7. THE PRIDE LA, DEC. 30, 2015

the pride

DASCHA POLANCO 12.30.2015 HOLLYWOOD’S JOYFUL NEW IT GIRL ⚫ 14

CLEVE JONES A GAY ROOTS IN THE WORKS AT ABC ⚫ 19

WWW.THEPRIDELA.COM

NO CHANGE GAY BLOOD DONATION BAN CONTINUES ⚫ 9

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ISSUE NUMBER 1, VOLUME 2 1 DEC.30, 2015 - JAN 14, 2016

LOS ANGELES

THE LOS ANGELES LGBT NEWSPAPER

POLITICS ⚫ 7

California Transphobic ballot initiative again fails to qualify CIVIL RIGHTS ⚫ 8

Gay Man alleges abuse in federal civil rights suit against LA Sheriff EDUCATION ⚫ 10

Title IX sexual orientation suit against Pepperdine advances MOVIE PICK ⚫ 16

“The Revenant” explores the cold beauty of a harsh world

HAPPY NEW YEAR:

THE PRIDE LA WANTS TO TAKE THIS OPPORTUNITY TO THANK THE COMMUNITY FOR THE TREMENDOUS OUTPOURING OF SUPPORT. GOOD THINGS AHEAD.

2015: Without a doubt it was the year of the Rainbow

⚫ By any measure, 2015 will be remembered as a banner year for LGBT rights in the United States. The Supreme Court gave us a constitutional right to marry. Public opinion continues to increasingly accept us. But it’s not over.

⚫ 2016 is shaping up to be the most mean-spirited election year in modern history. Every candidate on the right is vociferously antigay and then there’s Ted Cruz. The LGBT community can’t rest just yet.

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LOS ANGELES

®

New Genvoya is now available

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12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

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Actual Size

One pill contains elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide (TAF).

Ask your healthcare provider if GENVOYA is right for you.

To learn more visit GENVOYA.com

Please see Brief Summary of Patient Information with important warnings on the following pages.

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Brief Summary of Patient Information about GENVOYA GENVOYA (jen-VOY-uh) (elvitegravir, cobicistat, emtricitabine, and tenofovir alafenamide) tablets Important: Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with GENVOYA. There may be new information about GENVOYA. This information is only a summary and does not take the place of talking with your healthcare provider about your medical condition or treatment.

What is the most important information I should know about GENVOYA? GENVOYA can cause serious side effects, including: • Build-up of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis).

Lactic acidosis may happen in some people who take GENVOYA. Lactic acidosis is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Lactic acidosis can be hard to identify early, because the symptoms could seem like symptoms of other health problems. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms, which could be signs of lactic acidosis: • • • • • • •

feel very weak or tired have unusual (not normal) muscle pain have trouble breathing have stomach pain with nausea or vomiting feel cold, especially in your arms and legs feel dizzy or lightheaded have a fast or irregular heartbeat

• Severe liver problems. Severe liver problems may happen in people who take GENVOYA. In some cases, these liver problems can lead to death. Your liver may become large and you may develop fat in your liver.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms of liver problems: • your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice) • dark “tea-colored” urine • light-colored bowel movements (stools) • loss of appetite for several days or longer • nausea • stomach pain • You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking GENVOYA for a long time.

• Worsening of Hepatitis B infection. GENVOYA is not for use to treat chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV). If you have HBV infection and take GENVOYA, your HBV may get worse (flareup) if you stop taking GENVOYA. A “flare-up” is when your HBV infection suddenly returns in a worse way than before.

• Do not run out of GENVOYA. Refill your prescription or talk to your healthcare provider before your GENVOYA is all gone.

• Do not stop taking GENVOYA without first talking to your healthcare provider.

• If you stop taking GENVOYA, your healthcare provider will need to check your health often and do blood tests regularly for several months to check your HBV infection.

Tell your healthcare provider about any new or unusual symptoms you may have after you stop taking GENVOYA.

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What is GENVOYA? GENVOYA is a prescription medicine that is used without other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years of age and older: • who have not received HIV-1 medicines in the past or • to replace their current HIV-1 medicines in people who have been on the same HIV-1 medicines for at least 6 months, have an amount of HIV-1 in their blood (“viral load”) that is less than 50 copies/mL, and have never failed past HIV-1 treatment HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. GENVOYA contains the prescription medicines elvitegravir (VITEKTA®), cobicistat (TYBOST®), emtricitabine (EMTRIVA®) and tenofovir alafenamide.

It is not known if GENVOYA is safe and effective in children under 12 years of age.

When used to treat HIV-1 infection, GENVOYA may: • Reduce the amount of HIV-1 in your blood.

This is called “viral load”.

• Increase the number of CD4+ (T) cells in your blood that help fight off other infections.

Reducing the amount of HIV-1 and increasing the CD4+ (T) cells in your blood may help improve your immune system. This may reduce your risk of death or getting infections that can happen when your immune system is weak (opportunistic infections).

GENVOYA does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. You must stay on continuous HIV-1 therapy to control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses.

Avoid doing things that can spread HIV-1 infection to others: • Do not share or re-use needles or other injection equipment.

• Do not share personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them, like toothbrushes and razor blades.

• Do not have any kind of sex without protection. Always practice safer sex by using a latex or polyurethane condom to lower the chance of sexual contact with semen, vaginal secretions, or blood.

Ask your healthcare provider if you have any questions about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to other people.

Who should not take GENVOYA? Do not take GENVOYA if you also take a medicine that contains: • alfuzosin hydrochloride (Uroxatral®) • carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro®, Tegretol®, Tegretol-XR®, Teril®) • cisapride (Propulsid®, Propulsid Quicksolv®) • ergot-containing medicines, including: dihydroergotamine mesylate (D.H.E. 45®, Migranal®), ergotamine tartrate (Cafergot®, Migergot®, Ergostat®, Medihaler Ergotamine®, Wigraine®, Wigrettes®), and methylergonovine maleate (Ergotrate®, Methergine®) • lovastatin (Advicor®, Altoprev®, Mevacor®) • midazolam, when taken by mouth • phenobarbital (Luminal®) • phenytoin (Dilantin®, Phenytek®) • pimozide (Orap®) • rifampin (Rifadin®, Rifamate®, Rifater®, Rimactane®) • sildenafil (Revatio®), when used for treating lung problems • simvastatin (Simcor®, Vytorin®, Zocor®) • triazolam (Halcion®) • the herb St. John’s wort or a product that contains St. John’s wort

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What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking GENVOYA? Before taking GENVOYA, tell your healthcare provider if you: • have liver problems including hepatitis B infection • have kidney or bone problems • have any other medical conditions • are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if GENVOYA can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking GENVOYA. Pregnancy registry: there is a pregnancy registry for women who take HIV-1 medicines during pregnancy. The purpose of this registry is to collect information about the health of you and your baby. Talk with your healthcare provider about how you can take part in this registry.

• are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you take GENVOYA. – You should not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

– At least one of the medicines in GENVOYA can pass to your baby in your breast milk. It is not known if the other medicines in GENVOYA can pass into your breast milk.

– Talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how GENVOYA works.

Some medicines may interact with GENVOYA. Keep a list of your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine.

• You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for a list of medicines that interact with GENVOYA. • Do not start a new medicine without telling your healthcare provider.

Your healthcare provider can tell you if it is safe to take GENVOYA with other medicines.

How should I take GENVOYA?

• Take GENVOYA exactly as your healthcare provider tells you to take it. GENVOYA is taken by itself (not with other HIV-1 medicines) to treat HIV-1 infection.

