The Pride Issue 20, Vol 2, July 14, 2017

the pride ISSUE NUMBER 20, VOLUME 2 07.14 — 07.27.2017

| JULY 14 – JULY 27, ‘17

WWW.THEPRIDELA.COM

Paris is Still Burning Drag has always been a part of American culture. But in the past 30 years, drag has been at the forefront of a political revolution that no one saw coming.

MORE ON PAGE 5

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THE LOS ANGELES LGBT NEWSPAPER

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LOS ANGELES

What is TRUVADA for PrEP? TRUVADA for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a prescription medicine that is used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1. To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health.

Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION |What is the most important information I should know

about TRUVADA for PrEP?

Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP: u You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1.

Do not take TRUVADA to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-negative. u Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has

recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin.

While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: u You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for

PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. u You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP:

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months.

• If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. u To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1:

• Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners.

• Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. u If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA

alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: u Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved

to treat HBV. If you have HBV and stop taking TRUVADA, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

|Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP? Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: u Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If

you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. u Also take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection.

|What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP? Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: u Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider

may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA. u Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic

acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. u Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare

provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. u Bone problems, including bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to

fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away. |What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking

TRUVADA for PrEP?

u All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or

have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis. u If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA

can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA. u If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If

you become HIV-positive, HIV can be passed to the baby in breast milk. u All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines,

vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines.

Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. u If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA, your healthcare provider

may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include certain medicines to treat hepatitis C (HCV) infection.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

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Have you heard about

TRUVADA for PrEP™?

The once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when used with safer sex practices.

• TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex.

• You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you.

visit start.truvada.com

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IMPORTANT FACTS

This is only a brief summary of important information about taking TRUVADA for PrEPTM (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. This does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your medicine.

(tru-VAH-dah) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF TRUVADA FOR PrEP

Before starting TRUVADA for PrEP:

• Those in the “Most Important Information About TRUVADA for PrEP” section.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.

• Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

• Bone problems.

• You must be HIV-1 negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-1 negative.

• Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include flu-like symptoms, tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. Tell your healthcare provider if you have had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: • You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1.

• You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you think you were exposed to HIV-1 or have a flu-like illness while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time.

• See the “How To Further Reduce Your Risk” section for more information.

TRUVADA may cause serious side effects, including: • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP TRUVADA for PrEP is a prescription medicine used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1.

• To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health.

Do NOT take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: • Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status.

• Take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection.

HOW TO TAKE TRUVADA FOR PrEP • Take 1 tablet once a day, every day, not just when you think you have been exposed to HIV-1.

• Do not miss any doses. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• Use TRUVADA for PrEP together with condoms and safer sex practices.

• Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months. You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP.

TRUVADA can cause serious side effects, including:

Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP include stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight.

These are not all the possible side effects of TRUVADA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP. BEFORE TAKING TRUVADA FOR PrEP Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis.

• Have any other medical conditions.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If you become HIV-positive, HIV can pass to the baby in breast milk.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with TRUVADA for PrEP. HOW TO FURTHER REDUCE YOUR RISK • Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners.

• Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you.

• Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners.

• Do not share needles or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about TRUVADA for PrEP. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more, including how to prevent HIV infection.

• Go to start.truvada.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit start.truvada.com for program information.

TRUVADA, the TRUVADA Logo, TRUVADA FOR PREP, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners.

Version date: April 2017 © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. TVDC0093 05/17

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FROM THE COVER

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Paris is Still Burning

Photos: Courtesy “Cherry Pop.”

Drag has always been a part of American culture. But in the past 30 years, drag has been at the forefront of a political revolution that no one saw coming.

take long to make its mark on the culture at large.

It did take its time, however, in making its true message heard. After “Paris,” drag went through a period of unambiguous box office popularity, with a string of films featuring top name actors acting in drag in fish-out-of-water farces, such as 1994’s “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert,” 1995’s “To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, JuBack in 1990, when the world itself lie Newmar,” and 1996’s “The Birdcage.” seemed on fire, an independent docu- All the films focused on the glitz, glamor, mentary called “Paris is Burning” didn’t and hilarity of drag. But very few got to instantly seem like the earth-shifting the essence of what drag meant to the event that it was. Jennie Livingston’s sto- queens of “Paris is Burning:” A way out. ry of trans and queer drag queens in the Fast forward to now, when the art of ballroom scene of the late 1980s was a drag is seen, to millions of Americans no-holds-barred deboth gay and straight, piction of a world trans and cis, as the previously unseen epitome of enterDrag has always and – and unheard of – We can will continue to change tainment. by the masses. From thank "RuPaul’s Drag its depiction of the world.

Race" for that – the “Vogueing,” – which show that not only Madonna wasted no blasted drag into the time making a song mainstream for new about that same audiences in 2009, year – to its grim, head-on depiction of but kept it there for years, allowing its the danger drag queens and trans women political influence to grow season after face in an intolerant world, “Paris” didn’t

“

”

season, until RuPaul himself declared last month, after the wrap of Drag Race’s 9th season, that the role of drag had taken on the political importance of a direct stand against Trump. What began, for the queens of “Paris,” as an escape from the systemic injustice and poverty imposed upon them by a racist, homophobic, and transphobic American culture, had, by 2010, become the drug of choice for millions of Americans tuning in each week.

The power of drag-as-political act has never been disputed – but it's also never seemed, until recently, quite as inyour-face. This year alone, we’ve seen Melissa McCarthy don drag to skewer Sean Spicer, Kate McKinnon take a turn

READ MORE on page 6

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ENTERTAINMENT DRAG

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FROM THE COVER --- CONTINUED

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA Photos: Courtesy “Cherry Pop.”

“

American culture has a long history of fear and apprehension when it comes

to cross-dressing.

CONTINUED from page 5

Photo: David Ayllon.

as Jeff Sessions, and viral YouTuber Randy Rainbow in a variety of Trump-related drag performances. All of which is to say: People are coming around to the fact that there’s power in dressing as the opposite gender. A kind of power that could shake even the Trump administration to its core.

Again, this isn't a new thing: It’s simply a new revelation. American culture has a long history of fear and apprehension when it comes to cross-dressing. In most states across the US, it was illegal to wear more than three articles of clothing belonging to the other gender up until the mid-'70s.

This was part of the reason why the Stonewall Riot, started by drag queens, was such a double affront to the status quo. Not only were queers telling the cops they wouldn’t stand for any further harassment, they were doing it in full drag regalia.

You’d think the somewhat recent mainstream acceptance of drag would make its potential for shock something of an unlikely, dated side effect. But au contraire: This year alone, we’re seeing a host of new films dedicated to the art, the style, the legacy, and the politics of drag. Namely Assaad Yacoub’s “Cherry Pop,” a story of rivarly in a small town drag bar – starring "Drag Race" Season 8 winner Caldwell Tidicue, better known as Bob the Drag Queen – and “Project Peppermint,”

”

a documentary about the life of "Drag Race" Season 9 finalist Peppermint, a drag queen who is also a trans woman. Both films employ their share of comedy while giving a solid nod to drag’s revolutionary potential, past and present.

“For so long drag was really just an underground phenomenon, or a sort of weekend only nightclub thing.” Says Peppermint, star of the upcoming documentary. “Now it has turned global. Drag queens are jet-setters, world travelers, and bona fide celebrities these days. Many of us have mother RuPaul to thank for that.”

It’s undeniably true. No one has been more of a force in pushing drag into the mainstream than RuPaul himself, who told the Atlantic that waking up to a Trump presidency was like waking up to an “America [that] got a giant swastika tattooed on her forehead.” RuPaul also made one of the most memorable post-election speeches in recent memory, ending it with the caveat: “Don’t f*** with my family.”

RuPaul’s family, of course, is the queer world, the drag world, and all those who

READ MORE on page 7

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FROM THE COVER --- CONTINUED

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

CONTINUED from page 6 live within the many intersections of the two.

“Drag has always and will continue to change the world,” says Peppermint, “from the Stonewall Uprising to marriage equality to AIDS activism and act up and to our very own gender warriors. Drag is empowering.”

The skill that goes into each performance is a less-talked-about aspect of drag. “I want people to see just how difficult it actually is to do what we do, we being drag queens, trans women of color, independent artists, all of it.” Peppermint's documentary takes a deep look at the little-discussed reality of living as a trans woman and a professional drag queen. While “Project Peppermint” takes on reality, the Outfest standout “Cherry Pop” is first-time director Yacoub’s take on the deeply intimate world of professional drag in a small town. Bob the Drag

Queen plays the host of the show, ‘Kitten Withawhip.’ Bob, billed in “Cherry Pop” as Caldwell Tidicue, knew the director years ago as an “underage drinker who like to hang out with drag queens and ask them to be in his student film.” Tidicue said yes, and the rest is history. “The goal of every artist is making sure your work gets seen.” Says Tidicue. “Otherwise, I’m just a guy dressing up in a living room. I’m an actor and a comedian, so I just really like making people laugh. If you can put a smile on someone’s face, you’ve made their day.”

Tidicue also knows that drag can make more the more traditionally divisive type of politics palatable. His upcoming Logo stand-up special “Suspiciously

“

People are coming around to the fact that there’s power in dressing as the opposite gender. A kind of power that could shake even the Trump administration to its core.

”

Photos: Courtesy “Cherry Pop.”

Large Woman,” is a combination of topical comedy and material collected from the past nine years of his career in drag.

“Honestly,” he says, “a lot of it is my view on political things, but it’s not me forcing it down anyone’s throat. I hope that people can just, you know – maybe it will inspire someone to not be afraid to share their opinions too.”

With the enduring legacy of “Drag

Race,” new documentaries about the lives of professional drag performers, and the general nation-wide obsession when it comes to the subversive-yet-entertaining political platform, it’s clear that drag isn’t going to lose its fire anytime soon. That’s a good thing: We’ll be needing it the next four years.

In the words of Peppermint: “I think everyone is just ready for something new.”

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MUSICALLY INCLINED

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Betty Who to Perform at GLAAD’s Resist.Insist.Persist Benefit

File Photo.

Betty Who.

Since the moment she busted onto the pop music scene a mere six years ago, Betty Who has made her allegiance to the queer community absolutely crystal clear. And we're proceeded to love her for it.

“From the first show I ever played in NYC (where I sold out a tiny club on the Lower East Side and, truth be told, thought my dad had paid for all the tickets when in reality it was just 85 gay men ready to dance with me) to the incredibly heartwarming Home Depot marriage proposal video of Spencer and Dustin in Salt Lake City,” wrote Who in a special letter to the queer community for Billboard this June, “my entire career has been shaped and defined by the LGBTQ+ community.”

And so it has. Who’s loud-and-proud an-

thems of self-acceptance and social defiance have always been standouts in the current pop scene, as well as natural hits with the queer community. Who has now made her allyship even more public by signing on to perform at GLAAD and Onward Together’s collaborative benefit concert at Rockwell on July 17, titled “Resist. Insist. Persist.” Along with Broadway’s Carrie Manolakos, and host Milana Vayntrub of “This is Us,” Who will headline the benefit to raise funds and awareness for the struggles of the queer community during the Trump administration.Who will be performing hits from her recent album “The Valley,” and extremely personal collection of songs about love, loss, and the fallout from the Pulse tragedy of last year.

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

This Summer, Women are the Voice of the Musical Resistance

Who could forget the images of Ke$ha from two years ago: The ones that showed the once-ubiquitous pop star, head bowed, broken by the defeat of her court case against her abuser, Dr. Luke?

Who could forget the wave of op eds and think pieces that followed, the Internet's endless call to arms, the cries of #FreeKe$ha? And who could forget the star’s actual testimony against her producer/abuser, who allegedly raped her, emotionally abused her, and jump-started her eating disorder in 2009, after seeing the video for “Tik Tok” and saying she looked like a refrigerator?

Apparently, a lot of us could forget it, and far too easily.

But Ke$ha, not one to be ignored, has made her comeback at last, and she has made it unforgettable.

Her July 5 release of a new, post-Dr. Luke single, replete with a lushly-filmed music video, came unheralded. In it, Ke$ha bemoans her fate, says she has considered suicide, and sings in the second person to a past abuser we can’t help but identify as the nefarious Dr. Luke, who has for upwards of five years stood as the sole rea-

son for Ke$ha’s musical hiatus. When the courts ruled in 2016 that Ke$ha’s plea to be released from her contract with Sony – which stipulated that Dr. Luke must be present in the recording booth – was invalid, the cause was swept up in the broader feminist whirl. Since then, we’ve barely had time to consider the music, and when and how – if ever – it might reappear.

“Praying” is a beautiful, rich ballad that both reminds audiences of everything Ke$ha has gone through, and of everything that made her so unique when she first came on the scene almost ten years ago as the brash, brush-my-teeth-with-a-bottleof-Jack party girl with no f***s left to give.

There’s always been a soulfulness beneath even her poppiest pop hits, and in “Praying,” she allows it to come to the surface and envelop us. It doesn’t hurt, also, that the video’s imagery is blindingly bright: A literal take on the metaphor of the phoenix rising from the ashes.

In the meantime, going through her slow and steady transformations year by year is Lana Del Rey, who has promised us a new album – her first in two years – scheduled to drop on July 21. “Lust for Life,” from

what we’ve already heard of it, is an uncharacteristically optimistic concept album for a woman who, a mere five years ago, sang of lethal, doomed romances full of lyrics like “Your soul is hunting me and telling me/ That everything is fine/ But I wish I was dead.”

“Lust for Life's" first singles, “Love” and the eponymous "Lust for Life," featuring the Weeknd, are – compared to her past offerings – less melancholic by far, and part of a growing breed of witchy politicism that pop culture has embraced since Trump took office. Del Rey’s interpretation of resistance is a kind of blind pursuit of beauty, love, and the timeless parts of life that make it worth living, even in the dark. For Del Rey, this comes with a kind of feminist, Wiccan twist: As if to say, ‘Give yourself up to the power of the moon, and all will be well.’ Del Rey even encouraged her Instagram followers earlier this year to join in a “binding spell” that would prevent Trump from doing harm to the country. It seems that Del Rey no longer wishes she was dead, which is excellent news for those of us – growing in number every day – who can’t imagine life without her.

Ke$ha.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

⚫ CULTURE ART

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A VISUAL BIOGRAPHY

Photo: Richard Schmidt.

David Hockney “Self Portrait with Red Braces” 2003 Watercolor on paper 24 x 18 1/8” © David Hockney

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Looking at an Artist’s Life Through His Face

present, and across many different media platforms, we’re treated to the evolution of Hockney’s artistry through the shifting canvas of his own face and body. In the playful ways in which he allows himself to be interpreted by his own brush – cut into pieces in a Picasso-like abstract, or from his own POV while sitting down staring at his shoes – he allows us to see him without flourish. An almost shocking kind of vulnerability is on display in all the portraits, something one doesn’t tend to see with an artist that feels the need to exert more control over his own image (say Hockney’s good friend Warhol.) But what’s always distinctive about Hockney is the way in which the colorful world is revealed through the parts of art that should be distracting.The colors, shapes, and attitudes reveal a nakedness about everyday life, and about the mindset of an artist who’s never been interested in hiding.

“Happy Birthday, Mr. Hockey” will run at the Getty Center through November 26.

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Most people who know a little about art know about David Hockney, the quieter, British-born Warhol contemporary whose scenes of daily life are notable for their brilliant color and broad strokes. After making a name for himself in the London art world, Hockney moved in the mid-sixties to Los Angeles, where he would discover his greatest, most enduring muse: The swimming pool.And also boys. Lots of boys.

