Washington Blade, Volume 54, Issue 06, February 10, 2023

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Scarlet’s Bake Sale to mark 50th  anniversary

Feb. 12 charitable event to benefit HIPS

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

The D.C.-based Scarlet’s Foundation will celebrate its 50th annual bake sale to raise funds for local LGBTQ community nonprofit organizations on Feb. 12 when it holds its Scarlet’s Bake Sale at the Crucible nightclub at 412 V St., N.E.

Oriana Collins, a member of the Scarlet’s Foundation board of directors, said this year will mark either the 52nd or 53rd year since the nonprofit foundation was founded in 1970 or 1971. But she said due to the cancellation of the annual Scarlet’s Bake Sale from 2020 through 2022 in response to the COVID pandemic, the organization is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the bake sale itself this year.

Like past years, dozens of cake and pastry donors will be arriving at the Crucible between 1:30 and 3 p.m. to bring their mostly home-baked cakes along with store or bakery bought cakes, according to Collins. She said a social gathering will take place at 3 p.m. to be followed by the start of the bake sale, which takes place as a live auction for each of the cakes up for sale, at 4 p.m.

“The bake sale is always on the Sunday before Valentine’s Day,” Collins said. She said many of the cakes donated for the event are beautifully decorated to reflect a theme, which this year will mark the 50th Scarlet’s Bake Sale since the charitable event first began.

In past years, Collins said, cakes have sold for as much as $3,000 in an auction that participants know will benefit a charitable LGBTQ organization. She said the last one held before the pandemic hiatus in 2019 raised about $16,000.

This year’s recipient will be the local organization HIPS, which states on its website that it “promotes the health, rights, and dignity of individuals and communities impacted” by sex work and drug use through “compassionate harm reduction services, advocacy, and community engagement.”

For most of its years since its founding, according to Collins, Scarlet’s Bake Sale took place at the D.C. Eagle, the iconic gay leather bar before the Eagle closed its doors, like all other bars, during the peak of the COVID pandemic. Due to the sale of its building, the Eagle announced in 2020 it would not reopen. Collins said the Crucible succeeded the Eagle in becoming the host for the bake sale.

She said many participants and cake donors are from the leather community, including several longtime motorcycle clubs.

“Our organization is small and it’s volunteer run,” said Collins about the Scarlet’s Foundation. “The proceeds of the bake sale have always been donated to an organization in the DMV area that supports LGBTQIA+ populations,” she said. Among them, she said, have been the former LGBTQ charitable group Brother Help Thyself, SMYAL, and Casa Ruby before it ceased operating.

(Washington Blade archive photos by Doug Hinckle, Henry Linser, Pete Exis and Michael Key)

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Gay Rehoboth couple loses property worth $125,000 to hostile neighbor

Judge cites ‘adverse possession’ in ruling

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

A Delaware Superior Court judge on Feb. 2 issued a decision allowing a woman who owns real estate property in Ocean View, Del., that is adjacent to property owned by a gay couple who spend the summer months in nearby Rehoboth Beach to assume ownership of the couple’s vacant lot through a little-known law in Delaware and other states called the “adverse possession” statute.

“We are in the shocked and depressed stage and freaking out a little bit,” said Burt Banks, who, along with his husband, David Barrett, were not aware that the neighboring property owner had been using the property in question for 20 years as required under the adverse possession law until 2021, when they put the property up for sale, Banks told the Washington Blade.

Banks said his family has owned the property for several generations and he inherited it a year after his father died in 2004. The judge’s ruling shows that Banks in 2016 deeded the property to himself and his husband Barrett in the form of a living trust.

When the couple put the property up for sale in 2021 and their Realtor set a $125,000 sale price for the property, a prospective buyer discovered the adjacent property owner had a claim on the couple’s property, according to the ruling by Judge Craig A. Karsnitz of the Georgetown, Del.-based Superior Court.

The judge’s ruling says Banks and Barrett then filed a Complaint for Ejectment against Mellissa Schrock to require that she vacate the property.

Karsnitz’s 27-page court ruling says Schrock filed a legal response challenging the ejectment complaint and a short

allowing

seizure of vacant lot

and notorious, hostile, and adverse, and exclusive use of the Property by Defendant, and actual and continuous possession of the Property by Defendant, for the twenty-year statutory adverse possession period, and finding no assertion of ownership or control by Plaintiffs during that period, I quiet title to the Property in Defendant,” the ruling declares.

time later filed a counterclaim invoking the Adverse Possession statute to gain legal rights to become the owner of the property in question. The ruling describes the property as an unimproved wooded lot consisting of “mature, densely foliated woodlands.”

The judge’s ruling says he decided in favor of Schrock because she met the criteria for invoking Adverse Possession, which includes occupying or using the property for at least 20 years continuously and doing so in an open and “notorious” way without objection from the owner.

“The matter was tried before me on Dec. 7, 2022, and I visited the property for a visual inspection on Dec. 8, 2022,” Karsnitz says in his ruling. “I asked the parties to submit their closing arguments in writing, which they both did on Dec. 20, 2022, the ruling continues.

“This is my decision after trial,” the judge states. “Because by a preponderance of the evidence I find open

“I also deny Plaintiffs’ Complaint for Ejectment,” it says. The ruling also states that Banks and Barrett testified at the trial that Banks’ father had installed a saw mill on the property in the early 2000s and used the saw mill before he died in 2004. It says the couple also testified that they visited the property periodically over the years and never observed anyone else using the property, but they acknowledged they never placed a no-trespassing sign on the property or introduced themselves as the owner to any of their neighbors.

“There was no evidence that Plaintiffs used the Property as their own or sought to exclude Defendant from her use of the Property,” Karsnitz says in his ruling. “I therefore give Defendant’s testimony and other evidence more weight than that of Plaintiffs on this element,” the ruling states.

Banks told the Blade that he and his husband, whose main residence is in Atlanta, may not be able to afford at this time the cost of appealing the ruling to the Delaware Supreme Court. But he said the couple hopes the loss of their property will serve as a warning to others who buy property in the Rehoboth Beach area.

“We are meeting with our trial attorney this week and hopefully he can provide some guidance,” Banks said.

46 out commissioners join ANC Rainbow Caucus Raising the profile of issues unique to D.C.’s LGBTQ residents

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

At least 46 out members of the city’s Advisory Neighborhood Commissions who were elected in November have joined the ANC Rainbow Caucus, according to caucus co-chair Vincent Slatt, who won election to the Dupont Circle ANC Single Member District 2B03.

Slatt said he and ANC Rainbow Caucus co-chair Ryan Cudemas-Brunoli of ANC 3F01 plan to continue the caucus’ activities since its founding in 2018 of raising the profile of problems and issues unique to LGBTQ residents throughout the city and to use caucus members’ positions to push for a D.C. government response to those issues.

At least 34 straight-identified commissioners have signed up as allies to work with the Rainbow Caucus, Slatt said.

The city currently has a total of 46 ANCs representing neighborhoods throughout the city that have between two and as many as 10 single member districts (SMDs) each with an elected commissioner, with a total of 345 commissioners. Under the city’s Home Rule Charter, ANC seats are nonpartisan, unpaid positions whose elected members are charged with advising the D.C. government on local neighborhood issues.

Among the caucus’ past accomplishments, Slatt said, was the active role it played in lobbying the D.C. Council to amend the city’s hate crimes law to ban the so-called LGBTQ “panic defense.” Defense attorneys have used

that defense to argue that a client charged with physically assaulting or murdering an LGBTQ person did so after they panicked upon learning the victim was gay or LGBTQ.

Slatt noted that the caucus, among other actions related to crime targeting LGBTQ people, submitted a community impact statement to a D.C. Superior Court judge at the time of sentencing for a man charged with a violent hate crime assault targeting a gay Asian man and his elderly parents. The judge denied a request by the defendant’s attorney to issue a suspended jail term with probation and instead sentenced the man to seven months in jail.

Slatt said the ANC Rainbow Caucus is currently closely monitoring the police investigation into the January 2023 murder of D.C. transgender woman Jasmine Star Parker.

“As in previous caucus work, we’ll have letters, resolutions, and proclamations on different matters,” Slatt said, which will be posted on a website the caucus plans to launch soon.

The caucus can currently be contacted via email at ancrainbowcaucus.org.

Newly diagnosed HIV cases increased slightly in D.C. in 2021

Report cautions fewer people were tested during COVID-19 pandemic

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. | lchibbaro@washblade.com

The D.C. Department of Health’s Annual Epidemiology and Surveillance Report released on Tuesday shows there were 230 newly diagnosed HIV cases in the D.C. in 2021, the most recent year in which data have been analyzed.

The report says the 230 cases in 2021 represents an 83 percent decline in new cases from the peak number of 1,374 cases in 2007, but a slight increase from 219 cases reported in 2020. The report shows there were 273 newly reported HIV cases in 2019, 331 cases in 2018 and 386 in 2017.

In addition to HIV, the report includes data related to the number of newly reported cases of hepatitis, tuberculosis, and other sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea and chlamydia.

and underreporting is most substantial for those with asymptomatic infections,” it says.

The Annual Epidemiology and Surveillance Report was released at a Tuesday event at the city’s Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus in Southeast D.C. in commemoration of Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Among those who attended or spoke were Harold Phillips, director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, deputy coordinator of the White House Mpox Response who’s on leave from his role as director of HIV/AIDS Prevention at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Also participating in the event were Rita Harcrow-Flegel, drector of the U.S. Department Housing and Urban Development’s Office of HIV/AIDS Housing; Dr. Sharon Lewis, interim director of D.C. Health; Clover Barnes, senior deputy director of D.C. Health’s HIV/AIDS, STD, and TB Administration, and Erin Whelan, executive director of the D.C. LGBTQ youth advocacy group SMYAL.

Statements at the event by the White House and D.C. officials and a statement released by the office of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser point to stepped up efforts by D.C. to provide HIV testing and treatment services to all those at risk for HIV, including services free of charge for those unable to pay for them.

Among the services announced is the availability of Post Exposure Prophylaxis, or PEP, a medication D.C. Health is offering free of charge that is taken to prevent HIV infection if taken within 72 hours of being exposed to HIV. Also available, officials said, is the medication known as Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis, or PrEP, which, when taken as a daily pill, prevents people from becoming infected with HIV. That too is available free of charges for those in need, the statement from the mayor’s office says.

HIV to another person through sexual contact.

The newly released report includes these findings for the year 2021:

• There were 11,904 current D.C. residents, or 1.8 percent of the population, living with HIV in 2021.

• Sexual contact was the leading mode of transmission of newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2021.

• There were 230 newly diagnosed HIV cases in 2021, a small increase over the 219 new cases reported in 2020, but a significant drop from the 1,373 cases in the peak year of 2007 and the continued decline in cases in subsequent years.

• The proportion of people living with HIV in D.C. in 2021 that are Black is 71 percent

“Annual surveillance data is critical to our understanding of disease trends and our planning and programmatic efforts to control and prevent disease,” the report says. “However, the data in this year’s report must be examined in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic continues to have an immense impact on the availability, accessibility and utilization of disease screening, prevention, and care services,” according to the report.

Among other things, the report says the D.C. Department of Health, to which it refers as D.C. Health, saw a 20 percent decline in the volume of HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and hepatitis laboratory reports received in 2020 compared to 2019, indicating fewer people were being tested and diagnosed for the diseases.

