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April 19, 2010 • VOLUME 1 • ISSUE 13

Obama Mends Old Wounds Extends Health Care Rights to Gay Partners pages 2 and 5

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

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page

GLSEN’s Day of Silence Fights Harassment

19

page

SFGN Profiles: GLCC’s Paul Hyman

29

page

Waugh’s Brideshead: Gay Young Things

39

page

Equestrian Prosecuted for Passing HIV

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

President’s Historic Initiative

Hospital Visitation for LGBT Partners Memorandum to the Secretary of Health and Human Services

SUBJECT: Respecting the Rights of Hospital Patients to Receive Visitors and to Designate Surrogate Decision Makers for Medical Emergencies

T

here are few moments in our lives that call for greater compassion and companionship than when a loved one is admitted to the hospital. In these hours of need and moments of pain and anxiety, all of us would hope to have a hand to hold, a shoulder on which to lean—a loved one to be there for us, as we would be there for them.

Yet every day, all across America, patients are denied the kindnesses and caring of a loved one at their sides— whether in a sudden medical emergency or a prolonged hospital stay. Often, a widow or widower with no children is denied the support and comfort of a good friend. Members of religious orders are sometimes unable to choose someone other than an immediate family member to visit them and make medical decisions on their behalf. Also uniquely affected are gay and lesbian Americans who are often barred from the bedsides of the partners with whom they may have spent decades of their lives—unable to be there for the person they love, and unable to act as a legal surrogate if their partner is incapacitated.

For all of these Americans, the failure to have their wishes respected concerning who may visit them or make medical decisions on their behalf has real consequences. It means that doctors and nurses do not always have the best information about patients’ medications and medical histories and that friends and certain family members are unable to serve as intermediaries to help communicate patients’ needs. It means that a stressful and at times terrifying experience for patients is senselessly compounded by indignity and unfairness. And it means that all too often, people are made to suffer or even to pass away alone, denied the comfort of companionship in their final moments while a loved one is left worrying and pacing down the hall.

Many States have taken steps to try to put an end to these problems. North Carolina recently amended its Patients’ Bill of Rights to give each patient “the right to designate visitors who shall receive the same visitation privileges as the patient’s immediate family members, regardless of whether the visitors are legally related to the patient”—a right that applies in every hospital in the State.

Delaware, Nebraska, and Minnesota have adopted similar laws.

My Administration can expand on these important steps to ensure that patients can receive compassionate care and equal treatment during their hospital stays. By this memorandum, I request that you take the following steps: Initiate appropriate rulemaking, pursuant to your authority under 42 U.S.C. 1395x and other relevant provisions of law, to ensure that hospitals that participate in Medicare or Medicaid respect the rights of patients to designate visitors.

It should be made clear that designated visitors, including individuals designated by legally valid advance directives (such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies), should enjoy visitation privileges that are no more restric-

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tive than those that immediate family members enjoy.You should also provide that participating hospitals may not deny visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

The rulemaking should take into account the need for hospitals to restrict visitation in medically appropriate circumstances as well as the clinical decisions that medical professionals make about a patient’s care or treatment.

Ensure that all hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid are in full compliance with regulations, codified at 42 CFR 482.13 and 42 CFR 489.102(a), promulgated to guarantee that all patients’ advance directives, such as durable powers of attorney and health care proxies, are respected, and that patients’ representatives otherwise have the right to make informed decisions regarding patients’ care. Additionally, I request that you issue new guidelines, pursuant to your authority under 42 U.S.C. 1395cc and other relevant provisions of law, and provide technical assistance on how hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid can best comply with the regulations and take any additional appropriate measures to fully enforce the regulations.

Provide additional recommendations to me, within 180 days of the date of this memorandum, on actions the Department of Health and Human Services can take to address hospital visitation, medical decision making, or other health care issues that affect LGBT patients and their families.

This memorandum is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

You are hereby authorized and directed to publish this memorandum in the Federal Register.

Barack Obama, President of the United States

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April 19 , 2010 • Volume 1 • Issue 13

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Media News

Out Magazine Ranks the 50 Most Powerful Ellen DeGeneres leads the pack

By Joey Amato

O

WIKIMEDIA

ut, the world’s leading gay fashion and lifestyle brand, presents the fourth annual Power 50, a who’s who of prominent gay men and women. From entertainers to politicians, writers, and cultural icons, the Power 50 honors the influencers affecting the culEllen on top tural and social landscape for the LGBT community.

Ellen DeGeneres tops this year’s list, with America getting a double dose of the multiEmmy winner via her hugely popular talk show and her new gig as American Idol judge.

DeGeneres traded spots this year with Massachusetts congressman Barney Frank.

Although Ellen DeGeneres finds herself back in pole position, many names have fallen or dropped out altogether, referring to Rosie O’Donnell, while others like Rich Ross and Tom Ford have rocketed up as their successes warrant. And then there is Adam Lambert, who always grabs the media’s attention because of his jaw-dropping antics.

Financial guru Suze Orman ranked 27 as her CNBC television show, website, six books, and columns online and in print continue to be financial beacons for millions of Americans.

InterActiveCorp chairman Barry Diller made yet another appearance on Forbes’s magazine’s wealthiest list with a net worth of $1.2 billion and came in sixth on the Power 50.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Political News

Gay Mayor Elected in Gainesville Mandatory Recount Still Results in Lowe Victory

By Joey Amato

T

he City of Gainesville has elected its first openly gay mayor, Democratic candidate Craig Lowe.

Because Alachua County election law requires an automatic recount in elections decided by less than 0.5%, and Lowe’s slim margin of victory was a bare 35 votes, a recount was mandated.

The recount, which took place on Friday, ultimately declared Lowe victorious over his opponent, Don Marsh by 42 votes.

Voter turnout was strong, with nearly 16% of registered voters taking part in the election. The University of Florida student body was especially active in showing their support for Lowe.

“Students at UF and Sante Fe College were supportive from the beginning. A large

One organization percentage of total which showed their votes came from studisapproval of Lowe dents at those two was the Dove Outinstitutions,” Lowe reach Church. The or­ said, urging more ganization is under in college-age people vestigation for authoto vote in future rizing a sign in front of elections. the church that read, The much antici“No Homo Mayor.” pated race received A top church official statewide attention confirmed that the because of anti-gay church had erected attacks on Lowe by the sign. local religious leaders.

Pastor Wayne Sapp Conservative organihas been posting antizations had posted Craig Lowe gay videos online, flyers, online videos and heated advertisements against calling Lowe a “fag” and saying that Lowe and LGBTs in general. These ads were “Gainesville should not be turned into circulated throughout the community of ‘Homoville.’”

Lowe is active in many LGBT rights orGainesville.

Although he plans on facing some op- ganizations including the Human Rights position in the future, Lowe is proud of his Council of North Central Florida and Safe sexual orientation and calls the win a vic- Schools Coalition of Alachua County. The tory for the entire LGBT community- “It is new mayor credits Equality Florida for convery gratifying that the voters of this city tributing thousands of dollars and months stepped forward and showed their support of volunteer hours to help ensure his victory.

Although equality issues rank high on for a gay man,” he stated.

The anti-Lowe camp not only used Lowe’s Lowe’s list, he will take the first part of his sexuality against him during the campaign, term, which begins May 20, to focus on balbut also his support of a city ordinance that ancing the city’s budget.

“Many cities across the country are strugadded transgender people to the city’s equal gling as it pertains to their balance sheet due protection law.

The group had peppered the city with fli- to the current economic climate. I think foers declaring that the ordinance should be cusing on our economy is the most imporrepealed because it allowed “predators and tant issue at this time because it affects the greatest amount of citizens,” he states. men” to legally enter women’s restrooms.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Obama Mends Old Wounds

hospitals receiving federal funds are directed to not deny visitation based on sexual orientation or gender identity

Extends Health Care Rights to Gay Partners

By Lisa Keen

Keen News Service

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resident Obama issued a surprise memorandum Thursday night, April 15, calling for an end to discrimination against gays and lesbians by hospital visitation policies that limit visitors to immediate family members.

The timing for release of the memo was a little odd—at 7:29 p.m. while the president was onboard Air Force One enroute back to Washington from a day of events in Florida.

After signing the memorandum onboard Air Force One, the president then called Washington State resident Janice Langbehn to express his sympathy for the loss of her partner of 18 years, Lisa Pond.

Pond and Langbehn’s story was the subject of a profile last year in the New York Times, illustrating one of the urgent problems gay couples face because they cannot marry and because some entities still refuse to respect their relationships.

During a family vacation to Miami, Florida, in February 2007, Pond collapse with

an aneurysm and was taken by ambulance to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s trauma center. When Langbehn and their three children arrived at the hospital, a hospital social worker said they would not be able to visit Pond, even though Langbehn and Pond had executed a health proxy and Langbehn had a friend fax the document to the hospital.

According to a press release from Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, which is representing Langbehn in a lawsuit against the hospital, the president apologized to Langbehn for what happened to her family.

“It was very rewarding to hear ‘I’m sorry,’ from the President because that’s what I have wanted to hear from Jackson Memorial since the night Lisa died,” said Langbehn, in the statement. “I hope that taking these steps makes sure that no family ever has to experience the nightmare that my family has gone through.”

President Obama’s memorandum directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to “ensure” that hospitals which participate in Medicare and Medicaid “respect the rights of patients to designate visitors” and allow those

New Jackson Health Policy for LGBT Partners

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artners of gay and lesbian patients are now assured by Jackson Health System to have the same visiting rights as heterosexuals, according to a new Jackson policy that redefines the terms “family’’ and “family member.”

Recognized family members now may include people Janice Langbehn who are not legally related to the patient, including “spouses, domestic partners and both different-sex and same-sex significant others,” announced SAVE Dade, one of several gay rights groups that worked for a year with Jackson to redefine the policy.

Gay and lesbian nonbiological parents are also assured of visits when minor children are hospitalized.

Jackson developed the policy after Janice Langbehn, pictured, accused a Jackson Memorial Hospital worker of not letting her visit her dying partner, Lisa Pond, in 2007.

visitors the same privileges as immediate family members.

More specifically, the memo instructs HHS to ensure that hospitals receiving federal funds not deny visitation based on sexual orientation or gender identity, along with the usual categories of non-discrimination.

Human Rights Fund spokesman Michael Cole said his organization had been working with the White House on the memo language for some time. He said he was unaware of any particular reason for the timing.

“It was a long process for them to get the memo language set and all of their ducks in a row,” said Cole, “so my impression is that this was the point at which it was done.”

The April 15 memorandum is the sec-

M

ond memorandum issued by the president to specifically help LGBT people.

In June 2009, President Obama signed a memorandum to the Office of Personnel Management Director requesting that the heads of all executive departments and agencies “conduct a review” of current benefits available to federal employees within 90 days “to determine what authority they have to extend such benefits to same-sex domestic partners of Federal employees” and submit a report on this to OPM. Kevin Cathcart, ex­e­cutive director of Lambda Legal, called the president’s hospital visitation memorandum a “great leap forward in addressing discrimination affecting LGBT continued on page 34

eanwhile...

Roll Call, a newspaper specializing in covering Capitol Hill, reported Thursday that HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct has “drafted rules that for the first time would define gay married couples as ‘spouses’ for the purposes of filling out their annual Congressional financial disclosure forms.”

The forms are used by members of Congress and their staffs to make annual disclosures of any additional sources of income and investments by them and their spouses and dependent children. The draft rules propose requiring that any members or staff who have married same-sex spouses in Washington, D.C. or any of the states which provide for equal marriage rights to include information about their spouse’s finances, the same as straight members and staff must do about their legal spouses.

Roll Call quoted a spokesman for the Family Research Council as saying the draft rules violate the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which prohibits federal recognition of same-sex marriages.The paper noted that the draft ruled had been removed from the committee’s website.

The Committee’s website currently lists instructions for filling out the form for calendar year 2008 disclosures even though the forms due next month are for calendar year 2009.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Monthly Garden Club at Equality Park

By A. Sebastian Fortino

C

hip Jones, Maeva Malloy, and Chuck Nicholls are hosti¬¬¬ng the first meeting of the newly proposed monthly garden club at Equality Park. At 7 PM on Wednesday April 21 guests are invited to walk the proposed memorial garden site on the Middle River, located at the South Eastern section of Equality Park. The garden club aspect of the meeting will start at 7:30 PM. “The garden will be part of the overall beautification of Equality Park,” said Chuck Nicholls who earned the degree of master gardener soon after his move to Southern Florida. “We hope that roughly 20% of the park will be devoted to a memorial garden.”

The proposed memorial garden is open For further information please contact Maeva Malloy MeowsFive6710@aol.cm Chip Jones ChipJones14@hotmail.com Chuck Nicholls Canick@aol.com

to the memory of anyone, whether you commemorate a late partner, loved one, or 4-legged friend. Through memorial bricks with inscribed names the Pride Center garden club hopes to amass enough revenue to develop the gardens.

“We’d like to develop a gazebo within the next year and a half, which will be a striking centerpiece for Equality Park,” Nicholls added hopefully.

