A M E R I C A’ S L A R G E S T C I R C U L AT I O N G AY A N D L E S B I A N N E W S P A P E R !
Gay City
S E R V I N G G A Y, L E S B I A N , B I A N D T R A N S G E N D E R E D N E W Y O R K • W W W . G A Y C I T Y N E W S . C O M
■ CRIME
Porn Busts
Dismissed; New
Suit Vs. NYC
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
T
he criminal cases against three
men arrested for prostitution in
an Eighth Avenue porn shop were
dismissed on June 2, with the Manhat-
tan district attorney saying the arrests
were justified, but that the charges
could not be proven at trial. “After fully
investigating this matter, the people
have determined that there was proba-
ble cause to arrest this defendant,” said
C. Andrew Cliver, the assistant district
attorney handling cases at the Midtown
Community Court, referring to one of the
three men. “However, we have concluded
that it would be difficult to prove beyond
a reasonable doubt.”
Cliver used identical language when
moving to dismiss the case against the
other two men. All three were busted
last year in Unicorn DVD by undercov-
er cops in the Manhattan South Vice
Enforcement Squad. Cops arrested five
men there altogether. The disposition
of one case is unknown. The fifth man
missed a recent court date and a war-
rant was issued for his arrest.
The five were among at least 30 men
who were arrested on prostitution charg-
es by vice cops in at least six porn shops
BUSTS P. 11
NICHOLAS LEICHTER DANCE
20
SENATOR TOM DUANE RALLIED LAST WEEK WITH DEMOCRATS; WHAT’S THE NEXT STEP?
Amidst Chaos,
Where Is Tom?
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
A
fter three days of State Senate
Democrats and Republicans war-
ring over the validity of a June 8
parliamentary maneuver in which the
GOP appears to have grabbed control
of the chamber, the situation in Albany
remains chaotic — with the Senate in
lockdown, a renegade Democrat claim-
ing to have spirited a key to let his new
Republican friends in the door, and talk of
a second coup that would remove Queens
Senator Malcolm Smith not only from the
role of majority leader, but also as head of
the Democratic caucus.
As Smith threatens to go to court June
11 to block the GOP putsch, one stun-
ning question moved to the fore — Is Tom
Duane, the out gay Chelsea Democrat,
© GAY CITY NEWS 2009 • COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TM
NEWS YOUR FREE
WEEKLY
NEWSPAPER
JUNE 11- 24, 2009
VOL. EIGHT, ISSUE 12
■ COMMUNITY
Marriage the
Buzz in Queens
BY WINNIE MCCROY
A
n estimated 40,000 New York-
ers gathered under sunny skies
on Sunday, June 17 for the 17th
Annual Queens Pride Parade and Festi-
val in Jackson Heights. The mood was
celebratory, and on a day hot enough to
melt the tar off the streets, the only thing
hotter was the buzz about the fight for
marriage equality in New York.
“I think this year’s Queens Pride
Parade is even more festive and energet-
ic than ever. People are very hopeful and
excited about the prospect of marriage
equality, and you can certainly feel that
in the air,” said out lesbian City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn, who marched
at the front of the parade with a cadre
of supporters from the New York City
Council.
The parade stepped off at 89th Street,
traveling down 37th Avenue to 75th
Street, where participants poured into
the Pride Festival area. Prominent among
the marchers were the three grand mar-
shals — Queens-Brooklyn Congressman
Anthony Weiner, Reverend Pat Bum-
gardner of the Metropolitan Community
Church, and Hector Canonge, founder
of Cinemarosa, the borough’s queer film
QUEENS P. 6
thinking about joining Pedro Espada,
Jr., of the Bronx and Hiram Monser-
In this issue:
rate of Queens in supporting Republi-
can Dean Skelos of Long Island as the ■ GLOBAL TRANS PUSH
majority leader? On the morning of June
10, the New York Times speculated that Louis-George Tin picks
Duane might be doing precisely that, in up new cause
an effort to advance key legislative goals ■2
— marriage equality legislation already —————————————————
approved by the Assembly, as well as
GENDA, the Gender Expression Non-
■ NEW HAMPSHIRE WIN
Discrimination Act, and the anti-bully- Guv, legislators bridge
ing Dignity for All Students Act (DASA), religious qualms
which also only require Senate approval ■8
to be enacted. CityHallNews.com elabo- —————————————————
rated considerably on the same theme
that morning, reporting that Duane had ■ HONORING BOOK BIGS
skipped key Democratic gatherings since Lambda Literary Society,
the GOP coup, dropped out of sight (his Publishing Triangle fetes
SENATE P. 4 ■ 36
2 11 – 24 JUN 2009
GAY CHRISTOPHER STREET ■ HUMAN RIGHTS
Bringing hot
back to
Trans Rights Go Global
christopher st. Anti-homophobia leader launches gender identity push
Sunday and Monday
BY DOUG IRELAND
Karaoke starting at 8pm
with your hostess
M
Miss Victoria Chase ay was an historic month for the transgen-
dered around the world, as the issue of trans-
HAPPY HOUR phobia was inscribed on the global LGBT
NOON – 9 P.M. agenda thanks to new initiatives from the International
Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO). The effort includes
a global petition campaign in favor of rights for the
76 Christopher St. / 212-633-1986 transgendered aimed at the United Nations, the World
www.bootsandsaddlenyc.com Health Organization (WHO), and governments around
the world, which has already resulted in major changes
in the status of the gender-variant citizens of several
countries.
These initiatives came from the fertile mind of the
brilliant French academic Louis-Georges Tin, president
of the Paris-based International Committee for IDAHO,
which he founded. Tin is the father of the Declaration
to the United Nations in favor of the universal decrimi-
nalization of homosexuality, which has already been
signed by the governments of 66 nations, including the
Obama administration. The declaration was presented
to the United Nations General Assembly last December
OPEN EVERY DAY AT 2 PM (see this reporter’s Mar. 20-Apr.1, 2009 article, “U.S.
Joins Global Gay Effort,” and his Dec. 24, 2008-Jan.
NEW THUSDAYS BEAR NIGHT 8PM - CLOSING
Well Drinks 3.75 - Bottled Beer 1 off 7, 2009 article, “An Historic Day at the UN,” which are
Rolling Rock 2.75 - Jager Shots 3.50 - Schnapps 2 linked on the online version of this story at gaycitynews.
com).
114 Christopher St. Tin, who is also a star of the emerging French black
Btw Bleecker & Hudson St. / 212-741-9641 civil rights movement, hopes to repeat the success of
185
Christopher Street
212-242-9113
IDAHO’S TRANSGENDER
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
RIGHTS DECLARATION
ALL DRINKS $5 BEER $4 Reject Transphobia, Respect Gender Identity: An Appeal
SATURDAY to the United Nations, the World Health Organization and the
LIVE DJ States of the World
SUNDAY Every day, people who live at variance to expected gender norms
GOGO DANCERS face violence, abuse, rape, torture, and hate crime all over the world,
in their home as well as in the public arena. Though most cases of vio-
WEDNESDAY lence never get documented, we know that in the first weeks of 2009
KARAOKE with alone, Trans women have been murdered in Honduras, Serbia, and in
PAIGE TURNER at 9PM the USA. Trans men are equally victims of hate crimes, prejudice, and
discrimination despite their frequent social and cultural invisibility.
Happy Hour
The basic human rights of Trans people are being ignored or denied
12 - 9 pm Daily
in all nations — be it out of ignorance, prejudice, fear, or hate, and
Trans people overwhelmingly face daily discrimination, which results
in social exclusion, poverty, poor health care, and little prospects of
appropriate employment. Far from protecting Trans citizens, States and
International bodies reinforce social transphobia through short-sighted
negligence or reactionary politics:
Because of the failure of national law and social justice, in far too
many States Trans people are being forced to live a gender which they
experience as fundamentally wrong for them. In most countries, any
attempt to change one’s gender can lead to legal sanctions, brutal mis-
treatment, and social stigma.
In other countries, legal recognition of gender change is subject
to sterilization or other major surgical intervention. Trans people who
cannot or do not wish to submit to this cannot obtain legal recognition
of their preferred gender, and are forced to “come out” whenever they
cross a border, run into a police patrol, apply for a new job, move into a
new home, or simply want to buy a mobile phone.
By Neil Bruce • 914-320-0777 Contributing factors include that current International health clas-
www.bearoticart.com
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
the UN decriminalization declaration with IDAHO’s
global transgender position. “In 2010, the World Health
Organization is to conduct a review of its list of mental
disorders,” Tin told Gay City News by telephone from
Paris. “That’s why this year we changed the name of
IDAHO to the International Day Against Homophobia
and Transphobia, and launched our global online peti-
tion campaign for transgender rights.”
The new petition, entitled “Reject Transphobia,
Respect Gender Identity,” includes a call for the WHO
to stop considering trans people as mentally disor-
dered; for the UN’s human rights bodies to examine
the human rights abuses they face around the world;
and for governments to adopt the Yogyakarta Principles
in favor of LGBT rights. The declaration also seeks to
insure that transgendered people benefit from health
care, including the right to gender reassignment if they
wish it, and the right to adapt their civil status to their
preferred gender. (See sidebar for the complete text of
this petition.)
IDAHO is celebrated every year in more than 60
countries around the world on May 17, the anniversary
of the day in 1993 when the World Health Organization
removed homosexuality from its list of mental disor-
ders.
“The gay movement owes an enormous debt to the
transgendered, because we must not forget that trans-
䉴 TRANS RIGHTS, continued on p.3
sifications still consider all Trans people as mentally “disordered.” This
outdated vision is insulting and incorrect and is used to justify daily dis-
crimination and stigmatization in all aspects of Trans people’s lives.
Recently though in some countries with very different social and
cultural contexts significant legal advances have been made. Following
in the wake of bold judicial decisions, State action has led to increased
acceptance of Trans people within their society. This demonstrates that
understanding and progress is possible.
Currently Trans people everywhere in the world rise up to reclaim
their human rights and freedom. They carry an unanimous message
that they will no longer accept to be labeled sick or treated as non-
human beings on the basis of their gender identity and gender expres-
sion (such as transvestite, transsexual, transgender, and other cultural
identities related to cross-gender dressing and living).
This is why we ask:
The WHO. to stop considering Trans people as mentally disordered
and to promote access to adequate health care and psychological sup-
port, as desired by Trans people.
The United Nations Human Rights bodies to examine the
human rights abuses that Trans people face around the world and to
take action to combat these abuses.
The States of the World to adopt the international Yogyakarta
Principles and ensure that all Trans people benefit from appropriate
health care, including gender reassignment if they so wish; be allowed
to adapt their civil status to their preferred gender; live their social,
family, or professional lives without being exposed to transphobic dis-
crimination, prejudice, or hate crimes and that they are protected by the
police and justice systems from physical and non-physical violence.
We call on the UN, the WHO, and the nations of the world, in
adopting these measures, to refuse transphobia and welcome
the right of their citizens to live fully and freely in their preferred
gender, assumed as an expression of cultural freedom.
You can sign this online petition by clicking on http://idahomopho-
bia.org/wp/?page_id=28&lang=en.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 3

