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Whitman-Walker’s 35th annual Walk & 5K to End HIV held virtually Participants picked their own routes throughout D.C. metro area

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

the barriers to care folks faced during the AIDS epidemic and Whitman-Walker Health, D.C.’s LGBTQ supportive health continue to face during COVID,” Shafi said in a statement. “The center, hosted its 35th annual Walk and 5 K Run to End HIV on current pandemic illustrates that we still have work to do in Saturday, Oct. 23, in a format in which participants chose their creating safer, affirming spaces for everyone in the community,” own route to walk and run throughout the D.C. metro area. she said. “Our staff works to remove those barriers to care for The event, which serves as Whitman-Walker’s largest single patients and clients every day.” fundraiser of the year, took place in what organizers called a Addy told the Blade on Sunday that Whitman-Walker officials virtual format for the second year in a row due to the COVID-19 were still calculating the funds raised so far by individual pandemic, even though many participants walked or ran either participants who ran or walked or simply sent in contributions by themselves or in small groups. in support of Whitman-Walker’s work, which includes caring “Participants can sign up to run or walk a 5k route in for more than 20,000 patients.

Washington, D.C. and pass by local Whitman-Walker locations In a statement prior to the start of the Oct. 23 event, Whitmanin Northwest and Southeast DC, or they can choose to walk or Walker said its fundraising goal for the event was $450,000. run a 5k route in their city!” Whitman-Walker said in a statement In messages promoting the event, Whitman-Walker said promoting the event.

Whitman-Walker’s 35th annual Walk & 5K to End supporters could “register, walk, run, and donate to this year’s In recent years prior to the start of the COVID pandemic, HIV is being held virtually. (Blade photo by Michael Key) walk,” through Dec. 31, 2021, at www.walktoendHIV.org.

Whitman-Walker’s Walk & 5 K Run to End HIV began and The locations participants passed by in their walk or run on Oct. 23 included Whitmanended at Freedom Plaza in downtown D.C., with as many as 1,000 or more participants Walker’s Liz Taylor facility at 14th and R streets, N.W., its headquarters, and medical care running or walking together along a route that included Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W., at building at 1525 14th St., N.W., its Max Robinson Pharmacy at 2303 Martin Luther King Jr. Freedom Plaza, and parts of the National Mall.

Ave., S.E.: and its St. Elizabeth’s Campus location at 1100 Alabama Ave., S.E. “We decided to host the Walk virtually again this year, enabling folks to show their “Complete the race wherever and whenever you would like,” Whitman-Walter stated in support for the 35th annual Walk & 5K to End HIV from near and far,” said Whitman-Walker reminding participants that the event’s fundraising effort will continue through Dec. 30. spokesperson Jewel Addy. “Participants get to decide their level of COVID safety, and that “You can walk, run, use a treadmill, or participate in another race.” was especially important again this year,” she said.

Among those expressing strong support for Whitman-Walker on the occasion of its 35th Whitman-Walker Health CEO Naseema Shafi said it was significant that the 35th annual walk and run to end HIV was Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of anniversary of what started out in 1987 as the first annual AIDS Walk Washington took Allergies and Infectious Diseases, who released a video praising Whitman-Walker for its place this year on the 40th anniversary of HIV/AIDS. work in fighting the AIDS epidemic since the start of the epidemic.

“The 40th anniversary of HIV and the 35th anniversary of this event allow us to reflect on

D.C. state board calls for LGBTQ-inclusive teaching standards Sweeping resolution proposing content in curricula approved unanimously

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

teachers, and school-based leaders and staff “in providing LGBTQ+ inclusive The D.C. State Board of Education voted unanimously on Oct. 20 to lessons and practices in their classrooms.” approve a resolution calling for LGBTQ+ Inclusive Education Standards for The resolution concludes by recommending that the State Superintendent the city’s public schools that “reflect on the political, economic, social, cultural, of Education conduct a survey of students within two years after the Oct. and scientific contributions and experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and 20 adoption of the resolution “to establish baseline data and to gain an transgender people.” understanding of the current experiences of LGBTQ+ students across the The two-page resolution, which was introduced by gay State Board of district and what all students know and understand about the contributions Education member Allister Chang, who represents Ward 2, cites national and experiences of LGBTQ+ people in the relevant subject areas.” research showing that students who have access to LGBTQ+ curricula in their Chang and other members of the State Board of Education noted at the schools “are more likely to report lower frequency of bullying, lower levels of Oct. 20 meeting, which was virtual, that Will Beckerman, who graduated this depression, more accepting peers, and greater feelings of safety in school.” year from D.C.’s School Without Walls High School, played an important role The resolution states that research also shows that multicultural education, in conducting the research used to prepare the LGBTQ standards resolution including the teaching of LGBTQ topics, “helps prevent the formation of bias and helped in the drafting of the resolution. and prejudice and creates more democratic communities.”

Chang noted that much of the background information used to draft the LGBTQ rights advocates have long considered the local D.C. government resolution came from Beckerman’s senior year school research paper and through its mayor and City Council to be highly supportive of the LGBTQ advocacy project that focuses on the topic of LGBTQ-inclusive education. community. But Chang and other supporters of the resolution approved by In comments supporting the resolution, Chang also spoke about how the the board Wednesday night say their research shows that D.C. public schools, very limited LGBTQ content he encountered during his high school days while supportive of LGBTQ students, are far behind the school systems in helped him accept himself as a gay youth. several other states in the inclusion of LGBTQ topics in school curricula.

Gay State Board of “As a student myself, I don’t remember a single mention of any LGBTQ As an example, supporters of the resolution point out that curriculum Education member ALLISTER CHANG people in any of my classwork until I read Thomas Mann in my senior year standards for social studies classes in the D.C. school system include only in high school,” Chang said. “And in Death in Venice, this Nobel Prize winner one mention of LGBTQ people in a teaching section related to victims of the touches upon his struggles with homosexuality but never actually names it explicitly,” Holocaust.

Chang told fellow board members.

Unlike most other cities and states, under current D.C. law, the school system is controlled “And I remember holding on to this novella despite the self-hatred that’s woven by the mayor through the D.C. Department of Education, which is headed by a Deputy throughout this story because it was the first time that I saw this aspect of my identity Mayor for Education and who, in turn and in consultation with the mayor, appoints a State reflected in my class work,” he said. “My hope – and I think this hope comes true with this Superintendent of Education who oversees the day-to-day operations of the schools. resolution tonight – is that future generations of LGBTQ students have more opportunities Under a change in the education statute approved by the D.C. Council and signed by to see themselves reflected in their class work and to feel less isolated by their class work then-Mayor Adrian Fenty in 2007, the school board, which was renamed the State Board than I did growing up.” of Education, became a mostly advisory body on education matters with some statutory It couldn’t immediately be determined whether D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser will endorse authority to approve education standards on which school curricula are based. the school system changes proposed by the resolution approved by the State Board of Thus, the resolution approved by the board on Wednesday “advises” and “recommends” Education. that the State Superintendent of Education develop school curricula, guidance for 0 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1 • LO CA L NE WS

McAuliffe: Youngkin ‘most homophobic’ candidate in Va. history A tight race in bellwether for 2022 House Democrats

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com

Terry McAuliffe described Republican Glenn Youngkin as the “most homophobic” and most “anti-choice candidate” in Virginia history during an Oct. 21 telephone interview with the Washington Blade.

“I’m running against the most homophobic, anti-choice candidate in Virginia history,” said McAuliffe. “I ran against Ken Cuccinelli. That’s saying something.”

McAuliffe, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee, in 2013 defeated Cuccinelli, Virginia’s then-attorney general who vehemently opposed LGBTQ rights, in that year’s gubernatorial race. Youngkin, the former co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm, is running against McAuliffe in the race to succeed current Gov. Ralph Northam.

State Del. Hala Ayala (D-Prince William County) is running for lieutenant governor, while Attorney General Mark Herring is seeking re-election. They are running against Republicans Winsome Sears and Jason Miyares respectively.

The entire Virginia House of Delegates is also on the ballot on Nov. 2. The outcome of those races will determine whether Democrats maintain control of the chamber.

Youngkin opposes marriage equality

The Associated Press a day after McAuliffe spoke with the Blade published an interview with Youngkin in which he reiterated his opposition to marriage equality, but stressed it is “legally acceptable” in Virginia and he would “support that” as governor.

The anti-LGBTQ Family Research Council, which the Southern Poverty Law Center has categorized as an extremist group, earlier this month endorsed Youngkin. The Human Rights Campaign and Equality Virginia’s political action committee are among the groups that have backed McAuliffe.

Youngkin earlier this year said he does not support allowing transgender children to play on sports teams that are consistent with their gender identity. Youngkin has also expressed support for Tanner Cross, a gym teacher at a Leesburg elementary school who was suspended in June after he spoke against the Virginia Department of Education guidelines that are designed to protect trans and non-binary students.

HRC in 2019 named the Carlyle Group as a “Best Place to Work for LGBTQ Equality” in its annual Corporate Equality Index. McAuliffe scoffed at this recognition.

“They should have checked with their co-CEO who’s against marriage equality,” he told the Blade. “That would have been the first place I would have gone to ask.”

McAuliffe’s first executive order as governor after he took office in 2014 banned discrimination against LGBTQ state employees. He also vetoed several anti-LGBTQ religious freedom bills, created Virginia’s LGBTQ tourism board and became the state’s first governor to declare June Pride month.

McAuliffe noted to the Blade that he is also the first governor of a southern state to officiate a same-sex wedding. The lesbian couple whom he married has recently appeared in one of his campaign ads.

“I spent four years vetoing every single legislation Republicans brought forth and came across my desk that would have discriminated against the LGBTQ community,” said McAuliffe. “I’ve always been out front fighting to protect everybody.”

McAuliffe noted that CoStar, a D.C.-based commercial real estate company, moved more than 1,000 jobs to Richmond from Charlotte after then-North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed House Bill 2, which banned trans people from using public restrooms consistent with their gender identity and prohibited municipalities from enacting LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination measures. McAuliffe described HB 2 to the Blade as the “anti-gay bill.”

“There’s real consequences … to discriminatory actions and I will not tolerate any of it,” he said.

McAuliffe last month said during his first debate against Youngkin that local school boards “should be making their own decisions” with regards to the implementation of the Virginia Department of Education guidelines for trans and non-binary students.