The inaugural meeting hopes to achieve 2 things at the same time, acquiring members for the garden club and attract founders to develop the memorial garden.

At the root of the garden club is the desire to disperse horticultural information through guest speakers that are gardening experts.

Their first speaker is Jesse Durko of Jesse Durko’s Nursery, who will speak on public gardens.

Once the club is established the group might request a nominal membership fee, of less than $40 per household.

“We want it to be affordable, and that is a typical amount for community garden

clubs,” Nicholls added.

So far about 40 people have responded to Jones, Malloy and Nicholls’ invitation to attend next Wednesday. The green space at Equality Park is already beautiful, but please attend to make the proposed memorial garden a verdant reality.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Tony Adams

Questions and Answers with Attorney Elizabeth Schwartz

By Tony Adams

“I

didn’t come out—even to myself—until after college. Sometimes when I come out to friends who knew me way back when, their reaction is ‘Oh we always knew you were a lesbian, but we never dreamed you’d be a lawyer!’”

The double L-worded Attorney Elizabeth Schwartz is a fascinating study in the twists and turns that life can bring even for someone as self-directed as she.

On March 26th, she was named an honoree for this year’s Women Worth Knowing of the Miami Beach Women’s Conference. In her acceptance speech about the rights of unmarried couples, she spoke of being appreciative that the honor highlighted her work for the LGBT community and that discrimination is not acceptable.

The award is now seventeen years old and Attorney Schwartz is the only out lesbian to have won it in recent years.

Did she always want to be a lawyer?

“I’m a Broward girl, born in Miami Beach but grew up in Hollywood. I went to Penn where I got very involved in civil rights issues like race relations, pro-choice and homelessness. I was the kind of activist student who would do things like staple wire coat hangers to trees with signs that said ‘This is not a surgical instrument.’ Philadelphia was just too cold for me. I lived in Israel for a while after college before I came back to Florida.”

How did the legal career come about?

“I went to a jazz festival in New Orleans where I had an epiphany. I suddenly realized that as a lawyer I could still do the social work that attracted me. So I decided to go to the best school in my backyard and that was UM. I think I got in the day before classes started. I had always been very engaged in LGBT issues.

Elizabeth Schwartz

Even when I had a boyfriend in college I marched for LGBT rights. Thank God I ended up being a gay lawyer or I might have taken some vow of poverty and worked for legal aid!

“My original plan was to be a journalist.

I had a column in my high school paper.

It was called LizBiz. I pretty much had the run of the paper. When I went to Penn, I wanted to write for their paper. The first thing I submitted was heavily edited and I was mortified! So instead of becoming a journalist, I married one!

Attorney Schwartz and Lydia Martin who writes for the Miami Herald have been together for eight years.

“We are peers in life. We both had established ourselves in our careers. I think it is helpful if two people in a relationship are at the same point in life although I know that it doesn’t guarantee a successful relationship and there are plenty of examples to the contrary. I once had a relationship with a Starbucks barrista. I adored her and I still do. She was a person with great potential but it didn’t work out. We were at different places in life and they never met.

Still, you never really know what makes a relationship work although when a couple comes into my office I can often tell immediately if the relationship will work or not.”

Attorney Schwartz calls her practice gay family law and she treats the law as a therapeutic profession.

“The law had originally been a way to help people resolve conflict and close chapters that needed to be closed. Unfortunately, because of greed and shortsightedness on the part of both lawyers and clients, we moved away from that. I try to restore that in my practice. With my estate planning, I try to do that prophylactically. Sometimes it’s tough because I get a client who says ‘I want you to nail him/her to the wall!’ I try first to get those types into mediation.

“I firmly believe in the ‘hers/mine/ours’ arrangement. If a couple keeps everything jointly owned, it could cause resentments.

On the other hand, if everything is separately owned, how is that a coupling? My idea of a good partnership is something that can grow together, with no bizarre power dynamics. Yes, I see a lot of bizarre power dynamics that cause problems in relationships.

I wondered if men or women were more difficult clients in gay divorce.

“There’s no simple answer. In the gay community, we are harsher in divorce not because we are worse people but because we do not have the instruments of law to lean on. Straight people have the rule books. Sometimes I think what the gay community needs first and more important than gay marriage is gay divorce! That would solve many problems.

“A lot of times, gay men treat divorce as a business transaction. Women may be more emotional, but even as I say that I realize it is not a fair estimation. I am thinking of one male couple that had a terrible fight over which one was going to get the red Baccarat crystal Dorothy from Oz slippers!”

I suggested that they each should have kept one slipper.

“Look, I always tell my clients that I believe in the Belt and Suspenders Rule. Just because you are legally married in another state, don’t assume that your rights will be guaranteed here in Florida. Just because you had a good lawyer draw up wills and powers of attorney elsewhere, don’t assume they will work to your advantage in Florida.

Get the protections you need drawn up specifically in the language of this state.”

You may contact Attorney Elizabeth F. Schwartz at www.sobelaw.com

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Prime Timers of Fort Lauderdale

By A. Sebastian Fortino

I

n 1987 Prime Timer’s Founder Woody Baldwin decided—or realized—that there were few social outlets for older gay men. He wanted something more substantial than mere nightlife, and more socially fulfilling than Sage, whose mission, while still relevant, is LGBT elder advocacy.

His first meeting in Boston has—over the past 23 years—spawned an international organization dedicated to gay seniors.

“At the Fort Lauderdale chapter, organized in June of 2003, we now have about 240 members. Worldwide,” boasts current Fort Lauderdale chapter president Henry Penas, “there are thousands of us.”

He is proud to say of those 240 local members, 106 attended the last general meeting to discuss upcoming events and enjoy a potluck supper. Penas relocated to Florida from Brooklyn in 2000 with his partner of 41 years whom he met on a subway in NYC.

As discussed in Joey Amato’s article last week about aging in the gay community, many older individuals face challenges. Prime Timers ensures members that they have a social organization where the can make friends with like-minded peers.

“We offer bowling, tennis, golf, pool at Sidelines, and fishing once a month,” Penas said. These get-togethers are in addition to mixers, theater outings, and a monthly lunch and dinner.

President Emeritus Garland Warren served from 2007-08. Warren joined when he and his partner relocated here from Baltimore, MD. He became president after only

Henry Penas

Garland Warren

GLSEN’s Day of Silence Raises Teen Awareness

By Staff Reports

H

undreds of thousands of students from every state and at least 7,400 middle and high schools participated in GLSEN’s 15th annual Day of Silence Friday, April 16 to bring attention to anti-LGBT bullying and harassment. Students from hundreds of colleges also participated.

Students typically participate by remaining silent throughout the school day, unless asked to speak in class. The Day of Silence illustrates the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment on LGBT students, their allies and those like Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover, who did not identify as gay, but was bullied with anti-gay slurs.

Carl took his life a year ago this month after enduring constant harassment—he was 11 years old.

“I’m participating in the Day of Silence

because it’s very important to realize the silence and pain many students bear,” texted Dominique Walker, Carl’s sister, and a junior from Springfield, Mass. “Bullying and harassment in school is a huge problem that needs to be stopped, and by keeping silent we can feel the agony of many students.”

Two of the top three reasons students said their peers were most often bullied at school were actual or perceived sexual orientation and gender expression.The top reason was physical appearance.

Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT youth (86.2%) reported being harassed

being a member for 6 months.

“I met a Prime Timers Board Member online when we were getting ready to leave Baltimore, and he agreed to help us out by introducing us to people in Florida,” Warren said.

“After half a year I was elected president.”

He denies this quick rise to power has anything to do with his southern charm.

Warren likes the camaraderie, the interesting mix of individuals, backgrounds, and talents available with the Prime Timers.

As president he was always amazed at the willingness of members to donate time and energy to the group.

“Our activities have expanded over the past 3 or 4 years as has our membership.

We’d have 5 or 6 guys show up at the mixers then, now 60 guests are not uncommon.

It’s good for members to meet the others so they can build good friendships.”

Warren is proud to add that several members have forged lasting partnerships.

Their founder, who at 90 is still active in the organization, seems to have forged an association that still exceeds his expectations.

In their February newsletter Baldwin stated, “One member said to me once, “I no longer hate growing old.” Wow, what a powerful thing that is, when you realize that our organization has had such a significance.”

at school in the past year because of their sexual orientation, and 3 out of 5 LGBT youth (60.8%) felt unsafe at school because of their sexual orientation, according to GLSEN’s survey of more than 6,000 LGBT students.

“The Day of Silence means a lot to me because I know that I have been silenced by bullies,” texted Adrien Arnao, a junior from Washburn, Wis. “A lot of my friends have, too. Bringing awareness to bullying is one of the most important things we can do.”

The Day of Silence originated at the University of Virginia in 1996 and has grown each year, with GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, coming on as national sponsor in 2001.

“The Day of Silence makes visible the efforts of amazing student leaders all over the country who are working to make their schools safer and more welcoming for all

students,” GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard said.

To bring attention to this problem and explain their participation in the Day of Silence, students handed out speaking cards which read: Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence (DOS), a national youth movement bringing attention to the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by anti-LGBT bullying, name-calling and harassment.”

For more information on the Prime Timers please go to Primetimers.org/ftlauderdale

About GLSEN GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. For information on GLSEN’s research, educational resources, public policy advocacy, student organizing programs and educator training initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

The Chamber, which currently consists of over 600 members is one of the only LGBT Chambers of Commerce in the country. Steven Haas, Director of Food & Beverage for Barton G talks about the benefits of membership: “It’s important to be a member of the MDGLCC because they promote equality for the human race.” He further states, “You don’t need to be gay to be a member, just an open minded individual who supports and believes that we are all created equal.”

Don Sadler, a professional at AT&T’s Miami office discusses Steve Adkins contributions to the Chamber. “The value of AT&T’s membership in the MDGLCC is greatly enhanced by Steve Adkins. Steve has CEO and Prez of the Miami Dade implemented a tradiGay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce tional model which focuses on networking and business development instead of one with a purely social agenda.” This

By Joey Amato change, Sadler states, “has made the MDGast Thursday, the Miami Dade Gay & LCC relevant to both the LGBT and straight Lesbian Chamber of Commerce wel- communities.”

Furthermore, the Greater Miami Convencomed a crowd of esteemed guests to their new LGBT Visitor Center on Wash- tion and Visitor’s Bureau is a strong supporter ington Avenue in the heart of South Beach. of the MDGLCC. George Neary, Associate Shortly before the occasion, SFGN spoke Vice President of the GMCVB tells us, “Steve is an amazing guy. He has with Steve Adkins, Prestransformed the chamident and CEO of the ber into a powerhouse.”

MDGLCC about the Neary credits the event and his role as one of South Chamber’s success to Florida’s most respected figures. their many benefits in“It has always been a dream cluding “chamber networking, of mine to have a place in the amazing events and exciting speakers.” central Miami-Dade tourist district where Adkins, the son of a NASA engineer, is LGBT and allied tourists could visit and feel at home.” Adkins explains that due to the an avid traveler, reader and cook. He holds Chamber’s advanced role in luring tourism a Bachelor of Science, from San Diego State to the area, the relocation was justified and University in Business Administration and is the most recent recipient of the National much overdue.

Adkins, who took the helm of the organi- Gay & Lesbian Task Forces Eddie McIntyre zation in 2005, has a clear and defined vi- Community Service Award (2009). sion for the center. “I envision a place that will be a focal gathering place for our local To learn more about the MDGLCC, please visit Gocommunity and visitors to Miami,” he said. gaymiami.com.

Steve Adkins

L

BUSINESS

A Second Chance LGBT Prom Lesbian Teen Was “Tricked” by Homophobic Adults into Attending Phony Prom

By Cliff Dunn

T

he nation’s largest humanist advocacy group has joined the list of organizations and celebrities who have announced their support—financial and otherwise—for a prom scheduled on May 8 for LGBT and gay-friendly youths in Mississippi.

The American Humanist Association (AHA) announced April 9 that it will join with Grammy-winning band Green Day, pop singer Lance Bass, celebrity chef Cat Cora and others to sponsor a prom for Mississippi youth, including students from Itawamba County Agricultural High School in Fulton, Mississippi.

The high school made nationwide headlines last month when officials canceled its prom rather than allow a lesbian student, Constance McMillen, to bring her girlfriend as her date or wear a tuxedo.

Adding insult to injury, parents and other adults affiliated with the school conspired to organize a secret prom in possible violation of a court ruling.

In an interview published April 12 in The Advocate, McMillen said that she and her date showed up at a prom on April 2 in Fulton, Mississippi that was attended by a small number of her peers, including two students with learning disabilities.

“They had two proms, and I was only invited to one of them,” McMillen said. “The one that I went to had seven people there, and everyone went to the other one I wasn’t invited to.”

In a discrimination suit brought by the ACLU on her behalf, the courts ruled in McMillen’s favor.

The Court stopped short of ordering school officials to reinstate the canceled prom, having received assurances from the community that a “private” prom being

thrown by local citizens would be inclusive to all who wished to intend.