• GENVOYA is usually taken 1 time each day.

• Take GENVOYA with food.

• If you need to take a medicine for indigestion (antacid) that contains aluminum and • • • •

magnesium hydroxide or calcium carbonate during treatment with GENVOYA, take it at least 2 hours before or after you take GENVOYA. Do not change your dose or stop taking GENVOYA without first talking with your healthcare provider. Stay under a healthcare provider’s care when taking GENVOYA. Do not miss a dose of GENVOYA. If you take too much GENVOYA, call your healthcare provider or go to the nearest hospital emergency room right away.

When your GENVOYA supply starts to run low, get more from your healthcare provider or pharmacy. This is very important because the amount of virus in your blood may increase if the medicine is stopped for even a short time. The virus may develop resistance to GENVOYA and become harder to treat.

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What are the possible side effects of GENVOYA? GENVOYA may cause serious side effects, including: • See “What is the most important information I should know about GENVOYA?” • Changes in body fat can happen in people who take HIV-1 medicine. These changes may include increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the middle of your body (trunk). Loss of fat from the legs, arms and face may also happen. The exact cause and long-term health effects of these conditions are not known.

• Changes in your immune system (Immune Reconstitution Syndrome) can happen when you start taking HIV-1 medicines. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that have been hidden in your body for a long time. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you start having any new symptoms after starting your HIV-1 medicine.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys before you start and while you are taking GENVOYA. Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking GENVOYA if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

• Bone problems can happen in some people who take GENVOYA. Bone problems may include bone pain, softening or thinning (which may lead to fractures). Your healthcare provider may need to do tests to check your bones.

The most common side effect of GENVOYA is nausea.

Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effect that bothers you or that does not go away.

• These are not all the possible side effects of GENVOYA. For more information, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.

• Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects.

You may report side effects to FDA at 1-800-FDA-1088.

General information about the safe and effective use of GENVOYA. Medicines are sometimes prescribed for purposes other than those listed in a Patient Information leaflet. Do not use GENVOYA for a condition for which it was not prescribed.

Do not give GENVOYA to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have.

It may harm them.

This Brief Summary summarizes the most important information about GENVOYA. If you would like more information, talk with your healthcare provider. You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about GENVOYA that is written for health professionals.

For more information, call 1-800-445-3235 or go to www.GENVOYA.com.

Keep GENVOYA and all medicines out of reach of children.

Issued: November 2015

EMTRIVA, GENVOYA, the GENVOYA Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, GSI, TYBOST, and VITEKTA are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2015 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. GENC0002 11/15

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ACCESS TO CARE OUR LIVES

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LOS ANGELES

AIDS

There is an extreme disparity when it comes to treating HIV and AIDS

⚫ BY BARBARA FEDER OSTROV

White Men are 7 times more likely to sustain HIV treatment than Black Men White Gay Men are 7 times more likely to sustain HIV treatment than Black Gay Men and twice a likely than Latinos. Economics and ffordable healthcare are the primary reasons.

BY BARBARA FEDER OSTROV | A major insurer said recently it would offer life insurance to HIV-positive people because of their rising life expectancies, prompting cheers from AIDS activists. But on the very same day, the nation’s top disease control official described an America falling far short in its fight against AIDS. It might seem a jarring disconnect — but it reflects very different realities dividing the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with the human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS. While life expectancies are approaching the national norm among white, affluent gay men, about 66 percent of the 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS in the United States are not in treatment, imperiling their health and putting them at risk for infecting others.

African-Americans, mostly gay or bisexual men,account for nearly half of the approximately 45,000 Americans infected with HIV each year. Both African-Americans and Latinos are less likely to remain in treatment than whites. Compared to white men, African American men were more than seven times and Latino men were almost twice as likely to die from HIV-related complications.

HIV/AIDS activists and physicians say that despite

the significant medical advances in treating the disease, many patients are being left behind because of their life circumstances. Groups that once held angry demonstrations against government agencies and pharmaceutical companies to speed access to affordable, life-saving HIV medications now emphasize the socioeconomic barriers that keep some people living with HIV from consistently obtaining and using those drugs to remain healthy.

“There is an extreme disparity when it comes to treating HIV and AIDS,” said Anthony Hayes, managing director of public affairs and policy for GMHC, formerly Gay Men’s Health Crisis.

“It’s critical, when we talk about ending the epidemic, to not just to talk about the science. These are people who are incredibly vulnerable as it relates to all aspects of society. In contrast, more affluent HIV positive people — specifically gay white men — are able to access care, they have jobs, they have homes, they have access to life’s basic necessities that many do not.

“It’s very hard to talk about HIV prevention with someone who is homeless or someone who isn’t sure where they’re going to find their next meal.”

It’s not a simple matter of financing care for those who can’t afford it. Treatment and

LOREN JONES IS HIV-POSITIVE AND WAS HOMELESS FOR YEARS. SHE NOW LIVES IN A GOVERNMENT-SUBSIDIZED STUDIO APARTMENT IN DOWNTOWN BERKELEY. (HEIDI DE MARCO/KHN)

social services are currently available for low-income and uninsured or underinsured patients under the Ryan White Act. Once long waiting lists for free HIV medications have virtually been eliminated. But basic survival – money to live, a place to sleep — often takes precedence over seeking help and closely managing a disease that can be symptom-free in its early stages, doctors say.

Loren Jones, 63, of Berkeley, Calif., was homeless when she was first diagnosed with HIV about 30 years ago. And for many years she wasn’t symptomatic, so her diagnosis was rarely at the top of her list of worries, Jones said. “It actually sinks to the bottom. HIV becomes

another thing on your, like, to-do list.”

Jones eventually was able to find a government-subsidized studio apartment in Berkeley and qualify for Social Security disability benefits. She recently had a bout with eczema, a serious skin rash that can be a marker for the progression of HIV-related disease. Her blood pressure spiked, leading to discovery of kidney disease, a common complication of HIV. With her health problems now coming to the fore, she is finally receiving HIV treatment.

Newer approaches to controlling HIV/AIDS focus on a “continuum of care,” from the very beginning. Federal health official are trying to

track improvements or setbacks at every stage: testing, linking the newly diagnosed to care within three months, getting HIV-positive people to remain in treatment, prescribing them antiretroviral drugs, and suppressing HIV viral load – the amount of HIV in the blood – to a very low level.

People fall out of care at every stage, with minorities generally faring worse than whites. The the goal is to keep them in treatment, not only for their sake but because research has shown that people with low or undetectable viral loads are far less likely to transmit the disease to others.

AIDS continued on p. 8

12.30.2015 CALIFORNIA NEWS & POLITICS

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LOS ANGELES

GENDER

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⚫ BY SETH HEMMELGARN

Financial help for crusading mother of Gwen Araujo sought

Gwen Araujo was brutally murdered at a party in 2002. Her murders claimed trans panic, a defense that has since been prohibited in California.

T

he mother of slain transgender teen Gwen Araujo, whose murder over a decade ago played a huge part in advancing transgender rights, is struggling financially and has launched an online crowdfunding campaign.

“I have been borrowing money to keep afloat, but I’m drowning,” Sylvia Guerrero, 51, who’s suffering from

post-traumatic stress disorder and other medical issues, wrote on a Gofundme site she recently launched (https://www.gofundme.com/mjcbpda6).

“I made a promise to Gwen that I wouldn’t give up, and that I’d keep moving forward,” Guerrero said in an interview. “She keeps reassuring me that things are going to be OK.” Araujo, 17, was killed in October 2002 at a house party in Newark, California. Two men at the party had reportedly had sex with the young woman they’d known as Lida, and they murdered her after their suspicions that she was biologically male were confirmed. The men then drove Araujo’s body to a grave in the Sierra foothills.

