALLA presents its monthly networking program tailored for attorneys, judges and legal professionals held on Wednesdays. New location: Morton’s Steakhouse, 1200 Brickell Avenue, Miami. Networking from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. with networking and a full sit-down lunch. Cost: MDGLCC members ($35), Potential members ($50, $10 applied to new MDGLCC membership). Visit mdglcc@bellsouth.net
Miami Beach International Fashion Week
March 21 through 24, Miami Beach Convention Center at 9 p.m. Emerging Designers Prelude & Miami Style Showcase featuring Florida’s Fashion Stars. Prelude Designers: Lisu Vega, Zula Studio, Crystal 4 U, By Misha, K. Hendrik, Erin Healy. Miami Style Designers: Viviana G. for Petit Pois, Kayce Armstrong for Art of Shade, Ema Savahl Couture. Visit Miamifashionweek.com
Celebrate the ‘Month of Love’ with Wine Appreciation Class
For true passion and a long-lasting love, why not treat yourself, or someone you love, to a six-week wine appreciation course? Join other sympathetic souls every Monday until March 26 from 6 p.m. to 7:45 p.m. $275.00 per person. Limited to 16 people. Call 305-442-4408
Business Builders Luncheon
MDGLCC presents its monthly networking program held on the last Thursday of each month. This month it will be at City Hall the Restaurant. Registration at 11:30 am with luncheon/ networking from noon to 1 p.m. Includes seated style lunch limited to 25 people. Please bring a friend. RSVP requested: 305-673-4440 or mdglcc@bellsouth.net
Aqua Girl 12
Key West Pride
Annual Key West House & Garden Tours
Tour five elegant and unique homes of Key West on March 17-18. Proceeds help benefit the Old Island Restoration Foundation. Presented by the Old Island Restoration Foundation, this house and garden tour offers a rare opportunity to see inside some of Key West’s magnificent, charming and tropical residences. Call 305-294-9501 or email tickets@oirf.org
*17th Annual Hospitality Open Golf Tournament
Discussion on Intimate Partner Violence
Galla Luncheon Networker @ Morton’s Steakhouse
There will be 14 diverse events for everyone to choose from. Aqua Girl is more than a party…it’s a week for a cause. Something for everyone including dance parties, a comedy show, live music, pool parties, a bowl-a-thon, a jazz brunch, a dine-out event, a VIP reception, and celebrity meet-andgreets. From May 2 through 6 in South Beach.
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Lambda Dade Clubhouse
One of the longest running golf tournaments in the Florida Keys, the event supports scholarships for Florida Keys students in the hospitality and culinary fields of study. Just $100 per player includes greens fees at Key West Golf Club, goodie bag, food (Breakfast and Lunch), drinks, hot dog stand, Mimosas and Bloody Marys and much more! Team up with 4 of your friends or sign up individually. Call 305-296-4959 or Email: executiveoffice@keyslodging.org
nightlife Broward County 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, Friday and Saturday night live DJs. 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 9 p.m. $10 Miller Lite Beer Bust
Boardwalk
1721 N. Andrews Ave, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33311. (954) 463-6969. A Cute Little Hangout in Fort Lauderdale. Pool-room/game room on one side and a bar/strip club on the other. Mondays $3 Well & Dom, after 9 p.m. $3 U-Call-It Shots
The Club Fort Lauderdale
Bathhouse. 110 NW 5th Ave., Fort Lauderdale, FL, (954) 5253344 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 N. 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 N. 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 drinks 9 p.m. to close
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com continued on page 28
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.
