Watermark Issue 28.06: One Year of Covid

Your LGBTQ Life.

March 18 - 31, 2021 • Issue 28.06

We check in with Central Florida and Tampa Bay LGBTQ businesses a year into the pandemic

Orlando Gay Chorus returns to the stage

Project Pride unveils historic LGBTQ mural

D A Y T O N A B E A C H • O R L A N D O • T A M P A • S T . P E T E R S B U R G • clear w ater • S A R A S O T A

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

departments 7 // Editor’s Desk/ Bureau Chief’s Desk 8 // Central Florida News 10// Tampa Bay News 12// State News 13// Nation & World News 19// Talking Points 35// Tampa Bay Out + About 37// Central Fl Out + About 39// Wedding Bells 40// Tampa Bay Marketplace 42// Central Fl Marketplace 46// The Last Page

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We were canceling things for the first couple of weeks and nobody knew how long this was going to last. Was it going to be a couple of weeks or a couple of months? Now we know.

— Jill Witecki, Tampa Theatre’s Director of Marketing & Community Relations

On the cover

page Heather’s World:

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page One Year of

21

COVID: We check in with Central Florida and Tampa Bay LGBTQ businesses a year into the pandemic.

Privilege, pronouns, haters and the youth of today: a conversation with rising Orlando comic Heather Shaw.

Watermark Issue 28.06 // March 18 - 31, 2021

Photo BY DYLAN TODD

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WatermarkOnline.com

Victims aide

Sarasota proud

anti-trans bills

high velocity

page Zebra Coalition, VSC extend grant helping sexual assault victims.

page Project Pride unveils its historic LGBTQ street mural and more.

page

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

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Equality Florida details its 2021 fight for transgender youth.

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Off Kilter theatre company launches with new show in St. Petersburg.

Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @WatermarkOnline and Like us on Facebook. watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

Editor’s

Jeremy Williams Editor-In-chief

Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com

S

Desk

ince the first time I sat in

front of a TV set as a kid, I have been obsessed.

I would watch anything — cartoons, sitcoms, dramas, news, movies, game shows, music videos, infomercials. If it was accessible through the boob tube, I was down to watch.

As a shy, and overweight gay kid, watching these characters — who all seemed to be confident in being their authentic selves — go on fantastic adventures was more appealing to me than going out into the actual world to make friends and have real adventures. If you are like me and were one of those “WandaVision” fans who got up at 3 a.m. every Friday morning to watch the latest episode on Disney+, then you probably understand the obsession of immersing yourself in your favorite TV shows to escape the pain and grief of the real world.

For those who have yet to worship at the altar of “WandaVision” and without giving too much away, Wanda is a character from the Marvel films

who has had a lot of pain in her life, but instead of dealing with it, she creates her own illusion of happiness with her dead soulmate, a sentient humanoid robot named Vision, within a world of sitcoms.

That’s an overly simplified explanation of the series, but over the last few weeks if you’ve had a friend singing the jaunty tune “It was Agatha All Along,” they are a fan. Have them give you the full TED Talk on the show.

While I love television, one thing I never realized until I was old enough to move out and build a television-viewing dwelling of my own was how expensive having cable TV is. I currently have my cable and internet through Spectrum, and at the risk of having

my services disrupted, I am not a huge fan. I was originally roped in with their bundle service, even though I didn’t need nor use a home phone, so that I could have cable and internet for a relatively low price. But after that deal ran out my bill shot up, almost doubling, even after cancelling the home phone service that I never used.

I finally got tired of paying so much and decided it was time to cut the cord and rely solely on streaming services since combined the entire household watched maybe four channels. Between our entire household we have several streaming services, so paying for cable on top of that was too much.

I explained to the Spectrum representative that I needed to remove cable from my account and after going through all of the possible scenarios in her “keep them in the system” Spectrum script, she pulled out her Hail Mary pass to keep us on and offered to switch us to the Spectrum app.

I was intrigued.

The Spectrum app, as she explained, would give me all my local channels as well as let me pick 10 cable channels for about the same price as other “cable streaming apps” like Sling TV, YouTube TV and Hulu TV that stick you with channels you don’t watch and limited or no local channels.

BTW, this is not a paid advertisement, I just really like this model for cable. Even as a kid, I wondered why cable TV couldn’t be a la carte. I like it even more now after seeing #CancelFOX trending on Twitter last week.

Media Matters, a U.S. progressive media watchdog group, got the hashtag trending after it launched the website UnFoxMyCableBox.com to let cable and satellite customers know, that if you have a channel package that includes FOX News, you are paying money to the conservative news

watermark staff Owner & Publisher: Rick Claggett • Ext. 110 Rick@WatermarkOnline.com Business Manager: Kathleen Sadler • Ext. 101 Kathleen@WatermarkOnline.com Editor-in-Chief: Jeremy Williams • Ext. 106 Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

outlet whether you watch the channel or not.

“Every network charges cable and satellite providers a small fee per subscriber; the one for Fox News is extraordinarily high,” the website states. “A typical household pays Fox News almost $2 per month—about $20 per year— via their cable or satellite provider, regardless of whether they actually watch the channel.”

According to Media Matters, while FOX News averages 3.5 million viewers, they are paid by 90 million households through subscriber fees. All the more reason to embrace a la carte TV. Now do I think Media Matters’ hashtag campaign will work and

Since the first time I sat in front of a TV set as a kid, I have been obsessed.

cable companies will pull FOX News tomorrow? Of course not, and I don’t even agree that should be an option, but I do like that TV is trending toward letting the viewer decide what they pay for based on what they watch and if that keeps a few bucks out of a certain “news” channel’s pocket, all the better.

In this issue, we’re one year into this pandemic so we check in with local LGBTQ-owned and allied businesses to see how life has been over the last 12 months.

In A&E, we chat with Orlando comic Heather Shaw and look at Off Kilter theatre company which is launching in St. Petersburg.

In news, the Orlando Gay Chorus is getting back to in-person concerts, Project Pride unveils its Pride Walk & Street Mural and Equality Florida details 2021’s fight for transgender youth.

Orlando Office Tampa Bay Account Manager: Ricky Celaya-Renaud • Ext. 102 Ricky@WatermarkOnline.com Founder and Guiding Light: Tom Dyer National Ad Representative: Rivendell Media Inc. • 212-242-6863

1300 N. Semoran Blvd.

Ste 250 Orlando, FL 32807 TEL: 407-481-2243

Tampa Bay Office 401 33rd Street N. St. Petersburg, FL 33713 TEL: 813-655-9890

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

contributors maia Monet is a photographer at Southern Nights in Orlando and a singer with the band Mad Transit. Page 15

Beneva Fruitville

has been honored for her theatrical roles and volunteerism. She has performed onstage from New York to Fiji and can be seen on screen via Amazon Prime and Sarasota’s Suncoast View. Page 17

Tiffany Razzano

is the founder and president of Wordier Than Thou, a literary arts nonprofit that creates fun, engaging events for writers and readers. Page 39

Sabrina Ambra, Nathan Bruemmer, Scottie Campbell, Miguel Fuller, Divine Grace, Holly Kapherr Alejos, Jason Leclerc, Melody Maia Monet, Jerick Mediavilla, Greg Stemm, Dr. Steve yacovelli, Michael wanzie

photography Brian Becnel, Nick Cardello, Bruce Hardin, Jamarqus Mosley, Chris Stephenson, Lee Vandergrift

distribution LVNLIF2 Distributing, Ken Carraway, Vanessa Maresca-Cruz

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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tampa bay

bureau chief’s

Ryan Williams-Jent TB bureau chief Ryan@WatermarkOnline.com

W

Desk

hat a difference a year

makes. It’s a cliché statement – one I’ve used a few times over the years, especially as a Britney superfan circa 2007 – but it’s never felt more accurate to me than it does now.

That’s because even as we find ourselves barreling toward the end of March 2021, I’m still processing March 2020. I imagine that’s the case with a lot of folks who have found themselves reflecting on their last “normal” day, week or month, whenever it was.

I remember mine vividly, and how drastically it changed March 11 when the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared COVID-19 to be a pandemic. The word was not one “to use lightly or carelessly,” the organization shared.

“It is a word that, if misused, can cause unreasonable fear, or unjustified acceptance that the fight is over, leading to unnecessary suffering and death,”

its leadership continued. “This is the first pandemic caused by a coronavirus … we have called every day for countries to take urgent and aggressive action.

We have rung the alarm bell loud and clear.”

At the time, WHO noted that there were more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries, with more than 4,291 deaths. Thousands more were already fighting for their lives in hospitals around the world, the implications of which I grossly underestimated.

That’s because very little felt different in our Tampa Bay household last March. My husband and I had loved ones visiting from both Ohio and Michigan and spent the first half of the month in large

groups enjoying various tourist traps and events. All without masks or hand sanitizer.

Watermark was also hard at work producing our in-depth coverage for Tampa Pride 2020, then-slated to welcome 60,000 people to Ybor on March 28. After WHO’s announcement, it seemed unlikely that would be possible – at least for a few weeks or at the absolute most, months.

It was ultimately pushed out more than a year to protect the public. Tampa Pride postponed its celebration March 13 and Watermark’s coverage was immediately repurposed to focus on the mounting coronavirus concerns in Tampa Bay and Central Florida, reporting which continues today.

On a personal level, that Friday evening also became the last time my closest friends and I all gathered together in person.

Weekends for the rest of the year were pretty tame, and for us are still largely spent connecting with one another from home via virtual game nights.

It’s been an adjustment, particularly for every passing birthday, holiday or almost any other special occasion in which we’ve seen each other on screen.

While we’ve supported restaurants and businesses via other means when possible, we’ve essentially dialed into every “outing” we’ve had. It’s kept all of us safe and I’m thankful for that, but the Zoom fatigue is real.

Thankfully, I can see a light at the end of the call. That’s because as fate would have it, I was able to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine exactly one year after my last “normal” night out.

My eligibility via medical waiver came as a bit of a surprise, and I struggled with whether or not to pursue receiving a vaccine given my age. After my doctor confirmed my high risk, I decided to move

watermark staff Owner & Publisher: Rick Claggett • Ext. 110 Rick@WatermarkOnline.com Business Manager: Kathleen Sadler • Ext. 101 Kathleen@WatermarkOnline.com Editor-in-Chief: Jeremy Williams • Ext. 106 Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com

Tampa Bay Bureau Chief: Ryan Williams-Jent • Ext. 302 Ryan@WatermarkOnline.com

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Creative Designer: Dylan Todd • Ext. 107 Dylan@WatermarkOnline.com

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watermark Your LGBTQ life.

forward to protect not only myself but everyone around me.

I’m incredibly thankful to have begun the process, which seems somewhat odd since it’s because I have asthma. It marked the first time the diagnosis was a benefit in my 36 years, but I’m proud to have done my part. It’s my hope that everyone receives their vaccination as soon as they’re able, and that we all do our best to stay safe until then.

In this issue we focus on LGBTQ and ally businesses which have tried to do that since last March, proving what a difference a year makes in industries heavily impacted by COVID-19 closures and concerns. Tampa Bay’s Community Café, GayStPete

Zoom fatigue is real.

House and Tampa Theatre as well as Central Florida’s MojoMan Swimwear & Clothing and Ranger’s Pet Outpost and Retreat detail their roads to recovery.

