Watermark Issue 24.24: Courage, Care and Compassion by Watermark Publishing Group

e d L 17 si in UA 20 l ia NN IDE eC sP R A GU OU AY LI D HO

COURAGE, CARE AND

COMPASSION

GAY AND STRAIGHT WOMEN IN CENTRAL FLORIDA, TAMPA BAY AND THE NATION DURING THE AIDS EPIDEMIC

What is TRUVADA for PrEP?

Who should not take TRUVADA for PrEP?

TRUVADA for PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) is a prescription medicine that is used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1. To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health. Ask your healthcare provider if you have questions about how to prevent getting HIV. Always practice safer sex and use condoms to lower the chance of sexual contact with body fluids. Never reuse or share needles or other items that have body fluids on them.

Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: ® Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. If you are HIV-1 positive, you need to take other medicines with TRUVADA to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. ® Also take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection.

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA for PrEP? Before taking TRUVADA for PrEP: ® You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1. Do not take TRUVADA to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-negative. ® Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. If you have flu-like symptoms, you could have recently become infected with HIV-1. Tell your healthcare provider if you had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting or at any time while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: ® You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. ® You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP: ® Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months. ® If you think you were exposed to HIV-1, tell your healthcare provider right away. ® To further help reduce your risk of getting HIV-1: ® Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners. ® Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you. ® Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners. ® Do not miss any doses of TRUVADA. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. ® If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. TRUVADA by itself is not a complete treatment for HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. TRUVADA can cause serious side effects: ® Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have HBV and stop taking TRUVADA, your HBV may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to monitor your health.

What are the other possible side effects of TRUVADA for PrEP? Serious side effects of TRUVADA may also include: ® Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your kidneys before and during treatment with TRUVADA. If you develop kidney problems, your healthcare provider may tell you to stop taking TRUVADA. ® Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. ® Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. ® Bone problems, including bone pain, softening, or thinning, which may lead to fractures. Your healthcare provider may do tests to check your bones. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP are stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects that bother you or do not go away.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA for PrEP? ® All your health problems. Be sure to tell your healthcare provider if you have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis. ® If you are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if TRUVADA can harm your unborn baby. If you become pregnant while taking TRUVADA for PrEP, talk to your healthcare provider to decide if you should keep taking TRUVADA. ® If you are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If you become HIV-positive, HIV can be passed to the baby in breast milk. ® All the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. TRUVADA may interact with other medicines. Keep a list of all your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine. ® If you take certain other medicines with TRUVADA, your healthcare provider may need to check you more often or change your dose. These medicines include certain medicines to treat hepatitis C (HCV) infection. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Important Facts about TRUVADA for PrEP including important warnings on the following page.

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I’m open-minded, not uninformed. I know who I am. And I make choices that fit my life. TRUVADA for PrEP™ is a once-daily prescription medicine that can help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 when taken every day and used together with safer sex practices. ® TRUVADA for PrEP is only for adults who are at high risk of getting HIV through sex. ® You must be HIV-negative before you start taking TRUVADA for PrEP.

Ask your doctor about your risk of getting HIV-1 infection and if TRUVADA for PrEP may be right for you. Learn more at truvada.com

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IMPORTANT FACTS

This is only a brief summary of important information about taking TRUVADA for PrEPTM (pre-exposure prophylaxis) to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 infection. This does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your medicine.

(tru-VAH-dah) MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP Before starting TRUVADA for PrEP: • You must be HIV-1 negative. You must get tested to make sure that you do not already have HIV-1. Do not take TRUVADA for PrEP to reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 unless you are confirmed to be HIV-1 negative. • Many HIV-1 tests can miss HIV-1 infection in a person who has recently become infected. Symptoms of new HIV-1 infection include flu-like symptoms, tiredness, fever, joint or muscle aches, headache, sore throat, vomiting, diarrhea, rash, night sweats, and/or enlarged lymph nodes in the neck or groin. Tell your healthcare provider if you have had a flu-like illness within the last month before starting TRUVADA for PrEP. While taking TRUVADA for PrEP: • You must continue to use safer sex practices. Just taking TRUVADA for PrEP may not keep you from getting HIV-1. • You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you think you were exposed to HIV-1 or have a flu-like illness while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. • If you do become HIV-1 positive, you need more medicine than TRUVADA alone to treat HIV-1. If you have HIV-1 and take only TRUVADA, your HIV-1 may become harder to treat over time. • See the “How To Further Reduce Your Risk” section for more information. TRUVADA may cause serious side effects, including: • Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. TRUVADA is not approved to treat HBV. If you have HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking TRUVADA. Do not stop taking TRUVADA without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months.

ABOUT TRUVADA FOR PrEP TRUVADA for PrEP is a prescription medicine used together with safer sex practices to help reduce the risk of getting HIV-1 through sex. This use is only for HIV-negative adults who are at high risk of getting HIV-1. • To help determine your risk of getting HIV-1, talk openly with your healthcare provider about your sexual health. Do NOT take TRUVADA for PrEP if you: • Already have HIV-1 infection or if you do not know your HIV-1 status. • Take certain medicines to treat hepatitis B infection.

HOW TO TAKE TRUVADA FOR PrEP • Take 1 tablet once a day, every day, not just when you think you have been exposed to HIV-1. • Do not miss any doses. Missing doses may increase your risk of getting HIV-1 infection. • Use TRUVADA for PrEP together with condoms and safer sex practices. • Get tested for HIV-1 at least every 3 months. You must stay HIV-negative to keep taking TRUVADA for PrEP.

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF TRUVADA FOR PrEP TRUVADA can cause serious side effects, including: • Those in the “Most Important Information About TRUVADA for PrEP” section. • New or worse kidney problems, including kidney failure. • Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat. • Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain. • Bone problems. Common side effects in people taking TRUVADA for PrEP include stomach-area (abdomen) pain, headache, and decreased weight. These are not all the possible side effects of TRUVADA. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking TRUVADA for PrEP. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with TRUVADA for PrEP.

BEFORE TAKING TRUVADA FOR PrEP Tell your healthcare provider if you: • Have or have had any kidney, bone, or liver problems, including hepatitis. • Have any other medical conditions. • Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. • Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. If you become HIV-positive, HIV can pass to the baby in breast milk. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take: • Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist. • Ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist about medicines that should not be taken with TRUVADA for PrEP.

HOW TO FURTHER REDUCE YOUR RISK • Know your HIV status and the HIV status of your partners. • Get tested for other sexually transmitted infections. Other infections make it easier for HIV to infect you. • Get information and support to help reduce risky sexual behavior, such as having fewer sex partners. • Do not share needles or personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them.

GET MORE INFORMATION • This is only a brief summary of important information about TRUVADA for PrEP. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more, including how to prevent HIV infection. • Go to start.truvada.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5 • If you need help paying for your medicine, visit start.truvada.com for program information.

TRUVADA FOR PREP, the TRUVADA FOR PREP Logo, the TRUVADA Blue Pill Design, TRUVADA, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. All other marks referenced herein are the property of their respective owners. Version date: April 2017 © 2017 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. TVDC0168 07/17

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departments 6 // mail 7 // publisher’s desk 8 // OrlandO neWs 10 // tampa bay neWs 13 // state neWs 15 // natiOn & WOrld neWs 23 // talking pOints 43 // cOmmunity calendar 45 // tampa bay Out + abOut 47 // OrlandO Out + abOut 48 // tampa bay marketplace 49 // Wedding bells/ annOuncements 50 // OrlandO marketplace 54 // last page

PAGE

I felt at that moment God tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Linda, you need to do something to help here and you need to do it right now.’ —LinDA JAeger, the PenteCostAL ConDom LADy

On the cOVer

PAGE sOuthern charm: “The Liberal Redneck”

PAGE WORLD AIDS DAY:

As the annual day of remembrance approaches on Dec. 1, we look at stories of courage, care and compassion as both gay and straight women helped fight the AIDS epidemic. Illustration by Jake Stevens

scan Qr cOde FOr

WatermarkOnline.cOm

Trae Crowder brings his love of comedy, equality and all things redneck to the Orlando Improv Dec. 7 and Clearwater’s Capitol Theatre Dec. 8.

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neW sale

ribbOn Walkers

hOliday mash

the last page

PAGE The World Famous Parliament House, the go to destination for the LGBTQ community in Central Florida, has been sold.

PAGE Empath Partners in Care are getting everything setup for the 14th Annual Tampa Bay AIDS Walk & 5K Dec. 9.

PAGE

read it Online! In addition to a Web site with daily LGBTQ updates, a digital version of each issue of the publication is made available on WatermarkOnline.com

Well-Strung applies their Popssical formula to some Christmas classics for their performance at The Abbey.

It’s time you got to know our Business Manager, Kathleen Harper, in our ongoing series introducing you to the Watermark family.

give us a fOllOw On twitter and instagram at @watermarKOnline and liKe us On faCebOOK. watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

top web comments

“Baptists really are pretend Christians like the pastor and people in that church Moore went to.” —Anthony J. Borka

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Cherish Your Life Events

On Phillipe Cunningham becoming the first trans man elected to U.S. public office:

“I’ve worked with Phillipe on a few things and I have to say...wow...what a stand-up guy. Genuine, authentic, empathetic, intelligent, down to earth...dude’s got it all. Good for him!” —Mitchel Peter Hansen

Watermark’s Facebook On an anti-LGBTQ hate group opening their conference with a rainbow flag dance:

“Funny, when I tried doing that in high school I got called a fag.”

• Wedding & Commitment • Baby and Fur-Baby Naming

—Kirk Hartlage

• New Home Blessing

On Morrissey defending Kevin Spacey and questioning Anthony Rapp’s account:

• Milestone Birthday • Career Transition • Memorials - People & Pets

Jennie Landau (321) 246-5664 Life Cycle Celebrant & Wedding Officiant

“NOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO!” —Sarah Wissig

On Alabama supporters rallying for anti-gay Roy Moore:

“No wonder that until recently there have been tensions between Catholics and Baptists. Baptists really are pretend Christians like the pastor and people in that church Moore went to.” —Anthony J. Borka

On the Parliament House selling to a Miami-based company:

“Keeping Don Granastein on and giving him CEO status confuses me. Under his stewardship PH has gone through bankruptcy. I believe more than once. Yet he lives in a, from what I’ve been told, beautiful mansion. How is his record one of someone who should be given CEO status? The primary resort looks like shit, they charge way too much for drinks and instead of investing in property improvements the money is invested in personal property. This place is a cash cow for personal wealth but nothing has been done to beautify the club to the standards that should be present as a neighbor of

Fr e e B i r d C e r e m o n i e s . c o m 6

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Orlando. The place could be spectacular, but it has not changed since I moved here 24 years ago.”

—Tracy Burridge

“If it brings progress and improvements to Parliament House and their staff, let this be great news!” —Rafael E Pinero

“There’s just one original!” —Teldridge Cooper III

“Fix the air conditioning.” —Todd Skonieczki

On Transparent possibly moving forward without Jeffrey Tambor:

“There won’t be a show, just cancel it.” —Chris O’Brien

On St. Petersburg business owner Kevin McBride shutting down his clothing store because Mayor Kriseman was re-elected:

“He’s a douche who turned snowflake. First Amendment doesn’t protect you from the reaction to your actions. St. Pete will survive without his business.” —Dee E. Hoopjohn

“We shouldn’t act like Trump and make fun of the mentally ill. It’s obvious he needs some help.” —Mike Jackson

“He runs a men’s consignment shop but doesn’t like gay men? Where does he think all those clothes and designs came from? Straight people?” —Ken Kundis

“Wow, his closet is so deep he has a store.” —David Edward

On Australian voters saying YES to same-sex marriage:

“Now let’s hope they actually legalize it and soon!” —Kate Toney

Publisher’s

rick Claggett Publisher

Rick@WatermarkOnline.com

desk

’m not muCh of A DoomsDAy

theorist, nor do I have patience for anyone who is. I try not to use this space to whimper the blues of how dark society has become and lament the good ole days. Instead, I try to relate something from my past to today’s strifes in an effort to make sense out of them or to find a path to the next right thing. I’d much rather talk about solutions than problems. Today I am finding that difficult to do.

There are so many recent topics any given liberal could use to demonstrate how our current president is failing our society by manipulating truths. The concept of fake news is one that grates on my nerves. It’s misnamed. The problem here comes when we forget that news is news and facts are facts. Just because you don’t like a story doesn’t make it fake. Likewise, just because you wrote

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about your opinion, it doesn’t make it news. Perhaps opinionated news, not fake news, is a better term to use when the writer’s opinion matters more to the reader than facts. Lumping all media into the same category compounds the problem as well. There are clear options for news that employ journalists with integrity. It’s easy to find them when you read their articles, not just the headlines.

