Washingtonblade.com, Volume 49, Issue 41, October 12, 2018

OCTOBER 12,

2018

VOLUME 49

ISSUE 41

•

AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE

•

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NEWS ANALYSIS

Here are the LGBT cases Kavanaugh could face Job discrimination, trans military ban among issues moving through courts

By JON DAVIDSON The Supreme Court’s new term began Oct. 1. The justices have not yet accepted any cases squarely addressing LGBTQ rights questions; however, numerous appeals raising key issues for our community are waiting in the wings. As Brett Kavanaugh settles into his new position on the Court after a fractious confirmation process, many in the LGBTQ community are wondering which, if any, pending cases the Court will choose to hear and, if it does take on any such cases, how it will rule.

There’s no question that there’s a lot at stake.

There are four petitions now pending before the Court asking it to decide whether federal sex

discrimination laws encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity. If the Court agrees to hear any of these, its ruling could determine whether LGBTQ people are protected under current federal laws prohibiting discrimination in employment, education, housing and credit.

Two cases challenging President Trump’s attempt to bar transgender people from the military are at the federal courts of appeals, one step from the Supreme Court. One of them—Lambda Legal’s and OutServe-SLDN’s Karnoski v. Trump case—is being argued to the Ninth Circuit on Oct. 10.

Several cases already on appeal could again put before the Court as to whether there are circumstances in which businesses have a constitutional right to discriminate. In one, a

The confirmation of BRETT KAVANAUGH to the Supreme Court has LGBT advocates worried about upcoming cases.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Mixed reviews for Haley as she departs U.N. ambassador marked Pride month, withdrew from Human Rights Council

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. NIKKI HALEY announced her resignation this week.

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley resigned on Tuesday.

Haley in her resignation letter to President Trump wrote the U.S. “achieved great success at the U.N.” during her tenure, which included efforts to pressure North Korea to abandon its nuclear

weapons program and publicly criticizing Russia and other countries.

“Through it all, we stood strong for American values and interests, always placing America first,” she wrote. “I am proud of our record.”

Haley in her resignation letter, which is dated Oct. 3, said she would remain in her position until January 2019. She told Trump during a meeting at the White House on Tuesday that she does not plan to challenge him in 2020.

“I expect to continue to speak out from time to time on important public policy matters, but I will surely not be a candidate for any office in 2020,” wrote Haley in her resignation letter.

“As a private citizen, I look forward to supporting C O N TI N UE S O N P A GE 1 3

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

ON YOUR MARK

PLEASE VOTE

INDECENT EXPOSURE

City takes over managing annual High Heel Race.

Millennials are key to flipping Congress, blunting Trump’s agenda.

John Waters is back with exhibit of photos, sculpture and more.

PAGE 06

PAGE 16

PAGE 21

0 2 • O CTO B E R 1 2, 2018

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

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 0 3

TASTE THE CUISINE, TOUR THE MODELS, AND LEARN HOW YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR CLOSEOUT INCENTIVES YOU’RE INVITED | OCTOBER 18TH | 6PM-8PM | CATERING BY BRYAN VOLTAGGIO

THE STYLE, SPACE, AND UNPARALLELED ACCESS YOU DEMAND RSVP: LiveElysiumDC.com

Join us as we celebrate the final release of this collection of residences in the heart of Logan Circle.

While you enjoy culinary delights by celebrity Chef Bryan Voltaggio, ask our team about our incredible closeout incentives from $25,000 in interior design and moving services to a host of concierge services that make the every day a little easier.*

1 4 2 7 R H O D E I S L A N D AV E N W

WA S H I N G T O N , D . C . 2 0 0 0 5

*Disclaimer: Subject to change without notice. See sales manager for full details.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

0 4 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

LO CA L N E W S Lambda council and cofounder of LULAC’s first LGBTQ council established in Dallas.

“Our civil rights organization needs a new generation of activists and more representation in Virginia,” said Garcia, who told the Washington Blade that the new LGBT LULAC council in Northern Virginia would be the first of its kind anywhere in Virginia.

More information about the Oct. 15 meeting can be obtained by contacting jessegarcia@lulac.org.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Rockville, Columbia, Arlington top D.C. area in Municipal Equality ratings

Last year’s Equality March drew 80,000 participants. But a progressive march planned for last month fizzled.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

‘I Care March’ on Washington cancelled In a little-noticed development, organizers of an “I Care March” on Washington planned for Sept. 15 of this year, which called for challenging the Trump administration by promoting a wide range of progressive causes, including LGBT rights, announced last month on Facebook that the march had been canceled.

“We were excited about the possibility of bringing together all of the organizations fighting for the different causes, marching together in unity,” a Sept. 8 Facebook post says.

“Sadly, our efforts did not go far,” the message says. “Other established groups were unwilling to join forces and partner. But we did create a community and for that we’re grateful.”

Kathie Legg, a D.C.-based political and social media consultant who launched the Facebook page calling for the I Care March, said she and other organizers wanted the march to address what progressive activists are for rather than just expressing opposition to what President Trump was doing.

She said organizers had planned to invite LGBT rights organizations to become involved in the march, which initially was to consist of a large rally on the west lawn of the U.S. Capitol. Among those organizers planned to contact, Legg told the Blade, was New York City gay activist David Bruinooge, who launched a Facebook page that put in motion the June 11, 2017 LGBT Equality March for Unity and Pride.

About 80,000 people participated in that march, which traveled past the White House to the National Mall, where a rally was held.

“The march that we envisioned will not take place on Sept. 15,” the I Care March organizers said in their Sept. 8 Facebook posting. “But we’re still planning to make our voices heard.”

The “I Care March” Facebook page remained up and running as of early this week. It included a message criticizing newly confirmed Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

New LGBT Hispanic group coming to NoVa LULAC Lambda, the D.C.-based LGBT organization affiliated with the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC), is inviting members of the LGBT Hispanic community to a meeting to help launch a new LGBT LULAC affiliated council in Northern Virginia.

The meeting is scheduled to take place Monday, Oct. 15, at 6 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar, located at 555 S. 23rd Street in Arlington, Va. LULAC is the nation’s oldest and largest Hispanic civil rights organization. It consists of community-based councils in cities, colleges and high schools throughout the United States, according to a statement released by LULAC Lambda.

“The queer Hispanic organization based in D.C. hopes to launch a sister council across the Potomac in hopes to cultivate new leaders in the area’s LGBTQ Latinx community and to enlist them in its national Hispanic civil rights organization,” the LULAC Lambda statement says.

“For the past decade, LULAC has provided a safe space for LGBTQ activists to join its Latino family in the fight for social justice,” said Jesse Garcia, president of D.C.’s LULAC

The cities of Rockville, Md. and Columbia, Md., received perfect scores of 100 and Arlington County, Va. received a score of 92, making them the highest scoring municipalities in the D.C. metropolitan area included in the just released 2018 LGBT Municipal Equality Index ratings.

The annual ratings are prepared jointly by the national LGBT rights groups Human Rights Campaign Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute. The two groups say the MEI represents the only nationwide rating system for LGBT supportive laws, policies, and services provided by municipalities such as cities and counties.

Columbia, Md. received a perfect score on the MEI. D.C. is not included in the PHOTO COURTESY DOWNTOWN COLUMBIA MEI ratings because the two groups classify D.C. as a state and include it in their separate State Equality Index. The State Equality Index doesn’t assign a numerical rating but shows D.C. to be among the states with the most LGBT supportive laws, policies and services.

In a joint statement released on Monday, the HRC Foundation and the Equality Federation Institute said the 2018 MEI includes additional and more stringent criteria than past years in order for a municipality to receive a high score. Among the newer criteria was inclusion of “single-user” facilities such as bathrooms and locker rooms in public places to accommodate transgender people and policies or laws banning so-called conversion therapy for minors.

Other new criteria include assurances that the municipality did not pass laws “licensing discrimination against the LGBTQ community” such as socalled religious freedom laws that allow businesses to refuse to sell services or products to LGBT people on religious grounds.

“But even with these more stringent MEI requirements, cities and municipalities are meeting and exceeding our standards with innovative measures to protect LGBTQ people,” a statement released by the two groups says. “A record 78 cities earned perfect scores for advancing LGBTQ-inclusive laws and policies – up from 68 in 2017 and 11 in 2012, the first year of the MEI,” the statement says.

In Maryland, other cities selected for MEI ratings and their respective scores were: Frederick: 100; Towson: 91; Baltimore: 89; College Park: 86; Gaithersburg: 59; Annapolis: 59; Bowie: 58; and Hagerstown: 38.

In Virginia, other cities included in the ratings and their scores were: Richmond: 94; Alexandria: 82; Charlottesville: 75; Virginia Beach: 50; and Norfolk: 43.

In Delaware, the longtime LGBT-friendly city of Rehoboth Beach received a rating of 58 compared to Wilmington, which received an 87 rating, the highest score among the Delaware municipalities included in the MEI. The other Delaware cities included in the rating system were: Milford: 60; Newark: 56; Dover: 54; Smyrna: 43; Bethany Beach: 37; and Middletown: 30.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

T:9.75”

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 0 5

T:11.5”

The Fosters available on Xfinity Stream app

Dreams reflected.

On X1, it’s pride all year, only with Xfinity.℠ There’s power in seeing yourself on screen, and that’s why Xfinity created a first-of-its-kind community endorsed LGBTQ Film & TV Collection. With Xfinity On Demand, you have access to thousands of TV shows and movies at home and on-the-go. Simply say, “LGBTQ” into the X1 Voice Remote to easily immerse yourself in an awesome, diverse collection of content that reflects all of you. Simple. Easy. Awesome.

Find yourself at xfinity.com/LGBTQ DIV031-Q4-NED-A1-V1

Restrictions apply. Not available in all areas. No celebrity endorsement implied. ©2018 Comcast. All rights reserved.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

0 6 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

Disabilities services company charged with anti-trans discrimination Complaint says trainer twice called trans woman ‘he’

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com A transgender woman has filed a discrimination complaint with the D.C. Office of Human Rights accusing the teacher in a company training class of humiliating and disparaging her in front of fellow students by addressing her as “he.”

D.C. resident Meshalia Johnson, 43, charges in her complaint filed last month that officials with RMC of Washington, Inc., which provides support services for people with intellectual disabilities, didn’t appropriately respond to her concerns about the incident, prompting her to MESHALIA JOHNSON, 43, charges in her complaint that a company instructor withdraw from the training program and referred to her as ‘he.’ end her prospects for securing a job with the company.

“I very much wanted to work at RCM as a DSP [Direct Support Professional] aide,” Johnson states in her complaint. “However, by Friday [Aug. 24] many of the other coworkers in the class were asking me inappropriate questions about my gender identity and gender dysphoria and I did not feel like RCM would have my back in supporting me,” her complaint states.

“At this time I gave them my resignation because I knew the situation was beyond repair,” the complaint says.

Danielle Darby, RCM of Washington’s chief operating officer, said that based on advice from its attorney the company would have no comment on Johnson’s allegations and complaint at this time other than to say the company had yet to receive notification from the Office of Human Rights that the complaint had been filed.

“RCM of Washington has provided services and supports in the District of Columbia since 1998 to people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities with a positive pathway toward Revitalizing Community Membership empowering independence and integration into their community,” a statement on the company’s website says.

“Our unique approach provides those we support with the critical services they need to set attainable goals and develop action plans toward maintaining stable, safe and affordable housing, gaining sustainable employment and living the lives they want, within their community,” the website statement says in describing the work that RCM does.

Johnson told the Blade she had been looking forward to working for RCM to advance its mission of helping disabled people in the District. She said that as someone who transitioned as a transgender woman more than 20 years ago, she was especially disheartened that a company dedicated to helping others appears to have condoned a discriminatory action in violation of the D.C. Human Rights Act, which bans discrimination based on gender identity and expression.

Her complaint states that the alleged incident took place on Thursday, Aug. 23, in a classroom at RCM’s offices at 64 New York Ave., N.E. “[T]he trainer, a woman named Patience, deliberately used the wrong pronoun and outed me as trans in front of the other coworkers,” her complaint states. “The incident arose at the end of a test when she asked the class if everyone was done,” the complaint continues.

“She then looked directly at me, and the name tag in front of my space that said my name, Meshalia, and said to the class, ‘Oh, he’s not done,’” the complaint says.

Johnson says in the complaint that the incident was so upsetting to her that she excused herself and left the classroom. A short time later she met with an RCM personnel official named Nicole, according to the complaint, who told her that Patience denied calling her “he” but nevertheless apologized for what appeared to be a misunderstanding.

Johnson told the Blade that Patience later told her in a meeting arranged by Nicole that when Patience used the pronoun “he” she was referring to a male trainee sitting next to Johnson. But Johnson told the Blade she immediately knew that was not true because the male trainee was the first person in the class to finish the test and had closed the laptop he was using to take the test before Patience walked over to Johnson’s work station, looked directly at Johnson, and said, “Oh, he’s not done.”

Meanwhile, Johnson’s complaint states that Patience allegedly addressed Johnson by the pronoun “he” a second time about two weeks later.

“The Tuesday after Labor Day I went to the office to pick up my check,” Johnson states in the complaint. “As I was leaving I ran into Patience and she said to someone else next

LO CA L N E W S to her, while looking at me, ‘He knows what is best for him,’ implying that I should not be working at the organization and still refusing to use the correct pronouns.”

The Office of Human Rights, which is charged with investigating discrimination complaints, never publicly comments on such complaints or acknowledges that such a complaint has been filed unless and until its investigation makes a finding of probable cause that a discriminatory action occurred in violation of the Human Rights Act. At that time, the OHR requires that the complaining and accused parties enter negotiations over a possible conciliation agreement or settlement. If the negotiations fail, the OHR brings the case before the D.C. Commission on Human Rights, which holds a public evidentiary hearing similar to a trial with testimony by witnesses. The commission then hands down a decision on whether a charge of discrimination has been proven.

Johnson said she consulted an attorney with Whitman-Walker Health’s legal department prior to filing her complaint.

Mayor’s office takes over Street High Heel race

Reports surfacing over the past few weeks that the D.C. government would be taking over the city’s annual Halloween High Heel Race on 17th Street, N.W. near Dupont Circle were officially confirmed this week when a new site for the race appeared on Facebook.

“Mayor Muriel Bowser presents The 32nd Annual 17th Street High Heel Race,” a large headline on the Facebook page says.

Sheila Alexander-Reid, director A scene from last year’s High Heel Race.

This year’s race is slated for Oct. 30. of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, stated in multiple news WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY media interviews that the city’s decision to take over the event, which draws thousands of spectators and more than 100 drag queens competing in the race, was the culmination of D.C. government involvement in the race for many years.

“I know Mayor Bowser loves this event and I know she’s proud to present it,” Alexander-Reid told WAMU Radio.

David Perruzza, the former manager of the 17th Street gay bar JR.’s, which became the lead organizer of the race in 1999, said every mayor since that time arranged for street closings and police presence as the event evolved from a small spontaneous race among drag queens to one of the city’s largest outdoor street events.

Perruzza earlier this year left JR.’s to open his own gay sports bar in Adams Morgan called Pitchers.

With the event being free and open to anyone wishing to participate as a spectator or runner, organizers didn’t have the ability to raise sufficient funds to pay for the costs normally associated with street closings and police presence.

So for years, according to Perruzza, the city and the mayor’s office stepped in to pick up those costs.

Bowser has attended the race during the past two years and has served as one of two honorary grand marshals both times. During the 2016 and 2017 high heel races Bowser stood at the starting point of the race at 17th and R streets and gave the official signal to begin the race.

“It’s fantastic every year,” Bowser told the Washington Blade shortly after the 2016 race ended. “You see people come from all over our region to celebrate the diversity of our city,” she said.

Shortly before the 2017 race began, Alexander-Reid told the Blade that 2017 marked the first time the mayor’s office became the official sponsor of the High Heel Race.

Perruzza, meanwhile, has said he will be working with city officials as a volunteer to ensure that the event runs smoothly on Tuesday, Oct. 30, when the race is scheduled to take place at 9 p.m. As has been the tradition in past years, beginning at 7 p.m., spectators clad in Halloween costumes will join the drag queens planning to enter the race in an informal “parade” up and down 17th Street.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NATIONAL NEWS

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 0 7

Activists warn of hidden provision in insurance plans for HIV drugs Caution urged in selecting best plan during open enrollment

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com Officials with organizations representing people with HIV and other chronic illnesses are urging patients who rely on drug manufacturers’ co-pay assistance contributions to help lower the cost of their prescription medication to be extra careful if they decide to select a new health insurance plan.

In a press conference on Wednesday, officials with the AIDS Institute, the Arthritis Foundation, and the National Organization for Rare Disorders warned that a growing number of insurers are refusing to allow co-payment assistance coupons provided by drug CARL SCHMID, the AIDS Institute’s deputy executive director, said the co-pay manufacturers from counting toward accumulator adjustment is surfacing more in patients’ annual deductibles. plans offered by health insurance companies.

The officials noted that insurers have WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY quietly added in fine print to insurance policy contracts a practice they call a “copay accumulator adjustment” that can cost the patient thousands of dollars more each year in out-of-pocket costs for their often life-saving drugs.

Carl Schmid, the AIDS Institute’s deputy executive director, said the co-pay accumulator adjustment is surfacing “more and more” in plans offered by health insurance companies. He said many of the companies are associated with state and D.C. insurance exchanges operated under the Affordable Care Act, which is better known as Obamacare.

He said the practice is also being adopted by insurers retained by private employers that provide employee health insurance benefits.

In May of this year, the AIDS Institute was part of a coalition of 60 HIV organizations from throughout the country that called on insurance commissioners and attorneys general in all 50 states and D.C. to investigate the co-pay accumulator adjustment practice as a possible violation of consumer protection laws.

Among other things, the coalition members pointed out insurers were not making it clear to consumers that the “accumulator” policy was being added to their insurance plan because it was “buried” in hard-to-understand language.

