04/05/10 V1I11 by South Florida Gay News

Opening Day for MLB

W S , N E

S T R A I G H T

F A C

April 5, 2010 • VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 11

Take Me

OUT

(of the Closet) Page 3

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

page

Girls’ Week Out: The Dinah Rocks the LPGA

page

Bill O’Reilly: A ‘factor’ for Gay Rights

page

The Tax Man Cometh

page

Business Profile: Mary Bondi

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Special Event

National Authors Headline Gay/ Lesbian Literary Arts Festival By Joey Amato

Boys Are and The Men from the Boys. Mann’s recent biography, How to Be a Movie ozens of gay and lesbian authors will be participating in the second Star: Elizabeth Taylor in Hollywood, was a best seller and his biography of Katherine annual Gay and Lesbian Literary Arts (GALLA) Festival including William Mann, Hepburn was named one of the 100 notable books of 2006 by The New York Times. Greg Herren and J. M. Redmann.The festival, Greg Herren, the Lambda Literary Award which will take place at the Stonewall Library & Archives April 9-11 will offer attendees the winning author of Murder in the Rue Chartres, is the author of ten novels and over fifty opportunity to attend workshops, seminars, short stories. Herren is also the co-editor of panels, presentations and readings. Many of Love, Bourbon Street: Reflections on New Orleans. the panelists will also being conducting book J.M. Redmann’s The Intersection of Law signing throughout the event. and Desire was picked by the San Francisco William Mann is the Lambda Literary Chronicle as an Editor’s Choice. In addition, Award winning author of Wisecracker:The two other of her popular novels featuring Life and Times of William Haines. He is also New Orleans Private Detective Michelle well-known for the novels such Where the

The Arts United GALLA (Gay And Lesbian Literary Arts) Seminar will be held this weekend, April 9-11 at two locations (right next to eachother): ArtServe at the Broward County Library 1350 East Sunrise Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 Stonewall Library & Archives 1300 East Sunrise Blvd. Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304 The Speakers and events are listed as follows: Friday, April 9, 2010

10:00 AM - D on Weise: Why Gay Literature Still Matters 11:30 AM - W illiam Mann & David McConnell: Aspects of Fiction 11:30 AM - L ee Lynch, Susan X. Meagher & JM Redmann: The Case for Lesbian Fiction 1:30 PM - Norm Kent: We’re Going to Live Forever 1:30 PM - Greg Herren, Susan X. Meagher, Ali Vali: Keeping It Fresh: Writing a Series 3:00 PM - Tony Adams, Joe Jervis, Steven Petrow,

‘Micky’ Knight have been nominated for Lambda Literary Awards. The GALLA Festival will also feature gay and lesbian literary lights Steven Petrow, Don Weise, K.G. MacGregor, Lee Lynch, Sebastian Stuart and SFGN’s own Norm Kent. Festival goers will also have the opportunity to socialize with their favorite authors. The GALLA Festival Committee will host a cocktail reception with the authors on Saturday, April 10. The GALLA Festival workshops, presentations and book fair are free and open to the public. Seating is limited and pre-registration is recommended. Tickets are available at GALLAfestival.org or by calling Stonewall at 954-763-8565.

Steve Rothaus: The Art of Blogging 3:00 PM - Susan X Meagher: New Modes of Publishing

William Mann

Norm Kent Publisher and Editor in Chief publishernorm@southfloridagaynews.com Piero Guidugli

Chief Executive Officer

Features Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joey Amato joey.amato@southfloridagaynews.com

Lifestyle Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A. Sebastian Fortino sebastian.fortino@southfloridagaynews.com

Arts/Entertainment Editor . . . . . . Mary Damiano

SFGNites Editor. . . . . . . . . . . . . . JW Arnold

Health/HIV Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . Paul Gallotta Business Editor ........................... Richard Gary

Senior Feature Correspondent. . Jesse Monteagudo Correspondents. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steve Fritz

Contributing Columnists. . . . . . . Tony Adams, Wayne Besen, AJ Cross, Deb Price, Brian McNaught, Jennifer Vanasco

Creative Director . . . . . . . . . . . . . George Dauphin

Graphic Designer. . . . . . . . . . . . . Jarrett Terrill

Online Website Director (Master of Our Domain). . . . . . . . Tom Forcella tommy.forcella@southfloridagaynews.com

Display & Internet Marketing Manager . . . . . . . . . . . Cliff Dunn cliff.dunn@southfloridagaynews.com

Classified Advertising. . . . . . . . . . Mike Trottier classifieds@hotspotsmagazine.com 954-928-1862

National Sales Representative. . . . Rivendell Media todd@rivendellmedia.com

Distributor . . . . . . . . . . . . Charles Braun Enterprises

Printing and Publication. . . . . . . . Miami Offset

South Florida Gay News.com is published weekly on Mondays. Our paper is a member of the Associated Press. The views and opinions expressed within this publication, in bylined columns, stories, and letters to the editor are those of the writers expressing them. They do not represent the opinions of South Florida Gay News.com, Inc., or the Publisher. They are included to promote free speech and diversity of thought. You should not presume the sexual orientation of individuals based on their names or pictorial representations in SFGN, and it would be careless to do so. For the sake of readable newswriting, the word “gay” in SFGN should, when relevant, be interpreted to be inclusive of the entire gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered community. All of the material that appears in SFGN, both online at www. southfloridagaynews.com, and in our print edition, including articles used in conjunction with our contract with the Associated Press and our columnists, is protected under federal copyright and intellectual property laws, and is jealously guarded by the newspaper. Thus, nothing published may be reprinted in whole or part without getting written consent from the Publisher of SFGN, at his law office, Kent & Cormican, P.A., 110 Southeast 6th Street, Suite 1970, Fort Lauderdale, Fl 33301. SFGN, as a private corporation, reserves the right to enforce its own standards regarding the suitability of advertising copy, illustrations and photographs.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

11:00 AM - Jodi Turchin: Workshop: Creating Realistic Characters 1:30 PM - Joyce Sweeney: Writing a Memoir

Editorial Offices 2520 N. Dixie Highway • Wilton Manors, FL 33305 Phone: 954-530-4970 FAX: 954-530-7943

Display Marketing Associates. . . . Brian Swinford, John Fugate

Saturday, April 10, 2010

10:00 AM - Raymond Luczak: Read My Gay Deaf Lips (voiced) 10:00 AM - JM Redmann, Greg Herren & Ali Vali: Whodunit? Writing a Mystery 11:30 AM - Don Weise, David McConnell & Sebastian Stuart: Editing Your Work 11:30 AM - Dan Renzi: How to Be a Gay Travel Writer 1:30 PM - Steven dos Santos, Joanne T. Lewis, Charles L. Ross & John Siegfried: Stonewall Discoveries 1:30 PM - Sebastian Stuart: Finding an Agent 3:00 PM - William Mann: Out In Hollywood

April 5 , 2010 • Volume 1 • Issue 11

K.G. MacGregor

Associated Press

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Take Me OUT to the Ballgame The Crowded Closet: SFGN Inaugurates Waiting List for Gay Celebs to Come OUT

unday was Opening Day for the 2010 Major League Baseball schedule. Although we can’t predict how the Boys of Summer will fare during the 2,430 games played during this year’s regular season, the Editorial Staff at SFGN—some of whom even know what the Great American Pastime is—have come up with our own Fantasy Baseball Team. And what a Gay Old Time it’s been drafting these Fantasy All-Stars, especially at a time when the Glam and Fabulous are tripping over themselves to be the Next One OUT. We’ve definitely come a long way from the days when publicists and Hollywood movie studios had to concoct off-screen straight romances for their actually-quite-

Diesel Dyke?

gay box office cash-boxes. While the likes of Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Troy Donahue and Montgomery Clift were required to travel with female “beards” (do the names Lana Turner, Natalie Wood and Debbie Reynolds ring a bell?), today’s sexually-ambivalent male star wants you to think—at the very least—that he just might be a Friend of Dorothy (or has spent a decent amount of time Over the Rainbow). Added to the “Surprise! I’m Out! List” just last month was (gasp!) Sean Hayes, TV’s campy Jack character from Will & Grace and (OMG!) former boy-bander Ricky Martin. “I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man,” Martin wrote on his Web site on March 29. With this in mind, and with tongues planted firmly in cheeks (so to speak), SFGN presents the ‘Benchers’ and ‘Starting Lineup’ for the 2010 Mary League Baseball Season. Naturally, our Manager is Billy Bean, the left-handed former Detroit Tiger and L.A. Dodger hitter and OUTfielder who made history in 1999 when he announced he is gay (only the second Major League Baseball player to do so, along with the late Glenn Burke). Starters are those who have thrown open the Closet Door and stepped OUT into the light of day. If you’re ‘On the Bench’ you’re as good as ‘In the Closet’ (or Came OUT grudgingly). Sadly, the addition of the “Livin’ La Vida Loca” singer to the “We’re Here, We’re Queer” Men’s Chorus has caused a backlog of Names of the Rich and Famous for Being Famous

Who are Lined Up to Come Out, so SFGN has announced the creation of a waiting list for those seeking to slip out of The Closet. Entry Forms are available at www.SouthFloridaGayNews.com/LetMeOUT. Although we refuse to speculate on the sexual orientation of celebrities including Tom Cruise, John Travolta or Ryan Seacrest, the list does include a number of 1980s and 90s stars looking for a career boost, several current and former Republican Members of Congress, and the ghost of James Buchanan, America’s 15th President, who says he’s sick of Lincoln getting all the suspect-gay-glam. Will the last celebrity to Come OUT of the Closet kindly remember to turn out the light?

Ricky gets in touch with himself

Take Me OUT to the Ballgame Team Manager: Billy Bean

Starting Lineup: 1. Elton John 2. Neil Patrick Harris 3. Sandra Bernhard 4. Ellen DeGeneres 5. Barney Frank 6. Cynthia Nixon 7. David Sedaris 8. Wanda Sykes 9. Lance Bass On the Bench: 1. Matt Drudge 2. Anderson Cooper 3. Sean Hayes 4. Ricky Martin 5. Anne Heche 6. Vin Diesel 7. Tyler Perry 8. Clay Aiken 9. Tila Tequila

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Local News

goal with this successful event. I’m deeply inspired by all participants in the Florida AIDS Walk who have committed themselves to fighting for people living with HIV/AIDS and preventing new infections through education and outreach.” This year’s Walk featured a special appearance by Mrs. Jeanne White-Ginder, whose son, Ryan White, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1984 at the age of 13. Ryan and his mother fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention. Ryan was featured on countless television shows and magazine covers and was the subject of a television movie about his life. Benefiting AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), Broward House, SunServe, Children’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center and the Pride Center at Equality Park, one hundred percent of proceeds raised by Florida

AIDS Walk 2010 will go toward the expansion of HIV/AIDS testing, education and prevention initiatives in South Florida, and throughout the state, along with multiple HIV based programs. Free HIV testing was available to all attendees at the Walk, offered out of two of AHF’s mobile HIV testing units. In a lead up to the Walk on Sunday, AHF conducted a 15-city, cross-state HIV Mobile Testing Tour throughout Florida throughout the month of March. AHF’s new Magic Johnson “Test Florida” HIV mobile testing unit and its Positive Healthcare mobile medical clinic each made their way through Florida offering free testing services According to statistics released by the Florida Department of Health, Florida ranked third among states in the number of reported AIDS cases in 2008 with 3,960 cases. Florida also ranked third among the 38 states that reported HIV infection in 2008, with 5,165 cases. Approximately 1,039,000– 1,185,000 persons are living with HIV infection in the U.S. Florida has consistently reported 10–12% of the national AIDS morbidity and currently accounts for 11% of all persons living with AIDS in the U.S. The Department of Health now estimates that approximately 125,000 persons, or roughly 11.7% of the national total, are currently living with HIV infection in Florida as of the end of 2007.

Workforce Act to ensure that all individuals have equal employment opportunities. This proposal creates the right to work regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, handicap, marital status, sexual orien-

tation or gender identity. “South Florida’s greatest asset is its diverse population. We must recognize the importance of supporting the equal treatment of all our residents,” Resnick said.

Florida AIDS Walk Raises Over $460,000 for Lifesaving Services

housands of dedicated individuals from across the state helped raise nearly half a million dollars for crucial lifesaving HIV/AIDS services in South Florida on Sunday March 28th by joining together to participate in the lively Florida AIDS Walk 2010. The Walk, which started and ended at Huizenga Plaza in Ft. Lauderdale, was a 10k walk (optional 5k) fundraiser to raise awareness about and help reverse Entrance to AIDS Walk at Huizenga Plaza the continuing epidemic of for lifesaving AIDS care and services—more HIV/AIDS in South Florida. “I am honored to report that despite dif- than $100,000 more than the total of last ficult times facing both the Florida and na- year’s Walk,” said Michael Kahane, Bureau tional economies, thousands of participants Chief for AHF’s Southern Region. “Thanks in Florida AIDS Walk raised over $460,000 to all of those who helped us far surpass our

Broward League of Cities Supports LGBT Initiatives By Richard Gary

he Broward League of Cities has incorporated LGBT issues into a Joint Legislative Action Plan they are proposing to a reluctant legislature. Wilton Manors mayor Gary Resnick is presently serving as the President of the Broward League of Cities. He has been instrumental in advocating a strong LGBT agenda for the group of mayors who populate the group. Three primary issues put forth and adopted by the league deal with adoption, partnership, and equal employment. Resnick noted that his goal was “to help raise awareness and resolve issues affecting residents from all of our 31 local municipalities. Unfortunately, the State of Florida still

has laws and mandates that prohibit a large percentage of our communities from realizing certain benefits and enjoying the same rights as others in our State.” Resnick noted that the State of Florida currently bans adoption by gay or lesbian applicants, despite the desperate need for stable and loving homes for many children. The League strongly opposes this and is supporting Senate and House bills to repeal the ban on gay adoption. The League also supports setting fees for the registration or dissolution of domestic partnerships and the implementation of a directory of domestic partnerships with the Clerk of the Courts. The Broward League of Cities has also endorsed the proposed Florida Competitive

Gary Resnick

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

InchWear How Do You Measure Up?

By A. Sebastian Fortino

ome people wear their hearts on their sleeves, however, Gunner Thelander and Kevin Mahon both of Fort Lauderdale and the Inchwear Team have something other in mind than hearts. The InchWear t-shirts—displaying increments of 6,” 7,” 8,” 9,” & 10+”—dare men to let the world know just how big that…special attachment is. Or maybe, after the shirt and the pants come off, how they measure up in terms of honesty. One would assume the 10”+ would be the biggest seller. After all when codpieces were the fashion centuries ago brides frequently found most of their husband’s virility to be discarded padding. However, when asked, Thelander

shocked SFGN, “Actually our biggest sellers are tied between the 6” and 8” models.” There’s honesty in South Florida? Who knew? The idea started when Thelander was shopping with a friend. He noticed how many t-shirts had numbers on them. “I asked them how do you determine what number to put on the shirts. They said that people are attracted to numbers that mean something to them.” So he thought why not create a shirt that shows off a very special number. The InchWear Team says they are taking the shirts to college campus bookstores to appeal to the college jock, frat-boy set. Swimsuits and underwear are in the works, . When asked if they had requests to make shirts with numbers lower than 6” the team replied “yes, a ton of requests” and might develop a mathematical equation – such as >6” – for those who wish to be very honest. “Everyone thinks it’s hysterical! Which is pretty much what we’re going for, this is all in fun,” added Mahon. Their first sale was also “hysterical.” “Our very first sale was to a mom who called her son in college to ask how many inches he had,” said Thelander. No comment on whether Inchwear’s “How do you measure up?” will do any promotional work with Ginch Gonch, whose slogan “How many inches in your Ginches?” seems like a perfect collaboration. To buy yourself one, or to buy one for the perfect 10”+ you haven’t found yet, please visit Inchwear.net.

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Newsmakers

Pompano Bill

NewsBriefsNewsBriefsNewsBriefs

Camilo Gonzalez, George Castrataro, Justin Flippen, and Danny Lacanlale gathered at the law offices of Mr. Castrataro for a campaign kickoff. Flippen, the gay vice mayor of Wilton Manors, has launched a candidacy for the District 92 Statewide Assembly seat. He faces a contested primary against an incumbent, Gwyndolen Reed.

Staffer out of job over outing

CAROL PORTER

The Gay Polo League reception at the Players Club on April 1.

Former professional wrestler Chris Kanyon (real name Chris Klucsaritis) is dead at 40. Kanyon is believed to have died from a drug overdose Friday in his Queens, New York apartment, according to multiple Internet reports. He suffered from bipolar disorder and bouts of depression. In the late 90s, Kanyon wrestled in the WCW, then moved on to the WWE until his retirement from professional wrestling in 2004. Kanyon continued on the independent circuit for a couple more years. The six-foot-four wrestler debuted in 1997 in a tag team called Men at Work that included Mark Starr.The men worked the crowd as two construction workers and appeared in the ring wearing overalls. Kanyon would often be seen taking measurements with a tape measure. In 2006, Kanyon alleged the WWE released him because he was gay, a statement he later recanted, saying he was really straight. Kanyon, however, later acknowledged he was gay.

he Republican National Committee staffer who expensed a $2,000 outing to a risqué West Hollywood nightclub has been fired, RNC Chief of Staff Ken McKay said in a memo to committee members late Monday. The February outing to Voyeur nightclub was apparently part of an effort to entertain young donors following a formal event at a hotel in Beverly Hills. Erik Brown, a RNC donor and president of Dynamic Marketing, Inc., says his company organized the event and billed the RNC for the party. The firm was reimbursed $1,946.25. Brown said in a news release yesterday his company would be returning the money RNC Chairman Michael Steele is facing calls for his resignation following reports of his freewheeling spending, including the club event. McKay stressed in a statement the trip to Voyeur “was not an RNC sanctioned event and was not associated in any way with any RNC official event.”