䉴 TRANS RIGHTS, from p.2

genders, transvestites, and other gender

dissidents were in the forefront at Stone-
wall and have greatly contributed to our
movements since,” Tin said. The IDAHO
president also reported that there were
a lot of negative reactions to IDAHO’s
decision to adopt transdender rights as
its theme this year. “Sometimes it’s been
a very violent reaction,” Tin said, add-
ing: “A journalist who’s the specialist in
LGBT questions for one major French
media outlet practically reproached me
for having chosen this theme because,
she told me, ‘When I raised it in our edi-
torial meeting, everyone laughed, and
while I can write about homophobia, if
I write about transphobia they’re going Louis-Georges Tin, IDAHO’s founder, has taken on trans- Embrace your freedom.
to kill my article.’ I responded that while gender rights as his next global campaign.
this was going on, transphobia is kill-
ing transsexuals. We need to emphasize officially endorsed IDAHO and agreed
…And your freebies.
transphobic violence, because today to use its six-month term in the rotat-
murders of the transgendered are too ing presidency of the European Union
often treated the way murders of homo- last year to launch the campaign for the Time Warner Cable is all about delivering services that fit into your life. We
sexuals were treated 15 or 20 years ago, UN declaration on decriminalization of make things easier, and we don’t charge you extra. That includes giving you
as obscure crimes without motivations homosexuality. (See this reporter’s May a great selection of HD channels, plus convenient, cable-exclusive features
or only minimal references to the gen- 22-28, 2008 article, “France Fights for
der status of those killed, so the victims Decriminalization,” which is linked on like Start Over™ and Caller ID on TV.
die and the witnesses to their deaths are the online version of this story at gayci-
afraid to speak.” tynews.com).
However, the IDAHO transgender This year, IDAHO’s petition for trans-
Love HD? With Digital Cable service, we offer the most free HD
rights petition has already won concrete gender rights was published in full in channels in New York City. We’re also the only provider that gives
results in France and the Netherlands. France’s newspaper of record, Le Monde, you all HD games of all nine New York sports teams.
After a year-long lobbying campaign led
by Tin, last year the French government 䉴 TRANS RIGHTS, continued on p.39
Tuned in late? No problem. Start Over™ lets you start live shows
from the beginning.
A passion for justice.
The experience to deliver it. Want to see who’s calling? No need to get up. Caller ID on TV lets
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4/ Politics
䉴 SENATE, from p.1
car reportedly absent from the
Capitol parking lot), and was
not returning phone calls from
intimates.
Reached by telephone late
afternoon on June 10, Duane
worked to scuttle the specula-
tion.
“Yes, I did miss a Democratic
press conference on Monday,”
he responded, when asked
about the reports. “And except
for when I really needed to be
in the Capitol, I chose not to be
there because it’s a very toxic
place, full of only rumors. My
not being there has nothing to
do with anything other than it
not being a place where I want-
ed to spend a lot of time. I don’t
think anyone should read any-
thing more into it.”
Duane, however, conceded
that he had not attended any
meeting of the beleaguered
Democratic caucus since the
Senate was thrown into tur -
moil Monday, and made no
attempt to deny rumors that
he was talking to the Republi-
cans. When asked if he could
dispel stories that the GOP
had reached out to him, he
responded, “I have spoken to
people on both sides of the
aisle about seeing every issue
accomplished that I have spent
my whole life working to accom-
plish.” He then added quickly,
“And with that I will leave you,”
and ended the call.
The notion that the LGBT
community could achieve gay
marriage and transgender civil
rights laws by working to bol-
ster a new Republican majority
in the Senate turns recent his-
tory on its head. For years, the
GOP leadership has resisted
gay rights measures, delivering
hate crimes in 2000 and a gay
nondiscrimination law in 2002
only after years of opposition,
and as part of carefully crafted
political compromises. Since
marriage equality became a
live issue in 2006-7, with the
state high court turning down
legal action and the Democratic
Assembly passing former Gov-
ernor Eliot Spitzer’s legislation,
two consecutive Republican
Senate leaders, Joe Bruno and
later Skelos, made clear their
implacable opposition to allow-
ing a floor vote on the measure.
Perhaps until now.
When news of the Repub-
lican coup broke, many in the
LGBT community feared the
Democrats, who held a razor-
thin 32-30 majority, were going
down because Smith was com-
mitted to allowing floor consid-
eration when the votes were
there, and Duane was saying he
had a majority in hand. Since
last November’s election, Sena-
tor Ruben Diaz, a harshly anti-
gay Bronx Pentecostal minister,
has said he would not support
a majority leader who would
allow a gay marriage vote. But,
Diaz was not the renegade this
The national climate on marriage
equality has changed drastically just
in the five months since Republicans
last controlled the Senate.
week; in fact, in the wake of the
coup he has reaffirmed his sup-
port for Smith.
Instead, Espada, a marriage
co-sponsor, and Monserrate,
who has been silent this year
but at other times has endorsed
equal rights for same-sex cou-
ples, were the ones who ended
the Democratic control that just
about everyone thought was
needed to advance marriage
equality and GENDA. But even
though they are marriage sup-
porters, pundits Monday eve-
ning were confidently predict-
ing that gay marriage, under
Skelos’ leadership, was dead.
That conventional wisdom,
however, was soon overtaken.
The following morning, Skelos
and Espada — who under an
unprecedented plan would split
leadership duties with Skelos,
with Skelos becoming majority
leader, as he was last year, and
Espada serving as president
pro tem — appeared on New
York Post columnist Fred Dick-
er’s radio show. Espada said
he favored bringing the mar-
riage equality bill to a floor vote.
However, he and Skelos both
said they had not specifically
discussed the issue or agreed
on what to do. Skelos said the
two would discuss the mat-
ter later in the day. Appearing
on Brian Lehrer’s WNYC Radio
show the same morning, Mon-
serrate agreed that the coup
would not doom the chances
for a marriage floor vote.
Neither Espada nor Skelos’
offices responded to requests
for comment the following day
about whether the two had
come to a conclusion about the
future of the marriage bill, or
GENDA and DASA, in the Sen-
ate’s current session.
Duane and advocates led by
the Empire State Pride Agenda
(ESPA) have long acknowledged
that the opposition of Diaz and
likely at least a few other Demo-
crats meant that some Republi-
can votes were needed to pass
the marriage bill. Several weeks
ago, Duane announced that
a Republican was ready to go
public with his support, though
that has not yet happened. Like
Duane, however, ESPA has
voiced optimism all year that
progress was being made in
courting Republicans, an effort
made easier when Skelos, as
minority leader, said his mem-
bers would be allowed to take a
conscience vote and not be held
to a standard Republican posi-
tion.
It is undeniable that the
national climate on marriage
equality has changed drastical-
ly just in the five months since
Republicans last controlled the
Senate. In 2007-8, when Bruno
and Skelos adamantly refused
to act on marriage equality even
in the face of the Democratic
Assembly easily passing it, it
was accepted by most observers
as more or less a political given.
Skelos aims to return to power,
however, after three nearby
states have legislated gay mar-
riage, the Iowa Supreme Court
ruled unanimously in favor of
the issue, and New York politi-
cal reporters have been skulk-
ing Capitol hallways trying to
buttonhole undecided sena-
tors. To kill the measure now
out of hand, without allowing it
even to get a vote, might come
across to voters as reactionary,
even out-of-touch with a rapid-
ly shifting national mood.
In this context, an appear-
ance by Bruno, now retired, on
WRGB CBS 6 in Albany in the
past few days, illustrates just
how fast events are moving.
Bruno explained that Governor
David Paterson, who introduced
the marriage bill into the Legis-
lature in April, had called him
to ask his help in lobbying GOP
senators on the issue. The man
who once stood as a bulwark
against gay rights agreed to do
just that. “It’s time,” Bruno told
WRGB.
During all the chaos of the
past few days, one quiet player
has been ESPA, limiting its
public statements to an oblique
reference to the possibility it
may now need to bargain with a
leadership team it worked hard
last year to defeat. “Our issues
are not partisan issues,” Alan
Van Capelle, ESPA’s executive
director, said in a press state-
ment. “It is time to bring mar-
riage equality and these other
LGBT issues to the Senate floor
for votes and have members
vote their conscience. We urge
the Senate to schedule these
votes as soon as possible before
the end of the legislative ses-
sion.”
As Gay City News goes to
press on June 10, it is impos-
sible to anticipate the coming
events with any high degree of
certainty. Democrats worked
furiously that day to pull Mon-
serrate — in legal hot water
over charges he assaulted his
girlfriend by smashing a glass
into her face— back into their
fold, apparently unsuccessfully,
though his statements late in
the afternoon in an appearance
with Skelos and Espada were
frustratingly elusive. Whether
Duane, were he to make his bet,
and bed, with Skelos, would be
able to pick up enough GOP
support to offset some Demo-
crats not yet sold on gay mar-
riage who would now be less
likely to do him a favor is also
unclear — as is what degree of
blowback he could expect from
longtime allies on issues such
as tenants’ rights, choice, drug
reform, medical marijuana, and
healthcare.
And finally, whether the
LGBT community can depend
on Espada — who planned his
revolt after being denied several
million dollars in earmarks for
a non-profit healthcare orga-
nization, his ties to which are
under investigation by Attorney
General Andrew Cuomo — to
enter into his new political mar-
riage with our marriage rights,
and other important goals, as a
genuine part of his portfolio of
asks is likely the most salient
question of all.
11 - 24 JUN 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
FILM
THU.JUN.11
A Very Queer Month
For Gay Pride Month, 92YTribeca pres-
ents “Queer/ Art/ Film,” a new series of
all things hybrid and poly-sexual, curated
by Butt Magazine contributing editor
Adam Baran and filmmaker Ira Sachs.
Some of the most exciting, innovative
(and homosexual) artists from the dance,
performance, film, visual, and literary arts
to present and discuss their favorite films,
in rare prints, on the big screen. How does
film create a link from one queer genera-
tion to the next, from John Kelly to Jean
Cocteau, from “8 ½” to “Paris is Burning,”
from Marlon Riggs to Chantal Akerman?
The series begins tonight with Derek Jar-
man’s “Blue,” followed by Fellini’s “8 ½”
on Jun. 18, writer/performer Kenny Mel-
man’s “Queer and Unavailable” evening
about forbidden content on Jun. 25, Elia
Kazan’s “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” on Jul.
2, Marlon Riggs’ “Tongues Untied” on Jul.
16, and Chantal Ackerman’s “Je Tu Il Elle”
on Jul 30. 92Ytribeca, 200 Hudson St. at
Canal St., Thu., 7:30 for Jun. dates, 8 p.m.
for Jul. dates. Tickets are $12 at 92y.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
GALLERY
The Subjective Eye
The Leslie/ Lohman Gay Art Foundation
recommends “As We See It 2009,” the fifth
annual NYC Photo Club exhibition, featur-
ing stunning imagery from erotic to politi-
cal, pop art to politically incorrect, travel
to portraiture, and everything in between.
LGBT Community Center, 208 W. 13th
St. Through Sep. 3. Opening reception,
with free admission, tonight, 6-8 p.m. To
preview the exhibition, visit nycphotoclub.
com. All sale proceeds benefit the Center.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
BOOKS
Rebels and
Rhinestones
The Greater New York Independent
Publishers Association (GNYIPA) and
the New York Center for Independent
Publishing host a celebration of LGBT
writing, named in honor of Jim Sears’
book about the gay South, “Rebels,
Rubyfruit, and Rhinestones.” If you wish
to learn more about how books aimed
at — as the playwright Edward Albee
calls us — “non-straight” people, this
is a place to do it. There will be short
readings from members of GNYIPA,
followed by a panel discussion on pub-
䉴 JUN 11, continued on p.8
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 5

We’re feeling it. Coast to coast, nationwide.

We’re taking pride in the diversity of our communities and our incredible employees.
Happy Pride Month, America.

San Francisco

Seattle

ncisco
San Fra

Cincinnati
New York

Atlan
New York ta

Philadelphia

g
St. Petersbur

10421_9050512A.indd 1 5/29/09 7:27:39 PM

6 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

WINNIE MCCROY

WINNIE MCCROY

WINNIE MCCROY
Speaker Christine Quinn led a contingent from the City Council; Candy Samples was dazzling on stage; and the lads of Enigma proved that less is more.

䉴 QUEENS, from p.1
series. Other elected officials on hand
included Democratic mayoral candidates
William C. Thompson, the city comptrol-
ler, and Queens City Councilman Tony
Avella; comptroller candidates John Liu
and David Weprin, both Queens city
councilmen; Queens Councilman Eric
Gioia, who is running for public advo-
cate; Queens City Councilwoman Helen
Sears and Danny Dromm, a parade
organizer and her challenger in the Sep-
tember Democratic primary; Borough
President Helen Marshall; Assembly-
men Michael N. Gianaris and Michael
DenDekker of Queens; and out lesbian
Councilwoman Rosie Mendez of the
Lower East Side.
Dromm, whose campaign for the
25th District Council seat centered on
Jackson Heights was boosted by Men-
dez during the parade, spoke to the
festival crowd about the significance of
marriage equality. “Invisibility is some-
times our biggest oppressor, so when
people know us as family, friends, and
neighbors, they realize that what we are
fighting for are equal rights, not special
rights,” he said. “There are over 1,300
rights heterosexual couples have that
we don’t have, and that proves why we
need a law that approves of same-sex
marriage.”
At the main stage, located at the inter-
section of 75th Street and 37th Road,
host Appolonia Cruz wore a long white
dress and flowered veil to signify her
support for marriage equality. “I come
from South Beach, and have friends
there who established their lives and
businesses together. When one passed
away, his homophobic family came and
claimed everything, and the other one
was left out in the street,” said Cruz,
speaking about the need for marriage
equality. “We should be allowed to marry
so we can secure what we work for.”
Queens activist Brendan Fay spoke
of the benefits marriage equality would
bring to the state, saying, “Since 2003,
New Yorkers have had to cross the bor-
der to Canada or Massachusetts… or
now, Stamford. It’s time to stop that. As
the city comptroller told us, New York is York City Gay Men’s Chorus, who sang,
losing $210 million per annum — that’s “Stand by Your Man.” Lively dance num-
what marriage will bring. New Yorkers bers were performed by the AIDS Center
need to be able to marry in New York. It’s of Queens County Youth Organization
plain and simple, and I think it will hap- and the scantily-clad men of Enigma
pen.” Dance Troupe. Spectacular performanc-
Bumgardner traced her congrega- es came courtesy of charming redhead
tion’s involvement in marriage equality Candy Samples, and “Ru Paul’s Drag
back to the 1970s, saying that it was Race” contestant Mimi Imfurst, who had
a basic question of human rights. “It the crowd roaring. Singers included a
makes no sense to say that some peo- capella group Kelso, vocalists India M.
ple get treated this way and others get and Lovari, recording artists Jason Walk-
treated that way,” said Bumgardner. “I er and amberRose Marie, and headliner
know people name other things —over a Lumidee.
thousand rights we would get and such Reflecting the large Latino popula-
— but it will never make a difference tion in Jackson Heights, the street fes-
if we go state by state, right by right. tival featured a separate stage where
It’s important to pass the law, but it’s Hispanic drag queens including Laura
equally important not to lose our focus Leon delighted the crowd with lip-syn-
that we are, by the grace and design of ched performances of classic Spanish
God, full human beings and we should songs. Local gay bars like Atlantis and
be treated that way.” Friends Tavern threw open their doors
Following appearances from elected to the sweltering crowd, but as the heat
officials, Cruz introduced a wide spec- from the pounding sun and numerous
trum of performers, including the flag- charcoal-roasted meat vendors began to
gers of EnGuard!, the Metropolitan wane, the celebration was just getting
Community Church Choir, and the New fired up.

NEWS BRIEFS By PAUL SCHINDLER

Obama Prevails
on Don’t Ask
Case at High
Court
The US Supreme Court, on
June 8, without comment denied
a request by James Pietrangelo II,
a former infantryman and attorney
representing himself, that his dis-
charge under the Don’t Ask, Don’t
Tell policy be reviewed. The court
decision does not mean that it
sustained the policy on the merits,
merely that it would not review the
decision of the Boston-based 1st
Circuit Court of Appeals last year in
upholding Pietrangelo’s discharge.
In a brief filed with the court,
Solicitor General Elena Kagan had
argued that, “Applying the strong
deference traditionally afforded
to the Legislative and Executive
Branches in the area of military
affairs, the court of appeals prop-
erly upheld the statute.” The policy,
she wrote, is “rationally related to
the government’s legitimate inter-
est in military discipline and cohe-
sion.” That position, of course, is
completely at odds with Obama’s
longstanding opposition to the
military’s policy on gays.
“He’s a coward, a bigot, and a
pathological liar,” Pietrangelo said
of the president in an interview
with Time magazine shortly after
the court rejected the appeal.
“This is a guy who spent more time
picking out his dog, Bo, and playing
with him on the White House lawn
than he has working for equality
for gay people,”
Associated Press, however,
quoted an aide to the Senate
Armed Services Committee, which
must approve any proposed change
to the policy before Congress acts
on it, saying that court review of
the policy was “not a high prior-
ity” and that the policy would be
taken up by Congress — but only
committing to do so by the end of
Obama’s term.
Pietrangelo fought in both Iraq
Wars, but was discharged after
stating he was gay before leav-
ing for his third tour of duty. The
circumstances of his discharge did
not present the strongest grounds
for a constitutional challenge, in
the view of many advocates work-
ing to reverse the policy. That does
not take the sting out of the inci-
dent for a discharged veteran, or
for many in the LGBT community
unhappy to hear the new president
resort to the same tired excuses
for a discriminatory policy.
A Deal on Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell?
A video report on The Daily
Beast states that a deal has been
struck in Washington to put off
efforts to repeal the Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell military policy until at
least next year in favor of action
on long-stalled employment non-
discrimination and hate crimes
measures — and that report is
drawing a harsh rebuke from the
Human Rights Campaign, the
nation’s leading LGBT lobby on
Capitol Hill.
“This story is not only an out-
right lie, it is recklessly irrespon-
sible,” wrote Trevor Thomas, a
spokesman for the group, in an
email message. “HRC never made
such a deal and continues to work
with Congress and the adminis-
tration on a full range of equal-
ity issues including a swift end
to the military’s shameful ban on
gay servicemembers.”
The report, by Jason Bellini,
maintains that New York’s senior
senator, Charles Schumer, “let
slip to a handful of gay leaders
that the HRC told him Don’t Ask,
Don’t Tell isn’t the White House’s
priority.”
Bellini never actually says
that HRC cut a deal, but that’s
the clear implication of his story;
he notes that the employment
bias and hate crimes measures
have been the major focus of
the group’s lobbying for years. He
also reports that the group “prides
itself on its access” and that its
president, Joe Solmonese, had
䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.10
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 7
■ HEALTH
C8J<I?8@II<DFM8C