In Tampa Bay news, PFLAG Riverview marks its COVID-conscious first year. Project Pride also unveils the nonprofit’s plans to install a historic LGBTQ street mural in Sarasota.

Over in Central Florida, the Orlando Gay Chorus hits the stage for the first time since the pandemic. Moving to Tallahassee, Equality Florida prepares to fight for transgender youth in the state legislature.

In Arts and Entertainment, TikTok sensation Heather Shaw talks her unique brand of comedy.

The new Avant-Garde theatre company Off Kilter also launches its first St. Petersburg production.

Watermark strives to bring you a variety of stories, your stories.

Please stay safe, stay informed and enjoy this latest issue.

Orlando Office Tampa Bay Account Manager: Ricky Celaya-Renaud • Ext. 102 Ricky@WatermarkOnline.com Founder and Guiding Light: Tom Dyer National Ad Representative: Rivendell Media Inc. • 212-242-6863

1300 N. Semoran Blvd.

Ste 250 Orlando, FL 32807 TEL: 407-481-2243

Tampa Bay Office 401 33rd Street N. St. Petersburg, FL 33713 TEL: 813-655-9890

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

contributors maia Monet is a photographer at Southern Nights in Orlando and a singer with the band Mad Transit. Page 15

Beneva Fruitville

has been honored for her theatrical roles and volunteerism. She has performed onstage from New York to Fiji and can be seen on screen via Amazon Prime and Sarasota’s Suncoast View. Page 17

Tiffany Razzano

is the founder and president of Wordier Than Thou, a literary arts nonprofit that creates fun, engaging events for writers and readers. Page 39

Sabrina Ambra, Nathan Bruemmer, Scottie Campbell, Miguel Fuller, Divine Grace, Holly Kapherr Alejos, Jason Leclerc, Melody Maia Monet, Jerick Mediavilla, Greg Stemm, Dr. Steve yacovelli, Michael wanzie

photography Brian Becnel, Nick Cardello, Bruce Hardin, Jamarqus Mosley, Chris Stephenson, Lee Vandergrift

distribution LVNLIF2 Distributing, Ken Carraway, Vanessa Maresca-Cruz

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.

Watermark Publishing Group Inc.

7

central florida news

OGC returns to the stage for first time since pandemic began Isaiah Peters

O

RLANDO | After a year of virtual events due to the ongoing pandemic, the Orlando Gay Chorus (OGC) returns with live, in-person concerts starting March 21.

The show, which is called “70’s One Funky Decade,” and will feature what OGC Chorus Director James Rode describes as “the big gay classics” from 70’s hitmakers such as ABBA, Elton John and The Village People.

“70’s One Funky Decade” will be the first of several OGC shows through June, which the organization held open auditions for earlier this year.

“There wasn’t the same sense of community as in-person rehearsals, so some people did fall away last year, but auditions in January were huge,” Rode says. “We had 40 people audition, which was shocking.

I thought no one would audition. But we had so many people craving performance and singing.”

The chorus size is now around 90 singers for spring shows.

While the pandemic forced OGC to take their shows virtual last year, Rode says outright cancelling the shows were never an option.

“It was our 30th anniversary. We needed to celebrate all that was done. We still have founding members in the chorus and we wanted to honor and celebrate them, and that kept us going,” he says. “For so many people in the chorus, this is their social outlet and we can’t ignore that. Which for some creates the ability to have a meaningful life.”

To bring all of OGC’s performers together safely, Rode knew he needed an open space big enough so everyone could socially distance.

“I would have never imagined as a chorus director rehearsing in an airport hangar, but it’s a thing and it’s safe,” Rode says. “Just because we have always done it a certain way, we found there are other ways to rehearse.

I have to think more creatively.”

As for later shows, OGC will bring “One Nation Indivisible” to the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts which will feature Americana songs such as “God Bless America” and “America the Beautiful.” Rode says this marks the first time since he has become the chorus director that OGC will be performing a concert focused on patriotic songs. The show’s themes are chosen by majority rules, with each of the 100 members voting.

“It’s gonna be a little taboo for a gay chorus to sing patriotic songs,” Rode says. “The right has appropriated these songs, and we are making a statement that those songs belong to everyone.”

OGC will also bring their fourth annual Diversity Concert at Pride this spring, which Rode says will broadcast nationally.

“70’s One Funky Decade” will be at the Wayne Densch Performing Arts Center in Sanford March 21. Tickets start from $20 and can be purchased at WDPAC.com/EnsembleMusic.

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Group Support: Zebra Coalition (pictured) partnered with VSC to provide assistance to LGBTQ victims of sexual assault.

PHOTO from zebra’s facebook

Victims Aide Zebra Coalition, VSC grant helping LGBTQ sexual assault victims Jeremy Williams

O

RLANDO | Zebra Coalition and the Victim Service Center (VSC) of Central Florida have been partnering up since 2018 to support LGBTQ youth who have been victims of sexual assault.

“There’s a significant rate of young people who come to us who have experienced victimization on some level and a lot of times it’s sexual assault related,” says Heather Wilkie, Zebra Coalition’s executive director. “And we know that LGBTQ individuals are at a much higher risk for sexual assault.”

This led Wilkie to reach out to VSC in 2018 about partnering up to apply for a federal grant that would allow the two organizations to offer support to LGBTQ sexual assault victims, as well as create programs to raise prevention awareness.

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of Violence Against Women awarded Zebra and VSC an initial grant in 2018 of $300,000. A second grant was awarded late in 2020 bringing the total to $750,000 to support a five-year program.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

“With that funding, we were able to develop two new positions,” Wilkie says. “One was a position at Zebra Coalition for outreach focused on sexual assault in the LGBTQ community and the other was a position at Victims Service Center.”

VSC is a crisis center that provides services to victims of abuse in all forms in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties and maintain a 24/7 sexual assault hotline. Thanks to the grant funding, VSC has been able to establish Rainbow Resilient, a weekly support group for LGBTQ victims of sexual assault, and designate a victim advocate and crisis counselor that focuses solely on the LGBTQ community.

“The partnership between the Zebra Coalition and the VSC is unique and important because it provides Master’s level crisis intervention, victim advocacy and outreach services exclusively dedicated to the LGBTQ community,” says Lui Damiani, VSC’s executive director.

That LGBTQ-specific care allows both organizations to address issues disproportionately impacting the queer community.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

“It’s important that while we are working with our young people we understand the trauma they face as it relates to sexual assault. Often times that’s paired with a lot of unhealthy behaviors that we know the queer community experiences on a higher level,” Wilkie says.

The grant funding has not only let Zebra and VSC educate each other, but allowed them to develop LGBTQ-specific sexual assault victim training which they provide to groups outside of their own organizations. Zebra Coalition has provided their LGBTQ-specific sexual assault victim training to other groups including teachers and providers in the medical community.

With April being Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Zebra will be looking to raise awareness on sexual assault prevention, even with a pandemic going on.

“Last year, we developed an online campaign called ‘Where’s the Line?’ specifically addressing consent,” Wilkie says. “This year, we will be continuing to educate through online campaigns since it isn’t completely safe to gather still.”

If you are a victim of sexual assault, contact VSC’s 24/7 Sexual Assault Hotline at 407-500-HEAL. For more information on Sexual Assault Awareness Month as well as information on Zebra and/or VSC’s programs, visit ZebraYouth.org and VictimServiceCenter.org.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

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tampa bay news

PFLAG Riverview marks first year Ryan Williams-Jent

R

iverview, Fla. | PFLAG Riverview marked one year as a safe space for the LGBTQ community March 10, almost all of which it spent congregating virtually due to COVID-19.

PFLAG is the nation’s first and largest organization dedicated to uniting the LGBTQ community and its allies. The Riverview chapter is one of more than 400 nationwide, each of which provides confidential support, education and advocacy to those in need.

Tampa Bay is home to a growing number of chapters.

After being introduced to the neighboring PFLAG Tampa, Faith Moeller and likeminded advocates formed the Riverview group she now facilitates as president.

A group of 25 attended their first meeting, held just one day before the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic. It became their sole in-person meeting after organizers transitioned to a virtual model.

The group planned to meet monthly via Zoom, but instead opted to gather weekly to stress support for one another after the unexpected death of an attendee. “I think that’s what bonded our chapter together,” Moeller says.

“We have a deep connection because we met so often.”

As time passed, PFLAG Riverview switched to bi-weekly support meetings. Moeller draws upon her own journey to LGBTQ advocacy to lead the chapter.

Her story began five years ago after her teenage daughter came out, when the two were serving in roles at a conservative Christian church. Her daughter was asked to step down from leading a youth group because of her sexuality.

“At that point our world kind of imploded,” Moeller recalls. “We ended up leaving because it was so uncomfortable.”

The mother of four began to educate herself on LGBTQ issues. She soon met other Christian parents who’d dealt with similar experiences.

“We began to read and study about the community together, and I started volunteering at places like Metro Inclusive Health to meet LGBTQ people,” she says.

“I found that they were not what the church was teaching us they were.”

Moeller now shares that with anyone she can, joined by the chapter’s other leaders to make a difference. Since its inception, PFLAG Riverview has welcomed more than 80 individuals to its support calls, in a year when few members of the community were able to connect with one another.

“Some people come one time, others come every meeting,” Moeller says. She adds that attendees represent all parts of the ever-expanding LGBTQ community and notes the chapter hopes to begin in-person meetings soon.

“I love the diversity of our group … we’re all learning so much,” she concludes. “It’s been a blessing. This year has been difficult for everyone, but this really has been a gift for each of one of us.”

PFLAG Riverview meets confidentially via Zoom on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7 p.m. For more information, visit PFLAG.org/Chapter/PFLAG-Riverview, email PFLAGRiverviewFamily@gmail.com or call 813-833-7972.

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COMMUNITY TRIBUTE:

Concept art for the Pride Walk & Street Mural, scheduled for installation April 2-12. PHOTO COURTESY PROJECT PRIDE

Sarasota Proud Project Pride unveils historic mural Ryan Williams-Jent

S

ARASOTA | Project Pride will install a Pride-focused crosswalk and street mural in Downtown Sarasota April 2-12, an unprecedented tribute to LGBTQ inclusion and visibility.

The Rainbow Pride Walk and Street Mural will be the first major installation of its type in the city, covering the five-corner intersection of Cocoanut Ave. and 2nd St. Fundraising for the 2,500-square-foot piece is currently underway, with more than $70,000 raised as of press time to cover its cost, maintenance and the organization’s other LGBTQ-focused campaigns.

Planning for the venture began more than a year ago at Project Pride’s inception, an extension of the nonprofit’s mission to celebrate, unite and support the community it serves. Its board partnered with local officials and businesses to commission the mural’s design.

“We decided to focus our first year on visibility for the LGBTQ community,” Project Pride President Jordan Letschert says. “One of the ways we did that was to reach out to a famous artist named Joey Salamon,

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

who created the largest LGBTQ street mural in the United States.”

The 7,000-square-foot piece is located in Michigan, which Salamon calls home.

The LGBTQ artist’s Project Pride-commissioned design utilizes the colors of the Progress Pride flag, expanding on the traditional Pride flag’s red, orange, yellow, green, blue and violet to include black, brown, white, pink and light blue. The additions are meant to uplift the more marginalized voices in the LGBTQ community, individuals of color and those who are transgender.

