Washingtonblade.com, Volume 49, Issue 2, January 12, 2018

JANUARY 12,

2018

VOLUME 49

ISSUE 02

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AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Whitman-Walker celebrates 40 years Pioneer in D.C.’s battle against AIDS evolved into community health center

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com

From left, Whitman-Walker President MARY JANE WOOD, former head of the D.C. Council Commission on Health POLLY SHACKLETON, D.C. MAYOR MARION BARRY and Whitman-Walker Administrator JIM GRAHAM (right) attend the dedication of the new clinic facility on June 23, 1987.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY DOUG HINCKLE

Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s preeminent community health center serving the LGBT community, is set to celebrate the 40th anniversary of its incorporation on Jan. 13, 1978 as the then Whitman-Walker Clinic.

Its current executive director, Don Blanchon, points out that the organization that became Whitman-Walker — the Gay Men’s VD Clinic, an arm of the then Washington Free Clinic — was founded in November 1973 and began operating CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

LGBT candidates hoping to ride Dem wave Hopefuls in Senate, gubernatorial races could achieve historic wins

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com

Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN faces a tough re-election fight as conservative groups have already spent millions to oust her.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

With President Trump facing low approval ratings, signs continue to point to a political wave against him in this year’s mid-term elections — and LGBT candidates are hoping to benefit.

A record number of openly LGBT candidates are running for office, many in high-profile

statewide races, which could result in a milestone election for a group that has been historically underrepresented.

Annise Parker, CEO of the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, predicted LGBT candidates endorsed by the organization in 2018 “are going to do well.”

“We’re in this business because we think our candidates are going to do well in any election, but we don’t see just a Democratic surge, we actually see a progressive surge across the United States,” Parker said.

Parker added, “we’re going to have more CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

DANICA ARRIVES

AMAZON’S DILEMMA

MAL WEEKEND

Roem invites the Blade to shadow her on first day in Va. Assembly.

Online behemoth should consider LGBTQ issues when awarding HQ2.

Annual leather celebration is underway. A roundup of events and more.

PAGE 20

PAGES 28 & 29

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LO CA L N E W S

Lesbian found murdered in burning car in D.C. Police say December death may be linked to two other killings

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com A lesbian found shot to death in the trunk of her car that someone set on fire in Southeast D.C. on Dec. 28 was friends with two other people shot to death on the same day, and detectives are looking into whether the three murders may be linked, according to D.C. Police Chief Peter Newsham.

Police said the body of a woman they later identified as Kerrice Lewis, 23, a resident of Hyattsville, Md., was found about 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 28, in the trunk of her burning Lexus in an alley in the 800 block of Adrian Place, S.E., near Fort Dupont Park.

“Upon arrival, officers located a vehicle on fire,” a police statement released on Dec. 29 states. “Once the fire was extinguished, an unconscious and unresponsive adult female was discovered inside the vehicle suffering from multiple gunshot wounds,” the statement says.

“D.C. Fire and Emergency Medical

Services responded to the scene and determined there were no signs consistent with life,” says the statement.

Fox 5 News reported a police source said residents living near the location where the car was found reported hearing gunshots before seeing the car consumed in flames and hearing a woman’s screams from inside the burning vehicle.

Mercedes Rouhlac identified herself to ABC7 News as Lewis’s best friend and ex-girlfriend. Other news outlets also reported Rouhlac saying she and Lewis had been in a same-sex relationship.

“No matter what, she still loved me and my son,” Rouhlac told Channel 7 News reporter Sam Ford.

Police said they had no suspect and no known motive for Lewis’s murder.

Lewis was the third of three people who knew each other that were shot to death on Dec. 28 in separate but nearby locations, D.C. police said.

The first of the three, Ronzay Green, 23, of Northeast D.C., was fatally shot in the parking lot of a 7-Eleven convenience store in the 900 block of Eastern Avenue, N.E. about 11:20 a.m.

According to police, about seven hours later Armani Nico Coles, 27, was

found unconscious lying in the road at the intersection of Eastern Avenue and Kenilworth Avenue just across the D.C. line in Capitol Heights, Md. Police said he had been shot and pushed out of a vehicle. He was found about a mile away from the 7-Eleven where Green was shot.

Police said Coles died after being taken to a nearby hospital.

William Sharp, Lewis’s grandfather, told the Washington Post that Lewis knew the other two victims. He told the Post he and his wife had raised Lewis since she was 11 years old. He said Lewis’s mother died of a brain aneurysm in 2005 and her father was shot to death on the front porch of a house in Northwest D.C. in 2006, the Post reported.

Lewis, who struggled to cope following the death of her parents, had served a short time in jail for convictions for an illegal gun possession and a burglary, Sharp told the Post. But he said she had resolved to change, and had been happy helping him doing home renovation related work while pursuing studies in the construction trade and was looking forward to her future.

“She was free-spirited and a lot of fun,” the Post quoted Sharp as saying. “She would light up a room, just talking and laughing.”

Last week police announced they had arrested Dennis Whitaker, 23, a local rap performer who went by the name Jugga Knott, for the murder of Ronzay Green at the 7-Eleven. Police did not say whether Whitaker might be a suspect in the other two murders.

In the statement announcing Lewis’s murder D.C. police made no mention that she was a lesbian. A D.C. police spokesperson told the Washington Blade last month that police follow a policy of not disclosing the sexual orientation or gender identity of crime victims, including murder victims, unless they have evidence that the crime was specifically linked to someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity, such as a hate crime.

In a Jan. 6 Huffington Post write-up, contributor and journalist Julia Diana Robertson reported that people who knew Lewis were troubled over what she said was a lack of media coverage of Lewis’s case.

“Heartbroken friends of the victim are disappointed by the lack of media coverage,” Robertson wrote. “When lesbians are murdered the distinct media bias keeps the general population in the dark. This bias is multiplied where ‘butch’ lesbians are concerned, and compounded if you’re a woman of color.”

Federal AIDS official indicted for soliciting minor HHS staffer allegedly sought sex with teenager

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com An official with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, who has been praised by AIDS activists for his role in administering the Ryan White AIDS CARE program, was indicted on Jan. 4 on a charge of sexual solicitation of a minor by a Montgomery County, Md., grand jury.

The indictment came just under two months after Montgomery County Police arrested Silver Spring resident Michael Goldrosen, 56, on Nov. 8 at the Twinbrook Metro station, where an undercover police officer posing as a 15-year-old male had arranged to meet him, according to an arrest affidavit filed in Montgomery County Circuit Court.

The affidavit says the undercover officer responded to an online posting

by Goldrosen in October seeking a male sex partner on a site on Craigslist used by men seeking sex with other men. It says that in the course of several text messages and email exchanges over a period of several days the undercover officer disclosed that he was 15 years old.

MICHAEL GOLDROSEN, 56, an official with HHS, was arrested on Jan. 4.

It says Goldrosen was targeted for arrest in the sting operation after he invited someone he thought was a minor to his apartment to engage in sex.

At the time of his arrest he was released on a $10,000 bond. He remains free on

bond pending a hearing set for Jan. 26.

Jonathan Fellner, Goldrosen’s attorney, told the Washington Blade it was the undercover officer who initiated the online exchange with his client and that Goldrosen “never sought out underage

folks” in his Craigslist ads.

“I stand by my initial comments,” he said, referring to remarks he made to other media outlets. “We intend to vigorously fight the charge in the case and believe that once all of the facts are revealed, Mr. Goldrosen will be vindicated.”

Up until the time of his arrest, Goldrosen served as Director of State Programs for the HIV/AIDS Bureau at the Rockville, Md.-based Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which is an arm of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources.

Fellner said Goldrosen was suspended from his job at the time of his arrest but remains an employee there pending the outcome of his case.

Carl Schmid, deputy director of the AIDS Institute, a national AIDS advocacy organization, said Goldrosen is well known and highly regarded among AIDS activists familiar with his role in carrying out various aspects of the federal Ryan White AIDS program, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, known as ADAP. “I was shocked and saddened when I saw this,” Schmid told the Blade. “I know nothing about the charge against him, but I know he is known as a great guy, highly professional and a solid performer in running these programs,” he said.

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LO CA L N E W S

Banking analyst, Realtor Victor Saulsbury dies at 66 Lifelong D.C.-area resident loved to travel

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Victor Saulsbury, a lifelong D.C. area resident who worked for 30 years as a financial analyst and writer for the U.S. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation before switching careers to become a Realtor, died Jan. 4 at the Manor Care Health Services rehabilitation center in Chevy Chase, Md., from complications associated with spinal lymphoma. He was 66.

His longtime friend, Gary Mastroddi of Philadelphia, said Saulsbury was active socially in the D.C. gay community since the 1970s and enjoyed spending time in the summer in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and Provincetown, Mass.

He said Saulsbury, an only child, was born and raised in D.C. as the son of Lewis J. Saulsbury and Dorothy Graury.

He received his primary and secondary education in D.C.-area military schools.

According to Mastroddi, Saulsbury graduated cum laude from Georgetown University in 1973 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He received a master’s degree in business administration from

VICTOR SAULSBURY, a lifelong D.C. area resident. died Jan. 4.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PAUL KUNTZLER

George Washington University in 1976.

After completing college he worked for the Western Union communications company before beginning work in 1974 for the FDIC as a financial analyst and author, where he wrote numerous technical papers and articles on the banking industry and banking regulation.

His career at the FDIC lasted for 30 years.

An online search shows that his name appears on a wide variety of articles as a contributor on topics such as problems associated with the Savings and Loan industry and bank failures.

Mastroddi said Saulsbury retired from

his job at the FDIC in 2004 and took a year off to travel before obtaining a real estate license and beginning a new career as a real estate broker at the Long & Foster realty office in Georgetown. Five years later, in 2009, he retired “for good” and, among other things, pursued his love for travel, Mastroddi said.

Italy and France, along with his favorite get-away destinations in Rehoboth Beach and Provincetown, were among the places to which he traveled in his retirement years, said Mastroddi.

Beginning in the 1970s, Saulsbury became a behind-the-scenes supporter of LGBT rights causes, assisting in fundraising efforts for LGBT groups in D.C., Philadelphia, and New York, Mastroddi said.

“He lost a lot of friends to AIDS and also helped in fundraising for AIDS organizations,” Mastroddi told the Washington Blade.

Mastroddi said Saulsbury cared for his mother, his only surviving relative, until she passed away in 2014.

He said Saulsbury lived in a house he bought in 1974 on Corcoran Street, N.W. until he sold the house in 2009 and moved into an apartment in the Crystal City section of Arlington where he remained until he became ill last year following a diagnosis of lymphoma of the spinal cord.

Mastroddi said Saulsbury underwent complicated spinal surgery last September and was admitted to the Manor Care rehabilitation facility in Chevy Chase in October, but complications related to the cancer and its treatment took its toll on him. A short time later he was transferred to a hospice unit at the Manor Care facility.

“He was witty and intelligent and he was an amazing writer,” said Mastroddi in commenting on Saulsbury from the many years Mastroddi and his and partner, Ettore Mastroddi, have known him.

“He said I am fine with moving on. I’m tired,” Gary Mastroddi quoted Saulsbury as saying a short time before his passing.

“But he said we had a wonderful life. I enjoyed every moment of it.”

Mastroddi said Saulsbury is survived by many friends in D.C., Rehoboth Beach, and Philadelphia, among other places, including Mastroddi and his partner and longtime D.C. gay activists Paul Kuntzler and Richard Maulsby.

Mastroddi said donations in lieu of memorial gifts can be made in Saulsbury’s name to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation at www.aidshealth.org.

Plans for what Mastroddi said would be an informal memorial service among friends, in accordance with Saulsbury’s wishes, would be announced sometime soon.

Charges lowered, men sentenced in 2016 Md. trans murder First-degree murder charges dropped

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com In a little-noticed development, prosecutors in Montgomery County last year dropped first-degree murder and armed robbery charges against two D.C. men arrested for the April 16, 2016 murder of transgender woman Keyonna Blakeney, 22, in her room at the Red Roof Inn in Rockville, Md. In exchange for accepting a plea bargain by prosecutors, Keith Christopher Renier, who was 22 at the time of the murder, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and was sentenced on Aug. 22, 2017 to 30 years in prison.

Arbra Arine Bethea, who was 17 at the time of Blakeney’s stabbing death, pleaded guilty to accessory to the fact-seconddegree murder and was sentenced on Nov. 9, 2017 to 10 years in prison.

At the time of their arrest in May 2016 the two men, both D.C. residents, were each charged by Montgomery County police with first-degree murder, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, armed robbery, and conspiracy to commit armed robbery in connection with Blakeney’s murder.

Those charges were later dropped as

part of the plea bargain deal.

Police said that Blakeney and several acquaintances were renting rooms at the Red Roof Inn to engage in prostitution. Police said their investigation found that Bethea, who knew Blakeney, initiated a scheme with Renier to meet her at the motel for a date so he and Renier could rob her.

“Bethea made a series of calls to the victim using Renier’s cell phone just prior to arriving at the Red Roof Inn,” a police arrest affidavit says. “Once arriving at the Red Roof Inn, Bethea and Renier met with the victim in Room # 174. When the robbery was announced a struggle ensued resulting in the victim being repeatedly stabbed,” the affidavit states.

The affidavit says police linked Renier and Bethea to the murder through a confidential source that identified the men as suspects in the case. It says investigators developed additional evidence linking the two to the murder through cell phone records and interviews with an Uber driver who brought the men to the Red Roof Inn from Bethea’s residence in Southeast D.C. The affidavit says investigators also learned that Renier and Bethea “confessed to family members that they killed the victim.”

Transgender activists condemned the

KEYONNA BLAKENEY, 22, was stabbed to death in 2016.

PHOTO COURTESY OF FACEBOOK

murder as yet another in a long list of murders of transgender people over the past several years in the U.S., including the D.C. area.