The 12-page opinion covered not only the illegality of the schools attempt to prevent McMillen from attending but also its attempt to silence her political speech in the form of how she dressed during the event.

The ruling read, in part: According to the clearly established case law, Defendants have violated her First Amendment rights by denying Constance’s request to bring her girlfriend as her date to the prom. Constance further believes that females should be allowed to dress in non gender-conforming attire, and that, in particular, she should be permitted to wear a tuxedo to the prom.

In Canady, the Fifth Circuit recognized that ‘’[c]lothing may also symbolize ethnic heritage, religious beliefs, and political and social views.” Canady, 240 F.3d at 440. The Fifth Circuit stated that “the choice to wear clothing as a symbol of an opinion or cause is undoubtedly protected under the First Amendment if the message is likely to be understood by those intended to view it.”

A $20,000 grant from Todd Stiefel, 35, a Raleigh, North Carolina philanthropist and AHA member was made available for the purposes of sponsoring the Second Chance Prom.

“We’ve very pleased to be able to support and promote LGBT equality alongside other sponsors,” said Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the AHA. “We’re proud to be standing on the side of love and acceptance instead of fear and prejudice, and we hope that the event will bring appreciation of the diversity within our society and encourage others to embrace it as a positive value that can continue to forge progress for all Americans,” Speckhardt added.

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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.

11

12

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

City Welcomes Gay Polo, Says No to Gay Rights

Dan Pye on Retirement

Develop an Income Plan for Retirement

Wellington Nixes Equal Employment Initiative

By Richard Gary

“More than sixty percent of Palm Beach County’s cities, towns and villages now n April 3, the Village of Welling- have gay inclusive nondiscrimination politon played host to the world’s cies,” said Hoch. “Wellington’s continued first international gay polo tour- refusal to adopt gay inclusive policies is the nament. Two days later, Village Attorney Jef- exception, not the rule.

Two openly gay men and one lesbian curfrey Kurtz rejected a local gay rights group’s request to revise the Village’s employment rently serve as mayors of Palm Beach Counpolicies to prohibit discrimination based on ty municipalities, and the city manager of another city is transsexual, according to the sexual orientation and gender identity.

“The people who bring their horses -- and Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

“In Florida, no place is more welcoming their dollars -- to Wellington are extremely gay friendly,” said Rand Hoch, President of the to gay employees than Palm Beach County,” said Hoch.

Palm Beach County Human Rights Council.

The gay polo tournament was a treThe Council is a local non-profit organization dedicated to ending discrimination mendous success. Nearly 1,500 people, including hundreds based on sexual orienof openly gay men tation, gender identity and lesbians, mingled and gender expression. in the Florida sun“Gay men and lesshine, tailgating and bians have long been watching four teams a very visible part of compete at the Grand Wellington’s equestrian Champion Polo Club’s community,” said Jafields. mie Todd Foreman, “It is such a pleaan openly gay attorney sure and an honor who lives in nearby to have this event in Lake Worth.

Wellington,” said WelEarly this year, after lington resident Robert the Gay Polo League Dover, a six-time U.S. announced it would Olympic dressage rider hold its first national “Everyone had a polo tournament in great afternoon,” said Wellington, the CounRand Hoch Foreman. “Even Nacil sent a letter to Vilcho was there, having lage Manager Paul Schofield requesting him to update Village fun with his kids.”

Nacho Figueras, who is considered one policies to prohibit discrimination against gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Vil- of the world’s best polo players, is also a top model for Ralph Lauren fragrances. lage employees.

Gay Polo League president Chip McKenWellington previously denied similar requests made in 2006 and 2008, according ney is considering having the league return to Wellington in 2011 for another tournato Hoch.

“Since Wellington was now welcoming ment with more players and spectators.

The Palm Beach County Human Rights gay polo, the Council expected a positive response this year,” said Hoch.”We really Council expects Wellington to revise the were taken aback by the Village’s denial of policies before next year’s tournament.

“Our next step is to appeal directly our request.”

Since 1988, the Palm Beach County Hu- to the Mayor and Village Council,” said man Rights Council has been successful in Hoch. Hopefully they will understand that persuading local municipalities adopt gay Wellington’s public image is now under scrutiny.” inclusive nondiscrimination policies.

O

T

here is a big difference psychologically between managing your finances when you have a regular paycheck versus managing your finances when you have to take on the responsibility of generating cash flow for you, and/or your partner.

Let me suggest a unique approach to retirement planning. It takes asset allocation and redefines it into a concept called “Time Segment Allocation.” This methodology is not new—it is just underutilized. I find it a very effective and understandable approach for aligning your resources with your needs.

The “Time Segment Allocation” framework takes into account the timing of your income sources in retirement from annuities, Social Security, pensions, etc. The approach then divides your retirement assets into several “Income Segments,” or time periods, that are invested in different asset mixes that coincide with when and how you plan to use the assets. Each segment is meant to fund a specific phase of your retirement and will be invested using a strategy consistent with that segment’s time horizon. Consequently, the assets in the segment you will draw from in the first five years of retirement is not invested the same way as the assets you will begin to use in twenty years.

This approach allows you to determine where your “paycheck” will come from each year. The analysis should consist of a plan that calculates what the sustainable spending amount is each year in retirement and even allows you to leave a legacy to your heirs and to set aside an emergency fund.

This differs from the traditional asset allocation methodology because it understands that funds are not needed all at once. You should run or have run with an advisor, a “Retirement Income Plan” based on your specific time horizons and resources. Using this tool you can incorporate your pension income, your partner’s benefits, Social Security payment options, and other factors or potential sources of income that can be identified by your professional advisor.

Make sure you understand this concept and see if it works for you. Work with an advisor who also understands this concept and has the tools to help you create your own “Income Plan” to provide you, or you and/or your partner with a regular “Paycheck” in retirement. The result is simple, “peace of mind.”

Dan Pye is a senior vice president with Morgan Stanley who serves the LGBT community.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

SFGN Editorial 4/19/2010 Norm Kent, Publisher

A Place at the Table

S

ay what you will, 2009 and 2010 have been good years for gay Americans under the presidency of Barack Obama. We helped elect the right man President of the United States. So yes, Mabel, there has been a difference.

First of all, the wrongs visited upon the lesbian couple in Miami a few years ago may be righted by an executive order the President authorized last week on his plane ride back to the Capitol from a Florida fundraiser. No longer will same sex partners be denied the right to visit their loved ones in a hospital. It’s our front page story, and it is a significant legal victory for same-sex relationships.

Second, President Obama continues to support measures to overturn the ban on gays in the military, effectively disarming the misguided proponents of ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’.

Activists are genuinely and legitimately perturbed this has not happened more quickly.

They have this newspaper’s support. Still, the bottom line is that the President has raised the issue and not run from it.

The days of ‘DADT’ are grinding to a halt.

Third, the President influenced a Democratic congress to end its stalemate and stalling on the Hate Crimes Act. The bill, honoring the lives of Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., both victims of hate, each murdered, was passed and signed into law in 2009. This bill expanded hate crimes to include acts motivated by a victim’s actual or perceived gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. It was the first federal law to extend legal protection to transgendered persons.

Like the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the law empowers federal authorities with a greater ability to engage in hate crimes investigations that local authorities choose not to pursue. It was a bill that Republicans and President Bush had killed for years.

Fourth, as prior Presidents before him have done, President Obama also signed into law bills releasing funds for HIV prevention and treatment, including a reauthorization of the Ryan White Act. Every year, this legislation guarantees access to lifesaving medical services, primary care, and medications for more than 500,000 patients, nearly half of all those living with HIV/AIDS in the U.S. Under Team Obama, there has been a 5 percent annual increase in federal support. Not all is gravy, though. The Bush Administration had imposed some regressive administrative measures which hampered direct assistance to many communities, and those negative changes were not corrected in the recent reauthorization.

Fifth, ENDA is a renewed federal bill in

Dan Choi fighting against DADT

the United States Congress that would prohibit discrimination against employees on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity and disability, for civilian nonreligious employers with over 15 employees. Religious organizations and nonprofit membership only clubs are provided exemptions, similar to the principles of the Civil Rights Act. The bill has a realistic chance of becoming law. It has been slowed in the chambers of bureaucracy, but we must push forth nevertheless. We should stand for nothing less.

Sixth, President Obama has called upon Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships

and determine benefits. He also called for a law to extend benefits to domestic partners. These were not causes supported by the prior administration. As a matter of fact, President Bush was a leader for DOMA from the outset of his administration. Here too, then, the White House has turned a corner.

Seventh, President Obama has also lifted the 22-year-old ban on entry into the United States for people infected with HIV/AIDS. The administration has published new federal rules eliminating the ban, carrying through on a proposal President Bush had finally endorsed in 2008.

It was long past due. The HIV Travel Ban made the United States a pariah in human rights circles. In fact, some of the most significant international conventions studying the AIDS pandemic were not held in the United States because we ostracized ourselves with a Neanderthal policy that so clearly violated both public health needs and human rights.

Eighth, the last and most fundamental change in the Obama Administration is its willingness to select openly gay men and women to positions of influence and trust in the government. The litmus test for a Presidential appointment has become your competence in the daytime, not who you sleep with at night. In Washington, a successful prosecutor who is an out lesbian has

been named a chief US Attorney. In Minnesota, another lesbian was appointed a US Marshall. There have been dozens of Presidential LGBT appointments, and now one of our columnists suggests one such nominee is a candidate for the Supreme Court.

The gay community has become an operative political force to be reckoned with locally and nationally. There are still heated emotional debates surrounding ‘same-sex marriage’. Politicians are still reticent to join that bandwagon. No matter. Regardless of popular opinion, it is our courts which will eventually decide the legal rights and protections of same-sex couples. As marriage is fundamentally a civil contract which can be voided at will, it is inevitable that same sex marriages will be upheld by the courts.

In 1993, Bruce Bawer wrote a landmark book entitled “A Place at the Table: The Gay Individual in American Society.” Bruce’s vision has come true. We no longer have to window shop our lives from the outside.

We are welcome in. We have earned it, and now if we want it, there is a place at the table for us too.

Write to the Editor Please send your letters to: Letters to the Editor, SFGN 2520 N. Dixie Highway, Wilton Manors, FL 33305 OR EMAIL: editor@southfloridagaynews.com

15

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Off the Wall

by Piero Guidugli

Kiss Me Guido

G

ermany’s Guido Westerwelle will open the 2010 Gay Games in Cologne. To Americans, the name means almost nothing. To historians, the name is a milestone almost as big as Obama’s.

Westerwelle, 49, is a liberal politician, currently serving as the Foreign Minister and Vice Chancellor of Germany. He is the first openly gay man to hold either of those positions.

Women have already achieved this distinction, Johanna Sigurdardottir, is the current openly gay Prime Minister of Iceland.

That their elections, to such high office, passed almost unnoticed is a testament to how far Europeans have gone in accepting gays or simply not caring about sexual orientation.

A member of parliament going back to 1996, Guido Westerwelle has been the chairman of the Free Democratic Party of Germany since 2001. He became Foreign Minister & Vice Chancellor in October 2009.

There were isolated nasty remarks and innuendos uttered by the opposition during the campaign, but apologies were quickly made and civility reigned once again. Things

never turned ugly, his election became business as usual and accepted as a matter of fact.

Germans, in general, have always been fair toward openly gay politicians. Others paved the way for Guido, like the Mayor of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, who in 2001 declared: “Ich bin Schwul, und das ist Gute” (I’m Gay, and that’s Good).

In a pre election interview with the gay magazine “Siegessaeule,” Westerwelle addressed the young German LGBT community with the following words : “Do not despair, this society is changing for the better … towards tolerance and respect... albeit at a pace slower than I would like...” His official coming out occurred in 2004 when he attended the 54th birthday of Prime Minister Angela Merkel with his partner, Michael Mronz.

“I was never in hiding, I just lived my life” he said afterwards.

Now Guido and Michael are the new “Power Couple” of Germany.

Most newspapers chose to grace their font pages with photos of the happy pair hugging and celebrating the victory. The highly

Jennifer Vanasco

Will Next Supreme Court Nominee Be a Lesbian?

S

uddenly, it seems possible that the next Supreme Court pick might be a lesbian. Surprise!

Solicitor General Elena Kagan is not openly gay at the moment—which of course may mean she’s not gay at all. But persistent rumors, an absence of denial, and some assurances from people I trust make me think that yeah, she probably is.

And she’s right now on the short list of potential Supreme Court nominees to replace Justice John Paul Stevens on his retirement this summer, along with appellate judges Diane Wood and Merrick Garland.

Kagan would be a good choice. Though she hasn’t won the love of people who worked for her, she is known for reaching out (and hiring) more conservative faculty

and diplomatically increasing the range of viewpoints when she served as Dean of Harvard Law School.

Diplomacy is good —and undervalued— on the Supreme Court.

A liberal position on a case helps no one if a justice can’t get four other justices to side with her.

The short list is no guarantee, of course.

