Watermark issue 17.06: Spirituality

YOUR LGBT LIFE. ISSUE 17.06 | MARCH 18 - MARCH 31, 2010 WATERMARKONLINE.COM

FOCUS ON

SPIRITUALITY FINDING LGBT-FRIENDLY CONGREGATIONS

BEAR BUST

GAY CATHOLICS VS. TRADITION SPIRITUAL GROWTH THROUGH CANINE THERAPY

ANNOUNCES NEW VENUE FOR 2010

SHEIK STAR DUNCAN SHEIK WANTS TO MOVE PEOPLE— GAY OR STRAIGHT

SEALED DEAL DIXIE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY RETURNS TO CLEARWATER

D AY T O N A B E A C H

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PASCO NEONAZI GOES BACK TO COURT

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

issue 17.06

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DIXIE'S TUPPERWARE PARTY 29

PG.

Dixie Longate has sold her “plastic crap” to audiences around the country and in Europe for the past several years. Fortunately for us, she brings her unique take on the Tupperware Party—complete with not-so-common suggestions for the popular housewares product—and spirituality back to Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater March 30-Apr. 3.

Composer and songwriter Duncan Sheik is a devout Buddhist and an advocate for LGBT equality.

He’s bringing his new tour to Tampa and Orlando.

Photo courtesy Crackerfarm Photography

6 | Orlando News Bear Bust announces 2010 plans for a new venue; Kissimmee approves domestic partner benefits; BC3 group folds; more.

8 | Tampa Bay News ORLANDO NEWS

6

Neo-Nazi who allegedly killed gay teen goes back to trial; no LGBT winners in Gulfport elections; more.

13 | Nation/World News Gays get married in D.C.; Catholic school boots child of lesbian

10 / SARASOTA NEWS 11 / STATE NEWS 14 / TAMPA BAY MARKETPLACE 18 / ORLANDO MARKETPLACE

parents; Atlanta Eagle charges dropped; more.

24 / MAIL

22 | Citizen Crane

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Chris Crane talks about the historic confluence of marriage equality in

27/ SCENE AND HEARD

the capitols of the U.S., Mexico and Argentina.

TAMPA BAY NEWS

30 / FILM REVIEWS

27 | Scene and Heard Spring Awakening scribe Duncan Sheik performs in Orlando and Tampa this month and talks with Erik Caban about his storytelling process and his LGBT fan base; Stephen Miller reviews the latest

36 / EVENT PLANNER 38 / TAMPA BAY OUT+ABOUT

Hollywood hits and also introduces us to Hump Day, a comedy on

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DVD about straight friends making gay porn; Dixie Longate really doesn’t bring out your grandmother’s Tupperware Party.

50 / TRANSITIONS

41 | Spirituality Spirituality comes in many forms. In this issue we take a look at the different ways LGBTs explore their spirituality, whether it be through organized religion or certain actions. Writer Scottie Campbell meets LGBTs who find spiritual fulfillment through the help of Hip Dog in Winter Park, which helps aging canines battle hip ailments.

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Greg Stemm investigates the challenge of LGBTs clinging to their Catholic faith and Louanne Walters sorts out the denominations and

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39 / ORLANDO OUT+ABOUT

congregations actively outreaching to our community.

51 / ADVICE 52 / SPORTS 53 / CLASSIFIEDS 54 / GOSSIP

watermark | preview

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

editor’sdesk A

Steve Blanchard EDITOR

SteveB@WatermarkOnline.com

them by their families and religious leaders. person should be judged by their skills and abilities while at work But say, for a moment, that a company does incorporate protections for “exand nothing else. Of course, everybody should be protected from gays.” Who, exactly, would that protect? harassment and discrimination.

Would the woman who was dumped by her high school boyfriend and then Companies, universities and non-profits throughout the country have added made out with her college roommate that same evening be included in that non-discrimination policies to protect their workers. Most organizations and group? Would she want to be included? What about the guy who fell victim to companies want to ensure that employees are not harassed for their religious the “six-pack of beer rule” in high school and enjoyed a blow job from his best beliefs, their age or their sexual orientation or gender identity. I am a very friend? Would he be included? Would he even want to be identified as ex-gay, liberal person when it comes to social issues. I think everyone should be much less admit to the details of the evening? treated with respect, even if we don’t understand their Probably not—on all counts. way of living, their religion or their gender identity.

Should we include “ex-Catholics” in nonIf a person or group doesn’t pose a threat to my discrimination policies too? Many people raised in the everyday life, then protecting that person or group Adding ex-gays to Catholic church have sought other denominations or from all discrimination is a no-brainer. a non-discrimination other religions all together. Many jokingly say they are But a recent proposal placed before The Walt “recovering Catholics,” but identifying as a protected Disney Company made me take stock of that view. policy is just as crazy class would be ridiculous. You are Catholic, Baptist, For the first time in my life I can honestly say I don’t as adding leprechauns Pagan, Jewish, Muslim, atheist—you get the picture. see the point of protections for a specific class of It’s easy to identify with a specific religion, people. and centaurs. generation or race. It’s also easy to identify with a Earlier this month, Greg Quinlan, director of sexual orientation or with a specific identity.

Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays presented What Quinlan obviously doesn’t understand is that a resolution at Disney’s annual shareholders meeting truly distancing yourself from your sexual orientation makes just as much to add “former homosexuals” to its sexual orientation and non-discrimination sense as distancing yourself from your race. There’s just no such thing as an policy and diversity training. Walt Disney’s shareholders declined the motion. “ex-Caucasian” or “formerly Asian.”

Adding ex-gays to a non-discrimination policy is just as crazy as adding As ridiculous as the argument for ex-gay inclusion as a protected group leprechauns and centaurs. All mythical creatures might as well be included. may seem, Quinlan has vowed to continue the fight. His argument in support Obviously, I don’t buy the whole “ex-gay” thing. Despite the religious of the change reaches back several years ago when many Christian Disney teachings of the far-right, more and more people agree with scientists that stockholders sold their shares in retaliation to the company’s pro-LGBT sexual orientation is an inherited trait embedded in us at conception and not a policies. He says Christians ought to retain ownership so they can exercise a choice. Groups that try therapy to convert gays to straights, like Exodus, have more powerful voice in corporate affairs. been debunked repeatedly by respected psychiatrists and many survivors of Maybe someday Quinlan, and those who support his motion, will realize ex-gay movements have shared horrifying tales of shock treatments and guilt that offering protections to people who have been scared back into the closet trips. by fundamentalists is a huge step backward—not a step toward equality. | l | Ex-gays simply don’t exist. But people who have convinced themselves they are no longer gay certainly do, thanks to undeserved guilt placed upon

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watermark | orlando news

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

The Bears of Central Florida plan to hold Bear Bust 2010 at the Royal Plaza, which is a Disney Resort.

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Lake Buena Vista | The venue has changed for Bear Bust 2010. This year’s host is the Royal Plaza, a Disney resort located in Lake Buena Vista.

“It’s an unexpected change, but it’s one that we’re comfortable with,” said Bears of Central Florida president Jamie Beverly.

In 2009, BOCF moved the annual gathering of the hirsute from downtown Orlando to Kissimmee, choosing the Clarion Resort as the host hotel. This moved sparked the anger of local bears who felt Kissimmee was too far to travel for Bear Bust. The controversy led to a split within the group, creating Bears, Cubs, Chubbies and Chasers (BC3), which held its own event at the Parliament House on the same weekend.

Both groups reported successful events with solid attendance.

In October 2009, last year’s BOCF president Tim Limbauch told Watermark the group was already planning to return to the Clarion for Bear Bust 2010. However, earlier this month, current BOCF president Jamie Beverly posted a message on the BOCF web site explaining that since the Clarion was under new management, the group decided to negotiate a deal with a different resort closer to Central Florida attractions.

“They sent out notices that reservations could no longer be guaranteed,” he said of the newly bank-controlled property. “We felt it was too large of a risk so we sought out another property.”

Beverly did not say why the change in management led to a change in venue but is asking people to cancel their reservations at the Clarion. Kathy Kenny, director of sales and marketing at Clarion, did not return calls for comment.

Beverly said BOCF chose the Royal Plaza because it offered exclusivity and the best deal. He said activities and prices will be similar to last year’s event, with rooms running from $70-$109 a night. Beverly said as activities and the schedule get finalized, they’ll be posted on BOCF.org.

Bear Bust is not only a social event, but also a charitable one. Beverly said if BOCF decides to sign a multi-year contract, Royal Plaza will double the charitable contributions Clarion offered last year, via a percentage of the food and drink sales for the weekend plus a kickback on room sales.

Last year, BOCF split nearly $2,200 between Hope & Help and The Center.

Bear Bust 2010 will mark the 20th anniversary of the celebration. It’s scheduled for Oct. 14–17. | l |

briefs New social club formed

Stuart Milk back in Orlando

Girth & Mirth is coming to Orlando.

It’s a new chapter of a national social club for gay heavyset men and their admirers. Anyone interested should log onto GirthAndMirthOfOrlando.com.

Additionally, the national club is holding their Annual Club Conference in Orlando Sept. 3–10, 2010 at the Doubletree Resort.

The nephew of Harvey Milk is endorsing an Orlando candidate for mayor, marking the first time he’s endorsed a candidate outside the State of California.

Both LGBT activist Stuart Milk and Commissioner Linda Stewart will appear at a VIP event Saturday, March 20, at the Star Tower from 5–7 p.m., then a general reception at Revolution from 7:30 p.m.–9:30 p.m. Details are available at LindaStewartForMayor.com.

watermark | orlando news

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

Kissimmee approves domestic partner benefits

Orlando | It appears that Orlando’s new bear club may be defunct.

Bears, Cubs, Chubbies and Chasers (BC3) was created when a group of disgruntled members split off from the Bears of Central Florida last year. The new club was formed after BOCF announced its annual Bear Bust event, traditionally held in downtown Orlando, would move out of town to a resort in Kissimmee. For many of the bears, this was the final straw in relation to a club they claimed had a history of not supporting its local members.

The new BC3 club created its own event, BC3 Weekend, and scheduled it at the Parliament House the same weekend as Bear Bust. Both clubs reported success from their events and announced plans to schedule 2010 events at the same respective locations and on the same weekend.

Mark Schmidt, a remaining board member, said after BC3 Weekend’s first successful run, leadership within the club fell to himself and two or three other people.

He said communication was a real problem and members trying to plan new social events were ignored. According to Schmidt, things came to a head when BC3 vice president Luis Melendez sent out a call for timely responses for information on members.

Melendez and Schmidt say Fred Belgie, one of the founding BC3 board members who also works at the Parliament House, sent a text saying they should just shut down the club. Belgie did not return calls for comment.

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Kissimmee | In a 4-1 vote, the Kissimmee City Commission approved health and dental benefits for domestic partners of city employees, whether they’re the same sex or opposite sex.

Openly gay commissioner Cheryl Grieb made the motion on Mar. 9 at the commission’s regular meeting.

Representatives from Equality Florida and One Orlando showed up to support the proposal, but Grieb says no one spoke for or against it.

“There was no discussion,” she says. “I made the motion, it was seconded, boom, it was done.”

The new rules let employees purchase the benefits for their partners.

“It will also give domestic partners the same benefits as spouses as it relates to sick leave,” Grieb said.

She added that the policy will also treat domestic partners as spouses within the work

place, meaning domestic partners cannot supervise one another. Employees can also take advantage of sick leave if the children of their domestic partners become ill.

The policy will go into effect within the next 30 days and then employees can add their partners immediately without waiting for the regular renewal period.

“I’ve had about a half dozen employees come up to me and say it was important to them,” she said. “I don’t think it’s a huge number, but it doesn’t matter because for the employees it effects, it means less stress. They don’t have to worry about their partner’s insurance, and that makes healthier and happier employees.”

Commissioner Art Otero was the only “no” vote. Otero, who gained media attention in July 2009 when he denounced “homosexuality” and “gay marriage” in an effort to get “In God We Trust” added to the city logo, did not return calls for comment. | l |

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“I felt betrayed, and felt like [the creation of BC3] was nothing more than an attempt to get back at BOCF for [taking Bear Bust away from] Parliament House,” Schmidt said.

Schmidt says he’s not sure what he’s going to do now, but he heard a rumor that that another bear club may be formed in Orlando.

One thing is certain: he’s not interested in rejoining Orlando’s original Bear club.

“BOCF is not interested in doing anything for the locals, not interested in doing things like a group gathering to have fun,” he said.

“They just want to suck as much money as they can from Bear Bust.”

Melendez agrees that the end of BC3 creates a hole in the community.

“I’m pretty upset because I feel that Orlando needs a social group like what we had planned originally and I think we have failed as an organization,” Melendez said.

The club is non-existent at the moment, according to Melendez. Schmidt said the group can’t even officially dissolve because the required number of board members to make that decision can’t be rallied.

Schmidt is pessimistic about a revival.

“I don’t know if the BC3 event could happen again. It takes effort; it takes work; it’s not all fun,” he says. “It’s frustrating when you see a lot of work go into something and then everyone drops out.”

Melendez isn’t giving up hope just yet and says he sent e-mails to other board members offering to step away if that would keep BC3 alive.

“I’d love to rejuvenate or start something different if there’s an interest out there,” he said. | l |

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

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New Port Richey | Prosecutors say that in March 2006, John Ditullio broke into Patricia Wells’ nearby trailer and killed openly gay 17-year-old Kristofer King. The self-proclaimed neo-Nazi reportedly targeted Wells' trailer because she associated with African-Americans and her son, who was not at home during the attack, was also openly gay. After a jury in December could not come up with a decision, Circuit Judge Michael Andrews scheduled a second trial to begin on March 22.

The 23-year-old is charged with first degree murder and attempted murder.

According to arrest reports, Ditullio was a member of the American Nazis living in a compound on Teak Street surrounded by guarded fences and adorned with swastikas and rebel flags. In the early morning of March 23, 2006, authorities allege that Ditullio broke into Wells’ home wearing a gas mask and attacked her with a knife. When she fled to the back bedroom, her attacker

slashed at her face and hands and then went after King, who was seated at a computer. King died from multiple stab wounds to his head.