Ramon Korionoff, a spokesperson for Montgomery County State’s Attorney John McCarthy, defended his office’s decision to offer the two men a deal to plead guilty, noting that they were given the maximum sentence for the offenses for which they pleaded guilty.

“Just because a case is charged a certain way does not mean the evidence substantiates that charge beyond a reasonable doubt or that the witnesses are good and credible for a jury,” Korionoff

said in an email to the Washington Blade.

“Our office stands by the results of this case,” he said. “Getting thirty years behind bars for Keith Renier in a second degree murder, the maximum, shows the community that we take these crimes seriously,” he added.

“After a more thorough look at the case it was determined that the appropriate charge for Arbra Bethea was accessory after the fact,” Korionoff said. “He too got the maximum sentence for his crime, 10 years. Justice is served.” � CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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NATIONAL NEWS

Fate of HIV/AIDS council unclear after terminations White House says Trump ‘looking at different options’

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com Weeks after the Trump administration fired all remaining members of the President’s Advisory Council for HIV/AIDS, the administration seems to be taking steps to refill those slots, but the ultimate fate of the body remains unclear.

In response to a question from the Washington Blade, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was non-committal when asked whether President Trump wants PACHA restaffed.

“We’re looking at the different options, and we’ll keep you posted if we have an announcement on that front,” Sanders said.

Miguel Gomez, spokesperson for the Office of HIV/AIDS & Infective Disease Policy at the Department of Health & Human Services, said “submissions are currently being reviewed” from applicants seeking to join PACHA. When the Trump administration terminated members of PACHA late last month, it gave them until Jan. 2 to reapply or for potentially new members to submit applications.

Gomez, however, said he doesn’t have

information at this time on when new members would be selected, nor would he affirm new members, in fact, would be selected.

President Clinton created PACHA in 1995 and since that time it has provided advice on policy and research to promote effective treatment and prevention for HIV. An estimated 1.2 million people have HIV/AIDS in the United States and 37 million have the disease worldwide.

For the time being, PACHA technically exists, although the body has no members in the wake of Trump’s terminations and earlier resignations that came last year.

Jim Driscoll, a gay Nevada-based HIV/ AIDS activist and Trump supporter, said the new members may be announced this month, but that’s only speculation.

“I expect that the new people will be people who support and want to work with this administration,” Driscoll said. “I hope that LGBT people and African Americans will be represented in numbers appropriate to the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on our communities, and that all those appointed will be people who understand the needs of our two communities.”

News over the holidays that Trump had fired members all members of PACHA via a letter from FedEx ignited a firestorm. The administration offered no explanation for

SARAH HUCKABEE SANDERS said the administration is ‘looking at different options’ for the president’s HIV/AIDS council.

SCREENSHOT VIA CSPAN

termination of the members, many of whom had time left on their terms, but gave them the opportunity to reapply.

The move happened amid discontent over the widespread perception of inaction by the administration on HIV/AIDS. Nearly one year into the administration, the White House has yet to appoint a director of the Office of National AIDS Policy.

Trump’s fiscal year 2018 budget proposal also sought massive cuts to HIV/

AIDS programs, including $150 million on HIV/AIDS programs at the Centers for Disease Control and more than $1 billion in cuts from global programs like the PEPFAR Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis & Malaria. The Republican-controlled Congress has thus far continued to fund these programs at previous levels.

In June, six members of PACHA resigned their positions in protest over what they called inaction from Trump on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In a letter written by Scott Schoettes, HIV Project Director at Lambda Legal and one of the six members who resigned, the departing members declared, “Trump doesn’t care about HIV. We’re outta here.”

Trump has made public statements on HIV/AIDS consisting of proclamations on National HIV Testing Day and World AIDS Day. Neither statement, however, included an explicit mention of LGBT people, who have faced the brunt of the disease.

Carl Schmid, deputy executive director of the AIDS Institute, emphasized the importance of Trump refilling the vacant posts on PACHA to give voice to HIV/AIDS issues.

“It is important to have voices and views from outside the government and from on the ground, particularly those who are living with HIV, to offer advice to the HHS secretary on HIV policies and programs,” Schmid said.

Supreme Court won’t hear challenge to Miss. anti-LGBT law ‘Religious freedom’ measure took effect in October

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com The U.S. Supreme Court won’t take up legal challenges to a Mississippi “religious freedom” law enabling sweeping discrimination against LGBT people, leaving extremely limited recourse to combat the anti-LGBT statute.

In an orders list on Monday, the Supreme Court announced it had rejected two petitions for certiorari — one filed by legal groups in the lawsuit Barber v.

Bryant, the other filed by legal groups in Campaign for Southern Equality v. Bryant — as well as a series of other petitions pending before the Supreme Court.

Both petitions sought Supreme Court review of the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in favor of the Mississippi anti-LGBT law, which enables businesses and individuals to discriminate in the name of “religious freedom.” The law was signed in 2016 by Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, who has vowed to defend the statute against legal challenges in court.

The orders list provides no explanation

for the rejections of these petitions, nor the vote by which they were rejected.

It takes a vote of at least four justices to grant certiorari, or agree to take up a case.

The law, HB 1523, prohibits the state from taking action against religious organizations that decline employment, housing or services to same-sex couples; families who’ve adopted a foster child and wish to act in opposition to samesex marriage; and individuals who offer wedding services and decline to facilitate a same-sex wedding.

Additionally, the bill allows individuals working in medical services to decline to afford a transgender person gender reassignment surgery. The bill also allows state government employees who facilitate marriages the option to opt out of issuing licenses to same-sex couples, but the person must issue prior written notice to the state government and a clerk’s office must not delay in the issuing of licenses.

Masen Davis, CEO of the LGBT group Freedom for All Americans, said in a statement the denial of certiorari “is a missed opportunity to swiftly strike down the nation’s most extreme anti-LGBTQ law.”

“The court’s inaction today means that LGBTQ Mississipians will continue to face harassment and discrimination,”

Davis said. “HB 1523 fails to honor the tradition of religious freedom in America - instead, it allows people to use religion as a license to discriminate. The LGBTQ community remains in harm’s way every single day that this law is in effect, and we are committed to working with our legal partners to strike this draconian measure once and for all.”

LGBT legal groups filed petitions for certiorari seeking review of the law before the Supreme Court last year after a threejudge panel Fifth Circuit upheld the antiLGBT law on the basis plaintiffs lacked standing. The full court refused to review that decision in an “en banc” review.

Those decisions overturned a ruling from U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves, who determined the law violates the Establishment Clause by endorsing a particular religious view on LGBT issues and the Equal Protection Clause by enabling anti-LGBT discrimination.

Both the district court and the appeals court rendered those decisions as a result of a consolidated case of two lawsuits, although the legal groups behind the litigation filed two petitions for certiorari for review separately before the Supreme Court.

Representing plaintiffs in the Barber case — LGBT people, Mississippi ministers

and the Joshua Generation Metropolitan Community Church — are Lambda Legal, Mississippi civil rights attorney Rob McDuff and the Mississippi Center for Justice.

Beth Littrell, counsel for Lambda Legal, said the Supreme Court rejection of the petition “is not an endorsement of HB 1523 or the wave of similar discriminatory laws across the country” and doesn’t change rulings in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide.

“Twenty years ago we fought a similar battle in Colorado against an anti-LGBT law that singled out LGBT people for unequal treatment, in Romer v. Evans and we won,” Littrell said. “We will keep fighting in Mississippi until we overturn this harmful law, and in any state where antigay legislators pass laws to roll back LGBT civil rights. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court’s decision today leaves LGBT people in Mississippi in the crosshairs of hate and humiliation, delaying justice and equality.”

Representing the Campaign for Southern Equality in other lawsuit is Roberta Kaplan, the lesbian New Yorkbased founding partner of Kaplan & Company who successfully argued against the anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act before the Supreme Court.

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I N T E RN A T I O N A L N E W S

Ruling recognizes marriage, trans rights in Americas

Immigrants rights advocates gathered in front of the White House on Monday.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Salvadoran activists criticize loss of protected status LGBT rights advocates in El Salvador have sharply criticized the Trump administration’s announcement that Salvadorans will no longer receive protected immigrant status in the U.S. Salvadorans have been able to receive temporary residency permits through the Temporary Protected Status program since two earthquakes devastated the Central American country in 2001.

Up to 200,000 Salvadorans in the U.S. have TPS, which allows people from countries that have suffered war and/or national disasters over the last two decades to receive temporary residency permits. They have until Sept. 9, 2019, to leave the U.S. or face potential deportation.

“Following the 2001 earthquake, El Salvador received a significant amount of international aid to assist in its recovery efforts, including millions of dollars dedicated to emergency and long-term assistance,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen in a press release. “Many reconstruction projects have now been completed.

Schools and hospitals damaged by the earthquakes have been reconstructed and repaired, homes have been rebuilt, and money has been provided for water and sanitation and to repair earthquake damaged roads and other infrastructure. The substantial disruption of living conditions caused by the earthquake no longer exist.”

Nielsen said the 18-month delay in ending TPS for Salvadorans will “provide time for individuals with TPS to arrange for their departure or to seek an alternative lawful immigration status in the” U.S. and “provide time for El Salvador to prepare for the return and reintegration of its citizens.”

“Only Congress can legislate a permanent solution addressing the lack of an enduring lawful immigration status of those currently protected by TPS who have lived and worked in the United States for many years,” she added. “The 18-month delayed termination will allow Congress time to craft a potential legislative solution.”

Dozens of immigrant rights advocates who gathered outside the White House on Monday sharply criticized the Trump administration’s decision. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in a statement said ending TPS for Salvadorans “will in no way make Americans safer, stronger or more prosperous.”

El Salvador has one of the world’s highest per capita murder rates.

MS-13 — which Salvadoran immigrants who fled their homeland’s civil war in the 1980s formed in Los Angeles in the 1980s — and other violent street gangs operate throughout El Salvador. Violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity remains pervasive in the country.

“It is important to remember there is a large number of LGBT people who are among the people affected by the cancellation of TPS for El Salvador,” Ámbar Alfaro of ASPIDH Arcoiris Trans, a trans Salvadoran advocacy group, told the Washington Blade after the Trump administration made its announcement. “For LGBT people who return to the country after living in a place with opportunities, it will be like going back 60 years in terms of everything they have achieved.”

“The United States is a country of opportunity, to develop freely,” she added. “There are public policies that regulate and support the LGBT community.”

Nicolás Rodríguez, executive director of El Salvador G, a gay Salvadoran blog and website, agreed with Alfaro.

“The LGBTI community is going to suffer because of the cancellation of TPS,” Rodríguez told the Blade on Monday. “They will return to a country where a different picture is sold, where there is a different reality where being an LGBTI person can cause them to become victims of discrimination.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights on Tuesday issued a landmark ruling that recognizes same-sex marriage and transgender rights in the Western Hemisphere.

The seven judges who issued the ruling stated governments “must recognize and guarantee all the rights that are derived from a family bond between people of the same sex.” Six of the seven judges also agreed that it is necessary for governments “to guarantee access to all existing forms of domestic legal systems, including the right to marriage, in order to ensure the protection of all the rights of families formed by same-sex couples without discrimination.”

The court issued its ruling after the Costa Rican government in 2016 asked for an advisory opinion on whether it has an obligation to extend property rights to same-sex couples and allow transgender people to change their name and gender marker on identity documents.

The ruling says the Costa Rican government must allow trans people to legally change their name and gender marker on official documents.

It does not specifically say how Costa Rica should extend marriage rights to same-sex couples. Costa Rican Vice President Ana Helena Chacón on Tuesday nevertheless told reporters during a press conference in the Costa Rican capital of San José that her government will do so.

“The Executive Branch will focus on studying the resolution in depth,” she said as La Nación, a Costa Rican newspaper, reported.

The Organization of American States created the Costa Rica-based court in 1979 in order to enforce provisions of the American Convention on Human Rights. Tuesday’s ruling is legally binding in Costa Rica and 19 other countries — Argentina, Barbados, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Suriname and Uruguay — throughout the Americas that currently recognize the convention.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Gay couples begin to marry in Australia Same-sex couples began to legally marry in Australia on Jan. 9.

SBS News reported Diana and Deanne Ribeiro tied the knot shortly after midnight local time in the Melbourne suburb of Balaclava. The Sydney Morning Herald reported Kylie and Lisa Caro — a lesbian couple who began dating in 2014 and are raising a daughter together — are among the other same-sex couples who exchanged vows on Tuesday.

“We’re both still on cloud nine,” Kylie Caro told the Sydney Morning Herald after the wedding.

More than 60 percent of Australians who took part in a non-binding postal plebiscite on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples said “yes.”

The Australian Senate approved a same-sex marriage bill less than three weeks after the country’s Bureau of Statistics announced the results of the plebiscite.

The Australian House of Representatives nearly unanimously approved the measure on Dec. 7.

The bill received royal assent from Governor General Peter Cosgrove two days later.

Australian law says couples must wait 30 days to get married once they apply to do so. A handful of same-sex couples were able to exchange vows last month after they received waivers because of health and other specific circumstances.

“Australia said YES, Parliament said YES, and now all LGBTI couples can finally say YES (and I do) in Australia,” wrote Alex Greenwich, co-chair of Australian Marriage Equality who is also a member of the New South Wales Parliament, on his Twitter page.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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NATIONAL NEWS

LGBT candidates could see big wins in 2018 Democratic wave CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

LGBT candidates than we have had ever in our history,” but also candidates who are women and people of color also stand to make historic wins.

“Even though those candidates who aren’t from our community and wouldn’t be our endorsed candidates, I think they’re going to help carry the banner for us a little bit,” Parker said.

Signs are strong that Democrats will pick up seats in 2018, which is consistent with the historical trend of the party in opposition to the party of the president gaining seats in the mid-term elections.

