Washingtonblade.com, Volume 49, Issue 44, November 2, 2018

NOVEMBER 02,

2018

VOLUME 49

ISSUE 44

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AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE

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PRESENTS

A CABARET ABOUT HOW SOMETHING AWESOME CAME FROM SOMETHING AWFUL

NOVEMBER 17 AT 5PM (ASL) AND 8PM ATLAS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TICKETS: 202-399-7993 OR GMCW.ORG

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We #WontBeErased Because we will VOTE

There are 10 million LGBTQ voters and 52 million Equality Voters across America. WE can be the difference. Text Vote18 to 30644 to make a plan to vote, and volunteer at HRC.org/TakeAction.

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LO CA L N E W S

Comings & Goings

Queer Eye’s Porowski shares laughs, lessons at D.C. brunch

Wilson named managing partner at Manatt, Phelps and Phillips

Event raised money for Whitman-Walker Health

By PETER ROSENSTEIN

By MARIAH COOPER

The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at: comingsandgoings@washblade.com.

Congratulations to Donna Wilson, CEO and managing partner-elect at Manatt, Phelps, and Phillips, LLP, an AmLaw 125 firm with offices from coast to coast. Upon being named Wilson said, “Being elected as Manatt’s next CEO and managing partner, and following in the footsteps of Bill Quicksilver, is an honor I hold in the highest regard. Manatt is a special place, inclusive and collaborative, innovative and entrepreneurial with a focus on providing quality services and becoming essential to our clients. There’s something unique here. You can call it Manatt-itude, which is this sense of pride in who we are, where we came from DONNA WILSON PHOTO COURTESY WILSON and where we’re going. We’re proud of our colleagues, our clients, and our commitments. I am thrilled and privileged to be given the opportunity to lead such an impressive group of people, to continue building on our values and achieving our goals.”

Wilson is nationally recognized for her high-profile work on behalf of clients facing litigation and government enforcement actions, with a focus on both highly regulated industries and the privacy and data security space. Her extensive crisis and risk management experience, coupled with her broad subject matter knowledge and precedent-setting litigation experience, make her highly valued by in-house counsel, the C-level suite, and boards in preemptively mitigating risk, and navigating those risks that become full-blown exposure.

As the chair of Manatt’s privacy and data security business group and co-chair of its financial services practice, Wilson has been widely recognized for her leadership, most recently being selected again as one of the Top 100 Women Lawyers in California by the Daily Journal, and recognized as one of the Top 500 Leading Lawyers in America

by Lawdragon 500. In addition, until her term as CEO and managing partner officially begins on July 1, 2019, she will continue to serve as a member of Manatt’s board of directors and the firm’s compensation committee. An active member of the LGBT Bar, Wilson is well known as an advocate for diversity and inclusion.

After law school, she clerked for the late Honorable David R. Thompson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Diego, as well as to the late Honorable Stanley S. Brotman of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey.

Wilson is admitted to practice in the state of California and the District of Columbia and to practice before the Supreme Court of California, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, U.S. District Court, Southern, Eastern, Central and Northern Districts of California.

She received her bachelor’s at the George Washington University and her J.D. from the University of Virginia, where she was also Order of the Coif Member, Managing Board, Virginia Law Review.

Congratulations also to Ben Finzel whose firm RENEWPR won its first public affairs award. They won a Cleanie Award on behalf of their client the Carbon Capture Coalition.

This marks the inaugural year for the The Cleanie Awards. The program is the first comprehensive awards program exclusive to the cleantech industry. They set out to recognize innovation excellence, business leadership and superior outreach campaigns.

The Cleanies aspire to identify the unsung movers and shakers in the industry, from the top of the Fortune 100 list to hot startups, pioneering individuals and high impact advocates. They believe this recognition program will generate visibility for innovators and disruptors who are creating life (and planet) changing solutions.

Lyft’s Bentzen Ball Comedy Brunch “Belly Laughs” brought plenty of food, laughter and thought-provoking conversation led by co-hosts “Queer Eye” food and wine expert Antoni Porowski and comedian Michelle Buteau at the Eaton DC on Sunday.

The charity brunch was presented in partnership with the ride-sharing app, Lyft. It raised funds for the non-profit organization and community health center serving the LGBT community, Whitman-Walker ANTONI POROWSKI at Lyft’s Bentzen Ball Health, which marks its 40th Comedy Brunch WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MARIAH COOPER anniversary this year. Lyft also made a special $10,000 donation to Whitman-Walker Health in honor of LGBT History month.

Fans were only able to receive access to the brunch by applying the code “AVOCADO,” a known Porowski food favorite, into the Lyft app. Winners were then selected to participate in the private brunch.

The event kicked off with mingling as attendees sipped on Bloody Marys and orange juice and vodka courtesy of Smirnoff. Soon after, Buteau took the stage for a brief stand-up comedy set before bringing Porowski to the stage.

Porowski gave a cooking demonstration for a carrot and date salad, which he said was a recipe inspired by his father. The demonstration got interactive when Porowski chose a participant from the audience to assist with the recipe.

Buteau pitched in as well, cracking jokes and banter with Porowski throughout the demonstration, and everyone in the audience received the salads for their own taste test. Porowski finished up by showing the crowd how to make his version of a Bloody Mary.

After a brief intermission, and some more food including tacos, Porowski and Buteau returned to the stage for a Q&A with the audience.

One member of the audience asked about the perks of having a platform to use their voice on issues they care about.

For Buteau, it was important for her to make a positive impact on someone’s day.

“As a woman of color I’m realizing now more than ever what a social media platform is for and what kind of good it can do. Whether it’s reminding people to vote or helping people do whatever that is. At the end of the day what I love is when people slide into my DMs and they’re like ‘I was having such a shit day.

Thank you so much for just putting a smile on my face,’” Buteau said.

Porowski noted that his fame has caused him to look at speaking up on issues in a different way.

“For me I think the greatest perk is a forced education on a lot of topics. I tended to be more quiet and private about a lot of things. But with the current climate it makes it more and more challenging not to say anything,” Porowski said.

He also revealed that his view on Pride celebrations changed after he was invited to Montreal Pride by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last summer. Porowski shared that despite growing up in Montreal he had never attended Pride.

“Pride was something that when I was in my first relationship with a guy I always stayed away from because I associated it with parties and a lot of excessive drug use. It wasn’t at all the way that I look at it now,” Porowski said.

After a fan from Poland reached out to him on social media thanking him for attending Pride because “it’s so nice to just see somebody who is able to celebrate freely,” Porowski says he felt like a “brat” about his previous views on Pride.

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LO CA L N E W S

Pro-LGBT incumbents far ahead in all but one D.C. election race ‘Longshot’ gay candidates challenge Bowser, Norton, Nadeau

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com With the exception of one of two atlarge D.C. Council seats on the ballot this year, the city’s longstanding pro-LGBT incumbent politicians, including Mayor Muriel Bowser (D) and Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large), are expected to breeze to victory in the District’s Nov. 6 general election.

Most political observers say the one exception to this pro-incumbent tidal wave is the at-large Council race in which lesbian businesswoman Dionne Reeder is challenging incumbent Council member Elissa Silverman. Both Reeder and Silverman are running as independents for a Council seat reserved under the city’s election law for a non-Democrat.

Council member Anita Bonds (D-AtLarge) is considered the strong favorite to win re-election to the second so-called “Democratic” at-large seat up for election this year. Silverman is considered by some political observers to have the advantage over Reeder in name recognition due to the advantage of incumbency, but others, including Bowser, who has endorsed Reeder, say the first-time Council candidate has a shot at beating Silverman. (Full details on this race were reported in the Blade last week.)

In the mayoral race, Bowser, who has emerged as one of the city’s most LGBT supportive mayors, is considered the odds-on favorite to become the first D.C. mayor since 1998 to win a second term in office.

Bowser, a Democrat, easily won the city’s Democratic primary in June in a year when no candidate considered having a chance of winning surfaced to run against her.

One of three lesser known candidates running against Bowser on Nov. 6 is gay Libertarian Party activist Martin Moulton, a longtime local LGBT rights activist.

Among the issues that Moulton has focused on is the troubled D.C. public school system, for which he blames Bowser for not taking a more aggressive stand to address.

Bowser and her supporters dispute that claim, saying she has been working hard to address public school system problems that have been around long before she became mayor.

In 2016, Moulton ran as a Libertarian for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat held by Democrat Eleanor Holmes Norton. Although Norton won by a lopsided margin with over 88 percent of the vote in a three-candidate race, Moulton received 18,713 votes, finishing

Lesbian businesswoman DIONNE REEDER faces incumbent Elissa Silverman in next week’s election.

ahead of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, who received 12,723 votes in the D.C. presidential race.

In this year’s Congressional Delegate race, Norton is being challenged by another gay Libertarian candidate, Bruce Majors. Majors ran and lost to Norton for the Congressional Delegate seat in 2012, capturing 5.9 percent of the vote compared to Norton’s 88.6 percent.

Majors ran for mayor as a Libertarian against Bowser in 2014, where he received 0.7 percent of the vote.

Others running against Norton in the Nov. 6 election are Statehood Green Party candidate Natale Stracuzzi, Republican Nelson Rimensnyder, and independent John Cheeks.

In the Ward 1 D.C. Council race, gay independent Jamie Sycamore, a professional sign language translator, is running an uphill race against Democratic incumbent Brianne Nadeau, a strong supporter of LGBT rights. Similar to Bowser and Norton, Nadeau is considered the strong favorite to win re-election.

In other citywide races, D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine (D) are also considered odds-on favorites to win re-election. Both are strong supporters of LGBT rights. Mendelson led the Council’s effort in 2009 along with then Council member David Catania to push through legislation legalizing same-sex marriage in the District several years before the Supreme Court decision legalizing marriage equality nationwide.

Mendelson is being challenged by Libertarian Ethan Bishop-Henchman and Racine is being challenged by Libertarian Joe Henchman.

Pro-LGBT incumbent Council members Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6) are also expected to easily win reelection against lesser known opponents.

Cheh’s opponent, independent candidate Petar Dimtchev, and Allen’s opponent, Republican Michael Bekesha, have reached out to LGBT voters with proLGBT platforms.

Members of the local D.C. chapter of the LGBT group Log Cabin Republicans have been campaigning for Bekesha, but the group has not officially endorsed Bekesha and the other two Republicans running in the D.C. election – Congressional Delegate candidate Rimensnyder and atlarge Council candidate Chittams.

In two other citywide races, incumbent “shadow” U.S. Rep. Franklin Garcia is running unopposed and “shadow” U.S. Sen. Michael D. Brown is being challenged

by Statehood Green Party candidate Eleanor Ory. Garcia and Brown have been longtime supporters of LGBT rights.

Fewer LGBT ANC candidates running in 2018

At least 18 openly LGBT candidates are running for Advisory Neighborhood Commission seats in six of the city’s eight wards in the Nov. 6 election, 12 fewer than the 30 known LGBT candidates who ran for ANC seats in 2016.

The Washington Blade attempts to keep track of LGBT people running for ANC seats. Activists familiar with ANC races say they believe far more LGBT candidates have run for those seats in 2016 and this year than those who have publicly disclosed their status as LGBT. There are a total of 296 single member ANC seats that are part of 40 ANCs throughout the city. The ANCs were created as part of the city’s home rule charter in the 1970s as a unique “grassroots” arm of the D.C. government.

They are unpaid positions with no legal authority to approve public policy other than provide advice to city agencies on local neighborhood issues such as

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

parking, trash collection, real estate development, and the licensing of bars, restaurant and nightclubs.

Following is a list of this year’s known LGBT ANC candidates, most of whom are incumbents running unopposed in their single member districts, known as SMDs. Among them are Kent Boese, who ran unsuccessfully for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat in the June Democratic primary; and Monika Nemeth, who would become the city’s first known transgender ANC member if she wins her race for the Ward 3 ANC 3F06 seat held by incumbent William Sittig.

Ward 1 Kent Boese, 1A08 (unopposed) James Turner, 1B09 (unopposed) Rob Hudson, 1B11 (unopposed)

Ward 2 Nick Delle Donne, 2B04 Randy Downs, 2B05 (unopposed) Mike Silverstein, 2B06 (unopposed) Jason Forman, 2F01 (unopposed) John Guggenmos, 2F02 (unopposed) John Fanning, 2F04 (unopposed) Kevin Sylvester, 2F07 (unopposed)

Ward 3 Lee Brian Reba, 3C01 Monika Nemeth, 3F06 Dan Bradfield, 3G06 (unopposed)

Ward 4 Aaron Polkey, 4D03 (unopposed)

Ward 6 Ron Collins, 6D03 (unopposed) Andy Litsky, 6D04 (unopposed) Roger Moffatt, 6D05 Alexander ‘Alex’ Padro, 6E01

Ward 7 Catherine Woods, 7C03 (unopposed) Anthony Lorenzo Green, 7C04 (unopposed)

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L O CA L NEW S

Hogan expected to easily win re-election in Md. Mary Washington unopposed in Senate bid

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is expected to easily win reelection in the state’s gubernatorial election on Tuesday.

Polls the Washington Post and the University of Maryland, Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies and Goucher College have conducted in recent weeks show Hogan is ahead of former NAACP President Ben Jealous by double digits. Hogan also maintains a Maryland Gov. LARRY HOGAN is expected to easily defeat BEN JEALOUS on Tuesday to win re-election. significant fundraising advantage against his Democratic opponent PHOTO BY MARYLAND GOVPICS; COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS ; WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY going into the general election.

Hogan, before his 2014 election, said marriage rights for same-sex couples and other social issues “are really decided” in Maryland.

Hogan in 2015 allowed two measures — one that enables trans Marylanders to change their name and gender on their birth certificates without having undergone sex reassignment surgery and another that ensures lesbian couples have equal access to fertility treatments — to take effect without his signature.

Hogan on Sunday retweeted a quote from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in response to the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh that left 11 people dead.

“Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness.

We must meet the forces of hate with the power of love...Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” -Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. pic.twitter.com/R9cPl9qlOS — Governor Larry Hogan (@GovLarryHogan) October 28, 2018 Hogan — along with Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and religious leaders — was among those who spoke at a prayer vigil for the victims that took place at Adas Israel Congregation in Northwest Washington.

“No words can possibly ease the overwhelming sense of grief and sadness over such an unspeakable tragedy,” said Hogan, according to WTOP. “Our synagogues and houses of worship must never become places of fear.”

Hogan’s campaign has not responded to the Washington Blade’s multiple requests for an interview.

Jealous — whose platform includes legalizing and taxing marijuana to fund universal pre-K in Maryland and “Medicare for All” in the state — told the Blade earlier this month that Hogan is “trying his best to be the second coming of Chris Christie,” who is the Republican incumbent’s political mentor. Jealous during the interview also discussed his role in the 2012 campaign in support of Maryland’s same-sex marriage law that voters ultimately upheld in a referendum.

“Larry Hogan steadily avoided taking on the past civil rights victories and at the same time he has shown a real willingness to attack immigrant communities,” said Jealous, specifically referring to Hogan’s decision to allow three counties to enter into agreements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and his request that the Obama administration not resettle Syrian refugees in Maryland.

Two openly LGBT candidates are poised to make history in Maryland on Tuesday.

State Del. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City), who defeated longtime state Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore City) in June’s Democratic primary, is running unopposed.

She is poised to become the first openly LGBT senator of color in the Maryland Senate.

Gabriel Acevero finished second in the Democratic primary in House District 39 in Montgomery County. He would become the first openly gay man of Afro-Latino descent elected to the General Assembly if he were to win in the general election.

“The historical significance of this race is not lost on me,” Acevero told the Blade earlier this year. “But I’m not running to make history. I’m running to make a difference.”

Evan Glass is seeking an at-large seat on the Montgomery County Council. Republican Shawn Conley is running against incumbent Howard County Registrar of Wills Byron MacFarlane.

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Walk to End HIV postponed Whitman-Walker Health’s 32nd annual Walk & 5K to End HIV has been postponed to World AIDS Day on Saturday, Dec. 1 due to last weekend’s inclement weather. The event was originally scheduled for Saturday morning at Freedom Plaza.

“This weekend could present a significant weather event and safety issues for all those involved in the Walk—walkers, runners, vendors, and other community groups. This new date offers us a unique chance A scene from last year’s walk. This year’s to present the Walk as it always event was moved to Dec. 1 due to concerns over last weekend’s weather. should be—namely a community WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY event focused on those impacted

by HIV and an opportunity for togetherness and solidarity with community,” Executive Director Don Blanchon said in a statement. “We fully recognize that inclement weather could be an issue again on December 1st, but hold the safety and wellbeing of our communities first in postponing from this weekend.”

