Washingtonblade.com, Volume 51, Issue 28, July 10, 2020 by Washington Blade

VP search narrows

Karen Bass has the resume and would make solid, surprise pick Page 10

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Rehoboth mayor’s race heats up as candidates trade barbs Mills asserts Kuhns being ‘manipulated’ by commissioner By JOSHUA KELLER With a month to go before the election, tensions are rising between the two candidates running for mayor of Rehoboth Beach, Del. First-term commissioner Edward Chrzanowski, who’s gay, dropped out of the race in June and endorsed incumbent Mayor Paul Kuhns, making the election a choice between Kuhns and former longtime City Commissioner Stan Mills. In a letter to constituents explaining his STAN MILLS said current Rehoboth Mayor PAUL KUHNS is being ‘manipulated’ by gay rationale for leaving the Commissioner Edward Chrzanowski, who dropped out of the race and endorsed Kuhns. (Photo courtesy Mills) race and supporting Kuhns, Chrzanowski emphasized their shared goals for the “Stan can say that me saying he would be going future of the city. Mills views backwards is fear-mongering because he is listening to a Chrzanowski’s endorsement of Kuhns more cynically. small group of people, but I think I’m listening to a large “If you look at Ed’s rationale for endorsing the mayor, group of people,” Kuhns said. “I was voted in by a large of course he endorses the mayor, because Ed believes that number because people wanted something new. My fear he is able to manipulate the mayor,” Mills told the Blade. is that if a couple candidates get into office, Stan Mills In response to this assertion, Kuhns pointed to how the being one of them, things will turn back around to what structure of Rehoboth’s government limits the power of they were. The capital improvement plan will slip to the the mayor to make decisions unilaterally. sidelines, economic development won’t be considered, “I’m wondering how he thinks that could happen. We and people will think about ways to avoid having the are a legislative body of seven people. Anything I support tourism that pays for all the services we have here in the needs at least three other votes,” Kuhns said. “I don’t city.” know what he’s implying there. To manipulate me, Edward Contributing to concerns that Mills is not forward would have to be manipulating the other commissioners thinking is the perception that Kuhns is the pro-business simultaneously.” candidate while Mills is pro-homeowners. Mills told the Cape Gazette that Kuhns and Chrzanowski “I think that perception is probably accurate,” Mills said. may have cut some kind of deal. This accusation is “I don’t like labels because I don’t know what pro-business consistent with his view that Kuhns has not demonstrated a is. To some of my constituents, pro-business means willingness to operate an open government. giving businesses preferential treatment and neglecting Kuhns said Chrzanowski’s endorsement of him comes residential neighborhoods.” from having similar ideas about the future of the city. Mills also faces questions from gay residents stemming “We had a conversation a few days after he filed to run from his 2010 use of a rarely enforced ordinance to and spoke about our visions for the city and realized that target businesses, some of them gay owned, for hosting our visions coincided,” Kuhns said. “I think he basically saw late-night drinking and dining on outdoor patios. Mills’ that Mr. Mills’ visions for the future are not as positive as invocation of the ordinance led to a raid of the gay-owned mine and wanted to create a situation where constituents Aqua Grill and the arrest of its then-owner Bill Shields. are presented with a clear choice: Do they want to go The Delaware State Public Integrity Commission issued an backwards with the regime that’s been there for the last 30 opinion stating that Mills may have violated a state conflict years, or look forward and see the progress Rehoboth has of interest law because he owns a bed and breakfast made in the last three years continuing.” located next to the gay bar Blue Moon, which has a patio Mills responded that claims from Kuhns that he wants and was also targeted in the raid. It turned out that both to move the city backwards are “absurd”. establishments were grandfathered in and not subject to “Look at the total reconstruction of the boardwalk I led, the early patio closure. that was forward thinking,” Mills said. “Saying I want to go “To me that’s old news,” Mills said. “I’m sorry that backwards is fear-mongering, inaccurate, and something happened, I’m sorry the way that was perceived. It’s lessons the opposition wants to use to look better than me.” learned and not forgotten, but we have to move on.” Kuhns said the perception that Mills wants to move the city backwards “isn’t fear mongering, it’s reality.” 0 6 • WAS H I NGTO NBLA D E.COM • J ULY 10, 2020 • LOCA L N E W S

Comings & Goings Kolesar wins award for work in radio By PETER ROSENSTEIN 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. The Comings & Goings column also invites DAVE KOLESAR LGBTQ+ college students (Photo courtesy Kolesar) to share their successes with us. If you have been elected to a student government position, gotten an exciting internship, or are graduating and beginning your career with a great job, let us know so we can share your success. Congratulations to Dave Kolesar on receiving the 2019-2020 Radio World Excellence in Engineering Award. Radio World said in a statement, “The award is in recognition of his initiative in converting AM station WWFD in Frederick, Md. to full-time, all-digital transmission, the first AM station of its kind in the U.S.” Radio World went on to say the award recognizes Kolesar’s work in “advancing our industry’s discussion and awareness of the potential uses of the HD Radio MA3 mode.” Upon receiving the award Kolesar said, “I’m very lucky to be able to pursue the idea of all-digital broadcasting that could revitalize AM radio, and doubly so to be able to do it as a natural outgrowth of a ‘passion project’ — The Gamut, which started as a hobby. As a result of this effort, a few other AM stations are in the process of converting to digital broadcasting, with more expected to do so in the near future.” Kolesar is a senior broadcast engineer for WTOP Radio, which owns WWFD. He says The Gamut is an outgrowth of a gay-oriented internet radio station he had been running as a hobby: wgay.fm. (The Blade used to publish WGAY podcasts about current affairs when the station was active.) Kolesar began his career as an electronics engineer with the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory. He has his bachelor’s in physics from the Catholic University and his MEE in Electrical Engineering also from Catholic University. His husband is Patrick Wojahn, mayor of College Park, Md. They were plaintiffs in the Maryland marriage lawsuit from Deane and Polyak v. Conaway. Kolesar is a proud Maryland native, born and raised in Prince George’s County.

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3 D.C. LGBTQ groups win city grants to address coronavirus The LGBTQ social services organizations Us Helping Us, Wanda Alston Foundation, and Casa Ruby were among 77 D.C. nonprofit groups to receive city grants last week totaling $3.6 million to help protect vulnerable populations from the coronavirus epidemic. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approved the grants under the city’s HOPE Community Grants program, which is funded by the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security, or CARES Act, approved by Congress earlier this year. “These HOPE grants acknowledge and support the critical role community organizations play in ensuring Washingtonians have the information and resources they needed to protect themselves and others,” Bowser said in a July 1 statement announcing the grants. “I have said many times that we will get through this together, and I am grateful for all the nonprofits that are stepping up to stop the spread of the virus and keep D.C. residents safe,” the mayor said. Us Helping Us, which provides services to the African-American LGBTQ community, and Casa Ruby, which provides emergency housing and social and health related services to LGBTQ people, each received grants totaling $50,000. The Wanda Alston Foundation, which provides housing and programming for LGBTQ homeless youth, received a grant totaling $41,800, according to its executive director June Crenshaw. Us Helping Us Executive Director DeMarc Hickson said his organization plans to use the grant funds, among other things, to educate the city’s “highly impacted communities” about COVID-19 and how best to follow federally recommended COVID D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser approved a series of grants prevention and social distancing guidelines. He said the group would also disseminate personal protection equipment among to local groups fighting COVID. (Photo by AFGE via Flickr) communities Us Helping Us focuses on, including black men who have sex with men, black transgender women, people with HIV/ AIDS, and seniors. Crenshaw said the Alston Foundation would use the grant funds, among other things, to help ensure that its clients who live in two group homes in Ward 1 and Ward 7 have the proper training and equipment to protect against the risk of coronavirus infection. In addition to providing proper equipment for clients and staff such as face masks, gloves, and hand sanitizer, Crenshaw said the funds would be used to pay for professional deep cleaning of all rooms within the group homes. Casa Ruby Executive Director Ruby Corado said Casa Ruby, among other things, will use the grant funds for community education related to the COVID epidemic and provide personal protection equipment to those who need it. LOU CHIBBARO JR.