Schmid and fellow coalition partners pointed out in their May letter that co-pay assistance from drug manufacturers through payment coupons or payment cards enables HIV patients and HIV-negative people on the HIV prevention drug regimen known as PrEP to save thousands of dollars a year on their share of the costs of the drugs through their insurance plans. They noted that the sudden decision earlier this year by many insurers to no longer allow co-pay assistance to go toward the insurance deductible could force those on PrEP to pay $4,000 or more a year for the PrEP drug Truvada.

Such a steep increase would likely prompt some to discontinue participation in the PrEP regimen, which could increase their chances of contracting HIV, the coalition members said.

An official with the D.C. Department of Insurance, Securities, and Banking has said the department was looking into the concerns raised by the coalition. But a spokesperson for the department told the Washington Blade last week that the department had not received any complaints from consumers about the “accumulator” practice and there were no immediate plans to take any action on the practice.

“The issue now is we just want people to be aware of this,” said Schmid. “That is the purpose of the press conference,” he said, adding that his and the other two organizations participating in the Wednesday press conference want patients to carefully study the fine print and provisions of any new insurance plan they consider signing on to.

The Obamacare open enrollment period for seeking a new insurance plans begins on Oct. 15.

“You look at the premiums,” said Schmid in noting the criteria for selecting a plan.

“You look at the formularies to see if your drugs are on it. You look at the co-pays and the co-insurance and the deductible,” he said. “And now this is something else you have to look at,” he said, pointing to the copay accumulator adjustment.

Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles and Coro Gay Ciudad de México pose before rehearsal for Oct. 13 joint concert.

PHOTO COURTESY GMCLA

Homeland Security detains members of Mexican Gay Men’s Chorus LOS ANGELES — Resistance. Defiance and solace through camaraderie and song. That’s what gave birth to the Gay Men’s Chorus movement, first in San Francisco when about 100 men moved their fourth rehearsal onto the steps of City Hall on Nov. 27, 1979 and sang for the first time in public at the candlelight vigil for assassinated gay Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone.

Two months later, 99 gay men came together in Plummer Park to form the Gay Men’s Chorus of Los Angeles. And for 40 years now, GMCLA has served as beacons of hope and love through the AIDS crisis and the roller coaster ride of politics and cultural warfare. They intend to do it again, despite the inconvenient threats from the Department of Homeland Security.

The launch of GMCLA’s 40th anniversary season on Oct. 13 was intended to mark this unique convulsive moment in U.S. history with an extravagant celebration of diversity and building bridges with Coro Gay Ciudad de México— the Gay Men’s Chorus of Mexico City.

“As we started, we watched lots of videos of gay choruses,” Oscar Urtusástegui, Board President and founding member of Coro Gay Ciudad de México, told the Los Angeles Blade about the origins of the joint concert, “and the one we most wanted to be like was GMCLA. For a 5-year-old organization such as ours, sharing the stage with such a prestigious organization is an honor, and at the same time makes the friendship much stronger between us.”

Both he and GMCLA executive director Jonathan Weedman want their collaboration “to show that building bridges – between two choruses, two cities and two countries – only makes us stronger and more powerful,” Urtusástegui said.

But their plans were almost ruined due to an issue at customs. As members of Coro Gay Ciudad de México traveled through customs and immigration at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston on their way to Los Angeles on Oct. 7, they were detained by Homeland Security after an officer found sheet music in their luggage—despite having their airfare underwritten by GMCLA sponsor Southwest Airlines.

The issue started when university professor Jorge Gutierrez was pulled aside to verify that he was not the same Jorge Gutierrez suspected of stealing a truck, according to an account in the Los Angeles Times. Several chorus members chatted with him about the concert while he waited, which led to officers becoming suspicious that the 52-member group was entering the U.S. as paid performers, not as tourists, as their visas indicated—plus that sheet music.

A Homeland Security officer called Weedman and said he thought “these guys weren’t being truthful or forthcoming, and they were considering deporting them back to Mexico,” Weedman told The Times. Weedman assured the officer that they were not being paid, explained the nature of the concert and advised him that “it would be an international incident” if they deported the chorus since the concert host committee included LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and U.S. Sens.

Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris. After a 13-minute chat, the Homeland official decided to let the chorus proceed to LA. “The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a call to comment on Monday,” The Times reported. By Monday night, the group was in LA and enjoying full rehearsals with GMCLA. KAREN OCAMB

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

0 8 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

NATIONAL NEWS

Democrats are urging Secretary of State MIKE POMPEO to reverse a discriminatory visa policy.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

House Dems urge State Dept. to reverse visa policy More than 100 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives have urged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to reverse a new policy that requires partners of foreign mission personnel and employees of international organizations to be married in order to qualify for a diplomatic visa.

“This policy discriminates against gay and lesbian international civil servants, many of whom are citizens of countries that outlaw same-sex marriage,” reads a letter spearheaded by U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.) that lawmakers sent to Pompeo.

Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) and U.S. Reps. Jamie Raskin (DMd.), Anthony Brown (D-Md.), Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Don Beyer (D-Va.) are among the lawmakers who signed the letter. U.S. Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) and Mark Takano (D-Calif.) are also signatories.

The new policy took effect on Oct. 1.

The Obama administration in 2009 implemented a policy that asked countries to accredit same-sex partners of U.S. Foreign Service personnel on a “reciprocal basis” in order to receive diplomatic visas.

Senior administration officials who spoke with reporters on a conference call last week said the new policy is consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in the Obergefell case that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples across the country.

A letter detailing the new policy the Washington Blade obtained in August notes it applies to both same-sex and opposite-sex couples.

The Human Rights Campaign, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Samantha Power and former U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius are among those who have sharply criticized the new policy. A senior administration official on Tuesday told the Blade it is “not meant to be punitive” against LGBTI diplomats and their families.

“Only 26 countries — a mere 13 percent of U.N. member states — allow same-sex couples to marry,” reads the letter to Pompeo. “In reversing the State Department’s 2009 decision to provide visas to same-sex domestic partners, your department fails to acknowledge that in most of the world, same-sex domestic partners do not enjoy the possibility of marriage — and your decision undermines the validity of these diplomats’ relationship.”

The letter also states the new policy “sends the wrong message that the U.S. is not welcoming of all people.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

LGBT groups assail Collins over Kavanaugh vote Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) faced harsh criticism from LGBT rights groups last Friday for her declaration she’d vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Chad Griffin, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said in a statement “we are deeply disappointed in Sen. Collins today” after her speech on the Senate floor affirming support for Kavanaugh.

“In one of the most consequential votes of her lifetime — and of her constituents’ lifetimes — she has opted to back a dangerous, unqualified nominee who repeatedly lied under oath and has multiple credible allegations of sexual assault,” Griffin said.

“The harmful consequences of Sen. Collins’ decision to support Brett Kavanaugh will last decades.”

With Collins’ support, Kavanaugh won the necessary votes for confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), another undecided senator, declared he’d vote for Kavanaugh shortly after Collins’ speech.

Griffin urged voters to demonstrate their anger with Collins by taking to the polls in the congressional mid-term elections and voting out senators who support Kavanaugh.

“In the wake of this news, there is only one course of action,” Griffin said. “The millions of Americans who have fought a valiant struggle against this despicable nominee must make their voices heard in November and beyond by electing lawmakers who will stand up for our rights rather than sell us out.”

In years past, the Human Rights Campaign has endorsed Collins when she was up for re-election and faced Democratic challengers because of her support for LGBT rights initiatives, including “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal and the Employment NonDiscrimination Act. It’s hard to see how that support will continue in light of the Kavanaugh vote.

Collins declared in a floor speech she “will vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh” hours after she was among the 51 senators to vote for cloture to allow the Senate to move forward with the nomination.

In response to Christine Blasey Ford’s Senate testimony asserting a 17-year-old Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her in 1982 when she was a teenager, Collins said the accusation isn’t enough to preclude the nominee from sitting on the Supreme Court.

“Fairness would dictate that the claims at least should meet the threshold of ‘more likely than not’ as our standard,” Collins said. “The facts presented do not mean that Professor Ford was not sexually assaulted that night or at some other time, but they do lead me to conclude that the allegations fail to meet the ‘more likely than not’ standard.

Therefore, I do not believe that these charges can fairly prevent Judge Kavanaugh from serving on the court.”

Amid concerns Kavanaugh would vote to reverse the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court for marriage equality, Collins said Kavanaugh indicated he wouldn’t overturn the decision in his confirmation hearing. (LGBT legal experts have said his responses were wholly unsatisfying.)

“Others I’ve met with have expressed concerns that Justice Kennedy’s retirement threatens the right of same-sex couples to marry,” Collins said. “Yet Judge Kavanaugh described the Obergefell decision, which legalized same-gender marriages, as an important landmark precedent. He also cited Justice Kennedy’s recent Masterpiece Cakeshop opinion for the court’s majority, stating that, ‘The days of treating gay and lesbian Americans and gay and lesbian couples as second-class citizens who are inferior in dignity and worth are over in the Supreme Court.’”

Marriage equality is but one LGBT rights issue. Other LGBT-related cases that may come to Supreme Court with Kavanaugh on the bench include litigation challenging President Trump’s transgender military ban, whether federal civil rights laws against sex discrimination apply to LGBT people and whether “religious freedom” affords a right for individuals and businesses to discriminate against LGBT people.

Sharon McGowan, legal director for Lambda Legal, also criticized Collins, saying the senator’s rationale for supporting Kavanaugh ranges “from naïve to disingenuous” and “can only be described as magical thinking.”

CHRIS JOHNSON

CNN reporter apologizes for homophobic tweets CNN White House correspondent Kaitlan Collins apologized on Sunday for anti-gay tweets that resurfaced from her college days.

Collins, 26, posted the tweets in 2011. In one tweet, Collins calls her friend a “fag.” In another tweet, she says she doesn’t know if she wants to room with a lesbian.

The tweets were screenshot and shared by Log Cabin Republicans.

Collins immediately issued an CNN’s KAITLAN COLLINS referred to a friend as a ‘fag’ in an old tweet. apology also via Twitter.

SCREENSHOT VIA YOUTUBE “When I was in college, I used ignorant language in a few tweets to my friends. It was immature but it doesn’t represent the way I feel at all. I regret it and apologize,” Collins tweeted.

Log Cabin Republicans tagged Matt Dornic, CNN’s vice president of digital partnerships, in the post. Dornic responded that he accepts Collins’ apology.

“I’m a proud gay man. And I am a proud friend of @kaitlancollins. Tho I’m disappointed that she ever used the word (even as an immature college kid), I can say with certainty it doesn’t reflect her feelings toward the LGBTQ community.

She’s apologized and I accept that,” Dornic wrote.

MARIAH COOPER

Q.Latry

Flyers prt.sprd.

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

8/8/05

9:13 AM

Page 1

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 0 9

“...heʼs as good as they come... splendidly clear, steady and buoyant” – The New York Times

“. . . Latry sets the new standard.”

– Fanfare

“Music, musician and instrument merged harmoniously...Commanding the console like a magician...He performs with calm control, and from memory. ...The audience was thrilled.”

– The Plain Dealer

“...brilliant playing...a remarkable ability to breathe life into his phrases... Witnessing this creation unfold was an astounding and exhilarating experience.ʼʼ – Greensboro News & Record

OLIVIER LATRY Titular Organist, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris

Thursday, October 18, 7:30pm First Baptist Church Sanctuary 1328 16TH ST NW, WASHINGTON D.C. Olivier Latry presents a night of mesmerizing music including the

T N W, W A S H I N G T O N , D C 2 0 0 3 6 | + 2 0 2 3works 8 7 2of2 Bach, 0 6 Schumann, Brahms and Liszt. A love offering will be www.firstbaptistdc.org

collected to benefit one of FBC’s ministry partners, A.M.O.S., working to improve the health of impoverished communities in Nicaragua.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 0 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

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

JAIR BOLSONARO has won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election. He will face former São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad in the second round of voting on Oct. 28.

PHOTO BY AGÊNCIA BRASIL FOTOGRAFIAS; COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Anti-LGBT figure wins first round in Brazil presidential election SÃO PAULO — A vocal LGBTI rights opponent won the first round of Brazil’s presidential election on Sunday.

Jair Bolsonaro, a congressman from Rio de Janeiro, won with 46 percent of the vote.

Former São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad finished second with 29 percent of the vote.

The two men will face each other in the second round of voting on Oct. 28.

Brazilians cast their ballots in what will probably be remembered as the most polarized election in the country to date with leftist voters facing a choice between a handful of candidates who they felt would support much needed social advances. Observers have noted Bolsonaro, on the other hand, was the perfect candidate for this year’s political climate in the country.

The far-right militaristic, homophobic and misogynistic candidate represents the voice of every voter who was looking to shake-up the political class after 16 years of leftist governments under Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Dilma Rousseff, who was impeached in 2016.

The feeling right now in Brazil is one of fear.

People of color, women and LGBTI people organized themselves and marched against Bolsonaro in several cities and state capitals throughout the country right before Sunday’s vote.

Organizers sought to give these underrepresented groups who Bolsonaro has openly targeted a sense of belonging and unity, but this hope didn’t go very far as cases of intimidation and violence started to take place in São Paulo, where LGBTI people had already reported being assaulted by Bolsonaro supporters, and in other cities. People in São Paulo’s subway, for example, were chanting, “homos be careful. Bolsonaro will kill all faggots” before a soccer game.

As the presidential election heads into the second round with Bolsonaro going against Haddad, who is backed by Lula, many Brazilians have resigned themselves to having a far-right government run the country over the next four years.

Ciro Gomes was the last hope for many Brazilian leftists and especially for LGBTI people in the country since polls indicated he was the only candidate who could beat Bolsonaro in the second round.

The platforms of Gomes and Haddad both had proposals to protect LGBTI Brazilians, which included making homophobia a crime. Gomes only received 12 percent of the vote and has already endorsed Haddad in the second round.

But will it be enough?

Mathematically speaking, the candidates who lost the first round received enough votes to allow Haddad to become president. Observers note many voters are afraid of what Lula and leftists represent right now in the country and Bolsonaro has effectively tapped into it: Blaming women who shouldn`t earn the same salary as men because they get pregnant, gay people who will teach boys to be gay and people of color who don`t like to work for a living.

Observers note Bolsonaro’s supporters came out in force and forgot the inflammatory things he had previously said about minority groups going along with the will of the majority. Bolsonaro has also repeatedly said he is the change for which Brazilians have been waiting in this current political climate.

Most LGBTI Brazilians feel the election will have a direct impact on their lives remain hopeful that Haddad can move more to the center and focus his campaign in a way that shows he supports leftist social and more centrist economic policies. This compromise may be the price he has to pay to defeat a candidate even the right-wing has called a fascist.

FELIPE ALFACE

Activists from across the Middle East attended an LGBTI conference outside of the Lebanese capital of Beirut late last month. Lebanese security forces tried to shut the conference down on Sept. 29.

PHOTO COURTESY OF GEORGES AZZI/ARAB FOUNDATION FOR FREEDOMS AND EQUALITY

Lebanon officials pressure activists to shut down conference Lebanese security officials late last month pressured human rights activists to shut down a conference that was taking place at a hotel outside of Beirut.

Jessica Stern, executive director of OutRight Action International, a global LGBTI advocacy organization, was among the more than 80 people who were attending the Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality’s annual conference on Sept. 29. Stern wrote on her organization’s website she was having lunch with Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality Executive Director Georges Azzi when “his colleagues alerted him” that two “plain-clothes officers” from Lebanon’s General Security Directorate had arrived at the hotel.

Azzi told the Washington Blade on Oct. 5 during an interview from Beirut that the Association of Muslim Scholars, a Sunni Muslim group that is based in the city of Tripoli in northern Lebanon, criticized the conference on Facebook.

Stern wrote the General Services officers “came to investigate a complaint” from the Association of Muslim Scholars.

“The group had issued a statement accusing the conference of promoting homosexuality and drug use, and they called for the arrest of the organizers and for the conference to be cancelled on grounds of ‘incitement to immorality.’” she wrote.

Azzi told the Blade the officers questioned him about the conference for more than two hours before they left the hotel.

Stern wrote seven General Security officers — “including muscular men wearing uniformed vests” — returned to the hotel a few hours later and “informed the hotel management that they were shutting down the conference, no rationale given other than ‘orders.’” Azzi told the Blade the officers asked him to sign a “pledge” that he would agree to cancel the conference.

“I said no,” he said. “I wasn’t sure what would happen.”

Stern wrote some of the conference attendees remained in the lobby “to be witnesses” in case the officers took Azzi and others into custody.

“We debated whether to contact the press and diplomatic community,” wrote Stern. “A woman came over to another foreigner and me and said, ‘Please stay here. Your presence reminds them they have an audience, and you make us safer.’ I took her words seriously, and I also wondered if we were a liability.

LGBTIQ+ rights are often associated with the West and colonial imposition.”

The Arab Foundation for Freedoms and Equality and representatives of Helem, a Lebanese LGBTI advocacy group, ultimately agreed to hold an LGBTIspecific meeting at another hotel the following day.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 1

PLEASE JOIN

MURIEL BOWSER

AND SPECIAL GUESTS

ANITA BONDS & DIONNE REEDER FOR A GOTV RALLY

Join us on Sunday, October 14, for a get out the vote rally with our Mayor, Muriel Bowser; the at large advocate for affordable housing Anita Bonds; and a native Washingtonian, Mayor Williams alum, and Ward 8 small business owner, Dionne Reeder.

NDS

ANITA BO

S U N DAY

OCTOBER

14

3:00PM 5:00PM TO

IVY CITY SMOKEHOUSE 1356 OKIE ST NE

DIONNE REEDER

RSVP AT: MURIELBOWSER.COM/GOTVRALLY OR CALL: (202) 627-0573 #TOGETHERWEWILL GIVE ALL RESIDENTS A #FAIRSHOT Paid for by Reelect Muriel Bowser Our Mayor, PO Box 90668, Washington, DC 20090. Jodi Ovca, Treasurer.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 2 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

NEWS

Supreme Court could hear multiple LGBT cases in coming years CONT INU ED FROM PAGE 01

Hawaii bed & breakfast owner is expected to soon petition the Court to review a decision that rejected her claim of a right to refuse a lesbian couple lodging.

Three suits questioning whether schools can bar transgender students from restrooms that match their gender identity also are now on appeal.