In every mid-term election, the president’s party loses an average of 32 seats in the U.S. House and two seats in the U.S. Senate. (The only exception to these losses in recent years has been in 1998 and 2002 due to extraordinary circumstances. In 1998, there was outrage over the impeachment of President Clinton. In 2002, there was an anti-terrorism sentiment after the attacks on 9/11.)

A CNN poll published in December found 56 percent of respondents say they’ll most likely vote for a Democrat in the mid-term election compared to 38 percent who say they’ll vote Republican.

According to CNN, that 18-point advantage is the biggest since the organization began polling on the 2018 election and the widest margin in two decades at this point in the election cycle.

Democrats have their goals in sight.

To win control of the House in 2018, Democrats needs 24 seats. To win control of the Senate, Democrats need just two thanks to the surprise victory of Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) in the special election late last year.

Part of the effort for Democrats to win control of Congress will be LGBT candidates seeking election to the House and Senate.

In Wisconsin, Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the only out lesbian in Congress, will seek to keep her seat in the Senate.

That seat might be a challenge for Democrats to hold even in a good election cycle. The Huffington Post’s Amanda Terkel published an article this month titled, “Wisconsin Is Quietly Becoming The Top Senate Race Of 2018.”

According to the article, conservative groups have reported spending at least $3.1 million against Baldwin, which is more than what all the other Democratic Senate incumbents on the ballot this year have faced combined.

But that only counts the reported money, not the dark money coming from groups that don’t have necessarily have to report their contributions to the Federal Election Commission. Nine groups have spent more than $4.7 million

Rep. JARED POLIS is a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in Colorado’s gubernatorial race.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

on ads that attack Baldwin or boost one of the Republicans seeking to unseat her, according to the article.

Parker said conservative groups are targeting Baldwin because she’s “focused and effective and doing a great job in the Senate.”

“It’s going to be a tough re-elect for her, nor just because she’s going to have opposition on the right, but because there’s already evidence of a massive independent expenditure campaign against her,” Parker said. “If she weren’t so effective, I don’t think they’d be dropping the millions of dollars that they are to try to defeat her.”

Among the groups spending money against Baldwin is Americans for Prosperity, the Super PAC funded by the Koch brothers that has sought to unseat Democrats in Congress. According to the Huffington Post, Americans for Prosperity has spent $861,669 in the race.

Parker said she doesn’t believe these groups are targeting Baldwin because of her sexual orientation, but because “she has been an effective progressive voice in the Senate.”

“They’re looking at the last presidential campaign and trying to project from that,” Parker said. “I don’t think that that’s going to be successful.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) is running for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona being vacated by retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.). If Sinema is elected, she’d be the first openly bisexual person elected to the Senate.

Sinema’s race could be interesting because a slew of right-wing candidates seeking the nomination could be her opponent in the general election.

The newest entrant in the race is Joe Arpaio. President Trump pardoned the former Maricopa County sheriff

last year after he faced jail time for unconstitutionally enforcing immigration law to target immigrant communities.

Parker said the Victory Fund is “working hard” on Sinema’s race because “that’s an opportunity to move a seat into a progressive column.”

“Considering who’s on the Republican side of that race, it’s going to be a very clear pro-LGBTQ progressive candidate versus a right-wing ideologue, whichever one of them comes through,” Parker said.

A number of non-incumbent LGBT candidates are also running in U.S. House races and seeking to take seats from Republican candidates.

Non-incumbent candidates with good shots of winning are Lauren Baer, who’s running in Florida’s 18th congressional district; Angie Craig, who’s running in Minnesota’s second congressional district; Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis, who’s running in New Mexico’s first congressional district; Gina Ortiz Jones, who’s running in Texas’s 23rd congressional district; and Florida State Rep. David Richardson, who’s running in Florida’s 26th congressional district.

Richardson is running for the seat currently occupied by Rep. Ileana RosLehtinen (R-Fla.), who’s considered the most pro-LGBT Republican in Congress and announced she’d retire at the end of this year. Richardson’s prospects are strong in the heavily Democratic district that RosLehtinen has maintained for years.

Meanwhile, gay Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.) are seeking to keep their seats in the House and will likely prevail given their incumbent status, favorable districts and strength of Democrats in 2018.

Other LGBT candidates could replace Democrats who are leaving their seats at the end of this year. In New Hampshire’s first congressional district, State Rep. Chris Pappas is seeking to claim the seat being vacated by retiring Rep. Carol SheaPorter (D-N.H.).

The race to replace retiring Rep. Niki Tsongas (D-Mass.) in Massachusetts’ 3rd congressional district is a veritable freefor-all of LGBT candidates.

No fewer than 12 candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination, including three LGBT candidates.

They’re Rufus Gifford, who’s gay and served as U.S. ambassador to Denmark in the Obama administration; Steve Kerrigan, who’s gay and ran to become Massachusetts lieutenant governor in 2014; and Alexandra Chandler, who’s transgender and a former Navy intelligence specialist.

Other gay candidates are in uphill battles seeking to claim seats in Republican strongholds. Among them

is Dan Canon, an attorney who fought for marriage equality in Kentucky, who’s running in Indiana’s ninth congressional district, and John Duncan, a gay HIV/ AIDS activist running in Texas’ sixth congressional district.

If LGBT House and Senate candidates win each of these races, it could significantly shake up LGBT representation in Congress and potentially more than double the number of six openly LGBT public officials currently serving. A victory for Chandler would make her the first openly transgender person elected to Congress.

LGBT candidates are involved in other significant state races. At the top of the list are the gubernatorial campaigns of Rep. Jared Polis in Colorado and State Sen. Rich Madaleno in Maryland. Should either of them win, they’d claim the distinction of being the first openly gay people elected as governor in the United States.

In Oregon, Gov. Kate Brown, who’s bisexual, is seeking re-election. In 2016, she already claimed the distinction of being the first openly LGBT person elected as governor.

In Nevada, State Assembly member Nelson Araujo (D-Las Vegas) is running to become Nevada secretary of state. If he wins, he’ll become the first openly gay person of color to win statewide election anywhere in the United States.

In the wake of major victories for transgender candidates in 2017, other transgender hopefuls, such as Chandler in Massachusetts, could see victories. In Maryland, transgender activist Dana Beyer is seeking Madaleno’s seat as he pursues the bid for governor and could be the first openly transgender candidate elected to a state Senate anywhere in the country.

In Texas, the “blue” wave could result in the election of a record number of LGBT candidates running for office at various levels of state government. The Houstonbased OutSmart Magazine reported 42 people are running for office in Texas, including two candidates for governor: former Dallas County Sheriff Lupe Valdez and Dallas businessperson Jeffrey Payne.

Parker declined to identify her highest priority race for 2018, but said the Victory Fund’s “bread and butter is local races.”

Also important, Parker said, are Baldwin and Sinema’s races for Senate seats and the gubernatorial elections with gay candidates.

When analyzing candidates to support, however, Parker said the Victory Fund doesn’t take into account whether a year will be a Republican or Democratic wave.

“It’s going to be great for our candidates, but it’s not what we depend on, it’s not what we look at when we’re vetting them,” Parker said. “It’s just means that if it happens, we’re going to take advantage of it.”

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LO CA L N E W S

Charting Whitman-Walker’s 40-year evolution CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

in the basement of D.C.’s Georgetown Lutheran Church.

A timeline posted on Whitman-Walker’s website shows that the Gay Men’s VD Clinic, which began as an all-volunteer operation, hired its first full-time staff in 1976. In 1977, according to the WhitmanWalker history write-up, leaders of the fledgling clinic broke away from the Washington Free Clinic and began to develop “their vision for a new, diverse health care organization.”

At the time the group incorporated as Whitman-Walker Clinic in 1978 the D.C. Department of Human Resources provided it with $15,000 in funding, marking the first in a long history of city financial support for Whitman-Walker.

Blanchon, who did not become WhitmanWalker’s executive director until May 2006, said he has since learned from others familiar with its early years that its founders set a precedent for its mission and value system that remain in place today.

“At the end of the day, before there was ever HIV and AIDS, there was an ideal that the gay community needed a different type of health care that was affirming of who they were,” he said. “And that was all the way back to 1973.”

He notes that since then WhitmanWalker has broadened its health care work to cover the full diversity of the LGBT community, with greatly expanded programs and services for the transgender community in recent years.

Blanchon said today’s Whitman-Walker Health has an operating budget of nearly $103 million and a staff of 290 employees.

Although Whitman-Walker broke new ground in its first decade as an LGBT clinic, those familiar with its 40-year history say it established itself as one of the city’s most well-known healthcare institutions beginning in 1983, when the AIDS epidemic hit D.C. in full force.

Two years earlier, D.C. gay attorney Jim Graham was elected president of the Whitman-Walker board in 1981, the same year the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Report published an account of how young gay men were being stricken with a rare form of pneumonia normally contracted by elderly people with compromised immune systems.

The CDC report was the first of a series of updated reports that later identified the condition afflicting gay men and other population groups as HIV/AIDS. It was at that time that Whitman-Walker assumed a leadership role in addressing the epidemic in the District of Columbia.

Among other things, it launched an AIDS education program along with counseling and direct services for people with AIDS. A short time later it began its

“Buddy” program that recruited scores of volunteers to help people living with AIDS at a time when little or no official government programs existed to take on that role.

On April 4, 1983, Whitman-Walker organized the first D.C. AIDS Forum at George Washington University’s Lisner Auditorium. Hundreds of gay men turned out for the event and heard Dr. Richard DiGioia, a local physician whose practice catered to the gay community, talk about the disease’s symptoms and the early and mostly ineffective treatment options available at that time.

In 1984, the Whitman-Walker board named Jim Graham as the clinic’s new executive director. Graham has been credited with spearheading WhitmanWalker’s rapid growth as one of the nation’s leading AIDS service organizations.

During his first years at WhitmanWalker’s helm, Graham used his skills as a lawyer to provide legal help for gay men and others with AIDS who often were rejected by their families and faced workplace discrimination before becoming too sick to hold a job. Blanchon calls Graham the father of WhitmanWalker’s highly regarded Legal Services program, which currently enjoys legal support from attorneys with some of the city’s most prominent law firms.

Under Graham’s leadership, WhitmanWalker bought several buildings along or near the 14th Street, N.W. corridor north of downtown. Among the purchases were its headquarters at 1407 S Street, N.W., just off 14th Street. In 1985 the Robert N. Schwartz House was opened as the city’s first home for people with AIDS, becoming one in a series of houses Whitman-Walker purchased to house people with HIV/AIDS. Most of the houses were financed by donations from the community and through bequests from gay men who died of AIDS and named Whitman-Walker in their wills.

As part of its continued expansion, Whitman-Walker opened facilities in Northern Virginia and suburban Maryland, bought a building in Anacostia where it opened the Max Robinson Center, its first AIDS service facility located east of the Anacostia River.

In 1993, Whitman-Walker opened its Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center, named in honor of the famed actress turned AIDS activist, in another building it purchased at 14th and R Streets, N.W. The new facility received international press coverage when Taylor attended its opening ceremony that was carefully planned by Graham.

Graham resigned as executive director in January 1999 to take office as a member of the D.C. City Council, to which he was elected in November 1998.

Around the time of his departure changes

in the course of the AIDS epidemic began to take a financial toll on WhitmanWalker, according to those familiar with its operations at that time.

With scientific advances in anti-retroviral drugs that began to effectively curtail the virus in those who were infected, patients began to live longer and required more services for longer periods of time. The longstanding assumption that AIDS was a death sentence was replaced with the new world order that it had become a mostly non-fatal chronic disease.

While this was hailed as a wonderful development by Whitman-Walker’s large staff and vast network of programs and supporters, observers said it had an adverse impact on fundraising and other streams of income that the clinic and AIDS service group had relied upon for nearly 20 years.

As expenses for long-term treatment of patients increased, donations from the Whitman-Walker AIDS Walk, its largest single fundraising event, began to decline along with individual private donations.

Some believed this was due in part to the assumption that the need to give money to AIDS causes was lessened due to the medical progress and improved treatments that stopped people from dying.

By 2005, Whitman-Walker faced its most serious financial crisis when news surfaced that it might not be able to make its payroll for the first time in its history. Part of the crisis stemmed from the dual developments of the city’s long bureaucratic delays in reimbursing health clinics, including Whitman-Walker, for health related services they provided for the city. At the same time, federal funds associated with the Ryan White CARE Act were curtailed or delayed.

The crisis prompted the board to close several programs, including its food bank and some of its sites in Virginia and Maryland. At the initiative of then-D.C. Council member David Catania (I-AtLarge), who was one of two gay Council members at the time, the D.C. government provided a one-time grant of $3.2 million to Whitman-Walker, a development that some observers believed helped it avoid having to shut its doors entirely and possibly declare bankruptcy.

In the midst of these developments, Whitman-Walker’s board in late 2005 adopted a series of changes and reforms to strengthen its financial viability, including a decision to change its structure from a mostly AIDS service organization to a community health center known officially as a Federally Qualified Health Center.

The new structure, which took effect in 2006, immediately enabled WhitmanWalker to accept far more private and government health insurance plans, decreasing its reliance and dependence on private donations and government funding.

In March 2006, the board announced it had hired Blanchon to become the new executive director beginning May 1.

Blanchon had formerly served as CEO of a managed care health plan in Maryland and as vice president for Medicaid and Medicare programs for a medical management company.

Some in the LGBT community initially expressed concern that Blanchon, with the board’s full approval, would turn Whitman-Walker into a less community oriented “HMO” using profit-making techniques to undo Whitman-Walker’s longstanding role as a progressive, LGBT clinic. But others, including Blanchon, argued that the changes were needed to enable Whitman-Walker to continue its longstanding mission while becoming far more financially secure.

By March 2007, the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) approved Whitman-Walker’s designation as a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), a status that enabled it to accept private insurance and Medicaid from the large number of the patients it had been treating.