Knee-gate is another example of manipulation. Colin Kaepernick takes a knee during the National Anthem to protest violence against black men and the story gets distorted by our commander in chief. He’d have you believe that Kaepernick is disrespecting our military. What is more disrespectful to our military: sacrificing your career to bring a national voice to those who have none, or the statements made by our president regarding John McCain? “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” If standing for the flag was as important as some people suddenly make it out to be then there wouldn’t be American flag napkins, bikinis and beer koozies. Both of the above topics can get me pretty riled up, but nothing has gotten under my skin more than the blind support of Roy Moore. Moore is up for a seat in the U.S. Senate with a special election in Alabama on Dec. 12. In recent news, a woman has come forward accusing Moore of sexually assaulting her when she was 14. Since then, several more accusers have come forward. Many Republican leaders have come forward to say Moore should step out of the race, but not our president. He has taken to Twitter to tell us how terrible it would be to elect a Democrat. As if electing a possible pedophile is better than electing someone of the opposite party. This is the clear tear in the moral fabric of America. I’m not arguing the truth of the accusations. I may believe the accusers, but my opinion does not make them fact. What gets me so sick about this situation is that a large portion of those supporting him aren’t arguing the truth of the accusations either. They support him with the assumption that it might be true. One supporter used the Bible to justify the alleged rape of the minor while others echo

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the president’s sentiment that a positive vote on tax reform is more important than the morality of stopping an accused child molester from taking office. Should he be elected, Moore may turn me into a doomsday theorist. We should expect more from our leaders. On a more positive note, Watermark is officially announcing the hiring of three new employees. Before this issue hits the streets, Maia Monet will join our team as the Multimedia Assistant. Following in her footsteps will be Ryan Williams-Jent, whose freelance position will go full time as Tampa Bay Bureau Chief, and Brandon Decker, who will become Watermark’s Director of Marketing. In this issue you will hear some

As if electing a possible pedophile is better than electing someone of the opposite party. This is the clear tear in the moral fabric of America. amazing stories of women in the early years of the HIV/AIDS crisis and what compelled them to get involved. In Tampa Bay news we give you a preview to the AIDS Walk and in Orlando news you can read about the future of the Parliament House. Our Arts and Entertainment section brings you a look at the all-gay, fabulous quartet Well-Strung, as well as the Liberal Redneck who is bringing his comedy show to Orlando and Clearwater. We strive to bring you a variety of stories, your stories. I hope you enjoy this latest issue.

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cOntributOrs mAiA monet is a photographer at Southern Nights in Orlando and a singer with the band Mad Transit. Page 19

sCottie CAmPBeLL

is a longtime activist as a member the LGBT community. His work has resulted in a thriving community in the Lake Ivanhoe region and his wit has melted at least a few Orlando candles. Page 21

greg stemm

lives in Gulfport, Fla., and has worked as a freelance writer for several local publications. He is a founding member of St. Pete Pride and active politically in Tampa Bay. Page 25

sabrina ambra, scOttie campbell, krista ditucci, miguel Fuller, diVine grace kirk hartlage, samuel JOhnsOn, JasOn leclerc, stephen miller, maia mOnet, daVid mOran, greg stemm, dr. steVe yacOVelli, michael WanZie, ryan Williams-Jent

phOtOgraphy brian becnel, nick cardellO, angie FOlks, bruce hardin, Julie milFOrd, traVis mOOre, chris stephensOn, lee VandergriFt, tinkerFluFF

distributiOn lVnliF2 distributing, lisa JOrdan, Jill bates, ken carraWay CONTENTS of WATERMARK are protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publisher. Unsolicited article submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Although WATERMARK is supported by many fine advertisers, we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles, advertising, or listing in WATERMARK is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such persons or members of such organizations. WATERMARK is published every second Thursday. Subscription rate is $55 (1st class) and $26 (standard mail). The official views of WATERMARK are expressed only in editorials. Opinions offered in signed columns, letters and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the newspaper’s owner or management. We reserve the right to edit or reject any material submitted for publication. WATERMARK is not responsible for damages due to typographical errors, except for the cost of replacing ads created by WATERMARK that have such errors.

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central florida news

Pose For Pride returns with more fashion and music Jeremy Williams

RLANDO | Pride Radio’s Pose For Pride returns after a successful inaugural event last year with even more fun, fashion and music; this time at the Aloft Hotel in downtown Orlando Thursday, Dec. 14. “Pose For Pride is a unique event that partners fashion, music and charity,” says Desiry Witherspoon, account executive with iHeartMedia and one of the event’s organizers. The event will be hosted by Pride Radio’s Blue Star, XL106.7’s Ricky and Sondra Rae, and Wordkrush’s editor-in-chief Brittany Elyse. The entertainment will feature Bearonce, Blue Star, Jose Navarro and more. DJ Nela will also be on hand keeping the music going. The runway will feature models from right here in Central Florida wearing fashions from local designers, hair done by Trend Studios and makeup by Paul Mitchell the School. “On top of that we will also have some beautiful cars on display from our presenting sponsor Mercedes-Benz of South Orlando, a photo booth courtesy of Metro PCS and pop-up shops sampling fine food and bubbly beverages,” Witherspoon says. The event will be raising funds with raffles, auctions and giveaways. All the evening’s proceeds are being donated to the Zebra Coalition. Pose For Pride is a free event and is open to anyone 18 and older. Doors open at 6:00 p.m., and the show starts at 7:00 p.m.

Study: Orlando second only to Vegas as most sinful city Jeremy Williams

RLANDO | WalletHub, a credit report website, named Orlando the second most sinful city in the U.S., behind only the self-proclaimed “Sin City,” Las Vegas. The study looked at 182 cities in the U.S. across seven key dimensions: Anger & Hatred, Jealousy, Excesses & Vices, Greed, Lust Vanity and Laziness. Orlando ranked within the top 10 of Lust, Jealousy and most disturbingly, Anger & Hatred, where Orlando ranked fifth. The Anger & Hatred score was based on violent crimes per capita, sex offenders per capita, bullying rates, hate-crime incidents per capita and hate groups per capita. There are currently 22 hate groups in the Central Florida area, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, several which are anti-LGBTQ including the well known Liberty Council. Other Florida cities that are sinful according to WalletHub include Miami at number three and Tampa at number nine; with Fort Lauderdale, Tallahassee and Jacksonville all appearing in the top 100.

Party House:

The world famous Parliament House is a go to destination for the LGBTQ community in everything from Halloween to Gay Days. Photo by Danny Garcia

Just Sold Parliament House sale by Miami-based company announced Jeremy Williams

RLANDO | Kenergy Scientific, Inc., announced that it has completed a major milestone in acquiring Parliament Holdings Inc., the company that owns and operates the Parliament House Resort in Orlando, Nov. 13. In the next 30 days, Kenergy will transition in the new management and file notice for a symbol and name change. They then plan to expand the existing operations and begin construction on additional buildings to the resort, according to a press release. The press release also states that current Parliament House owner Don Granastein will become the new CEO of Kenergy. Granastein, along with Susan Unger, have been the owners of Parliament House for the past 18 years. The Orlando Sentinel reported on the sale Nov. 16, stating they spoke with Granastein and he advised them that “this week’s announcement was premature.” The article from OrlandoSentinel. com led Kenergy to issue another

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

statement Nov. 17 to clarify the comments from the story. “The title of the article indicated that the announcement was ‘premature.’ Factually, that statement is incorrect. The press release issued by the Company on November 13 was in fact correct in its statements that Parliament Holdings, Inc. had signed a definitive agreement with Kenergy Scientific, which was the only acquisition that took place. The Company and Parliament Holdings are working now to complete the detailed implementation plans for merging their operations together, which includes transition of management positions and future planning for growth,” the statement reads. It continues, “We believe the headline created confusion when a question was asked of Mr. Granastein regarding the various Parliament House properties, to which he responded with ‘that is premature at this time.’” Kenergy’s original press release stated that they are “in discussions” for construction of the world’s first gay branded hotel; acquiring additional resort and

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entertainment facilities; and licensing of the Parliament House brand and operational structure to use at other resort locations. “As the world’s premier, and only iconic brand in the gay community for 40 years, the Parliament House name and reputation is a significant competitive advantage,” the statement reads.”To date, no one has created the necessary infrastructure to capture all phases of the gay lifestyle — until now.” Watermark reached out to both Parliament House and Kenergy for comment. Granastein contacted Watermark and said that officially the Parliament House has no comment at this time but would be releasing a press release in the coming weeks. The Parliament House did respond further via Facebook, saying “There are a lot of unanswered questions after the Orlando Sentinel and Watermark reported news about our upcoming expansion plans. Although the news broke prematurely, it’s true, there are incredible things happening at Parliament House Orlando! We’ve waited 11 long years to make this announcement, and we are certain you are going to be blown away when more detailed plans are revealed. In the meantime, just know this is a very exciting time for the Parliament House, our customers, staff and friends. Stay tuned...we’re just getting started!”

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tampa bay news

Metro’s Celebrate 25 Gala raises $65,000 for LGBTQ youth, seniors and transgender services Ryan Wiliams-Jent

t. Petersburg | Metro Wellness & Community Centers has announced that its Celebrate 25 Gala, held this year on Nov. 11, raised just over $65,000 after expenses for programs and services for LGBTQ youth and seniors. The event was hosted by comedian Christine O’Leary, nominated by Curve Magazine to be one of the “50 Funniest Lesbians in America,” with additional entertainment provided by local favorites Jennifer Real and DJ Bill Kody. It generated record attendance for the organization, which holds a gala annually to raise funds and celebrate the community, with over 500 attendees gathering to commemorate Metro’s 25th year. “Christine is so great, and so supportive,” James Keane, director of LGBTQ programs and development, tells Watermark. “It was the fourth time she’s come into town for us.” While guests dined, drank, took photographs and participated in auctions, PNC Bank vice-president and inclusion consultant Ashley Brundage won the Robert Pope Distinguished Leadership Award. The Infection Disease Associates of Tampa Bay also received the Dr. John Barnett Service Award, and the Spirit of Service Excellence Award was presented to the Tampa Bay Area Cyclists. Afterwards, guests took to the dance floor. The funds raised by “the generous support from our sponsors, donors, community members and volunteers,” Keane says, “will benefit our youth, transgender and senior groups,” such as Metro’s S.A.F.E. (Supporting Young Adults For Equality) Program, which delivers support to LGBTQ+ youth through structured peer support. Also included are the organization’s programs like SAGE, designed for advocacy and services for LGBT elders, as well as Metro’s many transgender services and support networks, designed to promote health, wellness and community. It’s Metro’s commitment to the community it serves, and the community’s reciprocal support, that has contributed to the organization’s successful 25 years. With an impending expansion into its 47,000-square-foot space and the inclusion of a health center, next year’s gala should be another success. “We’re talking about what to do next year,” Keane tells us. “All I can tell you is to stay tuned.”

LACES AND LOVE: Husbands

Robert (L) and Chrys Brennan, pictured at 2016’s event, are participating in this year’s walk to raise crucial funds to combat HIV and AIDS. PHOTO COURTESY CHYRS BRENNAN

Red Ribbon Walkers Local husbands lace up for the 14th annual AIDS Walk & 5k Ryan Williams-Jent

t. Petersburg | Tampa Bay’s 14th annual AIDS Walk & 5k will be held Dec. 9 at the Vinoy Park in St. Petersburg, and the city is lacing up for the event benefitting EPIC/Empath Health. In its 14 years, the event has drawn thousands of walkers and runners, with even more donating crucial funds to raise over $1 million to combat HIV/AIDS. Last year, 750 participants registered for the event, an impressive $123,000 was raised, and organizers are hopeful for larger numbers this year to impact the community on an even grander scale. Aside from volunteers and participants, the walk will also feature three food trucks, a children’s zone, music from Watermark contributor and Hot 101.5’s Miguel Fuller and a special viewing of the AIDS Memorial Quilt. Helping them to achieve their

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fundraising and attendance goal is the event’s top fundraising team thus far, which has collected just under $4,000 as of late November. That team is Tech Data, a global distributor of technology products based in Clearwater. Chrys Brennan leads the Tech Data funding team for the walk and serves on its committee, and his husband, Robert, serves as co-chair for this year’s event. The duo has been together for 12 years, married for seven, and began participating in Tampa Bay’s walk after moving to the area in 2014. “We’re nearing 40 years old, and as we were coming into our adulthood, there was non-stop talk about safe sex,” Chrys said. “At that time, becoming HIV positive was a death sentence. The fight for safer sex was beat into us… no one thought of anything else.” But that’s no longer the case, he notes, with the disease becoming “more like a chronic illness, like diabetes.” It’s of course a wonderful

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thing, those diagnosed with the disease living longer, but it’s often contingent upon their access to affordable health care. “And there’s so many people out there that don’t have it,” Chrys warns. “It’s so important to keep awareness, because more and more of today’s youth aren’t used to hearing those mantras of safe sex [like we did.]” “Especially in Florida,” Robert agrees. “We have one of the highest infection rates in the country. It’s even more important for us to get ahead of the issue and to be present in the community.” “It’s one of those things where we can have an impact on the community to encourage better sexual behavior, for lack of a better term,” he says. “It’s important that we’re out there and helping the community. The AIDS walk, I think, is an opportunity to really show our presence to the community, and [to show] that we’re here to work together to combat HIV and AIDS.” Registration for this year’s walk, which is free, begins on site at 8 a.m. on Dec. 9. In order to receive an event t-shirt, $35 must be raised—the same fee for participating in the 5k. 5k participation includes a t-shirt, a medal and a timing chip. An opening ceremony will be held at 9 a.m., the 5k will begin fifteen minutes later, and walkers will depart at 9:30 a.m. You can visit TampaBayAIDSWalk.org to learn more, pre-register for the event or to donate if you’re unable to attend.

In adults with HIV on ART who have diarrhea not caused by an infection IMPORTANT PATIENT INFORMATION This is only a summary. See complete Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or by calling 1-844-722-8256. This does not take the place of talking with your doctor about your medical condition or treatment.

