Washingtonblade.com, Volume 49, Issue 12, March 23, 2018

ILLUSTRATION BY TIARA Q. SLATER

MARCH 23, 2018 VOLUME 49 ISSUE 12

• AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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LO CA L N E W S

Gay former ANC commissioner found murdered in Beltsville Antonio Barnes discovered unconscious on sidewalk

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Prince George’s County, Md., police are seeking help from the public in their investigation into the death of 27-year-old Antonio Barnes, who was found lying on a sidewalk unconscious near his residence in Beltsville.

In 2014, Barnes, who was gay, won election to a seat on D.C.’s Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6E, which represents the city’s Shaw neighborhood.

He gave up the seat before running for re-election in 2016 when he moved to P.G. County.

“On March 14, 2018 at about 10:30 p.m., patrol officers responded to the 11200 block of Evans Trail for the report of a check on the welfare,” a police statement released on March 15 says. “When they arrived, the officers discovered the victim outside lying on a sidewalk suffering from trauma to the lower body,” the statement says.

ANTONIO BARNES was found unconscious on a Beltsville sidewalk and later died from injuries.

“He was transported to the hospital where he died a short time later.

Detectives are working to identify a suspect(s) and motive in this case,” the statement concludes.

P.G. County police spokesperson Lt. Manuel Rivera told the Washington Blade

on Monday, March 19, that police had no further information to release on the case, including information on whether they have a suspect or a known motive for the murder.

Rivera said P.G. police have a longstanding policy, similar to a D.C. police policy, of not disclosing the sexual orientation of a crime victim unless they have evidence indicating the victim was targeted because of his or her sexual orientation.

Alexander Padro, an ANC 6E commissioner who knew Barnes, said Barnes was “gay and out” to his fellow commissioners and to people who knew him in the neighborhood.

In a statement released during his election campaign for the ANC 6E06 seat, Barnes said he was committed to helping increase community engagement and restore faith in the political process.

“As an ANC member, I will help residents understand how city programs work, try to find ways to help address unemployment, help keep our streets safer and cleaner, make ANC meetings more accessible to all residents, work

with commissioners to make better use of resources, and be fully accessible to all residents,” he said in his statement.

Fox 5 News reported on March 17 that Barnes’ grieving family members said that in addition to his role as an ANC member Barnes worked with the D.C. Board of Elections and was part of the Service Employees International Union.

His sister, Destiny Barnes, told the TV news station that her brother accomplished what most people do in a lifetime after a tough childhood.

“He dealt with fighting and going through gangs and all of that,” she told Fox 5 News. “He learned from that. He fought so hard to change his life and to show everybody that it’s not about your background. You can change yourself,” Fox 5 quoted her as saying.

The family has joined P.G. County police in asking anyone who might have information to help police identify a suspect to call the department’s Homicide Unit at 301-772-4925. The police statement says people who want to remain anonymous can called the police Crime Solvers line at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477).

Norton says ‘religious freedom’ bill could gut D.C. LGBT rights laws Asserts an unnoticed clause in Senate measure targets city

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com

D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) released a statement warning that the latest version of the anti-LGBT First Amendment Defense Act introduced earlier this month by Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) includes language that could “gut” D.C.’s LGBT non-discrimination laws.

Norton said a clause in the reintroduced bill that appears to have been missed by the media and LGBT rights organizations defines D.C.’s local government as a federal government entity for purposes of enforcing the Senate bill, known as FADA. “This bill is the latest outrageous Republican attack on the District, focusing particularly on our LGBT community and the District’s right to selfgovernment,” Norton said. “We will not allow Republicans to discriminate against the LGBT community under the guise of religious liberty,” she said.

“We are especially offended that this bill was rewritten to single out the District,” Norton added. “I intend to see that this discriminatory, anti-home rule bill does not become law.”

At the time Lee introduced the bill on March 8, 21 senators, all Republicans and

no Democrats, signed on as co-sponsors.

The bill states in its introduction that the federal government “shall not take any discriminatory action against a person, wholly or partially on the basis that such person speaks, or acts, in accordance with a sincerely held religious belief or moral conviction that marriage is or should be recognized as a union of one man and one women, or two individuals as recognized under federal law, or that sexual relations outside marriage are improper.”

Attorneys have said the legislation would infringe upon LGBT rights in various ways by curtailing federal non-discrimination protections for LGBT people.

But Norton for the first time has said the newly introduced FADA bill would single out D.C. and its locally passed nondiscrimination laws and policies that protect LGBT people. Norton notes that the law would not interfere in the nondiscrimination laws adopted by states, only federal and D.C. laws and policies.

“When FADA was introduced last Congress, it only applied to the federal government,” she said. “While the FADA sponsors said publicly last Congress that the bill would be rewritten to apply to D.C., this is the first time it in fact does so.”

Norton said Lee “frequently disregards his professed support for local control when it comes to the District.” She noted that in prior Congresses Lee has introduced bills to ban abortions in D.C. after 20 weeks of pregnancy and to gut

‘This bill is the latest outrageous Republican attack on the District, focusing particularly on our LGBT community,’ said Del. ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON.

D.C.’s occupational licensing law.

In a statement released at the time he reintroduced the FADA bill, Lee strongly denied it would target LGBT people.

“Does FADA make it legal for businesses to refuse service to gay people?” he said in a ‘Q&A’ statement. “No. FADA does not alter public accommodations law. Does FADA allow federal bureaucrats to refuse to process benefits and claims made by same-sex couples?” he continued. “No. FADA does not allow federal employees to refuse to process benefits and claims by same-sex couples.”

LGBT rights advocates have disputed those assertions saying, for example, that Lee failed to mention that non-profit organizations funded by the federal government would be allowed to refuse services for LGBT people under the proposed bill.

“Once again, Republicans in Congress who falsely claim to want to limit the reach of the federal government are abusing their power to limit the rights of people in the District of Columbia,” said David Stacy, government affairs director for the Human Rights Campaign.

“Applying the so-called First Amendment Defense Act to D.C. makes a horrible bill even worse,” Stacy said. “The only acceptable outcome is defeating the bill in its entirety. The rights of all LGBTQ people in the United States are not up for negotiation, regardless of where they live,” he said.

A spokesperson for D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the bill. The Blade will update this story when additional information becomes available.

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LO CA L N E W S

CAMP Rehoboth leader Steve Elkins dies at 67 Longtime LGBT rights advocate helped transform Del. beach town into inclusive destination

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Steve Elkins, co-founder and executive director of CAMP Rehoboth, the LGBT community services center in Rehoboth Beach, Del., and a widely recognized advocate for LGBT rights since the 1980s, died March 15 following a battle with lymphoma. He was 67.

Elkins’ passing followed an announcement he made last month in what became his last column in CAMP Rehoboth’s newsletter-magazine, Letters From CAMP Rehoboth, in which he said he was taking a medical leave of absence and that his husband and life partner of 39 years, Murray Archibald, would be serving as the organization’s interim executive director.

“It is no secret that I have been fighting a very aggressive form of lymphoma since last summer,” he wrote as he announced the administrative changes for which he arranged during what he hoped would be his temporary absence.

“For CAMP Rehoboth, I fully expect the year ahead to be a successful one and that there will be much to look forward to in it,” he stated in his column.

“The CAMP Rehoboth family is heartbroken at the passing of our Executive Director and co-founder, Steve Elkins,” the organization stated on its Facebook page Thursday night.

“As he did throughout his life, fighting for the rights of so many in this state, he fought lymphoma with courage and dignity until the very end,” the statement says.

“For over 25 years as its Executive Director, Steve’s leadership and vision has allowed CAMP Rehoboth to become one of the most respected and successful non-profit organizations in Delaware, and has contributed greatly to establishing Rehoboth as a widely recognized community with ‘room for all,’” it says.

In an interview with the Washington Blade in 2015 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of CAMP Rehoboth’s founding, Elkins told of how he first met Archibald in 1978 at the time Elkins was working as an administrator at the White House in Washington during the administration of President Jimmy Carter.

Archibald, who at the time was working for a theater company in Birmingham, Ala., by sheer chance drove to D.C. to help a friend move a large painting to a White House office and met Elkins while undertaking that task, the two recounted.

A short time later, Archibald moved to

STEVE ELKINS (left) shown here with his husband MURRAY ARCHIBALD. WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

D.C. to live with Elkins as the two became a couple.

Elkins remained in his White House position until the end of the Carter administration following Carter’s loss to Ronald Reagan in the 1980 presidential election. He soon began a new job as sales manager at a computer company in New York City, where he and Archibald moved.

That job ended when the company went bankrupt, prompting Elkins and Archibald to move to Rehoboth Beach in 1990, where they had been going for many years prior to that for summer vacations.

Prior to their move there, Elkins and Archibald along with some of their friends sensed the need for an LGBT support and advocacy group in Rehoboth around 1989 and early 1990, the two told the Blade at the time of the group’s 2015 anniversary. It was the late 1980s when the Rehoboth Beach Homeowners Association produced and circulated a bumper sticker that read, “Keep Rehoboth A Family Town,” Elkins recounted.

The slogan, which was quickly perceived to be an anti-LGBT message, came at a time when some of the town’s longtime year-round residents were becoming uncomfortable as Rehoboth’s reputation as a gay resort town and gay destination was becoming more prominent.

“I always said we wanted it to be a family town as well but families come in all sizes, shapes and orientations,” Elkins told the Blade in discussing his and Archibald’s decision to found CAMP Rehoboth.

“We thought everybody was focusing on the negative and we said, “Let’s create a more positive Rehoboth,” Elkins said.

Over the more than two decades, under Elkins’ leadership, the organization

grew in leaps and bounds, purchasing new space and building a community center building in which its numerous community programs are carried out.

Among the programs Elkins ran almost single handedly was an LGBT sensitivity training for Rehoboth police officers and Delaware State Park Police officers.

One of its largest programs, Campsafe, provides HIV prevention related services for people in Rehoboth and surrounding Sussex County.

Elkins’ outspoken and positive demeanor in his role as Rehoboth’s most visible LGBT rights advocate has greatly improved Rehoboth’s LGBT-straight relations, people who know Elkins have said.

“The thing I’ve always said is once we

actually started talking to one another we all realized that we had the same desire – and that’s to have a safe and inclusive community,” Elkins told the Blade in 2015. “And once we started talking about what we had in common we find we have a lot more in common than we have differences,” he said.

“The evolution of Rehoboth Beach from a city where homophobia reared its evil head too frequently to the city that is truly accepting to all is largely the work of Steve Elkins,” said Delaware LGBT rights advocate and former Sussex County Democratic Party Chair Mitch Crane.

Longtime Rehoboth gay activist Peter Schott called Elkins’ passing a “great loss” for Rehoboth and Delaware.

“More than anyone else, Steve Elkins is responsible for transforming Rehoboth Beach to one of the most GLBT-friendly communities in the nation,” Schott said.

“When he arrived there was an antiGLBT community here, but through his persistence and hard work, he turned attitudes around.”

Steve leaves his husband, Archibald, who carries on his work at CAMP. He also leaves his mother, Lucille Elkins, and sister, Judy Buchanan. He leaves nieces and nephews and too many friends to count.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Epworth United Methodist Church, 19285 Rd. 271, Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971 on Monday, April 9 at 11 a.m., where friends may visit beginning at 9:30 a.m.

Flowers are welcome and donations can be made to CAMP Rehoboth, 37 Baltimore Ave., Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971.

Friends can visit Elkins’s Life Memorial page and sign a guestbook at parsellfuneralhomes.com.

Blade reader serves as circus ringmaster One lucky Washington Blade reader realized a lifelong dream last weekend thanks to a contest sponsored by the newspaper.

Rob Kohn, a D.C. resident, won a contest sponsored by the Blade.

The grand prize: to serve as guest ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus.

Kohn donned his ringmaster hat and long red coat before taking the spotlight.

The Big Apple Circus was founded in 1977 as a more intimate alternative to the glitzier American three-ring circus. It stopped in D.C. on March 17 and the evening was specially branded as “Blade Night.”

Blade reader ROB KOHN served as guest ringmaster of the Big Apple Circus last weekend.

PHOTO COURTESY OF KOHN

STAFF REPORTS

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NATIONAL NEWS

Rulings in favor of Title VII protections for LGBT workers on the rise Decisions from Second and Sixth add to opinions from growing number of courts

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com New rulings from federal appeals courts that have found an existing civil rights law against sex discrimination also prohibits anti-LGBT discrimination are shaking up the landscape for protections for LGBT people in the workplace.

In the past month, two circuit courts — the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals and the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals — have determined Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of sex in the workplace, applies to LGBT people.

The Second Circuit found the antigay discrimination is a form of sex discrimination in the case against Altitude Express in New York filed by Donald Zarda, a gay now deceased skydiver. That decision made the Second Circuit one of two circuits where sexual-orientation discrimination is unequivocally prohibited under federal law, complementing a decision from the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year.

The next week, the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals determined Title VII bars anti-trans discrimination in the case against Harris Funeral Homes in Michigan. That decision also found the Religious Freedom Restoration Act doesn’t provide an exemption to employers seeking a religious exemption to discriminate against transgender workers. As a result of the ruling, the Sixth Circuit joins the First, Ninth and Eleventh Circuits in barring anti-trans workplace discrimination without dispute.