THE GAY GAMES ARE COMING!

his year’s Gay Games will take place in Koln, Germany, but anyone interested in meeting representatives from the games and members from Team Florida, should swing by Georgie’s Alibi April 5 between 5-7 p.m. The event is sponsored by Hammerhead Aquatics and The Florida Storm. People interested in registering for the games will receive a 15 € discount at the event.

Tulsa Man WHO suED to get ‘I’M GAY’ PLATE is FOUND DEAD

he Oklahoma man who filed a lawsuit seeking a license plate reading “I’m Gay” was found dead inside his Norman apartment Wednesday, two days after he formally complained that Tulsa police officers beat him outside a gay club Saturday. Keith Kimmel, 28, launched a legal battle in February with the Oklahoma Tax Commission over the rejection of his application for a personalized license plate that said “I’m Gay.” Police are now investigating the cause of his death as well as looking into his complaint of police abuse over the weekend, which he detailed in a blog post, according to the Tulsa World.

Hildebrand Out By Lisa Keen

Keen News Service

ust two years ago, Steve Hildebrand was Barack Obama’s openly gay deputy campaign manager, a brain behind one of the most remarkable presidential campaigns in history. And just two weeks ago, he was toying with the idea of a run for Congress. But an article in the April 1 Washington Post suggests his influence

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

NewsBriefs is now all but gone. The Post article—a somewhat rambling and thinly sourced profile of South Dakota native—characterizes Hildebrand as a “volatile element,” a man who has suffered “unshakeable” depression, and a political “rogue” who authored “caustic emails.” It quotes one anonymous “White House official” as saying that, when Hildebrand is not well, “Things get pretty crazy” and there that there is no place for him in the Obama White House. Hildebrand apparently struggled with both depression and a volatile temper during the 2008 campaign, and had to take a break from the campaign in the middle of the primary season. He told the Post he relied on several antidepressants and had to overcome his fear of flying during a campaign that was in constant motion, from one coast to another, again and again. Critics, most of who were not named in the article, said he sometimes went too far—sending hostile emails to the campaign staff of Obama’s chief rival Hillary Clinton. He also reportedly left his campaign post in South Florida on election day and flew to Chicago, without notifying the campaign. Hildebrand was also an early critic of President Obama’s slowness to act on gay-related issues in office and he told the Post he was “disappointed by the president’s failure to defend gay marriage during the referendum in Maine” last year. But he also seems comfortable with taking on a more personal campaign for better government. He’s now running his campaign consulting business, Hildebrand Strategies, in Sioux Falls and has targeted for defeat a Democrat who voted against the Democratic health care reform legislation.

Steve Hildebrand

AHF Keeps Up Pressure in Protests Against Merck’s HIV Pricing By Richard Gary

IDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) hosted a protest Wednesday morning, March 24th targeting Merck and Co. Pharmaceuticals over the pricing and policies for its key HIV/AIDS drug, Isentress, the most expensive first-line AIDS treatment in the US. The protest took place at the Loews Hotel on Collins Avenue in Miami Beach where the recent Barclays Capital Global Healthcare Conference was held. “Now that it has been approved for firstline treatment, there is no justification for Merck to price Isentress three times higher than other first-line AIDS drugs,” said Michael Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President. Weinstein has led a campaign in newspapers and on the streets claiming that Merck is placing an unbearable strain on funded State AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) and the thousands of people who rely on them. “The limited funding available for these programs is being exhausted by the high

cost of Isentress and other newer AIDS drugs,” Weinstein asserted. “Several states are now unable to provide treatment to additional people who need it. We want Merck to do the right thing and immediately lower the price of Isentress,” he said. “We’re here to let people know that Merck is causing great harm to people with HIV/AIDS with its unwarranted pricing of Isentress,” said Jessie Gruttaudaria, Public Affairs Director for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. “Pro grams like ADAP are feeling the impact right now and lives are being put at risk because of excessive drug pricing. Some of Florida and the nation’s most vulnerable citizens may face a potentially fa-

Czech Politician Quits over Gay, Jewish Comments By Karel Janicek

Associated Press Writer PRAGUE (AP) — Derogatory comments by the Czech Republic’s former prime minister about Jews, gays and the Catholic Church led Thursday to his resignation as chairman of his conservative political party. Mirek Topolanek had been under strong pressure from within his Civic Democratic Party to step down following the comments to the editorial staff of the gay magazine Lui. He announced last week that he would not lead his party’s campaign in a May 28-29 election or run as a candidate. Topolanek’s were made came during an informal conversation with editorial staff of the magazine and were not meant for publication. A video of the meeting was leaked to other media, however.

tal interruption in their lifesaving AIDS drug treatment. This cannot continue. Merck should lower the price of Isentress immediately.” Merck released its 4th quarter 2009 earnings on February 16, 2010. Isentress has now exceeded $1 billion ($1.13 billion) in total sales.

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“I apologize to church members—those I know and those I don’t know. I apologize to Jews—politicians and all the others. “ “I apologize to the citizens.” There was little public outcry and SlaHe said that Transport Minister Gustav Sla- mecka said he knew Topolanek’s views mecka is “a homosexual who ‘gives in’ when were not “anti-Semitic or homophobic.’’ But Fischer called Topolanek’s remarks he faces a serious problem”’ About Prime Minister Jan Fischer, he said, “he’s simply a “stupid” and announced that he would limit Jew; he’s not gay and he gives in even soon- meetings with him to a minimum. Topolanek has a record of er.” Fischer is Jewish. making provocative stateSlamecka has not pubments. He made international licly commented on his headlines last year when sexual orientation. he—as prime minister of the Topolanek also accountry holding the European cused the Roman CathUnion rotating presidency— olic church of “brainhe described the way Presiwashing’’ believers. dent Barack Obama was dealTopolanek subsequentMirek Topolanek ing with the economic crisis as ly said his words were misinterpreted, called the leak a “provoca- the “road to hell.” The Czech Republic has been run by a tion,” and apologized on March 21—the day caretaker government after Topolanek’s the tabloid Blesk published his comments. “I apologize to gays—friends of mine coalition government lost a parliamentary and others,” Topolanek said in a statement. no-confidence vote last year in March.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Sex, Golf, and The L Word Celebrating 20 years of the Dinah Shore Golf Classic By Cliff Dunn

hile some of the world’s top female professional golfers battled this weekend at the LPGA’s Kraft Nabisco Championship in Rancho Mirage, California, another competition was playing out poolside at two of Palm Springs’ hottest resorts, where rival promoters are seeking to claim supremacy in the enormously popular and lucrative lesbian party scene that the tournament attracts. What started two decades ago as a low-key gathering of lesbian golfers and fans for the Dinah Shore golf tournament has evolved over the past twenty years into a multimillion-dollar spectacle that brings to Palm Springs an estimated 20,000 female partiers, corporate sponsors, and top-name entertainment (Salt-N-Pepa and recording artist Ke$ha headlined the competing parties this year). The events, which have no official connection to the golf tournament, have been the examined in books, documentaries and an episode of the cable show “The L Word.” Television star Dinah Shore, an avid golfer, began the tournament in 1972, using her name and money to support the then grossly-underfunded Ladies Professional Golf Asso-

ciation (LPGA), when women golfers earned a fraction of the money their male counterparts did and were rarely covered on TV. Because Shore was a big name celebrity, she attracted a number of Hollywood friends who lent their support, and the event took off as her presence attracted corporate sponsors (from 1971 to 1981 the event was called the Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Tournament). And in spite of not being gay herself, Shore attracted women, one reason the lesbian nation claims her as a sister. The parties surrounding the golf tournament began organically. Golfers and fans, looking for after dark activities, organized small parties in homes, hotel rooms and rented condos. These after-hours events were an underground phenomenon. There was little publicity for the parties, because of fears of losing business, friends and sponsors. Because the functions were attended by some lesbian golfers, journalists targeted the parties in order to catch the gay women “in the act” and out them. As a result, many of the parties had a referral-only policy: you had to know someone just to get in. Other events also

began to take shape in Southern California’s Coachella Valley to coincide with the golf tournament. Lesbian performers packed local venues. And smaller upscale parties cropped up in boutique hotels, private mansions and even airplane hangars. By the early 2000s, the Dinah Shore parties had evolved beyond an event attracting mostly Californians; it became a destination for women from all over the U.S. The major media began to take notice, including TIME magazine, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times. In 2002, Sports Illustrated reported: “The Dinah is the most unusual dichotomy in sports: a sober major championship set amid the high jinks of a sexually charged spring break.” And as the ladies came, so did the celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres, Joan Jett, Lada Gaga, and Carmen Electra. A coup for the event came in 2004, when “The L Word” on Showtime featured the Dinah Shore parties in a first-season episode. Today, these huge gatherings pull in large corporate sponsorship dollars from brands like MTV, Bacardi, Walgreens and Budweiser, among others, and feature top musical acts, comedians and celebrities. The two main party promoters are Girl Bar, headed by West Hollywood, Californiabased Sandy Sachs and Robin Gans, and Club Skirts, founded by San Francisco native Mariah Hanson. All three were once in business together, but five years ago a con-

tentious split led to a lawsuit and a lingering rivalry. Both events combine high production values with lights, sound systems, dancers and A-List entertainment. Hanson says her party is hipper and more edgy while Sachs and Gans say their party is classier and with an international flavor. Each disagrees with the other’s assessment. Michele Kort, an editor at Ms. magazine and author of “Dinah!: Three Decades of Sex, Golf and Rock ‘n’ Roll,” says the parties are more similar than they’d like to let on. “I went to both a few years ago, and I didn’t really see a difference,” she said, adding that the evolution of The Dinah through the decades reflects the coming-out of the lesbian community. What started as small parties has become “sheer spectacle,” Kort adds. When Kort began attending The Dinah in the 1980s it was a much more private event. “If you were a gay woman, you knew about it, but it wasn’t like anybody else knew about it,” she recalls. When Gans and Sachs, who were partners for 19 years and remain close friends as well as business partners, moved to L.A. in the late 1980s, there were few places for lesbians to gather openly. “There wasn’t much for the lipstick lesbian,” Gans told the L.A. Times. The Dinah and its lesbian parties have found a welcoming environment in Palm Springs, which now has a gay majority on its City Council, a gay mayor and, according to the 2000 Census, more gay couples per capita than San Francisco.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Bill O’Reilly:

Supporting Gay Marriage and Rocking the Right-of-Center In the Age of Beck, Limbaugh and Hannity, Fox News’ Powerhouse Seems Downright Moderate

O’Reilly: “I like Obama”

Medical News

Gays and Lesbians Ousted from Clinical Trials, Study Charges By Cliff Dunn

study by a respected Northeastern medical institute has found that a disproportionately high number of important clinical trials—dealing with a range of medical issues including depression, diabetes and cancer—exclude gays and lesbians from participating. The study, reported on March 17 in the New England Journal of Medicine, looked at 243 clinical trials relating to couples and sexual function after various medical treatments. It found that 37 of them—fully 15%—explicitly excluded people in samesex relationships. Said Brian Egleston, the lead author of the

paper: “The National Institutes of Health guidelines really require scientists to have sound scientific reasoning for why they need to restrict the study to one ethnic group or sex.” “But there’s not this same level of oversight when it comes to gay and lesbian patients,” added Egleston, an assistant research professor at Philadelphia’s Fox Chase Cancer Center. Doctors seeking to test a new treatment or medication often use such factors as sex, age, disease and behavior to determine which people can take part in criminal trials. Experts say narrowing down who can participate is an important element in making sure a drug is tested only on people who could benefit from it, and that a clinical trial

By Cliff Dunn

n a segment of his highly-rated cable talk-show last month, Fox News Channel host Bill O’Reilly was locked in verbal combat with a guest, as is his usual wont. But this particular guest wasn’t an atheist chiming in about school prayer or an ACLU attorney arguing against the USA Patriot Act. Dick Morris, the Republican strategist and former Bill Clinton advisor-turnedantagonist, was yammering against Justice Department plans to hire a group of lawyers who had defended terrorism suspects while they worked in private practice. O’Reilly wasn’t buying Morris’ assertions that the lawyers—dubbed the “Al-Qaeda Seven” by the right-wing advocacy group Keep America Safe—were a security risk because of their past litigation experience. “You shouldn’t be demonized because you take on an unpopular client,” O’Reilly rebuked a surprised Morris, who is famous for his almost obsessive hatred for Hillary Clinton. O’Reilly has been a contrarian for years. While labeling himself a “traditionalist”—although never a ‘conservative’—and a “culture warrior,” he supports some gun-control restrictions as well as gay adoption and civil unions. In a 2008 interview with Marvin Kalb on PBS, O’Reilly, who is hostile to the “progressive agenda,” took some decidedly progressive is not affected by outside diseases or behaviors. Dustin Davis, a Wilton Manors nurse who has worked in the research field, says it’s fairly common for studies to exclude those who aren’t in the target population for a particular medicine or treatment. “The problem comes when everybody decides to omit gays and lesbians,” Davis said. “When that happens, who will deal with our health concerns?” The study’s Egleston says when you look back into even the recent history of medical research often times medical studies were conducted using only white men as participants. That left doctors to blindly determine if the same drug would work the same on women, or with a different racial or ethnic group. Many experts now worry the same problem will happen to the LGBT community, leaving individuals vulnerable. That means, says Davis, that gay patients getting care at a cancer clinic might not

stands on same-sex unions and gay rights. Asked by host Kalb “Should gays have rights?” the 6’4” Boston University graduate replied, “Sure. They are Americans.” O’Reilly continued: “Do I care about this? Not really. I don’t care what Lenny and Squiggy do. They want to get married, let them get married. If you open it up for one group, you’ve got to open it up for all the groups. And they have done that in Holland, by the way.” Pressed by Kalb, who asked “In terms of gays, you would have no problem with marriage?,” the Fox host answered “Personally? I don’t care.” O’Reilly, 60, has also called for a civil discussion on matters of national policy. He urged the conservative C-PAC group to refrain from personal attacks on the President, and chided the group’s speakers for “bashing Obama.” While he thinks the chief executive lacks the experience to handle his job, he praises the man himself. “I like Obama,” he says. He was also quick to tell viewers what he thought of 2008’s “birther” story, in which critics of then-candidate Obama claimed he had never produced a birth certificate proving his American citizenship. Said O’Reilly: “’The Factor’ debunked the whole birth certificate deal more than a year ago. It was easy. The State of Hawaii sent us a continued on page 16

know an opportunity exists to try a promising new treatment. “Lesbian and gay patients probably never realized they were excluded in these trials,” concurs Egleston. “There might be opportunities for experimental treatment.” Davis says that some research shows that anxiety, depression and suicide rates are different in the gay and straight communities. “But how can you be sure if these studies are keeping out gay and lesbian participants?” Davis asked.

April 5 , 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ SouthFloridaGayNews.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

HRC Partners with Servicemembers United to Hold Public Forums Florida Cities, Including Miami, on Tour

he Human Rights Campaign (HRC), in partnership with Servicemembers United, will visit Orlando, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville, and Pensacola, FL, throughout the month of April as part of “Voices of Honor: A Generation Under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.’” The national tour highlights the discriminatory law that hurts military readiness and national security while putting American soldiers fighting overseas at risk. The events will include a documentary screening and a public forum with lesbian, gay and straight veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, alongside average Americans fighting for repeal of DADT. The organization is building off the grassroots efforts of Servicemembers United to continue growing a network of supporters to repeal DADT. To learn more visit: www. hrc.org/RepealDADT. Military leaders, including Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Michael Mullen, recognize that DADT is a failed law and support its repeal. Former Vice President and Defense Secretary Dick Cheney also recently came out for repeal by stating, “When the chiefs come forward and say, ‘We think we can do it,’ then it strikes me as it’s time to reconsider the policy, and I think Adm. Mullen said that.” Rep. Murphy, an Iraq War veteran and a former paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, is the lead sponsor of the Military Readiness Enhancement Act (H.R. 1283), the House bill to repeal the DADT law. Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) is the lead sponsor of similar legislation in the Senate. More than 13,500 Americans have been denied the ability to serve—including more than 800 specialists with vital skills like Arabic linguists. The Miami event will be held on April 7, 2010 at 12:30 p.m. at the campus of Florida International University, Graham Center, Room 140, 11200 SW 8th St., Miami, FL 33199. It will include the screening of “Ask Not,” a PBS documentary on “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and public forum. The speakers will include U.S. Army Spe-

cialist Rasool Mutawakkil, a Miami native, who is a straight ally and served with openly lesbian and gay service members. A second invitee is Walker Burtschell, a Miami native and veteran of the U.S. Army who was discharged under DADT. The third scheduled guest is U.S. Army Specialist Jarrod Chlapowski, who opted to not re-enlist because of DADT and is a public policy advocate at the Human Rights Campaign. A second bilingual forum in Miami will be held on April 29 at the Versailles on Southwest 8th Street. SFGN will highlight details on its website. The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. Servicemembers United, a nonprofit and non-partisan organization, is the nation’s largest organization of gay and lesbian troops and veterans and their allies.