“We’re blessed in the District of Columbia to have 98 or 99 percent of the population with some type of health insurance,” Blanchon told the Blade in an interview last week. “And so it would be foolish if not irresponsible for Whitman-Walker not to take health insurance,” he said.

“If 99 out of 100 people who walk through the door have some kind of coverage – CareFirst, Medicare, Medicaid — why would we say we shouldn’t take that?” he said. “That’s crazy. That’s not a good use of people’s money.”

Blanchon noted that the decision by the board to become a Federally Qualified Health Center requires that WhitmanWalker take in and provide services to all people in the community and the city, not just members of the LGBT community. But he said that requirement does not and has not changed Whitman-Walker’s mission of serving as an LGBTQ community health center that’s open to everyone.

In the years following the 2005-2006 changes, Whitman-Walker rebounded financially to a point in 2010 when it closed its fiscal year with a surplus for the first time in a decade. In 2012, one year after it changed its name to Whitman-Walker Health, it announced it finished its fiscal year in 2011 with another still larger surplus.

Today, Blanchon says that while WhitmanWalker Health is in good financial shape it still faces hurdles as circumstances in the city and in the nation continue to change. With the aim of remaining financially strong and to continue to expand its services to more people in the LGBT and broader community, Blanchon notes that Whitman-Walker in recent years entered into arrangements to CONTINUES ON PAGE 16

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LO CA L N E W S

Whitman-Walker’s Blanchon talks ‘moving forward’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

acquire its new, expanded medical building at 1515 14th Street, N.W., which it leases, and to redevelop the Elizabeth Taylor Building through a partnership with a real estate developer.

The Taylor building site is currently being transformed into a large mixed use development, with space for WhitmanWalker along with residential apartments and retail and commercial space.

Blanchon points out that WhitmanWalker will remain the majority owner of the Taylor Building site while at the same time benefiting from the tremendous appreciation in its value brought about by the transformation of the 14th Street corridor in the years since Jim Graham helped orchestrate Whitman-Walker’s purchase of that building.

In addition to buying the building itself, Graham arranged a short time later for Whitman-Walker to buy two adjacent buildings and the land in the entire block on which the buildings were located.

While the benefit of the appreciation will help Whitman-Walker remain financially viable in the future, Blanchon said it has created what he says is a false image that Whitman-Walker no longer needs community donations and support because of “all this building we’re doing” between the Taylor Building project and the new leased building at 1515 14th Street, N.W. “And the reality is nothing could be further from the truth,” he said. Among other things, Blanchon said income generated from the Taylor Building project will be used to expand and upgrade its presence east of the river in Anacostia. He said Whitman-Walker would soon be announcing plans for expanding the Max Robinson Center.

“So the board has made what I think is a really prudent decision,” he said.

“This is completely a reinvestment of economic value…What we’re saying is this is analogous and it’s consistent with our values, which is we’ve benefited from something and we need to reinvest that in the next place where there is need.”

Abby Fenton, Whitman-Walker’s Chief External Affairs Officer, said WhitmanWalker would be announcing a series of events and activities scheduled for the coming months as part of an ongoing celebration of its anniversary, including an “anniversary gala” scheduled for Sept. 22.

Blanchon, meanwhile, said he was hopeful that the anniversary events will draw attention to Whitman-Walker’s future role in providing for healthcare needs of the LGBT community as well as its work in the past.

‘Before there was ever HIV and AIDS, there was an ideal that the gay community needed a different type of health care,’ said Whitman-Walker Executive Director DON BLANCHON.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

In discussing what he called the dark days of the AIDS epidemic Blanchon said people should never forget the role that Whitman-Walker’s many leaders, supporters, and volunteers played in responding to the epidemic.

“That is fundamentally one of the most compassionate and most human responses that you’ll ever see in the face of tragedy,” he said. “And it’s

unbelievably powerful. It’s unbelievably emotive. It’s unbelievably sad and painful to so many of us.”

But while AIDS continues to be a serious problem facing D.C. and the nation, Blanchon said Whitman-Walker must adapt to the changes that have taken place over the past 20 years if it is to remain relevant to the community it serves.

“As poignant, as important as our

community role was during the epidemic, with all due respect, we don’t live there now,” he said. “And that can’t solely define us anymore. We have to be defined by what the LGBTQ community needs from us now and in the future,” he continued.

“And what are we willing to do with their continued support, financially, and their time, their talents? And it has to be about moving forward.”

Whitman-Walker’s 40th anniversary events Whitman-Walker Health has released the following list of events it says it will hold this year between Jan. 20 and Oct. 27 to celebrate its 40th anniversary.

Jan. 20: 8-11 p.m. 40TH ANNIVERSARY DANCE PARTY – Dance party at Town to celebrate WWH’s birthday

Feb. 21: 8-10 a.m. MAX ROBINSON PANEL DISCUSSION – Join local journalists as they remember Max Robinson and also talk about their own careers as African-American reporters in D.C. The event will be held at the The Lincoln Theatre. Discussion will be moderated by Max Robinson’s former co-anchor Gordon Peterson. Panel will include Maureen Bunyan (confirmed).

May 23, 2018 GOING THE EXTRA MILE – Join us for our an annual cocktail reception at The Hamilton honoring our

pro bono legal volunteers, recognizing our allies, and raising money to continue to provide free legal services to our underserved neighbors.

June 2, 2018 CAPITAL PRIDE WOMEN’S KICK-OFF PARTY at Big Chief with Mautner Project of Whitman-Walker Health

Sept. 22, 2018 40th ANNIVERSARY GALA Join us at the Marriott Marquis Hotel for our big event. An opening cocktail reception with passed hors d’oeuvres will kick off the evening. Following the reception, the gala will extend into a seated dinner and speaking program reflecting on our past, present and future.

Oct. 27, 2018 THE WALK TO END HIV Join us for our most important most fun fundraising event of the year. The Walk & 5K to End HIV is a fundraising walk and 5K timed run benefiting Whitman-Walker Health.

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WH I TM A N - W A LK ER P HOTOS

From left, clinic Director DR. BASIL VARELDZIS AND BENJAMIN MARTINEZ demonstrate equipment at the WhitmanWalker aerosolized pentamidine clinic on April 17, 1989.

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From left, DAVID MIXNER, TED HURDMAN, MIKHAIL BARYSHNIKOV, DONNA SHALALA, AND JIM GRAHAM attend a ‘Friends for Life’ benefit for the Whitman-Walker Clinic on May 21, 1994.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY DOUG HINCKLE

JIM GRAHAM speaks with ELIZABETH TAYLOR at the opening of the Elizabeth Taylor Medical Center in 1993.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY KRISTI GASAWAY

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY KRISTI GASAWAY

Whitman-Walker Clinic holds a ‘Washington Video Sales Sweepstakes’ benefit on Nov. 1, 1985.

Pictured from left, CHI HUGHES, DON STRICKLAND, JIM GRAHAM AND KIMBERLY KRISTEN. WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY DOUG HINCKLE

The cast of ‘Cats’ performs at the WhitmanWalker Clinic benefit ‘Cats Who Care’ on July 27, 1992.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY KEVIN YUM

From left, Whitman-Walker President FRED MILLER, ROBERT ALFANDRE AND DIONNE WARWICK attend a benefit for the clinic on June 9, 1988.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY DOUG HINCKLE

Whitman-Walker Clinic staff on June 15, 1984, seated from left, JOHN HANNAY, GENE FREY AND JIM GRAHAM; standing from left, KEVIN RISE, ORRY KELLY, LARRY WALDERMAN AND DUSTY CUNNINGHAM.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY JIM MARKS

D.C. Mayor MARION BARRY speaks at AIDS Walk on Sept. 28, 1997.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY JAMES V. GLEASON

City officials attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony at WhitmanWalker Health’s new facility on June 4, 2015.

PRESIDENT TRUMP left out LGBT people from his World AIDS Day Proclamation.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY LEE WHITMAN

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WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

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18 • J A N U A R Y 12, 2018

H E A LT H N E W S

Program permits gay blood donation in Israel

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NEW YORK — Health officials in Israel this week announced a two-year pilot program that will allow blood donations from men who have sex with men in the country, the Jewish Press reports.

The decision was attributed to the development of new blood tests able to detect viral infections such as HIV 1 and 2, hepatitis B and C, syphilis, West Nile virus and more, the paper reports.

The decision is the culmination of a six-month campaign by Merav Ben Ari, the Israel Aid Task Force, Magen David Adom (the country’s blood bank) and Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association to lobby the Ministry of Health to change its regulations for accepting blood donations, the Jewish Press reports.

For years, Ethiopian immigrants, gay men and individuals who had visited countries with high rates of HIV infection were prevented from donating blood because testing their blood made the donations financially impractical, the Jewish Press reports.

Last June, the health ministry altered the policy, saying that members of the relevant populations could donate blood provided they had not had gay sex or visited HIV-affected areas during the previous 12 months, the article noted.

Suggestive PrEP campaign running in D.C. WASHINGTON — A suggestive new ad campaign from the D.C. Department of Health has been unveiled in an effort to expand the use of PrEP in the city, NBC Washington reports.

Featuring images such as a woman licking an ice cream cone and a man running his hands up and down a golf club, a sultry voiceover says, “Thinking about sex? Then think about PrEP.” City health officials said they hope increased awareness will reduce the risk of infection among residents in a city that has the highest HIV rates in the country, NBC Washington reports.

The “Think About PrEP” ad, which started airing in the region last month, was designed to be “candid, sex-positive and eye-catching,” Michael Kharfen, senior deputy director of the health department’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration, told NBC Washington. It’s running on FOX 5 D.C., the CW and WJLA as well as Facebook, Pandora and YouTube.

PrEP prescriptions in the District have slowly increased over a period of years, health officials told NBC Washington.

Black men who have sex with men and black men who have sex with men who also inject drugs are the two highest groups of new HIV cases in the District, according to the health department. PrEP use, however, is highest among white, gay men. Officials said the new campaign is designed to reduce stigma of PrEP usage, NBC Washington reports.

There is good news. New HIV cases are down in Washington 73 percent overall since 2007, NBC Washington reports.

Research adds to younger gay brother theory

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NEW YORK — Newly published research sheds light on why men with an older brother may have an increased likelihood of being gay, CNN reports.

This week the journal PNAS reported this week that a protein linked to the Y chromosome (which women don’t have) that is important to male brain development in the womb plays a key role.

Researchers think it’s possible that this protein may get into a woman’s bloodstream during a first pregnancy with a boy but is blocked by her immune system which recognizes it as a foreign substance. However if enough of these antibodies build up in a woman’s body and she gets pregnant with a second boy, they can cross the placental barrier and enter the brain of the second male fetus, CNN reports citing PNAS research.

That could alter the functions in the brain, changing the direction of how the male fetus may later develop its sense of attraction, study author Anthony Bogaert of Canada’s Brock University told CNN. A 2006 study showed that with each older brother, the chance a man will be gay goes up by about a third.

Bogaert and his cohorts studied a group of 142 women and 12 men ages 18-80 and found higher concentrations of antibodies to the NLGN4Y protein in blood samples from women than from men and the highest concentration in women with gay younger sons who had older brothers compared to women who either had no sons or had only straight sons, CNN reports.

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N E W YE A R, NEW Y OU

J A N U A RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 9

Is this your year?

Ensuring you meet your fitness goals takes planning, effort

DAVID MAGIDA is founder of Elevate Interval Fitness, a member of the Reebok Spartan Race Pro Team and author of “The Essentials of Obstacle Racing: A Beginner’s Guide.” You can catch a class with him at Elevate on 14th Street or at its new location in the Mosaic District in Fairfax, Va.

Every year when January rolls around, we take an inward look at ourselves and say, “I can be better.” Either dissatisfied with our appearance, our behavior or our general fitness, we commit to improving ourselves.

But for most, making that change is more difficult in reality. Making a plan and sticking to it can be complicated. So the secret is, keep it simple. Here are a few ways to make sure your new year’s fitness resolution actually sticks: Eat clean One of the simplest ways to lean out and drop a few unnecessary pounds is to simply eat cleaner. Eating healthier doesn’t just help you drop body fat, but also to improve your focus and provide you with more energy during your workouts.

Start small. Change little things in your diet that can have big results. Try making a few minor changes like avoiding processed sugar or alcohol. Eliminate an item that you find to be your weakness.

And commit to not keeping things like dessert in your house. Other changes like bringing your lunch to work instead of eating out can be particularly effective.

Skip the scale Another key to successfully changing your body is to develop a deeper understanding of what’s happening as you become fitter. I’m constantly amazed by how many people completely alter their body composition yet don’t recognize the improvement.

Measuring body fat can be a positive metric to analyze your improvement, but avoid the scale at all costs. Weight is just a number, and a deceiving number at that.

It can make you question your process and your results. How quickly people forget that muscle weighs more than fat.

Two people that weigh the same can look entirely different. So when you start training and the fat starts melting off and the muscles start growing, don’t fall into the trap of worrying about why your weight

PHOTO BY BIGSTOCK; COURTESY OF VOLRAB VACLAV

New year’s resolutions usually fail. Buck the trend by doing some strategizing now.

hasn’t decreased. Trust in the process and at all costs, don’t trust the scale.

Alter your routine One of the reasons people struggle with the process is they get stuck in a rut. The same workout each and every day. Pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone is incredibly difficult when your workout routine is simply lather, rinse, repeat.

One of the simplest ways to fast track your results is to find a better fitness program. Altering your training plan is one of the keys to improvement. Results plateau when you do the same thing over and over again. So unless you are in a program that constantly varies your training, you’ll struggle to take the next step.

Consistency is key to success, but consistency applies to your variance, not just to showing up every day. Find ways to always challenge your body.

Pick a challenge Weight or fat loss isn’t a goal but rather a side effect. It can’t be the sole reason you train. You need other goals in order to find continued motivation.

Finding the right reason to train can yield tremendously improved results.