AFTER DARK
By Brian Swinford Monday March 19 onday is a Drag at Bills Filling Station with Rupaul’s Drag Race Official Viewing Party starting at 9 p.m. Come watch Bills Filling Station Tranni Palace Star Latrice Royale on her Race to victory. There are Big screen TV’s with Drag Race giveaways, Prizes & Drink Specials. At 10:30 p.m. don’t miss Jennifer McClains Cast Party.Visit BillsFillingStation.com
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Tuesday March 13 ropics Restaurant & Piano Bar is a warm and friendly place to bring you friends. This Tuesday enjoy 2-4-1 drinks and 2 entrées for the price of one. Don’t forget that Tropics has new ownership but the same wonderful piano bar. Dining is seven days a week, and the bar opens at 2 p.m.Visit TropicsofWiltonManors.com
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St. The biggest prizes and the hottest Mc Gemini Stone every Thursday night. Sign up by midnight to enter. Come see these hot, sultry boys with no cover 18+ to enter. Visit JohnnysBarFL.com Friday March 16 last Through the roof this Friday at Mona’s Bar with 3 Ice Cold Bud Drafts for Just $6. Mona’s Bar is the most local and friendly bar which is located on Sunrise Blvd. Also Ever time you hear a train coming by, just pick the right number between 1 and 20 and win a free drink. Visit Monasbar.com
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Saturday March 17 ome get lucky at this St. Patty’s Day Ball at the Manor Complex. Starring recording star Erika Jayne performing her Billboard Charting Dance Single “Party Wednesday March 14 People (Ignite the World).” Cum get your ilantcita presents new meat amateur beads, booze, and boys at this amazing contest at midnight every Wednesparty, also spinning for his birthday bash DJ day night. Come see the hottest STUDS Michael Tank. Visit TheManorComplex.com in Fort Lauderdale at the Boardwalk, and the best drink specials like $4 well Drinks Sunday March 18 from 9 p.m. till midnight and $3 Long arch is Bacardi Oakheart Rum Islands all day long. Hosted by vivacious Month at Scandals Saloon with $4 Victoria Michaels.Visit BoardwalkBar.com Bacardi Oakheart Rum Drinks All Day. Also don’t forget to get your YEE-HAW on with Thursday March 15 the Most Handsomest of Bartenders,Vince, in Win Win at South Florida’s during Scandals Patio Bar Happy hours largest amateur strip contest at every Sunday. Also Shop at Nellie’s MercanJohnny’s Miami located on 62nd NE 14th tile Thurs-Sun nights.Visit ScandalsFla.com
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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.
Johnny’s
1116 W. Broward Blvd., Fort Lauderdale, FL 33312, (954) 5225931. Monday Dragon with TP Lords, Daisy D. and DJ Rob Sky Some of the hottest guys around with great happy hour drink specials. Bring all your friends to this sexy Bar.
The Manor
2345 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 (954) 626 0082 - Come Dine, Dance, Drink, Mingle and of course Relax. 2 for 1 happy hour Tues-Friday 3-9pm. Indoor/Outdoor Dining. Dance the night away Thursday through Sunday. Live music Weds, Fri, Sat, Sun - Visit themanorcomplex.com FOR MORE DETAILS.1
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.
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 E. 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
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 Fort. 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
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March 14, 2012 • 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. Ramrod
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
Rosie’s Bar and Grill
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
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
Miami-Dade 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)6408749. 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.
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.
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.
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.
Swinging Richards
17450 Biscayne Blvd, N Miami Beach, Fl 33160 954-357-2532 Tuesdays-Saturdays from 6p.m. to 6 a.m. Come and enjoy fully nude guys dancing to the best music in South Florida.
Palm Beach County 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
Fort Dix
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.
The Lounge
1132 North Dixie Highway, Lake Worth FL $3 Drinks No Cover open till 5AM New location Better than Ever.
The Mad Hatter
1532 North Dixie Hwy ,Lake Worth, FL 33460. (561) 547-8860. Cheap drinks, friendly bartenders, and free pool Sunday-Thursday. Stop by and relax at this no-attitude haunt.
The Bar Lake Worth
2211 North Dixie Highway Lake Worth. (561) 370-3954 Thebarlakeworth.com. Men and women share this mostlylocals space as a calm and friendly watering hole. The bar often features live music which can be a nice break from thumping bass.