As an openly gay artist, Hockney never feels the need to over (or under) state the case. His paintings are elegant, sensual, and evocative of a specific, calmly lustful mood. The now-approaching-80-year old artist is enjoying the birthday gift of a retrospective at the J. Paul Getty Museum from now until late November. But instead of seeing the classic scenes of pools, boys, and the occasional sleeping dachshund, museum-goers will be treated to a less common muse of the Hockney-verse:The artist himself.

In self-portraits ranging from the ‘60s to the

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CAPTURED ON SCREEN

⚫ BY ANNETTE SEMERDJIAN

Logo Presents Two Documentaries on Queer Life

This summer, Logo presents a set of new documentaries profiling the different lives of LGBTQ people. “Kevyn Aucoin: Beauty & the Beast in Me” and “Forbidden: Undocumented & Queer in Rural America” will both be featured documentaries on LogoTV this year.

Kevyn Aucoin was a makeup artist to the stars and worked with all the top supermodels from Linda Evangelista to Naomi Campbell. In the 80s and 90s, he was the go-to guy for A-list celebrities. What made his makeup application revolutionary was that it wasn’t caked on and

Photo: Getty Images.

Kevyn Aucoin was a makeup artist to the stars and worked with all the top supermodels from Linda Evangelista to Naomi Campbell.

instead focused on highlighting natural features.

“I was hoping that through helping people see the beauty in themselves, I could try and find it in me,” Aucoin said, referring to his past struggles with bullying and building his self-esteem. Never-before-seen footage, videos documented by Aucoin and interviews with the divas who knew him well will be featured in the documentary, showcasing how many of them didn’t know the extent of the illness that eventually killed Aucoin in 2002. He was only 40 years old when his long term suffering from a pituitary tumor took his life. The disease had gone undiagnosed, yet Aucoin was dependent on the pain pills keeping him at bay.

He left big impressions on the stars of today and was one of the few people documenting his own life behind-the-scenes, being ahead of the herd before every phone had a camera and access to the internet.

The documentary premieres on LogoTV on September 14.The film will also premiere as the centerpiece documentary in this year’s Outfest.

Logo documentaries will also feature “Forbidden,” about undocumented queer folk in rural America, on August 3. As Outfest 2016’s Freedom Award recipient, this documentary, directed

“Forbidden” tells the story of undocumented queer folks in rural America..

by Tiffany Rhynard, features the struggle of young Moises Serrano as a gay, undocumented man living in North Carolina. He uses his intersectional voice for the people while maneuvering his own future in the American South. Only 18 months old, Serrano came to America with his family in their hopes of him becoming whoever he want-

Photo: Logo.

ed. He then came to understand that, as a gay and undocumented person of the United States, freedom came with limitations.

You can catch "Forbidden: Undocumented & Queer in Rural America" on August 3 at 9/8c and “Kevyn Aucoin: Beauty & the Beast in Me” on September 14 at 9/8c on Logo.

⚫ BY GENNA RIVIECCIO

With “Endless Poetry,” Jodorowsky Makes His Grand Return Decades after John Lennon made the mysterious filmmaker’s career, the Chilean auteur is back with a new, and puzzling, work of art.

Long ago, Alejandro Jodorowsky became one of those directors who could do whatever he wanted artistically and get away with it.

This transpired around the time John Lennon declared “El Topo” – the surrealist (read: acid trippy) Western that served as Jodorowsky’s sophomore follow-up to “Fando y Lis” – to be his favorite movie. Like the Chilean version of Jean-Luc Godard (though Jodorowsky, too, has French origins), the auteur saw fit to disappear ever-so-slightly after his peak decade, the seventies. Conversely, Godard had his renaissance in the sixties – the end of which marked the moment when John Lennon decided to go rogue enough to make such ardent declarations about “El Topo.” His effusive praise turned into one million dollars’ worth of financing for Jodorowsky’s subsequent feature, “The Holy Mountain.”

Once again of the “Western surrealist” genre,

this film continued to solidify the lore surrounding Jodorowsky as a sort of drug-addled, misunderstood genius.The original David Lynch, if you will. But, of course, far more esoteric and cutting edge.

Photo: Le Soleil Films.

Still from “Endless Poetry,”

“

Today, we see Jodorowsky as a sort of drug-addled, misunderstood genius.

The original David Lynch, if you will.

”

Since the seventies (and some of the eighties,) Jodorowsky has made efforts to fully return to the film world, but a lack of financing time and again foiled any attempts at the restoration of his career. It was only with his lifelong pursuits of psycho-magic and psycho-shamanism that Jodorowsky found his way to creating his forthcoming eighth film,“Endless Poetry.” The screenplay of “Poetry” grew out of his first auto-biopic,

“The Dance of Reality,” a documentary released in conjunction with his book of the same name.

His focus for most of his career has been on doing lectures that emphasize his beliefs and theories on the “over-self,” or the part of the subconscious that deals with how our forebears affect our psyche. That being said, “Endless Poetry" deals heavily with Jodorowsky’s most treasured philosophies, in addition to its premise being ex-

pectedly "meta” and deeply autobiographical.

And as the unclaimed lovechild of Federico Fellini and Luis Buñuel, Jodorowsky’s reappearance in the film industry (or rather, working outside of its limited confines) comes not a moment too soon, as we really have no one from the old school left to turn to for subversion. Such enfant terrible gusto, one might have thought, had died with Fassbinder.

⚫

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

12

YOU MATTER AND SO DOES YOUR HEALTH

That’s why starting and staying on HIV-1 treatment is so important.

What is DESCOVY ? ®

DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years and older.

DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. DESCOVY combines 2 medicines into 1 pill taken once a day. Because DESCOVY by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1, it must be used together with other HIV-1 medicines.

DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS. To control HIV-1 infection and decrease HIV-related illnesses, you must keep taking DESCOVY. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to reduce the risk of passing HIV-1 to others.

Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about DESCOVY? DESCOVY may cause serious side effects: •

•

•

•

Buildup of an acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency. Symptoms of lactic acidosis include feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

What are the other possible side effects of DESCOVY? Serious side effects of DESCOVY may also include: •

•

•

•

Changes in body fat, which can happen in people taking HIV-1 medicines.

Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking DESCOVY. Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys.

Your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking DESCOVY if you develop new or worse kidney problems.

Bone problems, such as bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or don’t go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking DESCOVY? •

•

Serious liver problems. The liver may become large and fatty.

Symptoms of liver problems include your skin or the white part of your eyes turning yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; lightcolored bowel movements (stools); loss of appetite; nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis virus infection.

All the medicines you take, including prescription and overthe-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Other medicines may affect how DESCOVY works. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

Ask your healthcare provider if it is safe to take DESCOVY with all of your other medicines.

If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if DESCOVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking DESCOVY.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or serious liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY for a long time. In some cases, lactic acidosis and serious liver problems have led to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any symptoms of these conditions.

•

Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV and stop taking DESCOVY, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

•

If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

Please see Important Facts about DESCOVY, including important warnings, on the following page.

Ask your healthcare provider if an HIV-1 treatment that contains DESCOVY® is right for you.

DVYC0019_B_10x11-7_ThePrideLA_Drew_p1.indd 1-2

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3/2/17 3:32 PM

⚫ 14

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

IMPORTANT FACTS This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY® and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment.

(des-KOH-vee) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT DESCOVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF DESCOVY

DESCOVY may cause serious side effects, including: • Buildup of lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: feeling very weak or tired, unusual muscle pain, trouble breathing, stomach pain with nausea or vomiting, feeling cold (especially in your arms and legs), feeling dizzy or lightheaded, and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Severe liver problems, which in some cases can lead to death. Call your healthcare provider right away if you have any of these symptoms: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark “tea-colored” urine; loss of appetite; light-colored bowel movements (stools); nausea; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

• Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. DESCOVY is not approved to treat HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking DESCOVY. Do not stop taking DESCOVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female, very overweight, or have been taking DESCOVY or a similar medicine for a long time.

DESCOVY can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About DESCOVY” section.

• Changes in body fat.

• Changes in your immune system.

• New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure.

• Bone problems.

The most common side effect of DESCOVY is nausea.

These are not all the possible side effects of DESCOVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking DESCOVY. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with DESCOVY.

ABOUT DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a prescription medicine that is used together with other HIV-1 medicines to treat HIV-1 in people 12 years of age and older. DESCOVY is not for use to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection.

• DESCOVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. Ask your healthcare provider about how to prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

HOW TO TAKE DESCOVY • DESCOVY is a one pill, once a day HIV-1 medicine that is taken with other HIV-1 medicines.

• Take DESCOVY with or without food.

BEFORE TAKING DESCOVY Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

• Have any other medical condition.

• Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant.

• Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-thecounter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

• Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with DESCOVY.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about DESCOVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

• Go to DESCOVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit DESCOVY.com for program information.

DESCOVY, the DESCOVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, and LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. © 2016 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. DVYC0019 11/16

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FEATURES PROFILE

>

LOS ANGELES

⚫ 15

IN MEMORIAM

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Diane Torr Saw the Power of Drag Before Anyone Else Did

W

hen artist Diane Torr donned her first mustache in public, at an art opening at the Whitney in 1989, she didn’t know what to expect.

Some people put on drag as a disguise, to better blend in with the outside world.

Others do it as a performance. Torr used drag as an experiment: A way to see

another side of life. And see it she did: It took people no time at all to start treating her differently as a man. Friends she’d had didn’t recognize her. Women tried to hit on her. Men paid her respect.

For Torr, who died last month at the age of 68, this work was the beginning of a lifelong experiment. She wanted to pin down the ways in which life was lived differently across gender barriers, and her research was never finished.

Canadian-born, Scotland-bred Torr always had a hard time fitting neatly into the labels the art world gives out. Was her work performance art? Pure drag? Multimedia? Was it dance? And what about her ‘90s workshops, “Man for a Day,” in which she would teach the art of drag to aspiring drag kings? Was that art, too?

Torr paved the way for a kind of thinking about gender that was not yet fully in vogue yet. As a contemporary of Judith Butler and Jack Halberstam, Torr was slightly ahead of the curve in her performative, critical work on gender, in which she took Butler's nascent academic theories to the street to play them out in real life. She developed characters, mixed secondary sex characteristics in public, and eventu-

ally compiled her lifelong research in two books, “Sex, Drag, and Male Roles: Investigating Gender as Performance” (2010) and “Man for a Day” (2012.) In later life, Torr enjoyed a visiting professorship at Glasgow School of Art. As a curious, intrepid gender activist, Torr was never done exploring the topic of gender crossover. Until the end, she was doing shows and workshops and compiling her observations in writing. And until the end, she never stopped asking questions. In a TEDx talk given in Hamburg in 2016, Torr spoke about her early life. “In those early days performing in New York in the ‘70s and ‘80s, I was not aware of the revolutionary possibilities of the work [of drag.] Of its ability to create something new.” For a whole new generation of artists, scholars, and curious thinkers, she made us aware.

EDITOR

Henry Giardina

CREATIVE DIRECTOR AMY PATTON

VP OF ADVERTISING

JUDY SWARZ | judy@smmirror.com

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Sheila Michaels Gave Women a Better Option

The history of the title “Ms.” is a strange, somewhat overlooked one. Though its origins are said to go back to the early 20th century, when more and more unmarried women were entering the workplace, the true birth of the abbreviated title and its radical potential are tied to the 1960s and a woman named Sheila Michaels.

Michaels, who died of Leukemia last week at the age of 78, never laid claim to coming up with “Ms.” But it was she who injected the word into the highly-charged atmosphere of the ‘60s during a radio broadcast. She was appearing as a feminist – then a fringe, “far left” women’s rights group, according to the New York Times.

Her desire, she told the Guardian years later in 2007, was to come up with a way to talk

about women who didn’t ‘belong’ to men.

This was a harder task than many would have assumed, and its implications were legendary. Gloria Steinem caught wind of Michaels’ broadcast later on and decided to use the honorific as the title of her new magazine, “Ms.,” in 1971.

In the new TNT drama “Will,” about the early life of William Shakespeare, one of the character, upset with Shakespeare’s addition of the not-yet-created “bedazzle” into the script, reprimands him. “You can’t just go around making up words!”

Shakespeare replies caddishly: “Someone’s got to.”

For women who knew they no longer wanted to be defined by men, Michaels was that someone.

Please call (310) 310-2637 for advertising rates and availability.

BUSINESS MANAGER MAX MONTEMER max@smmirror.com

NATIONAL DISPLAY ADVERTISING Rivendell Media / 212.242.6863

westsidetoday.com

Century City/ Westwood

NEWS

CenturyCity-WestwoodNews.com

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., 2116 Wilshire Blvd., Santa Monica, CA. 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) 2017 The Pride L.A. THE PRIDE L.A. is a registered trademark of MIRROR MEDIA GROUP. T.J. MONTEMER, CEO 310.310.2637 x7

Sheila Michaels.

Photo: Wikipedia.

© 2017 The Pride L.A. All rights reserved.

⚫

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

16

WHAT’S HAPPENING

With AAA Travel...

Members Get More!

O`AHU, HAWAI `I HILTON HAWAIIAN VILLAGE® WAIKIKI BEACH RESORT 5 NIGHTS FROM

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We of Me WHEN: July 14, 7 to 9 P.M. WHERE: The Getty Center WHAT: Artist Molly Sumo and musician Brian Chase (of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs) perform a large-scale sound sculpture-cum-performance piece.

WHY: You’re telling me you don’t want to see 20 men perform a choreographed dance wielding hand-crafted musical hair brushes?

Dear Heart/The Catered Affair WHEN: July 14, 7:30 P.M. WHERE: UCLA Film and Television Archive WHAT: A double bill of strangely adapted teleplays—one of which was written by the one and only Gore Vidal.

WHY: We’ll leave it to you to guess which one.

L.A. Vegan Underground Cookout WHEN: July 15, 5:30 P.M. WHERE: Green’s Center for Plant-Based Nutrition WHAT: It’s summer, and with summer comes barbecue. Unless you’re vegan – in which case you will definitely want to show up to this cruelty-free cookout.

WHY: Skewer the tofu and fry up the tempeh!

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CALL: 310.855.6000 CLICK: AAA.com/Travelmore VISIT: AAA Travel 8761 Santa Monica Blvd West Hollywood, CA 90069 1 Rate is per person, land only, based on double occupancy for check-in on December 7, 2017. 2Subject to availability and change. 3The value listed is per booking and equal to the total inclusions and Member Benefits listed. 4Kids stay free in same room as adults using existing bedding. Occupancy limits apply. 5Activity voucher does not apply to air/car only booking. Valid toward the purchase of a select optional activity. Not valid for hotel direct activity bookings. Minimum five night stay at participating AAA Vacations properties required.

Unless otherwise indicated: rates quoted are accurate at time of publication, are per person & based on double occupancy. Airfare, taxes, surcharges, gratuities, transfers & excursions are additional. Advertised rates do not include any applicable daily resort or facility fees payable directly to the hotel at check-out; such fee amounts will be advised at the time of booking.

Rates, terms, conditions, availability, itinerary, government taxes, surcharges, deposit, payment, cancellation terms/conditions & policies subject to change without notice at any time.