What Is Mytesi? Mytesi is a prescription medicine used to improve symptoms of noninfectious diarrhea (diarrhea not caused by a bacterial, viral, or parasitic infection) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on ART. Do Not Take Mytesi if you have diarrhea caused by an infection. Before you start Mytesi, your doctor and you should make sure your diarrhea is not caused by an infection (such as bacteria, virus, or parasite).

Possible Side Effects of Mytesi Include:

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Mytesi (crofelemer): • Is the only medicine FDA-approved to relieve diarrhea in people with HIV • Treats diarrhea differently by normalizing the flow of water in the GI tract • Has the same or fewer side effects as placebo in clinical studies • Comes from a tree sustainably harvested in the Amazon Rainforest

• Upper respiratory tract infection (sinus, nose, and throat infection) • Bronchitis (swelling in the tubes that carry air to and from your lungs) • Cough • Flatulence (gas) • Increased bilirubin (a waste product when red blood cells break down) For a full list of side effects, please talk to your doctor. Tell your doctor if you have any side effect that bothers you or does not go away. You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Should I Take Mytesi If I Am: Pregnant or Planning to Become Pregnant? • Studies in animals show that Mytesi could harm an unborn baby or affect the ability to become pregnant • There are no studies in pregnant women taking Mytesi • This drug should only be used during pregnancy if clearly needed A Nursing Mother? • It is not known whether Mytesi is passed through human breast milk • If you are nursing, you should tell your doctor before starting Mytesi • Your doctor will help you to decide whether to stop nursing or to stop taking Mytesi Under 18 or Over 65 Years of Age? • Mytesi has not been studied in children under 18 years of age • Mytesi studies did not include many people over the age of 65. So it is not clear if this age group will respond differently. Talk to your doctor to find out if Mytesi is right for you

What is Mytesi? Mytesi is a prescription medicine that helps relieve symptoms of diarrhea not caused by an infection (noninfectious) in adults living with HIV/AIDS on antiretroviral therapy (ART).

What Should I Know About Taking Mytesi With Other Medicines?

Important Safety Information Mytesi is not approved to treat infectious diarrhea (diarrhea caused by bacteria, a virus, or a parasite). Before starting you on Mytesi, your healthcare provider will first be sure that you do not have infectious diarrhea. Otherwise, there is a risk you would not receive the right medicine and your infection could get worse. In clinical studies, the most common side effects that occurred more often than with placebo were upper respiratory tract (sinus, nose, and throat) infection (5.7%), bronchitis (3.9%), cough (3.5%), flatulence (3.1%), and increased bilirubin (3.1%).

What If I Have More Questions About Mytesi?

For Copay Savings Card and Patient Assistance, see Mytesi.com

If you are taking any prescription or over-the-counter medicine, herbal supplements, or vitamins, tell your doctor before starting Mytesi. For more information, please see the full Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com or speak to your doctor or pharmacist. To report side effects or make a product complaint or for additional information, call 1-844-722-8256.

Rx Only Manufactured by Patheon, Inc. for Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. San Francisco, CA 94105 Copyright © Napo Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mytesi comes from the Croton lechleri tree harvested in South America.

Please see complete Prescribing Information at Mytesi.com. NP-390-33

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state news

brOWard cOunty is the latest tO cOnsider cOnVersiOn therapy ban staff Report

roward County could be joining the ever-growing list of Florida municipalities, counties and communities that ban the use of gay conversion therapy on LGBTQ minors. Broward County Commissioner Nan Rich directed staff Nov. 14 to bring back a proposal that would officially ban the practice anywhere within the county. “It’s a dangerous, horrific process that hurts young people,” Rich said. “This is something that should not be perpetrated on children. You have children that end up committing suicide. Their whole lives are threatened by this.” While the ban would apply countywide, cities would have the ability to opt out or write their own ordinance if they chose to do so. Wilton Manors and Oakland Park, both cities within Broward County,

already have conversion therapy bans. Opponents of conversion therapy in Florida have been systematically chipping away at the places in the state that allow the practice. A total of 17 local bans have been implemented in Florida, an achievement no state without a statewide ban has come close to equaling. The closest state— Ohio—has conversion therapy bans in five cities. “Local leaders have really taken it upon themselves to lead where the state legislature has failed,” Hannah Willard, senior policy director for Equality Florida, told The Daily Beast. “Not only do we have the most local conversion therapy bans passed, we also have the most local human rights ordinances passed out of any state in the country without state-level protections.” Nine states, plus the District of Columbia, currently offer a complete ban on conversion therapy against minors: New Jersey, California,

Oregon, Illinois, Vermont, New Mexico, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Nevada. Florida House Representative David Richardson (D-Miami Beach) has proposed a bill in the past that would officially ban gay conversion therapy statewide, but it wasn’t heard in committee. Richardson did take to Facebook earlier this year to express a small victory against conversion therapy. “Conversion therapy is now banned in the entirety of House District 113,” he proclaimed online, speaking of his own district. The advances Richardson, Equality Florida and other LGBTQ advocates have made are not without their setbacks. In October of this year, the Miami-Dade Board of Commissioners rejected a ban on conversion therapy with a vote of 7-4. A poll from Orlando-Politics.com earlier this year found that 71 percent of Floridians support a full ban on conversion therapy for minors. There is currently no bill before the Florida Legislature to ban conversion therapy statewide.

miss trans israel Visits miami FOr transgender aWareness mOnth Jose Cassola of south florida Gay News

iAmi | Talleen Abu Hanna, the reigning Miss Trans Israel and runner-up in the 2016 Miss Trans Star International beauty pageant, visited Miami for Transgender Awareness Month, speaking at several college campuses and other venues to bring awareness to transgender issues and honor trans victims of violence. Abu Hanna had a long itinerary of events, participating in lectures with students and faculty at the University of Miami’s LGBTQ Student Center, Florida International University’s Center for Women’s & Gender Studies, and Miami Dade College North Campus. Abu Hanna also met with many leaders, including the offices of U.S. Congresswomen Ileana Ros-Lehtinen; openly gay State Rep. David Richardson; Miami-Dade County Commissioner Rebeca Sosa; newly elected City of Miami Mayor Francis Suarez; and Miami Beach Commissioners John Elizabeth Aleman and Michael Góngora, who is openly gay and was recently re-elected for a third term. Abu Hanna gained international fame when she became the first ever Miss Trans Israel in 2016.

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nation+world news

Violence against transgender people rising in Georgia and US Wire Report

TLANTA | Candace Towns was found dead in Macon between two neglected houses on Halloween. Towns, 30, was last seen on surveillance video of a gas station near the Roadway Inn where she was living. She had been shot and abandoned. A human rights group says Towns was the fourth reported transgender person killed in Georgia this year, and 25th nationwide. Violence against transgender people is at an all-time high, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported. More than 60 percent of the deaths have occurred in the South. Twenty-one of the 25 killed were women of color. Zahara Green, 27, had been in Macon a couple weeks before Towns’ body was found. A transgender woman of color herself, Green said Towns’ murder was upsetting. “This could (have been) me at any point in my life,” she said.

An FBI report released last week showed an increase in hate crimes against the LGBT community in 2016 compared to the previous year. Nearly 1,200 such crimes committed last year were motivated by bias of sexual orientation, accounting for one in six hate crimes committed, the Atlanta newspaper reported. Georgia is one of five states nationally that does not have a hate crime statute on the books. Fifteen other states have hate crime laws, but do not address sexual orientation or gender identity. This year in Georgia: -Ava Le’Ray Barrin, 17, was shot during an altercation in the parking lot of an Athens apartment complex on June 25. The man who allegedly shot her initially claimed self defense, but was charged with murder and aggravated assault in connection with Barrin’s death. -TeeTee Dangerfield, 32, was killed in Atlanta on July 31 while sitting in her car. Police said gender did not play a role in her death, but the family

has its doubts. “All lives matter,” the woman’s aunt, Alesa Dangerfield, told WSB-TV in August. “No one has the right to take someone’s life.” Three weeks after her death, Tyrone Kemp was charged with malice murder. Police said there was evidence that Kemp was with Dangerfield when she was killed. -Scout Schultz, 21, was shot by a Georgia Tech police officer on Sept. 16. Schultz, who identified as neither male nor female, was seen walking toward police, yelling for officers to shoot him and ignoring numerous orders to drop what appeared to be a pocket knife, authorities said at the time. Barrin, Dangerfield and Schultz were the 15th, 17th, and 22nd deaths nationwide, according to the Human Rights Campaign’s report on the deaths. Crimes motivated by an anti-transgender bias also increased to 111 incidents in 2016, up from 76 the year before, the Atlanta newspaper reported. As more people come out and refuse to be silenced by homophobia and transphobia, “more conversations that sometimes turn ugly are going to happen,” Christian Zsilavetz, a transgender educator and activist.

DOJ appeals ruling against Trump’s transgender military ban Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association

ASHINGTON | Eliminating any question on whether the administration would allow court orders against President Trump’s transgender military ban to stand, the U.S. Justice Department late Tuesday appealed one decision to a federal appeals court. The appeal came on the same day a federal court in Maryland issued a preliminary injunction against Trump’s transgender military ban, becoming the second court to enjoin the directive Trump issued in August. But the appeal wasn’t for that order. The Justice Department appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit an earlier decision issued by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in D.C. Shannon Minter, legal director for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in a statement the Trump administration is “digging in its

heels” by appealing the decision. “Thousands of transgender Americans are serving honorably— many with decades-long careers— and are just as willing and capable as any of their peers,” Minter said. “This attack on our dedicated service members is not just unconstitutional, it’s a disgrace.” The notice of appeal eliminates any question on whether the Justice Department would continue to defend the ban or allow the ruling to stand, although there have been prior indications the Trump administration would fight the decision. After Kollar-Kotelly issued her order on Oct. 30, the Justice Department sought a stay on the decision, citing an ongoing review of transgender military service at the Pentagon. The lawyers for plaintiffs—the National Center for Lesbian Rights and GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders—objected the stay, and Kollar-Kotelly ultimately ruled against it on Nov. 14. Because the district court denied a stay, the order against Trump’s policy—which ensures transgender troops can continue to serve without

fear of discharge—will remain in place as the appeal goes forward. Jennifer Levi, the Transgender Rights Project Director for GLBTQ Advocates & Defenders, criticized the Trump administration in a statement for appealing the decision. “Today’s filing signals that the Trump administration is more committed than ever to demeaning and stigmatizing transgender service members and transgender Americans,” Levi said. “The government filings supporting these baseless attacks read like pure fiction, and thousands of transgender Americans need and deserve for this horror story to end.” The Trump administration has as of Tuesday night yet to take action on the order against the transgender military ban issued by U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis in Maryland. Also on Tuesday, a district court in Seattle held oral arguments in a separate lawsuit against the transgender military ban against filed by Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN. Oral arguments in another lawsuit filed by Equality California are set for Dec. 11.

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in other news Staff had warned antiLGBT Ohio lawmaker about affairs with men Ohio House GOP spokesman Brad Miller says officials confronted then-state Rep. Wes Goodman—a conservative Christian, anti-LGBT Ohio lawmaker—months before his resignation to discuss allegations of extramarital conduct with men and to warn him to stay away from House staff. Also present were Speaker Cliff Rosenberger’s chief of staff and top lawyer. Miller says it occurred after someone provided computer and cellphone screenshots suggesting Goodman “was gay and not faithful to his wife.” Miller said that Goodman alleged at the time the materials were “fake.” The 33-year-old Goodman resigned after Rosenberger learned he engaged in a sexual encounter with a man in his state office.

Military shipbuilder gets high marks for LGBTQ polices The Human Rights Campaign is praising the LGBTQ-friendly policies of the nation’s largest military shipbuilder, Huntington Ingalls Industries. They received a 100 rating on a corporate survey from the HRC. The survey evaluated policies that include domestic partner benefits and transgender-inclusive medical benefits. The company builds aircraft carriers and submarines. It was one of 609 major businesses that earned a top rating. The shipbuilder first participated in HRC’s survey last year and scored an 85.

Council of Europe criticizes Turkish ban on LGBTI events Europe’s top human rights body is calling on Turkey’s capital city of Ankara to reverse its decision to ban all events by LGBTI rights groups. Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Nils Muiznieks expressed concern that the ban announced by Ankara governor’s office was a “manifestation of a continuing backsliding in the field of human rights protection” in Turkey. He suggested the move may reflect Turkish authorities’ “growing intolerance toward LGBTI” individuals. The governor’s office imposed the ban Nov. 19 citing public security concerns. It said the events may cause animosity between different groups and endanger “health and morality” as well as others’ rights and freedoms.

Thousands celebrate in Rio’s gay pride parade on Copacabana Thousands of revelers danced on Copacabana beach Nov. 19 to celebrate Rio de Janeiro’s annual gay pride parade despite funding cuts by the city. Mayor Marcelo Crivella offered no funding this year, but organizers were able to finance festivities with the support of private businesses and organizations. In 2016, the city funded half of the parade’s $200,000 costs. The celebration featured dozens of Brazilian artists performing on trucks traveling down Copacabana beach. Despite its reputation as a liberal country, Brazil has some of Latin America’s highest rates of violence against gay and transgender people.

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viewpoint

maia monet

trans OF thOught Claiming our voice

Bout A month Ago,

I was asked by a friend to present to his class at the University of Central Florida.