Tag Bar
25 Northeast 2nd Avenue, Delray Beach, FL 33483 954-801-3247. Delray Beach’s only gay bar. Mon - Sun: 4 p.m. - 2 a.m. Awesome Drink Specials.
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Twist
1057 Washington Ave, Miami Beach, Fl, 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.
The Bourbon St. Pub
724 Duval St. (305)296-1992. Key West’s premier video bar with LIVE DJ’S nightly. A taste of N’Awlins in the heart of Old Town – Enjoy Key West’s hottest music videos on the large screen while the boys entertain on the bar. No Cover.
La Te Da
1125 Duval St. 305-296-6706 Fun Gay-Friendly atmosphere. Cabaret entertainment during season including Randy Roberts and Chris Peterson. Enjoy great live music Tuesday thru Sunday with Lenore Troia. Cover charge may apply. Great outside bar if you just want to enjoy a cocktail and chat while people watching on Duval Street.
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.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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I Want My Gay TV
While Logo broadcasts their new Wiseguys and endless reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, In The Life Media will continue to create programming that spotlights critical issues affectBy Michelle Kristel ing LGBT individuals, such as teen bullying Executive Director and LGBT youth homelessness, workplace In The Life Media protections, HIV criminalization, adoption he executive director of In The Life rights, and ties between an elite organization Media reacts with disappointment of U.S. conservatives and the proposed “kill to the news that Logo is moving the gays” bill in Uganda. Judging by Logo’s away from LGBT-focused television. press statement, these are not topics that Ten years ago, in March of 2002, I attendinterest mainstream gays and lesbians. ed a standing-room only Times Talk event Clearly, no one else is doing what we do entitled “I Want My Gay TV.” Moderated by because it is expensive and maintaining jourStuart Elliott, the panel addressed the LGBT nalistic independence in the current media community’s need and collective desire for climate can be difficult. However, it is necesrepresentation on television. Amid rumors sary. And, even though we don’t have Viacom’s that Showtime was developing an LGBT budget, In The Life Media (a nonprofit orgachannel, the audience clamored for confirnization) has dedicated donors who support mation that our dream our work. Since media would soon be realized. drives public opinion, Three years later, it was. LGBT-specific programViacom launched Logo as ming is integral to shaping a source of inclusive and public debate. It can best positive LGBT programinform policymakers and ming on cable televiinfluence potential allies sion. As the first and, at in the “moveable middle.” the time, singular embodiIn The Life Media is proud ment of substantive LGBT to be a leading counterExploring the works of news and reporting on point to the bigotry and Ed Hardy television, In The Life Media propaganda advanced by welcomed Logo. In fact, we multi-billion dollar, anti-gay were proud that In The Life was included as media machines and hate groups, like Focus part of the network’s initial launch and was on the Family, the National Organization for shown on Logo for two years. Marriage, and American Family Association. Recently, news of a seismic shift in format Of course, in this day and age, In The Life was revealed when Logo announced its Media is much more than television. We are a 2012 schedule and we learned that not one leader in LGBT digital journalism. We provide show in Logo’s new line-up is strictly LGBT. hundreds of LGBT and allied organizations Instead of continuing its commitment to with resources they could not otherwise gay-focused television, Logo will be presentafford. We create partnerships that amplify ing rip-offs of Toddlers & Tiaras and Mob our voice and carry our message across the Wives, a show (Scandalicious) in which comeglobe. Still, the television medium remains dians and tastemakers voice their opinions our hallmark. As the Huffington Post has writ“on topics that are frivolous,” and Design My ten, “At a time when LGBT people are virtuDog. According to Logo’s General Manager ally invisible in the media, IN THE LIFE brings and Executive Vice President, Lisa Sherman, images reflecting the cultural and geographic this move is intended to create a slate that diversity of the gay and lesbian communities reflects “gays and lesbians’ increasing inteinto living rooms across the country.” gration into mainstream culture and their Edward R. Murrow, the pioneering jourdesire for shows that appeal to multiple innalist, was right when he said that, if used terests.” Really? If Design My Dog represents to educate viewers, television could have LGBT assimilation into mainstream culture, an amazing impact. Understanding this, In things are much worse than I thought. The Life Media was founded on the simple, Ms. Sherman adds, “Our goal at Logo has yet audacious premise that presenting the always been to honestly reflect our viewers’ lives of real LGBT people can — and will — lives. We’re now reinforcing our commitadvance LGBT rights. For two decades, we ment to them with programming that truly have proven this to be true. mirrors how many of them are living and News of Logo’s programming change want to be entertained today.” I don’t know caused Huffington Post to exclaim, “GAY TV about you, but Logo’s new lineup doesn’t as we know it is dead.” I beg to differ. It is reflect the life of any LGBT person I know. alive and well — just not on Logo. Let’s just call this what it is: Logo’s attempt Michelle Kristel is the executive director of In to improve poor ratings by copying the realThe Life Media. Visit www.itlmedia.org for more ity show template elevated (some may say information. degraded) by Bravo.