Cruise rates capacity controlled. Other restrictions may apply, including, but not limited to baggage limitations & fees, standby policies & fees, non-refundable tickets & change fees with pre-flight notification deadlines, & blackout dates. Fees & policies vary among airlines. Contact airline directly for any details or questions. Advance reservations through AAA Travel required to obtain Member Benefits & savings which may vary based on departure date. Not responsible for errors or omissions. Your local AAA Club acts as an agent for Pleasant Holidays®. CTR #1016202-80.

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Judy Swartz VP of Sales judy@smmirror.com • 310.310.2637, ext. 134

Girls Shorts- Outfest WHEN: July 14, 9:30 to 11 P.M. WHERE: Director’s Guild of America WHAT: An evening of short films by female (mostly queer) filmmakers.

WHY: If the title “Post-Apocalyptic Potluck” doesn’t intrigue you, you’re frankly beyond hope.

Summer on Seventh WHEN: July 15, 6 P.M. WHERE: Inner-City Arts, 720 Kohler St., Los Angeles WHAT: A night of music, art, food, and support for bringing arts education to L.A. kids everywhere.

WHY: Drink local vodka and eat treats from the Hungry Nomad truck while supporting a great cause.

Heavy Metal 40th Anniversary Art Show WHEN: July 15 to August 19 WHERE: Copro Gallery WHAT: Come to Santa Monica to celebrate 40 years of the iconic fantasy and sci-fi staple Heavy Metal Magazine.

WHY: Because anyone who says they don’t love the ‘80s is lying through their teeth.

Zola Jesus WHEN: July 20, 6:30 P.M. WHERE: The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA WHAT: Watch Zola Jesus break the bounds of pop in person WHY: If you’re feeling synthy.

07.14 — 07.27.2017

NEWS

POLITICS

>

LOS ANGELES

⚫ 17

TAKING ACTION

⚫ BY DOUG MONTGOMERY

For Pride, Senator Kamala Harris Calls for a “Coalition” For all his bloviating on subjects from the media to “covfefe,” Pride month went by without even a canned statement from President Donald Trump. But another Washington newcomer, California Senator Kamala Harris, has filled the silence left by the commander and chief with a video recalling her efforts to fight for marriage equality and offering the LGBTQ community her full support.

As June came to a close, Harris uploaded a video to her various social media accounts with the accompanying message, “Pride Month comes to an end – we must keep up the fight for civil rights for all.”

In the video, the freshman senator recounts her memory of Valentine’s Day in 2004. Harris had just been elected as San Francisco district attorney and Mayor Gavin Newsom had directed the city clerk to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

That day, Harris went to City Hall and witnessed a celebratory scene: “There were balloons, there were people of ev-

ery age, of every color – just joyous with the idea and with the knowledge that they could actually be recognized under law for the love they had for each other,” she says.

But Harris was not just a spectator to the excitement. “I was so thrilled to be a part of that,” she continues. “I remember walking up the steps of city hall and I performed the marriages that day.”

Although Kamala Harris did not officiate each same-sex marriage, over 4,000 marriage licenses were issued over a two month period. Then, the California Supreme Court halted the practice and voided the licenses. When a legal dispute challenged the voiding, the Court legalized gay marriage…for a few sweet moments. Then, Californians passed Prop 8.

“But here’s the thing,” Harris recalls, “we were not deterred.”

“We banded together, we marched in the streets, we lifted up our voices, and we took our case to court.”

When this struggle culminated with the Supreme Court’s decision in United States

v. Windsor that overturned the Defense of Marriage Act, Harris was on deck to mark the occasion. “And on June 28, 2013, I had the honor to perform the marriage of Ms. Kris Perry and Sandy Stier right here at city hall.”

The ceremony took place only hours after the Supreme Court’s decision was announced. Kris Perry and Sandy Stier were the first same-sex couple to wed in San Francisco following the ruling.

Harris draws from this experience lessons that apply to today’s challenges and reminds us that despite the gains in marriage equality, a threat to anyone’s liberty is a threat to everyone’s liberty.

She concludes: “Just as we have before, we need to once again build a coalition to fight for our collective civil rights and civil liberties.

It is all of our duty to join in this fight, and it is my hope that we will use the vigor and the energy that we feel in this moment to tackle next week, and the week after that, and the week after that.”

Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

California Senator Kamala Harris has always been one of the LGBTQ+ community’s most vocal allies.

⚫ 18

NEWS

POLITICS

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

>

REVIEWING THE DATA

⚫ BY DOUG MONTGOMERY

The Results Are In: The First 6 Months of California’s End-of-Life The controversial End of Life Option Act has been wildly popular.

One hundred and eleven people took their own lives in California over the first six months of a new law that permits physician-assisted suicide for terminally ill patients, according to recently released data.

The End of Life Option Act is the fifth such law in the country allowing mentally capable patients with less than six months to live the option of requesting lethal drugs from their doctors. California’s law, which took effect last year, resembles a similar law in Oregon that was passed almost two decades earlier.

The new data reveals a preference for the option among white, college-educated cancer patients older than 60. The same held true in Oregon.

The two states differed in the number of people who took advantage of the option, however. In California, physician-assisted deaths only accounted for five out of every 10,000 deaths between June and December 2016—much lower than Oregon, where intentional deaths accounted for 37

“

peace-of-mind to patients who know that if their pain worsens they have the option to end their lives, according to Dr. Tom Strouse, a UCLA psychiatrist and palliative care doctor who spoke to The Los Angeles Times.

Terminally ill patients “want the option of saying, ‘That’s not how I’m going to live,’” Strouse said. “It’s a contingency planning approach, really.”

Even with the passage of the law, the issue of physician-assisted suicide remains hotly contested.

The Life Legal Defence Foundation, a legal group is currently challenging the law in court, has argued about the law that “State-sanctioned suicide sends the message that some lives are not worth living.”

Alexandra Snyder, the Executive Director of the Life Legal Defence Foundation, claimed in a statement, “The End of Life Option Act is a dangerous law that exposes vulnerable individuals to direct and indirect pressure to commit suicide.”

Under the law, doctors are barred from bringing up the drugs with their patients

to avoid even the appearance of pressure.

Patients instead must initiate the conversation themselves.

Advocates of the law praised the data in the new study. “The state’s data show that even during the early months of the law’s implementation, the law was working well and terminally ill Californians were able to take comfort in knowing that they had this option to peacefully end intolerable suffering,” said Matt Whitaker, the State Director for the end-of-life advocacy group Compassion & Choices.

Terminally ill patients “want the option of saying, ‘That’s not how I’m going to live.

”

per 10,000 deaths.

The discrepancy could be explained in part by the novelty of California’s law.

The choice to take one’s life still remains deeply personal despite its legality.

Although doctors wrote 191 prescriptions for the pills, only 111 patients used them by the end of December.

Often, the pills provide comfort and

FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND AT THEPRIDELA.COM!

07.14 — 07.27.2017

CULTURE FOOD

>

LOS ANGELES

⚫ 19

HOT FROM THE POT

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Cuties Coffee Opens Brick and Mortar Location

710 N. Heliotrope Drive in East Hollywood has been host to its share of transient cafes. First, there was a short-lived branch of the beloved Cafecito Organico chain in 2010, followed by Helio Cafe, which closed in 2016. With the promising recent opening of Cuties Coffee, its latest tenant, 710 N. Heliotrope may have at last met its match.

Started by partners Virginia Bauman and Iris Bainum-Houle, the concept for Cuties grew out of a monthly meetup the two had planned for L.A.’s queer community. The popularity of the initial gathering, simply titled “Queers, Coffee, and Donuts,” brought the possibility of opening a brick and mortar space a bit closer to reality. After a soft open and preview on July 2, the East Hollywood space was opened to the public.

“We're trying to create a space where you feel welcome and accepted no matter what your sexual orientation or gender identity is,” said Bainum-Houle in a video

for the Cuties Coffee Bar Indiegogo page.

“We want you in our coffee shop because of who you are, not in spite of it.”

The cafe itself, of course, is hardly a culmination of events – it’s really just the start. Bainum-Houle and Bauman are trying to create a holding place for L.A.’s queer community using a capitalist business structure with some nonprofit ideology thrown in. In addition to branching into housing, Cuties is setting up a “queue” system in their cafe, where patrons can offer to put money aside for a future visitor who might not have enough to pay for a drink. It’s a communally focused take on the classic cafe – and potentially as close to a Robin Hood fantasy of queer patrons looking out for – and anticipating – each other's needs.

Photo: Facebook.

Iris Bainum-Houle (left) and Virginia Bauman (right) are creating change, one latte at a time.

⚫ 20

LOS ANGELES

07.14 — 07.27.2017

> The Varsity Gay League is Bringing Its A-Game SPORTS

ATHLETES UNITE

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Ten years after Will Hackner started his Varsity Gay League, he’s still seeing the impact it’s made on L.A.’s queer community.

When Will Hackner started the Varsity Gay League all the way back in 2007, it was against the backdrop of a rapidly changing nation. In 2007, Obama was campaigning for his first Presidential term. California was still a year away from legalizing gay marriage. In terms of major league sports, being out and gay was still taboo.

Hackner’s idea to form a recreational sports organization – one that was specifically focused on the LGBTQ+ community but open to everyone – wasn’t as intuitive as one might think. In 2007 in Los Angeles, there was nothing like it. Beyond that, the idea of radical inclusion hadn’t hit the mainstream yet.

For Will, it was a no-brainer. Having a place where anyone – Men women, young old, gay, trans, bi, athletic, unathletic – could congregate and play was something L.A.’s queer community needed. Ten years later, it’s more than stood the test of time, expanding and branching off into new leagues and playoffs as it grows.

“We’re basically a totally inclusive community of people who just want to get together and have fun,” said Hackner. “It’s a way to socialize outside the bars, make a friendship or a connection, enjoy the day, get outside, learn a new skill, be competitive, gain confidence. It’s focused on everything that’s positive about sports, not on tearing someone down or beating someone up because of who they are or what they look like.”

Hackner has been running the organization single-handedly, with a bit of help from a friend in the early years, for the past decade. In all that time, his vision for the league has only gotten broader.

“When I first started, I wanted to do summer camp games,” he said. “Things that were quirky and fun and out of the box, like catch the flag, kickball, Easter egg hunts, scavenger hunts. And then we moved into

Will Hackner started the Varsity Gay League 10 years ago in Los Angeles.

kickball as our first league in 2011. The conceit behind doing kickball was that it’s a game that anyone can play. While a game like softball is a hugely popular sport in the LGBT world, it’s also sort of limited in some respects, because there’s a lot of different levels of skill. Whereas with kickball, it’s a ten-inch bouncy ball that’s coming your way, anyone can put their foot in front of it. So it removed that barrier of entry that I think a lot of people have who are intimidated by sports so they can come and play with us.”

After that, the league started taking on bigger projects, eventually branching into bowling, tennis, soccer, volleyball, and flag

READ MORE on page 21

Photos: Courtesy of the Varsity Gay League.

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ATHLETES UNITE ... CONTINUED

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

CONTINUED from page 20 football. All the sports that, according to Hackner, “aren’t the traditional softball, basketball milieu.”

A big part of the league’s success is its emphasis on play, fun, and optimism. “There are no tryouts, no skill requirements,” Hackner said. “You just have to have the courage to say, ‘Yeah, I want to do it.’”

With this, of course, comes its own set of interesting challenges. Because teams are made up of players with different skill levels, there’s always a good mix of talent and experience with people who are completely new to the games. “The other day I had to explain to a player what a strike was,” said Hackner. “They didn’t know!”

For Hackner, one of the most rewarding aspects of seeing the league grow over the years is the opportunity for age diversity. In a community as diverse and spread out as L.A.’s LGBTQ+ scene, there can often be a lot of age segregation. When Hackner sees the league in action, he sees those barriers being torn down firsthand.

“When we first started it,” he said, “the age range was predominantly 24-35. It still is. But when I did my first major kickball league, we certainly had 50-year-olds in there, hanging out with 21-year-olds. And in that moment, I saw them all hanging out and having fun together, and there wasn’t that judgment where you’re out at the bar with an older person looking at them having a beer, and thinking like ‘why are you here, what kind of creeper are you?’ It was, ‘Oh! We’re here to have fun together.” And there’s a lot of history and dialogue and lineage that can be transferred between people of different ages. It’s a fantastic thing to see.”

In a time when the LGBTQ+ community finds itself newly re-politicized and re-mobilized, the Varsity Gay League offers a place for all members of that community to socialize without fear of judgment.

“I remember there was one guy who I still see around,” said Hackner. “He was 66 when he signed up to play with us. He came to me and asked, ‘am I gonna be picked on because I’m the old guy out here? I don’t want to feel weird.’ And I said, ‘if anyone makes you feel weird, you come to me.

Because you should never feel weird here.

They’re your friends, not your judges.”

Photos: Courtesy of the Varsity Gay League.

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Actual ATRIPLA patients. ‡

ATRIPLA has been chosen by more than 550,000 people with HIV and their doctors. § In the US, ATRIPLA is the #1 prescribed one-pill, once-daily HIV treatment.

TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR OR VISIT AtriplaAndMe.com TO FIND OUT MORE. What is ATRIPLA? ATRIPLA® (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate) is a prescription medication used alone as a complete regimen, or with other anti-HIV-1 medicines, to treat HIV-1 infection in adults and children at least 12 years old who weigh at least 40 kg (88 lbs).

ATRIPLA does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS and you may continue to experience illnesses associated with HIV-1 infection, including opportunistic infections.

See your healthcare provider regularly while taking ATRIPLA. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about ATRIPLA? ATRIPLA can cause serious side effects: Some people who have taken medicines like ATRIPLA (which contains nucleoside analogs) have developed lactic acidosis (build up of an acid in the blood). Lactic acidosis can be a serious medical emergency that can lead to death.

Call your healthcare provider right away if you get the following signs or symptoms of lactic acidosis: – feel very weak or tired – have unusual (not normal) muscle pain – have trouble breathing – have stomach pain with nausea and vomiting – feel cold, especially in your arms and legs – feel dizzy or lightheaded – have a fast or irregular heartbeat Some people who have taken medicines like ATRIPLA have developed serious liver problems (hepatotoxicity), with liver enlargement (hepatomegaly) and fat in the liver (steatosis). In some cases, these liver problems can lead to death.

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Call your healthcare provider right away if you get the following signs or symptoms of liver problems: – skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice) – urine turns dark – bowel movements (stools) turn light in color – don’t feel like eating food for several days or longer – feel sick to your stomach (nausea) – have lower stomach area (abdominal) pain You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), or have been taking nucleoside analog-containing medicines, like ATRIPLA (efavirenz/emtricitabine/ tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), for a long time.

If you also have hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and you stop taking ATRIPLA, you may get a “flare-up” of your hepatitis. A “flare-up” is when the disease suddenly returns in a worse way than before. Patients with HBV who stop taking ATRIPLA need close medical follow-up for several months to check for hepatitis that could be getting worse. ATRIPLA is not approved for the treatment of HBV, so you need to discuss your HBV therapy with your healthcare provider.

Who should not take ATRIPLA? You and your healthcare provider should decide if ATRIPLA is right for you. Do not take ATRIPLA if you are allergic to ATRIPLA or any of its ingredients.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking ATRIPLA? Tell your healthcare provider if you: Are pregnant or planning to become pregnant: You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

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Visit AtriplaAndMe.com

For adults with HIV-1,

WITH THE STRENGTH OF

Undetectable viral load is a goal, and ATRIPLA has the power to help get you there.