In December, jurors heard from Prosecutors will get another Ditullio, who said chance to convict John Ditullio for the 2006 attack he was not the that wounded one woman killer and that he and killed a gay teenager. was framed by fellow neo-Nazis after a dispute within the compound. He said Shawn Plott, a fellow neo-Nazi, actually committed the stabbings.

Most of the jurors believed Ditullio. Ten of the 12 jurors believed he was innocent, but two were convinced he was guilty.

After almost 11 hours of deliberation, Judge Andrews declared a hung jury.

If Ditullio is found guilty of the attack, he could face the death penalty. | l |

Stanton documentary premieres on CNN staff report Largo | A CNN documentary about what happened, personally and professionally, to former Largo City Manager Steven Stanton after he decided to become Susan Stanton finally premiered on CNN on March 13.

CNN Presents: Her Name Was Steven has screened at film festival events and was part of the Tampa International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival’s monthly program in January. The documentary looks at the struggle a person can face as a transgender person and will air repeatedly on the news network.

Stanton, who had been the Largo city manager for 14 years, was fired in 2007 after he had announced that he was planning a sex-change operation. The married manager had performed well on the job, but a story in the St. Petersburg Times revealing his plans to undergo gender reassignment surgery polarized the Largo community.

The documentary features Stanton’s

teenage son prominently and Stanton’s exwife, Debra, provides voiceovers in the film.

She did not want to appear on film, according to the documentary.

“We followed his life for nearly two years, through the highs and the lows, and we came away with an emotional story that transcends the gender issue,” said producer Bud Bultman.

The 80-minute film also includes interviews with co-workers, as well as childhood diaries, old family films and voiceovers form personal journals, which document Stanton’s struggle with gender identity.

“We were there during hospital procedures and during the frustrating search to find a new job,” Bultman said in a news release. “At one point, she talks about contemplating suicide, and at another point she is at peace with being the person she was meant to be.”

Her Name Was Steven was completed before Susan Stanton was hired as city manager in Lake Worth, a city in South Florida that hired her late last year. | l |

Drag Show arrives at USF staff report Tampa | The PRIDE Alliance at the University of South Florida held its annual drag show featuring USF students and local performers from throughout the Tampa Bay community on March 11.

The amateur and professional performances brought out more than 500 students to the MSC Ballroom, just a month

after a conservative group targeted the university’s “Queer Theory” course. Both female and male impersonators were on hand to entertain the crowd.

Entry to the show was free and Raymond James supplied soft drinks to students.

Organizers have deemed the annual event a success. The PRIDE Alliance promotes tolerance and understanding among LGBT and straight students at the school. | l |

watermark | tampa bay news

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

Controversial senator endorses Rubio at Tampa rally staff report Tampa | The South Carolina senator who once said gay people and unwed mothers should not be allowed to teach in schools has endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio.

During a March 13 trip to Tampa, Sen. Jim DeMint, a hard-line conservative, told a crowd of 350 Republicans that “Americans are standing up to take their country back.”

According to an interview with the Tampa Tribune, DeMint favors some stances on issues that might not be popular with Florida voters, including a flat income

tax, private accounts for Social Security and a constitutional amendment outlawing abortion.

DeMint said he opposes abortion in all cases except when the mother’s life is in danger.

“I’d rather have 30 Marco Rubios than 60 Arlen Specters,” DeMint told the crowd March 13. “If I could just have one or two people like [Rubio] in the Senate, we could take back our country.”

He said Rubio’s candidacy is “an opportunity ... to demonstrate to the Republican Party and the country that a ... common-sense conservative can win.” | l |

Quakers to discuss LGBT issues staff report St. Petersburg | The St. Petersburg Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) has launched a new Saturday evening forum series that will focus on many of today’s most relevant and controversial social issues, including LGBT Pride.

The free forums will feature guest speakers, films, discussions and other creative ways to explore the topics. A goodwill offering that will benefit a cause related to the topic of the forum will be taken at each event.

The first forum is scheduled for Saturday, March 20 at 7 p.m. at the Quaker Meeting House at 190 19th Avenue SE in St. Petersburg. It will focus on racial equality and will include a film followed by a discussion facilitated by Wendy Loomas, a member of the Quakers who works for the Pinellas County Health Department.

The film The Story We Tell explores the roots of the race concept, including the 19th-century science that justified it and how it gained such a hold over our minds. It explores how what we assume to be normal, commonsense, even scientific, is actually

shaped by our history, social institutions and cultural beliefs.

Topics for the next three months have already been lined up as well.

On April 17, the topic will be climate change and environmental responsibility.

Climatologists from Eckerd College and a representative from Repower America are tentatively planned to present. The May 15 forum will examine war and peace issues, including the present day conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. On June 19, the topic will be LGBT Pride to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in June 1969.

“Throughout history Quakers have been called to social action,” said Connie Hotchkiss, clerk of the Peace and Social Concerns committee of the St. Petersburg Friends Meeting. “We hope these new forums give more people an opportunity to learn about issues that are at the very forefront of the culture wars and examine ways they can get involved to enact powerful social change within our community and around the world.”

The St. Petersburg Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends is part of the liberal unprogrammed sect of Quakers. | l |

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Budget, environment top Gulfport election steve blanchard Gulfport | In a very crowded field for the Ward 1 seat on Gulfport’s City Council, accountant David C. Hastings defeated incumbent Judy Ryerson by a 12-vote margin. The Republican defeated four other candidates after taking 28% of the 1,782 ballots cast.

Thanks to a 2003 decision by voters, run-off elections are non-existent in the St. Petersburg-area suburb and Hastings will take the seat immediately.

The campaign was completely focused on budgetary and environmental issues and no smear tactics were used by any of the five candidates. Hastings’ win bumped out the political aspirations of openly gay candidate Stanley Solomons, who is a cochair of St. Pete Pride.

Hastings, 62, is a native of Virginia who has called Gulfport home since 2000 and has served on the city’s Planning and Zoning Board since 2007. His wife owns the Habana Café and Cigar Factory on Gulfport Boulevard. | l |

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watermark | sarasota news

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

Bowling in Boxers returns steve blanchard Sarasota | After taking a year off, one of the LGBT community’s largest social event and fundraiser will return in 2010.

The 11th Annual Bowling in Boxers event is slated for Sunday, April 18, at 7 p.m. at the AMF Gulf Gate Lanes, with returning hostess and emcee David “Scarbie” Mitchell.

Mitchell, who created “Scarbie” and performs as popular characters created

by Lily Tomlin and Carol Burnett, will entertain throughout the night and host the annual Mr. and Ms. Boxers contest.

Contestants can sport festive boxers and

enter to win several different donated prizes.

Bowling will be “No Tap” scoring with colored pin prizes and 50/50 drawing.

A cash bar and food will be available throughout the night.

Admission is still only $15 and this year’s proceeds benefit Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota’s trip to Carnegie Hall to participate in the Pink Ribbon’s “Singing for the Cure” this summer, and ALSO Out Youth.

For more information email Jim Jablonski at jimphl@aol.com or call 941812-5819. | l |

Doctors for Charity event to benefit HIV/AIDS Ministries staff report Sarasota | For the first time, Doctors for Charity will host a benefit for the HIV/AIDS Ministries of Catholic Charities.

The first annual Doctors for Charity dinner dance is scheduled for Saturday, April 10, at 6:30 p.m. at Michael’s on East.

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For more information or to purchase tickets, call Catholic Charities at 941-3799111, ext. 300. | l |

watermark | state news

Rep. defends discriminatory film bill erik caban Tallahassee | A new bill could deny tax credits to shows and movies that feature gay characters, and the representative who proposed it is feeling the pressure.

State Rep. Stephen Precourt (R-Orlando) introduced a $75 million incentive package to attract movie studios to film in Florida.

The proposal would increase current tax credits from 2-5% of production costs for shows considered “family friendly,” and is coming under fire for its discriminatory nature. It lists a number of factors that would disqualify productions, including depicting “nontraditional family values.” However, the definition of those values is up for debate and it’s unclear whether that particular language will make it through the state version of the bill.

The House Development Policy Committee approved the bill (HB 697) unanimously last week, as part of a promise to create jobs.

Precourt says he’s not targeting the LGBT community, but when asked if shows with gay characters should get the tax credit, he told the Palm Beach Post, “That would not be the kind of thing I’d say that we want to invest public dollars in.” He also said to “think of it like Mayberry,” saying his goal is to promote movies that depict life in the 1950s and 1960s.

On March 9, Precourt followed-up with a new statement, saying it’s not required for the overall program “to be family friendly.”

“Our intent is to simply clarify that language and provide an increase to 5%,” he said. “This small incentive is geared toward productions defined loosely as ‘G’ rated, or suitable for an audience as young as 5 years old.”

Florida’s governor weighed in on the issue.

“Let me define it in the positive,” Gov. Charlie Crist told the Palm Beach Post. “A traditional family is a marriage between a man and a woman. That’s traditional.”

According to City-Data.com, more than one-third of Florida children are being raised in single-parent families, and that doesn’t include children being raised by extended

family, children in foster care or LGBT families.

“Marginalizing single-parent families, gay families and other non-traditional families by instituting 1950s-style movie censorship does nothing to support real-life families or help Florida’s struggling economy,” said Ted Howard, executive director for Florida Together.

He said Florida Together will be working to get the language changed.

“If that does not resolve the problem, our community and organizations will need to work together to draw attention and opposition to the problematic language in this bill,” said Howard.

The mission statement for the Florida Film and Entertainment Council contrasts with the language of the bill. It states their goal is “to provide a broad and consistent base of industry related demographic, economic, and informational support to the Office of Film Commissioner” and “to be inclusive and work with special communities, minorities and diverse organizations in order to develop innovative ways of addressing their unique needs and challenges.”

Openly gay independent filmmaker Michael McWhorter, who lives in South Florida, has a sarcastic response to the bill, saying “Everyone knows homosexuality has no place in the arts.”

McWhorter has begun a petition against the bill on his web site which he plans to send to all of the State Representatives.

Not all Republicans agree with Precourt.

“I’m all for tax breaks, but it’s simply unfair to give a tax break to a production company that’s segregating their audience,” said Norm Gentry, an Orlando Log Cabin Republican. “If the intention of the tax break is to generate jobs and revenue, it shouldn’t be limited.”

There is concern the language will chase away productions that would have otherwise considered Florida as a potential filming location. The Partridge Family, Scarface, Miami Vice and Nip/Tuck—all filmed in Florida—would not have qualified for the tax credit under the bill’s current language. | l |

briefs Broward County Schools Stand for Equality For the second year, Broward County schools have voted to support the National Day of Silence observed on April 16, 2010. It’s a national studentled action that takes place every year in protest of the epidemic of bullying and harassment against LGBT students.

Gay adoption bill stalls Florida’s senate finally allowed debate over the state’s ban on adoption by homosexuals on March 16, but the bill was stalled. Sen. Charlie Justice and Rep. Scott Randolph introduced legislation that would have prevented adoption agencies from asking potential parents about sexual orientation. The bill was tacked onto one address gun ownership and gay adoption and when the Speaker ruled it irrelevant, both legislators withdrew the legislation.

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watermark | nation+world news

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

Same-sex couples tie knot in D.C. staff report Washington, D.C. | At least a dozen couples tied the knot in the District of Columbia on the first day same-sex ceremonies were legally allowed, and many more unions were on the way.

On March 9, the district became the sixth place nationwide where gay couples can legally get married, joining Connecticut, Iowa, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Vermont.

Rebecca and Delia Taylor picked up their license that morning and a minister friend immediately married them outside the courthouse. The couple said they long ago exchanged rings and considered themselves married. Still, they were grinning.

“We’ve referred to each other as wives,” Rebecca Taylor said. “It’s just a legal document, so if anything happens to one of

us, we have rights.”

More than 450 couples applied for marriage licenses in Washington during the first week they were available to same-sex couples.

Courthouse spokeswoman Leah Gurowitz says the 466 applications received from both gay and straight couples is much higher than the 50 or so applications normally received in a week.

Some couples plan to wed immediately, while others said they will marry over the next several weeks and months. A large number—many of whom had held previous ceremonies—plan to marry at the city’s courthouse. Normally, the courthouse hosts four to six weddings a day, but over the next several weeks, officials are expecting 10 to 12 per day because of the demand for samesex ceremonies. | l |

Catholic school boots student with gay parents staff report Boulder, Colo. | A Catholic school in Colorado is kicking out a preschooler because the child’s parents are lesbians.

The child also will not be allowed to re-enroll next year at Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School. The Denver Archdiocese posted a statement last week saying the parents are “living in open discord with Catholic teaching.”

The statement says students in Catholic schools are expected to have parents who abide by church and school policies. The

archdiocese said students with gay parents in Catholic schools would become confused.

“To allow children in these circumstances to continue in our school would be a cause of confusion for the student in that what they are being taught in school conflicts with what they experience in the home,” the statement read.

DeMelo said the gay parents in this case became known “through the normal admissions process.” But she did not explain why the child was enrolled in the first place if the parents’ orientation was known. | l |

briefs Defendants cleared in Atlanta Eagle case An Atlanta judge has found three defendants in a case spawned by a late-night raid on a crowded gay bar not guilty. Municipal Judge Crystal Gaines tossed out charges against the other five defendants in the case that accused men of dancing naked without permits and operators of the Atlanta Eagle with running an unlicensed adult establishment. A national gay rights group filed a federal lawsuit against the city of Atlanta and the Atlanta Police Department accusing authorities of illegally searching patrons during the Sept. 10 raid.

Gay couples marry in Mexico City Five same-sex couples made history in Mexico City on March 11 when they wed under Latin America’s first law that explicitly approves gay marriage. Mexico City’s legislature passed the first law explicitly giving gay marriages the same

status as heterosexual ones in December.

The legislation also allows same-sex couples to adopt children.