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submitted photo
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
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
The Global LGBT Summit May 3–6, 2012, in Philadelphia www.equalityforum.com
ISRAEL FEATU R E D N A T I O N
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Steve Rothaus: Journalist and Role Model By Jesse Monteagudo This story originally appeared in January of 2010. Equality Florida’s annual Equality Gala is honoring Rothaus this year as their “Voice for Equality Honoree.” The event takes place Sunday, March 18 in Miami. Tickets are $125. Visit http://eqfl.org/miamigala for more information.
W
hen Steve Rothaus joined the staff of the Miami Herald, it was 1985. Ronald Reagan was president; Rock Hudson was about to make AIDS a household word; and Rothaus himself was still a journalism major at Florida International University. “I started working at The Herald during my junior year at FIU,” Rothaus recalls. “For about a year-and-a-half, I worked nights from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. I attended classes weekday mornings before work.” Twenty-four years later, Rothaus is the journalist that South Florida turns to for
news and information about the local LGBT community. In 1987, Rothaus came out at work; a still unusual step at that time. To The Herald’s credit, there was no adverse reaction. As Rothaus notes, “Several co-workers knew from the beginning that I’m gay, but many of my bosses did not [sic]. I came out officially in 1987, when The Herald assigned me to the Miami Beach Neighbors office — my partner Ric Katz was a political consultant at the time and he represented several Miami Beach commissioners. As a journalist, I felt it necessary to disclose my personal relationship. My editors told me it wasn’t an issue. I made sure they understood I couldn’t cover any of Ric’s clients. No problem. There were plenty of other stories for me to report.” In his 24 years with The Herald, Rothaus has covered small towns and cities, police departments, and transportation issues in Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Broward Counties.