“We wanted to make sure it was truly as inclusive as it could be,” Letschert says. “Once we had the design we took it to the city commission and they approved a resolution letting us put the mural down, where it will remain at first for 12 months. After that, we’ll go back and ask for it to be renewed again and if it is, it will become a permanent fixture.”

To help make the installation a reality, Project Pride turned to supporters. They created a variety of sponsorship opportunities ranging from $100-$25,000, and donations will also be accepted until March 29.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

“We’ve had just an outpouring of support,” Letschert says. “Not just from the LGBTQ leaders in Sarasota but also from younger LGBTQ entrepreneurs who in the past had not really gotten involved. They’ve really stepped up … There’s been a big community push.”

Every penny raised is appreciated, Project Pride notes, and will also benefit the organization’s efforts during this year’s Pride Month. Letschert promises a renewed focus on June in the city, with new events and unprecedented support from officials.

Letschert says not only will the city of Sarasota formally recognize Pride Month, but in another first Project Pride will display 75 LGBTQ-focused flagpole banners throughout downtown. They’ll serve as the perfect complement to the incoming mural, which will serve as the hub for the organization’s other June surprises.

“Sarasota does its current Pride in October, which we plan to support, but in June we’re going to bring a lot of the community and business leaders together,” Letschert explains. “The funds from this will go towards our visibility campaign where we show just how valuable the LGBTQ community is to Sarasota. All of this money is going back out into the community.”

For more information about Project Pride and to donate to its Pride Walk & Street Mural campaign, visit ProjectPrideSRQ.org.

Read It Online!

Head to WatermarkOnline.com and click on the Digital Publications link to a read a digital version of the printed newspaper!

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

11

state news

Equality Florida details 2021 fight for transgender youth Ryan Williams-Jent

T

he state’s largest LGBTQ-focused civil rights group outlined its 2021 legislative agenda as the Florida Legislature convened March 2, emphasizing its opposition to attacks on transgender youth.

Equality Florida will focus on a wide array of issues impacting LGBTQ Floridians this year.

The organization specifically highlighted its fight for LGBTQ equality as well as criminal justice, reproductive freedom and gun violence.

Bills targeting transgender youth are a top priority.

“Lawmakers in the state legislature have joined in a national, coordinated effort to undermine the wellbeing of transgender youth, introducing legislation to bar those young people from participating in

sports with their peers and criminalize doctors who provide affirming care,” Equality Florida shared March 10.

Senate Bill 2012 (SB 2012) and House Bills 1475 (HB 1475) and 935 (HB 935) specifically target the vulnerable population.

HB 1475 and SB 2012 would each bar transgender youth from participating in sports with their peers. “The legislation would categorically ban transgender youth from all sex-segregated sports, overriding parents and coaches, while denying kids the unique opportunities to grow and learn that sports provide,” Equality Florida shared. The state is one of more than 20 in the country weighing similar measures.

HB 935 would criminalize doctors for providing transgender-affirming care. “It is not only dangerous and contrary to best practice,” Equality

Florida explained, “it also deprives trans youth of the sort of opportunities that all other kids enjoy and are key to young people’s development.”

The bills “are nothing short of an attack on at-risk youth designed to spread hateful stereotypes and further demonize a group of young people who need additional support and care,” Equality Florida continued.

“Transgender young people need to be affirmed and empowered, not used as political pawns,” Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality Gina Duncan said. “This is a community of youth who are already facing discrimination, bigotry and violence at higher rates than their peers.

“Our focus should be on protecting them and providing them with the support they need to thrive, not attacking them,” she continued.

“These lawmakers should be ashamed of how they’ve decided to use kids to fuel the fear-monger machine.”

Equality Florida has worked to defeat similar bills in the past, highlighting the nation’s leading health care organizations which support gender-affirming care for transgender youth. That includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, the Pediatric Endocrinology Society and the American Medical Association.

“Doctors and health professionals are tasked with adhering to best practices and standards of care,” they noted. “The legislature forcing them to deviate from that guidance puts the health and wellbeing of transgender young people in peril.”

Adding that elected officials should be fostering inclusivity

in schools, including in sports, Equality Florida also said that “a blanket ban on transgender athletes is dangerous, cruel and threatens to isolate a group of young people who need more support, not less.”

“This national onslaught of bills aimed at transgender youth in sports is designed to pervert our natural desire for fairness and manipulate people through misrepresentation and fear,” Duncan concluded. “The truth is this: it is our duty to protect trans kids. We do that by affirming them, including them and lifting them up. The attacks on these marginalized young people must end.”

Equality Florida held a press conference hosted by its leadership and featuring key allies to discuss the bills at length, available at WatermarkOnline.com. To read their full 2021 agenda and take action to support transgender youth, visit EQFL.org.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

nation+world news

Major athletic leagues absent in fight against anti-trans sports bills Chris Johnson of The Washington Blade, Courtesy of the National LGBT Media Association

A

s state legislatures advance measures seeking to bar transgender kids from participating in school sports, key voices in athletics competition who had previously spoken out against anti-LGBTQ measures — notably the NCAA — are now absent from the fight against them, as supporters of transgender rights tell the Washington Blade they’re seeking a more robust response.

Major sports leagues at the professional level and collegiate level — including the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the National Basketball Association and the National Football League — in 2016 spoke out against North Carolina’s House Bill 2 and even threatened to cancel events in the state over the anti-transgender law.

The voices of those sports leagues, however, are absent or muted in efforts to thwart anti-transgender sports bills as state legislatures advance them now with impunity.

Gail Dent, an NCAA spokesperson, essentially had a hands-off approach to the anti-transgender bills in response to a Washington Blade inquiry on the NCAA’s position on the legislation and what it’s doing to help in the fight against the legislation.

That’s a step back from where the NCAA was just last year in response to Idaho’s then newly enacted law barring transgender girls from school sports. At the time, the association explicitly condemned the law as “harmful to transgender student-athletes and conflicts with the NCAA’s core values of inclusivity, respect and the equitable treatment of all individuals.”

Transgender rights advocates, speaking on condition of anonymity to the Blade for greater candor, said they’ve been pushing hard behind the scenes for the NCAA to be more outspoken on the anti-transgender sports bills, and hope the association will have a more robust response in the near future.

NCAA, however, isn’t alone in its reticence. The NFL and NBA didn’t respond to repeated requests from the Blade to comment on the anti-transgender sports bills in state legislatures.

The reluctance to speak out may be a reflection of polls. A Politico/ Morning Consult poll March 10 found broad support to ban transgender kids from athletics.

Overall, 53% of registered voters support banning transgender athletes, as well as a 59% majority of men and a plurality of 46% of women.

Defenders of efforts to combat the anti-transgender legislation say they have plenty of ammunition.

Recently, the LGBTQ group Freedom for All Americans unveiled a joint statement signed by more than 55 major companies, including Facebook, Pfizer and Dell, against the latest wave of anti-LGBTQ state legislation, including bills targeting transgender youth.

More than 60 bills have been filed in 30 states to directly target transgender people, including 20 bills specifically aimed at transgender kids in sports.

LGBTQ group Athlete Ally announced March 10 that at least 545 NCAA student athletes sent a letter to the NCAA Board of Governors calling for them to uphold its nondiscrimination policy and publicly refuse to host championships in states with bans against trans athletes.

where many local communities have adopted largely symbolic resolutions declaring themselves free of what conservative authorities have been calling “LGBT ideology.”

These towns say they are seeking to protect traditional families based on unions of men and women, but LGBT rights activists say the designations are discriminatory and make gays and lesbians feel unwelcome. The areas have come to be colloquially known as “LGBT-free zones.”

The resolution is the work of a cross-party group in the European Parliament, the LGBTI Intergroup.

The Polish government has denounced the resolution, arguing that the rates of hate crimes are

lower in Poland than in many countries in Western Europe.

However, LGBT rights activists say this is impossible to measure as there is no mention in the Polish penal code specifically about homophobic crimes, so police do not keep statistics of such crimes.

The European Parliament’s resolution said the fundamental rights of LGBT people have also been “severely hindered” recently in Hungary, due to a de facto ban on legal gender recognition for transgender and intersex people.

It also notes that only two member states — Malta and Germany — have banned “conversion therapy,” a controversial and potentially harmful attempt to change a person’s sexual orientation.

Parliament declares EU ‘LGBT freedom zone’ Wire Report

B

RUSSELS | The European Parliament has overwhelming adopted a resolution declaring the entire 27-member European Union a “freedom zone” for LGBT people, an effort to push back on rising homophobia in Poland and elsewhere.

The parliament announced March 11 that there were 492 ballots in favor of the resolution and 141 against in a vote that came after a debate in a session of parliament in Brussels March 10.

The resolution came largely in reaction to developments over the past two years in Poland,

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

in other news White House open to thirdgender option on federal IDs White House officials expressed March 8 that they’re open to include a third-gender option on federal government IDs, but stopped short of embracing a request to make that happen via executive order.

Jennifer Klein, executive director of the newly created White House Gender Policy Council, said she was willing to look at a third-gender option for nonbinary people. “I haven’t looked yet to see whether that requires an executive order,” Klein said. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris campaigned on providing a third-gender option on government IDs.

Students at BYU make rainbow light display on ‘Y’ Students at Brigham Young University illuminated the letter “Y” on a mountain overlooking the Provo campus March 4 with rainbow colors in a display meant to send a message to the religious school. The light display on the concrete letter ended “Color the Campus,” an organized event where students wore rainbow colors in support of the LGBTQ campus community. The event came a year after the school, alongside its Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owners, sent a letter in March 2020 that said “same-sex romantic behavior” was prohibited and would lead to discipline under the school code.

Indianapolis man charged in gay dating app slaying An Indianapolis man has been charged in a Detroit slaying in which the victim allegedly was targeted as a member of the LGBTQ community. Diabolique Paris Johnson faced arraignment March 4 in Detroit on first-degree murder and using a firearm during a felony charges for killing a man he allegedly targeted for being gay through an online dating app. The victim was slain Sept. 5 during an armed robbery. Johnson is also charged in a separate armed robbery on Sept.

1 of a man at a hotel in Dearborn, a Detroit suburb.

That man is also a member of the LGBTQ community.

Johnson was arrested in Indianapolis and extradited to Michigan.

Panama president urged to veto anti-gay adoption bill Activists in Panama have urged the country’s president to remove two provisions of a bill that would prevent same-sex couples from adopting children. The Panamanian National Assembly on March 3 approved Bill 120, which would reform the country’s adoption system. Article 22 of the bill states a man and a woman “united in marriage or a common law marriage for a minimum of two years” can adopt a child. Article 26 of the bill would allow joint adoptions “when the people are spouses or in a common law marriage and are of different sex.” Panamanian LGBTQ rights groups urged the president to veto both Articles in an open letter.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

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early 75 years ago

to the day, Winston Churchill gave a speech at Westminster College in Missouri which the world would come to remember as the “Iron Curtain” speech for a section in which he used the phrase to describe how the Soviet Union had taken possession of much of the old cities of eastern Europe.

The figurative curtain Churchill described at the time soon became an actual physical barrier composed of fences, minefields, and most famously, the Berlin Wall. It would be 43 years before the Berlin Wall would fall, but in that time countless lives were diminished or extinguished in the futile effort to stifle the human spirit.