So, too, is a case asking whether the city of Philadelphia acted properly in terminating its contracts with two religiously affiliated foster care agencies that refused to abide by the city’s sexual orientation nondiscrimination policies.

Accordingly, it could be a big year for LGBTQ Americans in the highest court of the land—but it might not be. The Supreme Court doesn’t have to consider any of these cases. Out of approximately 7,000 requests that the Court review lower court decisions each year, the Court agrees to hear about only 80, or slightly more than one percent of them.

Brett Kavanaugh’s recent confirmation brings even more uncertainty to the Supreme Court this year. Lacking a record of LGBTQ rulings, we still do not know for sure how Kavanaugh will rule on sexual orientation or gender identity questions.

He has a record of ruling conservatively on many issues. Nonetheless, during his confirmation hearing, he repeatedly quoted from an opinion authored by his mentor, Justice Anthony Kennedy, that, “The days of discriminating against gay and lesbian Americans or treating gay and lesbian Americans as inferior in dignity and worth are over.”

Even if the new Justice Kavanaugh does end up siding with members of the Court who have dissented from the Court’s prior landmark victories for LGBTQ rights in any cases the Court agrees to hear, it may be possible to swing Chief Justice Roberts to join with the four justices who have ruled in favor of LGBTQ people in the past. Roberts previously voted with those justices in decisions rejecting a challenge to the Affordable Care Act, allowing cities to sue banks that targeted people of color for high-risk loans, and restricting the police’s ability to obtain suspects’ cellphone location data without a warrant. And notwithstanding Roberts’ criticism of the Court’s marriage equality decision, he subsequently voted to summarily reverse the Arkansas courts’ judgment that the state did not have to list both same-sex spouses’ names on their children’s birth certificates.

The Chief Justice’s votes sometimes reflect institutionalist concerns with preserving the Court’s legitimacy and stature. That impulse may cause him to decline to overturn certain prior precedents.

It also may lead him to vote against hearing cases that may be especially divisive or to

find ways to avoid particularly controversial outcomes that would subject the Court to criticism. That’s especially likely to weigh on his mind because of how partisan Justice Kavanaugh’s confirmation turned out to be.

There also are important cases already on the Court’s docket that go beyond LGBTQ concerns. For example, the Court has agreed to hear Gamble v. United States. That appeal asks the Court to overturn its precedent that the Constitution’s bar on double jeopardy— which prohibits prosecuting someone twice for the same offense—does not bar separate prosecutions for violation of state and of federal law based on the same conduct. The issue is important because, if that precedent were reversed, a presidential pardon of those indicted for federal crimes could preclude states from prosecuting them as well.

Jon Davidson is chief counsel for Freedom for All Americans.

Could Chief Justice JOHN ROBERTS surprise us and side with the court’s more liberal justices on LGBT-related cases?

Victory Institute organizes workshops in Central America SANTA LUCÍA, Honduras — The LGBTQ Victory Institute is holding a series of workshops in Central America that are designed to bolster the LGBTI community’s involvement in the region’s political process.

Nicaraguans who are participating in protests against their country’s government were among the 28 people who attended the first workshop that took place outside the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa from Sept. 28-30.

A second workshop that will focus on government institutions, policy and public speaking will take place in Guatemala City on Oct. 26-28. Two additional workshops on running a campaign, ensuring personal safety and bolstering LGBTI participation in the political process are scheduled to take place in Honduras and Guatemala next month and in January The workshops are part of the LGBTI Political Leadership Academy in Central America.

Participants are from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua. SOMOS CDC, Asociación Lambda and Caribe Afirmativo — three LGBTI advocacy groups from Honduras, Guatemala and Colombia respectively — organized the workshops alongside the Victory Institute.

“More and more LGBTQ leaders are stepping up and running for office in Honduras and throughout Central America — and our LGBTI Political Leadership Academy aims to provide them with the tools, skills and networks necessary to win,” Victory Institute Vice President Ruben Gonzales told the Washington Blade in a statement. “In the last few years, our participants and partners in Honduras and the region have become increasingly bold and strategic, taking advantage of opportunities to pursue careers in public service and transform political parties from the inside.”

Discrimination and violence based on sexual orientation and gender identity remain pervasive throughout Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Reports indicate more than 500 people have been killed in Nicaragua since protests against the government of President Daniel Ortega and his wife, Vice President Rosario Murillo, began on April 18.

A number of openly LGBTI people have nevertheless run for public office in the region in spite of the aforementioned threats.

Sandra Morán, who is openly lesbian, is the first out LGBTI person elected to Guatemala’s Congress. She was sworn in on Jan. 14, 2016.

Erick Martínez was one of four openly LGBTI candidates who unsuccessfully ran for a seat in Honduras’ Congress in 2012.

Claudia Spellman and Victoria Gómez — two openly transgender women who were also congressional candidates in 2012 — were either threatened or attacked and now live outside Honduras.

Martínez once again ran for the Honduras’ Congress in 2017, but he lost.

Kendra Stefani Jordany in March 2017 became the first openly trans person to ever win a primary in Honduras when she was among the Central American Parliament candidates who advanced to the country’s general election that took place last November. Jordany and Rihanna Ferrera, another openly trans woman who was running for a seat in Honduras’ Congress, ultimately lost their respective races.

Alex Peña, an openly trans man from El Salvador who was attacked by police officers in 2015, ran for the San Salvador Municipal Council earlier this year. Peña did not win, but he told the Blade during an interview in the Salvadoran capital after the March 4 election that “it is a right that we have to be part of this.”

“Growing LGBTI political participation is key to securing equality in Central America, and the leaders that attend our academy are at the forefront of making this a reality,” said Gonzales.

Activists in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and other countries have also worked with the Victory Institute to bolster the LGBTI community’s involvement in the political process. The Victory Institute’s annual International LGBTQ Leaders Conference takes place in D.C. in December.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NEWS

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 3

Haley’s U.N. tenure draws mixed reviews from LGBT advocates CONT INU ED FROM PAGE 01

your re-election as president, and supporting the policies that will continue to move our great country toward even greater heights.”

Haley was the governor of South Carolina when then-President-elect Trump announced her nomination less than a month after the 2016 presidential election.

Haley, who was critical of Trump during the campaign, endorsed U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) before her state’s Republican primary.

Haley has publicly condemned the ongoing crackdown against gay and bisexual men in Chechnya. She has also publicly acknowledged Pride month.

She met with Caitlyn Jenner in July 2017 to discuss global LGBTI rights issues. The U.S., along with France and Brazil, a few months later successfully blocked efforts to remove a reference to discrimination that includes sexual orientation from an Olympics resolution at the U.N. “The Olympics is an event that should focus on what brings us together – friendly competition by the world’s best athletes – not what makes us different,” Haley told the Blade in a statement. “No athlete should face discrimination of any kind when representing their country in the games.”

Haley’s tenure coincided with mounting criticism over the Trump administration’s foreign policies.

LGBT rights advocates were among those who sharply criticized the U.S. over its decision to withdraw from the U.N. Human Rights Council in June.

The U.S. in September 2017 voted against a council resolution that included a provision condemning the death penalty for those found guilty of committing consensual same-sex sexual acts. An American official told the Blade the U.S. backed language in the resolution “against the discriminatory use of the death penalty based on an individual’s sexual orientation or gender identity, while also requesting changes to make the larger resolution in accordance with U.S. law” that says the death penalty is legal.

Log Cabin Republicans Executive Director Gregory Angelo in a tweet said Haley “was a total class act as U.N. ambassador” and “always had an open door for Log Cabin Republicans.” “[She] never hesitated to stand up for LGBT human rights during her tenure,” he said.

Council for Global Equality Chair Mark Bromley’s reaction to Haley’s resignation was more mixed.

“We appreciated her open door and willingness to discuss human rights concerns with us, even though we disagreed on some U.N. tactics, including her decision to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council,” Bromley told the Blade. “The Human Rights Council is the primary U.N. institution charged with documenting and responding to human rights violations targeting LGBTI individuals and other at risk communities globally. It has

many faults, but the United States should be at the table fighting to make it better. And while we regretted the decision to withdraw, we appreciated the frank discussions we had with Ambassador Haley and her staff.”

OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern largely echoed Bromley.

“We appreciated that Nikki Haley went on record noting the need for justice for LGBT people,” Stern told the Blade. “We also

disagreed strongly on many issues.”

The Trump administration has not publicly said whom it will nominate to succeed Haley. U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, Ivanka Trump and former Deputy National Security Adviser Dina Powell are among those who have been cited as potential replacements.

“We hope that her successor and the rest of her U.N. staff will remain engaged in support

of human rights for LGBTI and other minority communities in an increasingly hostile global landscape,” Bromley told the Blade.

Stern agreed.

“We wish that the next U.S. ambassador to the U.N. is someone who values the multilateral system, engages respectfully with other countries, and recognizes the importance of universal human rights.” she said.

Stafford schools official apologizes to trans student The superintendent of the Stafford County School District has apologized to a transgender student who was unable to enter the girls’ or boys’ locker room during a lockdown drill.

The Free Lance-Star newspaper reported Scott Kizner spoke at the Stafford County School Board’s meeting on Tuesday.

Kizner said he personally apologized to the trans middle school student for the incident that took place on Sept. 28.

“We did not live up to my unwavering expectation that every child and adult — regardless of race, religion, color, disability, gender and sexual orientation — is treated with respect and dignity and for that I apologize to the student, the family and the Stafford community,” said Kizner, according to the Free Lance-Star.

The incident received national attention after Equality Stafford, a local LGBT advocacy group, wrote about it on Facebook on Oct. 3.

“The student was forced to watch the adults charged with her care, debate the safest place (for the other students) to have her shelter,” read the Facebook post. “During this debate, she was instructed to sit in the gym with a teacher until the drill was complete, away from her peers and identified as different. After some additional debate, she was made to sit in the locker room hallway, by the door away from her peers. This happened because the child, in addition to being a model student, also happens to be transgender.”

Local LGBT activists attended Tuesday’s meeting. The Free Lance-Star reported a number of trans people spoke.

The Stafford County School District does not include gender identity and sexual orientation in its non-discrimination policy.

The Free Lance-Star reported both Kizner and members of the Stafford County School Board said during Tuesday’s meeting they are open to potential changes.

The mother of a Stafford County Public Schools student who asked the Washington Blade not to identify them by name said Kizner’s apology “is very much appreciated.”

“Words are powerful, but it’s action that is meaningful and long lasting,” she said. “We look forward working with Dr. Kizner and the board to implement the inclusive policies and trainings that were promised.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

SMYAL forms new area youth Pride committee WASHINGTON — SMYAL has formed a new Regional Youth Pride Committee comprised of D.C., Maryland and Virginia LGBT youth 13-21 to “come together and plan a youth-driven, youth-focused Pride celebration.”

The group will meet monthly to plan smaller events culminating with a youth Pride-type event. Applications are currently being accepted. SMYAL is reaching out to area youth through D.C. public schools, area charter and private schools and other avenues through which SMYAL gets in touch with teens for its various activities such as Activist Camp, its Youth Leadership Award Scholarships and more. SMYAL is working with Capital Pride on the committee.

“As youth come out younger and younger and use technology to connect with peers across the region, there are more opportunities for LGBTQ youth to develop programming that crosses traditional boundaries,” SMYAL Executive Director Sultan Shakir said in an e-mail. “Regional Youth Pride is equipping young people with the resources to develop and roll out new youth-led programming.”

He also said the committee is “an outgrowth” of the kind of work SMYAL already does both on its own and with other agencies in the region such as Arena Stage, The Trevor Project and more.

So why is this agency forming when D.C. already has a Youth Pride? Shakir didn’t say exactly but The Youth Pride Alliance — the agency behind D.C. Youth Pride — has been difficult to reach in recent years and hasn’t updated its website (youthpridealliance.org) in more than a year. Its homepage has no 2018 information available and is still plugging its last event, held in Dupont Circle on Oct. 7, 2017.

For years, the volunteer-run Alliance (founded in 1996) held Youth Pride annually every May. It was bumped to October in 2017. Sarah Blazucki, board secretary, said a fall 2018 event was tentatively planned but the board is now hoping to move it back to spring 2019 instead.

“We’re looking at April or May,” Blazucki said in an e-mail. “We are trying to reserve the date in the next month.”

Blazucki did not immediately respond to a question about how Alliance board members feel about the new Regional Youth Pride Committee.

Shakir said he hopes to have the Committee in place by mid-November with 10 youth and three adult, non-SMYAL staff members. They hope to have three-four events planned by January, one each in D.C., Maryland and Virginia. They plan a Pridetype event with the Capital Pride Alliance in late spring/early summer 2019.

JOEY DiGUGLIELMO

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

14 • OC T OB E R 12, 2018

H E A LT H N E W S

PrEP opinions vary widely among gay, bi men

GO HARD WITH EMSCULPT • FDA-Approved to both build muscle and simultaneously reduce fat.

• Four 30-minute treatments across two weeks are all it takes.

• Non-invasive & pain free (no needles, no surgery, no numbing & no downtime).

• One 30-minute treatment is equivalent to 20,000 sit-ups.

• Tighten, lift and strengthen: buttocks, abdomen and thighs.

The Clinical Findings Revealed: • Increase in muscle mass: 16% at 4 weeks, further improvement at 3 months.

• Subcutaneous fat reduction: 19% at 4 weeks, further improvement at 3 months.

• Patient satisfaction rate: 96%

Serving the LGBTQ community since 1983 1828 L St. NW #850 Washington, DC, 20036 (202) 822-9591

Speak with our preplanning adviSor, Jamie arthurS at (202) 966-6400 or email Jamie.arthurS@dignitymemorial.com

LONDON — Gay and bisexual men have differing attitudes toward men who are using pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), according to U.S. research published in Sociology of Health & Illness. A series of focus groups conducted in New York City showed that some men regarded PrEP users as immoral, irresponsible, naïve and vectors of disease, AIDSmap reports.

In contrast, other men saw PrEP as a beneficial new option for preventing the spread of HIV. They had a nuanced view about the effectiveness of condombased prevention campaigns and the epidemiology of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among gay and bisexual men.

Investigators from the City University of New York wanted to make sense of the moral debates surrounding PrEP among gay and bisexual men, especially the extent to which PrEP has been constructed as a “social problem.” They designed a study based on five focus groups, in which 32 gay and bisexual men were invited to share their views about PrEP, in late 2015 and early 2016. PrEP was not mentioned in recruitment advertising as the investigators wished to avoid only attracting men with very strong opinions about it. The focus groups lasted approximately 45 minutes each, AIDSmap reports.

Participants had an average age of 35 years. Most self-identified as gay and 11 were HIV positive. Overall, the men had a good awareness of PrEP. Many reported seeing ads, discussion of PrEP on social media or said they had heard of PrEP from friends, AIDSmap reports.

However, not all the participants discussed PrEP accurately. One participant believed that it was a lifetime commitment, while another believed that if you stopped taking PrEP and subsequently became infected with HIV the virus would be resistant to anti-retrovirals because of previous exposure to medication.

Some of the men construed PrEP as a social problem: its users were seen as promiscuous, irresponsible, immoral and naïve. By and large, these individuals believed that uptake of PrEP was undermining use of condoms and that PrEP users were responsible for ongoing epidemics of STIs among gay and bisexual men, AIDSmap reports.

There were also clear notions of “deserving” and “undeserving” PrEP users.

Men in relationships with an HIV-positive partner fell into the former category, AIDSmap reports. In contrast, concern was expressed about the use of PrEP by younger gay and bisexual men. Some participants believed that younger men seeking PrEP should “be educated thoroughly,” that there “should be mental health screening” and that “it has to be made harder to get the pill.”

Federal court rules for trans Wisc. residents NEW YORK — A federal court has ruled that Wisconsin’s refusal to cover the costs of “surgery and sex hormones associated with gender reassignment” for its transgender state employees violates the ban on sex discrimination in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and in the Affordable Care Act, as well as the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, Gay City News reports.

District Judge William M. Conley had previously awarded a preliminary injunction to transgender Medicaid participants who were seeking similar coverage under that program, having concluded they were likely to prevail on the merits of their claims.

In this new decision on Sept. 18, in a case brought by Alina Boyden and Shannon Andrews, both employees of the University of Wisconsin, Conley granted their motion for summary judgment, so this is a final ruling on liability. There could still be a trial on damages if the state doesn’t settle, Gay City News reports.

Coverage for gender transition hormones and surgery have been excluded from the uniform benefits offered Wisconsin public employees since 1994, when the state concluded that insurance companies generally view them as “experimental and not medically necessary.”

In this case, however, the state argued this exclusion is not total, since hormone treatment for gender dysphoria is covered “unless specifically made a course of treatment leading to or involving gender conforming surgery.” The two sides in the lawsuit, however, disagreed about how this is interpreted and applied in practice, Gay City News reports.

“There is no dispute that mental health counseling as a stand-alone treatment for gender dysphoria is covered, whereas hormone therapy involving gender reassignment surgery is not covered; and there is no dispute that the surgery itself is not covered,” Conley wrote. Also excluded from coverage are “treatment, services, and supplies for cosmetic purposes,” with the state explaining that “psychological reasons do not represent a medical/ surgical necessity.”

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 5

STICKLEY SALE

LO OK Rockville, MD | Dulles, VA | SheffieldFurniture.com — I N S TA N T S AV I N G S —

Valid only for Stickley branded products at participating Authorized Stickley Dealers. Discount is off ‘everyday sale price’. Previous purchases excluded, cannot be used on Stickley; Collector edition, special value, promotional, and clearance items. Other restrictions may apply see showroom for details.

Promotion limited to one discount per order per household cannot be combined with other offers. Stickley Dollars offer ends 10.22.2018.

Offer card has no cash value.

$250

$500

Stickley Dollars

Stickley Dollars

Instant $250 savings on eligible Stickley products over $2,500.

Instant $500 savings on eligible Stickley products over $5,000.

Serving Our Community for 35 years

Sheffield Blade Oct13-Stickley.indd 1

Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A.