HIV Consent At Issue JkXk\f]k_\8ik:pefjli\<c`k\Ki\Xkd\ek

In Albany’s dwindling days, advocates divided

BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
Afj\g_C\\
W
ith the New York
State Legisla-
9fXi[:\ik`Ô\[CXj\iK\Z_e`Z`Xe
ture adjourn-
ing on June 23 — pend- K)()%-//%///.&:*+.%)++%)+*-
ing resolution of the most cXj\i%afj\g_c\\7^dX`c%Zfd
recent chaos — members
of the State Senate and nnn%cfm\k_XkcXj\i%Zfd
Assembly, ministers, and
AIDS advocates gathered
on the steps of City Hall to
demand that the state end
the requirement for writ-
ten patient consent for HIV
testing.
EVERYONE DESERVES A SMILE!
“I have joined with my
colleagues to introduce
legislation that would serve
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GAY CITY NEWS

($380 value)
to make HIV testing truly
routine in New York,” said UÊՏÊiÝ>“ˆ˜>̈œ˜
Assemblywoman Annette UÊ*iÀˆœ`œ˜Ì>Ê
Ý>“ˆ˜>̈œ˜
Robinson, who repre- Assemblywoman Annette Robinson, flanked by the Latino Commission on AIDS’ Dennis deLeon, Assemblyman Karim UÊ"À>Ê
>˜ViÀÊ-VÀii˜ˆ˜}
sents Brooklyn’s Bedford Camara, and C. Virginia Fields, of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, at City Hall May 28. UÊ
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Stuyvesant section, at
œ“«iÌiÊ-iÌʜvÊ8‡À>ÞÃ
the May 28 press event.
“It is only by making an
offer of an HIV test a truly
routine part of everyone’s
healthcare that those who
may be HIV-positive and
unaware of their infection
will learn their status.”
Robinson and an
Assembly colleague, Dar-
ryl C. Towns, who repre-
sents Bushwick and East
New York in Brooklyn,
have introduced separate
bills that would end writ-
ten consent. In the State
Senate, Shirley L. Hunt-
ley, who represents parts
of Queens and Brooklyn,
has introduced legislation
that would abolish written
consent.
The bills would require
oral consent by patients.
Peer -reviewed research
has shown that the written
consent requirement is a
bar to HIV testing. The per-
ception is also that those
who learn they are positive
alter their unsafe sex or
needle sharing behavior to
protect others. Those who
test positive can get treat-
ment that improves their
health and makes them
less infectious.
“We know that the best
way to prevent the spread
of this disease and to get
folks treated who have this
virus is to get them test-
ed early and often,” said
Assemblyman Hakeem
Jeffries, who represents
Fort Greene and Pros-
pect Heights in Brooklyn.
“We’re not doing that right
now; in fact, the law pre-
vents us in many ways
from doing that.”
While gay and bisexual
men see more new HIV
infections than any other
group, the AIDS epidemic
has hit African Americans
and Latinos especially
hard. Of particular con-
cern are late testers, or
people who get an AIDS
diagnosis within one year
of first being diagnosed
with HIV. The progres-
sion from HIV infection
to AIDS-defining illness
typically takes eight to ten
years.
“Eighty-five percent of
late testers are African-
American and Latino,”
Robinson said. “Many of
these late testers have
been infected for ten years
or longer, unknowingly
exposing their partners to
HIV.”
The press conference
was organized by Harlem
United, the Latino Com-
mission on AIDS, and the
National Black Leadership
Commission on AIDS.
Representatives distrib-
uted a flyer that listed 150
organizations or individu-
als statewide who support
the legislation.
While the future of these
bills in Albany is unclear,
AIDS groups that support
written consent took them
seriously enough to send
staff to the press confer-
ence to offer an opposing
view.
“GMHC, along with over
40 other programs, are
strongly for the Duane-
Gottfried version of this
bill that maintains proper
patient protections with
written consent,” said
Daryl J. Cochrane, assis-
tant director of govern-
ment relations at the Gay
Men’s Health Crisis. “Us
and many organizations
feel that you can’t have
proper enforced consent
without written consent.”
State Senator Thomas
K. Duane, who is openly
gay and HIV-positive, and
Assemblyman Richard N.
Gottfried, both of whom
represent Chelsea, have
introduced bills that main-
tain the written consent
policy but include other
requirements intended to
increase HIV testing.
During the press con-
ference, Cochrane quietly
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8/ Politics
New Hampshire’s A Go
Governor, Legislature find closure on marriage religious carve-outs
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
J
ust an hour after the New
Hampshire Legislature
approved an amended
marriage equality measure, pro-
viding conscience protections
for religious groups and individ-
uals employed by them — revi-
sions insisted on by Governor
John L ynch — the Democrat
signed the measure into law.
New Hampshire becomes the
sixth state with marriage equal-
ity on the books, with the law
taking effect next January 1.
The Senate approved the final
bill by a 14-10 vote; the House
completed action the afternoon
of June 3 with a 198-176 mar-
gin, a wider cushion than ner-
vous advocates anticipated.
One hundred eighty-nine House
Democrats were joined by nine
Republicans in the majority;
14 Democrats and 162 Repub-
licans voted no. In the Senate,
the vote split on straight party
lines.
“The marriage equal-
ity express continues to steam
ahead,” Marty Rouse, the
national field director for the
Washington-based Human
Rights Campaign (HRC), told
Gay City News. “Next stop, New
York,” he added, a reference to
the dwindling number of days
left for the State Senate here
to act on a measure sponsored
by Democratic Governor David
Paterson and already approved
by the Assembly.
“Today’s vote is in line with
the majority of Granite Staters
who support the freedom to
marry,” Mo Baxley, the executive
director of the New Hampshire
Freedom to Marry Coalition,
said, in a written statement.
“The Legislature has upheld the
New Hampshire values of indi-
vidual liberty, freedom, and fair-
ness.”
Rouse said that action on the
ground on behalf of marriage
equality had continued to grow
right up until final approval.
“There was much more grass-
roots activity here in recent days
than even a month ago,” he
said, singling out for particular
praise Freedom to Marry and
MassEquality, the coalition in
neighboring Massachusetts that
On June 3, Governor John Lynch signed the marriage equality law after winning some religious-
related concessions from the Legislature.
emerged to defend that state’s
2003 high court marriage equal-
ity ruling from referendum chal-
lenge. A crowd of 250 marriage
equality advocates gathered in
front of the State Capitol in Con-
cord the day of the vote. “I can’t
tell you the difference that made
to legislators,” Rouse said.
The New Hampshire Legis-
lature had originally passed a
marriage measure on May 6,
and included language that
made clear what would have
been the case anyway — that
no religious institution would
be legally compelled to offici-
ate over any marriage it did not
wish to. After eight days of con-
sidering that measure, Lynch
— who had earlier stated that
he felt civil unions achieved
everything that marriage equal-
ity would and that the more
pressing issue was gaining fed-
eral recognition of those unions
— announced he would sign the
measure if certain amendments
were included.
The governor acknowledged
that the original legislation
made a distinction between
civil and religious marriage, but
argued, “The role of marriage
in many faiths extends beyond
the actual marriage ceremony.”
Connecticut and Vermont, he
pointed out, had more exten-
sive language regarding religion,
an approach New Hampshire
should adopt. Lynch’s proposed
a set of concepts to broadly allow
religious groups to deny any ser-
vices or accommodations, both
to marriage ceremonies and
any related celebrations. So, for
example, if a church makes a
practice of renting out a hall it
owns for non-religious purposes
to the general public, it could
still deny access to that facil-
ity for a wedding reception of a
same-sex couple.
It is not clear how this carve-
out from standard public
accommodations law, which
generally requires availability on
an equal basis, would hold up
in court. Politically, however, it
allowed the governor and mar-
riage equality advocates to find
common ground.
The governor also pressed
for language guaranteeing that
“any individual who is managed,
directed, or supervised by” a
religious body would also have a
conscience opt-out, allowing, for
example, an organist employed
by a church that was going to
officiate over a same-sex mar-
riage to refuse to participate
without fear of losing their job.
When the governor
announced his terms — “If the
Legislature doesn’t pass these
provisions, I will veto it” — on
May 14, legislative leaders and
marriage equality advocates
immediately responded that
they could live with those con-
ditions. However, after a revised
bill was rushed out for a May 20
vote, the House said, in essence,
not so fast. It rejected the com-
promise bill by a 188-186 mar-
gin. But then, in a sign that the
quibble was as much proce-
dural as substantive, it voted
202-173 to beat back an effort
to postpone consideration of the
measure.
Marriage equality remained
alive in New Hampshire; the
Legislature was merely asking
for more time to consider the
fine points. A legislative confer-
ence committee, including mem-
bers of the House and Senate,
went to work on reviewing the
original compromise language.
By June 3, the Legislature was
ready to take up the bill for one
last shot at passage in the cur-
rent session, and advocates
scored a surprisingly comfort-
able victory. At approximately
5:20 p.m., only an hour after
final approval, Lynch signed the
measure.
Among the six states with
marriage equality, four others
are in New England — Massa-
chusetts, Connecticut, Vermont,
and Maine — and the other is
Iowa. Vermont, Maine, and Iowa
also saw marriage equality vic-
tories only this year, and the
Connecticut Legislature in 2009
codified the terms of its State
Supreme Court ruling from last
year mandating equal access to
civil marriage. In California, the
right to marry was taken away
from same-sex couples by Prop-
osition 8 last November, less
than six months after a State
Supreme Court victory there.
Rouse, voicing optimism for
success this month in New York
State, said, “We’ve really turned
a corner on GLBT issues nation-
wide,” emphasizing in particu-
lar New England and the Mid-
Atlantic states. One big priority,
he said, will be getting volun-
teers to Maine to fight the effort
to put a referendum on the
November ballot turning back
the enactment in early May of a
marriage equality law there.
11 - 24 JUN 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 JUN 11, from p.4
lishing, marketing, and presentations of
loving work written by Perry Brass, Rob-
ert W. Cabell, Norman Beim, Kay Wil-
liams, Jane Chambers, Sidney Morris,
and Doric Wilson. General Society of
Mechanics and Tradesmen Library,
20 W. 44th St., 7:30-9:30 p.m. Request-
ed donation is $8. Refreshments served.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
DANCE
35 Years in The
Works
Jennifer Muller/The Works holds its
35th anniversary season, in two differ-
ent programs which, among other pieces,
revive one of its earliest dances, “Tub”
(1973), danced wet to an original score by
Burt Alcantara, the company’s early music
director, and premiere “Bench,” inspired by
Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” a dance
about culpability and grace set to the music
of Jocelyn Pook; “Tangle,” which explores
the intricacies of relationships in a duet with
an unusual partnering vocabulary; and “Walk
It Off,” a tongue-in-cheek manual offering
advice about relieving stress and getting out
of the dumps. Joyce Theater, 175 Eighth
Ave. at 19th St., Jun. 11-13, 8 p.m.; Jun.
13-14, 2 p.m., Jun. 14, 7:30 p.m. Tickets are
$19 – 49 at joyce.org or 212-242-0800.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
THEATER
Mice Bohemia
The Amoralists reprise “The Pied Pipers
of the Lower East Side,” written and direct-
ed by Derek Ahonen, about an extraordinary
gathering of young idealists who live as a
modern-day urban tribe above a vegan res-
taurant in New York. Billy, Dawn, Dear, and
Wyatt are an extended sexual family bat-
tling their fears and addictions in order to
live their utopian dream. P.S. 122, 150 First
Ave. at E. Ninth St. Thu.-Sat., Mon., 7:30
p.m., Sun., 5 p.m. through Jun. 28, with
Jun. 24 performance, 7:30 p.m. Tick-
ets are $25; $15 for students & seniors at
ps122.org or 212-352-3101.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
FILM
FRI.JUN.12
32 Films, 17
Countries
The Human Rights Watch Interna-
tional Film Festival, in a series co-hosted
with the Film Society of Lincoln Center,
celebrates 20 years with a program of
䉴 JUN 12, continued on p.10
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 9