MARIAH COOPER

Activists unfurl trans flag at Lincoln Memorial Supporters of the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE) unfurled a 21,000-foot transgender Pride flag at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on Monday to “raise awareness of the efforts of the Trump administration to erase the right of 1.4 million transgender adults to jobs, health care, education, and housing,” the group said in a statement.

MICHAEL KEY

Ben & Jerry’s jabs Trump with Pecan Resist flavor Ben & Jerry’s unveiled its brand new flavor Pecan Resist, the company’s call-to-action movement against the Trump administration, on Tuesday morning in D.C. Co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, CEO Matthew McCarthy and representatives from the organizations Honor the Earth, Women’s March, Color of Change and Neta were in attendance to celebrate the Limited Batch flavor. Ben & Jerry’s will be donating $25,000 to all The newest flavor from Ben & Jerry’s, Pecan four organizations.

Resist.

Artist and activist Favianna WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MARIAH COOPER Rodriguez, who was also in attendance, designed the artwork on the pint. Inside the pint is chocolate ice cream with white and dark fudge chunks, pecans, walnuts and fudge-covered almonds.

“The company cannot be silent in the face of President Trump’s policies that attack and attempt to roll back decades of progress on racial and gender equity, climate change, LGBTQ rights, and refugee and immigrant rights – all issues that have been at the core of the company’s social mission for 40 years,” Ben & Jerry’s said in a statement.

MARIAH COOPER

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NATIONAL NEWS

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Senate races could dampen LGBT enthusiasm on Election Day Dems could come up short in contests determining control of chamber

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com Chances are good for a “blue” wave on Election Day that will sweep Democrats into power in the U.S. House, but over in the Senate, the odds favor Republicans maintaining control and possibly even gaining seats — a chilling prospect for LGBT rights supporters despite anticipated victories elsewhere.

Such an outcome would mean the Republican-controlled Senate would continue green-lighting the Trump administration’s anti-LGBT appointments and block any pro-LGBT legislation approved by the House.

The Democrats’ best chances for pickups in the Senate — Nevada and Arizona — are now in serious question.

In Nevada, incumbent Sen. Dean Heller (D-Nev.) has consistently polled ahead of Democratic challenger Jacky Rosen by single digits, although his lead is within the margin of error. In Arizona, where bisexual candidate Kyrsten Sinema is seeking an open seat, polls are back and forth and it’s unclear who has the advantage between her and Republican candidate Martha McSally.

Democrats also may lose seats in Missouri and Indiana and are likely to lose a seat in North Dakota. Recent polls have shown Sens. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Joe Donnelly (D-Ind.) and Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.) trailing their Republican challengers. In Heitkamp’s case, much of the polling has shown to have a deficit in the double-digits.

In Florida, polls have given Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) a modest edge over Republican challenger Gov. Rick Scott.

But the race is still essentially tied and could go either way.

One bright spot for Democrats is the re-election campaign for Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), the only out lesbian in Congress. Once thought to be a competitive race, Baldwin in recent polls has been ahead of her competitor, State Sen. Leah Vukmir.

Republicans currently hold a 51-seat majority in the Senate and Democrats would have to run the board in a year when many of their seats were up for grabs to win control of the chamber. Even though polling predicts a good year for Democrats, particularly in the House, Republicans are the favorites to hold on to the Senate.

If those predictions play out, anti-LGBT appointments and judicial nominees from the Trump administration requiring Senate confirmation would continue to go forward.

From left, Sen. HEIDI HEITKAMP (D-N.D.), Sen. JOE DONNELLY (D-Ind.), Sen. CLAIRE MCCASKILL (D-Mo.) and Sen. BILL NELSON (D-Fla.) could lose their seats on Election Day.

Sharon McGowan, chief strategy officer for the LGBT legal group Lambda Legal, said control of the Senate will be crucial in determining whether Trump’s judicial nominees will continue to go forward or be halted.

“The Senate plays an incredibly important role in terms of confirming the president’s nominees — not only to the Executive branch but even more importantly to the judiciary,” McGowan said. “As we have seen, many of Trump’s most controversial judges have either squeaked through by a party line vote. But others, like Ryan Bounds, have been turned back by just one or two GOP skeptics. So who controls the Senate — even if only by a razor thin margin — will likely determine what kind of federal judiciary we will have for the next 30-40 years.”

Under the status quo with Republican control, anti-LGBT judges will likely still go forward like newly confirmed U.S. Circuit Judge Kyle Duncan, who filed legal briefs against marriage equality and sought to block Virginia transgender teen Gavin Grimm from using the boys’ room.

Sharita Gruberg, associate director of the LGBT Research & Communications Project at the Center for American Progress, echoed the possibility of the Senate continuing to confirm anti-LGBT nominees.

“If Republicans retain control of the Senate, we will continue to see the rapid confirmation of anti-equality judicial nominees,” Gruberg said. “The Senate has already confirmed 84 of Trump’s judicial nominees, the vast majority of whom have a clear anti-equality record.”

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has promised to move forward with the Equality Act in the House if the Democrats win control. But with Republican control of the Senate the proLGBT legislation would advance in one chamber, but be bottled up in the Senate.

Gruberg said despite the advantages of a Democratic-controlled House, efforts to pass pro-LGBT legislation would be in

vain if the GOP still controls the Senate.

“Democratic control of the House will prevent the Senate from passing anti-equality legislation,” Gruberg said.

“But a divided Congress combined with the president’s opposition to proequality measures means long overdue comprehensive non-discrimination protections for all LGBTQ people likely won’t be enacted either.”

Could King go down in Iowa?

New polling from the progressive San Francisco-based firm Change Research has found anti-LGBT Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa)’s hold on his congressional seat is more tenuous than widely believed.

Data from the organization published Tuesday found the Republican is in a dead heat with his Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten. Among the 631 likely voters polled in Iowa’s 4th congressional district, King has support from 45 percent of the district compared to the 44 percent who support Scholten.

That marks a significant change.

According to Change Research, President Trump won the district by 27 points in 2016 and King won by 23 points. Just one month ago, another poll from Emerson College found King was ahead in Iowa’s 4th congressional district by 10 points.

What’s driving the current data?

Change Research found opinion on Trump in Iowa’s 4th congressional district is divided. Fifty-one percent of voters there view him favorably compared to the 46 percent who view him unfavorably.

Moreover, Change Research finds opinion on King is “quite negative” in Iowa’s 4th congressional district. Thirtyeight percent of voters view him favorably and 48 percent view him unfavorably.

If Scholten is successful in defeating King, the Democrat would be taking down a member of Congress who not only has consistently voted against LGBT interests over his eight terms in Congress, but

has made anti-LGBT rhetoric and views — as well as his anti-immigrant and antiMuslim views — an animating component of his political career.

In 2009, when the Iowa Supreme Court was among the first to legalize same-sex marriage, King called for the resignation of the justices and a residency requirement for marriages so “Iowa does not become the gay marriage Mecca.” When three of those justices were up for retention at the ballot in 2010, King bought $80,000 of radio advertising to campaign against them. None of the three were retained.

Years later, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, King said the decision “perverted” the word marriage and called for a resolution on the House floor that would encourage states to defy the decision.

“We’re in a place where the Supreme Court has put themselves above the law, above the Constitution and above the will of the people,” King said.

A frequent speaker at the annual antiLGBT Values Voter Summit, King in 2012 railed at the conference against the Obama administration allowing same-sex weddings on military bases.

“They’re having them on bases throughout the world in places … same-sex marriage in direct offense to the Defense of Marriage Act,” King said. “This is an undermining of our Constitution, and the rule of law and the separation of powers.”

The lawmaker introduced a (likely unconstitutional) amendment in 2012 seeking to prohibit same-sex weddings on military bases, which was approved at the time by the Republican-controlled House.

More recently, King has also spearheaded initiatives in Congress seeking to bar transgender people from the U.S. armed forces. In a speech on the House floor, King compared service members to castrated slaves in the now defunct Ottoman Empire and said their service “isn’t a civilization killer, but it is an indication of a civilization killer.”

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NATIONAL NEWS

What’s at stake for LGBT Americans on Election Day Trans rights in Mass., House control to be decided

movement in the House could set the bill up for passage in subsequent years with a more favorable Senate and White House.

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com

Sinema in tight race for Senate in Arizona Kyrsten Sinema achieved a historic first this year when she became the first open bisexual to win a major party nomination to run for U.S. Senate, but despite expected Democratic gains, a win for her on election night in Arizona is in question.

Amid political attacks for her past anti-war protests and public comments disparaging Arizona as “crazy,” Sinema’s former lead in the race against Rep. Martha McSally (R-Ariz.), the first female commander in the U.S. Air Force, has dissipated. McSally has taken the lead in several polls by a slim margin.

But the race is still tight and could go either way. McSally has admitted she’s getting her “ass kicked” over her vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, according to USA Today. In Arizona, 1 in 2 people are insured thanks to the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare.

Another U.S. Senate race with an LGBT candidate once thought to be competitive was Sen. Tammy Baldwin’s (D-Wis.) bid for re-election. But polls show Baldwin, the only out lesbian in Congress, well ahead of her Republican challenger, State Rep. Leah Vukmir, by as much as double digits.

LGBT candidates of color seek statewide office Other LGBT candidates are poised to make history because their wins would make them the first openly gay people of color to win statewide office in the United States.

Those candidates are California State Sen. Ricardo Lara, who’s running to become California Insurance Commissioner, and Nevada State Assembly member Nelson Araujo, who’s running to become Nevada secretary of state. (Also among them is Texas gubernatorial candidate Valdez, although her victory seems unlikely.)

Both candidates are first-generation Americans. Lara was born of parents who entered the United States illegally from Mexico and Araujo’s parents were refugees of the Salvadoran Civil War. A win for either candidate would be a first not only for the LGBT community, but also the immigrant community in the United States.

Polling is scant in these less than highprofile races. Araujo is facing the daunting prospects of challenging an incumbent, Republican Nevada Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske, but may do well if bolstered by a “blue” wave on Election Day. Lara is running for an open seat against Steve Poizner, an independent candidate who previously served as insurance commissioner.

As voters head to the polls on Nov. 6 for the 2018 mid-term elections, they will decide a number of races (and one ballot question) that will directly impact the LGBT community. Here is the Blade’s rundown of races to watch and the possible outcomes: Massachusetts new battleground for trans rights The only LGBT-related ballot question in 2018 is Question 3 in Massachusetts, where voters will decide whether to uphold a law barring anti-transgender discrimination in public accommodations.

Signed into law by Republican Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker in 2016, the Massachusetts law has been targeted by anti-trans groups, who put the measure up for referendum. Antitrans groups stoked fears the law will enable sexual assault by allowing men to enter women’s restrooms. (That is false.

In fact, a study from the Williams Institute, at the University of California, Los Angeles, have found non-discrimination protections have increased safety in public restrooms.)

Signs are good Massachusetts voters will uphold the law. A Suffolk University/ Boston Globe poll published on Monday found 68 percent of voters favor keeping the law in place compared to the 28 who want it repealed.

The outcome of the vote either way would have a significant impact on transgender rights. If voters affirm the non-discrimination law, it would signal growing support for transgender rights and discourage anti-trans political attacks elsewhere. But if voters reject the transgender protections, it could set a precedent for anti-trans attacks to come.

Candidates could boost LGBT representation in U.S. House A bevy of lesbian, gay and bisexual candidates are seeking election to the U.S. House and could significantly shake up LGBT representation in Congress if they’re victorious.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund has endorsed 12 congressional candidates who will be on the ballot next week. Four of them are openly gay incumbents: Reps. David Cicilline (D-R.I..), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Mark Takano (D-Calif.) and Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.). (With Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) departing Congress to run for governor, Cicilline will become the most senior openly gay member of the House next year.)

From left, SHARICE DAVIDS, ANGIE CRAIG, GINA ORTIZ JONES and CHRIS PAPPAS

PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE CAMPAIGNS

Each of these congressional candidates could achieve milestones in their own right. In Kansas, attorney and former mixed martial arts fighter Sharice Davids is challenging Rep. Kevin Yoder (R). If elected, Davids would be first female Native American in Congress and first out lesbian to represent Kansas. Polls have consistently given Davids a lead in the race by single digits.

Other candidates would be the first openly gay people to represent their states in Congress: Lauren Baer in Florida, Angie Craig in Minnesota, Rick Neal in Ohio, Gina Ortiz Jones in Texas and Chris Pappas in New Hampshire. Katie Hill in California and Tracy Mitrano in New York could be the only out bisexuals in the House.

The election of each of these candidates would double the size of the LGBT Equality Caucus in the House, making it comparable to the size of other minority caucuses.

Gubernatorial candidates could make history Other LGBT candidates could make history by being the first openly gay and transgender persons elected as governor.

Democrats have nominated to run for governor in 2018 one candidate each of every segment of the LGBT community: Lupe Valdez, a lesbian, in Texas; Jared Polis, a gay man, in Colorado; Kate Brown, the incumbent bisexual governor in Oregon; and Christine Hallquist, a transgender woman, in Vermont.

Polis, a five-term member of Congress, seems most poised to achieve a milestone. Polls in recent weeks have Polis between seven and 12 points ahead of his Republican opponent, Colorado State Treasurer Walker Stapleton. If Polis wins, he’d be the first openly gay person elected governor in the United States.

As the incumbent governor in Oregon, Brown also is favored to win election.

However, the race is actually tighter than Polis’ in Colorado. In several polls over the past few weeks, Brown has polled

between one and five points ahead of her Republican challenger, State Rep. Knute Buehler. Real Clear Politics designates the race as a “toss up.”

Unlikely to win are the other two candidates. Valdez has consistently lagged behind Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in polls by double digits, in some cases by more than 20 points. Despite the historic nature of Hallquist’s candidacy as a transgender nominee for governor, Hallquist is also behind incumbent Republican Gov. Phil Scott.

Democrats poised to take control of House The election outcome that will have the biggest impact on the nation as a whole, not just LGBT people, is the possibility of Democrats taking control of the U.S. House, ending the monopoly of Republican control in both Congress and the White House.

Observers say the Democratic takeover of the House is a likely outcome. Politics guru Nate Silver of Five Thirty Eights pegs the chances of that happening at 86.4 percent. (The prospects of Democratic takeover of the Senate, however, are basically inverted at 17.6 percent).

With Nancy Pelosi running the show as House speaker (again), political observers expect strict oversight of the Trump administration and committee chairs to issue subpoenas requiring federal officials to testify. That oversight could include scrutiny of anti-LGBT policy from the Trump administration.

But Pelosi has identified also as a personal priority the Equality Act, which would amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, jury service, education, federal programs and credit.

Democratic control of one chamber of Congress is likely not enough for the Equality Act to become law, but

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LGBT candidates to watch WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

JARED POLIS Where: Colorado Could be: 1st openly gay person elected governor

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

KATE BROWN Where: Oregon Could be: 1st out bisexual re-elected governor

PHOTO COURTESY OF HALLQUIST CAMPAIGN

CHRISTINE HALLQUIST

Where: Vermont Could be: 1st out transgender person elected as governor

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

LUPE VALDEZ Where: Texas Could be: 1st out lesbian elected governor

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

TAMMY BALDWIN Where: Wisconsin Could be: 1st out lesbian re-elected to U.S. Senate

PHOTO COURTESY OF ANA ISABEL PHOTOGRAPHY

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

KYRSTEN SINEMA Where: Arizona Could be: 1st out bisexual elected to U.S. Senate

GINA ORTIZ JONES Where: Texas Could be: 1st out Texan elected to Congress

PHOTO COURTESY OF BAER CAMPAIGN

PHOTO COURTESY OF CRAIG CAMPAIGN

LAUREN BAER Where: Florida Could be: 1st out Floridian elected to Congress

ANGIE CRAIG Where: Minnesota Could be: 1st out Minnesotan elected to Congress

Candidates for governor U.S. Senate candidates

U.S. House candidates Other statewide candidates

PHOTO COURTESY OF DAVIDS CAMPAIGN

SHARICE DAVIDS Where: Kansas Could be: 1st out Kansan & 1st female Native American in Congress

PHOTO COURTESY OF HILL CAMPAIGN

KATIE HILL Where: California Could be: Only out woman in U.S. House

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEAL CAMPAIGN

RICK NEAL Where: Ohio Could be: 1st out Ohioan elected to Congress

PHOTO COURTESY OF PAPPAS CAMPAIGN

CHRIS PAPPAS Where: New Hampshire Could be: 1st out person in New Hampshire in Congress

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

MARK TAKANO Where: California

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

PHOTO COURTESY OF LARA CAMPAIGN

NELSON ARAUJO Where: Nevada Could be: 1st gay person of color elected to statewide office

RICARDO LARA Where: California Could be: 1st gay person of color elected to statewide office

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

MARK POCAN Where: Wisconsin

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY DAMIEN SALAS

DAVID CICILLINE Where: Rhode Island

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

MAURA HEALEY Where: Massachusetts Could be: 1st out person re-elected as state attorney general

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

SEAN PATRICK MALONEY Where: New York

Gay incumbents seeking re-election to U.S. House

PHOTO COURTESY OF NESSEL CAMPAIGN

DANA NESSEL Where: Michigan Could be: Second openly gay state attorney general

PHOTO COURTESY OF BOSCHEE CAMPAIGN

JOSH BOSCHEE Where: North Dakota Could be: 1st openly gay person elected to N.D. statewide office

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Synagogue massacre sparks outpouring of grief 11 perish in Pittsburgh attack, including respected HIV doctor

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com The massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday has sparked an outpouring of grief from the city’s LGBT community.