“HIV lab volume decreased further from 2020 to 2021 with a 20 percent decline, and an overall decline from 2019 to 32 percent,” the report says. “Given disruptions to screening services, the potential for underdiagnosis

“We want people in D.C. to know their status and get connected to the right care at the right time — with no shame or stigma attached,” Bowser said in the statement. “We have so many fantastic healthcare partners in D.C., and they have helped us expand access to free PEP, free PrEP, free condoms, free at-home tests, and more,” the mayor said. “Now, we need to make sure people know what’s available and how to access it.”

The statement calls on the public, especially those at risk for HIV, to access information about the city’s HIV prevention and support related services through a new website: sexualbeing.org.

It says the city continues to push for its “bold goal” of having fewer than 21 new HIV diagnoses each year by 2030. It says the city is also stepping up efforts to ensure that everyone who tests positive for HIV will quickly access the anti-retroviral medication that, if used as directed, prevents HIV related illness and suppresses a person’s HIV viral load to a point where they cannot transmit

• The proportion of Black men diagnosed with HIV in 2021 who have sex with men (MSM) was 35 percent.

• The proportion of white men diagnosed with HIV in 2021 who have sex with men (MSM} was 8 percent.

• The proportion of Black heterosexual men diagnosed with HIV in 2021 was 8 percent.

• The proportion of Black heterosexual women diagnosed with HIV in 2021 was 15 percent.

• The report does not show the proportion of white heterosexual men who tested positive for HIV in 2021.

• The proportion of transgender persons diagnosed with HIV in 2021 was 3.5 percent.

• In 2021, the overall gender breakdown in the proportion of newly diagnosed HIV cases was 73.9 percent male and 22.6 percent female. The report was expected to be posted for access on the D.C. Health website at www.dchealth.dc.gov.

CLOVER BARNES, Director of the D.C. Department of Health’s HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD and TB Administration (HAHSTA), was among those playing a lead role in preparing the newly released D.C.HIV/AIDS surveillance report. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

‘We want people in D.C. to know their status and get connected to the right care at the right time — with no shame or stigma attached,’ Mayor MURIEL BOWSER said in a statement. (Washington Blade file photo by Michael Key)

Biden’s State of the Union prioritizes bipartisanship

President Joe Biden’s second State of the Union address on Tuesday focused on building upon recent accomplishments, especially legislative milestones that were reached with bipartisan cooperation.

Nevertheless, the speech was met with vocal objections from Republican lawmakers over Biden’s comments about the debt ceiling, the Southern border and his mention of some GOP members’ plans to cut social security and Medicare.

“From reauthorizing the Violence Against Women Act, to the Electoral Count Reform Act, to the Respect for Marriage Act that protects the right to marry the person you love,” Biden said, “To my Republican friends, if we could work together in the last Congress, there is no reason we can’t work together in this new Congress.”

On the subject of legislation, for the second year in a row, Biden repeated his plea for Congress to revisit the Equality Act “to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity.”

“President Biden included LGBTQ people in his vision for a more equal, more free and more compassionate country,” said GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis in a Tweet. “In re-upping his call for Congress to pass the Equality Act and protect transgender youth, the President is leading by example to expand freedom so no one is left behind.”

He also focused part of Tuesday’s address on public health. “Twenty years ago, under the leadership of President Bush and countless advocates and champions, we undertook a bipartisan effort through PEPFAR to trans-

form the global fight against HIV/AIDS,” Biden said.

The successful effort should be repeated in the fight against cancer, he added.

These matters aside, Biden included little mention of LGBTQ issues, or the extremism of Republicans who are poised to run for the presidency next year. Instead, the bulk of his remarks were focused on themes like implementing the provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act and the bipartisan infrastructure law.

The country’s economic recovery was another well-trod message, on the heels of a January jobs report whose data showed record low unemployment and steady growth in new jobs and workers’ wages.

Biden did devote some time to reproductive rights.

“The vice president and I are doing everything we can to protect access to reproductive health care and safeguard patient privacy,” he said. “But already, more than a dozen states are enforcing extreme abortion bans.”

The president then vowed to veto a national abortion ban if Congress should pass one.

During last year’s State of the Union, Biden said “the onslaught of state laws targeting transgender Americans and their families is wrong,” adding, “As I said last year, especially to our younger transgender Americans, I will always have your back as your president, so you can be yourself and reach your God-given potential.”

One sign of solidarity with the LGBTQ community this year was the invitation of Gina and Heidi Nortonsmith, plaintiffs in the Massachusetts case that led the state to become the first to legalize same-sex marriage, to join first lady Jill Biden’s box.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) brought Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson as his guest. Biden honored Jeffries’ predecessor, U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), as “someone who I think will be considered the greatest speaker in the history of this country.”

“Tonight, in front of Congress and the nation, President Biden called attention to the campaign of hatred that is driving discriminatory legislation that targets transgender kids in statehouses around the country,” said Robinson. “Extremist lawmakers are banning best-practice, doctor approved care, kicking kids off sports teams, censoring curriculum and more.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Eagle NYC bar patrons robbed of thousands

The New York City Police Department, (NYPD) confirmed that a series of robberies committed at The Eagle NYC, a Chelsea gay leather bar last Fall, had the three victims losing thousands of dollars after the criminals used facial recognition to access the victims’ phones.

NBC News Out correspondent Matt Lavietes reported the three men, who were in their late 30s and 40s, visited The Eagle NYC, on separate nights in October and November and were each robbed of $1,000 to $5,000, according to the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of public information.

No arrests have been made and the investigation is ongoing, authorities said.

Capt. Robert Gault of the city’s 10th Precinct, who spoke about the incidents at a police community council meeting last week, told NBC News that NYPD investigators believe the criminals used facial recognition to access the victims’ phones and funds once they were incapacitated.

“What we think is happening with this scheme is they’re being lured away from the club, maybe to say, ‘Hey, you wanna come with me? I got some good drugs,’ or something like that,’” Gault said. “And then, once they get into a car to do whatever it is that they’re going to do, at some point or another, they don’t know what happened when they wake up.”

Va. House passes two anti-trans bills

The Republican-controlled Virginia House of Delegates on Tuesday approved two anti-transgender bills.

State Del. Karen Greenhalgh (R-Virginia Beach)’s House Bill 1387, which would ban trans athletes from school sports teams that correspond with their gender identity, passed by a 51-47 vote margin. State Del. Dave LaRock (R-Loudoun County)’s House Bill 2432, which would require school personnel to out trans students to their parents, passed by a 50-48 vote margin.

“We are dealing with forcibly outing kids regardless of the safety of their home,” said state Del. Danica Roem (D-Manassas) on Monday when she spoke against HB 2432. “You have no idea of the harm you’re causing. Do

better for them.”

Roem, who is the first openly trans woman seated in a state legislature in the U.S., also spoke against HB 1387 on the House floor.

Equality Virginia and the Human Rights Campaign are among the groups that condemned the bills’ passage.

“It can be hard for people to understand what it means to be a transgender or nonbinary young person if they’ve never met one. But trans and nonbinary young people are our friends, family members and neighbors, and like all young people, they deserve safe and inclusive learning environments where they can thrive and be supported as they are,” said Kasey Suffredini, vice president of

BRODY LEVESQUE

advocacy and government affairs at the Trevor Project, in a statement. “These bills would only contribute to further isolation and stigma at a time when trans young people are already struggling.”

The two bills will now go before the Democratic-controlled Virginia Senate.

The Senate Education Committee last week killed six measures that would have banned transition-related health care for minors in Virginia and prevented trans athletes from school teams that correspond with their gender. It is likely HB 1387 and HB 2432 will meet a similar fate.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

The Eagle NYC (Screenshot/YouTube)

President JOE BIDEN at the State of the Union address on Feb. 7. (Blade photo by Michael Key)

Victory Institute urges Senate to confirm Sohn for FCC

The LGBTQ Victory Institute submitted a letter Monday with more than 375 signatories urging Senate leadership to confirm Gigi Sohn’s nomination for commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission.

Sohn, whose appointment has been languishing since October 2021, would be the first LGBTQ person ever to serve in that role where she would become the tie-breaking vote on the bipartisan-led commission.

“Gigi is one of the nation’s leading public advocates for open, affordable, and democratic communications networks,” the Victory Institute wrote in its letter. “Gigi has worked across the country to defend and preserve the fundamental competition and innovation policies that have made broadband internet access more ubiquitous, competitive, affordable, open, and protective of user privacy. During this time, she has worked across the industry, notably as Counselor to former FCC Chair Tom Wheeler.”

Despite these qualifications – and the Biden-Harris administration’s decision to nominate her for a third time –Sohn’s confirmation has been delayed amid coordinated attacks by industry lobbyists, conservatives on the Senate’s Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, and right-wing media organizations.

Fox News, Breitbart, and the Daily Mail have recently focused on Sohn’s membership on the board of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a respected organization

that has come out against a pair of laws that were enacted in 2018 amid the panic over child sex trafficking.

The laws, according to the Los Angeles Times, “have proved to be largely ineffective for their stated purpose and rife with adverse side effects,” with the EFF writing that they “will not stop sex trafficking and will instead make stopping it harder.” Regardless, the matter has nothing to do with the work in which Sohn would be engaged at the FCC.

Nevertheless, these attacks on Sohn, an out lesbian, dovetail with efforts to link the LGBTQ community with child sexual abuse and exploitation. The EFF came out in support of Sohn, too, arguing that the attacks against her were “dog whistles.”

“Democrats can’t claim to support LGBTQ rights while failing to stand up to blatant bigotry targeting one of their own nominees,” Evan Greer, director of the digital rights organization Fight for the Future, told the Los Angeles Times. “If they remain silent and complicit, this will become a go-to strategy to tank LGBTQ nominees to any public position,” she said.

According to research provided by GLAAD, one of the groups that signed the Victory Institute’s letter, “These criticisms [of Sohn] have led extremists, especially those from the QAnon movement, to conclude that Sohn supports sex trafficking and is participating in a secret plot by Democrats and other ‘far left elites’ to silence conservatives.”

Former U.S. Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) called Sohn a “she-male” and “fringe lunatic,” claims that prompted other users to make death threats against her, according to research provided by GLAAD.

Separately and in the past, Sohn earned criticism for her social media posts, including one authored by the acclaimed actor and comedian Issa Rae that Sohn shared, which read: “Your raggedy white supremacist president and his cowardly enablers would rather kill everybody than stop killing black people.”

CHRISTOPHER KANE

Va. Senate approves marriage amendment repeal resolution

The Virginia Senate on Monday approved a resolution that seeks to repeal a state constitutional amendment that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

The resolution that state Sen. Adam Ebbin (D-Alexandria) introduced passed by a 25-14 vote margin. The openly gay Alexandria Democrat in a tweet noted Republicans supported it.

“My proposed constitutional amendment to repeal

Kim

The 65th annual Grammy Awards held Sunday saw a significant LGBTQ presence and wins in several categories including a Grammy for Best Solo Pop Duo/Group Performance awarded to trans artist Kim Petras alongside nonbinary artist Sam Smith for their song “Unholy.”

Madonna was on hand to introduce the duo, and in doing so, seemed to shout praise to the entire queer community. “Here’s what I have learned after four decades in music. If they call you shocking, scandalous, troublesome, problematic, provocative, or…dangerous. You are definitely on to something. So I am here to give thanks to all the rebels out there forging a new path, and taking the heat for all of it. You guys need to know, all you trouble makers out there, you need to know your fearlessness does not go unnoticed, you are seen, you are heard, and most of all you are appreciated.”

Sam Smith insisted that Kim Petras deliver their acceptance speech so that she could experience the full effect of being the first openly transgender woman to receive the award in the Recording Academy’s 65-year history.