Sharita Gruberg, associate director of LGBT research and communications at the Center for American Progress, said the circuit court decisions are “incredibly important” tools against anti-LGBT discrimination.

“Title VII provides strong protections against discrimination in the workplace,” Gruberg said. “If you are an employee in any one of those circuits that have already held that you’re protected, that gives you recourse. Also, there’s a lot of district courts that have also found Title VII prohibits discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation.

So we’re seeing a lot more jurisdictions across the country agreeing with this definition.”

As a result of these court rulings, workplace protections for LGBT people have advanced in measurable ways.

Federal law in the states of the Sixth Circuit — Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee — now unequivocally

bar discrimination against transgender workers. Although each of the states in the Second Circuit — Vermont, Connecticut and New York — already has state a law barring anti-gay discrimination, the ruling enables lesbian, gay and bisexual workers to sue under federal law. That requires a lower threshold of evidence for a successful case than state law because it allows charges when the firings were the result of mixed motivations.

Because each individual plaintiff either faces discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity, courts have interpreted Title VII to apply to LGBT workers in a kind of two-layered approach. No court ruling against anti-gay or anti-trans discrimination explicitly covers the other.

However, the reasoning is often based on the determination that anti-LGBT discrimination is sex-stereotyping, which means a ruling against anti-gay or antitrans discrimination could easily bolster a case of the other kind of discrimination.

The number of circuit courts that have determined Title VII applies to LGBT workers may soon grow. The LGBT legal group Lambda Legal and the St. Louisbased law firm Mathis, Marifian & Richter LTD have brought before the U.S. Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals another lawsuit that could affirm protections in the jurisdiction for lesbian, gay and bisexual workers. The litigation was filed on behalf of Mark Horton, a health care sales specialist whose job offer at Midwest Geriatric Management was rescinded after the employer found out he’s gay.

Last week, 47 businesses, attorneys

general from 15 states and D.C., the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and major LGBT groups were among those that filed friend-ofthe-court briefs before the Eighth Circuit urging the court to rule in favor of Horton and affirm Title VII protections for lesbian, gay and bisexual workers.

Omar Gonzalez-Pagan, staff attorney for Lambda Legal, said in a statement the briefs demonstrate “the nation’s top corporations recognize that discrimination is bad for business.”

“Our economy cannot thrive unless all people are welcome both as employees and customers,” Gonzalez-Pagan said.

“Companies across all industries know that when an employee like Mark can bring their whole selves to work without fear of retaliation, they can focus on their jobs and succeed. Mark was recruited because of his recognized skills, which is what matters – and not his sexual orientation.”

But not every court is in alignment with the idea that Title VII protects LGBT workers. In a case filed by Jameka Evans, who alleged Georgia Regional Hospital fired her as a security guard for being a lesbian, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals last year determined Title VII doesn’t apply to lesbian, gay and bisexual workers because Congress didn’t intend that when it passed the law in 1964. Other circuits have yearsold precedent against protections for LGBT people under Title VII. Moreover, the Trump administration has defied court rulings and reversed federal policy from the Obama years determining laws against sex discrimination apply to transgender

people. On Title VII, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions reversed a memo from former Attorney General Eric Holder assuring transgender workers protections. The Obama administration never explicitly took a position one way or the other on whether Title VII applies to lesbian, gay and bisexual workers, but the Trump administration sent a lawyer to the Second Circuit to argue against interpreting the law in favor of gay people in the Zarda case.

That view of sex discrimination under the Trump administration isn’t limited to Title VII. The Trump administration also rescinded guidance assuring transgender kids access to school restrooms consistent with their gender identity under the Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The Justice Department also backed down from defending in court a rule assuring transgender people’s access to health care, including gender reassignment surgery, based on Section 1557 of Obamacare, which prohibits sex discrimination by medical providers.

Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute, said the idea Title VII applies to LGBT workers is “something of a stretch” based on the intent of Congress in 1964 as well as lawmakers’ inability since that time to pass an explicit law against anti-LGBT discrimination, such as the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. “When this question first came up years ago, several circuit courts of appeals had rejected the idea that by banning sex CONTINUES ON PAGE 17

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LO CA L N E W S

Bowser pledges full city support of March For Our Lives LGBT groups plan feeder marches; student leaders will be main speakers

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Mayor Muriel Bowser, Police Chief Peter Newsham, and gay D.C. Department of Transportation Director Jeff Marootian were among the highlevel city officials that gave assurances at a press conference on Tuesday that the D.C. government is fully prepared to host more than a half million people expected to turn out on Saturday for the March For Our Lives against gun violence.

“We’re going to have thousands of visitors in our city on Saturday and many of these visitors are going to be young people,” Bowser said. “Our number one priority is keeping every person in our city safe,” she said.

“As the young people from Parkland, Fla., have been preparing for March For Our Lives, the District has been preparing to keep our residents and visitors safe,” Bowser told the news conference held at the Walter Washington Convention Center.

In mentioning Parkland, Fla., Bowser was referring to the student survivors of the Feb. 14 shooting at Parkland’s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School that claimed the lives of 17 students and faculty. Several of the school’s students, including junior Emma Gonzalez, who serves as president of the school’s GayStraight Alliance Club, initiated the March For Our Lives.

They and other students from across the country have emerged as the lead organizers of the event, which they say is aimed at drawing attention to the need for stronger laws to regulate guns.

Gonzalez was also among the student organizers that expressed solidarity with students at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Md., which was the scene of a school shooting on Tuesday.

The shooter, a student at the school, was believed to have been shot dead by a school security officer after he shot and wounded two students with a handgun.

“We are here for you, students of Great Mills,” Gonzalez tweeted on Tuesday.

“Together we can stop this from ever happening again.”

The march, which organizers say has evolved into a huge rally, will take place on Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 3rd and 12th Streets, N.W. It’s scheduled to begin at noon on Saturday, March 24, and continue at that location until at least 3 p.m.

John Falcicchio, Bowser’s chief of staff, said student organizers and allied groups working with them on the logistics of the

D.C. Mayor MURIEL BOWSER plans to host a pre-march rally on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Folger Park at 2nd and D Streets, S.E., near the Capitol South Metro station.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

march have arranged for a stage and sound system at 3rd and Pennsylvania Avenue, where there will be speakers and musical entertainment.

He said large video screens and powerful audio speakers will be placed along Pennsylvania Avenue from the site of the stage to 12th Street, enabling people to see and hear those who speak at the rally.

Deena Katz, president of March For Our Lives, an organization that emerged to help with the logistics and financing for the march, told the news conference on Tuesday that no “featured speaker” will be older than 18 years of age.

Katz, one of the adult organizers, is co-founder of a Women’s March chapter in Los Angeles that helped organize the national women’s march on Washington during the weekend of President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January 2017.

Organizers have yet to announce the names of the speakers but they have said that many of them will be students and teenagers, at least one from D.C. Among the LGBT feeder marches expected to take place on Saturday will be a group of LGBT survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., in June 2016. The Pulse survivors are scheduled to lead a contingent of Human Rights Campaign staff members and attendees of an HRC conference from the HRC headquarters at 17th Street and

Rhode Island Ave., N.W. to the rally on Pennsylvania Avenue.

A separate feeder march on Saturday will consist of leaders, members and supporters of the New York-based Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network, which advocates for LGBT youth in the nation’s schools; and the D.C.-based LGBT youth advocacy group SMYAL. SMYAL official Adalphie Johnson said the GLSENSMYAL contingent will assemble at a site about one mile from the march site.

She said those interested in participating should visit a website set up

by GLSEN to obtain the location where participants will first assemble: glsen.org/ marchforourlives.

Bowser said she will host a pre-march rally on Saturday at 9 a.m. in Folger Park at 2nd and D Streets, S.E., near the Capitol South Metro station. Among those expected to attend are some of the mayor’s LGBT staff members and supporters. Chief of Staff Falcicchio said the mayor and rally participants expect to walk together from Folger Park to the site of the March For Our Lives on Pennsylvania Avenue at about 10 a.m.

D.C. Council member Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) has said she will open her office at the John Wilson City Hall Building at 13 ½ Street and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. during the time of the march to provide D.C. residents and guests “a warm space, light refreshments, and access

to public restrooms,” according to her communications director Kelly Whittier.

Whittier said visitors would need to enter the building at a side entrance off D St., N.W. and must have a photo I.D. to be admitted into the building.

Bowser and Police Chief Newsham urged visitors and D.C. residents visit a website created by the city for the event, marchforourlives.dc.gov, which they said will have information on the numerous street closings, public transportation, and unification services for people who get separated from those they came to the march with.

“We are looking forward to these teenagers and everybody that believes that we must do more to have sensible gun regulation in our nation to keep children safe in their schools, in their neighborhoods, and in cities across America,” Bowser said. “We look forward to seeing you at the March For Our Lives.”

HIGHLIGHTS OF SATURDAY’S EVENTS • 9 a.m. Pre-march rally in Folger Park at 2nd and D Streets, S.E. • 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Rally at Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., between 3rd and 12th Streets, N.W. • Video screens and audio speakers: Pennsylvania Avenue from the site of the stage to 12th Street • Refreshments, restroom access: D.C. Council member Mary Cheh’s office at the John Wilson City Hall Building at 13 ½ Street and Pennsylvania Ave., N.W. • Youth interested in marching with SMYAL, visit glsen.org/marchforourlives • Road closures, unification services: marchforourlives.dc.gov

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LO CA L N E W S

Pulse survivors to join ‘March For Our Lives’ ‘Fighting alongside these teens to take our country back’

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com Survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre are among the hundreds of thousands of people who are expected to take part in Saturday’s “March For Our Lives” for gun control in D.C. Brandon Wolf, vice president of the Dru Project, a gun control advocacy group, and José Delgado, who also survived the massacre, are expected to march with a contingent from the Human Rights Campaign.

Wolf was with Christopher “Drew” Leinonen and his partner, Juan Guerrero, when a gunman opened fire inside the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12, 2016.

“Saturday’s march is a celebration of the power and impact of the survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School,” Wolf told the Blade on Wednesday. “It’s a memorial for 17 lives lost on Feb. 14, and it’s an awakening of the American electorate.”

“I am thrilled to be fighting alongside these teens to take our country back from the scourge of gun violence and the gun lobby,” he added.

Leinonen and Guerrero were among the 49 people who were killed in what was then the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Nearly half of the massacre’s victims were LGBT people from Puerto Rico, which Hurricane Maria ravaged on Sept. 20, 2017.

A gunman less than two weeks later killed 58 people and injured more than 500 others when he opened fire during a country music festival in Las Vegas.

Leinonen’s mother, Christine Leinonen, founded the Dru Project in honor of her son. She is expected to lead the HRC contingent that will take part in the “March for Our Lives.”

HRC’s annual Lobby Day and Equality Conference will be taking place this week in D.C. Christine Leinonen, Wolf and Delgado are among those who are scheduled to speak at the events.

The “March For Our Lives” will take place less than five weeks after a gunman killed 17 people inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. A student at Great Mills High School in Great Mills, Md., on Tuesday shot two students before a school resource officer fatally wounded him.

The trial of Noor Salman — the widow of the gunman who opened fire inside the

Pulse nightclub who allegedly helped her husband plan the massacre and misled officials who were investigating it — began last week in a federal courthouse in downtown Orlando that is roughly two miles from the nightclub. Students across the country on March 14 walked out of class to protest gun violence.

Ricardo Negron-Almodovar is the director of Proyecto Somos Orlando, a Hispanic Federation program that provides resources to LGBT Latinos in Central Florida. Negron-Almodovar, who is originally from Puerto Rico, survived the Pulse nightclub massacre when he and a woman ran out of the building.

Negron-Almodovar, who is also planning to take part in the “March For Our Lives,” on Tuesday told the Blade he “had hoped for the adoption of common sense policies and changes — both from the government and from people in general — that would make individuals less inclined toward acquiring and using the type of weapon used in the shooting.”

“Survivors, elected officials and other sectors came together asking, begging for these changes to be enacted,” he noted.

“It didn’t happen.”

Florida Gov. Rick Scott and state Attorney General Pam Bondi faced widespread criticism after the Pulse nightclub massacre over their reluctance to publicly acknowledge its LGBT victims.

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) sparked outrage among LGBT activists when he announced his re-election campaign less than two weeks after the massacre. The Florida Republican in the wake of the Stoneman Douglas massacre has faced renewed criticism over his position on gun control.

Scott on March 9 signed into law a $400 million bill that, among other things, raises the minimum age to buy a gun in Florida from 18 to 21 and bans the sale of bump stocks. The law also creates a program that would allow teachers and other school employees to be armed.

Wolf and other survivors of the Pulse nightclub massacre have met with Stoneman Douglas students who lobbied Florida lawmakers to pass a gun control bill. Equality Florida on March 10 honored Emma González — the openly bisexual president of Stoneman Douglas’ Gay-Straight Alliance who is among the organizers of the “March For Our Lives” — at its annual Miami gala.

The National Rifle Association filed a federal lawsuit against the law that Scott signed the day before Equality Florida honored González.

