the pride
LA PRIDE: 03.25.2016 INDIA’S CROWN PRINCE TO JOIN AHF IN PARADE ⚫ 11
BOOKS THE GENIUS OF A CERTAIN DRAG LEGEND⚫ 14
WWW.THEPRIDELA.COM
THE SUPREMES OBAMA’S CHOICE NOT ALWAYS AN ALLY ⚫ 6
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ISSUE NUMBER 6, VOLUME 2 1 MARCH 25, 2016 - APRIL 7, 2016
LOS ANGELES
THE LOS ANGELES LGBT NEWSPAPER
TALKING POINT ⚫ 10
Battling the California Conversion Therapy industry HONORS ⚫ 12
CAROLYN CAMPBELL, CAMPBELL COMMUNICATIONS
Journalist Karen Ocamb receives Women In Leadership Award ELECTION ⚫ 4
Los Angeles Log Cabin leader seeks a seat in Sacramento HEALTHCARE ⚫ 8
For California’s Terminally ill end of suffering is now in sight
CELEBRATION OF WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP AWARDS
SUE DUNLAP, PRES. AND CEO OF PLANNED PARENTHOOD LOS ANGELES; KAY BUCK, CEO COALITION TO ABOLISH SLAVERY & TRAFFICKING (CAST): KAREN OCAMB, VETERAN LGBT JOURNALIST; CATHY J. REBACK, PH.D., SENIOR RESEARCH SCIENTIST, FRIENDS RESEARCH INSTITUTE AND MAXINE TATLONGHARI, PRES. AND CEO, VANITY GIRL HOLLYWOOD.
Religious freedom bills threaten LGBT equality, Hollywood takes aim
⚫ At the 1000 people strong Human Rights Campaign’s annual Los Angeles gala a prescient focus was on demanding that Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal veto the state’s antigay “Religious Freedom Restoration Act.”
⚫ More than 300 businesses, including The Walt Disney Co. and Marvel Studios, Delta Airlines and Coca Cola, have signed a pledge decrying a tactic widely seen a license to discriminate against LGBT people.
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LOS ANGELES
03.25.2016
03.25.2016 POLITICS LEADERSHIP
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LOS ANGELES
HOLLYWOOD
Religious liberties was the on the plate at this year’s Human Rights Campain Los Angeles dinner
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⚫ BY KAREN OCAMB
Human Rights Campaign calls on Hollywood to oppose antigay ‘religious freedom” bills Meanwhile, on March 23, the North Carolina legislature rushed through an extremely anti-LGBT bill that revokes local LGBT protections and Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback signed an anti-gay “religious liberty” bill. The war to deny LGBT equality is on.
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n every word, Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin packs the know-how of a successful Los Angeles-based political consultant infused with the emotional energy of fighting for a righteous cause: the liberation of LGBT people from the shackles of discrimination and securing full equality now. Griffin has planted the HRC flag in the national and inter national marriage equality effort, Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign, the halls of Congress calling on the Senate to #DoYour Job in granting a hearing for President Obama’s nominee to the Supreme Court, and pressuring business leaders such as Apple’s out CEO Tim Cook to threaten anti-LGBT states with financial ruin if they enact so-called “r eligious liberty” bills. And no one, not even his Hollywood friends, are immune from his friendly but intense lobbying. On March 19, Griffin told an audience of about 1,000 at HRC’s L.A. Gala about the pressure being put on Geor gia Gov. Nathan Deal to veto a “license to discriminate” bill
similar to Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act that is now sitting on Deal’s desk. The bill would allow religious organizations the right to refuse to hire or retain LGBT employees and would deny use of facilities for any event they find “objectionable,” based on religious beliefs or practices. Griffin noted that the NFL threatened Georgia’s hope to host the Super Bowl if Deal signed the bill. “NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, or any other improper standard,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in a statement. “Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local community ar e consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.” A coalition of several hundred businesses under the umbrella Georgia Prospers has also called on Deal to HRC continued on p. 9
CHAD GRIFFIN SPEAKS BEFORE LOS ANGELES’ ANNUAL GALA
Georgia’s anti-gay ‘religious freedom’ bill draws fire T
he economic fallout from the state of Georgia’s House Bill 757, a bill that allows faith-based organizations and individuals to opt out of serving couples — gay or straight — or from following anti-discrimination requirements — if they cited “a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction” regarding marriage, continues as Disney and its Marvel Studios film unit announced Wednesday that they will pull out of Georgia permanently if Gov. Nathan Deal signs the bill into law. The comments came in a Disney statement to the Hollywood Reporter. “Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great experiences filming in Georgia, we will plan to take
our business elsewhere should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state law,” a company spokesman said Wednesday. The state has had a thriving relationship with Marvel up until now, with movies like “Ant-Man,” “Captain America: Civil War” and “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” all being filmed here, drawn by Georgia’s hefty tax incentives. The Hollywood Reporter states that while Disney’s statement specifically mentioned Marvel, other Disney units like ABC Studios and Disney Studios would also boycott the state as well. GEORGIA continued on p. 9
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03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
⚫ BY MATTHEW BAJKO
LA Log Cabin leader seeks Assembly seat The relative dearth of LGBT Republican candidates – for comparison there are 12 out Democrats running this year for state legislative seats – is hardly a surprise considering Republican registration in California has dropped significantly.
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gay Republican Los Angeles resident is one of two out GOPers running for California legislative seats this year. Matthew Craffey, president of the Log Cabin California Los Angeles chapter, pulled papers to run for the 50th Assembly District seat by the deadline to do so Friday, March 11. The seat covers the communities of Agoura Hills, Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Brentwood, Hollywood, Malibu, Pacific Palisades, Santa Monica, Topanga, West Hollywood, and West Los Angeles. The current officeholder, Assemblyman Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), is seeking re-election this year to a third two-year term. According to his LinkedIn account, Craffey, 38, is the director of prospect management for UCLA, where he has worked since 2012. He is a 2009 graduate of California Lutheran University where he received a B.A. in political science-international relations. Craffey, who grew up in Ojai, also worked for the religious-based school for a dozen years starting in August 2000, first as a matching gift coordinator and then as a manager of prospect research. In response to a request for comment, Craffey wrote via a Facebook message that he decided to run partly due to concerns about the Democrats’ control of the state Legislature. “I’m running because I know what our state was once, and what it is capable of being now, and believe that the current leadership has become an obstacle to that potential,” wrote Craffey. “Partly due to one party control in Sacramento, assembly members have become too focused on their pet projects, ideological legislation, and on increasing regulations that only end up increasing the burden on the low-income and middle-class, not the rich.”