Sue Kerr, a local activist who edits Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents, an LGBT blog, told the Blade the “intersections of Pittsburgh’s Jewish and LGBTQ communities are many.”

Kerr said LGBT youth were among those who led vigils that took place across Pittsburgh on Saturday. Kerr also told the Blade many local performers devoted “their weekend benefits to the fund for the survivors, and many of our LGBTQ neighbors affiliated with the congregations.”

“The wounds of this weekend tore through all of us, reminding us of our shared vulnerabilities and resiliency as we waited to learn the names of those lost to the gun violence and the rhetoric of hatred,” said Kerr.

A gunman killed 11 people and wounded six others, including four police officers, when he opened fire inside the synagogue in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood. The massacre is the deadliest attack on the Jewish community in U.S. history.

Federal authorities have charged the gunman with hate crimes, weapons and other charges.

Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, on Saturday posted onto his Facebook page a picture of him with his parents at his bar mitzvah that took place at the synagogue.

“Horrified to see what’s unfolding at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill, Pittsburgh where I was bar mitzvah’ed,” wrote Wolfson. “We will learn more, but how many more must die (!) before we get our country back on track? We need fewer guns in America, and must vote in elected officials who will turn our country around.”

One of the victims was a wellrespected doctor who was known for his compassionate treatment of his patients with HIV/AIDS. NBC News and other media outlets reported Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, began to treat people with HIV/AIDS in the early days of the epidemic. Michael Kerr of ACT UP New York on his Facebook page wrote Rabinowitz was his doctor until he moved from Pittsburgh to New York City in 2004.

“In the old days for HIV patients in Pittsburgh he was to one to go to,” wrote

Dr. JERRY RABINOWITZ, 66, a respected doctor known for treating HIV patients early in the epidemic, was among the victims of the Pittsburgh massacre.

PHOTO COURTESY THE FAMILY

Kerr. “Basically, before there was effective treatment for fighting HIV itself, he was known in the community for keeping us alive the longest. He often held our hands (without rubber gloves) and always always hugged us as we left his office.”

Kerr wrote he and Rabinowitz “made a deal about my T cells in that I didn’t want to know the numbers visit to visit because I knew I would fret with every little fluctuation and I also knew that AZT was not working for my friends.”

“The deal was that he would just let me know at some point when the T cell numbers meant I needed to start on medications,” said Kerr. “The numbers were his job and my job was to finish my master’s thesis and get a job with insurance and try to not go crazy.”

Kerr on his Facebook page wrote Rabinowitz in the fall of 1995 “gently told me” that “it was time to begin taking medications.” Kerr said he still takes one of the medications Rabinowitz recommended to him.

“You saved my life,” wrote Kerr.

Kerr has not responded to the Washington Blade’s request for comment, but he described Rabinowitz on his Facebook page as “one of my heroes just like the early ACT UP warriors — some of which I now call friend (sic).”

José M. Zuniga, president of the International Association of Providers of AIDS Care, which is based in D.C., told the Blade on Monday that Rabinowitz treated people with HIV/AIDS through his family practice in Pittsburgh.

“It is tragic to lose any life to senseless violence, but sad for the medical profession to lose one of its own — Dr. Jerry Rabinowitz — who was dedicated to a humanist approach to medicine,” said Zuniga. “We must be guided by our common humanity in these troubled times, and honor Dr. Rabinowitz’s life and legacy by advocating respect for the dignity of every human life, irrespective of religious belief or any other factor that expresses our diversity.”

AIDS Free Pittsburgh, a program that operates under the Pittsburgh-

based Jewish Healthcare Foundation, in a statement to the Blade echoed Zuniga.

“He was a friend of the foundation and his impact on HIV/AIDS care in our region will not be forgotten,” said AIDS Free Pittsburgh. “He was one of the first doctors to serve the AIDS community in Pittsburgh, and did so with compassion, love and empathy. His contributions to battling the AIDS epidemic will forever be remembered.

His senseless and tragic death has touched us all and he will be missed.”

Other HIV/AIDS service organizations with whom the Blade spoke on Monday also mourned Rabinowitz’s death.

“Our network of medical care providers is mourning the loss of a respected member of the HIV care provider community, Dr. Rabinowitz,” said Bruce Packett, deputy executive director of the D.C.-based American Academy of HIV Medicine. “We offer our sincerest condolences to the friends, family and community of this hero, and to all those other victims of this senseless act of hatred and violence.”

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Taiwan marriage activists find support from Wolfson, HRC

Brazilian President-elect JAIR BOLSONARO has sparked fear among many LGBT Brazilians.

PHOTO BY AGÊNCIA BRASIL FOTOGRAFIAS; COURTESY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Brazil’s next president a notorious homophobe SÃO PAULO — Jair Bolsonaro will become Brazil’s next president after he won the second round of the country’s presidential election this week.

Bolsonaro defeated former São Paulo Mayor Fernando Haddad of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s Workers’ Party by a 55.1-44.9 percent margin. Bolsonaro will take office on Jan. 1.

Observers have noted Bolsonaro won the polarized presidential election, in part, because Brazilians have grown weary of corruption associated with the leftist governments of Lula and former President Dilma Rousseff that governed the country for 13 years. Public opinion polls indicated Brazilians were willing to support anyone who was not a member of the Peoples’ Party, including a presidential candidate without a clear government platform, who appeared unprepared for interviews and refused to participate in debates against Haddad.

Aside from appearing unprepared and having passed only two bills during his 27 years as a congressman for Rio de Janeiro, Bolsonaro throughout his career has also been known for his homophobic and misogynistic behavior.

The thing that may spark the most concern among Brazil’s LGBT community is his commitment to Catholic groups that he would defend the “true sense of marriage” between a man and a woman. This position signals he would support the repeal of marriage equality that became a reality across the country in 2013.

Bolsonaro has also targeted people of color, Brazil’s indigenous community and women, in addition to the LGBT community. Attacks involving his supporters against these minority groups have increased since he launched his campaign.

One such case happened in Santo André, a city just outside São Paulo, where a 19-year-old man was threatened with a gun by a man he met on Grindr. Another case involved a 19-year-old woman who was beaten and had a swastika carved into her skin with a knife by three men because she was wearing a T-shirt with the saying “ele não” or “not him,” a phrase used by minority groups that campaigned against Bolsonaro.

Witnesses say a group of people who stabbed a trans woman to death in downtown São Paulo on Oct. 16 yelled, “It is just the beginning. Gay people won’t have it easy when Bolsonaro is president.” The president-elect has previously used this phrase during interviews and it has been evoked in other attacks that took place across the country.

So what is in store for LGBT people for the next four or more years if Bolsonaro himself is re-elected or if one of his allies becomes president?

Bolsonaro’s critics say the answer is simple: Fear and returning to LGBT ghettos.

Another bigger concern is the impact a Bolsonaro administration will have on the rights of LGBT Brazilians.

The Brazilian Senate recently released for public comment a proposed amendment to the country’s nondiscrimination that would criminalize homophobia and impose the same punishment as those who are convicted of crimes against women, people of color, seniors and people with disabilities. Less than 10,000 people opposed the proposal, compared to 400,000 people who said they support it.

The Senate has yet to vote on the amendment, and a date has not been set. Activists are concerned Bolsonaro would veto the proposal if it were approved in 2019.

FELIPE ALFACE

The founder of Freedom to Marry and two of his former colleagues are working with same-sex marriage activists in Taiwan ahead of next month’s referendum on the issue.

Evan Wolfson, Cameron Tolle and Thalia Zepatos are working with the Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan, an organization that is campaigning in support of marriage rights for samesex couples on the island.

A referendum on whether to extend marriage rights to same-sex couples in Taiwan will take place on Nov. Marriage Equality 24. Evan Wolfson, founder of Freedom to Marry, and Coalition Taiwan Chief his former colleagues are working with Taiwanese advocates ahead of the vote.

Coordinator Jennifer Lu told the Blade earlier PHOTO COURTESY OF JENNIFER LU/MARRIAGE EQUALITY COALITION TAIWAN this month during a WhatsApp interview from the Taiwanese capital of Taipei that she first met Wolfson in 2015 when he was in Taiwan to give a speech about efforts to secure marriage rights for same-sex couples in the U.S. “At that time, we didn’t have our marriage equality coalition,” said Lu, who attended the Human Rights Campaign’s Global Innovative Advocacy Summit in 2016. “We actually reconnected and looked for their experience.”

Lu noted Freedom to Marry’s strategy ahead of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling in the Obergefell case that extended marriage rights to same-sex couples throughout the U.S. was to connect with “normal people.”

Wolfson — who has worked with marriage advocates in more than a dozen countries that include Cuba, Switzerland and Japan — was last in Taiwan in July 2017.

Tolle and Zepatos traveled to the island earlier this month. Lu told the Blade they shared their “longtime experience” on the issue when they were in Taiwan.

“We learned a lot from those experiences,” said Lu. Taiwanese voters on Nov. 24 will consider five questions that relate to marriage and LGBTI-inclusive school curricula.

One question asks whether same-sex couples should receive marriage rights through Taiwan’s civil code. Another question asks voters whether they agree the island’s Gender Equity Act should include LGBTI-inclusive school curricula.

Two questions that LGBTI rights opponents proposed ask voters whether marriage in Taiwan should be defined as between a man and a woman and whether they agree the Gender Equity Act should include LGBTI-inclusive school curricula. Another question asks whether same-sex couples should be able to enter into civil unions or domestic partnerships, as opposed to marriages.

“Our supporters need to vote for three nos, two yes,” Lu told the Blade. “It’s a really confusing message, but we are really trying our best to clarify that.”

Lu said the Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan has produced ads that feature same-sex marriage supporters. One of these ads features a 93-yearold grandmother with a lesbian granddaughter. A group of firefighters who Lu described as “all straight” and “muscular” appear in another.

Lu told the Blade her organization has staff and volunteers working in Taipei and in other cities across Taiwan. The Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan had a large presence at Taipei’s annual Pride celebration on Oct. 27 that drew more than 100,000 people.

HRC is hosting a fundraiser for the Marriage Equality Coalition Taiwan at the Stonewall Inn in New York City on Friday. An ActBlue Civics fundraiser is also raising funds to support Freedom to Marry’s efforts in Taiwan.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Keep your promise to protect each other.

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PrEP underutilized by trans San Fran women SAN FRANCISCO — Only a third of trans women in San Francisco have talked to a health care provider about PrEP and just 12 percent are taking it, Albert Liu of the San Francisco Department of Public Health told the HIV Research for Prevention conference in Madrid last week. Gay and other men who have sex with men (MSM) have much greater engagement with PrEP, AIDSmap reports.

The data come from 368 HIV-negative trans women living in the San Francisco Bay area who provided data to the Trans National Study in 2016-2018. This is a population based cohort recruited through respondent driven sampling, an initial set of respondents recruit people they know, who then recruit other people they know, and so on. A mathematical model is then used to weight the sample to compensate for non-random recruitment patterns, so the results should be less prone to bias, AIDSmap reports.

A comparator group of cisgender MSM was provided by 399 local residents taking part in the National HIV Behavioral Surveillance System.

The ages of the two cohorts were matched (median 37 years), but the trans cohort was more ethnically diverse (39 percent white vs. 51 percent in the MSM cohort). Socio-economic disadvantages were far more commonly reported by those in the trans cohort — less education (26 percent with a college degree vs 69 percent in the MSM cohort), unemployment (50 vs. 26 percent), income below the poverty limit (71 vs. 16 percent) and homeless (8 vs. 4 percent). However, trans participants were more likely to have health insurance (93 percent) than men who have sex with men (90 percent), AIDSmap reports.

Researchers tracked engagement at four stages in the PrEP continuum of care: Whereas PrEP awareness was near universal among gay men, a significant minority of trans women had never heard of it. There were significant gaps at each stage of the care continuum. Each of the differences between trans women and MSM was statistically significant, AIDSmap reports.

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Trans Iowans fare worse than LGB counterparts

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Recent survey results published by the University of Iowa show trans people face more health care challenges than the rest of the LGBT community and the community as a whole faces higher levels of binge drinking, the Daily Iowan reports.

Survey results of a University of Iowa study have shown the disadvantages the LGBT community faces in regards to health care. The report highlighted deficiencies in care for transgender and genderqueer individuals, as well as high levels of reported binge drinking and unmet mental-health needs among LGBT people, the Iowan reports.

University of Iowa Assistant Professor Paul Gilbert said he and his colleagues started talking about the lack of data about the LGBT community in the spring of 2017, the Iowan reports.

“Even though LGBTQ health has been getting more attention over the last 20 years, a lot of that work has been nationally focused,” Gilbert told the Iowan. “So, there hasn’t been a lot of attention to the Midwest.”

One Iowa Executive Director Daniel Hoffman-Zinnel said the organization’s appointment@citydentaldc.com biggest role was promoting the survey to get the largest number of respondents possible.

One Iowa’s efforts led to 567 LGBT Iowans completing the survey. Gilbert 1221 Massachusetts Ave., A NW DVERTISING said the large sample size allowed the team to break the results down into subPROOF #1 ISSUE DATE: 10.26.12 SALES REPRESENTATIVE: BRIAN PITTS (bpitts@washblade.com) 703 D St., NW groups in the LGBT community and compare different orientations and gender REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of identities. In nearly every category the survey looked at, trans and genderqueer proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of 955 Plz., the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week ofL’Enfant publication.Brown naff pitts SW PR #325 REVISIONS people fared worse than their cisgender counterparts, the Iowan reports. 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 REDESIGN can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or The survey broke down into six categories: self-rated health status, lifetime TEXT REVISIONS 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 health problems, health-care access and experiences, discrimination and REVISIONS IMAGE/LOGO 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 ADVERTISER SIGNATURE NO REVISIONS victimization, substance use and social support and civic engagement. washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contr liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred washington blade newspaper. This includes but is no by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations payment and insertion schedule.

According to the report, slightly more than 30 percent of trans and and warranties. genderqueer people said they were in excellent or very good health, compared to 56 percent of cis men and 45 percent of cis women. The report went on to further describe the negative data surrounding trans and genderqueer people, the Iowan reports.

University of Iowa Trans Alliance President AJ King said this could be attributed to lack of information both among trans individuals and health care providers.

Another issue highlighted in the report was the high levels of binge drinking In-Network with most PPOs in the community. According to the report, LGBT people were twice as likely to report binge drinking compared to a 2016 survey of the general population of Iowa, the Iowan reports.

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Put Trump’s hate in check Vote on Nov. 6 and stop the assault on decency and democracy

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

If you need more motivation to get out and vote on Tuesday, then you haven’t been paying attention these past two years.

Donald Trump is abusing our democracy in the worst ways. Bigots, racists, homophobes and anti-Semites everywhere are emboldened to express their ignorance and act out on their hate thanks to the messages they receive from their commander in chief. Some of those

messages are covert; others are more foghorn than dog whistle. When Trump tweets about the World Series and about having a bad hair day (aren’t they all for him) hours after a gunman kills 11 Jews in a Pittsburgh synagogue, he’s not merely being insensitive. He’s sending a message to his white nationalist supporters that he’s really not bothered by the deaths of Jewish people. He’ll read a few rote platitudes from a teleprompter when forced, then revert to his usual attacks on his perceived enemies hours later. Anyone who is still waiting for Trump to change his behavior and act presidential is living in fantasyland.