“After Vegas, Parkland and most recently Maryland, we have to force those

CHRISTINE LEINONEN, mother of Christopher ‘Drew’ Leinonen, one of the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre, speaks at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia in 2016. She is among those who will be taking part in the ‘March For Our Lives’ in D.C. on March 24.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

RICK SCOTT visits a makeshift memorial to the victims of the Pulse nightclub massacre in Orlando, Fla., on June 14, 2016. He faced widespread criticism over his failure to publicly acknowledge the massacre’s LGBT victims.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY KEVIN NAFF

in the position to make decisions to see that the majority of the people they serve want to feel safe and want change now,” Negron-Almodovar told the Blade. “This is why on Saturday we march.”

Wolf echoed this message.

“To be a survivor means to be a warrior,” he told the Blade. “It also means to be part

of a family you never knew you had.”

Wolf added “survivors of tragedies like Pulse and Las Vegas are rallying around the Parkland students because we are family now.”

“Our mission will be to empower them, protect them and amplify their message,” he told the Blade.

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Gun reform would be a ‘miracle’ in this Congress As marchers prepare to protest violence, advocates anticipate midterms

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com A new energy has emerged around gun control efforts amid preparations for the March For Our Lives in Washington, but observers have low expectations for that translating into meaningful action from Congress in the short term.

Mark Glaze, a D.C.-based consultant and co-founder of Guns Down, said the energy instead should be directed toward getting voters to the polls in the mid-term elections to create a more favorable climate in Congress for gun control.

“In the short term, if Congress produces anything, that will be a miracle,” Glaze said. “But the bottom line is for real change to happen, we need to elect a pro-gun safety majority to Congress and the state legislatures. For me, all of this activity has to build to real change in November. That’s the bottom line.”

Gun control advocates have clear demands: They include an expansion of background checks to gun sales online, through private sellers and at gun shows; a ban on semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines; and extreme risk laws that allow individuals to petition courts to bar someone from obtaining firearms if they’re deemed a risk to themselves or others.

Media reports on Wednesday suggested Congress was prepared to enact a modest form of gun control as part of an omnibus spending bill.

According to The Hill newspaper, the package will include the bipartisan Fix NICS Act, which would encourage states to report more frequently to the current criminal database. The omnibus bill is also set to include funds for a House-passed school measure aimed at spotting signs of potential gun violence and enhancing school security.

Chris Brown, co-president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said during a conference call with reporters Wednesday the omnibus measure falls short of any real action on gun reform.

“Candidly, from Brady’s perspective, that does not go far enough,” Brown said. “We have gaps that are material in the background check system. Simply providing money to states and federal agencies to put names into the system that they’re already required to put in, while a step, is a tiny big step forward.”

Citing polls that show 97 percent of Americans favor enhanced background checks, Brown said those people “are

Gun control advocates have low expectations for immediate change but are hoping to elect a pro-safety Congress.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS

looking for closing the gaps in that system.”

“That means closing the private sale loophole that allows people to buy guns without a background check over the internet, and it means closing the gun sale loophole, and it also means making sure that people can’t buy a gun if a background check hasn’t come back in 72 hours, as the shooter did in Charleston,” Brown added.

Asked by the Washington Blade what is possible in the near term as the march takes place, Brown said “meaningful legislation” exists in Congress and is growing in support, but the real focus for the momentum is after the election.

“And if we don’t get that changed, to be clear, from Brady’s perspective, if we do not get that change legislatively now, that will be our absolute priority to help educate and register voters nationwide, and they will vote on this issue, we are confident, if we give them the right information, come November,” Brown said. “So if we don’t get the change away, we will make this a top priority issue in the mid-terms...consistent with what the American people want.”

An estimated 500,000 to 750,000 attendees are expected to descend on Washington for the March For Our Lives.

The emphasis of the march is safety from gun violence in schools in the aftermath of the shooting at a high school in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead. Just this week, another shooting took place at a

high school in Maryland in which two people were wounded and the teenage shooter killed.

The tragedy at Parkland has captured media attention and galvanized the gun reform debate in ways the mass shooting that most directly impacted LGBT people, the 2016 tragedy at Pulse nightclub that killed 49 people and wounded 58 others, hasn’t been able to achieve. Subsequent shootings at a country music concert in Las Vegas with a death tally of 58 and at a church in Sutherland Springs, Texas, that killed 26 also didn’t have the same impact.

Glaze attributes the newfound energy after the Parkland massacre to the “Chinese water torture” of recurring mass shootings that have led the dam to break.

“When you have catastrophic mass shooting after catastrophic mass shooting in a short timeframe, at some point, something snaps and people start to take control of their own safety,” Glaze said. “There have been more than a dozen school shootings just in 2018 and at some point, people just say enough.”

The fact that victims of the Parkland shooting were from a relatively affluent white neighborhood has prompted questions about racial influence on the gun debate.

On Monday, the National LGBTQ Task Force unveiled a report underscoring gun violence primarily affects victims in racial minority communities. The report

calls for policies such as repeal of “Stand Your Ground” laws and challenging police violence through demilitarization, but also criticizes linking gun violence to mental health problems on the basis that it stigmatizes those with mental health issues.

Victoria Rodríguez-Roldán, a senior policy counsel at the Task Force and the lead author of the report, said in a statement the organization wants to focus on “lifting up Black and brown voices in the gun violence debate because they are routinely ignored by policy makers and are at far greater risk by the nation’s current gun policies than white America.”

“Gun violence is an LGBTQ issue, we are more likely than our non-LGBTQ peers to be the target of gun violence — all too often the victims of hate or at the abusive hands of law enforcement,” RodríguezRoldán said.

Glaze acknowledged “a racial component” to the gun debate, which is why he said proponents of gun control should be mindful of having diverse voices in their approach.

“That’s something that we in the movement have worked hard to address,” Glaze said. “The reality of gun violence in America is that most of the gun violence in this country happens everyday in shootings across the country that don’t make the headlines, and it is primarily focused on black and brown communities that need a louder voice.”

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More courts finding Title VII covers LGBT workers CONTINUED FROM PAGE 08

discrimination Congress had also banned sexual orientation discrimination,” Olson said. “The cases back then were clear enough and consistent enough that lawyers regarded the issue as practically settled and so advised their clients. And law runs on precedent.”

Still, Olson conceded “there are also some pretty good arguments in favor of the effort” to interpret Title VII to apply to LGBT workers because “the law as interpreted by courts does change.”

“As we have seen in constitutional law, when narrow interpretations get broadened the world does not necessarily come to an end,” Olson said “And in the past couple of years there has been first a trickle and now a definite movement of federal courts toward a new position that ‘because of sex’ does cover sexual orientation after all. If that’s a stretch, then it’s the kind of stretch we’ve seen many times before, both in Title VII and elsewhere.”

As opposed to just leaving the issue to the judiciary, Gruberg said LGBT advocates should pressure Congress to enact an explicit prohibition on anti-LGBT discrimination because of the uncertainty of the courts and possible reversals from the federal government depending on which administration is in power.

“There’s still parts of the country where it’s an individual worker’s right and whether it’s their right to work free from discrimination because of their sexual orientation or gender identity will be upheld is not clear, and it’s really critical that Congress bring that clarity,” Gruberg said.

The likely vehicle for explicit legislative protections against anti-LGBT discrimination is the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit anti-LGBT discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, credit, jury service, education and federal programs. The chief sponsor of the bill is Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) in the U.S. House and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) in the U.S. Senate.

However, the bill is highly unlikely to move as long as Republicans retain control of Congress. In a 2000 interview with The Advocate, President Trump said he supports the idea of a bill that would add sexual orientation to the Civil Rights Act, but hasn’t addressed the issue since that time, nor whether he’d support adding protections for transgender people to the law. It seems unlikely he would support that now based on the record of his administration.

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the agency charged with enforcing federal employment civil rights law, has determined in recent years Title VII applies to LGBT workers and decided to take up charges of anti-LGBT

discrimination on behalf of workers. The commission found in 2012 Title VII applies to transgender workers in the case of Macy v. Holder and found in 2015 the law applies to lesbian, gay and bisexual workers in the case of Baldwin v. Foxx.

Data on the EEOC’s website indicates the charges and resolutions of anti-LGBT discrimination in the workforce has grown since the findings were made. In fiscal year 2017, the commission obtained 1,762 receipts of anti-LGBT discrimination and resolved 2,016 charges if anti-LGBT discrimination. (A total of 1,373 these FY17 resolutions, however, were dismissed because EEOC found “no reasonable cause” for discrimination and another 304 were dismissed through administrative closures because, for some reason, such as a lack of contact information, EEOC couldn’t move forward with investigation.)

Even though the 11th Circuit in the Evans case has determined Title VII doesn’t apply to lesbian, gay and bisexual workers, the commission continues to interpret the law that way in that jurisdiction.

Christine Nazer, a spokesperson for the EEOC, affirmed the commission continues to apply the law in opposition to anti-gay discrimination in the 11th Circuit because the EEOC works as as independent agency.

“The agency’s position doesn’t change because of a circuit court decision,” Nazer said. “When we take charges of workplace discrimination (in this case, sexual orientation and gender identity charges) from the public, we apply Title VII/sex discrimination. In other words, our administrative process doesn’t charge;

we determine the merit of the charge based on the law and EEOC policy.”

Gruberg said the EEOC has stood apart from other agencies in the Trump administration in continuing to uphold the idea laws against sex discrimination apply to transgender workers because of the nature of the commission.

“Even the conservative commissioners come from this kind of employment law background, and they have a very deep strong understanding of what Title VII entails and what the law says and what the non-discrimination protections includes and have been reviewing these cases and very familiar with it,” Gruberg said.

It’s hard to say when the U.S. Supreme Court will have an opportunity to decide the issue on a nationwide basis and affirm without a doubt Title VII protects either gay or transgender workers from discrimination. The high court declined to take up an opportunity last year to decide the issue in terms of anti-gay discrimination by declining a petition for certiorari in the 11th Circuit case filed by Jameka Evans against Georgia Regional Hospital.

There may be another opportunity if Altitude Express, the company that fired Zarda, filed a petition for certiorari over the Second Circuit. Although the business hasn’t announced one way or another what it will action, that action seems unlikely. An attorney for Attitude Express didn’t respond to a request to comment on whether a petition will be filed.

Another opportunity also may come after the Eighth Circuit decides against Horton, which may well be the case

because the conservative court is stocked George W. Bush appointees. If Horton is the losing party, he could file a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court.

Gruberg said the timing for when the Supreme Court will take up a case on whether gay protections are included under Title VII is “a very good question.”

“I think everyone feels that that’s coming,” Gruberg said. “It’s unclear what that case is going to be, though, so I think it’s probably a question that they’re going to take up soon, but what soon means in the court’s timeline is really unclear right now.”

The prospects are more daunting for a Supreme Court ruling asserting Title VII covers transgender people compared to anti-gay discrimination because the circuit courts have reached a greater consensus anti-trans discrimination is illegal. Transgender advocates are unable to seek review of wins before the Supreme Court because they have to take “yes” for an answer from the circuit courts.

However, a ruling from the Supreme Court for either gay or transgender people on Title VII, Gruberg said, would be significant not only for employment protections, but because it would have implications for other civil rights laws barring sex discrimination.

“It would definitely shift the tide in our favor when we’re trying to interpret what sex discrimination under Title IX means.

That would also weigh really heavily into that, including protections for LGBTQ people, sex discrimination in Section 1557 also,” Gruberg said. “It would be very clear LGBTQ people are protected under that as well.”

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I survived Pulse and am ready to March For Our Lives Parkland students need our help to defeat NRA

By BRANDON WOLF It has been nearly two years since the worst night of my life. On June 12, 2016, a gunman entered Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, just a few yards from the bathroom where I stood, and opened fire. What at first sounded like a music malfunction turned out to be gunshots. Armed with an assault rifle and countless rounds of ammunition, the shooter killed 49 people, including my best friends, Drew Leinonen and Juan Guerrero.

For the past 20 months, I have committed myself to saving this country from gun violence. At first, my involvement felt like a coincidence. I instantly became an unwitting voice for other survivors and victims of mass shootings across America. But as the weeks went on, my voice and message steadied. I railed angrily on a broken political system that would cast aside mass violence as a pop culture phenomenon. I called out lawmakers that leveraged Orlando’s pain to get a leg up on the campaign competition. And I begged

for legislation that would stop these things from happening again. I felt an obligation, a responsibility to keep those 49 Pulse victims from dying in vain. I felt challenged to ensure that Drew’s voice didn’t die on the dance floor with him.

That’s why the news of a shooting in Parkland, Fla., felt like a gut punch. In one

stood with half a dozen of them and tried to think of words of encouragement to share. But I was speechless. How could I possibly have anything to share when, after 18 months of work, I had come up empty? How could I look them in the eyes when I had failed them, just like so many others before me? And just when my si-

What the Pulse shooting taught me is that we are not victims, we are warriors.

instant, all the pain and trauma of Pulse came flooding back and I wondered if I had failed those students. I considered the hours spent fighting for change and wondered if it had all been in vain. I wondered if I had let Drew down once again.

Then a miraculous thing happened: the survivors from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School opened my eyes. The first time I met these students, I was saddled with my sense of failure and regret. I E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

lence turned to discomfort, that incredible group of students locked themselves in a hug around me and told me that things would be alright.

That is why March For Our Lives is so important. And it’s the reason I will be in Washington, D.C. marching alongside the incredible students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas. They have gathered around the people of this country, wrapped in a big group hug, and reminded us that the future is still bright.

