DAYTONA BEACH • ORLANDO • TAMPA • ST. PETERSBURG • SARASOTA • ISSUE 20.05 • FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 • WATERMARKONLINE.COM
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FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
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No one else wants to get married today except gay people;
DEPARTMENTS
they’re fighting to keep 18 that institution alive.
6 // MAIL 8 // ORLANDO NEWS 12 // TAMPA BAY NEWS 18 // STATE 20 // NATION & WORLD 31 // ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 47 // EVENT PLANNER 49 // TAMPA BAY OVERHEARD 51 // ORLANDO OVERHEARD 53 // TRANSITIONS 54 // TAMPA BAY MARKETPLACE 55 // ORLANDO MARKETPLACE 61 // SPORTS 62 // GALLERY W
PAGE
—SEN. ELEANOR SOBEL
ON THE COVER
PAGE Bayli Silberstein stands
front Carver Middle 08 inSchool Leesburg, where
she is battling the Lake County School Board for a Gay Straight Alliance. Board members have threatened to discontinue all clubs in order to avoid creating a GSA, and now the ACLU is involved. Photo by Jake Stevens
SCAN QR CODE FOR
WATERMARKONLINE.COM
Preview
PAGE
39
SIBLING REVELRY: The band He’s My Brother She’s My Sister arrives in Orlando and Tampa this week, bringing their neo-folk revival sound to Florida. Out bass player Oliver Newell tells us what we can expect.
WATERMARK ISSUE 20.05 // FEB. 28 - MAR. 13 , 2013
ORLANDO NEWS
TAMPA BAY NEWS
PAGE Fourteen year old Bayli
PAGE Nearly five months after
MATTHEW
GALLERY W
Read it online! In addition to a Web site with daily LGBT updates, a digital version of each issue of the publication is made available on WatermarkOnline.com
08
Silberstein is fighting for a Gay Straight Alliance at Carver Middle School, despite opposition from district staff; John Waters is confirmed for Come Out With Pride 2013; more.
12
he murdered two men and burned down the home in which they were working, Michael Norris pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life in prison; Lawrence Konrad and Bob Poe celebrate 50 years and share their reflections; more.
PAGE He’s been in productions on
31
both sides of Tampa Bay and is known for his hilarious performances at freeFall Theatre and American Stage. Now Matthew McGee sends up his own experiences in Matthew With A Z at the Capitol Theatre in Clearwater.
PAGE The annual Equality
Tampa Gala 62 Florida packed the top floor of
the Italian Club in Ybor City Feb. 23. A hodgepodge of who’s who donated their time and money to celebrate the victories of 2012 and to hear the challenges of 2013.
WANT TO SIGN A PETITION IN SUPPORT OF CARVER MIDDLE SCHOOL’S GSA? SIGN UP AT WATERMARKONLINE.COM. FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
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BRING ON THE GAMES
W
HILE VISITING TAMPA DURING THE GASPARILLA SOFTBALL CLASSIC the weekend of Presidents’ Day, I saw your cover story about the push to bring the Gay Games to Orlando [Issue 20.04]. Not only did the news have me excited that the games could possibly be right here in the states, but the Orlando location provides easy access to those of us living in Atlanta. I’ve experienced the Gay Games once before, in Cologne in 2010, and the experience was unlike anything I’ve seen before. The trip was expensive, but well worth it. I’m excited to come to Orlando in 2018 (hopefully) to witness the games again. Good luck Orlando! KRISTOPHER HUDGINS ATLANTA
POPE TAKE NOTE
I
ENJOYED READING STEVE BLANCHARD’S EDITOR’S DESK IN THE RECENT ISSUE OF WATERMARK addressing the resignation of the Pope [Issue 20.04]. It was an interesting use of the space and, while it’s highly unlikely the Vatican receives copies of your newspaper, I am
“If the Catholic Church is to survive in this young century, it has to cease its archaic views of same-sex relationships.” —NICHOL YOUNG
sure that many forwardthinking people of faith would agree with Mr. Blanchard’s sentiments. If the Catholic Church is to survive in this young century, it has to cease its archaic views of same-sex relationships, women and birth control—among legions of other issues. As a recovering Catholic (I attended mass almost every Sunday for 30 years), I can attest to the belief among one-time followers of the Church that it must update its world views or continue losing its congregants. Balancing faith and world issues is tricky enough, without the Church using 15th Century Dogma to address today’s reality. Keep up the good work at Watermark, and hopefully churches are paying attention. NICHOL YOUNG ORLANDO
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FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
watermarkonline.com
SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE CAN’T WAIT
T
HE SENATE PASSAGE OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT IS THE FIRST STEP to ensuring that every person in need, including LGBT people, have access to programs that serve survivors of violence. Now we need swift action from the House to pass this bi-partisan bill that protects all survivors of violence. We urge the leadership of the House of Representatives to stop their partisanship and make these programs more accessible. NCTE will continue to work with individuals and advocates to support the reauthorization of VAWA, and calls on the House to pass a strong, bipartisan bill that protects all survivors of violence. MARA KEISLING NCTE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
editor’s
Steve Blanchard EDITOR
SteveB@WatermarkOnline.com
M
Desk
ORE THAN 100 YEARS AGO,
shipbuilders bragged that their latest creation, the Titanic, was unsinkable. As if tempting fate, the doomed luxury liner struck an iceberg and now rests quietly on the bottom of the North Atlantic. It’s a story we all know well, thanks to the 1997 Academy Award-winning �ilm Titanic, its Hollywood predecessors, the traveling expedition and the ongoing documentaries airing on cable’s educational networks. The lesson in the debris is a simple one—never say never. We’ve all done it in one way or another. It’s human nature and buoyed optimism or heavy pessimism are extremely dif�icult to break. But things change, and they continue to change today. As we were placing the �inal
WATERMARK STAFF
pieces of this issue of Watermark together, word spread that more than 80 Republicans—many of them prominent—had signed a brief in the case of Proposition 8, the California law banning samesex marriage, that goes before the Supreme Court later this spring. I thought for sure the list of recognizable names were chanting the tired “sanctity of marriage” argument in an attempt to belittle the desire of same-sex couples to be legally wed. But surprisingly, these Republicans were voicing their support for marriage equality
Publisher: Tom Dyer • Ext. 305 • Tom@WatermarkOnline.com Chief Financial Officer: Rick Claggett • Ext. 108 • Rick@WatermarkOnline.com Editor-in-Chief: Steve Blanchard • 813-470-0899 • SteveB@WatermarkOnline.com Online Media Director: Jamie Hyman • Ext. 106 • Jamie@WatermarkOnline.com Proofreading: Ed Blaisdell Art Director: Jake Stevens • Ext. 109 • Jake@WatermarkOnline.com
and the repeal of Prop 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act! For so long, the Republican Party has had the (rightfully earned) reputation as the party of inequality. Republican leaders spoke out against same-sex marriage and during the Republican National Convention in 2012, the party elected to make the battle against marriage equality part of its of�icial platform. True, not all Democrats have support same-sex marriage and not all Republicans have always been against marriage equality. But as a party, the GOP opposes progress for LGBT Americans. Blame the Republican losses in 2012 election on the supposed lack of strong candidates for of�ice. But the reality is that times have changed, and so too must politics. Many say this new dynamic shift within the party was “inconceivable” just two years ago. Realizing that Meg Whitman, a former California gubernatorial candidate who supported Proposition 8, is one of the Republicans now supporting its demise makes the news even more surprising. It’s important to note that Ilena Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of New York, who are both Republicans, have sponsored legislation to repeal DOMA. And members and leaders of both the Log Cabin Republicans and the GOProud group have
constantly urged their political leaders to embrace diversity and the freedom to marry. But never before has such a large group stepped forward so visibly to support a portion of the population that only a few years ago was invisible to them. Already, leaders of the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage have threatened the political careers of those who sign on to support the death of Prop 8. But polls indicate that while arguments in favor of the ill-named “traditional marriage” continue, those making the argument see marriage recognition for gay and lesbian couples as an inevitability. The federal recognition of samesex couples is coming, and it could be here faster than anyone could have ever predicted. That’s the funny thing about predictions. They are very rarely 100% accurate and far too often a victim of their own era and culture. The Titanic was unsinkable in the minds of its builders and designers. But history proved them wrong. The incomprehensible notion that the GOP could �inally step away from discrimination as a base line in its own description is just as �lawed. Because as it was with that iconic ship 101 years ago, nothing is guaranteed. We are witnessing evolution �irsthand. As society changes, the parties governing it must change with it in order to survive. We’ll see an implausible reality where LGBT citizens and their allies can �inally vote strictly on the issues, rather than on the basis of discrimination. Then, �inally and as a society, we will truly be unsinkable.| |
Federal recognition of same-sex couples is coming, and it could be here faster than anyone could have ever predicted.
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CONTRIBUTORS KEN KUNDIS
is a Florida native and a longtime contributor to Watermark. He lives in New York City. Page 23
CHRISTINE HAWES has
been a reporter in Sarasota County for several years, writing articles and columns for a number of publications. She lives and works in Palmetto in Manatee County. Pages 14, 36
Greg Burton, Erik Caban, Scottie Campbell, Amy Dees, Kirk Hartlage, Rev. Phyllis Hunt, Joseph Kissel, Ken Kundis, Mary Meeks, Stephen Miller, David Moran, Anthony Paull, Greg Stemm, Brett Stout, Louanne Walters, Stephen Warne
PHOTOGRAPHY LAURIE ROSS is a St.
Petersburg-based photographer who has been behind the camera for 35 years. She is the official photographer of the Equality Florida Tampa Gala. Page 62
Nick Cardello, Angie Folks, Tom Eckert, Julie Milford, Travis Moore, Chris Stephenson, Lee Vandergrift
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7
orlando NEWS
Jamie Hyman JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
O
RLANDO | Now… we wait. On Feb. 28, Orlando’s Gay Games team, “Orlando 2018,” of�icially turned in its bid to bring the 2018 Gay Games Orlando. The next step is a series of questions from the voting members—some of which will be readable on GayGames.org—followed by an electronic vote on May. 31 which will create a short list of the top three cities still in the running, according to Mikael Audebert of Converge, a visitor’s bureau focused on LGBT travel. Those three cities will have site visits and inspections in July and August, and then each city’s bid teams will head to the Gay Games general assembly in Cleveland to make a �inal presentation. The winner will be announced the weekend of Come Out With Pride Orlando, Oct. 5–6. Audebert said Orlando has “extremely good chances,” stating that the bid is focused on Orlando’s vibrant economy mostly based on tourism, hospitality, transportation, sports and entertainment, plus potential for growth and innovative social experience. “Also, our budget is looking very good,” he said. “This means we are low on expenses and looking fantastic on revenues thanks to our expertise in running and managing events of this size.” Orlando’s bid got another boost Feb. 20 in the form of a letter of support from Alex Martins, CEO of Orlando Magic. As of press time, endorsement letters have been submitted by President Barack Obama, the Florida Sports Commission, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer and Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs. | |
John Waters to celebrate Pride in Orlando Staff report
ORLANDO | Come Out With Pride (COWP) will welcome �ilmmaker John Waters to the Out in the Open Film Festival, part of COWP’s week of events celebrating Pride. The Film Festival is Oct. 1-2, and Waters will kick off opening night with a stand-up act. VIP ticket holders will be able to attend a meet-and-greet. Twenty VIP tickets will be sold for $150 apiece and are available for purchase at ComeOutWithPride.com. COWP will run from Oct. 1–7, with the main event and parade Oct. 6 at Lake Eola. | |
8
COVER STORY
Orlando’s Gay Games bid turned in
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
FEARLESS AT 14: Eighth grader Bayli Silberstein stands outside of Carver Middle School, where, despite opposition from the school board, she hopes to launch a Gay Straight Alliance. PHOTO BY JAKE STEVENS
Schooling the District Bayli Silberstein’s quest for a GSA could teach the School Board a lesson in supporting gay students Jamie Hyman
JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
L
EESBURG, FLA. | A sign hangs on the front gates of Carver Middle School which reads, “There’s no wrong way to do the right thing.” It’s Feb. 22, four days after the Lake County School Board hearing where board members considered banning all clubs rather than allowing a Gay Straight Alliance (GSA). Watermark Art Director Jake Stevens and I are at Carver Middle School to meet Bayli Silberstein, 14, the openly-bisexual eighth grader who has been pushing for the creation of a GSA in response to antigay bullying endured by her and her friends. Jake lines Bayli up in front of the sign and gets ready to snap a photo, but before he can press the shutter, we’re interrupted by two badge-wearing school employees who inform us that we can’t be on campus without permission from
FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
the School Board. Bayli rolls her eyes. School administrators have been telling her “no” for more than a year.