He has interviewed many celebrities, including Bernadette Peters, Lily Tomlin, Joan Rivers, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Liza Minnelli and Judy Shepherd. Rothaus has also worked as a copy editor, metro and page one layout editor, and night business editor. In fact, Rothaus did not begin to cover the LGBT community until 1997, when fashion designer Gianni Versace was murdered outside his home on Miami Beach. Rothaus copy-edited the Herald’s coverage of that incident and only then began to write about LGBT issues. As a result, “most of my peers respect my work as a ‘reporter,’ not as a ‘gay reporter.’ Sometimes, however, newer Herald reporters and editors are surprised when I write something that’s not gay-related.” In recognition of his work as a journalist, Rothaus won the GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation) Media Award in 1998 and the Latin Media Award in 2007. He’s also been honored by the Dolphin Democratic Club, the Gay and Lesbi-
submitted photo
To be honored by Equality Florida, March 18
Steve Rothaus with partner Ric Katz an Community Center of South Florida, the Unity Coalition, and the Miami-Dade chapter of the American Psychological Association. To many who do not read The Herald’s print editions, Rothaus is best-known for “Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida,” a blog that he updates several times a day. Rothaus began his blog about four years ago, making it one of the paper’s first blogs. Unlike most blogs, “Steve Rothaus’ Gay South Florida” is not about Steve Rothaus himself but about South Florida’s GLBT community. In Rothaus’s words, “it’s a mix (I hope) of news stories, entertainment and commentary from throughout the gay community. That’s why I established that it’s ‘for and about gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people throughout Miami and Fort Lauderdale.’” On any given day, visitors to Rothaus’ blog may read stories about political victories or defeats; interviews with LGBT or gay-friendly personalities; photos of recent community benefits, social events, or circuit parties, and press releases from a wide variety of LGBT or gay-friendly businesses and non-profit organizations. The blog’s very existence improves The Herald’s reputation within the LGBT community. “Steve Rothaus’ ‘Gay South Florida’ blog attracts thousands of online readers every day. This boosts circulation and helps the company sell advertising. The people who read the blog are a coveted demographic to advertisers,” Rothaus says.
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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The
Fitness Guy
TRY THIS EXERCISE: Seated Cable Row Mark Bostian demonstrates the
Seated Cable Row. Photography by TobysPhotos.com.
By Peter Jackson, CPT
‘No Butts About It:’ Best Glute Exercises Q: Can you recommend a good exercise to tighten my butt muscles? A: Absolutely! You are referring to your gluteus maximus, called glutes for short, which are a group of three muscles located at the back of each hip. While many guys give the “glamour” muscles of the chest, back and arms almost all of their attention in the gym, the glutes deserve attention as they are actually the largest and strongest of the 639 named muscles in the body. They are extremely important, too, with responsibility for keeping the body upright. They also play an anti-gravity role to allow us to climb stairs and hills. A toned, round bubble-butt is always an attentiongrabber! And the good news is the glutes usually respond quickly to resistance training. The best exercise to tighten the glutes, hands-down, is the squat. This compound exercise (meaning it incorporates multiple joints and muscle groups) is largely considered one of the best exercises you can do – period. It works the glutes, quadriceps and hamstrings (front and back of your upper legs, respectively) as well as the calves and core. There are dozens of variations of the squat ranging from the body-weight squat (great for beginners) all the way to barbell squats using heavy plates (advanced). Search YouTube for video demonstrations of other squat exercises and be sure to incorporate these into your workout program.
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➊ Attach
a straight bar to the cable row
➋ Keeping
your torso still , pull the bar in
machine and sit with your chest out,
to your upper abs squeezing your shoulder
shoulders back and your feet braced.
blades back.
Grab
starting position with a slow, controlled
the bar with either an overhand
or underhand grip (an underhand grip
movement.
increases the tension in your biceps).
Complete
To perform a basic Body-Weight Squat: 1) Stand with your feet shoulder width apart and your arms stretched in front of you at shoulder level.Your back should be naturally arched. 2) Push your hips back, bend at the knees and lower your body as low as you can. 3) Pause, then use your hips and knees to lift your body back to the starting position. Perform three sets. As you build confidence, try holding a set of dumbbells at your sides while squatting to add to the degree of difficulty. Another great exercise to tighten the glutes is the lunge. Again, there are many variations of this terrific exercise. Use Google or YouTube for videos or contact me for a free demonstration.
Pause,
Do
then return to the
not rock back and forth !
three sets of
8
to
12
reps .
TIP OF THE WEEK Organic Ketchup is Better For You The big difference between store brand and organic ketchup has nothing to do with the amount of calories, sodium, or sugar in either – rather, it’s the amount of the cancer-fighting pigment called lycopene in the organic brands which acts as an antioxidant in the body. Organically-grown tomatoes have twice as much lycopene as regular tomatoes. Lycopene, which gives tomatoes (and other fruits and vegetables such as watermelon and apricots) their red color, is not produced by the body. It has been shown to reduce the risk of prostate cancer in men.