Colleges can’t ban gay discrimination, says AG. Virginia’s attorney general has advised the state’s public colleges that they don’t have the authority to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation. The March 11 letter sent by Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli to state college presidents and other officials drew swift criticism from Democrats and gay rights activists. “It is my advice that the law and public policy of the Commonwealth of Virginia prohibit a college or university from including ‘sexual orientation,’ ‘gender identity,’ ‘gender expression,’ or like classification, as a protected class within its nondiscrimination policy,’’ Cuccinelli wrote.

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Crossing distance with the web Jamie Hyman ONLINE EDITOR Jamie@WatermarkOnline.com

regular Skype chats, I won’t seem like such a stranger to Will when we spin together in the Mad Hatter teacups.

It seems like a lot of the time when we talk about the amazing ways the web keeps us connected, the focus is on crossing time.

An example is the big reunions where someone you haven’t spoken to in years finds your blog or you become friends with your preschool teacher on Facebook and are now privy to her day-to-day activities.

That stuff is awesome, but one of the most precious gifts 21st century technology has given us is the ability to cross space.

I started thinking about this at an Oscars viewing party where I spoke to John Ryan, a talented Orlando actor, about his upcoming performances. He’s gearing up for a few months in New York City where he’ll act in a stage show. I know John has close ties to Florida so I asked him whether he misses home while away and he said he does, but mentioned how visiting sites like WatermarkOnline.com let him keep up with the local headlines and help him feel less removed.

Given the intensely gifted theatre community enjoyed in Orlando, I’ll bet John isn’t alone. And of course, distance relationships go beyond theatre, to faraway romance and displaced family and even something as short-term as a business trip.

John really got me thinking about how tools like e-mail, text and social networking connect us to people far away, but there’s something to be said about your local newspaper’s web site and the way it can make you feel like you’re still plugged in to the town that has your heart. In cases like my chats with little Will, the connection goes beyond words on a screen to sights and sounds. Please excuse the Hallmark moment, but I can earnestly say the web is precious for how it can make us feel at home, no matter where you really are at that moment.

have a nephew who is six-months-anda-few- days old. His name is Will and he lives in Ohio with his parents, and since I’m all the way down here in The Nation’s Wang, I’ve only gotten to hang out with him twice. The first was at my wedding, where he was 16 days old after being born five weeks premature. Plus, I was kind of busy that day.

The second time was at Christmas.

Despite our distance, a few nights ago I Barefaced Hype Alert! was able to see how big he’s getting, when I have three things going on at Watermark my sister hoisted Will up to a webcam while Online I want to be absolutely sure you don’t she and I kept our regular Skype date. For miss. those who haven’t used it yet, Skype is the 1. Twitter: Watermark will be tweeting on fulfillment of every science fiction writer’s a special Twitter account, leading up to Gay dream, a way to talk on the phone while Days Weekend 2010. We’re co-hosting the seeing live video of the person at the other brand-new Stratosphere party and creating end. Skype uses a hip, super-useful webcams, monitors GD2010 Guide, so and a microphone there will be lots of Skype is the fulfillment to make the visual, behind-the-scenes auditory connection. dirt to dish and of every science fiction Oh, and it’s free. You Twitter is where writer’s dream. can find it at Skype. we’re going to let it com. out. You can follow In addition to us at Twitter.com/ letting me see how he’s growing and GDWatermark. While you’re at it, head changing, my sister and I hope Will gets over to WatermarkOnline and let us know if something out of seeing and hearing me, you have a Twitter account. We’d love to be too. Every time a television commercial following you, too. featuring Mickey Mouse comes on, she 2. Giveaways: WatermarkOnline and points to it, tells him that’s where Aunt SoHo Tan Spa is giving away some great Jamie lives, and promises they’ll head prizes that will help you get hot for the down to see me before long. Maybe through upcoming party season. The grand prize is

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A capital case for gay marriage Chris Crain CitizenCrain.Com

ast week was one for the history books in the movement for gay civil rights worldwide.

Same-sex couples are marrying in the capitals of four of the five most populous countries in the Americas, and each city offers an important lesson about what works in making progress on the mother of all items on “the gay agenda.”

In Mexico City, Buenos Aires and, of course, Washington, D.C., gay couples are now registering or entering into civil marriage, accessing a fundamental right already enjoyed by same-sex couples in Ottawa and throughout Canada. The only country missing from the Americas’ Top 5 is Brazil, where a patchwork of common law and judicial rulings extend some legal recognition to gay relationships in the capital Brasilia, and across the country.

The U.S. capital of Washington, D.C., grabbed most of the headlines last week, as the conservative Chief Justice John Roberts refused a last-minute attempt to block a gay marriage law adopted by the duly elected representatives of the District of Columbia. So much for the argument that “activist judges” are imposing gay marriage on their citizens; in D.C., it was gay marriage opponents who appealed to unelected

of the free and home of the brave. judges to thwart the will of the Despite Barack Obama’s pledge majority. during the primaries that, unlike Primary credit for that mammoth Hillary Clinton, he would support electoral achievement goes to a full and total repeal of the Defense of grassroots effort by a group called Marriage Act, a bill to do just that has D.C. for Marriage (DCForMarriage. languished for months in Congress.

Blogspot.com), who tired of the Even Barney Frank, the powerful snail’s pace and incremental progress gay Democrat, is acting like he is a made over many years by long-time activists and pushed the envelope with Democrat first and a gay man second, refusing even to co-sponsor the local politicians who had given lip legislation for fear it would pressure service to marriage equality but still Nancy Pelosi into actually expending ducked for cover whenever possible. some political capital on our behalf.

If you agree with that aggressive After years of broken promises to strategy, then take a moment to check out the national organization Freedom push gay rights legislation through Congress, the Democratic Party at a to Marry, where Michael Crawford, minimum owes LGBT Americans the one of D.C. for Marriage’s founders, immediate repeal of the two antiis now heading up online organizing. gay laws signed by a Democrat, Bill The other key player in the fight Clinton: DOMA and Don’t Ask Don’t for marriage in our nation’s capital Tell. was David Catania, first elected as a Finally, and for only the second gay Republican to a citywide seat on time, a gay couple in the beautiful the D.C. Council and later quit his party when President Bush introduced Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires has tied the knot, after a deadlock a constitutional amendment to ban in rulings by local judges was gay marriage nationwide. broken. Now that events in D.C. Allies are crucial to the fight, of and Mexico City have put the lie course, but we have seen time and to that old conservative saw about again that having one of our own at “activist judges” being the target of the table makes all the difference. gay marriage opposition, rather than The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund gay folks ourselves, it’s important to (VictoryFund.org) has taken the redouble our efforts in the courtroom leadership role in electing out here in the U.S. LGBT politicians to office, and has The most promising case is a consistently maintained some of the lawsuit brought in San Francisco highest non-profit ratings for putting to challenge Proposition 8, which donor dollars to use in actually could lead to accomplishing universal gay that mission. marriage rights As important In a historic throughout symbolically as the country. gay marriage is confluence, marriage The suit, in Washington, equality arrived brought by D.C, the real conservative impact is simultaneously last legal kingpin dwarfed by the week in the capitols of Ted Olson and availability just liberal David two days later the U.S., Mexico and Boies, is itself of marriage Argentina. a rogue effort to same-sex associated couples among with the newly the 20 millionfounded plus living in American Foundation for Equal Mexico City, the most populous city Rights (EqualRightsFoundation.org). in either North or South America.

Still, the good folks at Lambda As in D.C., marriage equality Legal (LambdaLegal.org) continue was achieved in Mexico’s Districto to achieve groundbreaking results Federal by the locally elected that can’t be matched by any other legislature, which defied last-ditch national gay group, so forego the conservative attempts to veto the black tie dinners for once and get new law in court. Despite dire threats more equality bang for your buck. | l | about a national backlash, the centerleft Democratic Revolution Party (PRD), which is a minority party Chris Crain is former editor of the Washington Blade and five other gay publications and now at the federal level, pushed the gay edits GayNewsWatch.com. He can be reached marriage bill through.

CitizenCrain.com or follow him on Twitter @ The same courage hasn’t been citizenchris. displayed of yet by the center-left party that is in firm control of the federal government here in the land

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watermark | mail

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

Yes. We’d be first in line!

Maybe. I’d discuss it with my partner because of the law change.

No. I’m dating but we’re not there yet

No. I don’t like the religious No. I’m implications single. of marriage and would prefer civil unions.

39%

30%

No. I never want to get married, regardless of the laws.

16% 5%

7% 3%

At WatermarkOnline.com, we asked you:

If gay marriage were legal in Florida today, would you be ready to take the plunge?

A new poll will be posted to the homepage this week. Be sure to visit WatermarkOnline.com and let us know what YOU think!

top web comments On stories about more changes for Orlando’s Bear clubs: “Both groups were bashing each other in Watermark last year. Most of the events for Bear Bust 2009 were at the P-House so for all intents and purposes it was held at P-H. Say what you want but BOCF still sucks.”

—RyanJ “The BOCF wasn’t bashing BC3.

BC3 was too busy bashing the BOCF. They were mad Bear Bust was taken away from the P-House. Many people think bear bust originated at the PHouse. That’s totally untrue.”

—mgervis On Erik’s Fire Down Below post, Keep your friends close and your frenemies closer: “I can feel your frustration. Among many gay and straight people, gay relationships aren’t respected And with many gay people, boundaries aren’t respected. It’s sad, but part of our overall homophobic culture.”

—Greggy Don’t be left out of the community conversation!

Head over to WatermarkOnline.com, register and start telling us what YOU think!

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mail Thanks for Coco

Feature thanks

What a fabulous publication! Thank you What a wonderful article on Coco for including me in your marriage issue.

Montrese (issue 17.05). I consider myself Beau Fodor Coco’s appointed father, due to the fact Des Moines, Iowa that her birth father is deceased. I have spent many years getting to know Coco and helping to guide her in her career as a female impersonator. I can honestly say that this is not the way it was supposed to happen (taking over a title versus Curiously, almost every major news winning it outright). story covering congressional gridlock However, as with anything that Coco spreads the blame around evenly between does, she has both Republicans accepted the and Democrats. position of Miss We’re told that Gay America the problem is with dignity and “the system,” class. and “bipartisan I am so happy bickering.” However, that Watermark the facts show chose to a more specific recognize problem. The Coco and her reason why nothing achievements. is getting done in —Bob Taylor She is an Washington today amazing person, is because the entertainer, Republican Senate’s titleholder and, record-breaking most of all, a daughter/friend! I love you use of the filibuster. Republicans, in the very much Coco and am so proud of you! minority in the 2007-2008 session of Bob Taylor congress, used the filibuster 112 times.

Via e-mail The most that Democrats resorted to the tactic, when they were in the minority in 1999-2000, was 58.

The filibuster is used to protect minority I got the issue of Watermark with Coco interests in the Senate, ensuring that Montrese on the cover in today’s mail. minority interests are not trampled by the Thanks so much for the great story on popular party. However, the Republicans her. Great publication! have used the filibuster to simply paralyze Colin Murphy government. The reason “government St. Louis, Mo. doesn’t work” is because Republican senators use the filibuster to prevent essential legislation from becoming law.

Stan Fields Via e-mail

Gridlock is not bipartisan

“As with anything that Coco does, she has accepted the position of Miss Gay America with dignity and class.”

Great coverage

Send all correspondence to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com. Letters may be edited for space or clarity. Opinions expressed in reader mail do not reflect those of Watermark’s staff.

watermark | viewpoint

PUBLISHER’S

perspective

Book— helped me get sober. It also ignited a previously dormant spiritual side, and persuaded me that greater control does not correlate with greater happiness.

Soon thereafter, M. Scott Peck’s The Road Less Traveled taught me an essential paradox: that pain creates the clearest pathway to spiritual growth and happiness.

It may take some time to reveal itself, but there’s opportunity in the rubble of all that angst and discomfort.

And in Conversations with God, Neale Donald Walsch convinced this lifelong agnostic of the possibility—even if only Surprise as a useful construct—that we are all spirituality connected to something loving, miraculous and divine.

Add to these the books that have been Tom Dyer on my nightstand the past couple years, Tom@WatermarkOnline.com Eckhart Tolle’s inspired The Power of Now and A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose, and you have the essential—and most often unrealized—goals of my current belief system: relinquish control, learn from pain, channel love, and stay outside of my head (Tolle’s contribution).

Of course, it’s more complicated than that. Using the wonderfully thoughtprovoking “Belief-O-Matic” quiz found on Beliefnet.com, it turns out my metaphysics are most in synch with Unitarian Universalism. But to this day, and after years of episodic exploration, I remain surprised that I’m spiritual at all.

My father was Mormon (I have 18 first cousins on his side of the family), handful of new Facebook friends but I attended my mother’s Methodist had me searching for my junior high church as a child. Neither of my parents school yearbooks this past weekend. was particularly devout, so it was easy to I didn’t find them in the musty box of books manufacture excuses to avoid worship as I at the back of one of my closets. Instead, I grew older. uncovered a fading map to my haphazard But it’s also true that I never felt spiritual journey. anything inside the church that would make Inside were some two dozen warping me want to come back. The clothes were books reflecting the perceived deficiencies uncomfortable, the sermons were boring, of my adult life. In no particular order, they and I sensed early on that it was mostly a included: Loving Someone Gay, Your Perfect show the congregants performed for each Right: A Guide to Assertive Behavior, The other.

7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Do I The tuna fish sandwiches my mother Have to Give Up Me to Be Loved By You?, made afterward were small reward.

Creating Affluence, Search For Serenity, Perhaps I already sensed that there was The Multi-Orgasmic Man, The 10 Natural something about me that would confound Laws of Successful the church. Whatever Time and Life the reason, by the Management, The time I reached high By the time we reach Artist’s Way: A school I had turned Spiritual Path to my back on religion. adulthood, most of Higher Creativity, When my parents us have developed and The Gifted Boss. said a blessing at I remember little meals, I held my temporary system from these books; head high and overrides. they were at best proudly refused to short side-trips. But participate. three, discernible I don’t remember by dozens of earmarked pages and layers exactly what led me to the “Metaphysical of highlighting and underlining, are in an Studies” section of the bookstore years altogether different category. I was exposed later, but it was surely rooted in a psychic to them at just the right time in my life, and pain so profound that it could no longer each advanced my journey immeasurably. be numbed by alcohol, or avoided using Twenty four years ago, Alcoholics the rationalization, procrastination and Anonymous—also known as The Blue avoidance that I had cultivated in the closet.