This could be a list of names being floated by the White House;

but it is a small, and great, step influential daily, “Bild”, in their continuous search for went as far as stating redemption. that “what makes Guido In the US, a candidacy Westerwelle so strong of this caliber, would have is his man.” Mronz, 42, sent the political and mewas a big factor during dia fields into another one the election campaign of their bizarre three ring acting as manager and, circuses, peppered with preas the newspaper condictions of Armageddon, tinued... giving Westerthe exact date and place welle, confidence, secuof the incoming Rapture rity and support.”

Guido Westerwelle complete with assorted Fox As most newly appointed gay politicians do, Guido has gone News reporters having apoplectic attacks. out of his way to reassure his countrymen Glenn Beck, Anne Coulter and Rush would that his sexual orientation will not be the have suffered multiple strokes.

In the meantime, we have been told, the driving force, or most important issue, of his mandate. However, Lesben und Schwulen- sky over Germany is still blue on any given verband Deutschlands, (the Lesbian and Gay day and it will be shimmering and sparAssociation of Germany), after the celebra- kling for sure when Guido cuts the rainbow tions were over, made it very clear they were ribbon on July 31st, officially opening the counting on the new Foreign Minister to 2010 Gay Games.

Have your Stein at the ready or, if you are speak up, on the international stage, in favor of human rights for all and against the ongo- so inclined, a pair of Lederhosen. Auf Wieing persecutions of gays in other countries. dersehen.

Cologne, well-known as one of GermaSixty five years ago Germany was a pariah on the world scène. Today it has a woman ny’s gay-friendliest cities, will strut its stuff Prime Minister and an out gay man as For- when it hosts the VIII Gay Games with a series of sporting and cultural events from eign Minister and Vice Chancellor.

We have some catching up to do with the July 31 through August 7.

It’s the perfect time to visit this open-mindcountry we rebuilt from scratch after 1945.This does not imply that “all is forgiven and forgotten” ed city and celebrate all things LGBT. it could be names they’ve already discarded; it could be a list someone in the blogosphere made up.

The Wall Street Journal is already warning that conservatives are against her, because she spoke out against the Solomon Amendment, which forbid federal funds to be distributed to law schools (like Harvard) that

The Supremes(?)

did not allow the military to recruit on campus because of it’s discriminatory policies.

The idea that she herself may be a lesbian—and the conservative stand against that—is buried in the subtext.

Would it matter if the next Supreme Court Justice was a lesbian? continued on page 34

16

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Justice Stevens Leaves Legacy of LGBT Support

By Lisa Keen

Keen News Service

S

ome court observers credit U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens with having forged a majority of the court to overturn laws banning private sexual relations between persons of the same sex—the most beneficial gay-related decision ever rendered by the Supreme Court.

Stevens, who turns 90 on April 20, announced Friday, April 9, that he will retire from the high court at the end of June.

In a one-paragraph letter to President Obama, Stevens said he had concluded that “it would be in the best interests of the Court to have my successor appointed and confirmed well in advance of the commencement of the Court’s next term.”

The announcement triggered a storm of media attention that is not likely to subside anytime soon—as President Obama prepares to nominate his second candidate for the nation’s highest court. The nomination will almost certainly trigger another storm— this one on Capitol Hill, where Republicans have dug in to oppose nearly everything the Obama administration and Democratic majority in Congress is trying to pass.

But the news also inspired an outpouring of praise for Stevens as the one of the Supreme Court’s oldest and longest-serving justices.

The Human Rights Campaign called Stevens “fair-minded” and Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund hailed him as a “true visionary” to whom the LGBT community “owes much.”

“He has been a strong, clear, and consistent voice for the rights of gay people and other minorities, the disabled, reproductive freedom, and free speech,” said Jon Davidson, Legal Director at Lambda Legal.

It was 2003 when the greatest chunk of that debt was sealed.

Then Chief Justice William Rehnquist and two other justices wanted to uphold the Texas sodomy law in Lawrence v. Texas, according to court historian Jeffrey Toobin.

But Stevens, the ranking justice on the other side of the issue, was against it.

“Stevens wisely assigned [Justice Antho-

ny] Kennedy to write the opinion” for overturning the law, wrote Toobin, in his 2007 book The Nine.

In fact, Toobin suggests, Stevens studiously chose Kennedy for the assignment as a way of shoring up Kennedy’s vote for those who wanted to overturn the law.

And in writU.S. Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens ing the historic Lawrence v. Texas opinion, Kennedy “drew military, in child custody cases, even in barheavily on Steven’s seventeen-year-old opin- ring the use of the word “Olympics” for a gay athletic event. ion” in Bowers v. Hardwick.

Stevens’ position in Hardwick was not a More specifically, Stevens joined the primary dissent, written by then Justice Harry big surprise: In 1976, one year after he was Blackmun in Hardwick, and then penned appointed to the court by Republican Presihis own dissent, joined by Justices William dent Gerald Ford, he, Brennan and Marshall said they thought the court should hear an Brennan and Thurgood Marshall.

In his fiery dissent, Stevens harshly criti- appeal challenging Virginia’s law against cized the majority for ignoring the plain same-sex sodomy; but a majority affirmed language of the Georgia law prohibiting the law without hearing arguments.

In June 1987, Stevens was with the majorsodomy—that it prohibited oral or anal sex ity in Houston v. Ray Hill, that overturned for any couple, gay or straight.

The sodomy law, said Stevens, was “an a city ordinance in Houston that was used unconstitutional intrusion into [Michael to stifle protests by a gay activist, Ray Hill, Hardwick’s] privacy and his right of inti- against police harassment of gays.

But 10 days later, Stevens joined the mate association does not depend in any majority in a ruling that the U.S. Olympic way on his sexual orientation.”

If the right to privacy means anything, Committee’s prohibition of Gay Games orwrote Stevens, “it means that, before Georgia ganizers from calling their event the “Gay can prosecute its citizens for making choices Olympics” the USOC was not violating the about the most intimate aspects of their lives, First Amendment rights of the gay sporting it must do more than assert that the choice group. In 1988, he voted with a majority they have made is an ‘abominable crime not that said the Central Intelligence Agency’s firing of an employee because he was gay fit to be named among Christians’.”

The Hardwick decision had not only up- was subject to judicial review, and he voted held laws prohibiting private sexual rela- with a unanimous court ruling that upheld tions between people of the same gender, it the procedure used to fire an employee of had been used in a wide variety of arenas the National Security Agency who acknowlto justify further discrimination based on edged having homosexual relations with sexual orientation –in employment, in the citizens of other countries.

17 For most of his tenure on the court, Stevens was a relative moderate who leaned liberal. With more consistently liberal justices—Brennan, Marshall, and Blackmun— on the court, Stevens seemed centrist.

By 1991, after Brennan and Marshall retired, Stevens inevitably began to appear more liberal, relative to the increasingly conservative court. But his vote also became more consistently liberal, and he began to take a leadership role. He voted with the majority in Romer v. Evans in 1996, agreeing that Colorado’s initiative banning any legal protection based on sexual orientation was unconstitutional.

And though, a year earlier, he had agreed with a unanimous court, in Hurley v. IrishAmerican Gay Group, that the organizers of a St. Patrick’s Day parade in Boston had a First Amendment right to ban a contingent of gays, he wrote the dissent in 2000, in Boy Scouts v. Dale, opposing the majority’s decision that said the Boy Scouts of America had a First Amendment right to discriminate against gay scout leaders.

Hurley had only a “superficial similarity” to Boy Scouts, said Stevens. Whereas a gay contingent could be said to convey a message when participating in a parade, the same could not be said of a single gay scout leader joining the Boy Scouts.

“Being openly gay,” said Stevens, “communicates a message–-for example, that openness about one’s sexual orientation is more virtuous than concealment; that a homosexual person can be a capable and virtuous person who should be judged like anyone else; and that homosexuality is not immoral—but it certainly does not follow that they necessarily send a message on behalf of the organizations that sponsor the activities in which they excel. The fact that such persons participate in these organizations is not usually construed to convey a message on behalf of those organizations any more than does the inclusion of women, African-Americans, religious minorities, or any other discrete group.”

Prejudices against gays, he said, “have caused serious and tangible harms to countless” gay people.

“That harm,” he said, “can only be aggravated by the creation of a constitutional shield for a policy that is itself the product of a habitual way of thinking about strangers.”

The potential impact of the retirement will be measured once President Obama nominates a replacement who is confirmed by the Senate.

18

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Jesse’s Journal

A Conversation with Paul Hyman

The Prince of Pride Center at Equality Park

Paul Hyman

By Jesse Monteagudo

O

n February 23 Paul Hyman, Executive Director of South Florida’s Pride Center at Equality Park, was appointed to the national Board of Directors of CenterLink, the international association of LGBT community centers.

“Our board members are the most visionary and dedicated leaders in the LGBT community,” CenterLink’s Executive Director Terry Stone announced, referring to Hyman and other recent appointees. “Their experience, commitment and leadership will be driving forces in our work to assist centers in building a movement that honors and promotes full human rights and dignity for all LGBT people.”

Hyman himself sees his appointment as being “a great opportunity to share, support and feel understood. Our roles are unique in our respective communities. It is encouraging to feel understood and supported in this way.”

Hyman’s appointment to the CenterLink board is just one more achievement for a man whose five years as the Center’s CEO. He was hired in January 2005, for what was then the Gay and Lesbian Community Center (GLCC) of South Florida.

Before taking on his current position, Hyman was Broward Services Manager for Care Resource, a large HIV/AIDS service provider in Miami. “I have also had the opportunity to complete master’s degrees in Business Administration and Social Work, as well as work experience in various business, healthcare and educational settings. I also maintain a clinical social work license and have a small psychotherapy practice in Fort Lauderdale,” he adds.

Last September, under Hyman’s leadership, the Center moved to a new location, a 35,000 square foot home in three buildings on 5.5 acres of river front property in Wilton Manors that was soon dubbed Equality Park. As Hyman says, “the move culminates a multi-year, labor intense, complex and somewhat risky process.

It is highly gratifying to be in the new facility.

It is well received by participants and visitors, and has energized volunteers, staff and Board members. The installation of our new elevator is nearly complete, which will enable us to use the second floor later in April.”

There was some concern about moving the Center’s very popular monthly Flea Market. Hyman admits that “moving the Flea Market was originally a daunting task. We strive to maintain these characteristics of the Flea Market and it continues to be well attended by guests and vendors.”

Now settled at Equality Park, the Pride Center provides meeting space for more than 50 groups. “Demand for space continues to increase as does utilization,” Hyman

says. “The accommodations are much nicer at the new facility. It is also accessible and there is plenty of parking.” The Center also offers an alphabet soup of services, programs and events, including YEPSA (Youth Education and Prevention of Substance Abuse); BUSY (Benefitting Under Served Youth); GALANES (GAy LAtino No Estas Solo); and the PALS (Positive Action for Living Safely) Project, an HIV prevention program.

In addition, the Pride Center performs more than 300 HIV tests per month, answers over 200 calls per week for individuals who need assistance, and hosts social events for Seniors, Lavender Events for Women, Pride University (adult education) and the everpopular monthly Bingo. Future plans for the Center include expanding the Center’s involvement with women, racial and ethnic minorities, young people, seniors the bisexual and transgender communities.

A week later, the Center took part in the annual Florida AIDS Walk, a 10 kilometer fund raising walkathon that addressed the AIDS crisis in our community. Hyman gives credit for the Walk’s success to the Center’s PALS Project, which “assembled a team of more than 100 who collectively raised more than $23,000 to support the Pride Center’s

HIV/AIDS related services.”

Away from the Pride Center, Hyman “tries to maintain healthy functioning as an individual as well as on behalf of the agency.

Exercise and diet help me do a better job at work. They help to keep my glass half full and help keep my head on straight. In my role it is important to be positive and attentive with a lot of people, both at work and out and about in the community,” he notes.

“My partner, Bill Bracker, a local clinical psychologist, and I enjoy our pets and circle of close friends. We both like to cook and to travel. With such a socially active job, my idea of a relaxing time is to go to a quiet place at the beach or wherever and catch up on my Vanity Fair magazines! And I love an occasional martini. I’m also a regular fan of the PBS News Hour, CBS Sunday Morning, Modern Family and old Mary Tyler Moore Show episodes, which are hard to find. In the car I go for classical music, it calms me down and gets me ready for the next meeting or event of the day. I also look forward to going out dancing more than I have been for the last few years.”

Jesse Monteagudo (jessemonteagudo@aol.com) is a regular contributor to SFGN.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Miami beach pride weekend includes parade, aids walk Photos by J.R. Davis

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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Going Rogue Republican Kids Destroy the Family Values Image

By Jarrett Terrill

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ack in December of last year, a Wasilla, Alaska homeowner discovered that the home they had for sale, but were no longer living in, had been broken into and vandalized.

The lock had been forced, wooden doors had been so badly damaged they needed to be replaced, the walls had been gouged with knives, and vodka and orange juice containers were strewn all over the house. It appeared that sexual activity had taken place on the beds, and valuables like computers and clothing had been stolen. The home suffered between twenty and thirty thousand dollars in damage.