Petras acknowledged Madonna’s effect as an icon

the defunct same-sex marriage ban has passed the Senate on a bipartisan vote of 25-14,” said Ebbin. “It is time our constitution reflects the law of the land and the values of our society.”

Virginia voters approved the Marshall-Newman Amendment in 2006. Same-sex couples have been able to legally marry in Virginia since 2014.

The General Assembly in 2021 approved a resolution that seeks to repeal the Marshall-Newman Amend -

ment. It must pass in two successive legislatures before it can go to the ballot.

The state Senate last month approved Ebbin’s Senate Bill 1096 that would affirm marriage equality in Virginia law.

Democrats currently control the chamber by a 22-18 margin. Republicans have a 51-47 majority in the Virginia House of Delegates.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

make history at Grammys

my-nominated DJ, producer and recording artist who died in Athens after an accident. “I just want to thank all the incredible transgender legends before me who kicked these doors open for me so I could be here tonight. SOPHIE, especially, my friend who passed away two years ago, who told me this would happen and always believed in me. Thank you so much for your inspiration, Sophie. I adore you and your inspiration will always be in my music.”

“I grew up next to a highway in nowhere, Germany, and my mother believed me that I was a girl and I wouldn’t be here without her and her support,” Petras concluded her historic speech. “Sam, thank you, you’re a true angel and hero in my life and I love you. And everyone who made the song, too, I love you guys. Sorry, I didn’t write down the names. I love you.”

when she said in her acceptance speech, “I want to thank Madonna for always fighting for LGBTQ rights, I would not be here if not for Madonna.”

She also called out Sophie, the transgender Gram-

Also on Sunday, Beyoncé broke the record for most Grammy wins with a total of 32. In her acceptance speech, she thanked the queer community for “creating the genre” of the dance category.

ROB WATSON

Petras, Beyoncé

KIM PETRAS and SAM SMITH accept the Grammy for their duet ‘Unholy.’ (Screenshot/YouTube)

GIGI SOHN (Screen capture via C-SPAN)

Activists welcome pope’s comments against criminalization laws

But church’s teachings about homosexuality remain unchanged

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS & ANDRÉS I. JOVÉ RODRÍGUEZ

Activists around the world say Pope Francis’ comments against criminalization laws are a milestone for the global LGBTQ and intersex rights movement.

Toni Reis, president of Aliança Nacional LGBTI+, a Brazilian LGBTQ and intersex advocacy group, told the Washington Blade that Francis’ comments are “a message that needs to be assimilated by at least 70 countries that still criminalize homosexuality in some way, including 11 countries in which the death penalty can be applied.”

Reis and his husband, David Harrad, in 2017 baptized their three adopted children at a Catholic cathedral in Curitiba, a city in southern Brazil. Reis later received a letter on official Vatican letterhead that said Francis “wishes you happiness, invoking for your family the abudance of divine graces in order to live steadfastly and faithfully as good children of God and of the church.”

“We are unable to find in the recorded words of Jesus Christ, on whom the Christian faith is founded, any reference to homosexuality as a sin,” Reis told the Blade. “There is no longer room for deliberately decontextualized interpretations of the Old Testament and the books of certain Apostles in this sense.”

Francis during an exclusive interview with the Associated Press on Jan. 24 described criminalization laws as “unjust” and said “being homosexual is not a crime.”

The pontiff acknowledged some Catholic bishops support criminalization laws and other statutes that discriminate against LGBTQ and intersex people. Francis told the Associated Press that cultural backgrounds contribute to these attitudes, and added “bishops in particular need to undergo a process of change to recognize the dignity of everyone.”

In a related development on Sunday, Pope Francis, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, and the world’s top Presbyterian minister publicly denounced laws that criminalize LGBTQ and intersex people and said their respective churches should welcome them.

The Associated Press noted Francis told reporters during a press conference onboard his plane after it departed from South Sudan that “criminalizing people with homosexual tendencies is an injustice.” Welby and the Rt. Rev. Iain Greenshields, the Presbyterian moderator of the Church of Scotland, were standing alongside the pontiff.

“There is nowhere in my reading of the four Gospels where I see Jesus turning anyone away,” said Greenshields, according to the AP. “There is nowhere in the four Gospels where I see anything other than Jesus expressing love to whomever he meets.”

Chantale Wong, the U.S. director of the Asian Development Bank who was born in Shanghai, is the first openly lesbian American ambassador.

Wong’s aunt and uncle enrolled her in a Catholic bording school in Macau, which at the time was a Portuguese colony, after she fled China with her grandmother in 1960. Wong was baptized and given the name Chantale after St. Jane Frances de Chantale.

She later attended an all-girls Catholic high school in Guam.

“He is definitely my pope,” tweeted Wong on Jan. 25.

Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel, who is openly gay, in a tweet thanked Francis “for your strong and clear words against the criminalization of LGBTIQ+

persons in the world.” Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the independent U.N. expert on LGBTQ and intersex issues who traveled to Cambodia last month, echoed Bettel.

“Criminalization based on sexual orientation is contrary to international human rights law,” tweeted Madrigal-Borloz on Jan. 25. “I welcome this recognition by (the pope.)”

The Vatican’s tone towards LGBTQ and intersex issues has softened since Francis assumed the papacy in 2013.

Francis — who vehemently opposed a marriage equality bill in his native Argentina before then-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner signed it into law in 2010 — a decade later publicly backed civil unions for same-sex couples.

The pontiff in 2013 said gay men and lesbians should not be marginalized.

Francis in 2016 later said the Roman Catholic Church should “ask forgiveness” from gay people over the way it has treated them. The pontiff in 2017 compared politicians who use hate speech against LGBTQ and intersex people and other minority groups to Adolf Hitler.

The Vatican in 2020 gave money to a group of transgender sex workers in Italy who were struggling to survive during the coronavirus pandemic. Francis in 2021 named Juan Carlos Cruz, a gay Chilean man who is a survivor of clergy sex abuse, to a commission that advises him on protecting children from pedophile priests.

Francis last year during several of his weekly papal audiences met with trans people who were living at a Rome church.

Church teachings on homosexuality and gender identity remain unchanged despite these overtures.

Francis during the Associated Press interview referred to LGBTQ and intersex issues within the context of “sin.” The pontiff later sought to clarify the comment.

“When I said it is a sin, I was simply referring to Catholic moral teaching, which says that every sexual act outside of marriage is a sin,” wrote Francis in a handwritten letter he sent to the Rev. James Martin, editor of Outreach, a website for LGBTQ and intersex Catholics, on Jan. 27.

Pedro Julio Serrano, founder of Puerto Rico Para Todes, a Puerto Rican LGBTQ and intersex rights group, during an interview with the Blade acknowledged Francis “is giving a message that criminalization of the LGBTQ+ community must be fought.” Serrano added, however, the pontiff’s comments do not change church teachings.

“There is no change in dogma, there is no change in doctrine and nothing has changed in the catechism of the Catholic Church. Everything remains the same,” Serrano told the Blade. “As long as all that remains the same, there is no change.”

Serrano further stressed Francis’ categorization of homosexuality as a “sin” is paradoxical.

“Homophobia: That is the real sin,” said Serrano.

Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, a Ugandan LGBTQ and intersex rights group, on Tuesday noted to the Blade that he is Catholic.

Uganda is among the dozens of countries in which consensual same-sex sexual relations remain criminalized.

Singapore, Barbados, St. Kitts and Nevis, Antigua and Barbuda, Botswana, Bhutan and India have decriminalized homosexuality in recent years.

Mugisha said Sexual Minorities Uganda welcomes

Francis’ statement, which he made ahead of his trip to Congo and South Sudan. (Consensual same-sex sexual activity is legal in Congo, while South Sudan continues to criminalize it.)

“Being Catholic, I know the Catholic Church will respect the pope’s views and I hope the church in Africa starts working with us towards discrimination of homosexuality,” Mugisha told the Blade.

ILGA World Co-Secretaries General Luz Elena Aranda and Tuisina Ymania Brown in response to Francis’ comments said “such a simple statement has now the potential to initiate a much-needed change and will provide relief to millions of persons in our communities across the world.” ILGA World Executive Director Julia Ehrt, like Serrano, said Vatican doctrine towards LGBTQ and intersex people needs to change if the pontiff’s position against criminalization laws will have any meaningful impact.

“We urge the Holy See to turn these words into concrete action,” said Ehrt. “The Catholic Church and its institutions can and should play an active role in supporting decriminalization efforts across the world and within the United Nations and multilateral fora, where demands to scrap these profoundly wrong laws have long been reiterated.”

Outright International, a New York-based global LGBTQ and intersex rights group, in its response to Francis’ comments also noted church teachings.

“We welcome Pope Francis’ message of inclusion and acceptance,” said Outright International in a statement to the Blade. “Discrimination, persecution and marginalization are common experiences for LGBTIQ individuals and communities around the world. In some countries, many are subjected to conversion practices and its lifelong physical and emotional damages, which are often performed and sanctioned in the name of church teachings.”

“Religious leaders have a storied history of perpetuating misconceptions about same-sex relations, promoting them as threats to society. As such, LGBTIQ people are subject to violent attacks, harassment and social stigmatization. The church’s actions have also influenced efforts to oppose the advancement of human rights for LGBTIQ people,” added Outright International. “Our hope is that the pope’s statement will foster respect, dignity and conversations that will lead to change in attitudes and lasting legal protections in this arduous journey for full equality.”

POPE FRANCIS described criminalization laws as ‘unjust’ and said ‘being homosexual is not a crime.’ (Photo by palinchak via Bigstock)

Raising money for the 2024 campaigns is already well under way. I recently received invitations to two fundraisers for the Democratic Grassroots Victory Fund sent from the Deputy National Finance Chair of the DNC. I had to look twice to see if I was reading it right. One in New York with President Biden and one in Philadelphia with both the president and Vice President Harris. The cost to attend a reception, not a meal, and have a photo opportunity, was $36,500 per person. You could become a host for $100,000.

I remember helping to arrange a fundraiser for President Obama’s reelection campaign on Sept. 30, 2012. It was held at a friend’s home in Georgetown. The cost to attend was $35,000 a couple, and it was for dinner and a photo op, and $5,000 per person for a reception with the president before the dinner. The reception was planned in conjunction with the Human Rights Campaign. So, in 10 years the price has more than doubled and no meal. The allowed personal contribution to an individual federal candidate has also gone up to $3,300 for a primary and $3,300 for the general election. So the same kind of reception we did would now cost $6,600 per person. Guess that is what they mean by inflation.

In the last 10 years we have seen the amount raised in small online contributions increase dramatically. Anyone who has ever given even $5 to a Nancy Pelosi email request for donations now sees hundreds of more emails in their in-box on a regular basis. I would urge anyone responding to one of those to read it very carefully. Many of them say they are for a particular candidate, but if you read the small print, you find the candidate only gets a very small percentage of what you donate. Most of it goes to a PAC, and often ends up in the pockets of consultants.

Democrats are very generous. But the reality is we end up donating millions to what are sure to be losing races. The current DNC Chair, Jamie Harrison, raised $104 million in his primary and general election for the Senate in South Carolina, which he predictably lost to Lindsay Graham by 12%. In what was called a long-shot campaign, Democratic candidate Marcus Flowers raised more than $15.6 million in his effort to defeat Marjorie Taylor Greene. He lost by 31 points. Giving money to him, thinking he could win in that District, is surely the definition of insanity.