A

I have come to believe that we are all born with an internal sonar system that uses pain to guide us, relentlessly, in the direction of peace, fulfillment and loving connection. It’s installed in the factory, and its operation is annoyingly flawless. But by the time we reach adulthood, most of us have developed effective temporary system overrides. We veer off course, and the journey back can seem impossible.

Like almost everyone at the beginning of their spiritual journey, all I wanted was for the pain to stop. In that pain I discovered priceless, unimaginable opportunity. I rediscovered my sonar—and spirituality—and have since learned to use it, if just a bit. | l |

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

YOUR LGBT LIFE.

WatermarkOnline.com

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

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Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

27

Inside A Haunted

Whisper House D U N C A N S H E I K G E T S T H E AT R I C A L erik caban

T

here was The Who and the rock opera Tommy. There was Tom Waits with The Black Rider and Elton John with Aida. When Duncan Sheik’s sensitive crooning climbed the charts in the early 1990s, who would have assumed he’d follow the rock opera route? Sheik first exploded onto the pop culture radar in 1996, when his debut album yielded the mega-hit single “Barely Breathing”—a song which still receives regular radio play and most radio listeners still know the words to 14 years later.

While the artist, who performs at Orlando’s Plaza Theater on March 25 and Tampa’s Straz Center for the Performing Arts on March 26, may have faded out of the mainstream for a bit, the 40-year-old composer came back strong in 2006, albeit in a different semblance and for a

different audience. He won two Tony Awards, Best Original Score and Best Orchestration, for Spring Awakening the exhilarating and ambitious musical, about sexual repression in the 1970s.

The play immediately boosted his LGBT following.

Over the course of his career, Sheik has lent his musical talents to a number of LGBT-themed productions, including A Home at the End of the World, Transamerica, Dare, and Spring Awakening. When asked if the theme of the project was a factor in his decisions, Sheik responded modestly.

“Let’s face it. The world of gay theater and cinema is a world of amazing gay audiences,” he says from his New York apartment. “I honestly don’t even make a distinction anymore.”

Sheik revealed that although he is heterosexual, he is very aware of his

large gay fan base. His music has even been described as “gay-friendly.” He admits he isn’t sure what that means.

“The bottom line is that I want to make music that moves people, whether you’re gay or straight,” Sheik states.

“I simply want my music to be humanfriendly.”

Story telling His latest album, Whisper House, explores the world of folk lore. It spawned a full scale musical, which premiered in San Diego in January. The melodrama, set in the 1940s World War II era, centers on a boy who is sent to live with his spinster aunt in a lighthouse in Maine after his father dies in combat.

The songs weave together to create a story about grief and longing, as seen by the ghosts that haunt the lighthouse.

Sheik brings a sampling of Whisper

House to Orlando’s Plaza Theatre and Tampa’s David A. Straz, Jr. Center for the Performing Arts later this month.

This tour will differ slightly from the actual musical. It combines the talents of keyboardist Holly Brooks, Gary Leonard and singer Lauren Pritchard (Spring Awakening). It will feature a suite of songs from Whisper House, Spring Awakening and some from Sheik’s own catalog of albums.

Few artists have attempted to bridge the gap from recording artist to musical theater. Whisper House marks Sheik’s third production-style album.

“I feel very fortunate to be part of two parts of the music business,” Sheik says. “I’m lucky that people want to hear both parts of my repertoire. It’s a nice position to be in.”

Continued on page 34 | uu |

28

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

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watermark | theater

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

29

a match sealed in heaven Dixie Longate brings her Tupperware Party back to Clearwater

stephen miller

W

hen she was told she’d be gracing our Spirituality issue, Tupperware queen Dixie Longate replied, “Well that’s weird, because I’ve been performing this week in an abandoned church in Washington State.”

At first glance, it may seem odd to draw a comparison between a colorful drag performer—who is also one of the nation’s top Tupperware salespersons— and spirituality. However, witness one performance, and you’ll be a convert. Dixie employs an apostolic glee in her hilarious send-up of old-time Tupperware parties.

In 2001, the sweet but trashy Dixie (and her alternate personality Kris Andersson) staved off destitution by hocking the famous farting food storage devices. Her drunken, debauched shows are loaded with double entendres. In 2004, Dixie won the Best Individual Artist prize at the New York Fringe Festival. In 2007, she was nominated for a New York Drama Desk Award. Dixie now travels all over the country, telling her sordid stories and selling her wares. She’ll be performing at Ruth Eckerd Hall’s Murray Studio Theater in Clearwater from March 30 to Apr. 3. Watermark will host a special preand post-party with Dixie on Thursday, April 1, complete with a cash bar and finger foods.

Anyone who purchases a ticket to be on the guest list for the party should mention this newspaper and $2 per ticket will go to support Metro Charities. In addition, a portion of Tupperware sales that night go to the HIV/AIDS organization.

In a phone interview about spirituality, the down-and-dirty Dixie dove in with Pentecostal glee.

DIXIE: Everything runs together when you drink. Where am I? Oh, right now I’m in Yakima, Wash., which is really something.

It’s a little crazy, because the theater that they have here is being remodeled, so they moved us into an old, abandoned Christian Science church. I don’t know what happened there; everybody moved out or fled or something.

I’ve been calling it The Church of Dixie.

WATERMARK: What’s spiritual about Tupperware?

Lord, you know, it’s the best crap on the planet! This is the thing: most stuff that you

get, you don’t have a connection to. Every time you use one of my Tupperware, you’re going to remember the party, the host and the other people there. So, you have a bit of connection you don’t have with other things.

That’s why you see these little old ladies who’ve had their Tupperware for 50 or 60 years, and they covet it. They write their names on it in Magic Marker, so that you don’t take it from the church social when you’re done.

What’s your spiritual background?

I was raised Christian, but being Southern, there’s a couple ways to go. You could be a crazy-crazy Christian, like a snake-handling Christian, or you could be a regular Christian.

The message in the Bible was Jesus saying, “I’m making wine here, everybody, so get out your tumblers and start throwing it back!”

I’m from that school of thought.

Why did you personally connect to Tupperware?

Oh my stars! I think I felt a connection because it’s something you can store your big thick meat in. You know, before you throw it on the barbeque.

What do you say to people who criticize Tupperware for being damaging to the planet?

I don’t buy that. Scientists create all these things that make our lives better, and then a few years later, we all start poo-pooing their inventions. I call Tupperware plastic crap, but its high-quality plastic crap. The nice thing about Tupperware is that you buy a piece, and you keep it for life. The whole disposable mentality goes beyond throwing stuff away, it also goes to people. If you always think everything’s disposable, you start treating people like they’re disposable.

Is all that alcohol store-bought?

I’m from the South. Really, there are just some things that you need to make in a bathtub. Then you go on and funnel it into an old jug so you can drink it on a Sunday after church. On tour, I get store-bought. It’s just too hard to make stuff in hotel bathrooms.

So, we’ve gone from spirituality to spirits?

“Salesperson” Dixie Longate, who has never been spotted in the same room with her manager, Kris Andersson, will bring her popular spin on the traditional Tupperware Party to Clearwater March 30-April 3.

Well, that works for the article!

The people in Florida love you.

Well, I love them, too. You know, the Tupperware headquarters are there south of Orlando. I just think there’s this natural vibration that emanates out from that headquarters to all the Floridians, mystically connecting their souls to Tupperware. | l |

see+hear What: Dixie’s Tupperware Party When: March 30-April 3 Where: Murray Studio Theater inside Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater Tickets: RuthEckerdHall.com or 727-791-7400

30

watermark | film

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

screened out WORLDS SPINNING

stephen miller

Stephen@WatermarkOnline.com

Alice in Wonderland

(Starring Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway)

★★★★★

A

lice in Wonderland was originally an absurdist political satire disguised as a children’s tale. Disney converted it to kid-friendly animation in 1954. Now, director Tim Burton has mixed the original with elements of Narnia, Hook, and Wizard of Oz. Yet this odd mishmash makes for a pretty fun film.

In this version, 19-year old Alice (Wasikowska) has forgotten all about her once-beloved Wonderland. Just as she’s about to be forced into an arranged marriage, she again falls down the rabbit hole. Soon she recruited to save the land by battling the Red Queen’s vicious Jabberwocky. Some of the original story is here in redux, but much has been updated in slightly more violent

ways.

Depp obviously has a blast with the loony Mad Hatter; he’s now a central character.

He serves like Scarecrow did in Oz, and Alice grows fond of him. Bonham Carter is fantastic as the bulbous-headed Red Queen (rendered with brilliant computer graphics.)

All the other characters—save poor Hathaway’s wussy White Queen—are loads of entertainment.

Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Sweeney Todd) has a great gift with visual effects, and this film shows that in spades.

More importantly, in the past, he has often bludgeoned audiences over the heads with artfulness while ignoring a cohesive storyline (see Sleepy Hollow.) Ironically, in Alice—even though the director reinvents the mythology and blatantly borrows from other popular epics—he still succeeds in creating a fairly unified yarn.

Duncan Sheik Performing music from Spring Awakening and his CD, Whisper House

Plus, Entropy Ensemble performing musical arrangements of Radiohead

MARCH 26

The very Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) leads the White Queen’s army in Alice in Wonderland.

1977 statutory rape conviction, this may be the last film directed by 76-year-old Roman (Starring Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Polanski (Rosemary’s Baby, The Pianist). So, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes) it may not come as a surprise that Polanski ★★★★★ finds a surreptitious way to take potshots at The title Brooklyn’s Finest is meant to the U.S. Despite the man’s ugly personal life, be ironic. Here are three mentally flawed he still is a deft filmmaker. police officers, operating in a system rife McGregor is an author known for ghost with poverty, politics and malfeasance. It’s writing famous people’s biographies. He’s a ponderous and bloody two hours that adds assigned to help British ex-prime minister up to a whole lot of aimless, ghetto-induced Brosnan (whose character is obviously nihilism. modeled on Tony Blair). McGregor doesn’t Gere is a suicidal but sweet peacekeeper know much about politics, but he soon shuffling through his last week of work so he learns. He finds that his predecessor died can spend his retirement with a coke-addicted under questionable circumstances. He also prostitute. Hawke is a Catholic cop spitting uncovers international intrigue, putting the out babies left and right; he kills druggies and prime minister squarely under the control takes their money in hopes of buying his of Americans using torture in their brood a new home. Cheadle is an current war. undercover detective who makes The Ghost Writer possesses a meaningful friendships with the couple points where characters thugs. Oh boy, does that make make weird, dangerous it harder to snitch on them, set choices. The film sometimes them up, or kill them later… grows ponderous in pace, and None of these actors a few of the British accents embarrass themselves, though (Cattrall) are uneven. If Hawke comes darn close with you can forgive these small his scene-chewing Catholic missteps, it’s still a tense, guilt. The script also tries Ewan McGregor has a difficult gig Hitchcock-style political some subtle plot overlaps. as The Ghost Writer. thriller, rendered in close-up, Unfortunately, it’s so careful filled with taut dialogue. that it forgets to be clever. The middle In actuality, much of this flick’s creepiness drags on with repetitious scenes of cops in could actually be because Polanski is exiled emotional crisis. from the U.S., the country where most of The It’s hard to imagine an audience getting Ghost Writer is set. This version of America fired up about this when there are so many is a little off—spooky, stark and masked in better examples (like Training Day, produced perpetual fog. The skewed perspective does by this same team.) Brooklyn’s Finest is all fit the movie’s mood, and—based on his ethically compromised cops using whatever history—it also fits Polanski. | l | power they can grasp, suffering under corrupt politics. The filmmakers use brute force to make this world purposeless, diseased, ★★★★★ Overflowing uncontrollably with glittery fabulousness and unfixable. It just ends up feeling biased ★★★★★ Pretty damn good, but against law enforcement.

Brooklyn’s Finest

it’s no Sunset Boulevard

★★★★★

(Starring Ewan McGregor, Pierce Brosnan, Kim Cattrall, Olivia Williams)

An entertaining enough flick with perhaps a few gaping holes

★★★★★

★★★★★

Ever so slightly watchable, even if it is just because of that hot actor

★★★★★

Two hours of your life you’ll never get back

The Ghost Writer Tickets and dining: 813.229.STAR (7827) • STRAZCENTER.ORG Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice.

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watermark | film

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Heteros dare each other to switch teams in Humpday, now on DVD

stephen miller

T

was amazing,” says Humpday costar here’s that classic joke that every Joshua Leonard. “Of course, I’ve had great straight man is just one six-pack experiences at Sundance before.” from having gay sex. The awardJoshua Leonard is referring to his first winning independent film Humpday— film; he shot to international fame after which was recently released on DVD— starring in the biggest indie film of its time, gives us a slight variation: Maybe hetero The Blair Witch Project. He just finished males just need one well-placed dare to writing and acting in his own directorial convince them to switch teams. debut, The Lie, based on the short story by Why would straight men accept such a T.C. Boyle. challenge?

What drew Duplass and Leonard to “Our characters are at a place in their Humpday? lives where they say to themselves, ‘I’m “These friends are so competitive with not as happy as I should be, and I’m not each other. Yet, they love each other so as happy as I was when you and I were 19 and in college dreaming of all the things we much,” states Duplass.

“I really wanted to work with Mark,” thought we were going to do.’” says Mark Leonard says. “I didn’t know anything Duplass, who plays the married “Ben” in about the project before I said yes. And the film. then I got the details, and I was like, ‘Sure, Duplass is an indie film actor best known for his work with his director/writer okay.’”

“I think our characters’ lives push brother Jay (The Puffy Chair). He appears them into a little bit of a panic mode.” next with Ben Stiller in Greenberg. He’s Duplass says. “It makes them want to put also scripted the upcoming comedy Cyrus everything into a with John C. Reilly box, shake it up, turn and Jonah Hill. it upside down, and In Humpday, “A lot of straight see what happens.”