He added that he is also “concerned that the Democratic majority in the state Assembly is creating a business climate that will be harmful to California’s tech economy, which is of particular concern in my district,” he wrote. “I want to work to create a climate that ensures those companies and the thousands of workers they employ stay here in California.” The second gay California Republican candidate for state legislative office is San Jose resident Anthony Macias, 25, who is running in the race for the 15th Senate District seat. The sprawling district covers much of Santa Clara County, stretching from Cupertino east to Mount Hamilton and from Los Gatos north to San Jose’s Alum Rock district. Similar to Craffey, Macias has little chance of winning the South Bay seat in a district that favors Democrats. It is unlikely he will survive past the June primary where the top two vote-getters will advance to the November general election. The race is largely between the incumbent, state Senator Jim Beall (D-San Jose), and Assemblywoman Nora Campos (D-San Jose), who is termed out of her 27th Assembly District seat this year. Another Republican, small business owner Chuck Page, also is in the race. Since at least 2006 one or more out LGBT GOPers has sought either an Assembly or Senate seat in the Golden State. None have been successful, and it is unlikely Craffey will emerge the victor against a popular incumbent in a heavily Democratic district. But by running for a state legislative seat, Craffey will benefit politically. Under the state Republican Party’s rules, the party’s official nominees to state offices gain an automatic seat on the local central committee, which oversees the day-to-day running of
the county party. The nominees also become delegates to the state party, where they can influence the party’s platform and candidates it endorses. Craffey noted that “as an out, gay Republican, who has fought for LGBT equality in our local community for 15 years, and within the Republican Party as president of Log Cabin Republicans of Los Angeles, I believe I have the right temperament, and problem-solving skills for this job. I’m confident I will earn the respect of state leaders of both parties who will work with me on my proposals to help make our state stronger, smarter, and more prosperous than it’s ever been.” Log Cabin California will also be watching two other southern California races featuring out Republican candidates this year. In San Diego gay Marine veteran Jacquie Atkinson, a member of the LGBT Republican group, is running against Congressman Scott Peters (D-San Diego) for his 52nd Congressional District seat. And in Los Angeles County, Mike Gin, a gay GOPer who was a former mayor of Redondo Beach, is in the June primary race for the 4th District seat on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. Also in that race is Congresswoman Janice Hahn (D-Los Angeles), who is seen as the frontrunner for the open seat centered in Long Beach. If no candidate secures 50 percent plus one of the vote in June, then the top two vote-getters advance to a November runoff race. The relative dearth of LGBT Republican candidates – for comparison there are 12 out Democrats running this year for state legislative seats – is hardly a surprise considering Republican registration in California has dropped significantly. As the Los Angeles Times noted in February, based on state voter registration data, Republicans represent less than 28 percent of the state’s electorate, a drop of almost three points since the start of the 2012 election cycle. In many sections of the Golden State, particularly urban centers, it is increasingly difficult for Republicans to win elected office. Combine the lack of GOP voters with the near constant need to fundraise to pay for races, and the prospect of mounting a political campaign becomes less appealing for GOP members, gay or
MATTHEW CRAFFEY, PRESIDENT OF THE LOG CABIN CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES CHAPTER straight. Nonetheless, Log Cabin officials contend they continue to make inroads politically in the state. The group just last year was officially recognized by the state Republican Party, and it has been successful in excising most of the anti-gay language from the party’s platform. “Marriage inequality is still in the platform - can’t get around that - but all the other anti-gay language pretty much got stripped out earlier this year,” noted Brad Torgan, a gay Los Angeles resident who was on both the full platform committee and the drafting subcommittee. A past candidate for Assembly who is currently living in Australia, Torgan added that the party platform now includes a plank supporting anti-discrimination laws that include sexuality as a protected class. “Every election cycle we have various numbers of LGBT Republican candidates running for office. Whether we have one or 10 candidates, the good news is that through Log Cabin’s hard work statewide, we’ve built a coalition of straight allies of Republican elected officials and candidates,” wrote Log Cabin California Chairman John Musella. “And that’s what matters most at the end of the day. Electing Republicans who believe as Log Cabin does that equality and inclusion wins.”
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
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⚫ BY MATTHEW BAJKO
Data shows increase in LA’s LGBT population LGBT people are moving to Los Angeles in particular from other parts of the country to start a business, or buy a home. The relative affordability compared to San Francisco or New York is often cited, as is the areas other obvious advantages.
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ith relative frequency in recent years, news outlets have touted how more conservative areas of the U.S. are becoming home to growing populations of LGBT residents. Whether it be the yearly list of the “gayest cities” compiled by LGBT magazine the Advocate, which often includes head-scratching locations most people couldn’t pinpoint on a map, to stories about San Francisco’s Castro district losing its LGBT residents, the impression given is that California and other liberal coastal states are no longer attracting as many LGBT people as they once did. The latest round of headlines cropped up earlier this month after the website ConsumerAffairs.com released a map it said showed “LGBT people are moving to traditionally red states.” The website Daily Beast mirrored many news outlets with its coverage that posited, “LGBT people are leaving urban, coastal hubs for conservative cities.” Ryan Daly, a content manager with ConsumerAffairs, said the trend of where LGBT people are choosing to live mirrors that of millennials, which the map also tracked. “People are leaving big expensive cities in search of mid-tier cities because it costs a little less to live there, the commute is a little shorter, and there are plenty of jobs,” said Daly. “A lot of those cities happen to be in red states.” Yet the demographic data for LGBT people the map relies on tells a much different story, said Gary Gates, Ph.D., one of the most prominent researchers of the country’s LGBT community who recently retired from the Williams Institute, the LGBT think tank based at UCLA. “I don’t think it has anything to do with mobility,” said Gates, who now lives in Seattle. “It has to do with visibility.”
What the data is showing, said Gates, isn’t LGBT people moving to cities in more conservative states but that LGBT residents in so-called “red states” are more comfortable being out of the closet in both their day-to-day lives and when answering survey questions. “People often read it as the only way to get changes in LGBT populations is to get people to move there. That just isn’t true,” said Gates. “Much bigger changes come from more LGBT people willing to identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender. LGBT people don’t move at rates any different than the rest of the population.” In terms of the LGB population in California – data on transgender residents continues to be lacking – the most recent data shows it has increased. Gates pointed to the results of the California Health Interview Survey, which showed a near doubling in the percentage of adults who identified as LGB in 2003 versus 2014. “California hasn’t lost LGBT people. The percentage of LGBT people has gone up over time,” said Gates. It was 2.7 percent in 2003 and 4.5 percent in 2014. In actual numbers, the population of LGB Californians went from 631,000 13 years ago to 1,140,000 in 2014. “The California health survey has been asking about sexual orientation since 2002. It definitely has been going up over time,” said Gates. Residents of various California cities say they haven’t noticed any decrease in the overall LGBT population. But they have noticed where LGBT people are living in those cities has been changing. Matthew Craffey, who grew up in the Los Angeles region and is president of the city’s Log Cabin California chapter, said that since he came out 17 years ago he has seen the city become more