McAuliffe during his second debate against Youngkin stressed “locals” should provide input on the policy, but added “the state will always issue guidance.”

McAuliffe told the Blade he has “been so offended about how many folks have tried to really demonize our children here in this state.” McAuliffe referenced children with “self-identity issues” during the interview, but he did not specifically cite those who identify as trans or non-binary.

“We’ve got to help our children … we got to help our children who are desperately in need today,” he said. “And we got to show them that we’ll be there for them, as I say, no matter how they identify or who they love.”

Youngkin on Saturday during a campaign event in Henrico County said he would ban

Former President BARACK OBAMA campaigns with TERRY MCAULIFFE in Richmond, Va., on Oct. 23. Obama is among the prominent Democrats who have traveled to Virginia in recent weeks to campaign on behalf of McAuliffe. (Photo courtesy of McAuliffe for Governor)

the teaching of critical race theory in Virginia schools. McAuliffe criticized his opponent on this issue when he spoke with the Blade.

“Critical race theory is not taught in Virginia, nor has it ever been taught,” said McAuliffe. “These are dog whistles that are used, and especially in the CRT, it’s a racist dog whistle and it just fits into this whole pattern of using our children as political pawns and I hate it.”

Youngkin ‘would drive businesses out’

McAuliffe has continued to portray Youngkin as an extremist on other issues that range from abortion and vaccine mandates as polls suggest the race between the two has grown tight. McAuliffe also continues to highlight former President Trump’s support of Youngkin.

McAuliffe told the Blade that Youngkin is “100 percent against abortion” and said his opponent would “bring those Texas-style type abortion” laws to Virginia.

The law, which bans almost all abortions in Texas and allows private citizens to sue doctors and anyone else who helps a woman obtain one, took effect last month. The U.S. Supreme Court on Nov. 1 will hear oral arguments in a case that challenges the law.

“We always knew that the Supreme Court would be a backstop on women’s rights issues: Roe v. Wade. That is gone. It’s over,” said McAuliffe. “Donald Trump’s Supreme Court is going to overrule the basic tenants of Roe v. Wade.”

McAuliffe added the Supreme Court “is going to allow these states to roll back women’s reproductive rights, so that’s no longer a talking point.”

“This is reality,” said McAuliffe. “Every woman in Virginia needs to understand it.”

Youngkin, for his part, has said he would not have signed the Texas law.

Trump on Oct. 13 described Youngkin as a “great gentleman” when he called into the “Take Back Virginia Rally” in Henrico County that John Fredericks, host of “Outside the Beltway with John Fredericks” who co-chaired the former president’s 2016 campaign in Virginia, organized.

Participants recited the Pledge of Allegiance to an American flag that was present at the U.S. Capitol insurrection. Youngkin in a statement his campaign released said he “had no role” in the event and said it was “weird and wrong to pledge allegiance to a flag connected to January 6.”

“As I have said many times before, the violence that occurred on January 6 was sickening and wrong,” he said.

McAuliffe told the Blade that Youngkin would make Virginia “a dangerous place to live and work.”

“His governorship, if he were to be elected, would roll back individual liberties,” said McAuliffe. “He doesn’t support gay marriage, he is for eliminating abortion here in the commonwealth of Virginia and he will drive businesses out of our state and finally it is dangerous for people.”

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Gay attorney’s plans to run for Del. Senate foiled by redistricting Activists say move will ‘dilute’ LGBTQ vote

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

Plans by Delaware gay attorney and Democratic Party activist Mitch Crane to run for a seat in the Delaware State Senate in a district that included areas surrounding the town of Lewes, where Crane lives, and Rehoboth Beach ended abruptly this week when state officials approved a redistricting plan that removes Crane’s residence from the district.

The seat for which Crane planned to run is in Delaware’s 6th Senate District which, in addition to Lewes and Rehoboth, includes the towns of Dewey Beach, Harbeson, Milton, and surrounding areas, according to the state Senate’s website.

The seat is currently held by Ernesto “Ernie” Lopez, a moderate Republican who became the first Hispanic American elected to the Delaware Senate in 2012. Lopez announced in July that he would not seek re-election in 2022.

The redistricting plan, which was approved by leaders of the Democratic-controlled Delaware General Assembly, places the section of the Lewes postal district where Crane lives into the 19th Senate District.

Crane said that district is in a heavily Republican and conservative part of the state dominated by supporters of President Donald Trump who remain Trump supporters.

Under Delaware law, changes in the district lines of state Senate and House districts, which takes place every 10 years following the U.S. Census count, are decided by the Delaware General Assembly, which is the state legislative body.

Crane told the Washington Blade that neither he nor any other Democrat would have a realistic chance of winning the State Senate seat next year in the 19th District.

“Jesus could not win in that district if he was a Democrat,” said Crane Crane said a Democratic candidate could win next year in the reconfigured 6th Senate District now that incumbent Lopez will not be seeking re-election.

The Cape Gazette, the Delaware newspaper, reported in an Oct. 22 story that Crane was one of at least two witnesses that testified at a twoday virtual hearing held Oct. 18-19 by a State Senate committee, that the proposed redistricting would dilute the LGBTQ vote in the 6th District and the draft proposal should be changed.

“The proposed lines remove a significant percentage of the LGBTQ residents from the current 6th District where most of such residents

of southern Delaware live and place them in the 19th District which has a smaller such population,” the Cape Gazette quoted Crane telling the committee. “By doing so, it dilutes the impact of the gay community which shares political beliefs,” the newspaper quoted him as saying.

“The proposed lines dilute the voting power of the LGBTQ community in addition to others who respect diversity,” the Cape Gazette quoted 6th District resident Sandy Spence as telling the committee.

In an Oct. 10 email sent to potential supporters before the redistricting plan was approved, Crane said he believes he has the experience and record that make him a strong candidate for the state Senate seat.

He is a former chair of the Sussex County Democratic Party, where Rehoboth and Lewes are located; and he currently serves as an Gay Democratic activist MITCH CRANE adjunct professor at Delaware State University’s graduate school, where he teaches American Governance and Administration.

He is a past president of the Delaware Stonewall PAC, a statewide LGBTQ advocacy group, and he’s the state’s former Deputy Insurance Commissioner.

“I intend to focus on smart growth in Sussex County; work on the problems of homelessness and the need for affordable housing; and assuring that this district receives its fair portion of tax dollars,” he said in his Oct. 10 email message announcing his candidacy.

Crane said he posted a Facebook message on Oct. 26 informing supporters that the redrawn district lines removed him from the district, and he is no longer a candidate.

(Photo courtesy Crane)

MSNBC’s Capehart to host SMYAL’s Fall Brunch Nov. 6 says provides support for “the youngest members Pulitzer Prizing-winning gay journalist Jonathan of the LGBTQ community” at ages 6-12. The SMYAL Capehart, the anchor of MSNBC’s “Sunday Show statement says Nichola is the owner and general with Jonathan Capehart,” will serve as host for manager of the Takoma Park, Md., based café, bar, the 24th Annual SMYAL Fall Brunch scheduled for retail, and bubble tea shop called Main Street Pearl.

Saturday, Nov. 6, at D.C.’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.

According to the statement, the SMYAL Fall The annual Fall Brunch serves as one of the largest Brunch, including a planned silent auction, will be fundraising events for SMYAL, which advocates live streamed through SMYAL’s Facebook page and provides services for LGBTQ youth in the D.C. for participants who may not be able to attend in metropolitan area. person. For those attending the event in person, “Each year, a community of advocates, proof of COVID-19 vaccination will be required, and changemakers, and supporters comes together masks will also be required for all attendees when at the Fall Brunch to raise much-needed funds to not actively eating or drinking, the statement says. support and expand critical programs and services The statement says that for attendees and for queer and trans youth in the DMV area,” a supporters, the Fall Brunch is “a community statement released by the organization says. celebration of how your support has not only made The statement says attorney and former Division it possible for SMYAL to continue to serve LGBTQ I women’s collegiate basketball athlete Ashland youth through these challenging times, it’s allowed Johnson will be the keynote speaker at the SMYAL Gay journalist JONATHAN CAPEHART will host SMYAL’s Fall Brunch. our programs to grow and deepen.”

Fall Brunch. Johnson founded the sports project Adds the statement, “From affirming mental called The Inclusion Playbook, which advocates for health support and housing to fostering community spaces and youth leadership racial justice and LGBTQ inclusion in sports. training, we will continue to be there for queer and trans youth together.”

Other speakers include Zahra Wardrick, a SMYAL program participant and youth poet; LOU CHIBBARO JR. and Leandra Nichola, a parent of attendees of Little SMYALs, a program that SMYAL

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Meet the new LGBTQ liaison for the DNC Alleman joins party after work in abortion rights movement

By CHRIS JOHNSON | cjohnson@washblade.com

voters for Democratic candidates as they The new LGBTQ liaison for the become a larger and larger subsection of Democratic National Committee comes our voting population.” from a background not in LGBTQ advocacy, Alleman joins the Democratic National but in the abortion rights movement, and Committee days before a Virginia sees the two as working “hand in hand” for gubernatorial election observers see a common cause. as a national bellwether for upcoming Sam Alleman, who started Monday as congressional midterm elections. Terry LGBTQ coalitions director for the DNC, McAuliffe, a Democratic former governor said in an interview with the Washington who said in a interview with the Blade his Blade that his previous job as political opponent is the “most homophobic, antioutreach manager for five years at the choice” candidate in Virginia history, is Planned Parenthood Action Fund will running against Glenn Youngkin, who said inform his LGBTQ work going forward. recently he continues to oppose same-sex “The reproductive rights movement marriage but “will support” the law. goes hand in hand with what we’ve been Polls show an exceedingly close race fighting for in the LGBTQ equality and in a state President Biden won handily equity movement as well,” Alleman said. in the presidential election. An Emerson “There is no being LGBTQ without your College/Nexstar Media poll found the ability to have bodily autonomy and to race is a dead heat and McAuliffe and make those same choices.”

Youngkin are tied with 48-48 percent The relationship between the LGBTQ each. The election is Tuesday. movement and abortion rights may be Asked what he sees as his role in the SAM ALLEMAN joins the DNC after working at Planned Parenthood Action Fund. more pronounced in the coming months: (Photo courtesy DNC) closing days of the Virginia election, A national battle is taking place over a Alleman reiterated he was still on Day Texas law banning abortion in the state One of his role at the DNC, but believes for any woman pregnant for more than six Democrats are “doing everything possible to turn out different constituency groups weeks as the U.S. Supreme Court will consider litigation with the potential to overturn for Terry McAuliffe and Democrats, up and down the ballot in Virginia.”