The Troopers were quickly notified and the investigation began. At first, there were very few leads. But by January of 2010, as you might have guessed, one of the teenagers identified was Willow Palin.

The incident has only recently set the blogosphere ablaze due to speculation that Sarah Palin is using political connections to neutralize the scandal and keep Willow out of trouble.

Sarah Palin’s eldest daughter, Bristol, has been the source of much controversy including but not limited to; her teen pregnancy in the face of her mother’s stand for “abstinence only” education, her estranged relationship with the father of her child - who is now a playgirl centerfold whose mother has a rap sheet for slinging crystal meth and her participation in a failed educational program supposedly aiming to educate her fellow teens on the dangers of sex before marriage.

But middle child, Willow Palin is not the only Republican offspring who has “gone rogue” in recent times. She is but one example of the GOP’s kids who offer us a glimpse into the hypocrisy of the conservative mindset... or at least the humanity

which defies the lockstep perfection which their parents present to the mass media.

Maybe one of the most under-reported and outrageous examples is the case of Barbara Bush—the eldest daughter of George W. Bush—who was often ignored by the media in favor of her more photogenic sister, Jenna.

Babs was reportedly holed up in a hotel room for an entire weekend with gay folk

sensation, Rufus Wainright, doing crystal meth and dodging secret service back in 2003. Wainright reported to motherjones. com that he went into rehab shortly after that, but there’s no mention of how the first family dealt with their trifling daughter.

Wainright spoke fondly of Ms. Bush saying bluntly, “I haven’t seen her around much, lately. But she herself was very nice

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com Her parents conceived Patti before they and actually quite pretty. I consider that whole period to be somewhat of a mirage. were married—while Reagan was still marBeing with the president’s daughter, no ried to his first wife, Jane Wyman. In the matter who the president is, you are con- book, she tells of throwing out all of her nected to the most powerful political force family photos and scrapbooks in an effort to exorcise the demons of on earth, and that’s scary. her past. She describes And when you mix crys“Being with the president’s a mostly loveless childtal meth and alcohol with that, it’s…kind of excit- daughter, no matter who hood of neglect and ing. A little too exciting.” the president is, you are psychological abuse at the hands of the PresiMeghan McCain, daugh­ connected to the most ter of GOP Senator John powerful political force dent and first lady.

Davis tells of a childMcCain is another study in on earth, and that’s scary” hood in which they contradictions. Having con— Rufus Wainright feared their mother vinced her mother to join and were neglected by her in a highly publicized campaign for gay rights, she continues to defy their father—two emotionally disturbed peoher father’s stance against repealing the mili- ple who spied on their children with housetary’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations. While hold intercoms and didn’t even attend their this may be seen as a ploy to create a moder- eldest daughter’s wedding.

In 1994, Newt Gingrich, who has worked ate view of the McCain family, it doesn’t wash well with the tirelessly to block gay rights in California, uber-conservative Tea Party that formed a political friendship with the late McCain and Palin have been Republican congressman and former entermaking broad appeals to lately. tainer named Sonny Bono. Today, the deIt must be noted here, that ceased Scientologist’s then-lesbian daughter, these are not rare occurrences Chastity, is now known as “Chaz” Bono and in the Republican Party. A little has undergone sexual reassignment surgery scratch of the surface reveals to become a man, much to the reserved disthat most well-known Repub- may of her family.

Meanwhile, Gingrich’s own sister, Candace licans have family members who sharply disagree with has become a staunch advocate for gay rights their politics or just live in and trails right behind her older brother, restark contrast to them—ex- minding voters that he speaks with forked posing the lies and secrets, tongue. In her Huffington Post blog, she argues sometimes by accident and sometimes quite for the end of homophobia and harrassment.

In the final analysis, when determining what purposefully.

In 1992, Ronald Reagan’s somewhat ille- a Republican means by their mention of “famgitimate daughter, Patti Davis wrote a scath- ily values,” one has only to look at their faming autobiography called “The Way I See It”. ily for the flipside of that coin. They invite us Her book was like a missile aimed straight at into their homes and private lives every time the heart of Reagan’s hyper idealized family they attempt to dictate to us how we should man image—and the larger utopian portrait live. They have stared into the abyss and the abyss... sometimes stares back into them. that the GOP has painted of themselves.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Violinist Lara St. John to Perform Vivaldi Masterpiece with South Florida Symphony

By Mary Damiano Arts Editor

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Music for All Seasons

ara St. John was a typical two and a halfyear-old—she wanted whatever shiny new toy her five year-old brother Scott had. But one day he came home with something that would influence the rest of her life.

“According to my mother, my brother came home one day with a little violin and I was the kind of younger sister who got quite jealous and screamed and yelled until I got one too,” says St. John.

Today, the Canadian-born St. John is one of the most popular violinists in the world, an international performer who has played with world-class musicians and orchestras all over the world. She will perform Antonio Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons with the South Florida Symphony (formerly the Key West Symphony Orchestra) for their inaugural season finale on Friday, April 23, at Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale.

St. John has her own take on Vivaldi’s most famous piece, which is a wedding favorite and has been used in a slew of films.

“I think there’s a lot that can be done with it that often isn’t,” says St. John. “It’s incredibly descriptive, with the violinist basically imitating different things—the nightingale, the summer storm, the shepherd bemoaning his fate, teeth chattering as people slip on the ice.Vivaldi manages to bring all this out with just some strings and a solo violin. I tend to go on the extremely descriptive side of The Four Seasons.”

While jealousy got her started on the violin, natural talent made her stick with it.

“The violin is something you can start young, because they do make very small ones, as opposed to, say, a bassoon or a tuba,” says St. John. “My brother and I have always had fights about whether or not it’s in-born or not, but we both have perfect pitch and really good memories for music, so it just seemed like the natural thing to do.”

The siblings don’t come from a particularly musical family, although St. John says that her

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Nightlife by J.W. Arnold

Lights, Camera, Action!

Film Festival Parties Provide Scene This Weekend

Music for All Seasons It’s a busy week in South Florida and here are a few other highlights for you to plan ahead: Monday, April 19

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wist, one of South Beach’s most popular bars, presents Latin Talent Night with Spanish karaoke and dancing, hosted by ilm buffs always get a treat at the Marcos Perez in Bar 5. If you like steamy Latin Miami Gay and Lesbian Film boys,Twist will be the place to be tonight.Twist Festival (MGLFF), but the night is just beginning as the last credits play and lights is located at 1057 Washington Ave. come up in the theater.The folks at MGLFF Tuesday, April 20 have planned several big parties to kick off the 10 day festival and the fun begins Friday. f you saw Whitney Houston’s latest The Opening Night Party will be held Friday, flop on YouTube, then you know you’ve got April 23 at Calix Gustav Gallery, 98 NW more talent. Prove it to the world at Bill’s 29th St. in Wynnwood. Admission for nonFilling Station on Wilton Drive tonight for members is $65, but includes cocktails and lite Two Guys on a Mic karaoke hosted by Rick bites, as well as music, dancing, art, and access and Andy. The fun begins at 9 p.m. Suck to Miami’s movers and shakers. down a $5 Malibu rum bucket and you—and On Saturday night, MOVA Lounge, located everyone else—will sound even better! just off Lincoln Rd. on Michigan Ave., will be Wednesday, April 21 the scene following screenings of “Grown Up Movie Star” and “Violent Tendencies.” Show idn’t get your fill of karaoke on Tuesday? your movie stub and receive a complimentary You can fill up on the free buffet and Finlandia vodka or Herradura tequila cocktail. sing to your heart’s content on Wednesday On Sunday, the ladies return to MOVA for at Monkey Business, the popular Wilton “The Ladies Who Lunch” a special Manors bar located at 2740 Andrews Ave. If brunch in conjunction with two of the featured you’re good—and everything is relative—you Lesbian films. Sip on mimosas and enjoy delimight win a $25 bar tab. cious treats from Piola Restaurant in Thursday, April 22 between the 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. screenings.

Tickets are $25 for MGLFF members and $35 t’s College Night at Matty’s on the for non-members.

Drive, 2426 Wilton Dr., starting at 9 p.m.

For more information about these and Down some $3 rails and $1 drafts while kicking other MGLFF events, go to MGLFF.com. back over a game of pool and darts at one of Wilton Manors’ friendliest neighborhood bars.

She’s baaaaack……

Friday, April 23 There have been Cashetta sightings all over town this past week.The talented diva—she elcome to Filthy Gorgeous Frisings, she dances, she does magic tricks—just days, the weekly party at Score on got back from a three-week adMiami Beach’s trendy Lincoln Rd. The Penventure in Asia, where she pernyback Boyz will be there, along with DJ formed on a gay cruise. She was Willy G. Doors open at 10 p.m., so make stunning in her Asian couture Score your after-dinner destination to kick off last Sunday for Cashetta’s a hot weekend. Score is at 727 Lincoln Road.

Asian Cabaret and Saturday, April 24 the trip-of-a-lifetime seems to have also he boys up north in Palm Beach County inspired some spicy twists in celebrate their weekend with Debuher memorable performances. tante Saturdays at The Lounge, 517 Catch Cashetta for Comedy Clematis St.The legendary Daisy D. will be on Night this Wednesday at 7, 8 hand, along with producer John Elu. Enjoy $2 and 9 p.m. in the Manchester Room drinks on the tropical patio bar and when you Cashetta at Georgie’s Alibi in the get the munchies later, order sushi. Now, that’s a Shoppes of Wilton Manors. party!

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father “strummed away on a guitar” and Mom played some “mediocre piano” while she and her brother were growing up.

“It’s kind of an anomaly,” say St. John. “In fact, in the music world, as far as we know, we are the only siblings who are at this level who don’t come from a musical family.”

St. John began performing when she was four years old, and made her European debut at 10. “I tried to quit a couple of times when I was a teeny-bopper, but I always ended up going back,” says St. John. “I can’t live without music. To me it’s not so much the violin, it’s all about the music.”

While St. John doesn’t like to play favor-

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Lara St. John in performance

ites among the pieces she plays, there are some pieces that stand out for her.

“The Shostokovich for me is probably the most physical,” says St. John. “It’s funny that people don’t realize how physical this really is because it’s art. Obviously it’s not the same as being an Olympic athlete, but it is a very physical thing. Combined with the emotional thrall that you need to go through, it can be quite draining.”

One of her goals is to make classical music more accessible to younger audiences.

St. John believes that way to creating future classical music fans is to break the rules, be approachable and expose young kids to it.

“I don’t like the perception among young people that it’s music for your grandmother,” says St. John. “Sure, you can’t learn all about it in five minutes the way you can with a rock song, but that’s what makes it so worthwhile. The exposure to the great works ought to be there. It takes more work to appreciate classical that it does other genres. It takes more patience, and maybe that’s why it tends to be an older audience.Youth is impetuous, and maybe that’s why we don’t have a younger audience.”

St. John is in the midst of recording a new CD of all Mozart compositions, along with her brother and the The Knights, a chamber orchestra in Brooklyn. Aside from classical, her musical tastes are quite eclectic. She has her own polka band and also performs Klezmer music. She digs Pink Floyd, Boston, The Doors and Radiohead. She is a “massive” George Gershwin fan, likes jazz and has a large collection of Eastern European folk music. She has commissioned Kurt Weill song arrangements for violin and piano.

St. John is looking forward to her visit to South Florida for another reason besides the concert. She is also an amateur herpetologist, and is looking forward to seeing the native lizards and reptiles up close and personal.

“I’m always up for meeting new gators, because I love them,” she says.

She is the proud mom to a nine-month old iguana. “He’s got a little leash,” says St. John. “I can’t wait until it warms up in New York and me and the little guy can go for a walk in the park.”

Lara St. John will perform with the South Florida Symphony Friday, April 23, at Broward Center. For tickets and more information, call 954-462-0222 or visit BrowardCenter.org.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Art Ken Harrison, Photographer Through May 29 Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts 7080 NW 4th St., Plantation For more information, go to SMOFA.com or KenHarrisonPhotography.com

By J.W. Arnold

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auderhill photographer Ken Harrison has always enjoyed photography, but this week his passion turns professional at a one-man show which opened last weekend in Plantation.

As he puts it, Harrison began shooting pictures when he was “knee high to a grasshopper.” As a boy growing up in England, he adopted his father’s hobby and was soon developing and printing his pictures in a makeshift darkroom in his parents’ home.

Local Photographer Focuses on Ordinary, Captures the Extraordinary until he moved to South Florida 22 years ago that he began to take it more seriously.

“Usually I tell people ‘a plane’ brought me here,” he chuckles. “Actually, I was looking for a change, something different in my life.”

Harrison became

involved in the community, actively serving a number of local charities and foundations, while tinkering with photography.

About three years ago, he took some photos of a friend, who enthusi“It really came from (my father),” he astically encouraged the 61 year old Brit to recalls. “He was a photographer, but I took find venues to display them. Harrison joined it to the next step, developing and printing the Broward Art Guild and his new career photos in both black & white and color.”

