Gay Pride 2008

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26 JUN - 2 JUL 20082/ Crime

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Two ‘Jersey 4’ Convictions TossedLesbians convicted in 2006 West Village assault win on appeal; one cannot be retried

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

A state appeals court has overturned the convictions of two of

four young lesbians who were found guilty last year in a 2006 West Village attack on a straight man.

“I’m ecstatic at the deci-sion,” said Jan Hoth, the attorney who represented Terrain Dandridge, 21, and is the lead appellate counsel at the Center for Appellate Litigation, a non-profit law firm that handles appeals. “I never believed that Terrain should be in prison for this crime.”

Dandridge, Patreese John-son, 20, Renata Hill, 26, and Venice Brown, 20, were con-victed on various charges, including gang assault, and given prison sentences that ranged from three-and-a-half to 11 years.

The victim, Dwayne Buck-le, said he only flirted with one of the girls and they

attacked him. The young women charged that Buckle was the aggressor and they were defending themselves.

C i t i n g j u r y i n s t r u c -tion errors by Edward J. McLaughlin, the trial judge, the four -judge appellate panel threw out the Dan-dridge conviction and dis-m i s s ed the i nd i c tmen t against her.

“She cannot be retried in this case,” Hoth said. “In her case, the court specifi-cally found that there was insufficient evidence of her guilt... It’s over. The Court of Appeals doesn’t even have jurisdiction in this case.”

Hill’s gang assault conviction was also overturned, though

her conviction on a misde-meanor charge in the case stands. The Manhattan district attorney could retry her.

“She can now be retried on the gang assault count,” said Alexis Agathocleous, Hill’s attorney and a senior staff attorney in the Office of the Appellate Defender, also a non-profit law firm. “We don’t have any indication from [the district attorney]. We cer -tainly hope that they agree to dismiss the felony charge.”

The appellate panel fault-ed McLaughlin for giving the jury “confusing and errone-ous” instructions on the legal meaning of self-defense and of acting in concert.

“The jury was fundamen-

tally misinstructed on two issues that were central to the trial,” Agathocleous said. “I can’t overstate how abso-lutely central these concepts were in these cases.”

A single jury decided the cases against all four women. Hoth said that Brown will likely have her conviction overturned as the same jury instructions issues occurred in her case.

“Ms. Brown will probably get her conviction reversed as well and a new trial ordered,” she said. Brown’s appeal will be filed by July 7.

Johnson was convicted of actually stabbing Buckle so the acting in concert and justification errors may not apply in her case. Her attor-neys had already filed their appeal when the June 19 Dandridge-Hill opinion was released so her attorneys could not cite it.

The verdicts and sentences angered some activists. “Free the Jersey 4” signs became

a common feature at some community protests. The four African-American lesbi-ans were from New Jersey.

“We’re really excited,” said Rickke Mananzala, executive director of FIERCE, or Fabu-lous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment. “This is what all four of them deserve... Obv ious ly , the two the women, Venice and Patreese, we hope they get the same thing.”

Three other women who were involved in the alterca-tion pleaded guilty and were sentenced to six months in jail and five years on proba-tion.

The case was also notable for lurid press coverage with the four being called “seven bloodthirsty young lesbians” in the New York Post, “a pack of marauding lesbians” in the New York Times, and the Associated Press said they were “all avowed lesbians from Newark.”

“In Dandridge’s case, the court specifically found that there was insufficient evidence of her guilt.”

WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 326 JUN – 2 JUL 2008

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The Strategy Behind a ChallengeNational Center for Lesbian Rights’ Shannon Minter explains last week’s California court filing

4/ Legal

BY ANDY HUMM

The biggest LGBT rights battle of the year is the fight to defeat a Califor-

nia ballot initiative that would amend the state constitution to limit marriage to different-sex couples. But the groups that won marriage equal-ity there filed suit on June 20 challenging the validity of the amendment on a variety of grounds, a case that might not be heard until after the vote in November.

Shannon Minter, the attor-ney from the National Cen-ter for Lesbian Rights who successfully argued the his-toric case in the California Supreme Court opening mar-riage to gay couples just this month, told Gay City News, “The most important thing is that we defeat the initia-tive. We don’t want to dis-tract from that. At the same time there is a serious legal issue here and we thought we would be shirking our responsibility if we didn’t press it.”

According to Minter, voters can validly put constitutional amendments on the ballot if they “would add to or better carry out the purposes of the Constitution as it currently exists.” But if the amend-ment constitutes a revision of the Constitution itself, it must first receive a two-thirds vote of the Legislature or be approved in a consti-tutional convention before going to the voters.

The marriage amendment

“is completely unprecedented,” Minter said, “using the initia-tive process to mandate that the government discriminate versus a group of people.”

While several challenges to initiatives on these grounds

have failed, the attorney for the groups in this case is Stephen Bomse, who has the distinction of litigating the last successful challenge of this type in 1990, overturn-ing an enacted amendment that prevented the California Supreme Court from “provid-ing greater protection to a criminal defendant than pro-vided under the federal Con-stitution,” Minter said.

Bomse told the San Fran-cisco Chronicle, “If enacted, [the marriage amendment] would eviscerate the principle of equal citizenship for gay and lesbian people and strip the courts of their authority to enforce basic guarantees.” That means it may run afoul of the US Supreme Court decision in Romer v. Evans in 1996, overturning a Colorado state constitutional amend-ment barring the enactment of laws banning discrimina-tion on the basis of sexual orientation.

The pro-gay groups are

also saying that the Cali-fornia amendment is mis-leading because it explicitly states that it would have no “fiscal effect” and that “there would be no change to the manner in which marriages

are currently recognized by the state.” In the wake of the California Supreme Court marriage decision, its pas-sage would cause profound change since same-sex cou-ples have been marrying legally there since June 16.

The timing of the case is not certain. While the State Supreme Court has original jurisdiction, Minter said, it “has to decide whether they want to hear it before or after” the vote. “I’m absolutely cer-tain the court will take it seri-ously.”

As to the ques t ion o f whether the same-sex mar-riages being licensed now will still be legal in California if the amendment passes, Minter said he felt “strongly they would be valid. It would be unprecedented to take away someone’s marriage. Nothing in the initiative says it is retroactive.” The offi-cial text, however, says it “amends the California Con-stitution to provide that only

marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recog-nized in California.”

Minter also addressed the novel idea that if the amend-ment passes and only mar-riages between a man and a woman can be recognized, the state may be compelled not to marry anyone lest they consign gay couples to a second class status again — a violation of the equal protection clause. He called that “an interesting pos-

sibility. It would be such a legal mess if it passes.”

Minter said he is “pretty confident” that when legal scholars read their brief in this challenge to the amend-ment they will concur with their argument that “this is a revision” rather than a mere amendment to the Consti-tution and thus requires an alternate process of approval.

“We just want everyone to be able to get married,” he said.

Shannon Minter spoke to Gay City News about NCLR’s legal challenge to the way the anti-gay amendment is being put before California voters.

NC

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BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD

A coalition of LGBT rights groups and law firms filed suit in the California Supreme Court on

June 20, seeking to have the proposed initiative to ban marriage for same-sex couples excluded from the general elec-tion ballot this November.

In Bennett v. Bowen, filed on behalf of three named individuals, Califor-nia Secretary of State Debra Bowen is

being sued in her official capacity. The case was filed by the National Center for Lesbian Rights, Lambda Legal, two California affiliates of the American Civil Liberties Union, and two cooperat-ing local law firms.

Litigation against ballot measures filed prior to an election is by no means unprecedented, though courts typically prefer to avoid deciding controversial questions unless they have to do so, and if the initiative were defeated by the

voters, the case would be moot. But in their memorandum of law supporting their motion, the petitioners have made strong arguments along two lines.

First, they argue, because of the significant impact that passage of this

initiative would have on fundamental rights and equality guarantees of the California Constitution, identified in the State Supreme Court’s marriage equal-ity ruling in May, the referendum rep-resents a revision, not a simple amend-ment. The California Constitution may be amended by a referendum initiated by voters, but may not be revised that

way. Revision is possible only after each house of the Legislature gives its approval in a two-thirds vote and sends a ballot question to the voters.

The key question is what consti-tutes a revision as distinguished from

a mere amendment? A revision is a change affecting the “underlying prin-ciples” of the Constitution — either because it is sweeping and wide-rang-ing, covering many different subjects, or because it qualitatively alters the “nature of our basic governmental

Suit Filed Against California ReferendumGay groups argue the question requires legislative review before going to voters

� REFERENDUM, continued on p.13

The attorney for the groups is Stephen Bomse, who has

the distinction of litigating the last successful challenge of this type.

The key question is what constitutes a revision as distinguished from

a mere amendment?


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� JUMP, from p.5

THU.JUN.26PERFORMANCEAmerican Nightmares

Split Britches, the groundbreaking theater duo of Peggy Shaw and Lois Weaver, turn their unapologetic critique and riotous humor loose on the dissolu-tion of the American Dream, in “Miss America,” a beauty pageant on a land-fill full of too much information in the midst of a giant storm. The pair expose what is lost in a society still hopelessly clinging to winning. La MaMa ETC, 74A E. Fourth St. btwn. Bowery & Second Ave. Jun. 26-28, 8 p.m.; Jun. 29, 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $18; $13 for students & seniors at http://www.lamama.org or 212-475-7710.

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tus, the Homogenius Festival will feature documentaries, narrative films, play read-ings, music, and live performance from the LGBT community. The lineup includes “Ready? OK!,” winner of the FilmOut San Diego Award for Best US Narrative Film and the popular 48-hour play festival “Spontaneous Combustion,” in which actors, writers, and directors will create new LGBT-themed short plays in 48 hours. Documentaries include “Eye on the Guy” about famed 1950s beefcake photog-rapher Alan B. Stone; “New York Drag” about New York’s drag scene; and “Trans-mission,” three films about the transgen-der experience by Johna Mancini. The play reading series will include new works by Bill C. Davis (“Mass Appeal”), Manny Igrejas (“Kitty and Lina”), Kathleen War-nock, Meryl Cohen, Bill McMahon, David Caudle, Neil Konigsberg, Vanda, and Kevin Brofsky. manhattantheatresuorce, 177 MacDougal St., btwn. Waverly Pl. and W. Eighth St., through Jun. 28. $10-$15 for films and “Spontaneous Combustion;” other events are free. For a full schedule and tickets, visit http://www.theatresource.org.

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WTFAnnie Lanzillotto appears with

Jenny Bass, Audrey Kindred, and Jampa Wangdue in “The Flat Earth: WheredaFFFhuck Did New York Go?” in which a New Yorker looks for New York in all the wrong places. Lanzillotto’s nar-rative asks: Is New York for New York-ers anymore? Where can a New Yorker go? How can a New Yorker stay? Dixon Place, 258 Bowery, btwn. Houston & Prince Sts., second fl., Jun. 26-28; Jul. 3 & 5, 8 p.m. Tickets are $15; $12 for students & seniors at http://www.dixonplace.org or 212-219-0736.

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6 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM26 JUN – 2 JUL 2008

The Empire State Pride Agenda in the 108 Assemblymembers

who voted for the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (GENDA).* We appreciate

your commitment to making sure that New York State is free from discrimination.

on GENDA and end discrimination against transgender New Yorkers once and for all.

*The New York State Assembly voted 108-34 to pass the Gender Expression Non-Discrimination Act (A.6584a) on June 3, 2008.

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Bruno Departure No Game-ChangerLeading gay advocate says gaining Democratic control of Senate still the priority

Politics /7

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

With Albany politi-cal circles still reel-ing from the abrupt

June 23 announcement by Republican Joseph Bruno that he was immediately stepping down as Senate majority leader, a post he held for 14 years, and leaving the Senate after serving for 32 years, New York’s LGBT political lobby said the depar-ture does not alter the calculus in this political year.

“Our game plan remains the same, it has not changed one iota,” said Alan Van Capelle, executive director of the Empire State Pride Agenda.

Noting that Long Island GOP Senator Dean Skelos’ succession to the leadership post was not the change ESPA “envisioned,” Van Capelle said, “That change will happen in January 2009 and we eagerly look forward to Malcolm Smith becoming the majority leader then.”

Smith, a Queens Demo-

cratic, is currently the minor-ity leader, but his party needs a net pick-up of just two seats in the November elections to take over the Senate. The GOP edge there has shrunk consid-erably in recent years.

For some time, ESPA has concluded that its key legis-lative goals — the marriage equality bill, transgender civil rights legislation, and a mea-sure to protect gay, transgen-dered, and other categories of public school students — will not be achieved until the Dem-ocrats control the Senate. All three measures have passed the Democratic-controlled Assembly and are supported by Governor David A. Pater-son, also a Democrat.

Van Capelle said he has not had significant interactions with Skelos, but that on those occasions that he had, the new majority leader’s “com-ments have tended to range from non-supportive to hos-tile.”

Tom Duane, the Chelsea

Democrat who is the Senate’s only out gay member, offered a more positive assessment of Skelos, saying, “I don’t get any homophobia from him on a

personal level, far from it. His comfort with members of the LGBT community — there is no question about that.”

Duane noted that Bruno

had evolved considerably in his views on LGBT rights — in response to more favorable attitudes among New York voters generally — to the point where he stated his support for civil unions when speaking out against marriage equal-ity. Duane acknowledged that he’s “not had the sort of heart-to-heart conversations with Dean Skelos that I’ve had with Bruno over the years.”

As the Democrats and their allies in the LGBT commu-nity work to gain control of the Senate, there have been repeated reports in the press that Paterson does not have the same commitment on that score as did former Governor Eliot Spitzer, who ferociously pitched in on a successful turnover effort in a Long Island special election last year. Last week, a curious story emerged that Darrel Aubertine, a Dem-ocrat newly elected to an open Senate seat in the Watertown

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Parents Rodrick Dial and Adam Weinstein join members of four leading gay political clubs in denouncing State Senator Marty Golden for his opposition to marriage equality.

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� ALBANY, continued on p.91


BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

Speaking to the New York Times as gay marriages began in Cali-fornia on June 16, Tony Per-

kins, president of the right-wing Family Research Council (FRC), struck a mod-erate tone.

“We’ll let them have their day as they go through this,” he said. “Our focus will be on educating voters.”

But in an FRC direct mail piece that arrived in mailboxes as the images of gay and lesbian couples getting hitched were being broadcast across the nation, Perkins was any-thing but polite.

“At this moment, wealthy homo-sexual extremists are raising mil-lions to defeat the amendment,” Per-kins wrote referring to a proposed anti-gay marriage amendment to the California Constitution that is on the November 4 ballot.

If California voters fail to approve that amendment overturning the May ruling by that state’s highest court that allowed marriage for same-sex couples, it would “spread court-mandated homosexual ‘marriage,’ forced acceptance of homosexual behavior, and eventual suppression of your values across America,” Per-kins wrote in the mailer that sought to raise $2 million “to help negate the court’s disastrous ruling and restore voter-approved traditional marriage

in California law and across the nation.”

For the right wing, the use of multiple messages aimed at differ-ent groups will be a feature of the amendment fight. As homosexual-ity has gained greater acceptance, Americans have grown less tolerant of the harsh anti-gay rhetoric that right-wing groups once used very effectively.

Gay groups opposing the amend-ment will use a similar tactic.

“We will use some arguments, slightly different arguments, in dif-ferent places, but it won’t be a situ-ation where we are putting on one face in one community and another in another community,” said Steve Smith, a principal at the Dewey Square Group, a consulting firm, and the campaign manager of Equal-ity for All, the coalition that opposes the marriage amendment.

“These micro-targeting ef forts

are used by advocates on all sides of issues because they can use lan-guage they might not employ when they speak to the general public,” said Patrick J. Egan, a professor of politics at New York University.

When talking to the broader pub-lic, the right wingers have toned down their language, but when they are raising money from allies or try-ing to turn out their voters, they turn up the heat.

“I suspect things are going to get very dirty on the ground in direct mail, political email,” said D. Sun-shine Hillygus, the author, along with

Todd G. Shields, of “The Persuadable Voter: Wedge Issues in Presiden-tial Campaigns” and a professor of government at Harvard University. Hillygus was not referring only to pro-amendment forces.

In their book, Hillygus and Fields describe how the 2004 presidential campaigns used direct mail, email, and other technologies to target seg-ments of voters with varied messag-es. While the amendment fight will not achieve the level of sophistica-tion and complexity that was seen in those campaigns, advocates on both sides will use related methods.

To a degree, the pro-amendment coalition comes with a network to promote its work. It has several dozen churches on its roster where messages can be made to members.

On June 24, mainstream press outlets reported that the Church of

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■ POLITICS

Amendment Fight Relies on NarrowcastingAnti-gay and pro-gay sides on marriage question hone careful messaging strategies

Tony Perkins, a fierce opponent of marriage equality, knows how to put on a moderate face.

� MARRIAGE, continued on p.10

Only 12 percent of California voters described themselves as “white conservative

Protestant” and 28 percent said they were conservative.

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Labor Moves Behind Marriage DriveUnion movement steps up to fight anti-gay California ballot measure

Politics /9

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE

Speaking by phone from the nation’s capital, Hans Johnson was just

back from a fundraiser in Cali-fornia.

“The one in Hollywood was a way of recognizing the heroic efforts of the LGBT and allied leaders who stood up to Briggs in 1978,” John-son said.

The Br iggs in i t ia t i ve , named for State Senator John Briggs, would have banned gay and lesbian teachers in California’s pub-lic schools. It was defeated, in part, by opposition from California teachers unions and an alliance made two years earlier between the gay communi ty and 22 union locals that included the Teamsters, the Building and Trades Council, and the International Longshoremen.

“It was a crucible of the modern gay rights move-ment,” Johnson said. “It was

also a teachable moment for labor about its mutual inter-ests with the LGBT commu-nity.”

R o u g h l y 1 2 0 p e o p l e at tended the Hol lywood event including Dolores Huerta, a co-founder with Cesar Chavez of the United Farm Workers, Sal Rosselli, the openly gay president of the 130,000-member Ser -vice Employees International Union (SEIU) United Health-care Workers-West, and Rev-erend Troy Perry, founder of the Metropolitan Community Church, a gay denomination.

They raised $20,000 to

aid Honor PAC, a gay Latino political group, in its work to defeat a California ballot ini-tiative that would amend that

state’s constitution to define marriage as solely between one man and one woman and perhaps also nullify any same-sex marriages entered into in that state between June 16 and the November vote.

The fundraiser was spon-sored by the 340,000-mem-ber Cal i fornia Teachers Association, which officially opposed the marriage ini-tiative on June 7, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Cali-

fornia, SEIU 721, a public employee local in southern California, and Rosselli’s union.

Thirty years after Briggs,

organized labor is stepping up to aid the gay and les-bian community in battling

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While organized labor has a decades-long record of support for gay and lesbian causes, it has only slowly supported the push for same sex marriage.

� LABOR, continued on p.10

Dolores Huerta, who with Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers, was on hand for a recent Hollywood union fundraiser aimed at defeating the anti-gay California marriage amendment.


another onerous initiative.“It reflects the insult to union

members in having a small cadre of religious right activists dictate what can and cannot be bargained for, and to undo hard-won family recognition policies,” said Johnson, an officer of Pride at Work, an LGBT labor group affiliated with the AFL-CIO.

The Hollywood fundraiser was the second event that Johnson has produced. The first, done with the National Council of La Raza, a Latino group, benefited the Task Force Cali-fornia Committee, an anti-initiative effort coordinated by Johnson and run by the National Gay and Lesbi-an Task Force. He will produce three other gay-labor fundraisers over the next three months.

Whi le organized labor has a decades-long record of support for

gay and lesbian causes, it has only slowly supported the push for same-sex marriage.

When California voters passed a law barring same-sex marriage in 2000 by a margin of 61 to 39 percent — California’s highest court struck it down in a May ruling — labor was less engaged.

A “handful” of labor groups in Cal-ifornia’s 58 counties took a stand on the 2000 initiative on the slate cards that show the union position on can-didates and ballot proposals, accord-ing to Johnson. The slate cards are given to union members before they vote.

Since then, dozens of union locals across the country and national organizations have supported same sex marriage. In 2006, the California Labor Federation, an umbrella group that represents more than 1,200 union locals and 2.1 million union

members, passed a resolution that supported the “rights of all California workers to access the full and equal rights of civil marriage.”

Sensing that they can defeat the November 4 California initiative, gay trade unionists and groups are pressing labor harder this year to take a position against the initiative. “I would expect that we will have far more than a handful of county fed-erations,” Johnson said.

Steve Smith, a principal at the Dewey Square Group and the cam-paign manager of Equality for All, the coalition that opposes the marriage amendment, agreed.

“I think most of organized labor with be with our side of the cam-paign,” he said.

In July, at the labor federation’s biennial conference, gay and lesbian union members will seek a resolu-tion that “will call on all labor unions

and central councils to oppose the amendment,” said Jeremy Bishop, executive director of Pride at Work. “This would encourage all unions to get involved in the fight.”

They will also ask labor leaders to speak out against the initiative and support same-sex marriage, as well as place pro-same-sex marriage mes-sages in labor newsletters. These are not insignificant.

In 2004 exit polls, 28 percent of California voters said they had a union member in their household and 17 percent said they belonged to a union. Getting those people to con-vince friends and family members to oppose the amendment is one of the most effective ways to win votes.

“Labor has come out really vocally against the amendment,” said San-dra Telep, program director for Pride At Work. “We’re trying to get that to translate into action.”

a church of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people - open to all

Weekly Sunday Services: 9 am (Traditional), 11 am (Celebration), 3 pm (Mandarin, 2nd & 4th Sundays) and 7 pm (Praise & Worship)

11 am features ASL interpreter (1st and last Sunday of each month only)446 West 36th St. bet. 9th & 10th Ave. NY, NY 10018 212-629-7440

website: www.mccny.org email: [email protected]

The Reverend Pat Bumgardner, Pastor

MCCNY’s Pride Events:June 27: AIDS Candlelight Vigil, 7:30 pm; Sheridan Sq. Park & Christopher St.

June 29: Open Communion Service, 12 noon at the MCCNY march site, 52nd St. btw. 5th/6th Aves. (Come march with the MCCNY float and musical contingent!)

Pride Sunday Services: 9 am, 11 am and 7 pm at MCCNY

Live! Love! Be!"Who I am Makes a Difference"

This Pride, MCCNY celebrates with our theme: "Who I am Makes a Difference." The Reverend Pat Bumgardner says "Many different people have made many of God's dreams and visions for NYC and the world around us possible, because they believed in the simple truths that comprise the foundation of our faith here: God is with us and with God all things are possible. We have held steadfastly to our faith in love and its power to heal and save all of us. We look forward with faith, hope and love! Truly, Who We Are Makes a Difference!"

� LABOR, from p.9

Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had issued a letter to be read in Cali-fornia Mormon churches on June 29 asking members to “support the proposed constitutional amendment by donating of your means and time to assure that marriage is legally defined as being between a man and a woman.”

But the pro-amendment group will still have a harder time winning in California than groups in the 28 states

that have passed gay marriage bans. Those earlier states had large popula-tions of religious conservatives.

In 2004 exit polls, only 12 percent of California voters described them-selves as “white conservative Protes-tant” and 28 percent said they were conservative.

Smith said Equality For All also has a network that can carry its mes-sage to California voters.

“It’s not the same kind of coali-tion, but we certainly do have a very extensive grassroots organization,”

he said.For both sides, getting individual

supporters to convince friends and relatives to adopt their position is vital and one of the most effective ways of gaining support.

“The most persuasive are friends, family,” Hillygus said.

In addition to FRC, the right-wing Focus on the Family, which has donated $50,000 to the pro-amend-ment group, could also give or rent the California sections of their direct mail lists to protectmarriage.com,

the website of the pro-amendment coalition.

“They will, I believe, use the specter of gay and lesbian marriages to raise their money,” Smith said. “I think they will fan the flames of homopho-bia to raise money from that base. They are going to try, at the same time, to put on a more moderate front for their voters.”

Cal ls seeking comment from the pro-amendment leaders and their public relations firm were not returned.

� MARRIAGE, from p.8


Assembly MemberDEBORAH J. GLICK66th Assembly District

853 Broadway, Suite 1518New York, NY 10003

Tel: 212-674-5153Fax: 212-674-5530

[email protected]

Assembly MemberDANIEL O’DONNELL69th Assembly District245 West 104th StreetNew York, NY 10025

Tel: 212-866-3970Fax: 212-864-1095

[email protected]

Assembly MemberMATTHEW TITONE

61st Assembly District853 Forest Avenue

Staten Island, NY 10310Tel: 718-442-9932Fax: 718-442-9942

[email protected]

Assembly MemberMICAH Z. KELLNER 65th Assembly District

315 East 65th St.New York, NY 10065

Tel: 212-860-4906Fax: 917-432-2983

[email protected]

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Completing Their FamilyLegally related to their son, Long Island couple heads to California to join themselves

12/ Community

BY DAVID GREBE

When Jeff Friedman had a heart attack two years ago, his

husband and son followed the ambulance to the hospital.

Friedman’s partner of 23 years, Andy Zwerin, was allowed to fill out all of the paperwork. But they wouldn’t let him sign the paperwork.

That brought home the reality that the pair needed some sort of recognition for their relationship. It’s also a reminder that, for all of the heated rhetoric, gay marriage is an issue of simple justice for real people.

Friedman and Zwerin first met 24 years ago, in high school, and now live in Rock-ville Centre.

“You don’t expect to have a heart attack at age 38,” Fried-man said.

Fortunately, his mother arrived at the hospital soon afterward to sign the docu-ments.

But it wasn’t just the rela-tionship between them that was an issue. The needs of their son, Joshua Zwerin, nearly five years old, finalized their decision to marry in Cali-fornia.

“What made us ultimately decide was … wanting to do what was the best interest of our son,” Friedman said.

Many of the approximately 1,300 rights related to mar-riage under New York State law revolve around children, Friedman said.

And that’s where New York’s half-hearted embrace of gay rights becomes an issue, he noted. New York allowed them to jointly adopt Joshua, but won’t acknowledge their relationship. Moreover, as residents of Nassau County, there’s no civil partnership rec-ognition available at all.

“The state of New York creat-ed this family,” Friedman said. “But they refuse to acknow-ledge it.”

And Joshua is now at the

age where’s he learning his and his family’s place in the world. Being wed offers his parents the same stature as those of other parents.

“It teaches him the equality,” Friedman said.

That wasn’t possible until recently. Although same-sex marriage is legal in Massachu-setts, out-of-state same-sex

couples cannot marry there – due to a 1913 law that forbids out-of-state couples marrying there if the marriage would be illegal in their home state. The law’s original purpose was to prevent out-of-state interracial couples from flocking to Mas-sachusetts.

But a California Supreme Court ruling made gay mar-

riage legal there earlier this month — and California has no restrictions on out-of-state couples. And Democratic Governor David A. Paterson recently issued an executive order directing state agencies to recognize legal same-sex unions performed in other states.

It’s also possible for same-sex couples to go to Canada to marry, but that was an idea Zwerin said they were uncom-fortable with.

“We just felt it would be strange to have to leave the country,” he said.

While Friedman said Pat-erson’s decision didn’t affect their plans — he expected his planned marriage to be judged valid if ever challenged — it offers the potential of making matters simpler.

Friedman and Zwerin call each other their “husband” and said they’ve considered themselves married a long

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Jeff Friedman and Andrew Zwerin, with their son Joshua Zwerin, seen at last year’s Mar-riage Equality Wedding March across the Brooklyn Bridge.

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� FAMILY, continued on p.13


plan.” The proposed initiative appears on its face narrow in focus, but in light of the Supreme Court’s marriage rul-ing, the petitioners argue, it is actually a dramatic and far-reaching measure.

That’s because the court’s decision established two important points of con-stitutional law that would be altered by the initiative — that sexual orientation is a “suspect classification” under Cali-fornia constitutional law, a finding that places a high burden on the state in jus-tifying any differential treatment, and that the right to marry is a “fundamen-tal right.” By decreeing that marriages of same-sex partners would not be valid or recognized in the state, the initiative would in effect make an express consti-tutional exception to the equality guar-anteed to LGBT people under the Con-stitution, and deprive them of a funda-mental right at the same time.

The argument is not that the Consti-tution cannot be amended in that way, but rather that the significant effect

of doing so on the existing structure of California constitutional rights means that a marriage ban is a “revision,” not a mere amendment.

The petitioners argue that the pro-posal is unprecedented in California — allowing a simple majority vote of the electorate to revise the state’s due pro-cess and equal protection guarantees to carve out for inferior treatment a specific class of people. Some past initiatives may have enacted rules that benefited some people at the expense of others, but the gay advocates argue that this initiative, unlike those that have sur-vived judicial review in the past, works a direct deprivation of a fundamental right for a specific group of Californians.

The petitioners’ alternative argument goes to the core requirements of the Cal-ifornia initiative process. The law man-dates that when solicitors seek voter signatures to get their measure on the ballot, they must show them wording that has been approved by the secretary of state providing an accurate descrip-tion of the proposed measure, including

an appraisal of its fiscal impact. At the time this initiative was submitted to the secretary of state, the language stated that the measure would have no fiscal impact because it would not change existing law.

That may have been literally true when the petition signatures were col-lected, but the marriage case was already in play and a more honest eval-uation of fiscal impact would say that the fiscal impact was unknown.

And now that marriages have begun, there would be adverse fiscal impact on the state, in light of the benefits that spending on marriage celebrations are already having on the state economy and tax receipts. The petitioners point out that the ballot description was mis-leading when it was circulated, and is now downright inaccurate.

In addressing the court’s likely reluc-tance to take the matter up now, they also point out that court precedents show that if a misleading description was circulated with a proposed mea-sure, doubt would be cast on the sig-

natures obtained in the process and so the measure should not qualify for the ballot at all. A referendum ques-tion that shouldn’t even be on the bal-lot has adverse consequences, diverting resources from other matters and dilut-ing voter attention.

Does either of these arguments stand a chance of getting the initiative knocked off the California ballot? Hard to say, though the petitioners make a compel-ling case.

The Alliance Defense Fund and Lib-erty Counsel and others who worked so hard to prevent the Supreme Court’s marriage decision from going into effect in the first place will do their best now to offer persuasive arguments as to why “the people” should be allowed to vote to deprive their fellow citizens of a fundamental right. One hopes the court sees through that argument and decides that only the more deliberative process of the Legislature or a constitu-tional convention should be the mecha-nism for this question to be addressed further by California.

time, spiritually, if not legally. Part of the reason they started using the term is because Friedman, before becoming a full-time dad, worked as an attorney, a job where the phrase “partner” could cause confusion, Zwerin said.

After nearly a quarter -century together, they both said there weren’t too many pre-wedding jitters.

“I feel no pressure, we’ve been in this relationship a long time,” Zwerin said. “The hardest part of it all is deciding who to invite.”

The couple plans to wed near Los Angeles on October 11. Their choice of National Coming Out Day is not a political statement, Friedman said; it was simply the best date available— especially since it takes a long time to plan on getting so many family members out to the West Coast for a wedding.

In November, California voters will have the chance to repeal the court’s decision, and enshrine marriage limitations into the state’s constitu-tion. It’s unclear, at this point, what the initiative’s prospects are. It’s also unclear how a victory for anti-marriage forces would affect those already married.

Friedman said that even if same-sex marriage is banned, he doesn’t expect it to affect his marriage.

Planning a cross-country wedding is a cumbersome task, and not the ideal solution. Nor is it a complete solution either, as same-sex marriages still aren’t recognized by the federal gov-ernment. But it is progress.

Friedman said both of their rela-tives are supportive of the relationship – Zwerin’s cousin in California offered his house for the wedding – but admit-ted not everyone was always on board.

“Stereotypes vanish with time,” he said.

It’s something we can hope happens more often throughout the country.

“Hopefully, in about 15 years, people will look back and wonder what all the fuss was about,” Friedman said.

� FAMILY, from p.12

� REFERENDUM, from p.4

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

kaleidoscope of loneliness, “Small Craft Warnings,” directed by Le Wilhelm, plays at the (air-conditioned) Parker Theatre at the Algonquin, 123 E. 24 St., Jun. 26-28, 8 p.m.; Jun. 29, 7 p.m. Tickets are $18 at http://www.theatermania.com or 212-769-7973

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

FRI.JUN.27ACTIVISMFreedom of Gender Expression

The fourth annual Trans Day of Action for Social and Economic Jus-tice 2008, is endorsed by the Audre Lorde Project, the Ali Forney Center, the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, the Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Congregation Beth Simchat Torah, FIERCE (the Fabulous Independent Educated Radicals for Community Empowerment), the GRIOT Circle, Irish Queers, the LGBT Communi-ty Center, the New York City AIDS Hous-ing Network, the New York Trans Rights Organization, Queers for Economic Jus-tice, Sex Workers Outreach Project, and the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, among many groups. The action will be begin with a rally at City Hall Park, 3 p.m. A march through Lower Manhattan will follow. For more information about the march contact Elizabeth Marie Rivera at 718-596-0342, ext. 18 or visit http://www.myspace.com/transjusticenyc.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

BENEFITDykes Are Dancing

Team Gina — Gina Bling and Gina Genius — two hyper fly ladies with verbal dexterity and excellent taste in shoes are the stars of a late eve-ning show to benefit Saturday’s Dyke March. Don Hill’s, 511 Greenwich St. at Spring St., 10:30 ’til late. More information at http://www.nycdyke-march.org.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

In a New York Hour

The New Neo Futurists have adapt-ed their hysterical show “Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind” for a special Gay Pride edition: “Too Much Pride Makes the Baby Go Gay.” A super-big cast presents a unique menu of 30 plays exploring sexual and gen-der identity, politics, sexuality, libera-tion, romance, love, song, dance and all things gay, all in 60 little ole’ minutes. These three performances benefit the Ali Forney Center that provides hous-ing and social services to homeless LGBT youth. Kraine Theatre, 85 E. Fourth St. at Second Ave., Jun. 27 & 28, 10:30 p.m. Teatro Iati, 59-61 E.

14/ Civil Rights

BY KATHLEEN WARNOCK

“The day we got mar-ried, at seven in the morning somebody

called and said: ‘I hope you faggots die of AIDS.’ And I said: ‘What makes you think Diane is a boy’s name?’ ” This is how Robin Tyler and Diane Olson’s wedding day began.

At 5:01 p.m. on June 16, Tyler and Olson received their marriage license at the Bev-erly Hills Courthouse, followed immediately by what Tyler called “My Big Fat Jewish Lesbian Wedding,” when she blogged about it in the Huff-ington Post. (Read Tyler’s blog at www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-tyler.)

For Tyler, her sense of humor, sharpened by years of comedy performance, kicked into high gear as she and Olson got ready to make his-tory. Along with friends, family and well-wishers, there were the requisite protesters and hecklers at the Beverly Hills courthouse — which Tyler described as looking like “a Joan Crawford prison movie with flowers.”