He teaches a course on representations of gender in entertainment, and because the subscribers to my YouTube channel seem to think I’m entertaining, and I do indeed have a gender, I was the obvious choice to address his students and tell them my story. This was the third time I had been the designated transgender speaker for this course in the last few years, but it was the first time I had gotten the brainwave to ask the class a question to confirm a trend I had noticed developing over time. It was obvious from my first visit the class needed a little Transgender 101 and perhaps had never met a trans person. A year later, the questions were more sophisticated, and one or two of the students were trans themselves. This year I asked them if they had ever met a trans person. Easily 75 percent of the students raised their hand and a few came up to me afterwards to tell me they were transgender. Clearly, major social change has been afoot with transgender people making our presence known. These pupils were showing some of the impact of that greater trans visibility. As we close out Transgender Awareness Week (TAW), I find myself reflecting on whether simple awareness is all we should be promoting. Being aware we exist does not require recognition of our basic human rights. Awareness without understanding may very well be counterproductive in the worst way possible. Perhaps it is fitting then that TAW should culminate in Transgender Day of Remembrance, when we pause to remember those trans people who were lost in the previous year, as the

awareness of our presence too often results in our violent end. It is no wonder then that until fairly recently, the ultimate goal of trans people was to fade into the woodwork of society, or go “stealth” as it is commonly known in the community. It was the only defense we had in a world that seemed hell-bent on casting us as the conniving villains in a seduction play filled with sexual insecurity and homophobia. Our popular media is rife with jokes of cisgender men “tricked” into sex with trans women who are “really men” for the purposes of the punch line. These jokes help to establish the groundwork for devaluing the rights of the victimized trans people in favor of the reputations of these men. Indeed, the “trans panic” defense in court cases has been used more than once successfully. Who wouldn’t prefer invisibility in such a hostile world? However, invisibility has had a cost too. For many years, our apparent absence made it difficult to create the critical mass necessary to make our civil rights a top-of-mind concern. It was left to a very noisy few to make sure we had access to the medical care, government documentation, and support systems to allow for our very existence. Not surprisingly, the results up until now have been uneven, and there have been some recent attempts to roll back our gains from state and federal government legislative bodies as well as agencies largely controlled by Republicans. The building groundswell of support from LGBTQ+ orgs and ordinary citizens as a result of so many trans people stepping out of the shadows has helped to make this more difficult than in times past, but it has not stopped the increasing threat. It is time we recognize that relying on our allies by raising their awareness of our needs is not enough; they alone cannot do all the heavy lifting that will be required to safeguard our rights and

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advance our concerns. We need to create the platforms to speak for ourselves in places of power where decisions are made. Two recent events have made me very optimistic for the first time in our history, demonstrating that trans people are ready and willing to play an active role in controlling our destinies on a scale never before seen. The first was the recent

take on a discriminatory directive against our community created by the most powerful man in the world, and prevailing, cannot be overestimated. The second event was the election of Danica Roem to the state legislature of Virginia. I am ashamed to admit that when I heard about her candidacy, I thought it was a noble cause, but she would

Clearly, a seismic shift in how transgender people are perceived is happening. Just as clear is events such as Transgender Awareness Week, Transgender Day of Remembrance, and Transgender Day of Visibility are playing a role in changing perception for the good. However, they have simply cracked open a door. It is up to us to step through if we

court case over Trump’s transgender military ban. Both lead lawyers in the case arguing against the ban, Shannon Minter of the National Center for Lesbian rights and Jennifer Levi of GLAD, were transgender. Given the stakes and players involved, the world was watching the outcome. The symbolism of two trans people

of course lose. She was facing a longtime incumbent who had gotten himself elected repeatedly despite open homophobia and transphobia. Her chances did not seem especially good. Her win was shocking enough, but she was only one of EIGHT transgender people elected to various offices around the country on election night.

are to assert our rights as individuals. We have stood locked on the outside looking in and shouting for our presence to be acknowledged long enough.

We have stood locked on the outside looking in and shouting for our presence to be acknowledged long enough.

Melody Maia Monet operates a YouTube channel on lesbian and transgender topics. You can view her videos at youtube.com/melodymaia.

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viewpoint

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Scottie Campbell

The Tender

activist Less typing, more action

hat does it take

to get us to care? I mean care to the point of action. We’re badass typing, memecreating, click-here-to-tell-my-senator keyboard warriors on social media, but when it comes time to vote you’d think there had been an outbreak of some unheard of deadly flu or perhaps a zombie invasion.

Case in point: Orlando’s recent city election. The commissioners of three districts in Orlando were up for reelection, making 87,389 voters eligible to vote... and 11,648 did. That comes to 13.33 percent of eligible voters, which is an even smaller percentage of the population. In one district the incumbent won despite running a shamefully racist and dishonest campaign; in another the incumbent won despite having a questionable past and a first term that was laced with scandal. In both instances, the incumbent barely avoided a runoff. One hundred or so people could have changed that; more people than that were in the theatre when I saw the latest drek of a Thor movie at Cinema Cafe. What does it take to get us to care to the point of action? Part of the answer may lie in “apocalypse fatigue.” In a TED Talk delivered in September at TEDGlobal>NYC, psychologist and economist Per Espen Stoknes used this term while taking a look at why it’s a challenge to get people to combat climate change. In large part, the media is to blame in its eternal grab for ratings using a constant barrage of

doomsday terminology or, as Stoknes fabulous terms it, “collapse porn.” This leads to apocalypse fatigue during which we begin to feel that there is nothing we can do to make things better. I’ve liberally paraphrased here and it’s a simplification of Stoknes’ astute presentation which I highly recommend you watch. I first became cognizant of media’s waning integrity about 16 years ago as an assistant editor for this publication, in the days following 9/11. At the time I was reading a book about the media’s handling of Matthew Shepard’s death, which resulted in demonizing an entire town and its population. I walked into the 7-11 on Summerlin and saw the covers of Time and Newsweek at the counter; both sported the now well-known photos of the planes hitting the Twin Towers. It was an example of the numbing sensationalism the book discussed. I bounded into work with this epiphany only to be informed that we would be running the same emotion-triggering photo on our cover. Collapse porn exists for the same reason x-rated porn does: we provide the audience for it. The media itself can feel like a hyper-object, too big to wrap your mind around, but it is important to note the operative word in the first sentence of this paragraph: we. We the people. We are the ones in control of the ratings, not the media. The most powerful effect of porn, in all its forms, is that it turns things into abstractions. Take Stoknes topic, climate change, for example. For many it is a hyper-object and yet, “It’s about this air that surrounds us. This air, you can feel in this room, too, the air that moves right now in your nostrils. This air is our earth’s skin.” In being diligently discerning in what we click

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on, watch, and share, we can change the quality of information delivered to us. That’s a bold proposition in today’s America, isn’t it? I’m reminded of conversation with a friend while having dinner poolside at his beautiful Belle Isle house. The topic of the White House

of Apocalypse Fatigue. Trump tweets doomsday, then we gobble it up. There it is again, that word: we. Bizarrely, we’ve even come to believe it’s possible to be governed with Twitter. We the people give him that power. Want to take a simple step? Block the punk

are and can’t be bothered to vote. It’s a stupid gamble, but I grasp the concept. But the election of the two incumbents mentioned above, the low voter turnout is clearly not due to voters being happy with the status quo, otherwise the results would not be so close.

came up and a friend who voted for Trump said, “It’s a mess, Scottie.” I agreed, we dropped the topic and uncharacteristically didn’t launch into a passionate political discussion, partly to not ruin our steak dinner but also because we the people have allowed the POTUS to become a hyper-object. What the hell is there to say? I’ve been mystified at how well we’ve all played into the hand of the Grand Wizard

on Twitter and quit giving him that platform. Steps, Dr. Stoknes believes, are the way forward, and I agree. This brings me back home because there’s not a better place to make an impactful step. In his last election, Mayor Buddy Dyer kept his job because 5 percent of the population of Orlando voted for him. Because I like the guy, I’m willing to buy the oft-touted theory that people are fine with things as they

On a local level things can seem hopeless. Illogical developments happen. Historic buildings disappear. Businesses spring up where once there were homes. You may live in a neighborhood that is flatly ignored or patronized at best. Listen: this isn’t an abstraction, it’s your life. It’s your world. It’s your country. It’s your Orlando. Less typing, more action. We can do this.

I’ve been mystified at how well we’ve all played into the hand of the Grand Wizard of Apocalypse Fatigue.

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talking points I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue.

LGBTQ

AMERICANS

—ACtor Jeffrey tAmBor, resPonDing to ACCusAtions he seXuALLy hArAsseD two trAnsgenDer ACtresses As he AnnounCeD he wouLD Be LeAVing the AmAzon series TRANSPARENT

demi lOvatO brings daniCa rOem tO the amas tO sPeaK Out against bullying

emi LoVAto inViteD DAniCA roem, the first oPenLy trAnsgenDer Person seated in a state legislature, to walk the American Music Awards red carpet with her to speak out against bullying at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles Nov. 19. Lovato and Roem were brought together as part of GLAAD’s “Together” initiative, a campaign for all marginalized communities to stand together. Roem defeated her Republican opponent Bob Marshall for a seat in the Virginia House of Delegates. When asked about her upcoming inauguration, Roem confessed it is “overwhelming.” Lovato sang her hit single “Sorry Not Sorry” during the AMAs, kicking off the performance seated in the audience next to Roem. Roem showed her appreciation for Lovato’s anti-bullying stance, and for being invited to the star-studded AMAs, by thanking her on Twitter.

say they have been

SEXUALLY HARASSED

beCause Of their

SEXUAL ORIENTATION

sTar TreK: DIsCOVerY maKes histOry with first gay male Kiss

S GENDER IDENTITY. Or

51%

Of lgbtQ ameriCans say they have exPerienCed

VIOLENCE beCause Of their

SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY. —Survey conducted by NPR for the series You, Me and Them: Experiencing Discrimination in America

TAR TREK: DISCOVERY AireD A gAy mALe kiss on an episode marking a monumental moment for the Star Trek franchise. In the scene, Lt. Stamets (Anthony Rapp) and his partner Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz) shared their first on-screen kiss of the season. It is the first gay male kiss to appear in a Star Trek movie or show. While Stamets and Culber’s relationship is groundbreaking, not all viewers were happy about their romantic relationship. In a Facebook post, Cruz addressed those viewers saying that if viewers choose not to watch because of the same-sex relationship “you’ll only be cheating yourself.”

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

raPPer lil PeeP dies at 21

APPer LiL PeeP, reAL nAme gustAV Åhr, DieD in Tucson, Ariz. Nov. 15 of an overdose. He was 21. Lil Peep’s friend Adam Grandmaison confirmed Peep was taken to the hospital following an overdose. His manager Chase Ortega confirmed Peep’s death tweeting, “I’ve been expecting this call for a year. Mother f*ck”. Peep, who was openly bisexual, had been scheduled to perform in Tucson, Ariz., as part of his “Come Over When You’re Sober” tour. The news came a day after Peep posted a video on Instagram stating he had taken a number of prescription pills. He was also known for frequently discussing his drug use in his lyrics.

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DIFFICULT peOpLe CanCeled by hulu after three seasOns

IFFICULT PEOPLE IS Coming to An enD After three seAsons as Hulu announced it will not bring back the series for another season. The show streamed its last episode of season three in September. Dif�icult People starred gay actor Billy Eichner and series creator Julie Klausner as best friends who lived in New York City. Other notable cast members included Andrea Martin, John Cho, Cole Escola, Gabourey Sidibe, James Urbaniak and Jackie Hoffman. Amy Poehler executive produced the comedy which originally appeared on USA Network before moving to Hulu. Eichner confirmed the news of the show’s cancellation on social media.

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in-dePth: wOrld aids day

Greg stemm

t wAs the LAte 1980s.

All across America, including right here in Central and West Central Florida, gay and straight women were suddenly finding that their gay male friends and relatives were dying from a tragic and perplexing new disease.