Duplass is one “I kind of relate of two straight guys can hang out all to Andrew, the college buddies night in a roomful of way he wants to who reconnect 10 gay guys, as long as push boundaries,” years after school.

Leonard says.

His friend Andrew the gay guys never Aren’t the soon drags Ben to question that he’s characters aware a wild party thrown that what they by people who blur totally straight.” propose isn’t all the line of sexual —Joshua Leonard that extraordinary? identity. Surrounded Don’t they know by these free spirits, that there’s a whole Ben and Andrew business out there goad each other into founded on straight people turning gay for entering Humpfest, an actual amateur porn pay? competition in Seattle. What’s the most “These guys are buffoons,” Duplass says risqué thing these longtime friends could of their characters Ben and Andrew, “To do? They could do something that deeply scares them, filming themselves having sex them, this is at the outer limits, one of the craziest things they could do. That’s why with each other. they love it.”

This very small and unique film was Throughout the film, neither character shot over 10 days. It was a surprise hit at has any problem being affectionate with the the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, winning other. It always seems distinctly possible a special jury award. that Ben’s and Andrew’s competitive “That was amazing. All of Sundance

watermark | film streaks and love for the other could lead them to dare each other into sex.

“The physical affection wasn’t something we rehearsed,” says Leonard.

“I’m pretty affectionate with all my friends, and so a lot of that came naturally, I guess.”

Many of Duplass and Leonard’s film projects require a natural skill that scares other actors: improvisation. Humpday is no exception. The film utilizes only two hand-held cameras; it was shot with little rehearsal. The actors mostly discussed their characters beforehand through email. Writer/director Lynn Shelton wrote a trigger script and then shot multiple impromptu scenes with her actors, picking the best and funniest shots to tell her risqué tale. The story was shot in chronological order, a process that helped the actors develop their characters further every day.

“That touch of naturalism in what we love, what we gravitate toward,” Duplass confirms.

Duplass and Leonard are not the typical men you’d imagine shooting porn, gay or straight. In Humpday, there is a rumpled comfort to them. With their homemade art film, they trying to escape becoming middle-aged schlubs by doing something edgy.

“I think the act of gay sex represents a marker for them in their friendship,” Duplass surmises.

Leonard also acknowledges the edge of discomfort the film explores. “Straight guys

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

Humpday was a surprise hit at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival and is now available on DVD.

(L-R) Straight Mark Duplass and Joshua Leonard contemplate shooting gay porn in the comedy Humpday.

are so weirdly threatened by being thought of as gay. We like to think of ourselves as so open-minded, but that’s often bullshit.

A lot of straight guys can hang out all night in a roomful of gay guys, as long as the gay guys never question that he’s totally straight. That’s sort of funny and paranoid.”

For a comedy, Humpday also asks a

DYER&BLAISDELL, P.L.

33

lot of fascinating questions. What would we do in the name of friendship? What risks would we take on a dare? How do our actions—both in and out of bed— define us? By taking risks and crossing boundaries, this entertaining experience will likely stir long discussions long after audiences view Humpday.

The movie certainly added some

interesting flavor to the actors’ lives.

“It’s definitely different when my wife’s grandparents see the movie, and I have to sit there and discuss it with them,” Duplass says of the unexpected popularity of Humpday. “It’s interesting for them to watch me kiss another dude; it’s a whole other bag of worms, so to speak.” | l |

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watermark | music

relate to what’s going on today,” Sheik says. “The war on terror, racial profiling, While the stage may seem miles apart and fear mongering that’s gone on in from a recording studio, Sheik says he is previous administrations are definitely in comfortable in both genres. the fabric of the story.”

“It’s not very different composing songs He is active in many non-profit for a musical versus for an album,” Sheik organizations. Currently, he has launched explains. “In one case, it’s Duncan Sheik an eBay auction to benefit Amnesty singing the material. For music written International. He is a member of The for the stage, you’re singing from the Trevor Project and recently performed at a perspective of a character.” benefit in New York.

He says it can be quite fun stepping “James Lecesne, one of the founders outside yourself. of The Trevor Project, is one of my very “That character can be very different good friends,” he says proudly. “It’s a from you—terrible, mean, pure or innocent. great organization and they do important I don’t consider myself any of those work.” things,” he jokes.

A true humanitarian, Sheik went on After reading a script given to him by to say, “As long as it’s a good cause, I’ll actor Keith Powell and playwright Kyle show up with my guitar and play. I’m Jarrow, Sheik retreated to his Southern roots pretty easy that way.” to compose. He says he was inspired by Following up on the success of his his childhood, growing up in Hilton Head, transition to musical theater, it was S.C. Over 10 days, he wrote the bulk of the announced in February that Sheik music. will write the score for the Broadway “Charleston has this history of ghost production of American Psycho: The stories, a Southern tradition that I kind Musical. He says it’s too early to discuss of grew up with,” Sheik states. “I wanted the plot details, but he did divulge that to recapture the feel of old folk-lore. I he wants to steer clear of big song and Duncan Sheik is touring to promote his newest album Whisper House. | Photo courtesy Sacks & Co. reconnected with it in some way and used dance numbers. He is hoping to get to use that to write the lyrics to these songs.” a lot more electronic music and have all mainstream music. Sheik says he grew up haunting yet hopeful trademark tone. It has the music come from electronic sources, translated well to Broadway, revitalizing his listening to esoteric imports from England Out of the mainstream which has never been done on Broadway and is more influenced by 20th century career.

While other singer-songwriters have before.

Despite only having four Billboard classical music. Over the years, he has struggled to find their niche in an everSheik wants to create something hits, the singer-songwriter isn’t fazed. He infused electronic, Brazilian, Indian and changing market, Sheik has sustained his “engaging, different and push the says it was never his intention to create stylistic tropes. boundaries in a number of ways. The last “The fact that my first record had a hit on it—although happy and grateful—wasn’t thing we want to do is another god-awful 'commercial,' stage version of some bad my intention,” Sheik states. “I felt at times movie. This isn’t your typical feel-good, that it did more harm than good. People movie-of-the-week,” he states. then had perceptions that I was a pop “The fact that the artist.” [main character] is a Sheik’s stable, murderous, psycho folk-infused, ambient “I want to make banker will make Fernando Botero, Melancholy (1989) sound and humble Oil on canvas it that much more music that is not only personality reflect his subversive,” he Buddhist teachings. ‘gay-friendly’ but says.

The Baroque World of A lay Buddhist Sheik will return ‘human-friendly.’” since college, he has to the singer/ practiced a strain —Duncan Sheik songwriter format January 9 - April 4 called Nichiren, on his next studio which stresses the album.

100 Monumental Paintings, simultaneous nature “It will be 10 to 12 songs that tell a Sculptures, and Drawings by one of cause and consequence. story themselves as opposed to 10 to 12 of the worldʼs most popular artists “This particular form of Buddhism songs telling one story,” he states. “I think attracted me because it is so proactive,” Organized and circulated by that, more and more, the way people will Sheik explains.

“It is not about detachment, Art Services International, Alexandria, Virginia experience music is in the context of but getting out into the world. It is a source narrative—whether that be theater, film or TV. of creative energy.”

Presenting Sponsor: “And that will keep music alive.” | l | It was actually through a Nichiren cultural center in New York years ago that Sheik met writer Steven Sater, who he collaborated with to create his 2001 Lead Sponsor: album, Phantom Moon, and 2006’s Spring What: Duncan Sheik Awakening.

Where: The Plaza Theater in Orlando Sheik is passionate about not only his and the David A. Straz, Jr. Center for religion but also politics and charitable the Performing Arts in Tampa organizations, which are also apparent When: Thursday, March 25 (Orlando) throughout his lyrics. He says political and Friday, March 26 (Tampa) undertones abound in Whisper House.

Tickts: ThePlazaTheatre.com and TBPAC.org “Although it unfolds around a World 255 BEACH DRIVE N.E. | 727.896.2667 | FINE-ARTS.ORG War II backdrop, analogous situations can | uu | Duncan Sheik from p.27

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36

watermark | event planner

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

Troy Lim

Rent

Sarasota photographer Troy Lim will display his landscape and Moment in Time photos at two locations throughout the spring.

Sarasota performer Felicity, also known as Jonathan Hall, stars in RENT at the Venice Theatre through April 11.

Mitchell Rock Adult film star Mitchell Rock will be among several stars attending Erotica: Adult Video Stars at the Parliament House March 27.

art [SARASOTA] Troy Lim Photography

Two Sarasota locations are showcasing out photographer Troy Lim in separate exhibits. His detailed wildlife and landscape photography shows nature in the raw while his Moment in Time Fluid Sculpture photos capture the split second collision of water drops in a contemporary and artistic way.

To see Lim’s photography, visit the Nuovo Salon Group, 1421 1st St., or the Village Potter Gallery in the Village of the Arts at 1017 12th Ave. W. For more information visit TroyLimPhotography.com or call Nuovo Salon at 941-684-9200 or the Village Pottery Gallery at 941-465-9046.

[ST. PETERSBURG] Dali Illustrates: Alice in Wonderland

Long before Tim Burton re-imagined Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books or the Straz Center for the Performing Arts turned it into a musical, Salvador Dali had his own interpretation. Either coincidence or planning has brought Dali Illustrates: Alice in Wonderland to the Dali Museum through April 18. For more information and hours, visit SalvadorDaliMuseum.org or call 727-8233767.

comedy [ORLANDO] Sleuth’s Stand-Up Comedy Spotlight

Just five bucks buys you big laughs from multiple comedians at the Sleuth’s Stand-Up Comedy Spotlight, on stage Saturday, March 20 at the Sleuth Mystery Dinner Theater.

Orlando funnyman Jeff Jones hosts the 10 p.m. show.

Lewis Black

The man who blends the hilarious with the political during his outrageous rants is taking

the stage at Hard Rock Live. Lewis Black will perform Friday, March 26 at 8 p.m. Ticket prices for reserved seats range from $35 - $55 and are available at HardRockLive.com or by calling 407-351-LIVE.

theater [BRADENTON] Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

The Manatee Players will present the Andrew Lloyd Webber spectacle Joseph and the Amazing Techincolor Dreamcoat through April 11. The colorful, fanciful musical follows the story of the biblical Joseph and the betrayal of his 11 brothers. Several LGBTs are in the cast. For more information and tickets visit ManateePlayers.com.

[CLEARWATER] Dixie’s Tupperware Party

Dixie Longate is a hard-working girl. The traveling Tupperware saleswoman has made a career out of creating new, inventive—and hilarious—ways to use the durable plastic product that is Tupperware. She returns to Ruth Eckerd Hall March 30-April 4 and will take part in Watermark’s official Dixie Party on April 1.For more information and tickets, visit RuthEckerdHall.com or call727-7917400

[SARASOTA] Unplugged: Theater in the Raw

Asolo Rep will host its new inaugural play festival, Unplugged: Theater in the Raw, through April 3. Asolo Rep Associate Artistic Director of the FUSU/Asolo Conservatory Greg Leaming takes on the role of producer and curator of the festival, which will include staged readings of new plays and workshops. New playwrights have been invited to share their work with audiences to get real time feedback. All-access passes are $45 and includes entry into the closing reception. Other ticket options are available by calling 941-351-8000.

[VENICE] RENT

Local female impersonator Felicity, also known as Jonathan Hall, is just one of six openly LGBT cast members in Venice Theatre’s production of RENT, which runs through April 11. The iconic play about a year in the life of friends has been a Broadway smash, a major motion picture and is now available to local theaters for the first time.

For more information and tickets, visit VeniceStage.com or call 941-488-1115.

music [ST. PETERSBURG] Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys has said for years that she is just a strong-minded woman and not a lesbian, but there are still some hardcore fans who hope the pop diva will come out of the closet. Whether or not she is gay is irrelevant, considering she supports LGBT equality and played gay in the film Smokin’ Aces. Now the singer brings her Freedom Tour to the St. Pete Times Forum on Sunday, March 28, at 7:30 p.m. For tickets and information, visit StPeteTimesForum.com.

special events [ST. PETERSBURG] Poker with a Purpose

Help support As I Am Radio with a charity poker tournament at the Flamingo Resort on Saturday, March 27. A Texas Hold’em tournament starts at 2 p.m. and all proceeds benefit the AsIAm.fm gay talk radio show hosted by Robin Hankins. Not sure how to play poker? No problem. A workshop is available for poker newcomers from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. at the resort. For more information, visit AsIAm.fm.

[TAMPA] Leather Sir/Boy 2010 fundraiser

Jerry and Boy Dan need support to compete at the Beyond Leather regional contest in Fort Lauderdale in April. The Ybor Eagle will host a fundraiser for the two title holders on Saturday, March 27 from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Presentations, demos, vending, bootblacking and raffles will help raise money for the upcoming contest.

[ORLANDO] Rainbow Democratic Club meeting Always open to the public, the Rainbow Democratic Club’s monthly meeting is scheduled for Monday, March 22, at The Center. It starts at 7 p.m.

Wine Tasting Reception

Meet The Center’s Board of Directors at a wine tasting reception on Thursday, March 25. A $10 donation includes a glass of wine or beer, with 100% donated back to The Center, courtesy of drinks provided by Tastings. The event runs from 5:30-8:30 p.m.

Erotica: Adult Video Stars

Porn stars are taking over the Parliament House on Saturday, March 27. Erotica: Adult Video Stars is an annual event where the men you love to watch bring the art of seduction to Orlando. This year’s event features Adam Killian, Mitchell Rock and Freakzilla, plus 20-plus adult vendors and a free chocolate dipping station. Warning: The event contains nudity. Otherwise, what’s the point?

Birthday Roast of Doug Ba’aser

Do you know Doug Ba’aser? Doesn’t matter!

You’re invited to the birthday roast of an Orlando theatre regular and the winner of Watermark’s WAVE Award for “Local I’d Like to See in a Watermark Centerfold.” Funny friends will send up Ba’aser at the Parliament House, starting at 8 p.m. on Monday, March 29. Seats start at $10 and the whole shebang benefits the Paul Wegman Memorial Scholarship Fund. Reserve your spot at Wanzie.com/BoxOffice.