Like Churchill, although far less eloquently, I have been telling everyone in this column and my social media that very difficult times were on the horizon for trans people in the U.S., but I have been met mostly with fatuous condolences, or even worse silence, from most people outside the trans community. The anti-trans sentiment that kicked into high gear under Trump has continued even after his defeat. He set the stage, and I greatly fear that what is happening cannot be derailed easily, even under a Biden presidency and a Democrat-controlled Congress.

In what can only be described as legislative shock and awe, Republicans have introduced over 70 bills in the state legislatures of more than half the country. Tearing a page out of the Trump playbook, the strategy looks to be to overwhelm the advocacy groups that usually work to block transphobic legislation. After failing with past

bills that aimed to demonize trans people as perverted intruders into women’s spaces, they have seized upon two issues they feel resonate with enough progressives to fracture the left. Those being the involvement of trans girls and women in sports and the limited medical interventions taken to support trans kids under 18.

They are right. I have spent many a day arguing with otherwise progressive gays about these very issues.

Many, out of fear, have chosen to believe the incessant lies pumped out by the right that young people can’t possibly understand their gender identity, or that trans women are “dominating” women’s sports. It has been obvious to me that those I am arguing with have done nearly no research into these topics beyond the fear mongering they’ve seen on the internet.

They don’t want to know that nobody is operating to “change the sex” of trans kids, as Rand Paul recently suggested to trans woman Dr. Rachel Levine during her senate confirmation hearing, or that trans women regularly and frequently lose to their cisgender counterparts in athletic competition.

Even given the Republican disinformation campaign, I would hazard to say the majority of progressives still fully support trans rights in all aspects. That being said, conservatives are banking on a certain amount of lack of attention, if not ignorance, by the left to these new legislative trial balloons to create states that are openly hostile to trans existence. Make no mistake, this is about far more than women’s sports or trans kids’ identities. This is about using the same Republican tactic of incremental laws to severely restrict abortion rights, in the service of eventually making trans existence in American society untenable. They are assembling a Trans Curtain surrounding entire regions of the country where trans people will not be welcome to live freely.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

The scary part is that it is working. South Dakota has put an anti-trans sports bill on their governor’s desk that she is “excited” to sign.

Mississippi is considering a bill that would make medical transition impossible for anyone under 21. Here in Florida, similar bills

and trans athlete Chris Mosier. Then contact your state representative and let them know you are against these bills. Here in Florida you can find your rep at MyFloridaHouse.gov/ FindYourRepresentative.

Also, give to the ACLU. When these bills are passed, it will

world. Trust me, you’ll hear about it when it happens.

And if you are trans, consider sending a 30 seconds or less horizontal video to info@ oneorlandoalliance.org telling us why you love being trans. I’ll be editing it for the One Orlando Alliance to show on TDOV.

have been presented for consideration. This is a coordinated and massive attack on trans rights.

As it progresses, there is real mortal danger. Trans people will die.

So what are we to do as trans people and allies?

First off, do your homework to effectively rebut the disinformation wherever it is found. Read articles by trans journalists like Dawn Ennis and Kate Sosin

fall to them to fight these discriminatory laws in court.

Most of all, speak up!

Silence is violence. Attend events for Trans Day of Visibility (TDOV) on March 31 even if you aren’t trans. There will be virtual ones available, including one special one I can’t speak of yet, but that I firmly believe will mark a new day of collaboration between the Orlando and national trans community with the rest of the queer

The Trans Curtain is falling all across the country as you read this. It is doomed to failure of course. Eventually.

However, it will take all of us being visible, outspoken and united to ensure we don’t lose an entire generation of trans people before it happens.

The anti-trans sentiment that kicked into high gear under Trump has continued even after his defeat.

Melody Maia Monet has her own YouTube channel where she answers lesbian and transgender life questions you are afraid to ask. You can find it at YouTube.com/MelodyMaia.

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viewpoint

Beneva Fruitville

Picking Berry One Year on HRT

H

appy anniversary

to me! Happy anniversary, HRT! I have been on HRT (Hormone Replacement Therapy) for one full year.

I began my transition journey in July of 2019 and subsequently began HRT in March of 2020—and here we are. I knew a year ago that my life and body were in for major changes and I was right.

I was quickly made aware of what general changes to expect while being reminded that everyone will experience HRT differently. All of my therapists, doctors, nurses and friends who have transitioned gave me advice and said to ask any questions that ever came up.

I took some of them up on their offers, as there were some things that I found to be quite confusing.

But there were many things that I was completely surprised by. Here are some things that I was reticent to ask about that may be helpful to anyone who is transitioning or may simply be curious.

My chest has grown on HRT. A lot! I was under the impression that in order for me to have full-size breasts that were proportional to my body, I would eventually need to have breast augmentation surgery. This is not the case for me.

Over the past year my breasts have developed into a full D-cup. I not only fill out my D-cup bras but according to the Metro Inclusive Health, my clinic, there are potentially two more years of

growth before they will have fully reached their maximum potential.

The next topic might be a little awkward, so the bottom line is that other parts of my body have shrunk. Drastically.

Everything “downstairs” has kind of gotten smaller, except during times when I’m intimate.

During those times, everything looks and feels like it always has, though it can be more sensitive.

There are also some changes in the end results.

I can have a normal sexual response and even climax, but it’s a no muss, no fuss and no clean up situation.

Another thing that I knew would happen but didn’t fully comprehend the extent of is that my body fat has been completely redistributed. It’s forced me to slowly rebuild my wardrobe as nothing fits the way it used to.

Since I do drag for a living, I had acquired quite an assortment of clothing that I had planned to incorporate into my daily wardrobe. I am smaller than I was in some places and larger in others, especially in my hips and butt. This has been both good and bad – good in that I’ve gotten new clothes, bad in that that it’s forced me to spend more money.

I am also still figuring out my style. I have experimented with a lot of different looks over the past year, a process that I am enjoying. I can definitely say that sweat is a factor here in Florida and removing your bra is a beautiful feeling.

There are also huge emotional and psychological aspects that are more intense than the physical aspects of transitioning. I am learning to be truer to my emotions; to really feel what I am feeling instead of trying to deny or hide it. I cannot say that I am more emotional than before I began HRT,

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

but I am certainly more apt to show my emotions.

A lot of my general anger in life has subsided.

Some might say the I had a fiery temper before I transitioned. I would not deny that, though I also cannot attribute my nicer temperament to HRT.

I have also become intensely passionate about our government and its inner workings and cogitations. I watch C-SPAN and yell at the TV like it is a sports ball game.

I can name and tell you the state of origin and party of far too many House

But all of this is me. When or if you are considering your transition, you do not have to be as public. It is perfectly fine if you want to just be yourself.

“Passing” and gender are social constructs that are outdated and overrated,

I firmly believe that now that I am living in my truth that I am simply a happier person. The estrogen also probably helped. A lot.

In my transition I have found a new voice to stand up for my fellow members of the LGBTQ+ family.

A sense of passion for our rights and visibility has re-emerged from my college days of ACT UP, a group which worked to end the AIDS pandemic.

and Senate members.

I even hate-watch specific networks in order to hear what they are saying about us.

The fact that any politician still has a say in our inalienable human rights is infuriating. The fact that our rights to live normally are still being legislated is maddening.

I do not understand it and I will not be quiet about it.

which brings me to the biggest thing I’ve learned in the last year.

You don’t have to fit into any mold. The best part about living your truth is that it is yours.

I firmly believe that now that I am living in my truth that I am simply a happier person.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

Berry Ayers, aka Beneva Fruitville, has performed for audiences onstage from New York to Fiji. She has been honored for her theatrical roles and volunteer work.

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Photos by Tony Firriolo feature Kristin Shirilla* in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Rashad Guy* in The Merry Wives of Windsor. *Member of Actors’ Equity Association (AEA)

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

talking points [W]e gays know drama better than anybody. We got [Meghan Markle’s] back.

Yes ma’am. Miss Markle the gays have got your back in this royal battle.

—Leslie Jordan, in an Instagram video speaking about Oprah’s explosive Meghan Markle and husband Prince Harry interview

5.6% U.S. adults of

say they are LGBT

‘Pose’ to end with shortened third season

— an increase of 1.1% from 2017 —

F

X’s groundbreaking LGBTQ series “Pose” will end with its third season. Series co-creator and executive producer Steven Canals announced the news via social media March 5. Its final season will also be its shortest, with the first of its seven episodes premiering May 2. “It was a very difficult decision for us to make, but this has been an incredible journey and we have told the story that we wanted to tell – the way that we wanted to tell it,” Canals shared. Created by Canals, Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, “Pose” premiered on FX in June 2018 and was an instant hit winning Golden Globes for Best Drama TV Series and Best Actor in TV Drama for Billy Porter for its first season.

with

54.6%

identify as bisexual, ------

24.5% Jodie Foster thanks Packers QB at Golden Globes

J

odie Foster thanked Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at the Golden Globes Feb. 28, fulfilling a promise the actress had made before she won. Foster won for supporting actress in a motion picture for “The Mauritanian,” in which she co-stars with Shailene Woodley. Woodley recently confirmed her engagement to Rodgers. Foster says she did not introduce the couple to each other.

The public back-and-forth between Foster and Rodgers began in early February, when he thanked Foster after being named MVP at the NFL Honors show. Rodgers casually dropped in the news that he was engaged to Woodley during his speech. Foster later said on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” that she would thank Rodgers if she won a Globe.

Billie Jean King memoir to be published in August

B

illie Jean King has a memoir coming this summer, and she calls it a journey to her “authentic self.”

“All In: An Autobiography” will be published Aug. 17 and will cover the highlights of King’s celebrated and groundbreaking tennis career, including her 39 Grand Slam titles and her defeat of Bobby Riggs in the famous “Battle of the Sexes” match in 1973. King, 77, will also write about her activism on behalf of women in tennis and beyond, and such private struggles as an eating disorder and acknowledging her sexual identity. “All In” is being edited by Jonathan Segal, who has worked on memoirs by Andre Agassi and Arthur Ashe.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Dolce&Gabbana seeks $600M damages from 2 US bloggers

D

olce&Gabbana filed a defamation suit in an Italian court seeking over $600 million in damages from two U.S. fashion bloggers who reposted anti-Asian comments attributed to one of the designers that led to a boycott by Asian consumers. The suit was filed in Milan civil court in 2019 but only recently became public when the bloggers posted about it on their Instagram account, Diet Prada. The case dates back to November 2018, after outrage over what were seen as culturally insensitive videos promoting a major runway show in Shanghai and subsequent posts of insulting comments in a private Instagram chat by Stefano Gabbana. The show was canceled in the backlash.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

—Gallup Poll

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We check in with Central Florida and Tampa Bay LGBTQ businesses a year into the pandemic

Photo courtesy Tampa Theatre

T

Jeremy Williams and Ryan Williams-Jent

he COVID-19 pandemic has impacted

every aspect of our lives, so much more than any of us could have imagined a year ago when most of the world was still trying to figure out what COVID was.

The outbreak of COVID-19, a new coronavirus first discovered in late 2019, was declared to be a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO), which directs international health within the United Nations and leads partners

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

in worldwide health responses, on March 11, 2020.

They did so two days after Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in Florida and two before then-President Donald Trump declared one nationwide.