Roe v. Wade. LGBTQ legal advocates, faced with a term at the Supreme Court with no “My role as I start to step in here is really working to make sure that our national major cases specific to LGBTQ rights, are already turning their focus to the abortion partner organizations are doing everything possible to turn out that book as we head cases. into GOTV, and be a partner to them as they drive their supporters out to make sure “I think that the gender equity lens here, as we move toward building out that that we’re not leaving anything on the table come next Tuesday when we elect Terry permanent infrastructure that really brings all of those things together through more McAuliffe governor of Virginia again,” Alleman said. of a social justice lens, will be absolutely critical to being successful, particularly Lucas Acosta, a spokesperson for the DNC who joined in on the interview with speaking to our younger demographics, to making sure trans and queer people feel Alleman, said the DNC is working with groups such as the Human Rights Campaign included in a way that’s actually equitable and just,” Alleman said. (his former employer) to highlight the records of both Virginia candidates.

Alleman identified two key priorities for him in his new role at the DNC — turning “I think what happened last week — Youngkin’s comments on same-sex marriage — are out LGBTQ voters for Democratic candidates and building an internal infrastructure concerning,” Acosta said. “That’s definitely something that we are going to continue to for the LGBTQ community — and said his previous work at Planned Parenthood Action highlight in the closing days of the campaign. That obviously is just a further example Fund working with candidates and coalition groups will help him reach that goal. why Youngkin is not the moderate he purports to be, but rather a Trump acolyte, who “I really plan to use a lot of the lessons that I learned there in building out to making is going to turn back time on rights for a litany of Virginians, including LGBTQ folks.” an inclusive campaign, both in programs and in voter contact infrastructure, within the Democrats have enjoyed an advantage as a result of the sea change in support in party itself as well,” Alleman said. favor of LGBTQ rights. But things may be beginning to shift as LGBTQ issues change Alleman, reiterating he was still in the first days of his job, said the process for and move away from same-sex marriage to other battlegrounds, such as transgender building out the LGBTQ community infrastructure at the DNC is still in its initial phases. people participating in school sports consistent with their gender identity.

Alleman said his vision would be not only turning out LGBTQ voters, but finding a way Washington Post columnist James Hohmann reported this week on new data from that “allows them to plug in as volunteers and leaders within the party to do the voter the National Republican Senatorial Committee finding gender and race issues play contact to hold the events on the ground, to work with our state party partners, and out in favor of Republicans among suburban voters, if they’re on terms like critical race making sure that their voices are represented.” theory or concepts like “genderism.” According to the data, 65 percent said “allowing Key to building out that infrastructure, Alleman said, would be making sure all voices biological males to compete against women in high school and college sports is within the LGBTQ community are heard. Alleman made a special point to say queer hugely unfair and will erase many of the gains women have made in athletics over the and transgender people “who have been our partners for so long and deserve a seat last 50 years.” at the table” will be an essential part of the infrastructure.

Just this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 25, which The voice of LGBTQ people, Alleman said, will be increasingly important in elections effectively bars transgender girls from participating in school sports consistent with as the numbers of voters who identify as LGBTQ increase. Pointing to 2020 exit polls their gender identity, making the Lone Star State the latest state to enact such a showing 7 percent of the electorate identified as LGBTQ, Alleman said more LGBTQ measure in defiance of federal laws against discrimination based on sex. people than ever turned out in the presidential election and overwhelmingly backed Alleman, asked whether the DNC would change the way it approaches these issues, Biden by 61 percent. (Republicans were also able to claim a small victory, having said he wasn’t aware of the data and questioned whether the conclusion of the data doubled their share of LGBTQ voters from 14 percent to 28 percent who voted for “really makes much sense.”

Donald Trump after the previous election.)

“I think we’ll at least continue to push forward the message of what we’ve done as “We know that that demographic is only growing,” Alleman said. “Within under 18 Democrats which is fight for these individuals to be treated just the same as everyone year olds, approximately 16 percent of folks identify as LGBTQ in this country. So really else,” Alleman said. my priorities are building out an infrastructure here at the DNC, that will turn out LGBTQ

1 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1 • NAT I O NA L NE WS

Gov. Abbott signs anti-trans youth sports bill

WILL YOU BE ABLE TO STAY IN YOUR HOME?

K-12 trans student-athletes barred from competition

By BRODY LEVESQUE

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott signed into law Monday H.B. 25, an anti-transgender youth sports bill banning trans K-12 student-athletes from playing on sports teams consistent with their gender identity.

H.B. 25 is the 9th statewide bill signed into law this year banning transgender youth from participating in school sports and the 10th in the country. This bill also comes during a year when Texas lawmakers have proposed nearly Texas Republican Gov. GREG ABBOTT signed 70 anti-LGBTQ bills, including more H.B. 25 this week. (Blade file screenshot) than 40 bills that specifically target transgender and nonbinary youth — far more than any other state.

“We are devastated at the passage of this bill. Despite the powerful testimony of trans kids and adults, families and advocates, and the many emails and calls our community placed to the Governor’s office to veto this harmful piece of legislation it is now law,” said Ricardo Martinez, CEO of Equality Texas.

“Most immediately, our focus is our community and integrating concepts of healing justice to provide advocates who have already been harmed by this bill with spaces to refill their cup and unpack the acute trauma caused by these legislative sessions. Our organizations will also begin to shift focus to electing pro-equality lawmakers who understand our issues and prioritize representing the vast majority of Texans who firmly believe that discrimination against trans and LGB+ people is wrong,” he added.

Earlier this month, the Texas state government was criticized for removing web pages with resources for LGBTQ youth, including information about The Trevor Project’s crisis services. The Trevor Project is the world’s largest suicide prevention and crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ young people.

“Transgender and nonbinary youth are already at higher risk for poor mental health and suicide because of bullying, discrimination, and rejection. This misguided legislation will only make matters worse,” Amit Paley, CEO and executive director of The Trevor Project said in a statement released Monday afternoon.

“To every trans Texan who may be feeling hurt and attacked by this legislation and months of ugly political debate — please know that you are valid, and you are deserving of equal opportunity, dignity and respect. The Trevor Project is here for you 24/7 if you ever need support, and we will continue fighting alongside a broad coalition of advocates to challenge this law,” Paley said.

Research consistently demonstrates that transgender and nonbinary youth face unique mental health challenges and an elevated risk for bullying and suicide risk compared to their peers.

The Trevor Project’s 2021 National Survey on LGBTQ Youth Mental Health found that more than half (52%) of transgender and nonbinary youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, and 1 in 5 attempted suicide.

94% of LGBTQ youth reported that recent politics negatively impacted their mental health.

A newly published research brief on “Bullying and Suicide Risk among LGBTQ Youth,” found that 61% of transgender and nonbinary (TGNB) students reported being bullied either in-person or electronically in the past year, compared to 45% of cisgender LGBQ students. TGNB students who were bullied in the past year reported more than twice the rate of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who were not. And TGNB students who said their school was LGBTQ-affirming reported significantly lower rates of being bullied (55%) compared to those in schools that weren’t LGBTQ-affirming (65%).

A 2020 peer-reviewed study found that transgender and nonbinary youth who report experiencing discrimination based on their gender identity had more than double the odds of attempting suicide in the past year compared to those who did not experience discrimination based on their gender identity.

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Ohio school cancels play with gay character

A Southwest Ohio high school’s play was abruptly canceled after Jeff Lyle, a local pastor from Good News Gathering, complained about a gay character.

Hillsboro High School’s fall production of “She Kills Monsters” was scheduled to open in less than one month, until students learned the play would be canceled last week, reports Cincinnati’s ABC affiliate WCPO. The story follows a high school senior as she learns Hillsboro High School canceled about her late sister’s life. It is implied throughout its production after a pastor the play that her sister is gay, according to the news complained. station.

(Screenshot via Cincinnati ABC affiliate WCPO-TV) The play’s cancellation comes a week after Lyle, a longtime voice of the anti-LGBTQ+ religious right in Ohio, and a group of parents confronted the production’s directors at a meeting, according to Cincinnati CBS affiliate Local 12. Lyle denies pressuring school officials, but tells WCPO he supports the decision.

“From a biblical worldview this play is inappropriate for a number of reasons, e.g. sexual innuendo, implied sexual activity between unmarried persons, repeated use of foul language including taking the Lord’s name in vain,” Lyle said.

Some families say they believe Lyle did influence the school’s decision.

“I think that’s wrong,” Jon Polstra, a father of one of the actors, told WCPO. “All they would have had to do if they objected to something in the play was not go to the play.”

In a statement to Local 12, Hillsboro City Schools Superintendent Tim Davis said the play was canceled because it “was not appropriate for our K-12 audience.”

The Lexington Herald Leader reports that the school planned to perform a version intended for audiences as young as 11 years old.

Students were “devastated” and “blindsided” by the news, according to WCPO. “It felt like we had just been told, ‘Screw off and your lives don’t matter,’” Christopher Cronan, a Hillsboro High student, said. “I am openly bisexual in that school and I have faced a lot of homophobia there, but I never expected them to cancel a play for a fictional character.”

Students have started a GoFundMe in hopes of putting on the production at a community theater in 2022.

ZACHARY JARRELL

State Dept. acknowledges Intersex Awareness Day

The State Department on Tuesday acknowledged the annual Intersex Awareness Day. “We proudly recognize the voices and human rights of intersex people around the world,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price in a statement. “The Department of State is committed to promoting and protecting the rights, dignity, and equality of all individuals, including intersex persons.”

Price in his statement said U.S. foreign policy seeks to “pursue an end to violence and discrimination on the basis of gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, and sex characteristics, while acknowledging the intersections with disability, race, ethnicity, religion, national origin, or other status.” Price also acknowledged intersex people “are subject to violence, discrimination, and abuse on the basis of their sex characteristics” and “many intersex persons, including children, experience invasive, unnecessary, and sometimes irreversible medical procedures.”

“The department supports the empowerment of movements and organizations advancing the human rights of intersex persons and the inclusion of intersex persons in the development of policies that impact their enjoyment of human rights,” he said.

Jessica Stern, the special U.S. envoy for the promotion of LGBTQ rights abroad, on Tuesday moderated a virtual panel with intersex activists from around the world.