accepting of LGBT people. “When I came out in 1999, LA didn’t necessarily feel like a welcoming environment to those of us who were gay. I was still taught not to hold hands with a boyfriend in public or risk being a target of violence, and outside of WeHo it was hard to meet or get to know any other members of the LGBT community,” wrote Craffey in an email, referring to the gay enclave of West Hollywood. “Fast forward to 2016, and I feel it’s completely different. Most of my neighbors are gay, my co-workers, and much of the leadership at work is openly gay, and I seem to meet other gay people wherever I go.” He added that he increasingly meets LGBT individuals and couples moving to Los Angeles “from other parts of the country to start a business, or buy a home since it’s relatively affordable compared to other cities such as SF or NYC, and that has likely been part of the shift as well.” Six years ago Luke Klipp left San Francisco for Los Angeles to live with his now husband, and over the ensuing years, he said a good portion of the city has become very LGBT friendly. “Wherever we go, we see other guys and gals holding hands out on the town, in a restaurant who are clearly LGBT,” said Klipp. He has also met other new arrivals not only from the Bay Area but also Kentucky, Pennsylvania, Illinois, and Washington state. “I wouldn’t say it draws people by virtue of being an LGBT destination,” he said. “It is the entertainment capital for TV and movies, so it draws a lot of pole interested in entertainment, a number of whom happen to be LGBT.” In San Francisco longtime queer housing activist Tommi Avicolli Mecca said, “I think from my experience the Castro has fewer queer folks these days. That is based on my experience living there, being in the neighborhood, and seeing who is walking around. But I don’t know that there are fewer queers in the city overall.” Gay Sacramento City Councilman Steve Hansen, whose city just approved funding for its first LGBT senior housing project, said that the state’s capital draws LGBT people from across the country. He has met people who relocated there from Washington, D.C., Nevada, and Denver, as well as the Bay
Area. “California’s openness to LGBT people is exemplified in the diverse and integrated community we have in Sacramento,” wrote Hansen in an email. “There’s no doubt in my mind that many LGBT people and families are coming here for the inclusive culture and opportunities to enjoy a high quality of life.” Sacramento LGBT Community Center Executive Director Donald L. Bentz, who has lived in the city’s Midtown for 18 months, said “from the first day, it felt overwhelming LGBT, but in a co-existence context. There’s a good mix of orientations, identities and ethnic minorities all living, shopping and working in relatively peaceful harmony.” He agreed with Gates’ contention that as more people embrace their sexual or gender identity, they are more likely to self-report in a survey. “In some of the regions reporting a population gain, was it really that LGBT people are moving there or were always there and are just now comfortable identifying as LGBT in a survey?” asked Bentz. ConsumerAffairs map questioned Just looking at the ConsumerAffairs. com map it appears to indicate that the LGBT populations of two California cities dipped slightly and in two other urban centers, it increased. The map says that the LGBT population in San Francisco was at 6.5 percent in 1990. In 2014 it was 6.2 percent. The data for San Diego’s LGBT population was at 3.11 percent in 1990 and 3.9 percent two years ago. Sacramento’s LGBT population was at 3.21 percent in 1990 and was 3.9 percent in 2014, the map shows. In Los Angeles, the LGBT population increased from 2.97 percent in 1990 to 4.6 percent of the population in 2014, states the map. According to ConsumerAffairs, it analyzed data from the U.S. Census Bureau and Gallup data to create an interactive map displaying migration patterns for important demographic groups. “What this data really shows is not so much growth in population that we are measuring. It is more the rate of growth,” said Daly. “So San Francisco being flat, yes it is good. You are clearly maintaining the rate of growth; I would DATA ON LGBT continued on p. 18
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NATIONAL
NEWS & POLITICS
⚫ BY LISA KEEN
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03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
SUPREME COURT
Obama’s SCOTUS pick is not always an LGBT ally Lambda Legal and many groups and court enthusiasts are poring over Garland’s record now, and will likely find details that will encourage or encumber their support for the nominee. The pick is considered to be a cautious move on Obama’s part that has not yet diminished Republican plans to delay a vote.
Judge Merrick Garland, President Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, has ruled against gay plaintiffs three times. This is the kind of record that might usually guarantee that Republican senators would be eager to confirm him. It might also be the sort of record that would prompt LGBT groups to urge a more cautious review. Though the Human Rights Campaign expects to support Garland’s nomination, it and other LGBT groups and leaders, such as U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin, are taking some time to study his record before endorsing him. But most Senate Republicans are, for the moment, standing firm in their refusal to consider the nomination –at least, not until they calculate that Garland would be a better nominee than the next president might select. (Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell promised Sunday “that’s not going to happen.”) “I cannot imagine that the Republican-majority Senate, even if it were soon to be a minority, would want to confirm a judge that would move the court dramatically to the left,” McConnell told Fox News anchor Chris Matthews. And that seems to be the growing assessment of Garland: that, despite a relatively moderate to conservative record, he would become part of the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc. New York Times legal reporter Adam Liptak says political scientists believe Garland would be “well to the left” of Justice Anthony Kennedy. Kennedy is the justice who has provided the key swing vote for the Supreme Court’s most historic decisions in favor of equal rights for LGBT peo-
ple. “He would be the fifth member of a liberal bloc on the court,” said Liptak, in a video accompanying his March 17 article. University of Chicago Law Professor Eric Posner said he thinks Garland “seems liberal” on civil rights. Much of this speculation appears based on an analysis that found justices tend to vote based on the ideology of the president who appointed them. Garland, who has served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. for 19 years, was appointed by Democratic President Bill Clinton. But that’s not foolproof conclusion. Justice Kennedy was appointed by President Reagan. And Justice William Brennan, one of the Supreme Court’s most liberal justices, was appointed by President Eisenhower. (And Garland clerked for Brennan from 1978-79.) On the day President Obama announced Garland’s nomination, the Human Rights Campaign issued a statement, calling him “highly qualified.” But the group stopped short of an endorsement. A spokesperson said HRC would make an official endorsement decision after it does its own examination of his record and after Garland gets a hearing from the Senate Judiciary Committee. “President Obama has a history of appointing pro-equality Supreme Court Justices,” said the spokesperson, referring to Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan. “We are confident that, in Judge Garland, we will find another Associate Justice to the Supreme Court who stands on the side of fairness and equality.” Garland has an extensive record. He has participated in thou-
PRESIDENT OBAMA HAS CHOSEN MERRICK GARLAND WHO MAY HELP OVERTURN CITIZEN’S UNITED, BUT HE HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN AN ALLY ON LGBT ISSUES.