Harrison continued his hobby, but it wasn’t took off. Last year, his photographs earned

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awards in local juried art shows.

Nearly 40 of Harrison’s photos are now on display at the Schacknow Museum of Fine Arts in Plantation, his largest one-man show to date. He describes the show as being inspired by “things we see every day with our eyes, but don’t stop to really take notice.”

The many colorful outdoor wall murals that adorn buildings throughout the region, as well as the flora and fauna of the nearby Everglades particularly intrigue him.

“There is so much beauty out there that we just pass by with so much as a glance,” he says. “I’ve discovered some things most people didn’t even know were there,” during many trips deep into the Everglades.

The exhibit opened on Saturday, April 10 with a gala reception featuring entertainment by Harrison’s partner, singer David Muelemans, and continues through May 29.

There is no admission charge, but donations are accepted.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

charts on its first day. April 23 at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts.Tickets start at $25. www.browardcenter.org

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eltic Woman, he Rookies of Comedy a smash hit around the globe, returns You may not know them, but they are to the Kravis Center with an all new live funny as heck! As seen in B.E.T.’s Bad Boys of show for two night’s only! The awe inspiring Comedy & Bill Bellamy “Who’s Got Jokes”, vocalists Lisa, Chloë, Lynn and Alex along Davell, Damn Fool, George W. & Clyde with the mesmerizing Celtic violinist Máiréad Jordan will make you laugh! So don’t hesitate continue to capto come and ture the hearts see this show, of fans across because it is the country an event you on a whirlwind won’t want to tour of America. miss! April 23 Their critically at the Miniaci acclaimed new Center for the television special, Performing CELTIC WOMArts.Tickets AN—SONGS start at $20.

FROM THE www.browardCeltic women HEART, filmed center.org live from Powerscourt House and Gardens in Ireland, is a blockbuster on PBS. Come see armen Celtic Woman with their 6 piece band and You know the story.You adore the the Aontas Choir perform unique renditions music.The seductive and tempestuous gypsy, of Irish standards, classical favorites and con- Carmen, Captures the heart of a young soltemporary hits. CELTIC WOMAN—SONGS dier, Don Jose. He sacrifices everything to be FROM THE HEART promises to be a live with her. Now a fugitive on the run, his life is concert event that you and your entire family in ruins. Unfortunately, she is drawn to the will never forget! April 20-21 at the Kravis dashing matador, Escamillo, and casts Don Center for the Performing Arts.Tickets start Jose aside, which seals her fate. In his pasat $25. www.kravis.org sionate confrontation with Carmen outside the bullring, Don Jose’s pleas for her to take him back are met with cold rejection...and outh Florida Symphony the tragic murder that concludes the opera Canadian-born violinist Lara St. John devastates audiences has been described as much today as it did as “something of a in 1875 when Carmen phenomenon” by first premiered. April The Strad and a “high 24 at the Adrienne powered soloist” by Arsht Center for the the New York Times.

Performing Arts.Tickets Lara St John will bring start at $27.75. www. this passion to the arshtcenter.org Broward Center on April 23rd performing Vivaldi’s “Four SeaUkrainian sons” with members Montage of the South Florida An afternoon of authenSymphony. Lara St. tic Ukrainian folk dance John’s latest recordand song, featuring the South Florida Symphony ing is with the Simón Ukrainian Dancers of Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela and Miami, celebrating their 60th season in South conductor Eduardo Marturet:Vivaldi - The Florida. April 25 at the Broward Center for Four Seasons and Piazzolla - The Four Seasons the Performing Arts.Tickets start at $20. of Buenos Aires reached No. 2 on the iTunes www.browardcenter.org

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Straight Dad + Gay Son = Unconditional Love Rising Action Opens ‘The Sum of Us’

By Mary Damiano

service in hopes of finding Miss Right. The play was made into a 1994 movie starring Arts Editor Russell Crowe and Jack Thompson, and is heatre can be a life-changing expe- regarded as Crowe’s breakthrough film.

The title comes from the father’s reasonrience. Just ask Steven Chambers, ing about loving children unconditionally, the director of The Sum of Us, which opens April 22 at Rising Action Theatre. because they are the product of the parents and all ancestors who came before, literally In 1993, Chambers, who is also an actor, the sum of us, moved to Atlanta and Scene from The Sum of Us and therefore, wanted to become how could involved with the he not love theatre scene. He someone he saw a posting for auhad created. ditions for The Sum “It’s the stoof Us, and while he ry of a young wasn’t quite right for gay man and his a role, he signed on father and the as the production’s acceptance, to a stage manager. fault, by the fa“I got to know ther of his son’s someone who was sexual orienworking in the box tation,” says office at that time, Chambers. “But who also happened beyond that— to be the president regardless of of the board of your gender or the company,” says sexual orientaChambers. “He is tion—it’s about now my partner of 15 years, so I have a very special connection knowing that a parent loves you and cares for you and that you can feel close to someto this play.” one the way this father and son do.”

The Sum of Us, written by David Stevens, According to Chambers, the biggest is about a young, gay, Australian man who challenge in the Rising Action production of enjoys a close relationship with his father.

The Sum of Us was finding performers who The father is completely accepting of his could affect a believable Australian dialect. son’s orientation, to the point where he “You can’t produce a play that’s set in does some meddling to help his son find Mr. Right. At the same time, the father, who Australia, with Australian references and Australian customs without having actors is a widower, has signed up for a dating who can do an Australian dialect, and it’s Theatre Preview not an easy dialect to do,” says Chambers.

“Americans have a lot of problems wrap PLAY: The Sum of Us ping their lips around those vowel sounds.”

Chambers feels confident that he’s found The show runs April 22 through May 30 at Rising Action Theatre, 840 E. Oakland Park a cast who can pull it off, including actress Blvd., Oakland Park. For tickets, showtimes Linda Ellis, a British woman who lived in and information, call 1-800-595-4849, or Australia for a time. The cast is also working visit RisingActionTheatre.com. with dialect CDs and workbooks to learn

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

The Trevor Project

resulting in a much-needed resource: an organization that promotes acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual, The existence of statistics such as transgender and these is the reason for the Trevor Project, questioning youth, founded in 1998 by writer James Lecesne, filmmaker Peggy Rajski and her co-produc- and to aid in er, Randy Stone, creators of the 1994 short crisis and suicide prevention among film, Trevor. that group.

The movie, which won an Academy The Trevor Award, is a comedy/drama about a gay Project, a 501 13-year-old who is rejected by his friends (c) (3) non-profbecause of his sexuality. The teen, named it organization, Trevor makes an attempt at suicide. was the fruit of Before Trevor was scheduled to air in 1998 on HBO, the producers reasoned that that effort.

The Trevor the film’s teenage viewers faced many of Helpline became the same issues and choices as the charthe nation’s first and only around-the-clock acter Trevor, and sought a support line to crisis and suicide prevention helpline for publicize during the movie’s airing.

LGBTQ youth.

To their dismay, they found that no such In Always My Child: A Parent’s Guide to helpline existed. It was a call-to-action for them,

Life Imitating Art to Save Troubled LGBT Youths

By Cliff Dunn

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he numbers tell a startling story: the Massachusetts Youth Risk Survey reports that lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) youth are about four times more likely to attempt suicide than their heterosexual equals.

More alarming, research by the San Francisco State University Chavez Center Institute shows that LGBTQ youth who come from a rejecting family are 8.4 times more likely to attempt suicide than heterosexual youth.

And the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey concludes that for every suicide by a young person, there are an estimated 100 to 200 attempts made.

Cyndi Lauper Gives A Damn…Do You?

By Joey Amato

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uintessential 80’s pop icon Cyndi Lauper is showing her true colors everywhere these days. Her quirkiness landed her a coveted spot on Celebrity Apprentice, which has propelled the singer/songwriter back into the spotlight. Lauper, best known smash hits like “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Money Changes Everything” is trying to change the lives of the LGBT community through her new campaign Give a Damn.

The Give a Damn campaign is a project of the True Colors Fund, founded by Lauper a few years ago. The True Colors Fund works to inspire and engage everyone, especially the straight community, to get involved in the advancement of LGBT equality.

As a gay rights advocate for more than 25 years, Lauper has worked to bring her straight peers on board in support of equality. Lauper says, “If one us is not equal, none of us are.” Joining her in the cam-

Cyndi Lauper

paign are openly gay celebrities including Elton John, Clay Aiken and Wanda Sykes, as well as gay-friendly allies Sharon Osbourne and Kim Kardashian.

Through the use of social media tools like Facebook and Twitter, visitors are urged to reach out to the straight people in their lives encouraging them to show support. There are also additional opportunities to get involved with an array of non-profit organizations available through Give a Damn partnerships.

In addition to the campaign, Lauper recently announced that she plans to open a homeless shelter in New York City for LGBT youth. In a prepared statement, Lauper states, “Kids are coming out in greater numbers as they see themselves accepted and represented on TV and in movies, but they’re still being kicked out of their homes or running away and living on the streets.”

According to the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, there are roughly 3,000 to 8,000 homeless LGBT kids in New York City. Funds for the planned shelter will be raised

Understanding Your Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender or Questioning Son or Daughter, author Kevin Jennings writes of the stresscontinued on page 34

through Lauper’s True Colors Fund.

Many homeless LGBT youth face violence in mainstream shelters, forcing them to rely on a small network of gay-friendly facilities, advocates say. The True Colors Residence, set to open in winter 2011, will provide young people between 18 and 24 with a place to live while helping them get back on their feet.

“New York is an expensive city for most people, much less young people with no support,” said Theresa Nolan, director of Green Chimneys, which runs programs for LGBT youth, including a West Harlem facility that provides temporary housing. She said most youth programs only accept people up to age 21, “so a lot of people fall out of youth housing when they’re just getting the hang of living independently and they’re most vulnerable.

Lauper is currently working on her newest studio album, a record of blues covers that will come out in June 2010. She is once again reinventing herself by putting her unique twist on one of music’s most beloved genres. An Emmy Award winner for her guest-starring role as Marianne Lugasso on “Mad About You,” Cyndi continues to show her range as an actress and personality on television, in film and on stage.

If you give a damn about LGBT youth, join the campaign at Wegiveadamn.org.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Heard it on...

Wednesday that a routine mammogram in January found a lump, and a biopsy the following month determined it was a noninvasive cancer called ductal carcinoma in situ, or DCIS. The nine-time Wimbledon women’s singles champion had a lumpectomy in March and will start six weeks of radiation therapy next month.

By the Nite Owl Navratilova’s prognosis is excellent Tennis great Martina Navratilova says she has been diagnosed with breast cancer and her prognosis is excellent.

Navratilova said in a phone interview

Melissa Etheridge

Melissa Etheridge and partner separatE Rocker Melissa Etheridge and her partner, actress Tammy Lynn Michaels Etheridge, have announced their separation. In a statement Thursday, they asked for “consideration and respect for our family as we go through this difficult period.”

The two held a commitment ceremony in Malibu, Calif., in 2003. Tammy Etheridge, 35, gave birth to twins—a son, Miller, and a daughter, Johnnie Rose—in 2006. The couple used an anonymous donor from a sperm bank.

The 48-year-old singer shares custody of daughter Bailey Jean and son Beckett with former partner Julie Cypher. Musician David Crosby was the sperm donor for the children, who were delivered by Cypher.

Melissa Etheridge will be featured in next week’s SFGN upon the commencement of her tour and new album.

The Sum of Us Preview continued from page 26

Australian speech patterns and rhythms.

Ironically, a friend of Chambers’ is going through a similar situation. The friend is in Perth, Australia, directing a production of a play set in the American south, and is tasked with getting his Australian cast to affect a believable southern dialect.

The Sum of Us features Rising Action alum John McGlothlin, who delivered a criticallyacclaimed performance in the theatre’s production of Bent last year. McGlothlin plays the gay son, while Ned Cray plays his dad.

Chambers wears many theatrical hats. As an actor, he has appeared in productions at Stage Door Theatre, including The Odd Couple and the world premiere production of Knish Alley; at the Public Theatre, where he was assistant artistic director for several years. He just completed a run of Equus at

Gay Young Things

New Theatre. He’s directed at several area theatres, including On Golden Pond and The Normal Heart at the Public Theatre, The MO of MI at the Sol Theatre, and California Suite at Tamarac Theatre and Curtain Call Playhouse. He was also the sign language coach for Fill Our Mouths, which made its world premiere at New Theatre. He is currently the literary manager for New Theatre.

“I don’t have a preference,” says Chambers, regarding his multi-faceted theatrical background. “I like to be a part of something that I feel a connection to. If it doesn’t speak to me on some level, it’s not something I want to be a part of.”

Chambers classifies The Sum of Us as a dramedy. “It’s has humor, it has some pathos.

It’s one of those roller-coaster rides, and I think the audience, in the end, will have a really warm feeling by the time it’s all over.”