Tyler paid the protest-ers no attention, “since they have been yelling at me for 35 years,” she explained.

“Why would you assume that they’re normal?” she asked. “They’re the real face of the ludicrousness when they say they have to save hetero-sexual marriage. If straight people want to save heterosex-ual marriage, they need to stop getting divorced. There were some crazy-looking people, representative of the attorneys who went to court against us, but the attorneys were dressed in suits and ties.”

Tyler knows from attorneys in suits and ties. She and Olson were the original plaintiffs, along with the Reverend Troy Perry and his husband Phillip De Blieck in the 2004 lawsuit that wound its way through the Cali-fornia courts, ultimately result-ing in the ruling on May 15 by the Supreme Court of California overturning the state’s ban on same-sex marriage. Perry and De Blieck sued to have their Canadian marriage recognized; Tyler and Olson for the right to marry in California.

Tyler also knows from “firsts”: She was the first out comic to appear on television, the first to release a comedy album, and an organizer of the

first gay March on Washington in 1979. She was also one of the first producers of women’s music and comedy as well as organizer of some of the first women’s music and comedy festivals. Her influence and lineage extend today to people and events from the likes of Ellen and Rosie, to the indie music scene and today’s queer solo performance artists.

Getting married fulfilled a 50-year dream for Tyler, who tells of wanting to marry her friend Sherry Berkowitz when she was 16, in her one-woman show, “Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Groom.”

Tyler first performed the show off-off Broadway, where she was a regular on the scene in the late ’70s. She was New York City-based and performed for two years at the East Village 82 club singing — she performed as a Judy Garland impersonator — and doing standup. She did “Always a Bridesmaid” in rep-ertory with Harvey Fierstein’s “Torch Song Trilogy” in 1980 during the first Gay American Arts Festival, produced by The Glines, which also featured Jane Chambers’s “Last Summer at Bluefish Cove,” Doric Wilson’s

“Forever After,” and Robert Pat-rick’s “T-Shirts.”

The milestone this festival represented was not without its detractors — just as there was some resistance from gay organizations to the California lawsuit. Chambers’s play made some lesbians uncomfortable with its realistic portrayal of dyke drama and Tyler recalls getting together with Kate Mil-

lett to rally behind Chambers’ show. She also recalls that she received some criticism of her own show “because the premise of same-sex marriage would never fly.” A well-timed pause. “Ha!”

Tyler has often run up against the “politically correct” position in her various careers, both within and outside the LGBT community.

“Those of us who are artists always have to push against the movement, either the politi-cally correct or the organiza-tions,” she said. “Our art gives us control over what we think. We can express ourselves through that. I don’t believe there is any greater influence than art.”

Tyler said some of the gay legal organizations were

against her filing the suit, and complained they were not con-sulted by the plaintiffs before they filed. “They asked how could we not consult them; they’ve been working on it for a decade. I’ve been working on it since 1974. I’m 66.”

In fact, it was Tyler’s age that was a catalyst in her and Olson’s decision to sue for the right to marry. In 2004, she retired and discovered that her union’s pension plan did not permit her health insurance to cover Olsen, because they were not married.

“I couldn’t believe that AFTRA [the American Federa-tion of Television and Radio Artists] wouldn’t give my ben-efits to Diane, after I had been vested all these years,” Tyler said, adding that the union prior to the lawsuit’s comple-tion changed its rules to cover domestic partners. “SAG [the Screen Actors Guild] is still stonewalling people,” she said. “They say they’re going to change it, but they haven’t passed it. All these unions that are supposed to be pro-worker; how many other unions do the same thing to lesbian and gay couples? Do civil rights stop at age 65?”

Tyler — a naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Cana-da, which permits its gay citi-zens to marry — feels that mar-riage is a civil right.

“In other words, it’s not really gay marriage, it’s mar-

No Longer A BridesmaidRobin Tyler, inveterate activist, weds Diane Olson

� BRIDESMAID, continued on p.16

Robin Tyler and Diane Olson as they approached the Beverly Hills Courthouse to obtain their marriage license on June 16.

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� JUNE 26, from p.5


Tyler has often run up against the “politically correct” position

in her various careers.


Be sure and ask for a copy of our

Out & About Travel Guide

Just a 90-minute ride from New York City.

1.800.882.CATSwww.scva.net

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THE SULLIVAN COUNTY CATSKILLS WELCOMES GAY AND LESBIAN TRAVELERS. Join us for a dip, or a trip down the river. Take in a Broadway-style show or see a world-class performance at a world-class destination.

And there’s so much more… golf, antiques, farmers’ markets, boating, fishing, gourmet restaurants, B&B’s and charming country inns.

Come Out!


riage equality,” she said. “What this ruling means is that we have become entitled to the existing marriage system in California. The marriage movement, it changed what we’re doing from being a liberation movement to a civil rights movement, squarely to a civil rights movement.”

And for someone who’s been an orga-nizer and an agitator for half a century, it proves to Tyler that activism is alive and well and making a difference.

“We should listen to our hearts. Our gut tells us what to do,” she said. “Change never happens from the top down, but from the bottom up. We stand on the shoulders of all the mar-riage activists for all these decades. It took enormous work of grassroots people, and protesting as far back as the ones we did in front of the IRS when we did the first March on Washington in 1979. Marriage Equality USA here in California did all the grassroots work, along with Metropolitan Community Church. We’re this huge sort of family of activists that are very organized, know each other, and are very supportive. Grassroots activism… it’s not over.

“This is what happens when you really work in a movement. The payoff is, for us, a wonderful world of activ-

ists who are into passion rather than Prozac. It doesn’t come from anger; it comes from this passion of wanting something good, like equality, not all this agita. This sounds really California,

but it’s like walking toward the light. You’re not alone. There’s this bright light. And we’re all in it. And sometimes we win, and a lot of times we lose. But we keep going.”

And 28 years later, Tyler has an end-ing to her show. In the last few years, she has updated “Always a Brides-maid…” performing it with film and music clips from throughout her career, taking to the stage once more in Los Angeles and around the country as a reminder that there is still unfinished business for a girl who wants to marry a girl.

And on the day of her wedding to Olson, the ceremony was carried live on three local television stations in LA; their pictures, crying, exchanging rings, cutting their cake, were in news-

papers and magazines, on broadcast and cable TV, the Internet, and the topic of uncountable news stories and blog posts around the world.

“My friend, who has a company

called Cake and Art — he’s known me back since the first March on Wash-ington — baked the biggest wedding cake for 150 people, and donated it to us as a thank-you. And you know how much we got? We got one piece! I had to get someone to go save a piece. But I’ve still managed to gain four pounds in the last week. I think the real down-side to not being able to get married 15 years ago was not just the rights. I was 20 pounds lighter, and my photos didn’t require airbrushing.”

The artist is always at work; here! TV filmed the ceremony and Tyler will use it in the latest revision of her show, which she is making into a film. She plans to tour with the film, the record of her life and career, and keep spreading the word, answering — and asking — questions.

“We have not one right on a federal level since Jean O’Leary began pushing for it in the ’70s,” Tyler said, referring to the late New York lesbian activist who organized the first LGBT White House meeting in 1977. “We need to look at the Democratic Party’s commitment to mar-riage. We never demand it. They haven’t given us anything, because we haven’t insisted on taking it. If Obama is elected, he can hopefully change the Supreme Court; though I think it’s important to mention that three of the four judges on the California Supreme Court who voted for us were Republican appointees. But, after all of the years of avoiding us, I will only believe in the national Democratic Party when they fulfill the promises they have made to our community for the past 30 years.

Tyler sees other states recogniz-ing marriage equality soon; she thinks the right of gay and lesbian couples to marry in New York will happen sooner rather than later.

“Governor Paterson is blind, and yet he sees what other people don’t,” she said.

Everyone else can always count on Robin Tyler to point it out to them.

See Robin Tyler and Diane Olson’s wedding at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3PFErGrhgo.

Happy Pride!From the Stonewall Democrats of New York City (SDNYC)

SDNYC is the Citywide voice for LGBT Democrats.

We regularly meet every 4th Wednesday of the month at the LGBT Center,

208 W. 13th St. at 8:00PM (except in June, August, and December).

Our 2008 Endorsement Meeting will be Thursday, July 10th, 6:30PM at the Center.

For more information, visit our website, www.SDNYC.org

� BRIDESMAID, from p.14

The payoff is, for us, a wonderful world of activists who are into passion

rather than Prozac.

gaycitynews.com


New York University

celebrates

Gay Pride Month

and salutes

local LGBT leaders and friendsWHOSE TIRELESS ADVOCACY

FOR LGBT CIVIL RIGHTS

BUILDS COMMUNITIES OF INCLUSION

AND FOSTERS SUPPORT AND TRUST

IN NEW YORK CITY AND BEYOND.

Office of Government and Community Affairs

[email protected] • 212.998.2400 • www.nyu.edu/ogca

Gary Parker, Director


MERMAIDS BACK ON SHORE AT CONEY

On Saturday, June 21, Coney Island, the fabled Brooklyn playland of yesteryear, played host to the 16th annual Mermaid Parade, which dubs itself the nation’s largest art parade and is an homage to the long-forgot-ten Mardi Gras held there from 1903 to 1954.Organizers say the parade is intended to celebrate the sand, the sea, the salt air, and the beginning of summer, with participants dressed in hand-made costumes as Mermaids, Neptunes, and other sea creatures, as well as many, many other beings whose shapes and sizes are bounded only by the limits of the imagination.

— Photos by Maggie M. Koopmans

www.lidbrooklyn.org

WISHING EVERYBODY AN EXCELLENT PRIDE

CELEBRATION!!


Provincetown Art Association and MuseumLocated in the heart of America’s oldest continu-ous art colony, PAAM serves as the epicenter of Provincetown’s creative activity. Visitors enjoy more than 30 contemporary and historical art exhibi-tions each year, as well as an exciting schedule of jazz concerts, fi lm screenings, public lectures, and fi ne art auctions featuring vintage Provinc-etown works. The Museum School at PAAM offers classes and workshops for art students and professionals year-round. This summer, enjoy complimentary admission to opening receptions Fridays after 5pm. For upcoming exhibitions and events, please call or visit us online at www.paam.org.

460 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-1750 | www.paam.org

Anchor Inn Provincetown’s fi nest beach house on the water, the Anchor Inn is sure to please the most discern-ing traveler. When you enter our spacious lounge, you’ll know that you have arrived in a special home that pays tribute to the past with all of the luxurious amenities of the present. As you relax by the English grandfather clock or have breakfast from the Irish Sideboard, our staff will pamper you with attention and help with any detail that will make your visit truly memorable. Located in the heart of Provincetown, the Inn is central to fabulous shop-ping and dining. A getaway to the Anchor Inn is an absolute delight for anyone. We invite our friends to explore the many wonders of Provincetown year-round.

15 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-0432 | www.anchorinnbeachhouse.com

Boatslip ResortThe Boatslip, the legendary waterfront landmark and home of the World Famous Tea Dance is located on Commercial Street steps away from Provincetown’s retail shops, galleries and nightlife. Situated in the West End on Provincetown Harbor, the Boatslip of-fers guests waterfront rooms with private balconies, on-site parking, continental breakfast, a pool and sundeck and of course, free admission to Tea Dance! Every afternoon at the stroke of four the deck is turned into P-Town’s largest outdoor dance party. Hot bodies, good friends and great dance music make this daily event a “must-do” for seasoned travelers and fi rst time visitors alike making the Boatslip the # 1 destination for the GLBT community.

161 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-1669 | www.boatslipresort.com

The Inn at Cook StreetCelebrating 170 years, this Provincetown bed and breakfast is a lovingly maintained 1836 Greek Re-vival, rich with history. The award-winning Inn at Cook Street has two cottages and has been newly updated with numerous amenities that include: Wireless internet, DVD players and DVD library, in-room phones, refrigerators, hair dryers, cosmetic mirrors, beach towels, and Egyptian 800 thread count sheets and towels. Innkeepers Doreen and Lisa invite you to experience the classic charm and serenity of this Provincetown treasure. Fodor’s, Travel & Leisure, Pink Choice, Out and About—Five Palms and highly recommended. The ultimate getaway!

7 Cook Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-3894 | www.innatcookstreet.com

The Lobster Pot Restaurant

Overlooking historic Provincetown harbor, an in-stitution and part of what makes Provincetown such a special place. We’re featured in Zagat Survey -Top Restaurants on Cape Cod, Cape Cod Life- “Best of” on the Outer Cape, and The Phan-tom Gourmet 100. Enjoy the fi nest and freshest in seafood, Portuguese specialties, steaks, poultry, vegetarian and light fare. Open from the beginning of April through the end of November, our complete menu is served the entire day starting at 11:30 am. Visit the Top of the Pot for a cocktail, an appetizer and a fantastic view of the harbor.

321 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657 (508)- 487-0842 | www.ptownlobsterpot.com

The Red InnLocated on beautiful Provincetown Harbor, in one of the world’s most spectacular settings, The red Inn has welcomed guests since 1915. The 200 year-old Inn has played host to United States Presidents, ce-lebrities, international dignitaries, and most impor-tantly, our everyday guests who have enjoyed the hospitality that has made The red Inn Provincetown’s premier accommodation. Dining at The Inn is an experience you will not want to miss. The inn’s internationally renown, fi fty-four seat restaurant offers an ever-changing view of Provincetown Harbor, Cape Cod Bay, the lighthouse at Long Point, and the sandy cliffs along the shores of the Outer Cape. We warmly welcome our friends from the New York/Metropolitan area.

15 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-7334 | www.theredinn.com

Surfside Hotel and Suites

If you’re planning a Cape Cod vacation at the southern end of the Cape, Surfside Hotel is in the heart of Provincetown. Our spacious, tastefully decorated guestrooms are specially confi gured with your comfort in mind. For your extended stay in Provincetown our NEW fi rst fl oor Jacuzzi Suites overlooking our private beach and Cape Cod Bay will be ideal. Amenities include our outdoor heated pool, private beach, free parking and free internet access in our Lighthouse Bar. Enjoy a Margarita by the pool on the hot summer day! We offer pet-friendly accommodations and are just minutes from Provincetown’s fi nest beaches, restaurants, shops, and attractions.

543 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657 508-487-1726 | www.surfsideinn.com

To Advertise Contact: Lee A Castoro - 646-452-2505 - [email protected]

ProvincetownN E W E N G L A N D ’ S PA R A D I S E

ENZO Restaurant, Guesthouse & Grotta BarENZO, housed in a beautifully restored Victorian, lies within walking distance of everything Provincetown has to offer. Upstairs are fi ve uniquely appointed, air-conditioned guestrooms, each with private marble baths, parking and continental breakfast, in season. Gracing the fi rst fl oor is ENZO’s popular restaurant. Classically trained Executive Chef Jeremiah Reardon masterfully presents native seafood’s, local pro-duce and wonderful meats with innovation and style. Outside the terraced patio offers terrifi c street and harbor views; inside dining is elegant, intimate and air- conditioned. Downstairs, the casual Grotta Bar serves diverse beers, signature cocktails and great food. Experience live entertainment with ‘KooK’ on Sundays and “Scream Along With Billy” on Tuesdays and Fridays.

186 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508- 487-7555 | www.enzolives.com


Lyman-Eyer GalleryContemporary & Modern Fine Art

Landscape, Abstraction, Male & Female Figurative, Still Life & Sculpture by 35 na-tional artists. Please visit in person or pe-ruse our web site to experience our wide selection of fi ne art & download our 2008 Exhibition Brochure and Event Schedule. I hope to visit with you soon.

- James Lyman, Director.

P.O. Box 492432 Commercial StreetProvincetown, MA 02657508-487-3937www.lymaneyerart.com

Thomas D. Brown Real Estate Associates

GRACIOUS EAST END HOME

Lovely Federal style home on quiet lane in Gal-lery District; hidden terrace, fascinating features, living & dining rooms, library, fi replaces, master suite, wood fl oors; perfect for entertaining. Park-ing. $1,200,000

EAST END WATERFRONT

Premier location & casual beachfront living with this 2-family residence; stunning views of Cape Cod Bay, Provincetown Harbor, Long Point Light. 5BR home enjoys large yard, multiple decks, inc. beachfront deck, stairs to beach. $2,995,000

Lucy J. BrownThomas D Brown Real Estate AssociatesCape Vacation Rentals, Inc.Offi ce: 508-349-2700 | Cell: 508-237-1006 | www.thomasdbrown.com

Ernden Fine Art GalleryErnden Fine Art Gallery is a cutting edge modern and contem-porary art gallery located in the heart of the Gallery District in historic Provincetown, MA. Provincetown is the oldest estab-lished artist colony in the USA and Ernden is among one of the fi nest galleries representing 15 artists whose creative expres-sion both tell their story while as the same time enlightening the viewer. Our summer hours are daily from noon-4pm and 7-11pm. For further information call 508-487-6700 or email us at [email protected].

397 Commercial StreetProvincetown, MA 02657Phone/Fax: 508-487-6700, 1-888-304-ARTS | www.ernden.com

The Crown & AnchorProvincetown’s Premier Entertainment Complex, located in the heart of P-Town, The Crown & An-chor features six unique bar venues including the town’s largest nightclub (Paramount), the town’s only video bar (Wave), a cabaret venue, a poolside bar with heated pool, a piano bar and an ever-popular leather bar (The Vault). The Crown also features the Central House Bar & Grille—a year-round restaurant offering lunch and dinner—and the Crown & Anchor Inn—a waterfront hotel with eighteen rooms and luxury suites.

247 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657 508-487-1430 | www.onlyatthecrown.com

Bowersock GalleryBowersock Gallery represents Provincetown artists, as well as, regional and nationally known Artists and Artisans from New England, with artists whom are members of The Guild of Bos-ton Artists, Copley Society of Art, National Sculpture Society and Pastel Society of America. Featuring Fine Art highlighted for both the contemporary, modern, abstract and classic col-lector. Our works on show include; portrait, landscape, still life, fi gurative, sculpture, nude, photo-realism, encaustic and glass work in a wide range of styles. Be sure to stop by for our open-ing of “Summer Bliss”, June 20th through July 22nd.

373 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508-487-4994 | www.bowersockgallery.com

Bubala’s by the BayBubala’s is a buzzing bistro, gateway to the West End of Provincetown. It has earned its reputation for serving fantastic food made with high quality ingredients, fl avored with a big dash of fun. Burg-ers to lobsters, exotic salads to rack of lamb, you could eat here every day of your visit and not have the same thing twice. Brunch, lunch, and dinner daily, with free parking. The bar offers martinis, specialty drinks, beers, a celebrated wine list and live music nightly in season. Whether you prefer water view seats inside or a ringside street scene table outside, Bubala’s delivers big time!

185 Commercial Street | Provincetown, MA 02657508 -487-0773 | www.bubalas.com



Nocturne, pyrograph with wood stains/shellac by Robert Sherer

Architect, oil on canvas by E.Gibbons

A Summer Treat, pastel on paper by Michael Breyette


LGBT Pride hit the streets on Bush-wick on Saturday, June 21, when roughly 50 members and allies of GLOBE, Gays and Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered, staged a one-hour march through the Knickerbocker Avenue shopping district before returning to its home base on Grove Street near Myrtle Avenue for a barbeque that drew a crowd of 100.

Despite the small size of the march-

ing contingent, participants were lively and colorful, showing the rainbow colors and engaging in boisterous chants that seemed to take onlook-ers by surprise, but elicited no nega-tive responses in the largely Puerto Rican working-class neighborhood. At one point, when marchers occupied one street lane, a long series of cars passing alongside of them honked

and waved in apparent support of the event’s inclusive message.

Participants alternated between spirited shouts of joy and more pointed assertions of pride. At times, the group chanted “Sí se puede,” Spanish for “Yes we can,” and they also serenaded those on the streets with a rendition of Diana Ross’ “I’m Coming Out.” But at other times, the messages were angrier —

“Hey, hey, ho, ho, transphobia has to go” and “Hi haters, you see me, I see you.”

Back on Grove Street, the celebration descended on a small park restored by Make the Road by Walking, the commu-nity action initiative of which GLOBE is a part. Among the crowd on hand were the two young men, Fernando Preda, 18, of East Harlem, and Bushwick resident Jeff Vasquez, 23, who are shown on

the cover; the two are not a couple, but rather agreed to kiss for the camera as a good-natured Pride Day lark.

Vasquez talked about the abuse he suffered in high school from fellow stu-dents who threw things at him, jumped him, and warned others to steer clear of him based on their bigoted, and incorrect

Provincetown: An All-Season DestinationBy Lee A. Castoro

A s I stepped on board the Ferry from Boston’s World Trade Center, I could not help but to examine the fellow passengers. They were all smiling, cheerful and excited. Children were being carried by their parents; their strollers have a special place in the

cabin. It was obvious from the very beginning that we were heading to a very special and unique place.

The ride is absolutely beautiful. The sunset against the Boston skyline provides the picture per-fect backdrop for a photograph with family and friends on the main deck. Suddenly it’s open water with nothing in sight and after an hour or so, we arrive.

Provincetown rests on the tip of Cape Cod and is easily accessible by car, rail, ferry, bus or fl ight. The town has deservingly earned a reputation as a safe haven—a place where nine-to-fi vers are free to express, where diversity and individuality is celebrated and where people can truly escape to what many had called “the tip of the earth”. For over a century the community has inspired many notable American artists and writers and that appeal continues to this day, as many creative types from around the globe bring their imagination and talents to this tiny wonderland.

Art is the pulse of this lively town and it’s clear to see why; Provincetown is surrounded by water, dunes, lighthouses and unmatched natural splendor. Culture is deeply embedded in its history and it resonates throughout every brushstroke on canvas. There are dozens of fabulous galleries to browse representing the fi nest in historic to contemporary works. The East End Gallery District could rival SoHo—without the attitude. Rows of eclectic shops, boutiques and restaurants line Commercial Street. Food ranges from burgers to Filet Mignon Au Poivre and of course, the freshest seafood, which is served in a variety of ways. Prices can be high, but well worth the ambiance of the Bay.

World-class inn’s can be found on just about every corner. Some have spa services and provide exceptional amenities to make your stay a true getaway. The historic element of the inns cre-ates a quaint and warming environment; I found many visitors perfectly happy sipping a glass of chardonnay, reading their favorite novel on a 150-year-old porch. The New England feel is ever prominent, and sets a laid-back, “Sunday drive” mood. If your idea of unwinding is lemonade and a rocking chair, you are most surely in luck!

If it is a more fl amboyant and wild scene you’re looking for, P-Town has you covered. Some of the best DJ’s spin into the morning hours, and everywhere you can fi nd a crowd of people looking to let their hair down on a dance fl oor. The cabaret shows are delightfully entertaining and engage the audience. The Tea Dance is great way to unwind in the afternoon sun and form new friendships international in scope.

The town’s greatest asset is by far its people. Talking to locals is an experience all its own. Each of them has such a unique, colorful story. Everyone arrives in Provincetown for different reasons, yet all seem to have one common thread—they planted roots because they are free to live their dream—a dream of self-expression, of water views, of complete inclusiveness. A dream where there is no judgment, where two mommy’s is a majority, where marriage is recognized as a fundamental human right on the basis of love. Provincetown is the type of community where LGBT and our straight friends co-exist in perfect harmony. It’s a town that one wishes America as a whole would become; safe, enchanting and full of love and respect for each and every person. There are no minorities in Provincetown, everyone is equal—one.

Whatever you desire in an escape, Provincetown can offer. Autumn, spring and winter are just as beautiful as the summer, albeit in different ways. The season extends well beyond the Labor Day (many of the inns have fi replaces and serve cider!). I highly recommend a vacation to this lovely place of beauty, history, charm and equality. One visit will have you hooked. You may contemplate moving there, and will most surely make arrangements to go back.

DIRECTIONS

THE FASTEST WAY: Jet Blue to Logan, Cape Air to Provincetown.

THE SCENIC WAY: Amtrak to South Station. Ferry from Boston’s Seaport.

THE BUDGET WAY: Chinatown-Chinatown Bus. Ferry from Boston’s Seaport



Fernando Preda and Jeff Vasquez on Bushwick’s Knickerbocker Avenue during GLOBE’s Saturday march.

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A BRIGHT FLASH OF PRIDE IN BUSHWICK


assumption, that anyone who is gay must have AIDS. Three months ago, as a mem-ber of GLOBE, he spoke to an assembly at a high school in Flushing, explaining the harm done to gay students because of homophobia from their peers and also talking about the need to protect them-selves from HIV transmission.

“At first it was scary, because I was there as a gay man,” Vasquez said of his appearance before the high school students.

Vasquez also talked about the diffi-culties his father had “as a Latino man” when he came out to him as a teenager. He explained that it took his father about two years to come around to accepting that his son was gay. Vasquez urged his father to join him at a GLOBE meet-ing, telling him, “If you say you love me, just try it.” In time his father did, and the experience proved powerful and benefi-cial.

Preda talked about growing up, in both the Castle Hill section of the Bronx and in California, with parents who were drug users and who abused him at times. Still, he explained, both his father, who died, and his mother, now two years sober, were supportive of him when he came out to them at 14.

It was at that age that Preda con-tracted two STDs, an experience that talked him about the importance of safe sex.

“Sex is fun, but wrap it up,” he said, in a message he would like to share with younger gays through the peer education

program at GLOBE.Magic Minthe, whose wife Rhonda

Stubbs does HIV outreach at GLOBE, said that the march was a response to those in Bushwick who think LGBT peo-ple don’t “exist” there. “Now they know we’re here,” she said. Minthe was at the barbeque with her two of her four chil-dren and Stubbs.

RaShawn Chisolm, a 37-year-old res-ident of Bedford-Stuyvesant, explained that he moved to Brooklyn in the past several years after living in Harlem because he is concerned that gentrifica-tion in Harlem is displacing the vibrant African-American cultural life that has long defined that neighborhood. A com-

munity activist, Chisolm also works on an Internet radio operation that hosts both gay hip hop music and public events programming.

For Enid Torres and Lila Andrianov, Ridgewood, a Queens neighborhood that abuts Bushwick, has been home for five years.

“Ridgewood is beautiful,” said Andri-anov, who is preparing to start nursing school.

Torres, a carpenter currently on dis-ability after injuring her knee on the job, said that Friday afternoon GLOBE gather-ings gave the couple the opportunity to meet others and “talk about the commu-nity.” — Paul Schindler

� BUSHWICK, from p.22

Magic Minthe, RaShawn Chisolm, and Lila Andrianov and Enid Torres during the picnic in the park Make the Road By Walking restored.

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211 East 43rd Street, Suite 1300 | New York, NY 10017www.lizkrueger.com | Email: [email protected] | (212) 490-9535

Happy Pride!

From State SenatorLIZ KRUEGERPround co-sponsor of the

Same Sex Marriage Bill (S5994)

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Court Blasts Immigrant VerdictFederal appeals panel said gay’s deportation finding betrayed “bias,” “hostility”

24/ Legal


In unusually direct lan-guage, a three-judge panel of the New York-based

2nd Circuit Court of Appeals criticized federal Immigration Judge (IJ) Alan Vomacka for his handling of a Guyanese man’s appeal that he not be deported for fear that his life would be endangered if he did.

The man, who will be iden-tified in this reporting only as Ali given the potential harm he faces, made his appeal under the international Convention Against Torture (CAT), one of the legal avenues available for immigrants aiming to stay in the US.

“In light of the inappropriate remarks by Vomacka — which included gratuitous comments on the petitioner’s sexuality, as well as unfounded specu-lations about homosexuals in general — we believe the appropriate course is to grant the petition for review, vacate the [Board of Immigration

Appeals, or BIA] decision, and remand this case for a rehear-ing before a new IJ,” wrote Cir-cuit Judge Guido Calabresi for the court in Ali v. Mukasey, decided on June 18.

Ali, it appears, is no angel — he “established a long arrest record and was convicted of nine theft-related crimes” from the time of his US entry with other family members as a teenager in 1980. He was twice previously deported to Guy-ana, but managed both times to escape from security forces there and find his way back into the US.

Ali recounted that after his first deportation he was imme-diately placed in police cus-tody in Guyana and subjected to harsh treatment including outrageous physical and sexu-al abuse. When it seemed the same thing was going to hap-pen on his second deportation, he immediately took steps to evade his captors and return to the US.

Apparently Ali did not

resolve his own issues about his sexual orientation until late in this process — he did not raise it as a ground for seek-ing CAT relief until the third removal proceedings were already underway. That raised credibility issues for Vomacka, the immigration judge.

One other complication was that it was a different immigra-tion judge, in Maryland, who earlier found credible Ali’s tes-timony that he had been mis-treated upon his earlier depor-tations. Vomacka complained that he found it difficult to listen to those tape-recorded proceedings that had not been transcribed.

Judge Calabresi noted that Vomacka also stated that it was difficult “to understand why a respondent would be willing to disclose forcible rape by jail guards, but not willing to discuss his own sexual ori-entations [sic] as a homosex-ual.” The immigration judge speculated that the issue of homosexuality might be a red

herring raised by Ali to delay his deportation.

But Ali had explained that homophobic comments made by the police officers who raped him — they called him anti-man, a synonym for faggot — and his fear of life imprison-ment for sodomy, along with the fact that for a long time he did not consider himself gay, all led to his failure to raise his sexuality earlier in the immi-gration proceedings.

Calabresi summarized the horrifying testimony from the Guyana Human Rights Asso-ciation about the violence and hostility aimed at gay people, which Vomacka had accepted into evidence.

According to Calabresi, Vomacka viewed Ali’s claims as incompatible, writing that “violent dangerous criminals and feminine contemptible homosexuals are not usually considered to be the same peo-ple.” Vomacka concluded there was a “lack of specific objective evidence” that Ali would be tor-

tured because he was a crimi-nal deportee, and he “won-dered how anyone in Guyana would even know that Ali was a homosexual,” since there was no “ partner or cooperat-ing person” with whom he had a relationship which would mark him as gay — nor was he “likely to form such a close relationship within a foresee-able period of time.”

Noting that Ali is a convicted criminal with “professed men-tal problems” and “some prob-lems with his personality” who “is not particularly communi-cative or articulate” nor “par-ticularly skilled and mature in the way he expresses him-self, shows his feelings, etc,” Vomacka concluded that “the picture of him as a proud, pro-fessed homosexual in Guyana seems to be more an expres-sion of wishful thinking than something that’s particularly likely to come true.”

To top it off, Vomacka con-

I am happy to join the

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Community

in the celebration of Pride, and the continuing fight for equality.

Paid For By Nadler For Congress, Ira N. Brophy, Treasurer

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NEWS BRIEFS By ANDY HUMM

NYS Opens Family Court to Gay Partners

The New York Legislature voted unanimously this week for a bill allowing domestic partners — including same-sex couples —access to protections granted by Family Court, the Empire State Pride Agenda said in a release. The measure, which Governor David A. Paterson supports, will let the court issue orders of pro-tection to “unmarried committed couples and those in dating rela-tionships.” Prior to this, gay part-ners had to go to criminal court to obtain such an order — a step toward criminalization of domes-tic life that many were reluctant to take.

“Until now, New York has been one of the last states in the nation to protect same-sex cou-ples against domestic violence,” the Pride Agenda noted.

Al Sharpton on Anderson Cooper Going to Hell

During a discussion on Ander-son Cooper’s CNN show about the attacks that right winger James Dobson made on Barack Obama’s religious views, the Rev-erend Al Sharpton raised some gay eyebrows when he said, “I may have some very conserva-

tive personal feelings, but I feel you have the right to live your life differently. I may think that what you do Anderson is gonna put you

in Hell, but I’m gonna defend your right to get there.”

Cooper replied, “I appreciate all your concerns about my after-life. I’m personally not all that concerned, but that’s a whole other discussion.”

Internet debates arose on Towleroad.com and PageOneQ.com about whether Sharpton, a strong supporter of LGBT rights, was referring to Cooper’s homo-sexuality as his possible sin. But Sharpton, unaware of the contro-versy, told Gay City News, “I have no idea of his sexuality. I was not talking about him as an indi-vidual anyway. It could have been anybody.” He said any thoughts

he might have about things that condemn people wouldn’t include homosexuality. “I support same-sex marriage and have been lam-basted by the right for it,” he said.

More than a decade ago, this reporter asked Sharpton at a party if his support extended to performing same-sex marriages as a minister. “Step outside,” he shot back. “I’ll do you right now.”

Some wag on Towleroad said that Sharpton must have been referring to Cooper’s work on CNN as his sin.

Mormons Mark Pride with Attack on Rights

On Sunday, June 29, a letter will be read at all Mormon wor-ship services worldwide calling on all members to contribute

financially and with their time to pass the California initiative this November that would limit mar-riage different-sex couples.

The letter, from the Office of the First Presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, said, “The Church’s teach-ing and position on this moral issue are unequivocal. Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God.”

Mormon teaching against black people serving in the Church’s priesthood was also unequivocal until it became politi-cally untenable for it to maintain. As with polygamy, which was dropped so Utah could become a state in 1896, Church elders received a revelation from God on June 8, 1978 that it was okay to elevate black people to leader-ship positions.

Dave Melson of Affirmation, the LGBT Mormon group, told the Salt Lake Tribune, “We had hoped the Church would back off and stay on the sidelines on this one.” As if!

The Mormon Church provided significant financial resources for the successful campaign to pass a constitutional amendment in Hawaii in 1998 allowing the Legislature to regulate marriage there when state court rulings were moving toward an embrace of marriage equality. They also

heavily backed anti-gay marriage campaigns in Alaska in 1998 and in California in 2000.

Despite this direct involve-ment in political campaigns, no serious challenge to the Church’s tax-exempt status has been mounted.

Partners Bill Passed

The Pittsburgh City Council voted 7-1 on June 17 to create a registry for couples who have a “mutual commitment,” allow-ing same-sex and different-sex pairs to sign up “unless they are too closely related to be mar-ried under state law,” the Post-Gazette reported.

City employees who register will be able to share their ben-efits with their partners, though domestic partner benefits have

long been offered to them, the newspaper said. The registry can be used by private employers to verify an employee’s relationship status for the purpose of provid-ing partner benefits, though they will not be required to do so.

Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he expected to sign the bill.

Gay Bigs Boycott SF HRC Dinner

Some of the leading gay activists in San Francisco are boycotting the Human Rights Campaign’s annual dinner there over the group’s support for a federal non-discrimination bill that includes sexual orientation but dropped gender identity and expression when Representative

� BRIEFS, continued on p.73

AL SHARPTON

ANDERSON COOPER

LUKE RAVENSTAHLTOM AMMIANO

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

Long-Term CommitmentsAs Center celebrates 25 years, three vets discuss decades of service

26/ Pride

BY PAUL SCHINDLER

In looking at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans-gender Community Cen-

ter a quarter of a century after its founding, one of the most striking factors that emerges in trying to get to the core of its success is the amazing institutional memo-ry that some of its key staff members bring to West 13th Street every day.