In one month, these teenagers have taken on one of the most polarizing issues in our nation’s history, amassed a social media army, and threatened the very existence of the gun lobby that currently cripples our political system. But they cannot win this battle alone. Where I once grappled with grief and regret, I am now filled with hope and determination. When this new community of survivors takes to the streets to demand justice, we must all be there to lift them up, clear their path, and protect them from the pitfalls ahead.

The LGBTQ community has seen more than its share of horror and pain. All too often, we are the targets of violence and hatred. But what the Pulse shooting taught me is that we are not victims, we are warriors. And just like so often before, it is our duty to take to the front lines of progress and fight for the change this country deserves; this time with new allies by our side. See you on March 24 when we March For Our Lives.

BRANDON WOLF is vice president of TheDruProject. Reach him via thedruproject.org.

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Novel, TV show explore queer life of Eleanor Roosevelt Amy Bloom’s ‘White Houses’ being made into mini series

KATHI WOLFE, a writer and poet, is a regular contributor to the Blade.

When I was a teen and coming to terms with my sexuality, I wondered if my aunt, who’d never married, was queer. “How could you think that about her?” asked my Dad after I’d said aloud what I’d been thinking, “Aunt Gerry’s not like that! She’s a sweet, kind lady.”

Until recently, that’s how most of us thought about Eleanor Roosevelt. Why am I bringing up ER? Because in this #MeToo moment, will-it-ever-end Trump era, there’s nothing I’d like more than for

Eleanor to stride onto the White House lawn. And not just ER. If we could go back to the future, I’d love to see Eleanor walking toward Air Force One with her lover and friend Lorena (Hick) Hickok. Roosevelt, a tireless crusader for human rights and the downtrodden, and Hickok, a gutsy newspaperwoman and bold butch dyke who wrote searing stories about the oppressed, would be giving Trump, Paul Ryan, Jeff Sessions and the gang a fiery run for their money.

Bestselling queer writer Amy Bloom in her engaging new novel “White Houses” has brought Roosevelt, Hickok and their relationship vividly back to life. “White Houses” is being developed to be a mini/limited TV series, deadline.com reports. Bloom, who was a National Book Award finalist for “Come to Me,” will adapt the book for the series. Katie Couric is slated to produce and Jane Anderson is set to direct.

In our historic imagination, Roosevelt has largely been seen as a kindly, sexless, hard-working, serious, hetero old aunt (though she and FDR did have six

children). Until the 1990s, Hickok, who was in her day one of only a few female Associated Press reporters, was not only absent, but erased from our imaginings.

Author Sally Quinn told the story of ER and Hick in her non-fiction work “Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair That Shaped a First Lady.” Biographer Blanche Wiesen Cook wrote about ER and Hick’s relationship in her three-volume biography of Eleanor Roosevelt. Though, she didn’t say that their relationship was sexual, Cook described their relationship as being extremely close.

“For this friendship we really do have an extraordinary record: thousands and thousands of pages of a daily correspondence that begins in 1932 and ends with Eleanor Roosevelt’s death,” Cook said in an interview with The New York Times. “When Eleanor Roosevelt says ‘I can’t wait to lie down beside you and hold you in my arms,’ there’s no doubt that this is an ardent and important and very deep erotic relationship.”

Truth may, as it’s often said, be stranger than fiction. Yet, “White Houses,” an historical novel, is often more illuminat-

ing than the non-fiction that’s been written about Roosevelt and Hickok.

The most refreshing thing about “White Houses” is that it’s written in Hickok’s voice. Hick, who grew up in poverty, was abused by her father and sent to work as a maid at 13, provides a working-class perspective on Eleanor and the Depression. When Hickok reports on destitute people for AP and later for the Federal Emergency Relief Administration during the New Deal, she knew first hand what poverty was.

Hick and ER met in 1932 when she was covering Eleanor Roosevelt for AP. After they became lovers, Hick left AP to take the FERA job. Contrary to her saintly image, Roosevelt, Hickok discovered, could be imperious and fun loving in private.

In Eleanor’s Buick, with no Secret Service, they laughed like teens on a Maine vacation. Hick speaks of ER’s “propriety” and of her own “brass knuckles.” Together, they loved each other and worked for justice.

“White Houses” is the love story for our time.

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Rippon lucky to follow in Weir’s footsteps Johnny’s ‘brand’ is a celebration of his weirdness

By NICHOLAS BENTON In the flush and fury of Adam Rippon’s explosive breakout post-Olympics in the last month, it is only inevitable that he would be swiftly elevated by many to near godlike status within the LGBT world.

Such was the case with the commentary in your last week’s edition, “The Case for Adam Rippon as Our Highest Ranking Gay” by Brock Thompson, proposing that he be coronated as the new role model, or poster boy, for the LGBTQ community and the movement.

I have absolutely nothing against Adam.

In fact, I like him, too. Who wouldn’t? I’ve watched him perform for years on the ice, including through the many painful years for him when he had to publicly deny his sexual orientation while sporting long curly locks, a high-pitched voice, some subtle mannerisms and boyish good looks.

Anybody whose gaydar wasn’t completely disabled had to have had some sense of what he had to be going through, and thus celebrate his decision to come roaring out of the closet when he finally did.

We can all affirm, I think, that he became a much happier person and a much better

skater when he did. On top of that, how much better to find that he has a sparkly, spunky personality to go along with his obvious intelligence and powers of verbal articulation, helping him to do very well on the TV talk show circuit thus far.

But is he our cause’s new “champion,” our “highest ranking gay (American male),” as Thompson proposed last week?

Of course, such claims that have fueled the recent media hype around a rumored jealousy thing pitting fellow figure skater Johnny Weir against Adam. This rumor has made it into the tabloids, and while Adam admits there may be truth to it, Johnny has pretty much limited his comments to a gracious tweet congratulating Adam for his recent fame.

Gossips like nothing more than even a faint wisp of a cat fight among high-profile gays, of course, whether or not there’s any substance to it, but for the sake of our community, how can this do any good whatsoever?

As a figure skating fan for years, I recall when Adam turned 18 in November 2008 and Johnny, by then a three-time U.S. champion and Olympian, sent him a birthday greeting. Adam responded with an expression of appreciation and great admiration for what Johnny had accomplished as his role model.

Even in 2008, times were different. Neither Johnny nor, of course, Adam were “out.” Johnny was subject to a lot pressure on the subject but insisted on his right to be himself on his own terms. Still, when Johnny finally came out via his book after his competition in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, it was still years before Adam did.

Since then, Johnny retired from competition, but has carved a remarkable career as an announcer who, teamed with Tara Lipinski, was universally praised for his work covering this winter’s Olympics in South Korea. He was articulate, expert in his reporting, and his edgy fashion statements were just the icing on his cake.

So, without even considering for this argument Jim Parson, Don Lemon or Tony Kushner as our American male “champion,” why is not Johnny a better choice?

I have to think it comes down to one commentator’s taste in “good looks,” frankly, and that is a sad criterion. Adam may be the flavor of the week for a lot of ogling men, but that’s pretty shallow and doesn’t do justice to Adam, himself. As far as being an outspoken critic of Vice President Pence, well, he’s recanted on that, telling one talk show host recently that he meant he was just too busy to meet the Veep at the Olympics, but hopes to meet him sometime soon.

In the final analysis, Adam has “branded” himself as a run-of-the-mill horny gay male, with his temporal good looks triggering temporarily a heated reaction. This kind of brand doesn’t lead. On the contrary, it leaves everyone who isn’t good enough to rise to his level in the dust. And that goes for supposed gay leaders who pass age 50 still obsessed with what hours in the gym every day can do for them.

On the other hand, Johnny Weir’s “brand” has always been a celebration of his, if you will, weirdness. Whether it has been his costumes or saucy demeanor, his red glove, “Camille,” on the ice or other gestures, he’s always had in mind standing on behalf of all children who see themselves as “different,” often saying as much. He leads because he brings everyone with him.

Johnny was the subject of death threats at the 2006 Olympics because that’s how things were then when he was “out there” for us all, all by himself.

Now, he’s a man with an incredibly accomplished career despite the odds, and I can only say if there’s a champion to be crowned, it’s him. Adam should be so lucky to follow in his footsteps down the road.

NICHOLAS BENTON is a resident of Falls Church, Va. Reach him at nfbenton@aol.com.

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Conflict artist in the Oval goes for broke Narcissist Trump doubles down on chaos as midterms loom

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

The chaos president does his best to keep his shiny plates spinning in the air as the wheels come off his White House operation. Last week he went to San Diego to examine different border wall designs like paint samples while he was losing a credibility battle with a porn star.

This pathologically selfish fraudster banks on people letting themselves be riled up without questioning or checking his incessant lies. The nadir of this was Trump boasting of having made up facts in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau. He appears convinced that the brazenness of his lie about a trade deficit with our northern neighbor makes

it true. But sooner or later, reality will bite us in the ass.

Cheekily, voices on the right lecture liberals despite the GOP’s continuing meltdown that rivals a Tchaikovsky overture for drama. Homocon Jamie Kirchick, who (to give due credit) denounced Putin’s anti-gay persecution on Russian TV, advises liberals to be less liberal on immigration.

He pretends that Democrats are controlled by their extreme wing (that would be Republicans); falsely asserts that we all favor eliminating borders (President Obama deported lots of people in addition to launching DACA); and accuses the sanctuary movement of flouting “the rule of law” even as Trump leads the most lawless administration since Nixon’s. But like Congressman-Elect-Apparent Conor Lamb of Pennsylvania, we need not allow opponents’ misdirection to keep us from messaging better in middle America.

I bring up messaging because Democrats are often slammed for lacking a message while being caricatured as leftist extremists. Con artist Trump exploited this with his populist pledge to “drain the swamp” of corrupt elites, only to tap Wall Street billionaires and others who abused their cabinet positions to lavishly redecorate their offices and fly in luxury at taxpayer expense. If demonizing liberals and patronizing teenage

activists succeeds in blinding voters to the GOP’s record of refusing to protect citizens while upwardly redistributing income, then by 2024 we will have a 7-2 anti-choice and anti-gay Supreme Court along with untrammeled greed that puts to shame “The Jungle,” Upton Sinclair’s 1906 novel about working class poverty.

Opportunism and gaping double standards undermine common purpose.

The ruling party panders to Christian supremacists who would subordinate civil government to religious dogma. It treats white opioid addicts with compassion never given to black drug users.

As indictments inch closer to the Oval Office, Trump and his team of sycophants throw everything they can against the wall, hoping something will stick. The impulsive provocateur dispenses with logic.

Obama is at once a super villain and a cipher who faked his grades. Fox News denounced Obama’s willingness to meet with our enemies, yet praises Trump’s plan to meet Kim Jong-un as a masterstroke of statecraft.

I get it: 45’s team can do no wrong, and the other team can do no right. But let’s not pretend that sports-talk boasting reflects true strength. The latter is better revealed by the viral video of a drag Elsa from “Frozen” pushing a Boston police

van out of the snow.

Jeff Sessions claims to have fired Andrew McCabe for lack of candor under questioning. Somewhere Al Franken is laughing. The perfect cynicism at this point would be Trump firing Sessions for violating his recusal from the Russia investigation by firing witness McCabe.

What to do? For starters, we can participate in the political process as our kids are doing. Small acts of decency speak louder than tweetstorms.

Don’t compete with trolls: As Trump was boasting of his latest obstruction of justice in firing McCabe, Hillary Clinton was paying tribute to late Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. Meanwhile, Special Counsel Robert Mueller subpoenaed the Trump Organization. What 45 calls the “Deep State” (which, had it existed, would have safely installed Hillary) is simply civil servants across the ideological spectrum who honor their oaths to defend the Constitution.

To be sure, our puerile president has not only a Twitter account but the nuclear launch codes. As I write, he is two steps away from naming frightening fanatic John Bolton as national security adviser.

In the words of poet Robert Lowell, the ditch is nearer. Keep watch.

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

I N S IDE LGB T W A S HING TON

We must all March For Our Lives this weekend Older generations should stop failing our children and oppose NRA

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

On Saturday, I will join with young people across the nation as they lead the March for Our Lives. I will join with them because they are the future and they are trying to do what I couldn’t. They are working to get our politicians to stand up to the National Rifle Association. I support the young people of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., who lost 17 of their classmates and teachers in just the latest incident of gun violence in our schools.

I will join Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg,

Cameron Kasky, and Ryan Deitsch among so many other brave students who have spoken out and worked to plan this march. Their voices mean something and they must be supported. My generation has clearly failed them in this area.

We have not convinced American voters that we are not opposed to the Second Amendment but simply believe weapons of war do not belong on our streets.

There was one short period of time when a bill passed Congress following a close 52-48 vote in the Senate in 1994 and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton making certain assault weapons and large capacity magazines illegal. But the bill was written to sunset after 10 years, which it did in 2004. Since then, Congress has refused to reauthorize the ban or pass any common sense gun control.

Interestingly several constitutional challenges were filed against provisions of the ban, but all were rejected by courts.

Now, 14 years later, the NRA is stronger than ever. They pour millions of dollars into elections scaring candidates and their own members with lies about what any common sense legislation would mean.