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10/ Legal
Court Leaves Child Behind
Brooklyn appeals court will not look at lesbian co-mom’s responsibilities
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
A
state appeals court in
Brooklyn has found that
a lesbian mother could
not seek a child support order
against her former partner in
the Rockland County Fam-
ily Court, because there is no
specific statutory authority for
determining that a woman is a
child’s parent. A sharply divided
panel of the 2nd Department
of the New York Appellate Divi-
sion, in a 3-2 ruling on May
26, reversed Rockland Family
Court Judge William P. Warren,
who had ordered a hearing to
determine whether E.T.’s claim
that she had no support obliga-
tion for the child whose birth
she had planned with her part-
ner should be precluded. Jus-
tice Joseph Covello’s opinion
for the court drew a vehement
dissenting opinion from Justice
Ruth C. Balkin.
The women were partners
in New York State for more
than five years, and planned
from the start to have a child.
H.M. would become pregnant
through anonymous donor
insemination, staying home
to care for the child, while E.T.
completed her chiropractic
degree. But, five months after
the birth of their son in Septem-
ber 1994, E.T. ended the rela-
tionship, giving H.M. $1,500 to
help her cover the costs of mov-
ing out and finding a home for
herself and the child. E.T. gave
some gifts over the ensuing
years, but never paid child sup-
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.6
earlier told the New York Times,
about the Obama administration,
“They have a vision, they have a
plan for gay rights.”
Schumer would not comment
for Bellini’s story, but the seg-
ment includes an interview with
David Smith, HRC’s policy direc-
tor, in which he said, “As far as
we understand, repealing Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell is going to be a
priority for the White House, is
a priority for the White House.”
But Representative Tammy
Baldwin, the out lesbian Wis-
consin Democrat, is seen on
11 - 24 JUN 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
port. H.M. cared for the child on Court Act suggest that gender- port order. Balkin noted that 䉴 JUN 12, from p.8
a minimal income while com- neutral interpretations can be under this view, two gay men
pleting her own education. adopted when necessary to pro- who used a surrogate to have a 32 Films from 17 countries, including
H.M. eventually moved to tect the best interests of a child, child would be deprived of the 26 New York premieres. Among those
Canada to live with her par - and that courts in many other family court’s jurisdiction to films being screened is Gabriela and
ents, and in 2006 filed for states — most notably the Cali- resolve a child support dispute, Sally Gutierrez Dewar’s “Tapologo,”
bankruptcy, and also filed a fornia Supreme Court — have and, even more to the point, a which looks at a group of HIV-positive
“support application” with a interpreted similar statutes to man who discovered a found- former sex workers in South Africa who
local court in Ontario. The mat- be gender-neutral in order to ling on his doorstep had no are now home caregivers to others living
ter was referred to the Rock- meet the needs of modern-day redress in proving that a par- with HIV (Jun. 23, 6:30 p.m.; Jun. 24, 9
ticular woman with whom he p.m.). Walter Reade Theater, 165 W.
had a past sexual relationship 65th St., upper level, btwn. Broad-
“The Family Court Act only was the child’s mother. She
also suggested that in mod-
way & Amsterdam Ave. Jun. 12-25.
Admission is $11 per screening; $8 for
provides a vehicle for resolving ern equal protection jurispru- seniors, $7 for students and Film Soci-
dence, interpreting the statute ety members; $40 series passes allows
controversies concerning a male’s to apply to one sex and not the admission to five films. For complete
fatherhood of a child.” other would raise serious con- details, visit filmlinc.com.
stitutional issues avoided by a ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
gender-neutral interpretation.
land County Family Court, “nontraditional” families. “Regardless of how a child PERFORMANCE
but E.T. objected to the court’s But the majority insisted enters this world, ‘a child is Going Through the
jurisdiction, arguing that the that the family court is a court bor n in need of support,’” Motions
family court lacked authority of limited, specific jurisdiction, Balkin wrote. “As a matter of In an event the producers says should
to determine that a woman not so it does not have power to public policy, a determination be filed under “Burlesque, Fornicating
legally or biologically related to determine an issue that is not should be made as to whether with Phantoms,” “The Air Sex World
a child has a parental support specifically assigned to it by E.T. is responsible for the sup- Championships” are a lot like air guitar,
obligation. Judge Warren deter- a statute or the Constitution. port of the child, given that but instead of rocking out with an imagi-
mined that H.M. could chal- The court pointed out that H.M. has already declared nary guitar, you’re making sweet and/or
lenge E.T.’s assertion she had the family court has not been bankruptcy, and E.T.’s support filthy love with an imaginary sex partner.
no obligation to the child, and granted authority to award obligation could otherwise fall” You choose a clip of music, you show up
E.T. appealed. equitable relief, a power which on government. The court’s in whatever sort of wardrobe you like, and
The appeals court majority would be required to consider opinion dramatically illustrates you come up on stage and show everyone
found that that the heavily gen- H.M.’s claim but is reserved the inadequacy of New York’s how you do it. Or how you wish you could
dered language of the Family to the supreme court, which archaic family law statutes, do it. Or how you once had it done to you.
Court Act does not specifically has general trial jurisdiction which the State Legislature has Highline Ballroom, 431 W. 16th St., 9
authorize the court to deter - and is not as narrowly con- never revised to accommodate p.m.; doors open at 8. Tickets are $15 at
mine that a woman might have fined in its purview. The major- modern family realities. ticketweb.com or 866-468-7619.
such a support obligation, Jus- ity suggested that H.M. should H.M. is represented by pro ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
tice Covello writing it “only pro- have brought an action in the bono counsel from the promi-
vides a vehicle for resolving con- supreme court, but Balkin’s nent firm of Proskauer Rose
troversies concerning a male’s
fatherhood of a child.” In dis-
sent, Justice Balkin noted that
dissent pointed out that under
the state’s family law stat-
utes, only the family court was
LLP, so it is likely that it will
seek to take the matter to the
Court of Appeals, New York’s DANCE
SUN.JUN.14
other provisions of the Family authorized to issue a child sup- highest bench. Ambiguous
Movement
C. Eule Dance presents “Summer
camera essentially confirming Ask, Don’t Tell policy, told Sirius variety of other grounds, including Do Arguments on the Pier,” featuring the premier of
that the Employment Non-Dis- Radio’s Mike Signorile that he previously impermissible criminal Over A “Deal” “Stuck,” created in collaboration with
crimination Act (ENDA) and hate has heard much the same as records. Miss Larger lesbian singer/songwriter and company
crimes legislation have priority, Bellini did. “Our major national Curiously, Congressman Point? dancer Michelle Vargo. The piece delves
because they are measures that gay rights organizations — it Joseph Sestak, a second-term Reacting to what he calls a into individuals’ challenges and inse-
have been discussed for years would be one thing to say noth- Democrat from the Philadelphia “firestorm” over whether the curities including miscommunication,
in Congress and are well under- ing, but there is pro-active lob- area who is a retired Navy vice Human Rights Campaign cut a sexual identity, loneliness, and feelings
stood. Given that the year is bying on the hill for Congress not admiral, voiced greater urgency deal with the Obama administra- of belonging. Vargo moves in and out
nearly half over and Capitol Hill to consider the issue. And so the about Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell than tion to delay action on Don’t Ask, of the work, both as a musician and a
has not yet finished action on community has been appalling on Baldwin, telling Bellini the time Don’t Tell in favor of moving the dancer, blurring the line between these
these measures, it seems a rea- this issue.” Belkin advocates that to act is now, and predicting that Employment Non-Discrimination roles. Pier 66 Maritime, 26th St. at
sonable bet that action on Don’t President Obama issue a stop- if a repeal measure got to the Act and hate crimes legislation, 12th Ave. on the Hudson River, 3 p.m.
Ask, Don’t Tell won’t come until loss order, suspending discharges floor, it would pass. activist and blogger John Aravo- & 8:30 p.m. Free, but a donation of $15
2010 at the earliest. under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, as the Bellini reported that 260 ser- sis is arguing that there’s a much is suggested. In the event of rain, call
And Aaron Belkin, of the policy is reconsidered. As military vicemembers have dismissed bigger problem: “No one believes 212-222-4207 for a revised performance
Palm Center at the University forces have been strained under under the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell that the White House has any schedule.
of California, Santa Barbara, a the pressure of two wars, stop- policy since President Barack
leading researcher on the Don’t loss orders have been issued on a Obama took office. 䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.17 䉴 14 DAYS, continued on p.14
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 BUSTS, from p.1
in 2008. Those arrests are seen as false
arrests in the gay community.
In an effort to close those shops, both
the police department’s legal unit and the
Mayor’s Office of Special Enforcement, in
separate actions, cited those arrests in
nuisance abatement lawsuits brought
against five of the six shops. One of the
shops closed, one suit was withdrawn,
and the others stayed open under deals
with the city that restricted their opera-
tions.
Most of the 30 men pleaded guilty to
disorderly conduct and were given minor
sentences and fines. The arrests prompt-
ed an angry outcry in the gay commu-
nity. “The thing that strikes me is that
it’s taken them all of this time to come
to that conclusion,” said Robert Pinter,
who was arrested in an East Village
porn shop and founded the Campaign
to Stop the False Arrests. “That conclu-
sion could have been reached earlier
than this... It seems that there is some-
thing else going on here, and maybe
it’s all the attention that has been paid
to these arrests.” Pinter recently filed a
court motion to vacate his guilty plea.
The campaign mounted protests out-
side Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s Upper
East Side mansion and in the West Vil-
lage. Members have also met with police
officials and Manhattan District Attor-
ney Robert Morgenthau. The campaign
is staging another protest on June 13 in
Sheridan Square at 1:00 p.m.
“Of course, it’s good the cases have
been dismissed, but that doesn’t
address the core issue that the arrests
should never have happened to begin
with,” wrote Andy Velez, a member of
the campaign and the Queer Justice
League, in an email. “We have no assur-
ance that the internal NYPD and NYC
politics which permitted this abuse
won’t be revived again even though we
know it’s unlikely to happen before the
THE LONG-AWAITED HIGH LINE OPENS
11 – 24 JUN 2009 11
November mayoral election. No, not
when the mayor is busily proclaim-
ing himself to be a champion of the gay
community, ample evidence to the con-
trary notwithstanding.”
Also on June 2, the district attorney
dismissed the case against a 55-year-old
man arrested on a prostitution charge on
January 29 by cops in the Sixth Precinct,
which oversees the West Village. The
district attorney conceded that the time
limit to prosecute him had run out.
Gay City News has learned that a
47-year -old man arrested on a pros-
titution charge last year in a Murray
Hill spa is preparing to sue the city for
false arrest. The man, a licensed mas-
sage therapist, was in his second week
of work at the spa when he had a well-
muscled, Asian-American client. Accord-
ing to the 47-year-old, the client said, “I
need to know if you can take extra care
of me and I’ll take care of you,” while
making a masturbation gesture with
his hand. The 47-year-old told Gay City
News that he told the client, “You don’t
have to worry about taking extra care of
me, I’m going to take good care of you.”
The client was an undercover officer,
identified by the badge number 3044 in
court records. The charge against the
47-year-old was recently dismissed, but
he filed a notice with the city on January
23, just over two months after his arrest,
that he intended to sue for false arrest,
unlawful imprisonment, and violations
of his civil and constitutional rights.
Undercover 3044 is part of the Man-
hattan South Vice Enforcement Squad
and made two of the 30 arrests of gay
and bisexual men in Manhattan porn
shops.
Police arrested two employees and the
spa owner for prostitution in August and
September. The spa closed in February
after the city brought a nuisance abate-
ment lawsuit against the spa and the
owner of the building in which the spa
was housed.
J.B. NICHOLAS
 11 - 24 JUN 2009

12/ Perspective
■ A DYKE ABROAD
PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER
JOHN W. SUTTER
A Plea For Queer History
JWSutter@communitymediallc.com BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