In a clinical trial: • ATRIPLA has been proven to LOWER VIRAL LOAD to undetectable* in approximately 8 out of 10 adult patients new to therapy through 48 weeks compared with approximately 7 out of 10 adult patients in the comparator group† • ATRIPLA has been proven to LOWER VIRAL LOAD to undetectable* through 3 years in approximately 7 out of 10 adult patients new to therapy compared with approximately 6 out of 10 adult patients in the comparator group†

SELECTED IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION Some people who have taken medicines like ATRIPLA have developed build up of lactic acid in the blood, which can be a serious medical emergency that can lead to death.

Some people who have taken medicines like ATRIPLA have developed serious liver problems, with liver enlargement and fat in the liver, which can lead to death.

If you also have hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and you stop taking ATRIPLA, your hepatitis may suddenly get worse. ATRIPLA is not approved for the treatment of HBV. IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION (continued) Women should not become pregnant while taking ATRIPLA and for 12 weeks after stopping ATRIPLA. Serious birth defects have been seen in children of women treated during pregnancy with efavirenz, one of the medicines in ATRIPLA. Women must use a reliable form of barrier contraception, such as a condom or diaphragm, even if they also use other methods of birth control, while on ATRIPLA and for 12 weeks after stopping ATRIPLA. Women should not rely only on hormone-based birth control, such as pills, injections, or implants, because ATRIPLA may make these contraceptives ineffective.

Are breastfeeding: Women with HIV should not breastfeed because they can pass HIV and some of the medicines in ATRIPLA through their milk to the baby. It is not known if ATRIPLA could harm your baby.

Have kidney problems or are undergoing kidney dialysis treatment.

Have bone problems.

Have liver problems, including hepatitis B or C virus infection. Your healthcare provider may want to do tests to check your liver while you take ATRIPLA or may switch you to another medicine.

Have ever had mental illness or are using drugs or alcohol Have ever had seizures or are taking medicine for seizures. Seizures have occurred in patients taking efavirenz, a component of ATRIPLA, generally in those with a history of seizures. If you have ever had seizures, or take medicine for seizures, your healthcare provider may want to switch you to another medicine or monitor you.

What important information should I know about taking other medicines with ATRIPLA? ATRIPLA may change the effect of other medicines, including the ones for HIV-1, and may cause serious side effects. Your healthcare provider may change your other medicines or change their doses.

MEDICINES YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE WITH ATRIPLA ATRIPLA should not be taken with: Combivir® (lamivudine/zidovudine), COMPLERA® (emtricitabine/rilpivirine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate), EMTRIVA® (emtricitabine), Epivir® or Epivir-HBV® (lamivudine), Epzicom® (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine), STRIBILD® (elvitegravir/cobicistat/emtricitabine/tenofovir DF), Trizivir® (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine/zidovudine), TRUVADA® (emtricitabine/tenofovir DF), or VIREAD® (tenofovir DF), because they contain the same or similar active ingredients as ATRIPLA. ATRIPLA should not be used with SUSTIVA® (efavirenz) unless recommended by your healthcare provider.

Vfend® (voriconazole) should not be taken with ATRIPLA since it may lose its effect or may increase the chance of having side effects from ATRIPLA. ATRIPLA should not be used with HEPSERA® (adefovir dipivoxil).

Please see Important Safety Information continued on the following pages.

* In the above clinical trial, undetectable was defined as a viral load fewer than 400 copies/mL. Ask your doctor about your individual results. † In this study, 511 adult patients new to therapy received either the meds in ATRIPLA each taken once daily or Combivir® (lamivudine/zidovudine) twice daily + SUSTIVA® (efavirenz) once daily. ‡ Symphony Health Solutions, PatientSource APLD and Source® PHAST Prescription Monthly, counts are cumulative and equivalized. January 2007–December 2015. § Symphony Health Solutions, Source® PHAST Prescription Monthly, equivalized counts, July 2006–May 2015.

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Information PatientPatient Information

® (e ATRIPL ATRIPLA

® (uh TRIP luh) Tablets ® (uh TRIP ATRIPLA ATRIPLA luh) Tablets

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION (continued) These are not all the medicines that may cause problems if you take ATRIPLA. Tell your healthcare provider about all prescription and nonprescription medicines, vitamins, or herbal supplements you are taking or plan to take.

What are the possible side effects of ATRIPLA? ATRIPLA may cause the following additional serious side effects: Serious psychiatric problems. Severe depression, strange thoughts, or angry behavior have been reported by a small number of patients. Some patients have had thoughts of suicide, and a few have actually committed suicide.

These problems may occur more often in patients who have had mental illness.

Kidney problems (including decline or failure of kidney function). If you have had kidney problems, or take other medicines that may cause kidney problems, your healthcare provider should do regular blood tests. Symptoms that may be related to kidney problems include a high volume of urine, thirst, muscle pain, and muscle weakness.

Other serious liver problems. Some patients have experienced serious liver problems, including liver failure resulting in transplantation or death. Most of these serious side effects occurred in patients with a chronic liver disease such as hepatitis infection, but there have also been a few reports in patients without any existing liver disease.

Changes in bone mineral density (thinning bones). Lab tests show changes in the bones of patients treated with tenofovir DF, a component of ATRIPLA. Some HIV patients treated with tenofovir DF developed thinning of the bones (osteopenia), which could lead to fractures. Also, bone pain and softening of the bone (which may lead to fractures) may occur as a consequence of kidney problems. If you have had bone problems in the past, your healthcare provider may want to do tests to check your bones or may prescribe medicines to help your bones.

Common side effects: Patients may have dizziness, headache, trouble sleeping, drowsiness, trouble concentrating, and/or unusual dreams during treatment with ATRIPLA (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate). These side effects may be reduced if you take ATRIPLA at bedtime on an empty stomach; they tend to go away after taking ATRIPLA for a few weeks. Tell your healthcare provider right away if any of these side effects continue or if they bother you. These symptoms may be more severe if ATRIPLA is used with alcohol and/or moodaltering (street) drugs.

If you are dizzy, have trouble concentrating, and/or are drowsy, avoid activities that may be dangerous, such as driving or operating machinery.

Rash is a common side effect with ATRIPLA that usually goes away without any change in treatment. Rash may be serious in a small number of patients.

Rash occurs more commonly in children and may be a serious problem. If a rash develops, call your healthcare provider right away.

Other common side effects include: tiredness, upset stomach, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea.

Other possible side effects: Changes in body fat have been seen in some people taking anti-HIV-1 medicines. Increase of fat in the upper back and neck, breasts, and around the trunk may happen. Loss of fat from the legs, arms, and face may also happen.

The cause and long-term health effects of these changes in body fat are not known.

Skin discoloration (small spots or freckles) may also happen.

In some patients with advanced HIV infection (AIDS), signs and symptoms of inflammation from previous infections may occur soon after anti-HIV treatment is started. If you notice any symptoms of infection, contact your healthcare provider right away.

Additional side effects are inflammation of the pancreas, allergic reaction (including swelling of the face, lips, tongue, or throat), shortness of breath, pain, stomach pain, weakness, and indigestion.

This is not a complete list of side effects. Tell your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you notice any side effects while taking ATRIPLA. You should take ATRIPLA once daily on an empty stomach. Taking ATRIPLA at bedtime may make some side effects less bothersome.

Please see the following Patient Information for more information about these warnings, including signs and symptoms, and other Important Safety Information.

ATRIPLA is a registered trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. ©2016 Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. 697US1604491-07-01 10/16

172006879.indd 3

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A T R IP L A h e lp s b lo c k H IV - 1 r e v e r s e tr a n s c r ip ta s e , a v ir a l c h e m ic a l in y o u r b o d y ( e n z y m e ) th a t is needed for HIV-1 to multiply. ATRIPLA lowers the amount of HIV-1 in the blood (viral load).

A T R I P L A m a y a l s o h e l p t o i n c r e a s e t h e n u m b e r o f T c e l l s ( C D 4+ c e l l s ) , a l l o w i n g y o u r i m m u n e system to improve. Lowering the amount of HIV-1 in the blood lowers the chance of death or infections that happen when your immune system is weak (opportunistic infections).

■R e y a ta z ( a ta z a n a v ir s u lfa te ) , P r e z is ta ( d a r u n a v ir ) w ith N o r v ir ( r ito n a v ir ) , K a le tr a ( lo p in a v ir /r ito n a v ir ) , o r H a r v o n i ( le d ip a s v ir /s o fo s b u v ir ) ; th e s e m e d ic in e s m a y in c r e a s e th e a m o u n t o f te n o fo v ir D F ( a c o m p o n e n t o f A T R IP L A ) in y o u r b lo o d , w h ic h c o u ld r e s u lt in m o r e side effects. Reyataz is not recommended with ATRIPLA. You may need to be monitored more carefully i f y o u a r e t a k i n g A T R I P L A , P r e z i s t a , a n d N o r v i r t o g e t h e r , o r i f y o u a r e t a k i n g A T R I P L A and aletra together. The dose of aletra should be increased when taken with efavirenz.

■ Avoid

Does ATRIPLA cure HIV-1 or AIDS? ATRIPLA does not cure HIV-1 infection or AIDS a n d y o u m a y c o n t i n u e t o e x p e r i e n c e i l l n e s s e s associated with HIV-1 infection, including opportunistic infections. You should remain under the care of a doctor when using ATRIPLA. Who should not take ATRIPLA?

e ) a n d one pill. analog a n a lo g nents of ith other children mmended ults over immune immune

These are not all the medicines that may cause problems if you take ATRIPLA. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider about all medicines that you take.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking ATRIPLA? Tell your healthcare provider if you:

How should I take ATRIPLA?

■ Are pregnant or planning to become pregnant ( s e e “ W h a t s h o u l d I a v o i d w h i l e t a k i n g ATRIPLA?”).

■ Take the exact amount of ATRIPLA your healthcare provider prescribes. Never change the dose on your own. Do not stop this medicine unless your healthcare provider tells you to stop.

■ Are breastfeeding (see “What should I avoid while taking ATRIPLA?”).

■ You should take ATRIPLA on an empty stomach.

■ Have kidney problems or are undergoing kidney dialysis treatment.

■ Swallow ATRIPLA with water.

■ Have bone problems.

■ Taking ATRIPLA at bedtime may make some side effects less bothersome.

■ Have liver problems, including hepatitis B virus infection. Y o u r h e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r m a y w a n t to do tests to check your liver while you take ATRIPLA or may switch you to another medicine.

■ Do not miss a dose of ATRIPLA. If you forget to take ATRIPLA, take the missed dose right away, unless it is almost time for your next dose. Do not double the next dose. Carry on with your regular dosing schedule. If you need help in planning the best times to take your medicine, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist.

Do not take ATRIPLA if you are allergic to ATRIPLA or any of its ingredients. The active ingredients of ATRIPLA are efavirenz, emtricitabine, and tenofovir DF. See the end of this leaflet for a complete list of ingredients.

■ Have ever had mental illness or are using drugs or alcohol.

■ Have ever had seizures or are taking medicine for seizures.

What important information should I know about taking other medicines with ATRIPLA?

MEDICINES YOU SHOULD NOT TAKE WITH ATRIPLA

LA, you returns m e d ic a l titis th a t t discuss

■ M e d ic in e fo r s e iz u r e s [fo r e x a m p le , D ila n tin ( p h e n y to in ) , T e g r e to l ( c a r b a m a z e p in e ) , o r p h e n o b a r b ita l]; y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r m a y w a n t to s w itc h y o u to a n o th e r m e d ic in e o r c h e c k drug levels in your blood from time to time.

K e e p a c o m p le te lis t o f a ll th e p r e s c r ip tio n a n d n o n p r e s c r ip tio n m e d ic in e s a s w e ll a s a n y h e r b a l remedies that you are taking, how much you take, and how often you take them. Make a new list when medicines or herbal remedies are added or stopped, or if the dose changes. ive copies of t h i s l i s t t o a l l o f y o u r h e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r s a n d p h a r m a c i s t s every t i m e y o u v i s i t y o u r h e a l t h c a r e provider or fill a prescription. This will give your healthcare provider a complete picture of the medicines you use. Then he or she can decide the best approach for your situation.

ATRIPLA may change the effect of other medicines, including the ones for HIV-1, and may cause serious side effects. Y o u r h e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r m a y c h a n g e y o u r o t h e r m e d i c i n e s o r c h a n g e their doses. Other medicines, including herbal products, may affect ATRIPLA. For this reason, it is very important to l e t a l l y o u r h e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r s a n d p h a r m a c i s t s k n o w w h a t m e d i c a t i o n s , herbal supplements, or vitamins you are taking.

fe m a le , e s , lik e

25

ATRIPLA® (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate)

Together with your healthcare provider, you need to decide whether ATRIPLA is right for you.

analogs) e blood). hospital. mptoms

⚫

■ A T R IP L A a ls o s h o u ld n o t b e u s e d w ith C o m b iv ir ( la m iv u d in e /z id o v u d in e ) , C O M P L E R A ® , E M T R IV A , E p iv ir, E p iv ir - H B V ( la m iv u d in e ) , E p z ic o m ( a b a c a v ir s u lfa te /la m iv u d in e ) , S T R IB IL D ® , Trizivir (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine/zidovudine), TRUVADA, or VIREAD. ATRIPLA also should not be used with SUSTIVA unless recommended by your healthcare provider.

■ V fe n d ( v o r ic o n a z o le ) s h o u ld n o t b e ta k e n w ith A T R IP L A s in c e it m a y lo s e its e ffe c t o r m a y increase the chance of having side effects from ATRIPLA. ■ A T R IP L A s h o u ld n o t b e u s e d w ith H E P S E R A ®

(adefovir dipivoxil).

It is a ls o im p o r ta n t to te ll y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r if y o u a r e ta k in g a n y o f th e fo llo w in g : ■F o r to v a s e , In v ir a s e ( s a q u in a v ir ) , B ia x in ( c la r ith r o m y c in ) , N o x a fil ( p o s a c o n a z o le ) , S p o r a n o x ( i t r a c o n a z o l e ) , V i c t r e l i s ( b o c e p r e v i r ) , o r O l y s i o ( s i m e p r e v i r ) ; these medicines may need to be replaced with another medicine when taken with ATRIPLA. ■ C a lc iu m c h a n n e l b lo c k e r s s u c h a s C a r d iz e m o r T ia z a c ( d iltia z e m ) , C o v e r a H S o r Is o p tin ( v e r a p a m il) a n d o th e r s ; C r ix iv a n ( in d in a v ir ) , S e lz e n tr y ( m a r a v ir o c ) ; th e im m u n o s u p p r e s s a n t m e d ic in e s c y c lo s p o r in e ( G e n g r a f, N e o r a l, S a n d im m u n e , a n d o th e r s ) , P r o g r a f ( ta c r o lim u s ) , o r R a p a m u n e ( s ir o lim u s ) ; M e th a d o n e ; M y c o b u tin ( r ifa b u tin ) ; R ifa m p in ; c h o le s te r o l- lo w e r in g m e d ic in e s s u c h a s L ip ito r ( a to r v a s ta tin ) , P r a v a c h o l ( p r a v a s ta tin s o d iu m ) , a n d Z o c o r ( s im v a s ta tin ) ; o r th e a n ti- d e p r e s s a n t m e d ic a tio n s b u p r o p io n ( W e llb u tr in , W e l l b u t r i n S R , W e l l b u t r i n X L , a n d Z y b a n ) o r Z o l o f t ( s e r t r a l i n e ) ; dose changes may be needed when these drugs are taken with ATRIPLA. ■ V id e x , V id e x E C ( d id a n o s in e ) ; te n o fo v ir D F ( a c o m p o n e n t o f A T R IP L A ) m a y in c r e a s e th e a m o u n t of didanosine in your blood, which could result in more side effects. You may need to be monitored more carefully if you are taking ATRIPLA and didanosine together. Also, the dose of didanosine may need to be changed.