Intersex Awareness Day commemorates the world’s first-ever intersex protest that took place in Boston on Oct. 26, 1996.

Dana Zzyym, an intersex U.S. Navy veteran who identifies as non-binary, in 2015 filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department after it denied their application for a passport with their sex listed as “X.” The State Department in June announced it would begin to issue gender-neutral passports and documents for American citizens who were born overseas.

The U.S. and more than 50 other countries earlier this month signed a statement that urges the U.N. Human Rights Council to protect the rights of intersex people.

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Venezuelan man with AIDS dies in ICE custody A Venezuelan man with AIDS died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody on Oct. 1.

An ICE press release notes Pablo Sánchez Gotopo, 40, died at Merit Health River Oaks in Flowood, Miss., which is a suburb of Jackson, the state capital. The press release notes the PABLO SANCHEZ GOTOPO, who was living with HIV/AIDS, “preliminary cause died in U.S. ICE custody in Mississippi on Oct. 1.

(Courtesy photo) of death was from complications with acute respiratory failure, Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), pneumonia, acute kidney failure, anemia and COVID-19.”

ICE said U.S. Border Patrol took Sánchez into custody near Del Rio, Texas, on May 17.

He arrived at the Adams County Detention Center in Natchez, Miss., four days later.

“Upon arrival to an ICE facility, all detainees are medically screened and administered

a COVID-19 test by ICE Health Service Corps (IHSC) personnel,” said ICE in its press release. “Sánchez’s test results came back negative.”

The press release notes Sánchez on July 28 received another COVID-19 test after he “began showing symptoms of COVID-19.” ICE said he tested negative, but Adams County Detention Center personnel transferred him to a Natchez hospital “for additional advanced medical care.”

ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations staff in its New Orleans Field Office, according to the press release, “coordinated with hospital staff to arrange family visitation” after Sánchez’s “health condition deteriorated.” Sánchez was transferred to Merit Health River Oaks on Sept. 25.

“ICE is firmly committed to the health and welfare of all those in its custody and is undertaking a comprehensive agency-wide review of this incident, as it does in all such cases,” says the press release.

Venezuela’s political and economic crises have prompted more than 10,000 people with HIV to leave the country, according to the New York-based Aid for AIDS International.

Activists and health care service providers in Venezuela with whom the Washington Blade has spoken in recent years have said people with HIV/AIDS in the country have died because of a lack of antiretroviral drugs. Andrés Cardona, director of Fundación Ancla, a group in the Colombian city of Medellín that works with migrants and other vulnerable groups, told the Blade last month that many Venezuelans with HIV would have died if they hadn’t come to Colombia.

The Blade has not been able to verify a Venezuelan activist’s claim that Sánchez was gay. It is also not known why Sánchez decided to leave Venezuela and travel to the U.S. MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Putin describes trans rights as ‘crime against humanity’ Russian President Vladimir Putin last week described transgender rights as “a crime against humanity.”

The Washington Post reported Putin made the comment in a speech he delivered in Sochi, a resort city on the Black Sea where the 2014 Winter Olympics took place.

Putin specifically said the idea that children are “taught that a boy can become a girl and vice versa” is “on the verge of a crime against humanity.” Putin, according to the Post, also said trans activists are demanding an end to “basic things such as mother, father, family or gender differences.”

Activists in Russia and around the world

have sharply criticized the Kremlin’s LGBTQ rights record, including a 2013 law that bans the promotion of so-called gay propaganda to minors. Putin also has close ties to Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, who is behind a brutal anti-LGBTQ crackdown in the semi-autonomous Russian republic.

The European Court of Human Rights in July ruled Russia violated the rights of a trans woman who authorities prevented from visiting her children because of her gender identity. The decision is the first time the court used Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights in an anti-trans discrimination case.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Russian President VLADIMIR PUTIN (Photo public domain)

White House urged to protect LGBTQ Afghans More than 10,000 people have signed a petition that urges the Biden administration to do more to help LGBTQ Afghans who remain in Afghanistan after the Taliban regained control of the country.

The Human Rights Campaign; the Council for Global Equality; Immigration Equality; Rainbow Railroad; the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration and the International Refugee Assistance Project on Friday presented to the White House the petition that urges the administration to adopt “a 10-point action plan … to expedite and ease the refugee and asylum process for LGBTQI Afghans.”

The same six groups last month urged the Biden administration to adopt a plan that would “prioritize the evacuation and resettlement of vulnerable refugee populations, including LGBTQI people, and ensure that any transitory stay in a third country is indeed temporary by expediting refugee processing.” The groups, among other things, asked the White House to “speak out forcefully against human rights abuses by the new Taliban regime and any increased targeting of vulnerable communities, including LGBTQI people, and use existing mechanisms to sanction and hold accountable perpetrators of human rights abuse.”

The Taliban entered Kabul, the Afghan capital, on Aug. 15 and regained control of

the country.

A Taliban judge in July said the group would once again execute people if it were to return to power in Afghanistan.

Rainbow Railroad and Immigration Equality are among the other groups that have continued their efforts to evacuate LGBTQ Afghans since American troops completed their withdrawal from the country on Aug. 30. Some of the 50 Afghan human rights activists who Taylor Hirschberg, a researcher at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health who is also a Hearst Foundation scholar, has been able to help leave the country are LGBTQ. “We reiterate our call for President Biden to adopt the 10-point policy plan which will expedite and ease the refugee process for LGBTQI Afghans,” said Human Rights Campaign Senior Vice President for Policy and Political Affairs JoDee Winterhof in a press release. “The 10,000+ people who signed our petition have demonstrated that they want the United States, long a beacon of refuge for those fleeing persecution, to take action to protect LGBTQI Afghans—a vulnerable group who risk oppression, even death, simply for who they are or who they love. Now is the time for action.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

1 4 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1 • I NT E R NAT I O NA L NE WS

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ISAAC AMEND

(he/him/his) is a trans man and young professional in the D.C. area. He was featured on National Geographic’s ‘Gender Revolution’ in 2017 as a student at Yale University. Isaac is also on the board of the LGBT Democrats of Virginia. Find him on Instagram @isaacamend.

An epidemic of assault in trans community Proposing solutions to the problem of violence

There is an epidemic of sexual assault in the trans population. Statistics have shown this has been true for a very long time: One in two transgender people are sexually assaulted or abused in their life, according to the United States Office for Victims of Crime.

According to a 2011 survey spearheaded by the National Center for Transgender Equality (NCTE), at the time, 12 percent of trans youth reported being assaulted in school, 22 percent of homeless trans people were assaulted while in shelters, and 13 percent of Black trans people were assaulted in the workplace.

The statistics go on: the NCTE also came out with a 2015 transgender survey.

In this, the NCTE reported that 47% of respondents were sexually assaulted at some point in their lifetime, and the number went higher for Black respondents to 53%. Moreover, 10% of respondents had been assaulted in the past year alone.

The numbers are more dismal for more at-risk populations, including sex workers and the homeless. Seventy-two percent of trans sex workers had been assaulted at some point in their lifetime, and 65% of homeless trans people had been assaulted as well.

We’ve all known these numbers to be dismal and true for a fairly long time now.

So what more can we do about it? There are a few solutions worth mentioning.

For one, Washington, D.C. (and other cities for that matter) should finally decriminalize sex work. Right now, many trans women, and particularly trans women of color, are only able to earn a living through sex work, as many don’t have college degrees. These trans women are often harassed and brutalized in the streets, and worse — they are punished by D.C. law for merely trying to make a living.

Legalizing sex work will do wonders for trans people on the streets. For one, regulating sex work makes it much safer: look no further than the example of Amsterdam, where sex work has been legalized for 21 years, since 2000.

In November 2017, a group of academics published a report called “Street Prositution Zones and Crime.” In the report, they found that the legalization of sex work in Amsterdam and other parts of the Netherlands drastically reduced instances of rape and abuse by clients. They specifically found a 32 to 40 percent reduction in rape among sex workers.

Moreover, in Amsterdam, all window brothels have a “panic button” inside, which the sex worker can hit to have the police immediately show up. There are 50 police cameras across the Red Light District, and undercover police officers walk the streets, looking for instances of abuse.

If D.C. were to legalize prostitution and start regulating it, trans sex workers would surely feel safer.

Secondly, to lower rates of abuse among gender nonconformers, more trans people need to have honest conversations about dating men, particularly cisgender men, who have higher levels of aggression and assault in their population.

Many trans men feel like they want to date men, but don’t know how to do so safely. Many trans women also want to date men, but don’t know how to go about it safely as well.

Sometimes cis men shame and abuse trans people, while others are more kind to us. Right now, there is a lack of discourse about dating men. Many trans men are afraid to speak out about this issue. Holding support groups and online forums about making dating safer is a good place to start.

If we can find better ways to date and have sex with cis men, then we can also make this sex safer, and cis men can respect our identities more.

While these are just two solutions to lower rates of sexual assault, they are a step in the right direction. Everyone knows that trans people suffer more abuse.

The key lies in trying to prevent it.

1 8 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1 • V I E WP O I NT

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

Congress must act, Democrats in Virginia must vote Fighting to save our democracy from Trump loyalists

The time has come for Democrats in Congress to vote on both the hard and soft infrastructure bills. Failure to do so will invariably lead to Republicans taking back Congress and that is unthinkable considering where they stand on so many issues.

To stop that from happening the House of Representatives must first pass the trillion-dollar hard infrastructure bill, already passed by the Senate, in time for Terry McAuliffe to stand up in his race for governor of Virginia and show what Democrats in office can do. This bill will bring billions to Virginia. But that is not enough. Virginia Democrats must come out to vote in record numbers to keep Trump stand-in Youngkin from winning. Make no mistake he is only a stand-in for the former president. He is a lacky with a lot of money trying to buy the race with lies and innuendo. He is anti-abortion, anti-LGBTQ, and has gleefully accepted the endorsement of a liar, misogynist, sexist, racist pig who is still trying to destroy our democracy. Democrats must come out and vote to show the nation and the world that is not who America is and we aren’t dumb enough to fall for his standin lackey.

All that Democrats really should need to know to vote against Youngkin is his acceptance of Trump’s endorsement. The man who had his top aides and advisers plan to overthrow our government on Jan. 6. One simply needs to read the story in the Washington Post on how Giuliani, Bannon and others had a ‘command center’ at the Willard Hotel, steps from the White House, to plan the Jan. 6 insurrection.