D.C. launches free, home HIV test kit program

The D.C. Department of Health on June 27 began issuing free, at-home HIV test kits to anyone interested in obtaining the kits through an online mail delivery program. “The safe and easy OraQuick rapid HIV test kit allows a person to self-swab their mouth to get a result in 20 minutes,” according to a statement released by the Department of Health. The statement says that beginning June 27 city residents could obtain information and order a test to be mailed to their D.C. address through the website GetCheckedDC.org. “While we are asking people to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, they can know their HIV status by taking this convenient test,” said Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, director of the DOH. “D.C. is breaking down barriers and affording equitable access to HIV testing through this initiative,” she said. “For anyone who tests positive, the good news is people with HIV can have long, happy and fulfilling lives,” the DOH statement continues. “D.C. has high-quality medical care and other services for support. D.C. Health recommends scheduling an appointment with a medical provider or calling the D.C. Health and Wellness Center at 202-741-7692,” the statement says, referring to people who test positive. “The Health and Wellness Center can start people on HIV medication the same day as the appointment.” LOU CHIBBARO JR.

D.C. police won’t probe ‘mob’ attack on trans woman until victim found

D.C. police last week said they would not immediately open an investigation into a report by an eyewitness that a “mob” of about 20 young men attacked and repeatedly punched a transgender woman of color while shouting anti-trans insults about 10:15 p.m. Saturday, June 20, on the 1200 block of U Street, N.W. The witness, nearby resident Andrea Earls, posted on Facebook and later told the Washington Blade she ran into the crowd attacking the trans woman and shouted for the assailants to stop while she hailed a taxi cab that enabled her to help the trans woman escape from the attackers by entering the cab. Earls said she regrets not calling the 911 police emergency number at the time of the incident and she was unable to obtain the name or contact information of the victim. Police have said no one contacted them about the incident until the Blade inquired about the incident with the police press office and asked whether MPD would attempt to determine if nearby surveillance cameras captured the attack on video. “If MPD is able to confirm with the victim that a crime occurred and they would like police assistance, then we can build the investigation, which includes obtaining video surveillance,” said police spokesperson Alaina Gertz in an email to the Blade. “At this time, we are unable to identify a victim in this case to open an investigation,” Gertz said. LOU CHIBBARO JR.

D.C. LGBT Center has two years to find new home

The Reeves Center will likely be torn down for a new NAACP national headquarters building.

The D.C. Center for the LGBT Community is among the numerous tenants, including D.C. government agencies, that will have to vacate the Reeves Center municipal building at 14th and U Streets, N.W. in about two years or possibly a little later, according to John Falcicchio, the D.C. Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development. Falcicchio told the Washington Blade about the city’s plans for redeveloping the Reeves Center following news last week that the NAACP plans to move its national headquarters from Baltimore to D.C. at the site of a redeveloped Reeves Center. The D.C. Center for the LGBT Community moved into a ground floor suite of offices at the Reeves Center in November 2013 under a 15-year lease agreement with the city. Also currently operating one floor above the D.C. Center at the Reeves building is the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs. The D.C. Center and the Mayor’s LGBTQ office along with more than a dozen other D.C. government agencies will be relocated to other buildings between now and the next two or more years, according to Falcicchio, to make way for the redevelopment of the Reeves Center. The NAACP, which will be considered the “anchor” of the new building, will occupy about 50,000 square feet in the new building that will have a total capacity of 380,000 square feet, Falcicchio said. He said the current building has a capacity of just 260,000 usable square feet. LOU CHIBBARO JR.

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Will Biden pick Karen Bass for VP? Congressional Black Caucus leader has the resume By KAREN OCAMB “I had never heard anything like this before. She America is in trouble. The Trump administration’s knew gay men. She clearly was an ally,” Osborn says. failure to keep the country safe from the highly Bass also talked about the LAPD battering rams infectious novel coronavirus has exposed an inadequate used to level suspected crack houses. “They just had healthcare system that largely impacts the elderly and like a militarized response to the epidemic and she was marginalized minorities, including LGBTQ people at really angry about it. And she said, ‘Do you understand high risk for contracting the new coronavirus. that the genocidal attacks on my community are similar Many are turning their frightened eyes to to the genocidal attacks on yours?’” Osborn says. “I presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe never thought about the similarities between attacks by Biden to heal the horribly divided nation this November. the state – for gays, it was the genocidal neglect of the “Today we’re facing a serious threat, and we must Reagan years.” meet it — as one country. But this president gives us no At a June 10 hearing on the bill she crafted with direction. He pits us against one another,” Biden said Rep. Jerry Nadler and Sens. Harris and Cory Booker — June 30 in televised remarks. the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2020 — Bass For a running mate, Biden says he wants an noted that “she had begun protesting police violence experienced woman who could immediately assume the same year that Mr. Floyd was born, in 1973,” the presidential leadership, if needed; someone with whom New York Times reported. She also recalled LAPD Chief he is “simpatico;” and someone who shares his priorities Daryl Gates “calling a news conference to claim that the and values, which includes LGBTQ equality. reason so many black people were dying of chokeholds The New York Times identified 13 candidates, Rep. KAREN BASS with her gay deputy DARRYN HARRIS at In The in police custody was ‘because our neck veins were including out Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin, who fit Meantime Men in South LA. (Blade photo by Karen Ocamb) different.’” the bill. Bass says the 1992 LA riots after the acquittal of Many politicos assume that California Sen. Kamala four white police officers videotaped beating unarmed Black motorist Rodney King hit her Harris has a lock on the spot. She is a highly qualified Black/Asian former presidential personally. candidate who Biden knows through her relationship with his beloved late son Beau when “I just drove around feeling that all of the years of my involvement and all of the things they served as attorneys general. Biden was clearly hurt when Harris attacked him over I had tried to do had been a failure,” Bass recalled in 2011. “I failed the young people segregation during a presidential debate but she apologized and they made up. Others because they felt no outlet other than to destroy.” are not as forgiving. Bass was talked into running for elective office by Miguel Contreras, the late chief of Several of the other candidates might fit the moment but no one matches the breadth the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor. In 2005, she won the Assembly seat being of bona fides offered by California Rep. Karen Bass. vacated by Diane Watson. She was immediately given leadership positions by Speaker The Times frames Bass as a long shot since the Biden team “has reached an advanced Fabian Nunez and risked political support by helping gay Assemblymember Mark Leno stage of the vetting process” and Bass’ extensive record may require more vetting than is push AB 19, the state’s first marriage equality bill. possible before Biden’s announcement date around Aug. 1. Bass also lacked national name Three years later, Bass was unanimously elected Speaker of the Assembly, making recognition. history as California’s first Black woman Speaker. That changed when she became the congressional leader most identified with pushing Bass’s political skills were tested in 2008/2009 when the Speaker dealt with renowned for police reform after the world witnessed the 8-minute, 46-second cellphone video sexist Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, as well as difficult Democrats, to get showing a white Minneapolis police officer calmly kneeling on the neck of a Black man in California, the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis, out of the Great Recession. There is a his custody, pleading for air and his mother until he expired. reason Bass has been mentioned as the most likely to succeed House Speaker Pelosi, if she The video of that May 25 murder exposed the scourge of systemic racism and sparked steps down. mass marches supporting Black Lives Matter. People of all races, ages and identities “Having had the great pleasure to serve with Congresswoman Bass in the State Assembly, demanded police reform and justice for the death of George Floyd. before and after she became Speaker, I am not surprised that she is being considered by Karen Bass has been working to dismantle systemic racism, as well as other forms of Joe Biden,” Leno tells the Los Angeles Blade. “Her talents and potential are obvious to social, racial and economic injustice, for decades. She is a community activist who was all. Having authored the legislature’s Equal Marriage Rights bills, I know personally of her raised on civil rights activism in LA’s Jewish Venice-Fairfax district, volunteered for Bobby commitment to LGBTQ equality. She is a fierce champion of not only our community but to Kennedy’s presidential campaign in middle school, graduated from Hamilton High School all those who are disenfranchised and struggling for equal treatment under the law.” in West LA in 1971, studied philosophy at San Diego University but switched her attention Another plus for Biden in attempting to heal the nation — Bass sincerely reaches across to healthcare, graduating from USC’s Keck School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program. the partisan divide to get things done. She calls Republican House Minority Leader Kevin She subsequently received her BA in health sciences from Cal State/Dominguez Hills and McCarthy a friend from their days in the Assembly. She successfully passed the Justice in her master’s in Social Work from USC. Policing Act by a 236-181 margin with three Republicans voting in favor. And Sen. Tim Scott, Bass focused that training on fighting the crack epidemic in South LA, where she the Senate’s only Black Republican, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on June 28 that he has spoken founded the Community Coalition to fight for substance abuse prevention programs and often with Bass. better foster care. She also fought the AIDS epidemic — all experience directly applicable to “I give Karen Bass a lot of credit. She’s very serious about getting to a compromise,” dealing with the ongoing opioid crisis, as well as COVID-19. Scott said. “I went through the AIDS crisis from its very beginning. I watched all of Santa Monica Bass told a Politico town hall on June 30 that she does not negotiate in public but she’ll Boulevard get wiped out near Vermont (Avenue). That whole area there. I watched keep pushing, “especially when we have this moment where transformative change is everybody die within a matter of two years,” Bass told the Los Angeles Blade in March. “But possible. But we have to push, we have to keep pushing, and I’m ready to do that.” I think that this [COVID-19 crisis] is really hard because you don’t have to have any physical Pushing for justice is at her core. contact….People are building the plane while it’s flying.” “So the values that I treasure really were a result of watching the Civil Rights Movement Torie Osborn, executive director of the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community on TV, talking to my father about what growing up in the South meant, and then growing Services Center in 1989, met Bass at a meeting of progressive grassroots activists in a South up during the ’60s and watching young people try to change the world, led me to making a LA church basement. lifetime commitment to working for social and economic justice,” Bass told Jewish Journal “This woman I didn’t know came up, introduced herself as Karen Bass from South LA, an columnist Raphael Sonenshein in 2009. anti-police violence activist and a physician assistant,” Osborn says. The two talked all day with Bass noting that the gay community’s experience of AIDS deaths was similar to what the Black community was experiencing during the crack epidemic. CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM 1 0 • WAS H I NGTO NBLA D E.COM • J ULY 10, 2020 • N ATI ONA L NE W S