The winners have been chosen and now Sir

Got an event you’d like to see listed in Watermark? At least two to four weeks in advance, send all pertinent info—date, time, place, cost, contact information for readers to get more details, and what the event is about—to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com, and we will feature it in the paper on a space-available basis.

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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38

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

watermark | tampa bay news

shot on site

Photography | Suzanne Noe, Amanda Vagianos of Ox Images and Carrie West

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1- Tambourine Jim enjoys the beat at Steam Friday inside the Honey Pot. 2- New friends make connections at the Tampa Bay Networks social and professional mixer at the Flamingo Resort March 11.

3- (L-R) Robin Hankins and Mariruth Kennedy stand in front of a display promoting Hankins’ upcoming benefit poker tournament at the Tampa Bay Networks social at the Flamingo March 11.

4- Women gather at Blur in Dunedin for the March 11 Mingle.

5- Performers at the annual PRIDE Alliance drag show smile before taking the state at the University of South Florida stage March 13.

6- (L-R) Connie Francis smiles with fan Mattieu Stanoch after her show at the Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg.

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All good things must come to an end—and that especially is true in the world of reality television. Tampa’s latest reality star Ben Chmura was booted from the March 10 episode of Lifetime’s Project Runway. The Watermark cover boy and the show’s firstever legally married gay man was ousted after his water-themed gray, shark-inspired pantsuit proved too ambitious. The suit was deemed “bizarre” by host Heidi Klum and Chmura soon found himself in the bottom two with Amy Sarabi. Viewers were disappointed when Chmura was sent packing rather than Sarabi, whose model was described by Klum as “a cat in a baby sling.” Perhaps the most touching part of the show was his phone call to his partner, Bobby Pappadeas, announcing his return home. Chmura is back in Tampa and is still in good spirits, according to several Facebook posts. The designer is working on a new line of fashions he promises to showcase in the very near future.

Resort plans club, shops Like all of us who are tired of this recordsetting cold winter, the Flamingo Resort is

looking forward to the summer. The popular LGBT resort is planning a big year, and according to an e-mail from director David Baker, singles and couples may want to keep the resort in mind this season. The Flamingo is actively seeking a volunteer coordinator for a new Flamingo Social Club. The group would consist of folks who enjoy activities like dinners, cruises and more adventurous things like sky diving and sailing. The Resort plans to sponsor events for the to-be-created club. Membership fees could be involved with the club.

The resort is also looking at expanding its retail section and is looking for clothing, necessities and beach-style stores to open up alongside the existing first-floor boutiques. For more information, visit FlamingoFla.com.

What’s in a name?

Metro Charities has changed its name— sort of. The popular organization servicing those affected by HIV/AIDS on both sides of Tampa Bay is now officially called “Metro Wellness and Community Centers.” The organization says that the new name more clearly identifies its role in the cities it serves. Metro’s new office in Ybor City is scheduled to open later this spring.

Got juicy gossip or amazing event photos? E-mail the dish or your photos (with full names of everyone pictured and event details) to Overheard@WatermarkOnline.com

watermark | orlando out+about

shot on site Photography | Jamie Hyman, Scott Penyak, Randy Stephens and Jake Stevens

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Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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3 4

1– RED chairman Jason Holstein leads the MBA networking luncheon on March 9.

2– (L-R) Becky Fisher and Michael Wanzie try to keep warm at a March 7 Oscar night party.

3– Doug Ba’aser stumps the crowd at Hamburger Mary’s on March 10 trivia night.

4– (L-R) Jean Ferris and Karen Brown glam it up at the Singhaus’ Oscar Party on March 7.

5– Orlando’s HRC Steering Committee members Adam Hunter, Dan Tanner, Thearon Scurlock, Malia Brennan, Carlos Carbonell, Kevin Giles, Hal Coe, Jason Lambert, John Ruffier, Troy Cochran, Jeremy Huntington, Randy Stephens and Ayr Poucher were recognized as “Steering Committee of the Year” by the HRC. 6– Members of Orlando’s Human Rights Campaign (HRC) Orlando Steering Committee traveled to Washington D.C. for Lobby Week and are pictured with Congresswoman Corrine Brown (center).

orlando overheard Manes moves to the front Orlando Weekly featured writer Billy Manes will soon retire his popular backof-the-book “Blister” column. The dishy slice-of-life diatribe has poked fun at local LGBT celebs from Patty Sheehan to Michael Wanzie. But the bitchiest barbs were reserved for Manes himself, who often shared his misadventures in the tragic underbelly of Orlando’s club scene.

Manes has recently carried most of the Weekly’s investigative cover stories, and he told Watermark he found the assignments incompatible. “It didn’t seem right for me to talk about serious topics like homelessness or politics on the front pages, and then spilled drinks, poppers and sex on the back page,” he said.

Upward and onward, Billy.

Where do you pick up

p.m. The event is a fundraiser for the Paul Wegman Memorial Scholarship Fund.

Participants promise to rip Ba’aser a new asshole—because the old one is on display at the Orange County History Center.

Watermark?

Bookstore gets bounced Since Out & About Books closed almost a decade ago, Orlando hasn’t had an LGBT bookstore. The closest thing was Urban Think! in Thornton Park, and now that trendy retailer is closing its doors at the end of the month. “We’ve never been able to make it profitable,” said co-owner Bruce Harris. Most of us associate the bookstore with its longtime manager, the very literate Jim Crescitelli, whose wonderful blog can be found at JimmyBoi2@WordPress.com.

Ba’aser Birthday

Kudos and condolences

It seems like just yesterday that a freshfaced strawberry blonde funny man emerged on Orlando’s LGBT scene. But believe it or not, actor-comedian-radio personality Doug Ba’aser turns 50 at the end of the month. To celebrate, his friends will roast him at the Parliament House on Monday, March 29, from 8-10

Local actor/designer Jesse LeNoir was eliminated from Project Runway two weeks ago, but it wasn’t all bad news.

He was married to fellow actor Brittany Berkowitz last weekend. Asked about his experience on the Lifetime reality show, LeNoir was diplomatic if a bit cagy. “It’s not for everyone,” he said.

Got juicy gossip or amazing event photos? E-mail the dish or your photos (with full names of everyone pictured and event details) to Overheard@WatermarkOnline.com

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Tom Nowicki and Cherylann Blay-Marquez work hydrotherapy magic with a client in Winter Park.

Photo by Scottie Campbell

OH MY D OG! W inter Park | The location of Hip Dog Hydrotherapy is an unassuming one; on the edge of Winter Park in a residential area, it could be mistaken as just another house save for a drab gray business sign out front (which doesn‘t advertise the business in question). On closer approach, walking past vehicles promoting Hip Dog with folk art magnets by Orlando’s Carl Knickerbocker, you begin to feel this is no ordinary place. It may have been just a house with a pool at one time—probably a home that meant a lot to a family or two—but now it is a special place wrapped in a comforting aura.

Passing through a chain link fence adorned with offerings of aquatic doggie toys, you become aware of a presence you may not be able to name in the moment, but later you’ll realize it can only be called "Hope."

Actor Tom Nowicki and his friend Kristina Latimer founded Hip Dog in

2000, offering therapy to dogs that have mobility trouble from conditions such as arthritis, hip dysplasia, and amputation. More often than not, parents have sought the company’s help after their veterinarian has advised that it might be time to put the pet down. In most cases, Hip Dog’s work has been successful in adding months and years to the lives of these animals.

Cozmo’s Legacy The whole thing started with Latimer’s three-legged dog, Cozmo. Cozmo had lost his leg in a car accident, but possessing the energy of his Brittany spaniel heritage, he wasn’t about to let it stop him.

“Brittany spaniels have two places on their throttle—11 and zero. They’re either crazy or nothing,” says Nowicki. “There wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do, but he was always sore, always tired.”

The two friends tried diet, acupuncture, and massage which gave Cozmo some real relief. Then Nowicki was on an airplane and someone had left a copy of The Whole Dog Journal in the seat pocket. Flipping through, he ran across an article about a new trend called canine hydrotherapy.

Sharing the news with Latimer, they both decided to study with Susan Marino, a retired registered nurse who established Angel’s Gate Hospice for Animals in New York, and is considered a founding godmother of canine hydrotherapy.

Realizing the investment of time and money they were making, Nowicki and Latimer realized they should share their knowledge and help more than just

The Healing Waters of Hip Dog scottie campbell

Cozmo.

When Nowicki and Latimer opened the pool in August 2000, they had originally thought it could be a money-making prospect. They soon learned that many people couldn’t afford to pay—or weren’t willing to—and besides, they felt kind of guilty charging, so they established Hip Dog as a non-profit. There is a suggested fee of $35 for a 30-minute session, but Hip Dog will work with any budget, even if you aren’t able to pay. Nowicki estimates a quarter of its clients pay full price.

While Hip Dog’s annual budget is too low to qualify for most grants, it is an Continued on page 48 | uu |

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

St. Paul's Lutheran Church (ELCA)

Celebrate Easter and celebrate life at a church where all people and all families are welcomed and affirmed!

Sunday worship is at 10:30 am Good Friday Service April 2 at 7:00 pm Festive Easter Service April 4 at 10:30 am The Central Florida Chapter of LUTHERANS CONCERNED / NORTH AMERICA meets regularly at St. Paul’s.

LC/NA works for the full inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Lutherans in all aspects of the life of their Church and congregations.

Check the church’s website for information about meetings.

AIDS P ARTNERSHIP , I NC . has moved its offices to St. Paul’s.

It is a faith-based non-profit resource for groups and/or individuals, providing awareness education, free confidential testing, counseling, fellowship and service opportunities. You can contact the Partnership office at 446-7718, ext. 242/243.

407 S. Saturn Ave. at Gulf to Bay Blvd, Clearwater One block west of Keene/Starkey on Route 60 Contact us for more information: (727) 446-7718 www.stpaulsclearwater.org

LIVING WITH HIV/AIDS? ARE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR SERVICES? We need your ideas. Get involved! Help decide how federal funds are used in your community.

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A spiritual center welcoming all individuals and honoring all paths to God

Join us Sundays at 10am and Enjoy the tranquil beauty of the

SOUTHGATE COMMUNITY CENTER, 3145 SOUTHGATE CIRCLE (SOUTH TUTTLE & SIESTA DRIVE - SARASOTA)

Rev. Karen Wolfson

941-927-6212• CSLSARASOTA@AOL.COM • CSLSARASOTA.COM

watermark | spirituality

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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a spiritual dance Gay Catholics may have to rethink what it means to be both

greg stemm

G

ay Catholics have three options to follow on their spiritual journey. They can dance, albeit with a partner that does not particularly like them or even want to dance in the first place; they may seek out a new dance partner; or they can simply elect to sit out the dance all together.

Each option works at least part of the time for some of the people, but there are downsides to each option, too.

An Unwilling Partner Practicing Roman Catholics are quick to say that just being gay isn’t a sin in their eyes—or in Rome’s, for that matter. It’s when gay people start to put their orientation into action that the problems arise. The church remains steadfast in its conviction that sex is for procreation and that it should never be practiced outside the bounds of a sacred union between a man and a woman, which is blessed by the church and defined as marriage. So gay sex is out, even if it’s within the boundaries of an officially state sanctioned marriage like those afforded to some in states like Iowa or Massachusetts or even in our nation’s capital.

Gays are welcome, even encouraged, to attend mass, but if they are not living a celibate life they are not eligible to take communion.

However, many modern Catholics seem to think that’s a matter of individual conscience and a personal relationship with God. “Once you are baptized as a Catholic you are always a Catholic,” says Collyn Locamy, youth minister at Most Holy Name Catholic Church in Gulfport, Fla. “The church may try and change gay people through its institutions, but I personally think those issues are ones that need to be settled between the individual and God without the church’s interference.”

Courage, the only officially churchsanctioned organization, which ministers to the LGBT community was endorsed by the Pontifical Council for the Family and Pope John Paul II. That outreach, however, says that practicing a life of chastity is the only churchsanctioned way for homosexuals to stay in good graces with the church.

For many, the idea of a sexless life is not an acceptable alternative. Fortunately, another alternative sect of Catholicism can be found in Dignity.

Dignity believes that LGBTs can express their sexuality in a manner that is consonant with Christ’s teaching; and they can express

their sexuality physically, in a manner that is loving, life-giving, and life-affirming.

While never an officially sanctioned Roman Catholic organization, Dignity has a number of parishes following its beliefs.

“Many of our original members were in the generation ahead of me, which meant they were in their 70s and 80s,” said Bart Coyle, 62, who founded the now inactive Sarasota chapter of Dignity. “Our members were very used to living their lives in the closet so it was kind of Before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Joseph Ratzinger forbade Catholic congregations from providing meeting a big deal to them to even get involved with an spaces to any sect that were deemed incompatible with traditional Catholic teachings. organization like this.”

Many LGBT Catholics had never lived The ECC follows the basic Christian beliefs A new dance partner openly, thanks to a 1986 letter published by and ordains men and women, regardless of For some, choosing between leading a Joseph Ratzinger, who is now known as Pope sexual orientation. The ECC also performs celibate lifestyle and facing condemnation Benedict XVI. His letter forbade Catholic same-sex weddings. proves to be too much. Many LGBT Catholics congregations from providing meeting spaces “Sexuality needs to be seen as part of strike out on a spiritual journey that may to any sect that were deemed incompatible with lead them to explore a number of other faiths a spiritually fit whole,” says Pastor Steve traditional Catholic teachings.

Rosczewski, head priest at Holy Spirit before settling on a new home away from Dignity serves two purposes, according to Ecumenical Catholic Church in Largo. “Saying Catholicism. Many seek homes in affirming Coyle to gay people that they need to be celibate is congregations like the Quakers, Unitarians, “First, we offer a place where gay people like saying God gave us this wonderful gift Unity, Metropolitan Community Churches and can practice their Catholicism without fear of in sex, but we have to put it up on a shelf and the United Church of Christ. judgment and secondly never play with it. I spent 12 years as a Roman “We try to be an we act as an advocacy Catholic priest before I became a priest in the eclectic blend of organization,” he ECC church. It was hard because I had to give styles and traditions says. “Most of these “We believe that up my pension and retirement, but the ministry so that regardless of older people tend to has been worth it. the religion of your God reveals himself think of themselves as “I have no regrets. In the ECC church, we upbringing, you’ll Catholic first and then to different people take the documents and thinking that came out find some element of gay, while I think with of the Vatican II very seriously. We believe our service you can in different ways, all younger people it’s the that God reveals himself to different people in relate to, including other way around.” of which are valid, different ways, all of which are valid, including Catholicism,” says Coyle also helped the many ways he speaks to gay people.”