172006879.indd 4

■ If y o u b e lie v e y o u to o k m o r e th a n th e p r e s c r ib e d a m o u n t o f A T R IP L A , c o n ta c t y o u r lo c a l p o is o n control center or emergency room right away.

■ Tell your healthcare provider if you start any new medicine or change how you take old ones. Your doses may need adjustment.

■ W h e n y o u r A T R IP L A s u p p ly s ta r ts to r u n lo w , g e t m o r e fr o m y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r o r 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 ATRIPLA and become harder to treat.

■ Y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r m a y w a n t to d o b lo o d te s ts to c h e c k fo r c e r ta in s id e e ffe c ts w h ile y o u take ATRIPLA. What should I avoid while taking ATRIPLA? ■

omen should not ecome pregnant while taking ATRIPLA and for 1 weeks after stopping it. S e r i o u s b i r t h d e f e c t s h a v e b e e n s e e n i n t h e b a b i e s o f a n i m a l s a n d w o m e n t r e a t e d with efavirenz (a component of ATRIPLA) during pregnancy. It is not known whether efavirenz caused these defects. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you are pregnant. A l s o t a l k with your healthcare provider if you want to become pregnant.

■ W o m e n s h o u ld n o t r e ly o n ly o n h o r m o n e - b a s e d b ir th c o n tr o l, s u c h a s p ills , in je c tio n s , o r im p la n ts , because ATRIPLA may make these contraceptives ineffective. Women must use a reliable form o f b a r r ie r c o n tr a c e p tio n , s u c h a s a c o n d o m o r d ia p h r a g m , e v e n if th e y a ls o u s e o th e r m e th o d s of birth control. Efavirenz, a component of ATRIPLA, may remain in your blood for a time after therapy is stopped. Therefore, you should continue to use contraceptive measures for 12 weeks after you stop taking ATRIPLA. ■ Do not breastfeed if you are taking ATRIPLA. S o m e o f t h e m e d i c i n e s i n A T R I P L A c a n b e passed to your baby in your breast milk. We do not know whether it could harm your baby.

A ls o , m o th e r s w ith H IV - 1 s h o u ld n o t b r e a s tfe e d b e c a u s e H IV - 1 c a n b e p a s s e d to th e b a b y in the breast milk. Talk with your healthcare provider if you are breastfeeding. You should stop breastfeeding or may need to use a different medicine.

■ T a k in g A T R IP L A w ith a lc o h o l o r o th e r m e d ic in e s c a u s in g s im ila r s id e e ffe c ts a s A T R IP L A , s u c h a s drowsiness, may increase those side effects.

■ D o n o t ta k e a n y o th e r m e d ic in e s , in c lu d in g p r e s c r ip tio n a n d n o n p r e s c r ip tio n m e d ic in e s a n d herbal products, without checking with your healthcare provider.

10/24/16 4:18 PM

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07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

ATRIPLA® (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate)

ATRIPLA® (efavirenz/emtricitabine/tenofovir disoproxil fumarate)

■ Avoid doing things that can spread HIV-1 to others.

Other possible side effects with ATRIPLA:

■ Do not share 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. A l w a y s p r a c t i c e s a f e s e x b y u s i n g a la te x o r p o ly u r e th a n e c o n d o m to lo w e r th e c h a n c e o f s e x u a l c o n ta c t w ith s e m e n , v a g in a l secretions, or blood.

What are the possible side effects of ATRIPLA? ATRIPLA may cause the following serious side effects: ■ Lactic acidosis (buildup of an acid in the blood). Lactic acidosis can be a medical emergency and may need to be treated in the hospital. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get signs of lactic acidosis. ( S e e “ W h a t i s t h e m o s t i m p o r t a n t i n f o r m a t i o n I s h o u l d k n o w a b o u t A T R IP L A ? ”) ■ Serious liver problems (hepatotoxicity), w i t h l i v e r e n l a r g e m e n t ( h e p a t o m e g a l y ) a n d f a t i n t h e liver (steatosis). Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any signs of liver problems. ( S e e “ W h a t is th e m o s t im p o r ta n t in fo r m a tio n I s h o u ld k n o w a b o u t A T R IP L A ? ” )

■ Changes in body fat. Changes in body fat develop in some patients taking anti HIV-1 medicine. These changes may include an increased amount of fat in the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), in the breasts, and around the trunk. Loss of fat from the legs, arms, and face may also happen. The cause and long-term health effects of these fat changes are not known.

■ Skin discoloration (small spots or freckles) may also happen with ATRIPLA. ■ In some patients with advanced HIV infection (AIDS), signs and symptoms of inflammation from previous infections may occur soon after anti-HIV treatment is started. It is believed that these symptoms are due to an improvement in the body’s immune response, enabling the body to fight infections that may have been present with no obvious symptoms. If you notice any symptoms of infection, please inform your doctor immediately.

■ Additional side effects are inflammation of the pancreas, allergic reaction (including swelling o f th e fa c e , lip s , to n g u e , o r th r o a t) , s h o r tn e s s o f b r e a th , p a in , s to m a c h p a in , w e a k n e s s a n d indigestion.

Tell your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you notice any side effects while taking ATRIPLA. C o n ta c t y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r b e fo r e s to p p in g A T R IP L A b e c a u s e o f s id e e ffe c ts o r fo r a n y other reason.

■ “ lare-ups” of hepatitis virus H V infection, i n w h i c h t h e d i s e a s e s u d d e n l y r e t u r n s i n a worse way than before, can occur if you have HBV and you stop taking ATRIPLA. Your healthcare p r o v id e r w ill m o n ito r y o u r c o n d itio n fo r s e v e r a l m o n th s a fte r s to p p in g A T R IP L A if y o u h a v e b o th HIV-1 and HBV infection and may recommend treatment for your HBV. ATRIPLA is not approved for the treatment of hepatitis B virus infection. If you have advanced liver disease and stop treatment with ATRIPLA, the “flare-up” of hepatitis B may cause your liver function to decline.

This is not a complete list of side effects possible with ATRIPLA. Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for a more complete list of side effects of ATRIPLA and all the medicines you will take.

■ Serious psychiatric problems. A s m a l l n u m b e r o f p a t i e n t s m a y e x p e r i e n c e s e v e r e d e p r e s s i o n , strange thoughts, or angry behavior while taking ATRIPLA. Some patients have thoughts of suicide and a few have actually committed suicide. These problems may occur more often in patients who have had mental illness. Contact your healthcare provider right away if you think y o u a r e h a v in g th e s e p s y c h ia tr ic s y m p to m s , s o y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r c a n d e c id e if y o u s h o u ld continue to take ATRIPLA.

■ eep ATRIPLA in its original container and keep the container tightly closed.

■ Kidney problems (including decline or failure of kidney function). If you have had kidney p r o b le m s in th e p a s t o r ta k e o th e r m e d ic in e s th a t c a n c a u s e k id n e y p r o b le m s , y o u r h e a lth c a r e provider should do regular blood tests to check your kidneys. Symptoms that may be related to kidney problems include a high volume of urine, thirst, muscle pain, and muscle weakness.

■ Other serious liver problems. S o m e p a t i e n t s h a v e e x p e r i e n c e d s e r i o u s l i v e r p r o b l e m s i n c l u d i n g liver failure resulting in transplantation or death. Most of these serious side effects occurred in p a tie n ts w ith a c h r o n ic liv e r d is e a s e s u c h a s h e p a titis in fe c tio n , b u t th e r e h a v e a ls o b e e n a fe w reports in patients without any existing liver disease.

■ Changes in bone mineral density (thinning bones). L a b o r a t o r y t e s t s s h o w c h a n g e s i n t h e bones of patients treated with tenofovir DF, a component of ATRIPLA. Some HIV patients treated with tenofovir DF developed thinning of the bones (osteopenia) which could lead to fractures.

If y o u h a v e h a d b o n e p r o b le m s in th e p a s t, y o u r h e a lth c a r e p r o v id e r m a y n e e d to d o te s ts to check your bone mineral density or may prescribe medicines to help your bone mineral density.

A d d itio n a lly , b o n e p a in a n d s o fte n in g o f th e b o n e ( w h ic h m a y c o n tr ib u te to fr a c tu r e s ) m a y o c c u r as a consequence of kidney problems.

Common side effects: P a tie n ts m a y h a v e d iz z in e s s , h e a d a c h e , tr o u b le s le e p in g , d r o w s in e s s , tr o u b le c o n c e n tr a tin g , and/or unusual dreams during treatment with ATRIPLA. These side effects may be reduced if you take ATRIPLA at bedtime on an empty stomach. They also tend to go away after you have taken the medicine for a few weeks. If you have these common side effects, such as dizziness, it d o e s n o t m e a n th a t y o u w ill a ls o h a v e s e r io u s p s y c h ia tr ic p r o b le m s , s u c h a s s e v e r e d e p r e s s io n , strange thoughts, or angry behavior. Tell your healthcare provider right away if any of these side effects continue or if they bother you. It is possible that these symptoms may be more severe if ATRIPLA is used with alcohol or mood altering (street) drugs.

How do I store ATRIPLA? ■ Keep ATRIPLA and all other medicines out of reach of children.

■ Store ATRIPLA at room temperature

F (25 C).

■ Do not keep medicine that is out of date or that you no longer need. If you throw any medicines away make sure that children will not find them.

General information about ATRIPLA: M e d ic in e s a r e s o m e tim e s p r e s c r ib e d fo r c o n d itio n s th a t a r e n o t m e n tio n e d in p a tie n t in fo r m a tio n leaflets. Do not use ATRIPLA for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not give ATRIPLA to other people, even if they have the same symptoms you have. It may harm them.

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

Do not use ATRIPLA if the seal over bottle opening is broken or missing.

What are the ingredients of ATRIPLA? Active Ingredients: e f a v i r e n z , e m t r i c i t a b i n e , a n d t e n o f o v i r d i s o p r o x i l f u m a r a t e Inactive Ingredients: c r o s c a r m e l l o s e s o d i u m , h y d r o x y p r o p y l c e l l u l o s e , m i c r o c r y s t a l l i n e c e l l u l o s e , magnesium stearate, sodium lauryl sulfate. The film coating contains black iron oxide, polyethylene glycol, polyvinyl alcohol, red iron oxide, talc, and titanium dioxide.

R e v i s e d : F e b r u a r y 2016 ATRIPLA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb ilead Sciences, LLC. C O M P L E R A , E M T R IV A , H A R V O N I, H E P S E R A , S O V A L D I, S T R IB IL D , T R U V A D A , and VIREAD are trademarks of ilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies.

SUSTIVA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb Pharma Company. Reyataz and Videx are trademarks of Bristol-Myers Squibb Company. Pravachol is a trademark of ER Squibb Sons, LLC. Other brands listed are the trademarks of their respective owners.

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If y o u a r e d iz z y , h a v e tr o u b le c o n c e n tr a tin g , o r a r e d r o w s y , a v o id a c tiv itie s th a t m a y b e d a n g e r o u s , such as driving or operating machinery.

Rash may be common. Rashes usually go away without any change in treatment. In a small number of patients, rash may be serious. If you develop a rash, call your healthcare provider right away. Rash may be a serious problem in some children. T e l l y o u r c h i l d ’ s h e a l t h c a r e p r o v i d e r right away if you notice rash or any other side effects while your child is taking ATRIPLA. Other common side effects include tiredness, upset stomach, vomiting, gas, and diarrhea.

172006879.indd 5

10/24/16 4:18 PM

07.14 — 07.27.2017 CULTURE FILM

>

LOS ANGELES

⚫ 27

MOVIE BUFFS

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

The Kid Stays in the (Car) Picture

Edgar Wright’s “Baby Driver” Hits ll the High Notes.

If you know anything about Edgar Wright, you’ll know he’s a director with a definite ear.

He cuts with a rhythm that hypnotically draws you in while calling your attention to the man behind the curtain – although never in a way that feels smug, obnoxious, or pandering. A rare feat, indeed. From his earliest days directing “Spaced” with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost, his frequent partners in crime (See: the splendid Cornetto Trilogy encompassed by “Shaun of the Dead,” “Hot Fuzz,” and “The World’s End”) Wright has distinguished himself as a director who doesn’t let his love of film and trivia hinder him from making his own great works. Unlike some others we could mention (ahem, Tarantino.)

As a decidedly quirky director with a deeply British sensibility, it's taken Wright a minute to find his mainstream legs. His most polished, highly-funded effort comes in the form of “Baby Driver,” a film that takes a page out of the cars, kids and rebels film genre of the 50s and early 60s. Starring Ansel Elgort – whose earlier turn in “The Fault in Our Stars” left audiences largely unimpressed – as a mostly silent, tinnitus-suffering getaway driver for Kevin Spacey’s crime ring, “Baby Driver” is an extremely simple movie. There are no real twists and turns and no hidden agendas. “Baby Driver” is the story of relatively simple drives and desires: The story of a kid who, despite his criminal talent, wants to get on the straight and narrow. A kid whose life could be ruined at any moment by one bad job.

“Baby” lost his parents as a kid, in a car accident (go figure), which left him with the tinnitus and an inexplicable urge to steal cars.

This habit lands him in deep shit with white collar crime boss Spacey, who makes him work off the debt in heists. As a driver, Baby is talented, inscrutable, and unable to put down

Photos: Working Title Films.

his old-school iPod for even a second during each job. This gets under the skin of the some of Baby’s more seasoned colleagues (Jon Hamm, an excellent Jamie Foxx) and confounds most of the people he meets – except, of course, his love interest, Lily James, with whom he has a natural musical rapport.

Baby has been supporting his deaf, wheelchair-bound foster parent for years, and after meeting Lily James at a diner, wants to keep doing just that, by working a normal job, with

“

normal stakes, and no possibility of sudden death. But this is not to be: Kevin Spacey wants him to keep driving even after he pays off his debt. So he does.

On paper, it’s not much of a plot. And even on film, it’s not much of a plot. But plot, with Wright – who also scripted the film – is secondary.

It’s how we get there. We spend most of the film not only inside Baby’s mind but inside his earpods, listening to the soundtrack of his world, moving and living rhythmically as

Plot, with Wright, is secondary. It’s how you get there.

”

he does. It’s here that we can start to see a kind of pattern, a raison d’etre for the mysteriously unambitious Baby. Driving cars may be an escape route for the practical criminal – but living life to one’s own private rhythm, that’s the working man’s escape. It’s what we all do, day in and day out, drowning out the world with constant sound. For Baby, who physically can't hear silence, it amplifies the world around him. It allows him to fully live in it. Wright’s film, through the character of Baby, becomes an escape film about someone who’s trying his best not to escape. Who, in fact, wants nothing more than to stay put, to settle down, and to belong.

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07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

28

COMMUNITY HEALTH

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RESOURCES AND RAPPERS

⚫ BY ANNETTE SEMERDJIAN

2 Chainz’ Trap House Brings Free HIV Testing to Atlanta The philanthropic rapper is opening doors.

In Berkeley Park, not too far from downtown Atlanta, you can find the candy-pink house made famous on the cover of 2 Chainz' latest album, “Pretty Girls Like Trap Music.”