As reported, “The effort underscores the extent to which Trump and a handful of true believers were working until the last possible moment to subvert the will of the voters, seeking to pressure Pence to delay or even block certification of the election, leveraging any possible constitutional loophole to test the boundaries of American democracy.”

This despicable collection of people who met at the Willard, and their leader Trump, can truly be called out for treason. These people are homegrown terrorists.

They instigated a riot at the Capitol that threatened the lives of members of Congress and the rioters even threatened to hang the vice president if he didn’t do Trump’s bidding. This is the endorsement happily accepted by Trump stand-in Youngkin.

So it comes down to whether Democrats will come out to vote in Virginia on Nov. 2. Will they show the world they care enough to act and vote? Will they convince their family, friends, and neighbors of the importance of this election and of voting for Terry McAuliffe and the entire Democratic slate? If they don’t the headline won’t read ‘Youngkin wins,’ it will read ‘Trump wins’. That has to be an unacceptable outcome for any decent person.

As reported, “Republicans Christine Todd Whitman (former governor of New Jersey and EPA Administrator in the George W. Bush administration) and Miles Taylor (chief of staff of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in the Trump administration) have an important message they wrote in their New York Times piece, “We Are Republicans. There’s Only One Way to Save Our Party From ProTrump Extremists,” stating “Rational Republicans are losing the party civil war.

And the only near-term way to battle pro-Trump extremists is for all of us to team up on key races and overarching political goals with our longtime political opponents: the Democrats.” We can only hope decent Republicans will take that recommendation under consideration this year and vote for McAuliffe in Virginia.

The McAuliffe election will be a lens into what can happen in the mid-terms in 2022. If Democrats lose in Virginia it will just motivate Trump Republicans to get out and vote and fund other Trump lackies across the nation. Instead of Trump finally fading into obscurity he will be revitalized and that will be sad for the nation.

If McAuliffe wins and Joe Biden can sign those two infrastructure bills, along with ending the war in Afghanistan, Democrats will know what is possible. They will be motivated to work to ensure Democrats keep Congress. It is what we need to save our democracy.

JAMES FINN

is a former Air Force intelligence analyst, long-time LGBTQ activist, an alumnus of Queer Nation and Act Up NY, and a regular columnist for queer news outlets. Send questions, comments, and story ideas to jamesfinnwrites@gmail.com.

Queer students face rising tide of bullying

Debunking insidious notion that LGBTQ identity is controversial Two teens walk into a high-school classroom during period change. While the teacher yells at them, they rip a Pride flag off a wall then sprint through a crowded hall.

They outrun the teacher and disappear. Soon after, several students film themselves crowding into a school toilet cubicle as they try to flush the flag. When they fail, one of them drops his pants, squats, and defecates on the flag while the rest of them laugh and shout homophobic/transphobic slurs.

This happened in September at Paso Robles High School outside central California’s San Luis Obispo, which dubs itself the “Happiest City in America.” Soon the whole student body was buzzing. Most of them watched the video, which got posted to TikTok, but administrators did not respond for two weeks, saying they were unaware.

The incident surprised nobody.

LGBTQ students at Paso High say the region’s famed happiness doesn’t include them, writing in an editorial that they feel constantly targeted and harassed at school. They’ve told a reporter at the San Luis Obispo Tribune they don’t feel safe, that they face bullying and hatred every day. Sophomore Eve Barajas, president of the school’s Equity Club, says “micro aggressions” are common but physical violence is a real problem.

When the administration finally responded, LGBTQ students, allies, and teachers gasped in collective shock They didn’t expect leadership to validate the bullying, but that’s what happened. In an interview, Paso High teacher Geoffrey Land called the defecation video, “an act of hate directed at the LGBTQ community,” adding, “And a lot of students felt it, you know, felt that attack very acutely.” He expected administrators to take the strongest possible stand against bullying.

Defecating on a symbol of inclusion is an act of hatred. The symbol isn’t the problem, the hatred is. Banning the symbol endorses the hatred.

So did science teacher and swim coach Evan Holtz, the man who chased the bullies down the hall. He told reporters he wants LGBTQ students to know they’re safe with him and can come to him for support. That’s why he and a few other teachers used to display Pride flags in their classrooms, a popular custom in schools around the U.S., where over half of all LGBTQ students report being bullied, according to a new survey conducted by the queer youth advocacy organization The Trevor Project.

They report that contrary to popular narrative, anti-LGBTQ bullying in U.S. middle and high schools has been getting worse in recent years instead of better, and that the bullying often equals acts of physical violence.

In a very recent example, 13-year-old transgender student Ian Ring was badly beaten by bullies at his school in Spokane, Wash., while a crowd of students looked on, laughed, and filmed. Local police have charged one student with misdemeanor assault, but Ian’s mother says she doesn’t know how to keep him safe. She’s considering homeschooling.

Back at Paso High, Coach Holtz says he was happy three students brought him replacements for the stolen Pride flag. He hung one on his classroom wall, but that’s when the other shoe dropped. District Superintendent Curt Dubost banned the flag, not the bullying.

Dubost sent a letter to teachers saying he opposes bullying, then ordered them to remove any LGBTQ Pride flag bigger than two feet by two feet, which students say is an effective ban, noting almost all commercially available flags are larger than that.

The ban is the ONLY action Dubost announced. He announced no comprehensive antibullying programs and no plans to make life better for queer kids in the schools he runs.

In a later interview, he claimed rainbow flags are partisan like “Blue Lives Matter” flags supporting police officers. He did not cite any incidents of teenage police officers being bullied in school or needing to know where they can find support from teachers. Queer students’ jaws dropped at the inanity of his message.

Jaws dropped harder over Dubost’s statement that LGBTQ Pride flags “mean different things to different people,” which students and teachers say they received as an overt endorsement of anti-LGBTQ hatred. In what world, they ask, should a symbol of love, safety, and inclusion mean something different? To add insult to injury, students say the bullies who stole the flag and posted the TikTok received only “minor discipline.”

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CON T I N U E S AT WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E . CO M V I E WP O I NT • O CTO B E R 2 9 , 2 0 2 1 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 1 9

Sharon Gless on new memoir and connection to LGBTQ community Beloved TV icon’s book was seven years in the making

By GREGG SHAPIRO

Have you ever read a memoir that is so intimate, so revealing, so honest, that as you were turning the pages it felt like the writer was sitting next to you, speaking directly to you?

Kudos to multiple Emmy Award-winning actress Sharon Gless for making that a part of the experience of reading her new memoir “Apparently There Were Complaints” (Simon & Schuster, 2021). The Los Angeles native with Hollywood in her veins (her maternal grandfather was a hotshot entertainment lawyer), Gless rose to prominence via her portrayal of New York police detective Christine Cagney in the popular and groundbreaking 1980s TV series “Cagney & Lacey” (alongside Tyne Daly). As if she hadn’t already established an LGBTQ following through that show, she went on to play Debbie Novotny, the smart and sassy mother of Michael on Showtime’s equally groundbreaking “Queer As Folk” in the early 2000s. Gless sat down for an interview in advance of the publication of her book.

BLADE: Your new memoir, “Apparently There Were Complaints” opens on a serious note with your 2015 pancreatitis diagnosis. So, I’d like to begin by saying that, from one Gemini to another, I hope you are in good health.

SHARON GLESS: Thank you, honey, I’m in very good health. Thank you, my fellow Gemini.

BLADE: Why was now the time to write your memoir?

GLESS: Well, it’s taken seven years. It’s not like it was yesterday. I never actually intended to write a memoir, Gregg. I was called in to a meeting by CBS for what I thought was a conversation to offer me a new series. We talked for an hour and, apparently, I was so entertaining that at the end of the hour meeting, the president of CBS said, “You know we own Simon & Schuster.”

I said, “I didn’t know that.”

She said, “We do, and I think you’ve got a book in you.” I said, “I don’t usually write.” She said, “That doesn’t matter. You’re a storyteller, Sharon.” So I walked out with a book deal [laughs] with Simon & Schuster and not the series I was hoping for. Actually, I didn’t meet (with) Simon & Schuster for another year.

I sort of let it go. The next day there was a text from the president of Simon & Schuster. I sort of ignored it because I didn’t want to do that. I wanted to act! A year went by, and I wasn’t so busy, and I was in New York, and I said, “What the hell!” I went to meet him.

I read one chapter to him, one chapter that I had written in case he asked for anything. He signed me that day [laughs].

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SHARON GLESS’s new memoir ‘Apparently There Were Complaints’ addresses her deep connection to the queer community.

(Photo courtesy Simon & Schuster)

did you rely on your memory for the details?

GLESS: Never. No. My very best friend Dawn (LaFreeda), who’s been my best friend forever and … I’m a talker, a storyteller, and I would tell her stories about my life throughout our relationship. She kept them! She said, “You have a book in you.” So, there’s another person saying so. She kept the stories. When Simon & Schuster made me the offer, Dawn dragged out all my stories. A couple of times I had gatherings at my house where I had four people over, and I said, “Ask me some questions,” and put a recorder down. I’d just start talking. Then as more of my life coming out on the page, which is hard to do, I started remembering more and more. It took a form that I had always intended. I came up with the title, “Apparently There Were Complaints,” very early on. I made the book about all the complaints people had about me throughout my life. It helped that Dawn had kept records of all the stories I’ve told. Some of those I used in the book. It’s funny, as you write, as you keep going, you start remembering more and more and more because one emotion leads to the next emotion or the next time someone hurts your feelings or the next complaint.

BLADE: I’m glad you mentioned the emotional part of it, because writing a memoir means revisiting the past, including your complicated relationship with your grandmother, whom you called Grimmy, as well as your parents. Did you find it to be painful, freeing or both?

GLESS: Sometimes because some of the memories were painful. There were times when I was reading some of it that I would go back to that place. I just finished recording [the audio book] a couple of weeks ago. What surprised me is when I’d get to certain places, especially about Grimmy, you can hear on the recording, my voice breaks. I left it in. They asked me if I wanted to rerecord it and I said, “No. Leave it in.” She was really the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s that she was tough.

BLADE: One of the things that stood out to me about “Apparently There Were Complaints” is the way that not only does it sound like you — I’ve interviewed you before so in reading the book, it sounded like you…

GLESS: Thank you! It’s very important to me that you hear my voice in that.

BLADE: It totally comes through. The other thing that shines through is your sense of humor and comic timing.