sands of cases. Three of those cases had gay plaintiffs, but all three failed to get the relief they sought from three-judge panels that included Garland. The first case involved an Ohio man, Jerry Szoka, who operated a low-power FM radio station in 1997 specifically to reach gay men and women and the arts community in Cleveland. But the Federal Communications Commission had banned the operation of such small stations –known as microbroadcast stations—because they were causing interference with major radio stations that served the broad general public. Szoka operated the radio station in defiance of the ban and without ever applying for a radio operator’s license. The FCC ordered him to stop broadcasting and to pay an $11,000 per day fine for every day in defiance. In Grid Radio v. FCC, Szoka filed suit in federal court to challenge the order, and jurisdictional issues brought the case before the D.C. Circuit. Szoka said the ban on microbroadcasting violated the Communications Act of 1934 and his First Amendment rights to serve a community that was “not adequately served” by full-power stations. The panel rejected his first claim, noting that Szoka never applied for a license,
then rejected his First Amendment claim. “Valuable as Grid Radio’s broadcasts may have been,” stated the 2002 panel decision penned by Judge David Tatel, “we think it clear that the Commission had no obligation to consider the station’s individual circumstances before shutting it down.” The panel said the FCC was simply enforcing a ban on microbroadcasting. “Permitting Szoka or anyone else to operate without a license as a means of challenging the microbroadcasting ban…could produce the very chaos…the licensing regime was designed to prevent.” In the second case, Turner v. Department of the Navy (decided in 2003), Petty Officer Jim Turner sued the Secretary of the Navy to overturn his “other than honorable” discharge. In 1994, when the military’s policy of banning openly gay people was still in place, several of Turner’s male peers on the USS Antietam accused him of making sexual advances. The ship’s captain and an administrative board declared him guilty and discharged him. A Board for Correction of Naval Records said there was insufficient corroboration of the charges and recSCOTUS PICK continued on p. 13
03.25.2016 NATIONAL
NORTH CAROLINA
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LOS ANGELES
CIVIL RIGHTS
⚫ BY TROY MASTERS
North Carolina Governor targets LGBT
GOVERNOR MCCROY, REPUBLICAN
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orth Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill March 22, 2016 that keeps cities from passing anti-discrimination measures. The new law was expedited in an emergency session through the state’s legislature at the request of Gov. McCrory with the intent of preventing the city of Charlotte from implementing local measures that prevent discrimination against LGBT people. The new state legislation goes much further. “Governor McCrory’s reckless decision to sign this appalling legislation into law is a direct attack on the rights, well-being, and dignity of hundreds of thousands of LGBT North Carolinians and visitors to the state,” Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin said in a statement. “This outrageous new law not only strips away the ability of local jurisdictions to protect LGBT people from discrimination, but it goes further and targets transgender students who deserve to be treated equally at school -- not harassed and excluded. Governor McCrory’s action will be judged sorely by history and serve as a source of deep shame, remorse, and regret.” U.S. Congressman David Price (DNC) blasted the state’s General Assembly for spending $42,000 per day to hold the special session. Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz slammed North
Carolina Republicans for “steamrolling over local officials just because they had the courage to stand up for transgender rights.” McCrory claims the new bill protects “privacy and etiquette” in bathrooms and is a bipartisan bill, though only a handful of Democratic members voted in favor of the measure. Some member of the state Senate walked out in protest and refused to vote. The bill prohibits local governments from implementing protections against discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It also orders schools and other public places to require individuals to use bathrooms that align with their biological gender. Equality North Carolina, the state’s LGBT advocacy group, said the intent of the legislation goes well beyond bathroom’s and gender. “This cruel and insulting bill is about more than bathroom access, it’s about fairness in employment, education, and local governance,” Chris Sgro, the executive director of Equality North Carolina, said in a statement. “It aims to override local school board policies, local public accommodations laws, and more. This law also violates many other federal statutes and the United States Constitution by attempting to mandate discrimination in government buildings.” Lambda Legal, along with the ACLU and Equality North Carolina, is considering legal action following passage of the bill. “This law is in direct conflict with protections provided to students under Title IX and could cause the state to lose billions in federal funds. Instead of solving any real problems, the law would create new ones and could lead to intolerable and unfair conditions for transgender students who are entitled, by federal law, to a safe and equitable education,” Tara Borelli, a senior attorney with Lambda Legal said in a statement.
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CALIFORNIA NEWS & POLITICS
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03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
HEALTHCARE RIGHTS
⚫ BY ANNA GORMAN
For California’s Terminally ill end of suffering Is now in sight
M
att Fairchild, 46, is in near constant pain. Advanced melanoma has spread to his brain and bones. He takes 26 medications a day and rarely leaves his house except to go to doctors’ appointments. Fairchild, a retired army sergeant, refuses to say he is fighting a battle against cancer, because he knows it’s one he will lose. He’s not sure how long he has to live, but he knows this: He doesn’t want to spend his last days in agony. In October, California became the fifth state to allow terminally ill patients to end their lives with prescriptions from their doctors after months of contentious debate. Religious groups and disability rights activists fought against the law and tried unsuccessfully to get a referendum on the ballot to overturn it. Late last week the bill’s authors announced that the aid-in-dying law would take effect June 9. Fairchild said he feels calmer knowing the law will become effective in just a few months. When it’s time, he said, having a prescription will enable him to say goodbye to family and die in his sleep instead of suffering through intense pain, nausea or seizures. “It gives me so much peace of mind because there is a date,” Fairchild said. That means once they stop treatment, or run out of options, “I don’t have to worry about hurting.” As the implementation date nears, medical groups, supporters, legislators and others are working to raise awareness of the new right-to-die law and ensure all terminally ill patients will have access to it. They are holding webinars, panels and town hall meetings, distributing information and setting up telephone lines. And they are encouraging patients like Fairchild to discuss with their doctors whether a lethal prescription might at some point be right for them. Democratic state Sen. Bill Monning, one of the authors of the law, said he was pleased that it now has an effective date and patients will have the option to avoid “insurmountable pain and suffering.” The forms are already
FAIRCHILD CAN’T OVEREXERT HIMSELF AND SPENDS MOST OF HIS DAYS AT HOME WATCHING TELEVISION, READING OR SHOPPING FOR COMFORTABLE PAJAMAS. (HEIDI DE MARCO/KHN)
in place and Monning said he expects patients to begin coming forward. “There are families who have been calling us wanting to know if it will be available to a loved one,” Monning said. But he acknowledged that some may not make it until June. One of the law’s most ardent supporters, former Los Angeles Police Department Sergeant Christy O’Donnell, died last month of lung cancer. “There are going to be people in these 90 days who unfortunately won’t be beneficiaries of the act,” Monning said. Compassion & Choices, a medical aid-in-dying advocacy group that pushed for the law, recently launched a bilingual campaign, a speaker’s bureau and a free hotline for people who want more information. The group also has a confidential consultation program for doctors. The organization is sending out volunteers to saturate the state and get the word out, said Kat West, its national director of policy and programs. But there is a lot of work ahead,” she said. “It is one thing to pass a law,” she said. “It is a whole other thing to have access to that law.” Under the law, patients can get fa-
tal prescriptions only if they are mentally competent and have six months or less to live. To get the prescription, a patient must submit two oral requests – 15 days apart – to the attending physician, and one written request. Wolf Breiman, who has two types of cancer — tongue and blood — said he is not yet considered terminal but plans to get a prescription when eligible. Breiman said he thinks he won’t use it unless his suffering becomes so bad it overcomes his will to live. “I am 88 years old and I have got two cancers,” he said recently from his home in Ventura. “You can imagine why I am very interested in having this law become accessible.” Breiman said he feels less anxious knowing that June isn’t far off. The retired landscape architect is in the middle of eight weeks of radiation for the mouth cancer, which leaves him exhausted and makes it difficult to swallow. “I’m hoping I will be OK until this becomes available,” he said. “I might be able to spare myself a great deal of suffering.” California follows Oregon, Washington, Vermont and Montana in approving lethal prescriptions. Despite the