I
’ve always liked Larry Kram- If you’ve heard of them at all, were twisted to get local groups where the out and proud
TROY MASTERS
troy@gaycitynews.com
er. He’s one of the few people it’s probably for their ongoing to comply. And like the recent LACROP was active, defeated
as perpetually pissed off as I legacy of Dyke Marches held all No on 8 campaign in Califor- Proposition One by a significant
EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDER
PAUL SCHINDLER
am, and equally obsessed with over the country, or their bold nia, queers were shoved in the margin. The centralized, closet-
editor@gaycitynews.com gay history. While his thing late- direct actions like taking over closet and the door locked after ed efforts in the more urban and
ASSOCIATE EDITOR ly is extracting queers from their a radio station to put pressure them. Television ads twisted progressive area around Boise
Duncan Osborne historical closets, I’m desper- on Spanish-language media to themselves in knots to avoid the only narrowly defeated the mea-
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS ate to preserve our activist his- mend their homophobic, racist words, “gay” and “lesbian,” and sure, with the rest of the nearby
Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day, tory. Without history, without ways. In fact, the most radical focused instead on messages counties voting overwhelmingly
Doug Ireland (International), Brian McCormick memory, each generation seems act of the Lesbian Avengers was denouncing government inter- “yes” to adopt Proposition One.
(Dance), Dean P. Wrzeszcz
to reinvent itself from scratch to take queer activism where it ference in private lives. The extra votes in the LACROP
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Betsy Andrews, Seth J. Bookey,
with a piecemeal vision for our had never been before — into Luckily, No on 1 stuck mostly region made the difference,
Anthony M.Brown, Kelly Jean Cogswell, movement, few role models, no the heart of heartland politics. to the southern part of the state. along with Mormons who actu-
Dean Daderko, Tate Dougherty, Andres Duque, understanding of organizing And if this history had been In the more rural, northern ally voted “no” because of bash-
Michael Ehrhardt, Steve Erickson, Nick Feitel,
Jim Fouratt, Joe Fyfe, Deborah Garwood, techniques, or even how activ- remembered, queer Californians part, a tiny local chapter of Les- ing from the Christian Right.
Erasmo Guerra, Emily Harney, Andrey Henkin, ism fits into the bigger picture of could probably still get hitched. bian Avengers in Palouse Coun- It’s time for this history to be
Frank Holiday, Andy Humm, James Jorden, Brendan social change. Turn the dial on the time try decided Idaho needed rather more widely known. Imagine if
Keane, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S.
Leonard, Rachael Liberman, In our ignorance, we’ve allied machine to 1993-4. The place different tactics. They called the those asshats in California had
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass, ourselves with one party, dimin- is rural, conservative Idaho, Lesbian Avenger Civil Rights understood that lesbian and
Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott,
Gregory Montreuil, Ioannis Mookas, Carrie Moyer,
ishing our political bargaining largely lacking in progressive Organizing Project (LACROP) gay visibility should have been
Stephen Mueller, Christopher Murray, power, and embraced a leader- networks. When the Idaho Citi- in New York to come help, and a fundamental part of their
David Noh, Wayne Northcross, Lori Ortiz, ship seemingly determined to zens’ Alliance put an anti-gay eight full-time and eight part- campaign, and not a liability.
Pauline Park, Sheila Pepe, John Reed,
Nathan Riley, Andrew Robinson, Gerard Robinson, separate us from our history of measure on the ballot, banning time workers arrived, headed up Imagine if they’d understood
Chris Schmidt, Sarah D. Schulman, survival and resistance. If not everything from anti-discrim- by native Idahoan Sara Pursley. the power of working together
Jason Victor Serinus, Linda Shapiro, for some vague image of Martin ination ordinances to queer The Avengers did almost with a broader shared vision
David Shengold, Gus Solomons Jr., David Spiher,
Drew B. Straub, Stefen Styrsky, Jerry Tallmer, Luther King and an even vaguer books in the library, it seemed everything in reverse. Local les- — liberation — and that impa-
Stefanos Tsigrimanis, Kathleen Warnock, image of Stonewall, we wouldn’t a slam duck for the Christian bians and gay men were put tient activists bringing visibility
Benjamin Weinthal, Lee Ann Westover,
James Withers, Kai Wright, Susan Yung
even have had the idea to take Right. And almost was. front and center, encouraged to to important issues are not just
to the streets, carry signs, make Local queers responded in set their own priorities, come blowhard loonies but an essen-
ART DIRECTOR
Mark Hasselberger
speeches, and perhaps organize two ways. The No on 1 Coali- out in their communities, and tial force creating space for
a sit-in or two after the marriage tion, a loose association of share power as widely as pos- organizers and lobbyists to find
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Jamie Paakkonen equality efforts in California LGBT groups centered in the sible. Together, they organized common ground for change.
fumbled their way to defeat. capital city of Boise, hired a speak-outs and kiss-ins. Some Imagine, imagine, imagine if
SENIOR VP OF ADVERTISING/MARKETING
FRANCESCO REGINI Worse, we barely reacted full-time staff and called on the even went door-to-door to talk they had less money, and had
francesco@gaycitynews.com when Joe Solmonese of the Human Rights Campaign Fund, about their lives. Nobody was to focus more on human capi-
Human Rights Campaign told Gay and Lesbian Americans, censored. And getting your tal, on creativity, on energy, on
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
us to sit down and shut up after and the National Gay and Les- voice heard and your life vali- pure heart. Imagine, if we’d only
COLIN GREGORY
colin@gaycitynews.com secret meetings with the Obama bian Task Force. These guys dated made it worth the risks remembered what those les-
administration. “They’ve got a bankrolled and centralized the of violence, vandalism, and fear. bians did once upon a time in
ALLISON GREAKER
allison@gaycitynews.com vision. They’ve got a plan.” campaign, instituting “message Queers made connections with Idaho.
JASON SHERWOOD
Maybe it’s time to pull a control” whereby the executive each other, forged a place in
jsherwood@gaycitynews.com woolly mammoth from the tar committee carefully controlled their communities — oh, and Check out Kelly Sans Culotte
JEREMY MARKS pit of queer history. I recom- who could speak to the press, or won a bunch of votes. at http://kellyatlarge.blogspot.
jeremy@gaycitynews.com mend the Lesbian Avengers. send letters and articles. Arms The northern, rural region, com/.
JASON SPARKS
jsparks@gaycitynews.com
Please call (212) 229-1890 for ■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR >> editor@gaycitynews.com
advertising rates and availability.
ACCOUNTING LARRY KRAMER American” (In Advance of Equality Demo, demeaning disrespect — to use other men bishop Dolan and his followers, Maggie Gal-
DAVID JAFFE
david@gaycitynews.com WRITES ABOUT Thousands Rally Against Gay Marriage, by in such a way as to debase them to be “less lagher and all her ilk should not be allowed
NATIONAL DISPLAY ADVERTISING
RODGER Duncan Osborne, posted online May 18). The than women” (remember, the Men of Sodom to force their warped and immoral religion
Rivendell Media / 212.242.6863 McFARLANE leading opponents of marriage equality wrap were misogynists). on those who believe differently. In New
Web master Longtime AIDS and gay activist Larry themselves in a cloak of Christianity, but The “Reverend” State Senator Ruben York, African-American slaves could not
Arturo Jimenez Kramer wrote in response to “Rodger they’re like wolves wrapped in sheep’s cloth- Diaz and his followers with their message get legally married to each other until 1809.
Arturo@gaycitynews.com
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay and Lesbian NYC, is pub-
McFarlane, AIDS, Gay Community Builder, ing. Their preachers lie about the Bible, and of heterosexist supremacy, are much more Many states forbade mixed-race couples
lishedby Community Media, LLC. Send all inquiries to: Gay City News, Dead at 54,” by Paul Schindler (posted online the ignorant flocks do not know any better. like the Men of Sodom than anyone in a lov- from marrying until 1967. Until 1848, as to
145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., NYC 10013 Phone: 646.452.2500 Written
permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents May 20). Due to the length of the letter and There is a gay marriage in the Bible: Samuel ing gay relationship. I could go on with all inheritances, and 1860, as to wages, mar-
of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All
contents (c) 2009 Gay City News. Kramer’s preference for not making edits to 18:3 — David and King Saul’s son Jonathan the other verses these people misuse and ried women and their assets in New York
it, it was agreed that the letter would only be enter into a marriage covenant: “Then Jona- misinterpret. Their claim to be “Christian” were under the complete control of their
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Community Media, LLC. posted online at gaycitynews.com. than and David made a covenant, because is a sham — they seem to have assimilated husbands. Marriage, for women, was the
John W. Sutter, President
Fax: 646.452.2501; he loved him as his own soul.” “macho” culture into Christianity to create equivalent of civil death — all of her rights
E-mail: JWSutter@communitymediallc.com THE PROBLEM WITH The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is not some sort of mélange like Santeria. Even if went to her husband because, under the
Subscriptions:
DIAZ about people in loving gay relationships. The they are “Christian” in some way, they’re not English common law, “the two become one,
26 issues, $90.00 Men of Sodom (Gen. 19:1-10) are shown to the only ones who can interpret the Bible. and that one is the husband.” Between
(c)2009 Gay City News. May 18, 2009 be macho misogynists who hate and fear In the United States, everyone is sup- 1836 and 1860, Christian preachers of the
All rights reserved. To the Editor: “strangers” (people who are different). posed to be guaranteed the same freedom
Ruben Diaz is un-Christian and un- The sin of Sodom is not homosexuality, it is of religion. Diaz and his followers, Arch- 䉴 LETTERS, continued on p.14
11 - 24 JUN 2009
■ THE SENATE REVOLT
W
here does New York go
from here? A Repub-
lican coup to regain
control of the State Senate clear-
ly damages the Working Fami-
lies Party and its progressive
goals for health care, workers’
rights, and improved rent sta-
bilization laws. Rather than the
new leadership looking to build
on the recent drug reform vic-
tory, future debates will center
on GOP efforts to gut the new
law that repealed some of the
most draconian aspects of the
Rockefeller-era drug laws.
Will the same fate await mar-
riage equality? The notion that
a Republican-controlled Senate
would pass this bill has long
been considered ludicrous.
But Ken Sherrill, a gay Hunter
College professor who special-
izes in the politics of gay rights,
advises, “Don’t give up.”
The Republicans could make
significant hay by allowing the
legislation to pass. They would
no longer look like reactionaries
trying push the clock back —
and with the changed national
climate on marriage equality
since just last fall, returning to
a posture of implacable opposi-
tion carries real risks. Sherrill
calls a potential new openness
regarding gay marriage “cam-
■ ALSO IN ALBANY
W
ith all the nation-
al attention being
focused on efforts to
pass a marriage equality bill in
New York before the end of the
legislative session on June 22,
let’s not forget that this isn’t the
only important issue our com-
munity has been working on to
pass into law. Another critical
piece of legislation is the Gender
Expression Non-Discrimina-
tion Act (GENDA) that provides
long-overdue legal protections
for transgender members of our
community.
Some still remember a time
when it was perfectly acceptable
to be fired from a job, denied a
lease on an apartment, or refused
service in a restaurant for being
gay or lesbian, but increasingly
this is becoming community his-
After Coup, Gay Marriage?
ouflage,” a way to appear pro-
gressive while still supporting
conservative programs. Repub-
licans voting for the measure
would gain the endorsement
of the Empire Pride Agenda —
and would end the monolithic
gay money support for the Sen-
ate Democrats that proved so
critical last fall.
This factor cannot be over-
estimated. Last year, the Sen-
ate Democrats received amaz-
ingly generous contributions
— somewhere between one
and two million dollars — from
the LGBT community and
its friends. If this Democratic
advantage is neutralized or
at least softened, the Repub-
licans gain an upper hand in
fundraising. Their money pros-
pects will blossom with control
of the Senate, with business,
especially real estate interests,
flocking to bolster their coffers.
Log Cabin Republicans could
do serious fund raising should
the Senate pass a marriage bill.
The big loser in this arrange-
ment is the Conservative Party,
whose at times near-strangle-
hold influence has in recent
years inflicted great damage on
prospects for New York Repub-
licans. It has prevented the
state GOP from following the
GENDA’s Time is Now
tory. This isn’t the case for our
transgender brothers and sisters
by any stretch of the imagination
— discrimination is still ever-
present in their lives, down to the
most day-to-day aspects of liv-
ing. Even just walking down the
street safely can be a challenge
for transgender New Yorkers.
It’s time to end this injustice and
pass GENDA — and New York-
ers agree by an overwhelming 78
percent, according to polling we
did last year.
Let me be clear on what this
means. When any issue polls
this high, it has moved out of the
realm of being the least bit con-
troversial or still up for debate by
the electorate. The debate is over.
Transgender discrimination is
unacceptable to the overwhelm-
ing majority of New Yorkers. The
BY NATHAN RILEY
progressive Republicanism
that elected important gover-
nors like Nelson Rockefeller
and Tom Dewey. Instead, the
Republicans became saddled
with vehement opposition
to abortion and gay rights,
turning younger voters away
from the party, and hindering
recruitment of compelling can-
didates.
The Independence Party and
billionaire Tom Golisano, who
has made several runs for gov-
ernor and boasted about his
key role in the coup, emerge as
big winners.
The turnover will also prove
advantageous for the GOP if it
tempers the ideological bag-
gage it carries back into the
majority offices. One promis-
ing early sign is the package of
new Senate rules it is touting
as part of the promised reform.
And this is where passing gay
marriage gets interesting. The
new rules, according to an offi-
cial summary, provide that “a
sponsor may move to have his
or her bill included on the next
active list if a majority of mem-
bers present and voting agree
to the motion.” It also permits
discharge petitions for pending
legislation so that the full Sen-
ate may vote on a bill. In other
BY ALAN VAN CAPELLE
New York State Democratic Party
got this message two years ago
and unanimously approved a
resolution calling for the passage
of GENDA. So, too, did the New
York State AFL-CIO, when it did
the same last year. The New York
State Assembly has stepped up
and passed GENDA two years in
a row with bipartisan support.
And now the votes are there from
both Democrats and Republi-
cans to pass it in the State Sen-
ate, and if the Senate does, the
governor has already indicated
that he will sign it into law.
So what’s the holdup?
Well, the opposition knows
that GENDA is going to happen
sooner or later, and they’re trying
to slow it down through misin-
formation and fear-mongering.
They’ve taken to calling it the
Perspective /13
words, Tom Duane, the out gay
Chelsea Democrat, can shep-
herd the marriage equality bill
he sponsors to the floor for a
vote, without exacting agree-
ment from the Senate leader.
Can this scenario, where our
Democratic friends fall from
power but we arise victorious,
pass a reality check? Clues are
being dropped like hairpins.
Senator Pedro Espada, one of
the two renegade Democrats,
is a co-sponsor of the mar -
riage equality bill. As president
pro tem of the Senate, he has
already insisted the bill is alive.
So far, Senator Dean Skelos,
a Long Island Republican who
resumes his role as majority
leader and presumably could
veto Espada, hasn’t contradict-
ed him — at least so far.
The Empire State Pride Agen-
da, the able group representing
the LGBT community in Albany,
has refused to criticize the new
leadership, saying “our issues
are not partisan issues. Our
hope and expectation is that
yesterday’s events will not derail
efforts by our community to win
the equality we so desperately
need.”
Tom Duane was noticeably
absent from a news conference
to rally support for Malcolm
“bathroom bill,” and they spin
all types of ominous scenarios
about bathrooms and child
molestation — none of which, of
course, can be backed up with
evidence anywhere in the many
jurisdictions across New York or
the US where laws like GENDA
are in place.
They also say that GENDA will
create hardships for businesses
and workplaces that all of a sud-
den will be forced to accommo-
date the needs of transgender
employees. And yet workplaces
in New York, ranging from For-
tune 500 companies to small
businesses, have been success-
fully addressing this issue for
a long time. In fact, the Pride
Agenda put out a report ear-
lier this year with business case
studies that specifically discredit
Smith, the Queens Democrats
who appears to have lost his
position as majority leader. No
legislator has suffered more
than Duane from Smith’s
unwillingness to push harder
and more visibly for marriage
equality. Smith may have to pay
a price for seemingly breaking
faith, if not explicitly his word to
the LGBT community. Duane’s
office the following day released
the following statement to Gay
City News: “Regardless of the
leadership outcome, Senator
Duane is deeply committed and
passionate about passing same-
sex marriage and other legisla-
tion for which he has fought his
entire career. He will work with
members from both sides of the
aisle to achieve these goals.”
The combination of progres-
sivism and reform has worked
well for Republicans in New
York State in generations past.
A gay marriage bill that passes
because of the new rules will be
the best argument that the rules
change is meaningful and rep-
resents real reform. If the GOP
expects to recruit sterling can-
didates for the 2010 election,
the prospect of greater indepen-
dence for new members is an
enticing possibility. In the end,
doing right may be best politics.
the assertions opponents make
about “chaos” in the workplace.
Once assemblymembers
approved GENDA in 2007 and
there was no reaction in the
press or from voters at election
time, the light bulb went off that
what our community had been
telling them was true. New York-
ers don’t like discrimination of
any form, and that includes dis-
crimination against transgender
people.
The other impediment with
GENDA is getting the Senate to
move beyond promising to get it
done to actually getting it done.
The Pride Agenda recognized
a number of years ago that,
when only LGBT people push
to get a bill passed in Albany,
䉴 GENDA, continued on p.14
14
■ POLITICS
Oops! Mall Is Booked
DC venues scarce on weekend activists plan LGBT march
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
T
he organizers of the pro-
posed march on Washing-
ton should have checked
with the National Parks Service
before they began announcing
the October dates for that event.
“It’s unavailable,” a parks ser-
vice staffer said when Gay City
News asked if the National Mall
was booked on October 10, 11,
and 12, the dates that some
organizers have announced for
the march.
Three different organizations
have permits to hold events on
those days on the National Mall,
the setting for the gay communi-
ty’s four prior national marches.
Collectively, the three groups
are expecting in excess of
135,000 people, which would
mean that even if the organiz-
ers of the proposed march could
get a permit — and it is doubtful
that they could, as most groups
file for a permit a year in advance
— the gay marchers would be
joining a three-day walk-a-thon
against breast cancer, a Trea-
sury Department event, and the
䉴 GENDA, from p.13
it takes a while because we’re
just a small slice of the elector-
ate. But when we expand sup-
port for our issues outside of
the LGBT community, the heat
on elected officials to do some-
thing increases substantially.
We’re seeing this with marriage
equality, and we’re making this
happen with GENDA, too.
Like marriage, we have been
䉴 LETTERS, from p.12
day railed against the Married Women’s
Property Acts because they would destroy
the sanctity of marriage — the same argu-
ment used today by heterosexist suprema-
cists to impose their peculiar religious cul-
ture on everyone.
These people are not only un-Christian,
they are un-American. We should all have
equal rights, equal protection and equal
opportunity under the law, regardless of
our sexual orientation, gender identity,
religion, race, ethnic background, etc. So
why do they want to oppress me?
Joann Prinzivalli
White Plains
Million Man March for God.
In a May 12 post on towleroad.
com, Cleve Jones, the creator of
the NAMES Project AIDS Memo-
rial Quilt, called for a march on
October 10 and 11 to coincide
with National Coming Out Day
and the 30th anniversary of the
first march on Washington.
David Mixner, a longtime gay
politico, called for such a march,
though in November, on his web-
site davidmixner.com on May 20.
Various people have since
been quoted in the gay and main-
stream press calling for a march
on the October dates, and a web-
site, nationalequalitymarch.com,
gives October 10 and 11 as the
dates for that event.
The problem of other permits
already having been issued “cer-
tainly has the potential to have
an impact” on the march plan-
ning, Jones said.
“We are flexible on the route,
flexible on the location,” he said.
“The mall is not my top choice. I
would rather have the march in
the streets and end at the Lin-
coln Memorial.”
The Lincoln Memorial is
successful working with those
whose opinions matter to leg-
islators. Labor unions have
passed resolutions in support of
GENDA, and a growing number
of clergy and people of faith are
saying it’s time to provide equal-
ity for transgender New Yorkers.
And we’ve been highlighting the
fact with legislators that busi-
nesses figured out a long time
ago how to operate a productive
workplace that includes trans-
LET THEM PROCEED
TO A BIGGER CAUSE
May 29, 2009
To the Editor:
Stop harassing the plaintiffs who are
trying to bring the Prop 8 issue to the US
Supreme Court (“Bush v. Gore Foes Unite on
Marriage,” by Paul Schindler, News Briefs,
May 28-Jun.10). Marriage is very much a
flawed institution. Ultimately we (and every-
one else) need to find paths of liberation
from such institutions. We should not see
“winning” as gaining the right to participate
in a carbon copy of straight marriage, but in
redefining and broadening the variety of cel-
ebrated and acceptable relationships in our
11 – 24 JUN 2009
The first national march on Washington for LGBT rights, in 1979.
located at the western end of the
National Mall.
Michael Petrelis, a longtime
gay and AIDS activist, has been
critical of the gay and lesbian
community leadership on his
blog, The Petrelis Files, at mpe-
trelis.blogspot.com. He did not
spare the march organizers.
“Without a single public,
open-to-all meeting anywhere
in the nation, a few LGBT lead-
ers called for another march on
DC,” he wrote in an email. “A
gender employees.
The LGBT community has
done the work these past few
years to show the Senate that
it is not a tough political lift
to pass GENDA. T ransgen-
der people all across the state
have been effective in moving a
number of senators to be sup-
portive when they previously
were not. Our polling shows
and last year’s elections proved
that there is no price to be paid
culture. This lawsuit continues to put pres-
sure on the defenders of straight marriage
to formally defend their marriage logic at the
highest levels, which can only be a detriment
to the cause of traditional marriage
I would contend that the most important
result of the gay marriage debate is not get-
ting a few gays and lesbians the right to get
government approval for their marriages, but
fostering the national debate that continues
on what is marriage is supposed to do and
mean for all folks. The lawsuit will continue
that process.
Exposing the hypocrisy of divorced and
adulterous marriage defenders is one example
of the long term good this activism is doing.
But ultimately this activism is undermining
federal holiday weekend, four
short months away, was picked
as the date for the march. Now,
we find out other events, includ-
ing the very important action
against breast cancer, are
already permitted for the Mall
on October 10-11... I charitably
suggest those calling for this
misguided National Equality
March put aside their massive
egos and attend a few courses
in Effective LGBT Community
Organizing 101.”
at the ballot box by an elected
official who votes for GENDA.
There has never been such
an opportunity as there is this
year to pass GENDA. If we all
keep up the heat on the State
Senate, GENDA can happen
this month. And it absolutely
should.
Alan Van Capelle is the execu-
tive director of the Empire State
Pride Agenda.
traditional marriage. It can’t do anything but!
Traditional marriage— in all its misogyny and
privilege— deserves to be undermined. It is
held up in our current culture as the ultimate
in love — the romantic ideal relationship
every human should be striving for. In reality
it is little more than a utopian fairytale sold to
us a children, delivering much more pain and
disappointment than it does happiness. The
more we get them talking about it — and
the more we get powerful institutions like the
supreme court talking about it— the better.
But the ultimate goal of this activism should
never be to for the gay community to buy into
and participate in its false utopian promises.
Mike Sloothaak
West Lafayette, Indiana
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.10
BENEFIT
MON.JUN.15
Healthy Animals,
Healthy People
“Walk on the Wild Side” is a benefit
event for the whole family to support
the work of the Callen-Lorde Community
Health Center, the Chelsea clinic serving
the LGBT community. John Tartaglia, star
of Broadway’s “Shrek the Musical,” is a
highlight of the evening. Central Park
Zoo, entrance at Fifth Ave. at E. 64th
St.; ramp at E. 60th St., 6-9 p.m. Tick-
ets begin at $85, with free admission for
youth under 18, at callen-lorde.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
CABARET
Wicked Good Fun
Natalie Weiss is a former “Ameri-
can Idol” semifinalist, a YouTube
sensation, and touring cast member
of “Wicked.” Tonight she headlines
Scott Nevins’ “Curtain Call,” taking
on Broadway’s hottest tunes. Splash
Bar, 50 W. 17th St., 11:30 p.m.
Admission is free until 10 p.m.; $5
after that. You must be 21.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
COMEDY
TUE.JUN.16
Ladies Who Brunch
Some women can’t live their life
without the advice of their gay male
friend. They wear a badge of honor,
doting on their gay by embracing their
inner circle of queens. A few of these
women have actually gone so far as to
create a one-of-a-kind event proudly
named the “HagFest Comedy Tour,”
dedicated to their love of all things gay.
“HagFest” made its debut to a packed
house at Bang Studios in West Holly-
wood, and that is only the beginning.
The show features diva comediennes
Shawn Pelofsky (Chelsea Lately/Atlan-
tis Cruises), Vicki Barbolak (Nick at
Nite’s “Funniest Mom in America”),
and Susannah Perlman (“Last Comic
Standing”). Each comedienne will be
performing their outlandishly hilari-
ous brand of stand-up and reminiscing
about their first “hag” experiences. The
New York debut is tonight at Stone-
wall, 53 Christopher St., at Gay St.,
btwn. Sixth & Seventh Aves., 8 p.m.
Tickets are $10 at brownpapertickets.
com or $15 at the door.
䉴 14 DAYS, continued on p.22
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 15