Just over 18 months ago, executive director Richard Burns celebrated his 20th anni-versary at the helm, and in an interview with Gay City News, he talked about the Center’s previous two decades, weaving it into the history of the LGBT community nationwide, its promising advances, its politi-cal reversals, and the devastat-ing heartbreak it endured from the scourge of AIDS — as well as his own personal story as an activist, gay journalist, and attorney going back ten years earlier to his life in Boston.

In interviews last week, three other longtime Center employees brought their own stories to bear on a facility that one said “would be hard not to know about now” if you’re an LGBT New Yorker.

Robert A. Woodworth ran his own consulting business and was a member of the gay Greater Gotham Business Council in the early 1980s when talk f irst sur faced among New York LGBT lead-ers about the need to launch a community center.

“ N o b o d y k n e w w h e r e anybody was,” Woodworth recalled about a queer com-munity exper iencing an explosion of organization-building without benefit of email or cell phones.

As it happened, several early LGBT organizations — including SAGE, the Metro-politan Community Church, and the Community Health Project, what was then a new amalgam of two existing efforts serving gay men and is now the Callen-Lorde Com-munity Health Center — were subleasing space at 208 W. 13th Street along with other progressive and community action groups. At the time, the city owned the building and rented it to a group called Car-ing Community.

But the city wanted to unload the building and as the fledgling LGBT groups

worried about where they would next turn for space, Woodworth was among an ad hoc group of activists and leaders who began a con-versation about the possi-bility of buying the building to establish the community center they felt was need-ed. The first hurdle was the lack of any model out there

for how the gay community would make something like this happen.

But then Gay Men’s Health Crisis — itself just getting off the ground in a frantic effort to mount some response to AIDS amidst considerable indifference at every level of government from City Hall up — showed the way. In May 1983, the group held a Ringling Brothers Circus fundraiser at Madison Square Garden that drew more than 15,000 people. The move was risky — nobody knew for sure how many would in fact turn out and more criti-cally somebody had to put out the rental money upfront.

“It was an amazing event,” Woodworth recalled.

What GMHC discovered is

that gay people with money were willing to stand up for the community by making interest-free loans to float the rent, and those working to launch a community cen-ter seized on that lesson. The group quickly raised north of $200,000 in donations or no-interest loans; a year later they began the process

of persuading the lenders to renew the loans for another year. By the end of 1983, the city had approved the new community center’s pur -chase of its current home, at a price of $1.5 million, with ten percent down required.

Woodworth worked on a consulting basis — yet still put in a lot of hours — until becoming a full-time employee in 1985. He remembers two critical decisions made about the Center’s original name — the Lesbian and Gay Commu-nity Services Center.

“Using the word lesbian at that time was not that com-mon,” he recalled, “let alone putting it first.”

And in trying to win city approval for the purchase

of the building, “the use of the word ‘services’ was quite conscious because the New York gay crowd was not seen as a cooperative crowd. We wanted to put the emphasis on services, not on egos.”

The moment when the 13th Street building became the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center, Woodworth said, “was a watershed shift for the gestalt of the community. Crossing the threshold, people would have this amazing epiph-any because the normative experience of gay people at that time was all about the need to protect yourself. The commu-nity had a concrete place, a home, for the first time.”

During the intervening years, the Center’s function has broadened from opening up community meeting spaces and similar facilities to pro-viding a deepening range and sophistication of social services, producing cutting-edge cultural programming, and pursuing public policy goals. And Wood-worth, now director of meeting and conference services and capital projects, recalls that he’s probably had “eight or ten jobs since I started.” The current challenge facing him is over-sight of a major capital expan-sion that by 2012 could double the Center’s space through construction of a building adja-cent to the current one over the

Fourth St. near Second Ave., Jun. 29, 8 p.m. Tickets are $20 at http://www.nyneofuturists.org.

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Work Out For Hope

Steel Gym once again holds a day-long benefit for Hope’s Voice Internation-al, a non-profit organization that works to educate youth worldwide about HIV, AIDS, and their prevention. Ten percent of all proceeds generated at the gym that day will be donated to the group. 146 W. 23rd St., 5:30 a.m.-10 p.m. For more information on Hope’s Voice Interna-tional, visit http://www.hopesvoice.org, and learn about its “Does HIV Look Like Me?” campaign, at http://www.doeshiv-looklikeme.org.

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PERFORMANCE Brokeback Mormon

Steven Fales, the star of the “Con-fessions of a Mormon Boy,” first seen in New York to critical praise from Gay City News’ David Kennerley at the 2004 International Fringe Festival, presents his newest solo piece, “Mormon American Princess” — an evening of stand-up, singing, irreverence, and political com-mentary. “God has seen me through excommunication, divorce, prostitu-tion and drugs; now we’re working on narcissism.—and it’s not going well,” Fales says. Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St. below Cooper Sq. adjacent to the Public Theater, Jun. 27, 9:30 p.m.; Jun. 28, 11:30 p.m. Tickets are $20 at http://www.joespub.com.

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No Olive PleaseBasil Twist’s signature sights and

innovative puppetry unite with drag diva Joey Arias’ legendary voice to transport audiences to unpredictable worlds, chan-neling ecstatic desires, lavish nightmares, and bizarre premonitions. “Arias With a Twist” is a feast for the senses, centering on rare songs and reinventions of popular favorites. The production marks Arias’ return to the New York stage following six years with Cirque du Soleil in Las Vegas. HERE Arts Center, 145 Sixth Ave., entrance on Dominick St. Wed. & Thu., 9 p.m.; Fri. & Sat., 9 p.m. & midnight; Sun., 8 p.m. through Jul. 13. Tickets are $35-$50 at http://www.here.org or 212-352-3101. More information at http://www.basiltwist.com.

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THEATERLove Conquers Fear

Billed as a gay rap opera, “Bash’d” is a nearly sung-through piece created

Barbara Warren and Robert Woodworth have been key leaders at the LGBT Community Center dating back to the 1980s.

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The first hurdle was the lack of any model for how

the gay community would make this happen.




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Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill One of the best Italian Restaurants in the US, as rated by the Zagat Survey, Cathryn’s is sure to please. After receiving the Award of Excellence from Wine Spectator, Cathryn’s now has a lovely informal wine tasting every Tuesday evening and delicious $16.09 lunches M-F. The freshest ingre-dients combined with a brilliant chef, create culi-nary splendor at this lovely restaurant tucked away along a garden walkway in Cold Spring. Cathryn’s is rated “Very Good” by The New York Times and graciously welcomes all Hudson Valley Getaways travelers. We are open seven days.

91 Main Street | Cold Spring, NY 10516845-265-5582 | www.TuscanGrill.com

Hudson Valley Outfi ttersStop by Hudson Valley Outfi tters on your way to Breakneck Ridge, Mt. Taurus or the Appalachian Trail and pick up a local trail map and get some good friendly trail suggestions. We carry a great assortment of New York and New Jersey Trail Con-ference Maps. Located one block from the Cold Spring train station, you’ll fi nd great clothing and footwear for hiking, paddling and keeping fi t! Kayak sales, tours, rentals and instruction. We provide all you need to explore the Hudson Val-ley and the many natural wonders of the area.

63 Main Street | Cold Spring, New York 10516845-265-0221 | www.hudsonvalleyoutfi tters.com

The Bird & Bottle InnThis historical 1761 pre-revolutionary Inn with oak plank fl oors, wood beam ceilings, and beautiful old wood burning fi replaces takes you back in time to stagecoaches, the Pony Express, and Washington’s army. Enjoy seasonal outdoor dining, Tavern Menu, Saturday and Sunday Brunch, or Fine Dining Thursday through Sunday in cozy, romantic dining rooms. Our award winning American cuisine delights even the most sophisticated palate. Join us at the bar for cocktails or an evening nightcap. Make all your special occasions memorable at one of the fi nest Inn’s in America.

1123 Old Albany Post Road (Route 9) | Garrison, New York 10524845-424-2333 | www.thebirdandbottleinn.com

The GarrisonLocated an hour north of New York City in the picturesque Hudson Highlands, The Garrison is a 300-acre property with sweeping views of the Hudson River and surrounding mountainous land-scape. The Garrison offers guests an 18-hole golf course with stunning views, a critically-acclaimed fi ne dining restaurant called Valley, overnight accommodations in the four-room Inn, private event spaces, and a day spa and yoga center. A relaxing refuge that offers an abundance of outdoor and nearby cultural activities, The Garrison is perfect for a restorative weekend get-away of spa treatments, outdoor activities, and fabulous cuisine.

2015 Route 9 | Garrison, New York 10524845-424-3604 | www.thegarrison.com

The Cold Spring Depot Enjoy succulent clams or oysters at the raw bar or have a lunch, dinner, or weekend brunch at out-door umbrella tables as you listen to the Dixie band playing weekends and watch the many trains whiz by the station. The Depot is the original 124-year-old train station for Cold Spring. The menu ranges from sandwiches and salads to steaks and seafood with a variety of daily specials. Entertainment is provided Thursday-Sundays. Open 7 days 11-11. We take all major credit cards and warmly welcome you to Cold Spring!

1 Depot Square | Cold Spring, NY 10516845-265-5000 | www.coldspringdepot.com

Garrison Art Center39th Annual Fine Arts & Crafts FairAugust 16 - 17, 10-5pm (rain or shine)

Step off the train and step into the Fair! Metro-North One Day Getaway Discount PackagePackage info: www.mta.info or call 800-METRO-INFO

Enjoy: FREE rides on the Woody Guthrie Sloop, acoustic music, gourmet food, a riverside picnic, and crafts by over 80 remarkable, juried artists.

Who’s There? View Exhibitor List and more information at:www.garrisonartcenter.org, click “Arts & Crafts Fair”

23 Garrison’s Landing, P.O. Box 4 | Garrison, NY 10524845-424-3960 | www.garrisonartcenter.org

To Adver tise Contact: Lee A Castoro - 646-452-2505 - [email protected]

Cold Spring-on-HudsonStep back in time in historic Cold Spring, a quaint village nestled in the Hudson Highlands, that ca-ters to the shopper, the diner, the outdoorsy and the history buff. Stroll along tree-lined Main St. or ride the jaunty green trolley. Visit art and antiques galleries, charming boutiques, gift and novelty stores. Hike the Highlands and tour historic Mani-toga or Boscobel Restoration, home of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Please call for a free travel guide and events calendar. No car necessary, take Metro-North Hudson Line.

Putnam Visitors Bureau | 110 Old Route 6 | Carmel, New York 105121-800-470-4854 | www.VisitPutnam.org


Robert A. McCaffrey Realty Inc.

Robert A. McCaffrey Realty Inc. was established in 1987 and is a major realtor serving Philipstown (Garrison, Cold Spring), Putnam, Dutchess and Or-ange Counties. Offering a wide range of proper-ties, from luxurious Hudson River estates to village cottages, residential and commercial, R. A. McCaffrey Realty is especially active in the luxury market. Our offi ce team of associate brokers and sales agents, all local residents, can provide the personalized, knowledgeable service you deserve. Mr. McCaffrey is a fourth generation resident of Philipstown and can provide answers to any questions about the area.

143 Main St. | Cold Spring, NY 10516845-265-4113 | www.mccaffreyrealty.com

Millbrook Vineyards & WineryCalled “the Hudson Valley’s fl agship winery” by The New York Times, Millbrook Winery is located in the magnifi cent Dutchess County just 90 minutes north of New York City – 5 minutes from the village of Millbrook. Considered one of the top wineries in not only the Hudson River Valley but all of New York State, our 130-acre estate is planted with 30 acres of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Cabernet Franc. The Winery is open daily throughout the year for guided tours and wine tastings. The hours are 12:00-5:00 PM with extended hours from Memorial Day through Labor Day. Picnic area available.

26 Wing Road | Millbrook, NY 125451-800-662-WINE | www.millbrookwine.com

Limited Editions RealtyWe are celebrating the 23rd Anniversary of Lim-ited Editions Realty this year and pride ourselves in the personalized service we continue to offer. All of our agents live locally, know our products, and present them in a fair and honest manner. It is very gratifying to see the growth of the company, the changes in how we do business, and ultimately, the resulting customer satisfaction. Located 50 miles north of NYC, in Cold Spring-on-Hudson, we serve the areas of Cold Spring and Garrison in Putnam County. We can also locate and bring you to your new home in Dutchess County, as members of the Mid-Hudson MLS.

21 Main Street | Cold Spring, New York 10516845-265-3111 | www.limitededitionsrealty.com

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Le Petit Chateau InnOne –half mile from Culinary Institute of America, Le Petit Chateau is nestled amongst the trees and a beautiful pond in Hyde Park. Our Chefs are CIA graduates. Breakfast is an event as they impart techniques while preparing sumptious meals. Lo-cal produce from our garden and the surrounding farms is served. Artisanal Cheese Plates from Hud-son Valley purveyors and French wine prepare you for a relaxed escape. Our rooms have mod-ern amenities with beautiful linens, private baths, cable TV, Movies on Demand and wireless internet. Concierge services: Private Chef Dinners and Lunches, Seasonal Packages, restaurant reservations at the CIA.

39 West Dorsey Lane | Hyde Park, New York 12538845-437-4688 | www.lepetitchateauinn.com


Shadows on the HudsonShadows on the Hudson is the Hudson Valley’s premier waterfront dining experience. Delicately placed alongside the majestic Hudson River, this restaurant provides panoramic views, which should be a part of your travels. Enjoy a culinary prepared lunch or dinner and stay for an evening of world-class mixology. We invite you to celebrate your special occasion overlooking the beautiful Hudson River with us. Don’t forget that Poughkeepsie’s fi rst Authentic Vintage Trolley Car is at your disposal every weekend to connect you to The Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel. Use this exclusive promotional code for reservations: HVNY08

176 Rinaldi Boulevard | Poughkeepsie, New York 12601845-486-9500 | www.shadowsonthehudson.com

The Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel

The Poughkeepsie Grand Hotel offers the only full service hotel experience in Poughkeepsie. Explore the historic mansions, the Culinary Institute of America, take a cruise along the Hudson River, visit the many shops, or allow our very own trolley to connect you to the Downtown Waterfront District, home of Hud-son Valley’s Best Restaurant with a view—Shadows on the Hudson. The Hotel has just completed a major renovation, showcasing a brand-new lobby, bar, restaurant, and all new guest rooms. Our staff is knowledgeable on all of the great offerings of this beautiful and historic area. For an exclusive Hudson Valley Getaways rate, use this promotional code to make your reservations: HVNY08

40 Civic Center Plaza | Poughkeepsie, NY 12601845-485-5300 | www.pokgrand.com

To Adver tise Contact: Lee A Castoro - 646-452-2505 - [email protected]

W elcome to the Hudson Valley, one of the most beautiful regions in America, rich with history and full of distinctive character and charm. We have pre-pared a spectacular itinerary for you. Sip some wine at a vineyard, dine at a

top rated restaurant, go kayaking, enjoy a round of golf, explore a fabulous art center and unwind at a quaint B&B. This region is my home and I am sure you will fall in love the way so many have and want to plant roots for yourself. Enjoy!

-Lee CastoroDirector, Hudson Valley Getaways

★ ★

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26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Designing Queer YouthTop creative execs help forming homeless youth discover their dreams

30/ Community

BY WINNIE MCCROY

According to the first comprehensive survey of homeless New York

City youth, funded by the City Council and led by the Empire State Coalition of Youth and Family Services, 3,800 home-less teens are out on the street every night in New York City. Now, homeless youth advoca-cy programs Green Chimneys and the Reciprocity Founda-tion have teamed up with top executives from Essence mag-azine, ASCAP (the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) Calvin Klein Home, Atlantic Records, and MTV for “Design Your Future,” a workshop series aimed at teaching these kids how to harness their career potential.

“Before coming to Reciproc-ity I did not really have any plans. I was moving from job to job without any real direction,” said Lysette Horne, a 23-year-old “Design Your Future” grad-

uate. While in the program, Horne said she collaborated on a photo essay with Peter Turn-ley of Newsweek and Harp-ers, directed a photo shoot for appreciate.org, and worked with Matt Paco, a former pro-ducer from MTV, to learn how to create and edit videos.

“All of those experiences helped me to know what’s pos-sible, to have an idea of what is going to make me happy, and to have a good plan for my future,” Horne said. “I believe that I am a catalyst for change. I am doing more with my talent than I have ever done before. I no longer dream about becom-ing a photographer or an artist — I call myself that.”

The first session in a four-week series, funded by vari-ous grants and the supporting organizations, began on May 14 at the Reciprocity Founda-tion on Church Street in down-town Manhattan. According

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Claire Savage; Koalani Sallas, Reciprocity Foundation youth interface director; Theresa Nolan, New York City division director at Green Chim-neys; Nick Winowsky, Adam Bucko, managing director at the Reciprocity Foundation; and Natasha Johnson-Lashley, director of education at Reciprocity.

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26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

in 2005 in response to increased hate crimes in Alberta during the Canadian equal marriage debate. Creators Chris Craddock and Nathan Cuckow initially conceived just one rap song to satirize political events through rap, which they see as a kind of hyper-masculine music form to gay people and women. But, they say, for satire work, it has to be a legitimate example of the form being satirized — and that inspired the fully developed piece, hailed at last summer’s International Fringe Festival, including by Gay City News’ David Kennerley. They call it an opera because the emotions are very operatic. It is, Craddock says, “really a love story.” Zipper Factory Theater, at 336 W. 37th St., Fri., 7:30 & 10 p.m., Sat., Mon. & Thu. 8 p.m. Tickets are $25-$55 at http://www.thez-ipperfactory.com or 212-352-3101.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Masculine Invasions

Loosely based on a Sophocles clas-sic, Dave McCracken’s new play, “Fever,” tells the story of two legendary gener-als, Atrox and Bonitas, who clash in a desperate struggle to win the soul and affections of a young man while deter-mining whether the fate of all mankind will continue in light and truth, or wither in darkness and deception. The Diony-sus Theater’s L’il Peach, 270 W. 36th St., Wed.-Sat., 8 p.m. through Jul. 5. Tickets are $25 at http://www.Grape-vineTickets.com or 646-621-5171.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

DANCENow Get Out There & Create

LAVA formed out of the Contact Improvisation dance community of the Midwest, a grassroots, community-based art form with fluid, weight-shar-ing, and aerial partnering style that is one of the best-known and most char-acteristic forms of postmodern dance. Watching an improvisational dance performance by LAVA offers an oppor-tunity to witness the human creative process. Dance Theater Workshop, Jerome Robbins Studio, 219 W. 19th St. Jun. 27-28, 8 pm. Admission is $17; $13 for students & starving artists at the door only. Reserve seats by calling 773-351-7195.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

SAT.JUN.28ACTIVISMTake to the Streets

What’s the Dyke March, you say? It’s the time to hit the streets! Make some noise. Be visible. Be heard. Demonstrate, agitate, liberate! Bring signs, banners, drums, giant puppets,

Carry the Flag to CaliforniaA rainbow, once stitched, must be held aloft on everyone’s shoulders

32/ History

BY GILBERT BAKER

Gilbert Baker created the Rainbow Flag, which quick-ly became the banner of the LGBT rights movement, 30 years ago, in 1978. In com-memoration of that anniver-sary, Baker will be one of the grand marshals in Sunday’s Pride Parade down Fifth Ave-nue. This past Sunday, June 22, Baker delivered the follow-ing remarks at the LGBT Pride Rally in Manhattan’s Bryant Park.

T.S. Elliot said “the end of our exploring will be to arrive where we start-

ed and know the place for the first time.”

People find out I’m from Kansas and they always ask me “Oh, are you a friend of Dorothy? And I always tell them — I am Dorothy.

I had your typical unpleas-ant suburban black-and-white childhood, a Freudian nightmare of parents, friends, atomic bombs, assassina-tions, the lonely fears of being different. I loved rock and roll and my dog Bruiser. I liked to dance and dress up, and most of all I liked to draw and play the trumpet.

But I was afraid of what would happen to me beause I

was gay. I had to lie to survive in a world where being gay was illegal and you could be locked up and electroshocked. I had to lie to everyone all the time, trying to get through yet anoth-er day of insults and punches on the playing fields of teenage cruelty. It made me sick.

My parents took me to a psy-chiatrist when I was in junior high, because they thought I might be a latent homosexual. But there was nothing latent about it. I was born gay and I always knew it.

I invented my own art thera-py as an answer to suicide.

At night I would read the encyclopedia and any books and magazines I could find and then dream of a life some-where over the rainbow.

Then one day it happened — the ’60s, civil rights, the Vietnam War — and when the tornado came, I ran right for it saying, “Take me away.”

And it did — to San Francis-co, exploding in color and rev-

olutionary ideas. I learned how to sew, a talent inherited from my grandmother. I’d push the gowns aside and stitch up protest banners. My craft was always my activism. It con-nected me with community, and when I made the rainbow flag in 1978 it changed my life.

Those red shoes have brought me here, to New York City, where today I see so many who are making a differ-ence for our children that they may love freely, truthfully, equally.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead to where there is no path and leave a trail.” We have not followed a worn Yel-low Brick Road to a world ruled by wizards behind a curtain of conformity. We built a new one paved with personal cour-age, respect for the individual and have made a bridge to the future. But it is a suspension bridge that hangs in the bal-ance of our hands today.

The thread of our strength is our visibility.

Jesus said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will be hidden, or under a bowl. Instead he places it on its stand, so that those who come in may see the light.”

To come out is to be true to one’s self. When I was a kid in Sunday School we’d sing, “This little light of mine, I’m gonna’ let it shine,” and I believed I was loved by God — even while those around me thought oth-erwise. My whole life was a silent rebellion against a pro-grammed inner hatred for who I really was. All of it over love. But somewhere deep in my soul, I knew, even as a child in Kansas, that my love was just as good as everyone else’s.

I ask myself, “Equality — it is a question of difference? Is love equal?

In the Bible, God speaks in the first person — Genesis 9:13 — and says, “I set my bow in the cloud as a sign of a covenant between me and the earth.” We are a part of life from the beginning.

“Democracy arose from men’s thinking that if they are equal in any respect, they are equal absolutely,” said Aristo-

High above the rotunda of the San Francisco City Hall in 2004, Gilbert Baker peers down at his original creation.

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Jesus said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it in a place where it will

be hidden, or under a bowl.




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to Theresa C. Nolan, division director of New York City programs for Green Chimneys Children’s Services, about 20 formerly homeless LGBT youth par-ticipated in the first evening’s events. Green Chimneys houses 66 homeless and foster care youth, while the Reci-

procity Foundation provides services to youth at risk of homelessness; both work with LGBTQ youth.

“Government funding doesn’t seem to put much aside to help these kids. It makes it more important that we do this kind of program,” said Nolan. “When you have youth that have mul-tiple issues — that they are youth of color, queer, young — it sometimes makes it difficult for them to access programming needs.”

That most of these youth come from a disadvantaged background or were formerly homeless made the “Design Your Future” project even more impor-tant, said Nolan. At the event, the teens learn how to dress for success, make a good first impression, and harness their personal skills to build relation-ships with successful professionals from creative industries.

“The kids loved it; it felt very glamor-

ous to them,” said Nolan. “They were excited about the people and compa-nies they got to meet, and for them to be able to touch it a little bit, and think about making it a possible career path was very exciting.”

She added that she had plans to start a similar on-site career program at Green Chimneys.

The initial four-week program, as explained by Natasha Johnson-Lash-ley, director of education for the Reci-procity Foundation, is intended to do much more than merely encourage teens to consider career options; its aim is to provide basic building blocks on which to plan one’s future. After the initial “Design Your Future” four-week program is complete, said Johnson-Lashley, youth return as alumni for weekly sessions and Thursday evening workshops to help articulate their skill set and define the careers they may be interested in, to identify how to build those skills through education or train-ing, to discuss obstacles and how to overcome them, and to learn how to network and brand oneself for today’s market.

“From there, we will teach them how to make themselves distinguish-able from others they are competing

against,” said Johnson-Lashley. “We will cover résumé building, interview building, and teach them how to cre-ate a balanced lifestyle to continue and sustain themselves in their industry of choice.”

The program will also match youth with mentors, allow them to shadow established professionals, and offer help to get into college or a long-term internship.

“My favorite part of the program was being able to network, and get indi-vidual advice from leading executives from different industries, be inspired by their stories, and to know that we can relate to each other’s experiences,”

said Horne. She said that her work with “Design

Your Future” gave her the self-confi-dence to create The Border Line Arts (http://www.myspace.com/theborder-linearts), an “online interactive commu-nity where gay and lesbian artists can connect, empower each other, collabo-rate on projects, and co-create media pieces that speak to them.”

Nolan said that the initial success of the program seemed to bode well for its future as a life-changing force for formerly homeless gay youth, adding, “These young people are so excited and so resilient, no matter what their expe-riences, they have such creative ideas.”

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� YOUTH, from p.30

Formerly homeless LGBT youth gain access to skills and estimable role models through “Design Your Future.”.

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space now occupied by the outdoor gar-den and the youth services offices.

The Center is currently at the early stages, both in terms of design — sig-nificant city landmarks issues, to name just one area of concern, need to be examined — and budget projections, but Woodworth estimated that total construction expenditures and oper-ating cost endowment requirements will likely total $50 million. Nearly $12 million in government commitments, from both the city and state, have been secured, while the private dona-tion campaign, which is expected to raise half of the total, is still in its “quiet phase,” largely confined to date to efforts among Center board members.

In 1987, Dr. Barbara A. Warren was a psychologist affiliated with Pace University downtown doing

work on substance abuse. Recently divorced — yes, she’s heterosexual! — she felt it was time for a change and had tentatively decided on a big one. She was prepared to move to Auburn University in Alabama to work as a sports psychologist.

Then she got to know Richard Burns, who convinced her that her expertise on substance abuse treat-ment and her experiences in counsel-ing LGBT students at Pace, coupled with a relationship to gay liberation activists dating back to her college days at Antioch in Ohio, suited her to run a recovery program at the Center.

She and Burns discussed at some

length, Warren said, the issue of her sexual orientation — not with regard to her qualifications for the job, but rather in terms of how the Center community and LGBT New Yorkers generally would respond to a straight woman in such a prominent post.

In terms of flak, time would prove, Warren took it coming and going. There was backlash among some in the queer community.

“Lesbians in particular often seemed suspicious or wary of me,” she recalled.

Later when Warren assumed leader-ship of all the Center’s social services, she became the target of criticism over the founding of the Gender Identity Project to serve the transgender community. Some lesbians organized a zap in protest.

But, the GIP was a mission that Burns was right with her on, though it needed selling to some on the board. In the view of some lesbians at the time, Warren said, “there is only a Gender Identity Project because a straight woman started it.” Another formula-tion, she said, was the charge of hypoc-risy against the Center’s “gay men who are feminists but are capitulating to these fake women.”

But friction with some in the LGBT community was nothing compared to the negative attention she received from many straight professional colleagues outside the Center. Warren described being at a conference of roughly 3,000 mental health professionals in Wash-ington at the end of the Reagan era. She was the only one with a name tag

GLID wishes all of NYC a wonderful

Pride celebration!

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Lou Avanzato, perhaps the Center’s first employee, says she already misses the job she will likely leave next year.

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www.gmhc.orgHIV/AIDS Hotline: 800-243-7692 . [email protected]

26 JUN - 2 JUL 200838/ EditorialPUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

JOHN W. SUTTER646.452.2500

[email protected]

ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDERTROY MASTERS646.452.2502

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EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDERPAUL SCHINDLER

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ASSOCIATE EDITORDuncan Osborne

CONTRIBUTING EDITORSChristopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day,

Doug Ireland (International),Brian McCormick (Dance)

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSBetsy Andrews, Seth J. Bookey,

Anthony M.Brown, Kelly Jean Cogswell,Dean Daderko, Tate Dougherty, Andres Duque, Michael Ehrhardt, Steve Erickson, Nick Feitel,

Jim Fouratt, Joe Fyfe, Deborah Garwood, Erasmo Guerra, Emily Harney, Andrey Henkin, Frank Holiday, Andy Humm, James Jorden,

Brendan Keane, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S. Leonard, Rachael Liberman, Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass,

Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott, Gregory Montreuil, Ioannis Mookas, Carrie Moyer,

Stephen Mueller, Christopher Murray, David Noh, Wayne Northcross, Lori Ortiz, Pauline Park, Sheila Pepe, John Reed,

Nathan Riley, Andrew Robinson, Gerard Robinson, Chris Schmidt, Sarah D. Schulman, Jason Victor Serinus, Linda Shapiro,

David Shengold, Gus Solomons Jr., David Spiher, Drew B. Straub, Stefen Styrsky, Jerry Tallmer,

Stefanos Tsigrimanis, Kathleen Warnock, Benjamin Weinthal, Lee Ann Westover,

James Withers, Kai Wright, Susan Yung

GRAPHIC DESIGNERSMark Hasselberger, Greg Miller

SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISINGFRANCESCO REGINI

Francesco Regini646.452.2496

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ADVERTISING MANAGERS

MATT LEWIS646.452.2504

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[email protected] City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay and Lesbian NYC, is pub-lishedby Community Media, LLC. Send all inquiries to: Gay City News, 145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., NYC 10013 Phone: 646.452.2500 Written permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All contents (c) 2008 Gay City News.

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■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Pride’s Winds of ChangeBY PAUL SCHINDLER

■ LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

LETTING KATE’S NIECE HAVE TOO MUCH HER SAY

June 23, 2008To the Editor:

I am surprised that Gay City News didn’t challenge Katharine Houghton’s dismissive statement “Come on!” when asked about the same-sex experiences of Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy (“Aunt Kate,” by David Noh, Jun. 19-25). Despite the ample evidence of the com-plicated sexualities of both Tracy and Hepburn — documented in 100 pages of footnotes in my book “Kate: The Woman Who Was Hepburn” as well as in other books and articles — there was

no objection to Houghton’s effort to, yet again, spin the legend exactly as Hep-burn maintained it for so long.

In my book, I was careful not to place labels on either Hepburn or Tracy, but Houghton seems perfectly comfortable doing so, calling them both “rampantly heterosexual” —whatever that means. It is beyond absurd at this point to attempt to position Hepburn as exclusively het-erosexual (rampantly or otherwise). As for Tracy, it is no longer enough to simply use the “come on!” approach, as Hough-ton does when she says, “If I ever knew a man who was heterosexual, it was Spencer” — as if outward appearances or mannerisms can tell us anything about

a person’s sexuality. Has she not seen “Brokeback Mountain”? Read about Senator Larry Craig?

I can understand a niece misguidedly trying to “protect” her aunt’s legacy, but not a gay newspaper allowing such an outright dismissal and denial of gay expe-rience to pass without any challenge.William J. MannPalm Springs

June 16, 2008To the Editor:

Thank you for Arthur Leonard’s lucid explanation of how “Don’t Ask” is far-ing in the courts (“Boston Panel Upholds Don’t Ask,” Jun. 12-18) and Paul Schin-

dler’s timely caveat about Sam Nunn (remembered for expressing horror at the prospect of gays sharing close quarters with straight seamen) as a possible run-ning mate for Barack Obama (“What’s Next for Obama”).

Those old-timers who support a policy that discriminates against well-educated, law-abiding citizens invariably invoke the idea of “cohesion.” We have learned in recent weeks that our badly over-stretched military is granting “moral waivers” to large numbers of high school dropouts, many with criminal records, thus enabling them to serve. Apparently

As Pride Month crescen-dos with this Sunday’s Fifth Avenue parade,

we here in New York’s LGBT community have much to celebrate. In the past month alone, Governor David A. Pat-erson has ordered all state agencies to develop blueprints for ensuring that any gay or lesbian couple legally married outside of New York will have their unions recognized as marriages here.

And, after five years, a transgender civil rights bill has finally been approved by the Democratic-controlled State Assembly.

The governor’s action on marriage recognition was for-ward-thinking, bold, coura-geous — and entirely in line with an evolving pattern of administrative and judicial decisions in recent years. The city and state of New York, since 2004, have recognized out-of-state same-sex marriag-es for purposes of their public employee pension funds. The state Civil Service Commission has applied the same principle to public employee health pro-grams for the past year.

Most significantly, in Febru-ary, an appellate court in Buf-falo concurred with that prin-ciple as well — finding unani-mously that precedent clearly dictates that such marriages deserve to be protected in New York.

That ruling has not yet been tested at the State Court of Appeals, but the strength of a unanimous decision by an appeals court in the most conservative part of the state vindicates Paterson’s thinking that it was time for the state to act to forestall the lawsuits that inaction would invite.

What the gov-ernor’s ruling means is that any gay couple who marries in Ca l i f o r n ia o r Canada — or Spain , South Africa, Holland, Belgium, or Norway, for that matter — will be eligible for and bound by the 1,324 rights and obliga-tions that marriage in New York entails, exactly the same as if they had married here. As with Massachusetts and Cali-fornia, married gay and lesbi-an New Yorkers will not benefit from federal recognition — that is a battle that will not be fully engaged until political changes are effected in Washington.

Change is also required in Albany if the gender rights and marriage equality legis-lation are to become law. The Republican majority in the Senate — even in the wake of Joe Bruno’s resignation this week — stands as the obsta-cle to progress on both. Gay advocates clearly understand that Democrats will need to gain the two seats required to become the majority — and likely a few more for comfort — if the two bills are to make it to Paterson’s desk.

Part of what makes the gov-ernor’s marriage recognition order so potent right now is the recent opening of marriage to gay couples in California. Given the law Massachusetts has effectively barring out-of-state marriage by same-sex couples, most New Yorkers interested in marrying have to date traveled to Canada, a wonderful opportunity for some but an alienating thought for other couples unhappy at the prospect of having to leave

their country to assert their equality.

With Califor-nia’s landmark c ou r t ru l i n g and Paterson’s leadership here,

New York gay couples can now marry in this country and have their unions recognized back home in the Empire State.

The efforts by anti-gay forc-es in California to turn back that state’s Supreme Court order in a ballot initiative this November will likely prove a milestone — a loss would be devastating for the marriage equality movement in Amer-ica, while a win would prove that the nation is firmly on the path to full equality. California needs and deserves our sup-port. Find out how to help at http://www.eqca.org.

The opportunity to marry in California will benefit many gay and lesbian couples here in New York. For some, this may be precisely the point in their relationship where mar-riage is the right step — and California without doubt pro-vides countless romantic spots to hold the celebration of a life-time. Couples with children may not wish to wait any lon-ger to ensure that their chil-dren live in a home where the family has the full measure of legal protection. And some couples with concerns about advancing age or illness may welcome the chance to put their minds at ease that each partner has done as much as possible for the other to ensure their future well-being.