Candace Shultis, head including the many to found GAIN, the Rosczewski and his partner of 10 years pastor at the King of Gulfcoast Affirming ways he speaks to are actively engaged with their congregation.

Peace MCC in St. Interfaith Network, The ECC church performs Holy Sacraments Petersburg. gay people.” an association of Ed Hotchkiss, clerk of Marriage for same-sex couples, and open and affirming —Pastor Steve Rosczewski, Rosczewski and his partner have married and of the St. Petersburg congregations in the head priest at Holy Spirit are considered husbands by their congregation.

Quakers says many Sarasota/ Bradenton Ecumenical Catholic There are only 35 ECC churches members of his area.

Church in Largo nationwide, and only three in Florida. congregation are “The problem with There are some who have simply left former Catholics. many people who stay organized religion entirely, many feeling “Our meeting in the church is one of disenfranchised by the religion of their youth also welcomes people from all walks of life conscience like what I found happened to me,” and yet not quite comfortable in other spiritual and religious backgrounds and we have many said Coyle. “I had a clear conscience about my homes either. gay and lesbian members who are important, personal relationship with God, but I couldn’t “For sure it is tempting to bash the Church engaged and valued deeply by our Meeting,” abide putting money into an alter plate that I and I do a fair amount of that myself,” Coyle he says. knew was going to go to anti-gay measures and admits. “But when you really define ‘the While some LGBT Catholics leave the socially irresponsible choices. At that point I Church’ it is not the hierarchy, it is the people faith all together, some gravitate to the lesser had to leave the church.” and I know too many who do so many good known Ecumenical Catholic Church, which is Dignity also has chapters in Tampa Bay and things.” | l | a separate denomination within the Universal Orlando.

Christian Church.

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

watermark | spirituality

home sweet spiritual home Mainstream and progressive churches reach out to LGBTs louanne walters

T

he passion is palpable in Pastor Jon determine for themselves if they choose to Culp’s chambers. support homosexual partnerships among He and Paul Gibson, Office clergy or lay members. To date, only 28 Administrator of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in congregations have chosen to depart from the Clearwater, eagerly relate details of changes in ELCA in response to the resolution. their denomination—the Evangelical Lutheran The congregation of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in America’s policy that now allows Church in Clearwater quickly passed same-sex commitment ceremonies. They its approval and became an affirming are passionate about the ELCA’s resolution denomination which will bless “lifelong, allowing the ceremonies, and they are monogamous, same-gender relationships.” passionate about their congregation.

The ELCA has not given a name to the “We are drawing new members, the “blessing.” That is to be determined by a majority likely of which are not gay, but committee over the next several months they want to be in a place that is seeking to which will create and develop the process for do justice and is walking the walk not just liturgies in these ceremonies. But Culp says talking the talk,” says Culp. He’s referring to a it’s a big step forward. same-sex “blessing” ceremony he will now be “Three years ago I could not have seen this allowed to do in April. It’s called a “blessing” happen in 10 years,” he says. “Through the ceremony because he currently cannot give it a power of the Spirit, this has transformed.” name, according to his denomination. But that fact that he can perform it all is significant.

Progressive inclusion In August of 2009, the ELCA had the While the ELCA is moving forward exact number of votes to pass a resolution ahead of many mainstream denominations, stating the church would commit to “finding progressive churches have been reaching ways to allow congregations that choose to out to the LGBT community for years. For do so to recognize, support, and hold publicly nearly four decades, Metropolitan Community accountable lifelong, monogamous, sameChurches has held same-sex marriages around gender relationships.” the globe.

That’s a big Reverend Dee statement for Graham, now a a mainstream fellowshipped denomination that Unitarian Universalist “Our faith stands previously allowed minister in St. on the side of love and clergy to be openly Petersburg, first gay but only if they married her partner we’ve chosen to stand were single. In 2006, Sig Quandt in on the side of same Atlanta Rev. Bradley an Atlanta MCC Schmeling’s bishop church in 1977. sex marriage since removed him from The women then the 70s.” the clergy roster of held a commitment St. John’s Lutheran ceremony before —Rev. Dee Graham, Church after he the UU General UU Minister revealed he had found Assembly in 1998 a life-long partner. and finally on The congregation of October 11, 2002, in St. John’s refused to recognize the bishop’s the city of Berkeley, Calif., the day the city decision, and at his congregation’s request, enacted civil unions.

Schmeling stayed in the church pulpit but “We did it so we could have health without his clergy status. insurance and benefits we otherwise could not That began a three year battle within the get,” says Graham about their Berkeley union.

ELCA and prompted the supervising body to Now as a UU minister, Graham performs review its policy. weddings for gay and straight couples in line with the Unitarian Universalist principles.

With last August’s resolution, the 10,000 “Our faith stands on the side of love, we ELCA churches nationwide can now

watermark | spirituality have a democratic polity, and we’ve chosen to stand on the side of same sex marriage since the 70s,� Graham explains.

But she does acknowledge there are UU ministers who’ve chosen not to perform any ceremonies at all until all weddings are considered legal. “I totally respect those clergy who made that stand, but I know what it would’ve meant for us to have signed that paper,� Graham says.

Graham says she honors the commitment between two people, whether gay or straight. “I think marriage is about the two people involved, and if I can help honor that commitment in the ceremony, then I am blessed to have that privilege.�

Reverend Temple Hayes of First Unity of St. Petersburg shares Graham’s sentiments. “The true intention is to say, ‘I am committed to supporting your individuality and to share your heart with you, however I do not own your heart nor own you. As a loving partner, I commit to supporting you as an individual all the days of your life,’� Hayes says.

Hayes emphasizes there is no distinction made between a gay couple and a straight couple within the Unity movement. “Unity embraces all people from all faiths, all places, and all walks of life,� she explains.

Hayes points out that some heterosexual couples choose to have holy unions instead of marriages for differing reasons, whether to avoid documentation, maintain personal

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

Rev. Dee Graham performs commitment ceremonies for LGBT and straight couples.

St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Clearwater allows same-sex commitment ceremonies and is in line with the denomination’s newest inclusive resolution. | Photo courtesy Paul Gibson

benefits such as social security, or simply by choice. She says it’s important to understand each couple’s unique situation and desires, and design a holy union around that. “We are non-traditional in nature, this isn’t a package we put together and offer whether you’re gay or straight,� Hayes says. “We offer everything to everyone and encourage participation of the whole family as part of our service."

Hayes is encouraged by the action of the

ELCA and other denominations now moving forward in diversity. “We as a culture have to celebrate how far we’ve come,� she says. “Are we there yet?

No, but we cannot conveniently forget how far we’ve come.�

For Gibson and Pastor Culp, celebrating now means they can openly welcome everyone with compassion and care. “We’re trying to reach the people who want to be part of the church and have felt that they

47

couldn’t,� says Gibson.

Both believe the recent ELCA resolution will open the way for their denomination to reach out to the LGBT community more, by putting the choice to welcome all couples in the hands of each individual church body. “We see it as a real need, a real opportunity and we feel blessed to be able to extend a hand of welcome,� says Culp passionately. “The future is going to be very congregationally driven.� | l |

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watermark | spirituality

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

| uu | Hip Dog from p.41

expensive operation, chiefly because of the heated pool. The organization stays afloat with the generosity of dog lovers making private donations and the occasional yard sale or small fundraiser.

Touch of the poet Originally Nowicki administered most of the therapy himself, until Cherylann BlayMarquez and her golden retriever, Dakota, began visiting Hip Dog. “Having her in the water just elevated the care we were able to give these dogs,” says Nowicki.

Blay-Marquez is as surprised to find herself in Florida as she is to find herself in the swimming pool helping dogs heal. Less than four years ago, the published poet was living in Amsterdam, had obtained Dutch citizenship, and was traveling Europe hosting English spoken word events. Pursuing an interest in massage therapy, she was accepted into a sports massage school in Helsinki, but a Thanksgiving visit to her parents in Oviedo wound up changing all that. She learned that the international respected Central Florida School of Massage Therapy was four miles away, so she visited the campus, and decided to attend.

Dakota had been diagnosed with hip dysplasia and Blay-Marquez intuitively began practicing on him with hopes that it would help. Researching online, she learned

A Hip Dog client relaxes poolside before beginning a session to relieve pain in his elderly hips. | Photo by Scottie Campbell

of Hip Dog and began taking Dakota to the Crazy Hour on Sundays (12:30 p.m.-1:30 p.m.), a time during which all dogs are welcome to visit and have fun.

Around this time, Blay-Marquez had a chance encounter with an animal communicator who she chatted with about Dakota.

kee in thp it com e mun ity.

{

Dollars spent in the GLBT community stay in the GLBT community.

watermark YOUR GLBT LIFE.

A statue of St. Francis of Assisi watches therapy sessions at Hip Dog poolside. | Photo by Scottie Campbell

but rather a complementary therapy. Through “Wait a minute,” he told her. “You’re experience and constant research, the supposed to be with Kristina.”

Hip Dog team is able to advise clients on Being a lesbian, Blay-Marquez thought alternatives to discuss with their vet. In many the insight was about a love connection.

Instead, he asked his wife to get on the phone of the cases that have come through their gates, a vet simply hasn’t heard of or thought to tell Kristina he found the new person for of hydrotherapy.

Hip Dog. A little stunned, Blay-Marquez told him she’d been at Hip Dog the past two Openly dog Sundays. “You’re going to be spending a lot “We do everything we can to keep this more Sundays there,” he told her. place as tranquil and spiritual as we possibly For a year and a half, Blay-Marquez can—and in a dog way,” Nowicki’s voice worked in the pool during the day, applying mingles with sounds of wind chimes toning what she was learning in school at night. and tingling in the air. “We don’t ask them Comparing human and canine anatomy not to bark. We want books, she would them to be as openly translate the dog as they possibly modalities she can.” learned to dogs and “We don’t ask While the staff is she married this to them not to bark. We sensitive to which her knowledge of clients are open to Chakra energy work want them to be as spiritual discussion, and Reiki. Nowicki openly dog as they Nowicki says it is is careful to not possibly can.” what Hip Dog is all overstate himself, about. A common but says he feels the —Tom Nowicki, statue of St. Francis work Blay-Marquez Hip Dog co-founder of Assisi standing has done makes his at one corner of training seem almost the pool is the insignificant. only overt evidence of this assertion. Still, Working on a golden retriever named the intangibles at work at Hip Dog are Ginger while Hip Dog assistant Hart undeniable to a parent like Drew Westveer.

Campbell expertly holds the dog, BlayHe started bringing his dogs here when his Marquez says she still writes, performs dog Viva, who has since passed, was having spoken word and is consulting on an trouble getting around. Viva didn’t like to be anthology of lesbian poetry. held, Westveer remembers, but would easily “Poetry is the heartbeat that I go by,” submit to the Hip Dog staff, even laying her she says. “It always has been. This is my head on the assistant’s shoulder. calling.” As if on cue, her hands feel the “I think it’s the energy here,” Westveer movement of fluids needed in Ginger’s body. says, softly watching his 12-year-old golden “There you go. She’s good now.”

And, with that, the dog splashes out of the retriever Cheyenne paddle around the pool in an orange lifejacket. “Not to be too hippy pool to her grateful parents. dippy about it.” | l | The Hip Dog staff stresses that their work is not an alternative to veterinary treatment,

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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watermark | transitions

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

experience what the buzz is all about What’s In Your Brown Bag?

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ANNOUNCE IT. RENT IT. SELL IT. POST IT.

watermark

classifieds

Hey everybody! Tampa diva Stephanie Shippae celebrates a birthday on March 20.

transitions congratulations Watermark’s own film critic Stephen J. Miller became a member of the Online Film Critics Society, an international association of internet-based film critics and journalists.

passings The Rev. Robert Carter, who in the early 1970s was one of the first Roman Catholic priests in the country to declare publicly that he was gay and who helped found the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, died Feb. 22 in the Bronx. He was 82.

local birthdays St. Petersburg massage therapist Terrell Ray, Tampa boot-scootin’ Florida Mavericks dancer and St. Pete Pride volunteer Dale Crocker (March 19); Tampa icon and “Hey Everybody!”-coining performer Stephanie Shippae, and Hyde Park Antiques owner Randy Strebing (March 20); Homosassa mover and shaker and hotelier Robert Bruno (March 21); Watermark’s Sarasota freelancer and personal trainer Renee LePere and Rightously Outrageous Twirling Corps

board member Eric Peak (March 24); Tampa photographer and USF student John Kantor, former Gazette publisher and current Watermark columnist Brian Feist, and video game wizard, husband of Watermark Online Editor Jamie Hyman and straight ally Matt Huertas (March 26); Orlando’s former LAVA Lounge bartender and current realtor at the Condo Store Jay Wood, St. Petersburg’s Bella Brava chef and party host Domenica Macchia and Tampa Karaoke Jockey extraordinaire and straight ally Normie Dunn (March 27); New Church Family Inc. of Daytona Beach administrative assistant Jerry Corlis (March 28); St. Pete gym rat, hunky husband and Watermark editor Steve Blanchard (March 29); Orlando actor, trivia host and WAVE-winning center spread model Doug Ba’aser (March 31).

celebrity birthdays Perennially nuts but lovable TV talker Rosie O’Donnell (March 21); furry-chested Miami-based porn star Collin O’Neill (March 23); Sapphic hoopster Sheryl Swoopes, shoe-shopping actress Sarah Jessica Parker and spectacle-wearing pop legend Elton John (March 25).

Send news about birthdays, passings, anniversaries, promotions, commitment ceremonies—and whatever you commemorate—to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com.

watermark | advice

dothis!