Trump and his supporters cavalierly deny that he is responsible for last week’s spate of violence, but the bully pulpit is real. When the president of the United States speaks, the world listens. When President Obama endorsed marriage equality, the dam of public support for the issue was broken and everyone from politicians to rappers came on board. How E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

far we’ve fallen from those hopeful times.

Now when the president speaks, Americans are inspired to mail pipe bombs to current and former government officials; to fatally shoot two unarmed AfricanAmerican shoppers at a Kroger; and to gun down worshippers in a synagogue, including a Holocaust survivor.

We must come to terms with the reality that the American president is an overt racist who lives to divide us. He is a truly evil, repugnant presence. But Trump is a temporary infestation. Whether by Robert Mueller and impeachment or by the 2020 vote or by term limits, he will one day mercifully be gone. But the Americans who elevated him and his acolytes to the highest echelons of power will remain. And their goals are clear: overturn Roe v. Wade; chip away at marriage equality; prevent black voters from exercising their rights; ban immigration from “shithole countries” in a racist attempt to Make America White Again; lift environmental regulations; and hand over the government and our public lands to corporations. Those are the goals.

The only way to stop this madness is for good, thinking people of all stripes to vote on Nov. 6. Millennials and Gen Z voters must lead the way, along with suburban women who are flipping longtime GOP allegiances to vote Democratic.

History will judge not only Trump and his GOP enablers, but all of us. I’m reminded of a powerful history lesson from a college professor. Prior to a lecture about nationalism and the rise of the Nazi Party, she discreetly opened a window in the back of the classroom. It was winter in State College, Pa., so below freezing. As she spoke, the classroom became chilled; some of us donned coats and hats in our seats. When the professor finally opened up the discussion to our questions, someone asked incredulously how an entire population could stay silent while the government acted in such evil ways, rounding up and executing Jews. She replied, “It’s now 40 degrees in here and not one of you had the courage to ask me to close the window. That’s how.”

That’s what’s happening now. It’s time we all spoke up. It’s time to close the window on Trump and his divisive and dangerous hatred. Vote on Nov. 6 for Democrats.

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.

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Proud to be a transgender business owner Pollo West Corp. is proof that success comes when all are treated with dignity

MICHAELA MENDELSOHN is CEO of the Pollo West Corp.

I am the leader of a franchise small business, and I am a transgender woman. For the past 30 years, I have been an El Pollo Loco franchise owner, and I serve as the CEO of Pollo West Corp., a multi-unit franchise in Southern California. Pollo West Corp. operates six restaurant locations, and we employ 175 people across Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. In my role, it is my top priority to grow a business that is respectful and inclusive of all my employees and customers, not in spite of their gender identity, but because of it.

The business world and the transgender community intersect in important and challenging ways. In the United States, transgender people face unemployment at a rate two to three times higher than the national average. Forty-seven percent of transgender people are fired, not hired, or denied a promotion due to their gender identity, and of those

who are employed, 90 percent report being harassed or discriminated against at their workplaces. These statistics are humbling, and they’re why I’m called to speak out, advocate for transgender people entering into business environments, and continue to lead to make my business diverse and inclusive.

Our success in creating a business that is diverse, respectful of difference, and inclusive of transgender and gender non-conforming individuals is due in large part to the franchise model itself. Franchising places the recognition and responsibility of a larger brand into the hands of entrepreneurs like me to create, shape, and grow a small business. The franchise model drives the creation of small business opportunities, and it allows owners and operators to make the important decisions to pursue hiring that suits the needs of the business and expands opportunity for workers. In the areas where we operate, we know that franchising is an engine for business development and employment.

In Ventura County alone, the franchise sector employs more than 18,000 people and contributes over $1.1 billion to GDP. I’ve implemented best practices at Pollo West Corp. – from hiring, to training, to management – to achieve our goal of a diverse and thriving workplace. I require management to complete “sensitivity training,” known in our business as “demystifying the workforce.” We hire consultants to conduct in-person training that includes role-playing as a way for everyone to learn what it is like to “walk in an-

other’s shoes,” specifically including those of a transgender person. This training is integral in creating a business culture that encourages openness and respect for all my employees.

Hiring and integrating transgender employees is a win on both humanitarian and business levels. We decided to take this success and create an organization called TransCanWork.org, which could help businesses succeed in hiring transgender and gender non-conforming individuals into their organizations. We are encouraged by the widespread national interest in our program.

Policy implementation is not enough.

At TransCanWork we are about changing corporate culture. The results have been encouraging.

The steps that I have taken to create an environment of respect and diversity directly impact the face of our business – our employees and management. We see that when we promote the dignity of all people, we are lifting livelihoods and opening doors to transgender individuals who might not otherwise have those opportunities. Over a five-year period, we have hired more than 40 transgender people. Of those, 25 percent have risen to management positions. They are hardworking, ambitious employees, and they have flourished in their professional lives due to a safe and respectful workplace.

Sales and revenue at Pollo West Corp. have improved alongside our increasingly welcoming environment. We started in 1988 with one El Pollo Loco location, at the

corner of Venice Blvd. and Western Ave. in Los Angeles. From there, my company has owned and operated 17 restaurants, some of which we’ve since sold. This growth and success shouldn’t be limited to my business.

Every business, from a restaurant to a bank to a law firm or repair shop can benefit from increased diversity and an openness to employees and customers of all backgrounds.

There are 1.4 million transgender adults living in the United States. If our hope is to live in a safe, peaceful, and respectful society, we must work together in Washington, D.C., and in statehouses across the country to ensure that laws are enacted to protect transgender people, and that small businesses like mine are given the tools and freedom they need to grow and succeed.

My franchised business has empowered transgender people, and created opportunities open to all.

I am proud to be a transgender woman, and a transgender leader of a company that is affording business opportunities to the trans community. All of my employees, and my transgender employees in particular, are able to look and see that you can be transgender, and you can succeed at the highest levels in a franchise small business like mine. The Pollo West Corp. story is evidence of success in the franchise business model, of advancement in the workplace when all people are treated with dignity and respect, and how franchised businesses must be free to grow their businesses with tools that uplift all people.

V I E WPO I N T

In fighting for trans rights, don’t demean others Our fellow Americans, the world, and history are watching

By SHAWN SKELLY The #WontBeErased White House protest of the Trump administration’s consideration of defining transgender people out of legal recognition was largely successful and deserving of praise. It showed unity of action by advocacy and civil rights groups, raised the voices of those targeted by the administration, and it created a visibility across multiple media platforms that can propel the campaign forward.

But as often occurs in nascent campaigns and movements, missteps were made out of passion for our own citizenship and rights that did not respect those of others or our founding American ideals.

As #WontBeErased commanded the attention of the nation from Pennsylvania Avenue, making our voices heard, the protest was chastised by an ardent anti-war protester.

Through her bullhorn, she decried the #Wont-

BeErased demonstration for its lack of interest in her cause. It was at that moment, when I had joined with scores of other transgender Americans and our allies to demand our full citizenship be recognized: that we be seen, heard, and respected; that some of my fellow protesters made an error in judgement in the heat of the moment. They were covering the anti-war protester’s face and megaphone with signs and attempting to crowd her away. They were so aggressive that a Secret Service officer repeatedly ordered that they cease and desist.

It was a mistake to impede the very rights and responsibilities of citizenship we were both exercising, #WontBeErased and the anti-war protester alike. It would be an understandable mistake were it younger folks, or others who could be forgiven for their commitment to the cause of civil rights or for their inexperience. But among the group of people who forgot themselves and harassed the woman were staff of advocacy and civil rights organizations present at the protest, and also included some of my fellow veterans — to my great disappointment.

Together, some of these people play a visible role in the LGBTQ community in the

struggle to secure our inalienable rights under the Constitution and others, the veterans, once swore an oath to support and defend that Constitution. Collectively, they embarrassed themselves and stained the fight for the rights of transgender Americans, and all of us as a group, whether present at the protest or not. The people and forces wishing to cast us out of society will readily and gleefully seize upon any justification to deem us unworthy as they press home their sustained assault. We cannot hand them more slings and arrows than those they already hurl at us. Protesting at one of the most recognizable and meaningful locations in the country doesn’t simply carry a responsibility to make the most noise possible to draw attention to the fight and the cause it advances, it carries the responsibility to put our values on display to set an example for all of those we fight for and all those we want to find common cause with us.

Our actions at the height of our struggle matter. They define us and our cause. The people claiming roles in the struggle and those who have defended the nation must

do better. Leadership is not defined by titles, tweets, likes, the volume of one’s voice, or the applause within the advocacy echo chamber.

Leadership is defined by example, by deed, and by the character and conduct displayed when the fight is joined. There should not be a LGBTQ American who is not heartened and inspired by the unwavering support of a true American hero such as Rep. John Lewis. The privilege of hearing him speak of our common humanity and our common cause remains one of the most profound inspirations I have ever known. If that man sees my fight as his, then my fight must be worthy of his example.

Leadership is required to ensure that it is.

We must all be equal to our cause and ensure that in winning the struggle for our own rights as transgender Americans and LGBTQ people overall that the rights of others are not demeaned, but that the rights of everyone are championed and elevated. Our fellow Americans, the world, and history are watching.

SHAWN SKELLY is a retired Navy officer who served in the Obama administration and is currently a commissioner on the National Commission on Military, National, and Public Service. The comments offered here are hers alone.

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VIEWPOINT

The real horror story behind ‘Boy Erased’ A nationwide policy is needed against the quackery of conversion therapy

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

America was born in an age of reason. But unlike Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, the forces of unreason never surrendered. Now as before, know-nothingism and quackery have emerged from freedom’s dark corners to rear their heads against our Enlightenment values.

Instead of leeches we have a fear-mongering, division-stoking president whose fancied “instinct for science” supplants real science. Instead of snake oil, we have so-called conversion therapy.

Garrard Conley’s parents bought that false cure from their minister because they were taught that homosexuality was scary and sinful, and wanted to help their son. Instead, he was subjected to practices that Just the Facts Coalition says

can cause “depression, anxiety and selfdestructive behavior.”

Conley’s book on his experiences, “Boy Erased,” is now a film by Joel Edgerton starring Lucas Hedges as the boy and Nicole Kidman and Russell Crowe as his parents.

Inspired by Conley’s story, the Mattachine Society of Washington, D.C., (MSDC, of which I am secretary) has released a white paper, “The Pernicious Myth of Conversion Therapy: How Love in Action Perpetrated a Fraud on America.” Prepared by a team of attorneys at McDermott Will & Emery, it marshals a wealth of archival evidence to show how pseudoscience fueled by animus was used to bestow respectability on anti-gay abuse.

St. Elizabeths Hospital in Southeast D.C. was established by act of Congress in 1855.

As described in a May 2018 article in Washington City Paper about MSDC’s research, after World War II it was the “‘headwater’ of pseudoscientific theories about LGBTQ people that combined the psychoanalytic teachings of Sigmund Freud with American homophobia.”

This was during the “Lavender Scare” period when President Eisenhower signed Executive Order 10450 declaring homosexuals a threat to national security and unfit for federal employment, thus implementing FBI director J. Edgar Hoover’s Sex Deviate program.

St. Elizabeths’ “coercive federal psy-

chiatry,” as MSDC President Charles Francis calls it, included electroshock treatments, transorbital lobotomies, and aversion therapy. One uncovered story among many is that of Thomas H. Tattersall, committed to St. Elizabeths from 1955 to 1960. He was subjected to insulin shock therapy, “a barbaric series of massive injections of insulin to induce comas over weeks.”

The late Frank Kameny, founder of the original MSDC, played a key role in persuading the American Psychiatric Association to declassify homosexuality as a disorder in 1973. (He would be thrilled by the archival rescue work of Francis and MSDC director and officer Pate Felts.)

More recently, “ex-gay” charlatanry was recast as religious ministry, which is how Love In Action (LIA) got hold of Conley.

LIA’s “cure” consisted of cherry-picked Bible passages, fire and brimstone prayer sessions, and 12-step programs premised on sexual brokenness. Assisted by Alliance Defense Fund (ADF, now Alliance Defending Freedom), LIA fought regulatory efforts by Tennessee authorities concerned that it was conducting therapy without a license.

With LIA (renamed Restoration Path in 2012) baselessly treating same-sex love as an addiction, and with ADF defending conver-

sion therapy as a matter of parental rights, several states banned its use on minors. DC’s ban became law in 2015. The increasing resort to “religious freedom” as a back door to mistreatment, including the anti-gay and antitrans Nashville Statement signed in 2017 by evangelical leaders, shows the need for a nationwide policy against these cruel practices.

The use of bogus science to buttress bigotry continues with the Trump administration’s proposed Title IX change, which would ignore gender science and define transgender people out of existence by assigning gender according to external genitalia as recorded on original birth certificates. Trans people who have obtained a revised birth certificate and REAL ID reflecting their true gender identity could face invalidation of IDs and passports.

If Lyndon Johnson brought the Great Society, Donald Trump has brought the Great Erasure, where science is dismissed and journalism is discredited in favor of propaganda serving the Glorious Leader.

Pathologizing gay and trans people does not make it so, any more than denying climate change will keep sea levels from rising. We fight erasure, as MSDC and McDermott are doing, by telling our stories and preserving our history — forcing those who would launch a post-factual age to confront the fact of us.

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

I N SI D E LG BT W A SH I N G T O N

Thank you Mayor Bowser for supporting High Heel Race Community owes her a debt of gratitude for stepping up

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

I want to thank Mayor Muriel Bowser for stepping up to the plate and guaranteeing the High Heel Race on 17th Street in D.C. continues to be the great community and citywide event is has grown into since it was first run nearly three decades ago.

The first race saw a few men in heels and some beautiful drag queens run from JR.’s on the corner of 17th and Church up the block to Annie’s Steak House. They ran up the stairs (trying not to kill themselves in those heels) grabbed a shot at the bar and ran back to JR.’s. It was a small, fun event with Dupont regulars in attendance.

Today it’s an event with thousands of

attendees lining the streets and hundreds donning their high heels and costumes. Today the race begins at 17th and R streets and finishes at JR.’s.

For 20 years the person most responsible for seeing the High Heel Race take place was David Perruzza, formerly manager of JR.’s.

He would do everything — get neighbors’ approval signatures, arrange for street permits, post no parking signs, meet with the MPD, Sanitation Department and even deal with bills from DDOT claiming lost parking meter income because the street was closed for the race. Each year the city made it more and more difficult to work with them. There were debates over who would pay the costs with past mayors trying to compare the High Heel Race to the Pride Parade, H Street and Adams Morgan Festivals. What they always refused to concede until the last minute, when we would threaten to publicize it was their fault if the race was cancelled, was this was different. No one paid to be in this race and no booths were sold or floats paying a fee to roll down the street. There was no formal non-profit set up for the High Heel Race with a board of directors as there is for the other events.

The city continued to benefit from the

great publicity the event produced as it grew each year. People came from Maryland and Virginia and from much farther away to be part of the fun. One year, early on, there was near riot caused by the police. They came down 17th Street on their motorcycles trying to clear the street minutes after the race was run. Those were the days the High Heel Race was still run on Halloween.

Today the race is always on the Tuesday before Halloween. There are 100 volunteers, which David always recruited to keep attendees on the sidewalks and off the street.

Many years I would get a call from David the week before the event asking for help to get the mayor’s office to approve a permit or the funds to pay the MPD and other agencies reminding them this was a citywide event they needed to support. Each year after the race David and I would talk to the mayor’s office and suggest we plan earlier and not leave this till the last minute and ask that they assume responsibility for the event.

Then this year, David left JR.’s and opened Pitchers. He was no longer able to spend the time he did on the race. So I arranged for David to meet with the mayor’s office and he explained the problem and all the issues that had to be dealt with and why they

should finally take over running the event.

This time Mayor Bowser agreed and the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ+ Affairs worked with David to make it a smooth transition. I attended some meetings with David, Sheila Alexander-Reid and Ben DeGuzman of that office. They began to take over the planning with David’s help and the mayor promised the necessary funding from the city. For the first time, a mayor had come forward well in advance and committed the city would ensure the event would happen.