But for many New Yorkers, marrying here at home is what we want. My partner Bert and I have shared a home in Brook-

lyn for 21 years. Having met in Boston, we initially were intrigued, when gay marriages began in Massachusetts, by the prospect of returning there to marry, but those thoughts were quickly dashed when then-Governor Mitt Romney made clear the state would enforce its peculiar out-of-state exclusion.

Meanwhile, every few weeks this newspaper reports anoth-er story about the pitfalls fac-ing gay and lesbian couples and families because of the simple fact that we are not treated equally. And, we attend weddings of nieces and neph-ews who weren’t even born at the time Bert and I first met, and our joy in their happiness has a bittersweet edge.

But marriage equality is an achievable goal here in New York. The State Assembly and the governor are on our side, and public polling shows that more and more the voters are too. One way or another, the Republicans who currently run the Senate are going to have to own up to these truths — maybe by changing, but more likely by losing their power.

So Bert and I are making our bet on New York. We’re fully aware that in addition to elect-ing a Democratic president this year, our community here at home has to focus on the criti-cal job of being the change we’ve been waiting for in Albany.

This year’s Pride season offers good cause for optimism, but only if we are keen to the opportunities borne by the winds of change. So as we cel-ebrate this weekend, let’s also commit to redouble our efforts in the four months to come.

We can make marriage equality a reality. Yes. We. Can.

� LETTERS, continued on p.58

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Making My Own Safety A PriorityBY LAWRENCE EVERETT FORBES

Op-Ed /39■ PERSPECTIVE/ MY BODY MYSELF

I have a friend whose late-night romps with casual partners take place after

he gets high. At dinner, he told us that nobody would lie about their HIV status. We were dis-mayed and argued vigorously in favor of assuming your part-ner is positive.

Researchers at NYU’s Stein-hardt School of Culture, Edu-cation, and Human Develop-ment are taking a different slice on this problem. They don’t focus on the truth or falsity of my friend’s belief, but instead are eager to dis-cover why he believes it. This is important. Our arguments with my friend didn’t take. He simply shut up, but I am convinced he didn’t change

his mind. He just thought his friends were being difficult, giving him a hard time.

His belief doesn’t exist in a vacuum — it’s tied to other ideas and desires that make casual encounters appealing. Dr. Perry Halkitis and his col-leagues are seeking insights into the psychological basis of their decision-making logic. To be blunt, they want to know why some men bareback casu-ally.

The object of their research, said Dan Siconolfi, assistant director of Project Desire, is to “allow their voice to be heard.” Young gay men have an oppor-tunity to talk calmly about HIV, and their sexual habits. It also gives this group an oppor-

tunity to explain why the safe-sex message isn’t working.

The research is a reaction to the continued increases in unprotected sex and with it

spiking rates of HIV infection. The latest numbers are only the latest chapter in a long-standing problem. Rather than wringing their hands, the researchers at Project Desire are actually doing something.

Funded by the city’s Depart-ment of Health and Mental Hygiene, they started with a street survey of 540 youth and then followed up with inten-

sive interviews with 54 of the original group of men. The researchers are listening care-fully to this high-risk popula-tion. The objective is to make a fresh assessment of a chronic problem.

The interview techniques aimed at uncovering the gay men’s inner voices. For example, they track the sen-tences with the word “I” look-ing for clues about what each man thinks about himself. “I should” or “I could” sentences offer clues about personal atti-tudes while “I don’t know” sen-tences may be related to the inability to stop activities that cause anxiety and are unsafe. Twenty-seven years into the epidemic, this project is trying to attach words and intentions to the attitudes and feelings of young gay men. In this sense, the researchers believe they are starting with a clean slate

Voices Behind the FearsBY NATHAN RILEY

■ PERSPECTIVE/ A NEW CENTURY’S EPIDEMIC

He pinned me to the car as his cohorts rummaged through

my pockets for my wallet. But when one of them tried to remove my watch, I flipped out. I elbowed one, tried to knee the other, and yelled at the gun-toting leader as we had a tug of war over my wallet.

The result: he got the busi-ness card holder, and I kept my wallet — but not before being pistol-whipped in the eye. The cowardly trio fled — and, still not in possession of my senses, I chased them for a block and a half before a crossing taxi — and the blood dripping from my eyebrow — thwarted me.

I was robbed at gunpoint in my old neighborhood, Fort Greene, in the spring of 2000. I was coming home from my friend Caroline’s house in Park Slope a little after midnight when I passed three neighbor-hood boys hanging out around a bicycle on the curb. I thought nothing of it — or that my out-fit, with its secondhand-store-bought green polyester shirt, brown Banana Republic five-pocket stretch pants, and artsy black denim sneakers and Army-Navy man-purse, made me appear different from them — and kept on strolling. Less than 100 feet later, I heard the bike approaching and before I could turn around, its driver leapt off of it and into my face with a pistol.

That I fought them off was stupid; that I’d chased them was insane. Still, I felt proud for defending myself, hav-ing often been bullied out of money in my youth. My pride took a hit two-and-a-half years later, when another trio jumped me the day before Thanksgiving. Instead of wielding a pistol, they struck me in the face with their fists. The blows knocked my gray herringbone rex hat from my head and tore the matching double-breasted three-quar-ter coat I’d bought in London. No amount of yelling or resis-tance helped, so I was left with no choice but to surrender my wallet. Punch drunk, I stum-bled the two-block distance to my apartment and tended my wounds.

I’m no Boy Scout, but I believe in being prepared. I always carry my contact lens case and some saline, in case I need to clean or remove them. I pack tissues and moist tow-elettes in case I spill some-thing on myself. And I always carry condoms.

I also always pester the women in my life to take self-defense classes, but my pleas consistently fall on deaf ears. Last fall’s Michael Sandy ver-dicts coupled with the near-ten-year anniversary of Mat-thew Shepard’s murder have prompted me to wonder why I have not heeded my own advice.

Duncan Osborne, in Gay City News (“Brooklyn DA Aims at Hate Crimes”; May 1-7, 2008), reported a statement from Inspector Michael Osgood of the NYPD’s hate crimes unit

that “312 hate crimes were reported to police in 2007, a 30 percent increase from 2006… The New York City Gay and Anti-Violence Project (AVP) will report 403 hate crimes dur-ing 2007 and just 130 of those were reported to the police.”

A Google search for “gay self-defense” or “queer-self defense,” reveals only one place that offers LGBT-specif-ic training: the Center for Anti-Violence Education (caeny.org), in Brooklyn. This comes as a sad and disappointing surprise. One of the things I treasure most about the queer community is its ability to rally around causes crucial to the lives and evolution of its fellow lesbians, gays, bisexu-als, and transgendered folks. It is because of this ability — this power — that we have made such awe-inspiring progress on AIDS research, workplace anti-discrimination

laws, adoption, domestic part-nership, marriage (California marriages, thanks to Gover-nor David A. Paterson’s recent order, will be recognized in New York), and hate crimes.

Which leads me to wonder why the issue of self-defense sits so low on the prior -ity totem pole. It isn’t as if the numbers have dwindled. It isn’t as if New York — or the United States — has become a safer place for LGBTs on the go. Kevin Aviance, like me a black gay man, was viciously attacked in front of the Phoe-nix bar in the East Village — on a Saturday night — two years ago.

There are resources for victims of hate crimes — the police department, AVP, and the United States Commission on Civil Rights’ hate crime/discrimination complaints hotline, to name just a few — so why aren’t more of us availing ourselves of proactive resources to avoid violence or protect ourselves if it finds us?

Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes was able to convict Michael Sandy’s

attackers for hate crimes by proving they targeted him based on his sexual orienta-tion and their belief that his homosexuality made him an easy target. And while I have resisted to a good degree the conclusion that my attacks were hate crimes — the f-word was not used during either incident — my choice of attire and the otherness it made vis-ibly clear may well have con-tributed to my downfall.

I did report both cases to the police and browsed the mug shots — and the neighbor-hood via patrol car — for sus-pects. I didn’t recognize any of the faces but found myself always looking over my shoul-der and afraid of going out at night. Instead of seek counsel-ing or taking the sort of self-defense course I have nagged my mom, aunts, and cousins to take, I winced when stared at by neighborhood b-boys. I became my own victim.

This Pride month, I plan to call the Center for Anti-Violence Education, register for its next class, and work on restoring some of the con-fidence I lost when I moved out of my apartment, left the neighborhood, and fled to Cal-ifornia for nearly five years. I hope those of you reading this consider doing the same.

Lawrence Everett Forbes, a freelance writer, can be reached at [email protected].

Why aren’t we availing ourselves of resources

to avoid violence or protect ourselves if it finds us?

� EPIDEMIC, continued on p.44

The interview techniques aimed at uncovering the gay men’s

inner voices.


tle, and now that test is here. We will have to prove the math on this Novem-ber election day.

In the long history of the world only a few generations have been granted the role of defining freedom in its hour of maximum danger. John F. Kennedy said, “Do not shrink from this respon-sibility, welcome it.”

Our foes will argue religion and per-version. We must answer them with love and equality. They will argue special rights, but it is they that have them.

We must do more than fly flags and have parades; we must enlist ourselves — right now, in every way, with every resource of mind and action. The stakes are freedom and democracy itself.

Brothers and sisters coast to coast must join hands to turn the tide against the marriage amendment in California, or we will drown in apathy.

The gospel according to Madonna: “It’s better to live one year as a tiger than a hundred as a sheep.”

In 1978, as the Rainbow Flag took shape, Harvey Milk spoke up and faced the same California electorate, confronting the same opponents we face today with a message of truth and equality. That battle begun 30 years ago has never stopped. Our foes have packaged their relentless campaign of fear and violence as one of strictly enforced values with the morality of a phony master race marching in lock-step, right-wing supremacy. We have taken a beating — in state after state, unconstitutional amendment after amendment, but we will never give up.

Securing the right to marriage will not end homophobia; when interracial marriage was legalized it didn’t end rac-ism. Martin Luther King said, “Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.” Those are the towers of prej-udice we face.

I bear in mind the words of President Dwight Eisenhower: “There is nothing wrong with America that the faith, the love of freedom, intelligence, and ener-gy of her citizens can not cure.”

He also said, “It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog.”

Run Toto, run — to California and stop the wicked witch and the evil mar-riage restriction amendment before time runs out.

Things do not happen. They are made to happen. Efforts and courage are not enough without purpose and direction. Our aim is victory — victory at all cost. Victory, in spite of all ter-ror. Victory, however long and hard the road may be. For without victory, there is no survival. Winston Churchill warned us, “If we fail to stand up to them, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink

into the abyss of a new dark age.”Today, we celebrate our freedom,

but are mindful we celebrate a strug-gle, a struggle at its moment of truth. Equality yes or no.

Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek,” to quote Barack Obama. “Yes we can. Yes we can” — win the popular vote in California. But that won’t happen if we are a silent majority.

Our movement is built on the shoul-ders of individuals who stand for free-dom and equality. One at time, in every town, in every country, people who live openly, truthfully. Each one of us is a drop of water in a wave of change for human rights and justice. Indeed we are a rainbow of hope, love, and libera-tion that wraps around the Earth.

In my view the Rainbow Flag is as unfinished as the movement it repre-sents — an arc that begins well before

me, its breadth far broader than all of our experiences put together, reaching the farthest corners of the world with a mes-sage of solidarity and a beacon of hope for those who follow in our footsteps.

In the beginning the Rainbow Flag was about liberation, about breaking free of an existence limited by fear and conformity, the right to express the spectrum of love and sexuality without shame or retaliation but truthfully, freely, and equally

The Rainbow Flag is in-your-face political. It is an art action. John Ken-nedy said, “Art is not a form of pro-paganda, it is a form of truth.” When people fly the Rainbow Flag — put it on a bumper sticker, or T-shirt, or use any of its endless variations, they are saying something. Right out front they’re saying, “This is who I am.”

Harvey Fierstein said, “Never be bul-lied into silence, never allow yourself to be made a victim. Accept no one’s definition of your life. Define yourself.”

Judy Garland said. “Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else.” White light streams down to be broken up by human prisms into all the colors of the rainbow. Take your own color, and be just that.

The Rainbow Flag is the direct visi-bility gay people are doing everywhere. The rainbow is a connecter, a global channel, a conscious thought, a brave and fearless action. It belongs to every-one, for a true flag cannot be designed, it is torn from the soul of the people.

Emily Dickinson said, “Flags are a brave sight, but no true eye ever went by one steadily.”

I challenge all who see the Rainbow Flag today to think of it as God-given provenance and the humanity it repre-sents, and seize the moment, do some-thing, say something, get involved, fight back against oppressors, express freedom always, rise up, love all, and join to carry the torch.

Saturday evenings at St. Mark’s Church 5:00 pm - MUSIC 5:30 pm - MISA/MASS (worship service) Followed by a community meal

St. Mark’s Church in the BoweryAn Episcopal Church in the Diocese of New York131 East 10th St. at 2nd Avenue www.stmarkschurch-in-the-bowery.com

St. Marks Church celebrates Gay Pride Month

Th is Sunday, June 29 at 11 a.m.

Featuring Velvita Louise a.k.a. James Solomon Benn;

Benji Dunn, “Born to Be Alive;” Earl Giaquinto,

Laura Stillwell, choreographer and Jahneen of Paradise,

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” and featured vocalist in

the fi lm “It’s My Party.”

Jeannine Otis, Music Director

Be There or Be Queer !!!

The Rev. Michael Relyea and The Rev. Frank Morales, Associate Pastors

State Senator, 31st S.D.

On Pride SundayJoin us in worship at the

11am Festal Eucharistand march with us at the parade.

St. John’s in the Village Episcopal ChurchA welcoming and inclusive community of faith

218 West 11th Street, Manhattan[just west of 7th Avenue]

Air-conditioned

For more information call 212-243-6192or visit our website at www.stjvny.org

� RAINBOW, from p.32

To quote Barack Obama. “Yes we can. Yes we can” — win the popular vote in California.


Heritage of Pride officially opened its week of activities leading up to Sunday’s Pride March and the parties that follow with the annual rally in Bryant Park on June 22.

Despite an impressive roster of performers, activists, and political leaders, the crowd gathered on the Bryant Park lawn was small, num-bering only in the hundreds, though those on hand praised the program presented.

Performers included comics Judy Gold, Bob Smith, and Julie Gold-man; singing acts Sister Funk, Corey Andrew, and the Gay Men’s Cho-rus; and the Gender Offenders, a performance troupe. Catherine Mari-no-Thomas represented Marriage Equality New York, the grassroots advocacy group; out gay State Senator Tom Duane spoke, SAGE’s executive director Michael Adams appeared; and Pride March grand marshal Gilbert Baker, who 30 years ago created the Rainbow Flag, offered a stirring address (see p. 32).

“There’s great music, and I enjoy the stage banter,” said Donald Kingston of Queens, who was there with John Selleck of Suffern, and Mañuel Lopez, a Manhattanite originally from Spain. Lopez said that the speeches were very good.

All three men sported Obama Pride patches, though Selleck said he

had originally supported Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination.

Elina Kyro and Paivi Mesiranta were in New York for Pride Week while on a two-week honeymoon after their commitment ceremony in their hometown of Tampere, two hours from Finland’s capital Helsinki. Coming from a nation of only five million people, the cou-ple said the scope of Gay Pride celebrations here dwarfed anything back home.

Mara Francisco, who lives in Queens, said she came to America from her home in Angola four years ago. Asked if it were tough for les-bians and gays in that African nation, she said, “I’d say they’re tough for gay people in New York. There is no such thing as gay rights in Angola. It’s like they’re in the Stone Age.”

Another attendee from out of town, in this case Salt Lake City, was Steven Fales, who wrote and performed “Confessions of a Mormon Boy,” first seen in New York during the 2004 International Fringe Fes-tival. Fales is doing the show for two weeks beginning July 2 in Cherry Grove on Fire Island, but this weekend appears Friday and Saturday night at Joe’s Pub, presenting his newest solo piece “Mormon Ameri-can Princess” (see 7 Days/ 7 Nights). — Paul Schindler

CELEBRATES PRIDE Dignity/New York

DIGNITY EMPOWERS LGBT PEOPLE ON THEIR SPIRITUAL JOURNEYS.

We meet each Sunday at 7:30 pm for Mass at St. John’s in the Village Church, 218 West 11th St. at Waverly Place. We will not have Mass on the night of the NYC Pride March. For further information, please contact us at 646.418.7039 or online at www.DignityNY.org.

PRIDE LITURGY June 28, 7:30 pm Judson Memorial Church 55 Washington Sq. S. Homilist: Mark Matson President, DignityUSA

NYC PRIDE MARCH June 29, 12:00 pm 5th Ave. and 52nd St. Line-up at 1:30 pm on 53rd St. between 5th Ave. and Madison

DIGNITY/NEW YORK’S WITNESS St. Patrick’s Cathedral (sidewalk) June 29, 12:30 pm Gather at 11:15 am at Madison Ave. and 51st St.

FEAST OF MARY MAGDALA July 27, 7:30 pm St. John’s in the Village Church

A SMALL BUT ENTHUSIASTIC BRYANT PARK RALLY

Steven Fales; Donald Kingston, John Selleck, and Mañuel Lopez; Maria Francisco; and Elina Kyro and Paivi Mesiranta at Sunday’s LGBT Pride Rally.

GA

Y C

ITY

NE

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BY SUSIE DAY

Many capitalist roaders say the Left is out of touch with pop-ular culture. Well, I say NYET

to that! Here, for instance, is an episode of “Sex and the City” that I translated for my Marxist-Leninist study group, so that we may better throw off our Tif-fany chains.

[Scene I: Chic, Upper West Side res-taurant]

SAMANTHA: [Striding in elegantly and sitting at table where the girls are waiting] Greetings, comrades! How glad I am that I — sexy, 50-year-old blonde girl, being fabulous, and having much sex with men — meet you in favor-ite haute bourgeois bistro for sex talk. Look at dick of sultry, ethnic waiter — is not fabulous?

MIRANDA: [Rummaging impatiently through briefcase] Waiter dick unim-portant for proper ordering, comrade. I, being caustic, hard-driven attorney with bright red hair, styled to evoke Great Mistakes in Hedge Trimming, no have time for frivolity. Must get back to office to shill for corporate capital —

SAMANTHA: Ooh, “shill” — sounds sexy, comrade!

MIRANDA: It is, comrade! Today, I defend sexy Fortune 500 Company owning Indian Point — nuclear power plant making much electricity for city — from selfish, unsexy officials who warn of nuclear disaster. My logic: Why upset capitalist system?

CHARLOTTE: [Sighing pertly] For myself, comrades, I — token person of dark hair color — esteem the find-ing of Perfect Monogamous Soul Mate as most high goal in consumerist free market society. This is exalted dream for which masses labor, regardless of increasing work hours, fear of layoff, dwindling surplus profit, endless war — and possible nuclear disaster. Heed-less, heedless masses!

CARRIE: [Flexing highly toned abs, set off to perfection by jaunty, $5,000 Christian Dior ensemble resembling clothes of Carmen Miranda after were-wolf attack] Ah, comrades — how good it is to exploit our lives in my column, earning many thousands of dollars more than other writers who, unlike me, have college vocabulary and knowledge of world history! [She sig-nals waiter]

Greetings, comrade bit actor of exot-ic descent who is destined to receive five dollars each time this episode is played in rerun! Please give us four of

your most costly watercress omelets, removing yoke and other caloric nutri-ents. Hurry — before more radioactive groundwater leaches from Indian Point into Hudson River!

CHARLOTTE: Comrade! This is too much food! Is not anorexia neoliberal pre-condition for true female happi-ness?

CARRIE: You are mistaken, com-

rade. We must order many expensive things — regardless of whether we shall actually consume them — so that our power may grow! Profit motive of late capitalism dictates terms of feminine value and we must obey.

CHARLOTTE: Agreed.

MIRANDA: Carrie, I am loving of

Assembly Member Dick Gottfried

wishes you a

Happy Pride!Working with the community for civil rights:• Sponsor of same-sex marriage bill• Sponsor of GENDA

(gender identity & expression)• Health and other insurance

coverage• Funding for HIV and other services for the LGBT community

Dick Gottfried’s Community Office: 242 West 27th St., ground floorPh: 212-807-7900 E-mail: [email protected]

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing

360 East 57th Street, Mezzanine

New York, NY 10022

www.assembly.state.ny.us

Email: [email protected]

(212) 605-0937

Warm wishes for a fantastic Pride celebration!

Assemblyman Jonathan Bing

■ PERSPECTIVE/ SNIDE LINES

Sex Sans the City (A Post-Marxist Preview)

� SEX, continued on p.44

(l to r) Kristin Davis stars as “Charlotte York-Goldenblatt,” Sarah Jessica Parker stars as “Carrie Bradshaw,” Cynthia Nixon stars as “Miranda Hobbes,” and Kim Cattrall stars as “Samantha Jones.”

HB

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S/N

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St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattan

St. Vincent’s Hospital Manhattanwww.svcmc.org

Comprehensive HIV Center

We serve people of all ages with primary care, HIV preventionand education programs andthe following services:

For more information or to make an appointment, please call usat 212-604-1701.

Delivering high quality care that centers around you .


your shoes!

CARRIE: They are foot-warping, spine-crippling Manolo Blahniks, costing $765! You see, comrades, glamorous allure of destructive foot-wear comes not only from physical sacrifice to wearer, but also from labor of anonymous, underpaid peasants who toil in abusive, out-sourced factories. It is suffering of all classes that creates societal clout of Manolo Blahnik — brand name you can trust!

ALL: [Toasting] Carrie is our leader! Long live vanguard of post-industrial alienation from means of production!

[SCENE II; Carrie at home. Posed on her bed in the adolescent contortions of a 12-year-old with a stamp collection, she types on her sleek Mac laptop, now available online for under $13,000.00. Her voiceover narration:]

CARRIE: Later that night, I wonder why virile mogul boyfriend, Mr. Beeg, refuse to commit. Could this mirror my own sublimation of need for basic human contact into acquisition of designer commodities?

[Close-up of glowing computer screen, as Carrie types:] “Commod-ity fetishism: good or bad — and what if meltdown occur at Indian Point?” [Suddenly, sirens blare; horrific explo-sion is heard]

[Scene III: Back at stark ruins of Man-hattan bistro; the stunned, disheveled four are staring, in bleak, Chekhovian fashion, into a dimming sun setting over the roiling Hudson.]

MIRANDA: Men are annoying.

CARRIE: Men are peegs.

SAMANTHA: I try lesbian sex. Too much talk.

CARRIE: Gay men better. Make good pets.

CHARLOTTE: I, with Jewish hus-band, for whom I convert, have adopted child from faux-Communist country. Husband is kind; we are happy. Yet we never speak of Pales-tine.

MIRANDA: Please halt unsexy talk of Middle East, comrade.

SAMANTHA: Say, does anybody know why we are only four left alive after tragic — and totally unexpected — disaster at Indian Point?

CHARLOTTE: Perhaps something about Carrie’s shoes?

CARRIE: Correct, comrade! Thanks to healing power of Manolo Blahniks — commodity onto which we magically project desire to survive — we are, for now, protected.

CHARLOTTE: [Clutching stomach] Comrades, I don’t feel so good.

CARRIE: You must believe, comrade — believe in the brand.

MIRANDA: Must get her to shoe store, quick!

SAMANTHA: Ooh, “store” — sounds sexy, comrades…

[Holding one another up, they hobble off in search of Fifth Avenue.]

� SEX, from p.42

in developing effective prevention mes-sages.

One reason for probing an intervie-wee’s inner voice is the likelihood that fear is an explanation for much of the casual barebacking behavior. This theory contrasts with pop psychol-ogy claims that young people have lost their fear of HIV. Yet, too much fear can lead to a psychological paralysis that interferes with avoiding the disease.

Halkitis believes for many young people, “It’s overwhelming to talk about becoming positive.” He sees this group of young people living with constant stress, and the project hopes it will discover a way for them to talk about the desires they have by removing the stonewall erected by fear. “Young gay me are having unprotected sex because it gives them something,” Halkitis said.

There are many possible explana-tions. Sex without condoms give a feeling of intimacy, or it’s an accom-modation to the perceived demands of potential partners in the gay world. Many people coming out, Halkitis said, find the “demands of the gay world just as harsh” as those encountered in the straight world they thought they left behind.

“The pressures are still there, and in some case the pressures are worse,” explained Rob Moeller, the project’s

director. “Your identity is a reflection of who you think you are and what you think other people think you are,” he said, citing one of iconic psychologist Erik Erikson’s seminal insights.

The interviews are currently being reviewed by the Project Desire staff to discern what they can learn and gen-eralize from the reactions of the young men intensively studied.

There is every reason to believe that young men are responding to pres-sures and views that aren’t clearly understood. The object of the project is to create safe-sex messages that reso-nate with the concerns of 21st-century young gay men. The messages, which will be crafted in conjunction with the city health department, will be tested on focus groups. The goal is to have results available within about a year — the schedule is on track to begin hav-ing an impact by then.

This last point — having safe-sex messaging out there within a year or so — distinguishes this effort from other HIV-prevention research. The goal is not peer-reviewed academic publica-tion, but rather approaches that can be tested on the ground. Halkitis and his team are convinced that young gay men, given an unfettered opportunity to talk about their desires, their sex, and their fears will help them shape a message that can save the lives and wellbeing of a new generation.

� EPIDEMIC, from p.39


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GMCVB1358_GayCityNews_1B.indd 1 6/20/08 10:09:25 AM

26 JUN - 2 JUL 200846/ Health

BY CHRSITOPHER MURRAY

So what happened with gay men and meth? A couple of years ago

everyone was in a panic. Eighth Avenue was crowded with bus stop posters decrying the scourge that was crystal methamphetamine, it seemed like everyone knew someone who had just lost their job or soul to Tina, brunch pals were dropping like flies. Health offi-cials and community activ-ists made the direst possible predictions about the perfect storm of meth and HIV, not to mention flesh-eating, drug-resistant bacterial infections. Yikes!

Well , the truth is that meth, like crack cocaine, is still around and still wreak-ing havoc in the lives of gay men and others; it’s just gone underground. The public panic has waned, as it always does — a point this newspa-

per’s Duncan Osborne has taken pains to point out — and all the hoopla has subsid-ed into the daily grind of users using and former users strug-gling to stay clean.

The effort to silence the seductive siren’s call of crys-tal meth has proven in many cases to be a tremendously difficult battle that still takes enormous effort even years after a user has admitted he has a problem and taken sub-stantial steps to address it.

Just ask anyone in the still crowded rooms of the 12-step group Crystal Meth Anony-mous (http://www.nycma.org), which has more than 30 meetings a week in Man-hattan. Those guys know the different cycles of relapse, because they hear about it every day.

There are people like Davis (all the names in this article have been changed) in early recovery but still struggling

to go for even a week with-out binging. “It’s like I’m try-ing to climb up the slope of a mountain and just can’t get traction. I keep sliding back. If I have money, I’ll buy drugs. If I feel down, I’ll go online to try to hook up with someone who’s using. I just can’t get over the hump.”

Achieving abstinence can be particularly difficult with meth because the way it oper-ates on the brain may actu-ally interfere with a person’s ability to withstand triggers to use. Cocaine is known to flush the brain with more than 500 percent the normal level of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine, whereas meth can stimulate the release of more than 1,500 percent. But when the party’s finally over, a user is running only on fumes to support his emotional stability as the brain slowly attempts to recover.

For many people, getting

sober requires an all-out effort, not infrequently an inpatient detox program with specific experience in treating meth addicts like the ones at Manhattan’s Addiction Insti-tute (http://www.addiction-instituteny.org), at the Pride Institute (http://www.pride-institute.com), a long-time presence in Minnesota that now operates in New Jersey as well. But go-away rehab programs are costly and often not covered by stingy man-aged care companies. Luckily, there are other options, like the LGBT Community Cen-ter’s new outpatient recovery program (http://gaycenter.org/health/recovery) that operates on a sliding scale based on people’s ability to pay and accepts Medicaid.

But all too often, even when someone has been able to cobble together a few months of clean time, and has a whole host of new perspectives on

what made them vulnerable to getting hooked on meth, and has even re-crafted their world from a shady network of users into a supportive sober community, relapse is more often the norm than an excep-tion.

“I was six months off meth,” said Charlie, “I was going to CMA meetings every day. But I was lonely I hadn’t learned how to have sex and be inti-mate with another guy with-out meth. Slowly I started back sniffing around online, then jerking off thinking about crystal sex. An old fuck buddy from like more than a year ago texted me one day I called in sick to work and was back in the saddle with meth.”

For Charlie, his relapse was luckily just a slip and within a couple days, he was back at CMA and slowly counting each clean day again. But for

Saint Thomas Church – Fifth Avenue1 West 53rd Street, New York NY 10019

212-757-7013

An inclusive faith community, welcoming to everyone.

Saint Thomas Church is a parish of the Episcopal Diocese of New York.

Our mission is to worship, love, and serve Our Lord Jesus Christ through the Anglican

tradition and our unique choral heritage.

For services and fellowship opportunities, please visitour website at www.SaintThomasChurch.org

Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation Joins in the Salute to Gay Pride

Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation, the only Reform con-gregation in Manhattan located above 96th Street, ap-plauds the Gay Pride Parade. Our congregation is proud to be part of the Pride in the Pulpit, a network of congre-gations and leaders of faith throughout New York State who advocate for quality and justice for lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender New Yorkers and their families.

Hebrew Tabernacle Congregation 551 Fort Washington Ave. at 185th St.

212-568-8304 email: [email protected] www.hebrewtabernacle.org

� METH, continued on p.56

■ PERSPECTIVE

Everyday A ChallengeMeth update: Why are gay men in crystal recovery so prone to relapse?


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In combination with other antiretroviral agents for the treatment of HIV-1 infection in adults

USE OF TRUVADA:TRUVADA is indicated in combination with other antiretroviral agents (such as non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors or protease inhibitors) for the treatmentof HIV-1 infection in adults.

TRUVADA must be used as part of combination therapy. TRUVADA should notbe used with ATRIPLA® (efavirenz 600 mg/emtricitabine 200 mg/tenofovirdisoproxil fumarate [DF] 300 mg), VIREAD® (tenofovir DF), EMTRIVA®

(emtricitabine), Combivir® (lamivudine/zidovudine), Epivir® or Epivir-HBV®

(lamivudine), Epzicom® (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine), or Trizivir® (abacavirsulfate/lamivudine/zidovudine).

IMPORTANT SAFETY INFORMATION:Contact your healthcare provider right away if you experience any of thefollowing side effects or conditions while taking TRUVADA:• Nausea, vomiting, unusual muscle pain, and/or weakness. These may be

signs of a buildup of acid in the blood (lactic acidosis), which is a seriousmedical condition

• Light colored stools, dark colored urine, and/or if your skin or the whitesof your eyes turn yellow. These may be signs of serious liver problems(hepatotoxicity), with liver enlargement (hepatomegaly), and fat in the liver(steatosis)

• If you have HIV and hepatitis B virus (HBV) and stop taking TRUVADA, yourliver disease may suddenly get worse. Do not stop taking TRUVADAunless directed by your healthcare provider

© 2008 Gilead Sciences, Inc.All rights reserved. PT0342 3/08

TRUVADA,VIREAD, and EMTRIVA are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc.ATRIPLA is a trademark of Bristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC.All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.


*Based on data from PHAST retail monthly data;September 2005–January 2008; Wolters Kluwer Health.

• If you have had kidney problems or take other medicines that can cause kidneyproblems, your healthcare provider should do regular blood tests to checkyour kidneys

• It is not known whether long-term use of TRUVADA causes damage to yourbones. If you have had bone problems in the past, talk to your healthcare providerbefore taking TRUVADA

Changes in body fat have been seen in some people taking TRUVADA and otheranti-HIV medicines.The most common side effects of the medicines in TRUVADA when taken withother anti-HIV medicines are dizziness, diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, rash,and gas. Skin discoloration (spots and freckles) may also occur.

Discuss all medicines you take with your healthcare provider and be aware:• Your healthcare provider may need to follow you more closely or adjust your

therapy if you are taking Videx® or Videx® EC (didanosine), Reyataz® (atazanavirsulfate), or Kaletra® (lopinavir/ritonavir) with TRUVADA

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugsto the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Please see Patient Information on next page, including “What is themost important information I should know about TRUVADA?”

TRUVADA is the #1 Prescribed HIV Med*

TRUVADA does not cure HIV infection or prevent passing HIV-1 to others.

Once a day TRUVADA can help get you to undetectable and keep you there. As part of an HIV regimen, the meds in TRUVADA can:

Be taken with or without food

Reduce viral load and increase CD4 cell count

Ask your doctor if TRUVADA can be part of a complete once a day regimen.


Patient Information

TRUVADA® (tru-VAH-dah) Tablets

Generic name: emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate(em tri SIT uh bean and te NOE’ fo veer dye soe PROX il FYOU mar ate)

Read the Patient Information that comes with TRUVADA before you start taking it and each time you get a refill.There may be new information. This information does not take the place of talking to your healthcare provider aboutyour medical condition or treatment. You should stay under a healthcare provider’s care when taking TRUVADA. Donot change or stop your medicine without first talking with your healthcare provider. Talk to your healthcareprovider or pharmacist if you have any questions about TRUVADA.

What is the most important information I should know about TRUVADA?

• Some people who have taken medicine like TRUVADA (nucleoside analogs) have developed a serious condition called lactic acidosis (build up of an acid in the blood). Lactic acidosis can be a medical emergency and may need to be treated in the hospital. Call your healthcare provider right away if you get thefollowing signs or symptoms of lactic acidosis.

• You feel very weak or tired.

• You have unusual (not normal) muscle pain.

• You have trouble breathing.

• You have stomach pain with nausea and vomiting.

• You feel cold, especially in your arms and legs.

• You feel dizzy or lightheaded.

• You have a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Some people who have taken medicines like TRUVADA have developed serious liver problems called hepatotoxicity, with liver enlargement (hepatomegaly) and fat in the liver (steatosis). Call your healthcareprovider right away if you get the following signs or symptoms of liver problems.

• Your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice).

• Your urine turns dark.

• Your bowel movements (stools) turn light in color.

• You don’t feel like eating food for several days or longer.

• You feel sick to your stomach (nausea).

• You have lower stomach area (abdominal) pain.

• You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or liver problems if you are female, very overweight (obese), orhave been taking nucleoside analog medicines, like TRUVADA, for a long time.

• If you are also infected with the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), you need close medical follow-up for several monthsafter stopping treatment with TRUVADA. Follow-up includes medical exams and blood tests to check for HBV thatcould be getting worse. Patients with Hepatitis B Virus infection, who take TRUVADA and then stop it, may get“flare-ups” of their hepatitis. A “flare-up” is when the disease suddenly returns in a worse way than before.

What is TRUVADA?