GLESS: Thank you!

BLADE: How important was it for you to make that aspect of your personality a part of the book?

CONTINUES ON PAGE 22

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 20 GLESS: Very important. I do have a sarcastic, not a mean sarcastic, a funny sarcastic side. Some of the complaints and some of my addictions and some of the things I talk about…you’ve got to take some of it lightly or who’s going to want to read that? Clearly, I survived. It’s not all bad news. When I came up with the title, [laughs] which was perfect because there were so many complaints about me in my life, sometimes you just have to laugh, even at the sadder stuff. I’m still standing, Gregg!

BLADE: Yes, you are! Memoirs, like TV shows such as “Finding Your Roots,” are a way for both the subject and the audience to uncover fascinating details that might not otherwise have been public knowledge. The story about your boarding school classmate Gibbie, also known as the late Abigail Folger, in chapter seven feels like an example of that. Would you ever consider being on one of those genealogy tracing shows?

GLESS: I didn’t know a show like that existed. I would never do something like “This Is Your Life” [laughs], remember that? I didn’t know about a show that traces your genealogy. I’m always fascinated in my background. I’m certainly not opposed to anybody scraping up my genealogy.

BLADE: You write about your interactions with LGBTQ+ people in your life, personally and professionally, and Chapter 43, titled “I’ll Be There,” which is about your experience playing Debbie Novotny in Showtime’s “Queer As Folk” made me weep, it was so beautiful. This is less a question than it is an expression of gratitude for, well, being there.

GLESS: Thank you! The pleasure, for lack of a better word, is all mine. You have all changed my life. I became so much more educated. I thought, “Oh, I know it all. All my best friends are gay.” Right? But I learned so much on “Queer As Folk.” The stories that they wrote and the performances. I didn’t realize the real plight, the behind-the-scenes pain that went on in the gay community. Because of “Queer As Folk” I became quite educated and impassioned. I meant it when I said, “I’ll be there.”

BLADE: The Peacock streaming service is doing a “Queer As Folk” reboot. What do you think about that?

GLESS: Yes, I’m aware they’re doing a reboot of it. What I think about it is I’m so sorry they’re not using the original cast. It’s never going to be better. But good luck to them, and I hope they have even close to the hit we were. I think the biggest star of that show right now is going to be the city of New Orleans. We’ll see how the stories go.

BLADE: Because the entertainment industry is a central component to your memoir, if “Apparently There Were Complaints” was to be made into a theatrical movie or TV miniseries, who would you want to play you?

GLESS: It would take several actresses because there’s a lot of years. If there was somebody who could span it. I’m a big fan of Jennifer Lawrence. She has a husky voice, too. And there’s also an irreverence and a sensitivity to her. If anybody ever wanted to do that, I think she’d be great.

BLADE: Finally, in addition to us both being Geminis, we also share South Florida as our home. What do you like best about living here?

GLESS: The happiness on my husband’s (TV producer Barney Rosenzweig) face.

When he retired he moved us here. I’m married to a man who if he’s happy, everybody’s happy [laughs]. He adores Florida. Los Angeles was always my home. I was born there, raised there. I’m an Angeleno, through and through. I’ve been to Los Angeles over the last year and I don’t like what’s happened to it. Now I’m grateful to be returning to an island as beautiful as the one I live on. Los Angeles needs a total reboot, rebuild, re-everything. It’s fallen on hard times, L.A. I remember it when I lived there. It was a magical city.

2 2 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1

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By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Friday, October 29

Friday Tea Time and social hour for Older LGBTQ+ adults will be at 2 p.m. on Zoom. Feel free to bring your beverage of choice. For the Zoom link or more information, contact Justin (justin@ thedccenter.org).

LGBTQ+ Social in the City will be at 7 p.m. at Moxy Hotel. This event is ideal for making new friends, professional networking, idea sharing and community building. Visit Eventbrite for more information.

Saturday, October 30 Ladies First Entertainment’s “5th Annual Bonfire Night” will be at 5:00p.m. at 1104 Montezuma Dr. There will be “good food, good music, good vibes and a good ole time.” Guests are advised to bring a chair and something to share. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

Maryland national Capitol Park police will host ‘Shatter the Silence’ on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault 5K Race” at 7:30 a.m. at Watkins Regional Park. This event is free and registration is available on Eventbrite.

Sunday, October 31 Trauma-sensitive gentle yoga will be at 7 p.m. at Eaton DC. This class offers trauma-informed approaches for an alignment-based, gentle Vinyasa (flow) suitable for all levels. More details are available on Eventbrite.

Monday, November 01 The Center Aging Coffee Drop-in will be at 10 a.m. at the DC Center. LGBT Older Adults and friends are invited for friendly conversations and current issues that you might be dealing with. For more information visit Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter.

Mimosa Monday will be at 5 p.m. at Harlot DC. The event will feature sounds by DJ Kidd Fresh.

Libras with table RSVP have free entry. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

Tuesday, November 02 Drag Bingo will be at 7 p.m. at Nellie’s Sports Bar. The event will be hosted by Sapphire A. Blue & Former Miss Gay Arlington - Deja Diamond. In addition to bingo, there will also be two drag performances. For more information visit Eventbrite.

Virginia Theological Seminary will be hosting “Deconstructing Stereotypes of LatinX People” at 12:45p.m. at LPER, Addison Academic Center, Lower Level. Rev. Javier Garcia Ocampo, Rector of the Episcopal Church of the Ascension will speak about the cultural misappropriation of Latin American customs and traditions and the confusion between genuinely LatinX culture and colonial impositions upon it. Rev. Catherine Campbell of San Jose and Cristo Rey will discuss intra-Latinx stereotyping and planting Anglo-Latinx congregations. More details are available on Eventbrite.

Wednesday, November 03 Job Club will be hosted via Zoom at 6 p.m. This event is a weekly job support program to help job entrants and seekers, including the long-term unemployed, improve self-confidence, motivation, resilience and productivity for effective job searches and networking — allowing participants to move away from being merely “applicants” toward being “candidates.” For more details, please contact centercareers@thedccenter.org.

Bookmen DC will be hosted at 7:30 p.m. on Zoom. Book Men DC is an informal group of men who are interested in gay literature (both fiction and non-fiction). For more information, visit their website.

Thursday, November 04 API Queer Support Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. The support group is co-sponsored by APIQS (Asian Pacific Islander Queer Society DC) and AQUA (Asian Queers United for Action) and is geared toward the Asian and Pacific Islander queer community. Contact supportdesk@dccenter.org for more information.

DC Center’s Food Pantry Program will be hosted all day. Attendees are required to register weekly to grab a spot as produce is limited. This is a weekly program, once registered, our support desk will email you and let you know that your produce box is available for pick up. No proof of residency or income is required etc. For more information, contact supportdesk@dccenter.org.

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OUT & ABOUT D.C. ready to celebrate Halloween Go Gay DC will host a Halloween party on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. at Freddie’s Beach Bar and Restaurant. In addition to being a great way to celebrate the holiday and mingle with LGBTQ people and allies, the party will also raise funds for Arlington Food Assistance Center (AFAC), the community leader in providing and promoting dignified access to nutritious food for those in need. Guests are encouraged to bring nonperishable food items. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

Just the Tip! will host “Rocky Horror (WHORE-ER)” on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 2 p.m. at The Dirty Goose. There will be a special performance by KC Byoncé, Jell-O shots, drink specials, and the shot boys of JTT, shirtless.

This event will also benefit the Wanda Alston Foundation. The Wanda Alston Foundation opened its doors in 2008 as the only housing program in Washington, D.C. solely dedicated to offering pre-independent transitional living and support services to homeless or at-risk LGBTQ youth ages 18 to 24 in all eight wards. More event details are available on Eventbrite.

Xavier & Omega Entertainment will host “Haunted Forest Costume Party” on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 10 p.m. at Harlot DC. There will be performances by DJ Honey and DJ Tryfe. Tickets are $10 and more information is available on Eventbrite.

PAD Awesome Entertainment will host “Drag Me To Halloween...With Dogs!!!” on Friday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. This event is a dog-friendly Drag Show, costume and dance party and will be hosted by Siren´e Noir. There will also be performances by Bombalicious and Sidora, and beats by DJ Confetti The First. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

“Fiesta de Halloween” will be on Sunday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m. at Kitsuen Bar. Guests are encouraged to wear a costume, bring friends and come to have a good time. The venue is a cozy Japanese restaurant, offering two levels with both indoor and outdoor spaces. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

THREESIXTY will host “Vampire But Make It Camp” on Friday, Oct. 29 at 8 p.m. at 1402 H St., N.E. The theme for this Halloween event is VAMP but make it CAMP, inspired by the 1986 film “VAMP.” DJ Bast and Ryan Harvey will perform at the event. Guests can expect to hear hip-hop, R&B, house, grime, afrobeats and more.

More details are available on Eventbrite.

“FLESH: Chus + Carlita + Mightykat” will be on Friday, Oct. 29 at 10 p.m. at Flash. This will be a night featuring decor by Empire of K. There will also be performances by Spanish DJs and producers Chus and Ceballos, Turkish DJ and producer Carlita and Montreal-based DJ and producer MightyKat. Tickets are between $20 and $40 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

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Closed for 600 days, Signature reopens with ‘Rent’ New artistic director on ‘surreal’ return to live theater

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

For Signature Theatre’s out artistic director Matthew Gardiner, Jonathan Larson’s Pulitzer and Tony-winning musical “Rent” has been a constant yet evolving force in his life.

Gardiner, 37, recalls his obsession as a middle schooler with Larson’s score (“Seasons of Love,” “La Vie Boheme,” “Santa Fe,” etc.) and story about a group of down-andout artists struggling in New York City’s East Village circa 1989. “I loved it then and still do. ‘Rent’ was my ‘Hair’,” he says. “I listened to the double CD over and over again.”

And now, after 600 days of closure, Signature is reopening with – you guessed it -- “Rent” directed by Gardiner. Two years ago, he would have looked at the 1996 rock musical loosely based on Puccini’s “La Bohème” nostalgically, but not now, he says.

Before the pandemic, “Rent” was already scheduled to be Signature’s fall 2021 season opener, Gardiner explains.

“Back when live audiences were a remote possibility, we considered maybe reopening with something else, but as I delved into it through the lens of my experience over the past two years, the piece spoke to me in a new way.

The ideas of disconnection, need for community, and the universal understanding of loss, are more real to us now.”