Michael Magidson, 35, and Jose Merel, 36, are still in prison after be-

ing convicted in Araujo’s murder.

Jason Cazares, 35, pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and was discharged from prison in 2012.

Jaron Nabors, 32, also pleaded guilty to manslaughter and prison records indicate he’s been discharged, too.

With Guerrero’s help, Araujo’s murder brought unprecedented attention to transgender issues and prompted state law barring the use of the “panic defense,” where people charged with murder defend themselves by claiming the victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity triggered them.

But 13 years after her daughter’s brutal murder, Guerrero is faced with physical and financial problems, on top of the emotional destruction that came with her daughter’s death.

HELP SYLVIA continued on p. 15

SYLIVA GUERROR, FACEBOOK

⚫ BY MATTHEW BAJKO

California Transphobic ballot initiative again fails to qualify In October the California Republican Party backed the antitrans ballot initiative — a move that left many party leaders shaking their heads.

F

or the second year in a row an effort to place a transphobic ballot measure before California voters has failed.

Late Monday afternoon the group that had been circulating a proposed initiative that would require people to use facilities in government build-

ings and public schools based on the gender they were assigned at birth announced it had failed to gather the signatures needed in order to place it on the November 2016 ballot.

Calling itself Privacy For All, the group had until December 21 to submit 365,880 valid signatures to qualify its Personal Privacy Protection Act for next year’s general election. But in a message posted on Facebook at approximately 4:30 p.m. Monday, the group announced it had fallen short.

“While we are extremely disappointed, we know that we gave this effort our best and ‘left it all on the field,’” stated the message.

There had been growing concern that anti-gay groups would transport the successful messaging they used last month in Houston to repeal

that city’s equal rights ordinance to California. That campaign played off fears that the local law would allow male sexual predators into women’s restrooms.

LGBT advocates therefore were elated to see the transphobic bathroom measure fail in the Golden State.

“It is a good day and we are just ecstatic at the fact we have more time to make the advances we need to for the transgender community,” Equality California Executive Director Rick Zbur told the Bay Area Reporter in a brief phone interview late Monday.

Last year a similar coalition of anti-gay groups failed to gather enough signatures to repeal Assembly Bill 1266, a groundbreaking law that grants transgender students access to

school activities like sports teams and the use of school facilities like bathrooms based on their gender identity.

The back-to-back defeats make it increasingly unlikely going forward that anti-gay groups will be able to utilize California’s initiative process to strip away LGBT rights.

Nonetheless, EQCA plans to move forward with a public education campaign it is developing to bring greater awareness to the issues transgender people confront. It should debut sometime in February.

“In any case as long as the public doesn’t know and appreciate the gifts and talents transgender people contribute to our community that community is at risk of being used as a wedge issue by right-wing extremists,” said Zbur

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LOS ANGELES

⚫ BY TROY MASTERS

Gay Man files federal civil rights suit against LA Sheriff Separate holding areas for LGBT detainees at heart of complaint are called abusive and unequal.

A

gay Los Angeles County man says that after his March 2015 arrest he was held in a small closet with no toilet. He claims he was told it was for his “own protection” but was called a “fucking faggot” by a deputy who assaulted him when he asked for a chair.

Anthony Oliver, 33, filed a federal civil rights complaint on December 17, 2015 in which he also claims straight inmates are placed in larger cells with a private toilet, a TV, phone and reading material.

According to the complaint, Los Angeles County jails and court detainees who are gay, bisexual and transgender are placed in a separate facility called “K6G.” Oliver is gay, disabled and wears a back brace.

“In the Metro traffic courthouse, ‘K6G’ inmates are treated far worse than that of general population,” Oliver says in his complaint. “At the time plaintiff was taken to court in 2015, plaintiff was housed, like other LGBT inmates, in a small room with one stool, the size of a mop closet, awaiting his court appearance. The room was formerly an attorney-client meeting room with only one stool, and was converted for use by the LA County

AIDS continued from p. 6

Dr. Edward Machtinger, professor and director of the Women’s HIV Program at the University of California, San Francisco, said his clinic has been able to achieve viral suppression in up to 80 percent of its patients. But the focus on biomedical treatment of their HIV obscures the deep challenges many of his patients face: poverty, domestic abuse, addiction, mental illness, he noted.

“Complex trauma is what led many of my patients to get HIV in first place and gets them to remain

Sheriff’s Department for LGBT inmates at the time of the incident.

“Plaintiff is informed and believes that in some of the court lock-ups in the Los Angeles County Superior Courts, ‘K6G’ inmates are kept, instead of cells, in ‘utility rooms’ or ‘mop closets’ that are separate from the holding cells that are designed to accommodate non-LGBT inmates awaiting court appearances,” Oliver’s complaint continues.

“There is no reason for housing ‘K6G’ inmates in non-cell facilities, as opposed to having a segregated cell or holding tank where they can be housed awaiting court,” the complaint maintains.

“Among other things, ‘K6G’ inmates endure substantially worse conditions of confinement simply because they are LGBT persons and members of the gay community, or are transgender and have a different sexual identity. The conditions and treatment the ‘K6G’ inmates are subjected to in the court lock-ups should not be tolerated. LGBT inmates are being discriminated against intentionally based on their status as a result of this custody arrangement.

“Although the county and department owe a duty to protect LGBT inmates from harm by providing protection, that does not allow LGBT persons to be subjected to worse conditions of incarceration,” says Oliver in the complaint.

In addition to being placed in the ‘mop closet,’ Oliver says he was treated harshly and physically so by one of the guards while waiting to make his court appearance.

Oliver claims he was recovering from back surgery and in a back brace when he was arrested. He was placed in the closet sized room with two other men and because there was only one stool, he requested a chair from guards. He says one guard called him a “fucking faggot” before lifting him off the ground, slamming him against the wall and placing him back in the cell.

Oliver says other deputies witnessed the assault but did nothing.

When he complained to a supervisor he was threatened and warned not to report the assault, according to the complaint.

Oliver says the assault caused fur ther damage to his back, requiring surgery.

The sheriff’s department is aware of the “brutal, unconstitutional practices” inflicted on LGBT inmates at detention facilities but has failed to curb the problem, the complaint says.

Los Angeles County treats “LGBT people much different than any other inmates in violation of their equal protection rights under the law,” according to the complaint.

Oliver’s suit also names Sheriff Jim McDonnell; Court Services Bureau commander Kevin Goran; watch commander Jeff Adams; and deputies Isaias Marin, Jr, Don Manumaleuna, Michael Kassabian, Nancy Aleman, Gerald Denson, Steven Kale and R. Alvarez as defendants.

The lawsuit includes claims for civil rights violations, supervisorial liability, an Americans with Disabilities Act claim and assault and

battery. Oliver seeks general, compensatory and statutory damages, as well as punitive damages against individual defendants.

UCLA’s Williams Institute highlighted a 2013 article published by Journal of Criminal Law & Criminology that claims the Compared to life in the general population, K6G inmates live relatively free of sexual assault and are free to express their personal identity and sense of self in a way that is psychologically healthier than the typical prison experience.

Oliver is represented by David McLane of Kaye, McLane, Bednarski, & Litt in Pasadena, California.