The all-pink dwelling is hard to miss and has become quite the tourist attraction.

As one of hip hop’s biggest philanthropists, 2 Chainz has turned the spot into an HIV testing clinic, providing free HIV testing to the residents of Atlanta.

Reports last year from the Center for Disease Control and AIDS researchers

found that Atlanta had HIV rates that are as alarming as those in cities like Harare in Zimbabwe. “Don't have food on your table, have kids to take care of and somebody says you have HIV, that's just another problem that you have,” said Dr. Carlos del Rio, co-director of Emory University Center for AIDS Research to FOX 25 Boston.

2 Chainz partnered with Fulton County Board of Health, Test Atlanta, and Atlanta Aids to transform the Trap House into a temporary HIV testing clinic. The trap house has seen many visitors and even had complaints about noise and traffic in the residential area, yet all those people were allowed an opportunity to take the first step in confronting the epidemic that

threatens the capital city of Atlanta and the state of Georgia.

Before 2 Chainz’ Trap House was a free HIV clinic, it was also a nail salon and a Trap Church service (claiming on his Instagram that “7 days without prayer makes one weak”). The Trap Church encouraged people to get involved in the community and promote positive change by joining local organizations in the rapper’s hometown.

“We can't listen to the music without really addressing the systemic issues and the systematic oppression that causes the trap to even exist and so that's the reason we pulled together ‘Trap Church’ is to really to talk about the other side of the trap, to talk about how we as a community have a re-

sponsibility to come together and help our brothers and sisters who are facing these tough situations,” Pastor Michael Wortham told FOX 5 Atlanta.

The Trap House has recently been closed down since the area could not take so much noise and large crowds from the amount of attention the house garnered and is being remodeled to be leased to new tenants.

In just a number of days after the Trap House project came together, it made a political statement, helped fight one of the area’s biggest epidemics and provided manicures.

Needless to say, 2 Chainz is making more than just music. He’s advocating for positive change across communities.

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07.14 — 07.27.2017

ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION

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LOS ANGELES

⚫ 29

A SHOW BY ANY OTHER NAME

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

“Will” Shines the Spotlight on Shakespeare, Sidesteps His Bisexuality TNT’s punk-infused retelling of the life of the Bard is thrilling to watch – but is it politically responsible?

Viewers tuning into the new TNT drama “Will” out of sheer curiosity, drawn by the brazen technicolor ads that have proclaimed its arrival these many weeks, might, like me, find it hard to get past the first line.

“Who would ever read a play by William Shakespeare!” cries Ann Shakespeare, wife of the soon-to-be-famous Will, who is about to travel to London with only his dreams of the theater to sustain him.

If you are, like me, a fairly skeptical viewer whose first response, on hearing about a show based on a steampunk fictionalization of the Shakespeare legend, was to laugh loudly and roll your eyes fully into the back of your head, this is the kind of thing that will instantly turn you off. Will Shakespeare?

Who indeed!

But bear with it, as I did, and you might find yourself converted.

The heavy-handedness of the first few minutes of "Will" is, of course, a set up: The whole idea is to get Will out of the ridiculous suburbs, where people say things like “Who would read a play by Will Shakespeare,” to London, where he truly belongs and where he will, within one day, meet his muse (Alice Burbage, a rare “educated woman”), his best friend (her brother Richard Burbage) and his mentor-cum-rival Christopher Marlowe,

played in with an eel-like treacherousness

by Jamie Campbell Bower.

In the show’s re-framing of pre-Elizabethan London, 1980s-style punks roam the streets, thirsty for blood sport and of course, great theater. Colors pop, makeup is on point, and everyone looks genuinely well-groomed and hardly lacking for a bath.

“Will’s” pilot script was penned by the fa-

mous Craig Pearce, most notable for his work with Baz Luhrmann in similar pop-historical tales like “Romeo + Juliet,” “Moulin Rouge!” And 2013’s “The Great Gatsby.”

This would account for the seamless beauty of “Will’s” re-imagined London – what could have been a horrid clash of sensibilities becomes a rather believable, barely anachronistic world building tool: Think Alex Cox's “Sid and Nancy” meets “Shakespeare in Love.” Of course, some of the other liberties the writers of “Will” have taken are less forgivable.

There is, for one, the fact that his character is set up as being “torn between two women.” His wife, the worried, shrewish Anne, who doubts anyone will ever read a play by William no-name Shakespeare, and the fictionalized Alice, who dresses as a man when she goes out at night and is a theater-loving “cool girl” in a world full of Anne Shakespeares who are too busy popping out babies and worrying about basic family income to don a stylish men's chapeau in the after hours. If the writers of “Will” mean to bring in the established fact of Shakespeare’s out bisexuality at any point, they’ve

done a good job of keeping that intention under wraps. Despite the promise of a gaudy, bawdy world in which men dress up as girls, lace themselves up to create convincing cleavage, and streak their "tarted-up" faces with cerulean blue facepaint, “Will” seems pretty much uninterested in exploring the gender vagaries of such of a world.

Even though Shakespeare's, you know, entire body of work centered around such vagaries.

At least, “Will’s” pilot seems uninterested in this. This is a shame, because, for all its heavy-handedness, “Will” is shaping up to be one of the most fun and genuinely original shows of the year. One would imagine that TNT, now just coming into its own as a purveyor of excellent original programming, thanks to “Will” and the newly-launched “Claws”, (another gaudy, unapologetically fun series) would have the guts to make the one life-of-Shakespeare adaptation that actually faces up to one of the writer’s greatest driving forces: His love of men. But I don’t want to speak too soon, for fear of jinxing it. Perhaps “Will” has a few more tricks up its sleeve.

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CULTURE HISTORY

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LOS ANGELES

>

GAY L.A.

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA, RESEARCH BY J.J. ENGLENDER

In 1967, Jean Genet’s “Un Chant D’Amour” Was Taboo Everywhere But at L.A.’s Park Theater This essay is part of a series on Queer underground cinema in the '60s.

The most controversial film in California history was the silent short – and French author Jean Genet’s only directed film – “Un Chant d'Amour,” made in 1950.

In 1966, the State Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling banning the showing of Genet's movie across California. The silent film, concerning sexual relations between four inmates and a prison guard and featuring many artistically suggestive shots of near-fellatio, according to the Supreme Court, "was nothing more than hard-core pornography.”

No wonder – the political climate at the time wasn’t exactly open to depictions of frank sexuality. The U.S. publication of Henry Miller’s famous “Tropic of Cancer” in 1961 had led to a series of trials in which the American court system had tried – and mostly failed – to separate the work’s pornographic qualities from its artistic value. Genet’s writings – not to mention his graphic and suggestive film – didn’t have a chance of faring much better against the still-puritanical standards of early ‘60s America.

“Un Chant D’Amour” or “A Song of Love” didn't have much better luck in San Francisco, where it was banned in 1966.

A still from “Un Chant D’Amour.”

TheCalifornia District Court of Appeal also banned screenings in Berkeley that same year. Even Judge Earl Warren Jr., who would approve the showing of Sweden's racy “I am Curious Yellow” (Vilgot Sjöman, 1967,) couldn’t see the artistic merit in “Un Chant d'Amour,” calling it "pure filth" in 1969.

But time heals all wounds. By 1973, censorship had relaxed enough to render Genet’s film palatable even to the deepest Midwestern audiences. The Sheldon Art Gallery in Lincoln, Nebraska showed “Un Chant D’Amour” along with “The Queen” (Frank Simon, 1968).

Until that time, “Un Chant D’Amour” would have to stay under wraps. Which isn’t to say that Genet’s work didn’t enjoy his fair share of time on the big screen. In 1965, “Deathwatch” and “The Balcony" – two adaptations of Genet’s plays – both played at Cinema theater on Western and Santa Monica, billing the screening as “Two shockers from the strange world of Jean Genet” – and also at the Nuart. At the same moment, mainstream L.A. theaters were showing “The Sound of Music,” “Thunderball,” “My Fair Lady” and “Born Free.” The cultural divide could not have been wider, and the fast-encroaching summer of love – to be followed by a decade which would see the studio system crumble entirely in favor of a more youth-oriented movie market – would have its revenge on the outdated U.S. censorship standards soon enough.

Photo: Kanopy.

Photo: Courtesy Adsausage.

An 1967 ad boasting of Genet’s film as a “miasma of homosexuality.”

07.14 — 07.27.2017

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⚫ 32

ENTERTAINMENT BURLESQUE

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

>

STRIP TEESE

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

Dita Von Teese’s “Art of the Teese” is Pure, Unmissable Opulence The L.A. local is ending her tour at home in Los Angeles.

Anyone who believes burlesque is dead hasn’t gotten a load of Dita Von Teese.

Since the early ‘90s, Von Teese has been performing her elaborate, throwback burlesque act to delighted crowds. The term ‘neo-burlesque’ – nevermind the entire concept – wouldn’t exist without her.Von Teese’s performances are about the spectacle, the experience, and the otherworldly aspect of a newly revived not-quite-art form. Her lavish sets, giant props, and painstakingly bedazzled costumes are the stuff of legend. On the eve of her sweeping “Art of the Teese” tour, Von Teese sat down with The Pride to talk about the level of thought she puts into the show’s ev-

ery detail.

“The fabrics should bedazzle,” Von Teese said of her famous Swarovski crystal-studded costumes. “It shouldn’t be boring. I’m always drawn toward these elaborate costumes, and I always try to one-up myself.”

For the tour, Von Teese included some old friends and new acts. Violet Chachki and Dirty Martini, seasoned burlesque performers, join Von Teese on the tour, which began earlier this month in San Diego. But the main event is the procession of outrageous, seriously-how-canyou-move-in-that gowns and strippable costumes, weighed down by a truly insane amount of shimmering crystals.

“When I met Catherine [D’Lish, Von Teese’s burlesque collaborator] we banded together and found we both had a love for Swarovski crys-

tal. We tried to figure out a way to make more and more elaborate costumes – she and I just had a real crystal lust.We talked about it being a bit like Liberace, you know how when he arrived, he brought all that extravagance, and every time he came out it was a little bit more extravagant in terms of attire.We had the same plan, to make the costumes more fabulous every time. And

some of the costumes weigh like 65, 70 pounds.

It’s kind of intense to dance and move around in, but people go crazy for it. When you have

READ MORE on page 32

07.14 — 07.27.2017

ENTERTAINMENT BURLESQUE

>

LOS ANGELES

STRIP TEESE ... CONTINUED

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

CONTINUED from page 32 300,000 crystals sewn onto the seams, it’s electrifying. I’d have people ask if it was plugged in.”

The aesthetic of the show combines old Ziegfeldian spectacle with a modern touch.

“We always have the idea of capturing the spirit of the past,” said Von Teese, “but making it new and modern and relevant at the same time.”

Part of bringing burlesque into the here and now involves updating the background around Von Teese. Not only are the set pieces important – including the giant martini glass that’s used to hold Von Teese as she splashes around in water during one of her most iconic routines – but the background characters set the mood as well.

British designer Jenny Packham did the costumes for “Lazy,” a routine that Von Teese only previously performed at the Crazy Horse in Paris. Brooks Brothers designed the tuxedos for Von Teese’s

male backup dancers (known colloquially as the “Vontourage.”) This element is new: the idea struck Von Teese on an earlier show when she was watching her garments being picked up by female backup dancers and thought, “this should be done by men.” The men chosen are in the elegant mode of the show – nattily attired dancers, dressed for a ‘30s nightclub outing.

“All the music that I use in the show for my numbers, I have custom created. It’s a big part of the shows, I work with the music director and we come up with concepts.There's a lot of retro, old time music I love, but it doesn’t fit that big, full, rich experience of seeing the show in the theater,” she said.

Performing the final leg of the tour in Los Angeles is for Von Teese, literally and figuratively, a homecoming. “All my friends will be here,” Von Teese said. “Usually we start in LA, and this is the first time that we do the finale here. It feels like we hit our stride.”

Dita Von Teese’s “Art of the Teese” Burlesque Revue will play the Theater at the Ace Hotel in Los Angeles on July 28.

⚫ 33

⚫ COMMUNITY RECIPE

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

34

>

B-B-Q FOR THE FAMILY

Savory Summer Grilling to Beat the Heat There’s not much that tastes better during the summer than a meal hot off the grill.

If you’re in the mood for a delicious backyard dish, try adding versatility to your grilling game with a few simple tips.

Try a new cooking method. If your usual preparation involves a basic flame, you may be surprised by all the different flavors you can evoke just by changing the method. Whether you’re using gas or charcoal, switch from standard grilling to smoking over indirect heat.

You can also use seasoned wood chips with most grilling methods to build a completely different flavor profile.

Look for non-traditional ways to use your favorite proteins. Instead of the traditional steak or chicken on a kabob, you

can create a whole new flavor experience using smoked sausage. For example, Eckrich offers a variety of smoked sausage flavors in traditional ropes and bun-length links, all with just the right blend of seasonings for a rich, savory taste.

Explore new condiments and toppings.

Ketchup, mustard and relish may be staples at the condiment station, but there’s no reason you can’t add a little something extra. Grilled onions, mushrooms and peppers are all simple and delicious ways to add flavor. Or try something entirely new, like this sweet, tangy marmalade made with bacon and onions.

Find more summer grilling ideas at Eckrich.com.

Smoked Sausage Links with Bacon and Onion Marmalade Prep time: 10 minutes Total time: 1 hour, 10 minutes Servings: 6 2-3 1

strips bacon tablespoon mustard seeds

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1/2 cup apple cider vinegar 1 1/2 pounds (about 6 onions) Vidalia onions, diced 1/2 cup light brown sugar 1/4 cup cane syrup 1 package Eckrich Smoked Sausage Links (bun-length) 6 hot dog buns Heat oven to 350 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and lay strips of bacon flat. Cook until crispy, about 20-25 minutes. Chop bacon into small pieces and set aside.

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Remove pot cover and reduce to medium heat. Cook until liquid is reduced and onions are dark in color, about 50 minutes.

Oil grill and bring to medium heat.

Grill sausage 12 minutes, or until heated through.

Place smoked sausage in hot dog bun and cover evenly with marmalade.

Note: Marmalade can be made in advance for easier dinner preparation and can be kept up to 2 weeks in a refrigerator or 3 months in a freezer.

Grilled Kabobs with Smoked Sausage and Veggies Prep time: 15 minutes Total time: 25 minutes Servings: 6 6 wooden skewers nonstick cooking spray 1 package Eckrich Original Smoked Sausage (rope) 1 medium zucchini 2 large red bell peppers 2 large yellow bell peppers 1 large red onion Soak skewers in water 1 hour. Spray grill and heat to medium.

Cut smoked sausage diagonally into 1-inch pieces. Slice zucchini, bell peppers and onion into 1/2-inch pieces.

Thread smoked sausage, peppers, zucchini and onion onto skewers.

Grill kabobs until smoked sausage is hot and vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes per side.

Remove from grill and serve immediately.

07.14 — 07.27.2017

ENTERTAINMENT PODCASTS

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LOS ANGELES

⚫ 35

GIVE IT A LISTEN

⚫ BY HENRY GIARDINA

“Unhappy Hour” Elevates the Art of Whining

You wouldn’t think a podcast devoted to misery and whining would be all that captivating – but then again, considering just how much there is to whine about, you’re at least guaranteed your host will never run out of material. This goes double when the host happens to be “Whine About It” star and ex-Buzzfeed employee Matt Bellasai, and the podcast, fresh from superstar podcast company Pineapple Media, is “Unhappy Hour.”