Left to right: Jarrod Chlapowski, Alex Nicholson and Antonio Agnone, HRC’s campaign to repeal DADT

veterans who have previously toured with

Hector Vargas Named Executive Director of GLMA By Joey Amato

he Gay and Lesbian Medical Association (GLMA) recently announced Hector Vargas, JD, has

Hector Vargas

been named executive director of the organization, the world’s largest and oldest association of LGBT healthcare professionals, effective June 2, 2010. Vargas is currently the Deputy Director of the Education and Public Affairs Department for Lambda Legal. Lambda is the largest national legal organization committed to achieving full recognition of LGBT civil rights. Rebecca Allison, MD, President of GLMA, said that, “Hector Vargas is a remarkable leader in the LGBT civil rights movement. He is passionate about the need for equality in healthcare for LGBT individuals, and we feel extremely fortunate that he will lead our efforts going forward.” Vargas joins GLMA at a critical juncture in LGBT health. This year the Institute of Medicine (IOM) launched a historic effort to assess the health of LGBT populations. Additionally, a number of other efforts are underway within our nation’s healthcare

system to better address and understand the needs of LGBT patients and healthcare consumers. Mainstream health organizations, hospitals, healthcare systems, health plans, and accrediting bodies are increasingly recognizing the need to address healthcare disparities affecting LGBT populations. “I’m both honored and excited to join GLMA’s dedicated team of board and staff members who are making a real difference in the lives of LGBT people,” said Vargas. “Health disparities affecting gay and transgender people are significant and welldocumented, discrimination and stigma directed against the LGBT community is the principal source of those health disparities.” Vargas has plans to expand the visibility of the organization, as well as to expand the organization’s programming in areas of education and advocacy. Additionally, Vargas will work to strengthen and expand the membership of the organization. “It is important for GLMA to expand our efforts to get LGBT health professionals of all disciplines involved in our efforts. Even though great progress has been made over past decades, discrimination in healthcare settings still remains all too common.”

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com Prime Timers Easter Bonnet Contest

at an

Prime Timers of Fort Lauderdale By A. Sebastian Fortino

“At the Fort Lauderdale chapter, organized in June of 2003, we now have about 240 members. Worldwide,” boasts current n 1987 Prime Timer’s Founder Woody Fort Lauderdale chapter president Henry Baldwin realized that there were few social outlets for older gay men. He wanted Penas, “there are thousands of us.” In their February newsletter Baldwin something more substantial than mere stated, “One member said to me once, “I no nightlife, and more socially fulfilling than longer hate growing old.” Wow, what a powSage, whose mission, while still relevant, is erful thing that is, when you realize that our LGBT elder advocacy. organization has had such a significance.” His first meeting in Boston has – over the past 23 years – spawned an internation- For more information on the Prime Timers al organization dedicated to gay seniors. please go to Primetimers.org/ftlauderdale

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

‘Perversion Files’ Ordered Released in Scouts’ Suit By William McCall

Associated Press Writer PORTLAND, Oregon (AP) The Boy Scouts of America call them “perversion files,’’ internal documents used to track Scout leaders suspected of sexually abusing young boys. A judge who had ordered the Scouts to release them received 1,247 files into evidence near the end of the day Friday—the third day of trial that began with a lawyer saying “you will be the first jury to see them.’’ Attorneys Paul Mones and Kelly Clark won the release of files from 1965-85 to help them make the case in a $14 million lawsuit against the Boy Scouts filed by a 37-yearold Oregon man. He was sexually molested in the early 1980s by assistant Scoutmaster Timur Dykes, who was convicted three times between 1983 and 1994 of sexually abusing boys, most of them Scouts. Although there have been dozens of lawsuits against the Boy Scouts over sex abuse allegations, judges for the most part have either denied requests for the files or the cases have been settled. The only other time the documents are believed to have been presented at a trial was in the 1980s in Virginia. On Friday, Mones showed a jury a 1935 New York Times article that said the Scouts had 2,910 “cards’’ on men who were unfit to supervise young boys. The display came as he questioned Nate Marshall, a Scouts executive from headquarters in Irving, Texas, now in charge

Accused scoutmaster Timur Van Dykes

of those files. Marshall estimated about 30 percent of the men flagged between 1920 and 1935 had sexually abused Scouts. Mones also showed the jury a table Marshall prepared that showed the Boy Scouts amassed 1,123 “perversion’’ files from 196585, which Marshall said were simply a tool to track child molesters and remove them or prevent them from moving to another city and trying to join another Scout troop. The files were among a total of 1,587 files divided into categories considered grounds for suspension or rejection as a Scout leader, Marshall said. Besides perversion, the categories listed

were criminal, financial, theft, leadership, moral—including homosexuality—and religious reasons, including being an atheist or an agnostic. But the bulk of the files were in the perversion category, which includes sexual misconduct besides molesting children, such as soliciting prostitutes or possessing child pornography. During questioning by Mones, Marshall acknowledged there was no system in place to warn Scouts or their parents about potential sex abuse, and no procedure for them to report it. Scout executives had no written guidelines until a 1972 memo on the subject that also urged them to keep its contents confidential “because of misunderstandings which could develop if it were widely distributed.’’ Earlier Friday, testimony from a bishop for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints responsible for a Scout troop of church members suggested the Scouts never provided leaders with training about spotting abuse or preventing it. In a video deposition, Gordon McEwen said he tended mostly to his church duties and was rarely involved with the Scouts. He was also vague about his recollections of conversations with Scoutmaster Earl Wiest about Dykes. McEwen said he stepped up his involvement when the mother of a scout complained in January 1983 her son may have been abused. McEwen said he confronted

Dykes, who admitted abusing 17 boys and provided a written list of names. But a retired police officer who investigated the abuse report testified Friday that McEwen never told police about the list. Charles Shipley, who was a Multnomah County sheriff’s detective at the time, said he interviewed a pair of victims before calling Dykes in for questioning. Shipley said Dykes admitted molesting the two boys and was arrested. Shipley was concerned there were additional victims and asked McEwen to talk to other parents of about 30 Scouts in the troop. Two other potential victims were identified but Shipley said their parents did not want their sons involved with the investigation. McEwen admitted he never turned over the list to police. But he said he personally contacted the parents of all 17 boys on the list before calling a state meeting of the church to “disfellowship’’ Dykes, or limit his church involvement, and counseled him to “repent of his errors.’’ Dykes pleaded guilty to attempted sexual abuse, received probation and was ordered to stay away from children. Clark told the jury Dykes continued with his scouting activities until he was arrested again in July 1984 during a routine traffic stop while he was driving a van full of Scouts on a camping trip. Clark said the victim who filed the lawsuit was on that trip, and the trauma he suffered from the incident and the abuse by Dykes led to mental health problems, bad grades in school, drug use, anxiety, difficulty maintaining relationships and the loss of several jobs as an adult. The lawsuit also named the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but the church has settled its portion of the case.

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

SFGN hosts ‘Reflections’ with pictures of our past from Pompano Bill. Recording the gay and lesbian history photographically for decades, each week we will reach back in time and celebrate the life of a local hero through Pompano’s photographs. One week after the Pridefest in the Palm Beaches, we salute a man who would have been there smiling and sharing had he not been taken from us too soon, two years ago this week. Called ‘LaLa’ by those who knew him, Michael Brown was the owner of the popular West Palm Beach watering hole, H.G. Roosters. An “icon” by those in the South Florida community who knew him, Brown was a one time PrideFest parade grand marshal. ‘LaLa’ also served on the board of directors for the NAMES Project, touring the AIDS Memorial Quilt to such far-flung international destinations as Capetown, South Africa, as well as all over the United States. As a hospitality industry professional, Brown made the bar where he started pouring drinks in the late 1980s a place customers

could feel at home, and a place where charities looking for support could count on rousing fundraising events. Brown raised hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years for AIDS charities and causes such as Toys for Tots and Compass. Just before the tragic murder-suicide two years ago, which took his life and that of his lover, Brant Hines, 27, Brown had been honored with the Comprehensive AIDS Program’s Fundraiser Extraordinaire Award. He was 50 years old, when he and his partner’s body were discovered in their Flagler Drive Condominium, their dogs inside- a tragic end to a turbulent relationship. Compass Executive Director Scott Fox said that Brown’s achievements were “incomparable” and his loss profound. We salute a gay American hero.

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

News Analysis

An End to Priest Celibacy The Catholic Church’s Last Great Hope By Cliff Dunn

here’s a lot of talk about priestly sex these days. Most of it centers on certain despicable individuals who have used the sacrament of their priestly offices to hide their predatory natures, and those in positions of influence who covered up the abuses. I’d like to offer that priestly sex is the last and greatest hope for the survival of the ancient institution that is the Roman Catholic Church. I am of course referring to consensual sex among adults (regardless of the gender of the adults as far as I’m concerned, but one miracle at a time). The question of priestly celibacy has been debated since the First Century. From around the time of the Dark Ages the Catholic Church has encouraged priestly abstinence—at least on paper. In modern times, the Vatican has rejected any implied link between priestly celibacy and priestly sex abuse, and does not seem inclined to change this position any time soon. Since the time of St. Peter, church fathers were married. The argument against priests marrying dates back to the earliest days of Christianity, as does the debate over whether even married priests should be ‘enjoying’ all the benefits of that blessed state. Those early arguments led to the widespread practice, even today, of priests keeping concubines. Experts say that church officials are likely to continue to pursue their own ‘Don’t Ask Don’t Tell’ policy and ignore unreported relationships between priests and their “wives,” female companions with whom many live in more or less open, common law unions. Revelations of priestly sex abuse have shaken the Church’s foundation in countries including the U.S., Australia, Austria, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Now, in an unprecedented move, one of Pope Benedict XVI’s closest advisers, Cardinal Christophy Schoenborn of Austria, is calling for an honest discussion of matters including priestly celibacy and education for

priests to prevent sex abuse from occurring. Psychologists and religious scholars stress the importance of not relating celibacy directly with the causes of pedophilia and other sex abuse. Before he became Pope, then-Cardinal

Joseph Ratzinger told the Catholic News Service in December 2002 that “less than 1% of priests are guilty of acts of this type.” But as we know, over the past ten years the Church’s hierarchy has systematically covered up, bought off, ignored, or mislabeled the epidemic of pedophilia that has plagued it. A 2004 study commissioned by the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference reported that around 4% of American priests had been accused of abuse. The study and its accompanying report stressed that neither homosexuality nor celibacy causes abuse, but they offered the case that understanding priestly sexual abuse would not be possible without clearly understanding both. Cardinal Schoenborn has been open to the idea that a priesthood of celibates is problematic in a modern Church, especially as it limits the number of candidates who are available to be ordained as priests. I would add that it is an open secret that the Catholic priesthood has long been an attractive career and life alternative for men who are struggling with their sexual identity and who find a ready-made—and sexually compatible—support system in

the clergy, with God as an all-knowing, allunderstanding combination Father Confessor and CEO. Italian papal biographer Marco Politi, writing in his book “La Confessione” (‘The Confession’), reproduces the testimony of a gay priest who is struggling to balance his beliefs in the Church with his sexual orientation. Politi never identifies the cleric, who talks about a network of gay priests that operates within the Italian Church, which he describes as a “self help group” that lives on the fringe or “catacombs” of mainstream Church culture. Worldwide, the number of Catholic priests is slowly rising—the Washington Post reports the number as 408,000, with most of that growth in Asia and Africa. But Vatican statistics report that the number of priests in Europe and the U.S. is in sharp decline, with over half of 161 French priests who left their jobs from 1996 to 2005 quitting to pursue relationships with women—or other men. The Church of Rome itself is bending over backwards—an unfortunate choice of words, perhaps—to accommodate those married Anglican clerics for whom the Church of England’s progressive views on gays, same-sex marriage, female priests, and other modern concepts is no longer “cricket.”

The Catholic Church is an organization with roots that date back over 2,000 years. Trying to get it to change its course over an issue for which it has remained firm— at least on paper—for most of its existence will be as easy as turning an ocean liner 360 degrees. But the discussion matters. For the religious faithful, I would offer that much of scripture and subsequent doctrine may have represented the best thinking of its time. But much of this has little or no place in a modern age. Because “the news never takes a day off,” our Publisher, Norm Kent, often asks us to work Saturdays and Sundays, both of which are considered the Sabbath, depending on your brand of religion. But Exodus 35:2 states “On six days work may be done, but the seventh day shall be sacred to you as the sabbath of complete rest to the LORD. Anyone who does work on that day shall be put to death.” Isn’t this a little much for Wilton Manors Code Enforcement to have to deal with? Leviticus 11:7 has strong words for Miami Dolphins fans: “And the pig, which does indeed have hoofs and is cloven-footed, but does not chew the cud and is therefore unclean for you. Their flesh you shall not eat, and their dead bodies you shall not touch; they are unclean for you.” Have fun tossing the pigskin at the tail gate party with that one hanging over your head.

Bill O’Reilly continued from page 9

copy of the document. End of story.” And comparing the fear that many rightwing groups employ in their political messages to a “double-edged sword,” O’Reilly warned that angry political rhetoric “can lead to violence and heartbreak.” And while he still takes his jabs at the “far-left media,” even sometime-critics like Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart have taken note of O’Reilly’s measured tone. Joked Stewart during a February appearance on “The O’Reilly Factor:” “You’ve become in some ways the voice of sanity here [at Fox], which as I said is like being the thinnest kid at fat camp.” “The Factor” is Fox News’ most valuable advertising engine, which is reflected in O’Reilly’s salary, reported in the Los Angeles Times to be around $10 million a year. The program averages 3.7 million view-

ers, an 8% increase from last year according to Nielsen ratings. His competition lags far behind, with left-of-center MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, O’Reilly’s chief nemesis, pulling in around 984,000 viewers and 635,000 tuning into Campbell Brown on CNN. O’Reilly is still a controversial figure. In 2008 he called Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank a “coward” during a screaming match about banking reform. In 2009, liberal commentators charged that O’Reilly shared blame for the murder of Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. O’Reilly rejected those claims. “I reported the story accurately,” he said after Tiller’s death. Whether he’s mellowed or not, O’Reilly says he’s become less concerned with people’s views on his politics and how they are perceived. “Let them hate you,” he told the L.A. Times last month. “So what? Who cares?”

April 5 , 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ SouthFloridaGayNews.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Bryan D. Freehling

The Roman Catholic Church and the Terrorism of Children

e hear a lot about terrorism these days. And of course, the terrorism identified is generally linked to radical Islam. I suppose it’s simply our insincere vanity which prevents some of us from seeing the terror that we inflict on one and another; otherwise, when we look into the mirror, maybe we would actually see how some of us have become the terrorists who inflict the most pain and suffering upon many of our own. And yes just like our radical Muslim broth-

SFGN Editorial 4/5/2010 Norm Kent Publisher

Coming Out Today Liberates You Tomorrow

t is Opening Day in Baseball. Baseball is the passion of my life, the center of most of my existence. Coming out as an athlete and baseball player was not in harmony with that universe of homophobic athletes I grew up around. Constantly, in the locker rooms and on the field, the most denigrating remark you would hear is that “you play like a faggot.” That’s the way it was. In some places, that is the way it still is. The world evolves though, and now everyone is rushing to come out of the closet, from Hollywood to baseball fields, so much so that our tongue in cheek cover and piece this week- in an otherwise serious issue- is that coming out of the closet has become the fashionable and trendy thing to do. In fact, we have created a waiting list for those seeking sunlight and affirmation as friends of Dorothy. Dame Edna would be proud. The truth is that it is manifestly important for you to come out of the closet personally and professionally. Even as society moves

towards a more tolerant attitude about homosexuality, there are still broad pockets and deep ponds of prejudice against homosexuals. We see it in the Armed Forces. We witness in the media reading about more and more hate crimes. We are reminded of it painfully with each new Matthew Shepherd. It is necessary for gay people to let mainstream society know the individual facts and many faces of discrimination. It is imperative that the comfortable majority is aware that there is a minority who cannot yet fully access all their freedoms. You don’t have to broadcast your sexuality on a billboard, announce it on the radio, or publish a letter to your family. You just have to carry and comport yourself truthfully, so when a colleague publishes a demeaning gay comment in the workplace, you can assert how that is inappropriate. Read, for example, Brian McNaught’s thoughtful piece in today’s issue about coming out in the workplace. Be real, be yourself, and be proud. Being open means you never have to say you are sorry for who you are. Stop living your life to please others. I was recently solicited by a community political leader to use my column to endorse a “gay friendly politician.” “He is actually part of the family,” my friend remarked. “So let me get this right,” I responded an-

grily, “I should use my column to endorse a leader who is in the closet to be a spokesperson for everyone else who has the courage to be out?” Frankly, if that candidate wants to remain in the political closet, he can also stay the hell out of the state house. We need statesmen who are more concerned about exposing injustice than they are worried about themselves being exposed. That does not mean every gay candidate gets endorsed because of who they sleep with in the evening. What they bring to the table and have achieved in the daytime matters more. Frankly, candidates who think they earn the endorsement of the gay community just because they happen to be gay are deluding themselves. It is what they stand for, and have stood for, that matters more. One of the most inspiring letters we ever got at the Express was written by a Melanie Blair, from West Melbourne, Florida. It read: “I feel it necessary to also remember those of us who are silent activists every day. I wish to commend the countless numbers of us who refuse to be closeted in our daily lives. By standing up and being named as gay or lesbian, we slowly break the myth that we are deviant or abnormal. By being open about our sexuality, Edwe silently prove that the only difference between ‘us’ and ‘them’ is whom we choose to love.” Those words speak the truth.