In 2014, McLane and the American Civil Liberties Union represented 15 gay, bisexual and transgender inmates at a San Bernardino County jail, in a class action claiming the county routinely subjected LGBT inmates to harsh treatment.

depressed, stay addicted and have trouble adhering to their meds,” Machtinger said. “Medicine and HIV primary care has not considered these health issues to be in their domain and their responsibility. I’ve heard many clinicians brag about having patients on crack be undetectable in their viral load, as if HIV was going to kill them in the first place. It’s not. Crack is going to kill them.”

Addressing HIV patients’ social and economic challenges — often referred to as “social determinants of health” — is complicated and not re-

imbursable, Machtinger said. “What we really need to do is find a way for patients to be safer, more empowered and healthy.”

Dr. William Cunningham, a University of California, Los Angeles medicine and public health professor, is researching ways to help marginalized HIV-positive people stay in treatment and avoid infecting others. He’s co-directing a $4.6 million, five-year study that pairs recently released Los Angeles County jail inmates who are HIV-positive with peer navigators who help them find medical care and new prescrip-

tions of antiretroviral medications they received while incarcerated.

“They’re trying to survive outside — to get housing, to get a job. We just don’t have a system that’s designed for people who have those kinds of issues. It’s designed for well-educated, well-informed consumers in a market type system,” Cunningham said. “It’s the context of people’s lives that is just so difficult that HIV is not their biggest problem. We haven’t come up with any kind of magic bullet, but at the very least, we need to focus on these social barriers to a greater extent.”

JAMES “JIM” MCDONNELL SHERIFF OF LOS ANGELES COUNTY, CALIFORNIA.

12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

Gay Blood: No change at all change T

he lifetime ban of blood donations from gay and bisexual men, implemented by the FDA in 1983 at the start of the AIDS crisis, was “lifted” this week. Well, we are scratching our heads at this one and decided a few questions are in order.

We posed our questions to FDA spokeswoman Tara Goodin: 1) If there’s a nine-day window for testing to catch HIV, why does a gay man need to be celibate for a year to donate blood? Wouldn’t a month be a safe waiting period?

The FDA’s mission is to help ensure the safety of the blood supply.

Although the current generation of HIV testing that is used to screen the blood supply is highly accurate, it is not perfect. With the testing methodology used in the United States, there is a period of about nine days after an individual is infected with HIV during which the virus cannot be detected. During this time, when individuals may have no symptoms, the virus could be passed on to another individual through a blood transfusion. The FDA has examined the possibility of eliminating all deferrals for HIV and simply relying on testing of donated blood; however, scientific evidence has shown this would lead to decreased safety of the blood supply.

Therefore, deferral policies continue to have an important role in ensuring the safety of the blood supply. The recommended deferral period in the final guidance is 12 months because a 12-month deferral has been well studied and found, among other things, to maintain the safety of the blood supply in Australia, a country with HIV epidemiology and blood screening systems similar to the United States.

In addition, this change would potentially better harmonize the deferral for MSM with the one-year deferral in place for both men and women who engage in certain other sexual behaviors associated with an increased risk of HIV exposure (e.g., sex with an HIV-positive partner, sex with a commercial sex worker).

Several countries, including the United Kingdom and Australia, currently have 12-month deferrals for men who have sex with men. In fact, Australia, a country with HIV epidemiology similar to the United States, changed its policy over 10 years ago. During the change in Australia from an indefinite blood donor de-

ferral policy for men who have sex with men (MSM) to a 12-month deferral, well-conducted studies evaluating over eight million units of donated blood were performed using a national blood surveillance system.

These studies, which have been published, document no change in risk to the blood supply with use of the 12-month deferral. Similar data are not available for shorter deferral intervals.

That being said, the FDA is committed to reevaluating its blood donor deferral policies as new scientific information becomes available.

2) If a same-sex married couple tests negative and has been together and monogamous for years, why wouldn’t we want them to be blood donors? The likelihood is their blood is safer than the gay men lying about being celibate.

3) Although you’re asking all men if they’ve had sex with another man in the past year, why are you believing straight men who say they never cheat on their wives, but not trusting gay men who are in monogamous relationships and test negative?

Answer to #2-3: The deferral policy is a behavior-based policy, not one based upon sexual orientation. Current epidemiology shows that a history of male-to-male sexual contact was associated with a 62-fold increased risk for being HIV positive, whereas the increase in risk for a history of multiple sexual partners of the opposite sex in the last year was 2.3-fold.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about twothirds of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in men who have sex with men, who make up 2 percent of the total U.S. population. The FDA carefully considered alternative deferral criteria, such as individual risk assessment for individual risk of HIV, as alternatives to a time-based deferral. However, evidence shows that self-reporting presents significant issues in the U.S. for a number of reasons, including lack of sufficient data on the effectiveness of donor educational questionnaires and lack of reliability in self-reports of monogamy by partners in any type of sexual relationship. On the other hand, a 12-month deferral has been well BLOOD continued on p. 18

It can cause aching, shooting, stabbing or even burning pain and can lead to weakness, muscle wasting, numbness, and tingling even down to your toes!

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Sciatica Sucking the Joy of Life Out of You?

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⚫ 10

EDUCATION TITLE IX

⚫ BY PRIDE STAFF

12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

>

DISCRIMINATION SUIT

Pepperdine Title IX loss may expand LGBT protections After being harassed by coaching staff about being in a lesbian relationship defendants lost their basketball scholarship.

PUBLISHER & EDITOR TROY MASTERS

troy@smmirror.com CONTRIBUTORS

I

n what is likely to be a first step toward an expansion of Title IX, the law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs, United States District Judge Dean D. Pregerson ruled that a sexual orientation discrimination case brought against Pepperdine University may move forward in court.

In Videckis v. Pepperdine University, two former women’s basketball players maintain their coach and University staff members “harassed and discriminated” against them in an effort to force them to quit the team after discovering they were a lesbian couple.

Layana White and Haley Videckis, claim “the university violated their privacy as well as Title IX of the U.S. Civil Rights Act.” Pepperdine argued “Title IX did not cover claims based on sexual orientation discrimination,” according to court documents. Pepperdine argued that because the women’s relationship was not known to them the claim of discrimination or retaliation based on sexual orientation was moot. The judge rejected the logic: “In sexual orientation discrimination cases, focusing on the actions or appearance of the alleged victim of discrimination rather than the bias of the alleged perpetrator asks the wrong question and compounds the harm. A plaintiff’s ‘actual’ sexual orientation is irrelevant to a Title IX or Title VII claim because it is the biased mind of the alleged discriminator that is the focus of the analysis. This is especially true given that sexuality cannot be defined on a homosexual or heterosexual basis; it exists on a continuum. It is not the victim of discrimination who

MATTHEW S. BAJKO, CYNTHIA LAIRD, HENRY SCOTT, CHARLES KAISER, MAER ROSHAN, KIT WINTER, BRAD LAMM, DAVID EHRENSTEIN, STEVEN ERICKSON, ORIEL GUTTIEREZ, STEVE WEINSTEIN, CHRIS AZZOPARD, DIANE ANDERSONMINSHALL, ALLEN ROSKOFF, JOHN PAUL KING

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VIDEOGRAPHER JOHN BOATNER

GRAPHIC DESIGNER ARTURO JIMENEZ | artkex@yahoo.com

HAYLEY VIDECKIS AND LAYANA WHITE

should be forced to put his or her sexual orientation on trial. We do not demand of a victim of alleged religious discrimination, ‘Prove that you are a real Catholic, Mormon, or Jew.’ Just as it would be absurd to demand that a victim of alleged racial discrimination prove that he is black, it is absurd to demand a victim of alleged sex discrimination based on sexual orientation prove she is a lesbian. The contrary view would turn a Title IX trial into a broad inquisition into the personal sexual history of the victim.