So anyone complaining about the rainbow signs on 17th Street announcing the event and saying it is being presented by Mayor Muriel Bowser should instead be thanking her for being the first mayor to fully support this great LGBTQ+ event. Previous mayors came and walked down the center of the street greeting attendees each year. They got listed as Grand Marshals, but none of them wanted their office to take responsibility for the event. As someone who was often the conduit to their offices fighting for them to fund it and urging them to finally take over this event, I know what a big step this was for the mayor. So I urge everyone to let the Mayor know, “We appreciate what you have done and THANK YOU!”

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Welcome home, Matthew Shepard BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based freelance writer. He writes regularly for the Blade.

The woman biking by thought he was a scarecrow. Lashed to a buck fence outside of Laramie, Wyo., practically crucified, Matthew Shepard was robbed, pistol whipped and left for dead. Clean lines ran down his face where his tears had washed the blood away. Matthew died six days later. That was 20 years ago.

Last Friday morning, the bells of the National Cathedral slowly tolled, and Gene Robinson, the first openly gay bishop in the Episcopal Church, walked Matthew Shepard’s ashes down the nave as a single flute played “Morning Has Broken.” Reaching the altar, he sat Matthew’s ashes down, smoothed out the pall, and gave it a gentle pat — a reassuring touch of comfort, rest, finality — one last thing he could do for him. It was one of the sweetest, saddest things I have ever witnessed.

Some have called Matthew Shepard’s death and the outrage it activated a sort of second Stonewall for LGBT Americans. And while the reasons for that could be seen as a bit troubling to some — Matthew was blonde, white, from a middle-class back-

ground, others had suffered as badly with no national media attention — of course none of this was really Matthew’s fault.

And all things being equal, I’m sure he’d rather be with us, living his life. Truthfully, Matthew was no Rosa Parks. When mythic, historic status is reached, the real fabric of who a person was can often get lost. Talking to people that actually knew him, I learned that he smoked too much, or at least his mother thought so. He ran up a credit card; he skipped class. But he was also thought of as “gentle,” “shy, but never rude,” And I was told, “we all called him Matt.”

The day before his service at the Cathedral, across town at the Smithsonian, several of Matt’s personal items were being donated by his family. His sandals, a Superman cape from his childhood, a wedding ring Matt bought, in hopes that one day he’d find the one. Matt and I were the same age then. And in many ways, were at the same place in our lives. And like so many gay men in the late ‘90s, we took refuge in ragtag campus gay groups, driving miles to gay bars in other cities. Living out and proud and exploring freely for the first time what our identities could really mean. Laramie was really Anytown, USA, and Dennis and Judy, seeing them there mourning their son, were in many ways any American mom, any dad.

Now Matt is at home, in our National Cathedral, occupying the highest spot in Washington, D.C. It’s more than simply a commanding presence in the city’s skyline, a marker in

stone, a marker of history, a place of national mourning, celebration. Matthew’s coming here adds to all that, while also bringing a narrative of security, safety, love and tenderness.

In the south balcony before the service, people turned and greeted one another.

Sitting behind me were Joel and Ethan. They were married in the Cathedral just last year.

Ethan seemed to sum up what we were all feeling. The service was more like “a coming home” — welcoming Matt with joy to a safe place. Gesturing around him, Ethan went on to say that the “beautiful stone Cathedral represents not only a physical safety, but a spiritual one.” The words safe, or safety, were probably uttered more than two dozen times by the people I spoke with.

And in truth, Matt’s parents held on to his ashes for so long out of concern that in any final resting place, Matt would need to be safe. All this time they worried that any gravesite might be vandalized. The Cathedral gave them peace at last. And with hate crimes currently on the rise in America, let the monument that occupies the highest point in the city serve as a constant reminder that higher ideals will eventually win out.

Before Friday’s service, I visited the Cathedral. Dozens of tours, mostly school groups, were flowing through. There I managed to speak with a group of high school students visiting from rural southern Illinois just as they started their tour.

“Do you know who Matthew Shepard is?”

“No. . .sorry,” some responded.

I really can’t fault them. I probably would have got the same answer if I asked who Jimmy Carter was. Stopping another group as they were leaving, this time from St. John’s, Ind., I asked the same question. Four teenage girls stopped and turned to me.

“Oh yeah, we just learned about him.”

I followed up with what they thought of him being interred in the Cathedral; they shifted awkwardly in their matching white shoes, looking at each other, one answered, “well we go to a conservative Christian school back home. . .and. . .” Though she struggled to find her words I was fairly sure what she was trying to tell me. But at least now they’ve heard a different perspective on faith, love and acceptance. Perhaps they gave it some thought on the bus ride home.

Last Friday’s service was more than just a somber or subdued Episcopal ritual. At times, it had the hallmarks of a political rally, and it was in part also a homecoming, and not just for Matt. Gene Robinson began the service, already holding back tears, by speaking directly to all the LGBT congregants, of whatever faith, that had been hurt by their religious communities, “I want to welcome you back.” He closed his eulogy, saying “there are three things I’d say to Matt: ‘Gently rest in this place. You are safe now. And Matt, welcome home.’ Amen.”

Some 2,000 congregants rose to their feet in sustained applause.

Indeed. Welcome home, Matt.

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RICHARD E. GRANT and MELISSA McCARTHY in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’ PHOTO BY MARY CYBULSKI; COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

Grant’s gay grifter Actor offers queer update on Hollywood buddy movie in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

By BRIAN T. CARNEY Tongue firmly in cheek, ubiquitous actor Richard E. Grant describes his new LGBT film “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” as “a buddy movie that goes from bar to bookstore to bar to bookstore to bar to courtroom.”

Set in New York City in 1991, the movie stars Melissa McCarthy as Lee Israel, a

celebrity biographer whose books have gone out of fashion. Unable to get an advance on her planned biography of Fanny Brice, and desperate to pay the rent, the lesbian author stumbles into a lucrative new career. She becomes a literary forger, writing and selling fake letters from Brice, Dorothy Parker, Noël

Coward and other witty luminaries.

Grant plays Jack Hock, Israel’s best (and only) friend who becomes her willing accomplice in the scheme, which ultimately collapses when Israel and Hock flood the memorabilia market.

Not surprisingly, the actor sees the unlikely friendship between Israel and

Hock in classic Hollywood terms. When he first read the screenplay, he immediately thought of Ratso (Dustin Hoffman) and Joe Buck (Jon Voight) from “Midnight Cowboy” (1969), the gritty homoerotic buddy movie directed by openly gay CONTINUES ON PAGE 41

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2 6 • NO VE MB ER 0 2, 2018

QU E E R Y : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R CH RI ST O P H E R MA SSI CO T T E

C H RI S T O PH ER MA S S I C O T T E WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com Christopher Massicotte grew up close to New Hampshire and went to a Bill Clinton rally in 1992 when he was in high school. The lifelong Democrat (“I’m lucky that I chose right the first time”) has been active in politics ever since.

He joined DSPolitical, a voter-targeted digital advertising company that helps Democrats and progressive organizations use data to reach voters online, as a partner a few months after its founding in early 2012. Massicotte calls it a “more efficient and effective use of advertising dollars.”

DSPolitical combines voter data with line data from browser cookies, mobile device profiles, etc., to create custom audiences online. If, for example, a candidate for Congress in a Democratic primary has polling that says he or she needs to persuade older women who are known to vote in primaries, advertising can be targeted to that demographic.

“Because you’re able to target voters so specifically, your ad budget goes much further,” the 43-year-old Lunenburg, Mass., native says.

Massicotte also volunteers for the Victory Fund and has been on its Campaign Board since 2011. He says he’s a Democrat because he’s “more at home in a party that accepts the validity of science and values the equality of all people.”

He predicts Dems will fare well in the House next week picking up 47 seats.

In the Senate, he predicts only one seat to make it 50/50. He’s also hoping Dems will flip some state legislative chambers citing 1,000 lost seats since Obama’s election in 2008. He says LGBTQ voters will play a key role in the Democratic party’s future success.

“There cannot be a blue wave without a rainbow wave driven by LGBTQ candidates,” he says.

Massicotte came to Washington 15 years ago when his ex-wife was transferred here. He and partner Drew and dog Harper live in Bloomingdale.

Massicotte enjoys scuba diving, skiing, poker, small dinner parties with friends and nesting at home in his free time.

Serving Our Community for 35 years

a d v i C e • m e d iat i o N • L i t i G at i o N • a P P e a L S • C o L L a B o r at i o N

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

I came out later in life in 2005. It was definitely hardest to tell my parents.

Who’s your LGBT hero?

Frank Kameny. I was fortunate to get to know him before he passed away. I keep a framed signed photo of him and his “Gay is Good” march sign in my office.

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

Town. I miss it more than I thought I would. The patio and Bear Happy Hour are some of my favorite times in D.C. It just felt like everyone you knew was there.

Describe your dream wedding.

Simple. I’d like to have 20 or 30 people on a beautiful boat at sunset.

What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about?

Climate change. It’s affecting us faster and more profoundly than we thought and yet we’re doing nothing.

What historical outcome would you change?

Bush v. Gore. If Al Gore had become president, I think his commitment to addressing climate change would have set us on a trajectory to finally ending our addiction to fossil fuels.

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

The premiere of “Will & Grace” in fall of 1998. I was still seven years away from being my authentic self and I wanted Will Truman’s life. I had no idea how I was going to get there. It changed the way society viewed gay men forever.

Bringing those characters back was the best gift NBC could have given us.

On what do you insist?

FamiLY | eState PLaNNiNG | emPLoYmeNt | immiGratioN ComPLeX LitiGatioN | CiviL riGHtS | LGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS

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That you vote.

What was your last Facebook post or Tweet?

I was retweeting the candidate running for Congress in the district that covers Key West, encouraging people to vote early! That race is going to come down to a handful of votes.

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

Just had a colleague ask me if the book on the coffee table in my office was the story of my life. The book was “The Old Man and the Sea.” If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do?

I’d be pretty upset that we dedicated science to changing gay people rather than solving the climate crisis. But I wouldn’t be surprised.

What do you believe in beyond the physical world?

I bet it’s just like “The Good Place.”

What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders?

Understand and appreciate the big tent and the diversity of the LGBTQ community.

What would you walk across hot coals for?

My nephews and nieces.

What LGBT stereotype annoys you most?

That all gay men have track lighting.

What’s your favorite LGBT movie?

“Philadelphia” What’s the most overrated social custom?

Ending food and drink sales after the seventh inning.

What trophy or prize do you most covet?

Fantasy Fest King

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

That you actually do need to know math to get through life.

Why Washington?

Living and working so close to the political action can be really hard and the weather isn’t all that great, but when you can walk down the street on the day the Supreme Court rules in favor of marriage equality and see the White House bathed in the rainbow, you know why.

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

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2 8 • NO VE MB ER 0 2, 2018

A RT S & CU LT U RE

This Week in the Arts provided by CultureCapital.com Sidewalk Stroll. Thru Nov 9. Encore Stage. encorestage.org.

Washington Improv Theatre Presents: Road Show. Thru Nov 18.

Improv Wars. Thru Dec 10. Three’s Comedy. Nov 7-May 16. DC Arts Center. dcartscenter.org.

DANCE

Beetlejuice Thru Nov 18. National Theatre. thenationaldc.org.

World Premiere Prior to Broadway. In this original musical based on Tim Burton’s wonderfully demented film, Lydia Deetz is a strange and unusual teenager obsessed with the whole “being dead thing.” Lucky for Lydia, her new house is haunted by a recently deceased couple and a degenerate demon who happens to have a thing for stripes.

The Art League’s annual Art on Tap Nov 2. The Art League at Torpedo Factory. theartleague.org.

Enjoy local craft beers, original artwork, and amazing food at The Art League’s annual Art on Tap! Craft beers from local breweries have been artfully paired with a work of art from an Art League instructor.

Vintage Game Night Nov 7. Woodrow Wilson House. woodrowwilsonhouse.org.

Our monthly game night is the perfect mid-week happy hour for history/ museum/board game enthusiasts! The museum will be open after general admission hours, with game tables and snacks spread throughout the house.

After Hours: Evenings at the Edge - From Light to Dark Nov 8. National Gallery of Art. nga.gov.

It’s time to fall back. Evenings at the Edge will mark the change in seasons with pop-up talks, art making, and performances. Learn how to paint with light, stargaze on the Gallery’s rooftop terrace, and light up the dance floor with tunes from the sensational DJ Neekola and electric cellist Benjamin Gates.

PHOTO COURTESY OF NATIONAL THEATRE

THEATRE Actually. Thru Nov 18. Theater J at Arena Stage. theaterj.org.

As You Like It. Thru Dec 2. Keegan Theatre. keegantheatre.com.

Billy Elliot the Musical. Thru Jan 5.

Heisenberg. Thru Oct 25. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org.

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

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

Long Way Down. Thru Nov 4.

Anastasia. Thru Nov 25. Broadway

Center Stage: Little Shop of Horrors with Megan Hilty and Josh Radnor.

Thru Oct 25. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

RSC Live: The Merry Wives of Windsor. Nov 6. King John. Thru Dec 2. Folger Theatre. folger.edu.

Shear Madness. Thru Nov 25.

Kennedy Center. shearmadness.com.

The Agitators. Thru Nov 25.

Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas. mosaictheater.org.

The Fall. Thru Nov 18. Studio Theatre. studiotheatre.org.

The Fever. Thru Nov 4. Woolly Mammoth. woollymammoth.net.

Theatre for the Very Young: A

DC Casineros. Nov 3-Nov 4. Dance Place. danceplace.org.

Ragamala Dance Company: Written in Water. Nov 2-Nov 3. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

XIV Fuego Flamenco Festival: REDITUM (José Barrios & Co.). Nov 8-Nov 11. GALA Hispanic Theatre. galatheatre.org.

MUSIC Cheick Hamala Diabate - Groovin’ On the Pike: After Hours At The Library. Nov 2. Arlington Cultural Affairs at Columbia Pike Branch Library. arlingtonarts.org.

Concert: Ricardo Cobo Classical Colombian Guitarist. Nov 2. Embassy Series at Residence of the Colombian Ambassador. embassyseries.org.

Daniel Hope and Friends. Nov 2.

Keyboard Conversations® with Jeffrey Siegel. Nov 4. Mason’s Center for the Arts. cfa.gmu.edu.

KC Jazz Club. Nov 3. Laura Osnes & Santino Fontana. Nov 2. NSO: Russian Masterpieces. Thru Nov 3.

Brian Wilson. Nov 5. West-Eastern Divan Orchestra Nov 7. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org.

Les Délices. Nov 4-Nov 5. Dumbarton Oaks. doaks.org.

Postmodern Jukebox. Nov 5.

Aida Cuevas. Nov 8. Strathmore. strathmore.org.

Shenson Chamber Music Concert: Jenny Lin. Nov 7. National Museum of Women in the Arts. nmwa.org.

Street Scenes: Tom Teasley. Nov 7.

Hill Center. hillcenterdc.org.

The Ariel Quartet. Nov 2. Kreeger Museum. kreegermuseum.org.

The Lone Bellow. Nov 6-Nov 7. John Lloyd Young. Nov 8. The Barns. wolftrap.org.

TRI - The New Irish Tenors. Nov 2.

BlackRock. blackrockcenter.org.

MUSEUMS Dumbarton Oaks. Juggling the Middle Ages. Thru Feb 28. doaks.org.

Folger Shakespeare Library.

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

Library of Congress. Baseball Americana. Thru Jun 29. loc.gov.

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

National Gallery of Art. Exhibition: Corot: Women. Thru Dec 31.

Exhibition: Sense of Humor. Thru Jan 6.

Exhibition: Rachel Whiteread. Thru Jan 13. 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. Free Community Day: November.

Nov 4. nmwa.org.

Smithsonian Anacostia Museum.

Your Community, Your Story: Celebrating Five Decades Of The Anacostia Community Museum, 19672017. Thru Jan 6. anacostia.si.edu.

National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian. Portraits of the World: Switzerland. Thru Nov 12. UnSeen: Our Past in a New Light, Ken Gonzales-Day and Titus Kaphar. Thru Jan 6. 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.

GALLERIES African American Civil War Memorial and Museum. 20th Anniversary. Thru Nov 18. zenithgallery.com.

Arts Barn. Exploring Mixed Media.

Thru Nov 19.

DC Arts Center. Heritage: Now. Thru Nov 25. A light white, a disgrace. Thru Dec 9. dcartscenter.org.