experience of other states, it still is unclear how the law will play out in California, said Ben Rich, an emeritus professor of internal medicine and bioethics at the UC Davis School of Medicine. He said he expects some health institutions to be supportive and others to be unsupportive, leading to inconsistency around the state. Either way, Rich said he doesn’t think the law will result in a large number of physicians prescribing the medication. “But it does mean that many, many more physicians are going to have to figure out how to talk to patients when the patients raise the question,” he said. “Physicians are going to have to either bring themselves up to speed on end-of-life options … or they need to know where to refer patients.” Medical groups have already started educating their members about the law and other end-of-life options. The California Medical Association issued a document earlier this year that explains to doctors and patients how the law works. It answers questions such as, “Does The Act Specify What Aid-In-Dying Drug Can Be Prescribed?” (no) and “Can An Interpreter Be Used?” (yes). Ted Mazer, an officer of the association, said doctors across the state are grappling with their feelings about the law and whether they will be comfortable prescribing medication. Personally, Mazer said he wouldn’t refuse to participate but believes that if the terminal illness is cancer, it might be more appropriate for an oncologist to do so. “This is soul searching,” he said. “Doctors will have to decide, now that this is here, what do they do when a patient is terminal and there is nothing more for them?” The California Academy of Family Physicians is putting information for members on its website and producing podcasts that feature family physicians sharing patient stories and explaining the need for good end-oflife care. Jay Lee, president of the association, said there is still a lot of unRIGHT TO DIE continued on p. 12
03.25.2016 HRC continued from p. 3
veto the bill or suffer a loss of business. The coalition includes sever al Fortune 500 corporations such as AIG, Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Google, Home Depot, Honeywell, IBM, Marriott, Microsoft, Salesforce, UPS, Verizon and Wells Fargo. With HRC honoring the FOX TV hit “Empire” and successful out producer Nina Jacobson at the Gala, Griffin explained to Hollywood’s business leaders that Georgia is now the third largest state for film production, behind California and New York, according to a 2014 report by the FilmLA research firm. And according to state records, Georgia racked in $1.7 billion in spending from at least 248 film and television productions shot in fiscal 2015, with more than 100 new businesses relocating or expanding. That’s way up from $132.5 million in 2007. “I know we have many entertainment industry leaders in the room tonight,” Grif fin said. “Like other states, Georgia offers tax incentives for TV and film productions, and as a result, the entertainment industry has a huge economic footprint in the state. But if this bill is signed into law, your employees, your contractors -- all those work-
LOS ANGELES ing on your production are at risk of state-sanctioned discrimination. That is wrong. It’s un-American. It’s an affront on all the values Hollywood prides itself on. And you have the influence and the oppor tunity to not only defeat this bill, but to send a message that ther e are consequences to passing dangerous and hateful laws like this. And so tonight, we’re asking you to join us as we urge TV and film studios, dir ectors and pr oducers, to commit to locating no further productions in the state of Georgia if this bill becomes law.” Variety’s Ted Johnson notes that Georgia serves as a backdr op for T V s h o w s s u c h a s “ Va m p i r e D i a ries” and “The Walking Dead” and has become “a production hub for mega-budget tentpole pictures. Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy 2” is shooting at Pinewood Studios, and “Captain America: Civil War” shot there last summer.” “Empire” co-creator Lee Daniels and Bravo’s Andy Cohen ar e just two of the out producers who would face enor mous pressure from HRC a n d t h e L G BT com m uni ty i f D ea l signs the bill. Daniels is rumored to have a new Fox show based in Georgia and Cohen’s “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” is a key show in the Housewives
Hollywood acts on Georgia
GEORGIA continued from p. 3
Disney’s announcement came following Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin’s call for Hollywood productions to pull out of Georgia if the bill passes. “We applaud Disney and Marvel for standing up for fairness and equality by sending a strong warning to Governor Deal,” Griffin said in a statement on Wednesday. “It’s appalling that anti-LGBT activists in Georgia are trying to pass legislation creating an explicit right to discriminate against LGBT Americans. We urge other studios, major corporations, and fair-minded Georgians to continue speaking out and urging Gov. Deal to veto this heinous piece of legislation sitting on his desk.” Disney’s announcement also comes on the heels of the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau’s statement
that over 15 companies may move their conventions out of Atlanta if the bill passes, torpedoing the city’s convention business by 40 percent over the next five years and costing the city’s economy over $6 billion. The entertainment firms joined a host of other international heavyweights that voiced their opposition to the measure, which passed the Georgia Legislature last week. Executives from Apple, Salesforce and other tech firms have urged Deal to veto the legislation, while the NFL warned it could risk Atlanta’s bid for the Super Bowl. The California Endowment, a private endowment fund based in Los Angeles, also sent letters to four Georgia-based corporations Wednesday warning that it could pull millions of dollars in investments from the state if the measure is enacted. The extent of the fund’s investments in Georgia is not immediately clear.
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TALKING POINT
>
PSYCHIATRY IN AMERICA
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
ILLEGAL PRACTICES
⚫ BY SAMANTHA AMES, ESQ
Putting the California Conversion Therapy industry on notice Los Angeles is home to a group of rogue psychiatrist who prey on uneducated parents and confused children nationally
TROY MASTERS
troy@smmirror.com CONTRIBUTORS MATTHEW S. BAJKO, CYNTHIA LAIRD, HENRY SCOTT, CHARLES KAISER, LISA KEEN, MAER ROSHAN, KIT WINTER, BRAD LAMM, DAVID EHRENSTEIN, STEVEN ERICKSON, ORIEL GUTTIEREZ, SETH HEMMELGARN, THOMAS LEONARD, KAREN OCAMB, STEVE WEINSTEIN, CHRIS AZZOPARD, DIANE ANDERSON-MINSHALL, ALLEN ROSKOFF, JOHN PAUL KING
COPY EDITOR MARIELLA RUDI
ART DIRECTOR GAIL HODGE
VIDEOGRAPHER JOHN BOATNER
GRAPHIC DESIGNER ARTURO JIMENEZ | artkex@yahoo.com
I
n February 2012, Congressman Ted Lieu, then a California State Senator, introduced the first bill in the country to protect LGBTQ youth from licensed mental health professionals subjecting them to conversion therapy, the dangerous and discredited practice of trying to change their sexual orientation or gender identity. Just six months later, California made history and set off a cascade of similar bills across the country, catalyzing a movement that now includes litigation, federal legislation, administrative advocacy, public education, and #BornPerfect, a national campaign to end these practices by 2019. But four years after that groundbreaking legislation, California is still home to a surprising number of conversion therapists. Some, like the infamous Dr. Joseph Nicolosi of the Thomas Aquinas Psychological Clinic in Los Angeles, unabashedly violate the law by practicing on minors under 18. Others find a way around it by working with legal adults, hedging their language away from conversion therapy, moving out of state and conducting sessions over the phone or online, or practicing outside the context of a regulated state license. At every turn, the conversion therapy industry has shown a troubling disregard for the law.In 2012, NCLR helped draft and pass California’s Senate Bill 1172 and, later, intervened to help successfully defend its constitutionality before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
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The court held that the legislature’s stated purpose to “protect … the physical and psychological well-being of minors, including lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender youth, and [to] protect … its minors against exposure to serious harms caused by” conversion therapy – relying on the “overwhelming consensus” in the medical and mental health communities that these treatments are ineffective and harmful – was, “without a doubt … a legitimate state interest.” But laws like SB 1172 aren’t the only tools powerful enough to combat conversion therapy. In California,as in most states, all state-licensed professionals are required to adhere to a code of conduct that prohibits them from practicing negligently; committing any dishonest, corrupt, or fraudulent act; functioning outside their field of competence; making false or misleading statements; or, perhaps most signifi-
cantly, allowing personal problems in their own personality to interfere with their ability to practice objectively and ethically. Conversion therapists breach every one of these ethical duties when they claim they can change a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity and endanger the health of every patient who comes to them seeking help. Those continuing to practice in California also do so in violation of state and federal consumer fraud law. Last month, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Human Rights Campaign and Southern Poverty Law Center filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission requesting them to investigate an organization called People Can Change that operates “Journey into Manhood” camps across the country. The complaint went on to request CONVERSION continued on p. 12
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THE PRIDE L.A., The Newspaper Serving Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender L.A., is published by MIRROR MEDIA GROUP. Send all inquiries to: THE PRIDE L.A., 3435 Ocean Park Blvd. #210. Phone: 310.310.2637 Written permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All contents (c) 2016 The Pride L.A.. THE PRIDE L.A. is a registered trademark of MIRROR MEDIA GROUP. T.J. MONTEMER, CEO 310.310.2637 x104; E-mail: troy@smmirror.com Cell: 917-406-1619
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03.25.2016 OUT ROYALTY INDIA