9/17/18 1:09 PM

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 6 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

VIEWPOINT

VOLUME

49

ISSUE

41

ADDRESS

PO Box 53352 Washington DC 20009

Dear millennials: Please vote Elections have consequences and Kavanaugh is the worst of them

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

If every person inviting me to a protest or to sign a Change.org petition had bothered to vote in 2016, we wouldn’t need all these protests and petitions.

The good news from 2016 voting patterns is that the much-maligned millennials voted for Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump by a 55-37 percent margin with 8 percent citing “other/no answer.”

The bad news is that barely 50 percent of millennials showed up, more than eight points below the overall turnout of 58 percent, according to the Pew Research Center. Millennials continue to have the lowest voter turnout of any group. Millennials (defined as between the ages of

18-35) comprise a whopping 31 percent of the electorate — the same as the Baby Boomers. But nearly 70 percent of Boomers voted in 2016, a rate identical to their 2012 turnout. Nearly 63 percent of Gen X voters showed up in 2016.

What’s even more ominous as we look to next month’s critical mid-term elections is that only 28 percent of millennials say they are “absolutely certain” to vote, according to a summer poll from the Public Religion Research Institute. Another poll from the AP showed that 32 percent of young voters would “certainly vote.” By comparison, 74 percent of seniors plan to vote next month.

As Dave Wasserman of the Cook Political Report put it, “Right now the ‘blue wave’ is being powered by suburban professional women, but to fully capitalize on 2018, Democrats need to energize young voters and voters of color.”

One problem for Democrats is that while millennials are more likely to identify as liberals, they are less likely to identify as Democrats, revealing a declining trust in the national political parties.

This is an alarming trend because, like it or not, we are a two-party system. This isn’t Europe where fragile coalition governments are frequently formed to secure enough votes for a leader. The time for E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

PHONE

fanciful voting in the United States comes during the primaries. Sure, feel the Bern; hell, vote for Princess Leia or Kermit the Frog if you want to. But in the general election, it’s time to get serious and choose one of the viable major party options.

Much was made in 2016 of the millennials’ need to be “inspired” by their political leaders. Let’s hope they have learned the cynical lesson that our choices are sometimes less inspirational and more practical. But for about 70,000 votes spread across three Midwestern states, 2,000 immigrant children wouldn’t be living in cages right now and Brett Kavanaugh would be but an obscure, beer-swilling judge that you never heard of.

The stakes couldn’t be higher next month. If the Democrats can’t flip the House, then Trump gets another two years of unchecked power. If they can miraculously flip the Senate, then his efforts to take over the judiciary and stock courts with right-wing ideologues can be stopped. A Democratic House can bottle up Trump’s legislative agenda, launch full investigations into Russian meddling (and myriad other scandals) and even impeach Trump and Kavanaugh. With the Mueller report expected possibly in the first quarter of 2019, the balance of power in Congress becomes even more important.

Elections have consequences — and Kavanaugh’s appointment to the Supreme Court will be the most grave.

During his confirmation process, Kavanaugh was grilled by Democratic senators on gay rights issues. He declined to answer specific questions and ominously cited the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision, which happens to be the one ruling that went against gay interests. Kavanaugh’s time as staff secretary in the Bush White House is even more troubling, as he refused to answer questions about the push for a Federal Marriage Amendment banning marriage equality. The Trump administration refused to make public Kavanaugh’s correspondence from that time. We can safely assume that he argued in favor of such a ban.

Kavanaugh has spoken in favor of “religious liberty,” which we know to be code for anti-LGBT discrimination.

With Roe and Obergefell in the crosshairs of the right-wing evangelicals who call the shots in this administration, the mid-terms are the only way to stop the country’s march backwards.

202-747-2077 E-MAIL news@washblade.com INTERNET washingtonblade.com PUBLISHED BY Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia, Inc. PUBLISHER LYNNE J. BROWN lbrown@washblade.com ext. 8075 EDITORIAL EDITOR KEVIN NAFF knaff@washblade.com ext. 8088 FEATURES EDITOR JOEY DIGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com ext. 8081 SR. NEWS REPORTER LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com ext. 8079 NEWS REPORTER CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com ext. 8083 REPORTER & INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITOR MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com POP CULTURE REPORTER MARIAH COOPER PHOTO EDITOR MICHAEL KEY mkey@washblade.com CONTRIBUTING WRITERS PETER ROSENSTEIN, MARK LEE, LATEEFAH WILLIAMS, KATE CLINTON, KATHI WOLFE, RICHARD J. ROSENDALL, HELEN PARSHALL, ERNESTO VALLE, NICOLÁS LEVY, BUNMI JOHNSON CREATIVE DESIGN/PRODUCTION AZERCREATIVE.COM SALES & ADMINISTRATION DIRECTOR OF SALES & MARKETING STEPHEN RUTGERS srutgers@washblade.com ext. 8077 SR. ACCT. EXECUTIVE BRIAN PITTS bpitts@washblade.com ext. 8089 ACCT. EXECUTIVE JOE HICKLING jhickling@washblade.com ext. 8094 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING/ADMINISTRATION PHILLIP G. ROCKSTROH prockstroh@washblade.com ext. 8092 NATIONAL ADVERTISING RIVENDELL MEDIA 212-242-6863; sales@rivendellmedia.com For distribution, contact Lynne Brown at 202-747-2077, ext. 8075. Distributed by MediaPoint, LLC All material in the Washington Blade is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced without the written consent of the Washington Blade. The sexual orientation of advertisers, photographers, writers and cartoonists published herein is neither inferred nor implied. The appearance of names or pictorial representation does not necessarily indicate the sexual orientation of that person or persons. Although the Washington Blade is supported by many fine advertisers, we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers. Unsolicited editorial material is accepted by the Washington Blade, but the paper cannot take responsibility for its return. The editors reserve the right to accept, reject or edit any submission. A single copy of the Washington Blade is available from authorized distribution points, to any individual within a 50-mile radius of Washington, D.C. Multiple copies are available from the Washington Blade office only. Call for rates. If you are unable to get to a convenient free distribution point, you may receive a 52-week mailed subscription for $195 per year or $5.00 per single issue. Checks or credit card orders can be sent to Phil Rockstroh at prockstroh@washblade.com. Postmaster: Send address changes to the Washington Blade, PO BOX 53352 Washington, DC 20009. The Washington Blade is published weekly, on Friday, by Brown Naff Pitts Omnimedia, Inc. Individual Subscriptions are $195 per year for 52 issues (only $3.75 per issue mailed to you USPS). Rates for businesses/institutions are $450 per year. Periodical postage paid at Washington, D.C., and additional mailing offices. Editorial positions of the Washington Blade are expressed in editorials and in editors’ notes as determined by the paper’s editors. Other opinions are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the Washington Blade or its staff. To submit a letter or commentary: Letters should be fewer than 400 words; commentaries should be fewer than 750 words. Submissions may be edited for content and length, and must include a name, address and phone number for verification.

Send submissions by e-mail to knaff@washblade.com.

©2018 BROWN NAFF PITTS OMNIMEDIA, INC.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

I N S I D E LGB T W A S HING TON

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 7

Women, it’s your time for a revolution!

Kavanaugh debacle exposes GOP’s ignorance and sexism

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

The time is now for the women of America to declare their freedom. It’s time for their revolution. This is not about red vs. blue, black or white, North or South. It is about standing up and demanding to be respected and treated as equal in every way.

It is my profound hope such a revolution will begin at the polls on Nov. 6 with the support of decent men across America who will fight back against Trump and all like him who continue to denigrate women and treat them as something less. They are not!

In the midterm elections women have the opportunity to be counted. They can vote out

any member of Congress, any governor, and any state legislator on the ballot who has not stood up for them and protected their rights.

With their votes then can send a shot across the bow warning all elected officials, “If you are not supporting us we will vote you out the next time you are on the ballot.”

Turning Congress blue in this election will be a strong rebuke to the president and tell Republicans in Congress ‘we won’t take it anymore.’ There is an opportunity to elect women running in record numbers for all offices across the nation.

Let’s hope the farce of the Kavanaugh hearings, reminiscent of the Clarence Thomas hearings in 1991 that provided for what was then called the ‘year of the woman,’ will be the catalyst to do that again in 2018. Women and decent men didn’t accept what was done to Anita Hill in 1991 and we must not accept what was done to Dr. Christine Blasey Ford today.

The problem with the Kavanaugh hearings went beyond the he said/she said of the assault charge. Decent people took offense when a bunch of old white men wouldn’t allow more witnesses and were even afraid to question Ford themselves. Then there was Kavanaugh’s total lack of respect for senators, particularly women senators, Feinstein

and Klobuchar. Ford was disrespected by Republicans in the Senate and by a president who outrageously mocked her at a rally in Mississippi that was beyond the pale.

I worked for Rep. Bella S. Abzug (D-N.Y.) who was a force of nature and one of the most brilliant people I have known. She and the women around her educated me on the indignities women faced daily. Everything from being paid less than men for doing the same job to harassment and even sexual assault at work. There were many areas of employment at the time closed to women. These are injustices I have fought to change my entire life.

Over the years I have worked for many women — in government, the private sector and the non-profit field. They were all smart, incredible women who fought for and earned the positions they achieved. They all opened my eyes to so many things I would have never understood on my own. My political resume is filled with women I supported for office, including Bella, Carol Bellamy, Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth and of course Hillary Clinton. Some won their elections and some lost. In every case they were smarter and more qualified than the men they defeated or those who defeated them.

I am a Jewish gay man and understand discrimination. I am first generation American.

My parents escaped the Holocaust and my paternal grandparents were killed in Auschwitz. But I am also a white man of privilege.

That privilege not earned by wealth, not by brilliance or competence; it is simply a status granted to me by society based on happenstance; my being born white and male.

So I and others like me must now use the privilege society grants us to take up the cause of supporting women; working to make all the women in our lives know we respect and honor them with both our words and deeds.

It is more crucial than ever to speak out when a pig like our president can mock a woman who has been sexually assaulted and receive applause for doing so. We must support finally adding the Equal Rights Amendment to our Constitution, which specifically states all the rights and liberties men take for granted are granted to women as well.

Together we can make real progress toward making true what our nation’s founders hoped for when they wrote the preamble to our Constitution: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union.”

V I E WPO I N T

Gay out the vote this November ‘Rainbow wave’ could reshape the fight for equality

By EARL FOWLKES With more LGBTQ Democrats than ever before running for office, a potential ‘rainbow wave’ this November could reshape the fight for equality.

But this wave won’t crest on its own.

In order to take back Congress from the hands of anti-LGBTQ Republicans, it requires each and every one of us to register to vote and cast a ballot for Democrats this November.

For the last two decades, Democrats have led the fight for LGBTQ rights — spearheading the fight for marriage equality and fighting the outdated and discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. The Obama administration ensured that queer voices were heard by appointing more than 250 LGBTQ people to federal positions, banning discrimination against LGBTQ people by federal contractors, and ending the shameful “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law. A Democratic Congress delivered protections against hate crimes by passing the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Act. And just this summer, the Democratic National Committee updated the lan-

guage of its rules to be more inclusive of gender nonconforming Democrats.

There is good reason to be optimistic about the fight for full equality, but today our hard-earned progress faces a serious threat from President Trump and his antiLGBTQ agenda.

But in the 21 months since his inauguration, President Trump has put our community in his crosshairs. Before he even attended an Inaugural Ball, Trump scrubbed all mentions of LGBTQ issues from the White House website. In his first year alone, Trump tried to ban transgender people from serving openly in the military, rescinded an Obama-era memo that protected the rights of trans workers, and supported allowing discrimination against gay couples in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case. Nearly a third of his judicial appointments have blatantly antiLGBTQ records and threaten to eliminate critical legal protections. He’s even twice refused to recognize Pride Month.

Without a Democratic counterbalance to this dangerous administration, the progress we’ve made will continue to slip away.

Democrats have always been there for us in the fight for equality — and this year more than ever, we need to be there for them by voting Democratic this November.

Better yet, there are hundreds of LG-

BTQ candidates challenging Republican incumbents who could give our community the direct representation it deserves.

In response to Trump’s hostility, queer Democrats are fighting back by running for office in record numbers — leading to the most diverse slate of Democratic candidates in history.

On the trail, not only are they leaning into their identity, but they are grounding their campaigns in bold ideas that can get this country back on track.

Nobody knows how to fight back harder than former MMA boxer Sharice Davids, who is taking her fight out of the ring and into the deep-red 3rd Congressional District in Kansas. She’s taped her fists with universal health care, environment protections, and gay rights. She’s a lesbian; she’s Native American; she’s a warrior.

Jared Polis — running to be the nation’s first openly gay governor— hopes his election will be a “thumb in the eye” of Vice President Mike Pence. But his bold vision for Colorado extends beyond just his sexuality: He wants Colorado to reach for 100 percent renewable energy by 2040 to prevent climate change from degrading his state’s breathtaking mountains, rivers and plains.

As someone whose family lost their health insurance while she was growing up, Kyrsten Sinema wants all Arizonans to

have access to quality health care. In the mold of the late John McCain, she knows what it takes to reach across the aisle to achieve progress — like when she leveraged her bisexual identity to champion the bipartisan effort to defeat an Arizona constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage.

In Vermont, Christine Hallquist is blazing the trail not only for transgender equality, but also for everyday Vermont families. Despite being the first transgender candidate to win the nomination to run for governor from any major party, she adamantly focuses her message on a $15 minimum wage, paid leave policies, and tuition-free public colleges.

Our candidates are winners, but they need your help to carry on the fight. We can’t afford to sit this election out.

Cast a vote for an LGBTQ candidate and our Democratic allies this November so they can continue to fight for our rights. We deserve elected officials who represent the diversity of the American people and have our interests at heart.

Electing lesbian, gay, bi and trans folks up and down the ballot is a big step in the right direction.

EARL FOWLKES is chair of the LGBT Caucus of the Democratic National Committee.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 8 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

O U R BU SI N E SS MA T T E RS

Mid-term election: Will resistance or repulsion rule?

Nearly half of all registered voters are estranged from both political parties

MARK LEE is a long-time entrepreneur and community business advocate. Follow on Twitter: @MarkLeeDC. Reach him at OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com.

We all know someone who has been preaching the simplistic message, ‘Vote a straight party ticket, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with a particular candidate or think an opponent is better.’

Such an instruction, of course, is completely dissonant with contemporary mindsets. It’s an old-fashioned exhortation that harkens back to a time when everyone, instead of a minority in locales still offering the ancient practice, had the option of pulling a single lever to cast a ballot for all of a political party’s nominees all the way down the ballot.

For most voters today that merely conjures up a time when Tang was popular as a breakfast drink, chilled in an avocadotoned refrigerator.

The question is whether resistance or repulsion will turn out to be the theme of the midterm election. Will voters choose based on ideas and solutions they support or merely in outraged opposition to the other party?

Barely half of all registered voters align with either the Democrats or the Republicans. For the now largest potential voter group in the nation, those under 35 years of age, political party identification is even lower.

Only one-quarter of all registered voters self-affiliate with each of the two major parties, both at only a point or three above an equal one-fourth share of the electorate. Nearly half, and among younger voters more than half, describe themselves as political independents. Party affinity is destined to further decrease over time as those under-35 voters move up among the age cohorts.

Parity between parties is even true when factoring in self-described independent voters and bunching them with party adherents according to their leaning toward one or the other party when forced

to make the available binary choice.

The result of adding “leaners” to “believers” in determining party strength also results in parity between the two established parties. Both Democrats and Republicans top out in the mid-to-high 40s at essentially identical margin-of-error levels when combining independents with party partisans.

We really are a divided nation.

Voters have become more discerning and discriminating in the modern era, conveying lessened regard for party affiliation when casting a ballot. If they vote at all, that is.

Candidate party designation matters less and less to many, if not most, voters.

An increasing share of voters now consider themselves “independents” – even if not permitted to fully participate in the electoral system, as in D.C., unless registered with a political party. Locally dominant parties fight to keep independents disenfranchised, knowing that association and registration with parties would decline fast and further if voters were given the option without penalty.

In the District, 17 percent of all registered voters are signed-up as “non-partisan” independents despite only being allowed to vote in general elections and when doing so is a nearly pointless exer-

cise due to winners being determined by dominant Democrats in party primaries.

As the mid-term election approaches, there is a tightening across polls between parties in voting enthusiasm and a narrowing advantage for Democrats over Republicans. The most notable divide is that, while a majority of male voters both approve of Trump and align with Republicans by a sizable margin of nearly 10 points, women are giving Democrats a more significant edge.

While demographics, and history, suggest Democrats will take control of the lower chamber of Congress this go-round, Republicans seem likely to hold or slightly increase their narrow U.S. Senate margin.

Neither party should celebrate, given the public’s low esteem for both.

Until the two political parties, each in their own way, cease alienating voters by rushing further to their individual ideological extremes outside the range of acceptability for mainstream voters, the now prevalent toxic warfare most claim to lament will only worsen.

If both parties continue shedding supporters and reducing the core support either can muster, the resistance vote within each will simply be reduced to repulsion of the other.

No one wins if that happens.

OCTOBER 19, 20 & 21 BUY YOUR TICKETS TODAY AT

fonz.org/boo $5 OFF SUNDAY

Use code Blade5

Join Friends of the National Zoo for Boo at the Zoo, sponsored by Mars Wrigley Confectionery. With more than 40 treat stations, animal demonstrations, jugglers and magicians, this frightfully fun evening is Washington D.C.’s favorite, not-so-spooky Halloween treat for the whole family. Best of all, it’s a great way to help us support the Smithsonian’s National Zoo’s mission to save species. $20 FONZ members / $30 non-members LEAD SPONSOR: MARS WRIGLEY CONFECTIONERY. Additional Sponsors: Big Bus Tours, BIG 100, Comcast, FedEx, GEICO, Groupon, HBP, HOT 99.5, metroPCS, 97.1 WASH-FM, 98.7 WMZQ, Washington Parent and The Washington Post.

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 1 9

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS

by William Shakespeare | directed by Alan Paul

“WONDERFUL ...a romp of pure fun.”

–MD Theatre Guide

Photo of the cast of The Comedy of Errors by Scott Suchman.

“UPROARIOUS.” –DC Metro Theater Arts

“FABULOUS.” –DC Theatre Scene

Photo of Christian Conn and Eleasha Gamble by Scott Suchman.