They are the big bully these young people are taking on. During a national student walkout last Wednesday the NRA responded by tweeting a photo of an AR-15. But to their credit these students from Parkland, and those students across the nation who joined with them, are not scared of the NRA. They joined the walk-out in just about every state and every community large and small. Many who did so defied their school administrators who threatened them with repercussions if they walked out. These young people showed us once again with incredible courage what peaceful civil disobedience means.

Another bill passed during Bill Clinton’s presidency and signed by him was the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. It was meant to ensure background checks on purchases of handguns and mandated a five-day waiting period to purchase a gun. The NRA funded lawsuits in many states trying to have the bill declared unconstitutional. Eventually one section of the bill was found to be unconstitutional but the bill remains basically intact. But as we have seen it has so many loopholes that for years we have

known it needed amending but the NRA has successfully fought that and nothing has been done.

There have been countless shootings in schools and public places since that time yet no group that has come together after those shootings has made the impact the students in Parkland appear to be having. It may be their ability to use social media; their clear intellect and ability to speak in public; their understanding of how to use the media; or just their drive and perseverance that could make the difference this time.

We cannot leave them out there alone. I call on everyone in my generation, every millennial and all those in the generations in between to join with the young people of Parkland and step forward on Saturday, March 24. There are currently 808 cities and towns around the world that have announced marches in support of March for Our Lives.

We must stand up to the NRA and the politicians who take their money. If a young high school student, Cameron Kasky, has the guts to stand up on national television and demand Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) stop taking money from the NRA surely we can make our voices heard with his.

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About 250,450 same-sex couples file joint tax returns in 2015, according to a new report from the Brookings Institute. Over the two previous years, the number of samesex filers increased about 40 percent each year from about 131,080 filers in 2013 and 183,280 in 2014.

Changes in marriage laws are the main reason for the spike, researchers said. A 2013 Supreme Court invalidation of a key provision in the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (Windsor v. U.S.) allowed same-sex couples to be treated as married for all federal tax purposes if they were legally married in a state where it was recognized. And in 2015, Obergefell v. Hodges made same-sex marriage the law of the land.

In “Same-sex married tax filers after Windsor and Obergefell,” available for download at brookings.edu, Brookings Senior Fellow Adam Looney, along with Robin Fisher and Geof Gee at the Treasury Department Office of Tax Analysis, examine data from jointly-filed tax returns to provide the first analysis of marriage patterns of same-sex couples in the years immediately following the significant Supreme Court rulings.

In general, overall rates of same-sex filing in 2015 were highest in states that had legalized same-sex marriage prior to 2013 or in 2013. In states that had not legalized same-sex marriage until 2015, rates were relatively lower up to and including the year 2015. The percentage increase in same-sex filing, however, was relatively high in those states.

When compared with different-sex couples filing jointly, the analysis reveals that same-sex joint filers are generally younger, higher income and less likely to claim dependent children.

In 2015, 48 percent of different-sex couples claimed children as dependents, compared with 28 percent of female-female couples and just 7 percent of male-male couples. Same sex joint filers are also more likely to live in metropolitan areas and coastal states than different-sex filers.

The analysis examines where same sex couples live in several different ways: By using geographic areas defined by state, by regional labor markets (“commuting zones”) and in select large five-digit zip codes. Unsurprisingly, there are large differences in the number and

share of same-sex couples filing in different states, with the highest proportion of samesex filers living in coastal states, in certain metropolitan areas, and in states that had legalized same-sex marriage prior to 2013.

For the U.S. as a whole, same-sex filers made up only 0.48 percent of all joint filers in 2015, though the rates varied widely across the country. In D.C., for instance, which had some of the highest shares of male-male filers, samesex couples accounted for approximately 4.2 percent of all married filers. States in the south and Midwest had the smallest shares of samesex filers. In Mississippi and North Dakota, they made up just 0.2 percent of all filers.

In addition to geographic differences, the report also sheds light on pay disparities between same-sex couples and their differentsex peers and how the disparities differ depending on whether a couple is comprised of two men or two women.

To start with, the gap in average annual incomes of male-male couples and femalefemale couples is significant. When comparing the incomes of all joint-filers nationwide aged 25-55 in 2015, female-female couples earn about 68 percent of what male-male couples earn. That’s roughly 10 percentage points greater than the widely cited “pay gap,” that women earn on average 78 cents for every $1 men earn.

What about the gap between same-sex couples and their opposite-sex peers? For 2015 filers nationwide between the ages of 25-55, average household incomes for male same-sex couples was higher than household incomes of opposite-sex couples. Male-male couples earned about $168,233 and differentsex couples earned about $119,803. That’s a gain of about $48,000 for male-male couples.

Meanwhile female-female couples made less than their opposite-sex peers — about $5,000 less. Female-female joint filers earned about $115,094.

But much of this can be explained by the concentration of same-sex couples in higherincome coastal states and metropolitan areas.

When adjusting to account for location, the gap between the incomes of same-sex and different-sex couples shrinks for men, but grows for women. When comparing same-sex couples with different-sex couples in their own neighborhoods, the analysis reveals that while male-male couples still earn, on average, about $15,000 (or 10 percent) more than differentsex couples, female-female couples actually earn about $16,000 (12 percent) less than their different-sex neighbors.

WEDDING PLANNING GUIDE

MAR CH 23, 2018 • 23

Piercing the heteronormative wedding industry From venues targeting same-sex couples to refreshing media portrayals, rainbow nuptials becoming more common

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com While it can still feel a little “token” and sporadic, positive media portrayals of same-sex couples getting married and an increasingly common shift away from heavily heteronormative images and wares from the wedding industry indicate the post-Obergefell era is gaining more traction little by little.

Here are some odds and ends we’ve seen of note in recent months.

VENUES Does a lakeside wedding sound appealing?

If so, check out the Lake House sponsored by Comstock at the Reston Association.

The Lakeside Room on Lake Newport offers access to a deck that can accommodate 50-75 guests. The Lake View Room can accommodate 95 guests in a natural light-filled setting with fireplace. The entire facility can be rented for up to 145 guests. It’s at 11450 Baron Cameron in Reston, Va. Details at reston.org.

The LINE D.C. at the Line Hotel offers 10,000 square feet of event space, a rooftop terrace and ballroom that can accommodate everything from small gatherings to large events for up to 500. Download a wedding brochure at thelinehotel.com/dc/private-events.

Other semi-regional spots billing themselves as welcoming for same-sex weddings include conference services at the University of Delaware (conferences.udel.edu), the Cavalier Hotel in Virginia Beach (4200 Atlantic Ave., Virginia Beach, Va.; cavalierhotel.com) and even the good ‘ole Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda, Md.) which has been targeting same-sex couples in recent months. Find out more at strathmore.org.

MEDIA Thankfully representations of same-sex marriages are penetrating through the nauseating heteronormativity more and more all the time. People Magazine regularly

BIGSTOCK PHOTO; COURTESY OF DOLGACHOV

Vendors, emboldened by changing laws and media portrayals, are no longer shy about going after the gay wedding dollar.

spotlights same-sex celebrity couples in its wedding pages such as when Samira Wiley and Lauren Morelli, who met on the set of “Orange is the New Black,” were wed in March, 2017 in Palm Springs clad in Christian Siriano white.

Washington Post has been equally egalitarian in recent years, regularly spotlighting same-sex couples in its Sunday “on love” series such as in November when it offered a lengthy profile on Elena Delle Donne, a Washington Mystics forward, who wed Amanda Clifton.

If you’re getting married soon and looking for ideas, it’s worth keeping an eye on the mainstream wedding magazines. They, too, are way more inclusive to our needs than they were pre-Obergefell. Brides, for example, recently ran a mini-section on first-hand stories from same-sex couples who’d wed with tips on everything from how to de-hetero your favorite song if it has too many pesky “hes” and “shes,” to overcoming familial disapproval. These kinds of things can be a little tone deaf. Can you really imagine a same-sex couple choosing to dance to Ed Sheeran’s “Thinking Out Loud,” which Details helpfully suggests might be a good choice?

But, alas, it’s nice to see. The ads are almost

comical, though. Included was one from David’s Bridal offering two rail-thin waifs — supposedly a lesbian couple getting hitched — who look about as convincing as the Trump marriage. But hey, it’s still progress.

The closest thing we’ve seen to an authentically queer, semi-regional gay version of this type of thing is the spring, 2017 edition of Q Virginia, a state-wide gay magazine.

Most of its content, which was solid, is online at unitevamag.com under the wedding tab.

SERVICES True Harmony Events bills itself as an “elite group of DJs and wedding planning professionals” breaking the mold. They’ll help you “start your new life with the perfect soundtrack” and have specifically targeted the gay dollar. Details at trueharmonydjs. com/lgbt.html.

Argus Events & Marketing, known for its event planning services for Oscar De La Renta, Carlina Herrera, presidential inaugural evnets and “the most divine of the divine,” has branched into the wedding industry but only for gays. Go figure. Nervous about your wedding?

They promise to be your fairy godmother. Find out more by calling 202-425-6144.

Alex and Ruth (lesbians from affirming local synagogue Bet Mishpachah) at Just Right Ceremonies offer “your ceremony, your way” and specialize in LGBT and interfaith weddings.

Find out more at justrightceremonies.com.

Q Weddings is having is third annual LGBT Wedding Show on Sunday, April 15 from 12:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in Richmond. Details at virginiagayweddings.com.

EXPOS The seventh annual Baltimore LGBTQ Wedding Expo is Sunday, April 22 at the BWI Airport Marriott. Details at rainbowweddingnetwork.com.

Washington Wedding Experience is Sunday, April 15 from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. at the Dulles Expo Center (4320 Chantilly Shopping Center, Chantilly, Va.). It’s $15 to get in and is same-sex inclusive (although not exclusively gay). Details at weddingexperience.com.

There are a ton of these types of events throughout the region in April and May. A good place for starters is weddingwire.com.

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WEDDING PLANNING GUIDE

Bermuda activists rebuke calls to boycott island Law that rescinds marriage to take effect in June

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com LGBT activists in Bermuda have rebuked calls to boycott the British island territory’s tourism industry over a law that rescinds marriage rights for same-sex couples.

Linda Mienzer, a long-time LGBT rights activist in Bermuda, on Tuesday described the calls to the Washington Blade during a telephone interview as “misfounded.” ShariLynn Pringle, who is also an activist in the British island territory, agreed.

“People rely on tourism as their bread and butter and the LGBTQ community needs everyone’s support,” she said.

The Bermuda Parliament late last year approved the Domestic Partnership Act — which allows same-sex couples to enter into domestic partnerships as opposed to get married — late last year. Governor John Rankin on Feb. 7 signed the measure into law in spite of opposition from local activists and their supporters around the world.

Same-sex couples have been able to marry in Bermuda since Charles-Etta Simmons, a judge on the Bermuda Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the issue in May 2017. Bermuda is the first government in the world outside the U.S. to rescind marriage rights to gays and lesbians.

Bermuda will continue to recognize the marriages of same-sex couples that took place before the law is scheduled to go into effect on June 1.

The Bermuda Supreme Court is expected to consider a challenge to it in May. A fund has been launched to support this effort.

Ellen DeGeneres on March 7 on her Twitter page noted Bermuda “just banned marriage equality” and “I guess I’m canceling my trip.

Anyone else?” Suze Orman and GLAAD President Sarah Kate Ellis are among those who also back calls to boycott the British island territory.

Jamison Firestone, an American human rights lawyer, has urged Carnival Corporation and its subsidiaries to stop sailing its ships under the Bermudian flag and its laws. Peter Tatchell, a prominent British LGBT rights activist who is director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation, supports Firestone’s call.

“Not only is Carnival colluding with a homophobic government by continuing to register its 24 ships in Bermuda, it means that same-sex couples can no longer marry

on board, even in international waters,” said Tatchell in a statement he released on March 5. “This is tantamount to direct antiLGBT+ discrimination.”

OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern in an email to her organization’s supporters described the law that Rankin signed as “a step backwards for equality.” Stern also said calls to boycott Bermuda are “a misguided reaction” that is “spearheaded mainly by people in the U.S. and Europe who believe that a tourism boycott will show the Bermudian government that repealing same-sex marriage was a mistake.”

“This campaign stands to hurt rather than help the LGBTIQ community in Bermuda,” she wrote. “This boycott, in line with almost all boycotts that do not start locally, is uninformed and ill-advised. It could increase discrimination against local LGBTIQ people, who may very well be used as scapegoats for any negative impact on tourism and the economy. Not to mention the consequences for LGBTIQ people who themselves work in the tourism industry.”

Mienzer agreed.

“Clearly the persons who have called for it haven’t even bothered to reach out to us on the ground who have to live here every single day,” she told the Blade.

OUTBermuda, a Bermudan LGBT advocacy group, in a statement the Bermuda Tourism Association provided to the Blade on Monday notes same-sex couples have adoption and immigration rights in the territory. OutBermuda also notes Bermuda’s nondiscrimination law includes sexual orientation.

“We are encouraged by expressions of support both locally and internationally for Bermuda’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and queer people, and extend our tremendous gratitude on behalf of the community here,” reads the statement. “Marriage equality is a goal, but it is not the only goal. We encourage our allies to reach out as we continue to promote and support the well-being, health, dignity, security, safety and protection of the LGBTQ community in Bermuda.”

The Bermuda Tourism Authority on its website notes 692,947 people visited Bermuda in 2017 and spent $431 million while they were in the British island territory.