Dupont Circle. First Friday Dupont Circle Art Walk. Nov 2. dupontcirclemainstreets.org.

Gallery Underground. Colors of Fall Exhibit. Thru Nov 30. arlingtonartistsalliance.org.

Glen Echo Park. Autumn Colors. Thru Nov 10 glenechopark.org.

Hill Center. Pottery on the Hill. Nov 3-Nov 4. hillcenterdc.org.

Strathmore. Jennifer Kahn Barlow.

Thru Dec 1. strathmore.org.

Takoma Park Community Center.

Metropolis Art Exhibition. Thru Nov 4. takomaparkmd.gov.

Waverly Street Gallery. Drowning: Ceramic Forms by Kanika Sircar. Thru Nov 3. waverlystreetgallery.com.

Zenith Sculpture Space. Traveling Full Circle. Thru Jan 5. zenithgallery.com.

AND MORE...

Bender JCC. An Evening with Stuart Eizenstat. Nov 5. benderjccgw.org.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A D V I CE

N OV E M B E R 02, 2018 • 29

PrEP problem Serodiscordant gay couple at odds over barebacking

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

MICHAEL, My boyfriend won’t bottom for me without a condom because he’s afraid of contracting HIV from me.

I’m HIV-positive but undetectable.

So that’s already lowering the risk of transmission about 97 percent, my doctor told me. But Timothy says he doesn’t want to take a risk of getting HIV, no matter how small.

When he makes me put on a condom before I top him, I feel like he’s telling me I’m dirty. Like he has to have a barrier between us and can’t let himself be close to me.

I already don’t like condoms but his insistence makes it difficult for me to keep an erection because I feel like he doesn’t really want me.

I’ve asked Timothy to go on PrEP, which I know would further reduce the risk of transmission to practically nil, but he won’t do it. He says he doesn’t want to take a medication that has side effects when we could just as well use a condom.

My understanding is that risk of major side effects from PrEP is miniscule, but Timothy says he doesn’t want to take chances for no good reason. Isn’t my own comfort and feeling of connection a good reason?

I did the right thing by telling Timothy up front that I was HIV-positive and it’s come back to bite me. I almost wish I hadn’t. It’s ruining our sex life. He’s really paranoid about transmission and won’t listen to facts or reason to calm down.

I’m thinking he has obsessivecompulsive disorder or something, given how uptight and unreasonable he is. Or am I the one who is crazy for thinking that we shouldn’t have to bother with condoms if they are a turnoff to me and he could take a pill instead?

MICHAEL REPLIES: Whether you stay with Timothy or not, I urge you to rethink your view that a partner’s wanting to use a condom means he thinks you are dirty. A partner’s

wanting to use a condom means that he wants to be close to you, while protecting himself against contracting a virus.

If Timothy doesn’t want to take the risk of contracting HIV, no matter how small, that’s his decision to make. Ditto for his not wanting to risk experiencing side effects from PrEP. This isn’t your call.

If you don’t want to use condoms and you want to have intercourse with your partner, find another partner. Timothy is not your guy. Unless, of course, you’d rather be with him than have bareback sex.

I wonder why you are with Timothy or he with you? You give no description of anything in your relationship that would help me understand why you chose him and want to be with him. Right now your relationship sounds like it’s being overwhelmed by your trying to get him to do what you want and him resisting.

The two of you are in a classic powercontrol struggle. You’re on the power side, attempting to influence Timothy’s behavior, and he is on the control side, blocking your influence.

I’m guessing there are other areas where the two of you are engaged in this dynamic. It’s not likely limited to sex. In any case, struggles like this are demoralizing and pointless. We can’t expect to have a decent relationship if we are trying to make our partner do what we want against his will. Whether the other person digs in or gives in, he’s bound to be resentful.

That doesn’t mean we can’t ask for what we want. We just can’t assume we’re entitled to our preferred outcome. And when we’re the one being asked to do something, it’s a good idea to be open to our partner’s request, unless we have a good reason to say no. Anger or spite are not good reasons.

You are not alone. All relationships are made up of two people who are different in important ways.

Every couple has to figure out how to deal with wanting very different outcomes on important issues and being disappointed from time to time.

Neither of you will always get your way.

If there is anything worthwhile in your relationship, I hope that your stopping this dynamic will allow room to enjoy being with each other.

Regarding your fantasy that you should not have told Timothy your status: Lying to bypass the challenges of being honest is a sign of immaturity and entitlement — two qualities not conducive to healthy intimate partnership. If you were to have made a move like that, you would have given Timothy no reason to trust you with his wellbeing.

You had the integrity to be honest with your boyfriend. Sometimes behaving with integrity has consequences we don’t like.

That’s life.

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3 0 • N O VEMB ER 02, 2018

CA LE N D A R

of D.C. (2829 16th St., N.W.) today at 4 p.m. New Orchestra of Washington will be joined by the Choral Arts Society of Washington and the Aeolus Quarter.

Tickets are $95. For more information, visit neworchestraofwashington.org.

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

TODAY The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) presents Exile Fridays featuring the D.C. Eagle’s Birds of Prey tonight at 10 p.m. This is the only 18-and-over weekly drag show in the District. Ba’Naka hosts the night with performances by Brooklyn Heights, Iyana Deschanel, Sasha Adams Sanchez and Gigi Paris Couture. Linda Lector will appear as a special guest. DJ Ryan Doubleyou will spin tracks. Showtime is at 10:30 p.m. For more information, visit dceagle.com.

Reel Affirmations Film Festival screens “Eva+Candela” at GALA Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. The film tells the story of two professional women who start a love affair. The Six-Pack Film Pass is $65 and includes entry to six films and priority and reserved seating. The Festival Pass is $150 and includes entry to 14 film screenings; the All Access Festival Pass is $175 and gives access to 14 film screenings and entry to the filmmaker reception; the MovieStar Pass is $225 and includes an All Access Pass and complimentary cocktails, non-alcoholic beverages, popcorn and movie candy. The Moviemogul Pass is $350 and includes all MovieStar perks and a six-month pass to Reel Affirmations films. For more details, visit reelaffirmations.org.

HIPS celebrates its 25th anniversary at the Whittemore House (1526 New Hampshire Ave., N.W.) tonight from 6:30-9:30 p.m.

“Pose” star and transgender rights advocate Angelica Ross will receive the Hero Award.

There will be a reception, auction and a main program. Tickets are $75. For more information, visit hips25th.com.

Katie Binanco, author of “100 Things to Do in Washington, D.C. Before You Die” holds a book signing at the National Press Club (529 14th St., N.W.) today from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tickets are $10. For more details, visit press.org/events.

SATURDAY, NOV. 3 Stonewall Kickballs’ District Jocks hosts Cornhole for a Cause, a tournament benefitting SMYAL, at Stead Park (1519 17th St., N.W.) today from 11 a.m.-3 p.m.

Registration fee is $50 per team of two people. The fee includes tournament entry, 15 raffle tickets for each players, two drink tickets to JR.’s, a day pass to VIDA and a drink bracelet for specials at JR.’s and Nellie’s Sports Bar for the after party. Tournament prizes include three free months at Vida, three free training sessions at Vida, a $100 gift card to Aura Spa, Washington Capital tickets and more.

Deadline for registration is midnight on Nov. 2. For more details, visit facebook. com/cornholedckickball.

Reel Affirmations Film Festival

MONDAY, NOV. 5 The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W..) hosts coffee drop-in hours this morning from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT community.

Older LGBT adults can come and enjoy complimentary coffee and conversation with other community members. For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

TUESDAY, NOV. 6

visit strathmore.org.

Lesbian singer/songwriter Jennifer Knapp performs at the Wine Garden in City Winery (1350 Okie St., N.E.) tonight at 9 p.m. General admission tickets are $14.VIP tickets are $85 and include access to Knapp’s pre-show soundcheck, a pre-show meet and greet, one item of merchandise and reserved show seating.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit citywinery.com.

Rogue Cornhole hosts a drag bingo fundraiser at Nellie’s Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.) tonight from 7-9 p.m. Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights hosts the show. Nellie’s will donate $1 for every Tito’s Vodka and soda or Nellie’s beer sold. All proceeds raised will benefit charities such as the Trevor Project, Casa Ruby, the D.C. Center, SMYAL and more.

Nellie’s will also be airing the midterm election results. For more information, search “Drag Bingo Fundraiser Rogue Cornhole” on Facebook.

18th & U Duplex Diner (2004 18th St., N.W.) hosts Election Night Drag Bingo tonight from 7-10 p.m. Goldie Grigio hosts the show. Guests can win prizes and shots playing bingo. The major news channels will be on the TVs all night. For more details, visit facebook.com/duplexdiner.

SUNDAY, NOV. 4

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 7

Reel Affirmations Film Festival Screening presents “Genderqueer Shorts” at Gala Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) today from 4-5:30 p.m. The films focus on gender non-conforming/ genderqueer subjects and include titles such as “Mrs. McCutcheon,” “Femme,” Mimicry” and more. Tickets are $12.

Film passes are also available. For more details, visit reelaffiramtions.org.

The New Orchestra of Washington presents “Dia de los Muertos/Mozart’s Requiem” today at 4 p.m. at the Mexican Cultural Institute (2829 16th St., N.W.).

The orchestra has several LGBT players.

Tickets are $95. Look for the event on Facebook for details.

New Orchestra of Washington celebrates Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) with a performance of “Mozart’s Requiem” at the Mexican Cultural Institute

The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd., N.E.) hosts karaoke tonight at 9 p.m. D&K Sounds will host the event. Drink specials include $3 rail cocktails and domestic drafts and $4 wine. For details, visit dceagle.com.

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

PHOTO BY DEREK WOOD

WANDA SYKES plays the Strathmore this weekend.

screens “Trans Youth” at GALA Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) tonight at 7 p.m. The documentary follows seven transgender young adults as they deal with family, love, transition, hormone therapy and more. Tickets are $12. Film passes are also available. For more information, visit reelaffiramtions.org.

Reel Affirmations Film Festival Screening presents “Fun in Girls Shorts” at the Gala Hispanic Theatre (3333 14th St., N.W.) tonight from 6-8 p.m. The women’s short film showcase will include the films “Momo,” “Marguerite,” “Freedom,” “Foxy Trot,” Getting Started” and “Lesbehonest.” There will be a director talkback after the screenings. Tickets are $12. Film passes are also available. For more details, visit reelaffiramtions.org.

Wanda Sykes performs at the Music Center at Strathmore (5301 Tuckerman Ln., North Bethesda, Md.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. General admission tickets range from $35-115.VIP tickets are $215 and include a premium seat and a meet and greet with Sykes. For more information,

THURSDAY, NOV. 8 Bookmen D.C., an informal gay men’s literature group, discusses “Insult and the Making of the Gay Self” by Didier Eribon at Cleveland Park Library (3310 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) tonight at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. For more information, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.

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O U T & A BO U T

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Emma Willmann plans two-night engagement WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

LGBT vets honored Nov. 11 The annual wreath laying for LGBT veterans is at Congressional Cemetery (1801 E St., S.E.) on Sunday, Nov. 11 at noon.

The ceremony will be held at the grave of Technical Sergeant Leonard Matlovich in the LGBT section of the cemetery. Sgt. Matlovich was a Vietnam veteran and in 1975 became the first service member to come out as gay. The annual wreath laying honors all LGBT individuals who have served in the U.S. as soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and coast guardsmen.

For more information, search “annual wreath laying for LGBT veterans” on Facebook.

Lesbian comedian Emma Willmann performs her stand-up show at Drafthouse Comedy (1100 13th St., N.W.) on Friday, Nov. 16 at 7 and 9 p.m. and on Saturday, Nov. 17 at 7 and 9 p.m.

Willmann made her stand-up television debut on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.” She is now the host of “The Check Spot” on Sirius XM and the cohost of the podcast “Inside the Closet” along with Matteo Lane. She also had a 15-minute comedy special on Netflix and appears on the CW series “Crazy ExGirlfriend.” Tickets are $20.

For more details and to purchase tickets, visit drafthousecomedy.com.

Rehoboth Film Fest continues

• Awards • Tote & Duffle Bags • Mugs • Pens

The Rehoboth Beach Film Society continues its annual film festival through Nov. 11.

Several LGBT-themed films are featured such as “1985,” “Mapplethorpe,” “Studio 54,” “The Lavender Scare” and more.

Films are screened at Cinema Art Theater (17701 Dartmouth Dr., Lewes, Del.), Cape Henlopen High School Theater (1250 Kings Highway, Lewes, Del.) and Unitarian Universalists of Southern Delaware (30486 Georgetown Highway, Lewes, Del.). Prices vary based on various package offers.

Details at rehobothfilm.com.

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Bright Light Bright Light to perform Singer/songwriter Bright Light Bright Light (real name Rod Thomas) performs at Union Stage (740 Water St., S.W.) on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 6:30 p.m.

Bright Light Bright Light is known for his infusion of nu-disco, synth-pop, dance and house music. His last album “Choreography” was released in 2016. Loi Loi and Sub-Radio open the show. Tickets are $15. A full dinner and drink menu will be available during the performance. Doors open at 6 p.m.

For more details, visit unionstage.com.

Center Women to toast new wine Center Women’s annual Bad & Beaujolais: a Beaujolais Day Celebration is at Human Rights Campaign (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) on Thursday, Nov. 15 from 7-10 p.m.

The evening will celebrate the release of Beaujolais Nouveau, a red wine produced in the Beaujolais region of France and made from Gamay grapes. There will be a silent auction, food, wine, music and live art by Edith LE. Tickets are $25.

For more information, visit thedccenter.org.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

ART

N O V E MBE R 0 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 3

New Baltimore mural is simply Divine Three-story ‘I’m So Beautiful’ celebrates iconic drag performer

By ED GUNTS Baltimore has a new monument to its crossdressing cult hero and native son, Divine.

The two men who commissioned the work say it’s also meant to be a celebration of and show of support for the LGBT community in and “queer history” of Divine’s hometown.

“I’m So Beautiful” is the title of a threestory-high mural painted on the side of a row house in Baltimore’s Mount Vernon historic district, known as the city’s “gayborhood” at 106 E. Preston St. Filmmaker John Waters, who knew Divine since high school and gave him starring roles in movies such as Hairspray and Pink Flamingos, was one of the first Baltimoreans to see the mural (or, as Baltimoreans pronounce it, Muriel, hon.)

“Wow! It is great,” he wrote to the Baltimore Fishbowl. “Divine looking out, blessing the city.”

I’m So Beautiful” is the title of the work, by the internationally prominent street artist Gaia. Depicting a buxom and benevolent Divine, with eyebrows arched and lips pouting, the image was based on a Greg Gorman photo that was used as the cover art for Divine’s 1984 disco single, I’m So Beautiful.

The mural is the first work of public art in Baltimore to commemorate Divine, who became famous starring in John Waters movies and was dubbed “Drag Queen of the Century” by People magazine. It’s one of the first murals anywhere to pay tribute to a drag queen. (There’s also a mural of Divine in a red dress, painted on a house in Seattle.)

The 300-pound actor, also known as Harris Glenn Milstead, was born in 1945 and died of an enlarged heart in 1988, three weeks after Hairspray was released. Besides Waters’ movies, Divine starred in “Lust in the Dust” with the late Tab Hunter and performed as a disco singer. Now a cult figure in his hometown and beyond, he’s also featured in “Indecent Exposure,” a retrospective of Waters’ work as a visual artist that opened this fall at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Gaia, born Andrew Pisacane, painted the mural on the side of a row house in the Mount Vernon historic district. It’s six blocks from the spot where Waters filmed his notorious scene of Divine eating dog feces at the end of “Pink Flamingos.”

The mural was commissioned by the owners of the row house, Jesse Salazar and Tom Williams, a married couple who operate it as an Airbnb property. Longtime fans of Divine, they say they commissioned

PHOTO BY ED GUNTS

JESSE SALAZAR (left) and TOM WILLIAMS, who commissioned the Divine mural at 106 E. Preston St.

the mural because they wanted both to honor him and to send a positive message to Baltimore’s LGBT community.

“My husband and I asked Gaia to create this mural as a tribute to Divine and the city’s queer history,” Salazar said. “At a time when LGBT rights are being threatened, we hoped that Divine’s beauty would inspire others to know that they too are beautiful.”

Salazar said they never considered a mural about any subject other than Divine, and they chose the image from the I’m So Beautiful cover because they felt it best conveyed the spirit of Divine and the message they had in mind.