LOS ANGELES
>
PRIDE
⚫
“Quirky and heartbreaking” – ASSOCIATED PRESS
⚫ BY KAREN OCAMB
LA Pride: India’s Crown Prince to join AHF in parade
ROBIN LARSEN starring DEANNA DUNAGAN, SEAMUS MULCAHY & ILIA VOLOK directed by
CROWN PRINCE MANVENDRA SINGH GOHIL OF INDIA WITH AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATIONS TERRI FORD
After coming out to his 650-year-old family dynasty, Crown Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of India was disowned and burned in effigy
M
anvendra Singh Gohil, the openly gay Crown Prince of Rajpipla, India and ambassador to India for AIDS Healthcare Foundation, will be participating in this year’s Christopher Street West Pride Parade this June as part of AHF’s large Pride contingent. Gohil is pictured here with Terri Ford, AHF’s
Chief of Global Advocacy and Policy, in May 2014 when he was honored by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles with their Humanitarian Award. Coming out of the closet when you are the inheritor of a 650 year old throne is not an easy feat. Being the world’s only openly gay Royal is also not without complication. “I am still enjoying the monopoly position as the world’s only openly gay royal. I hope I find a competitor soon,” Manvendra said in a 2014 speech. Other royals, he added, have “confided in me. But they are still feeling shy about coming out of the closet. So I remain the only one as of now. Sometimes it makes me wonder whether I’m really the prince or a queen.” (Photo by Karen Ocamb)
March 29 - April 17, 2016
March - April 17, 2016 Learn more29 at TheWallis.org/Revisionist 9390 N SANTA MONICA BLVD BEVERLY HILLS CA 90210
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LOS ANGELES
Conversion Therapy Capitol, LA... RIGHT TO DIE continued from p. 10
that the FTC investigate the entire conversion therapy industry. State courts have already begun closing the doors of these operations under consumer fraud laws. It’s only a matter of time before practitioners in every jurisdiction are investigated and held to account for the blood on their hands. At every opportunity, the conversion therapy industry—including many still practicing in California— has fought tooth and nail to keep its business profitable. But we will not stop fighting for the right of the most vulnerable in our community to exist free from the
shaming and stigmatizing practices that tell them that the most core part of who they are is diseased, sinful, or wrong. We will not stop until every child, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, knows they were born perfect. We are putting those who have, until now, skirted the law on notice that their days of making a living off the anguish of LGBTQ people are numbered. Samantha Ames is a staff attorney and campaign coordinator for the National Center for Lesbian Rights’ #BornPerfect campaign to end conversion therapy by 2019. Learn more at www.NCLRights.org/BornPerfect.
> Women in WOMEN’S LEADERSHIP
03.25.2016
SALUTING
Leadership Awards
A once taboo subject... RIGHT TO DIE continued from p. 8
certainty about the implications for physicians. But he said they will play an important role in helping ensure there is equitable access to the law across ethnic and socioeconomic groups in California — and that patients understand all their choices, including hospice and palliative care. Lee, a family physician in Orange County, said he believes the law is already leading to more conversations about the end-of-life in general. “The law has triggered a lot of focus on an area of health care that for many was really taboo,” Lee said. “Physicians didn’t feel really comfortable bringing it up.” Matt Fairchild said he plans to talk soon with his oncologist about the aid-in-dying law. “I want to make sure he knows that it is there,” he said. Fairchild was diagnosed with cancer in 2012 after noticing a mole under his earlobe had gotten bigger. He had surgery and thought he was clear, but soon after, doctors told him the cancer had spread to his lymph nodes – and then throughout his body. For nearly four years, Fairchild has
undergone treatment, including radiation, chemotherapy and immunotherapy. Sometimes he feels like he is in a game of Whack-A-Mole, trying to beat it down in one site before it pops up in another. He knows the treatments can only lengthen his life — not save it. Before the law passed, Fairchild said he would have considered taking his own life if he were dying and in too much pain. But he said, that’s a “quiet, cold way to die.” Now with the new law, he said he hopes that death will be more celebratory and peaceful. “I don’t want to hurt ever,” he said. “I can’t fathom the idea of being in pain and not having a way out.” Fairchild, whose face is pale and stomach swollen, spends his days at the apartment he shares with his wife. A calendar hangs from the kitchen wall, with his appointments for brain scans and blood tests and infusions scribbled in small squares. On a recent afternoon, his cats purring nearby, Fairchild sat down on a recliner chair in front of the television. He pulled out pens and a grown-up coloring book. The title: Color Me Calm.
KAREN OCAMB, PHOTO POSTED ON FACEBOOK PAGE OF CAROLYN CAMPBELL
T
he West Hollywood Women’s Advisory Board and the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce held their 21st Anniversary “Women in Leadership Awards” at the Berverly Hills’ location of Phyllis Morris Originals on March 23, 2016. The honorees were Kay Buck, Chief Executive Officer, Coalition to Abolish Slavery & Trafficking (CAST), Sue Dunlap, President and Chief Executive Officer, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, Cathy J. Reback, Ph.D, Senior Research Scientist, Friends Re-
search Institute, Maxine Tatlonghari, President and Chief Executive Officer, Vanity Girl Hollywood. The Pride is particulary proud of Karen Ocamb, former News Editor, Frontiers Media and contributor to this newspaper. Her support and insight have been invaluable this newspaper. The Pride hopes the community will join us in saluting Karen for her for leadership and her astoundingly important body of work. -- Troy Masters
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
Obama’s pick for SCOTUS is well considered SCOTUS continued from p. 6
ommended his record be cleared. But a deputy assistant Secretary for the Navy rejected that recommendation. Turner sued in federal court, echoing the BCNR’s finding that the evidence against him had been insufficient. Turner also argued that his captain violated the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” regulations by initiating an investigation without “credible evidence” and that an investigator violated the policy by asking one of the sailors about his sexual orientation. The appeals panel, which included Garland, noted that Turner had “a respectable record of seven years of military service” and that the charges against him initially seemed more like “inflamed” interpretations of “horseplay.” But it upheld a federal district court, saying proper procedures had been followed. The decision was written by Senior Circuit Judge Stephen Williams. In the third case, Garland was on a panel with then appeals court Judge John Roberts Jr., who now serves as chief justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. The case was International Action Center v. U.S. The 2004 decision addressed a lawsuit filed by a coalition of groups and individuals who opposed “racism, sexism, oppression of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people.” It sued feder al and local law enforcement personnel for injuries inflicted on protesters at President George W. Bush’s first inaugural parade. The protesters said that, while engaging in “lawful, peaceful activity” along the parade route, undercover officers struck them and sprayed them with pepper spray. The lawsuit alleged that supervisors of the undercover officers should be held personally liable for their injuries. The supervisors argued they had qualified immunity and a three-judge panel that included Garland agreed. Roberts wrote the panel opinion, saying plaintiffs failed to establish that the police supervisors were guilty of misconduct in their training and supervision of police, rather than “mere negligence.” Jon Davidson, national legal director for Lambda Legal, said the three gay-plaintiff cases “don’t tell us very
much about his judicial philosophy or views of constitutional and legal issues relating to sexual orientation, gender identity or HIV status.” Lambda and many groups and court enthusiasts are poring over Garland’s record now, and many will likely find details that will encourage or encumber their support for the nominee. For instance, the Boston Globe reported Saturday that Garland, “under pressure from a leftist group” during the 1970s’ Vietnam protest era at Harvard undergraduate school, asked a student-faculty committee to consider having a campus referendum on whether the school should allow ROTC back on campus. He then later voted against holding a referendum. That left the existing ban intact. Without predicting how Republican senators might react, the Globe noted that “any whiff of an antimilitary record will raise red flags for Republicans….” More likely, it will prompt Republicans –if they ever give Garland a confirmation hearing -- to quiz him over a similar ROTC flap that emerged six years ago during the confirmation hearing for the last new justice, Elena Kagan. Kagan had been dean of Harvard Law when Harvard had a policy of barring recruiters from campus because of the military’s policy of banning openly gay people. During her confirmation hearing, Republican senators grilled her about it. Kagan said she found a way to let military recruiters have “full access” to students while still enforcing the school’s ban against sexual orientation discrimination. The military’s ban no longer exists and most campuses no longer bar military recruiters but, if Kagan’s confirmation can be somewhat of a guide, Garland or the next justice nominee can expect to field questions from Republican senators asking whether he is a “legal progressive,” whether he thinks the Supreme Court was right to strike down state bans on marriage for same-sex couples, and religious objections to anti-discrimination laws that protect LGBT people. And if history can be a guide, the nominee’s answers will likely leave everyone guessing until they’re on the high bench.