Peter Jackson is nationally-syndicated fitness columnist and the owner of Push Fitness, a private, full-service personal training gym in Oakland Park which offers cutting-edge fitness programs for individuals, couples and small groups. Peter welcomes your questions at peter@PushFitnessFTL.com or visit him online at www.PushFitnessFTL.com and www.PozFitness.com.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
SPORTS
Youtube
NHL Stars Support LGBT Athletes
Patrick and Brian Burke of “You Can Play” project.
By Associated Press
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ORONTO -- Some of the NHL’s biggest stars are featured in a public service announcement promoting equality within the sport, regardless of sexual orientation. Rick Nash, Duncan Keith, Corey Perry, Dion Phaneuf and Henrik Lundqvist are among the players who participated in the spot that debuted on NBC during Sunday afternoon’s broadcast of the New York Rangers’ 4-3 victory over the Boston Bruins. The idea is part of the “You Can Play” project, which was created by Patrick Burke, a scout for the Philadelphia Flyers and the son of Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke. Patrick Burke’s brother, Brendan, made headlines when he came out in November 2009 while serving as the manager of Miami of Ohio’s college hockey team. He was killed in a February 2010 car crash at age 21. More than 30 NHL players have taped spots that will air throughout the remainder of the season. “The messages are very simple, yet meaningful,” Patrick Burke told The Canadian Press. “It’s variations of the idea that all they care about is winning, all they care about is having the best teammates and it doesn’t matter if the best teammate happens to be gay or straight. “That plays no role in whether or not they would accept their teammate and that they would all be welcoming and supportive of an openly gay teammate.”
Patrick Burke founded the “You Can Play” project along with Brian Kitts and Glenn Witman, who run a Denver-based gay hockey team called GForce. Brian Burke has been active in gay rights initiatives around Toronto and marches annually in the city’s gay pride parade. In its mission statement, the “You Can Play” project says it aims to ensure “equality, respect and safety for all athletes, without regard to sexual orientation.” That ideal comes directly from conversations Patrick Burke had with his late brother. “When Brendan came out it didn’t change anything between me and him,” Patrick Burke said. “It turned into a great moment for us, a great bonding moment for our family because when something like that happens when you’re not expecting it, you have to evaluate: `What do I look for in a brother? What do I look for in a friend?’ “We had a very open relationship where I asked him a lot of questions because I didn’t know anything. ... And hearing some of the stories that young LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) athletes face really touched me and made we want to do something in Brendan’s honor to help those kids.” The Burkes reached out to all 30 NHL teams in an effort to get support from players and received a strong response. “I am grateful to the NHL community for their support (and) acceptance,” Brian Burke posted on Twitter over the weekend. Visit YouCanPlayProject.org for more information.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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To place an ad, call Sales Manager
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HELP WANTED EXPERICENCED WAITER. Italian Restaurant seeking a professional and experienced waiter.PT/FT time position available. Fort Lauderdale area. Call 505-554-7103
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2nd Floor, 1142 NE 4th Avenue, Redone, $700/Mo. Yearly lease. Call 954-764-0212 or 954-581-2573 -------------------------------------------------
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BARTENDERS WANTED
TWIST, the popular gay bar and club in South Beach seeks bartenders to join our team. We look for bartenders with experience working in high volume situations that are fun, friendly and outgoing people with a positive attitude. Candidates should be responsible, accurate and honest, team players that can work late nights and weekends. Interested persons can send or email resume or apply in person Mon–Fri from 2pm to 6pm. TWIST,1057 Washington Ave., Miami Beach, FL 33139 / www.twistsobe.com / valentino@twistsobe.com