TRUVADA is a type of medicine called an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) nucleoside analog reverse transcrip-tase inhibitor (NRTI). TRUVADA contains 2 medicines, EMTRIVA® (emtricitabine) and VIREAD® (tenofovir disoproxilfumarate, or tenofovir DF) combined in one pill. TRUVADA is always used with other anti-HIV medicines to treatpeople with HIV infection. TRUVADA is for adults age 18 and older. TRUVADA hasnot been studied in children under age 18 or adults over age 65.

HIV infection destroys CD4 (T) cells, which are important to the immune system.The immune system helps fight infection. After a large number of T cells aredestroyed, acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) develops.

TRUVADA helps block HIV reverse transcriptase, a chemical in your body(enzyme) that is needed for HIV to multiply. TRUVADA lowers the amount of HIVin the blood (viral load). TRUVADA may also help to increase the number of T cells (CD4 cells). Lowering the amount of HIV in the blood lowers the chanceof death or infections that happen when your immune system is weak (oppor-tunistic infections).

TRUVADA does not cure HIV infection or AIDS. The long-term effects of TRUVADA are not known at this time. People taking TRUVADA may still getopportunistic infections or other conditions that happen with HIV infection.Opportunistic infections are infections that develop because the immune system is weak. Some of these conditionsare pneumonia, herpes virus infections, and Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) infection. It is very importantthat you see your healthcare provider regularly while taking TRUVADA.

TRUVADA does not lower your chance of passing HIV to other people through sexual contact, sharing needles,or being exposed to your blood. For your health and the health of others, it is important to always practice safersex by using a latex or polyurethane condom or other barrier to lower the chance of sexual contact with semen,vaginal secretions, or blood. Never use or share dirty needles.

Who should not take TRUVADA?

• Do not take TRUVADA if you are allergic to TRUVADA or any of its ingredients. The active ingredients of TRUVADA are emtricitabine and tenofovir DF. See the end of this leaflet for a complete list of ingredients.

• Do not take TRUVADA if you are already taking ATRIPLA™, Combivir (lamivudine/zidovudine), EMTRIVA, Epiviror Epivir-HBV (lamivudine), Epzicom (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine), Trizivir (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine/zidovudine), or VIREAD because these medicines contain the same or similar active ingredients.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA?

Tell your healthcare provider if you:

• are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. We do not know if TRUVADA can harm your unborn child. Youand your healthcare provider will need to decide if TRUVADA is right for you. If you use TRUVADA while you arepregnant, talk to your healthcare provider about how you can be on the TRUVADA Antiviral Pregnancy Registry.

• are breast-feeding. You should not breast feed if you are HIV-positive because of the chance of passing the HIVvirus to your baby. Also, it is not known if TRUVADA can pass into your breast milk and if it can harm your baby.If you are a woman who has or will have a baby, talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feedyour baby.

• have kidney problems or are undergoing kidney dialysis treatment.

• have bone problems.

• have liver problems including Hepatitis B Virus infection.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and non-prescription medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements Especially tell your healthcare provider if you take:

• Videx, Videx EC (didanosine). Tenofovir DF (a component of TRUVADA) may increase the amount of Videx in yourblood. You may need to be followed more carefully if you are taking TRUVADA and Videx together. Also, thedose of didanosine may need to be reduced.

• Reyataz (atazanavir sulfate) or Kaletra (lopinavir/ritonavir). These medicines may increase the amount of tenofovirDF (a component of TRUVADA) in your blood, which could result in more side effects. You may need to be followed more carefully if you are taking TRUVADA and Reyataz or Kaletra together. TRUVADA may decrease the amount of Reyataz in your blood. If you are taking TRUVADA and Reyataz together, you should also be taking Norvir (ritonavir).

Keep a complete list of all the medicines that you take. Make a new list when medicines are added or stopped. Givecopies of this list to all of your healthcare providers and pharmacist every time you visit your healthcare provideror fill a prescription.

How should I take TRUVADA?

• Take TRUVADA exactly as your healthcare provider prescribed it. Follow the directions from your healthcareprovider, exactly as written on the label.

• The usual dose of TRUVADA is 1 tablet once a day. TRUVADA is always used with other anti-HIV medicines. Ifyou have kidney problems, you may need to take TRUVADA less often.

• TRUVADA may be taken with or without a meal. Food does not affect how TRUVADA works. Take TRUVADA atthe same time each day.

• If you forget to take TRUVADA, take it as soon as you remember that day. Do not take more than 1 dose of TRUVADA in a day. Do not take 2 doses at the same time. Call your healthcare provider or pharmacist if you arenot sure what to do. It is important that you do not miss any doses of TRUVADA or your anti-HIV medicines.

• When your TRUVADA supply starts to run low, get more from your healthcare provider or pharmacy. This is veryimportant because the amount of virus in your blood may increase if the medicine is stopped for even a shorttime. The virus may develop resistance to TRUVADA and become harder to treat.

• Do not change your dose or stop taking TRUVADA without first talking with your healthcare provider. Stay undera healthcare provider’s care when taking TRUVADA.

• If you take too much TRUVADA, call your local poison control center or emergency room right away.

What should I avoid while taking TRUVADA?

• Do not breast-feed. See “What should I tell my healthcare provider before taking TRUVADA?”

• Avoid doing things that can spread HIV infection since TRUVADA does not stop you from passing the HIV infection to others.

• Do not share needles or other injection equipment.

• Do not share personal items that can have blood or body fluids on them, like toothbrushes or razor blades.

• Do not have any kind of sex without protection. Always practice safer sex by using a latex or polyurethanecondom or other barrier to reduce the chance of sexual contact with semen, vaginal secretions, or blood.

• ATRIPLA, Combivir (lamivudine/zidovudine), EMTRIVA, Epivir or Epivir-HBV (lamivudine), Epzicom (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine), Trizivir (abacavir sulfate/lamivudine/zidovudine), or VIREAD.TRUVADA should not be used with these medicines.

What are the possible side effects of TRUVADA?

TRUVADA may cause the following serious side effects (see “What is the most important information I shouldknow about TRUVADA?”):

• Lactic acidosis (buildup of an acid in the blood). Lactic acidosis can be a medical emergency and may need tobe treated in the hospital. Call your doctor right away if you get signs of lactic acidosis. (See “What is the mostimportant information I should know about TRUVADA?”)

• Serious liver problems (hepatotoxicity), with liver enlargement (hepatomegaly) and fat in the liver (steatosis).Call your healthcare provider right away if you get any signs of liver problems. (See “What is the most importantinformation I should know about TRUVADA?”)

• “Flare-ups” of Hepatitis B Virus infection, in which the disease suddenly returns in a worse way than before,can occur if you stop taking TRUVADA. Your healthcare provider will monitor your condition for several monthsafter stopping TRUVADA if you have both HIV and HBV infection. TRUVADA is not approved for the treatment ofHepatitis B Virus infection.

• Kidney problems. If you have had kidney problems in the past or take other medicines that can cause kidneyproblems, your healthcare provider should do regular blood tests to check your kidneys.

• Changes in bone mineral density (thinning bones). It is not known whetherlong-term use of TRUVADA will cause damage to your bones. If you have hadbone problems in the past, your healthcare provider may need to do tests tocheck your bone mineral density or may prescribe medicines to help yourbone mineral density.

Other side effects with TRUVADA when used with other anti-HIV medicinesinclude:

• Changes in body fat have been seen in some patients taking TRUVADA andother anti-HIV medicines. These changes may include increased amount of fatin the upper back and neck (“buffalo hump”), breast, and around the main partof your body (trunk). Loss of fat from the legs, arms and face may also happen. The cause and long term health effect of these conditions are notknown at this time.

The most common side effects of EMTRIVA or VIREAD when used with other anti-HIV medicines are: dizziness,diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, headache, rash, and gas. Skin discoloration (small spots or freckles) may also happenwith TRUVADA.

These are not all the side effects of TRUVADA. This list of side effects with TRUVADA is not complete at this timebecause TRUVADA is still being studied. If you have questions about side effects, ask your healthcare provider.Report any new or continuing symptoms to your healthcare provider right away. Your healthcare provider may beable to help you manage these side effects.

How do I store TRUVADA?

• Keep TRUVADA and all other medicines out of reach of children.

• Store TRUVADA at room temperature 77 °F (25 °C).

• Keep TRUVADA in its original container and keep the container tightly closed.

• Do not keep medicine that is out of date or that you no longer need. If you throw any medicines away make surethat children will not find them.

General information about TRUVADA:

Medicines are sometimes prescribed for conditions that are not mentioned in patient information leaflets. Do notuse TRUVADA for a condition for which it was not prescribed. Do not give TRUVADA to other people, even if theyhave the same symptoms you have. It may harm them.

This leaflet summarizes the most important information about TRUVADA. If you would like more information, talkwith your healthcare provider. You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for information about TRUVADAthat is written for health professionals. For more information, you may also call 1-800-GILEAD-5 or access the TRUVADA website at www.TRUVADA.com.

Do not use TRUVADA if seal over bottle opening is broken or missing.

What are the ingredients of TRUVADA?

Active Ingredients: emtricitabine and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate

Inactive Ingredients: Croscarmellose sodium, lactose monohydrate, magnesium stearate, microcrystalline cellu-lose, and pregelatinized starch (gluten free). The tablets are coated with Opadry II Blue Y-30-10701 containing FD&CBlue #2 aluminum lake, hydroxypropyl methylcellulose 2910, lactose monohydrate, titanium dioxide, and triacetin.

r Only

May 2007

TRUVADA, EMTRIVA, and VIREAD are registered trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc. ATRIPLA is a trademark ofBristol-Myers Squibb & Gilead Sciences, LLC. All other trademarks referenced herein are the property of theirrespective owners.

© 2007 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved.

21-752-GS-20

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

A Garden Party on a RiverCenter’s annual fundraiser benefits ambitious capital improvements drive

Pride /51

BY WINNIE MCCROY

Pride Week of f icially kicked off on Monday, June 23, with the 25th

Annual Garden Party, a big annual fundraiser staged by the LGBT Community Cen-ter. Comedian Kate Clinton returned to reprise her long-running role as emcee of an evening of food, fun, and entertainment on Hudson River Park’s Pier 54. The event raised $300,000 for the Cen-ter’s capital expansion pro-gram, which in time will see a dramatic expansion into the land currently occupied by the garden west of the main build-ing.

“The Center, which we think of as sort of Grand Central Station of queer New York, provides a home for more than 300 LGBT organiza-tions,” said executive director Richard Burns. “It’s a place where queer kids come out of the closet and LGBT seniors go, and it’s a reflection of the vitality of our community that we’re filled to overflow-ing. There are people meeting in the basement, the garden, the attic… we have more kids in our youth program than we can fit.”

Burns added, “It’s great to celebrate our 25th anniversary and really honor those people who had the vision to found the Center and bring it to where it is today, and now our job is to look ahead and ensure the Center remains as flexible and nimble and continues to evolve and meet the changing needs of our community.”

Clinton echoed these sen-timents, saying, “The Center is just bursting at the seams. It’s sort of like Ellis Island — if you’re gay and come to town and want to connect, you go to the Center. It’s all about the health and welfare of the peo-ple who are here, so the more money we can raise, the more we can make accessible to everyone.”

City Council Speaker Chris-tine C. Quinn was on hand to deliver a proclamation from the Council commemorating the Center’s 25th anniversary, and to urge the community to support Governor David Pat-erson when he marches in the annual Pride Parade down Fifth Avenue. Last month, the governor ordered all state agencies to draw up regula-tions for providing full recog-

nition to marriages by gay or lesbian couples legally entered into in other jurisdictions, in line with a recent appellate ruling out of Buffalo binding on the entire state.

“There really is no group out there in the city in any com-munity that has the breadth and depth of programs that the Center does,” said Quinn. “There is no other organiza-tion… that literally has pre-cradle to grave services like the Center does, so we should be very proud of ourselves. And you should be proud, because you are the ones who have supported the Center, allowed it grow and expand, and real-ly challenged government to catch up with your generos-ity.”

Other politicians pres-ent included Congressman Anthony Weiner and Comp-troller William C. Thompson, Jr., both, like Quinn, likely

mayoral contenders next year. Weiner called for New Yorkers to rally around same-sex mar-riage rights, saying, “We can’t be sanguine that this prog-ress will happen on its own, it’s only with your help,” that civil rights gains are achieved. Thompson echoed Quinn’s kudos to the governor for his marriage recognition directive.

City Council hopeful Yetta Kurland, who is aiming for the seat Quinn will be term-limited out of next year, spoke about what the Center means to her, saying, “I live three blocks away from the Center, so for me it’s a source of resourc-es and inspiration in my life on a day-to-day basis, but I also think it’s one of the best resources for LGBT folks in the city of New York. The Cen-ter and our community have really grown up and come into ourselves; the programming in the Center isn’t just one area of

LGBT identity, it’s everything from legal services to counsel-ing… to part of our history.”

Broadway star Gavin Creel from “Mary Poppins” per -formed for the crowd, as did Eric Himan, Robert German, and Stewart Lewis, young, per-sonable singers volunteering their time for the cause. “Gay Pride for some people is about celebrating their sexuality… and that’s great, but my boy-friend and I like to do stuff like volunteer doing face-painting for the Center Kids. It’s reward-ing, but also, it’s needed,” said German.

As is Garden Party cus-tom, the Lavender Light Gos-pel Choir performed. Special guests Ted Allen and Andrew Cohen of Bravo TV fame pre-sented the results of the silent auction. Allen’s new show “Food Detectives” debuts on the Food Network on July 29.

“The Center has been at the forefront since virtually the beginning of the gay rights movement,” said Allen. “I think it’s especially important for the young gays to have a place to go, especially those whose parents are maybe not sup-portive. It’s not necessarily the best idea for young guys to sneak into places where booze is served, to think that’s the only place where gay guys can be accepted. The work that the Center has done is fantastic, and I’m thrilled to be here.”

Celebrity chefs for this year’s event included David Chang of Momofuku fame, April Bloom-field of Michelin Star-win-ning gastropub The Spotted Pig, and pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini. Of the 30 participat-ing restaurants, crowd favor-ites were Agave, Vynl Chelsea, Brick Lane Curry House, Ate Avenue, Sueños, and 5 Bor-oughs Ice Cream. Restaurant Florent sponsored the event’s open bar, and the evening’s lead corporate sponsor was Prudential.

The annual silent auction featured items ranging from gym memberships to lunch with “Project Runway” winner Christian Siriano, and dinner made by former “Top Chef” contestant Lisa Fernandez. Between the silent and online auctions, the event raised more than ever to expand the Center’s many mental health, social service, public policy, educational, and cultural pro-grams for LGBT adults and youth.

flags, hula hoops, or just be there! The Dyke March is a protest march, not a parade — no permit was sought or received. Thousands of dykes take over the streets every year in celebra-tion of lesbians and to protest against ongoing discrimination, harassment, and anti-lesbian violence in schools, on the job, in families, and on the streets. Step off at 5 p.m. from Sixth Ave. at 42nd St., heading downtown. For more information, visit http://www.nycdyke-march.org.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

PRIDEHerstory Matters

The Lesbian Herstory Archives, the world’s first archive chronicling the lives and struggles of lesbians in New York and elsewhere, hosts an open house and tour. Learn about the archives from the experts or just browse on your own. 484 14th St., btwn. Eighth Ave. & Prospect Park W., Park Slope, Brooklyn (F train to 15th St. stop), noon-4 p.m. Free. For more informa-tion, visit http://www.lesbianherstor-yarchives.org or call 718-768-3953.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

PERFORMANCEPost-Cruise Giggles

Join Alec Mapa, America’s Gaysian Sweetheart and clearly a hero to Gay City News’ David Noh (see p. 68), for an uncensored, unbridled evening of hilarity. After a year of traveling around the globe on a gay cruise and shaking things up on “Desperate Housewives,” “Ugly Betty,” and Logo’s dating show “TransAmerican Love Story,” Mapa has some Pride tales to tell. Joe’s Pub, 425 Lafayette St. below Cooper Sq. adjacent to the Public The-ater, Jun. 28 & 29, 9:30 p.m. Tickets are $30 at http://joespub.com.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

BOOKSYippy for the IPPY

Perry Brass, author, most recently, of “Carnal Sacraments,” winner of the 2008 Independent Publisher Online Magazine IPPY Award for Gay and Lesbian Fiction and a finalist for a ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Award, will be showing some of his books at the New York Book Festival in Central Park. Naumberg Band Shell, just south of Bethesda Fountain (enter at 72nd St.), 12:30 p.m. on.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

GALLERYUptown Pride

Harlem’s Casa Frela Gallery cele-brates Pride 2008 with “Rainbows Over Harlem III,” a group show of gay female artists exploring the idea of woman.



Speaker Christine Quinn presents a City Council proclamation to Center executive director Richard Burns while Gourmet magazine editor in chief Ruth Reichl, the evening’s event chair, joins Emperor XVII Rob Hunter de Woofs and Empress XXII Charlene Chivoe of the Imperial Court of New York.

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The Justice Department released a memoran-dum stating that the

federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) presents no obstacle to paying Social Security Dis-ability benefits to a child based on the disabling condition of the child’s non-biological mother, who is in a Vermont civil union with the biological mother.

The memorandum could affect a variety of situations in which states accord some type of legal recognition to gay and lesbian couples.

The memorandum, from Justice’s Office of Legal Coun-sel (OLC) to the Social Secu-rity Administration (SSA), was dated October 16, 2007 but was made public on June 9.

DOMA provides that the fed-eral government will not recog-nize any legal status for same-sex couples, even if they enjoy the status of spouses, domes-

tic partners, or civil-union partners under the state law where they reside.

Karen and Monique, identi-fied in the memorandum only by their first names, entered into Vermont civil union in 2002, and Monique gave birth to a son, Elijah, in 2003. Under Vermont’s civil union law, Karen is one of Elijah’s parents — and is so named on his birth certificate — and need not undertake a second-parent adoption.

When Karen became dis-abled, she applied for Social Security disability benefits for herself and for her child. The Social Security Administration expressed doubt about wheth-er it could provide benefits to Elijah based on the view that federal law would not recognize the Vermont civil union status that forms the basis of Karen’s parental status. SSA turned to the Justice Department for legal advice.

Deputy Assistant Attorney

General Steven A. Engel from the OLC signed the memoran-dum, which states that the relationship of the two women to each other is irrelevant for purposes of the Social Security Act. The only germane ques-tion is whether Karen and Eli-jah have a parent-child rela-

tionship under state law; and that was determined by looking at whether Elijah would have a right to inherit from Karen if she were to die without leaving a will. The Social Security Act explicitly provides that state law governing “intestate suc-cession” determines whether there is in fact a parent-child

relationship. Under Vermont law, if a

child is born to a woman who is in a civil union, the child has the right to inherit from her partner in the event she dies intestate. Engel concluded that under the Social Security Act Elijah is Karen’s child and

is entitled to child’s insurance benefits because of her disabil-ity.

Engel specifically noted the Vermont Supreme Court’s decision in a recent custody dispute between two women who were former civil union partners. That court deter-mined that the birth mother’s

partner was entitled to paren-tal visitation rights after the women ended their union and Engel found that an authorita-tive statement of Vermont law on Karen’s parental standing.

Engel found that “by its terms,” DOMA “does not apply because Elijah’s eligibility is based on the Vermont Intestate Succession Statute and not on the relationship between Karen and Monique as such.

“The fact that Elijah’s right of inheritance ultimately derives from Vermont’s recognition of a same-sex civil union is sim-ply immaterial under DOMA,” Engel concluded.

The ruling is significant beyond both the parties and Vermont, since the reasoning would clearly apply to couples whose marriages are recog-nized by their home states as well as to those in civil unions and domestic partnerships in states where intestate suc-cession rights are attached to those relationships.

A Chink in DOMA’s ArmorSocial Security benefits okayed for child from civil union

“That Elijah’s inheritance rights derive from Vermont’s recognition

of a same-sex civil union is immaterial under DOMA.”

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008 Politics /557 DAYS

7 NIGHTSThe artists include Kelly Beeman, D.C. Gable, and Allicette Torres. Through painting, illustration, and photography, these three women will uncover the female form as seen through the eyes of gay women. The idea of the female is presented in a way that is unique to gay women as both the embodiment of the feminine and as the observer of the feminine. Opening reception this eve-ning, 5-10 p.m., 47 West 119th St., btwn. Fifth & Lenox Aves. Exhi-bition runs through Jul. 5, Mon.-Fri., noon-4 p.m. For more information visit http://www.casafrela.com or call 212-722-8577.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

I’d Do HimNayland Blake, working on a book

called “1000 Guys I Would Fuck,” the subject being exactly what it sounds like, has organized an exhibit of his friends, fellow artists, and former stu-dents submitting “Guys.” And “The Guys I Would Fuck” also allows gal-lery visitors to make use of a computer, printer, and zine kit to create their own fuckables. Monya Rowe Gallery, 526 W. 26th St., suite 605, Tue-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. through Aug. 1. 212-255-5065.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

When Sex Is Funny

Morgan Lehman Gallery presents “Sexy Time: A Group Effort,” an exhi-bition of emerging and mid-career art-ists working in a variety of media that attempts to address the multiple ways we filter, confront, and communicate sexuality through humor and satiri-cal means. Artists participating are Michael Caines, Richard Colman, Chris-sy Conan, Franklin Evans, James Gobel, Kris Knight, Sabrina Marques, James Merrell, Susan Anderson Matthew Pal-ladino, Sabeen Raja, Huston Ripley, Ali-son Ruttan, John Salvest, Alix Smith, Taravat Talepasand, Paul Villinski, and Rob Wynne. 317 Tenth Ave. btwn. 28th & 29th Sts. Tue.-Sat., 11 a.m.-6 p.m. (closed Sat. in Jul.) through Aug. 1.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Mapplethorpe Evolving

A remarkable but little-known body of work by Robert Mapplethorpe (1946-1989), with about 100 works including self-portraits, figure stud-ies, still lifes, and portraits of lovers and friends such as Patti Smith, Sam Wagstaff, and Marianne Faithful, go on exhibit today. “Polaroids: Mapplethorpe” demonstrates, in curator Sylvia Wolf’s words, “Mapplethorpe learning to see photographically.” Whitney Museum



BY CHRISTOPHER MURRAY

Although she snagged only a cameo in the 2005 film “TransAmer-

ica” starring Felicity Huffman, Melissa Sklarz has played a long-standing role as one of the most respected and effec-tive transgender community activists in New York. After proving an important mover in the recently successful push to finally get GENDA, a gender expression non-discrimination bill, through the State Assem-bly, she was just named one of ten New Yorkers on the Rules Committee of the Democratic National Convention set for Denver this August. In 2004, Sklarz was one of only six transgendered delegates at the convention in Boston.

A director of the New York Trans Rights Organization, she’s currently the vice chair of National Stonewall Democrats’ board of directors and is a for-mer president of Manhattan’s Gay and Lesbian Independent Democrats.

By day, Sklarz, 57, is the collections manager at the Actor’s Fund Credit Union, having previously worked for Gay Men’s Health Crisis and the Gay Games. A former high school varsity athlete, she’s a center fielder on the Vikings team in the Big Apple Softball League, where she’s played the last eight years.

A 14-year resident of Man-hattan, Sklarz recently moved to Woodside in Queens. Grow-ing up on Long Island, she went to her first transgender bar in 1976 and has “never really looked back.”

CHRISTOPHER MURRAY: So, you are heading to Denver!

MELISSA SKLARZ: I have been elected to be on the Rules Committee as one of the repre-sentatives from New York State at the Democratic National Convention.

CM: Does that mean you are an Obamamaniac?

MS: I was elected as Hillary Clinton supporter, and the New York part of the Rules Commit-tee is made up of about 60 per-cent former Clinton supporters which is no surprise, since she did so well in New York. State Assemblymember Jonathan Bing was also selected, and he supported Hillary. Gay activist

Corey Johnson will come, too, and he is an Obama support-er. For all of us, going on the Rules Committee, but not as delegates, will mean we have credentials and access without having a floor vote.

CM: Are you supporting Obama now? How is he on trans issues?

MS: Yes, I am. He is sup-portive of a trans-inclusive ENDA [the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimina-

tion Act] and trans-inclusive hate crimes legislation. Those are the two big issues, the only ones that either of the candi-dates will ruminate on.

After he’s elected, Obama may well think more outside the box. But anything progres-sive that the congressional Democrats manage to pass legislatively will be challenged by the conservatives through legal action and — guess what? — the courts have been thor-oughly Republicanized. Just look here in New York State, where we are seeing conserva-tives suing Governor Paterson for saying he’ll recognize any gay marriage performed out-side of New York.

CM: Do you think the trans community nationwide shares

the optimism of Senator Obama’s supporters?

MS: I cannot speak for an entire national community, but here in New York, we are thrilled about the passage of GENDA in the State Assem-bly. That victory provided for reasonable and serious debate about our community on the floor of the Legislature. So we are doing good here, as for the other 49 states… I think our trans community is used to being victimized and it’s hard

sometimes to even acknowl-edge our victories. I think trans people carry their personal hurts and defeats along with them. However, I expect the political environment of 2009 to be very different, and that it will enter the realm of exciting possibility.

CM: Will there be any other trans people at the conven-tion?

MS: From coast to coast, there will be eight or nine of us in Denver, a few more than last time, so we’ve seen an increase, which is good. In Boston in 2004, the most important thing for us was the coming together of a national trans community working as one to create a foundation for our political process. We had a

meeting with the Kerry people with a full national transgen-der agenda prepared. They were not very open to it, but what we did ask them to do was to stop saying “gay, gay, gay” all the time and instead refer to “the LGBT communi-ty,” and that they did.

CM: You mentioned the pas-sage of GENDA in the State Assembly, what’s the next step there?

MS: Having the bill come before the State Senate. Sena-tor Tom Duane is carrying the bill, but I don’t think we have any Republican involvement yet. The Senate has histori-cally been unfriendly to LGBT issues, but we either need to find Republicans to support it, or to take back the Senate, so that’s the next step.

CM: What to your mind was the tipping point on passing GENDA in the Assembly?

MS: Well, the Empire State Pride Agenda made it a num-ber-one priority of election year 2008. We got our coali-tion together — who told their Assembly people, who even-tually were able to convince Speaker Sheldon Silver of its importance. The explosion over ENDA in Washington may also have had an impact. But the clear commitment of ESPA is to make the Democrats the majority in the State Senate.

The process for GENDA in the Assembly this year was great. The bill went through quick and easy. I was there for the debate and was very moved by hearing our friends and rather shocked by listening to our enemies, I’ve never heard firsthand what the conserva-tive Republicans think of our GENDA bill before. I’ve spent almost ten years trying to con-vince our Democrat friends this is important and valid. But hearing the Republican per-spective for the first time dur-ing the debate was ugly. The conservative party has their talking points about GENDA, and it has to do with locker rooms and bathrooms, and the idea that sexual predators will now be dressing up as women and getting access to women-only spaces

CM: How does it feel to hear

� SKLARZ, continued on p.56

Melissa Sklarz, a New York transgender rights advocate, shown here with New York Gover-nor David A. Paterson, will be on the Rules Committee at the Democratic National Conven-tion in August.

■ LGBT Q&A

Conventional Wisdom Is the GoalNew York trans activist heads to Denver to shape Democrats’ rules

Hearing the Republican perspective for the first time during the debate was ugly.


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some guys, getting back to sobriety can take months. “I was so ashamed of myself,” said Gordon who relapsed last year after being two-and-a-half years off meth. “I was supposed to be a pillar of sobriety, advising people who just got clean. I was supposed to have it figured out. When I broke up with my boyfriend, I got so depressed, and then when I relapsed, I just couldn’t face telling people it had happened. And so it kept happening. It was really a nightmare.”

While Gordon has stopped again, the sense of fragility — that the spec-ter of meth addition might raise its

head at any time — plagues him daily. “It’s never over with crystal,” he said. “As long as it’s out there somewhere, I need to be constantly vigilant.”

While the intensity of the drug and its effect on the brain explains some of the frequency of relapse, it’s likely that there are other contributory factors. Internalized homophobia may find expression in the power of the drug to silence all the self-lacerating chatter that goes on in the minds of gay men as they attempt to find love and con-nection in a world still freaked out by HIV and where standards for physical beauty and success can often seem unattainably high.

Crystal’s sneaky specialty is that

it puts gay men in a precious mental zone where they can be with them-selves, with their own bodies and with other men and their bodies, with-out the often covert self-sabotaging thoughts that tell them they are too fat, too stupid, too something to be loved. The problem, of course, is the awful price that meth exacts for the few hours of unalloyed pleasure.

If relapse is regularly a part of the recovery process with meth, the chal-lenge is learning how to quit through slips — not let them deter you but rather teach you, helping you to get back up on the horse. Relapse is dangerous, certainly, but the hope is that the skills that someone learns

in getting clean once can be applied when they are needed again — skills like reaching out to others, making sure there are plenty of resources to help and not the bare minimum, and uncovering the shadowy influence of internalized homophobia.

Gay men are nothing if not resilient. In the ongoing battle against addiction to crystal meth, meeting the challenge of relapse means being fully who we are and not allowing a drug to turn us into mere shells of ourselves.

Christopher Murray, LCSW, is a ther-apist in private practice in Chelsea who can be reached at http://www.chris-tophermurray.org.

� METH, from p.46

these things?MS: Simple — more work. More work

is all. Hell, they are lawmakers, and they are entitled to their opinion. They just need more education. We need more voices, more faces, more edu-cation. But our friends were great — Danny O’Donnell, Deborah Glick, Dick Gottfried, and Brooklyn’s Jim Brennan, they were all great.

CM: Tell me about the pain of the last Congressional session’s debate about ENDA.

MS: We had spent years… how do I put this? In the Bush agenda there is no room for trans rights or LGBT rights. They worked very hard to de-gay their

legislation. All the work of the Clin-ton administration, they worked hard to remove. Only since 2006, since the Dems took over Congress, have new ideas come into play. I started lobby-ing federally in the Clinton years and stopped in the Bush years. It didn’t seem to make sense.

CM: Are you saying you weren’t sur-prised by what happened to ENDA?

MS: As recently as 2002 we were trying to get the language of ENDA changed to be trans-inclusive. It finally had a chance when the Human Rights Campaign changed their mind in 2004. After the fiasco here in New York when trans-language was never included in the gay rights bills, Matt Foreman went to bat for us, while he was running the

National Gay and Lesbian Task Force, but then last year HRC reversed its decision.

CM: So why did the powers that be decide to exclude the trans-inclusive language?

MS: Hard to say, really. My guess is that perhaps it came from George Miller [the California Democrat who chairs the House’s Committee on Edu-cation and Labor] or it’s very possible that the supportive Republicans came together in conference with [Connecti-cut] Representative Christopher Shays and demanded a gay-only ENDA. We don’t know, but the Dems didn’t want a war on this. Whether it was ultimately Miller, Barney Frank, or Nancy Pelosi’s strategy decision, I don’t know. But

HRC supported it. In any event, it would be hard to change it back now that it’s gone through the House. I’m not all that optimistic.

CM: I’m struck by your dispassion-ate stance, how practical you are. Is that the voice of experience?

MS: My focus is the fight. I don’t focus on victory. I’m in it for the fight. Our trans community is so small and virtually invisible, and for me to make demands of the culture at large where so few relate to and recognize our needs would be a waste of energy.

CM: How to you keep going?MS: I think the fight is worth it. I like

the fights. I like the ideas behind the fights.

� SKLARZ, from p.55



Two intermediate appellate courts in Ohio have recent-ly ruled in custody disputes

involving lesbian mothers. In a Frank-lin County case, in the Columbus area, the court on June 18 refused to set aside a joint custody agreement that the birth mother sought to avoid after breaking up with her partner. In a case from Springfield-area Clark County, the court upheld a trial judge’s deci-sion to switch custody from the lesbian mother to her ex-husband, based on best interests of the children.

The Franklin County couple, iden-tified as D.F. and T.F., had a child in 1997 borne by D.F. through anony-mous donor insemination. When the child was four, the women submitted an “Agreed Entry” to the local domes-tic relations court, agreeing to “co-custodial status” of their child that neither could rely on any biological or legal relationship to the child to gain advantage over the other should a dis-pute arise in the future. Judge Peggy Bryant’s opinion for the appellate court quoted the agreement as stating that the couple were to be treated legally as

equal parents of the child, “the same as they would be treated under the law if they were any other two unmarried parents of a child.”

Three years later, the couple split up, and T.F. filed a motion for contempt with the domestic relations court, complaining that D.F. refused her con-tact with the child. A court-appointed “guardian ad litem” for the child that visitation be restored, while D.F. filed a motion that the “Agreed Entry” be declared null and void. A magistrate advised the trial court that T.F. was a suitable person to have visitation rights and that the Agreed Entry was an enforceable court order, and the trial judge concurred, ordering visita-tion rights for T.F.

D.F. appealed to the court of appeals, which found that the case should never have been decided on the merits, since the birth mother’s only recourse would have been to have challenged the origi-nal order from the domestic relations court accepting the Agreed Entry. Hav-ing missed the short window of appeal of that order years before, D.F. had no basis to have raised her motion, and that it should have been dismissed out of hand. In any event, the result is the same — T.F. will now enjoy visitation rights with her child.

The Clark County case is a more traditional custody dispute between a lesbian mother and her ex-husband. The Pages divorced in 2000, and the domestic relations court order “shared parenting” between the mother and father of their two sons, age eight and six.. Two years later, the couple mutu-ally decided that the children would reside with their mother and the father was granted visitation rights and ordered to pay child support. But, in 2006, citing changed circumstances regarding the children’s best interests, the father filed a motion that the chil-dren live with him.

The former Mrs. Page had become romantically involved with another woman, had a commitment ceremony with her, and on very little notice moved with the two boys to live with her part-ner in West Virginia. By 2006, the boys were 14 and 12, and the domestic rela-tions judge found that the boys had “a poor relationship” with their mother and her partner.

The court found that the mother’s partner “has not developed the social skills necessary to enable her to effec-tively interact with young men of this age,” and cited the fact that both boys

entered counseling since the women got together, the older for “anger man-agement issues” and the younger for “depression issues.”

“The credible evidence in this case suggests that both of the children’s issues for which they were in coun-seling were primarily a result of the environment in which they were liv-ing at their mother’s,” the judge wrote, concluding that there were sufficiently changed circumstances to award the father residential custody.

In reviewing this conclusion on appeal, Judge Thomas J. Grady, writ-ing for the court of appeals, stated that the mother’s lesbian relationship “has no relevance… absent proof that the parent’s relationship presently has an adverse collateral impact” on the chil-dren. Grady went on to write, however, that “competent, credible evidence” was presented to demonstrate such collateral impact in the boys’ “person-ality development disorders that are neither slight nor inconsequential.”

As a result, the court found no abuse of discretion by the domestic relations court, that there had been a substan-tial change in circumstances.