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16 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

Don’t miss the TD Bank Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival
J U LY 3 0 - A U G U S T 2
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WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.10
intention of doing anything, regard-
less of any timetable.”
Writing on his AmericaBlog
News , Aravosis said, “If the White
House has decided to distance
itself from the gay community (and
that’s certainly what the communi-
ty believes), and HRC is seen as in
cahoots with that White House, the
community will naturally assume
that HRC signed off on the White
House’s effort to put gay rights on
the back burner indefinitely.”
Warning that President Barack
Obama is trying to “Sista Souljah
the gays” — a reference to can-
didate Bill Clinton’s distancing of
himself from Jesse Jackson in
1992 by going after the controver-
sial hip-hop artist at a public forum
as the civil rights leader looked
on — he attributed the problem
in large measure to advice from
White House chief of staff Rahm
Emanuel.
“Gay people are pissed,” Ara-
vosis wrote. “And growing more so
when they too struggled with
issues of sexual orientation and
gender identity. “I get that, I had
trouble wrapping my arms around
this whole thing decades ago,”
she explained is the response she
offers. “But you don’t get to not try
to wrap your arms around it and to
not talk about not wrapping your
arms about.”
Assessing the political calcu-
lus for the marriage equality bill,
Quinn acknowledged that there is
“the possibility of disappointment”
and said that with just about three
weeks left in the legislative ses-
sion the state of play is “nerve-
wracking.” Still, she stressed, “I
do think it is going to happen.”
Asked about the effort to pass
the Gender Identity Non-Discrimi-
nation Act (GENDA), a civil rights
measure protecting transgendered
and gender-variant New Yorkers,
Quinn noted that for many legisla-
tors the issues involved are “more
complicated,” and said that the
LGBT community needs to work
harder to advance appropriate
11 – 24 JUN 2009
bian City Council speaker with
charges she has betrayed her
progressive roots and the LGBT
community.
The film, which had logged
just over 1,900 YouTube hits as
of 9 p.m. on June 10, opens with
the question, “What happens
when you discover that her com-
mitment to integrity and passion
for our community turns out to
be just as fake as her smile?”
Moss first began to examine
Quinn’s politics in 2007 as he
completed a documentary on
the effort to ban horse-drawn
carriages in the city, something
he said she opposed out of def-
erence to the Queens political
machine instrumental in her
election as speaker.
The video also reviews
Quinn’s role in the Council slush
fund scandal in the spring of
2008, questioning her veracity
on several points; charges she
was late to the party in speaking
out against the false prostitution
arrests of gay men in Manhattan
17
Legal Notice
If You Are A Consumer Who Purchased Norvir,
A Proposed Class Action Settlement
May Affect Your Rights.
There is a proposed class action Settlement with Abbott Laboratories (“Abbott”)
involving the drug Norvir. The lawsuit is called In re Abbott Laboratories Norvir Antitrust
Litigation, Docket No. 04-CV-1511-CW, pending in the U.S. District Court for the Northern
District of California. This notice summarizes your rights and options. More information
is available in a detailed notice described below.
What is Norvir?
Norvir is the brand name for ritonavir, a drug manufactured by Abbott. It is routinely
used as a booster to drugs called protease inhibitors, used treat infection by the HIV virus.
What is the Case About?
The lawsuit claims that Abbott unlawfully raised the wholesale price of Norvir by 400%
in an attempt to restrict competition in the market for protease inhibitors. The lawsuit asked
the Court to award money damages and injunctive relief. Abbott claims that a) the price
increase reflected Norvir’s changed use from a high-dose protease inhibitor to a low-dose
booster; b) most patients saw no change in their out-of-pocket costs; and c) the current price
of Norvir is reasonable. Abbott also denies that the price increase had any negative impact
on competition. However, both parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit.
Am I Included in the Class Action?
You are a member of the Individual Class (consumers) if you:
s 0URCHASEDORPAIDFOR.ORVIRFORUSEASABOOSTERTOOTHERPROTEASEINHIBITORS
s 4HE.ORVIRWASINTENDEDFORCONSUMPTIONBYYOURSELFORYOURFAMILYAND
by the day. The overall impression
in the gay community is that we’ve
been, or are about to be, had by
0ARTY 0AYOR #LASS OF ENTITIES SUCH AS
this administration; that someone
in Obama-land (rhymes with Rahm)
is telling the President that we’re
measures to protect and serve the
needs of the trans community.
Quinn opened her remarks,
delivered in the WNYC Radio’s
new Jerome L. Greene Perfor-
mance Space in the West Village,
video stores and scrambled to s 9OU PAID ALL OR PART OF THE COST OF .ORVIR BETWEEN $ECEMBER   TO *ULY 
give Mayor Michael Bloomberg 
political cover on the issue; and 4HE PROPOSED 3ETTLEMENT ALSO INCLUDES A 4HIRD
INSURANCE COMPANIES AND EMPLOYEE BENElT FUNDS h400Sv THAT REIMBURSED PEOPLE FOR
criticizes her for “rubber-stamp-
purchases of Norvir.
ing” a police department regu-
lation requiring groups of 50 or What Does the Proposed Settlement Provide?
political pariahs who must be
shunned at all costs.”
Quinn Meets the
Gay Press
Christine Quinn, the out les-
by acknowledging the murder May
31 of Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita,
Kansas, physician who was one of
the nation’s few doctors willing to
provide care to women requiring
late-term abortions.
more to obtain a permit before
gathering, something that Moss
said stepped on “our constitu-
tional right to freedom of assem-
bly, the very civil right that put
her into power and the very civil
4OSETTLETHELAWSUIT!BBOTTHASAGREEDTOPAYMILLIONMILLIONOR
million. The amount Abbott will pay depends upon the outcome of an appeal pending
before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
If Abbott pays $10 million, then this amount, net of allowed attorneys’ fees and costs,
will be distributed to charities involved in the treatment and prevention of HIV and AIDS,
and no separate fund will be made available to Class Members.
bian speaker of the New York “In a lot of ways the choice right that enabled gay people to )F!BBOTTPAYSMILLIONORMILLIONTHENEITHERAMOUNTNETOFATTORNEYS
City Council, addressed a June 1
gathering of the National Gay and
Lesbian Journalists Association
(NLGJA), marking the opening of
LGBT Pride Month, the 40th anni-
versary of the Stonewall Riots,
and the final weeks of the effort to
pass a state marriage equality law
this year.
Referring to her two recent vis-
its to Albany to lobby state sena-
tors, who hold the key to enact-
ment of Governor David Paterson
marriage bill, already approved by
the Assembly, Quinn said, “Very
few of the conversations were
political.”
In years past, she said, LGBT
advocates had to arm themselves
movement and the LGBT move-
ment have a lot in common,” she
said. “Ultimately the 40-year
struggle of the LGBT civil rights
movement and the decades-long
struggle on choice is about being
able to have your own lives and
being able to have your own
choices.”
Reflecting on an appearance
she made the prior day in a CNN
story about New York’s marriage
equality fight, which also featured
Maggie Gallagher, the head of the
anti-gay National Organization for
Marriage, Quinn said, “It seems
like quite a thing to have most of
your career being about stopping,
stopping something that as far as I
fight back during Stonewall.”
On Quinn’s 2008 flip flop on
term limits, Moss argued she
was motivated by the damage
the slush fund scandal had done
to her chances to mount a 2009
mayoral campaign and her desire
to curry favor with Bloomberg,
both for her future political plans
and to forestall a Department of
Investigation probe of the slush
fund issue.
Robert Pinter
Responds
to Quinn
Documentary
The gay man, whose willing-
ness to come forward broke wide
FEESANDCOSTSWILLBEDISTRIBUTEDASFOLLOWS THIRTYPERCENT WILLBEPAIDTOA
Individual Class Members (consumers) residing in California, and (b) Institutional Class
-EMBERS400S WHOHAVEREIMBURSEDORPAIDINWHOLEORINPARTFORTHECOSTOF.ORVIRFOR
INDIVIDUALSRESIDINGIN#ALIFORNIADURINGTHE3ETTLEMENT#LASS0ERIODAND SEVENTYPERCENT
 WILLBEDISTRIBUTEDTOCHARITIESINVOLVEDINTHETREATMENTANDPREVENTIONOF()6AND
AIDS. Attorneys fees and expenses will be deducted before any of the above distributions.
What Are My Legal Rights?
s If you wish to remain a member of the Class, you do not have to do anything. You will
be bound by all the Court’s decisions in the case and cannot sue Abbott for any of the
claims in this lawsuit in the future. However, if you are an Individual Class Member
who is a California resident or an Institutional Class Member who purchased
Norvir on behalf of a California resident, and wish to be eligible for a settlement
distribution should funds become available, you must complete a confidential
registration statement available by calling the number below or by visiting www.
NorvirClassAction.com. This form must be postmarked no later than July 24,
2009.
s If you do not wish to be a member of the Class, you must send a letter requesting to
be excluded. Your letter must be postmarked on or before July 24, 2009. If you exclude
yourself, you may be able to sue Abbott on your own. However, you will not be able to
file a claim for money that is made available as the result of this lawsuit.
with numbers to convince legisla-
tors that the queer community was
a significant political force. Now,
conventional wisdom is that “the
LGBT community is a critical part
of the political establishment,”
according to Quinn.
The hurdle the speaker has con-
fronted in Albany is the comment,
“I am just having trouble wrap-
ping my arms around it.” Quinn’s
response harkens back to the time
in the lives of most LGBT people
could tell would have no impact on
this woman’s life and why people
would dedicate so much energy to
that.”
Documentary
Filmmaker Takes
On Quinn
Donny Moss, a gay documen-
tary filmmaker, has produced
a ten-minute video, “Christine
Quinn: Behind the Smile,” that
takes direct aim at the out les-
open the false arrest scandal
involving the use of undercover
NYPD officers at Manhattan
porn shops, sent Gay City News
a letter to the editor in the wake
of the newspaper posting the
story of the Donny Moss docu-
mentary about Christine Quinn,
stating Quinn’s role in address-
ing the issue, and his view of
that role, had been distorted in
䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.19
s )F YOU WISH TO OBJECT OR COMMENT ON THE LAWSUIT OR APPEAR IN THE LAWSUIT your
request must be in writing and postmarked no later than July 24, 2009.
The Court has appointed Counsel to represent all Class Members, but you may hire your
own attorney at your own cost, if you wish.
For a Detailed Notice or More Information
Call toll-free: 1-877-625-9425 (Se Habla Español)
or Visit: www.NorvirClassAction.com
Or Write: Norvir Settlement Claims Administrator
c/o Rust Consulting Inc., P.O. Box 24784 West Palm Beach, FL 33416
18 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