ers, our M.O. is also firmly based in religion—Roman Catholicism. As if all the once clandestine domestic and international cases of sexual abuse and molestation of children were not enough (the most recent involving Angelo Balducci, a Gentleman of His Holiness, who was involved in a major sex trafficking ring within the Vatican’s most inner circle), the Roman Catholic church continues to make the lives of some children very hard. In fact, they make some of God’s children suffer terribly. In Boulder, Colorado the most recent victims of Roman Catholicism have been a preschool student and a kindergartner. They’re not allowed to go to school with their friends anymore. These children were expelled from a Roman Catholic school, not because they were bad students, but for something much worse--they have two mommies! I cringe when I think of how the principal, a grown adult, felt about telling a four and five year-old to pack up their belongings, go home, and never come back. I wonder if that person felt ashamed, or if that person felt honored, to perform such a un-Christlike task. I also wonder how such a cruel and ungodly action will harm and scar these kids forever--being branded as different, insignificant, unwanted, and unloved. Such behavior by the Roman Catholic Church also condones, if not encourages, the children of heterosexual marriages to ridicule and scorn the children of same-gender marriages. I imagine that the church is very proud of their successful coup de grâce. And of course, kudos to the Roman Catholic church for giving kids yet another reason to be cruel and hateful to one another! The Roman Catholic Church has steered well off of Christ’s path, especially regarding the teachings pertaining to children. Jesus always accepted, embraced, loved and nurtured children. He never turned his back on them nor did he ever insist that they leave his side, and he certainly never exploited them sexually. A simple review of the Gospels of Mathew (9:14) (18:6), Mark (10:14-16), and Luke (17:2) (18:16) will contradict and most assuredly refute the action taken by the Roman Catholic Church in Boulder, Colorado. continued on page 22

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Off the Wall

by Piero Guidugli

Yeah, Yeah, I Am the Taxman

n my first column, “Leap of Faith” I wrote “this space, my column, is intended to be a forum, open to discussion, open to all [...] together, we will try to challenge ourselves, to develop a dialogue, to float ideas no matter how crazy they might be.” I’m glad to see that people are beginning to respond to the invitation. Two weeks ago, we turned these pages over to Bruce Bant, who had his rant against DADT and now, we turn to Dr. Jim Kemp, who shares his take on taxes: Once again, this yearly April 15th ritual takes place. Most of you reading this article will have already filed your tax return for 2009 and paid your share. Some of you maybe received a refund after your taxes were deducted from the amount you gave to the United States during the course of the year. For most of us in the gay community, we paid our taxes as single taxpayers. We did

so even if we were in a committed relationship, have lived for many months or many years with our partner, maybe even own a house and/or other property together, and are considered to be viable couples in our community. In essence, as homosexual couples, we don’t exist as far as the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is concerned. I am happy to pay my fair share of taxes to the IRS. My partner is also happy to do so. And, I hope that someday my partner and I might be able to file a joint return just like many couples do across the fifty states within this Union. I know that what I consider to be a “fair share” is not what some corporations, some wealthy individuals, some not-for-profits, and others with CPAs on the payroll consider their “fair share”. However, the scope of this article focuses on only one such entity: organized religions.

Deb Price

Dear IRS

he Internal Revenue Service often finds my family confusing, and this year is no exception. Our federal pen pal recently wrote to my spouse Joyce, fuming that she had failed to declare $1,267 in interest on her last year’s tax return. “You Must Return the Response Form by April 7, 2010,” the letter warned. The prospect of severe penalties was leveled at poor Joyce, guilty of nothing more than being a woman happily married to a woman. Because of the cynically named Defense of Marriage Act, the federal government doesn’t recognize our marriage, solemnized by Canada in 2003. Each tax season, Uncle Sam requires Joyce and me to lie and say we are single when Joyce prepares our taxes. The result often is that the IRS and Joyce find themselves back in what we call the “oh, never mind then” ritual. She’ll write back to explain that the $1,267 in interest was on a joint account—our money is mingled—and that I properly declared the

interest on my tax forms and paid the taxes. The IRS will say, “Oh, never mind then.” For us, tax season is an annual red flag reminder of the annoyances, insults and dollarsand-cents consequences caused by DOMA, the reality-defying law that Washington politicians have put no deadline on erasing. The dollars-and-cents impact in our case stems from my being on Joyce’s workplace dental and vision plans. Because of DOMA, the contribution that Joyce’s employer makes toward those benefits counts as taxable income for Joyce. In other words, what for her married heterosexual colleagues is an untaxed spousal perk is taxable income for us. The tax isn’t a lot, since the benefit is only $220 this year. The tax would skyrocket if I were on Joyce’s primary health plan. And that’s the reason I stay on my employer’s plan, even though hers has more attractive bells and whistles. Congress and the White House took a pass at fixing this particular inequity during the health care overhaul: The original

It galls me that recognized, organized religions are exempt from paying taxes to the IRS under the Internal Revenue Code Section 501(a) (3). Recognized, organized religions do not pay taxes on most property they own, income they generate, or contributions they may receive for charitable, educational, scientific, and literary endeavors. The reason this galls me so is that most of these organized religions are very vocal in their opposition to the “gay lifestyle.” Yet, they want me, and other gay individuals, to pay our taxes to the IRS so they can continue to evade paying their “fair share.” I don’t expect recognized, organized religions will care about what is written here and change their attitude. I do hope, howHouse-passed bill would have ended taxation of partner benefits. But lacking a persistent champion in a very high place, the correction didn’t get included in the final bill. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender taxpayers have progressed this year, though: • In a landmark decision this February, the U.S. Tax Court ruled in O’Donnabhain v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue that treatments for gender identity disorder, such as surgery and hormonal injections, are generally deductible medical expenses. The IRS had branded Rhiannon O’Donnabhain’s sex reassignment surgery “cosmetic,” but the tax court disagreed, allowing most of the maleto-female American’s requested deductions. • As of this year, all “non-spousal” beneficiaries—including surviving domestic partners, lesbian widows and gay widowers—can roll over an inherited 401(k) account into an IRA savings account rather than having to cash it in and immediately pay taxes on all of it. The tax treatment is still less favorable than what recognized spouses receive, but it’s a step in the right direction. Meanwhile, my journey with Joyce through legal limbo took a promising turn when the attorney general and governor of our home state,

ever, that some of you will at least go to the sites listed with this article as starting points so that you can understand the enormity of the issue, and I hope you will recall the gist of this article when the collection plate is passed around or you receive a solicitation to give money to organized religious endeavors focusing on charitable, educational, scientific, and literary outreach. I want to thank Dr Kemp for continued on page 42

Maryland, said same-sex marriages performed elsewhere are valid under state law. So, Joyce got into an email back-and-forth with Maryland’s tax agency in trying to figure out whether we can begin filing our state income taxes as the married couple we are. “At the present time for the tax year of 2009 and prior years, we do not recognize this union for filing purposes,” a worker in “taxpayer services” replied. “It may be allowed for the tax year of 2010, but we have had no confirmation of this yet.” Eventually, reality will win these struggles. And then paying what we owe won’t be quite so taxing emotionally. Deb Price of The Detroit News writes the first nationally syndicated column on gay issues. To find out more about Deb Price and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate web page at www.creators.com.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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op professional services firms Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (NYSE: MMC) and Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc. (NASDAQ: HSII) have named 6 minority- and women-owned search firms to their “Inclusion Network,” a new diversity recruiting initiative the two firms Marsh & McLennan Headquarters announced last spring. at 1166 Avenue of the Americas in New York Designed to attract a broader and more diverse talent pool to MMC, a provid- year, we received more than 50 inquiries from er of risk, strategy, and human capital so- firms interested in participating in the netlutions, the Inclusion Network is managed work,” says Billy Dexter, Partner at Heidrick by Heidrick & Struggles—a leadership ad- & Struggles. “We rigorously reviewed and visory firm providing senior-level executive interviewed the firms, and identified six susearch and leadership consulting services— perior firms whose services, make them ideal as part of a full suite of talent solutions the partners in our Inclusion Network.” The Inclusion Network program, piloted company offers. The six firms participating in the Inclu- by Heidrick & Struggles and MMC, is part sion Network are The Hollins Group and of the Diversity Advisory Services Practice Youngblood Executive Search, both based in at Heidrick, offering a comprehensive set Chicago; CREW Advisory Services, Quinn of solutions for clients looking to expand & Associates, and Wesley, Brown and Bartle diversity programs in their workforce and Co., Inc., all based in New York; and McCor- vendor set. In addition to providing access to a broadmack & Associates, based in Los Angeles. Under the Inclusion Network program, er range of candidates, including women, when Heidrick & Struggles receives as- people of color, and members of the LGBT signments from MMC, it then works with community to clients, Heidrick & Struggles the Network members, who are general- will also assist with leadership consulting, ist search firms with diversity practices, to training, and other services with the Netfulfill these searches. Two of the firms have work search firms. This alliance represents the culmination been engaged for search assignments since of 17 years of pioneering LGBT recruiting the program began in January. “After we announced the initiative last by McCormack & Associates.

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The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisement. Before you decide, ask the attorney to send you free written information about his or her qualifications and experience.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Brian McNaught

Making Rhyme and Reason on College Grads Coming Out at Work Jack and Jill came out in school, but went back in the closet. Jack was sad, and Jill was mad, and their employer lost ’cause of it.

writer for Jungle Campus, an employment magazine aimed at college students, asked me: Should LGBT graduates come out at work? A better question, I suggested, is how and when, not if, they should come out on the job. In today’s work world, there is no good reason for a qualified gay or transgender person to seek employment in anything other than a company that wants them to be out of the closet. The majority of companies, at least in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K., understand the value of diversity, and how the corporation’s ability to compete in the marketplace depends upon their willingness to be proactively inclusive. Prior to applying for a job at, or accepting an invitation from, a company, a LGBT person ought to first do a little research on the Web. By entering in their search engine “Human Rights Campaign Corporate Equality Index,” (or in the U.K., “Stonewall”) he or she can quickly find out how the company has been rated in its efforts to create a safe and productive work environment for gay and transgender people. The reporter also asked: Should gay and transgender graduates include involvement in gay-related organizations in their resumes? Yes. In applying for a job, I would be sure to include information on involvement in gay and transgender organizations. If you omit the truth here, you’re starting a pattern of deception that will be hard to stop. On

the other hand, I would balance the gay and transgender entries with other activities so that the potential employer doesn’t fear they would be hiring an activist whose sole interest is gay or transgender equal rights. Most major companies would be glad to have a

shared casually, such as by using the proper pronouns when reporting on your dates or your partners, displaying pictures of your beloved in your work area, joining the company’s LGBT Employee Resource Group (ERG), and by speaking up at a meeting, when relevant, that, “From my experience, that won’t sell well in the gay community,” or “Other gay people might find that offensive.” How do you come out to your manager?

Over 7,200 LGB employees from 273 organisations provided anonymous feedback in the Workplace Equality Index research (right).

gay or transgender person out of the closet because they know that such personal secrets negatively impact individual and team productivity. But they also want the out employee to be really good at the work he or she is hired to do. Being highly qualified is what needs to come through loud and clear on a resume or in an interview. How should a gay or transgender college graduate come out at work? Once they start work, it’s best not to walk in with a bullhorn and announce, “Hi, I’m Brian, and I’m gay.” What works best in coming out at work is if this information is

It’s great if our manager is aware of our sexual orientation so that when we need a day off because our partner’s parent has died, or some other personal issue arises, we don’t have to fumble through an excuse for our needs. Some managers may not feel they need to know if an employee is gay, but it is generally helpful if they do. To come out to your manager, ask if you can meet with him or her privately. When you meet, say simply, “As a gay person, I’d like to be a resource for you on anything related to gay and transgender issues, if they come up.” If he or she asks you how you

are feeling so far with the group, be honest. If the group needs diversity training on the issues, ask your manager if it’s possible to have it provided. What can a gay or transgender person do at work to make it easier to be out? Getting a mentor at work would be a great way to navigate through some of the issues that might arise. An LGBT employee, or a heterosexual ally, who has some seniority, can be found through the company’s gay ERG, or through the Offices of Human Resources or of Diversity and Inclusion. Introducing yourself to the people working in those offices is always a good idea, especially if you’re not sure who in the office you can safely talk to. Be aware that for the first time in your life you’re entering a world that is multi-generational. People considerably older than you grew up with different attitudes toward gay and transgender people, and have been less exposed to the openness of younger generations. That doesn’t mean that they’re hostile—some of them may have gay children—it just means that you should be aware that they may not be as openly affirming as your friends at school. Don’t use the word “queer” at work, or any other gay or transgender words that might not be understood by others, or worse yet, be offensive. Understand that many older gay people hate the word “queer” because it was used so viciously against them when they were young. Consider the fact that a gay employee can be charged by another gay person with creating a hostile work environment, so be sensitive and respectful. As is true with all of life, coming out at work as an LGBT person, and fitting comfortably into a new job in a company requires patience, open and honest communication, and a good sense of humor. Jack and Jill came out at work, and the profit share grew fast. Jack had glee, and Jill was free, and the company said “At last!”

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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the sexual exploitation of innocent children in parishes all around the US and the world, Roman Catholic parishioners should also stand firm with these two little children and their parents and protest this most offensive church decision. In Legends of Our Times, Ellie Wiesel asks, “Where is God to be found? In suffering or in rebellion? When is a man most truly a man? When he submits or when he refuses?”

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Susan Estrich

The Right to a Lawyer

f you were charged with a crime, would you rather be rich and guilty or poor and innocent? Every year, when I ask my students that question, rich and guilty wins by a mile. And who am I to say they are wrong? After all, over the years, I’ve had my share of success in securing reversals of the convictions of many criminal defendants a jury had found to be guilty. While I try to do my share of pro bono work, the truth is that most of my clients can afford me. And the ones who can’t are generally people I take on precisely because they were so poorly represented in the first place. Anyone who watches television knows that if you’re facing possible imprisonment, you have a right to a lawyer, and that if you can’t afford to pay, a lawyer will be appointed to represent you. But there is a difference between a lawyer and a good lawyer. Look at all the idiots who pass the Bar, I remind my students every year, as they fret about their chances of passing. It’s true. And while the market is hardly a perfect judge of talent, and while there are many public defenders offices around the coun-

try staffed by capable and dedicated lawyers, there is a definite correlation between competence and cost. The lawyers who make their livings by taking appointments to represent those who can’t afford counsel are not the lawyers you would hire if you had the resources to choose. And the reimbursement rates paid to those lawyers create powerful incentives not to investigate or prepare (you get more for court time than prep time) and not to take a case to trial (you are limited on total hours, even in court). Unfortunately, the old saw that you get what you pay for holds true much more often than it should. The consequences of bad representation can be every bit as serious as the consequences of bad medicine. There are horror stories of appointed counsel doing no investigation even in capital cases; giving terrible advice to clients that results in sentences of 20 years instead of two; and falling asleep in murder trials and failing to even present exculpatory evidence. And what do courts do when these problems are brought to their attention? Usually, nothing.

Legal News

‘Sexting’ Creates Sub-class of Teenage Sex Offenders Florida Lawmakers Reconsider Harsh Penalties for Questionable Texts By Cliff Dunn

n March 22, the state Legislature considered a bill that would establish less serious punishments for teenagers who take part in “sexting”—transmitting nude or racy images of themselves or others via text messaging or other means of electronic delivery. The number of teens who ‘sext’ is rising. One study found that 20% of teens have sent or posted nude or seminude photos of

themselves online. Teens are using cell phones to text, post and e-mail racy images—which technically constitutes trafficking in child pornography. While most teens say they do it for fun, getting caught means being kicked off teams and facing possible expulsion from school. Still others are going to jail. In February, a 15-year-old Pennsylvania girl was charged with creating child porn after she sent images of herself on MySpace to a 27-year-old man.