Such an approach should be precluded as not only highly inflammatory and offensive, but also irrelevant for the purposes of the Title IX discrimination analysis.”

Judge Pregerson ruled that sexual-orientation discrimination is sex discrimination: “Here, Plaintiffs allege that they were told that ‘lesbianism’ would not be tolerated on the team. If Plaintiffs had been males dating females, instead of females dating females, they would not have been subjected to the alleged different treatment. Plaintiffs have stated a straightforward claim of sex discrimination under Title IX.” The judge says his ruling aligns with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission decision that main-

tains sexual orientation is discrimination under Title VII, which prevents sex discrimination in the workforce.

Aligning Title VII and Title IX rulings is “a crucial part of the case,” making for a “proper ruling,” said a spokesperson for Lambda Legal.

The lawyer for Videckis and White, Jeremy Gray say that “a simple way to consider the issue of whether the word ‘sex’ in Title IX applies to our clients’ claims, is to ask a straightforward question. If we were to change the gender (sex) of one of our clients would there have ever been an issue with their relationship? Of course not. By definition, the sex of our clients was an essential component of the discrimination — and Title IX applies here.”

Pepperdine University Public Relations Office: “The court’s broad interpretation of Title IX and its application to this specific case is surprising.

Pepperdine always strives to act in the best interests of its students and the teams on which they play. A thorough and comprehensive investigation confirmed this and found no evidence to support the plaintiffs’ allegations.

The University anticipates that the court will reach the same conclusion.

Our University remains committed to a diverse and inclusive environment.”

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12.30.2015 LGBT ISSUES TRAILBLAZERS

⚫ BY RYAN REYES

LOS ANGELES

>

⚫

OBITUARY

Influential Psychiatrist Dr. Robert Spitzer Dies

EAST/WEST: MERGING MUSIC AND CULTURES

SPONSORED BY

CHO LIANG LIN & JONKIMURAPARKER February 13, 2016

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February 19, 2016

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The American Psychiatric Association classified homosexuality as a mental disorders until 1973.

D

11

r. Robert Spitzer, who is credited with removing homosexuality as a mental disorder, died on Friday at the age of 83.

Spitzer died from heart problems in Seattle, said his wife Columbia University Professor Emerita Janet Williams.

The psychiatrist worked on several editions of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (D.S.M.), meeting with experts in each diagnostic category to come up with definitions for each mental disorder.

DR. ROBERT SPITZER

Spitzer pushed to eliminate homosexuality, which was described as a “sociopathic personality disturbance”, in the D.S.M. in 1973. He met with gay activists and decided homosexuality did not classify as a disorder if gay people weren’t distressed by their sexuality.

In 2012, Spitzer gave a public apology for a 2001 study he conducted that stated gay people could be turned straight through reparative therapy if they wanted. According to the New York Times, the study did not test one particular therapy method, noting that half of the participants did not even see a therapist. The rest only engaged with pastoral counselors or did independent Bible study.

Spitzer told the New York Times the study was “the only regret I have; the only professional one.”

KEYBOARD CONVERSATIONS WITH

JEFFREY SIEGEL®

AN AMERICAN SALUTE February 27, 2016

Learn more at TheWallis.org/Winter 9390 N SANTA MONICA BLVD BEVERLY HILLS CA 90210

⚫

12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

> Best LGBT Films of 2015 12

2015 WRAP

A VERY GOOD YEAR

ARTS

(in my humble opinion) “B

est” of course is a relative term. From my vantage point, these are the best LGBT films of 2015. MIA are several films that I suspect would have made the list had I seen them: the lesbian dramas “Freeheld” and “Grandma”, and the documentary “Matt Shepard is a Friend of Mine”--I look forward to catching all three on DVD. Of the films I did see, it was “The Danish Girl”, a riveting trans themed biopic from “Les Misrables” director Tom Hooper which tops the list.

There are in fact two trans themed films on this list, as the trans community continues to emerge from the shadows and take their place at the table. There’s also one controversial choice.

“The Danish Girl” Director Tom Hooper and star Eddie Redmayne both deserve to win second Oscars for their work in this mesmerizing biopic. The film tells the true life story of LIli Elbe, believed to be the first transwoman to undergo sex reassignment surgery. “The Danish Girl” is, first and foremost, a love story between Lili and her wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander), who remain together even after Lili transitions.

Though Gerda sees herself as losing her beloved husband, she stands by Lili’s side. Even as their relationship becomes platonic, Lili’s and Gerda’s deep love for each other remains fully intact.

Redmayne gives an extraordinary performance both as Lili, and as Einar, the male persona she leaves behind. In other films where transwomen are played by cisgender men, the trans character often looks like a drag queen. Not so in “The Danish Girl”-Redmayne’s power as an actor allows a woman to emerge on screen. Redmayne completely alters his onscreen body language as he transitions from Einar to Lili.

The story’s setting, 1920s Copenhagen Denmark, is lovingly recreated in his heartbreaking and heartwarming history lesson. Lili’s tale serves as an education to us all, whether trans

or not: find the courage and strength to be yourself.

“Larry Kramer: In Love and Anger” Produced for HBO, Jean Carlomusto’s feature length documentary preserves the history and legacy of legendary AIDS activist Larry Kramer.

The film opens as Kramer, a long time HIV survivor, lies in his hospital bed, barely alive after undergoing surgery which was needed in order to safe his life--director Carlomusto is seen in Kramer’s hospital room tending to his needs.

“Larry Kramer: In Love and Anger” then flashes back to Kramer’s less than happy childhood and follows him as he begins a career as a Hollywood producer and screenwriter--Kramer received an Oscar nomination for penning the script to Ken Russell’s “Women in Love” (1969), a film which stunned viewers at the time due to its blatant homoeroticism. In 1977 Kramer became persona-non-grata in the gay community after his shocker of a novel “Faggots” was published.

In the book Kramer dared to suggest that gay culture was shallow and unhealthy--its an argument still being waged today.

When Kramer rallied the troops during the peak years of the AIDS epidemic his legacy was secured. A co-founder of the AIDS activist organization ACT -UP, Kramer screamed and cursed at a government which knowingly let people die--and at gay men who were, in his eyes, apathetic.

“Larry Kramer: In Love and Anger” includes a still-shocking clip: Kramer tells a 1980s TV interviewer that the government was ignoring AIDS because the disease was killing “niggers, spics and faggots.”

By the time Carlomusto made her film, most people had admitted that Kramer was right.

“Bessie” Another HBO production, Queen Latifah stars in this beautifully produced biopic of legendary blues sing-

QUEEN LATIFAH’S STAR TURN

er Bessie Smith. Smith (1894-1937) was an African American woman who walked to the beat of her own drum at a time when most “colored folks” knew their place. Smith lived her life to the fullest and partied hard. She loved men and women alike, and the film doesn’t shy away from her bisexuality.

Sumptuously produced, “Bessie” recreates Smith’s era--including the blatantly harsh racism which was the social norm during those days. The film features a number of thrilling musical numbers with Latifah belting them out as she struts her stuff across the stage. “Bessie” is grand entertainment--it’s a fitting tribute to a woman who kicked open a few doors as part of the generation which preceded the civil rights movement.

“Tangerine” Amazingly, filmmaker Sean Baker shot his film with an i-phone. Thanks to current technology, “Tangerine” has a somewhat polished look, while also capturing the harsh realities of transgender street life. Real life transwomen Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez star as Alexandra and SinDee, best friends and prostitutes on the streets of Hollywood.