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BOOKS
CHARLES PIERCE
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03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
ARTS
⚫ BY JOHN PAUL KING
“Write That Down,” is the genius of a drag legend It’s the wisdom of the drag-queen, not their hair and make up, that we should all be paying attention to.
LEFT: THE COVER OF PIERCE’S NEW BOOK; RIGHT: BACKSTAGE AT THE “GEESE” THEATRE IN SAN FRANCISCO.
T
hanks to “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and the proliferation of YouTube videos featuring and promoting the likes of Alyssa Edwards, Jinx Monsoon, and Lipsinka, the joys of drag per for mance have found a significant niche in the landscape of our popular culture today. It wasn’t always this way, though; in order for these grande dames to strut their stuff for their millions of followers over the airwaves and inter nets, the trail had first to be blazed by the many brave queens that came before. For those younger fans of the art form who want to learn a little bit of that history, there is no better place to start than with Charles Pierce.
A trained actor who started out in radio dramas, Pierce broke into comedy, gradually incorporating into his act uncanny impersonations of famous female movie stars of the day: Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Joan Crawford, and all the others whose personas would later become fixtures of the drag repertoire. Though at first these were vocal impressions only, he gradually began to incorporate more and more elaborate costumes and make-up changes, and (though he preferred the term “male actress”) he eventually became the most well-known drag queen in the world. His popularity crossed over into the “straight” world, and he was even
featured as a guest star on several mainstream television shows- long before RuPaul sashayed into any of our living rooms. Though these TV appearances have been preserved, of course, and a handful of other videotaped performances are accessible to anyone who wants to search YouTube for them, these few relics offer, by all accounts, but a pale shadow of Pierce’s deliciously witty stage act. Thanks to author Kirk Frederick, however, both old fans and new seekers can have access to a portion of his masterful legacy- at least on the page. Frederick was performing in a play in San Francisco when he first
encountered Pierce, who was brought in as a cast member in order to boost flagging ticket sales. The two hit it of f, and Frederick wound up working with Pierce for the next 20 years, as a dresser, stage manager, and producer. They remained close until Pierce passed in 1999, and now, nearly two decades later, he has captured the essence of Pierce in a thoroughly entertaining, revealing, and funny biographical tribute as only someone who knew him onstage and off could do. H i s b o o k , “ Wr i t e T h a t D o w n ! , ” takes its title from the oft-repeated instructions of Pierce himself, who would often come up with off-the-cuff one-liners during his act and immediately direct his backstage associates to document it for incorporation into future shows. It is a book that treats its subject not just with love but with palpable reverence, offering a glimpse at the man behind the dress, through a few personal anecdotes and remembrances, yes, but mostly through his own brilliant material, painstakingly recreated by Frederick- who had full access to all of Pierce’s archived material. It’s easy to read and hard to put down, providing one laugh-out-loud passage after another and making us wish it were ten times as long as it is. Perhaps more importantly, it is a valuable and much-needed record of a culture that needs to be remembered, much of which took place out of sight and mind of the mainstream but which was an essential part of the foundation upon which has been built the LGBTQ community we know today. “Write That Down!” is published by Havenhurst Books, and features a foreward by “Tales of the City” author Armistead Maupin. It is available at Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and at fine bookstores everywhere.
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
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FILM REVIEW
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL
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03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
MOVIE unPICK
⚫ BY JOHN PAUL KING
“Midnight” teaches lessons on our human blind-side M
ovie “mash-ups” are a hallmark of our Postmodern era. It is as if everything that has come before in cinema has been collectively smashed into pieces, and filmmakers freely pick up whatever shards they like and combine them to make something new. It doesn’t matter if the pieces are recognizable, nor is it necessary to justify the appropriation by calling it an “homage.” This is, arguably, how it should be. Each generation redefines the culture on their own terms, and it has always been standard practice for artists to “borrow” from those who
“By the time we get to the big revelation… we have already been led through so many confusing turns that it’s difficult to still be invested in the outcome.” have exerted a strong influence over their own work. However, when they are not driven by a cohesive vision that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts, far too many films fall short, no matter how sincere their creator’s intentions may be. Unfortunately, “Midnight Special,” the newest feature from writer/director Jeff Nichols, is one of them. Drawing heavily on the work of Steven Spielberg in his heyday, it combines several genres- chiefly science fiction and family drama- to tell the story of Alton (Jaeden Lieberher), a boy with mysterious powers who has been kidnapped by his father, Roy (Michael Shannon), from the compound of a religious cult that believes he is their only hope to survive the imminent apocalypse.
With the help of an accomplice, Lucas (Joel Edgerton), the fugitives flee across the country in an attempt to reunite with the boy’s mother (Kirsten Dunst) and journey towards a mysterious destination to which Alton’s visions seem to be leading them- all the while trying to stay ahead of the cult’s operatives as well as a government task force, spear headed by Paul Sevier (Adam Driver), that wants to find Alton for reasons of their own. There are a lot of threads to follow in “Midnight Special.” Nichols takes his time unraveling them for us, and doles out information sparingly as he goes. In the first few minutes, he effectively introduces us to the main elements of his premise; from this point on, however, his film develops into a continuing series of complications, each one serving only to lead to the next, while offering only the merest scraps of information about the deeper mystery at the heart of the proceedings. By the time we get to the big revelation- which is simply announced to us, somewhat anti-climacticallywe have already been led through so many confusing turns that it’s difficult to still be invested in the outcome. Of course, anyone familiar with Spielberg’s “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” will sense from early on where the story is going. “Midnight Special” has so many echoes of that classic (among others) that it is hard not to compare the two works. To go into detail about the connections would spoil the current film, but it is worth noting that the things that make Spielberg’s movie so memorable ar e painfully absent her e. The sense of adventure is replaced by a feeling of impending doom; and although both movies center on families threatened and pulled apart by momentous events, “Close Encoun-
MacArthur Park was home to one of America’s earliest identifiable gay neighborhoods.
ters” nevertheless manages to be joyous and fun while “Midnight Special” struggles to stay just this side of despair. It’s fair to say that they are differ ent movies from different eras, but one still cannot help but think that Nichols movie takes itself far more seriously than needed. It’s not the fault of the cast, who mostly deliver heartfelt performances. Young Lieberher is engaging and likable while still managing to be suitably grave. As his adult protectors, Shannon, Dunst, and Edgerton all play admirably against sentimentality, and if they come off as unrelentingly dour it seems more a function of the script and direction than the integrity of their work. As the cult leader, the venerable Sam Shepard (whose presence underscores strong parallels with another vintage film, Daniel Petrie’s “Resurrection”) provides understated sorrow instead of predictable menace. The standout performance, though, comes from Driver, whose turn as the government expert trying to unlock Alton’s secrets evokes the wonder and excitement so sorely missing from the rest of the film. His screen time is all too brief.