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Wedding photographer challenges Va. non-discrimination law A Norfolk wedding photographer has filed a federal lawsuit against Virginia’s new anti-LGBTQ discrimination law. The lawsuit, which the Alliance Defending Freedom, an anti-LGBTQ legal group, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia in Norfolk on June 30 alleges the Virginia Values Act violates Chris Herring’s First Amendment rights because it “requires Chris to promote content he disagrees with — to create and convey photographs and blogs celebrating same-sex weddings because he does so for weddings between a man and a woman.” “The law even makes it illegal for Chris to hold a policy of photographing CHRIS HERRING, left, owner of Chris Herring Photography in Norfolk, Va., and blogging about weddings only interacting with a bride at a wedding photo shoot. (Photo courtesy of Alliance Defending Freedom) between a man and woman or to post internet statements explaining his religious reasons for only creating this wedding content,” reads the lawsuit. The lawsuit states the Virginia Values Act “subjects him to investigations, onerous administrative processes, multiple lawsuits, fines up to $50,000 initially and then $100,000 per additional violation, plus unlimited damages and attorney-fee awards, and court orders forcing him to create photographs and blogs against his conscience.” The lawsuit also alleges the Virginia Values Act could “ruin Chris financially, and make operating his business impossible.” “So, Chris faces an impossible choice: Violate the law and risk bankruptcy, promote views against his faith or close down,” it reads. “And this was exactly what Virginia officials wanted for those who hold Chris’ religious beliefs about marriage. Legislators who passed Virginia’s law called views like Chris’ ‘bigotry’ and sought to punish them with ‘unlimited punitive damages’ to remove them from the public square.” The lawsuit names Virginia Attorney General PETER THIEL is reportedly distancing himself from President Mark Herring and R. Thomas Payne II, director of the Trump. (Blade file photo by Michael Key) Virginia Division of Human Rights and Fair Housing, as defendants. The Virginian-Pilot newspaper reported Chris Herring in an Alliance Defending Freedom Press release Gay billionaire Peter Thiel reportedly thinks President that announced his lawsuit said it is not “the state’s job Trump can’t win re-election and is distancing himself to tell me what I must capture on film or publish on my from the campaign, multiple media outlets reported this website.” weekend. “My religious beliefs influence every aspect of my Thiel thinks Trump’s campaign is doomed because life, including the stories I tell through my photography,” the economy will remain in a major recession this fall with he said. “If you’re looking for someone to photograph double-digit unemployment, according to the reports. a red-light district or promote drug tourism, I’m not Thiel, the co-founder of PayPal, is reportedly shifting your guy. … I happily work with and serve all customers, his political donations to House and Senate races and but I can’t and won’t let the state force me to express won’t donate to Trump’s re-election effort. messages that contradict my beliefs.” Thiel spoke at the 2016 Republican National The Virginia Values Act took effect on July 1. Virginia Convention, memorably announcing “I am proud to be is the first southern state to include sexual orientation gay, I am proud to be a Republican.” and gender identity in its statewide nondiscrimination He hasn’t commented publicly on the reports and the law. Trump campaign issued a statement that Thiel remains a MICHAEL K. LAVERS supporter of the president. STAFF REPORTS

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Tech experts fear LGBTQ Internet freedoms in peril

LGBTQ internet freedoms may be at risk on a global scale due to the new leadership at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, according to technology freedom experts. The agency, which operates independently from the U.S. government, oversees five different entities that include Voice of America and Radio Martí, broadcasting platforms and the Open Technology Fund. This fund is an independent nonprofit organization that focuses on advancing global Internet freedom by providing access, digital privacy tutorials, privacy enhancement and security tools like encryption. The U.S. Senate on June 4 confirmed Michael Pack, a conservative documentary filmmaker, as the U.S. Agency for Global Media’s new CEO. Pack quickly fired then-Open Technology Fund CEO Libby Liu after she announced her resignation with hopes to carry out the rest of her term. Pack also fired Laura Cunningham, the fund’s former president, along with the heads of Radio Free Europe, Radio Free Asia and the Office of Cuba Broadcasting two weeks after his appointment. Internet freedom advocates days after the firings circulated an online petition to “Save OTF” and “Save Internet Freedom Tech” to “demand the U.S. Congress continue supporting the Open Technology Fund and global internet freedom.” This petition has received bipartisan support from the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate and has been signed by 506 organizations and companies that include Human Rights Watch and Reddit. The Open Technology Fund and board members from the U.S. Agency for Global Media also filed a lawsuit against Pack on June 23, claiming the firings were unlawful. There has been a public outcry from internet security experts who fear these new leadership changes may mean a diversion of funds and a change from open source technology to closed source technology. Open source technology is a source code format that is publicly available, meaning programmers can read or change the building blocks of an application. A closed source software hides the code from the public, preventing people from viewing or modifying the script. According to Sandra Ordonez, the director of the Internet Freedom Festival, which the Open Technology Fund funds, open source technology is integral to security and privacy because it discourages the creation of “back doors” in apps or software that allow unauthorized users to bypass security measures and gain access to a user’s data without their permission or knowledge. Ordonez in a follow-up email to the Blade said the change to closed source technology may also limit the development of technologies in countries where Microsoft and other tools are not commonly used because of the prohibitive costs of licenses. She added this lack of access forces internet users to become much more dependent on open source alternatives, which are free. In the 71 countries where it is illegal to be LGBTQ, Internet privacy and security measures like the ones provided by the Open Technology Fund are critical safety tools, said Afsaneh Rigot, a program officer at Article 19, a human rights organization focused on defending the freedom of expression and information. “When we’re talking about the privacy and security of groups that are severely marginalized and get impacted most by the structures that oppress them, internet privacy, access, and avenues for protection, are fundamental,” said Rigot. Ordonez also said LGBTQ people are automatically at risk in countries where homosexuality is outlawed or taboo. “When LGBT people put themselves online, they put themselves at risk,” she said. KAELA ROEDER