Statistics from the Bermuda Tourism Authority also indicate 84 percent of the 418,049 people who arrived by cruise ship and 74 percent of the 269,576 people who arrived by air last year were from the U.S. ■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Revelers gather at last year’s Awesome Con in Washington. Attendance has spiked in recent years. About 70,000 attended in 2017.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

All pros, no Cons Awesome Con returns next weekend packed with queer content

By MARIAH COOPER mcooper@washblade.com

Geek culture fans usually flock to conventions in New York City or San Diego to see their favorite stars and connect with fellow nerd enthusiasts. However, as fan conventions have become a pop culture phenomenon, D.C. has slowly been gaining steam as a convention hotspot.

Awesome Con returns to the Walter E. Washington Convention Center (801 Mt Vernon Pl., N.W.) for its fifth consecutive year on Friday, March 30-Sunday, April 1. For three days, people can indulge in nerdy pleasures featuring hours of celebrity guests, exhibits, panels and connecting with fans of “Star Wars,” “Smallville,” “Guardians of the Galaxy”

and more.

Awesome Con founder Ben Penrod, a self-proclaimed “big nerd,” never expected his passion project to become the largest geek event in the D.C. area.

Penrod grew up in Annapolis, Md., with a love for comic books and superheroes that eventually grew into buying and selling comic books on eBay in the late ‘90s to make extra cash for more comic books. In 2009, Penrod went full-time selling comic books and began to travel to conventions across the country. He continued on to found Annapolis ComicCon and Southern Maryland Comic-Con with Third Eye Comics founder Steve

Anderson before Penrod decided to branch into Washington.

“People think of D.C. and they don’t immediately think of fans of comic books and pop culture,” Penrod says. “But the people that you would think of as a typical D.C. resident, like an attorney or a lobbyist or a federal employee or somebody in the military, I think that the representation of science fiction, superhero and comic book fans among those people is so high that Washington, D.C., is one of the best nerd communities in the entire country.”

The first Awesome Con kicked off in 2013 at the Convention Center with an attendance of 7,000 people. The event

gained attention throughout the region and Awesome Con 2017 saw a spike in attendance with 70,000 guests.

Over the years, fans were invited to see their favorite celebrities in person for autographs, photo-ops and panels. In the past, the guest list has welcomed stars from hit shows such as “Doctor Who, “Star Trek” and “The Walking Dead.” This year, the lineup includes “Star Wars” breakout star John Boyega, Stephen Amell and out actor John Barrowman from CW series “Arrow” and the “Guardians of the Galaxy” cast including Dave Bautista, Pom Klementieff, CONTINUES ON PAGE 41

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R T O P H E R H O F F MA N N

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

I’ve been out for 11 years. The first person I came out to was when I was 15 in 10th grade algebra class. My parents were the hardest to tell. They hadn’t met a gay person (that they knew of) before me. I’m proud of them for how they’ve educated themselves and today they’re advocates.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com Topher Hoffmann moved to Washington about two weeks prior to the Pulse nightclub shooting in June 2016. He saw a Facebook event page for an anti-gun gay group forming and showed up.

“I didn’t have a queer support network yet and needed to channel my grief in a healthy way,” says the 27-year-old Buffalo, N.Y., native.

Gays Against Guns (GAG) is a national organization that “names, shames and blames the gun lobby, violence profiteers and their GOP benefactors on Capitol Hill. The GAG-D.C. chapter, a volunteer group that has a 15-member core and 100 on its e-mail list, “leverages its proximity to the national political scene by taking political theater, direct action tactics to the grounds of the Capitol.”

On Saturday, March 31, the second annual GAG Ball is from 6-10 p.m. at the Living Room D.C. (1008 Vermont Ave., N.W.), a tea dance that celebrates the intersectionality of queer life and the anti-gun movement. Tickets are $17.89 on Eventbrite (the ball also has its own Facebook page) and all proceeds go to expanding GAG-D.C.’s efforts including “calling attention to the gun lobby apparatus and the (National Rifle Association’s) stranglehold on our democracy.”

Hoffmann supports what he calls “sensible” gun reform. He’s not opposed to gun ownership but says semiautomatic rifles and other weapons designed for the military need to be banned.

“Gun violence prevention is important to me because it’s a public health crisis,” Hoffmann says. “I believe addressing it opens the door to other salient issues including money-over-morals attitudes, police brutality and excessive militarism, toxic masculinity, racism, misogyny, homophobia and transphobia.”

Hoffmann works as a public health research analyst and came to Washington for work after several years in Pittsburgh.

He’s single and lives in Mt. Pleasant. He enjoys reading, exercise and video games in his free time.

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Who’s your LGBT hero?

Historical figures: Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, James Baldwin, Oscar Wilde, Alan Turing. Also: Edward Sotomayor Jr., Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, Josh McGill, and all of the heroes of Pulse (RIP). Living inspirations include Danica Roem, Brian Sims, Jonathan van Ness and Alaska Thunderfuck.

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

Trade and Uproar.

Describe your dream wedding.

Something laid back and not a big deal and intimate. Like a day brunch at a distillery or museum with smart, casual attire and an after-party at a friend’s house or local bar.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Overturning Citizens United, reforming the justice system, fighting white supremacy and promoting civic engagement and voter turnout.

What historical outcome would you change?

The 2016 presidential election comes to mind.

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

Christina Aguilera showed gays unapologetically kissing in her 2002 music video for “Beautiful” — and with tongue! I was in middle school at the time and only I knew I was gay back then, so that was a big pop culture moment to me.

On what do you insist?

Open, straightforward and honest communication.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

I posted a picture of an unbothered pug wearing sunglasses, a bow tie, giving the peace sign and holding a glass of Champagne.

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

“Walk with a Purpose (and other tips for

pretending like you know what you’re doing)” If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

I would welcome all of the formerly straight people to our community.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?

I’m not affiliated with any man-made religious institution, but the human spirit is undeniable. I believe all living beings and the universe are connected in a spiritual sense.

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

An attack on any of us is an attack on all of us, but a victory for some of us is not necessarily a victory for all of us. Don’t leave queer people of color behind. Don’t leave out trans and gender non-conforming people. Use your unique position in society as an LGBT person to transform, heal and build a future with less oppression.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

My family and friends.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

Gay and bisexual men have this selfstereotype that we’re all shallow, status obsessed and only interested in sex. If that’s how you think of the community then yes, that’s all you’ll see, which will reinforce that image; it’s like a negative feedback loop.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

“Shortbus.” Just thinking of that scene with the three-way and “The StarSpangled Banner” makes me laugh to this day and it’s been years since I first saw it.

What’s the most overrated social custom?

Wearing deodorant and antiperspirant constantly. Let those pits breathe.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

None

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

Being queer connects you to a global community and gives you magical responsibilities. Don’t let anyone make you forget that.

Why Washington?

Washingtonians want to make the world a better place and we care about civic engagement and building community.

Some are turned off by how much we talk about work, but that’s a testament to how much we care about what we do.

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O U T & A BO U T

By MARIAH COOPER

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Time to SMYAL for Spring D.C. Progressive Dinner presents SMYAL for Spring, a fundraiser for LGBT youth in D.C., at Trade (1410 14th St., N.W.) on Saturday, March 31 from noon-3 p.m.

There will be drink specials, music from DJ Khelan Bhatia and raffle prizes including bar happy hour packages and cash.

Tickets are $25 in advance online and $30 at the door. Guests must be 21 and over.

For more information, visit facebook.com/smyal.

PHOTO COURTESY TRANSFORMER

Transformer presents Queer Tropics exhibit Transformer (1404 P St., N.W.) presents Queer Tropics, a group exhibit that’s on display now through April 21.

Queer Tropics showcases artwork that explores the tropics as a landscape and abstract idea. Featured artists include Ash Arder, Kerry Downey, Madeline Gallucci, Victoria Martinez, Joiri Minaya (who’s piece ‘Container’ is shown here), Carlos Motta, Pacifico Silano and Adrienne Elise Tarver. The exhibit was first displayed at Pelican Bomb Gallery X in New Orleans.

For more information, visit transformerdc.org.

Queer student filmmakers’ work to be screened

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

More Mega networking The Capital Area Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce hosts its 10th annual Mega Networking event at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) on Wednesday, April 4 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.

The event will bring together thousands of professionals from LGBT and allied non-profit partnerships. Admission is free.

Registration is recommended for expedited entry, a pre-printed name badge and additional benefits.

For more details, visit business.caglcc.org/events.

Reel Affirmations presents Q-Mason, a screening of George Mason University student films telling LGBT stories, at Human Rights Campaign (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) on Friday, March 30 from 7-9 p.m.

The short films in the program will include “Visual Scar” by Sami Ahmed (seen here), an experimental film about a man’s feelings after a breakup; “Disregarded” by Edwin Hernandez, a film about a college freshman debating coming out of the closet and more. Rayceen Pendarvis hosts the screening. General admission tickets are $12. VIP tickets are $25 and include one complimentary cocktail, beer or wine and movie candy or popcorn.

For more details, visit thedccenter.org/

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S P O RTI N ’ I N DC

M A R C H 23, 2018 • 33

100 YEARS PHOTO COURTES EWBC

Players in the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference represent an unusually diverse range of ages and backgrounds.

Batter up, ma’am!

Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference offers ageless field fun

By KEVIN MAJOROS Just two weeks ago, Major League Baseball sent out a tweet saying, “Baseball is for everyone,” in response to a young girl who worried the sport was only for boys.

According to the nonprofit, Baseball for All, roughly 100,000 girls play youth baseball each year, but only about 1,000 play high school baseball. Most girls end up switching over to slow pitch and fast pitch softball.

Locally, the Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference has been providing opportunities for women and girls to play baseball for about 20 years. The league features four teams — Montgomery County BarnCats, Baltimore Blues, Virginia Flames and Virginia Fury. Their season runs May to August and they also field a travel team, D.C. Thunder, for tournament play.

Most of the players range in age from 25-40 years-old. There are no age restrictions though, so the actual age span is 13-73.

“There is a lot of recruiting involved to maintain the four teams that will play 12 games,” says Jackie Greco, league president. “This league is a unique situation with such a wide array of ages coached by the same coaches. Anyone who wants to feel the camaraderie of a team will fit in here.”

Greco offers a sampling of the players who have found their place in the league.

One woman was a lifelong Baltimore Orioles fan, never played sports and joined at age 60. Two years later she has found

her happy place out on the field and just attended her first Orioles Dream Week.

Another woman grew up playing softball and looked up to her brother who had a successful baseball career.

She always wanted to play baseball and finally fulfilled that by joining Eastern Women’s Baseball Conference “It’s true that our players come from anywhere and everywhere to start in the league,” Greco says. “We want everyone to give baseball a try.”

Greco is in her fourth season with the league. She had played slow pitch softball in St Louis four days a week before moving to the area. She began umpiring locally in high school softball and was recruited to the league.

“I went to a practice, threw one ball and was hooked from the start. I was missing that competitive flair,” Greco says. “Once I joined the tournament team and saw there were other lesbians, I knew it was totally OK for me to be myself.”

The league has its share of LGBT players, but they don’t market it that way in an effort to draw anyone in that might want to play the sport.

The players will begin their preseason training soon and can often be found at batting cages in the area until the weather lets up. On Memorial Day weekend, they will host six to 10 travel teams at the Diamond Classic in Purcellville, Va. They also travel to other tournaments including a stop in Rockford, Ill., in the revamped Rockford Peaches stadium which is now home to the Rockford Starfires. One of their other stops is in historic Dodgertown in Vero Beach.

“A lot of people assume they aren’t athletic enough to play baseball, but it is a slower game,” Greco says. “By playing, you not only learn about the sport, but also about yourself.”

OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE

FREE CONCERTS! Monday, Apr. 16 at 7:30 p.m.

The U.S. Air Force Concert Band & The Central Band of the Royal Air Force

D.A.R. Constitution Hall Washington, D.C.

Wednesday, Apr. 18 at 7:30 p.m.

The Airmen of Note & The Royal Air Force Squadronaires

The Music Center at Strathmore North Bethesda, MD

FREE! Tickets Required.

For ticket info, please visit our website:

www.usafband.af.mil

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CA LE N D A R come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

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.

TUESDAY, MARCH 27 TODAY

Author and former pastor Rob Bell brings his “Holy Shift Tour” to the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Irish writer Peter Rollins will also make an appearance. Tickets range from $35-60. For more details, visit thelincolndc.com.

Team D.C. presents Night Out at the Wizards vs. the San Antonio Spurs at Capital One Arena (601 F St., N.W.) tonight from 7-11 p.m. Tickets range from $37-44 and include a free T-shirt and admission to the pre-game party at the Greene Turtle. For more information, visit teamdc.org.

Queer Women Working Through Trauma, a support group, meets this evening at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) 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.

The Anthem (901 Wharf St., S.W.) hosts Stay Amped, a concert to end gun violence, tonight at 7:30 p.m. Fall Out Boy, G-Eazy, Bebe Rexha and Lizzo will perform. Tickets range from $50-175. For more details, visit theanthemdc.com.

Gamma D.C., a support group for men in mixed-orientation relationships, meets at Luther Place Memorial Church (1226 Vermont Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7:309:30 p.m. The group is for men who are attracted to men but are currently, or were at one point, in relationships with women.