To be sure, the Constitution guarantees more than the right to have someone with a Bar card by your side when you lose your liberty. It’s not just the assistance of counsel, but the “effective” assistance that is required by due process. Traditionally, though, “effective” doesn’t necessarily mean awake, alert or informed. That is why this week’s decision by the

Newest Justice Sonya Sotomayor ruled with the majority in a 5-4 decision that lawyers have a responsibility to disclose how a guilty plea might affect their immigration status

United States Supreme Court is so important. The Court held that a legal resident who pleaded guilty after his lawyer advised him—wrongly—that doing so would not result in his automatic deportation had been denied effective assistance of counsel. For the thousands of legal immigrants who are charged with minor crimes every year, the real punishment is not measured And also last month, a Brevard County teenager was jailed after he forwarded a cell phone picture of his 16-year-old ex-girlfriend’s breasts to another teen. Police say the girlfriend allowed the photo to be taken while the two were dating. In Florida, teens who are caught sexting must register as sex offenders under the state’s child pornography laws. Phillip Alpert of Orlando was 18 when he sent naked pictures of his 16-year-old girlfriend to her friends and family after a nasty argument. Alpert was charged with distributing child pornography and sentenced to four years probation. He was required to register as a sex offender—a label he will have to wear until he’s 43-years-old. The sponsor of the Florida bill in the state House, Representative Joseph Abruzzo (D-Wellington) believes that a rethinking of the

in terms of prison time (usually, they plead guilty because they are promised no prison time or very little), but in the laws that now provide for automatic deportation. In the case before the Supreme Court, a man who had lived in this country legally for 40 years was faced with a marijuana charge. He pleaded guilty and accepted a much-reduced sentence only after his lawyer assured him that it would have no impact on his immigration status. Even a cursory review of the applicable law would have told her she was wrong. But like too many lawyers, she didn’t bother to review the law before offering advice. By a 7-2 vote, the Supreme Court concluded that he had been denied effective assistance. Immigrants’ rights advocates are hailing the decision as a major victory. To me, the Court’s decision is less about the rights of immigrants than the responsibilities of lawyers. We can’t guarantee that every defendant will receive the same quality of representation that O.J. Simpson got. But raising the floor of what counts as “effective” is not only right as a matter of fairness. It is also critical to public faith in the criminal justice system, and to the willingness of individuals (and jurors) to trust that system, to cooperate with police and prosecutors, and to return a verdict. To find out more about Susan Estrich and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com. penalties is overdue. “We shouldn’t be labeling our children as sexual predators for this type of behavior,” Abruzzo said. “We are lessening the penalties. When the child pornography laws were written, they obviously didn’t take this continued on page 41

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Humor

Ellen: A Force to Be Reckoned with By Joey Amato

he entertains millions every day with her quirky wit and timeless charm. Now, American Idol judge, daytime talk show host and veteran comic Ellen DeGeneres’ life story will be featured in the latest issue of Bluewater Productions’ Female Force biography comic series. Female Force: Ellen DeGeneres follows the comedienne from her youth in Louisiana, through the endless comedy club circuit, to her breakthrough sitcom and finally as an Emmy-winning daytime talk show host. “Ellen and her organization were very generous by embracing this book. That’s why we are happy to share a percentage of the proceeds with her favorite charity, the Humane Society,” said Bluewater president Darren G. Davis. “Ellen has been a leading force for animal protections issues, said Michael Markarian, Chief Operating Officer of the Humane Society of the United States. “We thank Ellen and Bluewater Productions for sharing the proceeds of her comic book with The Humane Society, and for supporting our work to celebrate animals and confront cruelty.” The book, written by Sandra C. Ruckdeschel and

illustrated by Pedro Ponzo also delves into Ellen’s personal life as an openly gay performer and an advocate for gay rights. “It is part of who she is and any telling of her story without acknowledging the importance she places on her identity would be disrespectful to her accomplishments,” said Ruckdeschel. Fans of Ellen will be able to revisit several of the entertainer’s most iconic moments including her 1986 appearance on the Tonight Show, the 1997 episode of her sitcom where her character announces she is gay, her entrance as host of the 2006 Oscars, and even her “trademark” dance moves. “People forget what a groundbreaking talent she is and that fame did not come overnight,” says Davis. “But through all her highs and lows, she managed to stay true to herself and prove that she is a female force.” Female Force offers a broad examination of strong and influential women who are shaping modern history and culture. In past issues, the monthly series has featured Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sarah Palin, Oprah Winfrey, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, Barbara Walters and others. The comic book is in stores now and retails for $3.99.

Q Scopes By Jack Fertig

Go back to basics, Gemini! Saturn backing into Virgo reminds us to clean up old business before starting new relationships. Aspecting Uranus and Neptune, she’ll dig up complications that must be dealt with to make progress. Go slowly and carefully.You have until late July to get it right. ARIES (March 20 – April 19): Recalculate the equation of any partnership that’s troubling you. Can or should it be saved? Strong instincts and inspiration could lead you astray, but probably contain a kernel of truth. Friends can help you reconcile those with reality.

clear out the clutter in your life. Mending fences could mean quitting some friendships and groups, but offers you a chance to make it clean and amicable.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 20): Clean up any loose ends and nasty rumors TAURUS (April 20 – May 20): affecting your reputation. Helpful Feeling stuck at work can push inspiration comes from your home you back to re-examine your goals. and family. Advice from siblings Where do you feel most creative, and neighbors can seem confusing, and what do you really have to but don’t take it too literally and it offer? If professional goals feel could prove valuable. nebulous, frame the question in terms of your social ideals. CAPRICORN (December 21 – January 19): Coming toward GEMINI (May 21- June 20): a peak of your professional reputaWhile your goals and ideals seem tion, now is the time to get the to be in flux, go back to basics. word out about your achieveThe most relevant questions ments and services. Typos and about reaching out to the world snafus lie in wait. Be very attentive around you are taught early in life. to those details! Be nice, share and try to learn. Community service can also help AQUARIUS (January 20 – clear your head. February 18):You’re coming into a phase of your life where your CANCER (June 21- July ideas and your mind will be much 22): Discuss longstanding family challenged. Review what you issues with siblings, or community believe and why. Confusion about problems with neighbors. Things who you are and what’s important probably aren’t as dark and comcan be a healthy stage of growth. plicated as they feel. New perspectives will help if you’re willing to be PISCES (February 19 – March very open-minded. 19): Feeling unsure about sex and relationships can be a good step LEO (July 23 – August 22): toward greater awareness. OK, New ideas and skills can help get it’s uncomfortable now. Meditayou out of financial trouble, but first tion and other quiet secluded understand how and why you got retreats—some with your love, into that trouble.You won’t get that some without—will ease the on your own.Your partner or an exploration. advisor can help you figure it out. Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer VIRGO (August 23 – Septem- since 1977, is available for personal and business consultations in person ber 22): Taking the weight of the world on your shoulders is bad for in San Francisco, or online everywhere. He can be reached at 415your health. Discussing problems 864-8302, through his Web site at with your partner, or a trusted www.starjack.com, and by e-mail at friend or counselor, is necessary QScopes@qsyndicate.com. even if it’s aggravating. A mild exercise program (swimming?) and meditation help. LIBRA (September 23 – October 22): It seems you can’t catch a break, so make one for yourself. Take time off to meditate and play. Settle your nerves and charge up your batteries.You need this. In the long run it’s the responsible thing to do! SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21): Take a hard look at your future and get ready to

Solution to Crossword Puzzle on page 42

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

A Gleeful Sneak Peek Catch a preview of the second season of Glee at Aventura’s AMC Theatre this week page 26

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Nightlife by J.W. Arnold

ho Dunnit? Remember that campy ’80s movie adaptation of the board game “Clue”? It was so bad, no one could have predicted it would become a cult classic and inspiration for drag queens and kings! Wilton Manors is getting its own version of a hilarious, over the top murder mystery-complete with the drag queens and kings. On Wednesday, April 7, Drag It Out, the organization founded by local photographer Tabatha Mudra to promote understanding through gender impersonation performance, is hosting a murder mystery/speed dating party at Gelati Martini on Wilton Drive to benefit the GLCC Pride Center, Animal Aid and Safe Schools of South Florida. “It’s a speakeasy, murder mystery, speed date drag party,” explains founder Tabatha Mudra. “It’s really silly and if we’re not being silly and getting to the guts of this, what are we doing?” The idea for the party arose at the group’s last fundraiser, an auction that Mudra says was “so terribly dragtastic, generating a lot of energy in the drag xenosphere. It just seemed natural.” Mudra has enlisted her own “private dick” detective, drag king Mike Hawk, and several performers to entertain while the group enjoys alcohol-laced gelato treats.Then, the lights will go out and somebody will be “murdered.” Participants will then use the speed date rounds to figure out who the culprit is and perhaps make a connection in the process. The event is open to the public, but in keeping with the theme, the store will be transformed into a speakeasy, with a password required at the door to enter. Mudra will release the password on Drag It Out’s Facebook page, but she encourages those who don’t belong to Facebook to “improvise your best ‘dragitude’ word for entrance.” For more information, go to DragItOut.com or visit the group’s Facebook page. Here are some other happenings around South Florida this week:

TV Preview

Monday, April 5

ooking for a fun way to extend the Easter holiday weekend? Head over to Fort Lauderdale’s late-night club, Torpedo, tonight for Stiletto Drag Wars.The show, hosted by Nicole T. Phillips and Latrice Royale, begins at midnight and the lucky weekly winner takes home $250.After the show, dance ‘til dawn. Torpedo is located at 2829 W. Broward Blvd. Tuesday, April 6

hen was the last time you put on a pair of skates-not rollerblades-but fourwheeled skates? Dig out your hot pants and head over to Gold Coast Roller Rink, 2604 S. Federal Hwy., for a night of fun with the gays. Disco favorites will be playing and there will certainly be a “couples” skate.We’re just not sure about that old favorite,“The Hokey Pokey”! Wednesday, April 7

e’re not sure this counts as “rehab,” but MOVA Lounge is hosting Betty Ford Bingo tonight at 8 p.m. Shelly Novak is the hostess-withthe-mostest for this outrageous night of fun. Enjoy half-price drink specials all night long. MOVA is located at 1625 Michigan Ave. in Miami Beach, just off trendy Lincoln Rd. Thursday, April 8

f you blink, you might miss The Corner Pub, the popular local watering hole tucked away in a little shopping center off Andrews Ave. in Wilton Manors. On Thursdays, pool is free, so grab a drink and rack ‘em up with friends for a low-key outing.The Corner Pub is located at 1915 N. Andrews Ave. Friday, April 9

e hear the boys and girls to the north in Palm Beach County have been blowing off steam at the end of a long work week with karaoke! Yes, karaoke at The Lounge, 517 Clematis St. in West Palm Beach. Frank E. Oke hosts and everybody who takes a turn at the mike gets a free drink. C’mon, guys, if a free drink won’t coax your inner Whitney or Britney out, what will?

A Gleeful Sneak Peek By Steve Fritz

quick to renew the series for an additional 13 episodes. Further, the proceeds derived from this ans of the Fox series Glee should be singing and dancing their way to Aven- event will be donated to the Grammy Foundation. The Foundation was estabtura’s AMC Theatre later this week. They will have a chance to catch a sneak peek of lished in 1989 to cultivate the understanding, appreciation and advancement the second season of the groundbreaking of the contribution of recorded music to TV musical comedy on Thursday, April 8. American culture—from the artistic and Since its debut last Fall, Glee has been grabbing the eyes and ears of musical the- technical legends of the past to the still unater fans with its incredibly unique tale of a imagined musical breakthroughs of future with her band, live in concert at the high school glee club set in suburban Ohio. generations of music professionals. Parker March 27. The Foundation accomplishes this misThe club was the butt Playhouse of every secondaryon Saturday, school joke possible until new teacher Will sion through programs and activities that The performance wastheamusic benefit engage industry for and cultural Schuester (played by Matthew Morrison) community as well as the general public.The decides to take it over. This does not sit Broward House. well with the current queen of the school Foundation works in partnership with its Photo by founder, J.R. Davis The Recording Academy, to bring and the local community, cheerleading national attention to important issues such coach Sue Sylvester (Jane Lynch), who’s as the value and impact of music and arts now out to scorch the very earth they education and the urgency of preserving walk upon. our rich cultural heritage. Campbell’s Labels Created by Nip/Tuck’s Ryan Murphy, For Education program is proud to be the what sets this show apart is its heavy official education partner of the Grammy In reliance on modern pop songs, ranging The Schools programs. from Billy Joel to Coldplay, actually sung by the cast to help propel the plot. While some might say it takes a village to make a AMC Theatre – Aventura Mall society, it also doesn’t hurt that Glee has 19501 Biscayne Blvd a small town’s worth of talented young (305) 466-9880 actors to keep everyone from teenagers to theater society glued to their sets every For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, please visit week. Even more amazing, the series has Ticketsforcharity.com caught fire, and parent channel Fox was

SANDRA BERNHARD

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Book Review

Boytoon Adventures Comics for Grow’d Up Boys

Protection.

By Patrick Fillion

uper powers, super muscles, super endowments—and a super sense of humor. Those are the hallmarks of Canadian comic artist Fillion’s first trade paperback collection, six stories—and a series of full-page Boytoon Adventures pinups—featuring comically hyperbolic, gloriously hyper-masculine Class Comics heroes from college frat house Zeta Mega Phallus. There’s a fantasy tinge to most of the tales: in “The Ambush,” young Zahn’s nectar is milked by a race of jungle dwellers; in “The Facts,” oceanborn Mako Finn, who can breathe underwater, has made it his heroic life’s mission to protect his brothers the sharks against silly fears and senseless slaughter—a nice environmental touch. The most reality-based story (bodacious biceps and thunderous thighs aside) is “The Match,” in which a bullying pledgemaster challenges a cocky new pledge to wrestle for his right to stay in the fraternity. Fillion’s playful young hunks will certainly fuel the erotic fantasies of readers turned on by muscle art—but, pulchritude aside, there’s also fun story-telling substance in this collection.

“Pure theatrical bliss!” nytheatre.com

The hilarious, fast-talking Tupperware Lady extraordinaire, Dixie Longate throws a party you won't forget. Free giveaways, audience participation, real Tupperware for sale, and loads of laughs pack the off-Broadway sensation that's "not your grandmother's Tupperware Party.”

954.462.0222 • www.BrowardCenter.org All programs, artists, dates and times are subject to change. All special offers cannot be combined with other discounts or previous purchases. Certain restrictions apply.

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he Color Purple From the classic Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Alice Walker, and the moving film by Steven Spielberg, comes a soulstirring new musical and landmark Broadway event. The Color Purple is an inspiring family saga that tells the unforgettable story of a woman who—through love—finds the strength to triumph over adversity and discover her unique voice in the world. Set to a joyous score featuring jazz, ragtime, gospel and blues,The Color Purple is a story of hope, a testament to the healing power of love and a celebration of life. April 6 -18 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets start at $23. www.browardcenter.org

ixie’s Tupperware Party Dixie Longate, the fast-talking Tupperware Lady, packed up her catalogues, left her children in an Alabama trailer park and took Off-Broadway by storm! Now, join Dixie as she travels the country throwing good ol’fashioned Tupperware Parties filled with outrageously funny tales, heartfelt accounts, free giveaways, audience participation and the most fabulous assortment of Tupperware ever sold on a theater stage. April 7- 18 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets start at $29. www. browardcenter.org

eppino D’Agostino This Italian born virtuoso acoustic guitarist has been praised by the San Francisco Chron-

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

icle as “a poet … among the best talents around;” voted “Best Acoustic Guitarist” in Guitar Player Magazines 2007 Readers’ Choice Awards; applauded by the San Diego Times as “potentially a giant of the acoustic guitar,” and touted by Jazziz as a “phenomenon in the same league with John Fahey, Leo Kottke, Doc Watson and John Renbourn.” Friday, April 9 at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets start at $25. www.kravis.org

ay and Lesbian Literary Arts Festival William Mann, Greg Herren and J. M. Redmann are featured among the dozens of gay and lesbian authors who will be participating in the second annual GALLA Festival, in Fort Lauderdale.The three-day festival will include workshops, seminars, panels, presentations and readings at the Stonewall Library & Archives and the adjacent ArtServe facilities.The Festival will also include a bookstore in which authors will sell books and conduct book signings. April 9-11, 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. For more information, please visit www.GALLAfestival.org.

he Mahler Legacy Four of Michael Tilson Thomas’ eight Grammy Awards are a result of his explosively fresh interpretations of Mahler’s symphonies. Become a part of the magic and encounter extraordinary expression by MTT’s side as he delves into Mahler’s Fifth Symphony, a rich panorama of life showcasing beautiful jubilation and tender bereavement. Compelling pianist Jeremy Denk returns with Copland’s percussive Piano Concerto, a jazzy exposé on Americana. April 10 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts.Tickets start at $15.25. www.arshtcenter.org

Theatre Preview

“I can’t wait….I love Florida. It’s one of my favorite places. It’s so sunny, welcoming PLAY: Dixie’s Tupperware and relaxed. It’s sort of like being on vacaParty tion,” she says. “Everybody likes cocktails WHERE: Broward Center and that leads to too much overdrinking, for the Performing Arts which leads to crazy sex and then to the Abdo New River Room, best stories you’ll ever share at church.” Fort Lauderdale Despite the popularity of the show, LonWHEN: Wed., April 7 – Sunday, April 18 gate, who has been one of the company’s Tickets $29-49 at BrowardCenter.org top 10 salespersons for many years, has been feeling the effects of the economy. She says fans still flock to the show, but are slow to reach for their wallets when it comes time to place orders. “I think most people aren’t convinced that I really sell Tupperware. Even though I make sure that everyone has a catalog and an order form, and demonstrate how to fill it out during the show and make sure to give each item number so people can circle By J.W. Arnold their favorite products, people still look at me in awe when they find out they can he’s Back! Dixie’s Tupperware Party Returns to Broward Center really buy it,” Longate explains. “I blame it Dixie Longate sells Tupperware, on the fact that most people are stupid. Stupid people don’t tend to realize that I but she’s no ordinary Tupperware “lady.” am not just prancing around on stage for Dixie is returning to South Florida with the newest line of products from the icon- my health. I am doing it for the betterment ic company and will be setting up shop this of mankind by way of introducing creative week at Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center food storage solutions for everyone!” Still, Longate admits her show is not the for the Performing Arts, giving audiences a taste of her hit off-Broadway show, “Dixie’s “traditional” Tupperware party. She points out that she has sold Tupperware products Tupperware Party.” in Asia and Australia, on cruise ships, and Longate, who has appeared in South Florida several times in recent years, is par- even off-Broadway, during a very successful ticularly looking forward to the Florida sun. continued on page 29