Photo of Justin G. Nelson and Matt Bauman by Scott Suchman.

“FUN

…

a rollicking good time.”

–DCist

Photo of Gregory Wooddell and Veanne Cox by Scott Suchman.

ORDER TODAY! EXTENDED TO NOVEMBER 4

ShakespeareTheatre.org 202.547.1122

Sponsored by Michael R. Klein and Joan I. Fabry.

Resturant Partner:

2 0 • O CTO B E R 1 2, 2018

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

“A magnificent score of hard to resist sing-along classics … the quintessential American musical.”

— HuffPost

FAB, LUXURIOUS, UNIQUE CONDO |

2300 sq ft 2 bdrm, 2.5 bth w/ lge terrace/portico. Historic renovation in convenient Forest Glen location inside the Beltway nr Bethesda. Extensive amenities, trees, gardens and sculpture. $50k in new owner upgrades.

Custom closets, built in ofc and bar. Exquisite gourmet eat-in kitchen, designer lighting. Lives like a house on 13 acre quiet oasis. Pet Friendly

Call 301-655-1458 for more info/visit

Keep your promise to protect each other.

GOLD STANDARD MUSICAL

ANYTHING GOES

MUSIC AND LYRICS BY COLE PORTER ORIGINAL BOOK BY P. G. WODEHOUSE AND GUY BOLTON AND HOWARD LINDSAY AND RUSSEL CROUSE PROOF #1 ISSUE DATE: 181012 NEW BOOK BY TIMOTHY CROUSE AND JOHN WEIDMAN DIRECTED BY MOLLY SMITH | CHOREOGRAPHED BY PARKER ESSEREVISIONS REDESIGN TEXT REVISIONS IMAGE/LOGO REVISIONS MUSIC DIRECTION BY PAUL SPORTELLI NO REVISIONS

BEGINS NOVEMBER 2 ORDER TODAY!

202-488-3300 | ARENASTAGE.ORG

ADVERTISING SALES REPRESENTATIVE:

Wills & Trusts

REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation, or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations and warranties.

ADVERTISER SIGNATURE

By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contr washington blade newspaper. This includes but is no payment and insertion schedule.

Serving the LGBT Community in DC/MD/VA since 1983 Lawrence S. Jacobs/McMillan Metro, PC

ARTS

AND

ENTERTAINMENT

•

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

•

VOLUME

49

•

ISSUE

41

•

OCTOBER

12,

2018

•

PAGE

21

‘Rush’ depicts a big yellow bottle of poppers, with some of the liquid spilled on the floor.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, NEW YORK, © JOHN WATERS

Another side of John Waters

BMA’s ‘Indecent Exposure’ exhibit showcases photos, sculpture and more

By ED GUNTS So you think you know everything there is to know about Baltimore-based writer and filmmaker John Waters?

You’ve seen every version of “Hairspray” and read every Waters book since “Shock Value.” You’ve sipped cocktails at Club Charles.

You’ve visited Edith Massey’s old shop in Fells Point and checked out the spot where Divine ate dog poop in “Pink Flamingos.”

But there’s another side of John Waters that even many of his fans don’t know

much about, and it’s on display in a comprehensive exhibit that opened last week at the Baltimore Museum of Art. “Indecent Exposure,” which runs through Jan. 6, provides a look at John Waters the visual artist, creator of photos, sculptures, graphic art and videos separate from his books and movies. Waters, 72, has been creating visual art since the 1990s. This is the first retrospective of his work in his hometown and his first exhibit at the

BMA (besides a 2016 showing of “Kiddie Flamingos”) in decades.

“I haven’t seen a lot of this work in 20 years,” Waters said during a press preview for the exhibit. “To see it all together is kind of amazing…I’m really, really thrilled to be back.”

“Waters is highly admired for his career as a filmmaker, but is less known for his work as an artist,” said Kristen Hileman, the museum’s Senior Curator of

Contemporary Art, in a statement.

“It has been incredibly rewarding to develop an exhibition that highlights his influence as an artist, and participant in and critic of contemporary culture.

His work has had a huge impact on an evolving and more encompassing idea of American identity and provides an important perspective on how we assert CONTINUES ON PAGE 33

2 2 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R J O H N SH I E LD S

PHOTO COURTESY JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com It’s a big month for Baltimore’s Gertrude’s Chesapeake Kitchen (gertrudesbaltimore.com). The restaurant, located in the Baltimore Museum of Art (10 Art Museum Dr., Baltimore) is celebrating its 20th anniversary and its owner has a new cookbook out.

“The New Chesapeake Kitchen” by John Shields, was released Oct. 7 from the Johns Hopkins University Press and features “the best of what grows, swims or grazes in the Chesapeake Bay’s watershed and prepares it simply and memorably.” The book, his fifth, retails for about $18 (some price variation based on where it’s purchased) and is available at Gertrude’s, in the museum gift shop, on Amazon and more.

Shields (johnshields.com) says he wanted to “envision a Chesapeake kitchen for the 21st century.”

“I’ve been writing about Chesapeake cuisine for nearly 30 years and this book is my culinary last will and testament to the Bay,” the 67-year-old Baltimore native says.

Shields and husband John Gilligan co-own Gertrude’s.

“Yes, we have worked together all these years and are still married,” he says.

Except for stints in Provincetown (1972-1977) and Berkeley/San Francisco (1978-1996), Shields has lived in his native Charm City. He describes Gertrude’s as a “sophisticated yet casual regional American eatery.” There are 55 people on staff and he’s involved in the day-to-day operations. An anniversary party was held Oct. 1. Shields says his specialty is “all things crab and lots of seafood.”

Shields and Gilligan live in North Baltimore’s Tuscany/Canterbury area with their cat, Oscar. Shields enjoys farmers markets and visits to Ireland in his free time.

J O H N S H I EL DS

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

According to my family, I was out since I was 5 years old so there was no one to tell.

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

Order Chipotle and watch some Nextflix

Who’s your LGBT hero?

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?

The Tao

Gertrude Stein

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

The Atlantis

Describe your dream wedding.

A big Cajun wedding party in North Berkeley, oh wait — already did that!

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Local environmental concerns around the Chesapeake.

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

Be bold, be queer, do not be complacent.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

Tuna fish on saltine crackers.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

That we all know how to arrange flowers.

What historical outcome would you change?

The introduction of Roman-ruled Christianity to Ireland.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

“Parting Glances”

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

Herman’s Hermits opening act at the Baltimore Civic Center for The Who in 1967.

What’s the most overrated social custom?

Telling people, “God Bless You,” after they have sneezed.

On what do you insist?

Kindness

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

The Man Booker Prize

Eat catfish!!!

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

That it’s all just really, really transitional, so have fun!

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

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

“The Beyonder Chronicles” (coming to a bookstore near you soon)

Why Baltimore?

As John Waters says, “It’s the Hairdo Capitol of the World.” Why live anywhere else?

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 2 3

San Francisco Ballet Helgi Tomasson, Artistic Director

Beautiful 1877c Victorian in historic Chestertown.

Currently a B & B. Separate carriage house, 2 car garage, beautiful gardens and additional lot for parking. Close to the Chester River, Washington College, restaurants and shops.

Turn-Key business available. Motivated Sellers!

East Coast Premieres from Unbound: A Festival of New Works “One of the world’s top ballet companies” —London’s The Sunday Times

Kenneth J. Roderick/Agent

410-924-2810 kroderick@bensonandmangold.com

Sofiane Sylve and Tiit Helimets in Liang’s The Infinite Ocean, photo by © Erik Tomasson

BENSON AND MANGOLD REAL ESTATE 700 Abruzzi Dr Suite B Chester MD 21619 Office: 410-643-3033 Fax: 410-643-3233 www.bensonandmangold.com

“

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

I may not fit some ideas about gender, and I am a proud part of DC. ADVERTISING ISSUE DATE: 180921

NS GN EVISIONS /LOGO REVISIONS SIONS

SALES REPRESENTATIVE:

Please treat me the same way any person would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect.

REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation, or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations and warranties.

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

PROOF

Two programs featuring works by some of today’s most in-demand choreographers, including Edwaard Liang, Trey McIntyre, Justin Peck, and Christopher Wheeldon, plus Kennedy Center debuts by choreographers Cathy Marston and David Dawson

By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the washington blade newspaper. This includes but is not limited to placement,

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

October 23–28 | Opera House

Kennedy-Center.org OFFICE OF

GLBT AFFAIRS

Show your support! Spread word of the #TransRespect campaign by photographing this ad and sharing on Twitter.

(202) 467-4600

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.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 4 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

The life and times of Lily Tomlin It’s the morning after the Emmys and the comedy legend tells us why she’s glad she lost

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com It’s Tuesday, Sept. 18, the morning after the Emmy Awards. Lily Tomlin was nominated for her role as Frankie on “Grace and Frankie,” her hit Netflix comedy in which she co-stars with her old pal Jane Fonda. By phone from her home in Los Angeles, Tomlin is thoroughly unfazed at having lost to Rachel Brosnahan for Amazon’s “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”

Tomlin, 79, has seven other Emmys and is only an Oscar short of EGOT status.

She spent a delightful near-hour with the Blade by phone — ostensibly to talk about her Oct. 17 show at the Kennedy Center though she was far more animated on a host of other topics. Her comments have been slightly edited for length.

WASHINGTON BLADE: How were the Emmys?

LILY TOMLIN: Well I was a little bit late. I missed the opening number and then my category was announced and I went backstage to the green room to congratulate Brosnahan. … She was very sweet and everything like that. Then out in the hallway I ran into Betty White so we took a photo. She’s totally charming. Her birthday is Capricorn so she’s very much like my mom and she could be my mom, that’s what’s staggering.

BLADE: Was there anybody else you were particularly rooting for?

TOMLIN: Not so much. I don’t want to be blase about the Emmys but there’s so much product, I mean there’s no way they can embrace all the product. There’s something like 450 shows on the air probably that run every week at least part of the year. That’s just staggering.

BLADE: Do you watch many of them?

TOMLIN: I only watch an infinitesimal fraction of them. I watch all the obvious ones, you know. “Ozark,” that’s sort of a creeper. When “Homeland’s” on I watch “Homeland.” “Billions.” I used to watch “Orange is the New Black” but I sort of got — well, you lose track of it. A new show comes along and you start watching that for a season or two then you gotta double back and see way into some other show you loved and it’s just too much. There’s no way any one person could watch all the shows for a whole year, never mind having to earn a living or anything.

BLADE: I don’t even know how the critics do it.

TOMLIN: I don’t even know if they do

PHOTO COURTESY TOMLIN

LILY TOMLIN says her comedy was too ‘off the wall’ for a ‘Carol Burnett Show’-type series in the ‘70s.

do it. I think they just run through one or two and they take a little consensus.

I don’t think they can do it. Maybe somebody has laid out the statistics so they know that golly, it is possible but I’d be more hard pressed I guess. (laughs) BLADE: Do you dream of winning the Oscar to complete the set?

TOMLIN: I think I probably have missed that chance.

BLADE: Well you never know.

TOMLIN: No, you never do know but as you get older, it’s very hard to come by older parts. And of course I have that idea alive but by that time it’s not gonna matter. It’s getting ridiculous. There was a time when everybody was focused on somebody coming along and, “Oh, she’s got an EGOT.” I’ve satisfied myself because I have two Peabodys. I said, “Well, if I did have an Oscar, I’d have a PEGOT. I wonder how many more people have a PEGOT.” (laughs) BLADE: Probably none.

TOMLIN: Maybe, I don’t know. But it’s like all things in life. It’s not that it’s not exciting or fun or you value it or you’d like to win but frankly, I did not want to win last night. I didn’t want to win when Jane Fonda wasn’t nominated. So when she was nominated we’d go to the Emmys together and we’d feel pretty satisfied we weren’t gonna be called to the front because we knew we’d split the vote. You never really know. You don’t know what the count is, but I didn’t relish winning and plus I feel a little bit somewhat estranged from the multitude of shows that are on. I used to have friends on

every show or I’d really be able to grasp the whole industry in an armload but times change. The Emmys will probably eventually evolve into something else. I’ve been a governor at the Academy and it’s a very hard thing to do. You have to have someone who has the brains to figure out what’s coming down the pike and how they should handle it. I think time will just take care of that.

BLADE: Are you still shooting season five?

TOMLIN: No, we finished that and we’re gonna start season six in January so we’re chugging along. We really do love doing the show.

BLADE: How long does it take to shoot a season?

TOMLIN: Four-five months but we have a little time. We put some hiatuses in there and we really like that. So we’ll work like three-four weeks and have a week off. And as time has gone on, the other characters, their lives have gotten more developed and so it used to be very heavy on the shoulders of Jane and me to handle the story because they had to establish our characters strongly first and now everybody else has a life going on and there’s a lot of interaction now so we’re able to have this time off.

We just have fun, that’s all. I adore Sam (Waterston) and Martin (Sheen) and my kids. I even love Jane’s kids.

BLADE: Critics have said the show found its footing more in the second and third seasons. Would you agree?

TOMLIN: Yeah, I guess we found it as we went along because whoever was

TV

gonna develop that story, they were finding it too. I don’t think anybody had that story thought out completely. I don’t think any show ever does. It evolves as you go along. When I did “Damages” on FX, it was exciting because we were playing such bad people. We were always getting into some dreadful mischief. It was based on the Madoff family and we never knew how bad we were and they never told us.

So we would sort of play it by ear. … We’d stand around and we were always having to play both sides of the road because we were hoping we were gonna be really bad.

We’d stand around and say, “Do you think Joe would kill his mother, do you think she would kill her son …” (laughs) We were just really deep into it. So with “Grace and Frankie,” especially the beginning season, we had to adjust how we all behaved. …

Like that scene on the beach when Jane and I are doing peyote and we’d sort of hit bottom with our husbands taking off and all that. When we played that one scene where she’s saying, “You know, why aren’t you mad and upset,” and all that stuff, and I’d say, “No, he didn’t know what he was doing, he couldn’t do it any other way and that’s all he could do,” and then she’d say, “How can you just take it” or something like that and then I broke down and said, “I’m heartbroken.” I didn’t really expect that.

BLADE: What’s it like working with Jane now versus 30 years ago? Has she mellowed or not mellowed or anything noticeably like that?

TOMLIN: I feel like she’s the same person. She’s always growing and always learning and changing and developing herself and trying to make everything better so I don’t even want to say she hasn’t changed because I’m sure she has changed for the better in many ways but I can’t just put my finger on it because she’s a really good person. Even when she’s being really direct, it’s because she wants to make things better for everbody.

Like she’ll say to someone on the set, “You need a haircut.” Somebody else would just be devastated if somebody of Jane’s position on the show should go in and tell somebody that but sure enough, the person would go in and somebody would cut their hair and they’d look really great and it was just like she has an eye for it and she can’t help being that direct. It’s like, “God, we gotta fix this right now,” but never in a hurtful way. She’s really a wonderful friend to me.

BLADE: Are you in “Jane Fonda in Five Acts,” her new documentary?

TOMLIN: I’m in it briefly in the beginning and then a little bit in the middle someplace.

BLADE: Have you seen it yet?

TOMLIN: Yeah, we had a big screening and then Jane and I went up to San Francisco the next morning to lobby for

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

TV

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 2 5

Tomlin says ‘9 to 5’ sequel a go with Fonda, Parton one fair wage and we didn’t get home til midnight that night so we were beat. We had the movie until 10:30, 11 or so then we had to be up and out of the house by 7 so sometimes we’re just doing so much, we’re on the run all the time.

BLADE: How did you like it?

TOMLIN: I liked it. I thought it was rather epic. She has lived such a full life.

BLADE: How has Netflix been to work for?

TOMLIN: Netflix is great. It’s good.

It’s good except we don’t know how successful we are. Our agents don’t even know. They just know it’s popular.

BLADE: So there’s no ratings or any way to gauge it?

TOMLIN: No, you never really know. It’s not like being on network and knowing you’re number whatever in a roster and you know how much the network wants to keep you or not keep you. It can work two ways. It can make you feel very familial with the boss man or it can make you rebel.

BLADE: Well you never know what kind of footing you’re on.

TOMLIN: Yeah, exactly. But they’re basically fun and the people at Netflix and Skydance, which is the producing partner of Okay Goodnight!, which is Marta Kauffman’s company, they all have a hand in it.

BLADE: How long would you like to see “Grace and Frankie” run?

TOMLIN: I think about eight years. Jane says she wants it to run until we’re both really old and everybody watches us age.

I think that would be a good touchstone for people.

BLADE: Do you think sitcoms tend to run out of gas after about eight or 10 years?

TOMLIN: You mean the content?

BLADE: Yeah. It gets repetitious.

TOMLIN: Well I don’t know, we haven’t done it. Did “Seinfeld” run out? They were on nine years or something like that I think. “Murphy (Brown)” was 10 years.

BLADE: Are you gonna be on the reboot of that? (Tomlin played Kay on seasons nine-10) TOMLIN: No, there’s no plans for me to be.

BLADE: What do you think of all these reboots? Is it a good thing or just a sign that they’re desperate for something with built-in name recognition?

TOMLIN: Well as with anything, it depends what’s done with it, who’s hand is in it. Is it innovative? Is it fresh? Can they find a freshness in those relationships?

Now “Murphy” has a good chance because they’re gonna be very political and I think Candice’s character is very timely in that she has always been an independent woman. She’s assertive, she’s in a very timely, professional field and it’s been a long time since they’ve been on. Twenty years or more, maybe more.

BLADE: I read that “Grandma” was shot in just 19 days. Was it nerve wracking shooting that quickly?

TOMLIN: No, no it was great. The actors were so good and I adored (director) Paul Weitz. I’d done “Admission” with him and then he came back to me with “Grandma” and no, it wasn’t nerve wracking at all. It was rather fun. I thought that would be my last crack at an Oscar. I got a lot of great notices in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and all those papers but it just never took off. It was never a big enough hit to attract attention, maybe because of the subject, I don’t know. But I liked that little film very much.

BLADE: That was a decent hit relative to its budget. It must be quite gratifying to still be having hits with that and “Grace and Frankie.”