You should lay out a training calendar with a few events over the course of the

year indicating your true goals. Events that you know you have to train for.

Events that maybe scare you just enough to put in the hard work on a regular basis.

Select one event to train for in the short term (in the next three months), one about six months out and a long-term event nine months to a year away.

Having events on your calendar that you’re committed to will keep you focused and dedicated to your training throughout the year.

Train with company Training alone can be tough. Motivation can be hard to come by. Not just to complete your workout each day but also to get the most out of each workout. With nobody there to keep you accountable, it can be easy to get complacent each day.

Training partners can be key.

Find a studio where you can train in a group or a person sharing similar training goals to you. The creativity and intensity of your workouts will increase and the consistency, both daily and in each workouts quality will improve.

You’ll gain newfound inspiration and look forward to your daily sessions. No more monotony, no more plateaus. Other people can help you find a new strength you couldn’t tap into on your own.

Stop making excuses The most critical key for fitness success comes down to this. You cannot make excuses. If you ever hear yourself saying, “I’m not sure I have the time,” you’re full of it. You’re just lying to yourself to find a way to avoid reaching those goals you’ve claimed to care so much about.

Make a calendar, write down your routine for each day. Your running days, your lifting days, the days you take classes. And stick to it. If money is your excuse, remember, we make money so we can spend it on the things we want. And your health is worth a lot more than your money. You can’t take it with you when you’re gone.

So spend it to extend your life as long as possible and maintain the highest possible quality of life. If perhaps you have another excuse, take a moment to realize that’s exactly what it is. An excuse.

And then find a reason to disregard that excuse. You’ll be better for it.

It’s a new year and with it comes an opportunity to take a leap forward with your fitness. But that leap won’t happen if you don’t make some changes — small shifts in your behavior that could have a huge impact. Don’t repeat mistakes of past years. Make some alterations, to your goals, to your eating, to your routine and to your strategy and you may find 2018 is your healthiest year yet.

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HQ2 shouldn’t go to anti-LGBT states Amazon can send message about business repercussions of hate

KEVIN NAFF is editor of the Washington Blade and can be reached at knaff@washblade.com.

Amazon’s stunning, non-stop growth has brought the need for a second headquarters campus that promises 50,000 new high-paid jobs for the lucky city that lands it.

The company issued an RFP last year for the new headquarters — dubbed HQ2 —and 238 jurisdictions large and small scrambled to assemble the most lucrative tax breaks and promises of infrastructure improvements to lure those jobs.

A handful of jurisdictions in our region

submitted bids, including Northern Virginia, Richmond, Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Several media outlets and experts have put D.C. and Baltimore on the likely short list of sites to be considered.

Amazon and its CEO Jeff Bezos have sterling records on LGBT equality issues.

In 2012, Bezos and his wife donated $2.5 million to help pass a marriage equality referendum in Washington State.

Last year, HRC presented Bezos with its Equality Award. In his acceptance speech, Bezos said, “We live in a more accepting world than our grandparents. And our grandchildren will live in an even more accepting world – where they’ll be embraced for who they are, how they identify, and who they love.

I’m incredibly optimistic – so many companies, communities, and organizations like HRC are embracing this future and helping to create it.”

But many lawmakers across the country — emboldened by our racist, homophobic, transphobic president — are not embracing a future of LGBT equality. They are working to roll back the progress of the Obama era and, among other things, E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

to enable business owners to turn away gay customers.

Some of those lawmakers are working hard to enshrine their hatred of LGBT people in local and state laws in places that aspire to host HQ2. According to Amazon’s RFP, “The Project requires a compatible cultural and community environment for its long-term success. This includes the presence and support of a diverse population.”

Amazon and Bezos should continue their record of LGBT support by considering LGBT equality issues in the RFP process. In fact, the business community has led the way in combating so-called “religious freedom” laws, including the notorious measure signed by then-Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. Amazon has an opportunity to send a powerful message to lawmakers everywhere that the business leaders of America will not reward anti-LGBT hatred.

Numerous cities in states with abysmal records hostile to their LGBT residents have submitted bids for HQ2, including Austin, Atlanta and Louisville. Amazon should take a hard pass on all of them.

In Georgia, the state Senate overwhelmingly passed a religious freedom bill in 2016 that was ultimately vetoed by a Republican governor only after large companies like Disney pressured him to do so. Georgia lacks statewide LGBT nondiscrimination protections. In Kentucky, Gov. Matt Bevin just last year signed a bill allowing student groups at high schools and public colleges to turn away LGBT people out of religious objections. Texas — along with Alabama and South Dakota — enacted laws in 2017 allowing taxpayer-funded adoption agencies to deny placements in homes based on religious objections, which will result in discrimination against LGBT families.

Rewarding these jurisdictions with Amazon’s 50,000 jobs and $5 billion in capital expenditures would send a message to those lawmakers that they can continue to discriminate against their LGBT constituents with impunity — and maybe even be rewarded for it.

Amazon has a long record of inclusive employment practices, going back to its founding in 1994. By incorporating LGBT rights into its RFP process, it can continue to lead the business community in the right direction on equality issues — and find a new corporate home that is welcoming to all of its employees.

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Rapacity runs rampant amid GOP chaos Despite Republican backstabbing, right-wing mischief continues

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

My favorite Western, the 1970 film “Little Big Man,” has a beautiful scene where the old Lakota chief, who has the gift of being invisible, walks with Dustin Hoffman through a massacre by General Custer, and they emerge unscathed.

I thought of that last week as Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III, the Confederate throwback who has lately defiled the U.S. Department of Justice, calmly persisted in his mission to turn back the clock on social progress amid the insult match between Donald Trump and Steve Bannon, and despite rumors of his own impending dismissal. He enjoys his work too much.

While progressives reached for our

popcorn and watched impeachment commercials, Sessions threatened to enforce federal laws against marijuana in states like California that have legalized its use. President Trump proposed to allow offshore oil drilling in most American waters, disregarding the environmental risk. Interior Secretary Zinke continued his quest to sell off public lands. Education Secretary DeVos continued seeking to undermine public education. Assaults against the rights of women, trans people, and immigrants proceeded apace.

Republicans feed white nationalist resentments while servicing military bloat and big oil at the expense of public safety and health. Along the way, they lie and cheat with abandon. Sessions brays about law and order even as his boss obstructs justice, threatens press freedoms, and violates the Constitution’s foreign emoluments clause. Sessions backs militarized police.

You might not care about this if your own front door is not being knocked down with a battering ram, or your parkland or coastal community or reproductive choices are not harmed by current goings-on in the halls of power. Privilege goes unrecognized by many who have it, because it is often tacit. Privilege is about things you can take for granted that oth-

ers cannot. When I leave my apartment, my white privilege automatically follows me. Being white means I am far less likely to be stopped by police than a black person. When I pull out my wallet or mobile phone, it is not mistaken for a gun.

Trump and his allies do not care about America’s diverse population, but only about their angry base and plutocrats. Traditional norms and restraints are swept aside in homage to greed and in contempt for considerations of the common good.

If you think that a “wave election” is inevitable in November, and that this president who boasts about the size of his nuclear button will be checked by Democrats retaking one or both houses of Congress, you might want to curb your overconfidence. Fifteen months ago, most of us expected the first woman president to be elected. There are many factors in any election result, but to deny that racism and sexism infect our politics is to be willfully blind. Ignorance, fear, and aggression drive us still.

In his second inaugural address, President Obama, after quoting the Declaration of Independence, said, “[H]istory tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they’ve never been self-executing.”

If we match Republican backstabbing with liberal purity tests, the GOP agenda’s un-

popularity will not stop it from being implemented. We will be overrun, and progress that we take for granted will be undone by fanatics who do not care that their standard bearer is unstable and unfit.

The past year’s resurgent attacks on minorities and women reflect a blinkered notion of worth akin to the fiction that only corporate titans generate wealth. These lies and the rapacity they justify must be fought not only for the sake of the direct victims, but to unleash the cultural and commercial vitality without which America cannot compete moving forward. Yielding to the exclusive and supremacist ways of the past will pull us apart. A growing diversity of creators and innovators uphold our best values and prospects. We must defeat the predators and plunderers for all our sakes.

Just as the Constitution is not selfenforcing, our history is not self-preserving. Our collective memory is one of the precious things under threat from our modern-day Visigoths. Memory is power. In a cold season, let us warm and rouse our young ones with the stories of people they never knew who fought for their happiness.

Copyright © 2018 by Richard J. Rosendall. All rights reserved.

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How to talk — and not talk — about PrEP and HIV Revealing an ex’s status at holiday party a no-no

BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based freelance writer. He writes regularly for the Blade.

How many Christmas parties did you attend last season? If you are a gay man in the District, that could be five or more — a weekend.

We are a social people. At one such party at a townhome near Capitol Hill, dozens and dozens of gay men came and went, drifted through rooms with cocktails in hand, exchanged kisses and holiday greetings. I was standing in a circle chatting with some guys, some I knew, others I didn’t. And as one man said his goodbyes and left the party, someone in my little circle turned to us all, leaned in

and said, “we dated for a bit. . .but I honestly couldn’t get over his HIV status.”

I was left gobsmacked to say the least.

I believe my initial response I mumbled under my breath was something akin to,

after all these years, have yet to adopt a healthy way of discussing, positive or negative, HIV status. As Julio mentioned, “it’s not 1984 anymore.” There’s nothing automatic attached to HIV as there once was.

Even if someone isn’t positive, there seems to be a bit of slut-shaming and uneasiness around the use of PrEP.

“what the fuck. . .” Uncool. To talk openly about the health of others is certainly an invasion of their privacy. To talk openly about someone and HIV without their knowledge adds another layer of stigma and shame.

I was left wondering what I should have said and done, other than just standing there blinking. I talked to my friend Julio Fonseca, Program Manager at AIDS United. According to Julio, this sort of situation is sadly not uncommon. Gay men still,

He reminded me that even the federal government has gone on the record to say that undetectable equals untransmittable. He also pointed me to a number of resources on how to talk more effectively about HIV with others. Did you know that the CDC has a whole Start Talking, Stop HIV page that has actual conversation starters that aren’t lame and sterile?

Even if someone isn’t positive, there seems to be a bit of slut-shaming and uneasiness around the use of PrEP. I’ve had

a number of women tell me that the way gay men talk about PrEP and HIV prevention is very similar to the way some talked about “the pill” decades ago, that there’s somehow something shameful in taking responsible steps to safeguard one’s personal health. Some women have recounted hearing, “Oh you’re on the pill, I guess that makes you promiscuous, right?” Sub in PrEP for the pill and I’m sure a number of gay men have heard something similar. (Incidentally, one woman said she responded with, “Yes, I am but at least I’m taking care of myself.”)

As the #MeToo movement has exposed, there are many men, then and now, that have acted out of malice and hurt toward women. Also, there are certainly a lot of men out there that didn’t realize their words and actions were wrong. Did the person know that outing another’s HIV status was wrong? Was he acting out of spite? Maybe not. Frankly he probably doesn’t even remember.

That’s how casual it all was. But going forward, there has got to be a better way of talking about status. Even at a crowded holiday party.

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Century Village for aging politicians Our elder leaders should make way, move to retirement village

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a D.C.-based LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

My coffee group in D.C. meets every morning to debate the political outrages from the previous day. In this age of Trump and the Russians we have lots to talk about.

We also found ourselves talking about why members of Congress and other aging politicians refuse to retire, usually having to be carried off center stage kicking and screaming instead of gracefully making way for the next generation of leaders.

There are currently five members of the Senate over 80 and 18 over 70. Recently Howard Dean, former governor of Vermont, presidential candidate and DNC chair said, “Old people like Bernie Sanders should get out of politics for 2020.” He called for a new generation of leaders.

My coffee group couldn’t agree more so we tossed around ideas about what these aging politicians could do considering so many of them have oversized egos that apparently lead them to conclude they are indispensable. So as not to be accused of ageism full disclosure requires I report many in the coffee group are themselves aging politicians and over 70.

We came up with the concept of a Century Village condominium for aging politicians. Here they could continue to run for office only now it would be for positions on the condo board. Anyone currently serving on a condo board would agree there are enough issues there for robust debate and in some instances could even be considered appropriate penance for what they did to the country. They could challenge each other for leadership positions and control of their surroundings including everything from the golf course to the gym; the beauty parlor to entertainment choices; to running the pharmacy or deciding on how to decorate the lobby. Instead of the age requirement for admission being 55 as it is in the Century Villages in Florida here it could be 70.

Century Villages in Florida are gated communities with round-the-clock security. Having a gated community for aging politicians could protect them from us and us from them and in addition could

eliminate taxpayer-funded Secret Service and congressional protection service requirements some of the would-be residents now enjoy. There are convenient buses providing transportation to local shopping, restaurants and medical facilities. They do have on-site medical buildings along with a pharmacy. Just think of all the fun debates Bernie Sanders, Chuck Grassley and Orrin Hatch could have over how they should be run.

Think about Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, Mitt Romney, and John McCain all moving in and mounting campaigns for president of the condo association. Bill Clinton wouldn’t enter the race as he already was a president. But he would ask each candidate for a commitment to let him use the ballroom for an annual Clinton Foundation benefit.

There would be a board big enough to provide for leadership positions for many of the residents and then dozens of committees they could seek to chair. Sanders’s platform would include a promise his wife would chair the Education Committee because of her experience running a college (didn’t she bankrupt one?).

Biden said his wife would run that committee if he won because she wasn’t actually facing possible indictment and had extensive real teaching experience. John McCain’s platform initially listed his other six residences but was reminded he actually had seven but then his wife paid for most of them so he was excused for not knowing that. Romney again reminded people about his ‘Binders of Women’ and promised he would use them to name committee chairs. Hillary’s platform was the most extensive having detailed plans for each committee and a 20-year budget proposal. Some of the other candidates felt that was overdoing things as they most likely wouldn’t be around then and who really cared about the next generation of owners. She had the support of another owner, Nancy Pelosi.