During the time without live audiences, Gardiner built on his directorial skill set by working with his brother James Gardiner and Chiet Productions filming Signature’s series of high-quality streaming offerings. He says, “I’m proud that we put art out into the world in the only way we could at that time.”

In July 2021, Gardiner, with 15 years of experience leaving him perfectly poised to take the reins, was named the company’s artistic director.

Ensemble members USMAN ALI ISHAQ, IMANI BRANCHAND, and DEVIN BOWELS in rehearsals for ‘Rent’ at Signature Theater. (Photo by Christopher Mueller)

MATTHEW GARDINER

(Photo by Christopher Mueller)

WASHINGTON BLADE: What’s it like to be directing live theater again?

MATTHEW GARDINER: Surreal and wild. Some days it’s really easy – I’m right back on riding that bike. And other days I wonder if I know how to do this. I’m not alone.

We all feel like that. Many of the other artists in the room – the creative team, actors, and musicians –are coming back to this for the first time too.

Also, this piece provides its own challenges asking artists to access a place emotionally that is raw and very real. The challenges go beyond just being back in a rehearsal room.

inspiring song about seizing the day] rings truer to me now than it did before Covid-19.

BLADE: What’s your approach to the show?

GARDINER: I wouldn’t want to direct if we were doing a remount of director Michael Greif’s original, iconic staging, and I’m not about setting “Rent” on the moon or in 2020 instead of 1990. I trust the writer and trust that the creative team I have around me isn’t interested in doing a rehash.

By really investigating the housing issues of that time in New York’s Lower East Side, the AIDS epidemic, and the need for community, you recognize how it’s a mirror to this moment. It doesn’t take any force feeding for the audience to see how it relates to today. And the actors bring their lived experience to the project. The production feels very relevant.

BLADE: Is it exciting to be officially in charge?

GARDINER: I’m thrilled to be in the position I’ve always dreamed of, not necessarily at Signature, but as the artistic leader of a theater. To have an artistic vision and impact a community in that way is exciting. I’m listening to a lot of people including the community, artists, and colleagues at Signature, and doing my best to make informed decisions.

BLADE: And the score?

GARDINER: Yes, the score too. “No Day But Today” [an 2 6 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1

BLADE: Was it a strange time before being named artistic director?

GARDINER: I was already associate artistic director.

And without an artistic director, I took the lead in making artistic director decisions like the idea of a film season, and the concept of both maintaining a home for actors at Signature while inviting new people into the tent all the time. Still, I never felt like I had the job in the bag.

BLADE: Challenges?

GARDINER: Wondering if the size of audience will match what we had before the pandemic – yes, I lose some sleep over that. And it’s important to me that we continue to produce at high level of quality that people expect from us.

That said, I’m much more excited than scared.

Nov 5 - 14

SALVADOR Flamenco Aparicio Dance Co. (US)

“powerful... brilliantly staged and performed” -DC Metro Theater Arts

Nov 5 - 7

DE PASO Sara Pérez Dance Co. (Spain) In collaboration with Fundación Casa Patas of Madrid Second Prize for Soloist Choreography and First Prize for Outstading Music Composition for Dance, XXVI Madrid Competition in Spanish Dance Choreography and Flamenco

202-234-7174 | galatheatre.org 3333 14th St NW, WDC 20010 @teatrogala

Nov 11 - 14 O CTO B E R 2 9 , 2 0 2 1 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 2 7

‘I Am Samuel’: A family portrait too real for Kenya?

Country banned LGBTQ-themed documentary

By KATLEGO K KOLANYANE-KESUPILE

If there has been one thing missing in LGBTQ storytelling for a while it has been the framing of LGBTQ people as cogs in greater family mechanisms. The 2020 Kenyan film “I Am Samuel” not only fills this gap but also disrupts how stories of African people of marginalized sexual orientations have been told to the world. When Peter Murimi started chronicling this story more than five years ago, he might have imagined that his locale would be primed to receive it as Kenya has a thriving human rights activist scene.

That was not the case, and his intimate family portrait was banned from being screened in its proverbial motherland.

When you hear that a film has been banned you immediately think that it contains gratuitous displays of something or the other that goes against the fabric of the country or humanity in general. In dictatorial states you might think the film to be excessively progressive. With the film in question, neither of those things is the case. If anything, Murimi’s telling of Samuel’s story is in service of nationwide unification. While the principal characters are Sammy and Alex, whom he calls “the love of my life” in the first minute of dialogue in the film, the story really is about the strength and value of family ties with Sammy’s aging parents.

The Kenya Film Classification Board’s penchant for banning films it expects to sway people toward cultural enlightenment, what it would frame as corruption of morals, is nothing new at this point with regard to LGBTQ-centric films. This very board banned Wanuri Kahiu’s internationally acclaimed “Rafiki,” which was released in Cannes in 2018, due to its “homosexual themes.” The case built around “I Am Samuel,” however, is a different one since it shows Sammy’s gayness not as rebellion but as affirming his truth — something that his parents grow to not fault him for. In their justification of why Murimi’s film violates the Films and Stage Plays Act, the acting CEO Christopher Wambua pointedly stated that “additionally, the film tries to influence the viewer into believing that the older generation that was once against LGBTQ+ is slowly buying into the practice and accepting same-sex marriage as a normal way of life.”

What is sad, yet not unsurprising, about Wambua’s statement is that it reminds us that homophobia is as inherited as colorism in Africa and across former colonies. Given the chance to see what elders growing into their acceptance of what they had been conditioned to believe is foreign, even if they knew better than to buy into that lie, it would appear that Kenya’s moralistic cultural gatekeepers refuse to engage in the decolonial project one of their own, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o, continues to challenge the world toward. What Murimi offers in this family portrait is for Kenyans, Africans and all those conditioned to believe that hating one of their own is intrinsic to self-preservation, to view the protagonist’s life from the perspective of the aunt/uncle/cousin/sister/mother/ father who is in fact their confidante. Murimi allows viewers to see a family thrown into turmoil by the revelation of someone’s truth, and to watch as each party grows to learn how to coexist with the other in an effort to rebuild the tangible love they once had, which is now just hidden behind shame and misunderstanding.

“I Am Samuel” isn’t without expressions of romance, sexuality, and attraction. When Sammy’s father professes that he was happy that he’d found his “sweetie” and he wants the same thing for his son, you feel both bashful and pitiful. Sammy’s parents, being

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aging subsistence farmers, are the Africans of anthropologic development reports the West feeds its colonialist appetite with, but Murimi gives them a chance at being multidimensional — being people who not only suffer their environment, but (Image courtesy of ‘We Are Not The Machine’) also have histories that don’t involve the hardships of their present. Similarly, this film does away with many of the hallmarks of “third world LGBTQ documentaries” in that it really is just about Sammy’s life and doesn’t try to paint a broad-stroke picture of how gay men live in Nairobi or rural Kenya.

The commitment that Sammy and Alex show to each other is also given its space without dramatization. Their personal hardships are mundane. What strikes the viewer, however, is that this documentary is not sanitized from the horrors that state-endorsed homophobia can bring to people’s lives. A case of mistaken identity resulting in unwarranted scars for one of their friends is a reminder that generalist understandings and portrayals of LGBTQ people are dangerous and can be life threatening.

“I Am Samuel” is a timely offering to the world of LGBTQ storytelling in that it’s a story of perseverance, acceptance, teaching, mundanity, destiny, faith and simple humanity.

The film is by no means a finished story, Murimi doesn’t venture to envelope it in fancy facts or Aristotelian catharsis—we are left with where the family that we spend the good part of an hour getting to understand are at the point the screen fades to black. We are left hoping that the family unit is able to re-imagine its future. Where questions of offspring might otherwise be framed through surrogacy or adoption, we understand that these are socio-economic privileges that don’t immediately apply in this particular family. We are left hoping that the health of the elders improves and they get to celebrate many more harvests and muse over wedding photos and cake. “I Am Samuel” is the kind of African story that shelves being brave in favor of being seen as human by those closest to you and many families need it. Whether they are in Kenya, Botswana, Russia or the U.S., they need it.

“I Am Samuel” premiered across Africa on Oct. 14 on Afridocs’ website, and the producers invite you to stream it there for free.

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‘Things We Dare Not Do’ streams on PBS through Nov. 24.

Trans teen comes out in Mexican doc ‘Things We Dare Not Do’ Slice-of-life chronicle nominated for two Ariel Awards

By JOHN PAUL KING

In today’s explosion of the documentary market, where every week brings a new assortment of intriguing entries so abundant it’s impossible to fit them all into your viewing schedule, there are more films about the lives and culture of LGBTQ+ people than ever before. This is clearly a good thing. But while so many of them are centered on our history and our heroes – on the big, the important, the culturally impactful, and the world-changing – it’s worth taking note when one comes along that brings a more microscopic focus to queer experience and reminds us that our community is made up of millions of individual beings – each of them with their own, unique story to tell.

One such film, seemingly so small and unassuming as to slip under the radar in a field of more titanic choices, is “Cosas Que No Hacemos (Things We Dare Not Do)”, which made its broadcast premiere on PBS’s “American Documentary/POV” Oct. 25 and is available to stream for free through Nov. 24.

The second feature film from Mexican director and cinematographer Bruno Santamaría, this brief (barely 75 minutes) but luminous slice-of-life chronicle might be small, but it has already proven its might. Nominated for two Ariel Awards by Mexico’s Academy of Cinematographic Arts, it is also the winner of the Gold Hugo Award for Best Documentary and the Gold Q-Hugo Award for Best LGBTQ+ Film at the Chicago International Film Festival, and was chosen as an official selection at numerous others, including both the prestigious Hot Docs and DOC NYC film festivals. Touted as giving voice to “a powerful coming-of-age story,” its quietly hypnotic storytelling quickly draws you into such an intimate perspective on one queer person’s journey that it’s easy to see why it has earned such accolades.

“Things We Dare Not Do” takes us to a small Mexican coastal village called El Roblito, where 16-year-old Ñoño lives what seems to be an idyllic existence with his loving family.

He spends his days playing with the free-spirited younger children of the town and staging elaborate community dance productions, but there is something inside of him, a secret he’s been holding, that can no longer be denied. Defying gender norms, Ñoño bravely works up the courage to tell his family they wants to live their life as a woman – a decision that comes with potentially dangerous consequences in a country shrouded in machismo and transphobia.