STYMIED START
“The �irst time I tried to [start a GSA] I was in 7th grade—it was last year and we had a different principal,” Bayli says. She’s referring to Dave Bordenkircher, who is now principal at Villages Elementary, also in Lake County. Carver Middle School’s current principal is Mollie Cunningham. Bayli says Bordenkircher didn’t give her “much of a reason” for turning down the GSA. “He said we weren’t allowed to have clubs that weren’t curriculum, which is kind of weird because they had a Christian club and a bowling club and he just kind of said no,” she said. Bayli’s mom, Erica Silberstein, says that most of Bayli’s friends are a year older than her and she and Bayli’s father actually considered
watermarkonline.com
moving her to another school for 8th grade. However, Bayli “insisted on coming back to this school because she was going to start [the GSA] herself.” “I wanted to still try and �ight for [a GSA] because I know I’m not going to be at this school next year, and I think that it would be helpful for the students who don’t have someone to stand up for it,” Bayli said. In the fall, the Silbersteins kicked off the effort by gathering signatures on a petition, but Erica says school of�icials refused to accept it. After Bayli was stonewalled for a few months, Erica emailed the American Civil Liberties Union and the media. On Jan. 23, the ACLU sent a letter to Lake County School Board attorney Stephen Johnson, demanding the district follow through on the request. “What came next was a textbook case of cutting off your nose to spite your face,” says ACLU spokesperson Baylor Johnson. “Rather than recognize their legal obligation to let the club form—to say nothing of their moral obligation to let Bayli and her friends try to do something about the bullying
Continued on page 10 | |
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FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
9
orlando NEWS
| | Bayli Silberstien from pg.8
they face—the school board is considering banning all clubs just to keep Bayli and her friends from forming a GSA.” The Board discussed that option in a workshop Feb. 4. “The position that the members of the school board have taken demonstrates why a GSA is so important at Carver Middle School. GSAs are intended to push for an end to bullying, harassment and discrimination against LGBT students and others,” said Johnson. “If the school board follows through on its decision, it would show that bullying of LGBT students is not just a schoolyard problem, but a culture of discrimination that includes the administration.” The next discussion was Feb. 18, at a public hearing so crowded with LGBT supporters sporting red shirts that the meeting had to be moved to Tavares High School. Nearly 30 spoke in favor of allowing the GSA, with a few dissenters. One school board member, Rosanne Brandeburg, even claimed that she felt bullied because of emails she received disagreeing with the Board’s proposed direction on banning clubs and doubted the existence of bullying at Carver Middle School. “I’m in the schools quite a bit and I don’t see it,” Brandeburg said. “If bullying is happening in schools, please report it.” This is does not re�lect Bayli’s experience.
BULLYING AND BACKLASH
10
Last school year, Bayli had a girlfriend and she says the students harassed them. “Even if we’re just, like, hugging to say bye as I’m walking her to her bus, we’d get comments from people on the bus, people walking by,” Bayli said. “It kind of got to her because her parents don’t know [she’s gay], so she didn’t know who she could go to and talk.” Bayli convinced her to see the school counselor. “The counselor didn’t seem to react too much,” Bayli said. “She just kind of sat there with a blank expression, had us write it out, took the paper and told us to go to class.” She also tells stories about two other female students dating, and how students would approach the
FATHERLY SUPPORT: Bayli Silberstein gets a hug from her dad, Victor Cruz, who gently teased his daughter about wearing makeup for a photo shoot and expressed that he’s “just so proud of her.” PHOTO BY JAKE STEVENS
couple in disbelief that it could be true that they were together. When the girls con�irmed it, the students, in front of the couple, would “talk about how that’s wrong or it’s disgusting.” Another friend of Bayli’s, a male student who identi�ies as bisexual, was “one of the few guys at school who was out and every guy at the school seemed to react horribly to that,” Bayli said. He’s moved onto high school, but Bayli
to get in trouble.” Now, many students are supportive of Bayli’s battle for a GSA, but she says it didn’t start out that way. “A lot of them, the �irst time I was on TV, were just like, ‘That’s such a stupid thing to �ight about, I don’t understand why it’s such a big deal.’ “But after they actually watched it or read one of the articles, they understood it better
STRONG FAMILY SUPPORT
Bayli’s father, Victor Cruz, glows with pride as he watches Bayli pose for her Watermark cover photo. He takes a time out from teasing her about “wearing make-up for once” and ribbing Jake for his sweaty shirt (it was a hot and sunny day) to give me a single, concise answer to my inquiries as to how he feels about all this: “I’m just so proud of her.” Bayli came out to her
I know I’m not going to be at this school next year, and I think a GSA would be helpful for the students who don’t have someone to stand up for it. —BAYLI SILBERSTEIN
said other students still mention him in a negative context. District spokesman Christopher Patton said he checked with the principal and counselors at Carver Middle School and said that no incident involving Bayli has been reported to of�icials in the last couple of years. “If she does have something, we ask her to please report it,” Patton said. Bayli said a teacher became her sole con�ident because “every time we submitted something to the school counselor, nothing seemed to happen to the students. They never seemed
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
and realized that it does have a point to it; there’s a reason for doing it,” Bayli said. “And it’s really important because of what I saw my friends going through last year.” The move by the school board to ban all clubs was particularly tough on Bayli, because some students blamed her for threatening the loss of their respective clubs. “A lot of the students were really mad about that because their clubs are important to them,” she said. “That’s one thing that got to me. Why would [the School Board] cancel all the clubs?”
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parents last year. “I was surprised,” Erica said. “I �igured it out right before she told me. I don’t know why I didn’t know.” The information emerged because Bayli had posted Facebook statuses that made it clear she was seeing someone. Erica was able to deduce that it was another girl. “I don’t have a problem with it,” Erica said. “It doesn’t matter to me.” She says Bayli’s day-to-day school life is better now than it was in the beginning of the year, after her friends graduated and school of�icials ignored her �irst
watermarkonline.com
request for a GSA. “She doesn’t tell me a whole lot unless I push, but I’ll see posts on her Facebook and that’s how we can tell if it’s been a good day or a bad day,” Erica said. There used to be a lot of “I hate this school”-type posts, Erica says, but those have died down. She says she doesn’t worry about Bayli, because she’s tough. “Bayli, she has a big mouth, and if somebody says something, she’s going to say something back,” she said. According to Bayli, student support is growing. “A lot of kids that I don’t even know are coming up to me and saying that I’m really cool and that they look up to me for standing up for this,” she said. “That’s pretty awesome.” She says she’s also getting great support from her teachers, but “the administrators keep avoiding me. They don’t talk to me at all.”
RELUCTANT HERO
We at Watermark are calling Bayli the bravest 14-year-old in Florida, but she doesn’t really agree. “I don’t think it’s really brave. I just think it’s something that should be expected, that a student can stand up for what they believe in,” Bayli said.“ Everyone keeps saying that I’m brave or that I’m a hero and I don’t really see it that way.” Hero or not, the issue is far from over. Patton says there’s at least a 28-day waiting period between School Board hearings, and another hearing is required before there’s a vote. The tentative date for the next hearing is March 11. As of press time, the GSA issue was not on the agenda, which means the earliest possible date for a Board vote would be April. Bayli is committed to seeing this through to the end, but she says she’s surprised it’s gone this far. “I didn’t think that they would see it as this big of a deal, the school board and the administrators. I didn’t expect this from adults,” Bayli said. “I thought they could handle this more, but apparently not.” The ACLU continues to pressure the School Board and a petition supporting a GSA has gathered more than 36,000 signatures. Find a link to the petition at WatermarkOnline.com | |
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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
11
tampa bay NEWS
MILESTONE: (L-R) St. Petersburg couple Lawrence Konrad and Robert Pope will celebrate their 50 years together with a reception on March 3 at King of Peace MCC.
Konrad, Pope celebrate Golden anniversary Steve Blanchard EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
S
T. PETERSBURG | On Feb. 23, 1963, Robert Pope and Lawrence Konrad began a journey that has spanned �ive decades, 10 U.S. Presidents and �ierce civil rights battles. On March 3, the St. Petersburg men will celebrate their lives together with a Golden Anniversary Reception in their honor at King of Peace Metropolitan Community Church. Of course, when anyone learns about the couple’s longevity, one question comes to mind: “What’s your secret?” “I’ve told many people, when Lawrence tells me to do anything I just do it,” said Pope, prompting a laugh from Konrad. “We’ve been through tough times but friends have not let us separate,” Konrad said. “You learn that you have to forgive and work through, and fortunately, Bob has always known where his bed is and where he belongs. No matter what was going on, he had that commitment and I learned that this was the man I would be with for the rest of my life.” Pope echoes the sentiments of his husband. “It’s about doing the work,” Pope said.
SHIFTING TIDES
Of course, when Pope and Kornad met 50 years ago at the ages of 27 and 24, respectively, the world was a very different place. The idea of legally married another man was so foreign to both men that the Continued on page 14 | |
12
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
FINDING CLOSURE: Mitch Harrison lost two friends and his home when Michael Norris (inset) murdered Bruce Johnson and Arthur Regula and then set the house on fire last September. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD
Immediate life sentence After a guilty plea to a double murder in Kenwood, Michael Scott Norris gets life in prison Steve Blanchard
EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
L
ARGO | Nearly �ive months after police say Michael Scott Norris escaped from a Pinellas County work release program and killed two gay men in a Kenwood house, the 36-year-old pleaded guilty to murder Feb. 25. The guilty plea was part of a deal with prosecutors who will no longer pursue the death penalty in the case. The deal was approved by the families of Bruce Johnson and Arthur Regula, Norris’ victims. Authorities say Norris stole a handgun from a nearby motel before entering the home in the Historic Kenwood Neighborhood of St. Petersburg on Sept. 30. He shot both men, who were
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renovating the home, and set the house on �ire in a failed attempt to cover his tracks. He was caught shortly after. Family members of both victims were at the hearing Feb.
Bruce and Arthur, the families of Bruce and Arthur, the friends of all of ours, the neighbors of Kenwood and the whole St. Petersburg community as well as those you victimized in other counties in Florida, is one of the most heinous, cowardly, violent acts of crime that anyone can do to anyone,” Harrison said. “May you spend your days in jail growing old being reminded each and every day of what you have done.” Following the hearing, Mitch told Watermark that the guilty plea and Norris’ immediate sentencing closed a chapter that had been open for nearly half a year. Norris received three life sentences, one each for the two murders and one for armed burglary. “It’s part of the chapter closing,” he said. Harrison said he can’t forgive Norris for what he did and admitted that initially he wanted the death penalty for the serial burglar-turned-murderer.
“I, as many others, are glad that you will spend the rest of your life behind bars where you belong.” —MITCH HARRISON 25, as was Mitch Harrison, who owned the house where the two men were working the day of their deaths on Sept. 30. He read a prepared statement, in which he called Norris a “menace to society.” “What you have done to me, to
watermarkonline.com
Continued on page 14 | |
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tampa bay NEWS 14
| | Konrad and Pope | | Immediate Life Sentance from pg.12 “He did something that was horrendous for no reason,” Harrison said. “He may have his reason, but none of us see his reason. Whatever that reason, it doesn’t mean a damn thing to me.” With three life sentences and a nearly impossibility of parole, Norris will likely die in prison. And Harrison told Norris how he felt about the sentencing. “I, as many others, are glad that you will spend the rest of your life behind bars where you belong,” Harrison told Norris at the hearing. Norris has not offered any explanation for his crimes, but local of�icials have expressed concerns over the security procedures at the Goodwill-run Largo Residential Re-entry Center, where Norris stayed. Recently a convicted murderer who was housed at the same Largo work release center sent back to prison after state Sen. Jack Latvala complained about the inmate’s presence there. Norris had lived at the Largo work release center, on U.S. 19 near Whitney Road, since late 2011. He got a job washing dishes at a downtown St. Petersburg restaurant. But on Sept. 30, he left the center several hours before his shift was set to begin. Police said he went to St. Petersburg and stole a gun from his ex-girlfriend’s hotel room before making his way to the Historic Kenwood neighborhood. Since the murders and the loss of his home, Harrison has struggled to �igure out why such a random act of violence would befall his friends and whether it means he should take a more proactive role in the community. “This guy was loose on a halfway house,” Harrison said. “He wandered down the street and destroyed my life, took two lives and destroyed all the people they connected. I’m not political, but is there something I should do to change that?” In December, the remains of Harrison’s old home were bulldozed, and he hopes to rebuild on the home in the very near future. In January, he spoke with Watermark about the crime and what he expected for 2013. “I’m having to start my life over a little bit,” Harrison said. “The new home has a similar �loor plan because it’s a plan that just works.” It will take awhile to make the new house feel like home again, but Harrison is con�ident that he’s making the right decision to remain in St. Petersburg and to rebuild his home on the same lot where he lost two friends to tragedy. “I can’t run from it. This is a great neighborhood and this has become my home,” Harrison said. “I’m ready for the next step. The house is gone and I don’t have to look at it now. I can focus on putting my home back together.” He’s hopeful that he’ll be moving into his new home sometime this summer. But he also said that the last �ive months have not been about him, they’ve been about his friends. “I don’t want this to be about me, I want it to be about the lessons,” Harrison said. “It’s about Bruce and Arthur, two individuals whose lives were taken for senseless matters. I can rebuild a home, but i can’t bring back my friends.” | |
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
from pg.12
topic wasn’t even mentioned early on in their relationship. “What we would have wanted in 1963 wasn’t marriage equality, but to be able to hold hands at the bar,” Pope said. “We had to keep our hands on the bar, because if the police came in and your hands were anywhere else, we knew we’d be in trouble. You were constantly in fear of a raid.” The men have spent a vast majority of their lives together in St. Petersburg and in 1965, they recall plans to visit a gay bar on Madeira Beach. “Halfway down there Bob turned to me and said, ‘Do you mind if we go home?’” Konrad recalled. “In the paper the next day we learned the place was raided. That happened to us twice. The universe always protected us.” Throughout the years, the men—both veterans—made public commitments to each other and their relationship. During the National Marches on Washington in 1979 and 1993, the couple took part in a large commitment ceremony of�iciated by MCC founder Troy Perry. They have also had other, smaller “holy unions.” But it wasn’t until 2004 that the relationship was �inally recognized by a government entity when Pope and Konrad were married in Toronto, Canada. “That changed my life,” Konrad said of the Canadian wedding. “Something happened to me when we went to City Hall in Toronto. We had been together longer than any of the city staff’s parents and to be treated from where we were in 1963 to when we were married in a City Hall was incredible. It’s something we’d never dreamed about.” Pope said the recognition of their relationship from a governmental entity was an experience unlike any other. “There’s a strong �ight for marriage equality in our country, but I don’t think the gay community realizes how important it is for us in so many different dimensions,” Pope said.