Bellasai is part of the wave of Internet stars who entertain mainly by getting drunk (see: Hannah Hart) and being charming somehow in spite of their inebriation. Bellasai’s specialty – in wide evidence on the pilot of “Unhappy Hour,” is bitching and moaning, and in general snarking it up. He breaks down the podcast into increasingly “ter-

rible” segments like “worst news of the week” (always ample material there) “deep dive” (where Bellasai goes “deep in” on a topic – in the case of the pilot, the entire state of Texas) and a round of rapid fire questions where special guests are asked to name one thing they hate that “everybody else loves.”

Usually, a celebration of all the ugliness, depression, and evil in the world might seem like a downer, but Bellasai has the gift of imbuing each nugget of terrible news with the kind of optimism that only exists in a completely honest kind of comedy. He’s also generous with his guests, and completely honest about his level of intoxication.

For those of us who crave a bit less Pollyannaism in our lives, it’s well worth the listen.

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⚫ 36

COMMUNITY TEENS

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

>

A STRUGGLING AGE

⚫ BY GENNA RIVIECCIO

In High School Sports, the Battle Over Gender Rages On The polarizing argument over “acceptable” testosterone and estrogen levels has frequently been at the forefront of what it means to be a certain gender in the trans community. In the world of competitive sports, the debate over hormones has become even more disputed in recent years.

The question how to decide what constitutes an unfair advantage in women’s competitive sports has been at the center of controversies teams at the professional level all the way down to high school sports. In the case of Connecticut transgender teen Andraya Yearwood, who just won both the 100- and 200-meter races at her high school's track meet, a change in testosterone levels could mean a controversial drop in performance.

“Since the Court of Arbitration for Sport’s 2015 erasure of any testosterone limits for women,” wrote Deadspin in an article about Yearwood's case, “intersex athletes, like Caster Semenya, and transgender athletes can compete as women without pharmaceutical or surgical suppression of their testosterone.”

But switching between gendered sports categories at school is still a point of contention at

Photo: The Hartford Courant.

Andraya Yearwood, a trans teen living in Connecticut, found herself in the middle of a controversy about gendered sports categories.

even the most liberal high schools across the country.

In competitive sports, players with higher levels of testosterone are going to have an unjust leg up in women's leagues. As the most effective drug there is when it comes to improving perfor-

mance, testosterone in amounts higher than the former 10 nmol/L limit automatically makes “the average woman” contending in a race of any kind something of a superhuman. Although the International Association of Athletics Federations had formerly put in place the 10 nmol/L cap on tes-

tosterone back in 2011 in a noble attempt to stop classifying gender by exterior appearance, the rule was removed in 2015 as a result of sprinter Dutee Chand insisting on wanting to compete without being forced to censor her testosterone levels.When the CAS ruled in her favor, the complicated issue of unfairness in female sports arose anew all over again.

One of the key authorities on the subject has been transgender physicist Joanna Harper, who also just so happens to be a marathon runner. Of the complex topic, Harper has stated, “Those Intersex athletes who previously used medications to reduce their T are now off of those medications, and are running faster. Allowing these athletes to compete in women’s sport with their serious testosterone-based advantage threatens the very fabric of women’s sport.”

The future of competitive sports, in an age of growing transgender visibility, is an uncertain one. Whether new leagues will form to encompass wider spectrums of gender variance or the gendered separations in current sports will fade in place of something more modern, one thing is certain: Change is inevitable.

⚫ BY CONNOR DUFFEY

LGBT Youth Bullying is on the Rise

One might be tempted to believe that bullying in schools against LGBT students would be on the decline lately. Why wouldn’t it be?

There’s increased media focus on equality for the LGBT community, greater representation of LGBT stories in entertainment, and the emerging of the generally more open-minded millennial generation.

Unfortunately, according to a new 20 year-long study shared with The Daily Beast from RTI International, LGBT bullying has actually been increasing.

The 2017 report, entitled “Violence and LGBTQ Communities: What Do We Know, and What Do We Need to Know?” examined a sample of 73,000 LGBT youth and deduced that LGBT youth bullying in schools “has not improved since the 1990s.” RTI also warns that this harassment could have devastating life-long effects for its victims: “Some forms of victimization, particularly those affecting youth, appear to be worsening…This has serious, lifelong impacts on the physical and behavioral health of LGBTQ youth and adults.”

A co-author of the report, Tasseli McKay, told The Daily Beast that since 1992 “LGBTQ students are two to three times more likely than their peers to be physically assaulted or threatened at school.” This also apparently doubles or even potentially quadruples chances that victims will attempt suicide.

McKay expressed her anxiety towards the results, indicating that the LGBT community should stay aware of these new findings and not practice complacency: “The evidence is pretty clear and pretty unsettling…We want to think that things are getting better. In regards to the victimization that young people are experiencing, the trend is toward victimization worsening, not getting better.”

Diego Sanchez, director of advocacy, policy and partnerships for PFLAG, a family and ally organization for LGBT individuals, echoed McKay’s sentiments to The Daily Beast that greater visibility is necessary for LGBT students being bullied, not just those that are being accepted by their peers: “What we don’t always see is all the students who weren’t able to become homecoming king. We amplify the success stories, but some places are too dangerous for people to speak to the disPhoto: Thinkstock. criminatory experiences they face.”

As it turns out, the caustic, xenophobic rhetoric on display in the recent presidential election may have played a role in recent bullying spikes. A survey from The Human Rights Campaign found that 70 percent of

the 50,000 youth polled had faced or witnessed bullying in the 30 days after the election and that more than a quarter of LGBT youth reported being personally bullied or harassed since Election Day. In the face of these grim findings, McKay and Sanchez both believe much can be done to curb the abuse taking place in schools.

In further statements to The Daily Beast, McKay suggested that LGBT students should seek out starting a Gay-Straight Alliance in their schools if one is not already in place, with teachers taking a more active position in counseling the youth. Sanchez similarly advocated that adults responsible for the youth, such school administrators, federal legislators, as well as the president, need to take positive action to let LGBT youth enjoy thrive in school and enjoy their lives: “All students deserve a fair and equal way to get the same access to education as every other student…This is a time for hope and a time to dream big. This should not be a time for struggle.”

07.14 — 07.27.2017

ENTERTAINMENT SEX TOYS

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LOS ANGELES

⚫ 37

SEX AND THE CITY

⚫ BY GENNA RIVIECCIO

This Sex Toy-Themed Instagram is Beautifying L.A., One Dildo at a Time Who among us hasn’t felt possessed by a “Superbad”-reminiscent desire to draw dicks everywhere they go? Well, a new Instagram account called @hardwarelosangeles is encouraging the urge by glorifying the all-American dildo in its many shapes, sizes, and colors at various locations throughout town.

From the shelves of bookcases to the water bottle holders of bikes, few stones (metaphorical and literal) have been left unturned when it comes to showcasing these rather unassuming dildos, billed as “tools not toys.” Like any person pursuing an all-consuming art project, there’s a motive behind the photographer’s placement of these sex toys, so often deemed by common society to be something to be embarrassed and ashamed of – meant for concealment rather than parading. “The Hardware Instagram was started as a way to position sex toys as tools – objects that can be celebrated sex toys for their utility and functional design,” the photographer – who hopes to build up Hardware into a fullfledged sex toy business – stated in an interview with Bustle.

She also added that the root cause for want-

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ing to commence with the Instagram motif stemmed from going to sex shops and always seeing dildos and other pleasuring devices packaged as “gag gifts” or “novelty items.” But does wanting to have an orgasm every day need to be novel? Not in this day and age, and certainly not in L.A. The reaction to seeing dildos in these “normalized” contexts has thus far received an extremely positive reaction, so much so that the innovator has even started mulling the prospect of creating her own line of sex toys – the kind that won’t be placed in “zany” packaging to belittle one’s right to masturbate.

“I think conversations about sex toys typically have high barriers of entry – people are nervous to talk about it, but the Instagram has been a casual way to get the conversation going. It's fun and low-key, but for me, the bigger mission of getting more people comfortable talking about sex and sexuality is what really gets me excited."”And so, one orgasm breeds another.

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DON’T FORGET TO ASK YOUR AAA TRAVEL AGENT ABOUT OUR CURRENT AAA MEMBER REWARDS VISA OFFER! • CALL OR VISIT TODAY! CALL: 310.855.6000 CLICK: AAA.com/Travelsa le VISIT: 8761 Santa Monica Blvd • West Hollywood 90069 1 The Rocky Mountaineer Early Booking Bonus Offer is valid on new 2018 bookings made by August 31, 2017 for travel on select dates April through October 2018. Maximum offer value of $400 per adult credit ($800 credit per couple) is with qualifying vacations of eight days or more in GoldLeaf or SilverLeaf Service. Deposits are required at the time of booking and full payment of the balance must be made by January 12, 2018. Qualifying packages can be purchased in any class of train travel or grade of accommodation. Credit must be requested at the time of booking and will not be automatically allocated or retrospectively added. An amendment fee of $40 USD per booking will be charged for changes to the use of the credit after the booking has been confirmed. Credits can only be used towards the purchase of additional services offered by Rocky Mountaineer - the credit cannot be used to upgrade rail service or accommodation and cannot be used against the price of the core package. Offer value is expressed in USD as of February 3, 2017 as a guideline only and may vary at the time of booking based on changes in exchange rate with the CAD. US guests must pay in USD. Credit cannot be deferred to a later trip. Offer is not applicable to child prices, two or three-day rail only bookings, or Group Tour bookings. Offer has no cash value. 2The Rocky Mountaineer AAA Member Benefit offer of onboard merchandise credit is valid for new qualifying 2018 Rocky Mountaineer package bookings. 7 nights or more in GoldLeaf or GoldLeaf Deluxe Service receive $200 CAD per adult (ages 12 and over) Onboard Merchandise Credit. Redemption of merchandise credit is only available onboard the Rocky Mountaineer train. Additional conditions apply. 3The Rocky Mountaineer Travel Sale Offer is to Receive one free dinner (maximum value $134 CAD per person) at your hotel when you book a select 2018 Rocky Mountaineer package of 8 days or more. Free dinner offer must be requested at the time of booking and will not be automatically allocated or retrospectively added. Not applicable to 2-day and 3-day rail only bookings or Group Tour Bookings. The offer is combinable with Rocky Mountaineer’s current market offer and AAA standard Member Benefit. Offer is not available in conjunction with AAA Vacations Complimentary Inclusions. Offer is available on select dates only and promotional blackout dates apply. Qualifying packages may be purchased in either level of service. Free offer must be used as part of a package and cannot be deferred to another date or refunded. The free dinner must be taken at the accommodation where the guests are staying. Offer only available in Vancouver, Calgary, Banff, Jasper, or Lake Louise. Offer cannot be used towards dinners in Kamloops, Quesnel, Seattle, Whistler, Victoria, Toronto, Montreal, or Halifax. It is not possible to change the offer in the event a subsequent offer better fits the guest itinerary. Offer valid for adults booked on the Rocky Mountaineer package only. Gratuities and taxes included. Alcoholic beverages may be purchased at additional costs directly at the hotel restaurant. Offers are not transferrable, are capacity controlled and may be modified, withdrawn or amended without prior notice. Additional conditions apply.

Offers subject to change without notice. Restrictions apply. Offers may be withdrawn at any time without notice. Travel Sale will take place July 10 – 22, 2017 during normal business hours. Certain restrictions may apply. AAA members must make advance reservations through AAA Travel to obtain Member Benefits and savings. Member Benefits may vary based on departure date. Rates are accurate at time of printing and are subject to availability and change. Not responsible for errors or omissions. Your local AAA club acts as an agent for the various travel providers featured at the sale. CTR #1016202-80. Copyright © 2017 Auto Club Services, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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OPINION GLOBAL

07.14 — 07.27.2017

LOS ANGELES

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INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

⚫ BY DR. FELICITY DALY

Opinion: Will the UN “leave no one behind” and improve LGBTQI+ health and well-being?

When it comes to the mental health and well-being of Queer communities in developing countries, the research too often comes up short.

While there has been progress in researching the health and well-being of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTQI+) people and responding to certain emerging health threats in high-income countries, in other parts of the world such research is inadequate and incomplete.A new report published by OutRight Action International, the Global Forum on MSM and HIV highlights that wherever research has been conducted, LGBTQI+ people’s health is shown to be consistently poorer than the general population.

Agenda 2030 for LGBTI Health and Well-Being has been written in advance of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development which convenes from July 10 to 19 at the United Nations in New York. At this meeting, UN Member States will review progress on implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals - a plan of action for “people, planet, and prosperity.”

The aspiration of the SDGs to “leave no one behind” can be utilized to improve the health and well-being of LGBTQI+ individuals. UN officials Ban Ki Moon, former Secretary General, and Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn, the Independent Expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, have made it clear that the SDGs are inclusive of all people regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, and sex characteristics.

LGBTQI+ people have the same right to health as everyone else, and thus LGBTQI+ health concerns should be included in the implementation of the health goal SDG 3.Agenda 2030 for LGBTI Health and Well-Being reviews data from lowand middle-income countries, which shows that compared with the general population gay, bisexual men and other men who have sex with men are 19 times more likely to be living with HIV and transgender women are 49 times more likely to be living with HIV. The report notes that the health concerns of lesbian and bisexual women, as well as trans and intersex people, have all too often been overlooked, and presents data which demonstrates that LGBTQI+ people also experience: poor mental health, higher prevalence of alcohol and substance abuse, lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services, and inadequate funding for inclusive and effective health interventions.

The common driving forces behind these health disparities are violence, criminalization, so-

Photo: Thinkstock.

cial exclusion, and discrimination, including widespread discrimination LGBTQI+ people experience in health care settings. Ironically, this means that very often LGBTQI+ people are rendered invisible in efforts to collect health data, which do not include questions about sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics.

The lack of data poses problems in effectively targeting health services to help those in most need. While some high-income countries have effectively used research to inform HIV prevention and care for gay and bisexual men, and other affected populations this has not been the case in most countries. Missing health data makes it harder for LGBTQI+ people to advocate for resources they need and becomes an excuse for governments hostile to LGBTQI+ populations to ignore the health needs of LGBTQI+ people.

Moreover, data about LGBTQI+ health overwhelmingly represents research conducted in high-income countries where there has been social and legal progress for some sexual and gender minorities. For example, a systematic review of general population studies conducted in Australia, Europe, and North America found that, compared

with heterosexual people, lesbian, gay, and bisexual people are at higher risk for mental disorders, including depression and anxiety, suicidal ideation and deliberate self-harm. Data gaps are starkest in countries where discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or gender expression and sex characteristics is entrenched in law.

There are no specific indicators in the SDG framework that measure the health specifically for LGBTQI+ people. Nevertheless, states can voluntarily report on progress and we urge them to do so in order to live up to the commitment to “leave no one behind.” Agenda 2030 for LGBTI Health and Well-Being details the type of data that UN Member States should collect to effectively monitor implementation of the targets of SDG 3 in a way that improves the health and well-being of LGBTQI+ people.We want to ensure Member States ask the right questions in order to understand and monitor health and well-being among LGBTQI+ people. We urge that they also focus on ending stigma and discrimination, which has a major detrimental impact on health and well-being and also poses barriers to accessing health care services that LGBTQI+people need.