The coming out of a young trans person is clearly a timely and important subject to be documented on film, but under Santamaría’s lyrical guidance that process is part of a bigger experience. Ñoño is part of a community, from which their life is inextricable, a single thread woven into the tapestry of a larger world. While they remain in the center of the film – often wordlessly, a presence made impactful to us by our knowledge of his still-undisclosed inner life – they are seen in the context of day-to-day life in El Roblito. It’s a place where family is central, where generational traditions are honored and perpetuated within the daily routine of the community, and where the rhythms and patterns of existence that have repeated for centuries and longer exert their pressure on every aspect of individual development.

It’s captured beautifully, with exquisite cinematography by the director himself that juxtaposes the serene beauty of rural Mexico against the strength, bravery and spirit of a 3 0 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1

young queer person working to reconcile his inner life with his identity in the community, and through the course of the film, right alongside their family and the rest of the village, Ñoño is both participant and witness for many important community events. Some of these are joyful, such as the film’s magical opening, featuring a visit from Santa Claus – borne over the town in an aerial vehicle held aloft by a giant rainbow parachute – who distributes candy to the delighted children below. Some are mundane, like a community movie night and the sound of informational civic announcements being broadcast via loudspeaker in the background, and some celebratory, such as a festive graduation party for the school children of the village. There are more ominous communal touchstones, too; a violent shooting which takes place at that very celebration has a palpable effect on the imaginations of the children for days afterward.

With this slow-paced but bustling environment as a backdrop, Ñoño’s journey unfolds furtively, in powerful yet breathlessly simple private moments shared only with Santamaría’s camera: a secretive trip to the beach to don drag for a few hastily snapped selfies, the latenight ritual of scrolling through a gender-bent social media feed at bedtime with the dim glow of his phone’s touchscreen providing the only light in the darkness of their life, their anxious but resolute on-camera declaration of their intention to come out as trans to their parents. These are small, quiet, undramatic events, but their cumulative effect pays off a hundredfold in the climactic sequence, where Ñoño finally works up the courage to ask for permission from their family – especially from his traditional, macho, hard-working, and often absent father – to begin living as a woman. There’s no shouting, no confrontations, no dramatic outbursts, but the intensity of emotion that comes in that scene is electrifying, nonetheless.

That it all comes together so unforgettably with what appears to be so little effort reflects the director’s own journey in making the film. Santamaría says of the process: “It’s very moving to think that we are about to share the work that we started six years ago, to share the encounter we experienced. What began as a secret in my life led us to an idea, that idea led us to a journey, and the journey to an encounter. When I met Dayanara [the name by which Ñoño goes now] everything changed, the idea, the trip, the film and our lives.

‘Things We Dare Not Do’ is the result of this journey of dreams, accidents and experiences; a film that seeks to share the feeling of the coming-of-age experience of an adolescent who takes a brave step in her process of emancipation, in her process of growing up.”

In a time when trans rights – especially for young people – face persistent and venomous assault from phobic far right political factions who aim to negate the truth of trans experience, it’s invaluable to create space in which the truth of those experiences can be explored with nuance, authenticity, and empathy. By taking one young person’s struggle for queer identity out of the usual urban setting we’ve come to expect, Bruno Santamaría’s quietly monumental documentary provides a much-appreciated fresh perspective on the issue; more than that, it delivers a moving tale of emancipation that is sure to stick with you – and inspire you – long after the credits roll.

‘Raising Ollie’ a delightful read about raising non-binary child

La Vie Boheme!

Teachers will appreciate this, though it’s not a parenting book

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER

Fill-in-the-blanks.

That’s what you get when you have a baby: unknowns. Its birthdate is often a guess, length and weight are surprises. Will it have your eyes, long fingers, Dad’s smile, Grandma’s nose? Fill in the blanks: not boy, not girl but, as in the new memoir, “Raising Ollie” by Tom Rademacher, neither, thank you.

When his daughter, Olive, was an infant, Tom Rademacher says he “struggled in those early months ... to enjoy much of parenting.” There were vast amounts to learn, and little “Ollie” was a patient teacher.

As a toddler, Ollie was particularly talented in language and arts, attributes their teacher-father and therapist-mother encouraged. Early on, they were superobservant, wise, and curious about completely everything; when they were in second grade, suspicions that they were an intelligent kid were confirmed when they were labeled as an “advanced learner.”

But school was a trial, even for a uber‘Raising Ollie: How My smart seven-year-old.

Nonbinary Art-Nerd Ollie suffered from anxiety. They hated crowds and making friends and Kid Changed (Nearly) unwanted attention; they had the wit, Everything I Know’ open-mindedness, and understanding of an adult sometimes, but with little-kid

By Tom Rademacher coping skills. Normally a voracious lover of c.2021, University of Minnesota Press learning, they began to dread each school $18.95 | 200 pages morning, and they seemed tearfully fearful of some classes and teachers. Obviously, a change in schools was needed; Ollie did their own research.

Shortly after starting third grade, Olive, who prefers “daughter” and uses they/them pronouns begun loudly, confidently, assertively identifying as a nonbinary kid.

At around this same time, their father had school issues of his own. A 2014 Minnesota Teacher of the Year, Rademacher had been unemployed due to budget cuts but was beginning a semester teaching language arts to eighth graders in northeast Minneapolis. He was also working on how to offer the best support for his students, just as he wanted for his child.

“Raising Ollie” is absolutely delightful. It’s filled with funny stories that will make you laugh. It’s a peek inside today’s classroom, with a teacher who offers relatable lessons to a notoriously tough audience of teens.

It’s also less than half about actually raising Ollie.

Author Tom Rademacher starts this memoir with a teasing warning to readers that stories are important in his family. He fulfills his promises to tell tales about his life, his parents, racism and his efforts to eliminate it in the schools where he works, and the stellar students he’s had. His stories make you want to be seated at his table at a conference and yes, he tells stories about his smart, funny, talented child who is an “art-nerd” and loves cosplay and wore girly dresses until about age seven – but just not enough.

These are sometimes-hilarious tales of a Midwestern growing-up, idyllic and happy and nostalgic, followed by a typical, angsty, identity-searching teenage-hood.

But Ollie? Just not enough. Sigh.

Teachers will adore this book. There are laughs all over the place for just about every reader who can appreciate a little self-depreciation. But if you’re looking for a parenting book about rearing a nonbinary child, “Raising Ollie” may leave you blank.

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17th Street High Heel Race draws large crowd (Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Close to 1,000 spectators turned out Tuesday night to watch D.C.’s 34th Annual 17th Street High Heel Race in which several dozen men dressed in drag and wearing colorful high heel shoes raced along a three-block stretch of 17th Street near Dupont Circle.

As she has in past years, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, whose office organizes the annual event, gave the official signal for the runners to start the race from a stage at the intersection of 17th and R streets, N.W. Joining the mayor on the stage was Japer Bowles, who Bowser recently named as director of the Mayor’s Office of LGBTQ Affairs, which plays the lead role in organizing the High Heel Race.

Also appearing on stage after being introduced by Bowser were D.C. Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-At-Large) and Council members Robert White (D-At-Large) and Brooke Pinto (D-Ward 2).

“I think it’s amazing,” Bowser told the Blade after the completion of the race. “It’s good to be back. It was tough missing a year of activities,” she said referring to the business

shutdowns brought about by the pandemic. “We had a lot of great, beautiful racers. And so, I’m really excited about it.”

D.C. Police Chief Robert Contee, who walked along the three-block section of 17th Street before the race began, was greeted warmly by bystanders, some of whom called out his name to welcome him to what has become the city’s largest Halloween celebration.

“This is a great event,” Contee told the Washington Blade. “I enjoy coming out to be among D.C. residents and all who find our D.C. culture,” he said. “It’s just a great evening, so we’re happy to be out here supporting our community.”

The High Heel Race was cancelled last year due to restrictions related to the COVID pandemic. Many in the crowd watching the race on Tuesday night said they were delighted the city decided to go ahead with the event this year at a time when other large events continue to be canceled or postponed.

Visit washingtonblade.com for more photos.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

O CTO B E R 2 9 , 2 0 2 1 • WA S H I N GTO N B L A D E.CO M • 3 3

How much cash do you need to put down to buy a house?

The answer is between 3-20 percent

By JOSEPH HUDSON

Well, typically if you don’t put 20% down, you will have to pay something called PMI. Private Mortgage Insurance. Not all lenders charge this in every instance, but it can be $100 or more per month, and when you get to 20% equity you can request that the bank drop the PMI from your monthly payment.

The smallest amount I have seen for a down payment is 3% or 3.5%. In D.C., there is a program called “DC Opens Doors” that helps qualified people get down payment assistance in the form of a 3% or 3.5% loan that will be repaid when the house sells. This helps people that have decent enough incomes to pay typical D.C. rents and mortgages, but who maybe don’t have lots of cash available to cover their closing costs and a down payment at the same time. It is a very good program and most local lenders are familiar with it. It also doesn’t have lots of hoops for a buyer to jump through and can usually close in 30 days.

There are other programs in D.C. such as EAHP and HPAP. The first one is for D.C. employees, such as teachers, firefighters, cops, etc. and will help them have up to $20K in down payment assistance. The other program is for qualified buyers who usually have to earn under a certain amount per members of the household and are buying in the District. I have seen some buyers get up to $80K in down

payment assistance and sometimes a few thousand dollars toward closing costs. I believe with HPAP the buyer needs to take an online class, and in both of these loan situations more is asked of the seller – a home inspection must be completed, and a list must be given to the seller of required repairs and the seller must complete them at their expense.

It is a really good program, but a buyer must typically expect that it will take 4560 days to close, and if the program runs out of funding the settlement could be delayed until the funding is granted again at the beginning of the following year. For that reason, some buyers elect not to take these funds, and also for this reason some sellers are hesitant to accept an HPAP offer, if another offer is presented that has fewer requirements to get to the settlement table.

There are also programs in Maryland and Northern Virginia, but most are specific as to which county the transaction is being conducted.

If you would like to learn more about these programs, feel free to email me and I can tell you about my next homebuyer seminar in November.

3 4 • WA SHIN GTO N BLADE.COM • OCTOBER 29 , 2 0 2 1 • B US I NE S S

Buying a house? The size of your down payment can vary greatly.

JOSEPH HUDSON

is a Realtor with The Rutstein Group at Compass. Reach him at 703-587-0597 or Joseph.hudson@compass.com.

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