LOVING THE NIGHTLIFE
During the past half-century, Konrad and Pope have remained focused on the success of their relationship—but that doesn’t
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mean they didn’t have their hands full with other experiences. In the 1970s, the men opened Pinellas County’s �irst gay dance bar, Kitty’s. It’s lighted ceiling and dance �loor were a huge hit and upon its success they purchased the historic Wedgewood Inn and transformed it into an LGBT hotel and night spot. It was a concept that was cutting edge at the time and a precursor to the Suncoast Resort of the 1990s-2000s and the Flamingo Resort, which opened in 2009. “I came here for Stetson Law School,” Pope explained. “I wanted to live on the west coast since the other coast had a bar mentality, which is funny since we owned a bar in Daytona Beach.” For nearly two years the men operated the Wedgewood Inn and reveled in the long lines of patrons
“Metropolitan Charities” was made up to decipher fundraisers for non-church use. Konrad still remains involved and recently formed the Food for Friends Program at the church. “You see needs and step forward to do what you need to do,” Pope explained. “I found my life is about starting things. The universe puts something within us that we serve. I don’t know how else to explain that. We get callings and I’ll get an idea that won’t leave me and I just have to do it. That’s where I come from and how I’ve always operated.”
CONTINUING THE FIGHT
Recent polls show that a majority of Americans not only support marriage equality, but that even those opposed to it see it as an inevitability within the next decade. That news thrills Konrad and Pope, but the still, vocal opposition to recognizing the unions of same-sex partners in this country is hurtful to the long-term couple. “It diminishes our position in society,” said Pope, 77. “We worked just as hard to accomplish what we have and to build our portfolio of life. But right now, if I were to die, I can’t share that with Lawrence without him having to pay on something that if we were a ‘regular couple’ he would avoid.” Fortunately, neither man has been denied access to the other when an illness involves a hospital stay—not to say that nurses and doctors haven’t objected in the past. “I just don’t put up with it,” Konrad said. “The �irst time it happened we had been together 25 years and someone tried to stop me. I told them that they couldn’t and went right in. But that’s not to say it hasn’t happened to other people.” Expressing their ongoing commitment through a reception at King of Peace not only gives the couple a chance to celebrate the life they’ve built together over the past 50 years. It gives them a chance to thank the friends who have supported their relationship throughout its course. “We want to say thank you to those who have helped us along the way,” Konrad said | |
“What we wanted in 1963 wasn’t marriage equality, it was to be able to hold hands at the bar.” —ROBERT POPE lined up around the block waiting to get in on weekends. “We charged a $2 cover, which got you your �irst two drinks,” Pope said. “We were very generous. Maybe if we hadn’t done that we would have stayed open longer.” After incurring debt and owing the State of Florida almost $140,000 in sales tax, Pope and Konrad closed the resort and recommitted themselves to other community organizations.
GIVING BACK
“Bob’s mother was like that, always helping others,” said Konrad, 74. “She was a teacher in Tallahassee and created a support house at Florida State for students who wanted to become teachers. It evolved into a scholarship house. So he was raised in that environment. “My drive to help came from seeing the pain of other people.” That’s what motivated Konrad to become the �irst facilitator of SDIA, the �irst HIV/ AIDS support group in Pinellas County, which operated through King of Peace MCC. Pope recalled that the name
watermarkonline.com
FWC names St. Pete woman dispatcher of the year Christine Hawes CHRISTINE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
T
AMPA | She does more than she is asked, provides �ield of�icers more information than she is provided, and is always ready to �ill in shifts that others cannot. And now, Aileen Gomez can call herself one of the state’s top dispatchers. Gomez, 34, was recognized in January as Duty Of�icer of the Year for the Florida Wildlife Commission. She won the honor over 71 other FWC dispatchers throughout the state. “I was in shock when I got ‘dispatcher of the year’ for our center,” Gomez, a St. Petersburg resident, said. “She really cares about her job,” said Darla Wormuth, duty of�ice supervisor for the FWC’s southeast region. “And when someone really cares, they do a really good job at it.” Wormuth, who nominated Gomez for the honor, says it’s not
FLORIDA HONOR: The Florida Wildlife Commission recognized St. Petersburg resident Aileen Gomez as Duty Officer of the Year. PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HAWES unusual for Gomez to make two or three extra calls in her effort to answer a caller’s question. She’ll gather extra details for �ield of�icers before passing on a request to of�icers in the �ield. “I try to do a little more than just give of�icers the call,” she says. “I try to look into, ‘Does this person have a history with us?’ I really care about our of�icers’ safety. That should be our top priority.” Gomez has been with the FWC
for six years and also spent six years with the Florida Highway Patrol, where she was both a dispatcher and a community service of�icer. She says a lot of people misunderstand the role of the FWC and assume its only responsibilities are to enforce hunting and �ishing laws. In reality, she says, most of the agency’s time is spent helping to search for people who are missing. Her entire of�ice, for instance, was called to help the Coast Guard search for Patrick Mullins, a Manatee County teacher whose body was found Feb. 7, about 10 days after Mullins’ empty boat was found by the Sunshine Skyway Bridge miles from his Palmetto home. Gomez has plans of her own beyond her dispatcher job. She attends classes for a career in education and aims to focus on special education. “I feel like I have the patience for it, and if there’s one way this job has helped prepare me to teach, it’s patience,” Gomez says. “You have to be a very understanding person to help those kids.” | |
STATE OF THE STATE:
Equality Florida Executive Director Nadine Smith addresses a packed Italian Club in Ybor City during the organization’s annual Tampa Gala on Saturday, Feb. 23. She talked about the victories of 2012 concerning LGBT equality and the fights ahead in 2013 and beyond. For more photos from the event, see Gallery W on page 62. PHOTO COURTESY LAURIE ROSS
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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
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state
Student disciplined for participating in Day of Silence sues DeSoto Schools
NEWS
Staff Report
A
RCADIA, FLA. | A 16-year-old lesbian �iled a lawsuit against DeSoto County High School for the district’s decision to discipline her for participating in the Day of Silence last fall. The April day is a way for students and teachers to call attention to the silencing effects of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools. Now, the student, Amber Hatcher, has the support of the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN). “DeSoto County Schools is practicing the very kind of harassment and discrimination the Day of Silence is designed to address in schools, “ said Dr. Aliza Byard, GLSEN executive director. “By participating in the Day of Silence, students across the country are directing attention to the reality that LGBT youth experience a disproportionate amount of bullying and harassment in schools. According to GLSEN, Hatcher wore a shirt in support of the day last April and spent the day communicating via a dry erase board. She was warned by principal Shannon Fusco that she would face “rami�ications” if she continued her participation and when she appealed to former superintendent Adrian Cline, he refused a meeting. Eventually Hatcher was suspended for her participation. On Feb. 26, Lambda Legal �iled papers in court arguing the DeSoto County School Board of Education violated Hatcher’s First Amendment rights, which has been previously shown to support a student’s free speech. Phone calls seeking a response from DeSoto County Schools were not immediately returned to Watermark. | |
Boca Raton school disinvites anti-gay speaker Staff Report
18
BOCA RATON, FLA. | The Boca Raton School Board let preacher Bradlee Dean know he’s not welcome to speak on their campuses in February. According to a report by Talking Points Memo, the principal of the school had concerns over Dean’s history of anti-gay messages. Dean had been originally invited by a school group, but principal said he hadn’t approved any such visit. The outspoken, conservative pastor made headlines in 2012 when he showed pictures of aborted fetuses and promoted anti-gay messages at an Iowa school. Concerning his dis-invitation to speak at Boca Raton’s schools, Dean’s lawyer, Horatio Mihet of the Liberty Council, says his client’s �irst amendment rights have been denied. | |
watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.
Statewide domestic partner registry bill stalls Jamie Hyman JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
T
ALLAHASSEE | The bill that would have created a statewide domestic partner registry for Florida is stalled. The Florida Senate Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs heard nearly two hours of testimony Feb. 19 on SB 196, the “Families First” Bill, which would have created a statewide domestic partner registry. Although the majority of speakers testi�ied in favor of the bill, the committee members ultimately rejected an amendment and Sen. Eleanor Sobel (D-Hollywood), who �iled the bill in January, declared it temporarily postponed. The primary objection According to Michael Farmer, statewide �ield coordinator at Equality Florida, the temporary postponement is a good thing, because it allows the legislators to step back and make some changes, keeping open the chance to vote the bill forward in another hearing. Among the �irst speakers at the Feb. 19 hearing was Orlando attorney and LGBT activist Mary Meeks, who testi�ied about the bill’s legality, primarily stating that the bill’s creation of a domestic partner registry does not violate the Marriage Protection Act, the state amendment that de�ines marriage as between one man and one woman. “The [Florida] Supreme Court has recognized that marriage is a complex concept, it’s not just a list of rights that are conferred,” Meeks said. “There have been a number of legal challenges to domestic partner registries across the country, but to my knowledge, no DPR has been found to be illegal or unconstitutional.” Meeks highlighted some key difference between what the bill would provide and marriage, including who is eligible for each, what happens should the parties involved choose to dissolve their rights and the fact that the domestic partnership rights are not portable. “Those rights do not travel with you outside of the state of Florida,” she said. Senator Nancy Detert (R-Sarasota) mentioned the
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different registries already passed by various counties and cities, asking which how they would create consistency should a state bill pass. Meeks replied that the state bill would prevail. Detert was the �irst to point out the broadness of the state bill, and Meeks agreed that the local bills are “speci�ically enumerated” but the state bill is not. “I think it would be a very �ine project for some lawyers to make that list and we have some people in the process of [making the state bill more speci�ic],” Meeks said. Orange County Comptroller Martha Haynie testi�ied that in Orange County, the registry was created via af�idavit, with “no additional cost, no controversy.” She also talked about the civil justice aspect of this type of legislation, speci�ically how Haynie felt as she looked out at
jobs as anything.” Michael Sheedy with the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops testi�ied against the bill, saying it does blur the distinction between marriage and other types of relationships. “In jurisdictions where [domestic partner registries are] enacted, we see fewer people enter into marriage and other rights, particularly those relating to children, are diminished,” he said. “By many measures, marriage and family are struggling, declining. By broadening de�inition we don’t really help that situation.” When asked by a committee member for statistics indicating marriage rate decline, Sheedy was unable to provide any. John Stemberger with the Florida Family Policy Council also testi�ied against the bill, calling domestic partner registries “bad public policy” and “an incremental approach to legalizing gay marriage.” Sen. Detert told the committee that she’s had “thousands of calls against the bill but it’s made no impact on me,” stating the de�inition of family is changing and she does support Sarasota’s domestic partner registry bill. “I can’t support this bill today because it is too broad; it is like a walking lawsuit. If we put together a bill like what Sarasota did, I’m 1000% there,” Detert said. “I’m very disappointed that I can’t support the bill today.” Senator Oscar Braynon (D-Miami Dade) urged the committee members to move forward anyway because the bill could be rewritten later. Senator Thad Altman (R-Brevard) was against the bill, saying it’s too close to marriage and he can’t vote for anything that violates the Florida constitution. Before of�icially postponing the bill, Sen. Sobel questioned whether she should rewrite it. “No one else wants to get married today except gay people,” she said. “They’re �ighting to keep that institution alive.” She said the committee could hear the bill again “with a narrow de�inition, a narrow scope” before of�icially temporarily postponing it. | |
“I can’t support this bill today because it’s too broad; it’s a walking lawsuit.” —SEN. NANCY DETERT the crowded room while giving a press conference about Orange County’s registry. “There were families that had been together for decades and who at last were being recognized, at least in Orange County, as families. They had their children with them. Some were quite elderly. They were overcome that Orange County was �inally granting them some recognition as a family,” Haynie said. “It was one of the most meaningful and rewarding things I have done as a public of�icial.” State representative Joe Saunders discussed the �inancial rewards of a domestic partner registry, which he said positions Florida as a place where large companies will want to call home. “Jobs are the number one issue in minds of the people of Florida. I don’t want to have to tell a CEO that wants to locate to my region that the second their employees cross the Florida state line that they are unprotected, that their families are legally invisible,” Saunders said. “This is a marketing moment. This for me is as much about
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2/26/13 11:49 AM watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE. 19
nation+world NEWS
IN OTHER NEWS KANSAS SUPREME COURT UPHOLDS LESBIAN MOTHER’S RIGHTS In a Feb. 22 ruling, the Kansas Supreme Court has ruled that the non-biological mother of children in a same-sex relationship can have the same parental rights as the biological mother. The court ruled that not enforcing the separated couple’s parenting agreement would deny their children the opportunity to have two parents. “The agreement…provides the children with the resources of two persons, rather than leaving them as the fatherless children of an artificially inseminated mother,’’ the court said.
TRANSGENDER RIGHTS BILL ADVANCES IN NY LEGISLATURE Powerful Democrats in Albany have sponsored a bill that would protect gender identity or expression from discrimination and subject violators to a potential hate crime prosecution. The measure would add gender identity to New York state law that already prohibits discrimination based on race, religion, age, sexual orientation and more in issues of housing, credit, employment and others. The District of Columbia, 16 states and several cities already have laws protecting gender identity and expression.
NJ DEMS TO TRY TO OVERRIDE VETO ON GAY MARRIAGE In a Feb. 21 meeting, Democratic leaders in the New Jersey Legislature agreed to try to override Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s gay marriage veto, and are open for the first time to putting the question to voters in November if the override attempt fails. Christie, who vetoed the gay marriage bill a year ago, has urged lawmakers to put the question to voters. ``On this issue, I am comfortable with the people of the state of New Jersey making the decision,’’ Christie said.