There is also a lot of dark money going into campaigns. But with the increase in small donations, it is definitely harder for the big money people to have influence. I remember when the Clintons were attacked for inviting some big donors to sleep in the Lincoln bedroom in the White House as a thank you for donations. Surely Biden doesn’t have to do that. But as the dollar requests go up for a picture with the president, those donors will at least expect an audience with someone in the administration.

Now in some ways the pandemic was a lucky break for President Biden when it came to campaigning and raising money in 2020. He had an excuse not to do photo ops, or any in-person events, and still raised incredible amounts of money. In August of 2020 alone, he raised a record-shattering $364 million, for combined Democratic committees. I did my little

PETER ROSENSTEIN

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

bit in 2020 and was on a list of 800 bundlers released by the Biden campaign — those who raised more than $100,000 for the campaign. I don’t know about the others on the list, but I haven’t received any special favors for this, and didn’t even receive my usual Christmas card from the White House. What I do get are regular email and snail mail requests from the DNC for more money. Also, that bundler list is shared far and wide. Along with my email that list apparently has my phone number. So, when every Democratic candidate around the nation gets the list, I am inundated not only with emails but with text messages on my phone.

I recently received a phone call from a reporter I know at NBC news. She wanted to know what I got for my donation to the campaign and what I thought of how President Biden was handling his donor politics. I went off the record and said, ‘terribly.’ I haven’t received anything and a major donor through me didn’t get anything either. Recently, through friends who are working in the administration, I was invited to three events on the White House lawn. Now that the pandemic is easing this is how masses of people get to go to the White House. I guess the people who arrange them are out of practice as the two I went to were not well planned. Those there were clearly not invited based on their donation levels, except maybe the few in the front section with seats. I definitely was not one of those.

The first event was the celebration of the Deficit Reduction Act. It was a very hot day and they did have some water stations. But they didn’t have any Jumbotrons, or a raised stage, so no one toward the back, and there were hundreds, could see what was happening. You could hear, but couldn’t see the president, or the entertainer of the day, who happened to be James Taylor. He is of the president’s and my generation, and I think he is great. But I asked many of the millennials standing around me if they knew who he was, and they all said no.

The second event was the signing of the Respect for Marriage Act. I was proud to be there based on my work for marriage equality. It was held on a very cold day. Once again, no Jumbotrons and no stage, so again anyone in the back simply saw hundreds of people in front of them holding up iPhones trying to get a picture over the heads of others. I was lucky to stand next to a tall person who could hold the phone higher. The entertainment for the mostly LGBTQ audience was more appropriate, Sam Smith and Cyndi Lauper. The third event, which some friends invited me to as their guest, was the concert by Elton John, which I didn’t attend. I understand there were Jumbotrons but then the event was paid for by the A&E networks and the History Channel for possible broadcast. So maybe the time when bundlers, or bigger donors, can expect a reception in the White House for raising or giving more than $100,000, or a reception photo-op for $6,600 is over.

I am not looking for anything and I can only imagine what kind of money will be needed, and raised, for campaigns in 2024. Or what mega-donors will expect or receive for their donations. My only hope is whatever money is raised is spent wisely so Democrats win. It is clear the 2024 campaign dashfor-cash is well underway.

2024 campaign dash-for-cash is well underway Democrats must stop funding doomed candidates

DR. JUDSON BRANDEIS

is a board certified urologist specializing in men’s sexual, hormonal, and physical health and author of the men’s health book, “The 21st Century Man.” Reach him via brandeismd.com.

Know the signs of heart disease and how to improve your health

February is American Heart Month. According to the Centers for Disease Control, heart disease is the leading cause of death for men of most racial/ethnic groups in the United States.

During 25 years as a urologist, I have had the privilege of taking care of thousands of men. It is essential to form a good relationship with your doctor and be honest about your medical history in order to properly address your potential issues with regard to your overall health and well being.

Men develop heart disease almost 10 years earlier than women, on average. They also have an early warning sign that few can miss: erectile dysfunction (ED). Sexual problems often foretell heart problems.

Sometimes heart disease may be “silent” and not diagnosed until a man experiences signs or symptoms of a heart attack, heart failure, or an arrhythmia. When these events happen, symptoms may include:

• Heart attack: Chest pain or discomfort, upper back or neck pain, indigestion, heartburn, nausea or vomiting, extreme fatigue, upper body discomfort, dizziness, and shortness of breath.

• Arrhythmia: Fluttering feelings in the chest

• Heart failure: Shortness of breath, fatigue, or swelling of the feet, ankles, legs, abdomen, or neck veins.

• Even if you have no symptoms, you may still be at risk for heart disease.

Most medical issues I encounter are related to issues with blood vessels. Of course, any history of smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, or high blood pressure must be addressed, and the ability to have physical intimacy is a strong motivator for change.

Going deeper, I look for a family history of cardiovascular disease in men with early erectile dysfunction since ED often precedes heart disease. I frequently send patients for heart scans, which can now predict early cardiovascular disease with great accuracy.

I also discuss physical fi tness with my patients. Men over 40 need two or three days of cardio and two or three strength-building days every week. I especially like circuit training with lighter weights and more reps, reducing the risk of injury, and augmenting cardiovascular fi tness. I discuss the importance of avoiding injury that will set men back and the need for consistency. Increased muscle mass will boost a man’s basal metabolic rate, which is the number of calories a man burns every day just by being alive. Men also feel better about themselves when they are leaner and more muscular, and this boosts libido.

Testosterone supplements are good for libido, energy, concentration, sleep, athletic performance, muscle building, and fat burning. I used to be conservative about replacing testosterone, getting men back to “normal” levels, but I have discovered that men do much better when their testosterone levels are around 1000, and I have seen very few adverse effects.

In summary, it is important that men take steps to improve and maintain good overall health and wellness. The key to all of this is good heart/cardiovascular health. Regular medical checkups are very important, and will help ensure a good quality of life, and improved health outcomes.

During American Heart Month, a reminder that men are at increased risk

DR. MARY JACOBSON

is an OB-GYN who studied at Stanford University and has dedicated her career to women’s health.

She serves as the Chief Medical Adviser at Alpha Medical.

Medical community must address injustices facing LGBTQ patients

Standards of care reinforce a binary, heterosexist model

We are now living in a modern time where telemedicine can become one of the biggest solutions for the massive inequalities that LGBTQ communities have historically faced in healthcare. When I think back on my OB-GYN residency at Stanford University, I was trained to order a pregnancy test for every patient who could become pregnant who was undergoing surgery — patients were treated the same regardless of or without a discussion about sexual orientation, gender identity, or sexual behavior.

This is just one example of the gaps in our system. I also witnessed an infertility doctor limiting his practice to married heterosexual couples, and even labor and delivery nurses caring for patients in same-sex relationships expressing discomfort with their assignments.

I’ve often wondered why the FDA classifies testosterone as a controlled substance. According to the CDC, a drug or other substance is tightly controlled by the government because it may be abused or cause addiction. Labeling testosterone as a controlled substance makes gender affirming hormonal therapy for transgender men and non-binary individuals restrictive.

Even further, think about the language around abortion, like the Dobbs decision by the Supreme Court in June 2022. “Erosion of women’s rights” implies a cis woman bias, which we all read in the media as well as in the language used from well-intentioned pro-choice groups. Tactics from anti-abortion groups on abortion clinics are now being repurposed. Movements in Florida and Texas exist to make gender transition-related medical care for minors a felony.

What is the root of these issues? It’s clear: standards of care in clinical medicine have been based on the white male model and when sex assigned at birth mattered, reinforcing a binary and heterosexist model. Those in LGBTQ communities have been stigmatized as a homogenous group of sexual and gender minorities and subjects of relatively little health research. The health status of LGBTQ populations is limited mostly to mental health, HIV, and other sexually transmitted infections.

Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 makes it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex (including pregnancy, sexual orientation, and gender identity) or religion. However, religious entities may be exempt. Religious organizations still have the freedom to provide insurance policies and health care services consistent with their convictions. According to a publication in JAMA Network, the Catholic hospital market share was 18.4% in 2018.

However, there’s momentum in changing these inequalities for LGBTQ patients. In 2011, the Institute of Medicine released the report “The Health of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender People: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding.” The National LGBT Health Education Center (a program of the Fenway Institute) developed a “How To” for Providing Inclusive Services and Care for LGBT People: A Guide for Health Care Staff.

We, in medicine, have continuous training in implicit bias. Patients want clinicians who can relate to them. This is especially true for historically disenfranchised and marginalized populations. Finding someone you can identify with feels validating, and it may increase your confidence about going to the doctor and your ability to actually adhere to medical advice.

We need more underrepresented minority physicians and more female physicians in the U.S. healthcare system. What about LGBTQ physicians? Comprehensive data does not exist. We need to develop the LGBTQ physician workforce that values diversity, including LGBTQ identity, if we want to start seeing these changes.

In the meantime, that IVF doctor with whom I trained now provides inclusive care, demonstrating hope for a new era where patients of all gender identities and sexualities are treated with dignity.

The medical community is behind and needs to catch up with appropriate equal rights for the LGBTQ community. Telemedicine is one area where healthcare can move more quickly to end these disparities in care. The technology in telemedicine gives LGBTQ patients access to gender-competent, non-discriminatory care, which may be harder to find in rural areas and healthcare deserts. Inclusive online forms and language that are built into the patient experience can better serve all patients. Telemedicine is now our moment. It is THE opportunity to equalize health care and finally reduce these archaic stigmas and biases.

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D.C.’s most eligible LGBTQ singles Meet your match in our annual survey just in time for Valentine’s Day

Each year, the Blade seeks our readers’ help in identifying the most eligible local LGBTQ singles. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, we present this year’s list.

Matthew Koerber

Age: 33

Occupation : Realtor

How do you identify?: Gay

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone accomplished, compassionate, and with a compatible sense of humor and set of values.

Biggest turn off: Green text messages

Biggest turn on: Someone who knows their way around the kitchen

Hobbies: Entertaining friends, singing in the car, and playing my guitar.

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Finally take my mom on that trip to Paris.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I plead the fifth

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Within reason

Celebrity crush: Chris Hemsworth

Name one obscure fact about yourself: Will moonwalk after a few drinks.

Kelsey Watson

Age: 28

Occupation : Nonprofit professional

How do you identify?: As a Black queer cis-woman

What are you looking for in a mate? I enjoy being around people who are funny and curious. I connect best with folks who have a shared sense of humour and can hold a conversation with just about anyone. I also prefer those who have some level of experience with nonmonogamy.

Biggest turn off: Fatphobia and hot breath

Biggest turn on: Kindness, banter, eye contact, and being fine

Hobbies: I spend my non-work time doing beer education, making elaborate meals for myself, gardening, and spending time with friends.

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: To start running my own beer education experiences, and to fold my laundry as soon as it comes out of the dryer.

Pets, kids, or neither?: Neither

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Absolutely the fuck not.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

Celebrity crush: Raven Saunders, the very fine track and field Olympian. Somebody set me up.

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I like to hunt. I’m new to the sport and would love to find folks in the area to go out with.

Barbi Lopez

Age: 30

Occupation : Bar manager/bartender

How do you identify?: She/ her

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is emotionally intelligent, adventurous, ambitious, spiritual, and wants to grow together (in every aspect).

Biggest turn off: Immaturity

Biggest turn on: A submissive dom

Hobbies: Pilates, traveling, reading, writing poetry, and anything in nature!