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Supreme Court makes anti-LGBTQ discrimination easier at religious schools Ruling undermines recent victory for workplace rights By CHRIS JOHNSON In a decision that undermines LGBTQ teachers at religious schools, the U.S. Supreme Court has afﬁrmed for Catholic schools an expansive ministerial exemption in hiring practices under civil rights law. In the 7-2 decision issued on Wednesday, U.S. Associate Justice Samuel Alito writes religious institutions have authority under the First Amendment to make employment decisions for teachers who educate in faith matters consistent with their religious beliefs — even if that would be considered unlawful discrimination at secular places of employment, such as anti-LGBTQ discrimination. “The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools, and therefore the selection and supervision of the teachers upon whom the schools rely to do this work lie at the core of their mission,” Alito writes. “Judicial review of the way in which religious schools discharge those responsibilities would undermine the independence of religious institutions in a way that the First Amendment does not tolerate.” Joining Alito in the decision were conservative justices John Roberts, Brett Kavanaugh, Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas as well as liberals Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer. Dissenting from the opinion were Sonia Sotomayor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The Supreme Court makes the decision in the consolidated cases of Our Lady of Guadalupe School v. Morrissey-Berru, Agnes and St. James School v. Darryl Biel, which were brought by Catholic schools seeking an expanded ministerial exemption in the face of lawsuits from teachers suing the schools for employment discrimination. Alito bases much of his ruling on the Supreme Court’s previous decision in 2012 in the case of Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church & School v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which determined religious schools have a ministerial exemption, but declined to identify its scope. Although Alito concedes teachers at schools in the cases at hand weren’t given the title of minister, he concludes their cases “fall within the same rule that dictated our decision in Hosanna-Tabor.” “We declined to adopt a ‘rigid formula’ in Hosanna-Tabor, and the lower courts have been applying the exception for many years without such a formula,” Alito writes. “Here, as in Hosanna-Tabor, it is sufﬁcient to decide the cases before us. When a school with a religious mission entrusts a teacher with the responsibility of educating and forming students in the faith, judicial intervention into disputes between the school and the teacher threatens the school’s independence in a way that the First Amendment does not allow.” But in her dissent, Sotomayor writes the majority opinion “skews the facts, ignores the applicable standard of review, and collapses Hosanna-Tabor’s careful analysis into a single consideration: whether a church thinks its employees play an important religious role.” “That is, the court’s apparent deference here threatens to make nearly anyone whom the schools might hire ‘ministers’ unprotected from discrimination in the hiring process,” Sotomayor continues. “That cannot be right. Although certain religious functions may be important to a church, a person’s performance of some of those functions does not mechanically trigger a categorical exemption from generally

applicable anti-discrimination laws.” Despite ruling for an expansive ministerial exemption under the First Amendment, Alito appears to word his decision carefully so that the immediate application is the cases at hand: Teachers at religious schools who are expected to lead in prayer and teach the faith. Thomas writes in a concurring opinion the decision didn’t go far enough, arguing the Supreme Court should have given religious schools even more good-faith leeway in the hiring of non-ministerial positions. “Although the functions recognized as ministerial by the Lutheran school in Hosanna-Tabor are similar to those considered ministerial by the Catholic schools here, such overlap will not necessarily exist with other ‘The religious education and formation of students is the very reason for the existence of most private religious schools,’ Justice religious organizations, particularly those ‘outside of the SAMUEL ALITO wrote in the majority opinion. “mainstream,”‘” Thomas writes. “To avoid disadvantaging (Photo public domain) these minority faiths and interfering in “a religious group’s Amendment undercuts any and all laws and policies right to shape its own faith and mission,” courts should prohibiting discrimination on any basis, including race, defer to a religious organization’s sincere determination that gender, disability, HIV status, national origin. That includes a position is ‘ministerial.’” federal laws like Civil Rights of 1964 as well as any state law The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty filed a petition or city ordinance prohibiting discrimination. for review before the Supreme Court after federal appeals Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center courts ruled in favor of the teachers and against the schools. for Lesbian Rights, wrote in an email to the Blade the The court accepted and heard arguments in May, when immediate impact of the decision is “limited,” but the justices appeared to lean toward an expanded religious analysis is “disturbingly broad and appears to open the door exemption. to sweeping new exemptions to anti-discrimination laws.” Eric Rassbach, vice president and senior counsel at “Depending on how the court applies this decision in Becket, argued the case to the Supreme Court and said in future cases, it may enable religious employers to evade civil a statement the decision is “a huge win for religious schools rights laws simply by claiming that virtually any employee is of all faith traditions.” somehow fulfilling an important religious function,” Minter “The last thing government officials should do is decide said. “Protecting religious liberty is important, but this who is authorized to teach Catholicism to Catholics or decision goes too far and leaves far too many employees Judaism to Jews,” Rassbach said. “We are glad the court has vulnerable to being fired or abused for reasons that have resoundingly reaffirmed that churches and synagogues, not nothing to do with religious beliefs.” government, control who teaches kids about God.” Such discrimination may well happen, and perhaps On its face, the decision has nothing to do with LGBTQ even increase for LGBTQ teachers as result of the Supreme workers. The schools raised the ministerial exemption claims Court decision. Although corporations over the years have in response to litigation from teachers alleging wrongful grown more accepting of LGBTQ people, anti-LGBTQ termination for other reasons. discrimination at religious institutions continues to be an One teacher alleges she was terminated based on age ongoing issue. discrimination, the other based on disability after having to Robyn Blumner, legal director for the pro-secular Center request time off to treat cancer. The schools have maintained for Inquiry, said in a statement the Supreme Court decision is the termination was the result the teachers not fulfilling their more expansive than it seems and turns legal jurisprudence ministerial roles at the schools. for civil rights law on its head. But the decision has implications for workers at religious “This doctrine was intended to prevent the government schools across the board, including LGBTQ teachers. After from being able to dictate to churches who could serve as the Supreme Court just last month determined in the case a preacher,” Blumner said. “Here, it’s being used as a winkof Bostock v. Clayton County anti-LGBTQ discrimination is and-nod to religious schools so they can safely ignore antiprohibited in the workplace under Title VII of the Civil Rights discrimination laws and leave their fired employees with no of 1964, the latest ruling expands religious carve-outs under legal recourse. So the Supreme Court has yet again chosen that law to enable discrimination. to give religious groups the ultimate privilege: immunity Gay teachers could potentially be barred from suing from obeying the same laws as everyone else.” a Catholic school if they’re terminated for entering into a An estimated 300,000 lay teachers at religious schools same-sex marriage, or transgender teachers if they’re fired will now be subjected to having their non-discrimination for undergoing a gender transition. The only saving grace removed as a result of the Supreme Court decision, may be the analysis in the ruling, which heavily draws on the according to an estimation in May from Jeffrey Fisher, demonstrated expectation teachers would engage in faithan attorney with the Menlo Park, Calif.-based law firm based leadership for their jobs to fall under the ministerial O’Melveny & Myers LLP, who represented Catholic school exemption. teachers in the case. The scope of the ruling doesn’t stop with LGBTQ people. The breadth of the decision based on the First

1 4 • WAS H I NGTO NBLA D E.COM • J ULY 10, 2020 • N ATI ONA L NE W S

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

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Sometimes small gestures can have unexpected consequences. Major initiatives practically guarantee them reads the first lines of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the ban on discrimination that protects gay, lesbian and transgender employees. There is no doubt that this decision opens up the le al s stem for a new era of trans ri hts owever two ears a o in atin merica a major initiative undertaken by the nter merican ourt of uman i hts passed almost unnoticed. More than unexpected consequences, that 2018 rulin is showin toda its conse uent and symbolic impact. It may be seen as a small gesture in a re ion where some advocates claim that the life e pectanc of trans women is less than half than of the rest of the population But in that 2018 ruling the Inter-American ourt of uman i hts banned all forms of discrimination on rounds of ender identity and sexual orientation. Deriving its power as the final interpreter of the meanin of the merican onvention uman htsO the court has its seat A D V E R T on I S I N G P Ri O F in a uiet suburb of osta ica s capital San José. The ruling is binding in over 20 atin merican countries that fall under the court’s jurisdiction. The gesture is small he conse uences derivin from it, increasingly, are not. ADVERTISER SIGNATURE n a 2 two women became the By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the washington blade newspaper. This includes but is not limited to placement, couple to marr in osta payment and insertion schedule. first same se ica arria e e ualit was possible after the osta ican upreme ourt enforced the Inter-American Court´s opinion, one ear before cuador s onstitutional ourt also found that the ban was unconstitutional ut of the 2 countries in the world where same se marria e

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is legal, seven are under the jurisdiction of the nter merican ourt r entina ra il olombia osta ica cuador Mexico, and Uruguay.) Advocates around the region are pushing the domino tiles. On trans rights, the terrain in Latin American seems even trickier. In the most violent re ion of the world trans individuals are disproportionality affected iolence has its seeds in a culture of widespread discrimination against non-binary individuals. Civil society organizations claim that onl one in two trans persons has access to health care. Institutional policies are also rooted in hetero-cis-normative paradigms. The Inter-American Court’s decision challenged that institutionalized discrimination lto ether with a rulin on a general ban against discrimination on rounds of ender identit it also focused on the ri ht to identit The court’s groundbreaking decision considered that trans individuals have the right to have their gender identity officiall reco ni ed as the perceive it In practice, it means that Latin American states have the obligation to update their documents without an invasive procedures such as a probe of medical treatment, clinical tests or a physician’s certification he onl important re uirement is that the official documents mirror the person s self perceived identit nder the sponsorship of the r ani ation of merican tates the umbrella or ani ation under which the nter merican ourt was created civil registries all around the region are wor in on adoptin its practices and le islation to compl with the court s mandate. These are reasons to be optimistic. Still, there are reasons to be cautious. The political context in Latin American is as complex as in the U.S. today. All major initiatives alwa s will still re uire man more small gestures. At least this time, the law is on the ri ht side of histor

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LL.M., S.J.D., is an attorney, co-founder of BiLaw, former constitutional law professor and scholar, author of ‘Bridging Bisexual Erasure in LGBT Rights’ and Discourse (2015).