TOMLIN: Yeah, no of course it is. (laughs) Anything is fun that keeps you in the game.

BLADE: How did you get so chummy with (British cabaret singer) Mabel Mercer (1900-1984)?

TOMLIN: Oh Mabel Mercer, now you’re taking me back so far. Well what happened is I used to work at Upstairs at the Downstairs. I was in a revue there initially with Dixie Carter and Madeline Kahn and Irv Haber who owned the club, Mabel Mercer used to do Mabel’s Room downstairs which was this small little blot kind of room and it was just ideal for her and it used to be her room. Joan Rivers came along and made a huge splash and she was there on weekends and Mabel would come in like Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays so Irv asked me to open for her. I had gone to see her in the old days when she was playing like, oh, what was it, the Bonsoirs or whatever that club was on 8th Street. My friend Louis and I would walk down there and we’d have like a quarter for the coat check and that would be it. The bar would be stacked so thick, you could stand there for a whole set and never even buy a drink. So when Irv gave me the chance to open for her, I just jumped at it. I think I was a little radical for Mabel’s crowd at the time. There’d be a lot of stars there at the late shows and I remember (‘30s actress) Patsy Kelly was one of the women and they were like of another generation. They were kind of very mouthy and loquacious and they’d speak out and catch you in all kinds of stuff. I used to do a funeral sketch where I’d use a ventriloquist dummy as the corpse to cheer up the crowd and Patsy jumps up and says, “OK, that’s enough of that, we don’t need to see that.” They didn’t like that subject and of course maybe as you get closer to death you don’t. So I lived in Yonkers and I’d go pick Mabel up in Harlem. She stayed there with relatives because she lived in Rockland County and I would go pick her up in Harlem and we’d drive to the club and then I’d take her

back to Yonkers and having those times with Mabel Mercer was so fabulous. She was so wonderful, so human, so elegant and so down to earth. One time she said to me, “You know, Lily — I would just love to get a commercial.” And this was a time when we didn’t really do commercials, not those of us who had any consciousness.

We thought it was terrible that these big companies would co-opt artists into their commercial activities but she had a girlfriend who’d gotten a Tide commercial and bought herself a fur coat and she thought that was great. I loved her so much. I used to go to Cleo’s and different clubs around New York and she would make me cry so much. Laugh and then cry at the way she could interpret a song.

She had no voice left really. Her voice was very limited but she was so brilliant and she would be so moving and entertaining.

I cried into napkins then glued them into my scrapbook. I need to go over to the office and see if I still have all that stuff.

BLADE: Were you close to Madeline and Dixie?

TOMLIN: I was closer to Madeline. … They’re both dead now and it’s just terrible. Madeline especially died really early. Anyway as Ruth Draper would say, “Well, that’s that.”

BLADE: You grew up in a mostly black neighborhood in Detroit. Did you know or know of Aretha and Smokey and all those folks?

TOMLIN: I was but I didn’t know them personally. I knew of them. I knew of Motown and I knew of everything but I didn’t really know them. I later met Diana Ross and she introduced me to Michael Jackson. He was really quite a kid but I didn’t really hang with them. They wren’t within like a two- or three-block radius of the apartment house I lived in.

BLADE: With all those TV specials you did in the ‘70s, was there ever talk of you having your own variety show?

TOMLIN: Well all those specials were supposed to be pilots for variety shows. I did six of them — four for CBS and two for ABC and I had huge ratings, especially for the first couple. The second special I did for CBS, Freddie Silverman wasn’t going to air it. He screamed at my manager Irene, “He said this $360,000 — they only cost $360,000 in those days — jerk-off.” Then he had breakfast with Alan Alda, and Alan Alda was on it, and he said, “Oh, I just had the greatest time doing Lily Tomlin’s special,” and Fred Silverman went back and looked at it again and he relented and they put it on at 10 o’clock that night and we got two Emmys, best special and best writing.

BLADE: Why do you think they never got picked up?

TOMLIN: It was unusual for its time and that was the last gasp of variety shows until something like “Saturday Night Live” comes along and “Fridays.” “Fridays” was a fairly successful show too. … You can’t

predict a lot of this stuff. My shows were just too off the wall basically at that time but they weren’t off the wall, they were right on the wall. They were really good, most of them. When they didn’t really interfere with us, we’d go haywire.

BLADE: Jane says the “9 to 5” sequel is a go. What’s the status of that?

TOMLIN: It’s being written. Then we’ll have our input but we can only wait for the first draft and see how that goes. But they want it quite badly so I think they’ll keep working on it til it’s greenlighted.

BLADE: It’s so many years later. Was there serious talk of doing something sooner?

TOMLIN: There was constant talk of it. Before (director) Colin (Higgins) died, he had written a draft that would have starred Jane, Dolly (Parton) and me. Now we’ll be paired with a younger generation although we’ll figure prominently in the story but there’ll be other aspects of the story that would not have been present if we’d done it immediately after the original. At one point, Jada Pinkett Smith optioned it and they were gonna do it with an all-black cast. That never came to fruition and Jane Fonda had given up the rights in some fashion so she didn’t even have control of it at that time. Now it’s come back around to us again.

BLADE: Does performing at the Kennedy Center have any special resonance for you since you have the Honors and the Twain Prize or is it just like performing anywhere else?

TOMLIN: Well the last time I was there, I did “The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,” so I’m not doing that show at the moment but I’m doing something character driven. I use some video, mostly to make fun of myself or to reflect on a character’s development from many years before. I like to think of my act as a roller coaster ride and you never know when that drop is gonna come. I just like to keep things mixed up.

BLADE: Does Ernestine have anything to say about the current administration?

TOMLIN: She probably has plenty to say but she won’t be saying it this evening.

I don’t think she will. Unless she and Trump get into a Tweeting war (laughs).

BLADE: Did you and John Travolta hit it off making “Moment by Moment” (1978)?

TOMLIN: Yeah. He could do my characters, especially Trudy the bag lady.

He was a darling guy. I loved him a lot. He was really cute, really sweet. Only about 23 or something.

■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM LILY TOMLIN Wednesday, Oct. 17 8 p.m.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall 2700 F St., N.W. $39-129 kennedy-center.org

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 6 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

ARTS & CULTURE

This Week in the Arts provided by CultureCapital.com Oct 12-Jan 20. The Arlington Players at Thomas Jefferson Theatre. thearlingtonplayers.org.

The Klunch: How to Win a Race War. Thru Oct 20. Improv Wars. Thru Dec 10. Three’s Comedy. Thru May 16. DC Arts Center (DCAC). dcartscenter.org.

WORLD STAGES:Measure for Measure. Thru Oct 13. Lily Tomlin.

Oct 17. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

DANCE Yaya Bey Oct 12. Washington Performing Arts at Dupont Underground. washingtonperformingarts.org.

Bey’s music and curatorial work focuses on celebrating black women’s stories and empowering their voices. Her recent EP release, “The Many Alter-egos of Trill’eta Brown,” has been featured on Saint Heron, The Fader, and Essence.

Oktoberfest Oct 12-Oct 14. Folger Consort at Folger Theatre. folger.edu.

Autumn brings a flavorful array of festive music from the German-speaking lands, featuring colorful songs by 14th-century Tyrolean knight, adventurer, poet, and musician Oswald von Wolkenstein delight, along with quirky instrumental pieces from the 15th-century Glogauer Liederbuch. Later music

by Heinrich Isaac and Ludwig Senfl reflects the opulent court of the Emperor Maximilian I in early 16th-century Vienna.

Champagne in the Galleries Oct 13. Kreeger Museum. kreegermuseum.org.

Enjoy champagne, hors d’oeuvres, and live music from the Zack Pride Trio, while exploring the collection, including several new works that are on display for the first time.

The Apollo Orchestra with Cho Liang Lin, Violin Oct 12. The Apollo Orchestra at Church of the Little Flower. apolloorchestra.com.

The Apollo Orchestra is thrilled to perform with violin virtuoso Cho Liang Lin. The program will include works by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart and Brahms.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS

THEATRE Actually. Oct 17-Nov 18. Theater J at Arena Stage. theaterj.org.

Applause Series: Anyone Can Whistle. Oct 12. Labour of Love. Thru Oct 28. Olney Theatre. olneytheatre.org.

Beetlejuice. Oct 14-Nov 18. National Theatre. thenationaldc.org.

Born Yesterday. Thru Oct 21. Ford’s Theatre. fords.org.

Friends! The Musical Parody.

Oct 18-Oct 19. Strathmore at AMP. strathmore.org.

Heisenberg. Thru Nov 11. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel. Thru Nov 4. Round House. roundhousetheatre.org.

If I Forget. Thru Oct 14. The Fall.

Oct 14-Nov 18. Studio Theatre. studiotheatre.org.

Illyria, or What You Will. Oct 18-Nov 18. Avant Bard at Gunston Arts Center. wscavantbard.org.

LA Theatre Works: Steel Magnolias.

Oct 14. Mason’s Center for the Arts. cfa.gmu.edu.

Lincolnesque. Thru Oct 14. Keegan Theatre. keegantheatre.com.

Shear Madness. Thru Nov 25.

Kennedy Center. shearmadness.com.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Atlas Presents, Dance: Furia Flamenca Dance Company at Café Flamenca. Oct 13. Atlas. atlasarts.org.

Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker: Dog Without Feathers (Cão Sem Plumas). Oct 18-Oct 20. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

Compañía Flamenca Eduardo Guerrero. Oct 12. Mason’s Center for the Arts. cfa.gmu.edu.

Global Perspectives Festival. Oct 13Oct 14. Dance Place. danceplace.org.

The Cantate Chamber Singers Share the Stage with Bowen McCauley Dance Co.. Oct 13. Bowen McCauley Dance at First Congregational United Church of Christ. bmdc.org.

MUSIC A concert benefiting refugees: Sephardic Songs with Susan Gaeta and Gina Sobel. Oct 14. JCCNV. jccnv.org.

Academy of St. Martin in the Fields Chamber Ensemble. Oct 14.

Metropolitan Jazz Orchestra. Oct 12.

Hylton Center. hyltoncenter.org.

American Roots Concert Series: Rachel Baiman. Oct 14. DC Strings presents an evening of Chamber Music. Oct 15. Hill Center. hillcenterdc.org.

Andrea Bignasca in Concert. Oct 17.

Embassy of Switzerland at Dupont Underground. eda.admin.ch.

Broadway Classics. Oct 14. Anderson House. societyofthecincinnati.org.

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Oct 13. Mason’s Center for the Arts. cfa.gmu.edu.

Chiarina Chamber Players: Spectrums. Oct 14. Chiarina Chamber Players at Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church. Chiarina.org.

Concert: Jason Vieaux, guitar, and Nigel Armstrong, violin Curtis on Tour. Oct 14. National Gallery of Art. nga.gov.

Frank McComb. Oct 13. Publick Playhouse. arts.pgparks.com.

Jazz at the Atlas: Jeff Denson. Oct 12.

Jazz at the Atlas: Akua Allrich Nina Simone and Miriam Makeba Tribute.

Oct 13. Atlas Presents, Music: Hispanic Heritage Celebration, Madre Tierra. Oct 14. Atlas. atlasarts.org.

Kenny White. Oct 18. BlackRock. blackrockcenter.org.

Lavinia Meijer. Oct 18. Strathmore. strathmore.org.

Les Talens Lyriques. Oct 18. Library of Congress. loc.gov.

Music at Dumbarton Oaks - Poulenc Trio. Oct 14-Oct 15. Dumbarton Oaks. doaks.org.

National Philharmonic: Lenny’s Playlist. Oct 13-Oct 14. National Philharmonic at Strathmore. nationalphilharmonic.org.

The Kennedy Center Chamber Players: Works of Dvorák, R. Strauss & Brahms. Oct 14. NSO: Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto. Thru Oct 13. WNO: La Traviata. Thru Oct 21. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

MUSEUMS Dumbarton Oaks. Juggling the Middle Ages. Oct 16-Feb 28. doaks.org.

Folger Shakespeare Library. Churchill’s Shakespeare. Thru Jan 6. folger.edu.

George Washington University Museum and The Textile Museum.

Art Exhibit at The George Washington University Museum: Eye of the Bird: Visions and Views of D.C.’s. Oct 17. tudorplace.org.

Kreeger Museum. Reinstallation of the Permanent Collection. Thru Dec 31. kreegermuseum.org.

Library of Congress. Drawn to Purpose. Thru Oct 20. loc.gov.

National Archives. Remembering Vietnam. Thru Jan 6. archivesfoundation.org.

National Gallery of Art. Jackson Pollock’s Mural. Thru Oct 28. nga.gov.

National Geographic. Tomb of Christ.

Thru Jan 2. Titanic: The Untold Story.

Thru Jan 6. nglive.org.

National Museum of Women in the Arts. Bound to Amaze: Inside a BookCollecting Career. Thru Nov 25. nmwa.org.

Smithsonian Anacostia Museum.

A Right to the City. Thru Apr 20. anacostia.si.edu.

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian. Exhibition: Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now. Thru Mar 10. Exhibition: Champions. Thru May 19. npg.si.edu.

Postal Museum. My Fellow Soldiers Letters from World War I. Thru Nov 29. postalmuseum.si.edu.

Woodrow Wilson House. Exhibition: Woodrow Wilson and the Great War. Thru Nov 2. woodrowwilsonhouse.org.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 8 • O CTO B ER 1 2 , 2018

O U T & A BO U T

By MARIAH COOPER

PHOTO BY PHIL CARNEY

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Blade’s Best of Gay D.C. awards is Oct. 18 Washington Blade hosts its annual Best of Gay D.C. Party at Pitchers (2317 18th St., N.W.) on Thursday, Oct. 18 from 6-9 p.m.

The winners of the Blade’s 2018 Best of Gay D.C. Awards will be announced. Complimentary Avion Tequila and Absolut cocktails will be served from 6-8 p.m. There will also be performances and appearances from notable members of the LGBT and local community. Tickets are $20.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit facebook.com/washingtonblade.

Dupont House Tour is Oct. 21 Dupont Circle Citizens Association hosts its 51st annual House Tour on Sunday, Oct. 21 from noon-5 p.m in the Dupont Circle neighborhood.

The self-guided tour will give attendees a glimpse into 10-15 historic rowhouses, contemporary condos and historic buildings. Advanced tickets are $40.

Tickets day of the event are $50. Admission includes afternoon tea at Perry Belmont House (1618 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.) with pastries, bagel, fruit, sweet treats and more. Proceeds from the tour benefit local community activities such as the 17th Street Festival and to charities such as Charlie’s Place.

For more information, visit dupontcirclehousetour.org.

Gay Men’s Chorus hosts ‘Ropeburn 2’

PHOTO COURTESY WORLD OF WONDER

‘Drag Race’ champ Aquaria headlines tour “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Werq the World” stops by the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.) on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 9 p.m.

Season 10 winner Aquaria (seen here) will perform along with season 10 finalists Asia O’Hara, Eureka and Kameron Michaels.

Fan favorites Valentina, Kim Chi and Violet Chachki will also make appearances. Tickets range from $49-160. Doors open at 8 p.m.

For more information, visit thelincolndc.com.

The Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington presents “Ropeburn 2: Guardians of Equality,” a cosplay event, at SAX (734 11th St., N.W.) on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m.

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” alum Dax ExclamationPoint (seen here) will host the event. Fandoms ranging from scifi and fantasy to anime and gaming will be represented through cosplay burlesque, artist meet-and-greets and a cosplay competition. There will also be performances by 17th Street Dance and aerialists, a panel discussion on the intersection of LGBT identity and fandom and a dance party. The panel discussion kicks off at 7 p.m. followed by performances at 8:30 p.m. The cosplay show and contest is at 9:30 p.m. All are welcome. Costumes are encouraged.

Tickets are $80.

For more details, visit gmcw.org/ season-shows/ropeburn.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

BOOKS

OC T OB E R 12, 2018 • 27

Companhia de Dança Deborah Colker Dog Without Feathers (Cão Sem Plumas)

PHOTO COURTESY BOLD STROKES BOOKS

Noir mystery Old-time murder tale features gay twist

TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old. She lives in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books. Reach her at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.

A nice little getaway.

That’s all you wanted: two days alone, just you and your amour, with nothing to do but follow your whims. It was perfect, idyllic — until it wasn’t, and Responsible You won out over Romantic You. As in the new novel “Death Checks In” by David S. Pederson, it’s back to work.

Detective Heath Barrington had it all planned out: he and his boyfriend, Officer Alan Keyes would take the train from Milwaukee to Chicago, grab a cab to the downtown area, check into the Edmonton Hotel and enjoy a wonderful weekend.

It was 1947 and being gay could get a man in trouble, but Heath knew there’d be more anonymity for him and Alan in a larger city. The weather would be perfect for exploring nightclubs and sightseeing; there was plenty of entertainment nearby and a live show with a band inside the Edmonton. That, of course, meant that Alan would need a tuxedo so Heath offered to purchase one for him, which was when the men met Victor Blount, haberdasher.

Blount was a small man with a French accent and a dramatic way about him.

He said he was an expert tailor, that he dabbled in photography and that he could secure “discreet” entertainment for Alan and Heath. That was odd, but

Blount wasn’t the only character at the Edmonton: the hotel’s assistant manager was a blustery guy who had his eye on one of the regular guests, a “fullfigured,” flirty widow from New York. A dotty old lady from nearby came to the Edmonton often enough for waitstaff to know her preferences. And the one-eyed piano player and his songstress-wife left an impression on Heath by arguing loudly with Blount, who seemed to be overcharging them.

Two days. That’s plenty of time for a romantic rendezvous, had Heath left work alone. But when Blount was found dead in his back room with “W” scrawled on the floor in his blood and a spool of green thread in his hand, two days was also long enough to solve a crime.

Strictly looking at “Death Checks In” as a mystery, it’s not bad. That it’s a noir whodunit is nice, the main characters are familiar from past books, it has that old-black-and-white-movie feel you know you love, and it’s sweetly chaste, in a late1940s way.