LAURA BUSH WANTS OUT OF PRO-GAY MARRIAGE ADS Former first lady Laura Bush wants to be removed from a pro-gay marriage group’s national advertising campaign featuring prominent people speaking on the topic. The Respect for Marriage Coalition has launched print, television and online ads that also include clips of President Barack Obama, former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Secretary of Defense Colin Powell talking about same-sex marriage. The campaign features a clip of Bush saying on CNN, ``When couples are committed to each other and love each other then they ought to have the same sort of rights that everyone has.’’
SAME-SEX MARRIAGE PROPOSAL FAILS IN NM HOUSE PANEL A New Mexico House committee has shelved a proposal to place marriage equality on the 2014 general election ballot. The Voters and Elections Committee voted 7-to-4 on Feb. 21 to block a constitutional amendment that would have allowed lesbian and gay couples to marry. Democratic Rep. Brian Egolf, the bill’s sponsor, told the panel, “It’s a shame that people have to come to the Legislature and ask for permission under the law to be treated equally.’’
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Top Republicans sign brief in support of marriage equality Wire Report
W
ASHINGTON, D.C. | At least 75 top Republicans—including top advisers to former President George W. Bush, four former governors and two members of Congress—have signed a legal brief arguing that gay people have a constitutional right to marry, according to The New York Times. The brief will be submitted to the Supreme Court in support of a suit seeking to strike down Proposition 8, the California ballot initiative barring same-sex marriage, and all similar bans. The court will hear oral arguments next month on the constitutionality of Prop 8 and the
1996 federal Defense of Marriage Act. It is expected to render a decision in early summer. Legal analysts tell The Times that the brief has the potential to sway conservative justices as much for the prominent names attached to it as for its legal arguments. The list of signers includes Republican of�icials and party insiders who are not ordinarily associated with gay rights advocacy, including some who are speaking out for the �irst time and others who have changed their previous positions. According to The Times, the list includes Meg Whitman, who supported Proposition 8 when she ran for California governor; Representatives Ileana Ros-Lehtinen of Florida and Richard Hanna of
New York; former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman; Stephen J. Hadley, a Bush national security adviser; Carlos Gutierrez, a commerce secretary to Mr. Bush; James B. Comey, a top Bush Justice Department of�icial; David A. Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s �irst budget director; and Deborah Pryce, a former member of the House Republican leadership from Ohio who is retired from Congress. The friend-of-the-court brief is apparently aimed squarely at conservatives’ hearts. It cites the Citizens United case on campaign �inance and District of Columbia v. Heller, which overturned the city’s handgun ban, two Supreme Court decisions that are very dear to conservative wing. | |
fundamental constitutional guarantee of equal protection.” The brief was �iled as the justices prepare to hear arguments next month in a challenge to the 1996 law. Obama is also due to render his own verdict with a decision whether to join the legal battle over Proposition 8, California’s ban on same-sex marriage. Feb. 28 is the deadline for �iling “friend-of-the-court” briefs by nonparties in support of gay and lesbian couples and the city of San Francisco in their challenge to Prop . Gay-rights advocates, who pleaded for Obama’s support for three years while the case moved through lower courts, are looking for him to throw the weight of his
administration behind their cause in its most momentous test. “What’s the downside? Everybody knows he is an advocate for gay marriage,” said Richard Socarides, who was a special assistant to President Bill Clinton and his liaison with the gay and lesbian community. The Prop. 8 case and the DOMA case, to be heard March 26 and 27 respectively, are “the most important cases the court is going to have for a long time,” Socarides said. The president has remained silent on the legal arguments over a state’s authority to ban same-sex marriage, even after his declaration a year ago that—after years of “evolving”—he supports the rights of gays and lesbians to wed. | |
the House Executive Committee to approve his legislation and send it to the full body any day now. The Senate approved the measure in early February with Democratic backing and a single Republican vote. Advocates for giving same-sex couples the same marital rights as
heterosexuals acknowledge there’s more resistance in the House than in the Senate, but they’re con�ident of full House approval in the next two weeks. Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn has promised to sign the bill into law. | |
Obama administration weighs in on DOMA, ponders Prop. 8 Wire Report WASHINGTON, D.C. | The Obama administration is asking the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional a section of federal law that only recognizes male-female marriages. In a Feb. 23 �iling with the court, the administration says Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) denies legally married same-sex couples many federal bene�its that are available only to legally married heterosexual couples. Federal tax and Social Security survivor’s bene�its are among them. In its brief, the administration said the provision “violates the
Illinois House to vote on same-sex marriage Wire Report SPRINGFIELD, ILL. | An Illinois House committee is expected to vote this week on a measure allowing same-sex couples to marry. Chicago Democratic Rep. Greg Harris said Feb. 26 that he expects
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I AM POSITIVE. Educating. inspiring. changing pErcEption. People with HIV are fathers, grandmothers, friends and neighbors. They are people you pass on the street and people you meet. And they have one important characteristic in common with us all: they are human beings. The Faces of HIV project offers an intimate look at Florida residents living with HIV and AIDS through captivating portraits, insightful interviews and poignant journal writing. To watch their stories, read their journals and to view the mobile art exhibit schedule, visit wemakethechange.com/faces.
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converted
preaching to the
Coming out? Who cares?
Ken Kundis KEN@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
R
ECENTLY 80-SOMETHING
music mogul Clive Davis came out as bisexual in his forthcoming memoir. Anyone who has ever heard him speak or seen him walk probably had a reaction similar to mine: “Bi-sexual? Please, girl.”
And his is only the most recent of a spate of high-pro�ile comings-out that characterize a new phase in our out lives as gay people. That of, yeahwe-know-what-took-you-so-long. This may not be a popular view, but Jodie Foster’s recent mannered, torturous ‘coming out’ speech at the Golden Globes was a disappointment. Especially compared to the truly brave comings-out of years passed. Compare the yammering and stammering of Foster’s speech to Ellen Degeneres’ simple declaration from the cover of Time magazine now over �ifteen years ago: “Yeah, I’m gay.” While I never approved of dragging anyone out of the closet, it seems the celebrities that are coming out these days are the ones about which we never had a moment’s doubt and there is something unsatisfying about that. While I don’t want to diminish their bravery in coming out, such proclamations simply don’t hold the weight they once did. The reasons for this in
my mind are all positive ones: as a people and society, it seems we are much more accepting, young people are more liberally minded in general, and more and more people have friends or family members who are out gay people. But it seems we still care. Column inches are still devoted to it. There is almost a seeming obligation to come out if you’re gay and famous. Americans still get a giggle out of gay people it seems. As I write this, I happen to be at my company’s headquarters in Bangalore, India. A good friend of mine, an Indian, and I engaged in a conversation I began by wondering aloud what the ‘organization’ thought about having an out, gay American man in their midst. She looked at me as though I had just sprouted a second head. “I don’t know what the organization thinks (the emphasis was hers), but as a people I can tell you what we think: It’s none of our business.” And as I thought back on the last 16 months of my employment with this India supercompany, I realized I agreed. Knowing next to nothing of Indian culture before I joined the company, I was substantially trepidatious on how I would be received when that information, pardon the pun, came out. Look, the time of me being willing to hide my sexuality is long gone. I couldn’t pretend if I tried. But similarly, my days of wearing it like a political badge are also in my rear-view. In many ways, that’s the best possible news. I would like to think that those at Stonewall would have welcomed the day when being gay was a thing, but not the thing. As a gay man working in American business, I have long wondered how impeded I have been by the dim views of gay people held by those that run the country (and more speci�ically the companies for which I’ve worked). Other times, there was no need to wonder. It was right there in front of me. Diversity programs aside, hearts and minds still lag behind in the corner of�ices of many American companies. Yet here I am working for a company half a world away, in a country that is religiously-connected by de�inition
and history, as well male-driven and patriarchal to say the very least. Some would use the word ‘machismo,’ and you see it all around: In their mass media. In the different attitudes and dress of men and women. In their religion(s). And me? I am just as out here as I ever was. I talk about my partner and make no attempt to disguise his gender. When I �irst joined, I’d scan faces (or tones on the phone) for a negative reaction. But one never came. Turns out, it is a cultural imperative in India that people stay out of one another’s way and
focus on what is in front of them. To them, I’m Ken Kundis, the Head of Marketing for their Americas division. If I am thoughtful in my work relationships and do a good job, I will be lauded and promoted. If I don’t, I’ll be terminated. It’s as simple as that. And as a gay man who has been sniggered about behind my back and surely passed over for opportunity by the straight white men who have managed me in the past, for what more could I possibly ask? The sad part is that I had to �ly 12,000 miles to �ind it. | |
Fabulous Food , Amazing Ambiance
Americans still get a giggle out of gay people it seems.
TAMPA | ST PETE | CLEARWATER SARASOTA | ORLANDO www.ceviche.com FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
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perspective
PUBLISHER’S
U
My Big Gay Online Oscar Party
Tom Dyer TOM@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
NTIL MY THIRTIES I LIVED in a state of high alert.
At the community pool, in high school gym class, in my fraternity house, even out in public or on television, notice of handsome men was furtive and with a practiced air of coincidence. Incriminating books, magazines or videocassettes were hidden away. In 1982, I drove across town to see Making Love so that I’d avoid running into anyone I knew. As I slowly came out, I monitored my coffee table and bookcases, shifting items around for straight friends, family, and especially visiting children. As I made gay friends and grew more comfortable expressing my sexuality, the deception just got more complicated. Like an affair, it was exhausting. But I wasn’t hiding a mistress; I was suppressing my nature—selectively. I’ve proudly published Watermark for the past 18 years, so this burdensome duplicity has long been a thing of the past. But watching the Academy Awards, I was reminded of it in a most unexpected and amusing way. I usually go to a viewing party attended by gay friends with big gay opinions. This year I missed my mom and decided to watch with her. But as Seth McFarlane got deeper into his risky opening monologue I missed my friends’ colorful commentary. So I logged onto Facebook and discovered a big gay-friendly Oscar party online. Present were local comedians Doug Bowser and Jeff Jones, Watermark �ilm critic Stephen Miller, Orlando Weekly columnist Billy Manes and former
Orlando Sentinel contributors Dean Johnson and Scott Joseph, hair stylist and fundraiser Gary Lamber and hundreds more. Some thought McFarlane was charming and hilarious: “I’ve already laughed out loud 20 times!” one posted early into the opening monologue. Others disagreed, un-molli�ied even when McFarlane directed the Los Angeles Gay Men’s Chorus from the Dolby Theatre stage: “One tone-deaf, misogynist, homophobic, anti-Semitic, humorless, mortifying gaffe after another… send the kids to bed.” “Worst. Host. Ever.” “The very existence of Seth McFarlane makes me want to turn off everything.” (Opinions have to be strong to get noticed on Facebook.) Many thought McFarlane hit a low point when he serenaded Oscarwinning actresses with “We Saw Your Boobs.” Ironically, a series of women— Dame Shirley Bassey, Jennifer Hudson, Adele, Barbra Streisand, winners Anne Hathaway and Jennifer Lawrence, and First Lady Michelle Obama—gave the broadcast its most memorable moments. The Facebook party took note: “Dame Shirley Bassey singing ‘Gold�inger’ and giving everyone a lesson on how to take the stage… I’m plotzing!!!” “A rasp in the voice, a breathiness, a little less control, and suddenly ‘The Way We Were’ has a heartbreaking new meaning.” “FLOTUS wins best dress!” Of course, some of the best comments were also the bitchiest: “John Travolta… the next Dracula.” “Kristin Chenoweth looks like a snack for Queen Latifah.” “Barbra… gurrlhh! You look like a Goth Christmas tree topper. Hire a gay stylist and lose the control cause it ain’t workin.” And my favorite, posted during Anne Hathaway’s predictably overwrought acceptance speech: “Are there lots of women getting kicked out of fabric factories and into lives as prostitutes?”… to which someone responded, “Only in Kissimmee.” During the tribute to musicals, one straight ally announced her presence at the Facebook party with a question: “My husband �igures all my gay friends will know… are the singers lip-synching or not?” I shared an opinion, as I had throughout the evening. But the
I drove across town to see Making Love so that I’d avoid running into anyone I knew.
extent to which others might be monitoring the party didn’t fully occur to me until I weighed in during the tribute to James Bond: “Sean Connery… sexiest man… ever,” I typed as images of the handsome, hairy-chested Scot �lashed by on the television screen. Almost immediately there were a dozen or so comments and many more “likes.” Among them were distant cousins and several long-lost friends from high school, college and law school, including a girl I dated. I haven’t spoken to most in years, and never came out to any of them. I’m no expert on the mechanics of Facebook, but I’m pretty sure that
every time I “liked” or commented on anything throughout the Oscar telecast, these innocent interlopers were dropping into my online Oscar party and making acquaintance with all the colorful attendees. After a moment’s consideration, I simply laughed. And I realized this kind of transparency can only be a good thing. There’s no hiding the latest issue of The Advocate, or driving across town, in the online world. Facebook lets you create different groups for different communications and with different access. But why would I? Too exhausting. | |
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TALKING POINTS
Bisexuality does exist.
For over 50 years I never had sex with a male. It wasn’t repressed.
83%
of Americans believe full marriage equality will happen in 5-10 YEARS, regardless of their personal views.
59%
of voters believe denying gays and lesbians the right to marry is discrimination.
—RECORD MOGUL CLIVE DAVIS ON NIGHTLINE DISCUSSING HIS BISEXUALITY.
D.C. IS GAYEST AREA
A
CCORDING TO A JUST-RELEASED 2012 SURVEY FROM GALLUP POLITICS, Washington, D.C., is the gayest territory on American soil. One in 10 residents identify as LGBT and Time calls the city the most gay-friendly area of the country. After D.C., Hawaii had the most respondents identifying LGBT, with 5% of that state’s population identifying as gay. Other states in the Top 5 include Vermont, Oregon, Maine and Rhode Island. Florida falls somewhere in the middle of the pack, but no speci�ic details were mentioned in the study. | |
—A January 2013 poll by Anzalone Liszt Grove Research
THAT’S HUSBANDS, TO YOU!