Nancy felt that it was time for a woman president after having been the highestranking woman politician in American history and being elected to that position for the second time in January 2019.

She believed she knew what the people wanted. She also reminded people of the ‘me too’ movement and said they didn’t want to face the issue of possibly needing to impeach a president shortly after his election. She reminded people Biden was known to be a hugger and then there was Anita Hill; and Sanders, when he was in his early 30s, had written those weird pieces on what he thought women think about during sex.

We imagined Donald Trump hearing about this new condo and putting in a bid

Let BERNIE SANDERS run for president of a condo board in 2020 instead of the United States.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEK KEY

to buy the penthouse. Of course the timing of his move-in would necessarily depend on Robert Mueller and whether he indicts him or whether Congress tried to impeach him. But we could envision a scenario in which he is indicted and then cuts a deal to wear an ankle bracelet and serve time under house arrest living in splendor in the gold gilded penthouse. Trump may have to get around the prohibition of young children living permanently in the community. But like he was he could send his young son to military boarding school or even have him live with Ivanka and Jared if they aren’t in jail. But that could be negotiated with the condo board.

I can imagine some of the deals and negotiation involved to gain someone’s support for their candidacy. Trump could demand Sanders release his tax returns if he wants his vote or instead cut a deal that would have Melania chair the decorating committee. She could then hire former Congressman Aaron Schrock, if he isn’t in jail, based on his experience decorating his congressional office like Downton Abbey. Melania, however, might ask for more of a Versailles motif.

Trump would also likely ask if his young friend Vladimir Putin could reserve an apartment for when he turns 70. This would, of course, generate a debate as to whether you had to be an American citizen, born here, and have to prove it with your birth certificate to be allowed to buy into the building. The board could decide that birth certificates were required of all potential residents. Bernie Sanders sided with Trump on the Putin issue and no one was quite sure why but he also advocated for allowing Jill Stein who will

be 70 by 2020 to make a reservation for a condo. Guess he thought they would make interesting dinner companions. He based his request for Stein on the agreement the board had with Elizabeth Warren, who is now a sprightly 68, allowing her to make a reservation for a unit. Part of her purchase contract was she would be guaranteed to be chair or vice-chair of the consumer affairs committee. Sanders said because of that he wanted Stein’s purchase agreement to include she could chair the recycling committee.

The more we tossed around this idea the more we realized it would make a great reality TV show. We imagined board meetings and the annual condo association meeting would make for great television. The show would get a new influx of characters, and they would be characters, with each new aging politician who moved in. To add interest and keep it current every once in a while one of the next generation of leaders, be they a president or member of Congress, would ask one of the aging politicians, hopefully one who still had all their faculties, to serve in either the cabinet or just come out on the campaign trail for nostalgia’s sake. That person would be the envy of the entire community and naturally be savaged by all the residents until they moved home again.

Maybe Marriott or some other corporation that builds senior communities will like this idea and get moving on it. It was the opinion of some of the millennials in our coffee group it can’t happen soon enough while the aging politicians in the group reminded them experience and wisdom shouldn’t be overlooked or undervalued.

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The cast of ‘Amazing Grace.’ Out actor James Tarrant, 15th from left, says the production got nightly standing ovations during a recent run at the Museum of the Bible.

Photo by Stan Barouh; courtesy Museum of the Bible

How sweet the sound ‘Amazing Grace’ actor says there was no issue being out at Bible museum

By MARIAH COOPER mcooper@washblade.com The Museum of the Bible (400 4th St., S.W.) opened in November and already secured a touring Broadway show for audiences to enjoy. “Amazing Grace” tells the story of John Newton, a slave trader turned abolitionist, who would eventually devote his life to God and penned the lyrics to the iconic hymn, “Amazing Grace.”

Out actor James Tarrant, 25, hails from Brooklyn and has just wrapped an eight-week run at the Museum of the Bible as part of the “Amazing Grace” cast.

He portrays a number of characters in the musical but Mr. Whitley, the music director that female lead Mary Catlett studies under, is his biggest role.

Tarrant spoke with the Washington

Blade about the logistics behind a nonEquity production, his experience being an openly gay man working at the Museum of the Bible and if he thinks the museum has a place in the LGBT community.

WASHINGTON BLADE: How did you get started acting?

JAMES TARRANT: I was in a school show at 4 years old. That was the first time I ever got on stage. I played Saint Nicholas in a Christmas pageant. They had all these saints give an angel these new pairs of shoes and she didn’t like any of them. The only one with a stand-out solo was Saint Nicholas. They had all the boys and girls in school try out for it. They

gave it to me. So that was the first time I really got on stage and every opportunity I’ve had since then I’ve been performing.

BLADE: How did you get involved with “Amazing Grace”? Did you need your actor’s Equity card?

TARRANT: I did not. The whole production is completely non-union. We are working alongside Troika, which is the largest non-union touring company.

When I first auditioned they didn’t set a national tour but they had been in talks about it for a while. I happened to see one of my friends like a post on Facebook about the audition. Brad Watkins, our company manager, put up the audition

notice. I saw it, I read it and I was like, “Oh, I actually might be good for this. Let me submit.” So I submitted. I came down and auditioned. We had three audition days. The initial audition they had the first day of call backs and then they had the second day of call backs. A few weeks later, they offered me the role.

BLADE: Once you got the role, how intense was the rehearsal process?

TARRANT: It was a condensed version of what I think they would do on Broadway. We rehearsed six days a week. We had between eight-10 hour rehearsals. We kept with Equity CONTINUES ON PAGE 40

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Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R D A N I E L F E RG U SO N

DANIEL FERGUSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF FELIX MOO

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com Of course (duh!) there’s a huge sexual component to the gay leather world but like many have said before, it’s a lot more than that.

“Unlike many other social communities in D.C., the people who are part of the leather scene will not judge you based on who you know, where you work or whether you have abs,” says Daniel Ferguson, the current Mr. D.C. Eagle.

“Once you put on some leather, you can go to any leather bar in the world and you will find (friendly people).”

Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend (MAL) is this weekend in Washington and is jam packed with official and unofficial events (a full rundown is on page 29).

Full details are online at leatherweekend.com.

Ferguson emceed at last night’s welcoming party at the Eagle and is gearing up for a huge weekend, his fourth at MAL. He says it will have special significance this year since he won his title in November, an experience he calls “overwhelming.”

Although he won’t be competing this weekend for the Mr. Mid-Atlantic Leather title, he will compete at International Mr. Leather in May and host the Scarlet’s Bake Sale charity event on Feb. 11.

Upon moving to Washington four years ago, Ferguson found friends in the leather and kink scene and also “began to notice I had a dominant disposition in the bedroom.”

The 34-year-old Lancaster, Pa., native hangs out at the Eagle three to five times per month and works by day as a commercial banking attorney.

Ferguson is in a poly relationship with his primary partner, Kris (aka Thrasher) and lives in Columbia Heights. He enjoys lifting weights, having a cigar, collecting leather gear, training boys and collecting vintage credit cards in his free time.

202.747.2077

How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?

I have been out to my parents since age 14, so 20 years now. At the time, I was still active in a religious community and conversations with Christians were some of the hardest.

Who’s your LGBT hero?

Harvey Milk

What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present?

The D.C. Eagle, obviously.

Describe your dream wedding.

Frankly a wedding isn’t something I dream about. I am polyamorous, so I am not sure if I’ll ever choose to be married to one person.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

I believe that male infant circumcision is morally unjustifiable.

What historical outcome would you change?

The country and the world would have been much better off under a Hillary Clinton presidency.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?

I am dating myself, but probably either the O.J. Simpson Bronco chase or murder trial, if you want to consider that a moment.

On what do you insist?

Honest communication.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

Other than promoting my MAL events, I reposted a meme that gay culture is introducing yourself to someone and being told that you have met that person seven times. I can relate to that as a person who remembers (most) faces but forgets names constantly.

If your life were a book, what would the title be?

“A Daddy for all Seasons”

If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

I am enjoying life far too much to change my sexual orientation now.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?

I believe that if there is a higher being out there, he isn’t concerned about how we are leading our lives, so lead your best life for yourself.

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

In this political moment, we need unity to successfully oppose those who would oppress us.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

A number of things that I could probably achieve with great dedication and diligence, but that I would rather have right now.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

That a “Daddy” has to be over 50 and have gray hair. Nonsense. Being a Daddy is entirely about your role as an authoritative and supportive man.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

The new Tom of Finland movie might be it. Every gay man should see it.

What’s the most overrated social custom?

Asking “how are you” when we don’t mean it, which I am guilty of myself.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

Achieving the body of your dreams, because you walk around in it every day and no one can take it away from you.

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

You don’t need to shave all your body hair to be sexy. Also, you should join the wrestling team and lift weights.

Why Washington?

Practical reasons, and I love the people and feel at home here.

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

30 • J A N U A R Y 12, 2018

O U T & A BO U T

MAL events run all weekend in D.C. Contests, exhibitions, dance parties and more on jam-packed schedule Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend runs this weekend Jan. 12-14 with both official and unofficial events all over the District.

For a complete list of official MAL events, visit leatherweekend.com.

Robert Battle, Artistic Director

PROGRAM A Tue., Feb. 6 at 7 p.m.

Fri., Feb. 9 at 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

The Golden Section (Twyla Tharp) Members Don’t Get Weary (Jamar Roberts)* In/Side (Robert Battle; Feb. 9 & 10 only) Revelations (Alvin Ailey)

Masazumi Chaya, Associate Artistic Director

PROGRAM C Thu., Feb. 8 at 7:30 p.m.

Sat., Feb. 10 at 1:30 p.m.

Mass (Robert Battle) Ella Shelter (Jawole Willa Jo Zollar) The Hunt (Robert Battle) Revelations

PROGRAM B Wed., Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m.

Sun., Feb. 11 at 1:30 p.m.

*D.C. premiere Programming subject to change.

Stack-Up (Talley Beatty) Victoria (Gustavo Ramírez Sansano)* Ella (Robert Battle) Revelations

EXPLORE THE ARTS Feb. 10 matinee Free post-performance discussion Feb. 10 at 5:30 p.m.

Free Revelations workshop on the Millennium Stage

FEBRUARY 6–11, 2018 OPERA HOUSE TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG | (202) 467-4600 Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

The Millennium Stage is brought to you by

Michael Jackson Jr., photo by Andrew Eccles

TODAY Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend kicks off at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) with registration at 3 p.m.

The Exhibitor Hall will be open from 4-10 p.m. on the lower level. The opener rubber social is tonight from 7-9 p.m. in Congressional rooms A and B. Mr. International Rubber hosts a rubber meet and greet at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) in Congressional Rooms A and B tonight from 7-9 p.m. Wearing gear is encouraged with rubber preferred. All are welcome.

There will be a cash bar. For more details, visit facebook.com/mlrubb.

Joe Fiore presents Furball D.C. at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) tonight at 10 p.m. Daddy Ersin hosts. Jack Chang and Mike Babbitt will spin tracks all night. There will be a shuttle bus running all night from D.C. Eagle to the Hyatt.

Tickets are $15. For more information, visit facebook.com/joefioreproductions.

The Highwaymen host its Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend Fetish Ball at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) in Ballroom B tonight from 10 p.m.2 a.m. Come dressed in fetish gear. DJ Lemz will play music. There will be a cash bar. Cover is $10 at the door. For more details, visit leatherweekend.com.

Honcho presents a MAL Weekend party at U Street Music Hall (1115 U St., N.W.) tonight from 10 p.m.-4 a.m. Mike Servito, Justin Cudmore, The Bunker NY, d’Adhemar and Clark Price will play music for the night. There will be a full clothes check for $2. Admission is $12 in advance and $20 at the door. For more information, visit ustreetmusichall.com.

The Imperial Court of Washington D.C. hosts Beer Bash/Pup Appreciation Night at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. There will be raffle prizes and Jell-O shots. For more details, visit facebook.com/imperialcourtdc.

SATURDAY, JAN. 13 Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend continues at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) with events like Puppy

Park X, co-hosted with Luna Grove Pack, today from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. in Regency B, C and D. The Exhibitor Hall will be open from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. on the lower level.

La Fantasy hosts Wig Out Party, as part of Leather Weekend, at Living Room D.C. (1008 Vermont Ave., N.W.) today from 1-7 p.m. Leather and wigs are encouraged. DJ Hansell will spin tracks. Tickets are $25.

For more information, visit facebook. com/lafantasyproductions.

Onyx Mid-Atlantic and Dominion Onyx hosts a cocktail party and gear show at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) today from 2-6 p.m. There will be a fetish gear auction benefitting the Community Cares Project and cocktails. There is a suggested donation at the door. For details, visit facebook.com/onyx.midlatlantic.

Pup Indigo and Boy Jason host MAL superhero meet and greet at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) today from 4-6 p.m. Participants are asked to wear their best superhero and villain costumes. For more information, search “MAL 2018: Superheroes and Villains Meet and Greet” on Facebook.

Bears Can Party hosts a leather-clad Bears Can Dance party at the Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) tonight from 9 p.m.-3 a.m. Kristina Kelly will perform. No cover. For more information, visit facebook.com/bearscanparty.

Distrkt C hosts “Distrkt C XXL: Master, Boys and Pigs” featuring music from Barney Philly and Morabito at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. Tickets are $60. For more details, visit distrktc.com.

SUNDAY, JAN. 14 Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend wraps up its last day at the Hyatt Regency (400 New Jersey Ave., N.W.) with brunch from 10 a.m.-noon in Capitol A and B and Congressional A and B. The Mr. MidAtlantic Leather Contest is from 1-4 p.m. in Regency A, B, C and D. The weekend closes out with the Revival Closing Dance Party at 9:30 Club (815 V St., N.W.) tonight from 10 p.m.-4 a.m.

Otter Den hosts Last Chance Tea Dance for MAL Weekend at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) today from 5-10 p.m. Jeffrey Sfire and Strikestone will spin tracks. Gear is welcome.