April Vanity Fair Revisits “Brideshead” Author’s Homoerotic Youth

By Cliff Dunn

T

he April 2010 issue of Vanity Fair includes an excerpt from author Paula Byrne’s new book “Mad World: Evelyn Waugh and the Secrets of Brideshead,” a close look into one of early 20th Century English literature’s great names.

In addition to an account of the youth of Evelyn Waugh, who wrote “Brideshead Revisited” in 1944 during a military leave in the middle of the Second World War, Byrne’s book is an introductory history to the era of the ‘Bright Young Things,’ the nickname given to a group of young socialites and aristocrats in late 1920s London. The Bright Young Things threw elaborate parties, went on treasure hunts through nighttime London, drank heavily and experimented with drugs and all manner of sexual situations, all of which was enthusiastically covered by the era’s press. Waugh’s 1930 novel “Vile Bodies” is a look at this scene.

“Mad World” includes numerous evocative passages which conjure the youthful sexual experimenting of Waugh and his contemporaries: Evelyn had hardly forgotten Hugh Lygon, who had done so much during the Oxford years to shape his taste for an aristocratic manner and for an almost pathological insistence on being charming and amusing. Hugh Lygon’s Oxford career was not devoted to academic study—it developed into one of idleness alleviated by pranks and heavy drinking.

Hugh was also regarded as one of the most sexually active among his circle—“the lascivious Mr. Lygon,”Waugh once called him—and Waugh himself was for a time besotted.

Homosexuality was considered by many to be a passing phase, which young men would grow out of once they had left Oxford and begun to meet young women. In those days it was chic to be “queer” in the same way that it was chic to have a taste for atonal music and Cubist painting. Even old Arthur Waugh, Evelyn’s father, acknowledged as much: “Alec called on me the other day with a new friend of his, a sodomite, but Alec tells me it is the coming thing.”

This was not just sexual experimentation.

There were genuine love affairs.When the staunchly heterosexual Henry Yorke, a friend of Waugh’s, read Brideshead Revisited, he told Evelyn that it made him regret not falling in love at Oxford himself: “I see now what I have missed.”What he missed was what Waugh experienced: real passion.Though Evelyn relished the companionship of eccentric and slightly crazed friends such as Terence Greenidge and Harold Acton, romantically he was drawn to fragile, beautiful boys. He definitely had a type: the objects of his desire were invariably richer and better-looking, though never funnier, than he was.They had a dreaminess about them.

Hugh Lygon had exactly this quality. He drifted round Oxford like a lost boy, a Peter Pan who refused to grow up.Terence Greenidge remembered him carrying a teddy bear—as Sebastian Flyte does in Brideshead.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Sage Advice Singer Rachael Sage Brings Her Unique Style to Broward Center

By Mary Damiano Arts Editor

R

achael Sage isn’t sure if she’s ever performed in South Florida before. It’s possible, because she embarked on a unique tour of the state a decade ago.

“I was the guinea pig artist for the Starbucks music program, and the manager of my local Starbucks took me on 10-day trip through Florida,” says Sage. “I played at Starbucks all over the place, like 20 of them in 10 days.”

Starbucks is a far cry from Fort Lauderdale’s Broward Center, where Sage will perform in the New River Abdo Room, Tuesday, April 27, part of the ArtsUnited Performing Arts Series.

Sage has always forged her own way, embodying the spirit of an independent artist. She’s a self-taught pianist who began playing her own compositions at age four. A year later she was putting words to her tunes.

She expanded her arts background by training as a ballet dancer, with drama classes and as a visual artist. In college she began performing her own songs, and later toured as the opening act for Ani Di Franco. She released her first album, Morbid Romantic, in 1996 and within a few years founded her own label, MPress Records.

“I’m proud that I’ve been able to share my experiences to help someone else,” Sage says.

Sage is known for her poetic lyrics, lush piano and enigmatic vocals. Her way with a song is like a good book—entrancing, provocative, and ultimately satisfying. On Sage’s ninth album, Delancey Street, now available on iTunes and in stores May 18, the indie singer-songwriter deals with themes of looking back and moving forward.

Several songs focus on Sage’s desire to get more in touch with her Jewish heritage.

“It’s something that’s never going to end as far as my own personal quest to understand who I am,” Sage says. “Hopefully I can share that insight and that sense of groundedness with other people.”

Sage was in the midst of changing apartments while she was making Delancey Street. The move prompted her to sort through years of stuff and memories, consistent with the album’s theme of past and future.

“I had been in this one room for so long,” Sage says of the East Village studio she moved into in her early 20s. “It had that accumulated energy of every step along the way that I took on this journey to be an artist and survive in the city. I had all this stuff and memorabilia and energy. I really needed to stop and sort through and let

Rachael Sage

go. It really was an amazing process. I don’t think it’s healthy for anyone to live in one room for that long and not purge it.”

“I think what often happens to historic neighborhoods over time sort of mirrors the demise of a romance,” Sage says. “The qualities that once drew you to someone you love—their soulfulness, their intelligence—can gradually erode, and it’s not always easy to put your finger on exactly how or why.”

One of the songs on the CD, “Big Star,” is a clever commentary on the criteria for fame in today’s world. “Do you wanna be a big star?” Sage asks. Then, in almost orgasmic giddiness she sings, “It’s okay to say yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!” The song is ironic and relevant, given today’s world of “American Idol” and the reality show mind-set of stardom at any price.

“I wrote it when I first got to New York and tried to make it in that scene,” says Sage. She was inspired to include it on the album by the sudden career surge of her friend Justin Tranter, the frontman for Semi Precious Weapons, and opening act for Lady Gaga on her Monster Ball Tour. “A few years ago he was a solo artist with a piano and now he’s singing music reminiscent of Bowie and the New York Dolls,” Sage says.

“The way that lifestyle and creative journey can shift so dramatically made me want to re-cut the song. It actually might hit a pulse that it didn’t earlier in my career.”

Delancey Street also includes a cover of the Hall & Oates classic “Rich Girl,” rare because Sage doesn’t often record songs by other artists. But after seeing the duo perform on New Year’s Eve, she was inspired to try her hand at it in the studio. She also delivers an understated cover of Irene Cara’s “Fame” as a bonus track for the iTunes digital download.

Sage tours for much of the year, performing 150-200 dates each year. “I’m proud that I’ve been able to be a touring artist, someone who hasn’t given up because I haven’t had that one big break,” she says. “What it’s been about for me is slowly but surely expanding my grassroots fan base and being able to continue to make records and put out new work.”

Rachael Sage will perform at the New River Abdo Room at Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale Tuesday, April 27, 7:30 p.m. To purchase tickets and for information, visit www.artsunitedonline.org.

For more information of Rachael Sage, visit RachaelSage.com.

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

31

32

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Crossword Puzzle

Sliced Fruit

Across 1 Able to bend over 6 Big swallow 10 Poke with a stick 14 Fruit sliced in 55-Across 15 “Hi” to Lorca 16 Round dance 17 Split from between the sheets 19 Fail to include 20 Prefix in a kids’ clothing line 21 Carefree adventure 22 Thick soup 24 Toward writer Harper?

26 Bean of Desperate Housewives 27 Lodging place 28 Pink symbol 31 Prop department jewelry 34 TV bunch member 35 Brit. word ref 36 Publisher Adolph 37 Cook in butter 38 Greeting for a mate 39 One of “Fifty Million Frenchmen” 40 Subway token taker 41 Luxuriates at South Beach, e.g.

42 Columbus blowout

44 Fuel up 45 Inspiring city for Van Gogh 46 Diana, to the Greeks 50 Chevy Chase and others 52 Gone ___ the Wind 53 Tattoo’s place, often 54 Presbyterian activist Michael 55 Ran off with some big bucks 58 Fruit sliced in 17-Across 59 Emerald isle 60 Drama queen’s emotion, perhaps 61 They move your dinghy 62 Title document 63 Zipper piece

13 Fruit sliced in 33-Down 18 Pull down 23 Key opening 25 Mental acuity 26 Take the soapbox 28 In all honesty 29 Dike problem 30 Maker of some fruity flavors 31 Come down in buckets 32 Problem for skin 33 Rust, like the Tin Man 34 Prepares to cast 37 Under pressure 38 Peter’s place 40 Barneys event 41 Where you can Down stand to be naked 1 Star in Perseus 43 Busybodies 2 They go down south for the 44 Art deco illustrator winter 46 Felt bad 3 Cho’s “___ One 47 Fruit sliced in 11-Down That I Want” 48 Start of a legal conclusion 4 Bud’s comic bud 49 “March of the Women” 5 Start, like Earhart composer Ethel 6 Small fragment 50 Melissa may attach 7 Operate properly one to her neck 8 Kind of will 51 Conception 9 A rainbow flag 52 Tested, to Marc Jacobs symbolizes this 56 Neither a win nor a loss 10 Type of torpedo, to Odo 57 “Double Fantasy” artist 11 Caesar worshipped them Solution on page 34 12 First ed.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Obama Mends Old Wounds

Q Scopes By Jack Fertig

Getting older could suit you, Taurus! continued from page 5

patients and their families.”

“These measures are intended to ensure that no family will have to experience what the Langbehn-Pond family did that night at Jackson Memorial Hospital,” said Cathcart, in a statement issued Thursday night.

A federal district court judge dismissed Lambda’s lawsuit on behalf of Langbehn, saying there was no law requiring the hospital to allow Lisa Pond’s partner to see her at the hos-

pital. On Monday, April 12, Lambda issued a press release saying it had reached an agreement with Jackson Memorial for “improved policies that are more responsive to the needs of the LGBT community.” But Lambda said the agreement does “not provide as much protection as may be needed in critical situations.”

Lambda noted that the president’s memorandum calls on HHS to take steps to ensure that hospitals respect legal documents that some patients

have to designate who can make decisions for them if they become incapacitated. It also requires HHS to report back to the president in 180 days with additional recommendations for actions HHS can take “to address hospital visitation, medical decision-making, or other health care issues that affect LGBT patients and their families.”

Ironically, the pool reporter on board the flight back to Washington reported there was “No news on the way back” from Florida.

Saturn is in Virgo aspecting Uranus in Pisces, Neptune in Aquarius – triggering persnickety criticisms that could easily miss the mark – and Venus strong in her own sign, Taurus, offering some stability and harmony.

Be practical, take the long view, and let compassion take the form of patient understanding, not unsolicited advice!

ferently. Most cases are not gay cases, of course, but a few important ones—marriage, military—are likely to come up in the next few years, and it would be interesting to see if the lawyers for the antigay side modify their arguments to make them more palatable to a gay justice.

For example, I imagine that there would be no labeling gay people as being bad for children, or of gayness being immoral.

But all of that is speculation. We need to wait and see who the actual nominee is. In the meantime, we can hope.

A lesbian on the Supreme Court. Twenty-five years ago, who dreamed that might happen?

GEMINI (May 21- June 20): Making your way in the world can really work your nerves. Make sure to have a safe, quiet retreat space at home so you can charge your batteries. Remember what’s important so you can get out there to do what’s needed.

CAPRICORN (December 21 – January 19): Worries about money can be overwhelming.You do have sensible ideas that can help. Talk with a close friend or sibling to help clear the fog and get back to being your usual sensible self.

CANCER (June 21- July 22): Erotic dreams and other fantasies have their value, but allow your friends to help you stay in touch with reality, too! While some of their criticisms are probably out of place, some are not! At least listen and think about them.

AQUARIUS (January 20 – February 18): What do you really want out of sex? Old patterns colliding with new ideas can leave you very confused. Focus on community issues and what kind of home you want. Then the erotic questions will clear up.

LEO (July 23 – August 22): Some kinky experimentation can precipitate questions about what is really important in your partnership.

Continue the exploration in bed and out.Your resourcefulness gets you ahead at work, but can also create situations that test your collaborative skills.

PISCES (February 19 – March 19):Your relationship (or not having one) can feel restrictive.

Isolating and stewing is no good.

A conversation or some fun with a friend—say a movie or a gallery show—can give you the fresh air you need.

Jack Fertig, a professional astrologer since 1977, is available for personal and business consultations in person in San Francisco, or online everywhere. He can be reached at 415864-8302, through his Web site at www.starjack.com, and by e-mail at QScopes@qsyndicate.com.

Vanasco continued from page 15

Well—yes and no.

No, because we all know that our sexual orientation doesn’t dictate how we feel about any issue. Some of us are Democrats, some Republicans—and I bet some of us are even Tea Partiers. We fall on different sides on hate crimes, military service and even gay marriage.

Her record as a Dean and a professor are more indicative of her liberal leanings than is the (possible) fact of her lesbianism. Though, interestingly, because she hasn’t served as a judge or a legislator, her on-the-record views of most issues that might come up before the Court is non-existent.

But yes, in terms of visibility and representation, it would matter, especially (and perhaps only if) she came out. Having an open lesbian serve on

the Supreme Court would mean that young gays and lesbians would have a significant role model and would solidify our place as a minority that deserves representation in our political system.