Bostock’s bisexual erasure From elation to disappointment It’s happened again. The Supreme Court has, much to the surprise and relief of millions of LGBTQ people, affirmed LGBTQ rights again, this time in an employment context. My initial response to the news was pure elation. But as I read the opinion, the joy was quickly tempered by the disappointing realization that, yet again, bisexuals have been erased from the latest historic Supreme Court LGBT-rights opinion. The blatant bi erasure begins in the opening paragraph of the Supreme Court’s opinion: “Today, we must decide whether an employer can fire someone simply for being homosexual or transgender,” and continues through the opinion’s final ruling: “An employer who fires an individual merely for being gay or transgender defies the law.” Gay or transgender? Homosexual or transgender! I’m sure there are some lesbians and gays who are less than thrilled about being lumped together under the antiquated term “homosexual,” but think about how we bisexuals feel, we who are excluded completely from this framing. Whatever happened to the “B” in LGBT? It is simply gone. As an initial matter, the Supreme Court’s summary of the question it was asked to decide is simply inaccurate. The original Bostock petition asked the question, “Whether discrimination against an employee because of sexual orientation constitutes prohibited employment discrimination ‘because of . . . sex’ within the meaning of Title VII.” Furthermore, bisexuals and other sexual minorities can be assured that Bostock will apply to them for many reasons, including that its ruling affirmed the Second Circuit’s Zarda v. Altitiude Express decision, which recognized that sexual orientation discrimination, broadly speaking, is a form of sex discrimination, not just in cases involving gay people. Why does it matter that bisexuals were erased from the actual text of Bostock? First, bisexual inclusion strengthens LGBT-rights arguments. As a bisexual woman, if I am dating a man, I am less likely to face discrimination at the workplace than when I am dating a woman. The only thing that has changed in the two scenarios is the

sex of the person I am dating, not my sexual orientation, illustrating that sexual discrimination orientation is a form of sex-based discrimination prohibited under Title VII. Second, bi erasure in LGBT-rights litigation has tangible, serious harms. As a legal matter, the failure of lawyers and courts to recognize bisexuality as a valid sexual orientation can have tragic, even life-or-death, repercussions. Bisexuals already face severe disparities, disproportionately suffering from comparatively high rates of employment discrimination, mental and physical health disparities, and violence, for example. The cruelty of bi erasure in LGBT-rights discourse ripples through decades of litigation and legislation such as the “Gay and Trans Panic Defense Bans” that dishonor the lives of bi people who are killed for their sexual orientation too. Bostock was brought to assert the rights of all LGBT people, not just the named plaintiffs. But bi erasure has occurred in every LGBT-rights Supreme Court decision since the historic 1996 Romer v. Evans decision, which broadly affirmed “gay and lesbian” rights for the first time. Horribly, in Romer, it was the advocates who erased us. The actual text of the Colorado Amendment ultimately ruled unconstitutional had explicitly included bisexuals in those it was denying rights to. But the parties challenging the Amendment dropped all references to bisexuals from their briefing, choosing to instead define the class of people harmed by the Amendment as solely “gays and lesbians.” The Supreme Court followed in kind, describing the class in that case as solely “homosexual persons or gays and lesbians.” From that point forward, bisexuals have been almost entirely erased from the face of Court opinions and LGBT-rights impact litigation. It hurts to be erased by our own community and advocates. But the harms when we are erased by courts themselves are even more devastating. As a constitutional scholar and member of the LGBT community, I am, of course, thrilled for the broader victory for equal rights represented by decisions like Bostock. But until my existence as a bisexual woman is acknowledged alongside the lives and rights of the “G, L and T” members of the LGBT community, there will always be a sting accompanying the sweet honey a historic Court decision like this produces.

is a regular contributor to the Blade and winner of the 2014 Stonewall Chapbook competition.

Remembering Sally Rogers, my first queer crush ‘Dick Van Dyke Show’ star was early feminist pioneer In Southern, New Jersey in the early 1960s, as a pre-teen who wrote stories, liked girls and wanted to be a writer when I grew up, I rarely saw people like me. Even on TV. Most women in life or on screen were wives and mothers who didn’t have jobs. Those who did work were schoolteachers or secretaries. The few single women seemed always to be widows or witches. Sure, I worshiped Jo March, the sisterly scribe of “Little Women.” But, she ended up married! Holden Caulfield was a boy, and even at 10, I knew Shakespeare was out of my league. Fortunately, Sally Rogers, my first queer crush was there for me. She wore a black bow in her hair, bought herself a fur coat (this was before PETA), belted out “Come Rain or Come Shine” at the drop of a hat and cracked one-liners at the speed of light. Rogers was the sophisticated, talented, single, comedy-writer character on “The Dick Van Dyke Show.” The series, one of the greatest TV sitcoms of all time ran from 1961 to 1966. (It’s streaming now on Hulu, Prime Video and Tubi, and you can buy it on Amazon or Apple.) Recently, I’ve been thinking of Rogers. Because her creator, Carl Reiner, the writer, actor and director, died on June 29 at age 98 of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. Reiner, who was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for humor, based “The Dick Van Dyke Show” on his experience as a husband and father and as a writer and second banana on the 1950s TV variety show “Your Show of Shows.” “The Dick Van Dyke Show” toggles between the home life of Rob (Dick Van Dyke) and Laura (Mary Tyler Moore) Petrie, and the work life of Rob as head writer of the fictional “Alan Brady Show.” Rogers (Rose Marie) and Buddy (Morey Amsterdam) are the other writers. Mel

(played by gay actor Richard Deacon) is the frazzled producer. The characters work for Alan Brady, the program’s frenetic, egomaniac star (played hilariously by Reiner). Today, there’s still gender stereotyping. But at least we speak of it. We call out men who insist that wearing masks in the pandemic negates their manhood. But when I was a kid, there was no talk of gender stereotyping, gender nonconformity or gender-bending. Boys were boys, and girls were girls. Boys became men – who worked, came home to their obedient wives and kids and grilled steaks for outdoor summer cook-outs. Girls could be tomboys. But they grew up to be feminine women who kept house, cooked, gave dinner parties, packed school lunches for the children and dabbed perfume behind their ears. Above all, girls weren’t supposed to be too strong (independent), funny or smart. “There’s something scary about women who are too cerebral – who wisecrack too much,” my Dad said one night at dinner. In this pink is for girls, blue is for boys, world, Sally Rogers was a lifeline for me and countless other girls. Rogers is gender-bending. She has a job that she excels at and loves. (She’s one of the best comedy writers in showbiz!) She makes Rob chicken soup when he’s sick, and plays poker. Rogers has her bad days. But mostly Sally, with her cat, lives a full, single life. She dates, has friends, visits her Aunt Agnes and keeps up with the latest in theater. As is the case with so many of us, her friends are her family. As Rose Marie told many interviewers, “Sally was the first women’s libber.” Sure, Roger’s lonely at times. And today her (sometimes serious, other times, joking) search for a husband is so heteronormative. Yet, she didn’t depend on men financially or for validation. She liked herself. Without you, Sally, I wouldn’t be writing this. Thank you for helping me and so many others to be ourselves!