On March 15, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommended no mass gatherings and advised venues to postpone in-person events across the nation, which were soon followed by school closures, quarantines, lockdowns and every aspect of life that could do so going virtual.

One year in and COVID-19 has infected 118 million people around the world, with 29.2 million of them coming from the U.S. It has also taken the lives of

Continued on pg. 23 | uu |

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

MojoMan Swimwear & Clothing

| uu | One Year of COVID from pg.21

2.62 million people worldwide, with 529,000 of those being American lives.

The pandemic also devastated the economy. With shutdowns and social-distancing restrictions, businesses which were able to remain open were forced to limit customers and cut employees. Many small businesses were unable to survive the year and had to close their doors permanently.

A poll conducted by Lake Research Partners for Small Business Majority, which surveyed small business owners across the U.S., found 59% reported declined revenue during the pandemic with 60% reporting losses of more than 25%. More than half say the revenues are still down compared to last year.

The same survey found that one in every three small businesses were forced to cut employee hours and one in five reduced employee wages.

As people follow CDC guidelines like wearing masks and maintaining social distance – and with much-needed vaccines now being distributed – many small businesses are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

Even so, they recognize that the impact of the past year will have lingering effects.

We checked in with several LGBTQ-owned and allied businesses to see how they are doing one year into the pandemic.

Community Cafe

Mandy Keyes opened Community Cafe in 2013, an eatery specializing in vegan and vegetarian fare. It served as a “home away from home” with inclusive events like Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) and more.

After being forced to relocate from its traditional home in St. Petersburg’s “gayborhood” in 2019, Keyes found sanctuary in the LGBTQ-affirming Allendale United Methodist Church. While maintaining the pop-up version of her restaurant and searching for a permanent home, the pandemic hit.

“We had originally thought it would be a month, maybe two,

feeding the frontline: Community Cafe’s pay-it-forward program launched in March 2020, delivering full meals and snacks to frontline workers throughout Tampa Bay like those pictured. Photo courtesy mandy keyes/community cafe

but that changed our plans,” Keyes says.

“We kept our eyes open to find a new location but knew that we wouldn’t really be able to move,” she continues. “We were very lucky to have Allendale because we didn’t have the kind of overhead that put a lot of other businesses under or into a huge

St. Anthony’s Hospital, Bayfront Health and St. Petersburg General Hospital.

“We started with the hospitals and fire stations and whoever else we could think of, including one special request to take some food to Publix,” Keyes says. She estimates up to 600 people were fed as a result. “It felt like

drink as St. Pete Community Oasis and are currently searching for retail businesses to join their ranks.

“I cannot wait to start having community events again,” Keyes says, noting the new location allows for COVID-conscious operation. “That’s really what I’m here for, what the cafe is

We saw a lot of our customers coming in more often and buying more often because, as they would say, ‘we don’t want you to go anywhere.’ I think everybody kind of understood small businesses were in need of customers and our community really showed up.

— Lane Blackwell, owner of MojoMan Swimwear & Clothing amount of debt.”

While hosting events like DQSH weren’t possible during shutdowns, Keyes did her best to stay connected with the community. She launched Community Cafe’s pay-it-forward program in March 2020 to keep her kitchen open and feed frontline workers in need.

The program collected nearly $4,000 from supporters via the cafe’s website, funds the restaurant matched. Full meals and snacks were delivered to locations including Tampa Bay’s

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

something that we needed to do.”

Community remains Keyes’ focus, particularly since connecting with supporters has been limited. She’s since left Community Cafe’s pop-up location behind and is planning to move into her restaurant’s permanent home in mid-April to early May. She won’t make the move alone. Keyes has formed a new collaborative concept with the likeminded Halelife Bakery and InVision Creative Cafe. The partners will present an extensive array of food and

here for, to have a space for a local community to connect with each other. Art, music, Drag Queen Story Hour and everything else will come back once it’s safe.”

A year of COVID-19 stressed how important events like those are. “We’ve all been so isolated this last year,” Keyes says. “It shows how interdependent we are on one another ... we’ve all learned a lot.”

For more information about St. Pete Community Oasis, visit StPeteCommunityOasis.com.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

April 1 will mark nine years since Lane Blackwell opened MojoMan Swimwear & Clothing.

The community shop for swimwear, underwear, apparel and accessories fast became the go-to place for gay men to find sexy and stylish garments.

When businesses began to shutdown early in the pandemic, Blackwell turned MojoMan into a curbside pickup shop for his customers.

“People would drive up, we would ask what they needed and we’d get it, ring it up and bring it out to them. It was definitely a different way to do business,” he says.

Retail shops were hit hard in general from the pandemic, but MojoMan faced a unique challenge as a large part of his sales come from swimwear. As the shutdowns dragged on and events like Gay Days, Red Shirt Pride Days, One Magical Weekend and Tidal Wave were cancelled and large summer gatherings were discouraged, no one was needing a new swimsuit.

“Swimwear sales definitely did dip during that point,” Blackwell says, “but what was interesting is we picked up in sales with tank tops, underwear and shorts.”

Blackwell attributed the uptick in sales to two things: people stuck at home with nothing to do but shop online and bringing in a new, high demand product.

“I found a local guy down in Fort Lauderdale that made really good masks so we started selling masks,” he says. “We sold about 5,000 masks last year. That was a huge thing for us. When we started selling masks, it was that point in the pandemic where you couldn’t find masks anywhere.”

With mask and clothing sales balancing out the loss from swimwear, and with the help of the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), Blackwell was able to keep his entire staff gainfully employed during the pandemic.

One unforeseen hurdle that came early on was keeping Continued on pg. 25 | uu |

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

st. petersburg staple: GayStPete House utilized support from the community to complete a number of renovations to its pool area, allowing for an even more COVID-conscious experience. Photo by dylan todd

| uu | One Year of COVID from pg.23

inventory in the store. Blackwell places many of his orders with vendors at a convention he attends every year in Vegas.

“The convention was in February last year, so right about the time that this stuff would have started to come in was when they closed us down,” he says. “At that point we did have a lot of problems with vendors cancelling our orders which caused trouble early on getting product into the store.”

Luckily, Blackwell says, having great relationships with his suppliers led to him being able to piece together enough inventory to keep customers shopping.

Something else that helped sustain MojoMan throughout the past year was support from the LGBTQ community.

“People we only see monthly or quarterly were coming in and saying ‘we are here to support you,’” Blackwell says. “We saw a lot of our customers coming in more often and buying more often because, as they would say, ‘we don’t want you to go anywhere.’ I think everybody kind of understood small businesses were in need of

customers and our community really showed up.”

For more information on MojoMan Swimwear & Clothing, visit MojoManStyle.com.

GayStPete House GayStPete House owner Brian Longstreth affectionately calls his bed and breakfast “this old house,” reflecting on its decades in St. Petersburg. The six-room locale, originally built in 1929 as a single-family home for city leadership, was converted to an apartment building in the 60s until finding its true footing.

It spent time as an illegal boarding house before Longstreth reimagined what it could be in 2000. He ultimately converted it into the LGBTQ-focused space it is now in 2008, attracting guests from across the globe ever since – something the pandemic undeniably impacted.

“It was a whole lot of uncertainty,” Longstreth reflects.

“I was having a record year for room rentals and then half of March was shut down last year, and almost all of April. We missed a lot of our returning customers from Canada and Europe, and even some of our

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Northern guests were cancelling or postponing their stays. I still have people saying, ‘Oh, we’ll come in 2022, we’re going to skip this year.’”

Longstreth says at least 20% of his business stems from outside of the U.S., estimating he lost roughly $18,000 last March and April. Thankfully, most of his losses were ultimately offset by Florida residents seeking staycations.

“They don’t stay long, just two or three days instead of the usual week,” Longstreth says.

“I’ve been able to introduce the property to a lot of Floridians who either never thought about a taking a close vacation or had never heard of us.

“Volume-wise, we’re back to where we were in the previous year,” he continues. “It’s just a little more work and a little more uncertainty, because we never know which days we’ll be busy and which ones we won’t. It’s certainly been a pleasant surprise to be able to continue operating.”

Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ community helped make that a possibility as well. In addition to serving as a bed and breakfast, Longstreth says locals have leaned on the mostly outdoor space to stay connected with one another through shutdowns.

Pet Partners: As the shutdown went on, Ranger’s noticed an uptick in their doggie daycare service as people worked from home all day. Photo Courtesy Ranger’s “Several people have mentioned that they like the ability to get out and still see and talk to people,” Longstreth says. “It’s become a nice alternative to a bar for meeting people, especially for those that aren’t into that scene anymore.”

GayStPete House utilized the support to renovate its pool area last November, already a major draw for visitors. It was expanded to allow for more social distance, adding canopies for increased private seating and more.

“I think it has made a big difference for a lot of people that are coming to visit either for day passes or to stay at the house,” Longstreth says.

“There’s always going to be a project and we’re always going to continue to upgrade and improve the property.”

That’s because St. Petersburg is continuing to grow as an LGBTQ destination, he asserts.

“St. Petersburg has a lot to offer people who want to travel and to travel safely,” Longstreth says, and he has the perfect place for them to stay.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

For more information about GayStPete House, visit GayStPeteHouse.com.

Ranger’s Pet Outpost and Retreat Ranger’s Pet Outpost and Retreat is a pet care business in Winter Park owned by Mike Fried and Rick Merrifield for the last 20 years.

Originally called Yuppy Puppy when Fried and Merrifield purchased it in 2001, the couple has grown the business from a 1,000-square-foot space to a 20,000-square-foot store that offers overnight pet lodging, doggie daycare, grooming, training, merchandise and more.

Fried and Merrifield were on vacation in Mexico when they started to hear about the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. “When we got off the plane in Dallas was the first time we saw a large number of people had masks on, and that’s when we started hearing about the pandemic,” Fried says. “When

Continued on pg. 27 | uu |

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| uu | One Year of COVID from pg.25

we got back to Orlando and we got back to our business, we started thinking ‘this is turning into something’ and I immediately called my bank.”

Fried and Merrifield started to put together a game plan to determine how to handle the pandemic when shutdowns started to happen.

“First thing we found out was whether we were considered an essential business, which we were, so then we needed to start thinking about how to protect our employees,” Fried says.

Ranger’s, which employs 50 workers, kept everyone safe by creating a valet service for customers dropping off their pets.

“We were servicing people out of our parking lot,” Fried says. “No clients came into our facilities whatsoever, we would meet them and bring their dogs to them after they had received their services.”

A large part of Ranger’s business comes from pet lodging when people are travelling and cannot bring their pet.

When the shutdown happened, most vacations were scrapped and lodging reservations were cancelled.

“Overnight half of our business went into the toilet,” Fried says. “The number of people who were calling to cancel was just frightening and we were watching what we expected to be a stellar year go to hell in a hand basket.”

Fried says he tried to take advantage of the PPP loans but had issues during the first round with his bank.

“We applied for the PPP, Bank of America helped me get the application processed and then silence from them,” he says.

“Two weeks later, I got an email that said I successfully applied and maybe I’ll get money in the next round.”

Ranger’s wasn’t alone in their frustration. According to Small Business Majority poll, 57% found it challenging to apply for a PPP loan partly attributed to issues in trying to secure the loan through their bank.

Fried says they did need to reduce employee hours for a time but says they were able to

back in action: The Tampa Theatre, home of the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and seen here pre-pandemic, reopened its doors to the public exactly one year after its COVID-19 shutdown. Photo courtesy tampa theatre

keep any fulltime employees from going below 35 hours.