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Travel back home to Argentina to see my family

Pets, kids, or neither?: A cat my son names Bruno

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Depends

Celebrity crush: Kehlani

Philip Pannell

Age: 72

Occupation : Non-profit executive director

How do you identify?: Gay

What are you looking for in a mate? An active advocate for social, political and economic progress.

Biggest turn off: Lack of engagement with community issues

Biggest turn on: Commitment to community progress

Hobbies: Community volunteerism and playing bridge

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Helping to end violence and statehood for DC

Pets, kids, or neither?: Neither

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Highly improbable but not impossible

Celebrity crush: I cannot have a crush on someone I have not personally met

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I watch Fox News

Michael Wolfe

Age: 43

Occupation : Recruiter

How do you identify?: Gay

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is independent, spontaneous, low drama and an open and honest communicator with a sense of humor.

Biggest turn off: Selfishness, pretentious, disrespectful of others, takes things they shouldn’t too seriously Biggest turn on: Collaborative, inclusive, cares about others as much as they care about themselves, solid communication skills, not required but bonus points if you appreciate Coke Zero over Diet Coke and love Chipotle as well!

Hobbies: I love to travel and have a long list of places in the world I want to go, and would want someone willing to come on that adventure with me, even if that means hopping on a plane spontaneously tomorrow at the last minute. Enjoy exploring DC (theater, concerts, special events etc.), weekend brunching with friends, and playing social LGBTQIA+ kickball.

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Continue to live life to the fullest both personally and professionally while surrounding myself with good, positive people.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I love dogs (had a dog for 13 years who passed a few years ago), open to considering another one (or two!) someday.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Yes, up to a point

Celebrity crush: Jay Hernandez, Chris Evans, Patrick Mahomes

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I’ve lived in 18 different apartments/homes in my ~21 years living in the DC metro area - as you can tell, I’m definitely not afraid of moving.

Mel May

Age: 42

Occupation : Recruiting leader

How do you identify?: Queer

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is creative, has a dark sense of humor, is grounded, leads with an authentic heart, and appreciates the little moments in life.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Photo by Briana Smith)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

DOUG VARONE AND DANCERS

Featuring the Mason Dance Company

Saturday, Feb. 18 at 8 p.m. A vibrant program by this acclaimed choreographer

VOCTAVE

The Corner of Broadway and Main Street

Sunday, Feb. 19 at 4 p.m. Featuring favorites from Broadway musicals and Disney films!

Chloé Arnold’s Syncopated Ladies LIVE!

Saturday, Feb. 25 at 8 p.m. The viral tap dance phenomenon

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 24

D.C.’s most eligible LGBTQ singles continued

Biggest turn off: Lack of empathy, curiosity, adventurous spirit

Biggest turn on: Someone who lives their life out loud and takes risks with their dreams. Is confident and passionate in a relationship. Can hang with witty and weird jokes. Oh, and if they can cook!

Hobbies: I’m a writer at heart. Obsessed with resell, thrift, and consignment objects. Have always loved trying new, creative projects to include crocheting, DIY miniature kits, painting, publishing my own memoir. Always up for exploring and can walk around a city or trail for hours absorbing the experience.

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Honestly, to be super present with the people I care about and love. It’s been a rough few years and it’s made me truly appreciate how precious our time is together.

Pets, kids, or neither?: No kids. No pets right now — but you’ll hear me talk about my pup who was so sassy & funny (miss my lil guy). Right now, I live vicariously through my friends’ pets.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: No, that’s just too loaded these days. Could be friends and have respectful conversations, but I don’t have the space for debate in my deeper relationships.

Celebrity crush: Winona Ryder was my first, and still is my biggest crush.

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I was a finalist for the “Tila Tequila” show. Don’t judge me — just knew I was auditioning for a queer reality dating show. *smacks forehead*

Elizabeth Falcon

Age: 40 Occupation : Non-profit executive director

How do you identify?: Queer

What are you looking for in a mate? I like to laugh, process the world from the big to the tiny, and collaborate.

I want someone who wants to join me in that.

Biggest turn off: Being rude to service workers

Biggest turn on: Direct communication, expression of desires, confidence, playfulness. Know your value and tell me about mine.

Hobbies: Biking around town, illegally swimming in the Potomac, listening to too many podcasts, the Libby app, planting perennials, starting a garden then forgetting to water it, baking when I have the patience to clean the kitchen after, coordinating my friends to plan meals together

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Living with pa-

tience (see next question)

Pets, kids, or neither?: I have a one-and-a-half yearold kiddo I’m raising on my own. I also live with a cat, but the cat is my roommate’s.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: There’s a wide spectrum of what this means, but I wouldn’t date someone who I fundamentally didn’t share agreement about the problems with white supremacy, capitalism, and the impacts of gentrification in DC. TL;DR probably no.

Celebrity crush: Janelle Monae, Mae Martin, E.R Fightmaster, Sara Ramirez

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I grew up on a dairy farm

Chloe Thompson

Age: 25

Occupation : Community Manager at TPSS Coop

How do you identify?: Bisexual/queer woman

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is intensely smart, non-secular, building/ involved in community, confident, and humble, very sexy, good dancer, curious about the world, a futurist, tall, a defined sense of personal style, and very funny.

Biggest turn off: Using Siri or Alexa (ever), drinking alcohol (I’m Muslim), being cynical or pessimistic, not talkative, being stingy, lacking imagination and refusing to dance!

Biggest turn on: A person who is totally in love with the world, for the good and the bad. Also, beautiful hands. Hobbies: Reading critical theory and science fiction, yoga, watching and learning about film, writing, reading tarot, praying, learning rock climbing, going to museums, cooking excellent food

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Create intentional Black and Brown community. Be amazed by the goodness of life, daily.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I have neither, but I want 3 daughters and 2 dogs. Ready to get started creating my semi-big family whenever

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: Yeah! As long as you have an inherent distrust of the state, we’re good to go.

Celebrity crush: Kehlani. Real ones know.

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I’m secretly very bashful.

Maria Miller

Age: 31

Occupation : Bartender, produce slinger, sandwich artisan

How do you identify?: Dyke

What are you looking for in a mate? A genuinely nice and kind person. That answer seems simple, but you’d be surprised.

Biggest turn off: Bad tippers, rude customers, people who eat dry sandwiches.

Biggest turn on: Kind eyes, a nice smile, thoughtfulness, direct communication.

Hobbies: Thrifting, going to shows, making art, organizing in the community, getting tattoos

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: I have some big plans and that’s all I can really say!

Pets, kids, or neither?: A dog named Gravy

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: That doesn’t seem smart

Celebrity crush: Alive: Charli XCX and Yseult Onguenet, Not Alive: Selena and Aaliyah

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I have two baby teeth!

Al Castillo

Age: 22

Occupation : Research specialist

How do you identify?: Queer trans man

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is emotionally mature, willing to be spontaneous and willing to venture into the world together, but also able to enjoy a quiet day inside watching our favorite cartoon with our pets cuddled next to us on the couch.

Biggest turn off: Being out of touch with the local community and disrespecting physical and emotional boundaries.

Biggest turn on: Taking initiative and being comfortable acting silly and goofy!

Hobbies: Dancing like I am lip-syncing for my life, playing Nintendo and classic arcade games, cocktail making, and spending time with my loved ones.

CONTINUES ON PAGE 28

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Photo by @itsjacqill)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

D.C.’s most eligible LGBTQ singles continued

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: I am beginning my fitness journey by going to the gym more often and becoming more active. I also started learning Spanish this year, so I am hoping to improve my Spanish speaking and listening skills throughout the year.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I have a dog named Dana Scully and my roommate Siena has a kitten named Fox Mulder, just like the characters from the X-Files.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: No

Celebrity crush: Patrick Dempsey and Rina Sawayama

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I am double-jointed and I can do a jump split (give me some time to stretch though, it’s been a while)

Aurora Lloyd

Age: 30

Occupation : Entertainer/Entrepreneur/Activist

How do you identify?: Transsexual woman

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who wants commitment and understands what it means to build a foundation and grow. Has emotional intelligence and is in therapy. Wants the most out of life. And it doesn’t hurt if you are a cutie too!

Biggest turn off: Willful ignorance, blatant disrespect, and judgmental people

Biggest turn on: Intelligence emotional and mental! I love nerds being one myself. Knows how to love and treat Black women.

Hobbies: Video games, anime, reading books, making music, watching movies/shows, traveling, hanging with friends and family, napping, going out to eat, and museums

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: To release my new music and perform, travel, and increase my income.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I have one cat, no biological kids but open to having some but I do have five “queer” kids, lol.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: I would be open to it, but it just depends on what particular views because politics are not just one vacuum from normal having history with working on the Hill, there are layers.

Celebrity crush: Michael B. Jordan and Tyler James Williams

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I really have a thing for archery

Andrew Bunting

Javen Marquise Kostrzewa

Age: 34

Occupation : Higher education administration/ bartending

How do you identify?: Gay What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is authentic, witty, driven, empathetic, intelligent, and adventurous. I’m looking for someone who understands the importance of self-care, and also knows how to both work and play hard.

Biggest turn off: My biggest turn off is unwanted pressure. The quickest way to make me no longer interested is to try to constantly pressure me to do something. The moment that I feel that type of pressure I start to feel smothered and I lose all interest.

Biggest turn on: Confidence, decisiveness, and a drive to enjoy life. A great smile and being a good kisser doesn’t hurt either!

Hobbies: My interests are really varied, and range from enjoying a day visiting local wineries to catching a movie with friends. Bartending (formerly at Cobalt and now at JR.’s) also takes up a lot of my weekend time, and is, for me, less of a job and more of a hobby.

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: My biggest goal for 2023 is to strive for balance and be intentional about how I use my time. I want to make sure that I am focusing on the right things for the right reasons. For me, that means making sure that I’m connecting with my family and friends (and potential love interests), focusing on my career, and making sure I still have enough time for self-care.

Pets, kids, or neither?: I don’t have a pet now, but I’m open both dogs and cats (I grew up with cats and have lived with dogs). Kids are not in my future.

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: An interesting question, and I really think it is more about one’s fundamental values than political affiliation. Would I date someone who disagrees with me about specific policies? Sure! But would I date someone who denies things like climate science, vaccines, or the fundamental rights of others? Definitely not.

Celebrity crush: Zac Efron (back off, he’s mine!)

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I’ve never, in my life, eaten Taco Bell (and I don’t plan to)

Age: 30

Occupation : JD/MBA student at Georgetown

How do you identify?: Bisexual

What are you looking for in a mate? Someone who is emotionally intelligent, career driven and wants to have a family and get married. If you can make me laugh that is the key to my heart.

Biggest turn off: Being rude to service staff; surface-level interactions, and fear of commitment.

Biggest turn on: Ambition, sense of humor and dedication to pursuit of life balance (mental, physical, and emotional health)

Hobbies: I love to work out and am that weird person who enjoys cardio. Outside of work and the gym I like playing video games, watching anime, and binging TV series (financial crime docs are my favorite).

What is your biggest goal for 2023?: Finish law school strong, but make more time for social activities.

Pets, kids, or neither?: Both! I absolutely love dogs (allergic to cats) especially big dogs (Great Dane is my dream dog). I love kids — my nieces and nephews are bright lights in my life. I want to eventually adopt (I grew up in foster care and was adopted.)

Could you date someone whose political views differ from your own?: It depends on where they differ. If we differ on civil rights and equality, that’s non-negotiable.