A
DOCTOR IN CALIFORNIA WASN’T THRILLED WITH THE ASSOCIATED PRESS’ DECISION to refer to married same-sex couples as partners,
rather than “husbands” or “wives.” And he told them so. Dr. Mark Bitgood emailed the AP a detailed letter discussing his marriage to his husband. He
was “frustrated, incredulous and offended” by the AP’s new style guidance. After sharing ways for readers to contact the AP about the change, the organization changed its policy and will use “husbands” and “wives” when describing people of the same sex who are married. | |
PEOPLE ARE TALKING AT WATERMARKONLINE.COM
ON THE BATTLE OVER A GSA IN LAKE COUNTY: “I spent 9 years being bullied, and watching others suffer the same fate in Lake County Schools, by both students and faculty. I urge support for any measure that will help gay lesbian, transgender or questioning students. As a teacher and counselor, I can’t tell you the help it provides
young students, who are bombarded with hate, which they internalize. School should not be a Death Sentence for our children who suffer so much, that they would rather be dead than go to school. I know how they feel!” —RICKYDEE SLEEVER
“I hope they allow the gay straight alliance club! They
TEBOW CANCELS CHURCH GIG
need to get with the times and out of the 1950’s!” —MICHAEL JUDSON STEPHENSON
ON MONTANA’S MOVE TO STRIKE A LAW TECHNICALLY BANNING GAY SEX:
ON THE FLORIDA SENATE COMMITTEE HEARING ON A STATEWIDE DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRY:
“I enacted the same law in my bedroom a few years ago.”
“The church needs to extricate itself from the entire issue. THIS IS NOT ABOUT GAY PEOPLE STORMING THEIR ALTARS. Why in hell can’t they get that through their thick, mitered heads! DAMN !!!”
—JEFF JONES
—JIM CRESCITELLI
A
FTER “LEARNING” ABOUT PASTOR ROBERT JEFFRESS’ LONG HISTORY OF ANTI-GAY AND ANTI-SEMITIC RANTS, Tim Tebow has decided to cancel his April appearance at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Tebow tweeted his revelation earlier this month, and said that he wanted to continue to spread the love of God. He didn’t say speci�ically why he wasn’t appearing at the megachurch, but many speculate it’s because he foresaw the public relations disaster awaiting him in Texas this spring. | |
WATERMARKONLINE.COM POLL DO YOU THINK ORLANDO HAS A CHANCE AT
LANDING THE GAY GAMES?
No, but only because it’s in Cleveland in 2014, and they won’t
choose a U.S. city two games in a row.
30% No - Orlando’s great but we’re up against London and Paris and it’ll go to a more glamorous host city. 15% I didn’t think we had a chance but then I saw that
President Obama endorsed Orlando and now I think it could happen.
15% It’s in the bag! Orlando has
culture, an enthusiastic host committee and the infrastructure already in place.
?
NEXT ISSUE POLL QUESTION: WILL THE LAKE COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT ALLOW THE CREATION OF A GAY STRAIGHT ALLIANCE (GSA)? LET US KNOW AT watermarkonline.com.
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“GOBSMACKING! This new production of this masterpiece is REFRESHING, RETHOUGHT
and every bit as EPIC – NOT TO BE MISSED.” – Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
THE MUSICAL PHENOMENON
Tues, Mar 5 - Fri, Mar 8 • 8pm Sat, Mar 9 • 2pm & 8pm Sun, Mar 10 • 1:30pm & 7pm
TICKETS! 941.953.3368 OR VANWEZEL.ORG Locally sponsored by Wilde Lexus of Sarasota • ABC 7
Box Office Mon-Fri 10am-6pm • Sat 10am-4pm • Open Later and Sunday on Show Dates Mattison’s Bayside at the Van Wezel dine before the show 941.921.3400 Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall • Group Sales 941.955.7676 x2225 777 N. Tamiami Tr. Sarasota 34236 • Performers, prices, dates and time are subject to change without notice
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TM © 1986 CMOL
A brand new 25th anniversary production of the legendary musical, Les Misérables, with glorious new staging and dazzlingly reimagined scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo.
Photo by Michael Cairns
ARTS &
ENTERTAINMENT
THE IMPORTANCE of
“Z”
MATTHEW MCGEE’S ONE MAN SHOW, “MATTHEW WITH A ‘Z’” IS INSPIRED BY LIZA HERSELF
C
Steve Blanchard EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
LEARWATER | WHEN YOU MIX THE
legendary qualities of Liza Minnelli, the southern, folksy charm of Paula Deen and the insanity of Honey Boo Boo Child, you get Matthew McGee. At least, that’s what he believes. The popular Tampa Bay actor, comedian and performer shares the roots of his comic genius in his one-man show, hysterically titled, Matthew With a Z, at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Clearwater on March 2. “I found when I was writing that I could weave a lot of my personal stories with stories about Liza,” McGee says. “I’ve met her before and I’ve seen her live. I’ve even chatted with her
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backstage. There seems to be this funny connection even though we are obviously worlds apart.” McGee says that his childhood was much like any other young boy’s growing up in rural Georgia. His veterinarian father and beauty queen mother are also credited for his performances, he says. “In the show I talk about how all kids get in trouble for playing their music too loud,” he laughs.
Continued on page 44 | |
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SPRING AWAKENING
A Theatre UCF Production
Book and lyrics by Steven Sater Music by Duncan Sheik
March 21-30 An adaptation of a once scandalous 1800s play by Frank Wedekind, this poignant and powerful musical follows a group of German innocents as they journey from youth to adulthood. The production contains a dynamic rock score, mature themes, and is not suitable for young audiences.
407-823-1500 | www.theatre.ucf.edu
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Bruce Willis is not having A Good Day…
A Good Day to Die Hard
Beautiful Creatures
Starring Bruce Willis, Jai Courtney
Starring Alden Ehrenreich, Alice Englert, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, Viola Davis
P
ERHAPS I SHOULD BE MORE LENIENT, BECAUSE I ENJOY ELABORATE CHASE SCENES,
DOC VERSUS DOC: Jude Law and Catherine Zeta-Jones in Side Effects.
Screened Out MOVIE REVIEWS
Meds, Magic and Mayhem, Oh My! Side Effects Starring Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones
“Y
the end!” This is what friends say when a movie has odd plot twists. They also say it when the �ilm is uneven or purposefully misleading.
Stephen Miller
The psychological thriller Side Effects may include these qualities, plus confusion, lethargy, suspense, violence, melodrama, doublecrosses, and a whole list of other symptoms. Mara is a onetime upper-class wife who is distraught over husband Tatum’s jail time for insider trading. After Tatum is released, Mara is so selfdestructive that psychiatrist Law prescribes meds. As different drugs seem to destroy Mara’s consciousness and mental state, Law �inds that Mara’s been seeing another doctor (Zeta-Jones) for years. The docs try to help Mara as she becomes more despondent and dangerous, to STEPHEN@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
OU HAVE TO STAY UNTIL
herself and to others around her. The �irst scene tells us there is going to be bloodshed. So this is a mystery, but whether it’s about pharmacology business, Mara’s marriage, or something else entirely isn’t settled until very late in the �ilm. Director Steven Soderbergh (Traf�ic, the Ocean’s �ilms) is very skilled. He’s worked with most of these actors before. He’s announced this is his last cinematic full-length �ilm. (He plans to retire at 50, after HBO shows his Liberace biopic.) Is it good? Mostly, even with stumbles, tangents and misdirection—just think of it as a meandering melodrama. Is it worth seeing? Sure, just give your brain and the �ilm the �irst hour to get used to each other. | |
Alden Ehrenreich and Alice Englert in Beautiful Creatures.
T
WO TEENS—A SUPERNATURAL AND A MORTAL—FALL IN LOVE. No, it’s not Twilight
40-car pile-ups, and extraneous explosions as much as the next guy. (thankfully). It’s a witch (Englert) and However, the Die Hard franchise a Southern charmer (Ehrenreich). At makes millions worldwide. They �irst, Beautiful Creatures doesn’t linger could’ve afforded a better script in languid love poetry, knowing the and director. This �ifth installment trick is to entertain audiences. replaces wit and sardonic humor Witchy Englert is turning sweet with violence interrupted by fake sixteen, the time when all “casters” “touching” moments. Yuck. discover if they’re good or evil. She is The plot: Bruce Willis goes to Russia also very powerful. Her transformation to �ind his son. (Remember brings about the culmination of the wimpy kid from the a 250-year curse born on a Civil third �ilm?) Hunky progeny RATINGS GUIDE War battle�ield. Ehrenreich is Courtney is embroiled in a the handsome, young man who scandal involving a Russian beguiles her heart, and vice politician, an entrepreneur, and versa. Along for the magical See it now! Buy Chernobyl. What follows are carpet ride are some wicked the DVD! Quote chase scenes, wrecked cars, and good family members lines at parties! extensive weaponry, and things (Irons and Thompson). that go boom. That’s it. This is adapted from a teen Definitely worth The dialogue is horribly novel, helmed by screenwriter/ the price of hackneyed. The action is often director Richard LaGravenese. admission shot with handheld digital He once was a legend (The shaky enough to induce motion Fisher King, The Horse It’s useful as a sickness. The plot makes Whisperer). His wizardry with distraction massive leaps—apparently the dialogue shows early on with CIA cares about uranium, and Southern Gothic humor. The then they don’t. Fickle CIA! cast seems to have a blast. Maybe if someone else pays and you I don’t know who deserves Then there are the need a nap the most blame here. Director problems. The �ilm quits John Moore (Behind Enemy being fun halfway through. Lines, Max Payne) simply has Ehrenreich’s narration—so Slightly worse lousy taste in scripts. Also, wonderful in the beginning— than eternal his camera work is so wildly disappears altogether. What damnation inconsistent, it feels like several does hard-drinking, sexist �ilms mashed together. Writer Skip poet Charles Bukowski have to do with Woods (Wolverine, Hitman) can write any of this? The adults are humorless. action but is clueless about humans. Relationships—between the boy and Isn’t Willis’ iconic character supposed his absent father, between the witch to be funny? I laughed twice. Willis and her family—seem mere illusions. is an executive producer here, and I sat there thinking of a dozen small without him, there is no Die Hard �ilm. ways this brief entertainment could He seems primarily concerned with be better, tighter and more magical. getting a paycheck. Time to let this After the sleight was performed, franchise die. | | I thought, “Nice trick, but I’m not entirely charmed.” | |
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LISTEN UP: GSHRadio hosts Gregory Henchar (left) and Victor Lopez (right) flank guest and Trans*Action Florida executive director Michael Keeffe outside of their GSHRadio studio at the Flamingo Resort. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD
Rainbow
connection RADIO
With GSHRadio and Rainbow411, activism and education have a world-wide platform.
S
Christine Hawes CHRISTINE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM
ARASOTA | GREGORY HENCHAR IS
still shook up by what he experienced in November: the owner of a shop where he was making a sales call pointed a gun at him. While the shop owner later claimed he was “just joking,” Henchar attributes the odd encounter to his status as the wide-open co-founder of Rainbow411, a website devoted to publicizing gay-friendly
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events, groups and businesses, and of GHSRadio, an internet radio station broadcasting out of St. Petersburg’s Flamingo Resort. “I never dreamed I would walk into a place of business and have someone point a
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gun at me,” Henchar says. “I’ve been called names before, but nothing like this.” The incident was the �irst time Henchar felt his safety was threatened. But the importance of providing security in a society still littered with pockets of homophobia has been a motivation for Henchar and his partner, Victor Lopez, ever since they �irst moved to the Bradenton area in 2008. “The number one keyword search on Rainbow411 is for ‘contractors,’ “ says Lopez, who
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founded the website and radio station with Henchar. “People want to know they have a safe business to call, especially when it comes to businesses they invite into their homes.” Rainbow411, founded in 2010, mainly serves Orlando, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay and the Sarasota/Bradenton area. But it’s about to expand to Lakeland and Jacksonville and is eyeing several key South Florida markets. Long-term, Henchar and Lopez hope to build even stronger ties in less urban markets, where �inding gay-friendly businesses can be a challenge. “We’ve realized that smaller cities like Melbourne and Port Charlotte need our assistance just as much if not more,” Lopez says. “They don’t have any help in places like that.” GSHRadio, meanwhile, is gradually building a worldwide audience but has a modest line-up today of eight shows. Also founded in 2010, the internet station has con�irmed listeners in not only the United States but also Australia, the United Kingdom, Costa Rica, Peru, Germany, South Africa, China and Czechoslavakia. Its audience is impossible
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to estimate, given that most listeners catch up with the shows through podcasts. The station broadcasts dance music 24 hours a day in between its talk shows, which include “The Rainbow Hour,” hosted by Henchar, Lopez and Watemrark editor Steve Blanchard. That show, and several others, focus on the LGBT nightlife, the leather community, the Flamingo Resort, current affairs and drag queens. Henchar and Lopez both know what it’s like to be stuck in environments that are either hostile to, or suspicious of, homosexuals. Lopez spent 20 years in the Navy and was married for several years before he became open about his sexuality; Henchar worked for decades for Dunn & Bradstreet, a company he says openly disapproved of his sexuality. The two met in 1988 at an afterhours gay bar in Virginia Beach. They felt an immediate connection but didn’t actually begin dating until eight months later. They’ve been together, and living openly as gay men, ever since. For Henchar, serving as the sales leader for Rainbow411 and GSHRadio is a chance to both express his love of advertising and ful�ill his self-vision as “another Harvey Milk,” whom he quotes frequently. “I try to be another Harvey Milk,” Henchar says. “I’ve been called an activist, and I’m thankful for that.” One of his pet peeves is hearing
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SAY WHAT?: (R-L) Host Greg Henchar, station manager Todd McIntyre and host Victor Lopez react to co-host Steve Blanchard’s comments during a recent broadcast of The Rainbow Hour on GSHRadio.com. PHOTO BY CHRISTINE HAWES