Ranger’s was able to get a PPP loan during the second round of assistance, thanks to help from Valley Bank.

Something else that helped Ranger’s was an increase in one of their other services as the shutdown stretched on.

“Starting in late April, early May we started doing a fair

said ‘Whatever you need, we’ll be there for you.’ They have been great.”

For more information about Ranger’s Pet Outpost and Retreat, visit RangersPetOutpost.com.

audiences know today thanks to community support, a protected landmark managed by the not-for-profit Tampa Theatre Foundation.

Pre-pandemic, the venue hosted more than 600 events per year – including 30 years’ worth of the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) – offering a full schedule of first-run and

As a nonprofit, we’re community supported. You really don’t learn what that means until it looks like it can be taken away.

— Jill Witecki, Tampa Theatre’s Director of Marketing & Community Relations amount of business with doggie daycare,” Fried says.

“There were so many people stuck working at home, then having the kids at home, mom and dad at home, having the dog at home; something had to give,” he explains. “And it was the dog.”

As we surpass one year in the pandemic, Fried says business in lodging is starting to go back up.

“People are starting to become more mobile and travel again,” Fried says. “It isn’t our normal size crowd but it’s much bigger than what it was last year. But we have a dedicated clientele, and I can’t tell you how many reached out to us and

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

Tampa Theatre The Tampa Theatre’s doors first opened nearly 100 years ago, ushering patrons into a new age of extravagance and entertainment for just 25 cents. It was the city’s first commercial property to offer air conditioning, the perfect complement to its high ceilings emulating the night sky.

The movie palace quickly became a Tampa staple, as celebrated for its atmospheric architecture as it was its access to the silver screen.

It has evolved through the decades into the cultural center

classic films, live entertainers, events and more. That changed drastically March 11, 2020, the same day the CDC deemed COVID-19 a pandemic.

That’s when scheduled acts and audiences alike began to dwindle, a response to mounting coronavirus concerns.

“The morning of the 12th, we all came in and said, ‘I don’t think we can do this. I don’t think we can open tonight,’” Tampa Theatre Director of Marketing & Community Relations Jill Witecki recalls.

“Those first couple of days, it was just going through the calendar and it was cancellation after cancellation.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

“We were canceling things for the first couple of weeks and nobody knew how long this was going to last,” she continues.

“Was it going to be a couple of weeks or a couple of months?

Now we know.”

It was a full year, at least for Tampa Theatre’s traditional means of connecting with the community. Its remaining staff quickly pivoted to virtual cinema, working with film distributors to showcase films on mutually beneficial streaming platforms to recover what lost funds they could.

“We were able to jump on that quickly,” Witecki says, “within two weeks of shutting down. It was interesting for us because as a one-screen cinema, we’re only ever able to sell one movie at a time. Suddenly we could have 10 or 20 titles at once.”

That included LGBTQ-focused material, echoing the space’s longtime support for Tampa Bay’s LGBTQ community.

While Tampa Theatre wasn’t able to host TIGLFF last year, which was held virtually in a first of its own, Witecki says it’s a partnership that will endure.

“It goes back to the first year of the film festival,” she explains.

“We’re called Tampa’s living room and that’s what Tampa Theatre is. To have any group that comes back year after year and make the space their own, it’s just wonderful.

“As a nonprofit, we’re community supported,” she continues. “You really don’t learn what that means until it looks like it can be taken away.”

Tampa Theatre reopened one year after its shutdown on March 11 with new safety precautions in place, including updates to its air conditioning system for better filtration thanks to federal relief. Along with eager audiences, it also hosted a renewed optimism.

“Since 1926, Tampa Theatre has survived The Great Depression, World War II and all seven ‘Police Academy’ movies,” President and CEO John Bell says. “Soon, we’ll be adding ‘a global pandemic’ to that list.”

For more information about the Tampa Theatre, visit TampaTheatre.org.

27

March 20 & 21 Twilight: Trivia & Happy Hour

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F RO N T YA R D F E S T I VA L .O RG Mainstage at Senee Arts Plaza

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arts and Entertainment

Privilege, pronouns, haters and the youth of today: a conversation with rising Orlando comic Heather Shaw

H

Sarah Kinbar

eather Shaw never gets ruffled.

She calmly and cooly faces bizarre confrontations, overzealous fans, hecklers — you name it — with a witty retort worthy of an improv artist. Only she doesn’t do improv. Heather is a punchline comic who wakes up in the middle of the night, pulls over on the side of the road or politely excuses herself from a conversation to make a note in her phone when a great punchline comes to her. She worries about building the joke out later. But it all starts with the punchline.

A 32-year-old born in Buffalo, New York, Shaw bears an uncanny resemblance to Jim Carrey. That in itself is a punchline, and she built a bit out of it. Languishing in the stand-up dry spell of the pandemic (She has only done three shows over the past year — the most recent one at an outdoor Gainesville venue in February), Shaw

launched a TikTok channel with a series of flawless Jim Carrey impressions and the fake news revelation that she is Jim’s long-lost daughter.

The bit went viral and proliferated a series of spin-off bits that have boosted

Continued on pg. 31 | uu |

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

Do you think each generation is more woke?

| uu | Heather’s World

Nobody is woke like Gen Z. They are open, proud, accepting and they wear mom jeans.

Although they say it’s not cool to use the crying-laughing emoji anymore, so that’s not very accepting. And they don’t accept skinny jeans. Actually, I’m terrified of them. I wear skinny jeans and I’m not changing.

from pg.29

Shaw’s TikTok following to 1.1 million in less than four months.

A few weeks ago, Watermark went for a walk-and-talk with Shaw around Lake Eola and a quarter way around the loop, despite being cloaked in the dark cover of night, Shaw was spotted by a fan.

Said fan nearly had a joy-induced brain explosion, she was so shocked and excited to see Shaw in the flesh. This seems to be a typical reaction. Shaw was friendly and unfazed.

your family moved to Melbourne, Florida when you were in high school.

You recently you said you consider Orlando to be a liberal city, Does it truly feel like a bastion of progressive thought to you? Is that because you compare it with Melbourne?

WATERMARK: you’re an out lesbian comic incorporating sexuality into her jokes. does your family enjoy your act the way your fans do?

I do think it is a liberal city for Florida. I mean, you know, we did Black Lives Matter protests here. I was part of it and we got tear gassed. ________

HEATHER SHAW: They think it’s funny. You know, they like it.

It’s cool. I thought about it ... If I got up there and they … didn’t approve, that would suck.

Nobody likes it when their parents don’t approve

I know. And mine kind of have to. Me and my two siblings, we’re all gay. So my parents are in the minority. They are outnumbered.

There are three gays?

Yeah, three gays, and two straight parents. Well straightish.

We’ll see. My mom, she’s probably a little gay.

How much do your jokes reveal about your personal life?

It’s not very personal. I’ve never been one to talk about myself. I’m private in that way.

I just don’t find me all that interesting. A lot of my jokes are based on things I make up to fit the punchline. There’s one about a curvy girl, but I’ve never dated a curvy girl, not that I wouldn’t. But people hear the curvy girl joke and picture me with a curvy girl, and I get asked about her.

Are you doing comedy full time, or do you have a day job?

I’m a research analyst at a bank. Wells Fargo.

Okay, now I see why you don’t find yourself interesting. Are you involved with the LGBTQ+ community?

Not really. Most of my friends are straight guys, other comics.

And my girlfriend is a med

Tik Tok, Don’t stop:

Heather Shaw has amassed a Tik Tok following of more than one million followers stretching her comedic reach far outside of Central Florida. Photos by Jordan Cole, Courtesy Heather Shaw

student, and the people in her program are mostly straight.

So we don’t know a lot of gays.

I never go to the Pride parade.

It’s probably because it was never a struggle for me to be gay. I was accepted. I was never bullied at school, either. In the LGBTQ+ community, one of the ties binding people together is the shared struggle.

How well do you know gay history?

Stonewall, Matthew Shepard, Harvey Milk. I know some.

There’s a lot I don’t know. But I appreciate the impact that was made and I appreciate the struggle.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

When you’re on stage, do you see yourself as a voice for the gay community?

I’m not an expert. I’m not a voice for all gay people since people’s situations are all so different. I suppose I represent people who have grown up with acceptance. And I’ve changed my mind about the Pride parade already. I’ll f--king get on top of a float.

How do you feel about pronouns?

Boomers and Generation X, all the people that came before you. They had a major battle to fight for acceptance, right? And I’m not saying your generation doesn’t have battles. Of course, you do. But you grew up with full acceptance from your family.

Being gay wasn’t acceptable back in the day, but when I grew up there was a big transition underway. It’s like a leaked

email. That’s the moment when everything changed.

I’m really having to get ahold of the whole pronoun situation.

People ask me and I’m like hee/ haw. A lot of times I can’t get it right. For Gen Z, they don’t even have to think about it. They pick up on pronouns and can remember what everyone prefers.

I wonder if we can get to a point where everyone is they/them.

That would be easier. Or maybe eventually it will go back to traditional pronouns. Or we’ll just call everyone by their names and not use pronouns.

So, you’re in your 30s and at this point you clearly have

a sense of the differences between generations.

Other than the pronoun thing, what do you see with Generation Z?

Woke City. Every comic’s worst nightmare.

How’s that?

There are so many things I’m not supposed to say now, and I want to. I mean, I personally can’t be offended. I get why everyone isn’t this way, but other people’s issues are not mine.

Someone can come up to me and call me a bold-faced fa-got and I’ll be, like, ‘Hey, what’s up, dude?’

And sometimes I’ll get mistaken for a guy. I just don’t care.

Is there anything at all that can elicit a hostile response from you or send you into a rage?

I wish I could say that if you insulted my mother I’d be mad, but even then, I would understand that you’re just like that. That’s your thing, not my thing. There’s really nothing someone can say to trigger me.

I don’t take anything seriously, especially people.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

At this point in the conversation, it dawns on me just how centered Heather really is. Her built-in confidence and security give her a view of life that originates with her own safe experience. You could call it privilege, and that would be fair.

Privilege has gotten a bad rap, understandably, but the flip side of that coin is that the generations that came before her fought for equality, and winning those battles amounts to privilege being enjoyed by those who were once underrepresented, oppressed and targeted. And that’s the reality Heather was born into.

For Heather, Orlando is liberal because she is here. Official tear-gassing notwithstanding, the city is defined by her own brand of liberalism. She doesn’t need to fight. She only needs to live out her will and be who she is. Orlando is liberal because she has been and will continue to live freely. Her self-expression is unstoppable.

The life of a comic is a natural fit for this attitude. ________ When did you start doing stand-up?

2015? I always wanted to do it, but I was chickensh-t … and then I was just like, “F-ck it!” And then I fell in love with it. It is everything I thought it would be.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

Theatre

High Velocity

Off Kilter theatre company launches in St. Petersburg

(above)

the body: Actor Hippie Griswold performs as “the body” in “The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name),” Off Kilter’s first production in St. Petersburg.

Photo courtesy off kilter

D

Ryan Williams-Jent

erek Baxter appreciates risks.

The entertainer’s taken them his entire career – from performing on Nickelodeon’s “All That” as a teenager to producing drunken comedies for the Tampa Fringe Festival – and now he’s helping others do the same.