■ BUSINESS

Gaying the Stock Exchange

LGBT business leaders ring the bell, marking 40 years since Stonewall
BY MICHAEL T. LUONGO

T
he stock market might not be the
happiest place in America right
now, but at 4 p.m. on Friday,
June 5, it was the gayest. The NGLCC,
the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber
of Commerce, rang the closing bell on the
balcony of the New York Stock Exchange
on Wall Street, part of the program “From
Stonewall to Federal Hall,” marking the
40th anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall
Riots.
After the closing bell, a panel discussed
the impact businesses have on gay rights
issues, with the economy, marriage, and

MICHAEL T. LUONGO
employment non-discrimination key top-
ics. Panelists included Chris Crespo of
Ernst & Young, Jody Huckaby of P-FLAG,
Parents, Families, & Friends of Lesbians

and Gays, Robert Woodworth of New York’s
LGBT Community Center, and Justin Nel-
son of the NGLCC. Jasper Hendricks of the
National Black Justice Coalition, sched-
uled for the panel, was unable to attend.
Woodworth noted that the recession has
meant more people are seeking the Cen-
ter’s services, with unemployment exac-
NGLCC Thomas Koveleskie, of UBS, and Richard Oceguera,
of Corcoran Real Estate, were the first legally married gay
couple to help ring the Stock Exchange Bell.
erbating underlying problems. Still, when Crespo said as the nation debates what’s
looking at the 40-year history since Stone- needed for economic recovery, the LGBT
wall, he commented, “today, we’re sitting community is “a part of the conversation,
in the Stock Exchange, how cool is that?” and what those changes need to be,” rath-
er than ignored. She mentioned that as a
parent, motherhood changes the conver-
sation for people who initially oppose gay
rights issues.
Celebrity attendees included Ross Pal-
ombo, of CBS News and Logo, and Ron-
nie Kroell, of the reality show “Make Me
A Supermodel.” Western New York Con-
gressman Eric Massa also spoke, saying,
“The American business community was
at the forefront” of gay rights issues, ahead
of elected officials. About 150 business
leaders attended the event, which included
MICHAEL T. LUONGO
a social on the floor of the stock exchange.
While this was the second NGLCC event at
the Stock Exchange, it was the first time
a legally married gay couple stood on the
NYSE balcony. NGLCC members Richard
Oceguera and Thomas Koveleskie married
in Massachusetts in May 25, 2004. Oce-
guera commented that “aside from getting
married,” standing on the balcony with
his husband, “was one of the most special
moments so far of my life.”
The NGLCC’s website, nglcc.org, has a
video of the bell ringing ceremony. Past gay
NYSE milestones include a 2005 NGLCC
bell ringing, a 2006 P-Flag bell ringing,
and the 2004 PlanetOut initial public
offering.

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Alex Kelston, of Goldman Sachs, Richard Oceguera, of Corcoran Real Estate, Thomas Koveleskie, of UBS, Ronnie Kroell,
of “Make Me A Supermodel,” NGLCC co-chair Chance Mitchell, NYSE Diversity Chair Robert Marchman, NGLCC co-
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Young, and Ross Palombo, of CBS, LOGO
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.17
the video.
Saying he had declined to
participate in the documentary,

1$
Pinter wrote, “I was surprised by
my inclusion in the video. Some
of Moss’ narrative regarding
the Campaign to Stop the False
Arrests was based on that initial
phone conversation I had with
him. Moss used pieces of our con-
versation without my permission,
and wove them into his narrative.
It mischaracterizes my views and
distorts the facts.”
Pinter added, “I remain deeply
appreciative of Speaker Quinn’s
role in opening the doors of her
office to the February 11, 2009
meeting between the Campaign
to Stop the False Arrests, the
NYPD’s Chief of the Vice Squad
Brian Conroy, and many con-
cerned politicians… Christine
Quinn’s leadership provided a
forum for this rare admission by
the NYPD and the genesis for the
positive changes that followed,
including a change in NYPD pro-
cedures governing how these
operations are conducted, a
sharp reduction in these dubious
prostitution arrests by the Vice
Squad, and a decline in nuisance
abatement actions brought by the
city through the first four months
of 2009.”
N o t i n g , h o w e v e r, t h a t
the scandal is far from being
resolved, Pinter urged both Moss
and Quinn to attend a rally for
Justice for the False Arrests,
on Saturday, June 13, from 1-2
p.m. in Sheridan Square. Pinter’s
entire letter can be found at gay-
citynews.com.
Marriage Lite
Surmounts
Nevada Guv’s
Veto
The Nevada Legislature, by
two-thirds majorities in both
the Senate and the Assembly,
voted May 30 and 31 to override
Republican Governor Jim Gib-
bons’ veto of a broad-reaching
domestic partnership law offer-
ing many of the rights and ben-
efits of marriage to both same-
sex and different-sex couples,
the Associated Press reports.
The veto override was a sig-
nificant political victory for Las
Vegas Democratic Senator David
Parks, the state’s only out gay
gaycitynews.com
legislator and the measure’s lead
sponsor, who vowed to defy the
governor, despite the fact that
neither house originally passed
the measure by the two-thirds
ratio required to enact the law
over Gibbons’ veto.
The governor had argued that
same-sex couples can achieve the
same level of protections the law
delivers through private contract,
a facetious argument at best.
The law does not require that
the domestic partnerships be
solemnized in a ceremony.
Sensitivity
About Poll
Numbers in
California
An equality leadership sum-
mit held in Fresno, California,
on May 31 was riven by conflict
over discussion of commis-
sioned poll findings on voter
attitudes in that state toward
marriage equality. The contro-
versy pitted demands for trans-
parency against claims of politi-
cal necessity and traditional
journalists against bloggers and
those tweeting from the session,
writes the Bay Area Reporter.
At issue was an $86,000 poll
paid for by Polling 4 Equality, a
coalition of groups that includes
Equality California, Marriage
Equality USA, and the Courage
Campaign, which found that vot-
ers there are still deeply divided
on the marriage question, with
margins of zero to six percent
against restoring equal rights for
same-sex couples, depending on
the way the question is asked.
The newspaper reported that
the survey, carried out by David
Binder Research and Goodwin
Simon Victoria Research, found
that only about five percent of
Californians are persuadable
one way or the other.
Advocates in California are
debating whether to go back to
voters on the marriage issue in
2010 or 2012, and the poll sug-
gests a marginal advantage to
waiting until the later date.
The summit organizers
insisted that discussion of the
poll be off the record — Rick
Jacobs, founder of the Courage
Campaign, telling the BAR that
reporting on the findings “gives
$86,000 worth of information to
the opposition.”
After numerous fits and
11 – 24 JUN 2009 19
starts about ground rules, those
in charge decided to expel tradi-
tional journalists from the room
during discussion of the poll,
while allowing bloggers and
5IPNBT
%
4IBOBIBO
Twitter users to stay, so long as
they shut down their computers ±"UUPSOFZ
BU
-BX±
and cell phones. No word on
whether that ground rule led to
any withdrawal symptoms.
The BAR and the Associated
Press protested the nonsensical
restrictions.
Jill Biden
Addresses
GLSEN
The June 1 Respect Awards
of the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight /FX
:PSL
&NQMPZNFOU

Education Network (GLSEN), -BXZFST
"TTPDJBUJPO
held at Midtown Manhattan’s
Gotham Hall, featured a speech
by Dr. Jill Biden, the vice presi-
Over A Decade of Experience
dent’s wife.
A high school and college
Litigating Employment and Civil Rights
educator for more than 25 years,
whose work has included teach-
Cases for our Community
ing emotionally challenged
teenagers, Biden talked about
the need to protect all students 2007 - 2009 Deputy Commissioner,
against bullying and harassment,
regardless of sexual orientation
New York State Devision of Human Rights
or gender identity.
“How can we expect kids to 2006 Honoree: New York City Council -
learn when they are taunted by
their classmates?” the nation’s
“Contributions and Service to New York City”
second lady told a crowd of sev-
eral hundred, who greeted her 2003 Honoree: Common Cause
appearance with a standing ova-
tion and repeated applause. “Holding Power Accountable”
Speaking of the Obama
administration’s commitment
Ethical New Yorker of the Year Award
to safe schools, she noted the
announcement that day of Kevin
Jennings, GLSEN’s founding
executive director, to the post
Former Aide to Mayor David N Dinkins
of assistant deputy secretary of and Public Advocate Mark Green
Education in charge of the Office
of Safe and Drug-Free Schools.
Tobias Wolff, a law professor
at the University of Pennsylvania
who was active in the Obama-
Biden campaign last year, said
EMPLOYMENT LAW / CIVIL RIGHTS
of the choice of Jennings, “This ',6&5,0,1$7,21‡6(;8$/+$5$660(17
is an enormously consequential 3$571(56+,3$*5((0(176',63,7(6‡&,9,//,7,*$7,21
appointment.”
Wolff noted that Education 0$75,021,$/&8672'<‡0(',&$/0$/35$&7,&(
Secretary Arne Duncan, previ-
ously the head of the Chicago
3(5621$/,1-85<
school system, “has been work-
ing on the issue of bullying and
school violence, particularly
in cases involving LGBT youth,
Thomas D. Shanahan, P.C.
for many years now.” Duncan,
he noted, has already met with
LGBT youth leaders from GLSEN.
551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2010
New York, NY 10176
tel (212) 867-1100
fax (212) 972-1787
WWW.SHANAHANLAW.COM
TOM@SHANAHANLAW.COM