But it’s also tedious since a lot of its action comes through dialogue, of which there is too much and in too much fussy, stiff detail. It’s wordy and feels like filler. It doesn’t help that author David S. Pederson added an eccentric old woman in this story, who constantly clucks like a chicken.

Yes, that’s written into numerous sentences. No, it’s not fun.

Overall, if you can avoid doing that “speed it up” movement with your hand, or if you like noir mysteries that are more on the light side, only then will this book fit. For you, then, “Death Checks In” is a worthwhile getaway.

‘DEATH CHECKS IN’

By David S. Pederson Bold Strokes Books $18.95 235 pages

Since founding her own company in 1994, Brazilian director/choreographer Deborah Colker has been inspired by her experiences as an athlete to combine physically daring feats with visually striking designs—and redefine the rules for what can and can’t be done in the world of dance.

October 18–20 Eisenhower Theater Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600

Groups call (202) 416-8400 For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

M U SI C

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 2 9

Troye Sivan works magic at the Anthem Out singer does wonders bringing spare, mellow ‘Bloom’ to near arena-size life

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com A Troye Sivan concert leaves one with two major impressions: One, it’s amazing the magic he can weave using so little and two, the juxtaposition of his sonic/video/TV show performances — where he comes off as an androgynous, gay sex-starved coquette gyrating lasciviously — dovetails quite nicely with his stage/interview persona where he’s self deprecating, down to earth, sweet seeming, even anodyne.

That’s not a twofer you’d necessarily think would work. His Aussie accent helps. With his bleached blonde hair, blue eyes, lanky, 115-pound (it appears) frame, the 23-year-old seems positively angelic but you’re never quite sure if he stayed with the good angels like Gabriel and Raphael or is working undercover in Lucifer’s throng.

Last week’s D.C. concert at the Anthem where he played the eighth show of his current 26-date “Bloom Tour,” (his album dropped Aug. 31) felt in some ways rather minimalist. A couch and a few lamps during the ballad set were the only props. The rest of the time the only visuals were — an impressive backscreen light show notwithstanding — Sivan’s fourpiece (two guys/two girls) band and Sivan himself. There was an outfit change or two but the clothes were so non-glam and unmemorable he might have just as likely been out for a stroll on the D.C. Wharf.

There were no video projections, no appearances from any of the fabulous, gender/bending clothes from the eyepopping “Bloom” video and nary a peeking nipple — kind of a Sivan trademark — was seen all night. No choreography either.

Sivan just sort of bops around — he jumps, he spins, he twirls, he gyrates, he almost-but-never-quite-rubs himself — as the spirit moves. No backup singers (though the players did add some vocals), no dancers, no pyrotechnics. It was spare, but spare in a refreshing way. You never felt he didn’t have those things because he couldn’t yet afford them. This is only his second record, so maybe he can’t, but the minimalism felt chosen not resorted to.

Last time he played Washington (not counting his ebullient June appearance at Capital Pride) — at the 9:30 Club in early 2016 — it felt like teenybopper girls’ night out with some gay men mixed in. This show felt like the inverse. It was almost all 20s and 30s gay men, like a gay high holy day young professionals night, with

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY JOEY DIGUGLIELMO

TROYE SIVAN made his lush, ambient new album ‘Bloom’ pop in a big way at the Anthem Oct. 4 in Washington.

about 15 percent straight gal pals along for the ride.

When you’ve been (as I have) to way too many shows by veteran acts in their golden years with 30-plus-year careers behind them, it’s fun to see an act only on his or her sophomore album. Whatever the new album is, it gets played almost in its entirety, there’s true energy in the room, people sing along en masse to every song whether it was a single or not and the performer feels genuinely thrilled to be there. These are still new experiences and unchartered terrain.

They’re still giddy they can fill the next size venues up from their last tour.

In Sivan’s case, that meant we got to hear all 10 cuts from the “Bloom” record in mostly faithful arrangements. The only unexpected twist was “My My My!” went into dance club remix mode (doubletime beats) for its last couple choruses.

It worked — the crowd (fairly packed on Anthem floor but not sold out) ate it up.

It was impossible to tell how much of the actual music was live. At times Sivan would take a line here and there a fifth or an octave above where he sings it on the album. The album vocal would keep going but you could never quite tell if that was recorded or live BGVs from the band.

It didn’t matter — the vocals were stellar all night. If some beds were recorded, you never sensed for a second it was to save him any taxation.

Seven cuts (four from the new record) made a killer opening set. “Plum”

and “Lucky Strike,” neither singles interestingly, were arguably the most beguiling. Sivan sold them with abandon.

Only on “Wild” did the relative simplicity of his choruses feel a little threadbare; in other spots it just seemed to buoy the sing-alongability of his tunes.

A four-song ballad set provided a nice mid-show contrast with room for acoustic piano and guitar accompaniment. “Bite,” a bonus cut from his first album “Blue Neighborhood,” was the only semi-dud bouncing back and forth between a finger-snapping, sing-songy sort of thing to thundering drum solos that felt a little whiplashy. You could see why it was a bonus cut but I guess you gotta get a little creative to fill out a set when you’re only on your second record.

“Dance to This” and “Animal” closed out the main set. “Animal,” a fine song, wasn’t quite the best choice for that slot, but it wasn’t a catastrophe. “Youth,” fistpumpingly ecstatic, and “My My My!” (of course) were the encores.

The banter was just the right amount.

Sivan talked about walking his dog around D.C. that day, went on and on about how great it was to see everyone, expressed concern for the mashedtogether crowd (there are no seats on the Anthem main floor), told the crowd he wanted to “see you guys go fucking crazy” during key musical climaxes (we happily obliged). It was all just fun.

You didn’t have to overthink it, you just soaked in the joy of having such an out-

and-proud headliner who could fill the place among us. We might argue how much of a groundbreaker Sivan is. Yeah, we’ve had Rufus and Jake Shears (he’ll be here Oct. 31, by the way) before him but those singers were always — in much different ways — a bit left of center. Most of us admire Rufus Wainwright but he’s somebody you might put on at 4 a.m. during a nightcap, not somebody you want to blast on a summer road trip.

Sivan is the middle ground. His album doesn’t beat you over the head. You’re not immediately sucked in by its hooks the way you are by, say, Charlie Puth or Shawn Mendes. But let it soak in and you see how much understated beauty and warmth is there. Sivan hit all the right notes realizing “Bloom” in a live setting.

It’s sort of a mellow, hot tub-and-sex album; it wouldn’t have automatically worked in a large room yet Sivan and the crowd together made it pop live.

His pal Leland opened but I missed his set. Trans pop princess Kim Petras gave a super-fun, eight-song set from about 8-8:35 full of Cyndi Lauper-esque pop hooks and big, rafter-raising vocals she pulled off beautifully with unwaveringly good pitch.

The merch was underwhelming. Sivan looked more like a washed-out ghoul on his own shirts which were — as we have come to expect at such events — obscenely overpriced (Ts went for $40 and except for ball caps and pop sockets, it went up from there).

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 0 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

CA LE N D A R

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

TODAY SMYAL hosts its National Coming Out Day Dance at Eastern Market North Hall (225 7th St., S.E.) tonight from 7-10 p.m.

Youth ages 13-24 are invited for dancing, music by DJ Honey, food, performances and more. For more details, visit smyal.org.

Bang Salon and VIDA Fitness host “Runway to Recovery” a fashion show benefitting N Street Village, at Penthouse Pool Club (1612 U St., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-9 p.m. Ba’Naka Devereaux will host the show. DJ Alex Mavro will play music.

All proceeds will benefit homeless and low-income women. Tickets are $30 and includes one glass of sparkling wine. For more information, visit nstreetvillage.org.

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 about the group and location, visit gammaindc.org.

Go Gay D.C. hosts its LGBTQ Community Social at the Embassy Row Hotel (2015 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) tonight from 6-9 p.m. TJ Flavell will be on site to greet guests. All are welcome. There will be a cash bar and an appetizer and dinner menu available. Name tags will be provided. Dress code is casual attire. No cover. For more details, visit gogaydc.org.

SATURDAY, OCT. 13 VIDA Fitness hosts its fourth annual 5K Run/Walk at Hains Point in East Potomac Park (Ohio Dr., S.W.) today. Warm-up and stretch starts at 7:30 a.m. followed by the National Anthem at 7:55 a.m. The race kicks off at 8 a.m. For registration details, visit vidathrive5k.com.

Bethesda Row Arts Festival is at 4841 Bethesda Ave., Bethesda, Md., today from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. 190 artists will showcase and sell their work. There will also be live musical entertainment and performance art. For more details, visit facebook.com/ bethesdaartsfestival.

Distrkt C: Dungeon, a gay dance party, is at the D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) tonight from 10 p.m.-6 a.m. DJ Kirk and DJ Joe Ross will play music. Tickets are $25. For more information, visit district. ticketspice.com.

Team D.C. hosts its Fall Casino Night at Buffalo Billiards (1330 19th St., N.W.) tonight from 8 p.m.-midnight. Attendees can play poker, blackjack and craps with their favorite teams. There will also be raffle prizes. For details, visit capitalpride. org/events/team-dc-fall-casino-night.

The Mighty Tucks hosts Rainbow Race Fundraiser, an “Amazing Race” style

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

The annual SMYAL Fall Brunch is Sunday morning.

fundraiser, at Francis Field (2500 N St., N.W.) from noon-5 p.m. Teams of two will travel to Cobalt and Nellie’s Sports Bar and compete in games. Competitions will include finding hidden clues, trivia duels, navigating your partner through a maze and tightrope walking. The winning team will receive $200. There will also be prizes for best team name and best team outfit.

Registration is $30 per team. All proceeds will be donated to Strength in Our Voices, a D.C.-based, LGBT-led non-profit that works toward defeating stigmas about mental health Search “Rainbow Race Fundraiser” on Facebook for more details.

SUNDAY, OCT. 14 SMYAL hosts its 2018 Fall Brunch at the Marriott Marquis (901 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.) today from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. There will be an open bar cocktail reception with a silent auction and a threecourse brunch. Guests will also hear from community leaders and SMYAL youth. For more information, visit smyal.org.

Red Derby (3718 14th St., N.W.) hosts LGBTQ Prison Letter Writing Workshop today from 2:30-5:30 p.m.

Attendees will write letters to an inmate pen pal. Stamps, envelopes and other materials will be provided. The event is free. For more information, visit facebook.com/redderby.

Silver Spring Record Fair is at Denizens Brewing Co. (1115 East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, Md.) today from 1-6 p.m. More than 20 vendors will sell records and local DJs will play music throughout the night. Nocturnal Wax, Marcello Bentine, Kenny M and Wade Hammes and Elliott Sloan will perform. For more details, visit facebook.com/citizensbrewco.

MONDAY, OCT. 15 Trixie Mattel brings her “Now With Moving Parts Tour” to Rams Head Live (20 Market Pl., Baltimore) tonight at 8 p.m. The “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 3” winner will bring a mix of live music, comedy and drag. For more information, visit ramsheadlive.com.

TUESDAY, OCT. 16 The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) hosts its Packing Party from 7-9 p.m. tonight. Volunteers will assemble safer sex kits to distribute to the LGBT community.

For more details, visit thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 17 The Tom Davoren Social Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social bridge. No partner needed. For more

information, call 301-345-1571.

Bookmen D.C., an informal men’s gay literature group, discusses the poetry collection “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror” by John Ashbery at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For details, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.

THURSDAY, OCT. 18 Rainbow History Project Foundation hosts Cops and Queers: The History of the Police and the LGBTQ+ Community in D.C. at Thurgood Marshall Center for Service & Heritage (1816 12th St., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-9 p.m.

Rayceen Pendarvis moderates the panel discussion featuring Earline Budd, Craig Howell, Mindy Daniels, Dee Curry and Brett Parson. The discussion will focus on the intersection between the LGBTQ community and the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department. Admission is free but RSVP is required. For details, visit facebook.com/rainbowhistory.org.

BloominGays, a group for LGBT residents of Bloomingdale, LeDroit Park, Shaw and Eckington, hosts its fall kickoff happy hour at Tyber Creek Wine Bar & Kitchen (84 T St., N.W.) tonight from 9 p.m.-midnight. There will be happy hour drink specials and small bites. For more information, visit bloomingays.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

F I LM

OC T OB E R 12, 2018 • 31

PHOTO BY MARK SCHAFER; COURTESY ROADSIDE ATTRACTIONS

JULIA ROBERTS and LUCAS HEDGES in ‘Ben is Back.’

Hollywood on the Potomac This year’s Middleburg Film Festival features heavy LGBT content

BY BRIAN T. CARNEY For movie fans, the Middleburg Film Festival is a perfect way to spend a fall weekend: a sneak peek at this year’s Oscar contenders, a chat with Hollywood filmmakers, a tasting at a fine Virginia winery and beautiful fall foliage and lush scenery in Virginia’s horse country.

Running from Oct. 18-21, the sixth annual festival includes 29 narrative and documentary films from the United States and around the globe, along with a variety of special events and intimate conversations with Hollywood filmmakers.

This year, LGBT films are front and center at the festival. The Friday Spotlight movie is the highly anticipated “Boy Erased,” a moving family drama helmed

by Joel Edgerton based on the memoir

by Garrard Conley. Lucas Hedges stars as Jared Eamons, the son of a Baptist minister in a small Southern town. When his parents discover he is gay, he is given a horrible ultimatum: attend a conversion therapy program or be permanently exiled from his family.

Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe play Jared’s parents and Edgerton plays the leader of the gay conversion therapy program. The cast also includes openly gay Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan and out pop singer Troye Sivan.

Fans of Lucas Hedges (“Manchester by the Sea” and “Lady Bird”) can also see him in “Ben Is Back.” Hedges plays a recovering addict who comes home for a holiday visit. Julia Roberts plays his fiercely protective mother.

Other queer highlights of the festival include “The Favourite” and “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” “The Favourite” is the third English language film from the wildly inventive and delightfully unpredictable Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos. “The Lobster” (2015), which secured Lanthimos an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, starred Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz

as star-crossed lovers in a dystopian society where everyone (gay and straight) must be in relationships. “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” (2017) starred Farrell and Nicole Kidman in a modern take on an ancient Greek tragedy.

In his latest movie, Lanthimos turns to the court of Britain’s Queen Anne (17021714). The sumptuous but irreverent period drama centers on the sexual and political tensions in the court as Lady Sarah (Rachel Weisz) and ambitious servant Abigail (Emma Stone) battle for the attention and the affections of the frail Queen (Olivia Colman).

Set in New York City in 1991, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is based on the memoirs of Lee Israel. A celebrity biographer whose books have gone out of fashion, the lesbian author (a dramatic turn by Melissa McCarthy) finds an unusual way to pay the rent. Working with her gay accomplice Jack Hock (Richard E. Grant), she begins to forge celebrity letters.

The supporting cast includes Anna Deavere Smith as Israel’s ex-girlfriend, Stephen Spinella and Ben Falcone as two of the buyers duped by Israel and Hock, Dolly Wells as Lee’s love interest and Jane Curtin as her frustrated agent.

The festival’s opening night movie is “Roma” by Academy Award-winning writer and director Alfonso Cuarón (the homoerotic “Y Tu Mama Tambien,” “Gravity,” “Children of Men” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”).

The movie’s star, first-time actor Yalitza Aparicio, will be honored with the festival’s “Rising Star Award.”

In the centerpiece movie, “The Front Runner,” director Jason Reitman recreates the 1988 Presidential campaign of Gary Hart (Hugh Jackman) which ended after three weeks when Hart’s affair with Donna Rice was revealed. LGBT audiences can get a measure of the candidate when they watch his response to his daughter’s coming out.

The festival’s closing feature and this year’s “December Surprise” (a late release that is expected to be a strong Oscar contender) is “Green Book” starring Viggo Mortenson and Mahershala Ali. ■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

琀栀攀

一䄀䬀䔀䐀 夀伀䜀䄀 䴀漀渀搀愀礀猀 ☀ 眀攀搀渀攀猀搀愀礀猀

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 - 洀椀搀渀椀最栀琀

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

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

32 • OC T OB E R 12, 2018

DINING

Sexy brunch fun La Boum offers carnal daytime frivolity every weekend

By EVAN CAPLAN

© 2018 & TM LUCASFILM LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © DISNEY. Presentation licensed by Disney Concerts in association with 20th Century Fox, Lucasfilm Ltd. and Warner/Chappell Music.

Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (film with live orchestra) National Symphony Orchestra Steven Reineke, conductor

Music by John Williams

October 23–25 | Concert Hall

Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600 David M. Rubenstein is the Presenting Underwriter of the NSO. AARP is the Presenting Sponsor of the NSO Pops Season.

Groups call (202) 416-8400 For all other ticket-related customer service inquiries, call the Advance Sales Box Office at (202) 416-8540

The blinds are drawn. The lights are low.

The music is loud. Tassels twirl, whipped cream has made an appearance and past a plate of half-eaten French toast, a champagne bottle is popped. And of course, shirts are off.

Founded in 2010, La Boum Brunch (held at Abigail at 1730 M St., N.W.) has cornered the mid-morning hedonistic market and shows no sign of slowing down. All of this thanks to its founder, restaurateur and entrepreneur Christopher Lynch.

“La Boum strips people of inhibitions,” Lynch says. “People are almost made to interact with each other and then discover something new about themselves. At La Boum (French slang for “house party”), anything is possible.”

La Boum Brunch has seen it all since it got started in 2010. Lynch’s story, though, starts before then.

Lynch began his career in New York City, working for more than 14 years at Estee Lauder. Looking for a career change, Lynch moved to Washington in 2002. Though possessing scant experience in the restaurant industry, he decided to open a small, unpretentious French bistro in called L’Enfent Cafe on a quiet corner in Adams Morgan.

Though Lynch is gay, he did not open an LGBT-focused restaurant. Instead, his café was open to all, attracting a mixed and trendy crowd eager to hang out at a place that was neither gay or straight, a fairly novel concept at the time.

“L’Enfent Café became emblematic as a place where everyone was comfortable,” Lynch says. It was more than a French Café; it became his stage. “If I wanted to do drag show I’d do that; cabaret I’d do that; if I wanted to throw a trapeze up on the ceiling I did that.”