“Tangerine” is a no-holds bared look

at a dangerous lifestyle that many transwomen of color are forced into due to the attitudes of a society which still refuses to accept them. This is strong stuff--the film illustrates in no uncertain terms how unsavory and violent Alexandra and Sin-Dee’s world can be. But “Tangerine” is also funny and sweet--the girls are loud and foul mouthed, and they genuinely love each other.

“Tangerine” is an important film that might open viewers’ hearts and minds to how many in the trans community have been forced to live, even as they hope and yearn for something better.

“Boulevard” “Boulevard” is not a great film--the script needed some work. But “Boulevard” marks the final performance of the late, great Robin Williams (19512014). One of our most beloved stars since the 1970s, Williams was given one last hurrah as Nolan, a sixty year old man in a somewhat friendly but loveless marriage to Joy (Kathy Baker). Nolan and Joy create the illusion of themselves as a happily married couple, even as they hide the truth from their friends and from themselves: they sleep in separate rooms BEST FILM? continued on p. 13

12.30.2015 BEST FILM? continued from p. 12

and have not made love in decades.

After Nolan meets Leo (Roberto Aguire), he’s able to face the truth about himself. Leo is a troubled hustler, and Nolan tries to mentor him. Its a lost cause, but their strange friendship enables Nolan to accept his own long suppressed homosexuality.

The flawed script doesn’t allow viewers to learn who Leo and Joy really are, but William’s performance is so powerful that “Boulevard” becomes a rewarding viewing experience. At the time the film was shot the actor was struggling with his own inner demons--Williams allows the audience to peak inside Nolan’s soul and to see the character’s torment--we might just be seeing a bit of Williams’ real life torment as the story unfolds.

It’s an extraordinary performance from a great actor. A most fitting final bow.

“Stonewall” Roland Emmerich’s “Stonewall” is to the legendary riots what James Cameron’s “Titanic” was to the maritime disaster, a romanticized retelling of actual historic events starring a fictional lead. The film was viciously attacked by LGBT activists before it was even released--the intensity of their venom was disturbing--many of the protesters admitted that they’d not seen the film.

The accusations hurled at the film were false. The film tells the truth about the harsh conditions which gay and trans kids--many of whom had been rejected by their families--were forced to live in during the Stonewall era. Nor does “Stonewall” shy away from the police brutality and harassment which sparked the riots.

The film has two villains: a violent gay mafia goon (Ron Perlman) and a conservative gay activist (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who shows a willingness to sell his community out. Both of these characters are white. “Stonewall” also offers a riveting, Oscar worthy performance from newcomer Jonny Beauchamp as Ray/Ramona, an embittered yet kind-hearted cross dressing Latin prostitute--Beauchamp steals the film. It’s Ramona and real-life African American Stonewall veteran Marsha P. Johnson (Otoja Abit) who offer fictional lead Danny Winters the love, loyalty and support he never gets from the Rhys-Meyers character.

Ramona and Johnson are “Stonewall’s” most sympathetic and likable characters.

Is “Stonewall” a perfect film? Is it completely accurate? No, but neither was “Titanic”. But “Stonewall” does get many aspects of the Stonewall saga right. It did not deserve the attacks that were hurled at it. It’s out on DVD/Blu Ray--give it a chance.

LOS ANGELES

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12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

TALKING HEADS

⚫ BY CHRIS AZZOPARDI

>

INTERVIEW OF THE MOMENT

Polanco on being a Hollywood minority, breaking the ‘stigma’ and why “Joy” will resonate with the LGBT community.

“I

want you to smell me,” is not your typical conversation starter, sure, but “Orange Is the New Black” star Dascha Polanco does smell nice, like fresh flowers.

Seated in a New York City hotel suite to talk about her new film, _Joy_, the 32-year-old actress invites me to cozy up next to her, because then, she jokes, I can experience the fact that “not only is she beautiful but she also smells delicious.”

It’s weird seeing you out of an orange jumpsuit.

Is it?! I love the fact that I got to play with decades: the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s. But it’s two totally different worlds, TV and film.

What’s that transition been like for you?

Professionally, it’s always welcome (laughs). It’s a new challenge. It’s a new area of acting and being able to be play with characters and stories more creatively. I think with (director) David O. Russell and this project, it was intimidating.

Because it’s David O. Russell?

David O. Russell. Jennifer Lawrence. Bradley Cooper. Robert De Niro. Diane Ladd. Virginia Madsen.

Isabella Rossellini. You just want to make sure you have your A-game on, and for a Latina being in this industry for the last three years, it takes you by surprise.

How does being Latina change things?

Well, there are not many Latin actors in Hollywood. There’s still a lower percentage of them breaking into Hollywood, but we’re seeing more diversity, especially with David O. Russell’s film. You’re seeing diversity there, to that caliber, and for me, that’s a big responsibility.

There’s been a lot of talk about diversity in Hollywood lately, and not just when it comes to race, but when it comes to women. And this movie is very –Female driven.

DASCHA IS PICTURED IN HER “ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK” CHARACTER (L), IN “JOY” (C) AND ON THE RED CARPET (R).

Dascha Polanco is Hollywood’s Joy It is. It’s all about female empowerment. It has a feminist message. How does that personally strike a chord with you?

I can relate so much to the story and to the elements of the movie: having obstacles in your life, being a woman and having to be a parent, having to be a daughter, taking care of not only your personal self but also your family. It shows how much women throughout the years have been the backbone and have, at times, struggled to even take a risk or try to live their dream or move forward because of other commitments or because of the stigma that we are supposed to be at home.

From the perspective of someone who is Latina in Hollywood: What is the current state of finding roles in Hollywood for a minority?

I thought to myself for the last two years: I’ve gone on auditions – so many auditions – in comparison to when I first started. Maybe it’s because of _Orange_, maybe it’s because

of my representation, but there’s a need, a desire now. You see more offers, you see more shows that want to include diversity because of the success of shows like _Orange Is the New Black_. Anybody could’ve been cast as Jackie in _Joy_, and that’s the beauty of it. The role that I play, anyone could have, but he didn’t make it exclusive (and say), “I’m gonna make Jackie a white actress.” No. She’s ambiguous. She can be black. She can be Spanish. The fact that this is a Golden Globe-nominated movie – ah, it takes me by surprise that I’m part of this project, not because I don’t have the potential, not because I don’t believe in myself – but because of what, historically, I’ve seen growing up. And now that I’m part of it, there’s hope and there’s an opportunity that was rendered that I’m not taking for granted.

You credit “Orange Is the New Black” for diversifying TV. What does it mean to you to be a part of that movement?

We have to look at a movie like _ Joy_ for a minute, and I’m going to talk about how it includes LGBT. It’s funny: I’m very supportive of the LGBT because I have family, I have friends, and they’re a big part of my life – and even so, I respect a human regardless of what their sexual orientation is, or who they feel they are. It has nothing to do with LGBT, or that I have a friend who is. It’s human to accept another human. Not everybody thinks that way. But you see a character like Joy who’s trying to just be… . She’s trying to belong, she’s trying to accomplish her dreams; she can be a mother, she can be a wife or a divorcee and not have the backlash, because there’s so much backlash in the movie. There are so many obstacles. “You’re a woman and you can’t do that.” And I’m pretty sure the LGBT community can relate to that.

So whether she was a lesbian or not, it has nothing to do with that – it’s about her feeling like she’s part of POLANCO continued on p. 15

12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

Breakthrough POLANCO continued from p. 14

something and building her empire.

Because anybody can see themselves in Joy. Exactly.

When it comes to “Orange Is the New Black,” how do you feel about being a part of a show that embraces inclusivity?