Celebrity crush: Michael B. Jordan

Name one obscure fact about yourself: I sang a tribute for Bill Withers as part of the Songwriters Hall of Fame project. (Bill was hilarious!)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

(Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Super Bowl is this Sunday and D.C. offers many ways to celebrate.

Friday,

CALENDAR |

February 10

Center Aging Monthly Yoga & Lunch will be at 12 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. Lunch will be held in the atrium at the Reeves Center. For more information, contact Adam at adamheller@thedccenter.org.  Women in Their Twenties and Thirties will meet at 8 p.m. on Zoom. This event is a social discussion group for queer women in the D.C. area and a great way to make new friends and meet other queer women in a fun and friendly setting. For meeting updates join WiTT’s closed Facebook group.

Saturday,

February 11

Virtual Yoga Class with Charles M. will be at 12 p.m. online. This is a weekly class focusing on yoga, breath work, and meditation. Guests are encouraged to RSVP on the DC Center’s website, providing your name, email address, and zip code, along with any questions you may have. A link to the event will be sent at 6 p.m. the day before.

Universal Pride Meeting will be at 1 p.m. on Zoom. This group seeks to support, educate, empower, and create change for People with Disabilities (PWD). For more information,  email supportdesk@thedccenter.org or the group’s facilitator andyarias09@gmail.com.

Sunday, February 12

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Brunch” at 8:30 a.m. at Kaldi’s Social House. Guests are encouraged to come enjoy brunch with other LGBTQ folk. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

GoGay DC will host “LGBTQ+ Coffee & Conversation” at 12 p.m. at As You Are. This event is for those looking to meet new faces in the LGBTQ community. This event is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Monday, February 13

Center Aging Monday Coffee and Conversation will be at 10 a.m. on Zoom. LGBT Older Adults — and friends — are invited to enjoy friendly conversations and to discuss any issues you might be dealing with. For more information, visit the Center Aging’s Facebook or Twitter.

Queer Speed Dating will be at 7 p.m. at East City Bookshop. This event is for those looking to make new friends, connect with your local queer community, or maybe even meet someone special. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

By TINASHE CHINGARANDE

Tuesday, February 14

Coming Out Discussion Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This is a peer-facilitated discussion group and a safe space to share experiences about coming out and discuss topics as it relates to doing so. For more information, visit the Coming Out Discussion Group Facebook page.

Trans Support Group will be at 7 p.m. on Zoom. This group is intended to provide emotionally and physically safe space for transgender people and those who may be questioning their gender identity or expression to join together in community and learn from one another.  For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

Wednesday, February 15

Job Club will be at 6 p.m. on Zoom. This 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 information, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/ careers.

Comedy & Cocktails - Open Mic Wednesdays will be at 7:30 p.m. at Pure Lounge. This event is an open mic featuring comedians from the DMV. There will be drinking games, free prizes and music by DJ K-OZ. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

Thursday, February 16

The DC Center’s Fresh ProduceProgram will be held all day at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. To be more fair with who is receiving boxes, the program is moving to a lottery system. People will be informed on Wednesday at 5:00 pm if they are picked to receive a produce box. No proof of residency or income is required. For more information, email supportdesk@thedccenter. org or call 202-682-2245.

Poly Group Discussion will be at 7 p.m. at the DC Center for the LGBT Community. This group is designed to be a forum for people at all different stages to discuss polyamory and other consensual non-monogamous relationships. For more information, visit the DC Center’s website.

OUT & ABOUT

Here’s where you can celebrate the Super Bowl

Next Level Entertainment will host a Super Bowl watch party at 5 p.m. at SoBe Restaurant and Lounge. There will be two big screens and television, food and drink specials, cigars and hookah on an outside heated patio, and bottle service. Table reservations start at $100 and guests can RSVP on Eventbrite.

PBF Sports will host a Super Bowl watch party at 6 p.m. at Union District Oyster Bar & Lounge. There will be game day drink and food specials, hookah, bottle service and live music by DJ B Menace and jahShion. Tickets are free and are available on Eventbrite.

B Social Events will host a Super Bowl watch party at 4 p.m at Clarendon Ballroom. There will be an 18,000watt sound system with game commentary, 50-foot projector wall, 20-foot TV video wall, $25 for a bottomless Super Bowl buffet station, and all-night drink specials, features, and giveaways. Admission is free and more details are available on Eventbrite.

&pizza will host a Super Bowl watch party at 5 p.m. at Hotel Hive. Tickets cost $50 and include guaranteed admission to the Hotel Hive rooftop, unlimited Select Draft Beer, unlimited pizza, a nacho bar and Super Bowl swag and party favors. For more information, visit Eventbrite.

There will be a Super Bowl watch party at 5 p.m. at Duffy’s Irish Pub. There will be an open bar on select draft beer and cider and a full menu that includes Duffy’s Famous Wings. Tickets start at $40 and can be purchased on Eventbrite.

Written

Directed by Rebecca Aparicio

2 brothers share passion for family, music in ‘Bars and Measures’ Mosaic production based on powerful true story

By PATRICK FOLLIARD

In playwright and breakbeat poet Idris Goodwin’s “Bars and Measures” (now at Mosaic Theater), two brothers share family history and a passion for music. Still, their relationship remains a rocky one, shook by temperament, approach, and choices. Each of the pair’s actions and notions of loyalty, leave audiences splitting their sympathy between the two men.

Based on a true story, the action kicks off with Eric (Joel Ashur) visiting his older brother Bilal (Louis E. Davis) in a correctional facility where he’s awaiting trial on a terror related charge. Bilal, who was Darryl before converting to Islam, assures his younger sibling that it’s a case of profiling and will soon go away, however snowballing evidence indicates otherwise.

While both men are accomplished musicians — Eric on classical piano and Bilal on double bass — the elder pressures the younger to follow his lead into jazz, the only authentic way a Black man can musically tell his story, he says. They engage in some stinging banter surrounding the usefulness of a Juilliard education, and then return to the way they communicate best — music.

Without instruments, they opt for scatting (as in wordless jazz vocalization) Bilal’s latest music he’s composed in his mind. Close by watching is Wes (Afsheen Misaghi), an occasionally agreeable guard who’s unknowingly receiving a master class in something altogether different from his usual fare of Ted Nugent.

Between visits, Bilal remains confined while Eric is teaching music to rich kids, warming up to jazz, and clicking professionally and personally with classical vocalist Sylvia (Lynette Rathnam), an appealing nonobservant Muslim woman.

This keenly staged production marks out theater maker Reginald L. Douglas’ directorial debut as Mosaic’s new artistic director. Over a swift and affecting 80 minutes, Douglas heartily embraces the work’s intrinsic musicality and humor along its darker moments, all the while making great use of the intimate Sprenger Theatre at Atlas Performing Arts Center.

Scenic designer Paige Hathaway’s set is both beautiful and serviceable. Versatile space is backed by what looks like an unsettling sculptural installation with blue light streaming through four small barred windows cut into a concrete wall. Bilal’s beloved double bass stands on an upstage center platform. John D. Alexander’s lighting emphasizes emotional import and intent.

Time passes and Bilal’s court date draws nearer. Words like entrapment, unlawful, draconian, biased, and show trial are increasingly spoken. The system’s filling penitentiaries with Brown and Black bodies is mentioned, as is Bilal’s concern for the wellbeing of his mosque and justice for the Muslims, and those perceived as Muslim, who’ve been victims of hate crimes.

Using direct address, Eric provides some back story. He describes a stable, music-filled, vaguely Christian household not averse to celebrating heroic Muslims like Malcolm X and Mohammed Ali; a dependable, longtime civil servant father who escaped a mundane life through jazz and bebop; and a sometimes-wild older brother who ex-

celled at music and marital arts.

Handsome Ashur risks giving a one-note, good guy performance as Eric, but that changes when his character unexpectedly reveals a vengeful, crueler side. Davis’ portrayal of angry yet vulnerable Bilal, is more nuanced throughout.

Celebrated musician Kris Funn has written an original score expressly for Mosaic’s production. As an added bonus, pre-show live jazz is presented in partnership with the DC Jazz Festival. At a recent press matinee, it was Funn himself elegantly plucking a jazz tune from his double bass on an alluringly lit stage.

‘Bars and Measures’

Through Feb. 26 | Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas Performing Arts Center | 1333 H St., N.E. $29 - $64 | Mosaictheater.org

Brothers Eric (JOEL ASHUR) and Bilal (LOUIS E. DAVIS) meet in the visitation room of a correctional facility while Bilal awaits trial. Guard Wes (AFSHEEN MISAGHI) stands in the background.

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus builds bridges in new documentary

‘Music Triumphs Homophobia’ chronicles group’s travels around the world

By KAELA ROEDER

Poland, Turkey, and South Africa are among the places the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus has traveled, facing discrimination, but also finding acceptance and camaraderie on the road.

“Music Triumphs Homophobia,” a new documentary available on Amazon Prime Video written and directed by filmmakers Craig Coogan and Michael Willer, follows the Chorus’s tours around the world and grapples with how spiritual LGBTQ people contend with the homophobic mistranslations of religious texts. It also explores the power of music.

“Our goal is to share … the joy and inspiration that music can have in overcoming prejudice,” Coogan, the former executive director of the chorus, said in an interview. “What BGMC has done for 40 years, and other choruses have done as well, is infusing the world with joy, inspiration, and hope.”

And it’s not just Christianity that misinterprets religious doctrines, Coogan said.

“It wasn’t just Christian, and it wasn’t Muslim. It wasn’t Jewish. It wasn’t one particular denomination. It actually was overall,” Coogan said.

The Boston Gay Men’s Chorus was founded in 1982 and is comprised of more than 200 performers, from all different backgrounds. This diversity of perspective is what drives the mission of the chorus and the documentary, Coogan said.

“The universality of coming together as one voice, to tell one story, is incredibly powerful. And I think that’s what audiences identify with,” Coogan said.

Because the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus had to go on hiatus from performing at the onset and height of the pandemic, Coogan and Willer sought out a

solution — to put together a documentary chronicling the history and work of the group.

The pair already had most of the footage before putting together a full, nearly two-hour documentary was a reality for them. For years, people at the chorus, including Coogan and Willer, had captured the various trips for the archives.

“This actually afforded us a unique opportunity to immerse ourselves in 30 terabytes of footage,” Willer said.

Coogan and Willer put together the footage and filled gaps with additional interviews, which they filmed in a studio at the height of the shutdown while following health and safety protocols.

The entirety of the music paired with the documentary is also produced by the chorus.

Coogan and Willer hope LGBTQ people and non-LGBTQ people alike watch the film and that they experience a “shifting perception.”

“We tried to cover as many different perspectives as we had access to that had stories to share,” Willer said. “And to give a sense of relatability and humanity to people that are human, and deserve to have their voices heard, and hopefully in a way that is affecting, and that lasts for whoever might watch it.”

“It’s not about one person, but all these different perspectives,” Coogan added.

The title of the documentary is a spin on a translated news headline in Poland when the chorus went there in 2005 — “Music Triumphs Intolerance.” It also communicates the mission of the group in a clear, concise way, Coogan said.

“When it really comes down to it, music does triumph over homophobia,” he said.

MICHAEL WILLER is one of two filmmakers behind the new documentary. (Photo courtesy BGMC)

Boston Gay Men’s Chorus (Photo by A Priori Photography)

Gay dads face the apocalypse in ‘Knock at the Cabin’

Whether it scares you or not, a movie that gives us lots to think about

By JOHN PAUL KING

As horrors go, it’s hard to get more horrible than the end of the world. It’s the ultimate existential threat, a potent fear that has fueled nightmares for millennia, but while it may feel chillingly plausible in our modern era, many of us tend to imagine it in terms of scientific reality – climate change, collision with an asteroid, or simply the eventual death of the sun – rather than as a literal enactment of the doomsday scenarios proscribed in the myths, folktales, and religions of the ancient world.