On the question of the boys’ best

“Get your tickets and go see The Rarest of Birds. Omar Prince will astonish you with his portrayal of Montgomery Clift. You will feel as if you have been given a chance to go back in time to see Clift, one of the wonderful acting geniuses of the Golden Age of Hollywood, live on stage.” -Vivian Grand, Wordpress

“So there’s no doubt that Monty’s life would make for a riveting drama. And sure enough,

here comes the play.” -Musto, Village Voice

THE RAREST OF BIRDSA one-man show based on the life

and works of:

MONTGOMERY CLIFTConceived, written and directed

by John Lisbon Wood

With Omar Prince (member of AEA)

WINGS THEATRE154 Christopher Street

SHOW DATES:

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RESERVATIONS: 212 627-2961

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■ LEGAL

Ohio Courts Decide Two Lesbian Mom CasesCo-parent win in Columbus; in Springfield, mom loses custody to dad

� OHIO, continued on p.59

The women agreed that neither could rely on any biological or legal relationship to the

child to gain advantage over the other.


this contributes to cohesion.We also learn that record numbers of combat

soldiers are committing suicide and self-mutilating, largely because of extended and repeated tours. It should be obvious to anyone not blinded by homophobia that time in the field could be dramati-cally reduced were tens of thousands of new troops recruited. Politicians who fear that such a rational course of action would somehow threaten cohe-sion should be helped to understand that members of this generation of young men and women have classmates and teammates who are out and hence they are not likely to be unhinged by continuing to associate with individuals who are, after all, imper-ceptibly different from themselves.

If military men and women who are in harm’s way were polled about whether they would wel-come fewer combat tours if it meant serving with gays the response would be overwhelmingly posi-tive. Clearly a policy that not only fosters discrimina-tion but actually results in suicides should be aban-doned, and the sooner this happens the more lives will be spared.Dr. Joel ConarroeManhattan

An army veteran, Joel Conarroe is a former presi-dent of PEN American Center.

June 23, 2008To the Editors:

Dennis deLeon raised important points in his Op Ed about efforts to modify informed consent for HIV testing, but portions of the piece contain question-able history at best (“Advancing Public Health — And Not,” online at gaycitynews.com as of Jun. 19).

Nancy Dubler is quoted as saying that Article 27-F “was intended to discourage people from get-ting tested.” Actually, the reverse is true. At the time 27-F was written, many AIDS organizations were advising people not to get an HIV test, since doing so could lead to a loss of job, home, and health insurance. Article 27-F ensured that HIV test results were kept confidential in order to encourage, not discourage, testing.

But 27-F also recognized that an HIV test was different from nearly all other blood tests in that it informed patients of a life-threatening incurable infectious disease that carried a significant stigma for those infected. Due to the seriousness of this test result, it was essential to provide effective pre- and post-test counseling and to obtain written informed consent, ensuring that no one was tested without prior knowledge and consent.

None of these concerns has disappeared since 1989 when 27-F was passed. Yes, HIV disease no longer invariably leads to an early death, although this certainly still happens in some cases. And peo-ple with HIV can no longer legally be denied hous-

ing, employment, or health insurance in New York State.

But the stigma connected to HIV remains strong, particularly in some communities at risk for HIV. And the level of ignorance surrounding the disease and its transmission is shocking, something HIV educa-tors at ACRIA encounter every day in the community trainings they provide.

The “compromise” legislation, A. 11461, main-tains the sham of written informed consent in its language, but allows HIV testing to be included as an “opt-out” choice on a general medical release form, virtually assuring that people will be tested without their knowledge or true consent, and with-out the still strongly needed pre- and post-test coun-seling.

We all agree with the goal of wider HIV testing. But increasing the number of people tested only to identify those who test positive is short-sighted at best. We can’t treat our way out of this epidemic. Prevention is key, and the counseling currently required for all HIV tests is needed to help those who are negative stay that way. The way to achieve that is to increase our efforts to inform people of the facts about HIV and the need to be tested, not to test people without their true consent and without providing them the information they need to protect themselves from the pandemic we have been fight-ing for 27 years.Mark MilanoHIV Health EducatorAIDS Community Research Initiative of AmericaEditor, Thrive

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words, to:[email protected];Or fax them to 646-452-2501;Or mail them to 145 Sixth Ave., 1st fl., New York

10013.Please include your phone number, for confirma-

tion purposes only. The editors reserve the right to edit all letters due to space constraints.

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� LETTERS, from p.38

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cluded that “the evidence failed to establish that homosexuals in Guyana are persecuted, much less tortured,” Calabresi noted.

Despite concerns about Vomacka’s possible bias in deciding Ali’s case, the Board of Immigration Appeals judge who heard Ali’s appeal affirmed the IJ’s ruling. Calabresi noted that the BIA judge was “troubled” by Vomacka’s “gratuitous remarks” as well as his speculative reasoning about what skills it takes to form a gay relationship in Guyana, but concluded none of that had “rendered the hearing unfair.”

The BIA judge also af f i rmed

Vomacka’s conclusions that insuffi-cient evidence existed that either crimi-nal deportees or homosexuals face tor-ture in Guyana.

Calabresi, noting the expert testi-mony about harsh treatment of both groups, the evidence of detainee rape, and the practice of “death squads,” with the acquiescence of the govern-ment, hunting them down and mur-dering them, found Vomacka’s finding a gross distortion of the record.

Calabresi wrote, “Vomacka clearly abrogated his ‘responsibility to function as a neutral, impartial arbiter,’ ” in voic-ing stereotypes about homosexual ori-entation — particularly in pointing to “common understanding… that violent

dangerous criminals and feminine con-temptible homosexuals are not usually considered to be the same people” — without any supporting evidence in the record

Calabresi also wrote, “Ali claimed that he would likely be tortured in Guyana (a) because he is a homo-sexual, and (b) because he is a crimi-nal deportee, but also (c) because he is a homosexual criminal deportee. In other words, he is a homosexual who, because of his criminal deportee sta-tus, almost certainly would be detained by government authorities upon arriv-al. By treating aspects of Ali’s identity as incompatible, IJ Vomacka essential-ly dismissed, without consideration, a

crucial component of Ali’s application for relief.”

In arguing that Ali would not be con-sidered gay unless he had a partner, Vomacka relied on “stereotypes about homosexuality and how it is made identifiable to others,” Calabresi wrote.

Finally, Calabresi dismissed as “impermissible” Vomacka’s speculation about Ali’s inability to form relation-ships, in a way that betrayed “disre-spect for the petitioner.”

Overall, “the appearance of bias or hostility” in Vomacka’s ruling makes meaningful review of his conclusion impossible and Ali’s case must be sent back for re-hearing by a different immi-gration judge.

� ASYLUM, from p.24

interests, Grady noted that any modi-fication in custody must be “necessary to serve” those interests and that any “harm” caused by the changed must be “outweighed by the resulting advantag-es.” In line with the law, the two boys had been asked their preference, and both favored living with their father, though the trial judge concluded only the older one was mature enough to make such a choice. The trial court found that the boys had a good rela-tionship with their father and their maternal grandmother, with whom he lived.

In contrast, the mother “has become unable to maintain a positive relation-ship with her two children,” the trial court found, complicated by the “rela-tively poor relationship” between the boys had with their mother’s partner. The court expressed particular concern for the younger boy; finding that if he were “not removed from this environ-ment, his depression will most likely worsen and his development will be stalled even greater than it already has been.”

The appeals court concluded that on the best interest question the domestic relations court had also acted within its discretion.

One argument the boys’ mother made was that the trial court relied on evidence that her younger son’s depres-sion was due in part to his inability to make friends at school, which was attributed to social disapproval of her lesbian relationship. Allowing that to affect the custody decision, she argued, violated her constitutional right to equal protection of the law. She cited a 1984 US Supreme Court ruling that the impact of social disapproval of an interracial marriage on a child could not form the basis of a custody deci-sion.

Judge Grady acknowledged that the mother had a constitutional liber-

ty interest in the custody of her sons, but wrote that it was not absolute. The impact of the child’s problems at school on his depression “were not the sole or primary reason” for the custody modi-fication, which was mainly due to the mother’s “poor interpersonal relation-ship” with both boys and the prospects that the two would do better with their father.

If the mother’s relationship with her new partner is creating problems for her sons, she “cannot shield herself,” Grady concluded, from the court’s power to step in by making an equal protection argument related to other problems facing one of the boys.

� OHIO, from p.57


BY HANS JOHNSON

Looking back at history often lights a path forward for social movements. So it does today for

gay rights supporters determined to win passage of long-awaited federal legislation on hate crimes, military service, and nondiscrimination and to preserve marriage equality in the nation’s most populous state.

Now, as in the past, two big and overlapping blocs of the electorate and their leaders play a pivotal role in deciding whether fairness will or won’t prevail on these priorities. They are labor union members and Latina and Latino voters.

This year marks the 30th anniver-sary of one of the LGBT movement’s landmark victories — beating the anti-gay Briggs Initiative in Cali-fornia. In 1978, as the disco music blared, gay people faced a fron-tal assault from the religious right, whose leaders launched the first in a wave of statewide antigay refer-enda to slam the door on newfound openness and reverse legal protec-tion from discrimination. Defeating the hate-based Briggs measure in the Golden State showed that gay people could muster the resources to mount a serious campaign in self-defense and that we could make a convinc-

ing case to civil rights and commu-nity allies that attacks on us posed a mutual threat.

Labor and Latino voters were vital to the victory over Briggs. Last week in Hollywood, Dolores Huerta, a con-science of California politics who with Cesar Chavez founded the United Farm Workers, bore witness to that fact. “In the ’70s, gay people came out to march with us in the straw-berry fields and in the grape boycott,” Huerta recalled at an event commem-orating the defeat of Briggs and rais-ing funds to stop the current attack on marriage equality in the state.

“When some of the same people we were battling went after them, we knew we had to stand with our friends,” she added. “That is just as true today as back then. We cannot be afraid or confused or divided in any way. And I say that as a Latina, as a Catholic, and as the mother of 11 children.”

Solidarity of the heart is one part of the appeal to Latino and labor voters that the LGBT movement must con-tinue to make. Another aspect of the ties that bind our interests at the bal-lot box comes down to collective bar-gaining.

By “some of the same people,” Huerta might well be referring to foes of labor, Latinos, and LGBT people

such as National Right to Work Legal Defense Fund. Last year, Iowa Con-gressman Steve King wrote a fund-raising appeal for the anti-union outfit that has long taken aim at the minimum wage and overtime pay. King is the same person who bran-dished a barbed-wire fence on the floor of Congress in comparing Mexi-can immigrants to livestock and who blocked an appropriation for housing homeless LGBT youth in California, some of whom are kicked out of their homes by intolerant parents.

In answering cruelty with com-passion, California has led the way. California unions were among the first in the nation to win healthcare coverage for the domestic partners of public-service workers in the 1980s. Like Archimedes who vowed he could move the world with a lever and a firm foothold to stand on, those early contract provisions proved a toehold in the law. They yielded a platform on which a generation of scholars, attor-neys, activists, labor leaders, and civil rights allies have built a structure of relationship- and family-recognition policies that has extended health care to millions of Americans, includ-ing committed same-sex couples and their children.

Taking aim at marriage equality puts even this patchwork of benefits,

piecemeal in nature and lacking in parity to the protections afforded by marriage, in jeopardy. That is a les-son no one can ignore in the wake of litigation in Michigan. There the State Supreme Court, pushed by reli-gious right activists and a state attor-ney general beholden to them, inter-preted a 2004 state ballot measure forbidding equal marriage as barring even basic relationship safeguards secured by local and state workers at the bargaining table.

In this way, the fight for equal rights by LGBT people is a fight against givebacks in negotiations. It is a struggle to ensure that working people not get slapped in the face and told what they can and cannot hope to win through cohesion and good contracts. It is nothing less than a quest to renew and extend the Ameri-can Dream and to realize the vision of the beloved community in which the labor, Latino, and LGBT communities are common stakeholders.

Hans Johnson is president of Pro-gressive Victory, based in Washing-ton, DC, and a board member of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. A union member and political commen-tator, he has assisted and advised ballot measure campaigns for nearly two decades.

■ PERSPECTIVE/ THE VIEW FROM LABOR

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Death’s a Chapter TooDavid Sedaris on boyfriends, boils, butts, and body bags

62/ Books

BY MICHAEL EHRHARDT

Humor, like certain wine, doesn’t always travel well. It’s hard to imag-

ine Stephen Colbert’s wise-ass delivery cracking up audiences in France, Japan, or Russia. However, consistently defy-ing easy categorization, David Sedaris has become a mar-vel in the world of publishing, attracting adoring crowds on his book tours, with his work, including “Me Talk Pretty One Day,” having sold more than four million copies, in 22 lan-guages, including Greek, Esto-nian, and Bahasa.

He’s appeared at Carnegie Hall, and on “Late Night with David Letterman,” making him perhaps the first best-selling popular author who’s queer to snag such high-profile com-mercial broadcast TV time since Truman Capote’s notorious segments with Johnny Carson decades ago. Time magazine named Sedaris “Humorist of the Year” in 2001, and he’s the a recipient of the Thurber Prize for American Humor.

A sort of gay Walter Mitty

crossed with Samuel Beckett, Sedaris’ universality lies in his ability to mine absurdist black diamonds from the cracked asphalt of everyday life. His latest collection, “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” won’t disappoint fans of his last five. As if to preempt a James Frey fracas, the publisher includes an author’s note sardoni-cally stipulating, “The events described in these stories are realish. Certain characters have fictitious names and identifying characteristics.”

Sedaris’ fans will be familiar with his references to his years spent with his colorful fam-ily in eastern North Carolina, including his unconventional sisters Gretchen, Lisa and Amy. Intimations of mortality hover over the new collection, beginning with the striking cover by book design star Chip Kidd portraying a skeleton with a smoking cigarette butt clenched in its teeth. Through-out the book’s last quarter, Sedaris offers a deadpan Byz-antine riff on the highs and lows of nicotine addiction.

“When I first started traveling

for business, it was still pos-sible to smoke. Not as possible as it had been in the eighties, but most places allowed it… As the nineties progressed, my life grew increasingly difficult. Airport bars and restaurants became ‘clean-air zones,’ and those few cities that continued to allow smoking constructed hideous tanks.

“The ones in Salt Lake City were kept in good condition, but those in St. Louis and Atlanta were miniature, glass-walled slums: ashtrays never emptied, trash on the ground, air ducts exposed and sagging from the caramel-colored ceil-ing. Then there were the peo-ple. My old friend with the hole in his throat was always there, as was his wife, who had a suit-case in one hand and an oxy-gen tank in the other. Alongside her were the servicemen from Abu Ghraib, two prisoners handcuffed to federal agents, and the Joad family. It was a live anti-smoking commercial, and those passing by would often stop and point, especially if they were with children. ‘See that lady with the tube taped

to her nose? Is that what you want to happen to you?’

“In one of those tanks, I sat beside a woman whose two-year-old-son was confined to a wheel-chair. This drew the sort of crowd that normally waves torches, and I admired the way the mother ignored it. After hot-boxing three quarters of her Salem, she tossed the butt in the direction of the ashtray, saying, ‘Damn, that was good’.”

Like the mime played by Jean-Louis Barrault in “Chil-dren of Paradise,” time and experience have darkened Sedaris’ performance; and the shadow of middle age has left its impression on the author, as is evident in “Monster Mash,” and there’s a subversive death’s head smile behind his medi-tations on mortality and deli-quescence: “Even as a child I was fascinated by death, not in a spiritual sense, but in an aes-thetic one. A hamster or guinea

pig would pass away, and, after burying the body, I’d dig it back up, over and over, until all that remained was a shoddy pelt…As a young man, I saved up my dishwashing money and bought a seventy-five-dollar copy of Medicolegal Investiga-tions of Death, a sort of bible for forensic pathologists.”

Recounting his visits to a medical examiner’s office, where he witnessed numerous autop-

WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMESBy David SedarisLittle Brown and Company$25.99, 336 pages.

� BOOKS, continued on p.72

David Sedaris recently spoke with Gay City News from his hotel room in Tulsa, Oklahoma; one of the numerous stops on his current 30-city national book tour:

MICHAEL EHRHARDT: How are things in Tulsa, these days?

DAVID SEDARIS: Oh, well, it gets pretty hec-tic; so, I sometimes have to be reminded where I am! I pretty much rely on my media escort to keep me up to date on things.

ME: Must be pretty grueling. Do you find that you have as many fans in the red states as in the blue ones?

DS: Oh, yeah — sure! This particular tour was pretty much my idea. I wanted to go to places where you don’t necessarily associate with book readings, like Tulsa, Baton Rouge, and Omaha. People seem to recognize me a lot more from the times I was on NPR, which really has a wide reach. It’s really a lot of work, too, let me tell you! In Omaha, for instance, I gave a 40-minute reading and sat on my ass for eight to nine hours signing books. I’ll be doing a Brazilian tour in Rio and San Paolo in July. And then, I’m going to Australia and New Zealand.

ME: That’s some fan base! Do you ever attract stalkers?

DS: Not really. I don’t think people think of me that way. They know from my work all about my long-term relationship with Hugh. However, as I’m fairly new to the Internet, I recently discovered that

the information you get there is not always reli-able, if not downright lies. Some guy on a media website reports that I always hit up on guys on my book tours. Like I have time! I can barely get enough sleep!

The lack of sleep really gets to you after a while; I find myself getting giddy and doing weird things at the book signings, like doodling pictures of owls or a happy turtle under a cross with Jesus Christ hanging on it. And when someone asked what it means, I explained that the turtle’s happy because there’s an abortion clinic in the neighbor-hood! (There was a free walk-in clinic next door.) Things get really way out when you’re tired!

Then, once a young guy — young enough to be my son — gave me an envelope and said, “Don’t open it until I leave.” When I finally opened it, there were a few photos of him, half naked — posing with his shirt off.

ME: How does Hugh cope with your interna-tional celebrity? Does he ever travel with you on your tours?

DS: He’s adjusted pretty well to things. He’s not on tours when we’re in the States. But he’ll be with me in Brazil and Australia. And then, I’d like to go back to Japan again.

ME: You prefer to refer to Hugh as your boy-friend, as opposed to lover, life-partner, or hus-band.

DS: Yes. Everyone at readings knows about our relationship. And “lover” sounds so…

SEDARIS TALKS RED STATE FANS, BILL FRIST, ‘REALISH’ MEMOIRS

David Sedaris denies an Internet posting that he always hits up on guys while on book tours — “Like I have time! I can barely get enough sleep!” � SEDARIS, continued on p.74

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BY ANDY HUMM

“Go back 40 years,” said Vi l lage Voice theater critic Michael Feingold

from the stage of the Lucille Lortel on Christopher Street. “Life was very different, especially if you were gay — a word a lot of people didn’t know back then.”

Feingold was introducing a staged reading by the Transport Group of Mart Crowley’s seminal hit “The Boys in the Band” on June 16. Judging from the response of the audience — mostly gay men of a certain age (including me) who saw the original production or the1970 movie with the original cast — it is still a play that is gayer than laughter if no lon-ger younger than springtime.

And while some of the things that this gathering of 30-something gay “boys” say are still as cringe-induc-ing as they are meant to be, there are also lines that set the stage for the era of liberation that followed: “If we could just learn not to hate ourselves so much,” the lead character Michael says just before the curtain.

More than a year before the Stone-wall Rebellion, “The Boys in the Band” caused a sensation in terms of the frankness with which gay subject matter could be handled commer-cially. While it was far from the first gay-themed play in New York when it opened Off-Broadway on April 14, 1968, its run of 1,000 performances and success as a movie make it one of the most groundbreaking histori-cally.

The reading was apparently done after one rehearsal, but acting vet-erans led by the incomparable David Greenspan as birthday boy Harold — with kudos to all! — made it seem ready for a revival tomorrow. This gathering of wit and venom makes “August: Osage County” look like “Little Mary Sunshine.”

Feingold said that Crowley “didn’t write a play about ‘the homosexual,’” as playwrights had in productions

from “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” to “Tea and Sympathy,” “he wrote a play about a whole batch of them. What a revelation! A play about human beings!”

Six of the nine in the original cast are dead, five of them from AIDS. Reuben Greene who played Ber -nard has disappeared, rumored to have gone into a monastery. But on hand to discuss their experiences were Laurence Luckinbill (Hank), Peter White (Alan McCarthy), and playwright Crowley himself who said he turned to writing this play after some disastrous experiences in Hol-lywood with unproduced screen-plays — including one for his friend Natalie Wood playing twins, one of whom was lesbian. “Too many dykeisms,” Darryl F. Zanuck is said to have commented in killing the project.

It’s a long and odd story, but Crow-ley wrote the play at the home of his actress friend Diana Lynn while babysitting for her kids while she was off on a world cruise. He didn’t have any responsibilities but was wanted there because her staff was not fluent in English, and she felt the need for a native speaker on the premises in case of an emergency. So Uncle Mart got the job and was able to churn out “The Boys in the Band” in five weeks.

That was easy. Getting it produced was anything but.

The agent to whom he was referred in New York “was distraught by the manuscript,” Crowley said. “She said, ’Do you think I could send this out on our letterhead?’”

“And she was married to a gay man,” said Luckinbill, who had a Catholic University connection with Crowley.

Luckinbill’s own agent at first told him, “It will wreck your career! You’ll be branded!” It did lead to him being dropped from doing True cigarette commercials (“No fags smoke our

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■ THEATER

‘Boys in the Band’ Hits 40Mart Crowley and two living cast members reunite for memorable evening

� BOYS IN THE BAND, continued on p.82

Laurence Luckinbill (the original Hank), playwright Mart Crowley, and Peter White (the original Alan) in the Transport Group’s staged reading of “The Boys in the Band” on June 16.

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26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE

What is truth, and is it either absolute or even knowable? This question resonates

through much of Edward Albee’s work and is at the center of “Edward Albee’s Occupant,” his newest play now at the Signature Theatre. The play is ostensi-bly a postmortem on the career of the sculptor Louise Nevelson –– literally, she is dead when she arrives for an interview with a character billed only as The Man. But that is about as accurate as saying that “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” is about a marital spat or “The Goat” is about bestiality.

The larger issues of this deceptively simple play concern the intercon-nectedness of art and artist, celeb-rity, voyeuristic and shallow popular media, and the trade-offs one makes to survive. Good thing, too, because were it only a chronicle of Nevelson’s life and career, it would be “The Boy from Oz,” without the flashy numbers –– in other words a charming but ulti-mately pointless biography of some-one on the brink of obscurity.

The Man begins the interview in an aggressively chipper style. Think Dick

Cavett when he was fawning over celebrities. Yet as Nevelson appears, he is thwarted in promoting his own knowledge of her by her admission that she may have made up some of the details of her biography, raising the question of what’s true. While certain elements of her story aren’t in dispute, Nevelson emerges as some-one who, like all of us, has created herself out of what she’s been given. That is something she acknowledges when she says, “All of a sudden I had become me.”

The tension, though not very great, comes when The Man tries to contain Nevelson and ultimately cannot. The dynamic between them becomes a wry commentary on how media does — and needs to — promote its own interpretations of truth. Extrapolate that as you will to any situation pri-vate or public you can think of. It’s

a fascinating argument, but it wears thin rather fast, and The Man, clev-erly, calls an intermission at a point when Nevelson’s complexities and contradictions pile on in ever greater amounts.

The second act allows Nevelson to talk more about her work, and how she her-

self is part of that work. She describes how she came to create assemblages out of wood, and how she felt the need to “be pretty” when she went into the world, and the affectation of two pairs of sable eyelashes as part of her gestalt. She is,

Talking to the DeadMercedes Ruehl gets real in Edward Albee’s play about Louise Nevelson

66/ Theater

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Mercedes Ruehl and Larry Bryggman in the Signature Theatre production of “Edward Albee’s Occupant.”

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EDWARD ALBEE’S OCCUPANTThe Peter Norton Space555 W. 42nd St,Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.;Sat., Sun. at 2 p.m. through Jul. 6$20-$65; 212-244-7529


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HOBBIESStart Your Engines

The Lambda Car Club, America’s biggest gay and lesbian car club, hosts the Empire Auto Showcase featuring more than 25 antique cars in the city park across the street from the United Nations. Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, E. 47th St. btwn. First & Second Aves., 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Free. For more information, call 212-472-2118.

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NIGHTLIFEWomen On the Waterfront

Heritage of Pride hosts its fifth annu-al women’s dance Rapture on the River. Dance to the music of DJ Susan Levine and watch the coming twilight over the Hudson River. Pier 54, 13th St at the West Side Highway, 6-11 p.m. Tick-ets are $20 at boxofficetickets.com or 800-494-TIXS, or, in limited numbers, $25 at the door.

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Get Your Ya-Yas Out

Rock and electronic music power-houses Richard Morel and Bob Mould headline a pumped evening of indie rock, electro, and house before a packed and frisky crowd of alternative music-loving boys (girls welcome!), burly beer-drinkin’ men, leather daddies, and chunky hunks. Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Admission is $20. For more information, visit http://www.blowoff.us or call 212-414-5994.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

The ‘Old’ Meatpacking District

Daniel Nardicio brings you back to an earlier, more innocent, but decidedly wilder time in one of on-location sites for the notorious leather world shocker “Cruising.” The space will be trans-formed into an atmosphere where any-thing goes, clothing is optional, and who knows what might be lurking in the cor-ners. HRH Princess Diandra appears late in the night as Grace Jones, and eight sex-starved ’70s muscle studs danc-ing au naturel. Get on the dance floor yourself for the dirty disco stylings of DJ Sammy Jo and a special surprise guest DJ. “Cruising: A Night at the Trucks” takes place at the Woodshop, 24 Ninth Ave. at 14th St., fifth fl., doors open at 10 p.m. and close at 8 a.m. Tickets are $20 at http://www.Dlist.com or $30 at the door.

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BY DAVID NOH

Wayland Flowers AND Madame with a dash you can get REAL

Mexican food. You know Alec Mapa from

his hilarious “Ugly Betty” char-acter, Suzuki St. Pierre, which he’s described as a combina-tion of Wayland Flowers and Madame with a dash of Bruce Lee. He’s also been on “Des-perate Housewives,” and called Eva Longoria the “biggest fag hag in the universe, there are always seven gay men orbiting around her. She has more gay men working on her face than George Michael in a public toi-let.” Longoria’s ability to eat whatever she wants fascinates him and he once asked her on the set, “Did you just eat a whole bowl of Fruit Loops?” She said, “Yes, and stop watch-ing what I eat. It’s creepy!”

I’ve followed Mapa’s career since his first real job and Broadway debut at age 24 in “M. Butterfly,” and told him that, off the record, I preferred him to B.D. Wong. “Oh, you can keep that on the record!” he laughed, before describ-ing the show he’s bringing to Joe’s Pub on June 28-29 (212-967-7555 or http://www.joespub.com). It’s entitled “No Fats, Fems, or Asians,” which he got from reading gay per-sonal ads.

“I just think it’s indicative of where we are as a commu-nity and feel we could be nicer to each other,” he said. “We all know what it’s like to be excluded or invalidated for who we are or what we look like and I don’t think we need to do that to one another. We can express preferences in ways that don’t dehumanize entire groups of people. We all know what it’s like to be beaten up, so why do it to each other?

“I came up in New York in the ’80s and all my mentors were extraordinarily kind gay men who taught me how to behave –– the dressers, stage managers, actors, bartenders, cabaret people. They all came from heinous circumstances when everybody was dying and they all behaved with exceptional kindness to each other and we need to hang on to that. That was their legacy to me now they’re all gone.

“So much of my act is subversive and very sexual. Especially with gay Asians, there’s the implication that only a certain kind of person

is fuck-able. I’m not fat, but on behalf of feminine Asian men out there, I must say I’m getting plenty of dick, so… I’ve been an activist for years: more than half of my gigs are benefits. The amfAR people said, ‘You’re just American’s Gaysian Sweetheart!’ And you know what? I am!”

Mapa grew up in San Fran-cisco Filipino and Catholic and, insofar as being gay went, said, “My family, although con-servative, has been extremely supportive, I was very lucky. But we drive each other nuts –– you know Asian families –– and as I get older I real-ize when you first come out, you’re pretty militant and for-get that they have to have their own process, as well.

“My mother accepted it immediately, my father gra-dually. He had some reality checks when my mother was in the hospital and all the ICU nurses were big flaming queens. You realize when you’re in a delicate condition, you want people to be gentle with you and you want a big flaming queen in your corner. He said, ‘I can’t say anything bad about gay people anymo-re, after how they treated your Mom.’ I was like, ‘Right, and all these years it didn’t matter that

I was your son. Hello?!’ He likes me now because I’m making money and that’s all that mat-ters to an Asian parent. Wow, you’re Korean? I haven’t met a lot of Korean gay people who are out to their parents.”

Mapa came to New York “because I was such a stoner that if I’d stayed in San Fran-cisco, nothing would ever hap-pen to me. I saw the movie ‘Fame,’ which seared my head like a branding iron –– to go to New York, wear leg warmers, and be deliciously tragic, which is exactly what I am. I went to NYU with Molly Shan-non and Adam Sandler, but we were never cast in plays –– all too weird for the main stage, so we concentrated on doing our own thing. That’s life –– you can either get upset or be proactive and so I did stand-up at The Duplex and Don’t Tell Mama and my gay audiences were the first to tell me, ‘Don’t change a thing: it’s honest.’”

Mapa described Sandler as “really simple. He loves working and is kind of shy, actually, and is very loyal. I’m in ‘You Don’t Mess with the Zohan,’ playing a hairdresser –– what a stretch. It’s raunchy and silly and addresses serious shit in a comical way. It was very emo-tional for me because there

were real Palestinian and Israe-li actors on set and for a lot of them it was they first time they had come in contact in a work situation. They were all having fun, but the minute they go back to Israel, they all have to go through the cavity search.”

After “M. Butterfly,” Mapa said, “I crashed and burned for almost two years in LA. I had a death in the family, ran out of money, and my boyfriend dumped me. It was a real ‘VH1 Behind the Music’ crack-up –– I never left my house –– so I had to start all over again, doing stand-up and started getting sitcoms.”

Marc Cherry wrote the “Des-perate Housewives” part for him, after their aborted gay 2001 sitcom “Some of My Best Friends,” and, after killing at the 2007 GLAAD Awards, “Ugly Betty” came calling. Mapa particularly loves the character of gay kid Justin (Mark Indelicato): “He sends a very important message. We worship at the altar of mascu-linity in this country so much that when you deviate from that you’re punished severely, so for a character on a mains-tream sitcom to be champio-ned and celebrated for being himself is a huge win for us.

“That’s part of my personal message: Be yourself. On the many gay cruises I’ve perfor-med, I meet so many people from the middle of the country who don’t have our lives on the coasts. It sounds corny, but they always come up to me and say, ‘Thank you for being yourself and out –– it really makes a huge difference.’”

Mapa is happily married to actor Jason Hebert: “Together six years, married for two, but now we have to get mar-ried again for the legal certifi-cate. I’m not having another wedding though. We’re remo-deling the house, and when that’s done we’ll have a cock-tail party to celebrate that and our vows. Jason came with me on the seven RSVP cruises I did last year. We’re that weird married couple who only have sex with each other.”

Mapa loves his RSVP audi-ences: “Gays at midnight –– the only way to keep their atten-tion is by making your act as dirty as possible, keep them off the sex deck. They’ve been the best learning experiences. I’m really an actor, not a stand-up, but they’ve taught me to work

� IN THE NOH, continued on p.71

■ IN THE NOH

America’s Gaysian SweetheartMirthful Mapa, Astaire’s tune, marriage-happy California

Alec Mapa talks about what he learns from his gay fans and how queer representations are making headway in popular media.

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quick. They’re often smarter than you, so I’ve had to be on the top of my game. My fan base is wonderfully diverse –– everything from older to twinkies to cir-cuit queens. So many comedians com-plain about no gay following, thinking they’ll only see Margaret [Cho] or Kathy [Griffin] or drag queens, so ––knock wood –– I’m lucky.”

Mapa’s advice for future gay crui-sers: “Pack poppers and use hand sanitizer every chance you get.” His dream roles? “Peter Pan and Martha in ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.’”

Two recent New York benefits deserve mention. The Kaufman Center’s Gala celebration (May

28, Mandarin Oriental) was delight-fully hosted by Liz Callaway and fea-tured performances by Philip Glass, playing one of his signature surging piano compositions, as well as by some children from the Special Music School, one of whom refreshingly admitted to hating having to practice. Boy can those Kaufman-ites party –– when the bar closed, black-tied guests merely grabbed bottles and started pouring for themselves like frat boys. Fun!

Tommy Tune was honored at the Fred & Adele Astaire Awards (June 2, Manhattan

Center) and recalled meeting Fred, backstage after “My One and Only,” who eyed the younger star and said, “You’re one tall sonuvabitch!” Sister

Adele was fondly recalled by Fred’s daughter Ava, and singer Charles Cochran, once signed to Astaire’s record label. Both elegant and rowdy, she supposedly performed a hetero deflowering of none other than Cecil Beaton, and Cochran remembered her once describing a champagne cocktail served in a royal opera box, “It tastes like mouse piss!”

Before her retirement to marry Brit nobility in 1932, Adele was the big-ger star, and her deliciously ineffable charm was evoked by a performance of Gershwin’s “I’d Rather Charles-ton.” Liz Smith hosted and, passing onstage the always-ebullient LeRoy Reams, remarked, “Is this gay enough for you?”

I just returned from marriage-happy California where, in Palm Springs, I stayed at the Cathedral City Boys

Club, a Utopian gay resort environ to make anyone feel like Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, and their gay agent, Henry Willson, on a sneaky private getaway in their ’50s glory days. Beyond circuit parties, the town is deliciously rife with history, stemming back to the honored Cahuilla Indians, whose Agua Caliente hot springs formed the genesis of this resort community, through the golden Hollywood star stucco’ed-getaway years and all the starkly effective desert mod-ern architecture like Sinatra’s house. Visit Latino Books y Mas, amazingly, the town’s only bookshop, a mesmerizingly eclectic center of the culture’s diversity,

and have a delish meal and the best margaritas ever at gay hangout Azul.

Los Angeles’ San Vicente Inn provi-ded, as always, a fun, idyllic haven in the center of West Hollywood. Santa Monica Boulevard, not always an epicenter of political activism, was gay wedding-cra-zy, with effective window displays and everybody jawing about upcoming mass public nuptials and that adorable couple, Del Martin and Phyllis Lyon, together 55 years, whom (Saint) Gavin Newsom just hitched up in San Francisco.

The Getty Museum was absolutely spectacular, as much for its Richard Meier architecture, sweeping city views, and magical gardens as for its immense holdings of art. Seeing a special August Sander photo exhibit as well as a ten-foot Rigaud portrait of Louis XIV, in fluffy peruke and red-heeled Manolos –– which seemed to further trumpet the current local triumph of all things gay –– truly put the lie to any canard of LA being cultureless.