Perhaps more importantly, though, we could be secure in knowing that there was at least one justice who started with the baseline understanding that gays and lesbians are fully human and should be treated like the full citizens we are.

It also is likely that having her as a close colleague will gently shift the perspective of even the most conservative members of the court (Does Antonin Scalia have any close gay friends? He may, but I think it’s unlikely) and make them less afraid of the lavender menace.

I wonder, too, if lawyers who come before the Supreme Court will argue dif-

Jennifer Vanasco is an award-winning, syndicated columnist. Email her at Jennifer.Vanasco@gmail. com; Follow her at Twitter.com/JenniferVanasco.

Trevor Project continued from page 27

ors gay youth face, which includes an increasing awareness of their samesex attraction, disclosing their sexual orientation to family and friends, and victimization that is provoked by their sexual orientation, including verbal abuse, threats of physical violence, and other harassment or intimidation.

Support for the Project’s efforts has come from a broad base. Numbered among the Project’s Board of Directors are Hollywood mega-agent

Scott Zimmermann, Emmy-nominated openly-gay actor Neil Patrick Harris, and Dustin Lance Black, winner of the 2008 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for “Milk,” the biopic of the late gay rights activist Harvey Milk.

Last year, Black received the group’s Trevor Hero Award, which honors an individual who, through example, support, volunteerism or occupation, is an inspiration to LGBTQ youth.

Says Black: “All of the work we’re doing today to win LGBT equality is

for these young people’s futures. So it is vital that we insure they survive today’s challenges so they might know tomorrow’s freedoms.”

Harris, the star of CBS’s hit comedy “How I Met Your Mother,” would like his work for the organization to make a difference to a generation of at-risk gay teens.

“I hope that my involvement with The Trevor Project will help bring attention to the need for effective crisis and suicide prevention services for LGBTQ youth nationwide.

ARIES (March 20 – April 19): In all the economic upheavals, this is a good time for you to organize your resources. Focus on practicality in the present, but also open your intuition to future opportunities and dangers. Friendly advice is probably wrong.

and social efforts on listening and following. Addictive or co-dependent tendencies are likely to surface and complicate things. With concentration and care, those errant impulses could inspire great ideas. Brutally frank criticism from a friend can help!

TAURUS (April 20 – May 20): Don’t be scared of your birthday.

Getting older could suit you. Cultivate a mystique of accomplishment and authority.You may surprise yourself that it is more real than you give yourself credit for.

SAGITTARIUS (November 22 – December 20): Nothing gets you ahead like nose-to-the-grindstone good, hard work. It can also help you stay out of domestic drama. If you can’t avoid it, at least maintain emotional distance. Being mature and responsible can save the day.

VIRGO (August 23 – September 22):Your natural insight for improving any situation or technique is especially sharp. Now apply that skill to editing your own critiques.

What you see as helpful advice, colleagues are likely to see as meddlesome nagging.

LIBRA (September 23 – October 22): Exploring your secret sex fantasies can get dirty, nasty, and scary – if you’re doing it right! Remember to keep the prophylaxis, safe word and other cautions in place.That could trigger moraleboosting ideas for work, with appropriate modifications of course!

SCORPIO (October 23 – November 21): Focus your political

Solution to Crossword Puzzle on page 32

35

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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Roommates New 3/2 House in Margate Roommate needed. New 3/2 house in Coral Cay, Margate. Gated, quite, comm. pool. Private bath. Must be over 35. $750/ mo covers rent/utilities. $750 sec. dep. and $25 for credit check. Paul 954-232-5744 ------------------------------------------------PALM AIRE COUNTRY CLUB/POMPANO Roommate needed to share my 2000 square foot condo on the golf course.

Private bed/bath. Fully Furnished. W/D in unit. Beautiful pool/recreation area. Must be professional, clean, drug free. 700/ Mo.incl.all utilities & cable in bedroom + $700 sec.Call or email Chris. 203-232-7005 cbert30@aol.com

Working to Reform Medical Marijuana Laws Since 1970 www.norml.org

36

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Paul Gallotta

Health/HIV Editor

Familiarity Breeds Resentment

T

here are many advantages involved with working in the health care field. The concept of critical thinking becomes ingrained even in your personal life, so it’s hard to kid yourself when you do something stupid, that the end result will be anything other than a mistake. You become an expert at bottomlining everything. You have the capacity to help your family and friends in a way you couldn’t previously.

The biggest disadvantage is that you become the ‘go to’ person for friends and acquaintances that do monumentally stupid things, who in turn expect you to be nonjudgmental. As with anyone who’s ever been in a long term relationship, I’ve learned to fake it.

I work in an area hospital’s Infectious Disease unit and in that capacity, I’ve learned far more about my extended circle of friends than I care to know. While not every patient I’ve worked with who has HIV (the medical term we officially use is 44.9) has syphilis or gonorrhea, to a man, everyone who has syphilis and/or gonorrhea have had HIV. Last week I had the unique experience of having to perform an admission on an acquaintance with whom I’d been friendly with for maybe 15 years. There’s something awkward about catheterizing (inserting a latex tube into a person’s penis) someone you used to go drinking with. There’s something really awkward in discovering they’re a 44.9er when you have to assume if they wanted you to know, they’d have told you years ago.

For better or for worse for the acquain­tance in question was on a different plain of existence. The admitting diagnosis was AMS (altered mental status) secondary to neurosyphillis. He didn’t recognize me. This, I suppose, was a blessing to him. I also suppose this explained why he felt the need to pull out his catheter (don’t try this at home as it is held in place by a balloon which will damage your urethra) and his IV, the latter of which he threw at me.

During the best of times, I don’t like people deliberately try­ ing to expose me to blood-borne pathogens. But when the person in question is a threat to himself, as well as anyone health care provider that comes in contact with him, it becomes very problematic.

When the person in question was on a first-

name basis with me for nearly 15 years, it becomes something of a nightmare.

Because the person in question was a threat to himself (not to mention he physically assaulted a colleague), we received orders to put him in restraints. A Posey vest, an incongruously pastel/plaid vest that straps a patient to their bed frame was or-

dered, along with 2-point wrist cuffs. The patient squirmed, howled and attempted to bite the four of us who were applying the

aforementioned restraints. Well, it wasn’t much of a fight, but he was about as volatile as you could expect someone who weighed around 100 lbs to be.

And even after he was firmly secured and it was obviously he wasn’t going anywhere, he fought. Even when his throat was hoarse and his ululations became indecipherable, he continued to scream.

But this wasn’t just another patient. This was someone I’d played cards with, gone to ball games and concerts with. Someone whom I knew well enough to know his favorite drink and type of one-nighters he favored. Trying to verbally console him was like trying to maintain a conversation with a dial tone.

As a nurse, you try not to be judgmental.

We’re all human beings and being judgmental despite what anyone might say in public is merely a rote response. Acting on our prejudices is different from simply processing these thoughts.

As human beings we have this innate capacity to do incredibly stupid things. And I’m no different. Except the stupidity that’s part of my charm (or anti-charm as the case may be) only results in my getting hurt; there’s enough pain in this world. I don’t feel the need to contribute to it.

I’m aware I have zero-influence on other people. Hell, I barely have much influence on my own behavior. But I have a sore spot for people who think they exist in a vacuum. People who, be it a case or egotism, anger or indifference, don’t seem to feel the slightest obligation to not harm others.

I spent the night trying to divide my time between the people I could help and the one person I knew I couldn’t. The next night I asked for (and was given) a different assignment.

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Ft. Lauderdale’s New Playground

U s !

W W W. C O Z M O S B A R . C O M

Come Play With

2 6 7 4 E O A K L A N D PA R K B LV D F O RT L A U D E R D A L E , F L 3 3 3 0 6

April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Sports

Gay Equestrian Charged with Passing HIV in Ocala

By Norm Kent

a secret because he did not trust him. “I could not share with you and have you lympic equesleave me with this informatrian Darren Chition about me,” he allegedly acchia, a bronze wrote. The partner allegedly medalist who suffered a tersaved the conversation and rible horse-jumping fall in turned it over to authorities.

2008, is facing a June trial Florida is one of at least after being accused of ex32 states nationwide that posing his former partner to have criminal statutes speH.I.V. multiple times without D arren Chiacchia cific to HIV, many of which telling him of his condition.

Chiacchia, of Ocala, Florida, has pleaded date to the height of the AIDS epidemic in not guilty, but now faces up to 30 years in the 1980s and 1990s, when fear of spreading prison under Florida law, according to a the disease was at its peak. While the fear of story first reported in the New York Times spreading the disease has diminished, these in January of this year after his arrest by the laws remain on the books in many states, and prosecutors continue to enforce them.

Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

His former male sexual partner filed a A recent survey by the Center for HIV Law complaint, claiming he found medical re- and Policy documented at least 50 such cascords stating Chiacchia was positive for HIV, es nationwide since January 2008.

Although records show that at least 71 the virus that causes AIDS, and never told him. Chiacchia purportedly met the man people have been arrested under Florida’s on a gay dating site in February 2009 and HIV law since it was enacted, Chiacchia is they dated and had sex regularly until June believed to be the first in his five-county region to be prosecuted under the law, of last year.

Chiacchia is known for helping the U.S. said the assistant state attorney handling equestrian team win an Olympic bronze the case. medal in 2004. He was preparing for the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when his horse According to Florida Statute 384.24, hit a jump and somersaulted, falling on HIV-positive individuals must inform sexual Chiacchia. He was unconscious for nearly partners of their health status. Failing to two weeks and on a ventilator, suffering a do so is a felony offense in Florida. Multiple collapsed lung, brain injuries, and broken offenses may be ruled first class felonies. bones. The Times reported that it was during The relevant section of Florida Statute this time in the hospital that he found out he 384.24 reads as follows: was HIV positive, one year before he met the “It is unlawful for any person who has human imman now accusing him. A year later, Chiacchia munodeficiency virus infection, when such person was back competing at advanced levels and knows he or she is infected with this disease and won the Rocking Horse Spring Horse Trials on when such person has been informed that he or his way to renewed Olympic competition. she may communicate this disease to another perThe Sheriff’s Office and prosecutors sub- son through sexual intercourse, to have sexual inpoenaed Chiacchia’s medical records, inter- tercourse with any other person, unless such other viewed friends, and collected text and e-mail person has been informed of the presence of the messages to investigate. sexually transmissible disease and has consented Chiacchia apparently, in one e-mail, told to the sexual intercourse.” his ex-partner he kept his medical history

O

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April 19 , 2010 • SouthFloridaGayNews.com

Miami Mavericks Serving Up Aces in South Florida

By Joey Amato

S

outh Floridians in the LGBT community who share a love for tennis may or may not have heard of a club called The Miami Mavericks. The Mavericks are a distinguished group of tennis enthusiasts formed in 1988 by John Rubi.

Rubi has since passed away, but his legacy remains, as the Mavericks have become a leader in gay sports in South Florida.

The club currently consists of approximately 50 members and is growing rapidly.

Greg Loyd, Miami Mavericks President compares his club to others in the state.

“We are somewhat small when you take into account that tennis clubs in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa have over 100 members.” However, the Mavericks hold more events throughout the year compared to clubs double their size.

The Mavericks, a member of the Gay and Lesbian Tennis Association, maintain a year-long singles ladder, which Boyd states is the core of the group. “Each member of the club is guaranteed a singles match every ten days with the ladder.”

Bernie Bordeu, a Maverick since 1991 and ladder director, tells SFGN the ladder determines a players ranking within the club. The ranking, “keeps changing as you win or lose, so you keep moving up and down the ladder, which makes it interesting and competitive.

Some players are more competitive than others and some just play for fun and social tennis.”

As a member of GLTA, the club keeps their players well informed of events taking place within the association and around the globe.

“We hold social events throughout the year and provide two

team events, the Florida Cup and Sunshine Cup for all our members regardless of their playing level.”

In the past 4 years, the Mavericks have won the coveted Florida Cup 3 times, defeating teams throughout the state.

They will be defending the cup this year in Miami. In addition, the Mavericks introduced the Sunshine Cup in 2008, which consists of the same Florida Cup teams but at an intermediate level.

Some additional standout events include the Mavie Doubles Tournament which takes place during Columbus Day weekend and the Art Deco Open tournament played over Art Deco weekend. Both tournaments are held at Crandon Park, the same location as the famous Sony Ericsson Open.

Members of all skill levels are encour-

aged to join. Bordeu discovered the club through a friend that was also a member.

“Before I joined the Mavericks, I was just playing tennis for fun with my brother.”

After joining, Bordeu began participating in the more competitive aspects of the league, playing in tournaments and team tennis. “The many activities that we have throughout the year, plus all the tournaments around the world, are what makes joining our club so great,” Bordeu said.

Boyd adds to Bordeu’s enthusiasm.

“Why wouldn’t you join? It’s a healthy alternative to meeting others that have a common interest. Participating in sports is a great thing. For me, when I meet people it’s much more appealing to know they play a sport I enjoy rather than what bars they go to.”

To learn more about the Mavericks, visit.Miamimavericks.org.