I’m proud! So proud. It’s done a lot for the gay community around the world. It shows how much the industry might be oblivious to what’s needed, but the fans and the viewership have just been so boisterous and open to all these different sexual orientations – to transgender. There’s

HELP SYLVIA continued from p. 7

“I’ve lost everything,” Guerrero said.

“I lost my kid. She’s never going to go home. That’s the one thing I wish never happened ... When they killed Gwen, they killed her mom. This is just what’s left of me. It’s changed my life forever.”

Guerrero said she’s suffered disabling PTSD since Araujo’s murder, and she also has celiac disease and rheumatoid arthritis, but she said her Social Security disability benefits were recently cut off after she neglected to turn in some required documentation. Among other problems, she hasn’t had access to her medications or seen her doctors in months. She is working on regaining her benefits.

For months, Guerrero has been splitting her time between two of her children’s homes and is currently living in the Central Valley city of Manteca. She hasn’t been able to get a home of her own.

“When this was the top story, everybody was there,” Guerrero, who cried through much of the recent interview, said. “People were coming out of the woodwork.” But now, she said, “nobody wants to help. It’s not today’s news. It’s old.”

As of Monday, December 28, a month after the site was first published, people have contributed $1,397 toward Guerrero’s goal of $4,000. She hopes to buy a used car with the money.

People familiar with Guerrero’s work said her contributions to the LGBT community are significant.

so much more acceptance, and that’s the beauty of it. We, (show creator) Jenji (Kohan), the actors, the story – we took all we had and the essence and being underdogs and being selfmade and coming from nowhere and that passion and brought a project that everyone can relate to. That’s what’s succeeding now – when you have a project that everybody can relate to. We have _Joy_ now. Anybody can watch the movie and I guarantee they’ll walk out of the theater and want to take over the world.

Chris Azzopardi is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service. Reach him via his website at www.chris-azzopardi.com and on Twitter (@chrisazzopardi).

Chris Daley, who co-founded the Transgender Law Center around the time of Araujo’s murder, said last week, “I think that at a time when a lot of people felt like they couldn’t connect with the transgender community, Sylvia and her family and her courage provided a way for folks to understand the harm that transphobia causes.”

Daley, who now is deputy director at Just Detention International, added, “Embracing your transgender child, particularly your murdered transgender child, wasn’t an inevitability.

This was a choice that Sylvia and her family made” to honor Araujo and her identity.

He said he hadn’t yet seen the link to the Gofundme page. Soon after a reporter emailed him the link, though, he shared it on Facebook.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, said Guerrero “was very visible at a time when there hadn’t been a lot of visibility” of transgender people’s parents, especially those of trans people who’d been “slain.”

“Sylvia basically challenged us to really think about her child and what her child had been through, and what it said about society that that could happen to somebody. She insisted that we not forget Gwen, that we really think through it.”

But Keisling bristled when asked whether she’d made a contribution to Guerrero’s fund.

“I don’t think that’s an appropriate question to ask,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about that topic.”

JAN. 30, 2016

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FILM REVIEW THE REVENANT

>

12.30.2015

LOS ANGELES

MOVIE PICK

⚫ BY JOHN PAUL KING

“The Revenant” explores the cold beauty of a harsh world W

ith a title like “The Revenant,” one might expect the newest work by Alejandro G. Iñárritu to be a horror movie.

Indeed, though its name is meant only as a metaphoric reference to the central character’s experience, many viewers may find themselves horrified by much of its content and imagery.

This is not a criticism; rather, it’s a warning to viewers who might otherwise be unprepared for the level of intensity attempted- and achievedby Iñárritu as he tells this story of deter mination and survival within the terrifying beauty of the natural world.

The screenplay, by Iñárritu and Mark L. Smith, is based “in part” on a novel by Michael Punke, which was itself based on the real-life story of Hugh Glass. An experienced frontiersman, he was part of an 1823 fur trading expedition in the norther n reaches of the Louisiana Purchase; abandoned and left for dead by his comrades after sustaining severe injuries on the trail, he managed to crawl 200 miles to the nearest settlement- despite his grave condition, the harsh weather, and the danger from hostile Arikara war parties in the region.

The real Glass became something of a legend, to be sure; through the combined dramatic embellishments of Parke’s novel and the movie’s script, that legend is transfor med into a classical revenge tragedy exploring the contrast between the savagery and nobility of man.

To go into any more detail about the plot would be dif ficult, not so much for fear of giving away the twists and turns of the story as for the sake of preserving the revelatory power of the film’s key moments.

Iñárritu uses a fluid camera to

immerse his audience, creating an ef fect which is less like watching a series of events take place than it is like being in the midst of them as they arise and recede. It’s disorienting and overwhelming; the vast scope of the wilderness setting, the camera’s restless focus, the hyper-reality of the natural light and the meticulously crafted soundscape- all these combine to form an atmosphere pregnant with surprises, both wondrous and terrible.

When those surprises come, the film commands a visceral response that rises beyond mere involvement in its narrative and connects you with that primal corner of your psyche that still sends prickles up your spine whenever you hear an animal howling in the darkness of night.

Iñárritu, far from rehearsing yet another big-screen tale that could easily have been lifted from a samurai epic or “spaghetti” western, seeks to provide his audience with a concrete experience of unthinkable occurrences.

It may have been the dir ector’s audacious vision to bring such remarkable things to the screen, but an expert team was necessary to realize it. The film’s roving camerawork, though carefully plotted by Iñárritu, was executed by cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who also managed to give every shot a surreal and luminous beauty that haunts the memory long after the film is over.

Accompanying the stunning visuals is the ethereal score, composed by R yuichi Sakamoto (in collaboration with Alva Noto and Bryce Dessner), which contributes its own sense of stark detachment and otherworldly grace to the action.

In front of the lens, Leonardo DiCaprio gives a raw performance,

MacArthur Park was home to one of America’s earliest identifiable gay neighborhoods.

possibly his best to date, as Glass; he communicates a profound range of humanity with a minimal amount o f d i a l o g u e , i n s p i t e ( o r p e rh a p s because) of the sheer physical ordeal of filming the role.

No less effective is Tom Hardy as the darker half of the story’s human conflict, creating an unforgettable portrait of a man who has become hardened into the personification of self-serving indifference.

“The Revenant” certainly feels unprecedented, but it does not completely escape its very “Hollywood” roots. It retains many of the familiar tropes found throughout decades of frontier adventure movies, and it yields to the temptation of rewriting history in order to provide the kind of satisfying climactic showdown expected in such fare.

Nevertheless, Iñárritu, who is Mexican, brings an outsider’s perspective to this inherently American milieu and transcends its form to offer something beyond expectation. Even as he charts the inexorable force of will that drives the drama, he confronts us with the breathtaking enor-

mity of Nature and thereby forces us to contemplate our own irrelevance in the face of its awesome power. He took well-documented pains to do so- going over budget and behind schedule in order to shoot his film in sequence with natural light, under grueling and dangerous conditions which sometimes endanger ed his cast and crew- but the payoff is visible in every extraordinary frame.

“The Revenant” shows us a kind of cold, profound beauty that is rarely seen in a mainstream American film, and that is a precious reward

THE REVENANT DIRECTOR: Alejandro González Iñárritu (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu) WRITERS: Mark L. Smith (screenplay), Alejandro González Iñárritu (screenplay) (as Alejandro G. Iñárritu) STARS: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hardy, Will Poulter LENGTH: 2h 36m PLAYING: ArcLight and Landmark Cinemas

12.30.2015

AC ANDERSON 2

LOS ANGELES

AN INTIMATE EVENING WITH

COOPER

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COHEN

DEEP TALK AND SHALLOW TALES

Join Cohen and Cooper for an unscripted, uncensored and unforgettable night of conversation

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LOS ANGELES

>

ENTERTAINMENT LEGAL WOES

⚫ BY PRIDE STAFF

12.30.2015

COSBY

Cosby finally taken down... by a Lesbian

B

ill Cosby has finally been charged with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman 12 years ago.