“Midnight Special” is not a complete failure; it offers an intriguing exploration of the way that beliefwhether in religion, science, or worldly concerns- can keep us blinded to truths that lay outside our under standing, and it avoids pandering to its audience with easy answers or familiar clichés. In the end, though, there is little payoff for these ruminations, and the movie leaves us wondering far more about the details of its plot than the implications of its ideas. It disappoints us more than it challenges us- and considering the sources from which it draws its inspiration, it is a strong disappointment, indeed.
MIDNIGHT SPECIAL Director: Jeff Nichols Screenplay: Jeff Nichols Music composed by: David Wingo Producers: Sarah Green, Brian Kavanaugh Jones LENGTH: 1h 51min PLAYING: ArcLight and Landmark Cinemas
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
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03.25.2016
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Los Angeles LGBT population booms DATA ON LGBT continued from p. 5
be really surprised if that changed. But it is flat, it is not growing.” Gates, however, accused the website of plagiarizing a study he released last year. And he said that the ConsumerAffairs.com map should not be read as
changes in a city’s LGBT population because the data sources measured two different things. The 1990 census data refers to same-sex couples in a given city, whereas the 2014 Gallup data measured the number of people who identify as LGBT. “The bottom line is that the consumeraffairs.com map is useless,” Gates
explained in an email. “It presents the data incorrectly and implies that these incorrect data tell us something about LGBT mobility, which they most certainly do not.” Daly acknowledged that the map is based on the same publicly available data sets, “the only two that really exist that give us much insight into this
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population,” as Gates had used in his paper. “We compared these two disparate sets of numbers using the same common method of analysis and came up with similar results, which is not uncommon. So, what I’m saying is we came by it honestly and are sorry he feels that way,” he wrote in an emailed reply. He added that “it’s fair” for Gates or anyone else to disagree with their conclusions about the data. “But I would say this: his assertions make the same point we are, that the U.S., as a whole, including traditionally red states, are becoming more accepting toward LGBT individuals, making it less important for them to settle in traditionally LGBT-friendly areas,” wrote Daly. During a phone interview about the map, Daly said there is no way to discern where LGBT people are moving from and moving to. “That is just not information either of those polls provided,” he said. “I think what we have, kind of, it is conjecture of course for the most part. It kind of seems to follow the national trend of younger people and professionals moving away from cities where the cost of living is prohibitive.” The only way to know that information is for more federal surveys to ask participants if they are LGBT. Efforts to add such a question to the 2020 U.S. Census, however, were unsuccessful. There is a federal inter-agency task force looking at how to improve measurement of sexual orientation and gender identity on federal surveys, said Gates, noting that the census bureau “is playing an active role in that.” “I wouldn’t prioritize the decennial census. Another annual survey they do is the American Community Survey. That is the survey we would want to push harder to get LGBT questions on it,” said Gates. He added that some progress has already been seen, such as a question about sexual orientation being added in 2014 to the National Health Interview Survey. There is now a push to see gender identity be added. And Gates said it is “looking very optimistic” that questions about sexual orientation and gender identity will be added this year or next to the National Crime and Victimization Survey conducted by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. “Once you get on a couple of these federal surveys, it makes it a little easier to push with other agencies,” he said.
03.25.2016
COMMUNITY
⚫ BY ROBERT WILLIAMS
>
LOS ANGELES
⚫ 19
WEST HOLLYWOOD
Weho’s “Pick up Trolley” is more than a safe way home
Santa Monica Blvd
ROB WILLIAMS, PICTURED HERE WITH HIS DOG ROONE, IS THE PRIDE’S VIDEO REPORTER. WATCH FOR HIS VIDEOS ON THEPRIDELA.COM
The trolley is part of a robust harm-reduction strategy now implement in West Hollywood
I
f you live in West Hollywood and continue to drive to the bars, you have missed the boat- well, in this case the trolley. The PickUp trolley is a popular free service running along Santa Monica Boulevard, between La Peer Drive and La Brea Avenue, Friday and Saturday nights from 8pm to 3am. Three trolleys service the area and conveniently allow riders to jump on or off at one of the many stops along the route while listening to music selected by local DJ Derek Monteiro. The energetic and playful service is so use-
ful you will let bygones be bygones and finally forgive the city for the stack of parking tickets on your kitchen counter (P.S. the city wants me to remind you to pay your parking tickets). Beyond its convenience and cool factor, the trolley serves as an example of an engaged city government effectively responding to a need within the community by providing a safe, fun, and affordable transportation option to one of the city’s busiest nightlife districts. Local club promoter and Weho Confidential blogger Lucas John Junkin originated the
WEHO’S FREE NIGHTTIME RIDE RUNS EVERY FRIDAY AND SATURDAY EVENING 8PM-3AM FROM ROBERTSON TO LA BREA ALONG SANTA MONICA BLVD.
idea five years ago by starting a petition on change.org asking the city to create a trolley. “I live on Crescent Heights and Santa Monica and one Saturday was going out to the gay bars,” Junkin said. “I was happy to pay for parking but this particular night all of the structures were full and I had to return home and take a taxi. It was very frustrating and I began to ask why a really cool city like West Hollywood doesn’t have a public transit option.” After garnering a relatively few 140 signa-
tures to the petition, the city council responded with approval and service began in August 2013. The PickUp now has over 65,000 boardings per year. Councilmember John J. Duran, who sponsored the legislation that created the service, works as a criminal defense attorney by day and frequently represents clients who get arrested for drunk driving. He recognized the need to help people get around safely but didn’t believe traditional pub-
lic transportation would be used by the people who party along Santa Monica Boulevard. “It needs to be sexy, it needs to smart, it needs to be hip,” Duran remembers saying. He wanted something LGBT people and their straight allies would look at and say, “That’s for me.” Therefore, it was important for the trolley to have sexy interior lighting, great music, and an exterior painted in a vibrant and brilliant fashion. Duran said it was also important for the service to be free to mo-
tivate people to leave their cars at home. The city subsidizes the transit and benefits by having less drunk driving and fatalities, less illegal parking, and less traffic. Riders can track when the trolley will be near their location using the Trolley Tracker feature on the PickUp’s website and receive perks for using the service like free priority entry to the Abbey and Micky’s, $1 first drink at Fubar, and a free appetizer with purchase of entree at Hugo’s, among others.
⚍ 20
03.25.2016
LOS ANGELES
Be prepared. Your lung cancer can spread to your brain. Rose, age 59, Texas
Smoking caused Rose’s lung cancer. She had to move from the small town she loved to get the treatment she needed, including chemo, radiation and having part of her lung removed. Recently, her cancer spread to her brain. You can quit.
CALL 1-800-QUIT-NOW.
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