Coat check available. Cover is $8. For more information, visit facebook.com/otterdendc.

Flash (645 Florida Ave., N.W.) hosts a MAL version of its Flashy Sundays tonight from 10 p.m.-4 a.m. DJ Twin and DJ Sean Morris will play music. There will be an extended bar until 4 a.m. Cover is $20. For more details, visit facebook.com/flashydc.

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J A N U A RY 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 1

EXTENDED TO MARCH 4 DUE TO POPULAR DEMAND!

HAMLET

BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

DIRECTED BY MICHAEL KAHN

FEATURING MICHAEL URIE AS HAMLET

BEGINS TUESDAY

ORDER TODAY! Hamlet is underwritten by the Robert H. Smith Family Foundation.

Additional support provided by Production support for Hamlet is provided in part by Steve and Diane Rudis.

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Photo by Tony Powell

ShakespeareTheatre.org | 202.547.1122

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3 2 • J A NUA RY 1 2 , 2018

CA LE N D A R Conrad Brooks with a screening of “Plan 9 From Outer Space” (the Ed Wood movie in which he appeared) at Smoke and Barrel (2471 18th St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. At 7 p.m. there will be a tribute to Brooks followed by a screening of “Plan 9 From Outer Space” at 8 p.m. There will be drink and food specials. For more details, visit facebook.com/wpfs.org.

The D.C. Center hosts March with the LGBT Community at the MLK Holiday D.C. Parade at Anacostia Park (1900 Anacostia Dr., S.E.) today from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The group will meet at the Anacostia Park entrance at 10 a.m. The parade kicks off at noon and runs from Good Hope Road along MLK Avenue to Barry Farm Recreation Center on Sumner Road. For more information, visit facebook.com/lgbthealthdc.

E-mail calendar items to calendars@washblade. com two weeks prior to your event. Space is limited so priority is given to LGBT-specific events or those with LGBT participants. Recurring events must be re-submitted each time.

TODAY Gamma D.C., a support group for men in mixed-orientation relationships, meets at Luther Place Memorial Church (1226 Vermont Ave., N.W.) today from 7:30-9:30 p.m. The group is for men who are attracted to men but are currently, or were at one point, in relationships with women. Meeting locations are in private residences. For more information about the group and location, visit gammaindc.org.

David Hamilton Events hosts Meat Locker, a gay dance party, at Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.) tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. DJ MoMoney will play music. There will be dancers and drink specials. Advanced tickets are free.

Tickets at the door are $10 before 1 a.m. and $15 after. For more details, visit greenlanterndc.com.

TUESDAY, JAN. 16 The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) hosts its ”FUK!T Packing Party” from 7-9 p.m. tonight. For more details, visit thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.

Queer Women Working Through Trauma, a support group, meets today at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) today from 6-7 p.m. The group helps individuals process trauma by learning therapy techniques and behavioral processing activities such as art, deep breathing, stretching and meditation. For more details, visit thedccenter.org.

SATURDAY, JAN. 13 SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) celebrates the one-year anniversary of its housing program for LGBT youth today from 1-3 p.m. SMYAL staff, volunteers, community leaders and supporters will be in attendance. Donations will be accepted to provide winter care packages to homeless LGBT youth. RSVP is required.

For more information, visit smyal.org.

Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) hosts a dance party featuring DJ Drew G tonight at 10 p.m. Drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. DJ Wess will play music and videos downstairs. Cover is $15 from 10 p.m.midnight and $12 after midnight. For more details, visit towndc.com.

Warner Bros. Television Group and DC Entertainment present “DC in DC,” a convention for TV shows and comic books, at the Newseum (555 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.) on Friday, Jan. 13 and today. “The Pride of DC: the Art of LGBT Inclusion,” a panel discussion featuring out producer Greg Berlanti and out actor Russell Tovey, is today at 2 p.m.

Other events of the weekend include a Wonder Woman panel and a sneak peek screening of upcoming CW show “Black Lighting” which features Thunder, a black lesbian superhero, portrayed by Nafessa Williams. The cast of “Black Lightening” will be in attendance. The events are free but tickets are required. For more information, visit dcindc2018.com.

SUNDAY, JAN. 14 The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts Bluf: D.C. today from 4-9 p.m.

International Bootblacks Boy John Urso

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17 Prime Timers of D.C., a social group for mature gay and bisexual men, meet at Windows above Dupont Italian Kitchen (1637 17th St., N.W.) today at 6:30 p.m.

For more details call George at 301-3950544 or visit primetimersdc.org.

Bookmen D.C., an informal gay men’s literature group, discusses “A History of Gay Literature” by Gregory Woods at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St.., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For more information, visit bookmendc.blogspot. com.

The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social bridge. No partner needed. For more information, call 301-345-1571.

THURSDAY, JAN. 18 PHOTO COURTESY WARNER BROS. TELEVISION

GREG BERLANTI, out producer of ‘Arrow’ and ‘Supergirl’ will be in Washington this weekend for a free event.

and Ryan Garner-Carpenter will make appearances. DJ Barber Streisand will spin tracks.There will be a cigar social and drink specials. For more information, visit dceagle.com.

Split This Rock hosts a youth open mic at Busboys and Poets (4251 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Va.) today at 5 p.m.

Middle school and high school students are invited to attend and share their art.

Admission is $5.

MONDAY, JAN. 15 The Washington Psychotronic Film Society honors late Baltimore actor

The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) hosts its monthly poly discussion group at 7 p.m. People of all different stages are invited to discuss polyamory and other consensual non-monogamous relationships. This event is for new comers, established polyamorous relationships and open to all sexual orientations. For details, visit thedccenter.org.

LGBT members and friends of affirming National City Christian Church will meet tonight at 6 p.m. at Uproar Lounge and Restaurant (639 Florida Ave., N.W.) for a monthly happy hour.

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EX N TE OW ND ED

NS GI 17 BE AN J

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DE A RA NE PA CH W P MO EL LA R ST BO Y B TU BE ND Y R AU S E TI FU

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Family, a funeral, and an uncertain future—a gently comic play about the ties we use to bind ourselves to others.

JOIN THE PACK.

A group of 16-year-old girls turn into warriors on the field.

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 4 • J A N UA RY 1 2 , 2018

O U T & A BO U T

By MARIAH COOPER

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY CHRIS JENNINGS

Pretty Boi Drag celebrates second anniversary Pretty Boi Drag presents #PrettyBoiAnniversary, a celebration of the drag king troupe’s two-year anniversary, at the Bier Baron Tavern (1523 22nd St., N.W.) on Sunday, Jan. 21 from 2-5 p.m.

Guests who attend wearing Pretty Boi swag will be eligible to win Pretty Boi Drag caps and tickets to upcoming shows in 2018.

Doors open at 2 p.m. The party starts at 3 p.m. General admission online tickets are $20. Tickets at the door are $25. Guests must be 21 and older to enter.

For more information, visit facebook.com/prettyboidrag.

PHOTO COURTESY BIRCHMERE

Wainwright touring sonnet album Rufus Wainwright performs at the Birchmere (3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria, Va.) on Saturday, Jan. 20 at 7:30 p.m.

Wainwright will be joined by his sister and fellow singer/songwriter Lucy Wainwright Roche. His ninth album “Take All My Loves: 9 Shakespeare Sonnets” was released last year. Tickets are $89.50.

For more information, visit birchmere.com.

BARE turns 9 with Jan. 20 event

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

March to the Polls is Jan. 20 March to the Polls, the 2018 Women’s March on Washington, kicks off at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool (2 Lincoln Memorial Circle, N.W.) on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

March Forward Virginia organized the march to encourage women and their allies to take on civic and political roles in 2018. The day will begin with a rally featuring several speakers. The march on the White House will follow. Participants are encouraged to donate online to help support the march.

For more details, visit marchdc.com.

The Ladies of LURe celebrate BARE’s ninth anniversary at Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) on Saturday, Jan. 20 from 9 p.m.-3 a.m.

DJ X Names, comprised of “L Word” star Kate Moennig and Camila Grey, lead singer of Uh Huh Her, DJ Citizen Jane and DJ Eletr0x will spin tracks. The DysRucXion Dancers will also perform.

This Free Life will be raffling off a Google Home and tickets to Girls in Wonderland, the Orlando Women’s Festival.

VIP meet-and-greet tickets are $75 and include a meet and greet with Moennig and Grey from 9-10 p.m., one printed glossy photo of DJ X Names, one complimentary Grey Goose cocktail ticket and one ticket to Girls in Wonderland.

General admission tickets are $40 and include drink specials all night.

For more details, visit facebook. com/lurewdc.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A D V I CE

J A N U A R Y 12, 2018 • 35

琀栀攀

Pushing for more?

Steps toward closeness spook skittish girlfriend

conditions than not be with her at all. But now I’m afraid I scared her off.

MICHAEL REPLIES:

MICHAEL RADKOWSKY, Psy.D. is a licensed psychologist who works with gay individuals and couples in D.C. He can be found online at personalgrowthzone.com. All identifying information has been changed for reasons of confidentiality. Have a question? Send it to michaelradkowsky.com

MICHAEL, How can I make my girlfriend Laura feel safer in our relationship?

We have been dating for four years.

For the first few years, I thought we had a close and loving relationship. I proposed on New Year’s Eve, 2015 and at first Laura seemed really excited. But very soon something felt different. She became cooler, had excuses why she couldn’t sleep over, etc. I confronted her about this and she told me that she was scared of getting married and wanted to break the engagement.

I think I understand. Her parents had a really bad marriage and she’s told me how some girls have broken her heart. So I told her I love her and would do my best to never hurt her. I asked her to give me a chance to show her that true and sincere love is a real thing.

While Laura said she was open to this, I started feeling like I was walking on eggshells. And a month or so later in the midst of our planning an engagement party, she dropped out of sight. A few weeks later she texted me and told me that marriage isn’t for her.

I really love Laura. So I told her that I don’t need to get married. I am happy just to spend my life with her. Again, she seemed to calm down and things sort of got back to normal. But a few months later when I suggested we start living together, she again started pulling away, saying she felt trapped and needed space.

This started a back-and-forth pattern where we’d agree on the amount of time we’d spend together but invariably she’d pull back after an initial smooth period.

Last week I again brought up the idea of living together, which I thought was reasonable since we’d been spending four nights a week together. She yelled that I don’t respect her boundaries and stormed out. I haven’t heard from her since.

I have given this a lot of thought and I would rather be with Laura under her

Are you really willing to live like this?

A few nights a week and whenever you move a bit closer, Laura disappears? If so, you could let Laura know that you will honor whatever boundaries she sets and will never again push for anything more.

Maybe she will give you another chance.

But before you make that move, please ask yourself if you want to spend the rest of your life holding back from asking your girlfriend for what you really want.

If you hoped for marriage — sharing a lifelong intimate relationship — why are you willing to settle for a few nights a week?

Are there other times and places in your life where you have put aside what is important to you? If so, how did you learn not to value the things that you most want?

I wonder what might appeal to you about the role of victim or martyr. And while you say that you want an intimate relationship, I wonder if this is actually true, considering your choice of partner.

Let’s say that you really would be content with spending two or three nights a week, tops, with Laura. Given that she has been steadily downgrading the level of closeness she wants to tolerate (first no marriage, then no living together, then fewer sleepovers), how little of a relationship might you eventually wind up with for Laura to feel “safe”?

From your description, Laura doesn’t sound like relationship material at present. Granted, her fear of closeness makes sense: relationships aren’t safe.

People who get close to each other do get hurt by each other and sometimes we get our hearts broken.

But there’s no way around this. No matter how careful you are and how careful the other person is, pain is inevitable at times in all relationships.

So the solution isn’t for you to keep as far away from Laura as she requests, in order that she not feel at risk. For the two of you to actually be in a relationship, Laura, like you, would have to tolerate being vulnerable. And from everything you’ve written, she doesn’t seem interested in working on this. Maybe at some point she will be, maybe not.

But you have some important work to do yourself. If part of you thinks that putting aside your cherished dreams is a pretty miserable way to live, if you’re wondering why you are drawn to ongoing rejection, and if you are realizing that you may be ambivalent about closeness, find a therapist to help you get unstuck.

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36 • J A N U A R Y 12, 2018

THEATER

PHOTO BY JAE YI PHOTOGRAPHY; COURTESY SCENA

OSCAR CEVILLE, left, and JOHN GEOFFRION in ‘Guilt’

Tone shifting Scene’s ‘Guilt’ starts as comedy, grows darker

Photos: Matthew Murphy

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Now thru January 28 | Opera House TICKETS ON SALE NOW! KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG | (202) 467-4600 Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.

For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540.

Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible by

Major support for Musical Theater at the Kennedy Center is provided by

Additional support is provided by Ambassador Elizabeth Frawley Bagley.

Kennedy Center Theater Season Sponsor

Locked away and stripped of his cassock, a disgraced priest languishes in a fetid prison cell at the mercy of sadistic jailers.

And though he believes his transgressions don’t warrant such punishment, he knows things will end badly. And indeed, they do.

Horrifically so.

But this isn’t how Scena Theatre’s world premiere production of Australian playwright John Shand’s “Guilt” begins. It kicks off as broad comedy. Vainglorious Father Grandier (out actor Oscar Ceville) regales the audience with his love for women and desire for a new young lover. Right on cue, grandiose Magistrate DuBrou (Ron Litman) arranges to have his virginal daughter Brigitte (Danielle Davy), a dim, wide-eyed girl dressed in a pink pouf gown, go to Grandier for private music lessons. Soon, cleric and student fall into bed.

After Brigitte turns up pregnant, DuBrou secrets her away to an Ursuline convent under the watchful eye its prioress, Soeur Jeanne, a love-starved, humpbacked nun played with relish by Nanna Ingvarsson.