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COVID redraws 2020 LGBTQ travel roadmap By SCOTT STIFFLER

Drag performer PORSCHE, aka BRANT KAIWI, on this year’s ﬁrst trip to Fire Island. (Photo by David Emanuele)

Finding safe ways to get away this summer When Dorothy returned from Oz and declared, “There’s no place like home,” that tribute to domesticity made sense, coming from a Kansas farm girl recently abducted by flying monkeys and repeatedly threatened by a wicked witch. But what if Auntie Em, instead of oozing empathy, informed her that she awoke to a changed world, told her to put on a mask, and delivered the devastating news that the big square dance was cancelled because of social distancing concerns? Fast forward three months, and the poor girl is staring out the window, hoping to hitch a ride on the next twister out of town. Friends of Dorothy feel her pain, and they’re aware the prospect of summer travel requires a new type of yellow brick road—one that will take them over the rainbow and back, free to venture out into the world without putting their lives, or anyone else’s, at risk. Mindful of this new mindset, a mid-May survey by veteran LGBTQ research firm Community Marketing & Insights (CMI) yielded the recently released report, “COVID-19 and LGBTQ Travel in 2020” (available free, at cmi.info). Comprised of data from an online survey of 1,864 self-identified members of America’s LGBTQ community, ages 20-70, the report found 69% of participants “indicated extreme or moderate pent-up desire to travel again for vacation,” although,

at the time, 72% of the travelers in the study “have already canceled a vacation in 2020 because of COVID-19,” with cancellations being strongest for the March-July period. Of those who took a vacation in 2019, 68% plan to take at least one overnight vacation trip during the remainder of 2020, including 42% planning two or more vacations. David Paisley, CMI Senior Research Director, noted they’ve been doing an annual fall travel survey for 20 years, but adapted its timing and content to acknowledge COVID19’s radical effect on the travel (and pretty much every other) landscape. “The LGBTQ community very much does want to travel this summer,” noted Paisley, “but they’re in a little bit of a waiting mode.” What we do know, as the report noted, is “the drop-off will be higher for more populated locations like big cities, with smaller reductions for outdoor and lesspopulated destinations.” That translates into, said Paisley, “places where you can walk through neighborhoods and parks, and visit museums, which tend to be less crowded than a nightclub… People are also much more open to short-term, car-based vacations, where they can make that decision a day in advance… It’s all about ﬂexibility and keeping options open.” Continues on page 20

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19

LGBTQ community anxious to travel this summer Road trips are the getaways of choice for two NYC residents who are trading time quarantined on the island of Manhattan for time spent on… another island. “I’m supposed to go camping [with friends] in the Adirondack Mountains, as I do the last week of June,” said producer/ performer Peter Michael Marino, who noted, “We won’t find out if the campsite is open until a week before. Sort of strange, since it’s outdoors in the middle of 9,000 square miles of forest.” Marino says his group, which “normally crams into one car for the six-hour drive,” will be splitting up this year. “A couple in our group already had the virus, and they’ll drive together,” he explained. “The other two each live alone and have taken safety precautions all along, so we don’t feel terribly unsafe traveling together.” Upon arrival at the lake campground, “We canoe to a small, isolated island the size of a suburban backyard, with just an outhouse and fire pit. We have plenty of space there and each have our own tents. And while we won’t be wearing masks on the island or coughing on each other, I think we’ll take great care not LGBTQ travelers are more willing to take a drive trip this summer compared to past years. to directly share food and drink.” (Image courtesy of Community Marketing & Insights) For drag performer Porsche, aka Brant Kaiwi, the ferry to Fire Island found folks “with masks on and, from what I saw, keeping with their groups and distant from others.” The trip, taken the second weekend of June, was this season’s first for her, serving as fact-finding mission to the Island’s Cherry Grove hamlet— their event and trying to show the LGBTQ consumer is important to them.” But this year, where Porsche will soon be resuming live performances, delving further into her second says Evans, who places advertisements for the National LGBT Media Association, the decade at the Grove Hotel’s Ice Palace nightclub. usually robust presence of stalwart supporters is, thus far, nowhere to be found. “The Ice Palace is getting pretty creative with how to handle a fun crowd safely,” said “Advertisers hate uncertainty,” noted Evans. “Nobody wants, ‘We might have a Kaiwi/Porsche. “We are very lucky to have the outdoor and indoor space that we do, program, we might do that.’ The travel industry knows the LGBTQ market better than and it’s going to be fun! I don’t want to give it away just yet, but the way they are doing most. I’ve done a lot of inquiries, and my feeling is, they’re all getting ready, waiting until it, all guidelines are being followed, and followed creatively.” they have something solid to promote.” Don’t be afraid of traveling to LGBTQ-friendly places, she urged, but do “travel Evans counts himself among those referenced in an early May 2020 Harris Poll travel smartly to those destinations. Those vibrant, wonderful communities have already been survey that compared LGBTQ and non-LGBTQ travelers. The Harris research, CMI’s hit hard by the pandemic, so by all means safely support!” report noted, “seemed to support the resilience of the LGBTQ travel community.” That yearning to be surrounded by the similarly inclined is especially strong right Said Evans, from anecdotal and personal perspectives, LGBTQ people “are more now. mobile, more ready, and willing to be the first, the same as it was after 9/11 and the “One of the great losses for the LGBTQ community this summer,” noted Paisley, “is [2008] recession. the cancellation of [public] Pride events across the United States, which carries bigger “I’ve been home for three months,” he said, “and I have digital fatigue, as I am sure emotional weight than the cancelation of other types of events.” most people do. So I understand the itch to get out, to get away.” A normal summer, observed Rivendell Media President and CEO Todd Evans, “would mean lots of companies and events advertising for Pride, wanting to promote

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QUEERY Alexander CAmpbell

still be bisexual, and is part of my LGBTQ family. What’s your proudest professional achievement? Professionally? I haven’t the slightest idea, but working at Uproar is something I’m wholeheartedly proud of. And making it a place that accepts everyone is an achievement in itself.

QUEERY: Alexander Campbell

The Uproar ﬂoor manager answers 20 queer questions FROM STAFF REPORTS

Alexander Campbell is still adjusting to the new normal as ﬂoor manager of Uproar Lounge & Restaurant during coronavirus restrictions. “After bartending for the last seven years, it has been interesting switching back to table service,” he said. “It’s much more personable and I think I’m getting more steps walking between tables now than being behind the bar.” Campbell, 27, has spent the last four and a half years at Uproar. He said they began delivery and takeout service as soon as D.C. announced that option, and reopened the rooftop for distanced seating during phase 1. “We’re preparing our indoor spaces to open up here very soon,” he added, noting the support from customers has been “overwhelming.” “It’s been amazing to see how they went out of their way to assist staff or the bar with food orders and donations,” Campbell said. Campbell, who grew up in Silver Spring, Md., is single and lives in Capitol Heights. He enjoys woodworking,

handyman jobs, motorcycling, reading, and sleeping in his free time. How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell? I came out as bisexual a few months after I started working at Uproar. I have been lucky enough in my life that telling people I’m bisexual has not been hard at all. Who’s your LGBTQ hero? Indya Moore from “Pose.” I’ve been following her work with most recently raising funds and support for black trans lives that have been lost and those that can still be saved. What LGBTQ stereotype most annoys you? It can’t be helped but for me it is how when you meet someone you assume they are gay or straight. It still seems to blow people’s minds that there are humans who are sexually attracted to more than one gender. In my world, a ciswoman who is married to a cis-man can

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What terrifies you? Terrifies me. That’s a strong word. I’m sure at some point in my life I will experience something that will cause me to feel “extreme fear,” but so far anything I have feared I have been able to overcome. What’s something trashy or vapid you love? Would Jameson be considered trashy enough? What’s your greatest domestic skill? Greatest domestic skill would probably have to be my handiness around the house and ability to build/fix things that are broken. What’s your favorite LGBTQ movie or show? Definitely “Pose.” What’s your social media pet peeve? No pet peeves there, social media is just that — media meant to be social. If anything I think it’s annoying that it takes up so much of our lives but hey, the world keeps on turning. What would the end of the LGBTQ movement look like to you? I don’t think the movement will ever stop. It can’t, we can’t let it. The end of the LGBTQ movement would be a sad day indeed. What’s the most overrated social custom? Birthday parties. I use mine as a way to bring Uproar business sometimes but in general I prefer to take a solo trip if I’m going to celebrate it. What was your religion, if any, as a child and what is it today? My family was Christian, I can’t remember what

denomination. I was brought up within the church but I was never part of it. These days I focus on believing in myself and the god within me. What’s D.C.’s best hidden gem? Tacos el Chilango, can’t be beaten. What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime? To be honest I don’t keep up with pop culture. I’ve always felt as though it distracts from more important things in my life. What celebrity death hit you hardest? Again I don’t really follow many celebrities so their deaths don’t mean much to me but when my grandmother on my father’s side passed it was quite painful. She always tried to understand me and who I was and why I would do the things I did, and even if she couldn’t she would just smile and say “well that’s alright.” If you could redo one moment from your past, what would it be? I believe that every moment from my past has led me to be who I am today, and although I’m not perfect, there is absolutely nothing I would change in myself. Therefore, there is nothing I would change in my past. What are your obsessions? Seeing Uproar continue to be a special part of the LGBTQ community, creating conversations on bisexuality, and enjoying every day of my life as they come. Finish this sentence — It’s about damn time: It’s about damn time we normalize bi and pan-sexuality. What do you wish you’d known at 18? Everything I know now about myself and about my community. Why Washington? I used to bartend in hotels and almost got myself a transfer to work down in Miami. But then I found my home in Uproar and haven’t had a thought of leaving since.