N. MILLS AVE.
people, mostly straight ones, refer much about our brothers and sisters to being gay as a “lifestyle.” in the LGBT community,” Henchar “I’ve even corrected a newscaster says. “And we’re always open to ideas.” on-air,” he says. “Being gay is not The couple is deeply involved with a lifestyle. It’s not an alternative. ALSO for Gay Youth, a support group Being gay is being born this way.” based in Sarasota. Sue Westcott, Henchar also earned a reputation ALSO’s director, says Henchar and for activism by creating a “$3 bill” Lopez have proven to be pivotal years ago as part of a movement volunteers in addition to patrons. to object to the Salvation Army “They are absolutely a pleasure to refusing gay clients. work with,” she says. By contrast, Lopez “They give us a lot of does not consider inside advice even himself an activist though they don’t and prefers to operate have to. They’re great behind the scenes. sponsors and downHis duties with to-earth supporters Rainbow411 and and volunteers.” GSHRadio are mostly Chris Rudisill, gathering content and director of LGBT interviewing subjects. Services at But he joins St. Petersburg’s Henchar on the Metro Wellness air for GSHRadio’s and Community signature talk show Center, says Henchar “The Rainbow Hour,” and Lopez are which airs live at 3 providing pivotal p.m. Wednesdays. services in today’s —GREG HENCHAR Lopez tends to digitized world. ask the more poignant questions, “In a time when the virality of while Henchar’s role is more geared one’s message is key, the potential to toward humor and sarcasm. get your message out to the masses Recent guests included Ashley is key, and online radio provides that Broadway, wife of a decorated platform,” Rudisill says “It’s great female general, who was banned hearing the diversity of our very from her area’s support group own community online each week.” for spouses of of�icers; Gabrielle For more information on Shullruff, who is leading an effort Rainbow411, visit Rainbow411.com. to attract the 2018 Gay Games to To listen to “The Rainbow Hour” Orlando; and Richard Smith, who and other shows on GSH Radio, visit owns a solar company in Orlando. GSHRadio.com. There listeners can “By opening up and having ‘The hear live broadcasts or download Rainbow Hour,’ we have learned so podcasts through its archive. | |
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FOUR OUT OF FIVE DENTISTS AGREE: He’s My Brother She’s My Sister gets ready for a gig in St. Louis. Mo.
Sibling
revelry MUSIC
Oliver Newell is out among He’s My Brother She’s My Sister
O
Gregg Shapiro GREGSHAPIRO@AOL.COM
LIVER NEWELL, GAY MUSICIAN AND
proud Eagle Scout, plays bass in the band He’s My Brother She’s My Sister, performing Thursday, Feb. 28, at Back Booth in Orlando and Friday, March 1, at Skipper’s Smokehouse in Tampa. HMBSMS is one of the bands, such as the Grammy Awardwinning Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers, working in the neofolk revival genre. The music that HMBSMS makes
is deliriously celebratory and joyous. It’s the gleeful feel-good music of the early 21st century. For a band renowned for their otherworldly and in�initely entertaining live performances,
OLIVER NEWELL: Yes, I do. I’m from Austin, Tex.. I have an older brother living in Austin and a younger sister who has gone out into the world and is living in Australia now. She’s kind of exploring and is part of the Burning Man scene. She’s really good with bikes. She was managing this natural food co-op in Austin. Recently she’s taking to the road and she’s wandering. I’m excited for her. DID YOU EVER PLAY MUSIC WITH YOUR SIBLINGS?
they have managed to capture a delightful energy on their studio album Nobody Dances In This Town (Park The Van). In fact, one listens to songs such as “The Same Old Ground,” “Slow It Down” and “Touch The Lightning” and it’s almost certain that nobody will be able to remain seated. We spoke with Newell shortly before the band headed to Florida. . WATERMARK: ROBERT KOLAR AND RACHEL KOLAR ARE THE BROTHER AND SISTER IN HMBSMS. DO YOU HAVE SIBLINGS?
I have, yes. My brother and I grew up playing music together. He plays guitar and sings. We learned music together. I was doing an orchestral, more formal training in school. But as far as having guitars at home and learning Red Hot Chili Peppers songs and stuff as teenagers, we did that together. For a couple of years, when I �irst moved out to L.A., he was living in L.A. and we had a band together called The Ghost Lullaby. It was his band that I was playing bass in. He relocated back to Austin and we haven’t played together much the past couple of years. It was a really awesome experience for us to travel and be on stage together.
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HOW DID YOU COME TO BE A PART OF THE MUSICAL FAMILY THAT IS HMBSMS?
We have some mutual friends in the East Side L.A. music scene. I had met probably everybody in the group here and there over the �irst couple of years I was in L.A. and knew them very casually. At one point, I did a show with my friend Henry Wolfe (son of Meryl Streep) and we were on the same bill with HMBSMS. I was conducting these arrangements I had done with a string ensemble and Rachel (Kolar) and Lauren (Brown) were working on a play at that time. They used to have a theater company together. They were excited about bringing me in as a composer in their play. That was our initial connection. I ended up doing some light composition for a couple of scenes in the play, as well as my primary role as a dancer in the play. I perform as a dancer as well as play music. LIKE TILLY & THE WALL, HMBSMS FEATURES A TAP DANCER, LAUREN, AS PART OF THE BAND. DO YOU ALSO OWN A PAIR OF TAP SHOES?
That’s actually been a little bit
Continued on page 40 | |
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| | He’s My Brother She’s
My Sister from pg.39
of a dream of mine that I haven’t come across yet. I’ve wanted to play along with her a little more on that level. But no, I don’t own a pair of tap shoes.
THE COVER OF NOBODY DANCES IN THIS TOWN DISC FEATURES THE BAND MEMBERS BRUSHING THEIR TEETH IN A PARKING LOT. IS THIS MEANT TO BE A PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT PROMOTING GOOD DENTAL HYGIENE?
[Laughs] Maybe we hope that it could function that way. [Laughs] The crazy thing about that picture is that it was a totally spontaneous occasion. We were brushing our teeth in St. Louis before a gig and our friend Courtney (Ellis) snapped that shot with her iPhone. We thought it was funny and we kept it. I think that also with the name ‘He’s My Brother She’s My Sister,’ it was funny to have this wholesome activity depicted on the cover. [Laughs]
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Aaron has a psychedelic �lavor with his guitar. He and Rob have more of a rock edge. From where the songs started two years ago to where they are now is quite a journey for the songs. I think it had a lot to do with the energy level and the things we talk about while we are on tour and the experiences we have in the places we go. I think over time that comes in to the music more and more. Moving forward, we have intentions as a group to collaboratively create the new material more. But we’ll see how that comes. I’m a little more drawn to rhythms and arrangements, much less to lyrics and melodies. Especially in this group, I don’t mind the role that I have. I think that Rob and Rachel are both fantastic songwriters. I think the most I have to contribute to the group is what we do on stage.
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR ROLE IN THE BAND’S SONGWRITING PROCESS?
DO YOU THINK THE MEMBERS’ THEATER BACKGROUND MAKES IT A DIFFERENT EXPERIENCE THAN A SHOW WHERE THE BAND JUST STANDS THERE, SINGING AND PLAYING?
I’ve been in the group for just under two years. Most of the material that we’re doing now we’ve been doing for those two years. The songs were intact, but they’ve developed a lot. Aaron (Robinson), the slide guitar player, and I joined at the same time. I like to bring more of a funky side to things. I’m really into dancing and creating an ecstatic experience on stage, which I also think Rachel is in on with me.
I do think that has something to do with it. That, in conjunction with an intention on our parts to want to create a really exciting stage show. Having the theatrical background, which pretty much all of us have to some degree, frees you up as a performer. Maybe there’s a little less inhibition than somebody who’s spent their whole life just playing music. I also think we’re all into
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it is because some of the people who have been more willing to have the courage to face their identities and express who they are to the world at large are people who would naturally have an extra amount of con�idence and an extra expressiveness to offer. Maybe that’s the source of the correlation, I don’t really know. But I de�initely see and feel this change coming. I think you can see it in other realms too, outside of music. HBMSMS SINGS ABOUT “ELECTRIC LOVE” ON THE SONG OF THE SAME NAME. HAVE YOU EVER EXPERIENCED “ELECTRIC LOVE” AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE?
CONTEMPORARY FOLK: from left: Oliver Newell, Robert and Rachel Kolar, Aaron Robinson, and Lauren Brown are He’s My Brother She’s My Sister. style, so we like to experiment and go to exaggerated lengths with our costuming and presentation on that level. Our instruments are all decorated uniquely. My bass is hand-painted bright vibrant colors. Lauren’s drums are sparkling and shimmering and she’s standing and tap dancing. Rob has really awesome out�its, too. Rachel has probably the most exciting style in the band, she has all kinds of unique pieces and she’s very brave how she presents herself. And Aaron is in virtuosic control of his instrument. Everybody in the band has a pretty high level of musical experience and that’s also part of what’s going on. It’s not just all the stuff around the music but the actual music is as exciting as well. We’re improvising, feeding off of each other, interacting with the audience.
FIFTY YEARS AFTER THE FOLK MUSIC SCENE INITIATED BY BOB DYLAN, JOAN BAEZ AND PETER, PAUL AND MARY, HMBSMS IS PART OF A FOLK REVIVAL, ALONG WITH, THE LUMINEERS AND EDWARD SHARPE AND THE MAGNETIC ZEROES, AMONG OTHERS. WHY DO YOU THINK THIS IS HAPPENING NOW?
I think there are a couple of things in there. One might be that the DJ culture is exploding and electronic music is so popular, it’s everywhere, it’s pervasive. I love it, myself. I love dancing to house music, I love all the ideas and engineering techniques that are being developed in the bass music and dubstep worlds. I really admire and enjoy that. But I think that as that emerges there’s a renewed interest in actually seeing people touching instruments and having a more organic music-making experience. Beyond that, I think that it has a little bit to do with, and I hate to use this term, but in the
postmodern world the interest in retro is super-validated. A lot of people are interested in all kinds of movements that have come in the past and reexpressing them in a new way, pulling from different traditions. I de�initely think that we have the sound you’re talking about, this neo-folk revival. We’re pulling a lot of in�luences from The Mamas & The Papas, the Rolling Stones and other groups. There’s also a little bit of a sense of the golden age of folk music and without burning all those records into our minds, it’s fun to participate in that musical tradition, but also adapting it to a contemporary world. I think there are some distinguishable things about what we’re doing that’s different from what people were doing in the ‘50s and ‘60s and ‘70s. But we are using some elements from that time too and we like that aesthetic, for sure.
THESE DAYS, WE ARE SEEING A LOT MORE OPENLY QUEER MUSICIANS PLAYING IN BANDS THAT ARE NOT NECESSARILY QUEER. AS ONE OF THOSE QUEER MUSICIANS, PLEASE COMMENT.
It’s amazing to see this not only in New York and Los Angeles, but in so many other places around the country. Not only do I think that I, and probably also to different degrees some other people in our band having queer identities, I think we’re a very �lamboyant band. [Laughs] Our dancing and our scarves and tight pants [laughs], I think we turn a lot of heads that way. But I feel like even on that level that so many people are excited about that vibrance and that color. It’s not like it’s only the queer community that’s into that kind of thing, but I think the queer community de�initely has a historical correlation to this kind of vibrant living. Maybe part of
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[Laughs] Electrifying! [laughs] I have, yes. Actually, I was just having a conversation about love with a good friend of mine who had dropped the L-bomb, as I call it, in a scienti�ic discussion we were having. We were talking about what he’s calling “the home circuit,” which is this circuit of hormones for the oxytocin that feeds into the serotonin which feeds into the melatonin… I didn’t quite retain all the information. [Laughs] He was talking about how it’s related to love in this sense of connection. When he �irst said love, it’s hard to know what he meant by love because there are so many ideas of what could be. There’s the romantic, person to person love. Then there’s also the expanded spiritual love, love for all beings, love for yourself and love for the universe. If I were to think about “electric love,” I would be more drawn to think about that spiritual love. That feeling of being so engaged and connected by the world around me, which includes some of the people who I love. I think the time I feel that the most is when I’m on the dance �loor, feeling absolutely free to engage with people and for them to engage with me and to be inside the music; letting my body unfold in these movements that I’m less than conscious of. To me, that’s where I’d say my electric love is. | |
MORE INFORMATION
WHO: He’s My Brother She’s My Sister WHERE: Feb. 28 at Back Booth, Orlando; March 1 at Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa INFO: HesMyBrotherShesMySister.com
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This show is about the decisions we make and how fabulous we want to be. —MATTHEW MCGEE
CHANNELLING LIZA: In Matthew with a Z, Matthew McGee incorporates stories from his childhood, impressions of celebrities and musical numbers to create a 90-minute stand-up routine at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Clearwater March. 2.
| | Mathew McGee from pg.31
“For me, my dad comes to the door and yells, ‘Turn off those God damn Liza Minnelli albums!’ He laughs at that to this day. Good friends would always tell me their parents would tell them to turn off that ‘rock-n-roll crap.’ My sin was Liza at Carnegie Hall.” McGee used his Baptist upbringing and his reputation as “the kid who loved Liza Minnelli” to explore music and performance. He discovered fairy tales and 40s women’s pictures early in his youth and actually taught himself the meaning of “camp performance.” It’s not like he had a lot of opportunities for others to teach him the art of “camp” in his home town. “Every Saturday the thing to do in my town was to go hunting,” McGee says. “You can imagine me going out there. It’s hysterical! They were very puzzled by me but it was never a negative thing. They just didn’t know what I would end up doing. “
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Last spring, McGee played Dr. Frank N Furter in American Stage’s Rocky Horror Show. He received critical acclaim for his portrayal of the iconic character, but he’s most proud of his mother’s response. “It’s so funny to have your mom proud that you played a transvestite and a mad scientist,” he says.