“Divine symbolizes what we love about Baltimore, so we didn’t really consider anything else,” he said. “I had always loved that Greg Gorman photo because Divine was so perfectly celebrated in it, and her confidence and self-esteem are inspiring. When Gaia saw it, there was instant agreement about its artistic value and the message it might send.”

Gaia, who also lives in Baltimore, has painted murals around the world,

including sites in London, Rome, Cape Town, Buenos Aires, Bogota and Perth.

He said he was pleased to paint Divine and honored that Waters came to see it.

“I like to paint very graphic images, very bold, saturated colors,” he said. “This fit… my aesthetic.”

In Waters’ movies, Divine typically played characters in trouble with the law.

As Dawn Davenport in “Female Trouble,” he was a murderer who died in the electric chair. In “Multiple Maniacs, he was Lady Divine, who kills her boyfriend and eats his heart.

The Divine mural isn’t entirely legal, either. According to Eric Holcomb, the head of Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation, it was painted without any permits, which are required for any changes to exteriors of buildings in the Mount Vernon historic district. The commission has asked the owners to apply for an “authorization to proceed” notice to make the mural legal, Holcomb said.

Salazar and Williams have submitted the application, which is under review, and the

PHOTO BY ED GUNTS

A man and his dog stop to admire the new Divine mural in Baltimore.

mural is allowed to stay up until a decision is made. The owners have also gotten experts to weigh in on the quality and significance of Gaia’s mural, in letters of support to the preservation commission.

“As a work of art, this particular mural of Divine is astonishing for its sensitive likeness, bold color, excellent execution, and brilliant physical placement, poking out from the alley amongst stately row houses,” wrote Christian Larsen, Associate Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. Noah Brodie, the chief executive officer of Divine’s estate, also wrote in support of keeping the mural.

“It’s an inspiring message for counterculture types, the LGBT community, and those affirming body positive representation,” Brodie said in his letter.

“In many ways, she represents the strength of Baltimore’s character, and serves as a reminder of the city’s perseverance and authenticity. Divine is brassy, bold and beautiful, just like Baltimore.”

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34 • N OV E M B E R 02, 201 8

F I LM

“With the powerful punch this show packs, it could land at a Broadway theater and sell tickets for years to come!”

—Broadway World

PHOTO BY NICK DELANEY; COURTESY 20TH CENTURY FOX

RAMI MALEK as Freddie Mercury in ‘Bohemian Rhapsody.’

Remembering Freddie Queen frontman celebrated in ‘Rhapsody’ biopic

By JOHN PAUL KING

November 20, 21 & 23–25 Terrace Theater Kennedy-Center.org (202) 467-4600 Theater at the Kennedy Center is made possible by

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When a film has as long and troubled a production history as “Bohemian Rhapsody,” the Queen/Freddie Mercury biopic first announced in 2010, it doesn’t bode well for a satisfying final product.

Even more ominous, when the film’s first trailer devoted much of its screen time to his relationship with long-term female partner Mary Austin, there was widespread concern over whether the movie was going to “straightwash” Mercury, who never publicly declared his sexual orientation despite his flamboyant stage persona, but spent the last years of his life with a same-sex partner before dying of complications from AIDS in 1991.

There’s good news to report on both fronts.

“Bohemian Rhapsody,” despite its difficult birthing process, is as slick and entertaining as anyone could reasonably hope. Better still, it puts Freddie’s sexual identity front and center.

The film tracks Queen from Mercury’s entry to the band in 1970, through their rise to superstardom to their appearance at Live Aid in 1985. Within that context, it follows Mercury’s relationships with significant others, fame and sexuality and his struggle toward self-acceptance, culminating in the HIV diagnosis that would eventually end his life.

It’s the charting of that journey that makes “Bohemian Rhapsody” more than just a crowd-pleaser. Screenwriter Anthony McCarten portrays the singer as the product of a devout religious upbringing — deeply closeted, perhaps even in denial about his sexual nature, despite his boundary-pushing presentation and personality — for whom fame affords both the temptation and the freedom to explore his taboo longings.

His struggle to embrace himself for who he truly is becomes an integral part, if not the central focus, of the film’s narrative.

“Bohemian Rhapsody” presents Mercury as he famously was: private,

closely guarded and wary about public perception. For all the bombastic theatricality of his stage persona, he was an introvert offstage, a contrast the movie conveys well thanks to the performance of its star, Rami Malek.

Malek, though at times somewhat hampered by the prosthetic teeth required to simulate the singer’s famously massive overbite, fully inhabits the role and delivers a heartfelt and insightful portrayal that honors Freddie’s legacy and his truth. He shines brightest in the recreations of Queen’s live performances, capturing Mercury’s electrifying onstage presence with every move and gesture painstakingly choreographed but executed with as much spontaneity as if they were his own.

The cast is top notch. There are too many fine performances to single out here, but special mention is deserved for Lucy Boynton, whose tender performance as Austin helps illuminate the deep and genuine bond she shared with Mercury throughout his life, and for Tom Hollander’s delightfully dry turn as Queen manager Jim Beach. Also fun is a barely recognizable Mike Myers as EMI executive Ray Foster.

As for the movie’s approach to its larger story, the rise of Queen to fame and fortune is presented with a flashy showmanship fitting of the group’s over-the-top style. It also packs in a lot of information, perhaps too much. Like most biopics, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is handicapped by the need to tell an entire life story in an impossibly short time and it fails to avoid the usual flaws —elisions, conflations, contrivances and clichés. It has an inescapable “Hollywood” feel that tends to undermine any sense of authenticity.

But with extensive participation of the band’s surviving members as well as their manager, there’s still a ring of truth, albeit a polished and simplified one, and most audiences are not likely to quibble over formula when a film is as entertaining as this one. Slickly packaged, lavishly produced, full of exuberant energy and good-natured high spirits, it’s an impossible film not to get caught up in.

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S P O RTI N ’ I N DC

N OV E M B E R 02, 2018 • 35

PHOTO BY JOHN JACK PHOTOGRAPHY; USED WITH PERMISSION

Rogue Cornhole has proved surprisingly popular as a new D.C. LGBT sports league.

Going Rogue New cornhole league proving surprisingly popular

By KEVIN MAJOROS The LGBT sports community of D.C. welcomed a new league in September when Rogue Cornhole launched its inaugural season at Midland Beer Garden.

The league is an offshoot of Rogue Darts and registration sold out in less than a week. Season one has 96 players on 24 teams who are playing on Wednesday nights through the end of November.

Also known as bean-bag toss, players throw bean bags at a raised platform trying to land them in a hole.

Kevin Comerford was volunteering for Rogue Darts at Capital Pride and found himself stepping forward as league commissioner.

He had already been active with the D.C. Gay Flag Football League, Rogue Darts and Stonewall Bocce. Comerford is originally from North Carolina and did his undergrad and grad work at North Carolina State University before moving to D.C. where he now works as a finance manager for a real estate company.

“Cornhole is more of a relaxed sport

and we have a great, interesting mix of people,” Comerford says. “These are people you might not meet otherwise and it feels like a nice addition to the LGBT community.”

Comerford adds that the success of the first Rogue Cornhole season was helped by the Rogue Darts base which served as a platform to bring people into the league. The league divisions are named for the Golden Girls and he was surprised by the energy surrounding their kickoff season.

“The enthusiasm was amazing, and the teams were working on their own logos in the buildup to our launch,” Comerford says. “The first season has been a learning experience and we expect the dynamic to change with each season.”

Rogue Cornhole will follow the precedent set by Rogue Darts in donating their league proceeds to nonprofits chosen by the league teams.

They are expecting to raise close to $5,000 in their first season and Midland Beer Garden will continue to be their home in future seasons.

“They have a great indoor/outdoor space and there is room for us to grow,” Comerford says. “Players can bring their dogs and it is a perfect spot for us.”

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3 6 • N O VEMB ER 0 2, 2018

MU SI C

PHOTOS COURTESY THE KARPEL GROUP

BARBRA STREISAND’s new album ‘Walls’ is her most political in years, perhaps ever. ROBYN’s ‘Honey’ takes the opposite approach.

Robyn’s ‘Honey’ delights; Babs’ ‘Walls’ divides Streisand’s clunky, preachy effort has lovely moments while dance diva returns after long absence

By THOM MURPHY Singers are getting more politically outspoken these days and more aware of the political implications of their influence.

Taylor Swift has been using her platform to register voters for the midterm elections. Queer artists like Janelle Monáe and Years & Years have used innovative visual albums to recast current political debates. But Barbra Streisand’s new album “Walls” is maybe the most overtly political release since the 2016 election.

Politics is nothing nothing new for Streisand. Her name was even found on one of Richard Nixon’s enemies lists, alongside other prominent celebrities.

Throughout her singularly impressive career spanning six decades and boasting hits such as “Happy Days are Here Again,” “The Way We Were” and “People,” Streisand has been public with her politics.

But her new music is her most overtly political so far. She takes aim at current political problems and several of President Trump’s policies regarding climate change and immigration in particular. As she wrote in a statement about the album, “Even basic human decency appears to

be melting away faster than the polar ice caps. I wanted to write and sing about some of these things … not only to convey my concerns, but also to state my belief that, if we remain vigilant to the truth, things can eventually turn around.”

The choice of “Walls” for the album title is, of course, a statement in itself.

Streisand is keen to diagnose what she sees as the problem with contemporary society — namely, Trump. Yet the album feels somehow out of touch.

She continually harkens back to an irrecoverable moment from America’s political past and seems stuck there.

That is not to say the music is bad. In fact, it’s a beautiful album that highlights in many places Streisand’s best virtues as a artist. She has never lost the unmistakable star quality of her voice, which continues to soar. And she is able to convey emotion with a great effect on the listener. Her mash-up of John Lennon’s “Imagine” and “What A Wonderful World” (first recorded by Louis Armstrong) is a tear-jerker.

It’s Streisand at her absolute best.

The same might be said of her recording of “What the World Needs Now Is Love,” which again connects the her new album to songs protesting the Vietnam War. Beginning with a light string accompaniment, the song transitions to a jazzy piano waltz, before lurching forward into a funkier Motown rhythm. It’s an excellent recording and stands up well against other popular recordings of the song by Dionne Warwick and Tony Bennett.

“Better Angels” is another beautiful track. Unlike much of the material here, it offers a way forward. As she sings in the chorus, “We are not enemies/There is no good in that … We will find a way/Through all our differences.” The emotional arc of the song pulls the listener in from the beginning and like the best Broadway songs, it’s impossible not to sing along.

Other tracks on the album hardly live up to expectations, like lead single “Don’t Lie to Me,” a painful exercise in mixed metaphors that feels more like a Twitter rebuttal than a serious work. The video is worse. It has the aesthetic quality of an out-of-date campaign ad, pairing badly edited images with slogan-like text.

Needless to say, the album can be excessively preachy at times. Yet in spite of its melodramatic, heavy-handed tendencies, Streisand nonetheless manages to demonstrate her remarkable abilities as a performer. And although it’s unlikely to bring anyone new into fold, “Walls” is sure to please longtime fans.

After listening to Streisand, it’s almost a relief to turn to the world of Swedish dance-pop with Robyn. Her eighth studio album, “Honey,” is the newest iteration of her sound and it’s wonderful next step.

Since the release of her 1996 debut album “Robyn Is Here,” Robyn has been a dance-pop staple. And her three-part EP “Body Talk,” which featured the single “Dancing On My Own,” reaffirmed her place in pop and club scenes. Both “Call

Your Girlfriend” and “Do It Again,” from her 2014 collaboration with the Norwegian group Röyksopp, have been No. 1 songs on the Billboard Dance Club chart.

Robyn is a master of musical silences. Her songs are not overfull, nor is every gap filled by a synth, guitar or vocal hook. “Human Being” featuring Zhala is a good example.

As an album, “Honey” is more interested in individuals rather than society as a whole. But at the same time, there’s something deeply comforting about her sound. It’s mellow and full of life, pulsating and reflective at the same time. And, of course, sexy. Very sexy.

Lead single “Missing U” begins with spiraling synth sounds which give way to a pulsing bass. One can’t help but be reminded of The Who’s introduction to “Baba O’Riley.” The songs “Between The Lines” and “Beach2k20” are the most experimental and fun on the album, featuring trance-inducing beats, alternation between spoken and sung vocals and a wide array of sound effects.

Though too far left field for radio play, the songs offer an enjoyable variation between the two more traditional dancepop tracks “Honey” and “Ever Again.”

Both Streisand’s “Walls” and Robyn’s “Honey” bring to mind the various ways artists deal with politics. Streisand speaks to a collective political crisis; Robyn turns inward. And if Streisand gives reasons to despair, Robyn reminds us to dance. Maybe that is a just as loud a political statement.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

BOOKS

N OV E M B E R 02, 2018 • 37

Soloway’s journey Truth as strange as fiction in TV writer’s new memoir

By KATHI WOLFE Sometimes, coming-out memoirs are so predictable, you can recount them in your sleep. Especially, if show business, queerness and gender are involved.

This isn’t the case with “She Wants It,” the new memoir by Jill Soloway, the Emmyand Golden Globe Award-winning creator of “Transparent.” Even Hollywood couldn’t have predicted Soloway’s account of personal and professional transformation and the way they’ve turned the complex mosaic of their life into art (Soloway identifies as non-binary and prefers the third-person plural pronoun).

“She Wants It” is an account of coming out, gender shifting and making art.

Soloway’s story begins on a Sunday a few years ago. Soloway, then identifying as straight and married to her husband Bruce, is sitting at the kitchen table with their 3-year-old son Felix. Soloway’s father calls and comes out as trans over the phone.

This revelation was a catalyst for Soloway. Before their father came out, Soloway had been successful in show business as a writer and producer for “Six Feet Under,” “United States of Tara” and other TV shows. In the 1990s with their sister Faith, Soloway created “The Real Live Brady Bunch,” a loving spoof of the beloved 1970s show that developed a cult following and ran in Chicago, L.A. and in the Village in New York.

Yet Soloway felt that they’d spent too much time developing empty story ideas and being enmeshed in hetereo relationship drama.

“So much wasted energy, all of those stories and plots, poofed into the ether, belonging to any man who came through — that’s mostly what I was doing instead of making art,” Soloway writes.

After the shocking Sunday afternoon phone call, Soloway began to get in touch with their body and their creativity, falling in love with a woman, identifying as queer, then, non-binary and creating art.

“Now that I have a queer parent, getting my body in line with my mind was no longer just a flight of fancy,” Soloway writes.

“She Wants It” takes you along on Soloway’s journey from identifying as straight to non-binary to working to create a safe space to make art and to fight for social change. Soloway cuts off her long hair, stops wearing make-up and undergoes breast reduction surgery.

Along the way, Soloway lets you in on how intricately art and their life are intertwined.

Soloway, never one to feel relaxed when not working, gets through emotional crises by plunging into work.

PHOTO COURTESY CROWN ARCHTYPE

Author JILL SOLOWAY shares their rocky road to personal acceptance in a new memoir.

“There was only one way to get through this. … I pulled out my laptop and began working on ‘Transparent,’” Soloway writes, “The script came out so easily, like a slippery baby.”

“Transparent” was based on the author’s family experience of their father coming out as trans. Things became even more meta when Ali, a character on the show based on Jill Soloway, falls in love with Leslie, a professor, based on queer poet Eileen Myles. In a twist stranger than fiction, Soloway meets Myles when they’re on a panel. You guessed it: they fell in love.

“This is what’s wrong with writing a TV show about people who are all fragments of you,” Soloway writes. “You can never tell what comes first, the fiction or the reality.”

The vibes of gender studies and privilege in “She Wants It” are a bit much. Even if you’re a card-carrying feminist, the name SPEAK WITH OUR PREPLANNING ADVISOR, JAMIE ARTHURS AT (202) 966-6400 OR EMAIL checks of queer, feminist intellectuals JAMIE.ARTHURS@DIGNITYMEMORIAL.COM and writers from Susan Sontag to Maggie Nelson in this memoir can be tiresome.

At times, Soloway’s life seems overstuffed with perks, from having an alwayssensitive therapist to going to Paris for Christmas, unattainable by lesser mortals.