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CALENDAR

‘The Prince’ revives gay prison fantasy in erotic glory

BY KAELA ROEDER

Genet-inspired film shocks and arouses with explicit sex scenes BY JOHN PAUL KING At first glance, “El Principe” – the newto-America prison drama from Chilean filmmaker Sebastián Muñoz – might appear to be nothing more than just another entry in a long line of homoerotic fantasies paying homage to a certain fetishized image of hyper-sexualized, violent masculinity that originated generations ago in the underground JUAN CARLOS MALDONADO in ‘The Prince.’ (Photo courtesy Artsploitation) history of queer culture. That assessment would not be altogether wrong, but it takes on a new perspective – and acquires a mantle of higher respect – with the knowledge that it won the prestigious “Queer Lion” prize at the Venice Film Festival when it premiered there in 2019. Deepening its pedigree even more is the fact that it directly connects to an important, if obscure, slice of queer history in its own right. Muñoz’ film, which dropped on VOD and DVD in the U.S. under its translated title, “The Prince,” on July 7, is based on a little-known novel of the same name by Mario Cruz. Written in the early ‘70s, its explicit depiction of homosexuality made it impossible to distribute through Chilean bookstores at the time, but it nevertheless gained an eager cult audience who could find it sold only in the newsstands of Santiago’s San Diego Street. Cruz never wrote another book, and his contribution to the Chilean queer underground’s cultural imagination had faded, along with his name, by the time the filmmaker picked up an old copy of “El Principe” at a used book store. Says Muñoz in a director’s statement, “I did not expect that behind what seemed a cheap erotic novel I would discover an amazing portrait of 1970s Chilean society… As a gay man in his 40s, and part of a generation that won the right of being homosexual without euphemisms, I could not even imagine how disruptive this book was for its time.” Inspired to take the story to the big screen, the filmmaker penned (with Luis Barrales) an adaptation, which embraces both a stylized and naturalistic cinematic approach as it unfolds the allegorical tale of Jaime, a 20-year-old narcissist who is sent to prison after murdering his own best friend. Frightened and alone, he is taken under the wing of an older inmate known as “The Stallion,” a career gangster with influence and powerful connections who exerts a firm control over his fellow prisoners. What starts out as a quid-pro-quo “prison marriage” develops into something deeper as Jaime finds unexpected connection and tenderness with his protector, and the pair form a bond that approaches something deeper. In the harsh and repressive prison environment of 1970s Chile, however, it doesn’t take long before cellblock politics intrude upon their brief idyll, and both younger and older man are dragged toward their respective fates by the rivalries and power struggles of the condemned. It’s difficult, perhaps even impossible, not to look at this audacious film without reckoning with the influence, traced through both its source material and the cinematic heritage of which it is a part, of Jean Genet. For those unfamiliar, he was a French author, playwright, and philosopher who went from an early life of hustling, vagrancy and crime in the sexual underworld of mid-20th-century Europe to establishing himself through his work as a leading countercultural figure, before finally assuming a late-in-life role as a fierce political activist. CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Gardens at Hillwood Estate

(Photo by Gryfﬁndor via Wikimedia Commons)

TODAY

Monday, July 13

The Hillwood Estate and Gardens has reopened with limited capacity to enforce social distancing. Visitors are required to make separate timedentry reservations ahead of time. Open Tuesday to Sunday. Prices vary from $5$18 and ages 5 and younger enter free. Details at hillwoodmuseum.org/visit.

The Whitman-Walker Community Volunteer Nights are tonight and every second Saturday of the month from 6-8 p.m. Volunteers will assemble STI selftesting kits for the free, walk-in testing services the center provides. More details available on their Facebook page.

Saturday, July 11

LGBTQ dance party Flashy Home Edition is back to host a livestream tonight from 9:30 p.m.-12:30 a.m., hosted by DC9. DJs TWiN and Sean Morris will spin. The event is free. Details at facebook.com/ﬂashyDC. Dark and Stormy is also hosting a free livestream tonight from 9:30 p.m.-2 a.m., a dance party from the promoter and DJ Shea Van Horn featuring current Washington resident DJs Kangal and Mindjacket. Electro, Goth, Industrial, EBM, Synthwave, Retro and other Dark Disco sounds will be played. Visit facebook.com/darkandstormydc to learn more.

Sunday, July 12

The DC Area Transmasculine Society is hosting its monthly transmasculine support group at 5 p.m. today. This month’s topic is on “passing” and cisgender assumptions. These meetings are open to those who are assigned female at birth but believe this is an inaccurate or incomplete description of themselves, including trans men, nonbinary, genderqueer or other identities. Details at dcats.org/calendar.

Tuesday, July 14

The DC Center is hosting a trans support group via Zoom tonight from 7-9 p.m., and every second Tuesday and fourth Friday of the month. This group is intended to provide an emotionally and physically safe space for trans people and those who may be questioning their gender identity/expression to join in the community and learn from one another. All who are trans or unsure are welcome.

Wednesday, July 15

The Morris Cafritz Center for Social Responsibility and the Kurlander Program for GLBTQ Outreach & Engagement are hosting a virtual and story-sharing event on the creators of Casa Ruby tonight from 7-8:30 p.m. Ruby Corado, Holly Goldmann, and Consuella Lopez, who lead the LGBTQ youth center, will share their life stories. This event is free, and details are on their Facebook page.

Thursday, July 16

The Glenstone Museum outdoor sections are now open today and Thursday to Sunday weekly from 10 a.m.5 p.m. Advance reservations required, and tickets released are released two weeks in advance on Mondays at 10 a.m. Visits are limited to groups of ﬁve people.

I love seeing bands at 9:30 Club, looking out for great food trucks, and shopping at Eastern Market.

”

I’m a transgender man and I’m part of DC. Please treat me the way any man would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect. Discrimination based on gender identity and expression is illegal in the District of Columbia. If you think you’ve been the target of discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559.

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Teaching music via Zoom Local composer Matt Conner gets creative during COVID By PATRICK FOLLIARD Challenging times call for innovative measures. When composer Matt Conner’s plans to teach musical theater at summer day camp and continue giving private piano lessons were put in peril, he knew he had to figure out a way to do things differently, and fast. Not surprisingly, he turned to Zoom. When quarantine became a thing in March, recalls Conner, he and husband Stephen Gregory Smith, a longtime local actor, were poised to teach spring break musical theater classes for kids at Creative Cauldron, a popular nonprofit professional theater in Falls Church, Va. When classes moved online, Conner and Smith embarked on a crash course in videoconferencing, learning its precise features and discovering how best to use it as a teaching tool. They solicited the help of actor friends and friends’ children in test driving a musical theater curriculum of storytelling, guest artists, and puppets. It proved a success. So, by the time Creative Cauldon’s interactive summer camp for children ages 5-12 kicked off in late June, the duo was prepared. They look forward to another session in August (for enrollment details go to Creativecauldon.org). “Interactive camp is a very different experience,” says Conner. “In person, I might give campers an assignment and then take role or go for a drink of water, but with Zoom if you leave the screen for a second, the kids are like ‘what are you doing? Where’d you go?’ It requires complete and total concentration.” Virtual piano lessons took some getting used to as well. Weekly 30-minute lessons that happened in Conner’s living room in Arlington, or children’s homes, instantly became a thing of the past. When asked how he does it, Conner, who taught himself to play at eight, explains, “You use what you have and go from there. First, I had to let my students know that Zoom is like a tennis match. We can’t talk at the same time. We take turns. “With this in mind, it’s very cool how we have developed brand new creative thinking as we go. For instance, I will play a note, and then my student will play the next. We take turns and together work out to create our own melody.” He also sends students video of his finger movements for pieces they’re working on. During quarantine, the aspiring pianists have markedly improved. They’re more prepared and focused, he says. And consequently, the word is out. With 20 students, Conner has never been busier. As many will attest, back-to-back Zoom sessions can be tiresome. But Conner never dreads time spent with kids and a piano. He says, “I think it’s because piano is my first voice. I can sit there with a cup of coffee and teach piano for hours.” Married in 2013 (but together much longer), Conner and Smith met as students at Shenandoah University. Over the years, the talented pair have evolved into a prolific songwriting team. Their collaborations include five musicals in five years for Creative Cauldron’s $50,000 commissioning project, “Bold New Works for Intimate Stages,” as well as over a dozen children’s musicals. A recent joint effort, “Cinderella’s Dream,” was in its final week of rehearsal when venues closed. Rather than shelve the project, Creative Cauldron made the children’s musical into a video with performers doing their parts from home. It’s now in postproduction and will be ready for streaming soon. Also, from home, Conner and Smith are collaborating with Synetic Theater on a musical based on the women murdered by Jack the Ripper: “We won’t give Jack a voice. Instead we’ll let the women sing. They will tell their stories.” The piece’s working title is “Whitechapel,” named for the East London district where the grisly murders took place. Looking forward to a post-pandemic world, Conner says he might teach piano via Zoom full-time with once-a-month house visits to check in. It’s an option. Time will tell.