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INSURANCE & FINANCIAL ALLSTATE DIRECT: PERSONAL auto, home,condominium,boat and life insurance. For a free quote call Joe Mier 305-754-7414 ------------------------------------------------FIVE STEPS TO FINANCIAL SUCCESS: 1. Prove to us that you have the personality to talk to people on the phone and keep their interest. 2. Do this successfully for one month at $10 per hour. 3. We will sponsor you to take the 215 Florida Insurance License course. 4. We will sponsor your fingerprints to be sent to the insurance department. 5. We will sponsor you to take the state insurance license test pass and you will begin earning up to $100,000 per year selling health and life insurance over the phone as a licensed insurance professional. Are you up to the challenge??? Call Brian at 954-200-0140 to get started today! ------------------------------------------------HEALTH INSURANCE Major Medical, Hospital-Surgical, Rx’s, also guaranteed issue. Reasonable rates. Call DSR Associates 954-922-278
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RENT/LEASE MIDDLE RIVER &LAKERIDGE 1BD/1BA $680/Mth. $175/week w/ a 12 month lease. Pay your deposit and you are in* for more details call 954-527-9225 ------------------------------------------------HUGE 3/1- HALF DUPLEX NEW KITCHEN, Tile Floor throughout, Huge Fenced yard, washer/ dryer, pets ok, pet owner, $1100. / mo 954-791-4195 ------------------------------------------------1/1 FRENCH DOORS/PRIVATE PATIO Middle River Terr, lg. 1/1, tile floors, walk-in closet, your own fenced patio/ garden, pets OK, coin W/D, quiet mostly gay bldg, $795./mo. 954-791-4195 ------------------------------------------------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/mo. Call Joe: 954-610-6712. ------------------------------------------------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. ------------------------------------------------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 ------------------------------------------------BEAUTIFUL 2/2 HOME FOR RENT Beautiful and totally renovated large 2 bedroom 2 bath private home with parking and large yard. New appliances, Jacuzzi tub in master bathroom, stone flooring, crown moldings, tall kitchen cabinets, impact windows, alarm, etc. Located near Wilton Manors; $1,200/month. Contact Ilan @ 561-330-0688 ------------------------------------------------RIVERLAND CLOSE TO DOWNTOWN Duplex 2BD/1BA or 4BD/2BA also available efficiencies and 1BDs. Large pool, new A/C units, 1 or 2 kitchen, large living room/family room/screened in porch, private back yard. Call Butch 954-632-6639. ------------------------------------------------FOR RENT Studio $700, 1BD $800 (all utilities included & pool) in Oakland Park. Call 786-546-0533 ------------------------------------------------SENIOR COMPLEX – WYNMOOR VILLAGE 2BD/2BA, 3 golf courses, 20 tennis courts, 17 pools, $850/Mo. Yr. Larry 347-907-3665. Avail April 1st.
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 ------------------------------------------------ROOM FOR RENT in immaculate 2 bedroom 1 bath single family home. Fully fenced backyard, new granite/cherry kitchen. Close to public transport and Wilton Manors. Pets welcome. $500 includes utilities. 201-696-8752
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
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Publisher’s Message
F
or the past year, SFGN has been a media partner with Mack Planet, which hosts the Mack Power Luncheons, and Mack Mixer’s. Last week, they celebrated their seventh anniversary at a luncheon held at Tap 42. Celebrating the work Dan Oropesa and his business partner, D.J. Harvey, the duo has done a remarkable job in bringing local gay friendly and LGBT businesses together. SFGN invited everyone attending the luncheon to run a business card ad in our paper this week, in appreciation for the work of the Mack team , which even last night held yet another function at East Coast Brassiere on A1A in Fort Lauderdale. Their events are meticulously timed and well-attended, providing for camaraderie and networking, while each month showcasing a new sponsor and their entrepreneurial ventures. We congratulate and salute them for their work. If you are interested in placing your business card ad in SFGN on a weekly basis, please contact our Sales Manager, Mike Trottier, at 954 530- 4970.
March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com
– Norm Kent
41
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CELEBRATING MACK PLANET’S 7TH YEAR
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March 14, 2012 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com