Jeanne, who is also in love with Grandier, develops a love/hate relationship with her young charge. When Grandier spurns Jeanne’s invitation to become the convent’s confessor, trouble ensues.

With the help of evil cleric Suran (John Geoffrion), DuBrou, Jeanne, and an initially reluctant Brigitte conspire to bring Grandier down. The priest is imprisoned, tried and put to death in the worst way.

Staged by Scena’s venerable artistic director Robert McNamara, the production is energetic and the five-person cast is fully committed to say the least. It’s paced well and Shand’s lyric yet contemporary verse is punctuated by witty gestures and clever elements of staging. Still, scenes are uneven. While some are meticulously

staged and well-acted others are not, including the loud, tiresome exorcism and torture sequences.

Though jarring, “Guilt’s” shift from silly to serious, allows the actors to display range, comedic to dramatic. Characters change from wholly detestable to sympathetic, relationships move from superficial to real, and inner lives are explored in meaningful ways.

Eva Petrič’s emotively lit set is comprised of four folding chairs backed by a large sort of Rubik’s cube covered in black and white silhouettes, some sensuous; and the smart costumes, Petrič again, are whimsical yet give a nod to historical accuracy.

“Guilt” is based on the real-life 1764 trial of Urbain Grandier, the French Catholic priest who was accused of bewitching a convent of nuns in Loudun, France, and was consequently burned at the stake. Like Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” based on the Salem witch trials, Shand’s work explores the tie between sexual and religious rapture, and the historical ways in which witch hunts are used to settle scores and scapegoat groups and individuals. It’s a timely piece.

The lead up to Scena’s production is unique. Nine years ago, Shand left a copy of his script at the stage door of a Sydney theater where famous British actor/playwright Steven Berkoff was performing. Berkoff, who also writes in verse, was impressed and met with Shand. Berkoff suggested Shand approach Scena. Fast forward to 2014. Scena staged a reading of “Guilt” for a series at Woolly Mammoth Theatre called “Rhythm & Rebellion,” and last fall, they again staged a reading for the Kennedy Center’s annual Page-to-Stage Festival. With “Guilt” Scena continues its 30-year mission to bring international theater to Washington.

‘GUILT’ Through Feb. 4 Scena Theatre ATLAS Performing Arts Center 1333 H St. N.E. $25-35 202-339-7993 atlasarts.org

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S P O RTS

J A N U A R Y 12, 2018 • 37

PHOTOS COURTESY THE SUBJECTS

MARK COVINGTON, left, and DEREK JANSANTE.

All-stars spotlight: Stonewall Dodgeball Local player finds career parallels in recreational league

By KEVIN MAJOROS This week in the ongoing All-Star series on the LGBT sports community, we meet two long-time Stonewall Dodgeball players.

Stonewall Dodgeball launched in the spring of 2014 and is currently running multiple seasons of its league at the Washington D.C. Jewish Community Center. Its winter season will kick-off Jan. 21 and this weekend members will field teams at the Sin City Classic in Las Vegas.

Mark Covington didn’t play sports growing up in Winston-Salem, N.C. He says he was a big musical theater nerd all the way through receiving his first degree at Wake Forest University. He moved to D.C. in 2014 and a friend suggested he give dodgeball a try.

“Dodgeball can be a tough space and it takes a lot of courage for a black LGBT man to maneuver through it. Even though I am one of a very few, I have found acceptance and have learned a lot about the community,” Covington says.

“I come from a small town and it feels great to be out and proud in this space. It normalizes everything.”

Covington received his graduate degree from George Washington and is working in mental health counseling.

After four years of playing dodgeball he has found a correlation between his profession and his sport.

“Dodgeball is very fast and it keeps you on your toes. You always have to know where the ball is, and which way people are moving,” Covington says. “I develop awareness with my clients, so it fits in with my work and forces me to be present.”

He is currently working on his Ph.D. at George Washington University and often leans on his fellow players as a source of support.

“I have met a lot of new friends and developed friendships that help me get through life,” Covington says. “I am still learning how to be comfortable in my own skin.”

Derek Jansante had a decision to make when facing his college path. He had an opportunity to play college baseball as a pitcher at a Division III university, but was uncertain that he would be accepted in a rural setting as a gay athlete. Jansante decided instead to attend Stetson University with the hope of being himself.

Growing up in Bentleyville, Pa., Jansante played sports year round including baseball, basketball and golf in high school. While he was at Stetson, he served as student body president and played intramural volleyball, dodgeball and baseball.

He moved to D.C. in 2011 to work with the Victory Fund and joined Stonewall Dodgeball in its first season as a free agent. Along the way he has also played with Stonewall Kickball and the D.C. Gay Flag Football League.

“Throwing hard in a small space is one of the skills I acquired from being a baseball pitcher,” Jansante says. “Playing dodgeball allows me to tap into that skillset.”

Jansante is now working as an academic advisor at American University and wrapped up his graduate work at George Washington University in 2016.

His love for his sport almost interrupted that path.

“I love dodgeball so much, that I almost took a semester off grad school to play,” Jansante says. “There is broad acceptance and an incredible community aspect. My dodgeball teammates are my best friends.”

“

Some think I should dress more like a woman. Some think I should dress more like a man.

I may not fit some ideas about gender, and I am a proud part of DC. Please treat me the same way any person would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect.

Discrimination based on gender identity and expression is illegal in the District of Columbia.

If you think you’ve been the target of discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559.

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A RT S & E N T E RT A I N ME N T

Actor touts ‘inclusive’ space at Bible museum CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

breaks. We got an hour for lunch. We did 10-12 hours in tech week. Now (during the Museum of the Bible run), we’re performing eight shows a week like a normal Broadway show. Tuesday-Sunday, performing twice on Wednesday and Saturday.

Actor JAMES TARRANT is gearing up for a tour of ‘Amazing Grace’ after a run in Washington at the new Museum of the Bible.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TARRANT

BLADE: What’s your religious affiliation?

TARRANT: I grew up Catholic. I now identify as non-denominational Christian.

I believe that people have their own way of worshipping. If they believe that something exists that makes them want to be a better person, there is no wrong way to believe. Whether you believe in God or Jesus, or just goodness overall, that it doesn’t have a person or divine spirit, worship it. I personally believe in Christianity but I love that people are inspired to do better in any faith.

been absolutely nothing but welcoming.

I heard reports before I even went there that they weren’t including a lot of polarizing conservative views, which gave me hope that they were staying away from certain topics that weren’t explicitly spoken of in the Bible. That gave me hope for not being judged in any way.

Since actually working there I have seen nothing but kindness. I don’t pretend that I am anything but a gay man, especially if I’m coming into your space and doing theater. You’ve gotta know there’s at least an 80 percent chance. No one’s ever spoken about (homosexuality) in the Bible. I’ve gone through the exhibits, there’s nothing that’s polarizing in any way. It’s been a tremendous experience.

BLADE: Were you ever concerned about being openly gay and working with the Museum of the Bible?

TARRANT: At first, maybe. They have

BLADE: Do you know if there are any other gay people who work at the museum?

TARRANT: Absolutely. They have staff

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there who are in managerial positions who are. I don’t need to ask them but you definitely can tell. They’re comfortable, they’re happy where they are. They’ve obviously been there from the very beginning. It’s a very inclusive work environment.

BLADE: What are your plans after the musical wraps?

TARRANT: We actually start our national tour. We have a week break and then we start a three-month tour in Connecticut. We perform in 27 states after we open. I’ll be doing that until April and then I will be back in New York City.

BLADE: With all that touring, do you have a boyfriend?

TARRANT: I do not. I am single as a Pringle.

BLADE: What would you say to any LGBT people hesitant to check out

Museum of the Bible?

TARRANT: If what they’re looking for is some history behind the Bible, not necessarily looking to be belabored with the typical conservative view that we see, if they’re looking for an understanding behind the reasoning for devout Christianity and, in fact, all other religions because we all have texts of worship, they should absolutely check it out. I have not experienced any type of discrimination in any way. I have not felt forced to worship in any way but my own. It’s really just a historical look at how Christianity came to be. That’s one of the main things that gives Christianity validity is the historical accuracy of the Bible and how long people have written these things down.

Whether you believe them to be true or not, parables can teach us things. The gospels can teach us things. If you’re not necessarily religious, go for the historical aspect of it. I think they will be pleasantly surprised by how well done and beautiful the museum is.

Photo: Paul de Hueck, courtesy the Leonard Bernstein Office, Inc.

BLADE: What’s been the audience’s reception?

TARRANT: They absolutely love it.

Every night we receive a standing ovation even before we bow. The final song of the show is “Amazing Grace.” We make the audience wait until the end of the show to give them “Amazing Grace.” People cry, a lot of people raise their hands. At the end, after we take the company bow, we sing a reprise of “Amazing Grace” and we don’t tell the audience that they have to sing with us. But they always sing with us. It’s really beautiful to see that this story has moved them and hopefully has planted a seed to take for the rest of their lives to go out and do good. Whether it’s a religious experience or not, it doesn’t have to be.

Being a better person isn’t a religious thing. So seeing John Newton become a better person hopefully inspires them to be better in their own lives.

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It’s Like Retirement, Only Better Ingleside at Rock Creek and Ingleside at King Farm are now expanding your possibilities for engaged retirement living. Creekside at Ingleside at Rock Creek and Gardenside at Ingleside at King Farm, our upcoming additions, represent even more choices for discerning people 62 years of age or better. Both communities offer an exceptional, independent lifestyle with upscale offerings, modern amenities and the security of five-star rated, on-site health services.

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REALESTATE

Adding leather to your home decor From sofas to floor tiles, something for every budget

By VALERIE M. BLAKE It was 1953 when Marlon Brando donned his leather jacket to be photographed astride a motorcycle, looking defiantly at the camera as Johnny Strabler in “The Wild One.” Women (and no doubt, some men) swooned.

Fast forward 50 or so years and we watched Michelle Pfeifer live out several of her nine lives in her body suit and studded face mask as Catwoman in “Batman Returns.”

Shortly thereafter we followed the relationship of Jack and Ennis in “Brokeback Mountain,” complete with cowboy boots, chaps and saddle bags.

And who can forget the ever-popular Village People? Leathers and feathers and hard hats. Oh my!

Now, with the Mid-Atlantic Leather Weekend getting underway, men (and some women) are putting away their holiday decorations and breaking out the chokers, chains and harnesses to get suited up for the festivities.

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will be over. Your use of leather, however, may not be.

If you love the smell and the feel of fine leather, there are plenty of ways to feed your need throughout the year. Here are just a few.

In the living room. Whether you buy an Intervalle Modular version from Roche Bobois, a Le Corbusier style LC3 from Kardiel, or a tufted Chesterfield with nail heads and a vinyl back from Haverty’s, sinking into a new leather sofa should be on your agenda.

A specialty chair can be a nice addition as well. For example, an Eames lounge chair with ottoman is available from Herman Miller or you can get a Cassina LC4 multi-position chaise lounge in leather from Design Within Reach – that’s your reach, not mine. Within my reach is the ever-popular leatherette recliner with matching remote pocket and cup holder from Bob’s Discount Furniture.

Now, I’m not suggesting your décor should be all leather but who am I to judge? A more traditional living room, perhaps with an aubergine velvet Camelback sofa, might feature a 1920s leathertopped coffee or end table. In fact, such a wonderful high-end, round side table with leather top and gilded inlay, attributed to Louis Scalera & Co., can be found on eBay.com. Look for similar accent tables

on auction websites like Everything but the House (ebth.com).

In the dining room. While carving a turkey on a leather-topped table may not be the best idea, you can accent a modern dining table with inexpensive knock-off Jens Risom side chairs from France & Son for only $200 each. With a larger budget, you can get Curran quilted dining chairs in one of six colors from Crate and Barrel. For the do-it-yourselfer with a commercial-grade staple gun, reupholstering your current dining chair seats with your favorite leather or hide is an option.

Accent your table with Tuscan leather placemats from Wayfair.com or a braided, basket weave, faux-leather version from Zazzle.com and don’t forget something underfoot. Woven leather rugs are available from West Elm and your interior designer can order leather and snakeskin floor tiles from Edelman Leather or Keleen Leathers, Inc. In bed, bath and beyond. CB2 has a selection of mid-century style beds in a mix of wood and leather. You can pair your favorite with their swivel base side chair or search through a wide selection of tufted leather headboards and sleigh beds from Overstock.com for something that strikes your fancy.

If you’re looking for something unusual or more creative, Ecodomo, Inc., a fabri-

cator located in Gaithersburg, can clad most anything with hide or with their eco-friendly product, Andeline Recycled Leather Veneer (RLVTM).

Tired of white kitchens already? Start a new trend by using leather panel inserts on cherry Shaker cabinet doors and drawers. Try their Phoenix belt panels on an accent wall. They’re made of – you guessed it – recycled belts.

Would you like leather veneer interior doors in your contemporary condo?

Can do. Interested in leather counters or shelves on your library bookcase? That’s also possible.

You might fall in love with their leather floor tiles and planks, which purportedly have the density of red oak. If that sounds like too delicate an application, consider that they are used in hotel and office lobbies.

Sadly, they are not suitable for wet rooms such as kitchens, baths and laundries.

And if you’re looking for a gift for the man who has everything, Ecodomo even offers a leather toilet seat from their Royal Throne Collection. Just leave a copy of Townsend’s Leatherman’s Handbook in the loo for some light reading as needed.

VALERIE M. BLAKE is a licensed Associate Broker in D.C., Maryland and Virginia and Director of Education & Mentorship at Real Living| At Home. Call or text her at 202-246-8602, email her at Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com, or follow her on Facebook at TheRealst8ofAffairs.

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4 4 • J A NUA RY 1 2 , 2018

W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

Help us find D.C.’s top 20 LGBT singles for the Blade’s Singles Issue on February 9th, then meet them at Town Danceboutique on February 10th.

Nominate yourself or your friends from January 3-15th at

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