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From our vantage point in 2017, AIDS has become a chronically manageable disease instead of a death sentence and PREP has dramatically reduced the likelihood of transmissions. It can be hard to remember just how dire a time it was. In a swirling caldron of fear many gay women, and some of their straight counterparts, stepped forward to provide compassion, care and comfort to their dying male friends. Nearly all can point to one pivotal moment when they felt a strong calling, a moment when they suddenly felt the overwhelming feeling “I simply must do something.” We’ve spoken to several of these courageous women who told us their stories of bravery and love, and how the disease brought them closer to their male friends than they had ever been in the past. Their stories are full of moving moments and trying confrontations, frustration and joy and transcendent compassion that allowed them to overcome their own fears, while educating others and embracing those that had been left behind.

a Caring COuPle

r. Joyce Stone and Becky Williams are a married lesbian couple who have been together for over 35 years. In the late 1980s, the two were members of King of Peace MCC Church in St. Petersburg. Stone was a deacon and Williams was on the board of directors. Both would become instrumental in forming

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COntinued On Pg. 27 | uu |

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and running the very first AIDS service organization in the Sunshine City. Williams remembers her first personal experience with a person with AIDS. “There was a beautiful young man who had been coming to church every Sunday, regularly, for a long time,” said Williams. “Then this guy just disappeared for several months. We had heard rumors about his health but it wasn’t until he showed up so emaciated and sick a few months later we knew what he had,” she said. Williams continued, “The day he showed up he must have had a fever or something because he was kind of sweaty. He was sitting in the front pew, and as people were coming forward for communion some were hugging him. I want to be completely honest here: We didn’t know then how the disease was transmitted and I had some fear about close contact with the sweat of an infected man. But then I felt something change in me and I realized that if the shoe were on the other foot I would want to feel the touch of those who loved and care about me. I told myself, ‘Becky you have a choice to make here.’ “I hugged him.” That hug turned into an organization when she, Stone and other concerned members of the church formed AM Ministries, which was an outreach of the church and the first organization of its kind in St. Petersburg. The organization would assign a “buddy” to each patient who would become familiar with their case, their family, their support systems and guide that person in finding whatever help was available. It’s notable that prior to Williams, all other buddies had been male. “Honey, you have to understand how divided the men and the women were back then,” she said. “There were many gay men who didn’t feel comfortable discussing some of the very private details of their lives, including their sex lives, with a woman.” She says she became a buddy for the first time because there was a patient where it would

Once I was visiting a parishioner with AIDS at St. Anthony’s. I could overhear a Southern Baptist minister telling the parents of a beautiful young man who was laying in his room dying that if their son did not renounce his homosexuality before he died that he would be damned to hell for all eternity. — Dr. Joyce Stone

have been counterproductive for another gay man to be present with the family. Meanwhile, Stone is now the head pastor at Christ the Cornerstone Church in Pinellas Park. Much of her involvement with AIDS patients had come in spiritual support and she often visited AIDS wards at local hospitals where she confronted stigma, bigotry and misunderstanding on a very personal basis. “Once I was visiting a parishioner with AIDS at St. Anthony’s. I could overhear a Southern Baptist minister telling the parents of a beautiful young man who was laying in his room dying that if their son did not renounce his homosexuality before he died that he would be damned to hell for all eternity,” said Stone. She takes a deep breath and pauses. “It took two nurses to separate me from that man.”

The Pentecostal Condom Lady Linda Jaeger seems almost surprised herself that she became such a dedicated AIDS activist. Jaeger is a native of Orlando and in the late ‘80s had children going to a Christian school in the area. She and her husband had joined Calvary Assembly Church, which she self describes as “one of those big mega churches.” Everything changed for her when a friend from church invited her to attend an educational program on AIDS in 1988. “All I can say is that I was ‘moved’ by the scope and the tragic circumstances that many of these young men were facing. I felt at that moment God tapped me on the shoulder and said, ‘Linda, you need to do something to help here and you need to do it right now.’” She says she read everything she could find about the disease.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Eventually, she started having condoms on hand wherever she went. She admits to feeling a little uncomfortable when members of her congregation started referring to her as “the condom lady”. “I couldn’t believe my fellow Christians could sit back and do nothing. I was shocked at how some were so callous in their treatment of those afflicted,” said Jaeger. “I had a situation where there was an entire family infected with HIV,” said Jaeger. The woman had gotten the disease from her husband who had been an IV drug user. It was unclear if their newborn baby was positive. “This woman called me in tears. ‘All we want to do is go to church and we are going to need to have child care during it,’” she said the woman told her. “’But I’ve called 27 different churches and no one will allow us to attend their services.’ Shocked, I told her she was coming to church with me

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that Sunday. While there were a few in my congregation who shied away from them, the baby went to the nursery with other children and for the most part they were welcomed lovingly.” Eventually Jaeger’s passion led her to establish “A PLACE for Comfort” (PLACE stands for People with AIDS Caring for Each Other), an AIDS support organization which eventually grew to have offices in four counties including Osceola, Orange, Seminole and Lake. Today she serves on the board of both Hope and Help and the AIDS Institute, a national organization with offices in Tampa and Washington, DC. “These experiences have really transformed my view of religion and the good we can do if we put aside prejudice and fear and minister to those that need us the most. I never looked at a person as a man or a woman or gay or straight, but as sick person who needed help. Those of us who survived those trying times were really the ones that had a passion for this,” she said.

A Nurse in a Big City

harlene Metrano is a retired lesbian nurse living in Gulfport. She was in the Navy in the 1960s and served at the Oakland Naval Hospital. She went on to have experience as an ER nurse and work in outpatient clinics. In the late 1980s she had moved to Boston where she was employed as a triage nurse at Fenway Community Health Care, which had started out originally as a small STD clinic in the basement of an apartment building and eventually became one of the country’s largest and most prestigious AIDS treatment centers. “One of the toughest things for me when I was working on the phone lines doing triage,” said Metrano. “I could often tell from the gasping sounds of their voice and the gurgling in their throat as they talked to me that they had PCP. All I could do was refer them to a hospital or to a clinic, but what was really discouraging was I knew what was wrong with them and I knew there wasn’t much we could do for them then,” she said. Metrano said by the late ‘80s she was losing on average about 100 patients a month to the disease. “Of course I didn’t

Continued on pg. 31 | uu |

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know them all, but every one was special to me and it was a tough time going through all that death.” She noted how much the progression of the disease changed after the new medications came out in 1996. “I went from losing 100 patients a month to only 100 a year. Still too many, but after what we had been through it was a blessing.” Metrano said she was a little surprised at first how many gay men had reservations about accepting help from gay women. She noted that the two cultures were very different and at the time gay women and men didn’t mingle very much. She says she thinks one of the few bright spots about the epidemic is how much closer it brought the entire gay community together. “I always loved all of my gay friends, both men and women,” she said. “When we faced this crisis it was amazing to me to see the divide, but we absolutely had to rise above it. Our gay brothers needed us.” Metrano says that most of the employees at Fenway were gay men themselves, although she says she never felt ostracized from them. “We women did what we could and we really loved those sick guys,” she said.

Straight To Work

aggie King has a long track record when it comes to helping gay men dealing with AIDS. Her professional career led her to become an independent consultant, helping a wide range of not for profits do better fundraising after more than two decades working with AIDS service organizations in the Orlando area. For a time she worked with Hope and Help and she now does consulting with Bliss Health Care. Both organizations serve as support groups for those living with HIV in Central Florida. This married straight woman says her “ah ha” moment came when she was living just outside of New York in the mid-1980s. A gay friend called to tell her the difficult news that he had been diagnosed with AIDS. “I didn’t know much about the disease at the time, but I knew some other gay friends who had been talking about men dying from it. My

Street action: Act Up Activists.

We remember: Hisotrical photo featured in ‘We Were Here’.

Father’s love: Famous photo of David Kirby on his deathbed that changed public perception of the AIDS epidemic. Photo by Therese Frare

friend died leaning up against a light pole literally just a few weeks later. It really shook me up how quickly he went,” she said. After she and her husband moved to Orlando in 2001, she wanted to get more involved in AIDS prevention and care here but met some resistance. “People said to me, Maggie, you aren’t in New York any more. You are in the heart of the Bible Belt and things are different here,” she said. “But I refused to believe that. People are good everywhere and I don’t believe they are going to turn their backs on someone who is sick.” She said she grew humble working on projects that had such dramatic impacts on people’s lives. “When someone says to you, ‘you saved my lover’s life’ or

even more profound when they tell you that you saved their life, it can be a little overwhelming,” she said. “Of course I was glad I could help with funding, but often the support we offered was just as invaluable.” King tells the story of a grandmother whose grandson was dying of AIDS and how shocked and disgusted she was to find out the hospital intended to burn the mattress of her loved one the moment he died. She admits comforting people in those situations was the really hard part. King says she never felt any unease with patients or other AIDS workers because she was a straight woman. “I was there to help and they knew it. At that point anyone who was willing to step up to the plate was welcomed with open arms.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Honestly I have to tell you that working to fight AIDS was the best career decision I ever made. It was humbling and rewarding in ways that are difficult to express,” she said. “I was glad to be able to do what I could, but the real heroes are the case managers, employees and volunteers,” she said. “They were the ones that made the real difference. I just made sure they had the money to do it.”

The Doctor is In

hen Dr. Dorece (Dorry) Norece graduated from med school at USF Tampa in 1980, she knew she had an interest in infectious diseases, but she says she had no idea that her entire career would be dedicated to caring for gay men fighting a disease that didn’t even

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exist when she got her medical license. While Norece is a lesbian, she said even before the disease she had many gay male friends. “It was a surreal experience,” she said. “I’m a Tampa native and suddenly I’m treating seriously ill gay men patients that I went to high school with. Unfortunately the most we could do for patients then was to make their end of life experience comfortable and to die with dignity,” she said. She remembers her very first experience with AIDS. She was doing an internship at the Tampa Veterans Hospital in 1981. Of course she had read the increasing number of articles in medical journals about clusters of gay men presenting with illnesses not often seen among younger healthier populations. Things like PCP pneumonia and Kaposi’s sarcoma were showing up in men as young as their 20s. She suddenly realized that they had just had a young patient die at the hospital who had presented with the kind of pneumonia described in the articles. She believes he died from AIDS but it was before a test for the virus even existed. “It was very difficult back then to find a surgeon who would operate on HIV patients,” she said. “There was a lot of fear among these guys, but interestingly enough I don’t believe I’ve ever heard of a physician getting the disease from a patient so their fears were really unfounded. Of course even among doctors there can be a certain level of homophobia and I’m sure that factored into their reluctance to treat these individuals too,” she said. She recounts the stories of married men coming to see her or worse yet, wives of these men who were sick and didn’t know why. Ruling out IV drug use and any other possible factors, Norece said she became aware of the “down low” culture where some married men will have same sex experiences in secret from their wives’ knowledge. Another frustrating experience she shares is that the medical profession could see an explosion of the epidemic coming into the black community, but denial and homophobia made it virtually impossible to get safe sex messages out to the churches that are so much a part of that community. She notes that began to change as more and more black women contracted the disease Continued on pg. 33 | uu |

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and then children. She says that dealing with families could be trying at times. She even had to intervene when some families were insensitive to the patient. “I was making my rounds one day and I entered a patient’s room where his lover and his mother were in an intense argument at the foot of his bed. My patient looked at me in the eye and said with sadness “Ashes Dorry. They are fighting about what to do with my ashes.” Comforting patients at times like these became a difficult but regular part of her role as an HIV physician. By the mid-1990s when she opened her own practice called the Center for Quality Care, many people in the Tampa Bay area had come to know her as “the AIDS doctor”, although she says she never really thought of herself that way. “For a while I couldn’t go out to a nightclub anywhere near Tampa,” she recalls. “When I entered the place men scattered like cockroaches. No one wanted to be seen with the AIDS doctor,” she says. Norece said she saw firsthand how other lesbians took sick gay men under their wing and cared for them. “I can’t tell you how many gay male patients I would see where a gay woman had brought them to the appointment and would listen to what treatments I was prescribing so they could help their friend stay compliant,” she said. Norece is now semi-retired but volunteers her time at the St. Pete Free Clinic, where she still sees people with HIV, but without the burden of knowing that their death is imminent from the disease. Like some of the patients she saw over the years she herself is a survivor of sorts. “The AIDS crisis was a devastating time for both men and women in the ‘80s and ‘90s but there are now long-term survivors of nearly 30 years,” she said. “For those who survived it’s a whole new world. If nothing else, the epidemic brought gay men and women closer together and that’s been wonderful for our community.”

CENTRAL FLORIDA AND TAMPA BAY

RECOGNIZE WORLD AIDS DAY WITH EVENTS FROM COAST TO COAST W

orLD AiDs DAy is the first eVer gLoBAL

health day and has taken place every Dec. 1 since 1988. It is a day which the entire planet comes together to remember the nearly 40 million lives lost to the virus, but also to acknowledge those still living with the disease today and to celebrate the advances made in fighting HIV/AIDS.

From candlelight vigils to luncheons and HIV testing sights, several groups and organizations have events throughout Central Florida and the Tampa Bay area for you whether you want to pay your respects or know your status.

CENTRAL FLORIDA MIRACLE OF LOVE’S FREE HIV TESTING GLBT COMMUNITY CENTER OF CENTRAL FLORIDA’S FREE HIV TESTING

friDAy, DeC. 1, 9:00 A.m.-8:00 P.m. gLBt Community Center of CentrAL fLoriDA, orLAnDo As they do every day, the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida will have free rapid HIV testing from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. The Center also has free STD testing that day from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. No appointment is necessary. For more information visit TheCenterOrlando.org.

WORLD AIDS DAY: STAND UP FOR AN AIDS-FREE GENERATION

friDAy, DeC. 1, 10:00 A.m.-2:00 P.m. metroPCs (202 s. orAnge BLossom trAiL), orLAnDo Several organizations including Hope & Help, Two Spirits Health Services, Miracle of Love and more will join host OAK Central Florida to recognize the significant progress that has been made in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Tables will be set up by the various organizations with information on health, prevention and more. Miracle of Love will be offering free HIV testing from 10:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. For more information visit OAKLives.org.

friDAy, DeC. 1, 12:30-5:30 P.m. VALenCiA CoLLege eAst CAmPus, orLAnDo

Miracle of Love will be offering free HIV testing and counseling at the East Campus of Valencia College, located at 701 N. Econlockhatchee Trail, in Orlando. More information can be found at MiracleOfLove.org.

Church for everyone to show support for people living with HIV/AIDS, unite the community in the fight against HIV/ AIDS and remember those who have been lost. Keynote Speaker Rev. Donna Choate will speak on the evolution of HIV and interfaith ministers will discuss issues of the disease ranging from hope, stigma, courage, anger and challenges. The healing ceremony will close with an invitation to participants to share photos of lost loved ones followed by a reception.