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‘Interactive camp is a very different experience,’ says MATT CONNER. (Photo courtesy K Watkins Photography)

‘Schitt’s Creek’ scores 7 Dorian Award nominations Ryan Murphy’s ‘Hollywood’ also honored By BRIAN T. CARNEY

The Wilde Wit Award honors “a performer, writer or commentator whose GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics has announced the observations both challenge and amuse.” Nominees include Dan Levy, Randy nominees for its annual Dorian Awards for television. LGBT fan favorite “Schitt’s Creek” Rainbow, Hannah Gadsby, Cate Blanchett and Trevor Noah. led the pack with seven nods; Ryan Murphy’s glittering escapist fantasy “Hollywood” The Society will also present its first “You Deserve An Award!” Award to a “uniquely landed six noms. Ranked by network, Netflix shows dominated the competition with a total of 21 nominations. HBO landed 13 nods and Hulu and Pop each scored 8 mentions. In addition to nominations for Best TV Comedy and Best LGBT Show, “Schitt’s Creek” scored acting nods for the four lead players: Dan Levy, Catherine O’Hara, Annie Murphy and Eugene Levy. Noah Reid, who plays Patrick, was also recognized for his performance of “Always Be My Baby” in one of GALECA’s signature categories: Best TV Musical Performance. Other nominees in the hotly contested Musical Performance category include Jake Gyllenhaal for “Music, Music Everywhere!” with John Mulaney & the Sack Lunch Bunch; Jennifer Lopez and Shakira for the controversial Halftime Show at Super Bowl LIV; and two presentations at the 92nd Academy Awards: the opening number by Janelle Monáe and Billy Porter and “Stand Up” by Cynthia Errivo. “Hollywood’s” nominations DAN LEVY, CATHERINE O’HARA, and NOAH REID in ‘Schitt’s Creek.’ (Photo courtesy Pop TV) include acting nods for LGBT icon and ally Patti LuPone, who played glamorous studio head talented TV icon we adore.” Winners will be announced on Aug. 21. Avis Amberg, and for three gay actors playing gay characters: Jeremy Pope (Archie GALECA presents Dorian Awards for outstanding work in both film and television. Coleman), Joe Mantello (Dick Samuels) and Jim Parsons (Henry Willson). “Hollywood” In previous award cycles, all of the awards were presented in January. This cycle, the also got a nod for Best LGBT Show and scored a nomination in the unique Dorian television awards will be presented at a separate event. Eligible shows must have Award category of Most Visually Striking Show. been aired between Nov. 2, 2019 and May 31, 2020. The Dorian Awards for film will Other shows nominated in that category include “The Crown,” “The Mandalorian,” be presented in 2021 as part of the movie award season. and two HBO dramas “Watchman” and “Westworld.” The Dorian Awards were first presented in 2009. GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ The Dorian TV Awards are presented in a total of 15 categories. Other notable Entertainment Critics currently has more than 260 active members who write for accolades from the queer critics include the Campiest TV Show and the Wilde Wit legitimate media outlets in the United States and around the globe. (The Blade is Award (named for gay icon Oscar Wilde whose novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” represented by film and TV critic Brian T. Carney.) inspired the name of the group’s awards). A complete list of nominees and more information on the organization can be Competitors for the Campiest TV Show include “Dolly Parton’s Heartstrings,” “The found at @DorianAwards on Twitter and Facebook or at GALECA.org. Great,” “Tiger King: Murder, Mayhem and Madness” and two shows featuring drag diva RuPaul Charles: “AJ and the Queen” and “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

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Let’s talk D.C. property taxes Reduce your liability by seeking out city benefits By Valerie M. Blake If you own commercial property, you will be taxed under Class 2, with In my article last month, three different rates depending on the assessed value of the building. I referenced taxes in D.C. Class 3 covers vacant properties and the charge is $5.00 per $100 of and promised you more assessed value, so using the example of our $500,000 assessment, you information at another time. would pay $25,000 per year in property tax. Luckily, there is an application Well, this is the time. for an exemption for up to 18 months if you are selling your house (and if Now, I’m not talking it takes me 18 months to sell your house in this market, just shoot me now). about income taxes (which, Class 4 gives me nosebleeds. This is the blighted property class, for incidentally, are due next homes that are not only vacant but also uncared for, abandoned, boarded week) but about property up, falling down, fire damaged and/or a draw for unwanted critters or taxes. vagrants. A whopping $10.00 per $100 in our example will cost $50,000 In D.C., the new tax year per year. What an incentive to clean up your property! begins on Oct. 1 and we There can be other consequences as well. Late payment of property pay property taxes every taxes, for example, can result in a charge of 10% of the tax and interest six months, in March and at the rate of 1.5% per month. The District might also place a lien on your September. Our taxes are home and require you to pay the balance owed when you sell it, eating into paid in arrears, meaning that your equity or profit. Worse yet, your property could be put up for tax sale. those coming due on Sept. In D.C., the new tax year begins on Oct. 1 and we pay property taxes every six months. Bottom line: Keep your property in good repair. Seek out the benefits 15, 2020 cover the six-month you qualify for to reduce your tax liability. Notify the OTR if your situation period beginning on June 1, changes so adjustments can be made. Because if you don’t, they will look 2020. for you, they will find you, and they will charge you. Liam Neeson told me so. The method of assessing tax value of homes in D.C. has always been a mystery to me. In many states, reassessments are conducted annually or when the property changes hands. You hear horror stories about taxes in Chicago, New York, or even Florida that vastly exceed the current maximum deductible amount. Even though I have owned four houses and two condominiums in D.C., only twice have I been asked to complete a tax assessment questionnaire. And when I asked around, nobody else knew what I was talking about. The D.C. Office of Tax and Revenue (OTR) has four different classifications and there are so many permutations within them that it can leave your head spinning. Class 1 is defined as “Residential real property, including multifamily.” This applies to your detached home, rowhouse, condominium, or cooperative. The base tax rate for a Class 1 property is currently 85 cents per $100 of the property’s assessed value, but that may not be what you pay at all. For example, if you occupy the property as your principal residence, then you are entitled to a Homestead Exemption, which allows you to exclude $75,700 of the assessed value of your home for an annual property tax savings of $643.45. In addition to the Homestead Exemption, if you are 65 or older (or disabled), own 50% or more of your property and have a household adjusted gross income less than $134,550, you can apply to have the OTR reduce your property tax by 50%. Sound confusing? Here’s an example. An assessment of $500,000 would yield an annual property tax of $4250. A Homestead Exemption would reduce that to $3606. Applying the Senior Citizen or (Disclaimer: I am not a tax Disabled rate would further reduce your tax to $1803 annually. professional, accountant, or attorney. And then there’s the cap – the saving grace of D.C.’s property tax system. Once you Please consult your own tax specialist is a licensed Associate Broker in D.C., own your home, your assessment cannot go up more than 10% per year (or 5% per year for information pertaining to your Maryland and Virginia and Director if you’re paying the Senior Citizen or Disabled rate). of Education & Mentorship at RLAH individual circumstances.) Some people can apply for a tax abatement and not pay any property tax at all for Real Estate. Call or text her at 202-246up to five years. The Tax Abatement program has income limits based on the size of 8602, email her via DCHomeQuest. your household (currently $74,520 for a party of two) as well as a purchase price limit com, or follow her on Facebook at of $479,066. TheRealst8ofAffairs.

Valerie M. Blake

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