Having lived and schooled there years ago, I once turned up my Manhattan nose at its mere mention, but now, with clueless tourists clogging our streets in search of Disney/ “Sex and the City” thrills, fascistic crackdowns on all gay fun, the wrecking ball now threatening the Provincetown Playhouse f ’Chris-sakes –– blast you, NYU –– and a bank if not a Starbucks on every corner, give me a Left Coast getaway any day. And you can get real Mexican food there (not to mention, guiltily, Jack in the Box)!

Contact David Noh at [email protected].

Lectures by Phillip Levine “Adding figures to Paintings”

July 8, 6:30 p.m.“Attending Overseas

Workshops”July 28th, 6:30 p.m.

Art Film Festival July 15, 22, & 29, 7:30 p.m.

City Workers ExhibitJuly 21— August 2

Annual Summer Exhibit August 4 — 22

Black & White Exhibit August 25—September 5

47 Fifth Ave @ 12th street, NYCwww.salmagundi.org

Tyrone Power, the first circuit queen, suntanning in Palm Springs in 1938, personifies the eternal gay ethos of this desert resort.

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� IN THE NOH, from p.68


sies, Sedaris writes, “I dressed in a protective suit, complete with a bonnet and a pair of Tyvek booties. Citizens were gradually disemboweled, one right after another, and on the surfaced I’m sure I seemed fine with it. Then at night I’d return to my hotel, double-lock the door, and stand under the shower until all the soap and shampoo were used up. The people in the next room must have wondered what was going on. An hour of running water, and then this blubbery voice: ‘I do believe in spooks, I do believe in spooks, I do, I do, I do, I do.’”

Sedaris gradually learns the inside-outs of the profession, including the term “decomps,” which refers to bodies that weren’t found until days after death: “We had such a case on Halloween, an eighty-year-old man who had tumbled from a ladder while replacing a light bulb. Four and a half days on the floor of his un-air-condi-tioned home, and when the bag was unzipped the room filled with what the attending pathologist termed ‘the smell of job security.’”

“By this point in my stay, my list of don’ts covered three pages and included such reminders as: never fall asleep in a dumpster, never under-

estimate a bee, never drive a convertible behind a flatbed truck, never get old, never get drunk near a train, and never, under any circumstances, cut off your air supply while mas-turbating. This last one is a nationwide epidemic, and it’s surprising the number of men who do it while dressed in their wife’s clothing, most often while she’s out of town. To any-one with similar inclinations, a word of warning: after you’re discovered, the police will take snapshots of your dead, cos-tumed body, which will then be slid into photo albums and pored over by people like me, who can’t take the stench of an incoming decomp, so hole themselves up in the records room, moaning, ’Oh, my God. Oh, my God,’ not sure if they’re referring to your plum-colored face or to the squash blossom necklace you’ve chosen to go with that blouse.”

In the piece titled, “Town and Country,” Sedaris pon-ders the rift which can often exist between appearance and reality, when he is intimidated after being seated beside two picture-perfect airline passen-gers, who “looked like people who had just attended a horse show; a stately couple in their late sixties, he in a cashmere blazer and she in a grey tweed jacket, a gem-encrusted sham-

rock glittering against the rich felt of her lapel.”

Feeling scruffy and low-rent by comparison, he winces: “The sport coat I had prided myself on now looked clown-ish, as did my shoes, and the fistful of pine straw I refer to as my hair.” However, reality shifts, when he observes: “The couple took their seats and, just as I settled in beside them, the man turned to the woman, saying, “I don’t want to hear this shit.’

“I assumed he was refer-ring to the Gershwin number the airline had adopted as its theme song. ‘I can’t believe the fucking crap they make you listen to on planes nowadays.’

“The woman patted her sil-ver hair and agreed. Saying that whoever had programmed the music was an asshole.

“‘A cocksucker’, the man corrected her. ‘A goddamn cocksucking asshole.’”

They weren’t loud people and didn’t even sound all that angry, really. This was just the way they spoke, the ver-bal equivalent of their every-day china. Among company, the wife might remark that she felt a slight chill, but here that translated to ‘I am fuck-ing freezing.’… [H]ow had I so misjudged these people? Why, after all these years, do I still believe that expensive cloth-

ing signifies anything more than a disposable income, that tweed and cashmere actually bespeak refinement?...

It was as if they’d kidnapped the grandparents from a Ralph Lauren ad and forced them into a David Mamet play — and that, in part, is why the couple so appealed to me; there was something ridiculous and unexpected about them.”

By this time in his career and his life, Sedaris is in a monogamous relationship, and reflects on the joys and potholes involved in long-term cohabitation. In “Old Faithful,” he considers the limitations of love after his resourceful life partner, Hugh, volunteers to lance a festering boil located just above his butt crack with a sterilized needle; proving that there are connubial inti-macies well beyond the erotic kind: “Worse than the boil was the stuff that came out of it, a horrible custard, streaked with blood. What got me, and got to him even worse, was the stench, which was unbear-able and unlike anything I had come across before. It was, I thought, what evil must smell like. How could a person live with something so rotten inside of him? And so much of it! The first tablespoon gushed out on its own power, like something from a geyser. Then Hugh used

his fingers and squeezed out the rest. ‘How are you doing back there?’ I asked, but he was dry-heaving and couldn’t answer.

“When my boil was empty, he doused it with alcohol and put a bandage on it… And this, to me, was worth at least a hundred and twenty nights of Sodom. Back in bed I referred to him as Sir Lance-a-Lot.

“‘Once is not a lot,’ he said.“This was true, but Sir

Lance Occasionally lacks a certain ring.

“‘Besides’, I said, ‘I know you’ll do it again if I need you to. We’re an aging monoga-mous couple, and this is all part of the bargain’

“The thought of this kept Hugh awake that night, and still does. We go to bed and he stares toward the window as I sleep soundly beside him, my bandaged boil silently weeping on to the sheets.”

Sedaris ultimately proves that humor is capable of crossing borders and ideolo-gies, and, arguably, even dis-arming those cranky religion-based homophobes who hold that marriage — the good and also the very, very bad — can exist only between a man and a woman.

Michael Ehrhardt can be con-tacted at [email protected].

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� BOOKS, from p.62


Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is its chief spon-sor, concluded the votes were not there for the original inclusive approach.

“The Human Rights Campaign should not be human rights cow-ards,” said out gay Supervisor Tom Ammiano at a news con-ference on June 24. He will be joined in boycotting the dinner by other gay and lesbian elected officials including Supervisor Bevan Dufty, Assemblyman Mark Leno, and State Senator Carol Migden, both of the city’s LGBT political clubs, the San Francisco Labor Council, and Matt Foreman, the former executive director of NGLTF, the Chronicle reported.

Foreman told the newspaper this was “an emperor has no clothes moment” and added, “We still don’t have one single federal law that protects gay people, let alone transgendered people.”

Joe Solmonese, HRC’s presi-dent, who less than two months before the House passed the revised bill promised transgender groups unequivocally he would never support an Employment Non-Discrimination Act that was not fully inclusive, said in a state-ment, “HRC’s position is that we could not oppose — and, in fact, should support — legislation to provide crucial civil rights protec-tions that would be brought to the House floor for a vote, even though we did not and, certainly, would not have chosen that course.” He also said, “It’s time to set aside our differences and fight for what we all want.”

More than 300 groups nation-wide formed a coalition last year named United ENDA calling for the bill to be shelved if it did not protect gender identity and expression.

Dufty told the Chronicle he was skipping the HRC dinner for the first time in 23 years and would “instead make dinner at his home for people protesting outside the event.”

In the US House, a hearing on transgender rights was scheduled for June 26 before the Educa-

tion and Labor Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions.

Carey New Head of NGLTF

Rea Carey, who has served as the deputy director of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force for the last four years, has been appointed the group’s new executive director, taking over from Matt Foreman, who left earlier this year to work for the Haas Fund.

Carey has a history of activ-ism with such groups as ACT UP, and Lesbian Services at the Whitman-Walker Clinic in Washington, DC, and was a co-founder of Gay Men and Lesbi-ans Opposing Violence. She was the first executive director of the National Youth Advocacy Coali-tion for LGBT young people. She has a master’s degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard.

At the Task Force, she created the Public Policy and Government Affairs department as well as the Movement Building department.

Mara Keisling, executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, joined a chorus of movement leaders sing-ing Carey’s praises in a release: “Rea’s values are solid and her commitment to ensuring that our whole community moves forward together — including people who are transgender, young, old, and people of color — is unwavering. Rea gets it.”

And now, despite asking at first not to be considered for the top spot, she’s got it.

Women Still Chief Victims of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell

The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network released a new report that shows women are even more disproportionately thrown out of the military under the policy that excludes open gay and lesbian people than ever. “Women make up 15 percent of the armed forces, so to find they represent nearly 50 percent of Army and Air Force discharges under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is shocking,” Aubrey Sarvis, the group’s executive director said in a release.

Sarvis said the policy is “often used as a weapon of vengeance against servicemembers.” Women in the military are frequently accused of being lesbian when they won’t accept sexual come-ons from men, and complaining about the harassment triggers the military’s authority to begin prying into their personal lives.

Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama supports repeal of the gay exclusion while the GOP’s John McCain thinks the policy is work-ing just fine.

Judi Verdino, Youth, AIDS Service Provider, Dies

Judith Verdino, who took over the reigns of the Hetrick-Martin Institute for LGBT youth in 1991 when executive director Damien Martin died of AIDS, died from complications of breast cancer on June 20. She was 53.

Known not just for her dedica-tion to her work but also her dry wit, Verdino was, for the last 14 years, vice president for special initiatives and HIV programs at Public Health Solutions, formerly the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City. In that post, she oversaw the distribution of millions of dollars in federal Ryan White and CDC funding in the city.

“Judi always cared about

Over a Century of Continuous

COMMUNITY SERVICE

ARTSA year round calendar of classes, concerts, recitals, and exhibits are offered at our Music School and Pottery. Please visit www.gharts.org or www.greenwichhousepottery.org for up-to-date listings of events & activities. Locations: Music School The Pottery 46 Barrow Street 16 Jones Street 212.242.4770 212.242.4106

CHEMICAL DEPENDENCY SERVICESThe outpatient Chemical Dependency Program provides diagnosis, treatment and medicallysupervised drug-free counseling to substance abusers and families. Our Parole Treatment Program provides a range of services to people on parole. The Vocational Program provides voca-tional assessments, counseling, testing and vocational planning for clients who are interested in making a change in their life in terms of career, education and training. An outpatient Methadone Maintenance Treatment Program (MMTP) clinic dispenses methadone and offers individual and group counseling, medical treatment, referral, harm reduction and vocational counseling. Locations: Chemical Dependancy Services MMTP 122 W. 27th St., 6th Fl. 50B Cooper Square 212.691.2900 212.677.3400

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Our Preschool, provides day care ser vices in a safe haven for children of working families. The Barrow Street Nursery School is a half day, private program. Our Children's Safety Project helps children who have been physically or sexually abused or have witnessed domestic violence.

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ELDER CARE Our Senior Center provides breakfast and lunch daily, as well as a schedule of events and activities for our members to enjoy. The Senior Health & Consultation Center provides a range of mentalhealth and medical services to the geriatric community. Location: 27 Barrow Street, 3rd & 4th Floor 212.242.4140

HIV & AIDSOur HIV Services & AIDS Mental Health Project provide a comprehensive range of services to people who are HIV positive or living with AIDS including counseling, education, testing, mental health treatment, harm reduction, TB testing, and comprehensive primary medical care. Location: 122 West 27th Street HIV Services: 212.255.8980, 3rd Floor AIDS Mental Health: 212.691.2900, 6th Floor

For more information please visit www.greenwichhouse.org

� BRIEFS, from p.25

� BRIEFS, continued on p.76

REA CAREY

gaycitynews.com


ME: Purple? Illicit? Like a Jackie Collins novel?DS: Yeah; and “partner” just sounds like you’re in business

together. “Boyfriend” is nicer — less in your face. But, it surprises me how young gay guys have an easier time with relationships than when I was their age. Hugh knows this 23-year-old guy who lives with two boyfriends in the same house. When I asked him if they all share the same bed, he answered that one of his boyfriends sleeps in his own bed, because he has a back brace. The whole story sounded just so offbeat and domestic.

ME: Would you and Hugh ever consider marriage if it became a real option?

DS: Well, the mayor of Beverly Hills volunteered to marry us. But, apart from the practical advantages, it’s something I’d have to think about rushing into. I mean, in my lifetime, I must have gone to about 40 or 50 weddings, and they’re pretty grueling affairs. I don’t need to march down the aisle in a church ceremony, or a catered affair.

ME: Does living a lot of time abroad result in culture shock when you return to the States?

DS: Well, I live both in Paris and London, and people don’t seem so down and out there. Here in Tulsa, for example, every intersec-tion looks like a casting call for a hobo. Groups of Christian youth approach you for money, too. You have to constantly walk around with this emotional lead coat, so you don’t appear to be inhumane or racist. You don’t see as many people panhandling in Europe.

ME: Have you experienced anti-American sentiments while liv-ing abroad?

DS: Not in Paris. I found the British tended to be more anti-American. The French are pretty much looking forward to Bush leav-ing, and are hoping that Obama gets in.

ME: Are you much into politics these days?DS: Oh, yes. I voted in an absentee ballot in the New York pri-

mary for Obama. I think Hillary is smart and good at details, but she isn’t as good a communicator as Obama is. John Kerry came across

the same way as Hilary that last time around.ME: In your new book, your author’s note specifies that the

events described are “realish.” Publishers have certainly gotten pretty antsy since “A Million Little Pieces.”

Don’t you feel that readers expect humorists to embroider their experiences for maximum effect, as opposed to full-fledged mem-oirists?

DS: Yes. That author’s note was my idea. I think things have got-ten really out of hand since the James Frey incident. I mean writing about events in your awful childhood and presenting it as an auto-biography, and just making them up, is showing contempt for your readers. Which is something I would never do.

ME: Your stories are like jazz riffs on humorous themes and inci-dents in your life. Do you feel that humorists, like yourself, are held to a higher standard than our politicians today?

DS: Yes, I do. They can make things up, skew facts, willingly mislead the public, and cause a lot of people to die.

ME: The New York Times book critic, Michiko Kakutani was not all that amused with some of your new stuff.. She found your story about the medical examiner’s office had a “distinctly dis-tasteful — even down-right creepy — aroma.” Your French coun-try neighbor, the convicted child-molester, seems to have irked her. She seems to have found the story about your boil gross. Do you feel that tastefulness and political correctness and humor are incompatible?

DS: Well, Kakutani had issues with my last book; she thought my piece on the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam was “cringe-wor-thy,” because I wrote that I was surprised at how nice and bright it was; that it was really prime real estate; right off the canal, and all. I thought it would make a really great triplex; it was all about…

ME: Location, location, location…DS: I certainly wasn’t making fun of the Holocaust. I’d never do

that. And the French child molester was a pathetic character, who was brain-damaged. He was a sad case.

ME: Freud thought that humor happens when the conscious mind, or the super ego, lets in forbidden and taboo thoughts which

society suppresses; the superego allows the ego to generate humor, and relieves emotional energy and anxiety. Kakutani must have a very constipated super-ego. Obviously, you’re more in touch with your pleasure-seeking id.

DS: I guess so. Well, I never read my reviews anyway. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I always figure that if I can get those sto-ries published in The New Yorker, I must be doing something right.

ME: How did the Esquire assignment for the story “Monster Mash” come into being?

DS: Well, Esquire asked me if I wanted to do a piece, and I said I’d like to do one on a city morgue, which always fascinated me. Actually, the piece was originally a lot stronger, and I ended up toning it down. Sometimes you don’t realize how strong a piece is until you read them to a live audience. I guess unless you’ve lost someone in a terrible accident, you don’t know exactly how hearing those things can effect someone As it ended up, the medical exam-iner’s office was grateful for the publicity, since the workers had an axe to grind about getting more funding.

ME: You wrote about giving the baccalaureate address at Princ-eton, and a “well-known politician” who you both despise and loathe complimented you, and with whom you begrudgingly shook hands. Who was it?

DS: It was Bill Frist. It was a really awkward situation. But, I rationalized it by saying to myself that it wasn’t a political situation. Another time, when I appeared on “David Letterman,” he introduced me to John McCain; who seemed to have a good sense of humor.

ME: Now that you’ve quit smoking, are there any other vices you have to work on or take up as a replacement?

DS: Putting on weight, I guess.

ME: What do you read for pleasure these days?DS: I’m just reading Michael Chabon’s “The Yiddish Policemen’s

Union,” which I’m enjoying a lot. I like reading Susan Sheehan, too.

On June 22, “When You Are Engulfed In Flames” was #1 on the New Times Best Seller List.

— Michael Ehrhardt

Best of New York, 2007Magazine

PAWS INS O H O • C H E L S E A

40 EIGHT AVENUE

� SEDARIS, from p.62


making sure the process worked for people,” said Barbara Turk of the Community Resource Exchange.

Back in 1998 in a letter to the New York Times, Verdino took on Cardinal John O’Connor’s opposi-tion to a city domestic partners bill. “As a lesbian who has been in a committed relationship for 17 years,” she wrote, “I believe that the cardinal is sadly out of date in his definition of family. What makes a family is love and commitment. My partner and I, like thousands of other gay and straight unmarried couples, easily qualify as a family. If you still have doubts that we’re a family, just ask our seven-year-old daughter.”

Verdino is survived by her wife, Imani Romney-Rosa, with whom she had a commitment ceremony last year, and daughter, Genna Verdino-Ellis, as well as a brother, Christopher, and sister, Joanne.

Love DiesKermit Love, who created

the costume for Big Bird on TV’s “Sesame Street” along with such characters as Oscar the Grouch and Cookie Monster, died June 21. He was 91. The New York Times noted that he was survived by Christopher Lyall, his partner of 50 years.

Love was also famous as

the costume designer for ballets choreographed by George Bal-anchine, Agnes de Mille, Robert Joffrey, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp, the newspaper said. He started as a puppet designer with the Works Progress Admin-istration, or WPA, in 1935 and worked as a designer for Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater.

The white-bearded Love played Willy the Hot Dog Man on “Sesame Street.”

Arizona Anti-Gay Amendment Stalled

Arizona, whose voters were the only ones ever to reject a state constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage and domestic partnership put before them — despite support for it from their senator, John McCain — may not have to vote

on another such amendment this year. A stripped-down version that does not address domestic partnerships — so as to cool the ire of older voters who live together but don’t want to muck with their wills — was rejected by a State Senate panel 14-1. The panel also voted, however, to bring it up again at an unspecified future date.

Florida and California have certified ballot measures against same-sex marriage for the fall, though California’s is the subject of a lawsuit (see page 4).

The New York Coy Times

In Deborah Solomon’s “Ques-tions For” column in the Times Sunday Magazine, Florida Gov-ernor Charlie Crist was asked a question that started, “Your per-sonal life is not that of a typical Republican…” But instead of

getting into the press-reported rumors of his being gay, Solomon asked why he was “not a prop-erty owner” and why he “can’t find one woman in all of Florida” to marry, after a marriage nearly 30 years ago ended in less than 12 months.

Christ answered the latter, “Stay tuned.”

Some Enchanted Paulo Out

Paulo Szot, who won the Best Actor in a Musical Tony Award for his portrayal of Emile de Beque in the hit revival of “South Pacific,” is an out gay man. The Brazilian opera singer’s publicist was contacted by Brian Juergens of AfterElton.com and when asked if Szot is gay, the flack said, “You’re welcome to say as much.” Nice to have him in the club.

Gaybashers Arrested in Flagstaff after Pride

Four men in their mid-20s were arrested for assaulting two people for being gay after the Pride in the Pines festival in Flagstaff, Arizona in the wee hours of June 23 outside a restaurant. One of the survivors of the attack, Michael Brown, was found unconscious and bleeding. The victims had been waiting for a cab with volunteers from Equality Arizona.

The Arizona Republic reported the alleged perps face charges of aggravated assault, assault, and disorderly conduct and may be subject to the hate crimes statute.

Obama PrideDemocratic presidential nomi-

nee Barack Obama issued a state-ment for LGBT Pride Month, saying

he is proud to “join with our les-bian, gay, bisexual, and transgen-dered brothers and sisters in cel-ebrating the accomplishments, the lives, and the families of all LGBT people.” Such a bouquet is not expected from the McCain camp.

Obama supports virtually all LGBT rights short of marriage. McCain has voted against virtu-ally every gay rights initiative, though he did vote against the federal marriage amendment, but only because he felt it wasn’t needed at this time.

Britain to Gay Asylum Seekers: Go Home and Be ‘Discreet’

British Home Secretary Jacqui Smith said gay asylum seekers from places like Iran — which has the death penalty for homosexu-ality — should not be automati-cally accepted in the UK, writing to a Liberal Democrat member of the House of Lords that there wasn’t a “real risk” of “adverse action” against LGBT folks in Iran if they were “discreet,” the Inde-pendent reported.

Ben Summerskill, head of Stonewall, told the newspa-per, “You only have to listen to people who were terrorized by the Metropolitan Police in the 1950s and 1960s to know that telling gay people to be dis-creet is quixotic.”

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� BRIEFS, from p.73

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Downpours of rain occasionally alternated with bright, even blazing sunshine, but that didn’t keep away the thousands from Sunday’s Folsom Street East celebration of leather, rubber, S/M, and kink on the strip of West 28th Street from Tenth to Eleventh Avenue.

What proved new this year were an emcee and a closing musical act who both were nation-ally known — porn impresario Chi Chi LaRue manned the stage throughout the show spanning hours and rocker Bob Mould came out at about 5:30 for a long and well-received musical set.

One of LaRue’s treats for the audience was an elaborate performance of perhaps-simulated sex among a group of muscled leather dudes carefully obscured, in deference to New York City law, by a shower curtain held up at both ends of the stage. The roughhousing behind the curtain certainly was convincing, even entrancing — and through-out the 20-minute piece, as it were, a giant dildo molded in the shape of the Empire State Building was periodically raised and lowered behind the curtain. At the end of it all, the Empire dildo was tossed into the crowd as a souvenir.

At the other end of the block, hundreds gath-ered in the makeshift beer garden set up in front of the Eagle to help quench the thirsts they had from a party-hearty afternoon.

Proceeds from the event benefited the New York City Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the National Coalition for Sexual Freedom, the LGBT Community Center, and the Gay Male S/M Activists.— Paul Schindler

THOUSANDS TURN OUT FOR FOLSOM STREET EAST

Chi Chi LaRue puts on an elaborate shower show; Bob Mould rocks out in the late afternoon; and the Eagle provides a well-quenched nest.

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26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Marriage MusingsTo “I do” or not to “I do?” –– that is but one of the questions

80/ Theater

BY DAVID KENNERLEY

Those freshly hitched same-sex couples in California sure seem

like a blissful bunch. Many had dreamed of this moment for years, while others, caught up in the euphoria of mak-ing history, made a mad dash to the altar. But recent data tracking Massachusetts same-sex unions show that many marriages have shattered, just like their hetero counterparts.

The November ballot initia-tive to nullify the whole she-bang notwithstanding, what are the chances these couples will stay united ’til death?

Perhaps they should have seen “A Perfect Couple,” a lean, provocative look at finding and keeping love by Brooke Ber-man, who wrote last season’s acclaimed “Hunting and Gath-ering.” While the decidedly imperfect couple at the core of the marriage quandary is het-erosexual, the questions raised are universal, indeed.

And boy, does Berman raise a tangle of questions.

After being in a rocky rela-tionship with Amy for 15 years, Isaac (a scruffy James Waterston) declares that “It’s a good time” for them to get mar-ried. He’d recently inherited their house in upstate New York from his beloved step-mother, and the headstrong, bossy Amy (Dana Eskelson) has a baby clock that’s ticking real loud. But is the time really right?

Visiting from “the city” for the weekend is confirmed bachelorette Emma (Annie McNamara), looking like some Williamsburg librarian with her smart dark-rimmed glass-

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� PERFECT, continued on p.95


7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

RaUnch at The Ranch

Big Apple Ranch, New York’s venue for country-western dancing, hosts “Big Apple RaUnch,” the annual Pride Dance fundraiser for the Times Squares Square Dance Club, the New York affiliate of the International Association of Gay and Lesbian Square Dance Clubs. The money raised helps support rental on the spaces where the club offers dance lessons Sep. to May every year. Come in you finest, funnest leather, fetish, raunchy wear — not required! — and dance to some hot cowboy music. 39 W. 19 St., fifth fl., 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Show up at 8 for free dance lessons. Admission is $10. For more information, visit http://www.bigappler-anch.com.

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AT THE BEACHA Possible Dreamboat

The New York Times has called him “the last leading man.” Lots of gay guys would probably call him a major hunk with some great singing chops. Brian Stokes Mitchell won the Tony for “Kiss Me Kate” and snagged nominations for “Man of La

fags,” he was told they said). And White lost a shaving cream ad. “There was talk of legal action,” White said, but a law banning such discrimi-nation had not even been conceived at that point.

Whi te , f r esh out Ya le Drama School, was deeply resistant to taking a role in it at first. But he was working with the legendary Myrna Loy at the time and he said she told him after reading the script, “Peter, if you want to be an actor you’ve got to take risks!”

“I didn’t expect to get the part,” he said, “and when I did get it I was terrified. Most of us lost our agents.”

White said, “But when the show began, our lives were changed — I think for the better.”

Luckinbill recalled an older disabled man coming up to him in a theater much later and telling him that his portrayal of Hank, the gay schoolteacher, “gave me the courage to tell my parents that I was gay.”

They talked about a peep-hole in the back of the set from which they could watch the reactions of everyone from their parents to Groucho Mark and Jackie Onassis from back-stage.

The men all paid tribute to the indispensable contribu-tions of director Bob Moore, a Broadway veteran of musical plays, famous for helming Neil Simon’s work. While Crowley insisted that the original cast do the movie, the producers insisted on a film director and Moore got dumped to Crow-ley’s eternal regret.

Crowley was asked i f the Alan character — who intrudes on the gay party and is thought to have come to New York to tell his old friend Michael that he, too, is gay only have it revealed that he had a bad spat with his wife — is really gay in the play-wright’s mind. “I don’t know,” he said. “Make up whatever you want to,” he said to White who played the role, “just don’t do it tonight.”

“I’m still thinking about it,” said White. “It’s a difficult role. If half think he’s gay and half think he isn’t, that’s what you want.”

Wherever you come out, it was an evening to remember. As Harold would say, “Friends, thanks for the nifty party and the super gift.”

A new edition of the play with a foreword by Tony Kush-ner has just been published by Alyson Books.

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� BOYS IN THE BAND, from p.64



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BY GARY M. KRAMER

The provocative Catherine Breillat once again depicts the battle of the sexes in “The Last Mistress.”

While there may be no surprise who will win, perhaps the most novel thing about her latest film is that it is set in 19th century France.

This romantic drama features many resplendent period costumes, which the actors periodically shed so they can copulate. The characters’ moral-ity, honor, and dignity, however, are also stripped bare. The question is: Will audiences care? Despite the hand-somely-mounted production, and an attractive cast, there is very little heat in this tale of overheated emotions.

The story, based on Jules Bar-bey d’Aurevilly’s novel, tells of a Ryno de Marigny (Fu’ad Aît Aattou) who is engaged to Hermangarde (Roxane Mesquida), a woman of great nobil-ity. However, his mistress, Vellini (Asia Argento), a bewitching Spanish woman of illegitimate birth, maintains a hold on him. She believes that despite his impending marriage, de Marigny will “come back to her as always.”

To be certain that her granddaugh-ter Hermangarde’s fiancé’s intentions are noble, and that he is not the liber-tine his reputation suggests, the Mar-quise de Flers (Claude Sarraute) listens as de Marigny recounts his rocky ten-

year relationship with his mistress. His story describes meeting Vellini, and her initial dislike for de Marigny. It is only after a duel of honor that she express-es any affection for him, evidenced in Vellini licking de Marigny’s blood after he is wounded. This scene prompts one of the many couplings de Marigny and Vellini have over the course of the film, and curiously, it is not the only time she participates in such unusual behavior.

Alas, the sex in “The Last Mistress” is one of the film’s drawbacks, not one of its highlights, and not because it is sometimes bloody. Breillat, who is a master of eroticism, provides very little to get aroused by here. One reason may be that the slightly built Aattou, with his bee-stung lips and his milky skin, is actually prettier than his co-star Argento. Furthermore, Argento’s heav-ing bosoms— frequently on display — operate like this was a crass Harlequin romance, not a classy arthouse film.

The actress is also miscast. She is

■ FILM

Passions Simmer, Don’t BoilCatherine Breillat’s subtlety undermines her stinging message

Asia Argento is the mistress to Fu’ad Aît Aattou’s Ryno de Marigny.

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THE LAST MISTRESSDirected by Catherine BreillatReleased by IFC FilmsOpen Jun. 27IFC Center, Lincoln Plaza Cinemas

� MISTRESS, continued on p.85


7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

Mancha” “Ragtime,” and August Wilson’s “King Hedley II.” Tonight he will appear courtesy of the Fire Island Pines Arts Project at the Brandon Fradd Theatre, Whyte Hall in the Pines, 9 p.m. Tickets are $150-$250 at http://www.fipap.org.

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SUN.JUN.29PRIDETake the Fifth

Heritage of Pride sponsors the 39th annual New York City LGBT Pride Day March, beginning at 52nd St. & Fifth Ave. at noon and proceeding down Fifth to an endpoint at Christopher & Greenwich Sts. in the West Village. The first march was an un-permitted civil rights demonstration in 1970 to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. Over the years, it has grown into a mammoth, colorful celebration and parade. This year’s grand marshals are the LGBT Community Cen-ter, celebrating 25 years in 2008; Gilbert Baker, who created the Rainbow Flag 30 years ago; PFLAG-Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays; and performance artists, and actress Candis

meant to be magnetic, but she comes across as downright resistible. Despite an excellent coquettish moment where she leaves de Marigny one night in a rapture of unsatisfied ardor, most of Argento’s performance is overplayed and overwrought. Perhaps her most awful acting comes when tragedy strikes the couple, and Vellini lets loose with some hysterical wailing. It’s unintentionally amusing that she does some of this bellowing while naked atop her lover, allowing her massive breasts to shake.

If Fu’ad Aît Aattou is not

as dynamic as his co-star — and that is in his favor — this may be deliberate. Unlike his Argento, Aattou’s performance is largely internal, and he is able to project his fervor as well as his conflict about each rela-tionship as the scene requires. He does well with the extensive dialogue during the best part of the film — the extended flash-back sequence in which de Marigny delights the Marquise de Flers with his storytelling. Sarraute, as the Marquise, is terrific in these scenes. She is completely seduced by him, and viewers will be too.

Despite the disparate perfor-mances among the film’s lead-

ing actors, its morality remains intriguing. Breillat shrewdly addresses the manners and mores of the era, albeit not subtly. An early line of dialogue implores that women should “never let a man rule [them].” The differences between how Hermangarde and Vellini strug-gle to keep de Marigny’s love alive amply demonstrate this adage and provide the film with its stinging social message.

The story is set up beauti-fully, but it is disappointing that the second half of “The Last Mistress” fails to main-tain the interest generated in the beginning. By the film’s midpoint, the fates of the char-

acters are telegraphed in such a way that everyone gets what they deserve, but their satis-faction or punishment is not particularly gratifying.

The lack of dramatic tension, and the subdued emotions also keep “The Last Mistress” from fully succeeding. Breillat’s approach is mostly detached, and while it works when elderly members of society are gossip-ing about the central romance, the more intimate scenes –– such as those in the bedroom — are too impersonal to be truly effective. Sure, just desserts are best served cold, but for much of “The Last Mistress” the fiery passions are missing.

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� MISTRESS, from p.84

in the words of Albin from “La Cage Aux Folles,” “her own special creation.” There are some unmistakable echoes of Terrence McNally’s “Master Class” through this section, as Nevelson holds forth, and it bogs down a bit, but it remains intriguing if not wholly involv-ing.

Mercedes Ruehl gives a wonderfully controlled perfor-mance as Nevelson. She is very matter of fact about the reality she has created. Even when faced with questions about her

truthfulness from The Man, she exudes great comfort with the life she has created, neither shying away from the more dif-ficult parts nor making too big a deal about the successes. Her command of the stage is com-plete, and with Jane Green-wood’s marvelously eccentric costumes, she is a presence that can’t be avoided — not that one would want to.

Larry Bryggman manages to strike a balance between knowledge and fatuousness, qualities not unfamiliar in the celebrity journalism world. While his charm may cloy,

we want him to ask the ques-tions, because we’re so darn curious. We want to know or, more accurately, we want the illusion of knowing, and that in itself is a kind of participatory art.

The evening is wonderfully directed by Pam MacKinnon, who helmed Albee’s “Peter and Jerry” last season. MacKinnon manages to keep the feeling natural and fluid. There is a relaxation about this produc-tion that is part of its charm and makes it feel more like a conversation than a recital of information –– no mean feat

since not much happens in the course of this play.

In the end, Albee makes it clear that the only thing we can be absolutely sure of about Nevelson is the work — the sculpture — because it exists; we can see it, touch it, have our own interpretations about it. Everything else, well, we make it up as best we can as we go along. Famous or not, that’s an inherently and uniquely human trait. Nevelson, like all of us, created the life she can — or could — live with. That is vastly more important than any other concept of truth.

� THEATER, from p.66



26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

A Prodigy of WillUpscale doc reveals personal side of blacklisted Hollywood scribe

86/ Film

BY IOANNIS MOOKAS

“Share and share alike — that’s democracy!”

— Ginger Rogers, in “Tender Com-rade” (1943), written by Dalton Trumbo.

Then as now, fear stalked and rampaged. Then as now, beliefs were suspect, and many deemed

guilty by association. Constitutional tenets and the rule of law, as today, were mocked and trampled.

For more than a dozen years after the US emerged regnant from World War II, it was, in Hollywood screen-writer Dalton Trumbo’s phrase, “the time of the toad.”

Yes, “Trumbo,” a documentary adaptation of the 2003 stage play by Trumbo’s son Christopher, is assur-edly timely –– the toad still seethes poison. And befitting its subject’s Beverly Hills penchants, the film is a luxe affair, boasting starry interpret-ers and a technical sheen that smells like money. As the highest-paid scribe in the dream factory before his defam-ing at the McCarthyite inquisition, Trumbo himself would have expected

nothing less.A man of capacious abilities and

towering will, Trumbo suffered little angst reconciling collectivist values and communist leanings –– he joined the Party’s Hollywood chapter in 1943, after years in its orbit — with the pro-found satisfaction perhaps only Great Depression survivors could plumb from the savory fruits of what Lizabeth Cohen has called America’s postwar “consumer’s republic.”