NOT HIS FIRST TIME
Obviously, McGee is no stranger to the theater. He has played roles in theaters on both sides of the bay and has done voiceovers and commercials. Last summer he brought audiences to their knees with his portrayal as “The Wicked Witch” in A Wizard of Oz, bene�itting the Suncoast AIDS Theater. He’s even presented his oneman show before at freeFall Theatre in St. Petersburg. The “favor” he did for the company made him research comedy and his own history. “I prefer plays and musicals where I play characters,” McGee admits. “So I didn’t know what to think about freeFall’s request. I popped in my Elaine Stritch at
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Liberty DVD and watched her tell personal stories. While I’m not comparing myself to her, I thought of several funny stories that I’ve experienced in my life.” McGee mixes music into his show to accompany his stories. A band, led by Sam Collins, follow him in his renditions of Liza classics and some more modern songs. Of course, McGee’s versions are unlike any his audience has heard before. There are more than a dozen songs in the 90-minute show, including some big showstoppers, according to McGee. “I learned a lot from watching Stritch and, of course, Liza,” McGee says. “When Liza’s up on stage it’s not one moment. She �ills the audience with an experience. I want to do that.” This presentation of Matthew With A Z is a little different than the one he created for freeFall, McGee says. He brought in a new arranger and he rewrote a majority of the material. So for those who saw his one-man show before, his updated version will be a new experience. “Some things really worked
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and I expanded on those,” he says. “There are new stories, new jokes and, of course, plenty of new songs.” One segment of his show, McGee says, focuses on songs that Minnelli should have recorded. Without revealing too much, he suggests imagining the great diva herself singing a Justin Bieber hit. “It’s insane, imagining Liza selling some of these hits—it’s hilarious,” McGee says. “I also sing songs that I just love and I give the crowd some La Cage Aux Folles, of course.”
STOIC ON STAGE
With so many years of experience as a performer, McGee rarely gets nervous before a performance. He admits, however, that a one-man show is much different than a production with a full cast. “A one-man show brings out anything that can happen,” he says. “There’s a sense of being nervous that everyone is coming out just to see you. But I give them the show in that self-depricating way and I sweat it out up there.” While the experience is nervewracking, McGee says that friends
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who have seen his one-man show and stand-up in the past say he looks free and relaxed. “Obviously they didn’t know what was going on in my head,” he laughs. “There is no time to go off stage and let someone else do the heavy lifting. You have to keep people entertained for 90 minutes. But I enjoy that.” And making the audience enjoy 90 minutes of him is a challenge to which McGee looks forward. “I think people will see the show, nod at the recognition of those things we all experienced when we were younger, and laugh,” he says. “The road to where I am today wasn’t really that rough, but it was still pretty funny. There are many hilariously socially unacceptable things that I did in that southern town, and I’m ready to share those with the audience.” While Matthew With A Z is a one-night only performance for the Capitol Theater, it likely won’t be the last time McGee will perform his original material. In fact, he’s already plotting how he will revamp his newest incarnation of the show for the third go-around sometime in the future. “My big dream is to do this again and get bigger and bigger each time with a huge Bollywood �inale,” McGee laughs. “I want to keep building it so I can do the �inale I want because that would be a scream.” But for now, audiences will hear his take on classic songs, his impersonations and stories of the people who helped shape McGee into the person he is today. “I’ve always been around amazing people,” he says. “To me there’s nothing funnier than my grandfather calling gays ‘homosectionals’ like we’re part of a sofa.” And it’s relatable gems like that which has McGee excited about his latest project. “I will just have to make sure I have plenty of water nearby,” he says. “I don’t want to be like Marco Rubio and have to reach over to far for it. If I can swing that I’ll be okay.” | |
MORE INFORMATION
WHAT: Matthew With A Z WHO: Matthew McGee WHEN: Saturday, March 2 WHERE: Capitol Theatre, Clearwater TICKETS: RuthEckerdHall.com
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ARTS &
ENTERTAINMENT EVENT PLANNER
QUICK PICKS Orlando Boylesque: Sensuality N Motion
Les Miserables
MARCH 2, 9, 26 Footlight Theatre 407-496-4253 Wanzie.com
Clearwater The Producers
MARCH 1-17 Eight O’Clock Theatre 727-587-6751 EightOclockTheatre.com
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For more events or to submit your upcoming show, concert or performance, visit
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T
SARASOTA
HE MUSICAL LES MISERABLES IS
as popular as ever, thanks in part to the success of its renaissance from Hollywood late last year. But the new touring production is much different, and it has been updated and re-invented in its 25th year.
J
TAMPA Bon Jovi
ON BON JOVI HAS ATTRACTED LEGIONS OF GAY FANS FOR DECADES. It could be because of his rocking voice, his group’s familiar songs or maybe his incredibly handsome features. But most of his gay fans �lock to him for his views on marriage equality and equal rights for LGBTs around the world. He even released a single that he dedicated to gay and lesbian fans. Bon Jovi brings his Because
We Can tour to the Tampa Bay Times Forum on Friday, March 1, and expect a diverse crowd from all corners of life. The last time the rock group performed in Tampa, it attracted a protest from the Westboro Baptist Church, so you know this is a group the LGBT community can remain behind! Tickets are available at TampaBayTimesForum.com or by calling the box of�ice at 813-301-2500. | |
Les Misérables is now the world’s longest-running musical, seen by over 60 million people in 42 countries. The story of former prisoner Jean Valjean’s quest for freedom against the backdrop of the French Revolution continues to amass acclaim around the world. The United States tour stops in Sarasota’s
T
ORLANDO Wicked
HE WITCHES OF OZ ARE BACK IN FLORIDA with another tour stop of Wicked at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Centre Feb. 20-March 10. If it sounds familiar, it is. The tour was in Tampa in January. The Broadway smash tells the story of Glinda the Good and the Wicked Witch of the West, and their relationship before that annoying girl from Kansas landed in Munchkinland. The phenomenon has broken box
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Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall March 5-10. The updated version has familiar songs but a faster pace, according to its producers. So even if you’ve seen the show live before, the 25th anniversary edition will have a new feel. For tickets and information, visit VanWezel. org or call 941-953-3368. | |
of�ice records on Broadway and its touring counterpart has done the same. The musical is the winner of 35 major awards, including a Grammy and three Tony Awards. It’s also a favorite among LGBTs, since the story discusses misperceptions and how a majority of people deal with things they don’t quite understand. For tickets and information, call 407-849-2577 or visit TicketMaster.com. | |
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ShotonSite
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Tampa Bay
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1- DINNER AND MOVIES: In preparation for the Academy Awards broadcast, friends prepare to order dinner at The Flamingo Resort Feb. 24. PHOTO COURTESY TINKERFLUFF.COM 2- REUNITE!: Tiffani Middlesexx, second from right, reunited with her Rene’s Club and Cabaret castmates during a reunion show at Bradley’s on 7th in Ybor City on Feb. 16. PHOTO COURTESY CARRIE WEST
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3-SEEING RED: Dana Daniel Black, center, is proud to be arm candy during the Lady in Red Sweetheart dance at the Largo Community Center Feb. 16. PHOTO COURTESY PROSUZY.COM
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4- HOT STUFF: Hunter Vance struts his stuff at The Flamingo Resort on Oscar night. PHOTO COURTESY TINKERFLUFF.COM 5- WAX ON, WAX OFF: The “Wax Divas” were patrolling the Flamingo Feb. 24, offering samples of their work. PHOTO COURTESY TINKERFLUFF.COM 6- READY FOR CLOSEUPS: Friends gathered at Georgie’s Alibi in St. Petersburg to watch the Academy Awards on Feb. 24. PHOTO COURTESY TINKERFLUFF.COM 7- NEW CONNECTIONS: Nearly 60 people attended the Feb. 13 Watermark Wednesday at Ceviche in South Tampa and Denise Milligan, center, won two raffle prizes. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD 8- R&R: Members of the Fort Lauderdale D-List get in some R&R after Round Robin play at the Greco Softball Complex in Tampa during the Gasparilla Softball Classic Feb. 16. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD
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OVERHEARD YOGURT AND DJS— ONLY IN YBOR
F
ILE THIS ONE UNDER THE “ONLY IN YBOR” CATEGORY. It looks like a brand new Yo Boys Frozen Yogurt shop scheduled to open in early March immediately �it into the party atmosphere of Tampa’s historic district will feature live music and DJs to accompany its free yogurt giveaways. The small business is owned by three brothers from New Jersey and the Ybor location will be their second store front within one year. More locations could open throughout Hillsborough and Pinellas counties in the not-too distant future, according to the brothers. The festive atmosphere
is apparently a way of life for the Yo Boys shop. Free wi�i, open mic nights, contests and a hip/ trendy design are all part of the plan for the new healthy dessert and snack shop. Check out YoBoys.com for updates or �ind them on Facebook.
‘THE SAINT’ IS MARCHING IN ST. PETE
A
RATHER IMPRESSIVE CROWD GATHERED INSIDE ST. PETERSBURG’S NEWEST LGBT DANCE CLUB ON FEB. 16 when The Saint debuted its dance party at Club 1 South on First Avenue South. The Thursday and Saturday dance party, created by the
guys at Liquid Tampa and The Legendary Factory, featured superstar Nina Flowers at its grand opening event. The impressive space, located at 1833 1st Ave. S., is destined to be the home of future performances of well known DJs, entertainers and drag performers. For more information on the new night time dance party, visit ClubTheSaint on Facebook.
BLAST FROM THE PAST
B
RADLEY’S ON 7TH BECAME HOME TO AN AMAZING REUNION OF SORTS for those who remember Rene’s Club Cabaret in Tampa. The popular club on Kennedy Boulevard at
one time had a stage area for drag performances, featuring headliner Tiffani Middlesexx, three large bars and even a swimming pool! According to Carrie West, the club was named after its owner, Rene Rodrigues, who loved drag and club kids. In Mid-February, Middlesexx reunited with her fans and former showgirls from that era when Joey Brooks presented them at Bradley’s. The all-star cast included Esme Russell, Dana Douglas, Apple Love and, of course, Brooks herself.
NIBBLING AT PRIDE
I
T’S THAT TIME OF YEAR AGAIN! A TASTE OF PRIDE RETURNS TO THE DALI
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MUSEUM on Saturday, March 9, and organizers are expecting a larger than ever turn out. Last year the event sold out before the doors opened and featured restaurants from both sides of the bay. You can bet a similar experience at this year’s Pride fundraiser. More than 10 restaurants will showcase their food and the money helps fund St. Pete Pride’s new community grant program. We’re hoping those still sticking with New Year’s diet resolutions will give themselves that night of too indulge just a little bit. The fun starts at 7 p.m. and tickets are available at StPetePride.com. | |
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ORLANDO
1- CHECK, PLEASE: Three ambassadors from Savoy present The GLBT Center Board of Directors vice president Eric Suarez with a $2,700 donation. Also pictured is Center executive director Randy Stephens, in blue. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTER 2- CRANKING TUNES: Michael Fargnoli, left, and Kyle Bodshaug of Hadley’s Hope rock out at House Of Blues for the Orlando Rocks concert Feb. 22. PHOTO BY JOANNA SEMSY 3- OSCAR-WORTHY: (R-L) Peter Pena and Gehrard Barnard pose with Erik Caban, who hosted an Oscar party at the home he shares with his partner, Norm Gentry (not pictured). PHOTO BY TOMMY MURPHY
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4- SHOWING STRIPES: Samantha McHarg and Sophia Rayam, outreach counselor, man the Zebra Coalition table at the 2013 Adolescent Conference Feb. 19–20 at The Florida Hotel & Conference Center. PHOTO BY DEXTER FOXWORTH 5- TRY ‘EM: Attendees enjoy treats from Rapsodic Bakery at Watermark’s Third Thursday networking social, Feb. 21 at SteelHouse Orlando. PHOTO BY EMILY BENEDIT 6- HEY, BUDDY: Orlando arts supporter Deborah Simpson hangs out with Buddy Holly, played by Andy Matchett, after The Buddy Holly Story Jan. 26 at the Sonnetag Theatre in Mt. Dora. PHOTO BY WHITNEY
ABELL
7- GAYS OF OUR LIVES: Watermark contributor Kirk Hartlage, right, meets with Casey Deidrick, who plays “Chad” on NBC’s Days of our Lives. PHOTO BY NEDA NADERI 8- CREATIVE MARKETING: Hammered Lamb owner Jason Lambert finds a way to increase his profit margin at the grand opening weekend of the Ivanhoe Village bar, Feb. 23. PHOTO BY PETE GOGAN
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OVERHEARD POWERFUL PINK
W
HILE MOST OF THE GUYS WERE GLUED TO OSCAR ON SUNDAY NIGHT, THE GALS DESCENDED ON AMWAY ARENA for a soldout Pink concert. And it appears with this tour the stunningly athletic singer has entered super-stardom. For opening number “Raise Your Glass,” Pink demonstrated that she has charisma—even when dangling upside down. And for her latest hit, the powerful anthem “Try,” she began suspended in a harness above the ecstatic audience. Reviews were glowing. “Pink was amazing… and I’m spent,” Sue-Bee Laginess posted on Facebook immediately after the
show. “It was nice to see every girl I know—and every gay boy—in one place!”