Former Temple University employee Andrea Constand, a lesbian, accuses the comedian with spiking her wine with drugs and assaulting her while she was unconsciousness in his home.

The charge, aggravated indecent assault, is punishable by five to ten years prison and a $25,000 fine.

Constand contacted law enforcement a year after the alleged incident but no charges were filed. In 2006 she sued Cosby but settled out of court. The lawsuit was unsealed earlier this year as the request of the Associated Press.

Cosby was deposed in the lawsuit,admitting he fondled a semi-conscious Constand: ‘I don’t hear her say anything. And I don’t feel her say anything. And so I conBLOOD continued from p. 9

studied and found to maintain the safety of the blood supply in Australia, a country with HIV epidemiology and blood screening systems similar to the United States.

The FDA will closely monitor the effects of moving to a 12-month deferral for MSM over the next few years in order to help ensure that blood safety is maintained. At the same time, the FDA will continue to review its donor deferral policies to ensure they reflect the most up-to-date scientific knowledge. This process must be data-driven, so the timeframe for future changes is not something we can predict.

4) How much does the FDA expect the new rules to increase the donor pool by?

The FDA estimates that under the revised one-year deferral there would

tinue and I go into the area that is somewhere between per mission and rejection. I am not stopped.’

The criminal case was re-opened days before the 12-year statute of limitations expired and emerges as Cosby fights allegations of sexual assault from dozens of women in recent years.

At the time of the incident, Constand was working for the Temple University women’s basketball and dating a woman. Cosby, an alumnus and trustee. Constand visited his suburban Philadelphia seeking career advice.

Among those cheering the charges is director Judd Apatow who tweeted: ‘Bill Cosby has spent his life attempting to silence the women he has assaulted with threats, lawsuits and money.

Hopefully now many of these women will get to tell their stories in a court of law and the people who supported him will get deposed.’ be about 4.6 million newly eligible blood donors who are MSM. However, some of these potential donors may be deferred for other reasons, such as travel history, leaving an estimated 2.1 to 3.9 million newly eligible MSM blood donors. In general, approximately 5 percent of eligible individuals actually donate blood each year.

Huh? This doesn’t add up. If 2 percent of the population is gay (from her answer to 2-3) and there are 350,000,000 people in the U.S., there would be 7,000,000 gay people. But since half the population is female, there are only 3,500,000 gay men. The FDA is estimating 4.6 million out of a total of 3.5 million gay men are celibate and available to donate blood. In other words, every gay man in the U.S. is celibate plus 1.1 million more men who aren’t gay, but just have sex with other men, or something like that.

— David Taffet, Dallas Voice

12.30.2015

ARTS NEWS

⚫ BY MATTHEW BAJKO

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HISTORY RETOLD

Rainbow flag creator’s story becomes ABC miniseries “Betsy Ross of the gay community,” is how Cleve Jones has been described. His emblem has been universally embraced as the symbol for equality for LGBT people around the globe.

T

he eight-hour miniseries ABC has ordered from gay screenwriter Dustin Lance Black will be partly based on the memoir of longtime LGBT activist Cleve Jones.

Jones, 61, moved to San Francisco in the early 1970s and soon befriended the late Harvey Milk, who would make history in 1977 as the first gay person elected to public office in San Francisco and California. Jones, who worked on Milk’s campaign for city supervisor, would go on to work for him at City Hall.

But a year later Milk was assassinated along with then-Mayor George Moscone by disgruntled former supervisor Dan White. The events leading up to their deaths were the basis for the 2008 biopic Milk, for which Black won an Academy Award for best screenplay.

Jones served as an adviser on the film and became close friends with Black. In fact, in recent years, Jones would stay with Black in Los Angeles in order to work on his memoir.

The book details the life of Jones, who in response to the AIDS epidemic created the AIDS quilt and co-founded several agencies to care for people living with HIV or AIDS. Jones himself is HIV-positive, and in the early 1990s, moved to the Russian River gay resort area north of San Francisco where he expected to die soon after due to his failing health.

But then came the introduction of antiretroviral therapy and Jones’ health improved. For a while he was living in Palm Springs, but in 2010 he moved back to San Francisco. In addition to speaking to students and youth groups across the country, Jones works as a union organizer.

He recently sold his autobiography, When We Rise, to Hachette and the hardcover is scheduled to be released in late May. It includes the stories of a number of his friends, such as lesbian health care advocate Roma Guy and Ken Jones, a longtime gay city resident who was the first African-American chair of what was then known as the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade and Celebration Committee.

Later chapters delve into the story of Cecilia Chung, a transgender woman who currently serves on the San Francisco Health Commission.

Guy also served on the Health Commission and was the founder of the Women’s Building in the city’s Mission district.

Black decided to use Jones’ memoir as source material for his miniseries, which will also be titled When We Rise and include the stories of Guy, Chung, and Ken Jones.

In a post on his personal blog in April, Black noted that ABC had added When We Rise “to its slate of dramas for the 2015/2016 season. The show will focus on the personal and political struggles, setbacks and triumphs of a diverse group of men and women from the LGBT community.”

Like he did when he worked on the script for the Milk film, Black has conducted extensive interviews with the LGBT leaders featured in Jones’ book and others who will be portrayed in the miniseries.

“I have read the first episode’s script. I think people will be very proud of it,” Jones told the Bay Area Reporter.

He believes the television series will avoid the controversy that engulfed

MILK PRODUCER BRUCE COHEN, LEFT, RECENTLY JOINED FORMER HEALTH COMMISSIONER ROMA GUY, GAY RIGHTS ACTIVISTS KEN JONES AND CLEVE JONES, AND SCREENWRITER DUSTIN LANCE BLACK IN SAN FRANCISCO. PHOTO: COURTESY DUSTIN LANCE BLACK’S INSTAGRAM

the widely panned Stonewall movie this fall. It was harshly criticized for downplaying the role of people of color and transgender individuals at the 1968 riots tied to a police raid of a New York City gay bar.

“We are not fucking up on the diversity issue,” said Jones.

The miniseries will be divided into six episodes, with the first and final both two hours long. Gus Van Sant, who directed Milk, which was nominated for a best picture Oscar, is directing the pilot episode.

“It is kind of a huge deal,” said Jones about the project. “It basically follows a few people, all of whom decided to come to San Francisco.”

The Hollywood Reporter first reported in July 2013 that ABC had hired Black to pen a miniseries about the modern LGBT rights movement. It is being referred to as the LGBT version of the groundbreaking 1977 miniseries Roots about slavery.

“ABC created the genre of the miniseries when they did Roots,” noted Jones.

He and Black, who is engaged to British Olympic diver Tom Daley, were recently in San Francisco scouting out locations with an ABC executive. Like with Milk, they are aiming to shoot as much of the miniseries as they can on location in the city.

Casting of the roles is currently underway, with filming slated to begin sometime in early 2016.

Milk producer Bruce Cohen, left, recently joined former Health Commissioner Roma Guy, gay rights activists Ken Jones and Cleve Jones, and screenwriter Dustin Lance Black in San Francisco. Photo: Courtesy Dustin Lance Black’s Instagram

thepridela.com

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12.30.2015