Don’t be put off by this. Soloway, who 5130 Wisconsin Ave. NW • DC • (202) 966-6400 • www.JosephGawlers.com grew up in an upper-middle class family in Chicago, is aware of how privileged their life ADVERTISING is. The memoir candidly addresses issues PROOF #1 ISSUE DATE: 181102 SALES REPRESENTATIVE: raised when Jeffrey Tambor (a cis man) was cast as Maura in “Transparent” and, later, 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 REVISIONS fired for incidents of sexual harassment. 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 REDESIGN of To increase Hollywood’s representation can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or TEXT REVISIONS 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 queer people, people of color and other IMAGE/LOGO REVISIONS 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 ADVERTISER SIGNATURE NO REVISIONS marginalized groups, Soloway co-founded washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contr liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred washington blade newspaper. This includes but is n 50/50 by 2020 Time’s Up’s activist arm. by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations payment and insertion schedule. and warranties.

With the Trump Administration attempting to take away the civil rights of transgender people, it’s easy to despair.

“She Wants It” gives you hope that human dignity will prevail.

‘SHE WANTS IT: DESIRE, POWER, AND TOPPLING THE PATRIARCHY’

By Jill Soloway Crown Archtype $27 256 pages

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38 • N OV E M B E R 02, 201 8

Prepping ‘Billy’

THEATER

Staging gay-affirming ballet musical especially arduous

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

Behind enemy lines are hearts just like yours.

Silent Night

November 10–25 | Eisenhower Theater Music by Kevin Puts / Libretto by Mark Campbell

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Groups call (202) 416-8400

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Staging “Billy Elliot the Musical” has been both extremely challenging and a delight for Signature Theatre’s talented Matthew Gardiner. The Helen Hayes Award-winning out director and choreographer had three weeks to rehearse the story of the 11-year-old boy whose life is forever changed by ballet.

Set against the 1980s miner’s strike in hardscrabble North Eastern England, Billy’s journey inspires audiences to be themselves and reach for their dreams.

“The show means a lot to me,” says Gardiner, 34, who like Billy was the only boy in an all-girls’ ballet class from age 8 to about 16.

“But at first it was a 24/7, all-consuming beast.”

Gardiner almost didn’t do “Billy Elliot.” For some time, Signature’s Artistic Director Eric Schaeffer wanted to mount the Tony Awardwinning musical scored by Elton John and wanted Gardiner to direct. But Gardiner wasn’t excited about the movie made into a musical.

“I’d seen the film and knew it was very special, but I’d never seen the musical,” Gardiner says. “Something about the Broadway marketing of miners in tutus turned me off. It seemed a little cloying.”

Finally, Gardiner, who lives in Woodley Park, sat down and read the libretto and listened to the score in his office at Signature in Arlington.

“I lost it,” he says. “This kid is a dancer who finds his voice and that was me. I wasn’t prepared for the moving story of loss and community. It’s way more than a musical about a kid who wants to dance.”

And though he had both directed and choreographed “Cabaret” and “La Cage Aux Folles” at Signature, he says “Billy Elliot” proved more challenging.

“It calls to fulfill moments in thrilling ways that have great impact. And the part of young Billy (double cast with Owen Tabaka and Liam Redford) is complicated. He has to sing, act, do ballet, tap, tumble and fly. It’s endless.”

But prior to rehearsals, he and associate choreographer Kelly Crandall d’Amboise laid out a strategy, and with some long and arduous days, everything came together.

Gardiner got into dance by watching.

“I was obsessed with ‘Wizard of Oz,’ and Judy Garland in particular. The joke is that my coming out story is that as a 6 year old, I owned every Judy Garland album. I spent a lot of time in the basement singing her stuff and that led to an obsession with ‘Easter Parade’ and other old musicals.”

While dance wasn’t Gardiner’s sportsminded mother’s strong suit, she assiduously fostered her young son’s interest while his father ferried him to classes at Washington Ballet and performances of the company’s “The Nutcracker” at Warner Theatre. During

PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER MUELLER

MATTHEW GARDINER in rehearsal for ‘Billy Elliot’ at Signature Theatre.

his teen years, Gardiner took summer classes with famed ballerina Suzanne Farrell at the Kennedy Center.

But the experience wasn’t entirely strife free. Gardiner recalls, “being picked on for having to leave school early to go to ballet class or coming back from a performance of ‘The Nutcracker’ and not having fully removed all the makeup. It was hard but that ballet room is the place where I felt most myself.” At one point, bullying prompted Gardiner to change from a private Lutheran school in suburban Maryland to a nearby arts magnet elementary school.

“Until I was about 16, I fully intended to be a career ballet dancer and I was told that I had the ability. And then — much to my parents’ temporary anger — I didn’t want to do it anymore. I didn’t feel autonomous or creative enough in that process. Of course, there are phenomenal ballet dancers whose artistry is impeccable, but for me I felt ballet was too restrictive at a certain moment in my life.

Around the same time, Gardiner saw “Fosse” on Broadway and became fascinated with Broadway choreographers.

He went on to study directing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh where he was also able to learn about choreography.

“Doing ballet as a kid was not a waste of time. It made me disciplined, driven, a better dancer and better storyteller.

In part it has made me a better director.

Initially, the reason I wanted to direct was to paint pictures and tell stories with bodies on stage.”

“Billy Elliot” is Gardiner’s first experience with a production featuring so many child actors (10 parts double cast). “It works a different muscle. In some ways you become an acting coach,” he says. “When I staged the scene where another boy kisses Billy, they didn’t see what the big deal was.

My experience is not their experience.

They live in urban settings where a lot of things are more accepted. I’m floored by them. And their desire to do this thing. It’s been incredibly inspiring.”

‘BILLY ELLIOT THE MUSICAL’ Through Jan. 6 Signature Theatre 4200 Campbell Ave. Arlington, Va. $40-105 sigtheatre.org

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N O V E MBE R 0 2 , 2 0 1 8 • 3 9

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

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P H O T O S BY MI CH A E L KE Y

The 32nd annual High Heel Race was held on Frank Kameny Way on Tuesday, Oct. 30. ‘Baby Trump,’ ‘Michael Jackson’ and ‘Stormy Trooper’ were among the audience’s favorite drag racers this year. Cheer DC and the D.C. Different Drummers provided entertainment. A parade of drag queens was followed by the drag race. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, drag performer Ba’Naka and Casa Ruby Executive Director Ruby Corado served as the grand marshals of the parade.

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A R T S & EN TE RTA I NMENT

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Con man’s bio a challenge for actor Grant CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

filmmaker John Schlesinger.

Like the iconic buddies, Grant says Israel and Hock “are two people who shouldn’t have become friends. They’re in New York City, surrounded by incredible numbers of people, but they’re so isolated and lonely that they form this co-dependent relationship and they get involved in scams out of dire necessity.”

Once he finished the script, which is based on Israel’s memoir of the same name, Grant tried to find out more about Jack Hock.

“After I read the screenplay I hoped the memoir would provide incredible insight and detail about Jack Hock,” he says.

“Well, being the ego-centric self-obsessed women that she was, there is scant detail about Jack in Lee’s book.”

Grant did get the basic outline of Hock’s life from the book (and from Wikipedia) — “He’s gay. He’s a grifter. He’s HIVpositive. His friends have died of AIDS. He was from Portland. He was blond, tall and died in 1994 at the age of 47. He went to jail for two years for holding up a taxi driver at knifepoint arguing over a fare.”

But, two key details helped the actor ground his approach to the character.

Convinced that it would stop him from getting lung cancer, Hock used a short cigarette holder.

“I took that as a key to his affection and how he saw himself,” Grant says. “I could see him clutching the cigarette holder and holding forth at bars.”

Hock, it turns out, was quite successful at his work.

“When Lee thought a forged letter was worth five hundred bucks,” Grant notes, “Jack would come back with two grand.

From that I deduced that he really knew how work a scam and seduce or fool people with some kind of charm, even if he didn’t know who Fanny Brice was.”

The final step in Grant’s artistic process was to find the right metaphor for the quirky relationship Hock and Israel.

“I always think of characters in animal terms,” Grant says. “Lee is essentially a porcupine. She’s prickly, antisocial, difficult and you don’t want to mess with her at any point. Whereas Jack is essentially a kind of Labrador Retriever.

He just assumes that he might go up to anybody and they’ll like him. When Jack Hock falls in with Lee Israel, they develop this very unusual love-hate relationship which seemed to me to be the core of the story. I think Lee and Jack come to truly need each other. She has no one and he has no one and yet suddenly these two intensely lonely people have each other.”

Following his breakout performance in his first movie role as an unemployed and unemployable actor in “Withnail and I” (1987), Grant has enjoyed a long and

MELISSA McCARTHY and RICHARD E. GRANT in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me?’

PHOTO BY MARY CYBULSKI; COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

PHOTO BY MARY CYBULSKI; COURTESY FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES

distinguished career. Some of his famous film performances include “Ready to Wear,” where the straight ally also played gay; “Gosford Park;” “Twelfth Night;” and “Logan,” where he played Dr. Zander Rice.

He also wrote and directed “Wah-Wah,” an autobiographical movie about his childhood in Swaziland.

On television, he has appeared in “Downton Abbey,” “Doctor Who” and “Girls” and starred as “The Scarlet Pimpernel.”

Later this month, he will be onscreen in Disney’s “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.”

Next year he can be seen in “Star Wars:

Episode IX” and in the third and final season of “Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events” on Netflix with Neil Patrick Harris. Unfortunately, he is sworn to secrecy on his roles in both of those projects.

“Can You Ever Forgive Me?” is in D.C.area theaters now.

4 2 • N O VEMB ER 0 2, 2018

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

The Blade is celebrating 50 years as the LGBT newspaper of record. Consider a gift to preserve this critical voice for the next 50 years.

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REALESTATE

Vote for a party: Renter, house or condo Options abound for D.C. residents

By VALERIE M. BLAKE Next Tuesday, many of us will have the opportunity to elect government officials who we feel will represent our interests and ideologies. Across the nation, there are congressional races, gubernatorial contests, local competitions and a variety of special initiatives on the ballots.

We in D.C. are not permitted to elect a voting member of Congress, but that doesn’t mean we have no say in how we want to shape the House. In fact, I see how people shape their houses all the time.

One popular way to shape a house is to relocate or remove an interior wall to open the floorplan. Kitchens now adjoin living rooms so that people can cook and chat with their guests at the same time. Bathrooms are added or enlarged, and luxury finishes are installed.

We have basements being excavated to obtain the appropriate ceiling height for in-law suites and auxiliary apartments.

Patios and decks bring indoor and outdoor areas together. Rowhouses are being turned into condominiums. New glass structures with river views dot the Southwest waterfront. And who hasn’t seen someone bump out the back or pop up the top of a building to add a third story?

Since the votes of D.C. residents have

Whether you prefer a condo or a singlefamily home, D.C. has options for all tastes.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BIGSTOCK

limited impact on mid-term elections, I thought there should be other parties on the ballot for us to consider when we go to vote next week. Here are some suggestions that you might find relevant.

The Renter Party – You might vote Renter if you’re new in town, planning on being here less than three years, or are saddled with humongous student loan debt. The current market will allow you to search for rental apartments near a Metro stop, so you may not need to add a car to your monthly budget. With more than 550 available D.C. rental properties priced between $1,000 to $3,500, you’re sure to find some that offer a free month’s rent, reduced fees for use of building amenities, or other inducements to sign a lease.

The Owner Party - Vote Owner if you have reasonably good credit and a desire to

imprint your personal style on where you live while building equity. Members of the Owner Party may qualify for low down payment loans, closing cost assistance, and reduced property taxes through government grants and first-time buyer programs. The Owner Party platform promotes access to mortgage lenders, inspectors, title companies and, of course, your choice of real estate agents.

The Condominium Party – The Condo Party will appeal to those who prefer communal ownership where portions of the building, its amenities, and often its utilities are distributed among the individual residents. Members live in cooperation with one another, elect their own council for self-government, and create and follow a series of self-imposed guidelines for the good of all.

The House Party – House Party doctrine favors non-intervention, where each household maintains its own government structure and pursuit of civil liberties. In D.C., the freedom enjoyed by members can often come at a high cost. True House Party members will shun associations that restrict the look, feel and management of their homes.

There actually is a Realtor Party, made up of Realtor associations that work to protect and promote homeownership and property investment through support of political candidates and public policies on the national and local levels. Since membership in the Realtor Party is limited, here are a few others that may appeal to you.

The Block Party is known for its summer gatherings where neighbors barbecue, consume beverages, play games and sometimes dance in a communal environment. Gossip often plays a large role and children are welcome to join.

The Birthday Party is made up of independents who meet on short notice and sometimes as a complete surprise. Unlike other political parties, participants often bring gifts with no expectation of favors or influence in exchange.

The Wedding Party is a homogenous group with a single purpose. Its members dress in uniform, march down aisles and take vows of allegiance.

Now that the Halloween Party has been overtaken in the primaries, the Holiday Party is beginning to see a surge in the polls (particularly in the North Poll). Its base is preparing to host rallies to give thanks, participate in religious ceremonies, and pay homage to its founders.

But my personal favorite is the Housewarming Party, where both Renters and Owners welcome their friends to eat, drink, be merry and (if nobody is paying attention) sneak a peak in the bathroom medicine cabinet.

Choose your party and VOTE! 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 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: A real estate agent shows available investment property to a discerning client.

~ 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

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

Historic county executive forum hosted in region’s agricultural reserve Poolesville welcomes candidates to western Montgomery County

By JIM BROWN The charming, small town of Poolesville sits in the center of the Agricultural Reserve, a more than 93,000-acre green space that is the crown jewel for not just Montgomery County and the State of Maryland, but the entire Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. The population and growth in the area are limited by design to preserve this thoughtfully protected green space amidst the metropolitan expanse.

But if you were sitting inside Poolesville Town Hall on Oct. 23, you wouldn’t know that. Despite the early hour on a weekday, every chair was filled and every wall was lined with residents who packed into a small-town chamber room to hear what the three candidates for Montgomery County Executive had to say.

It was a historic moment for the community, which often feels forgotten. Beginning just a few minutes before sunrise after a scenic drive through fields being harvested, all three candidates participated in the first county executive forum to be hosted in Western Montgomery County.

Democrat Marc Elrich, independent Nancy Floreen and Republican Robin Ficker shared their vision for the D.C. suburban county. The first round of questions covered topics from taxes and transportation to fair access to county services and educational facilities, like a new Poolesville High School. Some soft and some not so subtle reactions from the audience made it obvious that the residents of the Ag Reserve have been feeling a bit slighted and hope their vote for county executive is for a candidate that understands the equity gap in Western Montgomery County and will dedicate time and resources to repair it.

Though additional questions from the audience focused on current hot topics – like the placement of 5G cell towers near homes or schools – the theme of the day was fairness. Which candidate will ensure that Poolesville and its neighboring towns are given equal access to public health and safety services, and a modern high school? Which candidate will look past population density to see the underlying needs going unmet?

When questioned, all three candidates agreed in support of a new development concept called “collocation,” whereby the county would efficiently use its resources by locating a new high school with community services adjacent to it.

Collocation is an idea currently being re-

Candidates for county executive spoke in Poolesville on Oct. 23.

PHOTO COURTESY TOWN OF POOLESVILLE

searched by Montgomery County, Md. to meet the many needs of an area and its marginalized citizens by creating multi-use facilities. With that research ongoing, the Town of Poolesville and area citizens backed the formation of the Committee for Fair Access for Western Montgomery County.

This committee is unique. This group of parents and PTA members have municipal support to rally for a solution to the equity gap in the Ag Reserve. That solution is the proposed collocated facility on the current campus of Poolesville High School with a new Poolesville High, police substation, health clinic and community center to provide recreational and senior services.

There are a handful of organizations in the Ag Reserve trying to provide these lacking services with volunteers and limited funding. They’re stretched thin and need county support, but they’re not asking for more than their fair share. This community is asking for services readily available to residents in other areas of Montgomery County. A quick glance at a map would show you that Western Montgomery County is in a services desert.

It’s true that those who call the Ag Reserve our home chose to live in a quiet, rural community, but we are taxed the same as those who live in the cities and deserve the same police protection, access to transit and access to health services for all generations, especially those that are aging in place.

It’s only fair. Candidates Elrich, Ficker and Floreen agreed that our voices are being heard as the need for these services has become clear.

The historic political forum ended on this note: show up on November 6 and vote. Let your voice be heard.

No matter the issues or candidates you support, please vote! Western Montgomery County residents will be voting, will you?

JIM BROWN is the town of Poolesville commissioner.

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

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

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