PAINT THE TOWN DEAD
B
EGINNING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 28 MADAME PEEVIRA OF ORLANDO FRINGE FAME WILL HOST HER OWN GHOULISH TAKE on Elvira’s Movie Macabre. “Night of the Living Queen,” a weekly horror drag show at Hammerheads Beer & Wine, will feature deadly drag, campy horror-ible �ilms and special contests. This month, Madame P will screen the original black and white classic Night of the Living Dead. Along with
special performances, there will also be a zombie costume contest! For more info on this cinema carnage, visit facebook. com/madamepeevira
BROKEBACK GOES BROADWAY
T
HE SECOND EDITION OF “BROKEBACK MARY’S AT CHEYENNE SALOON” ON FEB. 17 was a huge success. Attendance doubled to around 450 people, and the extravagant Broadway performances had the audience raining money for Orlando’s effort to host the 2018 Gay Games. The Minx and Watermark WAVE winner Ginger Minj hosted
this fundraiser. Fellow WAVE winner Chrysanthemum offered a crowd-pleasing rendition of Jessica Lange’s “The Name Game” from the American Horror Story: Asylum TV series. This past Dec. 30, Hamburger Mary’s Orlando owners Mike Rogier and John Paonessa opened the historic locale for a night of larger-thanlife production numbers followed by a street dance. After number two, the plan is to make it a regular monthly event.
LOCAL ARTISTS MAKE GOOD
D
AWN ROSENDAHL AND BRENDAN O’CONNOR RECEIVED TWO OF JUST
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EIGHTEEN COVETED ARTIST DEVELOPMENT GRANTS from United Arts of Central Florida. The winners, announced earlier this week, were chosen from more than 50 applicants. Rosendahl worked as an artist at Disney before opening a scenic design studio with partner Cheryl Turner. She is a sculptor and painter, and currently has a show at the City Arts Factory. O’Connor is also a painter, sculptor and all-around creative guy. He’s responsible for the eclectic chairs that pop up at bus stops throughout Orlando, and for many of the whimsically painted electrical boxes. He lives with partner Scottie Campbell in the Mills 50 District. | |
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PROUD WINNER: Orlando entertainer Michael Wanzie, shown here with one of his WAVE Awards last November, celebrates a birthday March. 6. PHOTO COURTESY HAZEL JANDICK
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CHANGE-OF-LIFE COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Milestones Orlando restaurant wunderkind Jeremy Indomenico and Watermark ad sales rep Don Williams celebrate their 12th anniversary on March 14. Orlando’s Metropolitan Business Association held its first general meeting in 1992 and turns 21 on March 12. BarCodes Orlando celebrates four years in business on March 5. The 29th anniversary of Southern Nights will be marked with a week of celebrations at Revolution March 4-9.
Local Birthdays Joy MCC pastor Lisa Heilig (March 2); Tampa Bay singer and comedian Judy B. Goode, Sarasota resident and activist Mark Kidd, Club Orlando attendant Arthur Adams, Tampa mama to twins and lactation counselor Patty Cannon (Mar. 4); Orlando playwright, actor, columnist, bingo caller and rabblerouser extraordinaire Michael Wanzie, Rollins College theater director Thomas Ouellette (March 6); Tampa Bay fashionista Robert Chmura-Pappadeas, Tampa Bay political
expert Randy Smith, handsome Tampa Bay bear David Sparks (March 7); psychologist and co-owner of E.M. & Voss Solutions Event and Wedding Services, Eric Muenks (March 8); St. Pete mail carrier Derek Wilkins, Sarasota woman about town Misty Smeltzer, Clearwater psychiatry practice manager and USF Economics student Jacob Hamm (March 9); Halcyon singer/songwriter Deb Hunseder, Tampa Bay licensed mental health counselor Blake Williamson (March 10); smooth-pated O-Town actor Kevin Kelly, straight-but-notnarrow Orlando WAVE-winning activist/arts supporter Margo Dixon, Orlando Sentinel art columnist Terry Hummel, Orlando hubby to Ron Ellstrom-Oliver, Jeff Ellstrom-Oliver, Tampa Bay Times account manager Don Kiciena Jr., crafty lady by day, derby girl by night Heather Ranier; muscular Dunedin Dentist Mike Hopkins (March 11); Mr. Florida Gay Rodeo Association 2010 Todd Garrett (March 12); Tampa muscle stud and Pensacola native Danny Watson, Orlando Hamburger Mary’s co-owner John Paonessa (March 13); Largo’s Christopher Street bartender Mitch Demmons, ConceptBait Tampa Bay director of sales and rentals Tim Thompson (March 14); Tampa nutritional biochemist Debra Roche, St. Petersburg legal assistant and partner to St. Petersburg City Councilman Steve Kornell, Bobby Poth (March 15).
Are you making a Transition? Having a birthday or anniversary? Did you get a new job or promotion? See your news in Watermark! Send your Transition to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com or go to WatermarkOnline.com/Submit-a-Transition - it’s that easy!
FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
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Do This! SAGE ADVICE FROM ‘THE TRUTH’ Friends and Lovers DEAR TRUTH,
M
Y GIRLFRIEND, MONICA, AND I ARE BACK TOGETHER after a very emotional, very public breakup. We’re happy and very much in love, and closer after resolving some dif�icult issues. But the reaction of our friends— mostly members of our softball league— ranges from awkward to downright hostile. Monica cheated on me with a member of our team, and my friends— formerly hers, too—can’t believe I’ve forgiven her and taken her back. It hasn’t been easy for Monica and me to get back to normal, and this “big chill” is making it more dif�icult. I know time will �ix a lot of this, and that our friends will eventually trust us as a couple, but do you have any suggestions for speeding up the process? I really want things to get back to normal with our friends. —Resilient Rita
DEAR TRUTH,
M
Y BEST FRIENDS JUST GOT MARRIED IN NEW YORK. One is an unapologetic player, the other mostly puts up with it. They’ve been together for three years, so I guess that dynamic works. But at the reception the player picked up one of the bartenders and they had a threeway on their wedding night. I know this hurt his partner, I think the marriage is a sham, and I see nothing but pain and heartbreak in the future. For me, it sucked all the joy— and meaning—out of seeing them pledge their devotion. It’s been a couple weeks, we’re back in Tampa, and I still feel awkward around them. I want to say something, but my opinion hasn’t been solicited and I know it’s none of my business. What should I do? —Not a Butinsky
Real love will survive a detour if both parties want it to.
Dear Rebound Rita, You haven’t asked for advice on your relationship, so I won’t venture there. Well, other than to say congratulations for realizing that people can make mistakes and learn from them, and that real love will survive a detour if both parties want it to and are honest about their intentions. That’s a lesson too few couples ever learn, and your perseverance and resolve is impressive. I also applaud you for acknowledging that your real friends will eventually come around, and that this is about trust. They likely endured some dramatic ups and downs with you and don’t want to go through it again. My advice: take your most mature friend aside and ask for her help in shoring up support from the gang. Then let it go. Here comes the Truth: only time will heal this group wound. When the two of you are still together years from now, hostility will be replaced with envy. And the only two that need to worry about happiness in your relationship is the two of you.
Dear Butinsky, The Truth is tempted to say ‘Shut the hell up and get on with your life,’ but he is not without sympathy. You �lew up to New York, invested time, money and emotional support, and now you feel like it was a grab for attention by two friends—or at least one—who just want to party. Was the New York trip a revelation to you? If not, then you’re somewhat complicit in the charade. Here comes the Truth: you’re discomfort is not about them, it’s about you. You feel like you’re being asked to play along with a game of which you disapprove. Unless asked, their relationship is none of your business and, from all appearances here, they haven’t asked. But that doesn’t mean you have to completely hold your tongue. But the only way to get the choke out of your throat is to tell them how you feel, and only as it relates to you. Or cut them loose. If you choose that path, be prepared for a defensive response and a few months of adjusting to the new dynamic. | |
FEB. 28 - MAR. 13, 2013 // ISSUE 20.05
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counselor
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financial services Life Planning for the Alternative Family Headed by Michael Wallman, Wallman Financial helps individuals and couples secure their fi nancial plans.
Michael Wallman specializes in Comprehensive Financial Planning for the LGBT community and is the founder of the “Life Planning for the Alternative Family” Seminar Series. Michael uses a “Team Approach” to fi nancial planning bringing in professional experts in areas such as Taxation, Insurance, Wills and Trusts, Real Estate, etc. all of whom are well versed in the specific needs of the LGBT community.
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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.
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Wire Report
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PLAY AT THE PLATE: A member of Bill’s Bombers of Fort Lauderdale runs home while the Nashville Inferno’s catcher waits for a throw during the Gasparilla Softball Classic in Tampa Feb. 16. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD
Tampa teams take Gasparilla titles Staff Report
T
AMPA | Softball teams from Tampa dominated the 19th Annual Gasparilla Softball Tournament the weekend of Feb. 15-17, taking home �irst place trophies in both divisions. In all, 67 teams competed in the annual tournament on the �ields of the Greco softball complex in Tampa and the Woodlawn complex in St. Petersburg. The cooler, windy temperatures made
morning games more challenging than in years past, but rain held off through the weekend as a cold front settled into the area. In the C-Division, the Tampa Beefs fended off the New Orleans Master Batters to take home the �irst place trophy, which meant the Master Batters took the second place title back to Louisiana. Bill’s Blue Crush from Fort Lauderdale �inished third in the division. The newly formed Tampa Ducks edged out fellow Tampa Bay team the Panthers to secure a �irst place
�inish in the D-Division, which had 35 teams competing this year. The Panthers’ second place trophy stayed in Tampa while the third place prize fell to the Madison Big Cheese. There were no other divisions in this year’s Gasparilla Softball Classic. The regular season for the Suncoast Softball League, which puts on the Gasparilla tournament, begins March 3. For more information, visit SuncoastSoftball.org. | |
vilifying gay people. Tebow hinted that the preacher’s history possibly contributed to his decision to remove himself from the church. “While I was looking forward to sharing a message of hope and Christ’s unconditional love with the faithful members of the historic First Baptist Church of Dallas in April,” he tweeted, “due to new information that has been brought to my attention, I have decided to cancel my upcoming
appearance. I will continue to use the platform God has blessed me with to bring Faith, Hope and Love to all those needing a brighter day. Thank you for all of your love and support. God Bless!” Tebow made no speci�ic references to the preacher who has made the homophobic and anti-Semitic statements, but TMZ reported that Tebow realized the negative PR implications of being photographed next to the preacher | |
Tebow cancels speech at anti-gay church Staff Report DALLAS, TEX. | It looks like Tim Tebow won’t be ‘Tebowing” in Dallas after all. The New York Jets quarterback announced on Twitter that he canceled his scheduled April appearance at the First Baptist Church of Dallas. That church’s pastor, Robert Jeffries, is known mostly for his heated, anti-gay sermons and his long history of
ONDON, ENGLAND | Robbie Rogers, a former player for the U.S. national team and the Major League Soccer team Columbus Crew, says he is gay and “could not be happier’’ about his decision to go public with his disclosure. HAPPY TO BE In a post on his personal OUT: Robbie Rogers, website, Rogers writes: ``Life formerly of the Columbus is only complete when your Crew, announced on his website that he “could not loved ones know you. ... Try explaining to your loved ones be happier” about coming after 25 years you are gay.’’ out. PHOTO COURTESY MLS Rogers’ agent, Shaun Higgins, con�irmed to The Associated Press that the post was from his client. Rogers, who linked his Friday post from his Twitter account, said he was retiring. ``It’s time discover myself away from football,’’ he said. “It’s 1 a.m. in London as I write this and I could not be happier with my decision. Life is so full of amazing things. I realized I could only truly enjoy my life once I was honest.’’ The mid�ielder has been receiving an outpouring of support from American teammates, players in England’s professional leagues, soccer of�icials and others around the world. While several major individual-sport athletes have been openly gay, no professional athlete in any of the four major North American team sports has come out until well after he was done playing. U.S. women’s soccer star Megan Rapinoe came out last year before the Olympics and plays for Lyon in France. Rogers played for the Columbus Crew of MLS from 2007 to 2011, winning the MLS Cup in 2008. For the United States, Rogers made 18 appearances, seven in games that were not exhibitions. He scored two goals, one in a CONCACAF Gold Cup match, and another to give the US a draw in an exhibition game against Mexico. Among those tweeting support to Rogers were many U.S. teammates and U.S. women’s players, MLS Commissioner Don Garber, NBA star Steve Nash, Minnesota Vikings punter Chris Kluwe and former England star and broadcaster Gary Lineker. After �ive seasons in MLS, Rogers went to play in England last January. He joined Leeds United, which plays one step below the Premier League. He never really got going with Leeds because of injuries and went on loan to third-division Stevenage for this season. After more injury trouble, he returned to Leeds in January and was released. | |
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Pro soccer player announces he’s gay
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COCKTAIL CHATTER: (L-R) Sam Cooley, John Tonney and Jay Aller chat during the Tampa Gala.
TRUST US: Dwayne Johnson with
Northern Trust accepts a 2013 Equality award.
WHERE’S CHARLIE?: (L-R) Todd Richardson, Nadine Smith and Doug Mcclain strike a pose for equality.
PHOTO OP: The 2013 Gala was the largest to date.
THREE CHEERS: The crowd applauds Nadine Smith’s address.
AUCTION ART: Auction proceeds benefited EQFL.
PHOTOGRAPHY: EQUALITY FLORIDA 2013 TAMPA GALA
Galleryw Go see more photos at
watermarkonline.com
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HE 2013 EQUALITY FLORIDA TAMPA GALA WAS A HUGE SUCCESS ON FEB. 23, bringing the largest crowd in the Gala’s history to the historic Italian Club in Ybor City. Executive director Nadine Smith gave her State of the State address and discussed the strides made in 2012 and the challenges to equality in 2013.
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Photography By: Laurie Ross
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