Dixie Longate

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Dixie Longate

While her parenting skills have occasionally been called into question—particularly run in New York City. by her parole officer—Longate remains She explains, “Look at it like this—it is like I took the Tupperware party from your unwaveringly dedicated to Tupperware and its cutting-edge food storage technology. grandmama’s house and brought it right “You Florida people just never know onstage. There are games and prizes and when another one of them hurricanes raffles and fun, just like at your grannie’s might come raging through and you will be Tupperware party, but I kicked grannie to the curb so we could really have some fun!” left scrambling around trying to make sure that you have enough well-stored food Unlike typical Tupperware salesladies, to get you through until all the clean up Longate has made it a full-time occupahappens,” she points out. “Sometimes that tion, sometimes to the detriment of her can take hours till everything is back to children, 16, 10 and 3. normal. And I don’t want you to be hungry “Do you want one? If you buy some during that time. I mean, you might already Tupperware, I’ll give you one with your be missing your stories on TV. I don’t want purchase. It’s like the Estee Lauder to make matters worse by you pulling out counter at the shopping mall, you get a free gift with every purchase., so take my some kind of nasty wilted spoiled food from the fridge cause it stopped workdaughter home.” she chuckles, delighting ing. I’m too neighborly to want that for at the prospect of unloading one of her anyone.” unruly brood.

continued from previous page

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Shades of Lavender The Color Purple Brings a Message of Love to Broward Center

Purple musical explores women’s relationships

By Mary Damiano

her beloved sister, and bartered in marriage to a man who continues her daily degradation. But Celie is transformed by the love of he Color Purple, the gospel-infused the glamorous singer Shug Avery, and through that love, finds her voice and a way to escape feel-good musical about Celie, a the torment of her life. woman who overcomes abuse The film version of The Color Purple, and finds love with another woman, opens released in 1985, was directed by Steven at Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale on Spielberg and made stars out of Whoopi Tuesday, April 6. The national tour has been packing houses Goldberg and Oprah Winfrey, who both all over the country—it played a sold-out run made their film debuts in The Color Purple. The story took to the stage in 2005 as an at the Arsht Center in Miami last October. While many of the performers seen in Miami upbeat, inspiring musical. It ran for more than 900 performances and was nominated for 10 are still in the show, The Color Purple has Tony awards, winning one for LaChanze, who a brand new Celie. Michigan native Dayna originated the role of Celie. Dantzler has been with the national tour a To help her get inside the head of Celie, little over two months, and the starring role Dantzler read Alice Walker’s book over and is her largest to date. over and watched the movie. “I haven’t had to demand this much from “I paid attention to the words that Alice myself in a while,” says Dantzler wrote and internalized them to see how they The Color Purple started as an epistolary novel by Alice Walker and went on to win the affected me,” Dantzler says. “I looked at CePulitzer Prize.The story chronicles more than lie’s situation and how I would feel if I had to 30 years in the life of Celie, a teenager raped go through some of the circumstances she’d been through.” and abused by her father, forced to give up The love and sexual relationship between the two babies she bore him, separated from

Arts Editor

Celie and Shug portrayed in Walker’s book was downplayed in the film, but is much more prominent in the musical. “The movie was in the ’80s and it was pretty taboo,” says Dantzler. “Nowadays, we’ve started to pull the wool from over our eyes and realize that life exists this way.” Dantzler believes in the restored prominence of the women’s relationship, saying that it’s integral to Celie’s evolution from a cowed abuse victim to a strong woman who finally believes she deserves to be loved. “Shug is actually the one person who shows Celie that she could be loved, is beautiful, and deserves everything that everyone else is able to get,” she says. “Celie is the first person who loves Shug not for her looks, but actually loves the person Shug is. It’s a beautiful relationship.” Dantzler is reluctant to put a label on Celie and Shug’s sexuality because she believes that the relationship is about falling in love with the person rather than the gender. She points out that when Celie meets Shug, she is not the beautiful, glamorous woman Celie had always heard about. Rather, Shug is frail and sickly, and at her lowest point. “It’s through Celie’s caring and nurturing and bringing this woman back to life that they find the real love,” says Dantzler.“I don’t want to call Celie a lesbian and I don’t want to call her bisexual, but she’s not asexual either. It’s more than sex between Shug and Celie. It’s true love.” Audiences have been accepting of the portrayal of the relationship on stage.

Theatre Preview

PLAY:

The Color Purple

WHERE: Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale. WHEN: April 6-18 For tickets and more information, call 954-462-0222 or visit BrowardCenter.org.

“I’ve not heard any negative comments,” says Dantzler. “In Tennessee, it was kind of a funny reaction—you can hear that ‘Woo!’ In some other places you can feel some shifting in the seats, but it is what it is. It’s life.” Dantzler praises the empowering message in The Color Purple. “There are so many women who don’t understand the value of their worth, but The Color Purple shows that through love, sharing, fellowship and family—no matter what kind of family it is—we all matter, deserve love, and we should all enjoy the fruits of life together,” says Dantzler. Although The Color Purple takes place over several decades, ending in the 1940s, many of the hardships that Celie faces, such as abuse, low self-esteem, and being dominated by men, are still issues for women today. Dantzler points out that perhaps the most inspiring facet of Celie’s story is that she overcomes all of the horror in her life. “If Celie can do it, anyone can,” Danztler says. “If we can understand how important each and every one of us is, we may be able to move forward.”

Theatre Telegram

Reefer Madness, it’s ‘The Stuff!’ By A. Sebastian Fortino

ake sure you don’t miss out on Rising Action Theater’s production of “Reefer Madness, the Musical” as it only runs until April 11. If you are unfamiliar with the musical version of the famed 1936 anti-marijuana propaganda film, good—because you will be highly delighted with Rising Action’s interpretation. Highlights: Mae (Nicole Niefeld) singing “The Stuff.” Sally (Lindsey Forgey) who delivers memorable, bombshell one-liners such as “If I can’t turn’im on he ain’t got switches!” Jimmy (Conor Walton) being forced into an orgy after 2 or 3 tokes and being anally raped. Mary (Chelsea Greenberg) following Jimmy, her sweetheart, throughout the world via many a cleverly constructed vehicle. Jack (Larry Buzzeo) in a loincloth playing Jesus offering “Body of Me” to officers in a prison. With the addition of Desiree DuBois as the placard girl, wandering through with signs that remind you of the—grossly over exaggerated—dangers of “marihuana”… It’s HIGH camp! For more information please visit Risingactiontheatre.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Theatre Preview

PLAY:

lmost Tamed: A Tales of Mayhem, Motion, & Malarky

Opens Friday, April 9, 8 p.m., at Andrews Living Art Studio, 23 NW 5th St., (off Andrews Ave.) in downtown Fort Lauderdale. It runs Thursdays through Sundays until April 25. For phone reservations, call 954-369-5503.

By Mary Damiano Arts Editor

overs facing separation, twins facing the past, strangers facing their crimes—these are just some of the women in explored in Almost Tamed: Tales of Mayhem, Motion, & Malarky, a collection of six short plays written by Miriam Kulick and opening Friday, April 9, at the Andrews Living Art Studio in downtown Fort Lauderdale. “It’s all women and how they relate to the outside world,” says Kulick. Kulick, who also appears in the plays with actress Casey Dressler, had dabbled in creative writing in the past but began writing plays last summer. “I really feel this is where my voice is,” says Kulick. “It’s my new passion.” Playwriting also sparked a new interest in acting for Kulick, who teaches at the Acting School of South Florida. “Generally speaking, there are too few substantial roles for women of a certain age, so I figured that instead of whining and bitching and moaning, I’m going to do something,” says Kulick. Kulick says the plays in Almost Tamed feature women wrestling with their inner monsters. Do You Love Me Now? focuses on what women put themselves through in order to feel love and respect from the world. Girl of 13 explores the relationship between a young, isolated girl and her best friend, a bird. A Glimpse examines the relationship between lovers

Almost Tamed Debuts in Fort Lauderdale Lesbian Play Featured in World Premiere Production facing separation and dealing with their ambivalence in helping third world political victims. While the plays are not directly related to one another, Kulick says alienation, love, and acceptance of oneself and others are recurring themes. Almost Tamed is directed by Stuart Meltzer, who recently directed Melt by Michael McKeever at the Miracle Theatre in Coral Gables. “I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to work on this new collection of plays,” says Meltzer. “My years as artistic director for City Theatre has really trained me well in the most difficult kind of play—a 10-minute-ish one.” Almost Tamed: Tales of Mayhem, Motion, & Malarky is presented by Square Peg productions, a company Kulick formed a few years ago with local director Michael Yawney. They previously produced Three Angels Dancing on a Needle in in Miami in 2007, which was well-received and critically praised. “My focus is on imaginative and thought-provoking work from a woman’s perspective,” says Kulick. “That’s my emphasis.”

Miriam Kulick and Casey Dressler in various scenes of Almost Tamed

April 5 , 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ SouthFloridaGayNews.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Mark Angelo Cummings Songs in the Key of F2M By Tony Adams

education about the impact of hormones on gender identity. “My mother took hormones to get pregithin five minutes of my nant with me. This may have had an impact arrival at the Hollywood on the way hormones worked in my body. home of folk rock vocalist Even as a child, I was fascinated by the male and acoustic guitarist Mark Angelo Cummings and his wife Violet, Mark took off his physique. My earliest erotic fantasies, at maybe the age of eight, were male directed. shirt to display his remarkable physique. (May all the handsome men I ever have the I was very shy and I took a lot of teasing from other kids. I felt like a Martian. When I pleasure of interviewing be this candid!) Mark is a man who is proud of the work he started dating, I found out that I didn’t has done to sculpt his body to match his like it when soul, both of which are beautiful. a man would Mark is also proud to say that he is a grope me or female-to-male transsexual who began fondle my breasts. his life in Havana as Maritza Delcarmen It felt weird being atPerdomo. tracted to men but not The Museum of Art | Fort Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University, continues its liking what they wanted to do with me as a woman. free Third Thursday monthly event series “When I became a body builder in 2001, with a special music performance on ThursI took steroids to become more mascuday, April 15, 2010, from 5:30 pm to 7:30 line. I was still a female but I was trying to pm by Mark Angelo Cummings. acquire a powerful male physique.” He is a proud Cuban-American artist Mark met Violet before his transition. who has been writing and performing muViolet is an attractive, athletic woman who sic from a very young age. His new album is obviously in love with her husband in a Enslaved is inspired by his unusual journey and by his commitment to creating a world way that transcends his physical and sexual characteristics. She smiled with amusement of love and acceptance for all. His music while Mark narrated their story. mines his belief in a universal energy and “I met Violet in the locker room of our is informed by his sexual identity. His new gym. We talked and seemed to hit it off. post-transition voice and his no nonsense message and style are compared to Melissa Afterwards, she gave me her number and I wondered if maybe she was coming on to Etheridge or Cat Stevens. me. She had been married to a man and I Mark’s life journey is best described in had a previous relationship with a woman. terms of “gender dysphoria”, the discon“I had never even heard the word “transtentment from a very young age with the sexual”. Violet and I went to Key West sex he was born with. He gave me a rapid

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to have a commitment ceremony. At our guesthouse, one of the women asked me because of my bodybuilder physique if I was an f2m transsexual. The steroids you take for bodybuilding give you facial hair and I had decided not to shave in Key West. That made me look even more like a man. “When we got home, I searched transsexual on the net and as soon as I read about it, I cried. I said ‘Oh my God, that’s me.” I found the doctors I needed and on December 23, 2003, I transitioned. Breasts, ovaries, uterus gone.” I looked over at Violet wondering how she had felt about the operation. With a simple shrug and a smile she explained that she knew it would make Mark happy and true to himself, and that the changes in his body were not traumatic for her. We talked about sexual attraction, fantasy and body parts and it became clear to me that I was in the presence of two very mature people who have entirely freed themselves from ordinary conventions and needless restrictions. Not only do they think out of the box, but they have long ago cut up its cardboard and put it out on the curb. Mark makes his perspective clear. “I love Violet but if we were not together, I would probably look for a relationship with a gay man. I’ll watch gay

porn—with some variety thrown in for Violet—because of my fascination with the male penis and physique. Maybe someday I’ll have surgery to get a penis. I’d really like to have a penis.” Mark and Violet described closing their business, a gym, and packing up their lives in a makeshift camper to begin a crosscountry journey with no specific destination. This brought them to Silver City, New Mexico where they remained for more than a year. Mark was writing songs, and a book, The Mirror Makes No Sense. He is now an occupational therapist. I wondered what was next for him. “I want to be successful as a recording artist. If I got rich, I would use the money to educate people about transsexual issues. I would like to help children who, like me, have no one to guide them and to keep them from suicide. My real goal is someday to be able to create safe havens for people who need them.” I certainly felt safe and comfortable with Mark and Violet, and I am happy to report that Mark’s music is sensational. I especially like the song “I Wonder.” You can hear that song and sample many others, and see photos and video of Mark and Violet by visiting Markangelocummings.blogspot.com/

PALM BEACH PRIDEFEST

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Photos by Carol Porter

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com Murder in Fashion

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Is Mesmerizing Thriller Features Bad-ass, Bisexual Heroine

Misconceptions

Film Review

FILM: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opens April 9 in select South Florida theatres.

By Mary Damiano Arts Editor

a computer genius and brilliant hacker, to investigate Mikael. As Mikhail gathers files regarding the case on his computer, Lisbeth continues her hacking into Mikhail’s computer and becomes intrigued by the case. Eventually the two partner to solve the mystery, and together uncover a grotesque series of murders and a gruesome family history. Noomi Rapace’s performance as Lisbeth Salander is the centerpiece of this taut thriller. Rapace oozes danger and charisma—whenever she’s onscreen you can’t take your eyes off her. But she also conveys Lisbeth’s more vulnerable side, breathing life and adding depth to an already mesmerizing character. Michael Nyqvist, one of Sweden’s most popular actors, is perfect as Mikael Blomkvist, and his unlikely chemistry with Rapace is palpable. Writer Steig Larsson died before his debut novel, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, was published, but he completed three manuscripts, a trilogy featuring his provocative heroine. The books have already been made into films in Sweden, all starring Rapace. I’m already looking forward to their U.S. release this summer. For now, don’t miss The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It’s a must-see film you won’t soon forget.

knew almost nothing about The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo when I watched a screener copy of the film last week. I didn’t know it was based on a book by that became an international bestseller. I didn’t know it was a mystery thriller. I didn’t know it was in Swedish with English subtitles. The one thing I did know was that it was 152 minutes long, and I was getting a late start watching it, popping it in the DVD player at nearly 10 p.m. None of that mattered. Within five minutes I was hooked, riveted by the intricate plot, tension, and one of the most original, compelling characters ever created: Lisbeth Salander, an androgynous, tattooed and pierced bisexual badass, a young woman who’s experienced a lifetime of abusive men. That abuse—and how she deals with it—defines Lisbeth Salander’s life. As the abusive men quickly discover, Lisbeth is no damsel in distress. She doesn’t need saving; she saves herself and those around her. And Lisbeth doesn’t just get mad, she gets even. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo concerns a disgraced reporter, Mikael Blomkvist, who is hired by the wealthy industrialist to solve the 40-yearold disappearance of his teenaged niece, whom he believes to have been murdered by a member of their greedy family. Before hiring Mikael, the Noomi Rapace as Lisbeth Salander industrialist hires Lisbeth,

Watercolors

Gay Triple Play Film Series Featured at Gateway By Mary Damiano Arts Editor

man’s preoccupation with his first love and features Tye Olson, Kyle Clare, four-time Olympic Gold Medalist Greg Louganis and Karen Black. Watercolors begins with adult Danny, an artist whose erotic paintings evoke memories of his teenage love, Carter. A series of flashbacks reveal Danny and Carter as they struggle with their mutual attraction, and then their relationship. But adult Danny is haunted by what happened as a teenager, and his obsession with Carter threatens his relationship with his current lover. Watercolors has been on the film festival circuit, and the film has nabbed the Audience Award at the Fort Worth Gay and Lesbian International Film Festival, the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, and L.A. Outfest, as well as festival acting awards for Tye Olson. The last film in the series should be of special interest to South Florida audiences. Murder in Fashion, formerly titled Fashion Victim, is a fictionalized account of serial killer Andrew Cunanan. Featuring Jonathon Trent, Robert Miano, Stacey Dash and Cerina Vincent and directed by Ben Waller, Murder in Fashion portrays Cunanan as an aging gay party boy (he’s all of 27—yikes!) who’s fading looks prompt a cross-country killing spree culminating in the Miami Beach murder of designer Gianni Versace and Cunanan’s own suicide on a houseboat in 1997. The movie follows Cunanan as well as the FBI detective hot on his trail. Although Misconceptions, Watercolors and Murder in Fashion are presented as a series, each film has a separate ticket price.