We stress that all Member States must re-

peal the laws, policies, and practices that criminalize same-sex behavior and limit the ability of people to express, and have legally recognized, their gender identity. States must also prohibit non-consensual medical procedures, including intersex genital mutilation, forced sterilizations as requirements for gender recognition, and forced anal examinations.

LGBTI people are well aware of the health disparities taking hold and stealing lives in their communities, but insufficient evidence makes it harder to make a convincing case for health services to respond to these needs.We hope more countries will accelerate a research revolution for LGBTI inclusion, which improves the health and well-being of these communities.

Dr. Felicity Daly is the Global Research Coordinator for OutRight Action International. She has two decades of professional experience in international development, forging advocacy of international non-governmental organizations promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights and responding to HIV/AIDS in low and middle-income countries and focusing on marginalized communities’ access to the benefits of social and economic development.

07.14 — 07.27.2017 COMMUNITY HEALTH

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LOS ANGELES

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FIGHTING EPIDEMICS

⚫ BY DOUG MONTGOMERY

L.A. Sheriffs Ramp-Up Effort Against Opioid Deaths

Much of the attention for the recent opioid epidemic has gone to rural, white areas in economically depressed states – but Los Angeles is not immune from the drug crisis, and county officials have armed sheriff deputies with a life-saving tool against addiction. In a press conference last Thursday, Sheriff Jim McDonnell announced a plan to provide deputies in certain areas with naloxone, an emergency drug that reverses heroin overdoses. The pilot program begins in Crescenta Valley, East Los Angeles, and Santa Clarita Valley.

In the same press conference, McDonnell highlighted the impact that opioids have had in Los Angeles. Over a single three-day span last April, eight people overdosed on heroin in Santa Clarita, one of whom died. To make matters worse, Narcotics Bureau detectives have reported discovering heroin laced with fentanyl, an extraordinarily powerful synthetic opioid that has contributed to the severity of the recent epidemic of drug-related deaths.

The situation is bad, to say the least. In new data compiled from hundreds of health agencies by The New York Times, drug overdose deaths in 2016 exceeded 59,000 – the largest annual jump ever recorded in United States history.

Photo: Thinkstock.

Over a single three-day span last April, eight people overdosed on heroin in Santa Clarita, one of whom died.

For the new plan, the Sheriff’s Department collaborated with the public health program Safe Med L.A., who recently reported that L.A. County experienced 12,031 prescription opioid-related hospitalizations in 2015. Still, L.A. County’s rate of 400 opioid-related deaths per year is low even compared to other California counties.

The drug, more commonly known by its brand name Narcan, is administered to an overdose patient simply through a four-milligram nasal spray.

Naloxone itself will not stop the drug crisis – it only mitigates the consequences, and critics worry that the availability of the death-reversing drug could encourage reckless behavior. In the New

Yorker article, “The Addicts Next Door,” locals from the drug-ravaged Berkeley County,West Virginia, worry that Narcan could “foster complacency about overdoses.”

But the alternative is simple and, to most, unacceptable: let overdose victims die.

By equipping sheriff deputies with the medicine, overdose victims have the best chance at survival.

Dr. Gary Tsai, the Medical Director for the L.A. County Department of Public Health Substance Abuse Prevention and Control division, points to the importance of delivering Narcan as quickly as possible.

“Having first responders – including police officers – carry Narcan is important because they’re usually the first to respond to suspected overdose, in which cases every second is critical, because when someone ODs from opioids, they’re usually not breathing sufficiently and their brain isn’t getting enough oxygen,” Tsai told the website LAist. “Every second the brain is without oxygen, more and more damage occurs, so first responders can potentially save lives with Narcan in the short term.”

Tsai added, “This could be a huge win for the community.”

⚫ BY MELANIE CAMP

Pier Power Couple

Noël Johnston and Peter Ruiz form an unlikely duo. The elegant, local Venice woman with a home on Ocean Front Walk, and the quirky fellow who refers to the Venice Pier as a “she” and likes to pose for photos waving a gang sign.

They are the odd couple of Venice Beach.

Their friendship forged through a mutual passion for keeping the Boardwalk clean. Johnston didn’t realize at the time, but when they met, Ruiz was homeless, sleeping by the Pier at night and cleaning “her” each day at dawn.

“My neighbor and I were taking a walk one morning, and there was this guy painting a bollard at the pier. He was wearing a safety vest, and my neighbor said ‘What a nice, neat job you are doing. It’s so nice to see the City taking an interest in the pier.’ And Peter said ‘Oh, I’m not a City employee, I’m a volunteer!’ Conversation ensued,” Johnston told Yo! Venice.

Taking care of the Pier is a form of therapy for Ruiz. He says it gives him a sense of purpose.

“I was deemed disabled, and I collect disability and it is my way of keeping busy, doing work. I’m not one to just sit around and collect a check.

If I have the free time, I want to do something with it, being it clean the Pier or I volunteer with some other stuff along Ocean Front Walk. Graffiti cleaning and stuff,” Ruiz said Yo! Venice, explaining why he had taken it upon himself to form the Venice Pier Project.

Johnston and Ruiz became friends in a round about way.

“I am on the Ocean Front Walk Committee and Melissa Diner, who was our chair at the time, had commented that none of us really knew any of the homeless along the Boardwalk and perhaps we should consider getting to know just one homeless person,” she said.

Having lived on the Boardwalk for almost 20 years, Johnston said she was embarrassed to admit she didn’t know any of her homeless neighbors, “I got this idea, naive I suppose, that perhaps I could help a couple of them. But this didn’t work out too well, for a variety of reasons.”

After she had met Ruiz, who “was trying really hard to help himself and having a hard time of it,” Johnston said she thought maybe she might help him with some of the details of his life that were problematic. “He has memory problems,” Johnston explained. Now, over a year later, Ruiz is in a much better place. “I can’t take credit for most of this, but I do think that I have been able to help Peter help himself and that is gratifying,” she said.

Johnston helps Ruiz with everything from managing finances, “he’s admittedly terrible with money,” to staying focused, “no multi-tasking for Peter,” to remembering dates and obligations “from anything from doctor’s appointments to paying bills,” she said.

Ruiz said Johnston is “a huge inspiration,” reassuring him that his goals are attainable and that his past does not have to be a present burden.

No better example being Johnston encouraging Ruiz to take another shot at organizing a com-

Photo: Melanie Camp.

Peter Ruiz and Noël Johnston form an unlikely duo.

munity fishing day on the Pier.The first couple of times he had planned events, neither had pulled the crowds he’d anticipated.

“I made up flyers, and I put them on the poles, and I tried to coerce the public to come, and I didn’t do enough marketing, I guess or whatever, and it was only like three of us,” said Ruiz.

The following year four people showed up.

Determined, Ruiz spent the next year doing research to find out what he’d need to do to turn his Let’s Go Fishing event into a success.

Part of his research involved attending Venice Neighborhood Council member, Matt Kline’s Wedding. “I got there at 4:30 in the morning, documented his whole event, kept notes on the layout. That’s when I started the research of the permits. I approached Recreation and Parks,” he explained.

The effort paid off. Not only did Recreation and Parks power wash the Pier specifically for Ruiz’s event this year but he was also able to provide free food for everyone fishing. “I wrote an email to Jimmy Dean asking if they would

sponsor an event for breakfast and they kindly accepted.”

And, Johnston was there. Managing the microwaves. Heating up hash browns.

“As long as I can help with these things, I intend to.” Johnston said she supports Ruiz “in the way friends support friends, I suppose. He encourages me too; it really isn’t a one way street.”

Johnston realizes that while she has been able to help Ruiz off the street, the homeless crisis overall is too big and too complicated for one person to tackle. “There are so many degrees of homelessness, and the homeless individuals that I have met are just that, individuals. Most of them do not fit neatly into a social services program,” she said.

According to the results of the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count released on Wednesday, May 31, homelessness in the City of Los Angeles jumped by 20 percent over the last year.The county saw a spike of 23 percent.

However, Johnston told Yo! Venice she believes “there are things that can be done on an individual basis.” Sharing examples of the local landlord who provides quality Section 8 housing and the Venice restaurateur who hires homeless, training them, and paying a fair wage. “I know these are small accomplishments, given the scope of the problem, but no one could convince me that they are not important accomplishments,” said Johnston.

While en mass the homeless crisis may be overwhelming, if Johnston and Ruiz’s unlikely friendship is anything to go by, their story is a hopeful example of how the power of one helping another can make all the difference.

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NEWS

POLITICS

REPRESENTING THE P.O.T.U.S.

⚫ BY DOUG MONTGOMERY

The Extensive Anti-LGBTQ History of Trump’s Lawyer

President Donald Trump’s cadre of homophobes has added another name to its roster: Jay Sekulow, the face of Trump’s personal legal team, has been tasked with defending Trump against charges of obstruction and collusion.

Sekulow sits at the helm of a conservative Christian legal group, the American Center for Law and Justice, which claims to advocate for religious liberty and free speech. In practice, however, religious liberty and free speech amount to little more than a euphemism for lawful bigotry against LGBTQ people.

With branches across the world, the

Center represents abroad the interests of the American religious right whose agenda has largely been thwarted at home. This is no more clear than in Russia, where the group supported the controversial and discriminatory 2013 “gay propaganda” law that essentially criminalizes any outward displays of gayness.

The American Center’s branch in Moscow called the Slavic Centre for Law and Justice (SCLJ) praised the homophobic move.

At the time, the co-chair of the SCLJ, Anatoly Pchelintsev, warned that “homosexual propaganda” exists in “both di-

WEST HOLLYWOOD SINGLE FAMILY HOMES

rect and hidden forms.” To root out both forms of propaganda, he said later that year, “The key will be that it works and guarantees some kind of punishment.”

Much of Russian society already harbored deep prejudice against sexual and gender minorities; the law codified and legitimized this prejudice. The passage of the law coincided with a surge in violence against LGBTQ people, as reported by the Human Rights Campaign. Virtually none of the attacks were investigated by the police, and in the rare instances they were, the assailants received little – if any – punishment.

According to Tanya Cooper of Human Rights Watch: “Before the gay propaganda law, LGBT people would not have been openly attacked in broad daylight... but now they don't feel safe on the streets or even talking to people online,” she told Al Jazeera.

Sekulow himself, to be fair, has been critical of Russia’s foreign policy. “Today, a new unholy alliance of Iranians, Russians, and jihadists is waging a war against the United States and the western way of life,” he said in a promotion for his latest book, ‘Unholy Alliance: The Agenda Iran, Russia, and Jihadists Share for Conquering the World.’ “If we are to survive this increasing threat, we must act now.”

But this hasn’t stopped Sekulow from expressing his own homophobic beliefs.

After the Supreme Court overturned a law banning sex between people of the same gender, Sekulow warned about the damage to American society.

“By providing constitutional protection to same-sex sodomy, the Supreme Court strikes a damaging blow for the traditional family that will only intensify the legal battle to protect marriage and the traditional family,” he said.

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12 DOWN 14.29 % $1,443,250 DOWN 13.84% $1,722,542 NO CHANGE

Jay Sekulow.

Photo: Wikipedia Commons.

07.14 — 07.27.2017 FAMILY

CELEBRATION

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LOS ANGELES

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A LITTLE PARTY MAGIC

Create a Kaleidoscope of Color with a Unicorn-Themed Party From colorful cakes and beverages to pastel-hued hairstyles and sparkly manicures, the unicorn trend has become an internet sensation. All that colorful creativity is being used to transform ordinary events into memorable unicorn-themed parties.

This simple, statement-making party project from Kelly Mindell of Studio DIY brings the popular unicorn trend to balloons. Mindell’s project shows how to give plain balloons a complete unicorn makeover with glitter, ribbon and stickers.

With a portable helium tank from Balloon Time, you can easily inflate and customize balloons, adding whimsical decor to any celebration.

Find DIY ideas to elevate every occasion at balloontime.com or check out Balloon Time on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram.

Unicorn Balloons Supplies and Tools: 17-inch latex balloons Balloon Time Helium Tank Gold ribbon Rainbow ribbon Pink, rainbow, star or metallic garland Star, circle, holographic or rainbow stickers Craft paint in rainbow colors Stiff paint brushes

Paper plate Protective surface cover Inflate balloons using helium tank then tie with gold ribbon.

Add flair to balloon tails by tying trim to balloon knots. Add some rainbow ribbon and some texture or shapes, using garland.

Add additional texture to balloons with stickers by making a pattern all over balloons with star or circle stickers, concentrating stickers toward bottom with a few floating toward the top for a “dipped” look or mixing different stickers together.

To add some splatter paint to balloons as “unicorn tears,” start by squeezing different paint colors onto plate.

Hold balloon over covered surface and dip stiff paint brush into one color. Flick brush at balloon to create splatters. If paint is not splattering well, dip brush in small amount of water first to help thin out paint.

Rotate balloon and repeat previous step to evenly distribute color. Then move on to additional colors until balloon looks as desired. Let dry a few minutes. Repeat with remaining balloons.

Note: Popcorn ceilings and hot ceiling lights can pop balloons. If high ceilings are a concern, tie balloons to jar of rainbow-colored rocks or candy in the party’s color scheme.

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07.14 — 07.27.2017 COMMUNTY EVENT

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LOS ANGELES

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IT STARTS WITH A CONVERSATION

⚫ BY STAFF WRITER

Trans Talks Inaugural Panel Celebrates the DVD Release of “Gender Revolution” The Flux event is the first in a series of forthcoming discussions on what it means to be trans today.

On June 20, to celebrate the DVD release of Katie Couric and National Geographic’s documentary “Gender Revolution,” the Aids Healthcare Foundation’s FLUX group, a national affinity network dedicated to raising awareness, gathered allies at Neue House for a special screening of the film, followed by the first in a series of Trans Talks panels. The panelists were Julissa Bermudez, a correspondent at Yahoo Celebrity, activists Christiaan Kier, Blossom C., and Zoey Luna,Tiq Milan , a writer, public speaker, activist, & strategic media consultant, model Laith Ashley from the acclaimed reality show “Strut,” and entrepreneur Michaela Mendelsohn.The talk covered a range of subjects from trans safety to allyship to non-binary identities, “I want to share more narratives and different perspectives,” said YouTuber and teen activist Zoey Luna, who appeared on the panel with her mother Ophelia.

The educational benefit of “Gender Revolution” came up several times, as panelists encouraged audience members to show the film to people in their lives who had questions about the trans experience.

“When people ask questions, I know it’s coming from a place of honesty and wanting to know more,” said Christiaan Kier, who teaches at CSULA and, along with host Queen Victoria Ortega, runs a job readiness program for trans youth in L.A. “But when strangers start asking personal questions about our lives, it can be jarring.”

The event was the first in what FLUX and AHF hope will be a series of talks with different panelists throughout Los Angeles in the coming year.

The Flux Trans Talk panel.

Photo: The Pride L.A. Staff

Photos: Getty Images.

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B:10 in

07.14 — 07.27.2017

T:10 in

© 2017 Cedars-Sinai

S:10 in

Sometimes I underestimate.

Sometimes I search it.

Sometimes I put it off.

Sometimes I freak out.

But, I trust my Cedars-Sinai doctor every time.

cedars-sinai.edu

1-800-CEDARS-1

T:11.7 in

Sometimes I overreact.

B:11.7 in

Sometimes I just ignore it.

S:11.7 in

Sometimes I self-diagnose.