For more information, visit gammaindc.org.

The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) presents Redemption, a new gay dance party, tonight from 9 p.m.-3 a.m. DJ Ryan Doubleyou will play music. Admission is $5. For more details, visit dceagle.com.

Women in Their 20s and 30s, a social discussion group for LBT and all women interested in women, meets today at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) from 8-9:30 p.m. All welcome to join. For details, visit thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28

SATURDAY, MARCH 24 March For Our Lives, a march to end gun violence, kicks off today at noon on Pennsylvania Avenue between 3rd and 12th Streets N.W. For more information, visit marchforourlives.com.

Code Red hosts its annual fundraiser to support the fight against HIV/AIDS at Stanton & Greene (319 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.) tonight from 7 p.m.-2 a.m.

Drag show starts at 7 p.m. DJ Kudjo will spin tracks until 10 p.m. The main event kicks off at 10 p.m. with music from DJ Suspence. There will be a gear auction, Best in Red contest, giveaways and more.

All proceeds will benefit HIPS. Tickets for the drag show are $15 and tickets for the main event are $15. Tickets for both the drag show and main event are $25.

For more information, search “Code Red fundraiser” on Facebook.

CTRL celebrates its sixth anniversary with a birthday party at Town (2009 8th St., N.W.) tonight from 11:15 p.m.-3 a.m.

DJ Jeff Prior, DJ Adam Koussari-Amin and DJ Devon Trotter will spin a mix of electropop, disco, house, hip-hop and more.

Doors open at 10 p.m. Drag show starts at 10:30 p.m. Cover is $15 from 10 p.m.midnight and $12 after midnight. For more details, visit towndc.com.

Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) presents Rumba Latina, a gay dance party, tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. The party will be a tribute to legendary singer Selena. DJ Madscience, DJ Jesse Jackson and DJ EZ EZ Amaya will spin tracks. The Latin Divas Del

IMAGE COURTESY TOUCHSTONE

‘Marie Antoinette,’ a work by Meg Schaap, is on display now at Touchstone Gallery.

DMV will also perform a tribute to Selena.

Drink specials run all night. Cover is $10.

For more information, visit cobaltdc.com.

SUNDAY, MARCH 25 Jewish Voice for Peace hosts its fourth annual Interfaith Seder at Calvary Baptist Church (755 8th St., N.W.) this evening from 5-8 p.m. Rabbi Joseph Berman will preside over the Seder. Special guest Imam Ali Siddiqui from Interfaith Action for Human Rights will speak. The Seder will include a vegetarian, flourfree potluck dinner. Guests are asked to bring a vegetarian dish, dessert or beverage to share. Baked goods made with flour and bread will not be accepted.

There is a suggested donation of $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Everyone is welcome. Reservations are required.

For more details, visit jvpseder2018. brownpapertickets.com.

Queer Girl Move Night presents a

screening of four episodes of “The L Word” at Slash Run (201 Upshur St., N.W.) today at 6 p.m. The screening will be showed with captions. All ages welcome.

Admission is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/queergrrrlmovienight.

Touchstone Gallery (901 New York Ave., N.W.) hosts an artist talk today from 1-3 p.m. Exhibits currently on display are “The Long and Short of It,” a presentation focused on shape presented by Touchstone artists, “She Runs Wild” by Makda Kibour, a colorful series featuring Kibour’s emotional journey on canvas and “Marie Antoinette” by Meg Schaap, a portrait of the French queen. For more information, visit touchstonegallery.com.

MONDAY, MARCH 26 The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W..) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT community. Older LGBT adults can

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.) this evening at 6:30 p.m. For details, call George at 301-3950544 or visit primetimersdc.org.

The Lambda Bridge Club meets at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. No reservations required and newcomers welcome. If you need a partner, call 703-407-6540.

THURSDAY, MARCH 29 Go Gay D.C. hosts its LGBT community social at the Station Kitchen & Cocktails lounge in the Embassy Row Hotel (2015 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7-9 p.m. There will be a free door prize raffle and a cash bar. Dress code is casual attire. Admission is free. All are welcome.

For more information, visit facebook. com/gogaydc.

The Trans Specific Podcast and OutWrite present a live podcast recording at Ten Tigers Parlour (3813 Georgia Ave., N.W.) tonight from 7-10 p.m. Joanna Cifredo and Rebecca King, co-hosts of the podcast, will be joined by special guests from the transgender community.

Admission is free but donations will be accepted at the door. For more details, visit facebook.com/transpecific.

A community happy hour social for LGBT residents in the area, will be held tonight from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Station Kitchen lounge at Embassy Row Hotel (2015 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.). There is no cover. Details at gogaydc.org.

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O U T &A B O UT

M A R C H 23, 2018 • 35

Educated at Brown, Harvard, and Johns Hopkins Washingtonian Magazine Top Doc US News & World Report Top 1% of Doctors in USA PHOTO COURTESY HOT BITS

Model LUZIFER PRIEST in a photo by Evie Snax that’s part of the Hot Bits queer erotic festival next weekend in Baltimore.

Dual Board Certified: Facial Plastic Surgery Body Plastic Surgery

Queer Queens and Hot Bits Poppy and her ladies serve up laughs; Baltimore gets raunchy

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com Sometimes there’s just too much worthy stuff happening to fit into our usual calendars or Out & About page.

Here are two upcoming LGBT Baltimore events you may want to check out.

On Sunday, March 25, the Queer Queens of Qomedy play Magooby’s Joke House (9603 Deerco Rd., Timonium, Md.) at 5 p.m.

Gloria Bigelow (“Last Comic Standing,” OWN’s “Wanda Sykes Presents Herlarious”), Poppy Champlin (producer and host who has been on Showtime, HBO and more) and Michele Durante, a veteran of New York’s top comedy clubs, trade off doing mini-sets. It will mark the first time Bigelow is playing Baltimore since she lived there around the year 2000.

“I think any show that has three women on it is a political statement,” the Rhode Island-based Champlin says. “We don’t need a man to have a sell-out comedy show. Women are funny and appreciate women’s humor.”

Tickets are $25.

VIP tickets are $40. Details are online at queerqueensofqomedy.com.

Next weekend Hot Bits, a queer erotic short film and arts festival that celebrates queer and transgender people of color,

will be held in Baltimore.

“This festival is part of rewriting the alienating categories defined by the mainstream commercial porn and sex industries of who and what are desirable and what desire looks and feels like,” organizers said in a release. “We believe erotic art holds the potential for uncovering the sexual self-determination necessary for fully liberated connection and healing.”

While the Blade typically does not peddle in porn — no judgement, just not our thing — Hot Bits is so refreshingly off the beaten path, we feel it deserves a shout out. Fair warning, though: Hot Bits indie shorts range from erotic softcore to hardcore (its poster proudly boasts “XXX”). It’s curated and produced by a collective of queer artists including Baltimore-based TopShelf.

It runs Saturday, March 31 (8 p.m.)Sunday, April 1 (7 p.m.) at Creative Alliance (3134 Eastern Ave., Baltimore).

Tickets are $10 or $7 for Creative Alliance members. Festival passes are $18 ($15 for members).

The festival, in its second year, received more than a hundred submissions from all over the world. Full details at hotbitsfilmfest.com.

Wet Bits, an after party, will be held Saturday night at 10 p.m. at Trip’s Place (1813 N. Charles St., Baltimore). GRL PWR, a Baltimore-based events collective for female-identified, non-binary femme and queer artists, hosts the afterparty. Search for GRLPWRCOLLECTIVE on Facebook for details.

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36 • M A R C H 23, 2018

New York City Ballet

THEATER

PHOTO BY TERESA CASTRACANE PHOTOGRAPHY, COURTESY FORUM

JON HUDSON ODOM as Nat Turner in ‘Nat Turner in Jerusalem.’

Balanchine, Martins & Peck (Mar. 27–29)

Robbins Centennial Program: Bernstein, Glass & Verdi (Mar. 30–Apr. 1) Glass Pieces (Glass/Robbins) Fancy Free (Bernstein/Robbins) The Four Seasons (Verdi/Robbins) Part of Leonard Bernstein at 100

March 27–April 1 | Opera House with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra

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.

Support for Ballet at the Kennedy Center is generously provided by Elizabeth and C. Michael Kojaian.

Dead man talking Sara Mearns and Jared Angle in Pulcinella Variations, photo by Paul Kolnik

Divertimento No. 15 (Mozart/Balanchine) Zakouski (Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky/Martins) A Kennedy Center premiere by Justin Peck: Pulcinella Variations (Stravinsky/Peck) Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux (Tchaikovsky/Balanchine) Symphony in Three Movements (Stravinsky/Balanchine)

‘Nat Turner’ is powerful character study of condemned slave

By PATRICK FOLLIARD Forum Theatre’s elegant production of Nathan Alan Davis’ “Nat Turner in Jerusalem,” takes the audience on an engaging and illuminative journey into the past, offering an original look at injustice found in our collective history.

For this intoxicatingly lyrical and sometimes humorous work, Davis imagines insurrectionist Nat Turner’s last night on earth spent in a jail cell talking with Thomas Gray, a lawyer who’s pressing the condemned man for details of his crimes, and a jail guard.

Both Turner, played by out actor Jon Hudson Odom, and Gray (Joe Carlson) are indeed historical figures of record. Turner was the slave and educated minister who led the Nat Turner’s Rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia, in August, 1831, that resulted in the death of more than 50 people, mostly white. He was sentenced to death and hanged. Turner’s defense that God had instructed him to kill his masters and their relations sent shockwaves across the south. Gray strove to profit from the events.

We meet Turner in chains alone in his cell. For better or worse, his solitude is interrupted by Gray, the itinerant lawyer who would go on to publish a heavily redacted version of Turner’s confession.

He has come to see Tuner one last time, hoping to extract details of a non-existent multi-state slave conspiracy, a salable angle for a book that Gray hopes will lift him out of embarrassing debt.

The conversation ensues with Gray firing off questions and Turner replying circuitously and often in metaphor.

Ultimately, Turners says white Virginians would do better to smother their children than allow them to grow up in a slaveholding culture. He plainly states

that peace cannot be achieved without justice. Not exactly the theories Gray had hoped to hear.

Odom gives a powerful performance as a condemned man who is, for the most part, resigned to his fate yet also feels a sense of having unfinished business on earth. He still shows flashes of the zealot with his delivery changing in cadence and volume rising to the voice of a preacher.

Carlson does terrific double duty as Gray and also a humane jail guard whom Turner addresses as simply “friend,” and describes as someone who is simple but thinks deeply. Carlson’s turn as the guard is imbued with humor and adds lightness to proceedings.

New York-based Davis, who is biracial and probably best known for “Dontrell, Who Kissed the Sea,” his play about a young African-American man who decides to search the sea for an enslaved ancestor lost during the Middle Passage, subtly reframes the discussion of timeless and unanswered questions.

His voices and echoes from the past are relevant and unsettling.

Out director José Carrasquillo ably leads a top-notch design team. Turner’s jail cell, (designed by Tony Cisek) is made from rough wooden planks. Light streams through one small, out-of-reach barred window. It brings to mind one of American sculptor Robert Gober’s simple, melancholic installations. At 90 minutes with no intermission, the play moves at a perfect pace. Scenes are interrupted by darkness and the sounds that slaves like Nat Turner no doubt once heard: yapping bloodhounds, angry mobs, birdsong and spirituals. It’s a sensitive and wellrealized, cohesive production with design elements never getting in the way of the lyrical text or strong performances.

‘NAT TURNER IN JERUSALEM’ Through April 7 Forum Theatre 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring Forum-theatre.com

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

F I LM

M A R C H 23, 2018 • 37

琀栀攀

Proactively gay ‘Stumped,’ ‘Kiss Me’ among highlights of Annapolis Film Festival

一䄀䬀䔀䐀 夀伀䜀䄀 䴀漀渀搀愀礀猀Ⰰ 眀攀搀渀攀猀搀愀礀猀 ☀ 䘀爀椀搀愀礀猀

By BRIAN T. CARNEY In just six years, the Annapolis Film Festival has become an important part of the region’s active film festival circuit.

Running through Sunday, this year’s festival spotlights about 70 films from 28 countries, including narrative and documentary feature films, slates of themed short films and several panels and presentations by industry professionals.

Under the powerful theme of “Voices Strong, Minds Open,” the festival includes several fascinating LGBT films. One of the most intriguing is a documentary called “Stumped” about openly gay filmmaker Will Lautzenheiser. When Lautzenheiser became a quadruple amputee, he turned to stand-up comedy as therapy.

With the support of his boyfriend Angel, he agrees to undergo an experimental double-arm transplant in the hope of reclaiming his independence.

“Kiss Me” (Embrasse-moi!) is a delightful French comedy about the tumultuous affair between Oćeanerosemarie (played by writer/ director Oćeane Michel) and Cécile (Alice Pol). It screens on Saturday night at 9 p.m.

A.B. Troen’s timely feature-length documentary “Finding Home” follows three LGBT people who have come to the United States to find a safe place, only to have their hopes dashed by the outcome of the 2016 presidential election.

Brandon, an attorney from Shangai, gives up everything to move to the U.S. to live as an openly gay man. Stacy is a transgender refugee who fled El Salvador and is working as a housekeeper in downtown Los Angeles while she fights for asylum. Elaheh fled from Iran to live safely as a lesbian and to pursue her dreams of becoming a bodybuilder.