What if we’re wrong, though?

That’s the essential hook in “Knock at the Cabin,” the latest thriller from horror movie maestro M. Night Shyamalan, which gambles that its viewers – even those who staunchly believe in a science-and-reason-based conception of the universe – might still occasionally be kept awake at night by a flicker of doubt, and spends a slow-burning 100 minutes trying to stoke that flicker into an apocalyptic flame.

Based on Paul Tremblay’s Stoker Award-winning 2018 novel “The Cabin at the End of the World,” Shyamalan’s compact adaptation (co-written with Steve Desmond and Michael Sherman) doesn’t waste much time setting up its confrontation between rational secularism and End Times prophecy; gay dads Eric (Jonathan Groff) and Andrew (Ben Aldridge), vacationing in the woods with their daughter Wen (Kristen Cui), have barely settled into their rented cabin when a quartet of ominous strangers – led by hulking-butsoft-spoken Leonard (Dave Bautista) – shows up at the door, insisting to be let in and not willing to take “no” as an answer. The visitors claim they are on a mission to prevent the apocalypse, and that they have been compelled by visions to deliver a message: mankind can still be saved, but only if this terrified little family is willing to make an unthinkable choice.

To reveal more would definitely constitute a spoiler; suffice to say that it’s a decidedly unpleasant proposition, and the two protective papas – who are convinced they are being terrorized by a homophobic cult of religious fanatics despite Leonard’s assurances to the contrary – are understandably resistant to it. Still, these seemingly reluctant home invaders are prepared to use extreme measures to ensure the couple’s cooperation, and Andrew and Eric are forced into an escalating standoff in which they must try to outwit their captors if they have any hope of whisking Wen away to safety; yet even as they forge a desperate escape plan, troubling news from the outside world begins to suggest the threat of impending cataclysm might not be so far-fetched, after all.

The screenplay for “Knock at the Cabin” – or at least, the initial draft of it, penned by Desmond and Sherman – was already a hot property before Shyamalan became involved, having been touted both by Hollywood’s highly influential “Black List” and by GLAAD as one of the best unproduced scripts of 2019. It’s easy to see why; for a mainstream film industry under pressure to prioritize inclusion, there’s an obvious appeal to the idea of a taut, commercially viable thriller featuring a same-sex couple as heroes, especially when it’s based on a popular bestselling novel. Good ideas frequently go bad in Hollywood, however, and it’s fortunate that the veteran Shyamalan saw the appeal, too, because without his experienced eye behind the camera – and his legion of loyal fans in the theater seats – this one could easily have gone either way.

Mounted almost as a “Twilight Zone” style morality play, “Cabin” juggles a hotbed of topical ideas and themes as its handful of characters, loosely representing a cross-section of humanity, engage in an unapologetically allegorical battle of beliefs – though it’s never explicitly stated that any God or devil is behind the supposed approaching apocalypse. There’s an implausibility to its premise that’s hard to dismiss, and while that might be a key factor in the movie’s ploy to undermine its heroes’ – and its audience’s –sense of certainty, it also makes it harder for it to scare us. With so many layers of “meta” in play, there’s sometimes too much intellectual distance in the way for us to feel fear. A similar obstacle is created by the script’s use of broad strokes in defining its charac-

ters. Though the four antagonists – a mismatched assortment of eccentric but painfully ordinary strangers – are sharply drawn and unique enough to stir an interesting dynamic into the mix, Eric and Andrew are less substantial; the things we know about them are revealed to us in brief flashbacks and snippets of dialogue, serving more as plot devices than insight into what makes them tick. They’re a collection of positive traits, but they are largely blank underneath - and that doesn’t make it any easier to invest in them.

Fortunately, these potential shortcomings are largely overcome in Shyamalan’s finished product. “Cabin” is a perfect fit for his trademark style, laden with an unrelenting sense of dread and looped through a high concept framework that lends itself to the kind of puzzle-box storytelling with which he made his name. His magic doesn’t always work; sometimes, his succinctness of detail tips us off too early, or feels too precise to be convincing. Nevertheless, he keeps us fascinated by what he shows us on the screen – even if the story sometimes tends to stall.

His cast serves him well in making that happen. While their characters may be thinly drawn, Groff and Aldridge – especially the latter, fresh from his MVP performance in “Spoiler Alert” – fill in the gaps by infusing the leading men with personality and anchoring them with an authentic sense of depth. Young Cui gives a devastatingly genuine child performance as Wen, and Rupert Grint (of “Harry Potter” fame) gives a memorable against-type turn as a hapless blue-collar thug in Leonard’s company. The MVP in “Cabin,” however, is Bautista, whose Leonard is the kind of giant whose gentleness only makes him us fear him more.

As for fear, that’s where “Knock at the Cabin” might fall flat for some viewers. While it’s mostly a gripping ride, there are few moments that really hit us where we live. It pokes at our deeper fears, but it never quite stirs them up; even the nightmarish prospect of a home invasion feels strangely blunted of its edge. Violence happens, but only sparingly onscreen, and despite Shyamalan’s penchant for ingenious twists, this time he leads us almost predictably toward a conclusion that owes more to Hitchcock’s “The Birds” than any fire-and-brimstone apocalyptic thriller.

Still, there are plenty of reasons to see it, not the least of which is the placement of a same-sex couple at the center of a mainstream genre film which successfully displaced “Avatar: The Way of Water” from its top seat at the box office. Besides, whether it scares you or not, it’s a movie that gives us lots to think about – not just notions of Old Testament divine retribution, but universal human experiences like love and loss, death and grief, and how much we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of the people we care about. Maybe that’s what the apocalypse is really all about, anyway.

BEN ALDRIDGE, KRISTEN CUI, and JONATHAN GROFF in ‘Knock at the Cabin.’

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D.C. restaurants offer something for everyone

By EVAN CAPLAN

Whatever Valentine’s Day means to you, there are plenty of places around D.C. for an excellent prix-fixe dinner or raging party with pals/gals/side pieces. Below are just a few options for what’s available:

Couple Options

Hot new French restaurant L’Ardente and its infamous 40-layer lasagne is offering an extended Valentine’s Day dinner, from Friday, Feb. 10, through Tuesday, Feb. 14. Couples can choose from the regular menu or a five-course tasting menu ($250 for two), which includes passion fruit caviar martinis.

Sababa Cleveland Park will serve a four-course, prix-fixe menu for two on Feb. 14. The menu ($120 for two) includes beet hummus, heart of palm salad, and a date tahini tart (and lots of romance-themed puns).

Cafe Riggs, in the Riggs Hotel, is serving not just a dessert special, but also a hotel package. Hotel guests can enjoy a Valentine’s Brunch in Bed enhancement with the option to a build-your-own mimosa flight or coffee while enjoying a Petit Déjeuner (French continental breakfast) in your room. Reservations are available through OpenTable.

Lyle’s, in the Lyle Hotel, will offer a prix-fixe dinner menu at $85 per person that will be available the weekend before and after Valentine’s Day as well as on the holiday. Reservations are available through OpenTable.

Ellington Park Bistro, in the St. Gregory Hotel, is offering a Valentine’s Day menu as well as the regular a la carte menu. The menu will highlight sweet flavors, and includes dishes such as Butternut Squash Soup, Sweet Shrimp Wontons, and Raspberry and White Chocolate. Reservations available through OpenTable.

The Fairmont Georgetown is offering a decadent Valentine’s Afternoon Tea on Feb. 11, 12, and 14 inside overlooking the courtyard, with petit fours, scones, and savory sandwiches like an oak-smoked cheddar and spiced pear chutney. Tea is served from 1-4 p.m. ($75 per person), with the option to add a glass of G.H. Mumm Champagne.

Nicoletta Italian Kitchen will host a Valentine’s Day Pizza Class on Feb. 11, teaching everyone to make their own heart-shaped pie, while enjoying arancini and wine. And for those looking for

something a little less hands-on, Nicoletta will offer a special Valentine’s Day menu on Feb. 14, complete with heart-shaped pizzas (made by the chef this time), as well as three special dishes – a clam appetizer, calzone, and lobster raviolo.

Waldorf Astoria Washington DC in the storied and renamed Old Post Office has an old-school option to “pen letters of love over dinner to share with a special someone.” Valentine’s Day guests will all receive a custom piece of stationary at their time of seating in addition to a menu of inventive dishes with a selection of elevated ingredients. Reservations can be made on SevenRooms. Immigrant Food+ is serving a three-course menu for two, with options for vegetarian and pescatarian guests. There’s also a featured wine list from all female growers/winemakers including a special Galentine’s Day Flight of a Brut, white, and red.

Non-Couple Options

Brookland’s Finest Bar & Kitchen will offer a special “Salty & Bitter” bar menu over Valentine’s Day weekend, complete with salty snacks and bitter beverages. Snacks include chicken fingers and pretzel bites with truffle oil; drinks include espresso martinis and black Manhattans.

El Techo is throwing a Broken Hearts Club this Valentine’s Day (2/14). The tropical oasis rooftop is “helping single guests nurse their wounds” with a free shot of tequila for everyone who goes by on Feb. 14. It’s also offering a Taco Tuesday deal, which features three tacos and choice of a margarita or beer for $22.

Washingtonians that find themselves ready to mingle this year can head to Fight Club’s Anti-Commitment Ball on Saturday, Feb. 11. The party, from 8 p.m.-1 a.m., will feature DJ Daniel Biltmore spinning live tunes, food/drink specials, and Jell-O shots. Tickets not required. Food and drink items available a la carte.

The National Union Building at 918 F St. is bringing out its “certified fun sommelier” for a wine tasting event. Two sessions (Feb. 12 and Feb 13, both 6:30 p.m.) offer six wines, from fizzy to deep, dark red. Bottles will be available for purchase to take home.

Tickets are $35-$45 through Eventbrite.

NoMa’s WunderGarten is hosting a “Nice Try Cupid Anti-Valentine’s Day Single AF Mixer” on Feb. 14, 7-11 p.m. Tickets are free but reservations recommended via Eventbrite.

this Valentine’s Day From romantic prix-fixe options to a ‘single AF mixer’

‘Fieldwork’ is food for thought — and the soul

Michelin chef Iliana Regan on the art of foraging, addiction and grief

By KATHI WOLFE

Nature makes me queasy. Reading about poison ivy or mosquitoes makes me itch. I don’t see myself in the woods enjoying the beauty of a pack of wolves. I adore eating all kinds of foods, but would I, in my wildest dreams, forage for mushrooms in the forest?

Sipping Starbucks coffee, eating a croissant I hadn’t baked, I came to “Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir” by Michelin chef Iliana Regan with a food lover’s fascination and a city-aficionado’s trepidation.

I’m glad I foraged into “Fieldwork.” The book, Regan’s second memoir, is a mosaic of memory, hope, fears, family, love, gender identity, respecting the land, food,and hospitality.

Regan owned and operated Elizabeth, the acclaimed Chicago restaurant, from 2012-2019. She passed on Elizabeth to collaborator Tim Lacey in 2020. Each year of its operation, the renowned eatery earned a Michelin star.

In 2020, Regan and her wife Anna Hamlin left Chicago to open the Milkweed Inn in the woods of northern Michigan. Regan forages in the forest and nearby river for the food that she feeds their guests This brings Regan full circle to her roots – to her ancestors, birthplace, and childhood.