AIDS HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION 30TH TAMPA BAY ANNIVERSARY DOCUMENTARY FILM SCREENING & RECEPTION 13TH ANNUAL WORLD AIDS DAY 2017 friDAy, DeC. 1, 6:00-10:00 P.m. shAkesPeAre theAter, orLAnDo

Join AIDS Healthcare Foundation at the Shakespeare Theater for the Orlando premiere of their documentary film, Keeping The Promise: AHF 30 Years, starting at 7:00 p.m. A reception prior to the film’s screening will begin at 6:00 p.m. with an art exhibit and a red carpet walk. Hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be provided. The event is free but you must register for tickets. Tickets are available through Eventbrite.com.

HEALING AND REMEMBRANCE

friDAy, DeC. 1, 7:00-9:00 P.m. our LADy of LourDes ChurCh, DAytonA BeACh The Florida Department of Health in Volusia County, OutReach Community Care Network and the Comprehensive Care Center have organized a service at Daytona Beach’s Our Lady of Lourdes

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friDAy, DeC. 1, 7:00 A.m.-3:00 P.m. fLoriDA DePt. of heALth hiLLsBorough County, tAmPA

Make plans to join the Florida Department of Health in Hillsborough County as they mark the 13th Annual World AIDS Day Block Party. The event will feature music, food, educational information and flu shots. They will also have free HIV and STD testing for anyone 13 and older. For more information visit Hillsborough.FloridaHealth.gov.

WORLD AIDS DAY BREAKFAST & MEMORIAL

friDAy, DeC. 1, 7:30-9:00 A.m. emPAth PArtners in CAre, st. PetersBurg Join Empath Partners in Care (EPIC) as they look towards an HIV-free future and remember those who were lost as they ring the AIDS Memorial Bells. A light breakfast served. You are encouraged to RSVP by calling 727-328-3260.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

METRO WELLNESS & COMMUNITY CENTERS FREE HIV TESTING

friDAy, DeC. 1, 7:30 A.m.-11:00 P.m. VArious LoCAtions, tAmPA BAy Metro Wellness will be out and about in the Tampa Bay area the entire day offering free HIV testing. The schedule is as follows: Robin High School in Tampa, 7:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m.; Hillsborough Dept. of Health in Tampa, 8:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.; St. Pete College’s Gibb Campus in St. Pete, 8:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.; Seminole Heights Library in Tampa, 6:00-8:00 p.m.; University Community Center in Tampa, 6:00-8:00 p.m.; and Enigma Bar & Lounge in St. Pete, 8:00-11:00 p.m. They will also have HIV testing at the St. Pete, Tampa and New Port Richey Metro Health Centers. More information can be found at MetroTampaBay.org.

WORLD AIDS DAY CANDLELIGHT VIGIL friDAy, DeC. 1, 6:00 P.m. LgBt weLCome Center, st. PetersBurg

Metro Wellness & Community Centers host a World AIDS Day candlelight vigil at the LGBT Welcome Center in St. Petersburg starting at 6:00 p.m. Find more information at LGBTWelcomeCenter.org.

COMMUNITY AIDS NETWORK’S WORLD AIDS DAY LUNCHEON

friDAy, DeC. 1, 11:30 A.m.-2:00 P.m. roBert L. tAyLor Community ComPLeX, sArAsotA The Community AIDS Network hosts a luncheon for World AIDS Day. Lunch will be provided along with music, dancing, awards and raffles. To RSVP to the lunch or to find out more information about the event, please call Jessly at 941-366-0461, ext. 14402.

AIDS WALK SARASOTA/ MANATEE 2017

sAturDAy, DeC. 2, JD hAmeL PArk, sArAsotA The Community AIDS Network brings the 11th Annual Sarasota/Manatee AIDS Walk to JD Hamel Park on Saturday morning, Dec. 2. Come out for a morning of exercise, education and community camaraderie as CAN raises funds for HIV/ AIDS services. Free rapid HIV testing will be available. The event is $10 and is pet friendly. For more information visit CCCSRQ.org.

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

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December 9, 2017 7:30 pm December 10, 2017 4:30 pm The Plaza Live, Orlando, Florida

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

arts and entertainment

Holiday Mash well-strung applies their Popssical formula to some Christmas classics for their performance at The Abbey

Jeremy Williams

he ALL-mALe, ALL-gAy string

quartet known as Well-Strung has been entertaining the world since 2012 with their unique blend of pop and classical music, mashing the two together to create a distinct sound they call “Popssical.” The group—which consists of Edmund Bagnell (first violin), Christopher Marchant (second

violin), Daniel Shevlin (cello) and Trevor Wadleigh (viola)—plays classical pieces from the likes

of Beethoven and Mozart while singing Top 40 hits from popstars such as Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga and Kelly Clarkson. This gifted foursome has performed across the globe from the stage on NBC’s Today Show to a gala for then-President Obama to the Vatican in Rome. Now they are spreading some holiday cheer traveling the country in their latest tour, “A Well-Strung Christmas.” Bagnell spoke with us ahead of Well-Strung’s trip to The Abbey

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in Orlando about holidays, music and performing for super fan Hillary Clinton.

everyOne in the grOuP identifies as gay. was that dOne On PurPOse? were yOu lOOKing fOr an “all-gay” grOuP Or is that sOmething that Came uP after the faCt? liKe “hey, yOu’re gay? sO am i!”

No it wasn’t on purpose at all. In fact, we briefly had a straight guy in the group for like three weeks, so that wasn’t a goal of ours when

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

we formed. It just kind of worked out that way. We don’t necessarily think of ourselves as a “gay niche group”, but I think it does add something to the group. well-strung dOes an amaZing JOb Of blending ClassiCal musiC with POP musiC hits. where did the idea Of mashing these twO different genres intO a single, uniQue sOund COme frOm?

COntinued On Pg. 39 | uu |

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Adrianna Hicks (Celie) and the North American tour cast of THE COLOR PURPLE. Photo by Matthew Murphy, 2017.

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

December 1st is

World AIDS Day.

We remember and honor those we’ve lost.

getting Lit: (L-R) Christopher Marchant, Edmund Bagnell, Daniel Shevlin and Trevor Wadleigh are ready for the holiday season with their show “A Well-Strung Christmas.” Photo coUrtESy WELL-StrUnG

| uu | Well strung frOm Pg.37

When we first started we would do a pop song and then a classical piece. So we were blending the worlds in the beginning in a sense of we were offering both genres in the same way. People really responded to it and it was great to see them light up when we did the classical pieces. So after we made our first album we got this idea to push it even further and see how much we can shove classical music down people’s throats [laughs]. That’s when we decided to put the two on top of each other. what is the PrOCess in Putting thOse traCKs tOgether? dO yOu all get tOgether fOr Jam sessiOns and bOunCe ideas Off eaCh Other?

We are always bouncing ideas off of each other. You can’t really predict where any idea is coming from at any given moment so we are constantly just talking because we spend so much time together, especially on the road. In terms of jam sessions, not really. Jam sessions are a little bit hard to do when you are only string instruments. the fOur Of yOu live tOgether in nyC and tOur tOgether. dO yOu guys ever get siCK Of eaCh Other?

You know, I really appreciate them because when we are on the road, thank God I have

these guys. We cross paths with other musicians who are touring by themselves and that seems like it would be lonely and harder. The four of us together have fun. We’ll do a show and then treat ourselves to a nice dinner afterwards. It has not gotten to the point where it feels terrible to be around them. wOrKing tOgether and living tOgether, is this a reality shOw waiting tO haPPen?

People have spoken to us about that before, and it hasn’t quite come to fruition yet. When we first formed, and this was before we had any music released or anything, people were already talking about that. I’m kind of glad that it did not happen at that time because I think a reality show can really try to push the drama and it wouldn’t have focused on the music. well-strung went viral last year with a hillary ClintOn-themed videO and that led tO the grOuP getting tO PerfOrm fOr her. what was that exPerienCe liKe?

It was such a cool moment. It was thrilling yet terrifying. Luckily we got to meet her before we performed and she came out to speak, which was good [laughs]. She was standing a few feet away from us as we performed. It was really sweet and she was lovely. The entire day was like a fairytale. yOu guys are COming tO flOrida with yOur

shOw “a well-strung Christmas.” the hOliday seasOn is One Of thOse things that seems tO divide sOCiety intO twO COlumns: yOu either lOve the hOliday seasOn Or yOu hate it. whiCh One dO yOu fall intO?

I love the holidays [laughs]. When people are complaining that they can’t believe Lowes has their Christmas lights up already, I’m like “Yes!” I love it. I have always loved the decorations. There is just something that looks so nice to me seeing all the decorations up. Everything looks so empty once they all come down.

what Kind Of COnCert Can PeOPle exPeCt when they see well-strung PerfOrming at the abbey?

This is going to be, I think, our third time at The Abbey. We love performing there. This will be a slightly different show then what we’ve done. It’s our Christmas show but we still do bring out pop/classical mash-ups, or as we call them Popssicals. We do bring that to some of our Christmas music so you can expect some fun, unexpected pairings. If you are a person who falls into the “not loving the holidays” category, we are sprinkling in some of our regular music, too. They are songs that work for the season but aren’t necessarily holiday themed. I think it’s a really fun show and we let our hair down so to speak and get a bit silly.

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

comedy

Southern Hospitality

“Liberal Redneck” Trae Crowder on his ties to the LGBTQ community and incoming tour

(above)

GOOD OL’ BOYS:

Redneck liberals Corey Forrester, Trae Crowder and Drew Morgan (L-R) bring their calls for comedy and equality to Orlando and Clearwater on Dec. 7 and Dec. 8. PHOTO COURTESY NICOL BIESEK PHOTOGRAPHY

Ryan Williams-Jent

rae Crowder, the 31-year-old

comedian better known as the “Liberal Redneck,” gained national notoriety after he and his southern drawl supported transgender rights in April 2016.

He’d been a stand-up comedian for nearly six years at the time, but it was his condemnation of North Carolina’s bigoted HB2 “bathroom bill” that thrust him into the viral video spotlight. That first video, originally uploaded to his personal Facebook page, has garnered over 980,000 YouTube views to date. In total, his hot takes have drawn over 50 million. Since then, he’s weighed in on the good, the bad and the bigly, and introduced the world to longtime collaborators and fellow liberal rednecks Corey Forrester and Drew Morgan. The trio of comedians co-wrote the book The Liberal Redneck Manifesto: Draggin’ Dixie Outta the Dark and hit the talk show circuit, impressing everyone from Whoopi Goldberg to Lawrence O’Donnell with their genuine tales of Southern hospitality. Coinciding with this, they embarked

on the “wellRED: From Dixie with Love” tour, which is “about dancing to country music at a gay wedding.” More still, it’s “about loving your neighbor whether you have the same religion, skin color, or sexual preference,” and “about leaving behind bigotry, but remembering the fried okra.” Watermark spoke with Crowder ahead of the tour’s Dec. 7 and Dec. 8 stops in Orlando and Clearwater to talk comedy and coming out—of the LGBTQ and Southern liberal closets, respectively. “I tour all over the country and I do have a lot of LGBTQ fans,” Crowder, clearly a community ally, says. “I’ve talked to a lot of them in person and what I mostly hear is that [it’s] refreshing to hear somebody that sounds like me standing up for them.” “As opposed to the reverse,” he acknowledges, “which is what they typically see. It was just nice to know

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that they had a friend in unexpected place, that type of thing, which I really appreciate hearing.” It’s something Crowder says he understands, “growing up where I did and all that.” He now resides in Los Angeles, a byproduct of working on a television series that’s been optioned by ABC, but originally hails from Celina, Tennessee. It’s a town he describes as having “more liquor stores than traffic lights,” and one he shared with his father, who told him at a young age that his uncle, “one of [his] favorite people on earth,” was gay. “Before I ever even knew that my uncle was gay or what that even meant,” Crowder says, “I just knew that he was around all the time and he was this awesome, sweet, funny guy. When I was a kid I just loved him, and I still do – I still think he’s the best.” It’s that bond which he credits with some of his liberal views. His father had remained close with his uncle, telling Crowder that “this is what people are gonna say, but he’s your Uncle Tim and so it shouldn’t matter.” For the record, he says, “I don’t think it would’ve mattered to me anyway.” At that point in his life, Crowder was still going to a church that labeled “homosexuality as an abomination, [which] had previously gone over [his] head.” But once he learned about his uncle, it “really just did not sit well with me, because I interpreted it as them saying it about my Uncle Tim.” He told his father he no longer wanted to go to church; Crowder’s father supported his decision. “I stopped at a very young age for where I’m from,” he recalls, “like nine or 10. I’ve always thought that had a lot to do with why I ended up the way I did—because frankly, I blame the church for a whole lot of shit.” Crowder says that as he got older— including his stint as an employee at the Department of Energy—he learned more about economic policies. “I always felt like, if you’re poor, your default position should be being liberal, economically,” he says. “Conservatism favors people with money, and that’s not even subjective or an opinion,” Crowder asserts. “They should be voting this way but they’re not—in my opinion, because of Jesus.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

I didn’t have the Jesus, so I just never got swayed in that direction.” He likes to imagine he’d still be liberal, even without his uncle’s influence or his departure from the church—not unlike his writing and drinking partners who tour with him for their show. “Drew and Corey that co-wrote the book with me grew up heavily in the church,” he says. “Drew’s dad is a preacher, and they turned out the same way as me.” Aside from their tour, the three liberal rednecks recently filmed an endearing “Funny or Die” video in which they visited a gay naturist gathering. It was an experience Crowder “will never forget,” he says laughing, noting that the three had a blast. “Growing up in Celina, I never envisioned… that’s definitely one of those moments, and I’ve had a few over the last year and a half, where I thought, damn. My life is different.” But different, as Crowder’s attests, is a good thing. The wellRED comedy tour, which came together “super organically,” has brought the trio face to face with many in the LGBTQ community whose lives they’ve impacted. “I’ve had LGBT people, and very often the parents of LGBT children, cry when they’re talking to me,” Crowder recalls. “You don’t think about that kind of thing when you’re getting into standup comedy, but it’s very moving and impactful. It’s super heavy, in a good way.” It’s something he likens to coming out as a liberal in the South, something many fans have discussed with the comedian. “I can’t tell you how many times people say they’re a closeted liberal.” As with the LGBTQ community, Crowder asserts, “we need to start speaking up, but people just keep their opinions to themselves because it’s easier. And that is why it seems that we’re alone, because the other side is so much louder.” “They never miss an opportunity to scream their opinion in somebody’s face,” he says, “so of course they’re gonna think that they speak for all of us. Don’t be confrontational, but don’t ever hide who you are.” And while the Liberal Redneck admits he doesn’t know how much comedy does to “move the needle in terms of change or anything,” he believes it’s important. “[Things are] pretty grim at present, so if you don’t have things to laugh at it makes it a lot more difficult.” “I think that’s the primary job [of comedy] right now,” Crowder says. “Giving people an outlet.” You can have an outlet of your own by attending the “wellRED: From Dixie With Love” tour when it stops at the Orlando Improv on Dec. 7 or the Capitol Theatre on Dec. 8. For tickets and information, visit wellREDcomedy.com.