He’s doing it as the artistic director of Off Kilter, one of Tampa Bay’s newest theatre companies. He designed it “to stand at the edge of theatre exploring boundaries, ourselves and the Avant-Garde.”

“Avant-Garde is different to so many people,” Baxter explains. “To me it’s whatever is new, whatever is yet to be explored, whatever is experimental.”

Off Kilter focuses “on creating space for regional artists to do the very thing they love to do – create art, tell stories, and entertain audiences,” the company’s website reads. It promises to be “where the freaks can come and see themselves, where the artists can appreciate their

peers’ unique work and where the bourgeoisie can come experiment with the extreme.”

That’s what Baxter did with his award-winning “Schwasted Shakespeare” in 2018, the Tampa Fringe hit starring inebriated actors doing their best to perform “Hamlet.”

He formed Off Kilter to produce the piece, the success of which cemented his desire to create more experimental works.

That ultimately led to Off Kilter’s production of “The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name)” in St. Petersburg, the company’s first follow-up. Presented March 12-21 at The MAR St. Pete, the city’s new space designed to strengthen the local performing arts community,

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

the powerful narrative by James Still introduces audiences to a resonating theme of “anything can happen.”

Baxter says the 75-minute production was the perfect fit for a COVID-conscious comeback. The MAR’s space – limited to a maximum of 30 people – allowed for socially distanced seating throughout.

“With the live performing arts having been shut down for year now, I believe the arts are in for a renaissance,” Baxter says. “We wanted to begin that journey alongside everyone else.

“I believe with society feeling that urge for human connection and experience after the year we have all lived through, art is going to push into new schools and thoughts,” he notes.

Originally written as a one-person show, the role was split into two, emphasizing Off Kilter’s Avant-Garde flair and further protecting the audience. Actor Hippie Griswold performs as “the body” while wearing a mask and as “the voice,” Steven C. Fox provides the show’s narrative from behind plexiglass.

“It is such a beautiful experience to see the both of them work in tandem to bring this story to life in such a mesmerizing way,” Baxter details. “They have both been so trusting and brave during this process exploring both the world of Gary and the world of the Avant-Garde.”

“It’s completely different,” Griswold describes his role. “Being ‘the body’ and not saying anything has really stretched my abilities as a performer. I’ve always been a fan of using body language and non-verbal communication to get across a story and I’ve learned so much doing this show.”

“Separating the voice from the body in this regularly one-man show changes the dynamic quite a bit,” Fox adds. “It lets both the voice and body be a little louder, more expressive and opens the gateway, letting the audience into Gary’s mental state even more. It builds association by disassociation.”

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“There is just a power to this piece and its connection to the heartbeat of humanity,” Baxter notes. He says it’s more relevant than ever, highlighting both the LGBTQ community and the AIDS pandemic in unexpected ways.

“So much of the art surrounding the AIDS crisis is about its beginnings, about the fight for rights and acknowledgement,” he says. “This piece is after that initial struggle … people in the story happen to be HIV-positive and [it shows] how they continue living their lives.”

As a part of its Avant-Garde approach, Baxter says it’s important for Off Kilter to present work that audiences can identify with, particularly those who are underserved. “The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name)” does that.

“We are here, we are queer and we have some shit to say,” he says. “I love to give a space for our community’s stories and a platform for people to see themselves represented in art ... I love to see work beyond the struggle [that] accepts us as equal members of society. “‘The Velocity of Gary’ is very much a story in the vein,” he stresses.

“I want to continue to tell our stories and focus on our work to give us all a place to live and see our humanity.”

Off Kilter is planning to do that year-round, having found the perfect city to call home.

“I love St. Petersburg, always have,” Baxter says. “I love its fresh, independent, unique and artsy vibe.

I really felt that Off Kilter would fit well with the artists and people of the city nestled right in with all the eclectic studios and galleries, bars and indie restaurants.”

Work is currently underway for a project during Pride Month, one focusing on the more marginalized voices of the LGBTQ community. Doing so is personal for the artistic director, who says he “finally discovered my true sexuality in my late 30s” and is homoromantic asexual.

For that and other innovative work, Off Kilter invites Tampa Bay to join them. “You as an audience member are experimenting with your experience as well,” Baxter says.

“Let’s find out together what works and what doesn’t for the future of theatre. Let’s see where we can go in 2021 and beyond.”

“The Velocity of Gary (Not His Real Name)” is playing now through March 21 at The MAR St. Pete, located at 2309 Central Ave. To purchase tickets and for more information about Off Kilter, visit OffKilterTheatre.com.

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2021 SPRING

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announcements

tampa bay out+about

CONGRATULATIONS Memphis Style BBQ celebrated five years on March 13.

Morgan Le Shade and Aaron Arbo were engaged March 14.

St Pete Pride announced March 15 that Grand Central Brewhouse won “Best Brew” and Punky’s Bar & Grill won “Best Bite” and “Best Cocktail in its Taste of Pride Grand Central Edition.

Pom Pom’s Teahouse & Sandwicheria St. Pete celebrates six years March 23.

reopenings

1

Venice Theatre will reopen to the public March 26.

For more information, visit VeniceTheatre.org.

EVENTS The Tampa Bay International Gay & Lesbian Film Festival (TIGLFF) is now accepting film submissions for its 32nd annual festival, currently scheduled for live screenings in theater venues as well as virtual screenings Oct. 1-17.

To help support artists and filmmakers, TIGLFF is offering free entry for films submitted by April 1.

In addition to its annual festival, TIGLFF is also looking for BIPOC-oriented LGBTQ films for the forthcoming Queer In Color festival in June, as well as trans-oriented films for their second annual Tampa Transgender Film Festival in November. Visit TIGLFF.com/Film-Makers/Submit-A-Film for more information.

LOCAL BIRTHDAYS Associate director of admissions for Stetson Law School Darren Kettles (March 18); St. Petersburg massage therapist Terrell Ray, former Love the Golden Rule office manager Jojo Wallace, Breaking Rules Publishing President Christopher Clawson Rule (March 19); Sarasota County Health Department’s Sue Westcott, Tampa Bay performer Stephanie Shippae, Hyde Park Antiques owner Randy Strebing, (March 20); Metro Inclusive Health’s Christian Klimas (March 22); former T Network leader Jennifer Kurzawa (March 23); Former Florida House Rep. Adam Hattersley, Equality Florida advocate Anastasia Hiotis, Righteously Outrageous Twirling Corps board member Eric Peak, Mad Hatters’ David Baptista (March 24); Strategic Property Partners’ Brian Gallaher (March 25); Tampa photographer John Kantor, former St Pete Pride board member Delores Ringgold, Former Gazette publisher Brian Feist, Lakewood Ranch Allstate owner Richard Plummer, St. Pete social media sensation Chris Gibson, WellCare Health Plans’ Ryan Menke (March 26); St. Petersburg chef Domenica Macchia, Tampa karaoke extraordinaire Normie Dunn, Sarasota retiree Donald Attanas, St. Pete realtor Aaron Hoffman (March 27); Tampa softballer Randal Spiller, Sarasota equality advocate Jen Drake, Tampa entrepreneur Art Smith, Nail tech extraordinaire Jaime Lucas Irizarry (March 28); Pinellas County Young Democrat Bobbi Lindaman, Watermark Viewpoint writer Steve Blanchard (March 29); Florida Consumer Action Network’s Susan McGrath, Sarasotabased guitarist Jamie Gee (March 30).

2 3

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THE VOICE: Jay Miah takes center stage at Grand Central Brewhouse March 13 for Taste of Pride.

PHOTO BY RICKY CELAYA-RENAUD

2

DRINK UP: Allegra Williams (L) and Ja’Staria Sherrington drink the Kool-Aid at The Parrot March 14. PHOTO COURTESY THE PARROT

3

REVVED UP: Tyrone Square Mazda’s Sonny Gonzales receives the WAVE Award for Tampa Bay’s Favorite Place to Buy a Car March 12. PHOTO

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BY RICKY CELAYA-RENAUD

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TAMPA PROUD: Watermark Publisher Rick Claggett (L) and Tampa Bay Bureau Chief Ryan Williams-Jent (R) present Tampa Mayor Jane Castor (C) with her WAVE Award for Favorite Local Politician at Tampa City Hall March 10.

PHOTO COURTESY CITY OF TAMPA

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WARM WELCOME: Metro Inclusive Health’s Nate Taylor (L) and James Keane direct COVID-19 vaccine recipients through the organization’s parking lot March 3. PHOTO BY RYAN WILLIAMS-JENT

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WINNER’Z CIRCLE: The crew of Tyler’z Barbershop receive their WAVE Awards during the award pickup March 3.

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PHOTO BY DYLAN TODD

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BY EXAMPLE: CAN Community Health’s Rogelio Capote (L) receives the COVID-19 vaccine at Metro Inclusive Health March 12. PHOTO COURTESY CAN COMMUNITY HEALTH

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DECADE OF DIVAS: The Bradley’s on 7th cast past and present celebrate 10 years of the Ybor hotspot March 6. PHOTO BY MARK BIAS WEST

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

announcements

central florida out+about

CONGRATULATIONS Central Florida Sounds of Freedom presented a fundraising check in the amount of $800 to the Orlando Youth Alliance during their first live concert since the start of the pandemic at Lake Eola’s Walt Disney Amphitheater in Orlando March 13.

Jennifer Foster’s Foster Productions celebrated 22 years March 15.

EVENTS

2

The Gay Officers Action League of Central Florida (GOALcfl) and The Matthew Shepard Foundation host the Hate Crime Symposium at the Rosen Plaza in Orlando March 25 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. During the Symposium, participants will learn how hate crimes are identified, investigated and prosecuted under Florida Statute and Federal Law. For more information on the symposium and GOALcfl, visit GOALcfl.com.

Join One Orlando Alliance, the Peace and Justice Institute at Valencia College and the Gay Straight Alliance at Valencia’s East Campus for a special online screening and discussion of Daniel Karslake’s “For They Know Not What They Do.” Karslake’s follow-up to his hit documentary, “For the Bible Tells Me So,” looks at the conservative movement against same-sex marriage.

The film and panel discussion are free. To register, go to Eventbrite.com/e/145798562425. Once registered, you will receive special link and password to view the film from March 21-28. The panel and group discussion will take place over Zoom March 28 from 2-3 p.m. ET. The Zoom link will be emailed prior to the event. To watch the To see the trailer, visit ForTheyKnow.org/Trailer.

4

LOCAL Birthdays Central Florida recruiter Charles Elliott (March 18); King of the Cardboard Robots Evan Miga, ABM Orlando’s Sheila Block (March 19); Central Florida radio personality Lynn “Moira” Dictor, JM Best Entertainment owner John Best, Central Florida performer William Bruce, Two Spirit guru Alex Rey Cardona (March 20); Orange County Sheriff’s Office LGBT Liaison Brandon Ragan, Orlando performer Chris E. Mistery (March 21); Orlando dancer Tia Kadena (March 22); Miss GayDayS 2019 Twila Holiday aka Joshua Michael Patrick Huntington OrsiniCollins, Channel 13 News IT Director Ian Michael (March 23); Southern Nights Orlando showgirl Chevelle Brooks, Orlando nurse Christopher Milliron (March 24); BizzyNate Creative owner Nate West (March 25); VarieTEASE dancer Megan Boetto, Bowled Over Promotions’ Lisa Brown (March 26); Olde Town Brokers realtor Jay Wood, Orlando dancer Brittainy A. Derden, Orlando counselor Chad Brown, Naked Eye Studio’s John Caroll (March 27); New Church Family of Daytona Beach’s Jerry Corlis (March 28); Gay Officers Action League Central Florida president Grace Peek-Harris; Orlando actor Jon Jiminez (March 29); XL106.7 radio personality Sondra Rae, Orlando performer Doug Ba’aser (March 31).