Regan’s first memoir “Burn the Place” was long-listed for the 2019 National Book Award. This was the first book of writing on food to be so honored since Julia Child won the Award in 1980.

Even as a tot on her family’s farm in Indiana, Regan didn’t feel like a girl. The youngest of four sisters, she dressed in a shirt and tie. Her Dad, who she foraged with for mush-

rooms, berries and other foods in the woods, called her “the son he’d never had.”

“I always thought I was a boy,” Regan writes, “even before Dad ever said I was.”

Regan, born in 1979, grew up with a heritage of foraging, Eastern European ancestors, feeding people, love, and addiction. Her father’s grandmother Busia helped her family run an inn in Eastern Europe. Later, she settled in Gary, Ind., where she told stories of the forests in her native land. In Gary, she opened Jennie’s Café, frequented by generations of steelworkers.

Regan’s mother married young. (Regan’s parents’ union was in many ways not a happy marriage.) On her mother’s side of her family, there was alcoholism and domestic strife.

Even as a child, Regan was careful to stay away from her father’s brother, her Uncle George. Early on, she sensed that this uncle was a predator who should be avoided.

“Fieldwork” has much lyrical writing about mushrooms, forests, the wind, honoring the land and animals. But Regan, who earned an M.F.A. in writing from the Art Institute of Chicago, is at her best when she writes, with unflinching, trenchant honesty, about we, humans, with our stew of strengths, resilience, sadness, joys, addictions and flaws. Regan is a magician with images. She’s a wizard at using metaphors of foraging and food to draw us into the stories of the people, past and present, in her world.

Regan remembers her mother as being like “the kitchen” and her father as seeming like “the forest.” In the

middle of the two, she was “the sheep’s head — wily, twisting — and the honey mushroom–Stretching, symbiotic,” Regan vividly recalls.

Regan had three older sisters. She and her family were devastated when her sister Elizabeth, struggling with addiction, died in jail at age 39.

“Grief may be the worst thing I’ve ever experienced,” Regan writes, “and at the same time the only thing that keeps me going.”

“Fieldwork” will convert even the most nature-averse into a respect for the land and the animals that inhabit it. Yet, the memoir is free of new age woo-woo.

Sometimes, memoirs about addiction are too pat. People in them often end up in seemingly untroubled recovery. Regan avoids this pitfall. Without pretense or self-recrimination, she describes how, during the pandemic, she began drinking again after becoming sober.

Regan forages as much into her memories and dreams as she does into the forests. “Fieldwork” is food for thought and the soul.

‘Fieldwork: A Forager’s Memoir’ By Iliana Regan c.2023, Agate | $27 | 329 pages

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+ TWO Clubrooms with billiards

+ TWO Conference and co-working spaces

+ TWO Fitness centers

+ Pet-friendly and pet-free living options

+ Garage parking available for all residents

+ 1.5 blocks to New Carrollton Metro and Amtrak

+ Monthly social resident events

D.C. region’s Most Eligible Homes

From suburban bargains to Capitol Hill character, something for every taste

By VALERIE M. BLAKE

Last month, Washington Blade readers had the opportunity to nominate themselves or their unmarried friends to be included in the selection of Most Eligible LGBTQ Singles. Today, the winners will be honored, and we can read about their likes, dislikes, hobbies, and aspirations.

Long-term Blade aficionados will note that this issue normally comes out (yes, I used that phrase on purpose) right before Valentine’s Day, giving those who are courting someone or looking for Mr. or Ms. Right an opportunity to ask, “Will you be my Valentine?”

Those of you who are old enough to remember, may find this reminiscent of “The Dating Game” television show, where one person would ask questions of three others who sat anonymously behind a screen to determine which one to take on a date, with all expenses paid by the show’s sponsors. If you’re able to catch any reruns from the ‘60s and ‘70s, you may recognize contestants named Steve Martin, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sally Field, and Michael Jackson, among others.

Searching for a home is more like the Bachelor franchise of today, where instead of contestants being hidden, they are on display; a Parade of Homes for those looking for love, or at least, for a good investment. Accordingly, here is a snapshot of today’s Most Eligible Homes, as determined solely by my opinion.

Most Eligible Alexandria Condominium:

Park Place at 2500 N. Van Dorn Street. Built in 1965, this 16-floor high-rise of 410 homes offers studio, 1-bedroom, 2-bedroom and 3-bedroom units ranging from 471 to 1360 square feet, with the larger ones featuring two baths.

Most homes there have balconies; those on the higher floors have treetop or D.C. monument views. Underground parking is available with some units, as is an abundance of unassigned surface parking. Two pets are allowed per unit and laundry facilities are conveniently located on each floor. Although monthly fees can be somewhat stratospheric, they include all utilities, a 24/7 attended front desk, and use of the outdoor pool and indoor fitness center.

Most Eligible Low-Cost Suburb:

Upper Marlboro, Md. Currently, there are 59 detached homes on the market, with 58 of them listed between $280,000 and $800,000. You can get fixer-uppers under $350,000, split foyers and colonial homes in the $400s, new construction starting in the low-$600s, or a few 10-20 acre lots with houses to renovate, expand, or tear down and start fresh.

The outlier is a custom-built, 10,000+ square foot, stone-front Colonial with 4 bedrooms, 5½ baths, and a 3-car garage on a 4-acre lot for a mere $2.2 million. Built in 2007, it has every indoor and outdoor feature you could imagine for less than a 1,423-square-foot, 2-bedroom, 2½ bath condominium with parking at DC’s City Centre.

Most Eligible Mid-Century Cooperative:

River Park in southwest D.C. Designed by Charles M. Goodman and built by Reynolds Metal in 1961, it consists of twin high-rises with units of varying sizes and an assortment of 2 to 4-bedroom rowhouses along 4th Street and inside the complex on N Street.

In one of my first transactions, I helped a buyer pay $10,000 at auction for the studio he had been renting there. Since then, that studio is still a bargain at roughly $110,000. At the time, if you made any changes to the interiors, you had to put things back the way you

found them, including painting the walls back to white, when you sold. Thankfully, times have changed.

The fees are high, but in these cooperative apartments, they cover heating and cooling, property taxes, and often, as with many co-ops, a portion of the mortgage with tax-deductible interest. Pets are allowed in the rowhouses, and amenities include a pool, a fitness center, a tot-lot, a 24/7 concierge, a party room, and a community library.

Finally, my choice for the Most Eligible Collection of Antique Homes is D.C.’s Capitol Hill. Whether in the NE or the SE quadrant, 100-year-old homes abound. Still affordable by D.C.’s standards, they are reminiscent of Georgetown at half the cost.

The Hill still reminds me of a small town. When I lived there, my pre-dinner cocktail hour included a walk around the neighborhood, where people kept their blinds open, their pride of ownership inviting you to peek into the living room at the 20th century architecture and décor.

So if you are still looking for your Valentine, become your own “most eligible” by securing a home in one of these or other distinctive areas of the DMV that suit your style and your budget. Candy and flowers are still popular too.

VALERIE M. BLAKE

is a licensed Associate Broker in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia with RLAH Real Estate / @properties. Call or text her at 202-246-8602, email her via DCHomeQuest.com, or follow her on Facebook at TheRealst8ofAffairs.

Still affordable by D.C.’s standards, Capitol Hill homes are reminiscent of Georgetown at half the cost.

#PinkTieParty

HOST VENUE

Pink Tie Party

Thursday, March 16 | 7 PM

Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center Managed by TCMA (A Drew Company)

Don your haute for a vibrant spring season soirée! pink attire

Featuring:

Culinary creations by TCMA Executive Chef Houman Gohary and the best bites of the DC area restaurant scene

Enjoy delightful cocktails and mocktails including an XR Activation by ARTECHOUSE DC at the House of Suntory Bar

TICKETS: $225

All funds support the mission of Washington, DC’s iconic National Cherry Blossom Festival, ensuring Festival events remain primarily free and open to the public.

Featuring Absolutely Dragulous walking the blossom runway!

or visit NationalCherryBlossomFestival.org SUPPORTING

MEDIA SPONSORS

Photo by Studio5Baltimore

PROFESSIONAL DIRECTORY

LEGAL NOTICES

SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA PROBATE DIVISION

Case No. 2023ADM000022 Nashid S. M. Saadiq aka Nashid Saddiq Notice of Appointment, Notice to Creditors and Notice to Unknown Heirs

Minnie B. Saadiq, whose address is 1114 Trinidad Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002 was appointed Personal Representative of the estate of Nashid S. M. Saadiq aka Nashid Nashiq who died on December 8, 2022 with a Will and will serve without Court supervision. All unknown heirs and heirs whose whereabouts are unknown shall enter their appearance in this proceeding. Objections to such appointment (or to the probate of decedent’s Will) shall be filed with the Register of Wills, D.C., 515 5th Street, NW, Building A, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001, on or before 8/3/2023. Claims against the decedent shall be presented to the undersigned with a copy to the Register of Wills or to the Register of Wills with a copy to the undersigned, on or before 8/3/23 or be forever barred. Persons believed to be heirs or legatees of the decedent who do not receive a copy of this notice by mail within 25 days of its publication shall so inform the Register of Wills, including name, address and relationship. Date of first publication: 2/3/2023

Nicole Stevens, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Probate Division

/s/Minnie B. Saadiq 1114 Trinidad Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002.202-706-1101

MASSAGE

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Hope to see you soon!

Thanks for reading the Blade!

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COUNSELING

COUNSELING FOR LGBTQ

People Individual/couple counseling with a volunteer peer counselor. GMCC, serving our community since 1973. 202-580-8661 gaymenscounseling.org.  No fees, donation requested.

EMPLOYMENT

ACADEMY OF HOPE

Adult Public Charter School REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Educational Specification & Consolidated Facilities Assessments

The Academy of Hope Adult Public Charter School located in Washington, DC requests proposals for Educational Specification & Consolidated Facilities Assessments. Proposals are due February 10, 2023. You can find the detailed request for proposal and submission information at: https://aohdc.org/ get-involved/jobs/

HANDYMAN

BRITISH REMODELING

LEGAL SERVICES

ADOPTION, DONOR, SURROGACY

legal services. Jennifer represents LGBTQ clients in DC, MD & VA interested in adoption or ART matters.

240-863- 2441,  JFairfax@Jenniferfairfax.com.

LIMOUSINES

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Since 1987. Gay & Veteran Owner/Operator. Lincoln Continental Sedan! Proper DC License & Livery Insured. www.KasperLivery.com. 202-554-2471

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The Kennedy Center Millennium Stage |

Washington DC | March 4, 2023 | 6pm

Featuring Rebekah Lau’ren, Spirit McIntyre and Like Water Curated by Be Steadwell

Powerful Black, queer musicians from the DMV share their take on love songs in this round-robin style show. In alignment with Roadwork’s 45-year long mission of nurturing coalition building, SISTERFIRE LOVE SONGS honors the DMV’s enduring Black arts activists who center love across movements and generations. In a world consumed with politics, what does it mean for Black queer artists to invite us to talk about love?

Roadwork is multiracial coalition of LGBTQ, social justice, and anti racist arts activists in Washington DC. From its inception in 1982, Roadwork’s Sisterfire Festival showcased an array of artists with an emphasis on women of color, performers like Sweet Honey in the Rock and other musical activists who tackled social justice issues both local and global. The Sisterfire Festival remains a cross generational celebration of resistance, coalition, and emancipatory imagination, creativity, and performance in the arts.