Born in 1905 to a quiet shoe store clerk and a no-nonsense sheriff’s daughter, and reared on Colorado’s arid Western Slope, James Dalton Trumbo moved with his Christian Scientist family to Los Angeles two decades later and remained there in poverty after his father’s premature death from anemia. Left with his resil-ient mother and two sisters, Trumbo toiled nights at the Davis Perfection Bakery for eight trying years while attending USC day classes and nur-turing his voice as a fledgling writer.

Having dabbled in bootlegging –– the Depression bred ingenuity –– Trumbo landed a gig through a friend’s graces as a reader in the Warner Bros. story department. After two of his own short

stories were bought by the Saturday Evening Post, he vaulted up the War-ners ladder, becoming a full-fledged screenwriter at $100 a week. His ambitions were still chiefly literary; as he wrote to his first agent, “I want the movies to subsidize me for a while, until I establish myself as a legitimate writer.”

In no time, he was agitating for the Screen Writers Guild, and getting himself canned in the process. Over a decade before the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) inau-gurated the anti-communist blacklist of infamy, Trumbo was told in 1936 by his new boss Harry Cohn at Colum-bia, “You’re blacklisted,” for refusing to endorse the grossly skewed, studio-backed Screen Playwrights accord.

But both before and during McCa-rthy’s blacklist, Trumbo — the life-long model of industry — wrote his way over, around, and through the hurdles, a staunchless fount of story ideas, treatments, scripts, rewrites, doctoring, polishes for which demand rarely lacked.

It’s the professional and private dimensions of Trumbo that Peter Askin, smoothly transferring to film the work he directed onstage, brings into a deliberate balance against Trumbo’s iconic persona as one of the Hollywood Ten, the first round of movie people barred from their trade, imprisoned, shunned, and forced underground –– heralds of thousands to follow. The film’s intimate pedigree as Christopher’s portrait of his singu-lar father, however, proves to be a con-straint as well as a boon.

Few others, to be sure, could as expertly have burrowed through Trumbo’s papers to reconstruct from the writer’s own words the armature of his life, sampling from and some-times combining his truckloads of let-ters. These supply the texts performed as monologues by a cast including Donald Sutherland, David Strathairn, Liam Neeson, Brian Dennehy, Nathan Lane, Joan Allen, Josh Lucas, and Michael Douglas, each taking turns in plain shirtsleeves against a matte

black backdrop, emoting straight to camera.

The uneven star parade –– Paul Giamatti seems to be stifling a smirk; Lane looks bleary and visibly scans a teleprompter –– tends to be upstaged by encounters with Jean Rouverol Butler, the still-peppery widow of Trumbo’s close friend and fellow blacklistee Hugo Butler; Kirk Doug-las, who sponsored Trumbo’s break-ing of the blacklist in 1960 with screen credit for Kubrick’s “Spartacus”; and Christopher’s sister Mitzi (Melissa), here granting her first interview about life with dad.

But the film’s lode of filial reverence manifests, in part, through certain questionable emphases. As Robert

Joan Allen is among those who sit for monologues con-veying Dalton Trumbo’s written words culled from an enormous trove of his letters.

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TRUMBODirected by Peter AskinSamuel Goldwyn FilmsOpens Jun. 27Lincoln Plaza Cinemas;Landmark Sunshine Cinema

� TRUMBO, continued on p.87


7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

Cayne. At 2 p.m., a moment of silence will be observed to remember those lost to AIDS, violence, and neglect. To watch the step off, gather in the low 50s or high 40s; the crowds are largest below 14th St. and especially on Christopher St.; and the most relaxed viewing is available between 42nd and 23rd Sts. Of course, feel free to jump in with your favorite group or on your own. For more informa-tion, visit http://www.nycpride.org.

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A Lavender Street Fair

Pridefest, Heritage of Pride’s annual LGBT festival, is back after a one-year hiatus, and in a new, more open space on Hudson St. Local residents and fami-lies, community leaders, and area busi-ness owners come together to celebrate in the street. Hudson St. btwn. Abing-don Sq. & W. 14th St., 11 a.m.-7 p.m.

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Don’t Fall in the River!

Heritage of Pride hosts the annual Dance on the Pier, a response to the time when LGBT people could not dance

Koehler rightly noted in Vari-ety, “Trumbo” tacitly assumes that the writer’s work set the standard for screenwriting art in his day. Such a claim conflates artistic caliber with professional clout –– Trumbo commanded top dollar to the end, and before the blacklist uniquely exempted himself from the studios’ usual “mor-als clause” –– and ignores T rumbo’s own sangfroid toward his screen work, as distinct from his literary fic-tion.

Aside from the fact that he never expected his writing to reach the screen inviolate up the many rungs of studio-line production, even those scripts realized closest to Trumbo’s original conception –– Edward Dmytryk’s “Tender Comrade,” or Irving Rapper’s “The Brave One” (1956) — endure more as shrewd liberal entertain-ments than as exalted screen-writing on a par with, say, Samson Raphaelson’s “The Shop Around the Corner” or Ernest Lehman’s “North by Northwest.”

Inflation is in any case redundant to an accurate appraisal of Trumbo’s achieve-ments. They’re fine indeed, from injecting startling radical content into pictures like John Farrow’s “Five Came Back”

(1939) to penning scintillat-ing adaptations like Joseph H. Lewis’ “Gun Crazy” (1949) to, perhaps most crucially, the poised mettle with which he faced the HUAC subpoena, the depraved hearings, the sentencing to federal prison for contempt of Congress.

Hollywood Ten inductee Ring Lardner, Jr. later recalled Trumbo’s instrumental role in devising a valiant, principled defense strategy for the group aimed at foiling HUAC’s tres-pass upon the filmmakers’ First Amendment guarantees rather than hiding behind Fifth Amendment safeguards against self-incrimination, as soon became the norm for “unfriendly” witnesses loath to confirm or deny whether they were then, or ever had been, a Communist Party member.

The second film artist to take the stand before HUAC once the nightmare began that October 1947, Trumbo fol-lowed the splenetic, unnerving John Howard Larson by coolly reversing the angle of attack, interrogating the Committee’s right to question his inalien-able American freedoms of belief, of expression, of asso-ciation. “Very many questions can be answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’,” he attested, “only by a moron or a slave.”

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� JUNE 28, continued on p.89 Donald Sutherland also reads from Trumbo’s letters onscreen.

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

Looney TunesDavid Munro forces us to experience life as unending cartoon

88/ Film

BY NICHOLAS FEITEL

Ah, the cartoons of youth. As much as we are shaped by the “nurturing love” and “guiding

influence” of our parents, the “care and wisdom” of our teachers and the “dubious values” of whatever adult entertainment we were exposed to at the time, really it is the cartoons that remain most salient in our memories.

Whether those cartoons are the relatively harmless antics of a car-toon mouse in a steamboat, or the generally more foul-mouthed, socio-politically relevant antics of a show like “South Park,” we internalize cartoons because we enjoy them. They become the ultimate escapism because of their distinct unreality, often reflecting our secret desires.

After all, what child wouldn’t want to let loose on a steamboat down the River Delta, or call their teacher a word unmentionable in most pub-lications? Such is the world of car-toon fantasy, which are two excellent words to describe David Munro’s new feature “Full Grown Men.” Another two words are “willfully bizarre.”

Another two words are “arrested development,” but I think those are already taken.

The film is a cartoon fantasy –– in as much as a live action film can be

–– regarding the real world with all of its troublesome rules and the story it is trying to tell. Alby (Matt McGrath) has just entered the early stages of middle age, complete with wife and

kid, but has never held down a real job, preferring an obsessive hobby with his action figures. As the film opens, we see a montage of his draw-ings, more cartoons encapsulat-ing, in crudely-rendered images, his world and his life thus far to the one downer moment –– his current life.

Resigned to the need to jumpstart his very being, he does what any grown man, sports athlete, small child, or anyone who fancies himself a small child would do –– he goes to Diggityland. Did you assume that’s a typo –– well the filmmakers, I sup-pose, want to avoid legal complica-tions. Alby leans on his one-time best friend Elias (Judah Friedlander), a special-ed teacher, and they head off in an awkward-mobile on a road trip through Florida to “remember the magic.”

Along the way they meet a cast of

Matt McGrath as cartoon-stuck Alby with Judah Friedlander’s Elias, on their road trip to “remember the magic.”

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� LOONEY, continued on p.89


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openly and proudly together. It’s a protest set to music, a celebration set to the Hudson River horizon, and a reminder of how far the community has come. Joe Gauthreaux and Tracy Young provide the music and Guy Smith the dusk light-ing. Pier 54, 13th St. at the West Side Highway, 4-10:30 p.m. Fireworks over the Hudson cap off the evening. Admis-sion is $55 through Jun. 28; $75 on Jun. 29, on which tickets are only available at Universal Gear. Before Jun. 29, tickets available at http://www.boxofficetickets.com, 800-494-TIXS, Universal Gear, 140 Eighth Ave. at 17th St.;, Village Apoth-ecary, 346 Bleecker St. at W. Tenth St., or Wear Me Out, 353 W. 47th St.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

CELEBRATIONOutdoor Glamour

Stiletto @ The Garden of Ono hosts an afternoon women’s party that prom-ises to sizzle. An enticing raffle will gen-erate proceeds for the Ali Forney Center, a non-profit that provides housing and services to LGBT homeless youth. Gar-den of Ono at the Hotel Gansevoort, 18 Ninth Ave. btwn. Gansevoort & 13th Sts., 11 a.m.-6 p.m.

zany characters, other “real-life” cartoons, like a disgrun-tled former military mascot (Alan Cumming), a horny mermaid (Deborah Harry), and Miss Living Cartoon herself, the estimable Amy Sedaris. But the actual details of Alby and Elias’ journey to Diggityland are obscured in the grand delusion of their journey. The film zigs and zags going nowhere, content rather to sit with Alby playing with his action figures, des-perately trying and trying.

Tone is a hard thing to dis-cuss, in this film or any other, but here it is stranger still. Upon first examination of “Full Grown Men,” I thought it was probably just awful. The qual-ity of the story, the plot holes, the cameo after cameo –– Joie Lee? Really? It seemed too strange to me, it seemed… childish.

Yet some of the film’s faults become its strengths when appreciated through the lens of the main character.

Munro has created a film the reflects Alby’s essential truth about the world –– that life should be a kids’ car -toon for a 35-year old man

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� LOONEY, from p.88

� LOONEY, continued on p.95� JUNE 28, continued on p.92



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area, told a newspaper there that Pat-erson had offered him the job of run-ning the New York Power Authority. Some newspapers said the offer, which would remove a Democrat from the Senate, was a concession to Bruno in order to win his support on a property tax cap.

Paterson quickly and strongly denied the account, and by Monday Aubertine said he must have misun-derstood conversations with the gover-nor’s top staff.

When stories of a Paterson-Bru-no détente surfaced in the New York Times last month, several Democrats in the Senate or affiliated with their campaign effort as well as Van Capelle batted back the supposition. This week Duane reiterated his view that the gov-ernor remains committed to a Demo-cratic majority in the chamber he once served as minority leader.

Accepting Aubertine’s recent state-ment saying he had misunderstood, Duane said that behind closed doors his caucus was “reassured that Darrel wants to stay with us and that the gov-ernor is committed to winning us the majority.” Duane also noted, however,

that “there is a little bit of a Kremlin atmosphere to Albany where nobody wants to come forward and say exact-ly what was said and what may have been misunderstood.”

Paterson has earned the enmity of at least five legislative Republicans over his recent order that all state agencies promptly develop regulations for according out-of-state marriages by gay and lesbian couples full recogni-tion. A group of lawmakers, including Serphin R. Maltese of western Queens and Martin Golden from Bay Ridge, have filed suit in Bronx Supreme Court

challenging the governor’s move.On June 22, gay political activists

gathered on the steps of City Hall to denounce Golden, in an action called by Brooklyn’s Lambda Independent Democrats.

We have learned to expect this kind of intolerance from Marty Golden,” said Terrance Knox, LID’s co-presi-dent. “This is the same guy who had a problem with bus shelter posters for television’s ‘The L Word,’” Knox said.

LID was joined by members of the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club, the Stonewall Democrats, and the Out People of Color Political Action Com-mittee.

� ALBANY, from p.7

“There is a little bit of a Kremlin atmosphere to Albany where nobody wants to come forward and say exactly what was said.”

26 JUN - 2 JUL 2008

7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

NIGHTLIFESpunky Time

After the parade, join the crew at Babeland, the premiere adult sex toy shop, for its Queer Flirt Party, a singles event that’s a great place to mix, mingle, and make out with your favorite new crush. Free drinks and snacks will be provided, and no admission fee. Babe-land SoHo, 43 Mercer St. just north of Grand St., 8-11 p.m.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

Last DanceThe Saint at Large presents Cham-

pions, a benefit event that Heritage of Pride has designated the official after-party of the Dance on the Pier. Black Party star DJs Stephan Grondin and Jon-athan Peters join the legendary Junior Vasquez in providing the music. Ross Berger and Darren Kawa do the lighting. Pacha NYC, 618 W. 46th St., 10 p.m. until Monday afternoon. Tickets are $60 at http://www.saintatlarge.com , Nasty Pig, 265A W. 19th St.; Screaming Mimi’s, 382 Lafayette St. at W. Fourth St. , Village Apothecary: 346 Bleecker St. at West Tenth St. and Wear Me Out: 353 W. 47th St.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

MON.JUN.30BENEFITKids At Risk

The Trevor Project, established in 1998 to provide a national, 24-hour, 7-day a week toll-free crisis and suicide prevention helpline for gay and question-ing youth hosts its annual awards dinner. This year’s honorees include actor Alan Cumming, the-n.com, TV for teens, and the Colin Higgins Foundation, which has provided critical philanthropic help to the Trevor Project. Alec Mapa, America’s Gaysian Sweetheart and a star of “Ugly Betty” and “Desperate Housewives,” emcees the evening, which includes an appearance by Broadway stars Cheyenne Jackson (“Xanadu”) and Idina Menzel (“Wicked”), singing from her new album “I Stand,” Sandra Bernhard, Heather Matarazzo, and Rosie Perez. Mandarin Oriental, 80 Columbus Circle, 6:30 reception, 7:30 dinner. Tickets begin at $250 at http://www.trevorproject.org.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

BENEFITMaking Us A Song

Scott Nevin’s “Curtain Call” caps off Pride Weekend with an appearance by Alysha Umphress, who was a cast member of the recent William Finn revue “Make Me a Song.” Splash Bar, 50 W. 17th St., 11:30 p.m. Show up early

Stranger in a Strange LandLaurie Marks offers up queer books for queer times

92/ Books

BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL

Queers are a peculiar minority. We come from nowhere, and

are raised by heterosexuals like eggs left in the wrong nest. We’re exiles in a foreign cul-ture, anthropologists from day one observing mating habits and pairings that have nothing to do with us. In short, we’re the original aliens.

It’s not surprising that fan-tasy and science fiction have a strong appeal. Growing up I read and re-read the “Narnia Chronicles” and anything by Madeleine L’Engle. I accepted the Bible without question. Why not winged prophets announcing the birth of babies or the end of the world? Why not burning bushes, tongues of fire, and outcast healers when I knew the world I lived in was not what it seemed?

There was a skinny, light-footed guy in college that took it even farther. He only wore green and claimed to be descended from Tolkien’s fair-ies. He didn’t have an easy time of it. Even from me. I sneered with the others behind his back. Now, I’m glad he had a cushion, an escape hatch until he figured out who he really was. He came out after college like I did.

That’s the essence of the genre. There are plenty of boys with swords and bulging mus-cles and wands fighting troglo-dytes on Mars and engaging in kinky cross-species sex. But, since the transformative ’60s it’s also a place where writers like Samuel R. Delany, Joanna Russ, and Nicola Griffith have been able to explore notions of identity, ask “What if?” and station themselves just far enough away in time or space to get a good look at the earth.

One writer who does that particularly well is Laurie J. Marks. Her “Elemental Logic” series is a kind of social-change fantasy that has more relevance in the post-9/11 era than most op-eds. How do you fight an enemy without becom-ing them? What happens when you give up on revenge?

She began writing as a kid in California. In a recent inter-view, Marks told me her first book was a fantasy novel about these two girls who have wings.

“They were the good guys in the struggle of good versus evil,” she said. “It didn’t really have much of a plot, but I was

12, what do you want?”Marks was still flying in her

first published book, “Delan the Mislaid” (1989), though she started being more scien-tific about it.

“I actually researched how difficult it would be to fly when you’re a full-sized human being. And that’s how I ended up with these rather strange looking creatures with gigantic chests, little skinny legs and big giant wings kind of like bat wings. And even with those modifica-tions I still had to assume it’s a pretty light gravity and make it so they couldn’t really fly, most-ly they could just glide.”

What appealed to me, when I borrowed the book from my then girlfriend, was the main character, Delan. She was a misfit among the Walkers, with misshapen lumps on her back, and a head for heights. She was considered female,

but hid the truth that she was nothing at all.

Before long we discovered Delan wasn’t even the same race as the people that raised her. She grew wings during adolescence and turned out not to have no sex, but all of them. Delan was a hermaph-rodite, eventually finding oth-ers of its kind, the Aeyries, and when they were embroiled in an inter-species war, Delan became a hero.

Since I was just coming out myself, the theme of self-dis-covery and finding people like me really hit home. The irony is, Marks hadn’t figured out yet who she was. It was her own characters that broke the news, she says.

She was working on “Dancing Jack” (1993), a book in which two women reunited after being separated because of some stu-pid fight, and they wouldn’t

let her go on with the plot until they had sex. She wrote the love scene imagining she’d delete it. Instead, the scene stayed, and she came out as lesbian.

I noticed it didn’t change anything in her writing, though it explained a lot. Gender-bending and queer characters were always a constant. Marks would write about a farmer for a couple of pages and when you had a good picture of a guy in overalls tramping around in the mud, then she’d slip in a “she” or “her.” Marks also divorced gender from sex. Any-body could sleep with anybody. Equipment didn’t matter.

She’s always tinkered with families, too, even if she ended up marrying her girlfriend and living in Massachusetts in a kind of nuclear family if you count the pets as kids.

Laurie J. Marks’ “Elemental Logic” series is a kind of social change fantasy that has more relevance in the post-9/11 era than most op-eds.

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and catch all the video lunacy of “Musi-cal Mondays.” Admission is free until 10 p.m.; $5 afterward. You must be 21, regardless of where you managed to sneak into over Pride Weekend.

✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯

WED.JUL.2PERFORMANCEQuintuple No-Bypass

Greg Walloch is a writer and perform-ing artist, who’s appeared everywhere from Sydney’s Mardi Gras to “The How-ard Stern Show” to Kurt Anderson’s “Stu-dio 360” on Public Radio International. Joey Hood is a freelance entertainment writer whose writing has appeared in American Songwriter, Bitch! Magazine: Feminist Response to Pop Culture, Nerve.com, Paste Online, and Ya’ll. Allison Castillo is a stand up comic who has appeared on Comedy Central’s “Premium Blend” and whose one-woman/ two-back-up-dancer “Who Do You Think You Are?” was featured at the HBO US Com-edy Arts Festival in Aspen. Jeff Cubeta a pianist who’s worked with Allison Cas-tillo, Pepper Mills, Robert German, Phat

“It seemed to me that if you’re breaking loose of assumed gender roles, that the shape of the family has to be change-able also,” she explained. “It’s not that there are no nuclear families in my world, just that they’re considered to be quite abnormal. You do, in the cities especially, get families where they can manage to be fairly small because it doesn’t take as much labor to generate a living. So say, if people are in busi-ness, then they wouldn’t need to have a huge family.”

Marks believes that normal-izing gender-blind roles for women and queers along with alternative families is “a sort of a Utopian approach, bringing forward the contrast between the world as it is and the world as it should be. That’s some-thing that you can really only do in fantasy or science fiction.”

For a reader like me, it’s a pleasure, an affirmation. Though not everyone is equally happy about it. The few critical reviews at online booksellers didn’t see how the characters would reproduce: “The world would be left empty. There are no real families.”

The biggest change since Marks first began writing is her move toward realism. Like

the black sci-fi writer Octa-via Butler who went from fea-turing multiple genders and gene-splicing extraterrestrials in “Lilith’s Brood” to a contem-plation of religion in the dys-topian novels “Parable of the Sower” and “Parable of the Tal-ents,” Marks has moved from a reliance on the extravagant tools of fantasy like flying that offered easy solutions to prob-lems, to a much more subtle form of magic, and a more complex human landscape.

For instance, in her 1992 book “The Watcher’s Mask,” an embattled tribe saves itself from the dominant culture by getting the tyrant to wear a magical charm. In “Fire Logic” (2002), the first of the “Elemental Logic” series, she lets them be slaughtered, partly because it’s more realistic, but also because the elders of the tribe refuse to let Zanja, a witch with fire logic (enhanced intuition), introduce fear into their culture, even though there’s a war going on outside their mountains.

In contrast, their neigh-bors, the other inhabitants of Shaftal, who were conquered in one horrible attack that will feel oddly familiar to New York-ers, are letting themselves be changed by the colonizers who brutally kill guerrillas, and anyone they perceive as future

threats. Gradually, as the Shaf-tali reshape themselves into resistance fighters, the open-ness and generosity of their cul-ture is also being destroyed.

Complicated questions arise. What future can be imagined except mutual slaughter? What role should we allow fear to play in our lives? Zanja lost everything when her tribe was slaughtered. Should she pur-sue revenge and become as ruthless as her enemies?

In the aftermath of 9/11 and our War on Terror, it’s consid-erations like this that reso-nate with me, along with the great queer characters, even though Marks had actually been working on “Fire Logic” years before September 11. Having an intersection with current events actually ended up working against her when a British publisher turned it down on the grounds that it wasn’t “believable.”

“What they meant was that they were still so much in this us-versus-them mindset that they didn’t think people would accept the possibility that there could be peace without a victory, if that makes sense,” Marks said. “That there actually are ways to end a conflict without one per-son being beaten into a pulp.”

Marks herself isn’t convinced it’s possible in the real world.

Not because humans are inca-pable of making compromises for the good of the whole, like giving up on revenge, or the satisfaction of being proved right, but because no humans have a culture that supports it. That’s the advantage to writing fantasy. She can work to make it realistic in the context of her books. And that lets her com-ment on our reality.

“I think it does in some way operate as a criticism of how quick we are to slip into this way of seeing the world in which there’s us and them, and enemies and friends, and how hard it is for us to base our relationships on what we hold in common rather than what we hold in difference,” she said. “I know I sound like an idealist. I am one. Sort of.”

That’s good enough for me. As Wikipedia says, there are rea-sons why “members of science fiction fandom (including For-rest J Ackerman) were involved in the foundation of early groups such as the Daughters of Bili-tis.” We don’t always need prom-ises, just people to imagine the future, and a little hope.

“Fire Logic” (2002) was fol-lowed by “Earth Logic” (2004), and “Water Logic” (2007). There’s no date yet for the appearance of “Air Logic.”

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� JULY 2, continued on p.94


7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

identifying a gay or lesbian organizational affiliation.

“People would refuse to talk to me,” she recalled. “When we had to do an exercise that involved everyone holding hands, two women would not take my hand. I don’t know if they thought I had AIDS or what.” The experiences were her “Gay Like Me” moments, reinforcing for her “how important it was to create sanctuary space.”

An advantage of her being straight, Warren explained, is in her ability to “model behavior for other straight allies of the com-munity.” Still, in looking back two decades, her “biggest regret is that I haven’t done enough to get more straight allies involved. I still find it hard to engage straight allies to the level of engagement that the queer movement needs to achieve our social justice needs.”

Her goal of engaging those outside the community has naturally led Warren to expand the scope of her responsibilities; she is now director of organiza-tional development, planning, and research — a portfolio that takes her to City Hall, Albany, and Washington as a leading public policy advocate for the community.

In that work, she has come

to admire not only the efforts of openly gay political leaders, including State Senator Tom Duane and Assemblywoman Deborah Glick, but also the sort of leadership that Gover-nor David Paterson showed last month in moving the state

toward full recognition of legal gay marriage from outside New York.

“What the governor did was extraordinary and he talks about it in terms of his gay uncles,” she said. “It shows why personal relationships are so important.”

Enthusiastic as well about Barack Obama’s presidential bid, Warren said that the com-munity nationwide is prepped to realize the same sorts of advances it has enjoyed recent-ly in Albany in Washington as well.

“I could see real social jus-tice and full equality within five years,” she said. “Then we need to work on access and parity in results.”

For Lou Avanzato, the past 25 years she’s devoted to the Center have been “a

labor of love.” When the city still owned the 13th Street property, she explained, it decided it was best to find a gay building super-intendent to work amongst the

LGBT organizations already renting space there. Alerted to the opening by the Metropolitan Community Church where she already worked, Avanzato got the job — but not before a comi-cal scene played out with a city official.

Headed for an interview at a municipal office, she decided to dress up in a nice blouse and slacks. When the man doing the hiring came out of his office, he said, “Where’s the gay job applicant,” but when Avan-zato raised her hand, he kept insisting, “No, I’m looking for the gay applicant.”

“I guess he didn’t think I was gay,” she recalled, with a laugh, “and here I’m so dykey.”

Avanzato said she was “proba-bly the first employee of the Cen-ter,” but now admits she bluffed her way through her original interview. When asked if she had ever been a building superin-tendent, she said, “Oh, yeah.” In fact, she had covered for her own apartment building super for a weekend exactly once. For the next 15 years, Avanzato shoveled coal into the Center’s antiquated furnace, a job she said burns most men out in three to five years. Asked how she endured so long, she replied, “I’m Canadi-an. When you’re Canadian, you shovel coal.”

Avanzato, who is 67, has lived in Woodside, Queens for the past 38 years but says that her time in New York is drawing to an end. In 1994, she and her girlfriend had a holy union ceremony and registered their partnership with the city as soon as that became a reality in New York.

“I definitely knew we would stay together,” Avanzato said. “We adore each other.”

Her partner is younger than she is and when she finishes up a nursing program next year, the couple plans to move to Florida.

“I’m missing this place already,” Avanzato said, men-tioning a recent knee injury that had her out of work for four months. “I obviously don’t move on from things easily.”

Man Dee, and The New Pussycats. John Fleck’s work received national attention in 1990, when he was one of the “NEA 4,” labeled by right-wing politicians as too dirty to be funded by the National Endowment for the Arts. “All the People You Love” is presented at the Cutting Room, 19 W. 24th St., 8 p.m. Admission is $10 at the door.

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Cabaret artist Bill McKinley presents “Does a Bear Sing in the Woods,” a willy nilly silly ole bear paying homage to hirsute men and the folks who love them. Bears are, indeed, the new black, McKinley says. Christopher Marlowe is musical director. Metropolitan Room, 34 W. 22nd St., Jul. 2, 9 & 16, 9:45 p.m. Cover charge is $20 with a two-drink minimum. Jul. 2 per-formance is a benefit for Metrobears New York, the city’s premiere bear club, home to cubs, otters, and others as well, and the New York City Gay Men’s Chorus.

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NIGHTLIFEErotic Games of Chance

Will Clark promises giveaways, cheap drinks, and cheap men at his weekly

By day, full of fun in the sun. By night,Beach fun grows up with hot housemusic and DJ events for the 21+ crowd.Check out watertaxibeach.com for full event listings, Beach hours, fees and more details.

Summer ‘08 Highlights:

Turntables On The Hudson: $10, Fridays May 16 to October 10, 4pm open, 8pm musicDJ Victor Franco: Free, Saturdays May 3 to October 11, 2pm – 8pmDJ Victor Franco: Free, Saturdays May 3 to June 21, 8pm –1am

The Beach Party: $5, Local and International DJs, Saturdays June 28 to Aug 30, (after Warm Up) 8pm– 3am

Turntables On The Hudson 10th Anniversary Festival: $10, Fri, May 23, 8pm & Sun, May 25, 3pm

DJ Insomniak: Free, Thursday May 22 to September 25, World Music Latin DJ

Beach. Here. Now. $20 to $40, Sundays May 4 to June 29 & Sept 7 to October 5 Major Local and International DJs: 1pm –10pm

2nd Annual NYC Food Film Festival & Food (www.nycfoodfilmfestival.com): Free, June 14, 16, 18,(June 20, $10 at 10pm) Food at 7pm, Films at Dusk until 10:30pm, DJs after Films

Save Our Salmon (SOS): June 7, 25 ft Salmon Sculpture (kid friendly),Wild Salmon Education and Food Specials, Noon– 9pm

Contact us for group events at [email protected] Taxi Beach hosts corporate events, picnics and outings. Email for details. New York Water Taxi offers its 74 and 149 passenger boats for charter to Water Taxi Beachand other metro destinations. Contact Marie Clanny at 212 742 1969 ext 217.

You must be 21 or older with valid ID to enter Water Taxi Beach (US Lic., Can. Lic. or Passport; Section 65-b.2(b)-ABC Law)

Summer fun at the WaterTaxi BeachOfficial ly Open May 22— Oc t 13

wa tertaxi beach.com

You are in a designated Landmark of the City of New York on the National Register of Historic Buildings of the U.S. Department of the Interior.

The James Brown House is one of the very few Federal houses left in the City. It is in largely original condition of two and a half stories with dormers, double splayed key-stone lintels, and a gambrel roof. The construction is all wood post and beams set with pegs, with a facade of Flemish bond brick. The restaurant doors and window are late 19th century. The panel to the right of the main door is a night shudder cover to the original shop window, an 18th century style fea-ture unique to this windows and fireplaces in the bar area.

The noted architectural critic Ada Louise Huxtable writing of Federal houses in her book Classic New York, notes, “Their value is… a sudden sense of intimacy scale… evocative of another century and way of life.

The Ear Inn hopes you enjoy its historicity and home cookin’. Please tell us if you see any ghosts.

WELCOME TO

The Ear Inn

in the James Brown House of 1817326 SPRING STREET • (212) 226-9060

A LANDMARK FOR FINE FOOD AND GROG

Ear Up!Unique historic rooms in the James Brown House / Ear Inn available for meetings, events, projects, exhibitionsinfo: www.earup.org or call 914-263-6716

� JULY 2, from p.93

� JULY 2, continued on p.95

� LGBT CENTER, from p.36

“I guess he didn’t think I was gay,” she recalled, with a laugh, “and here I’m so dykey.”


7 DAYS7 NIGHTS

fundraising event Porno Bingo (beneficia-ries listed at http://www.willclarkworld.com). Crawl out of the gutter or untangle from the bedsheets of Pride Weekend to experience a new round of debauch. 9th Ave. Bistro, 693 Ninth Ave. btwn. 47th & 48th St., 9-11 p.m.

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AT THE BEACHSalt Lake Blues

Writer/ performer Steven Fales brings his one-man show, Confessions of a Mormon Boy,” first seen in New York to critical praise from Gay City News’ David Kennerley at the 2004 Interna-tional Fringe Festival, to Fire Island for a two-week run. The piece is a compel-ling, humorous, and inspiring true story that takes audiences through his life as a young gay Mormon boy in Utah, excom-munication from the Mormon Church, divorce, male prostitution, drug abuse, and his struggle to reclaim himself and his — this newspaper firmly believes — better than “Donny Osmond smile.” Jack Hofsis directs. The Island Repertory Theatre Company, Tides Playhouse, Ocean Walk, Cherry Grove, Jul 2-5, 8-12, 8 p.m.; Jul 6, 13, 7 p.m. Tickets are $30 at 631-597-9439; information at http://www.IslandRep.org.

es and ponytailed auburn hair. She’s been Amy’s, and by extension, Issac’s, dear friend for years, but a newly discovered diary entry reveals that something deeper may be going on. The trio is thrown for a loop.

Emma, it must be noted, is a photographer specializing in both garbage and weddings. Go figure.

To complicate matters, the wide-eyed neighbor Josh (Elan Moss-Bachrach), who just graduated with a psychology degree from Bard, threatens to make it a love quadrangle. By play’s end, he proves to be more astute than the bum-bling 40-year-olds. In Ber-

man’s world, age does not always equal wisdom.

“A Perfect Couple” asks: Is being married really better than being single? In a real relationship, are you supposed to make each other sick? How can you tell if you’ve found “the one” or if you are just set-tling? Can we really trust our loved ones? And what the hell is happiness, anyway?

Not all of these dilemmas are new, and, to her credit, the playwright refuses to offer pat solutions. The characters are so profoundly drawn, even appealing during tantrums, and the language so sharp, that we find ourselves thor-oughly seduced by the drama.

Directed by Maria Mileaf, the performances are solid

across-the-board, though Eskelson, who has the big-gest challenge uncovering the fragility beneath the bitchi-ness, is the most compelling. The cherished relationship between Amy and Emma is adroitly portrayed no surprise given that “A Perfect Couple” is produced by the Women’s Expressive Theater (WET), the resident company at the DR2 Theatre.

The no-nonsense set by Neil Patel –– who must be the busiest designer in the biz –– features a wooden backdrop, painted cobalt blue, in the out-line of a house, contrasted by a yellow wooden dining table and an exceedingly realistic tree.

Each scene, ranging from

several minutes to just a few seconds, is introduced by a cryptic title projected onto the house. Given that virtually the entire play occurs in the same place (the yard), in the same time (the present), the head-ers were more distracting than illuminating.

The overarching question, “Will Isaac and Amy make it to the altar?” is, in fact answered. But as I see it, the playwright makes the wrong choice, tak-ing the logical way out.

And who knows — if “A Per-fect Couple” were set in Cali-fornia or Massachusetts, per-haps the two women, who had the deepest bond between any of the characters, might have considered giving marriage a go.

AVP can help you break the cycle

of an abusive same-sex relationship.

Call us 24/7 at 212-714-1141. All

services are free and confidential.

Building a Safer Community for Lesbian, Gay, Transgender & Bisexual People

www.avp.org

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This ad paid for in part by the New York City Council, Christine C. Quinn, Speaker

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–– and from the start that comes across as wrong-headed as it ends up proving. Others would give us our message at the end, settling us in for an easy narrative, Munro and his co-writer Xandra Castle-ton instead put us in Alby’s seat, which is a bold move, since his world is a pro-foundly uncomfortable one.

It would be easy to settle for the fact that the acting is fine indeed in “Full Grown Men.” Friedlander, the co-star, is an accomplished indy actor and come-dian with a good gig on the sitcom “30

Rock,” and the cameos, like Cumming’s, speak for themselves.

But Munro has made a film not as reliant on performance as on situation and environment. If cartoons are the things that shape our early lives with their escapism, then they are also the things we have to distance ourselves from as we begin to take responsibil-ity. Both Alby and Munro still live in that world of cartoonishness, a place of serious play, caricatured emotions, and music rolling through the credits.

That’s all folks.

� LOONEY, from p.89

Deborah Harry is a horny mermaid also encountered along the road.

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� JULY 2, from p.94

Gay Pride 2008

Documents

Transcript of Gay Pride 2008