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SUN-day Funday: (L-R) Hector Luis Zayas, Kris Webster and Brandon Wolf get out in the Florida sun and pick sunflowers March 7.

Photo courtesy Brandon Wolf

2

Ooh La La: Jan Echevarria tends bar in The La La Lounge at HAOS on Church in Orlando March 5.

Photo courtesy Jan Echevarria

3

Lucky Day: Keri Griffin, Orlando VA’s LGBT Program Manager, celebrates the start of her vacation in Orlando March 11. Photo by Keri Griffin

4

Dream Come True: One Orlando Alliance Board Chair Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet officially becomes a U.S. citizen at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Orlando March 12. Photo courtesy One

Orlando Alliance

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5

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Winning Gals: (L-R) MrMs Adrien, Divine Grace, Ginger Minj, Gidget Galore and (front) Doug Ba’aser collect their WAVE award for Favorite Show at the LGBT+ Center Orlando March 4. Photo by Dylan Todd

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Ally-in-Law: UCF’s Dr. Irene Pons picks up her WAVE award for Favorite Attorney at Watermark’s office in Orlando March 10.

Photo by Jeremy Williams

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7

Downtown Sounds: Tim Leddy (L) and Jen Kunsch attend the Central Florida Sounds of Freedom concert at Lake Eola in Orlando March 13.

Photo by Rick Claggett

8

Boat Brunch: Bearonce Bear (aka Anthony Chiocchi) performs aboard the The Dora Queen during the drag queen brunch “Bubbles, Beards, Babes and Brunch” on Lake Dora March 13. Photo by Danny Garcia

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

wedding bells

Tammie and Suzanne Lindsay from Clearwater, Florida

Engagement Date:

July 26, 2018

Wedding Date:

July 27, 2019

Wedding Ceremony:

St. John’s Lutheran Church in Parkville, MD

Wedding Reception:

Rusty Scupper in Baltimore, MD

Officiant:

Pastor Leslie Radius

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Plum and silver

Photo Bobby Anderson

T

ammie and Suzanne Lindsay first

met 25 years ago in their native Maryland. In fact, that’s where Suzanne still lives, even after their 2019 wedding, though Tammie continues to call Clearwater home.

It’s been a long journey for the couple. Suzanne was a recent college graduate in Maryland and Tammie was about to enter college when they met in 1996.

Being slightly older, Suzanne viewed herself as a mentor to Tammie, offering advice to the younger woman as she began studying at the University of Tampa. “I wanted to be helpful,” Suzanne says. “I would check in and see how things were going.”

Their friendship grew from there.

“It was more kind of like keeping in touch,” Tammie says. “Back in that day, it was writing letters. Then, there was the first cell phone, where if you did text, you had to pay for every text. If we had phone calls, it was after 7 p.m. because it was cheaper.”

She remained in Florida after graduating from UT. But she and Suzanne remained friends, talking and visiting when they could.

Eventually, they both married other women – occasionally meeting up over the years and spending time as couples – and they each had children. Then,

they went their longest stretch without speaking. “About eight years,” Tammie recalls, “maybe more.”

With social media, it was easier to stay connected without really talking, she adds, noting that there were the occasional Facebook interactions as they easily kept tabs on one another.

They began speaking regularly again in 2016 when both were facing rough patches in their first marriages.

“We were just talking as friends and helping each other through those relationship challenges,” Tammie says. “Both of us knowing that the relationship we were both in, neither one was healthy for us. We couldn’t see it for ourselves, but each of us saw it for the other.”

They had known each other so long that when a romantic relationship between them blossomed, it caught them both off guard. “It literally took us by surprise,” Tammie says.

They had one more hurdle as they began their relationship: they lived in different states. Tammie owns a home in Clearwater, while Suzanne has a

home in Maryland. Their children, who now range in age from 11 to 14, are also split between the states and they knew it would be until they all graduated high school before they could merge households.

That means there’s plenty of travel involved, but “we’ve made it work. Our kids are in separate states, so I can’t move my two that I have to Maryland, and she can’t move hers to Florida,” Tammie says. “We go back and forth.

It’s hard, but worth it.”

Knowing it would be years before they could call the same state home, they still planned a life together and talked about marriage. Though they openly discussed their plans, Suzanne kept it a secret when she purchased their engagement rings and proposed while they were on a cruise to Jamaica, popping the question at Dunn’s Rivers Falls.

“It’s a 900-foot high waterfall that you literally walk up,” Tammie says.

Suzanne adds, “They make you sign a waiver of, like, death. This is going to be fun, but you can die… And they wouldn’t let you take anything with you, just your person and your water shoes. I had to keep the ring hidden the whole time in my purse.”

She kept the purse in a locker while they hiked. After they climbed the falls, she had to sneak back to her locker to get the ring.

“It was symbolic of our whole relationship,” Suzanne says. “There were all these twists and turns, and it didn’t happen immediately, but when we got there, it was beautiful and wonderful.”

They planned a traditional wedding in Baltimore, where they have many friends and family. Their ceremony was the first same-sex wedding to take place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Parkville.

Two of their daughters were flower girls, while their other daughter and son were the ring bearers, carrying family Bibles down the aisle with the wedding bands.

Since then, they’ve continued to build their lives together long distance.

In many ways, the pandemic has made it easier for their families to spend time together because the kids were attending virtual school and could do their coursework from anywhere.

“The pandemic is a horrific time, but it actually gave us more time as a family,” Suzanne says. “I’ve spent so much time driving. There was one instance where I drove the two Florida kids home, went to bed and got up at four o’clock the next morning and drove back, because we weren’t putting anyone on a plane.”

— Tiffany Razzano

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.

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health + Fitness

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Mobile: 941-230-4797 Wayne@DictorFinancial.com

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813-655-9890 watermark Your LGBTQ life.

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

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C e ntral

F l o rida

Lawn Care

M ark e tplac e

medical

photography

Fine Art | Portrait | Wedding | Commercial www.DylanToddPhotography.com info@DylanToddPhotography.com (727) 310-1212

lgbt medical

optometrist

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Proudly Caring for the Pets and People of the LGBTQ Community since 1955 Open 7 Days a Week!

BOARDING

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NEW WELLNESS CENTER

1601 Lee Rd. Winter Park (407) 644-2676

Read It Online!

personal training

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44

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

www.rockhardfitnessorlando.com

FREE TRIAL PASS

youth services Changing the lives of LGBTQ teens and young adults for over 30 years

1 WEEK UNLIMITED CLASSES 1 HOUR PERSONAL TRAINING

Social support groups Make friends Scholarships for college Weekly groups in Orange, Seminole & Polk Counties

820 Lake Baldwin Lane p. 407.802.4631

info@OrlandoYouthAlliance.org www.OrlandoYouthAlliance.org

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

· Join · Volunteer · Donate

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March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

45

the last page Hometown:

Dallas, Texas

Identifies As: Gay

Tom Christ

Pronouns: He/Him/His

Out Year:

c o - o wn e r o f Outl o ud Ent e rpris e s

2000

Profession:

Business Development

Professional role model:

Roger Staubach – he’s an exceptional person who loves his family, achieved tremendous success in sports and business yet always remained humble.

Autobiography Title:

“It’s Never Too Late!”

Hobbies:

Travel, exercise, cooking, family

Recommend People to: Central Florida Bureau Chief Jeremy Williams at: Jeremy@WatermarkOnline.com Tampa Bay Bureau Chief Ryan Williams-Jent at: Ryan@WatermarkOnline.com

46

T

he Last Page is dedicated to

individuals who are making a positive impact on the LGBTQ community in Central Florida and Tampa Bay. This issue, we check in with Tom Christ of Outloud Enterprises.

Christ has more than 20 years of experience in the home security and smart home industry and has served the LGBTQ community since 1999. He is currently an Authorized Dealer with SafeStreets USA, an Authorized Provider for ADT. In 2018, Christ joined the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, which is the exclusive certifying body for LGBT-owned businesses. Along with his husband, Billy Looper, Christ is owner of One Magical Weekend, founder of the KindRED Pride Foundation and creator of Santa’s Bike Force, which helps to give less fortunate kids that feeling of receiving your first bicycle during Christmas.

Keep an eye on this space to learn more about the movers and shakers of your community.

What do you do professionally?

We own and operate an LGBT Certified Business Enterprise that specializes in smart home security.

Our company, Outloud Enterprises, has several entities that sell and install residential and commercial security and also

manage a company-wide referral program for ADT National Dealer Program.

We have worked with ADT’s Authorized Dealer program for 12 years and have been in the security industry for almost 22 years.

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

How do you champion for the local LGBTQ community?

As small business owners, we strive to support other LGBTQ-owned businesses to provide all of our personal and professional needs (insurance, printing, swag, legal, accounting, etc.).

We also have a great referral partnership program with a number of local LGBTQ nonprofits and real estate professionals to provide financial rewards for anyone they refer to us.

We are sponsors of the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance, a national organization that champions LGBTQ housing issues and networking throughout the country.

What is your favorite thing to read in Watermark?

The opinions, because they spotlight how people think about what’s happening all around us.

What is your favorite thing about the local LGBTQ community?

The LGBTQ community in Orlando has always been strong.

I’ll never forget the first time we attended Headdress Ball. It was truly a one-of a-kind event and one of the best fundraisers anywhere I have lived.

Since 2016, I think the Orlando community, all of Orlando, has

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

become more inclusive and supportive of one another.

What would you like to see improved in the local LGBTQ community?

I would love it if there was a more centralized LGBTQ district.

What is your favorite local LGBTQ event and why?

I love Come Out With Pride.

We always have a booth and enjoy seeing old friends and meeting new friends. The day is always a great celebration and I have to say I love the fireworks.

What would you like our readers to know about you?

We are passionate about what we do: “We help protect families, pets, homes and provide peace of mind in our chaotic world.”

What advice would you give your younger self?

Believe in yourself and the value that you bring to others.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, what has been the biggest challenge this past year?

COVID has limited the amount of time we can spend with our out-of-town family and therefore the loss of traveling.

Wedding Design by Simple Weddings Florida

FINE ART | PORTRAIT | WEDDING | COMMERCIAL www.DylanToddPhotography.com | 727-310-1212 | 515 22nd St S. St. Petersburg, FL 33712

watermark Your LGBTQ life.

March 18 - M a rch 31, 2021 // Issue 28 .0 6 wat e r m a r konline .com

47

EXPERT CARE TO GUIDE

YOUR BEST MOMENTS. At Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women & Babies, we’re grateful for your

commitment to staying safe. And even in times of uncertainty, you can be certain of our commitment to your safety. As Florida’s leader in women’s healthcare, we’ll provide you with the highest level of quality, personalized and safe care — because getting the medical attention you need is important to us, and to you.

WinniePalmerHospital.com