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

Sat, Apr 14 • 7:30pm

community calendar

event Planner

arts+entertainment

Central flOrida

mbA orlando’s December mixer & board elections

WDW’s candlelight Processional featuring Whoopi Goldberg, Dec. 1-3, American Gardens, EPCOT Center. 407-939-5277; DisneyWorld.Disney.go.com the Most Fabulous Story Ever told, Dec. 1-30, Footlight Theatre at the Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com yoga at the center, Dec. 2, GLBT Community Center of Central Florida, Orlando. 407-228-8272; TheCenterOrlando.org art that Makes you Smile, Dec. 2, The Barefoot Spa, Orlando. 407-539-1491; TheBarefootSpa.com Upscale Latin night aMor, Dec. 2, Stonewall Bar, Orlando. 407-373-0888; StonewallOrlando.com Parliament house’s Light Up the courtyard, Dec. 2, Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com Wanzie’s not-Quite-right holiday Spectacular tV Special in Living color, Dec. 3-17, The Starlite Room at Savoy, Orlando. 407-270-4685; SavoyOrlando.com Michael carbonaro Live, Dec. 5, King Center for the Performing Arts, Melbourne. 321-242-2219; KingCenter.com

weDnesDAy, DeC. 6, 6:00-8:00 P.m. tuPPerwAre worLD heADQuArters, kissimmee

latter day saints The Tony Award-winning musical, Book of Mormon, travels two-by-two to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa Dec. 5-10 and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando Dec. 12-17. Photo coUrtESy booKoFMorMonbroaDWay.coM

Winter Showcase 2017, Dec. 10, The Venue, Orlando. 407-412-6895; TheVenueOrlando.com comedy Showcase, Dec. 12, Savoy, Orlando. 407-270-4685; SavoyOrlando.com Book of Mormon, Dec. 12-17, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando. 844-513-2014; DrPhillipsCenter.org

tamPa bay

Femmes & Follies: Santa’s Lap, Dec. 8, The Venue, Orlando. 407-412-6895; TheVenueOrlando.com

Lady Gaga, Dec. 1, Amalie Arena, Tampa. 813-301-6500; AmalieArena.com

annual Light Up the Lake boat Parade & Potluck, Dec. 9, Lake Fairview Marina, Orlando. 407-295-0117; LakeFairviewMarina.com

neibEarhood takeover presents hUnG by the chimney with care, Dec. 1, Southern Nights, Tampa. 813-559-8625; SouthernNightsTPA.com

Amahl and the Night Visitors, Dec. 9-10, Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, Orlando. 407-512-1900; OperaOrlando.org

Grand central Market, Dec. 2, Punky’s Bar and Grill, St. Petersburg. 727-201-4712; PunkysBar.com

a Well-Strung christmas, Dec. 10, The Abbey, Orlando. 407-704-6261; AbbeyOrlando.com

red & Green Party, Dec. 2, Sunken Gardens, St. Petersburg. 727-342-0084; StPetePride.org

Light Up Flamingo: a Dr. Suess christmas, Dec. 2, Flamingo Resort, St. Petersburg. 727-321-5000; FlamingoFla.com

a Drag Queen christmas: the naughty tour, Dec. 9, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa. 813-229-2827; StrazCenter.org

tampa opera Singers a December to remember: a holiday Extravaganza, Dec. 3, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa. 813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org/ TampaTampa

7th annual Party 4 Presents, Dec. 9, Southern Nights, Tampa. 813-559-8625; SouthernNightsTPA.com

binGo for the Pugs, Dec. 5, Hamburger Mary’s, Brandon. 813-643-2110; HamburgerMarys.com/Brandon Book of Mormon, Dec. 5-10, Straz Center for the Performing Arts, Tampa. 813-229-7827; StrazCenter.org Una Voce’s Forbidden christmas: a naughty cabaret, Dec. 8, The Palladium, St. Petersburg. 813-389-6313; GMCTB.org tampa bay aiDS Walk +5K run, Dec. 9, Vinoy Park, St. Petersburg. 727-328-3260; MyEPIC.org

honna’s 20th annual candlelight tour of homes, Dec. 10, Historic Old Northeast Neighborhood Association (HONNA), St. Petersburg. 727-269-5521; HONNA.org

sarasOta Annie, Nov. 30-Dec. 17, Manatee Performing Arts Center, Brandenton. 941-748-5875; ManateePerforming ArtsCenter.com national theatre Live -No Man’s Land starring ian McKellen & Patrick Stewart, Dec. 1, Ringling Museum of Art, Sarasota. 941-359-5700; Ringling.org

The MBA will be holding their annual holiday mixer and board elections at the Tupperware World Headquarters. Come out, celebrate and participate in electing the new board members for 2018. Cash bar, light bites and individual networking will be available. The event is free to attend for MBA members and $20 per guest.

orlando Gay chorus: christmas memories sAturDAy, DeC. 9, 7:30 P.m. AnD sunDAy, DeC. 10, 4:30 P.m. the PLAzA LiVe, orLAnDo The Orlando Gay Chorus present their annual holiday concert, “Christmas Memories.” Join the chorus as they perform holiday classics and songs of the season. Raffles and silent auction items will be available in the lobby. OGC will also be collecting toys and bikes for Toys for Tots. Tickets start at $25, with student and children discounts available.

tamPa bay

7th Annual snow on 7th Holiday Parade sAturDAy, DeC. 9, 6:00-9:00 P.m. e. 7th AVe, yBor City Historic Ybor City invites you to the Seventh Annual Snow on 7th Holiday Parade. Led by the Tampa Bay Pride Band, the parade will feature 19 marching bands, Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and the first couple of Christmas, Santa and Mrs. Claus, all under a snowy sky. Pre-show starts at 6:00 p.m. with the parade beginning at 7:00 p.m.

Tampa bay Diversity chamber’s Holiday Party thursDAy, DeC. 14, 6:30-11:00 P.m. QuenCh Lounge, LArgo The Tampa Bay Diversity Chamber of Commerce invites you to their Annual Holiday Party at Quench Lounge. Attendees get their first drink on the house. Bring an unwrapped toy if you can. All toys collected will be donated to John Hopkins’ All Children’s Hospital. The holiday party is free to attend for chamber members, guests are $15 each.

to submit your upcoming event, concert, performance, or fundraiser visit watermarkonline.com.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

December 9 Vinoy Park – St. Petersburg Register today at

TampaBayAIDSWalk.org 5k: $35 - Walk: FREE (donations accepted) Vendor Fair and Registration: 8 am

Rapid HIV Testing Begins: 8:30 am Opening Ceremonies: 9 am Timed 5k: 9:15 am | Walk: 9:30 am Post event to follow with food trucks! Benefits the programs of

EPIC Sponsored by:

SILVER SPONSORS: • City of St. Petersburg • USAA • Infectious Disease Associates of Tampa Bay • Avita Pharmacy • St. Pete Pride MEDIA SPONSOR

A copy of the official registraton (#CH3696) and financial information may be obtained from the Division of Consumer Services by calling 1-800-435-7352 toll-free within the state or visiting www.800HelpFL.com. Registration does not imply endorsement, approval, or recommendation by the state.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

• OUTCOAST • Rainbow 411 • Spectrum • Watermark KID ZONE SPONSORED BY: • Great Explorations Children’s Museum

overheard

tamPa bay Out+abOut

sarasOta sPlit

fter two yeArs, sArAsotA’s LgBt night At the stArLite room, eLeVAte announced that it had shuttered. The closure prompted another event in the same space, Vertigo, and an LGBT night in downtown Sarasota’s Clásico, Therapy. Elevate’s public response cited “creative differences” for the closure, but other accounts quickly emerged. In a more in-depth and now-deleted public explanation from one Sarasota resident, it was alleged that the closure resulted from slander of the Starlite Room and a “lack of professionalism.” (We’ll spare you further details.) Whatever the reason for the split, Sarasota residents can now enjoy two separate LGBT events. On Tuesday nights at Clásico, Therapy will offer “a relaxed atmosphere with no judgments, hand crafted cocktails and quality bites that will soothe your soul.” The night stems from the creator of Elevate. Vertigo at Starlite will be held Fridays on the second floor of the popular locale, and is described as an “LGBT-friendly event hosted by Sarasota’s own Beneva Fruitville.”

be their guest

uBCentrAL At the iBeriAn rooster in st. PetersBurg will hold a drunken Disney sing-along and cosplay contest on Dec. 7. But leave little mouseketeers at home: the event is adults only. Tampa Bay residents will have the chance to win a $100 gift card to the space by entering their Disney cosplay contest. (So dust off your fins.) LGBTQ-friendly SubCentral has quickly become a favorite for St. Petersburg locals, hosting talent nights and a plethora of drag performances. As of late November, the event’s page lists nearly 300 people planning to head under the sea (or Iberian Rooster) for the event, with 3.4 thousand Facebook users interested in attending. While the numbers are likely inflated, it’s clear Tampa Bay is interested in the whole new world SubCentral has to offer.

tuCK and rOll

LAmingo resort hAs AnnounCeD that RuPaul’s Drag Race finalist Trinity “the Tuck” Taylor’s rescheduled performance will be held on Dec. 8 at 11:30 p.m. Originally scheduled for the opening night of Tampa Bay Drag Race, the fan-favorite queen was forced to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances. She’ll now make her appearance at the resort for the competition’s fifth week, where the remaining contestants in the local competition will also perform.

2 3

gone, not forgotten: Sasha citino, Mayor rick Kriseman and andrew citino (L-R) honor the transgender lives lost in 2017 at this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance Vigil in St. Pete on Nov. 21. Photo coUrtESy anDrEW citino

LADy in white: brooklyn alexander readies herself for Enigma’s talent show on Nov. 22. Photo by ryan WiLLiaMS-JEnt

giVing BACk: thompson Davis Kellet (L) and newly-elected St. Petersburg City Council Member Gina Driscoll support Earth to Autism at Watermark Wednesday at Punky’s on Nov. 15. Photo by ryan WiLLiaMS-JEnt

DynAmiC Duo: Show Director iman (L) and Host ashlee t. bankx have a diva’s duet during Tampa Bay Drag Race at Flamingo on Nov. 24. Photo by

ryan WiLLiaMS-JEnt

fonD fAreweLL: Danielle Pillar (L) says goodbye to Kerissa hickey and Honey Pot on her last night of bartending on Nov. 25. Photo coUrtESy

KEriSSa hicKEy

Pretty in Pink: Host Pinky Penmark (L) introduces Earth to Autism’s brian tisserand at Watermark Wednesday at Punky’s on Nov. 15. Photo by

Danny Garcia

thirst QuenCher: Bartender cJ tauber serves up the drinks at Quench Lounge on Nov. 26.

Photo by ryan WiLLiaMS-JEnt

siPs AnD smiLes: anthony J. Gonzalez, chris chase and Joey Stalker (L-R) share a beverage and a grin at Bradley’s on 7th on Nov. 21. Photo coUrtESy

JoEy StaLKEr

7 watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

5th Annual Holiday Show

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

Featuring exclusive Violectric Rock/Holiday Mashups performed on electrified strings.