Immaturity and intractability ADVICE FROM

The Truth

Truth@WatermarkOnline.com

Dear FHW, A little fag haggery never killed anyone, but what you describe is dramatically over the top. I have the sense that if she was hanging out only with her girlfriends and demonstrating similar selfishness, you might have the same issue, as you should. That she grouses about not being in the company of gay men is childish and, frankly, a little weird. I am all for the hags; they keep the wheels moving. (And as an aside, can we as a community find a more flattering moniker for our straight girl platonic lovers?)

There is clearly a component to her proclamations in straight public about her love for love that dare not speak its name that is an attempt to show how cool and accepting she is, and God love her for that.

But her over-attachment to all things gay tells me she’s been hurt in past relationships and has retreated to the soft place to land that hagdom represents. That’s understandable and common, but problematic.

Here comes the (unpleasant) Truth, baby: I smell trouble. Whether her primary constituency is gay men or aardvarks, the fact that she pouts out of the presence of her core audience spells immaturity and insecurity.

Her reticence to get out of non-gay environs is garden-variety selfishness and insularity.

I don’t know how deep your relationship goes, but gay men aren’t your problem. Her intractability and rigidity are. You’re not being a homophobe to want to live in your own world. I’d talk to her about it, but I honestly don’t like your chances. Any other dating prospects?

Dear Truth, know you write for a gay newspaper, but I don’t know where else to get Dear Truth, advice on this topic. I’m a straight guy I’ve been reading your column forever, who’s been dating a really hot, wonderful and you always seem to tell it like it is. My straight woman, Allison, for about four problem is simple: My girlfriend is a slob. years. We have great chemistry and I She and I have been together for nearly am crazy about her. The problem is that 10 years, and over that time I’ve learned Allison hangs around gay men all the time, to adapt to her apparent inability to clean almost exclusively. up anything around We usually go to gay our house (or any bars and clubs when other place she can A little fag haggery we go out, and she land her things). talks with her “gay I don’t think of never killed anyone, boys” every day. myself as a neat but what you describe When I can convince freak, but I like her to hang out with some semblance is dramatically over my friends (mostly of organization in the top. straight couples), the house. Is it too she pouts and much to ask that spends the evening the laundry make it talking about her gay friends and how to the washing machine within a month of much more fun she has with them. Don’t being worn, and clean laundry make it to get me wrong: I’m totally comfortable the closet, folded, rather than piled on any hanging around with gay dudes. It’s just bed, floor, or other flat surface? that I also like watching sports with my I can’t remember the last time she boys and getting wild at a club filled with worked in the kitchen, except for when real women from time to time. But it’s like she stocked the camper and coolers for a pulling teeth to get Allison to go and she’s road trip (after which I, of course, ended usually moody as hell unless she finds a up cleaning the mess). I know she’s a free gay clique to hang with. Help me Truth! spirit and I love that about her, but I’m How do I get my woman back from the exhausted from always being the one who gays? picks up the never-ending mess. And I’m —Fag Hag Widower just plain tired of asking and demanding that she help keep things clean and

I

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

organized—it just doesn’t work.

Any suggestions?

—Trashed in Tampa Dear T. I. T., More of the same, really. Immaturity and intractability. As a thoughtful and evolved person, I’m sure you’ve spoken to her about these issues. (If not, my response ends here and I recommend you waste no time in having that conversation.) There really is no easy way to change someone. And despite inevitable protestations to the contrary, people change for themselves, not other people, even loved ones.

You might get a couple of weeks of more neatnik-ism, but soon enough, she’ll slide

51

right back into Pig Pen Land. My guess is that she’s always been a slob and being in a positive relationship has had no impact on her habits. The only reasonable response is for you to hire outside help to keep your house in order, without unnecessarily burdening you with the bulk (entirety?) of the housework.

And furthermore, I think she should pay for it.

Her slobbery is in all likelihood not news to her but you need to let her know that it’s affecting your relationship. Until you speak to her in tones round and firm about this, nothing will change. And know this: It’s not as inconsequential as it seems. It speaks to teamwork and partnership. Here comes the Truth, baby: She needs to either step up, or write a check. It’s that simple. | l |

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watermark | sports

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

Gay powerlifter wins title staff report Out power lifter Chris Morgan was named “Best Lifter” at the British Dead Lift Championships earlier this month.

Morgan, who also goes by “Chucky,” made lifts of 462 pounds, 528 pounds and 572 pounds to clinch the British Open Title in the 181.5-pound class. He also won the overall best lifter in proportion to body weight.

“I’m really pleased to have set a new lifetime best on the way to winning the overall best lifter title at this year’s British Championship,” Morgan said. “This

competition forms part of my preparations for the forthcoming defense of my world title in Russia. I’m realistic that the trip to Moscow will be the toughest test of my whole career to date. However this result gives me encouragement and incentive to improve again over the coming weeks.

Previously, Morgan has won gold medals at the Gay Games in powerlifting.

Morgan will also compete at the European championships in Malta this fall. He will continue to serve as a global ambassador to the Gay Games and he plans to compete in the games in Cologne, Germany later this year. | l |

briefs Suncoast Softball looking for “C” players

Orlando SIT tourney scheduled

The Suncoast Softball League in Tampa is actively looking for C-division players.

Those who are unsure of their rating are encouraged to visit SuncoastSoftball.org and click on the “Contact Page” link to schedule an evaluation.

The 2010 Sunshine Invitational Bowling Tournament in Orlando has been scheduled for April 30-May 2. According to organizers, the Boardwalk Bowl will again host the tournament on May 1-2 and the Crowne Plaza will be both the host hotel and the site for this year’s banquet. For more information or to register, visit SitOrlando.org.

PRESENTS PRESENTS

Stars on Ice: Weir is not family friendly staff report It what many media outlets are viewing as a form of homophobia, the popular Stars on Ice production has decided not to recruit Olympian Johnny Weir to participate in their upcoming spectacle. According to GLAAD, sponsors of the tour claim the 3-time National Champion is “not family friendly.”

The two sponsors of the tour, Smuckers and IMG Entertainment, have not officially said that Weir’s exclusion is directly linked to his sexuality, but sources close to the sponsor told GLAAD that the skater’s perceived sexual orientation was a concern.

Weir is extremely involved with his family. According to OutSports.com, he is putting his younger brother through college and he supports the family financially because his father’s disability prohibits him from working. Weir’s dedication to his family can be clearly documented in the Sundance series, Be Good Johnny Weir, which follows Weir and his family and friends through his life and career as a championship skater.

Just two years ago in 2008, Weir was set to skate for Champions on Ice, the gay-friendly tour where Rudy Galindo skated for an entire decade. Galindo, the 1996 U.S. National Champion, was not only out but wore his

Olympian Johnny Weir has been deemed as “not family friendly” by the sponsors of the upcoming “Stars on Ice” tour.

own brand of outrageous costumes — like fluttering rainbow flags, and Village People costumes, and a large sequined star on the seat of his tights.

Champions on Ice often took a liberal tack—hiring not only the “safer” gold medalists and world champions, but controversial figures like Galindo.

Stars on Ice debuted in 1986, starting as the “American Tour” organized by Scott Hamilton, with sponsors Discover Card and Plymouth. | l |

Sign up to be a: Sponsor, Team Captain, Walker or Volunteer Also participate in the 6-legged walk with your dog!

For more information or to register, visit

www.aidswalkorlando.org

Saturday, April 24, 2010 Lake Eola, Downtown Orlando

Registration 8:00am, Walk 9:00am

classifieds | watermark

[classifieds] central florida

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Should there be a swimsuit competition for Realtors??

sarasota TROUBLE MAKING MORTGAGE PAYMENTS? FINANCIAL TROUBLES KEEPING YOU AWAKE AT NIGHT? ARE YOU UPSIDE DOWN ON YOUR HOUSE??

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employment offered Swimwear Store Manager - SKINZ® has a opening for a manager trainee.

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Apply at info@FlamingoFLA.com

Mobile Homes For Sale -

Sure that may seem silly but what is your criteria for selecting an agent to represent you with the most expensive asset you will probably ever own? Although my swimsuit days are over, my real estate career is still in full force. If you are thinking of buying selling or investing in real estate, think of me first. Stan Madray–Keller Williams Realty (407)928-7791 / www.StanMadray.com My commitment to you: •Communicate Effectively - Answer calls, respond to emails and keep you informed.

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•Keep Integrity - Integrity is doing the right thing when no one is looking.

•Seek the Win-Win - Negotiate effectively to meet our needs and our objectives. Making real estate dreams come true? *BTW… If you do require your prospective agent to compete in talent, I will be twirling a fire baton to “HalfBreed” by Cher.

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407-481-2243 • Deadline for classifieds is XXXday at 5:00pm.

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friend/relationship

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

personal services MAN-TO-MAN - very friendly, masculine, good looking man with solid athletic body. Total relaxation & stress reduction. Call Danny 813-546-8220 Everyone Needs to Be Touched - 1 - 1 1/4 hours full body workout. Also body shaving. Discount rates for students & ethnic. By appt. only - Call Jim 727-698-9505

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Watermark does not knowingly print advertisements for sexual services. Beyond printed content, Watermark does not inquire into the nature of personal or professional services advertising. Payment for sexual services is illegal in the State of Florida, and respondents to classified advertising should govern themselves accordingly. As required by law (Florida Statute 480.0465), Licensed Massage Therapists include their license number in all advertising.

watermark | gossip

| Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010

billymasters

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“I really hate vaginas. I’m allergic to vagina.”

—Robert Pattinson discusses his Details magazine photo shoot where he had to sit for 12 hours with a number of naked women. While I’m sure I would feel the same way, somehow it sounds different coming from him.

W

Redefining roles Billy Masters Billy@BillyMasters.com

hile wife Catherine Zeta-Jones is entertaining the masses on Broadway, hubby Michael Douglas is practicing the piano. Why? He’s going forward with a big screen biopic about pianist Liberace which will be directed by Steven Soderbergh. The hold-up was casting the role of Lee’s lover, Scott Thorson. Michael was hell-bent on landing Matt Damon—who isn’t?

And he got his wish—Damon’s in.

Lord knows where Matt Damon will squeeze this in. He has just been announced to play RFK in a biopic, is reuniting with buddy Ben Affleck for a movie, and has at least two other films in pre-production. What a busy boy.

Law & Order: SVU is really pulling out the guns when it comes to guest stars. You all know about Kathy Griffin’s appearance.

Keep your eyes open for another redhead to pop up—Ann-Margret. The legendary lady will pop up on the March 31 episode, playing an actress who used to make television commercials in the 70s (think Rula Lenska).

The episode also includes Jaclyn Smith, who will play a former cop who comes out of retirement to help solve an old crime that Rula...er, I mean A-M was involved in. A bigger crime is that no one even thought to simply hire poor ole Rula! Even worse, the brass found a way to fit in cameos by both Morgan Fairchild and Susan Anton. Oh, the

injustice of it all.

I have a confession for you - I’ve never watched a single episode of Jersey Shore.

I try to limit my trash intake to shows with some meritorious value like Celebrity Rehab or Cops. However, I don’t live under a rock. I know who these people are, and I know they’re morons. Hot morons, but morons nonetheless.

DJ Pauly D wants to be known for more than just decoupaging his hair—he wants to give The Situation a run for his money in the abs department. That would explain why he’s sending around a pic where he’s only wearing undies. I’m pleased to report that his envious physique certainly caught my attention. And when there’s anything envious about the Jersey Shore cast, it should be time to end yet another column...but not quite yet!

I was recently catching up with one of my favorite people—the enormously talented Leslie Jordan. Last April, Leslie was supposed to bring his acclaimed one-man show, My Trip Down the Pink Carpet, to New York. Then the economy went south and plans were scrapped.

But it takes a helluva lot more than a recession to stop this little dynamo. A year and four days after the originally scheduled opening, the show will turn up at off-Broadway’s Midtown Theatre. And he’s got a couple of starry names signed on as producers—Lily Tomlin and Jane Wagner. Lily worked with Leslie on the abandoned HBO series 12 Miles of Bad Road and fell in love with him: “I have seldom spent time working with anyone who so engaged me. What a storyteller!” Wagner adds, “Lily and I saw one of the early showcases and knew at once that we were seeing a performance that we wanted to be a part of in any way possible.” It opens on April 19 for a limited 12-week run—but when it comes to Leslie, the possibilities are limitless.

Over the years, we’ve spilt much ink extolling the virtues of model Joseph Sayers.

He’s one of those rare individuals who looks better the older he gets. The diminutive dude just did a shoot for iSoul Studios without a stitch of clothing. Nothing strange about that.

He showed off his fantastic physique. Been there, done that, still enjoy seeing it. He even showed a hint of dick. Check. And then, bam, full frontal, baby! Admittedly, we’ve seen his penis before. In fact, it looked slightly more impressive in those infamous pics from that Florida motel room prior to his fame (yes, they’re still on our web site). But, I don’t know—somehow he looks even hotter now.

Maybe it’s the touch of shaving around the base to make it look bigger (we all know that trick). Maybe it’s being the ripe old age of 26!

Whatever the reason, you should definitely check them out at BillyMasters.com.

I’ve been getting a steady stream of Olympic “Ask Billy” questions, like this one from George in Dallas: “Evan Model Joseph Sayers has gone full frontal for his newest iSoul Studios shoot.

Matt Damon has signed on to play Scott Thorson to Michael Douglas’s Liberace in an upcoming biopic about the legendary, rhinestoned performer.

Lysacek. Straight? So tall and lean and muscular. Really? And what’s his body like under that Lycra?”

Certainly all reports indicate that the gold medal winner loves the ladies. And during an interview with spooky old Bob Costas, his speech pattern was eerily reminiscent of Brian Boitano—another confirmed pussy hound. But, you know, there are other things to take into consideration. Vera Wang, feathers, hair gel, just the right amount of face stubble.

Hmmm....I don’t know.

When a straight guy has even heard of Vera Wang, it’s time for me to roll my eyes and end yet another column. Until next time, remember, one man’s filth is another man’s bible. | l |

Mar. 18-Mar. 31, 2010 |

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