On a weekend jaunt to New York City, Lynch visited an afternoon party that he called, kindly, “a shitshow,” at a favorite restaurant.

Looking to plug the quieter post-brunch hours at his café, he decided to take inspiration from the party, and began operating La Boum in the 2-5 p.m. slot on Sundays.

The brunch caught on like wildfire. At its inception, it attracted a mostly gay clientele, but soon morphed into a mixed crowd. It’s now held on Saturdays and Sundays from 2-5 p.m. every weekend, currently at Abigail but not always at the same location.

“This was a completely original brunch experience for D.C.,” Lynch says. “We give people a safe house. They can be weird.”

La Boum Brunch starts out innocently enough, with a glass of bubbly and food service. But as soon as the blinds are

PHOTO COURTESY LA BOUM

CHRISTOPHER LYNCH holding court at one of his brunches.

closed and the lights go down, all bets are off. Lynch and his crew have created games sexual in nature, designed to integrate tables of customers who don’t know each other. There’s an emcee, burlesque-style performances and dancing. Lots of dancing.

The larger-than-life brunch, however, was taxing on the building. Bistro chairs, after all, are not crafted to support two grinding and tipsy revelers. In 2016, La Boum Brunch moved to a downtown club space that, though less intimate, allowed for a bigger party to rage.

Today, there’s also a second, evening party called La Boum Boum Room, which incorporates all the non-food elements of the brunch (“the shirtless, sexier, grittier parts,” he says). Lynch soon founded a company to control the La Boum brand.

Soon after La Boum Brunch moved, Lynch decided it was time for a change for him, too. He had bought the building but closed down L’Enfent Café, and now rents the space to the trendy burger joint Lucky Buns, run by Alex McCoy. Lynch soon opened Red, White and Basil, a traditional Italian restaurant, which he later sold. Today, he owns and manages Wundergarten, a beer garden in NoMa (1101 First St., N.E.).

Lynch is still honored, though perhaps not so surprised, by the reception La Boum Brunch has received. He sees it as part of the evolution of the gay scene in D.C. When he first moved here, he says the community, “really only went to places we felt safe in; it was more segregated.”

Today, there’s much more assimilation.

“I think it’s gorgeous that people can be together and recognize how similar we are and overcome our differences through several bottles of champagne,” he says.

In 2016, Bravo TV called out L’Enfent Café as one of the top “5 Ranging Brunch Restaurants” in the country, along with others hand-picked from Vegas and L.A. Today, Lynch is looking to expand the franchise, perhaps in D.C. or even in other cities around the country. Make reservations online at laboumbrunch.com.

“La Boum brings together all different people, different races and sexualities. It’s a social experiment. People you’d never expect to party with and barriers are broken. And that’s the essence of La Boum.”

WAS HINGTONBLADE.COM

A R T S & EN TE RTA I NMENT

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 3

BMA showcases artwork of John Waters

‘Bill’s Stroller’ depicts a baby stroller for gay parents into the leather scene.

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND MARIANNE BOESKY GALLERY, NEW YORK, © JOHN WATERS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 27

ourselves as individuals contributing to a community that embraces difference.”

The show includes more than 160 works that together add up to a sort of parallel universe to the worlds that viewers see in Waters’ movies. While they may take different forms than books and films, they also contain his renegade sense of humor and demonstrate his ability to see life as an outsider. Many touch on gay themes.

There is “Hetero Flower Shop,” 10 photos of floral arrangements created by straight florists, all mediocre or worse. “Loser Gift Basket” shows all the items that might be given to people at the Academy Awards who don’t win an Oscar (think Preparation H and a can of pork and beans.)

“Bill’s Stroller” is a baby stroller for gay parents into the leather scene, with a harness to strap the baby in and logos of sex clubs on the seat. It’s a nod both to S&M culture and the fact that gay couples are raising children very much like straight couples these days.

The common theme to the works, Waters said, is that they have “some sensibility about being an outsider, being the ‘other’ and everything, no matter …if it’s gay or straight or minority or anything that’s not fitting in. “ As an artist, he said, “you learn how to do that. And this show, the whole art world, is about that. The whole art world is a secret club that learns how to see something that regular people can’t see.

That’s my perspective, totally.”

Waters notes that the fact he is

‘Control’ (2009) depicts Tina Turner being manipulated by exhusband Ike.

‘Campaign Button’ (2004)

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND COLLECTION OF BETH RUDIN DEWOODY

gay doesn’t mean he lets the LGBTQ community off easily.

“I make just as much fun of gay people, in a way, because they’re now stricter with their rules than my parents — what you’re allowed to do and what you can make jokes about and everything. So I try to make fun of them too.”

Occupying most of the museum’s Thalheimer Galleries, the retrospective is divided thematically into pop culture, the movie industry, the contemporary art world, an autobiographical section, and a gallery that contains “mature content” parents might not want their children to see.

Waters serves as writer and editor, often manipulating or juxtaposing images created by others, or working with collaborators to fabricate threedimensional objects.

“It’s like conceptual art,” he says. “I’m telling stories…I’m going into other people’s movies, taking images and putting them in a new narrative…I want it to be off kilter, hopefully like my sense of humor is... I only make fun of things I really like.”

The exhibit includes highlights from earlier shows that were mounted outside Baltimore.

“Beverly Hills John” depicts what Waters would look like if he had a facelift.

In “No Smoking and Children Who Smoke,” Waters takes images of World War II-era movie stars while they are smoking and puts their cigarettes in the mouths of child actors.

“Rush” depicts a big yellow bottle of poppers, with some of the liquid spilled on the floor. When it was first shown in 2009, he said, the company “liked it so much

they sent me a lifetime supply.” “Slimy JW” looks at first glance like a slithering snake. But one end is shaped like a penis, turning the snake into a giant dildo.

In the autobiographical gallery, a series of prints reveals the contents of the artist’s dishwasher and freezer, and shows what’s under his bed. “308 Days” replicates his ‘to do’ list over the course of a year, with tasks crossed off after he completes them. Viewers may be reminded of Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s 1982 calendars, without Kavanaugh’s references to beer drinking.

Three prints in the exhibit pay homage to Mr. Ray, the hair weave king whose commercials ran on local TV when Waters was growing up. Side by side photos compare the Versailles apartments in Towson to Versailles in France. Waters even includes a portrait of himself that his parents commissioned when he was a boy.

“I wasn’t unhappy, especially,” he said of his childhood. “I had lots of friends…in my mind really.“ Waters makes fun of the art world, with faux-amateurish images entitled “Badly Framed” and “Congratulations,” which features uneven lettering that spells out “DID NOT SELL” (made from the red dots gallery owners use to mark works that did sell.)

He takes a jab at the museum world’s penchant for showing works a certain way in “Hardy Har,” a framed flower photo that comes with a mark on the floor that seems to warn visitors not to get too close. If they cross the line, the flower squirts them with water.

Waters also capitalizes on his

fascination with celebrities and other public figures, from Elizabeth Taylor to Justin Bieber to Divine. There is “Sneaky JFK,” showing the former president in drag; “Playdate,” a sculpture showing Charles Manson and Michael Jackson as adult babies, and two works devoted to Don Knotts, who played deputy sheriff Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show.” Waters has said he wants to film a movie called “The Don Knotts Story,” if he ever had the money. “Sometimes on a bad day I feel like Don Knotts,” he confessed during the press preview.

The exhibit includes “Kiddie Flamingos,” a video in which children in wigs read a G-rated version of Pink Flamingos, and some of Waters’ earliest and grainiest films, presented in a peep show format.

It’s supplemented by a coffee table catalogue featuring essays about Waters’ work as a visual artist.

The museum has scheduled a number of tie-in events, including a conversation between Waters and Hileman on Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. and a “Waters Film Marathon” on Nov. 9 and 10. After it closes in Baltimore, “Indecent Exposure” will be on exhibit at the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio, from Feb. 2 to April 28, 2019.

An art collector as well as an artist, Waters often says that he doesn’t trust people when they call themselves artists.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” is his standard response.

With “Indecent Exposure,” Waters is literally exposing museum-goers to his body of visual work and inviting them to decide for themselves.

3 4 • O CTO B E R 1 2, 2018

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

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT MASON 2018/2019 SEASON

L.A. Theatre Works

Steel Magnolias Sunday, October 14 at 7 p.m.

This performance is also at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on Sat., Feb. 9 at 8 p.m. Information at HyltonCenter.org.

Daniel Hope and Friends Air-A Baroque Journey

EN AR JO TS Y A AT LL CF THE A!

Spectrum Dance Theater

Aquila Theatre

A Rap On Race

Frankenstein

Friday, November 16 at 8 p.m.

Sunday, November 18 at 7 p.m.

Friday, November 2 at 8 p.m.

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! 703-993-2787 OR CFA.GMU.EDU

Located on the Fairfax campus, six miles west of Beltway exit 54, at the intersection of Braddock Road and Rt. 123.

Attorneys that are OUTthinking |OUTspoken |OUTdoing ackermanbrown.com

W A SH I NGTO N B LA D E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 5

REALESTATE

What to do when you’re ready to buy Tips for entering the market and finding a home

By VALERIE M. BLAKE You enter your luxury high-rise apartment, toss your keys on the kitchen counter, kick off your shoes, and pour an adult beverage. With your drink in one hand, you sit down on the sofa and begin to sort through the bundle of mail in your other hand into two stacks.

Stack one includes a medical bill, a bank statement, and a PEPCO invoice.

Stack two contains a sheaf of grocery store advertisements, a request for a political donation, and an invitation to spend three nights and two days in sunny Florida if you’ll only listen to a short presentation when you get there.

And then you see it — the note from the management company reminding you that your lease will be up at the end of the year. You scan the letter and there in paragraph three is the amount your rent will rise if you sign another lease.

“That’s outrageous,” you say as you pick up the phone and call a few friends to get recommendations for real estate agents.

Interview a few of those agents to ascertain which one is a good match. It’s sort of like swiping left or right but face-to-face.

You’ll want to discuss each agent’s background and area expertise. You’ll also need to talk about how the two of

If you go to an open house that you really love, wait until you’re out of earshot of the host agent to shout, ‘I want it! I want it!’

PHOTO COURTESY OF BIGSTOCK

you will communicate. This is your opportunity to ask questions and really get to know him, so you can rely on his counsel throughout the process.

Next, you’ll need to determine your purchasing power by speaking with a mortgage loan officer. She will provide you with options, see if there are any special loans or grants you may be eligible for, and preapprove you for a mortgage based on your income, debt load and credit score.

Spend your money wisely. Look at purchase price, interest rates and monthly payment (including principal, interest,

property tax, and insurance) to determine how much you are comfortable paying for housing. In addition to funds for your down payment and closing costs, set aside some money for any one-time charges such as move-in fees, deposits for setting up utility services, and the cost to transport your household goods to the new location.

Scout neighborhoods on your own. You may have heard of Capitol Hill, Georgetown and Dupont Circle, but can you find Hillcrest, Deanwood, or Kent? D.C. has many neighborhoods and your agent may know of a few that you might not have considered. As part of the culling process, visit each neighborhood at night and on weekends, talk with neighbors, check out the local dining and shopping scene, and test your commute in real time.

Create a wish list to share with your agent. Attend open houses to get a sense of what your money can buy in each neighborhood you like. Be realistic and keep an open mind when viewing homes. Remember that there is no such thing as a perfect house. Give your agent honest feedback about what you liked and disliked about each home you visit, to help him understand your preferences and select homes that may be more to your liking.

Keep emotions under control. Buying a home is a very stressful process so let your agent be the intermediary with a cool head. If she accompanies you to an

open house that you really love, wait until you’re out of earshot of the host agent to shout, “I want it! I want it!” If a seller doesn’t respond to your offer as you anticipated, don’t feel hurt or angry. Trust that your agent will be working diligently on your behalf to negotiate the best possible deal and will consult with you whenever a decision is required.

Get a home inspection and pay special attention to items that the inspector says are costly or unsafe. Your contract may allow you to ask the seller to make repairs or provide a monetary credit at settlement, so you can take care of the items yourself. You might also be able to void the contract and run for the hills if you’re unhappy with the inspection results.

Once you complete settlement and get the keys to your new home, take a few safety precautions. Change the locks on entrance doors and investigate installing one of today’s telephone-linked security systems. And if you feel the need for additional security, I’ll send you an MP3 of the sound my dogs make when UPS delivers a package. That’ll scare any burglar away.

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

Q Daddy’s Home:

A gentleman of a certain age invites a much younger man to share his upscale, Crestwood home.

~ 202.319.8541 • www.lgbtc.com • Se habla espanol

VALERIE M. BLAKE, Associate Broker, GRI, Director of Education & Mentorship Dupont Circle Office • 202-518-8781 (o) • 202.246.8602 (c) Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com • www.DCHomeQuest.com

3 6 • O CTO B E R 1 2, 2018

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

DEADLINES

All Classified Ads - Including Regular & Adult Must Be Received

By Mondays at 5PM So They Can Be Included in That Week’s Edition of Washington Blade and washingtonblade.com

SHARE ADS ARE FREE. Place your HOUSING TO SHARE ad online at washingtonblade.com and the ad prints free in the paper and online.* *25 words or less prints free - anything more is $1/word.

W A SH I N GTO NB LA DE.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 7

ENHANCE YOUR AD WITH OUR UPGRADES PICTURES BOLD TEXT LARGE TEXT COLOR AND MORE CONTACT US AT 202-747-2077

EMPLOYMENT WHOLISTIC SERVICES, INC. seeking Full Time Direct Support Professionals to assist intellectually disabled adults with behavioral health complexities in group homes & day services throughout DC. Requirements 1 year exp., valid drivers license, able to lift 50-75 lbs, complete training program, become DDS Med Certified within 4 months of hire, ability to pass security background check. Associates degree preferred. For more information, please contact the Human Resources (HR) Department at 202-832-8787.

MASSAGE Rosslyn / DC - CMT available for massage in Arlington, SundayTuesday or DC ThursdaySaturday. Call or text, Gary 301-704-1158. mymassagebygary.com.

PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

BULLETIN BOARD VOCAL COACHING / KEYBOARDS / Piano & Music Production Singing/Vocal Coaching, Keyboards/Piano and Music Production-all styles Pop, R&B, Jazz, Gospel, Country, Classical etc. Call 202-486-3741 or email dwight@ dwightmcnair.com.

COUNSELING

LEGAL SERVICES

COUNSELING FOR GAY MEN. Individual/ couple counseling w/ volunteer peer counselor. Gay Men’s Counseling Community since 1973. 202-580-8861. gaymenscounseling. org. No fees, donation requested.

ADOPTION & ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE Law Attorney Jennifer Fairfax represents clients in DC, MD & VA. interested in adoption or ART matters. 301221-9651, JFairfax@ jenniferfairfax.com.

Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy Results-Oriented • Affordable

Larry Cohen, LICSW

30 years serving the LGBT community

202-244-0903 socialanxietyhelp.com

See website for NPR story on my work

SIMPLE AFFORDABLE PROVEN RESULTS

CALL TODAY TOPLACE YOUR AD

202.747.2077

DAVE LLOYD & ASSOCIATES Top 1% Nationwide NVAR Life Member Top Producder

703-593-3204

WWW.DAVELLOYD.NET ENTHUSIASTICALLY SERVING DC & VIRGINIA

LOCKER ROOM ATTENDANTS NEEDED! The Crew Club, a gay men’s naturist gym & sauna, is now hiring Locker Room Attendants. We all scrub toilets & do heavy cleaning. You must be physically able to handle the work & have a great attitude doing it. No drunks/druggies need apply.

Please call David at (202) 319-1333. from 9-5pm, to schedule an interview.

PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM FULL SERVICE LAW FIRM Representing the GLBT community for over 35 years. Family adoptions, estate planning, immigration, employment. (301) 891-2200. Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A. www.

SP-Law. com.

LIMOUSINES KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE Since 1987.

Gay & Veteran Owner/ Operator. 2016 Luxury BMW 750Li Sedan.

Properly Licensed & Livery Insured in DC. www.KasperLivery.com.

Phone 202-554-2471.

PHOTOGRAPHY STEVE O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY Fine Art Photographer for Portraits & Weddings & more! Check out my website - www. steveotoolephotography. com. Specializing in Bears & Big men.

Steve 703-861-4422.

CLEANING FERNANDO’S CLEANING: Residential & Commercial Cleaning, Reasonable Rates, Free Estimates, Routine, 1-Time, Move-In/ Move-Out. (202) 234-7050, 202-486-6183.

DEADLINES

SHARE ADS ARE FREE. Place your HOUSING TO SHARE ad online at washingtonblade.com and the ad prints free in the paper and online.* *25 words or less prints free - anything more is $1/word.

3 8 • O CTO B E R 1 2 , 2018

All Classified Ads - Including Regular & Adult Must Be Received

By Mondays at 5PM So They Can Be Included in That Week’s Edition of Washington Blade and washingtonblade.com

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

TELL ‘EM YOU SAW THEIR AD IN THE Blade classifieds!

PLUMBERS DIAL A PLUMBER, LLC - FULL SERVICE PLUMBER JUST SAY: I NEED A PLUMBER! Bathroom Sinks, Tubs, Vanities, Kitchen Sinks, Disposals, Boilers & Furnaces, Hot Water Heaters, Drain Service!

202-251-1479. Licensed, Bonded & Insured.

DC Plumbers License #707. Visa, MasterCard, American Express accepted.

MOVERS AROUND TOWN MOVERS. Professional Moving & Storage. Let Our Movers Do The Heavy Lifting. Mention the ‘Blade’ for 5% off of our regular rates. Call today 202.734.3080. www. aroundtownmovers.com

SHARE / DC DEANWOOD. ROOM TO RENT. NE DC. $600 per month includes utilities.

15 min. walk to Metro. Call Derrick to visit 202-398-3138. Credible references.

BODYWORK THE MAGIC TOUCH: Swedish, Massage or Deep Tissue. Appts 202486-6183, Low Rates, 24/7, In-Calls.

Playmates and soul mates...

Washington:

202-448-0824

18+ MegaMates.com

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

O CT O BE R 1 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 9

2317 18th St NW - 21+

Complimentary Avion Tequila and Absolut Cocktails 6-8PM