Based on an episode of “This American Life,” “Come Sunday” is a fascinating biopic of Pentecostal bishop Carlton Pearson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) who lost both his congregation and his pulpit when he publicly questioned the church’s teachings on hell and damnation. One of his steadfast supporters is the church’s closeted HIVpositive music director Reggie (played

by Lakeith Stanfield). Reggie has tried to “pray away the gay,” but the awakened bishop finally tells the tortured musician that he will go to heaven.

One of the best LGBT shorts screening at the Annapolis Film Festival is “The Whole World” (El Mundo entero) by Spanish filmmaker Julián Quintanilla.

Starring Quintanilla and Loles León

㘀㨀㌀ 倀䴀

琀甀攀猀搀愀 礀猀 ㄀⼀㈀ 瀀爀椀挀攀 氀漀挀欀攀爀猀 ☀ 爀漀漀洀猀 㠀 愀洀 ⴀ 洀椀搀渀椀最栀琀 PHOTO COURTESY ANNAPOLIS FILM FESTIVAL

OCEANE MICHEL and ALICE POL in ‘Kiss Me.’

(featured in several Pedro Almodóvar movies including “Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!”), the moving movie is about a young man who learns something new when he makes his annual visit to his mother’s grave.

“The Whole World” is included in “Shorts Program #1: FAQ. This program includes several powerful short films that deal with deal with issues of equality and discrimination around gender, race and sexual orientation The program also features the films “Game” about a new kid in town who disrupts the tryouts for the high school basketball team, and “The Right Choice” about a husband and wife who must answer three seemingly harmless questions to create their perfect designer baby.

The “Friday Night Comedy Shorts Program: LOL includes the provocative comedy “Men Don’t Whisper” by Jordan Firstman. When gay couple Reese and Payton (played by writers Firstman and Charles Rogers) are humiliated at a conference, they decide to prove their masculinity by sleeping with women.

The film, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival, also includes an appearance by former “Saturday Night Live” cast member Cheri Oteri.

LOL also features “Humbug,” a Christmas comedy that includes steamy lesbian kiss under the mistletoe.

Finally, the “Documentary Shorts Program IRL (In Real Life)” includes the inventive “Little Potato” by Wes Hurley.

Hurley grew up gay in Soviet Russia; he and his mother (a mail order bride) escaped to Seattle, only to face a whole new form of oppression from his new Christian fundamentalist American dad.

■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

猀愀 琀甀爀搀愀 礀猀 最爀愀戀 愀 ␀㔀 漀昀昀 挀愀爀搀 愀琀 吀刀䄀䐀䔀 昀愀挀攀戀漀漀欀⸀挀漀洀⼀琀栀攀挀爀攀眀挀氀甀戀

㄀㌀㈀㄀ ㄀㐀琀栀 猀琀 一圀

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38 • M A R C H 23, 2018

Orchestras in Motion!

April 9–15, 2018

Trial separation?

It can be a good thing if you’re planning to work on the relationship

Four adventurous orchestras. $25 concerts.

Plus exciting FREE performances and other events around the city!

Learn more at SHIFTfestival.org.

This year’s orchestras:

Albany Symphony (New York)

Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra (Texas)

Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (Indiana)

National Symphony Orchestra (D.C.)

Plus local participating orchestras, ensembles, and artists!

Tickets and info at (202) 467-4600 or SHIFTfestival.org

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

Presented in cooperation with the League of American Orchestras Generous support of the SHIFT Festival is provided through a matching grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; by the D.C. Commission on the Arts & Humanities, which receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts;

by Dr. Gary Mather and Ms. Christina Co Mather; and by Michael F. and Noémi K. Neidorff and The Centene Charitable Foundation.

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, Abramson Family Foundation, Betsy and Robert Feinberg, and Morton and Norma Lee Funger.

A D V I CE

And maybe Jim will realize if I’m not around that he actually wants to have more of a life with me and stop taking me for granted.

What do you think?

MICHAEL REPLIES:

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

Send it to michael@michaelradkowsky.com.

MICHAEL, When is it a good idea to have a trial separation?

My husband and I have been together for five years, married two. Lately our relationship has hit a really rough patch.

I could sum it up by saying that Jim no longer makes our relationship a priority. Since last September he’s been an associate at a law firm and spends a lot of time at work, so we don’t spend much time together. Because of his job demands, he often breaks commitments to me. He even cancelled our anniversary trip to Maui last month at the last minute.

He’s also made a work friend, Brian, whom I don’t like because this guy is always flirting with Jim. Jim tells me it is harmless and although I asked him not to spend time with Brian, they often hang out. I resent that he is spending a big chunk of the little free time he has with this guy. I don’t go because I can’t stand Brian, who of course is single.

I have a much less demanding job and more free time, so I do the bulk of the shopping, house cleaning, etc. But I’m starting to resent this imbalance.

I’m also lonely and sick of coming home and making dinner and then he calls and won’t be home till 11 p.m. This happens a lot.

Jim points out that his large income helps both of us but I don’t see the point of making a lot of money when our life together is nonexistent.

When I’m at the gym I casually chat with guys and find myself wondering if there might be someone whom I’d have a better time with and who would be more interested in a connected relationship.

So I wonder if it’s a good idea to take a break. See what else is out there. Maybe I’ll find someone who actually wants a connection with me and who is more available for a relationship. Or maybe I’ll find out I’m in a grass-is-greener mindset and what we have is as good as it gets.

Are you really wanting to end your marriage without admitting that you want out? If so, why bother calling it a trial separation? Are you thinking you’ll come off looking better if you give the appearance of wanting to make an effort?

I’ve seen trial separations help when the couple is in heated conflict and needs to cool off before they can figure out how to proceed. And when there is a lot of tension, a couple may be able to better work on their marriage when they aren’t literally on top of each other.

But the key — if you have any interest in staying together — would be to actually work on your marriage while you are apart. Otherwise, you’d be coming back to the same problematic relationship if you were to reunite.

You haven’t given any reasons why you’d like to actually stay with Jim, except the possibility that relationships don’t get much better than the one you have.

If that’s your thinking, please know that with effort, relationships can be far better.

By your account, Jim has one foot out the door. But you also have a foot out the door. And you’re focusing your attention on Jim’s feet, not yours. Your letter doesn’t mention anything you are doing, or have tried to do, in order to address the problems the two of you are having.

If you do have reasons why you’d like to stay, could you talk to Jim about your concerns instead of allowing the distancing to continue? Initiate discussion about what each of you thinks is necessary to sustain this relationship?

Ask Jim to step up his commitment to you and to the relationship, while also stepping up your own commitment to strengthening your marriage?

Walking out in hope that Jim will realize how much he misses and needs you would essentially be punishing him so that he behaves more to your liking going forward. I believe you’re making similar moves right now, such as your treatment of his friend Brian. You could easily push Jim away and poison your relationship with these passive-aggressive behaviors.

So the main question isn’t a trial separation. It’s whether or not you want a better marriage. If you do, roll up your sleeves, and do your best to enlist Jim. And if the two of you find you can’t do it alone, find a couples therapist to help you chart a new course.

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Queer content was logical outgrowth at Awesome Con CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

Michael Rooker and Sean Gunn.

Penrod says celebrity guests are chosen based on a combination of fan demand and TV shows and movies currently trending. The convention has roots in science fiction, but Penrod admits sometimes he purposely seeks out stars purely for nostalgia.

The cast of ‘90s sitcom “Boy Meets World,” Ben Savage, Rider Strong and Will Friedle, are on the guest list this year.

While the show went off the air in 2000, it maintained a strong fan base through re-runs on the Disney Channel.

“It was meant to be this comic book convention with sci-fi, superhero celebrities. But what it’s turned into is this really broad celebration of pop culture and whether that means we’re doing the ‘90s nostalgia stuff with ‘Boy Meets World,’ that doesn’t really have a sci-fi, superhero realm of things, but it definitely fits. But you can’t pinpoint exactly why it fits,” Penrod says.

The convention also includes programming geared toward specific interests and groups.

Future Con, where science meets science fiction, will feature panels such as the “Science of ‘Black Panther,’” “Harry Potter and the Genetics of Wizarding,” “What’s Happening Now to Make the Sci-Fi Space Travel We See in Movies a Reality” and more. Programming is in partnership with the biggest names in science such as NASA, National Geographic and the Smithsonian.

“We didn’t just start Future Con because we thought it would be a good idea,” Penrod says. “We had so much involvement and so much outreach from all these governmental organizations, science-based organizations, whether it was NASA, the Smithsonian, the Science Channel. We had all of these people reaching out to us. We’re like, ‘This is special and nobody else could do this.

Except D.C.’” Awesome Con Jr. offers kids an experience crafted especially for them with character meet and greets with Paddington Bear, Buddy from the “Dinosaur Train,” Ranger Rick, “Dragon Ball Z” characters and the Easter Bunny.

In between photo-ops, kids can attend panels such as “Intro Spells for Young Witches and Wizards,” participate in live art contests and play video games.

As for LGBT-specific content, Awesome Con has joined forces with Geeks Out, a non-profit organization based in New York City for the LGBT geek community.

Together, they created Pride Alley, both a physical space and group of programming for LGBT patrons.

Pride Alley is part of Artist Alley, which highlights arts, crafts, comics and more from LGBT creators. There are also panels that focus specifically on queer identity

Attendees donned elaborate costumes at last year’s Awesome Con. WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

and fandom.

“The Queer Gamer Meetup: with D.C. Gaymers” offers a place for LGBT people to meet and play video games on Friday, March 30 at 5:30 p.m.

“GAAAYS IN SPAAACE,” is a panel on LGBT representation in “Star Trek” on Saturday, March 31 at 12:30 p.m. “Slash of Our Ancestors,” a panel on the history of same-sex fan fiction, takes place on Sunday, April 1 at 2:15 p.m. Geeks Out will be hosting Snikt: D.C., the official queer after party of Awesome Con, at the Dew Drop Inn D.C. (2801 8th St., N.E.) on Friday, March 30 at 9 p.m.

It also wouldn’t be a convention without cosplay. In addition to the con’s daily cosplay contests, Pride Alley offers the panel “Sexuality in Cosplay: Nuff Said” on Friday, March 30 at 8:45 p.m. featuring representatives from NYC nightlife, an LGBT therapist and cosplayers.

Geeks OUT President Nicole Gitau praises Awesome Con for giving the LGBT

community a home at the con.

“The group at Awesome Con, they’re really great,” Gitau says. “They really wanted to increase the visible presence of diversity on the floor. I can only commend them for that. Conventions are known for not always having been the most welcoming of spaces. I think that’s changed a lot in the last few years. It’s nice to see that Awesome Con is really committed to that.”

Penrod says Awesome Con needed Pride Alley because LGBT fans were already engaged in the convention.

“It was important because we knew that community was very well represented in our fans, in our people who are already exhibiting and at the con, and the creators who are making comics, TV and movies,” he says. “We knew that in this world of nerd stuff and geek culture that the LGBT community is a very big part of things. I wanted to take the opportunity to make that a focus at Awesome Con.”

For Gitau, who identifies as queer, the LGBT geek community is a haven she hopes can make the general geek community have “positive associations in their life” of LGBT people and to “think differently about the social climate we’re in right now.”

“One of the fun things about this is to be amidst a group of people who understand not only my cultural references but also my cultural critiques,” Gitau says. “There’s sort of a safety. Geeks, we love things passionately. That is what makes us geeky about a thing. But when you love something you want it to be better. And that ability to have free conversation is what is really exciting for me.”

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Debunking common myths about disability insurance Most underestimate chances of experiencing a debilitating injury or illness

that most disabilities result from an accident. However, according to the Council for Disability Awareness, 90 percent of disabilities are the result of an illness.

Myth 4: I’ll rely on savings if I can’t work for a while. Consider this, the average disability claim lasts almost three years, according to the Gen Re U.S. Group Disability & Risk Management Survey. How would you and your family survive without your income for three years or longer?

Your income most likely allows you to pay bills (such as your mortgage or rent), take vacations, fund your child’s education, and save for your retirement. If you are like most working individuals, you think the chances of becoming disabled for an extended period of time due to an injury or illness won’t happen to you. No one can predict the future. But we can (and should) plan for it and the surprises it may bring.

By GREG KLINGLER Disability insurance is one of the most commonly misunderstood necessities of modern living. If you think that sounds dramatic, consider what else you cover with insurance. You cover your car, your home, your health – shouldn’t you also cover your paycheck?

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Also known as paycheck protection, this affordable coverage protects you from one of life’s real risks – becoming disabled so that you cannot work and cannot support yourself and family for a significant period of time.

Who needs disability insurance? Everyone who relies on earning an income to support ourselves and our loved ones.

Your ability to earn a living is widely viewed as your most valuable financial asset.

Here are four of the most common myths about disability insurance (and their corresponding truths): Myth 1: Worker’s Compensation will cover me if I become disabled. According to the Council for Disability Awareness, less than five percent of disabling accidents and illnesses are work related. The 95 percent that are not work related are not covered by Worker’s Compensation.

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Myth 3: I don’t need it – I work at a computer all day, how likely am I to get into an accident? Many people believe

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