trio of gay films will be presented at the Gateway Cinema 4 in Fort Lauderdale, for one week only, beginning April 9. Regent Releasing and Here Films are opening the films theatrically in a special triple split-bill series, presented by gay social networking site Gay.com. The films are Misconceptions, Murder in Fashion and Watercolors, which was screened here in February, part of the Art Explosion, the annual festival of LGBT arts presented by ArtsUnited. Ronald Satlof, director of Misconceptions, will attend the Friday, April 9, and Saturday, April 10, screenings of his film and will participate in an audience Q&A after the screening. The film series has been making its way around the country, and has already played in New York and Los Angeles. The concept was successful enough that a second film series from Regent Releasing and Here Films and presented by Gay.com is now touring the country with a different set of films. Misconceptions features A.J. Cook, Orlando Jones, David Sutcliffe (Rory’s dad on TV’s “Gilmore Girls”), and David Moscow in a comedy drama about a religiously conservative, married southern woman who receives a message from God instructing her to act as a surrogate mother for a married gay couple, a Jewish doctor and an African-American dance choreographer. Things really heat up when the choreographer shows up at her home to micro-manage her pregnancy. Watercolors, directed by David OliFor more information and showtimes, visit Sunveras, is a coming of age story framed by a riseCimenas.com.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Pride Season Continues in Miami 2nd Annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Grows in Second Year By Joey Amato

n April 17, Miami Beach Mayor Matti Bower and 30,000 of her closest friends will come together in celebration of the 2nd Annual Miami Beach Gay Pride. This year’s festivities will be led by actress Sharon Gless and activist/ Iraq veteran Lt. Dan Choi, who will serve as Grand Marshals. SFGN columnist Glenn Douglas Packard and drag diva extraordinaire Elaine Lancaster will serve as Masters of Ceremonies. Furthermore, Pride has recruited the remarkable talents of international superstars Crystal Waters, Danny Tenaglia and Estelle to entertain the fabulous crowd. The 2nd Annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade will begin at noon at 5th Street and Ocean Drive. The parade route will continue north to 15th Street and will feature

festive floats and the inspiring LEGACY couples—couples who have been in committed relationships for 20 years or more. Couples include Robert Collier & Chuck Hunziker, Cheryl Lockwood & Cindy Binder and Bill Pease & Frank Fiorentino, each of which have been together for more than 25 years. Following the parade, Pride continues at Lummus Park, between 10th and 14th Street, with exciting musical performances, an expo with LGBT-friendly vendors and businesses, refreshments and a family-friendly play zone. Stop by one of over 100 proud vendor booths including Equality Florida, Pridelines Youth Services, Wire Magazine and SunTrust Bank. In addition to Miami Gay Pride itself, the LGBT community can participate in a plethora of ancillary events before and after Pride. For further information, go to MiamiBeachGayPride.com

Glenn Douglas Packard

Miami Beach Gay Pride: Schedule of Events Saturday, April 17, 2010 > Noon: Ocean Drive - 5th to 15th Street 2nd Annual Miami Beach Gay Pride Parade Don’t miss the extraordinary sights, sounds and fun of the gayest parade in South Florida. > Noon - 8 PM: Lummus Park, 10th to 14th Street: Pride Festival and Expo

Crystal Waters Thursday, April 15, 2010 > Miami Dade Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce presents An Extraordinary Fundraiser benefiting Miami Beach Gay Pride 2010 Friday, April 16, 2010 > Lincoln Road’s Pink Dollar Pride Night. Take your pride to South Beach’s famous all-pedestrian street and enjoy shopping, dining and great Pride discounts!

Saturday, April 17 > 1 PM - 7 PM: Pride Festival Main Stage Events. Great DJs, Renowned En- > AIDS Walk Miami. Starting at Miami Beach Convention Center. Walk begins tertainers and Special Guest Appearances promptly at 9:00 AM. Post Walk Celebration begins at 10:00 AM > 8 PM – Alliance for GLBTQ Youth Party. Miami Beach Community Church, Lincoln Road. Inviting our LGBTQ youth to Saturday, April 17 > 8PM- ? Miami Beach Gay Pride celebrate Pride their way! Under 21 only. After-Parties. Keep that great pride feeling going! Attend one of the officially Officially Sanctioned sanctioned after-parties, with partial proPride Events ceeds benefiting Miami Beach Gay Pride. Tuesday, April 13, 2010 > Interfaith Pride Service, Unity on the Bay

Estelle

Danny Tenaglia

Wednesday, April 14, 2010 > The Miami Gay & Lesbian Film Festival celebrates Celluloid Pride. Poolside at the Raleigh Hotel, South Beach

Monday, April 19 > Pride Cruise – A Celebration at Sea. Sailing Monday, April 19 – Friday, April 23. Take your pride from Ocean Drive, to the Ocean, aboard the Norwegian Sky

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Justin Comes Out On Ugly Betty By A. Sebastian Fortino

LSEN, the Gay Lesbian & Straight Education Network, was allowed access to the script of a very special episode of “Ugly Betty” before it airs on ABC. The episode will premiere on Wednesday, April 7. GLSEN can’t divulge too much about the episode but they were allowed to share the image showing Justin dancing with love-interest Austin. This will come as no surprise to fans of the show following the unfashionable Betty Suarez (America Ferrara) as she navigates through Mode, the fictional fashion magazine where she is employed. Last week saw her nephew Justin (Mark Indelicato) kissing his love interest, Austin. “It’s exciting for us to see a young LGBT character being portrayed in a positive manner.You can’t overstate the importance for young people to be able to identify some of these issues that they are going through,” said Daryl Presgraves of GLSEN. One could be cynical and say the only reason the character is coming out is because the show is going off the air after this season. However, the show has always been gay friendly. Marc (Michael Urie) St. James was always out in the show even if he is hesitant to label himself anything other than queer in real life. The show even dealt with sexual reassignment when Alexis Meade (Rebecca Romijn) sister to Daniel Meade (Eric Mabius), Betty’s boss, appears in Episode 14 after she has transitioned to female. There was even something of a gay men-

tor for Justin in Marc’s character. Early on in the series Marc tells Justin—on the set of a magical Christmas photo shoot for Mode—that he should always be himself. He does advise Justin that he should learn to run fast, from bullies. However, rather than just chronicle the coming out of a young man still in high school, the episode’s partnership with GLSEN lets its young fans know there is help, hope, and mentors for them. Surely, thousands among “Ugly Betty’s” fan base consist of young, closeted individuals yearning for a glimpse of fabulous. While they haven’t divulged too much of the plot, GLESN plays an active part in the episode. The show’s creative team had this to say about GLSEN’s involvement. We hope you’ll watch this episode— maybe even gather a group of friends to watch it with you. As a supporter, you’ll be proud to know that GLSEN is mentioned prominently. But what’s even more important is that GLSEN’s message about safe schools for all students—LGBT, questioning or otherwise—is at the heart of Justin’s story.  So even if you’re not a fan of “Ugly Betty” tune in on Wednesday night, to ABC at 8 pm to support gay youth. Who knows, maybe watching Justin kiss Austin you’ll vicariously experience kissing the boy you wished you could have shared your love for in high school.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

How Mary Bondi Stays in the Loop psychology class and it all came together for me. It just felt natural.” Growing up, Bondi was always the person her friends confided in, so this path seemed like a natural fit. Bondi received her counseling d e g r e e from Nova Southeastern University and has been heading up her own practice for close to 20 years. Bondi’s practice has fared well despite the rough economic climate. “I have noticed an increase in clients more interested in insurance reimbursement then in prior years.” What sets Bondi apart from her competition is her ability to help others reach their full potential. “My complementary skills as a life and business coach have been used to guide individuals to achieve their desired goals in many areas of their lives.” Bondi states that sometimes these goals are achieved only after a person experiences some form of trauma or hit rock bottom. Despite her success, Bondi also faced great challenges. “In late 1999, around my birthday, I went to a theme park with my partner at the time. I was injured on a ride and suffered some back and neck injuries.” The injury progressed over time. As a result, Bondi saw a total of 22 doctors, both conventional and alternative. However, no one was able to provide permanent relief. “I was bed-ridden for about three years and had to be taken care of. I became disabled and had to close my practice as well.” As fate would have it, Bondi crossed paths with Dr. Joel Stein. “He spent 45 minutes on the phone with me and assured me he would help me get my life back.” Dr. Stein and a team of doctors began treating Bondi. “I began seeing there was a strong possibility that I could regain my life,” she says. She uses her life-threatening incident in the way she practices today: “I can relate to many of my client’s experiences when they feel hopeless. My experience has helped me to help others in countless ways.” She tells

her client’s they should never give up! After her recovery, Bondi had the idea to create an online community directory called In the Loop. “I see this as an extension of what I currently do, with a twist,” she says. Bondi has always supported the LGBT media community through both her advertising and publishing contributions related to her practice. “I found our small business community was in need of a more cost-effective way of advertising both on the web and in print.” Bondi wanted to offer these businesses an avenue to reach the gay community. After a similar publication went out of

BUSINESS

By Joey Amato

ary Bondi, owner of In the Loop Media, has a truly unique story of both triumph and tragedy. Born in London, Ontario, Bondi relocated to Florida with her family at a young age. “I was brought up in a traditional Italian family,” Bondi says, “My parents emigrated from Italy over 50 years ago and somehow they’ve managed to maintain their heavy Italian accents.” Bondi is fluent in Italian and credits her family for helping her understand other cultures and the business world. Bondi began working in the family business at the age of 5 and quickly observed her parents intense work ethic. “I always watched how they ran their businesses and was intrigued with their creative ideas. I admired how my father treated people and how people admired and respected him.” She realizes in order to have a successful business, you must create relationships with your clientele, which she is doing as both a publisher and licensed therapist. Becoming a therapist wasn’t Bondi’s first intention. “Early in my schooling, I studied busi ness and marketing. But then I took my first

business, Bondi saw the opportunity to create a format which would showcase LGBT businesses and offer the community resources, information and editorials in the same publication. “As a counselor and coach, I have worked with several business owners who have shared their interests in what they would like to see in a publication. Over the years I have kept these well intended ideas conscious while publishing In the Loop.” The first print issue of In the Loop was published this March and has been well received in the community. “We constantly receive emails and phone calls and messages from friends and advertisers saying they really enjoy the publication,” she recalls. Bondi’s strong work ethic and sincerity are the keys to her success. “I have brought this forward into my friendships, counseling and business. This also allows me to give back to the community on a larger scale than I have in the past.” In addition to her own publication, Bondi publishes an advice column which has appeared in The Fountain, Gir(L) and The Happy Times. For more information on Mary Bondi and In the Loop, visit www.InTheLoopFL.com.

April 5 , 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ SouthFloridaGayNews.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

CORRECTION We neglected to give credit to our friend and great photographer Pompano Bill for the photo of Tuesday’s Angels on the back cover of SFGN’s March 22 issue.

New Sexting Legislation continued from page 23

into consideration.” “It is stupid behavior that young people will regret for years to come, but it shouldn’t be treated as child pornography. We’re trying to make the punishment fit the crime,” said the bill’s Senate sponsor, Senator Dave Aronberg (D-Greenacres). If the bill passes on April 30th, both parties can be prosecuted if one teen sends a naked photo to another. But first-time offenders would get a slap on the wrist: eight hours of community service and a $25 fine. A second offense would be a misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to 60 days in jail and a $500 fine. The consequences of sexting can be unpredictable. An Ohio teenager hanged herself last May after her ex-boyfriend forwarded nude photos of her to other girls in their high school class. Even teen celebrities have been caught up in scandals involving sexting. In September 2007, naked images of Disney’s High School Musical star Vanessa Hudgens appeared on the Internet. The pictures were allegedly self-portraits taken by Hudgens on her cell phone and sent to her boyfriend, co-star Zac Efron. Hudgens later apologized for the photos. The National Council on State Legislatures reports that in 2009, Nebraska, Utah and Vermont changed their laws to lessen the penalties for teens who sext. This year, 13 states besides Florida are considering legislation that would treat teens who sext differently from adult sexual predators and pornographers. Fort Lauderdale criminal defense attorney Russell Cormican has advice for teens considering sending racy images of themselves via text or email. “Don’t do it. It’s stupid,” Cormican says.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Off the Wall pay less until we can also partake in all the privileges, benefits and protections. As a matter of fact, if I can’t adopt a child in Florida, why am I paying school taxes for some straight guy’s son when I don’t have the same right to adopt my own son and send him to the same school? Until we have the same rights as everybody else a dispensation from the IRS for out gay men should be granted. I believe we should start asking for it. I think the Human Rights Campaign should pick up the initiative and, for

continued from page 19

his outburst. I also want to go a step further: Forget about the silly Tea Party or Tea Baggers initiatives going around the country, after all taxes are a necessary evil and let’s be real on this. We cannot pretend to have infrastructures, services, an army, homeland security, a police force (as flawed as it might be), various agencies, satellites, space programs, education for the children of the straight community, etc., without paying taxes. At the same time I believe gay men have the undeniable right to abate their returns—of paying a lower percentage and be automatically placed in a lower bracket. Why? It’s simple. We are not fully recognized as citizens. We do not have the right to marry, for example, and since marriage is such a big part of our society we should

ally be interested in this. They are too busy throwing parties, mingling with the Stars and giving themselves awards. They have become another self serving lobbying outpost and lost sight of their original charter. I have no use for them. I want a 30% discount on my taxes until I can walk my partner down the isle of any City Hall. Why Not? Maybe I’ll ask our esteemed attorney, Norm Kent, to file a class action suit on our behalf. While you are completing your returns read or listen to the lyrics from Taxman by the Beatles, still very appropriate 40 years later. Let me tell you how it will be, There’s one for you, nineteen for me, ‘‘Cause I’m the Taxman, Yeah, I’m the Taxman.

once, be proactive. We have to start turning the tables where it counts and on issues that everybody can relate to. I doubt however the HRC would actu-

Crossword Puzzle

56 Canadian map abbr. 57 Regret not spitting 59 Where Maupin grew up 64 First indications of orientation 66 Music synthesizer 67 Genie portrayer Barbara 68 Prop for “I have a headache tonight” 69 Spread it and lick it 70 Boston cager, briefly 71 Social customs 72 Silence for Copland 73 Fairy story

22 When most people retire 26 “M-m-m!” to Sappho Across 27 Eulogizer of Diana in song 1 Lord of the Rings singer 28 Cook in a wok, maybe 5 Atlas Shrugged author 29 Gone with the Wind bad guy 9 Wet spots on a blanket 30 Gay nightlife district of sand of London 14 Scuttlebutt 32 ___ Minh City,Vietnam 15 Ending with switch 33 They make points by 16 Sitcom family name touching the body 17 Otello villain 36 Feel out of sorts 18 Like a tight opening 37 Math subject 19 Lott of Mississippi 41 Joe of NCIS 20 Spicy Susan Feniger dish 42 Holy, to Manuel Puig 23 Benjamin Hoff’s 45 Holly Near’s The ___ of Pooh Down “Singing for ___ Lives” 24 Tigers of the NCAA 1 Spartacus or Ben-Hur 48 Word on a Barney Frank 25 Black eye 2 He took on a pair of bears poster 27 Frilly greens 3 Boo-Boo’s buddy 50 Some Mapplethorpe 31 Left, to Rimbaud 4 NASA used to equipment 34 Return to homophobia, e.g. shoot them off 52 Snail on the table 35 Solemn vow 5 Save from going down 54 Joan of Arc’s “hardwear” 38 Put an end to at sea, e.g. 55 What squirrels do with 39 Calendar abbr. 6 Pisa’s river their nuts 40 Summer tops 7 Sentence subjects, often 57 One of the Marianas 43 Dick Button’s milieu 8 Small carriage 58 He sang of Alice 44 Sgt. Snorkel’s pooch 9 Mexican food brand 60 Tools for cultivating pansies 46 Type of sci, in college 10 Earhart’s medium 61 Head output 47 Prefix with type 11 Homophobic allegations, e.g. 62 Title role for Jodie 49 Award for Ursula LeGuin 12 Harvey’s Hairspray role 63 Initial stake 51 Phil Collins’ old band 13 “And ___ bed” 65 Plumb of The Brady Bunch Solution on page 24 53 Writer Reinaldo 21 Land in the sea Compact

Should five per cent appear too small, Be thankful I don’t take it all. ‘Cos I’m the Taxman, Yeah, I’m the Taxman. (If you drive a car ), I’ll tax the street, (If you try to sit ), I’ll tax your seat, (If you get too cold ), I’ll tax the heat, (If you take a walk ), I’ll tax your feet. Yeah, I’m the Taxman. James C. Kemp holds a Ph. D., University of Washington, Speech-Language Pathology and Linguistics; an M.A., University of Florida, Speech-Language Pathology and Audiology; and a B.S., Syracuse University. Speech-Language Pathology and Audioloy. He is a professor, clinician, author, and teacher, working exclusively with and on behalf of pediatric populations exhibiting communication, language, and speech issues.

For those readers who want further information about the non-separation of “church and state,” one may go to the IRS.gov web site. If a reader wants to know what other organizations do not have to pay taxes to the IRS, a good site is http://taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/key-elements/exempt/which.cfm. Another most interesting site which provides detail after detail in a very readable format is http://churchlawtoday.com/private/library/pcl/p14b.htm. A third site which discusses the pros and cons pertinent to this non-separation of church and state is http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/law/lwsch/journals/bclaw/42_4/03_FMS.htm.