Presented by the City of Orlando Families, Parks & Recreation Department

FREE ADMISSION FAMILY & PET FRIENDLY PET PHOTOS WITH SANTA Benefitting the Pet Alliance of Greater Orlando /VIOLECTRICMUSIC

overheard

OrlandO Out+abOut

the hall Of Presidents is gOing tO be yuge

iLL he sPeAk or won’t he? That’s the big question keeping the rumor mill going about Donald Trump’s audio-animatronics likeness for Disney’s Hall of Presidents attraction inside the Magic Kingdom. The attraction closed last January and was set to reopen back in June with the current president added in among the other animatronic-versions of the past leaders of the free world. However, rumors regarding the current administration’s willingness to work with Disney Imagineering with regards to the recording needed for the robotic President Trump left many wondering if old 45 would be given a speaking role at all. Theme park insiders started speculating that, for the first time since 1993, the current sitting president would not utter a word in the attraction’s latest version. Those rumors were squashed by Disney, ironically with the use of President Trump’s favorite form of communication—Twitter. Disney announced that they have been working with the White House to finalize the recording and the attraction will re-open in late 2017.

evaniCKi’s Curtain Call

im eVAniCki AnnounCeD noV. 7, After two yeArs As theAter mAnAger for the Parliament House’s Footlight Theatre, that he is resigning. With The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told opening on Dec. 1, Balls Dropped with Julie Goldman and the Gay Spelling Bee fundraiser, Evanicki will continue to produce the shows at the Footlight Theatre through Jan. 6. He hopes to not only “go out with a bang” with his last couple of projects in the Footlight, but to also “tie up any loose ends, make sure everyone is paid and hand the reins over to the next producer to take my place.” We wish Evanicki all the luck in the world with his next gig.

all that JaZZ!

he fAmiLy eQuALity CounCiL, orLAnDo gAy PArent’s grouP AnD the humAn rights CAmPAign are hosting the National I am Jazz day of reading at the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. I am Jazz, written by Jessica Herthel and Jazz Jennings, is the story of a transgender child and is based on the real-life experiences of Jazz herself who came out as transgender when she was a young teen. The book will be read by Equality Florida’s Director of Transgender Equality Gina Duncan. As part of the event, The Family Equality Council, Orlando Gay Parents Group and several other community organizations including Two Spirits will be hosting a toy drive for LGBTQ families. The reading will be at The Center Dec. 7.

teAmwork: NeJame Realty Home Wreckers finish the CFSL fall season with a three-game winning streak at Seminole Softball Complex in Orlando Nov. 12. Photo by JEn KUnSch

unDefeAteD: UCF alum anna Vishkaee Eskamani (L) and ida Vishkaee Eskamani support their fellow Knights as they went on to defeat the South Florida Bulls at Spectrum Stadium in Orlando Nov. 24. Photo coUrtESy anna ViShKaEE ESKaMani

Pro shoPPers: (L-R) Pom Moongauklang, Rob Lang, Kerrie Finn, Danny Garcia and alex Zweydoff at Southern Craft in Orlando for some Black Friday cocktails Nov. 24. Photo coUrtESy Danny Garcia

hAPPiLy weD: rich Kuntz (L) and charlie becker say I DO Nov. 22 at the Winter Park Farmers’ Market in Orlando. Photo

coUrtESy rich KUntZ

the singing Chef: Justin Shakeri is cooking up something good for Broadway Brunch at Hamburger Mary’s in Orlando Nov. 19.

Photo by Lori JarrEtt Sabina

A fonD fAreweLL: Former Director of Marketing and Communications robert reed-Jones says goodbye to the Dr. Phillips Center in Orlando Nov. 22 as he moves on to a new job in Boston. Photo coUrtESy

robErt rEED-JonES

royAL Court: Miss Vicki (center) is surrounded by some of Orlando’s best queens at her 70th birthday bash at the Parliament House Nov. 17. Photo coUrtESy thE

bEarS in thE city

PLAying with the fishes: Jose navarro shows off his contractor badge as he announces Nov. 14 that he will be a performer for Sea World’s Ice Skating Christmas Show in Orlando.

Photo coUrtESy JoSE naVarro

8 watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

announcements

wedding bells

carla McKnight & Lavonda Walker from Orlando, FL

engagement date:

passings

Local photographer yvette Waters passed away early Nov. 26. due to complication from cancer. Yvette was a beloved member of the community and is survived by her wife and three sons. A GoFundMe account has been set up to help the family called An Anchor For Troubled Waters.

cOngratulatiOns

Photo by EPiPhany iMaGE

October 15, 2016

Wedding date:

aJ Gutierrez and robbie bruce were engaged at Loews Sapphire Falls Resort at Universal Orlando Nov. 15.

November 9, 2017

nicolas Smith and Marcos arrais were engaged at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal Orlando Nov. 18.

Venue:

Maitland Art & History Museum

lOcal birthdays

FlOWers:

Pixies and Petals

cOlOrs:

Teal, gold, navy & ivory

Wedding sOng and artist:

“Always and Forever” by Luther Vandross

dJ Or band name: Real People Real Music

caterer:

Cocktails Catering

attire VendOrs:

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cake bakery:

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cupcake FlaVOrs:

Vanilla with strawberry mouse, red velvet with cream cheese frosting, lemon, and carrot cake

ArLy in their reLAtionshiP,

these two classmates knew they’d trade being study partners for being life partners.

It’s not often that a mutual love of Cajun-style boiled peanuts brings two people together in holy matrimony, but here we are. Carla and LaVonda met in the fall of 2008 while they were both graduate students in a Master’s program at the University of Central Florida. LaVonda (who also goes by Von) was in her last year, and Carla had just started. “Von had been where I wanted to go, so I’d often pick her brain for insights about the classes and professors,” says Carla. One night, the two women ended up talking in the parking garage for hours, trading “relationship war stories.” Carla says she’s not sure exactly when those romantic feelings started, but she was nervous about baring her soul to LaVonda. “I didn’t want to ruin our friendship. I went for it.” They are both so glad she did. Carla loves LaVonda’s spontaneous excitement. It’s infectious and exciting in and of itself. “She’d literally yelp or squeal at a moment’s notice. It scares the crap out of me, but I love it,”

she says. LaVonda adores Carla’s singing and her nerdy sense of humor. The two women were together through the late 2000s and up until the SCOTUS ruling, they never really considered marriage. “It wasn’t legal yet, so we figured our love would just have to suffice,” says Carla. “Once marriage became legal, we decided we didn’t want to rush it.” LaVonda had never considered that one day she would be a married woman. “Carla is phenomenal. Being with her made me realize that I could not imagine life without her,” she says. “After a while, I realized I didn’t want to just be Carla’s partner. I wanted to be her wife.” On October 15, 2016, LaVonda said yes when Carla proposed. The two women found wedding planning to be easy and fun. Carla is a great planner and money manager, and LaVonda is creative and loves to craft. LaVonda says that getting to personalize the day to fit their personalities and unique relationship was the best part. “Our band and DJ were the most important. We met our planner,

Taylor, at a wedding expo and we knew immediately that she was ‘the One’.” LaVonda took on some craft projects for the wedding, including calligraphy and wedding signage, and was thrilled with the result. Their wedding took place on November 9, 2017. “It was quite possibly the best day of my life,” says Carla. For LaVonda, the day was “perfection.” Before the wedding, Carla’s best friend came to LaVonda’s room with flowers, a letter from Carla, and a cup of boiled peanuts. “I felt like I had a piece of her with me as I prepared for the rest of the day,” she says. The couple’s wedding song and theme song for their relationship is “Always and Forever” by Luther Vandross. They wove the song into the theme of their wedding from their vows to the cake topper. “We even put ‘always and forever’ on the stamp that went with our wedding invitations. LaVonda and Carla have only been married a few weeks, but the gravity of marriage isn’t lost on them, even in the haze of the newlywed glow. —Holly V. Kapherr

Founding member of Orlando Gay Chorus David Schuler (Nov. 30); Tampa hairstylist Marc retzlaff, Orlando-based writer and blogger Jim crescitelli, former Sarasota Pride board member Mary hoch, MyQmunity.com founder Mariruth Kennedy (Dec. 1); Zebra Coalition CEO heather Wilkie, Orlando realtor Jeff Earley, derby zebra Shane Scare, Southern Nights Orlando’s Gregg Skeen, derby volunteer wrangler cynthia “cynfully Vicious” West (Dec. 2); City of Sarasota Human Rights Board member Michael Shelton, former Tampa bowler and current Texan Dave bauer, Watermark contributor and Orlando DJ Kirk hartlage, Watermark’s Tampa Bay staff writer ryan Williams-Jent (Dec. 3); Sarasota actor and Venice Theater’s Director of Diversity Kristofer Geddie, Tampa Bay actor Daniel harris, Watermark cover model aleesha Kerri, “Flame On” podcast host bryan Pittard, Osceola Arts COO Jeremiah Krivinchuk, Funky Monkey entrepreneur Eddie nickell, Quench Lounger and MC theresa McGivern (Dec. 6); Orlando Theatre goddess beth Marshall, St. Petersburg psychiatrist tom young, Tampa’s Red Herring Ltd. expert ivan Moros (Dec. 7); Come Out With Pride’s Director of Marketing and Communications Jeff Prystajko, uOwn Real Estate founder and broker Sean Frank (Dec. 8); Southern Nights Orlando bartender cameron MacDonald, VIP host for Southern Nights Orlando D’andre bims, Tampa Bay drag favorite and Metro board member nate taylor (Dec. 9); Orlando comic Jeff Jones, Straz Center staffer and Tampa actor Spencer Meyers, Mitzi Morris’ alter ego Kevin Kreigel, Watermark’s former creative assistant andrea bosiger (Dec. 10); Director of Marketing & Fund Development for Aspire Health Partners Mark cady, Orlando former Watermark contributor John Sullivan, Tampa Bay Bulldog softballer Les croy (Dec. 11); Apopka Ford-dealing bear Fred berliner (Dec. 11); Equality Florida’s Ed Lally, former Florida House candidate Jennifer Webb, Orlando Chorus baritone Jamie Decker, Sarasota’s WAVE-winning realtor Jim Jablonski, St. Pete Twirler Jose Luis Perez, Altamonte Springs chiropractor Dr. bradford Levine (Dec. 12); Orlando zebra and baby-deliverer Marie Mcclure, Orlando talent-seeker Mark catlett, Orlando actor/director ashland thomas, 4 Corners writer Lawrence W. caul (Dec. 13).

dO yOu have an annOunCement? SEE YOUR NEWS IN WATERMARK! SEND YOUR ANNOUNCEMENT TO EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM OR GO TO WATERMARKONLINE.COM/SUBMIT-A-TRANSITION.

Do you have an interesting wedding or engagement story you’d like to share with Watermark readers? if so, email the details to Editor@Watermarkonline.com for consideration as a future feature on this page.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

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Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

Photo by JaKE StEVEnS

age: 32

hOmetOWn: Orlando

identiFies as: Ally

Out year:

the last Page

Kathleen Harper

prOFessiOnal rOle mOdel:

My mentor Rick Claggett

BUSINESS MANAGER

autObiOgraphy title:

When the Sun Came Out

hObbies:

are a match that almost never was. Although she gave a spectacular interview, Kathleen was originally passed up for the position of administrative assistant.

Boating, traveling, bowling

2001

hire date:

Luckily for Watermark, the first hire didn’t work out. We knew immediately after that Kathleen was the right person for the job and did not open the position back up. Kathleen is very passionate about her work at Watermark. “I wanted to work for Watermark to be a part of something important. I wanted to come to work every day and know that I was part of a team that is making a difference by informing and educating people,” she says. “I am so proud of the product we deliver. It still amazes me every day that we put together such an impressive publication with a staff this size. Having co-workers who have turned into great friends is also something I value.” “I handle the administrative tasks at Watermark as well as accounting. I also oversee the many events we attend,” Kathleen explains. However, this is a gross underestimate of her duties. Kathleen wears several hats. She manages the office databases, online classifieds, distribution, accounts receivables and account payables, to name a very few. Basically, there isn’t much here that she doesn’t do or a department she doesn’t collaborate with. Without a doubt she is the right hand of Watermark. Kathleen also coordinates Watermark’s participation in

6/01/2014

ATERMARK AnD kAthLeen

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

community events. “My favorite event is Headdress Ball because of the amount of fundraising they accomplish,” she says. “In 1989, my uncle died from pneumonia while battling AIDS. If he had access to resources like Hope & Help, he might have been able to live a longer life. The strength of the people in this community is so admirable. The fight and the drive to make a better life for other people they don’t even know—I really look up to that.” Kathleen lives in Orlando with her fiancé, Keith. The two met seven years ago through mutual friends and lost touch after a while. They reconnected through Tinder and now share a home with her Dachshund, Minnie, and his cat, Dewey. I’m sure this is the plot to a fabulous sitcom. Kathleen and Keith are looking forward to being married September of next year in St. Petersburg.

Watermark is the collective product of a team of incredibly hardworking individuals. Over the next series of issues, we’re using this space to introduce each member of our staff and contributors to you. When you see us out and about in the community, stop and say, “Hello.” We’d love to meet you.

TAKE THE LEAD

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Nov emb er 3 0 - Decemb er 14 , 2017 // Issue 24 . 24

Choose the home of Central Florida’s first Center for Proton Therapy.

Recognized as a state-designated Cancer Center of Excellence, Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center is at the forefront of cancer research, treatment, care and education. For some types of cancer, proton therapy can be a better option, such as those with tumors near vital organs or highly sensitive areas. Proton therapy allows for safer treatment while causing fewer harmful side effects. Cancers that may be appropriate for treatment with proton therapy include:

• Lung Cancer • Breast Cancer • Brain and Spine Tumors • Prostate Cancer • Head and Neck Cancer • Pediatric Cancers

November is Lung Cancer Awareness Month

OrlandoHealthCancer.com/Proton 321.841.8650