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

CLASSIFIEDS@HOTSPOTSMAGAZINE.COM

Rent/Lease cont’d CHARMING LAKE RIDGE 1/1 In a 5 plex. Garden setting. Close to shops, transport, etc. Clean & ready now. Cent AC, tile floors, ceiling fans, W/D on prem. Small pets ok w/approv. $760/Mo. Michael 954-540-3543 -------------------------------------------------2/1 IN OAKLAND PARK 5-PLEX - GREAT NEIGHBORS Good size apartment, ideal floorplan for roommates. Living/dining room with open plan kitchen, dishwasher, fridge/freezer, Central air, tile floors, New paint, parking, small pets with approval. Clean and ready now. $895/Mo. Michael 954-540-3543 -------------------------------------------------WILTON MANORS AREA APARTMENTS **$675 Large Studio with full bathroom, kitchen, and walk in closet with laundry facilities on site, and private locked courtyard. All utilities included. **$1,100 Large 2 bedroom, 2 full bathroom’s and walk in closet Apt. Newly remodeled with new cabinets and tile throughout the unit; and laundry facilities on site. Private locked courtyard. -------------------------------------------------FORT LAUDERDALE - SOUTH MIDDLE RIVER Completely remodeled 3/2 house. All new appliances, fixtures, W/D, central AC, ceiling fans and wood floors throughout. $1,375/Mo. Call Brian 954-610-1320 -------------------------------------------------2/1.5 ON EAST CYPRESS CREEK REnovated, beautiful complex. Immediately available, furnished, $400/week (includes all) or $850/Mo. + Util. 2nd Floor corner unit. W/D on prem. Call 954-614-8733 -------------------------------------------------DECO COTTAGE NEAR WILTON MANORS Studio, separate full kitchen, pets ok. $550/Mo. Off Andrews. Call 781-249-9562.

-------------------------------------------------HOLLYWOOD Studio apartment with seperate bedroom. Fully furnished, full kitchen, cable TV, utilities included. Close to beaches and downtown. $650/Mo. 954-929-2365 -------------------------------------------------3/1 DOWNTOWN FORT LAUDERDALE W/ DETACHED EFFICIENCY that can be rental income, making this a 4/2, A/C, W/D, larged fenced yard, pets ok. $1,800/Mo. Call 954-270-4544 -------------------------------------------------2/2 PALM AIRE COUNTRY CLUB GREAT LOCATION Spacious, quiet, w/screened-in balcony, new wood floors, hurricane proof windows/shutters, central AC, ceiling fans, W/D on floor, elevator, pool, golf course. $1,100/Mo. Includes cable tv/water. Easygoing Landlord. Call 754-224-6146 -------------------------------------------------FT LAUDERDALE MIDDLE RIVER AREA LOW MOVE IN /EASY TERMS* 1BD/1BA in 4 unit bldg. All Tile $690/Mo. or $175/Wk*. W/D on premisis. 6 or 12 Mo. Lease. 954-527-9225 -------------------------------------------------LAKERIDGE RENTAL HOME 3BD/2BA house in friendly neighborhood blocks from shopping, beach and Wilton Manors nightlife. Well maintained property, tile throughout, totally fenced yard, with ceiling fans and extra laundry/ mud room. (W/D not included). $1,300/ Mo.F/L/S. References. Call Randy for appt. 954-347-1016 -------------------------------------------------MIDDLE RIVER TERRACE PETS OK Spacious 1/1. Recently Painted. Tile and appliances. Large private yard/patio. Free laundry facilities on premises. Cent AC, private parking in nice quiet neighborhood and near the beach and Georgies. $725/Mo. + electric. Call 954-873-2066, 954-739-2995

-------------------------------------------------731 NW 1ST AVEOFF OF ANDREWS AVE. Completely Remodeled 1BR/1BA on beautiful street lined with new townhouses. Large fenced yard, very quet, private laudry on premises, parking. $750mo + 1/ mo security. Gino 954-551-3621 -------------------------------------------------FORT LAUDERDALE/VICTORIA PARK EFFICIENCY $700/MO. Full kitchen, tiled, ceiling fan, AC, full of windows w/private, gated garden and deck. W/D on prem. Includes utilities. 954-522-0062 SPAND321@AOL.COM -------------------------------------------------MIDDLE RIVER TERRACE Large 1BD/1BA in fourplex. Tile floors throughout, laundry facilities, parking, less than 1 mile to Wilton Drive. $750/ Mo. Also 2/2, Extra large, Cent AC, fenced backyard, quiet, $950/Mo. Call 954-815-2550 -------------------------------------------------1/1 CLOSE TO BEACH & GATEWAY Key West style 1/1, central AC, vaulted ceilings, DW, open floor plan, private fenced courtyard, pets OK. W/D on premises. $875, first/security. 954-914-9144 -------------------------------------------------WALK TO WILTON DRIVE RESTAURANTS AND CLUBS 2BR/1BA - Central AC, freshly painted, renovated kitchen, built in micro, D/W, tile floor. Only $875/Mo. 30 lb pet limit. Call David at 917-710-8852, 407-491-1353 -------------------------------------------------EXCELLENT 2BD/2BA CONDO, QUIET RIVERSIDE COMMUNITY Off NE 6th Ave in Wilton Manors w/ pool, large shady balcony, living w/ seperate dining area, all upgrades. Available now. Unfurnished Mo.-to-Mo. only $900. Call 954-561-5698

Professional Services LYONS SNYDER LAW GROUP Criminal Defense Attorneys 954-462-8035 www.LyonsSnyder.com -------------------------------------------------LAW OFFICES OF GEORGE CASTRATARO Bankruptcy, Civil Litigation, Estate Planning/Wills, Foreclosure Defense & Negotiation, GLBT Issues, Small Business. 954-573-1444 www.LAWGC.com

-------------------------------------------------MAYERSOHN LAW GROUP P.A. State/Federal Criminal Defense & White Collar Crime 954-765-1900, 866-765-1900 www.MayersohnLaw.com -------------------------------------------------DRUCKER LAW OFFICES Personal Injury, Auto Accidents, Wrongful Death, Slip/Trip & Falls, Defective Product Injuries, Workplace Injuries. 954-755-2120 www.FloridaLawTeam.com

-------------------------------------------------LAW OFFICES OF CHRIS MANCINI, PA Criminal Defense, Civil Litigation Office: 954-522-2744 Cell: 305-219-6919 www.ChrisManciniEsq.com -------------------------------------------------BROWARD BOYS PAINTERS Residential & Commercial Interior & Exterior 954-720-9605 www.BrowardBoys.com

-------------------------------------------------A&A ROOFING AND GENERAL CONTRACTORS 954-274-9378 Licensed & Insured #93BS00177 -------------------------------------------------STEPHEN D. JEROME ATTORNEY AT LAW Bankruptcy, Mortgage Foreclosure Defense, Wills, Estate Planning & Probate, Real Estate Closings, Domestic Partnership Agreements 954-946-0916, SJerome_Esq@bellsouth.net -------------------------------------------------ATTORNEY ROBIN L. BODIFORD, JD, MSW Wills & Trusts, Bankruptcy, Trust Admin, Probate, GLBT Issues, Incorporations 954-630-2707, www.RobinBodifordLaw.com -------------------------------------------------GREGORY W. KABEL ATTORNEY AT LAW Wills & Trusts, Estate Planning, Probate, Domestic Agreements, Business Formation & Transactions, Real Estate. 2312 Wilton Drive, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 954-761-7770, gwkesq@bellsouth.net -------------------------------------------------EXPERT CARPET, TILE & UPHOLSTERY CLEANING BY DESI $59.99 2 Rooms, Deep Steam Cleaning Carpet or Sofa, Free Deodorizer $99.00 Winter Special Tile & Grout Or 35 cents per sq.ft. 954-383-5054 -------------------------------------------------THE PAINTING COMPANY Residential & Commercial Solids, Faux Finishes, Murals, Color Coordination, Venetian Plaster, Interior/Exterior. 954-292-8219 PAINTandFAUX@aol.com -------------------------------------------------CGR PROFESSIONAL PAINTING Broward, West Palm, Dade Residential/Commercial 786-419-1360 -------------------------------------------------TOTAL MANAGEMENT SOLUTIONS, INC. Condo & HOA Management Bookkeeping, Tenant Screening Contractor/Employee Oversight 954-727-3833, www.TotalMSolutions.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com -------------------------------------------------PANE IN THE GLASS Window Tint Removal, Window Cleaning Power Washing, Screen Repairs Handyman, Painting. Call Scotty 954-566-4415, Lic. & Insured -------------------------------------------------HOUSE & APARTMENT CLEANING Call Haroldo and Henrique today to get a FREE QUOTE and have your house sparkling clean! Great References. Call us at 954-242-5044. -------------------------------------------------INCOME & BUSINESS TAX RETURNS AND PLANNING - OVER 35 YEARS EXPERIENCE In-home services. If you haven’t filled 2009 and prior years, you must file by April 15th. (Statute of limitations for 2006 exp. on April 15th). Lawrence M. Krupnick Accounting. Call Larry 954-830-4321 -------------------------------------------------IRRIGATION SYSTEM REPAIR AND MAINTENANCE 19 yrs. experience, excellent work, referrals by request. Call Roberto at 954-383-8980 -------------------------------------------------ONE STOP SHOPPING AND ASSOCIATES HANDYMAN/REMODELING AND MORE WITH OVER 30 YEARS EXPERIENCE IN ALL PHASES OF... Home improvements, a/c, extensions, electrical, plumbing, painting, kitchen, baths, flooring/ trim, steel erector and fabricator. PGT Impact Windows at Factory Direct Prices. Former owner of a NY remodeling co. as well as a hands on worker, because I demand perfection in all I do. Please call Mitch for prompt honest and dependable service. Lic. CGC1514441, EC13001388 and insured. (954) 253-4650 -------------------------------------------------GREAT MASSAGE! GREAT RATES! PRIVATE STUDIO NOW OPEN! Great Massage, Great Rates. See my Display ad, or visit my website at www. massagebyjim.com Call Jim Libonati at 954-600-5843. Licensed, insured and nationally certified MA50898 -------------------------------------------------EXPERT AIR ADVICE AIR CONDITIONING REPAIRS Cooling is what we do best. FPL rebates, insured, CACO 36862 FREE estimates on replacements $75 tune up, Call 954-764-1990 -------------------------------------------------ONE CALL DOES IT ALL BY HOUSE! Carpet Cleaning, House Cleaning, Tile & Grout, Upholstery Air Ducts, Pressure Cleaning- Patios, sidewalks, & drive ways. Construction and Foreclosure Clean Up. Cell 954-515-7615 -------------------------------------------------PLANNING A MOVE? At Cousins USA Moving & Storage, we want you to smile when you think of moving day, and we want you to tell a friend how pleasant your moving experience has been. For more info on about how we can make moving day a good day. Call toll-free at 1-888-300-MOVE, ask for Carlos. -------------------------------------------------NEED A LAWYER ? Criminal Defense * DUI Traffic * Accidents * Injuries * Personal Injury * AAA Attorney Referral Service 24 Hours * 1-800-733-5342 -------------------------------------------------RTS ELECTRIC 24 HOUR SERVICE Quality work at a reasonable price. Licensed & Insured #98-CME-1807-X. Contact 954-257-9509. Also, all size generator service and installation. -------------------------------------------------DEREK’S 24 HR HANDYMAN SERVICE Introducing our new cabinet shop. For all your Custom Made Cabintetry, Countertops and Laminates. MUST SEE OUR WORK! JUST ASK OUR CLIENTS! All Electrical to code, any/all plumbing work, drywall finish work/repair, crown/baseboard pro-install, int/ext painting, demo work, pressure washing, DECOR TILE Install, complete home up-dates. For large jobs, 4-man crew abailable. WE HANDLE IT ALL. Instant call back direct service response. No job is ever too small. Excellent references. Derek 954-825-5598 or email: DerekGallaway@att.net

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April 5 , 2010 â&#x20AC;˘ SouthFloridaGayNews.com

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Retired General Apologizes for Dutch “Gay Army” Comments Sheehan: Dutch mud in his eye

“The Netherlands has been integrated for many years. Our generals don’t need lecturing from old school thinkers,” Vonk said. In an email to the former Dutch Defense

chief of staff, Sheehan apologized for his controversial remarks. “I am sorry that my recent public recollection of those discussions of 15 years ago inaccurately reflected your thinking on some specific social issues in the military,” Sheehan wrote. “To be clear, the failure on the ground in Srebrenica was in no way the fault of the individual soldiers.”

General Who Supports Extending DADT Won’t Be Reprimanded

By Cliff Dunn

he retired Marine Corps general who claimed that incorporating openly gay troops had negatively impacted the Dutch army’s battle readiness and resulted in an atrocity against thousands of Bosnian civilians at the hands of Serb forces in 1995 has apologized for his remarks. Retired General John Sheehan had made the inflammatory statements on March 18 during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee concerning the future of the Pentagon’s Don’t Ask Don’t Tell (DADT) policy. Sheehan opposes President Obama’s plan to end DADT. But the 69-year-old former Supreme Commander of NATO triggered outrage on both sides of the Atlantic when he suggested that the Netherlands’ decision to “socialize” its military “led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war.” Said Sheehan: “The case in point that I’m referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs. The battalion was under-strength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off, and executed them.” A shocked Senator Carl Levin (D-Michigan), who chairs the Armed Services Com-

mittee, asked the retired jarhead “Did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?” “They included that as part of the problem,” Sheehan answered. Srebrenica was a UN safe haven under the protection of Dutch peacekeepers when Bosnian Serbs overran the town in 1995 and murdered more than 8,000 Muslim men and boys. The remarks about the infamous massacre sparked uproar among Dutch leaders. Peter Balkenende, the Dutch prime minister, called Sheehan’s comments “shameful and outrageous” and “beneath contempt,” and that the retired Marine general had been “disrespectful towards all troops involved” in the Srebrenica massacre. Balkenende said, “Toward Dutch troops, homosexual or heterosexual, it is way off the mark to talk like that about people and the work they do under very difficult circumstances.” Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop called Sheehan’s comments “scandalous, and unworthy of a soldier.” Christian Vonk, 24, who lives in both Broward County and the Netherlands, says the Dutch military has a proud history and the country’s leaders don’t like to be misrepresented.

he Pentagon says it won’t be issuing a formal reprimand to an Army general who expressed defiance over President Obama’s plans to roll back DADT. Army Secretary John McHugh told reporters that Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon will not be receiving a letter of reprimand or be forced to step down from his post. Mixon, who commands U.S. Army Forces in the Pacific, had urged troops to openly support keeping the ban on openly gay service members in place. Analysts say that Mixon’s comments were especially defiant. While the Joint Chiefs kept their sharpest criticism reserved for their Congressional testimony—they are required by law to give Congress their personal opinions when they are asked for them—the three-star general sent a letter unsolicited to the newspaper “Stars and Stripes,” with a call to action for his troops. “Now is the time,” Mixon wrote, “to write your elected officials and chain of command and express your views. If those of us who are in favor of retaining the current policy do not speak up, there is no chance to retain the current policy.” The general’s comments underscore the challenges Obama faces as he attempts to take the teeth out of the discriminatory policy. Pentagon officials say they want to garner opinions from troops in order to address their concerns. Mixon was informed by Army Chief of Staff General George Casey that his remarks were inappropriate, and received a rare public rebuke from Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Admiral Mike Nullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, who admonished Mixon for using his rank to challenge the President and to advocate a political position.

“The answer is not advocacy,” said Mullen. “It is, in fact, to vote with your feet.” Locally, reaction from LGBT veterans echoed that of the Joint Chiefs chairman. “As a former service member, I was taught that the Commander in Chief had the final say in military matters,” said Mark LaFontaine, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and a national officer for American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER). “Whether you disagree with those orders is irrelevant.” Todd Krough, an Air Force veteran, concurred. “It seems to me that Mullen was in essence telling Mixon to ‘get with it’ or ‘get out’,” Krough mused. “What else would he mean by ‘vote with your feet’?” Mixon is not the first member of the top brass to buck the President over his DADT plans. General James Conway, the commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, said the policy is helping to keep discipline and order and that lifting the ban during a two-front war would be dispruptive. In a separate interview with Military. com, Conway said he wouldn’t force Marines to share rooms on base with gay service members. AVER’s LaFontaine is incredulous about Conway’s remarks. “The military is not a democracy. There is no voting on whether to follow orders or to disobey them, and personal opinions are never encouraged, offered or expected. You do as you are told,” he insists. “President Obama needs to remind his Joint Chiefs of that and ask that they enforce what is asked of them to do,” he added. “If someone disobeys those orders then they should face the consequences of reprimand, or demotion or discharge from the military.” /CD

south florida gay news 11" X 12" triM

April 5 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

HRC and ERiC alva aRE figHting to REpEal “don’t ask, don’t tEll.” Eric Alva was the first U.S. service member wounded in Iraq. He lost his right leg to a land mine. He is a proud Marine and a gay man. “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” keeps patriotic women and men like Eric from serving openly. He is working with the Human Rights Campaign to repeal this law. Join us and help to repeal it now. ★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★ over the past months, we have worked nationwide to repeal dadt, focusing on 103 priority congressional districts. our efforts include: ★

More than 300,000 phone calls and e-mails to members of Congress.

★

275 HRC members lobbied on Capitol Hill to repeal DADT and pass ENDA and other key legislation.

★

Beyond the Beltway, our members conducted more than 250 in-district lobby visits.

★

In 41 cities, we held events that highlighted military veterans opposed to DADT, and over the next several months we will conduct dozens more.

★

On May 11, we will send hundreds of veterans to Capitol Hill to lobby for repeal.

Join HRC and Eric to repeal dadt visit www.hrc.org/Repealdadt