20/ Dance
Slaves to the Rhythm
Nicholas Leichter, Larry Keigwin bring distinctive dance voices to Joyce
BY GUS SOLOMONS JR
T
wo exciting dance makers ––
Nicholas Leichter and Larry Keig-
win –– both irresistibly driven by
rhythm, are sharing a week at the Joyce
Theater, alternating days. Both represent
New York-style, highly physical, buoyant,
joyful dancing with an intriguing edginess
lurking just beneath the highly entertain-
ing surface. But each has a distinct and
distinctly appealing choreographic voice.
Since its founding in 1996, nicholas
leichter dance has been exploring the
territory between the vocabularies of
concert dance and of vernacular move-
ment. For his Joyce Theater debut,
Leichter’s new “Killa” asks, according to
the company release, “how dance music,
from B-boy to House, Punk-Funk to Reg-
gaeton, functions both as a social and
political force.”
Leichter overlays funky, elbow-flap-
ping, crotch-grabbing moves –– an infec-
KEIGWIN + COMPANY
Jun. 23 at 7:30 p.m.; Jun. 25 at 8 p.m.
Jun. 27 at 2 & 8 p.m.
NICHOLAS LEICHTER DANCE
Jun. 24 at 7:30 p.m.: Jun. 26 at 8 p.m.
Jun. 28 at 2 & 7:30 p.m.
Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
$19-$49; joyce.org
Or 212-242-0800
tious mix of hip hop, West African, and
disco-drag –– with references to money,
politics, and fashion. Wall Street melt-
down, unemployment anxiety, war, and
platform high heels are all in the mix.
In the section he calls “the routine”
–– down-and-dirty Afro-disco –– the cast
wears what he calls “camouflage-cou-
ture, ready-to-wear, mesh-with-a-bra,
black-glasses, total Iraq chic.” Leichter
explained, “And then I hope I can get us
blinged out for the ‘chicken dance.’ The
11 - 24 JUN 2009
“Killa.” In fact, Black’s fabulousness
partially inspired the work. “In the con-
cert world,” Leichter said, “you don’t go
onstage unless [the dance] is tight, but
[in drag culture] their idea is, it’s the out-
side first; Monstah’s whole thing is ‘You
don’t go onstage unless you look good!’”
Sharing the limelight in “Killa” will be
students Leichter discovered at Sac-
ramento and Wayne State Universities
during residencies there, who he said
can do anything. Besides being sensa-
TOM CARAVAGLIA
tional dancers, he noted their genera-
tional tendency not to draw value dis-
tinctions between high- and low-brow,
nicholas leichter dance’s updated “Free the Angels” will freely mingling styles. Street dance rubs
accompany the premiere of “Killa.” elbows with art dance –– no judgment.
Leichter observed that gender lines are
hard part is figuring out if we can change blurring as well for tweens and Gen-X-
clothes that quickly.” ers. “Like with [David] Bowie,” he said,
Music by Basement Jaxx, M.I.A., and “you can wear high heels, gay or straight,
Lionrock, and live performance by Mon- it doesn’t matter.”
stah Black –– whom Leichter refers to
as “our fearless drag leader” –– drives 䉴 RHYTHM, continued on p.28
11 - 24 JUN 2009
An Unheralded Legacy
“Sex Positive” revisits the controversial but lasting AIDS work of Richard Berkowitz
BY GARY M. KRAMER
R
ichard Berkowitz, the
subject of the provoca-
tive and enlightening
documentary “Sex Positive,” first
reveals himself by offering witty
bon mots as the film’s opening
credits scroll. He declares, There
is nothing “more unsexy than
listening to an old fart talk about
getting his dick sucked in 1979,”
a reference to his promiscuity,
which he discusses frequently
and candidly. Another comment
about being a “self-hating enemy
of gay people” pinpoints how his
work — largely unappreciated —
to educate gay men about safe
sex often caused folks such as
Larry Kramer to bristle. Yet when
the engaging, mercurial Berkow-
itz admits, self-deprecatingly,
that he “gets under people’s
SEX POSITIVE
Directed by Daryl Wein
Regent Releasing
Opens Jun. 12
Quad Cinema
place at the “epicenter of the epi-
REGENT RELEASING
demic.” However, when Berkow-
itz talked about promiscuous
gay men living a toxic lifestyle
that involved drugs and unsafe
Richard Berkowitz emerges as a passionate, sexual practices, few wanted to
self-conscious, frustrated, and often sensible hear him. He became an alienat-
advocate who demands attention. ed figure in the gay community.
Director Daryl Wein’s compel-
skin,” it is one of many moments ling film champions the man who
in this film that will endear him as one interviewee says, “made
to viewers. safe sex sexy.” And Berkowitz is
Berkowitz, working with Dr. an alluring figure — a passion-
Joe Sonnabend and the late ate, self-conscious, frustrated,
Michael Callen, was instrumen- and often sensible advocate who
tal in promoting safe sex to the demands attention. In interviews,
gay community. Their work took he speaks quickly and confident-
ly. In photographs, his eyes gaze
intensely at the camera, daring
the viewer to look away. But the
film shows that he was just as
much a victim as a hero.
“Sex Positive” traces its sub-
ject’s life and work judiciously,
and without judgment. Berkow-
itz came to terms with his homo-
sexuality as a teenager when he
was “soaked in sexual desire.”
Moving to New York City after
college, he often went to bath-
houses, contracting sexually
transmitted diseases. It was dur-
ing a visit to a gay men’s health
clinic for treatment that Berkow-
itz met Sonnabend, whom he
calls his “personal Moses.”
The film charts Berkowitz’s
birth as an activist, which began
in college at Rutgers. As a stu-
dent journalist, he wrote an
article in response to an anti-gay
Film /21
effigy hung at a fraternity house.
A successful protest followed.
Later, in New York, as the AIDS
crisis was full-blown, he co-wrote
an article with Callen for the New
York Native that prompted angry
responses for what was termed
its “sex negativity.” Eventually,
he co-authored (again with Cal-
len) a groundbreaking booklet
entitled “How to Have Sex in an
Epidemic: One Approach” which
was greeted more favorably.
Nevertheless, “Sex Positive” con-
firms, Berkowitz, Sonnabend,
and Callen were often hated for
their efforts.
But Berkowitz’s story is not
just an account of someone
unheralded for his important
work on safer sex. The film
shows his life to be as interest-
䉴 LEGACY, continued on p.28

22/ Theater
Looking Glass Menagerie
Beloved Children’s Book Alive Onstage in Perverse, Peculiar Musical
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
A
s any parent of a literate,
slightly off-kilter pre-teen
knows, the classic fanta-
sy novel “Coraline,” by Newbery
Medal-winning Neil Gaiman, is a
seriously twisted tale. The story
recounts the misadventures of a
bored, overly curious nine-year
old girl who discovers a much
more thrilling “other” family on
the far side of a bricked-up door-
way in their new apartment.
But this alternate family has
a disquieting quirk — their eyes
have been replaced by soul-
less black buttons. Think “Alice
Through the Looking-Glass”
meets “Rosemary’s Baby,”
with a dash of “Stepford Wives”
tossed in for good measure.
As if the source material
weren’t weird enough, the cre-
ators of the deliriously dement-
ed new musical theater adapta-
tion of “Coraline,” now playing
at the Lortel Theatre, couldn’t
resist pumping even more oddi-
ties into their production. Too
many, I’m afraid. For starters,
the title character is not played
by a plucky child, but instead
by the marvelous, rather large
Jayne Houdyshell, who is 56 and
has gray hair.
The musty, cluttered set, by
Christine Jones (“Spring Awak-
ening”), features a hodgepodge of
ancient pianos of various sizes,
upon which the cast plinks and
pounds from time to time. Need-
less to say, they are tinny and
out of tune. On stage left is the
real pianist, Phyllis Chen, who
expertly serves as the orchestra.
Also in the mix are a disco ball,
The only reason this contraption
flies is because the talent
quotient surpasses many
shows on Broadway.
some very noisy toys, colored
balloons, and a sea of bubbles.
The atonal, eerie score is
beyond creepy. Stephin Mer-
ritt, the Magnetic Fields rock-
er -turned-composer, does a
decent job of propelling the
story through his whimsical,
David Greenspan, who wrote the book for this musical adaptation and seen here as “Other
Mother,” was lauded as “all-round the most talented theater artist of my generation” by Tony
Kushner.
Sondheim-esque songs, which
afford the characters intimate,
quiet moments.
And the gender-blind, mul-
tiple casting (most of the seven
cast members play at least five
roles each) adds an extra layer
of wondrous confusion. The col-
lection of characters includes a
black cat, a winged girl, a pack
of rats, ghost children, scruffy
dogs, a deranged circus trainer,
a pair of elderly thespians who
may also be lesbians, and a few I
couldn’t quite decipher.
Despite its myriad charms,
this “Coraline” is too inventive
for its own good. The biggest
fault lies in the fact that, under
CORALINE
MCC Theater
Lucille Lortel Theatre
121 Christopher St. at Bedford St.
Tue.-Wed. at 7 p.m.
Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m.
Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
Through Jul. 5
$65-$95; ticketcentral.com
for her recent turns in “The
Receptionist” and “Well,” there’s
the incomparable David Green-
span, who won an Obie for
his part in Terrence McNally’s
“Some Men” a few seasons ago.
He plays “Other Mother” with
his trademark over-the-top wit
and grace. When he’s onstage,
we hang on every syllable, every
flick of the wrist.
Also astounding is Fran-
cis Jue (who won an Obie for
“Yellow Face”) as Coraline’s
Father, and also as one of the
dotty neighbors, Miss Forcible.
Julian Fleisher’s amusing Cat
cops an attitude beyond cool.
Rounding out the ensemble are
JOAN MARCUS
Elliot Villar, January LaVoy,
and William Youmans.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning
Tony Kushner once anointed
Greenspan “all-round the most
talented theater artist of my
generation,” and after seeing
the manic direction of Leigh this production, it’s easy to see
Silverman, who also directed why — he also wrote the book. I
Houdyshell in “Well,” there’s not only wish he could find material
enough contrast between Cora- more suited to his gifts, so that
line’s “real” life and her “other” his talent might reach a wider
life. Seems to me her real life reg- audience.
isters as plenty wacky enough. We cannot deny that this
The momentum, and the exceedingly spooky musical
magic, cannot be sustained, amplifies the spirit of the book
stalling about an hour into (which was made into a far supe-
this 90-minute, intermission- rior animated feature film star-
less production. Atmosphere ring Teri Hatcher and Dakota
chokes the narrative; the glee- Fanning earlier this year). The
ful whimsy grows stale. fearless sense of youthful adven-
I stopped caring if Coraline, ture, and the chilling answer to
who isn’t so likable, by the way, the eternal question — “What if
was going to escape the evils of
the “others” and reunite with
her true family. Like the “other
I got whatever I wanted?” — are
firmly intact.
But if this charming-but-
family,” “Coraline” is devoid of tedious trifle is too lightweight
warmth, and has plastic black for adults, is it a hit with the
buttons where its eyes should children? As I exited the theater,
be. I think I got my answer. I spied
The only reason this con- two young girls about Cora-
traption flies is because the line’s age, still planted in their
talent quotient, quite frankly, seats. One had her arms folded
surpasses many shows now tightly, grimacing, and the other
running on Broadway. Besides scowled, shaking her head in
Houdyshell, who won accolades disapproval.
11 - 24 JUN 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.14
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
FILM
WED.JUN.17
Hedy & Lupe
Andy Warhol’s 1966 film “Hedy”
satirizes Hollywood golden age icon
Hedy Lamarr. Hedy has a face-lift, and
then kills the doctors. She is arrested for
shoplifting and is put on trial. Her five
former husbands are called to testify
and she is found guilty. Her sentence —
she is forced to drink poison. All this in
67 minutes, which is 52 minutes more
than he was willing to give the rest of us.
Mario Montez stars. Shown in connec-
tion with the Museum of Modern Art’s
“The West: Myth, Character, and Rein-
vention by Andy Warhol” film exhibition.
Also coming up is “Lupe,” Warhol’s 1966
take on the tragic life of Mexican actress
Lupe Velez, starring Edie Sedgwick and
Billy Name. MoMA, 11 W. 53rd St. 1:30
p.m. “Hedy” screens Jun. 17-19, 1:30
p.m. “Lupe” screens Jun. 25-26, 1:30
p.m. Admission is $10; $8 for seniors; $6
for students. Information at moma.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
THEATER
25 Years Ago,
Busch Had It All
“Vampire Lesbians of Sodom,” first
produced in 1984 and one of the longest
running hits of the Off-Broadway stage,
is Charles Busch’s fantastic send-up of
vampiric tales and an actress’ vanity.
The story begins in Sodom — with a
rivalry involving a guard, a succubus, and
a virgin — transports us to 1920s Holly-
wood, and drops us on a modern stage.
This revival is produced by ONEtime Pro-
ductions at Baruch Performing Arts
Center, 55 Lexington Ave., entrance
on 25th St. Jun. 17-19, 22-26, 8 p.m.;
Jun. 20, 7 & 10 p.m. Tickets are $15 at
baruch.cuny.edu.bpac or 646-312-4085.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
FILM
THU.JUN.18
Video Stretched &
Stirred
Jack Waters is a filmmaker, writer,
media artist, choreographer, and per-
former. Peter Cramer is an archivist,
filmmaker, performer, and curator.
Their 20-year collaboration is currently
represented in the development of a
䉴 JUN 18, continued on p.28
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 23

“Breathtaking …
Astonishing”
– Variety

Written and Directed by David Shiner

PRESENTED BY

FINAL 10 DAYS!
THRU JUNE 21ST ONLY
UNDER THE GRAND CHAPITEAU AT RANDALL’S ISLAND PARK
CIRQUEDUSOLEIL.COM
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24/ Theater
All the Livelong Day
“Offices” works hard to end up nowhere, Sherie Rene Scott works her life into a terrific evening
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE
S
herie Rene Scott is one of today’s
finest actresses of the musical
theater. Her electrifying show
“Everyday Rapture” has just been
extended at Second Stage.
Scott is that rare combination of a
passionate singer who has a magnificent
instrument and a full-on comedienne
whose smarts and physical pratfalls are
constantly hysterical. It doesn’t hurt that
she’s drop-dead gorgeous. In “Everyday
Rapture,” she takes the autobiographical
show, often deadly, and makes it delight-
ful, interspersing forays into faith (with
both Fred Phelps and Fred Rogers) with
her personal journey and her goal to “live
inside a song.” She explores the tensions
between humility and self-promotion at
the heart of the performer’s life with flair
and open-heartedness.
Not to mention comedy. She has a
sidesplitting section that chronicles her
abortive communication with a teen-
age boy on YouTube who has posted a
video of him lip-synching to “My Stron-
11 - 24 JUN 2009
EVERYDAY RAPTURE
Second Stage Theatre
307 W. 43rd St.
Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. at 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
$75; 2st.com
212-246-4422
OFFICES
Atlantic Theater Company
336 W. 20th St.
Tue.-Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat. at 2 & 8 p.m.;
Sun. at 3 & 7 p.m.
$65; ticketcentral.com
Or 212-279-4200
gest Suit,” her hit from “Aida.” Eamon
Foley is terrific as the teenager, and while
Scott plays the story for comedy, director
CAROL ROSEGG
Michael Mayer finds its vulnerable heart
as well, as he does with all of the show.
Scott’s song list is eclectic, including
a version of “I Like to Be Told” from “Mr. Sherie Rene Scott shines in her electrifying show at Second Stage, “Everyday Rapture.”
Rogers’ Neighborhood” that would never
make it onto PBS, the Supremes’ “Up the Scott is ably backed up by singers tifying, soul-numbing pointlessness.
Ladder to the Roof,” and many other rock Lindsay Mendez and Betsey Wolfe, and Corporate denizens are by turns angry,
and Broadway hits. if the concluding message that every day petty, sexually frustrated, inept, and
is one to be celebrated seems a little too ineffectual cogs in a pointless machine.
Scott is that rare combination of a
passionate singer who has a magnificent
instrument and a full-on comedienne.
Mr. Rogers, still it works. The sheer joy It is a popular assumption and has been
and the explosion of talent Scott brings the basis for many contemporary enter-
to this piece make it something not to be tainments. Still, Coen goes back to this
missed. particular well to good effect, creating
a diverting and largely enjoyable, if not
“O
ffices,” an evening of three memorable, evening. Strong direction
one-acts by Ethan Coen, and a solid cast make even the obvious
starts with the hackneyed
assumption that life in an office is stul- 䉴 LIVELONG, continued on p.27
Artists & Writers
Residencies
www.vermontstudiocenter.org
 Green-E Logo is a trademark of Center of Resource Solutions. All other trademarks are owned by Frito-Lay North America, Inc. © 2008.
Corporate Equality Index is a trademark of the Human Rights Campaign.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

Actual solar collectors at our Sunchips® plant in Modesto,California.

11 – 24 JUN 2009

Lofty goal for chips?

A better world for everyone.
25
26 11 – 24 JUN 2009
There’s more housing, but where’s the work?
Factory Lost
Jia Zhang Ke examines the Chinese left behind
HISTORYʼS MOST SUCCESSFUL
OFF - BROADWAY MUSICAL MAKES
BY STEVE ERICKSON
I
f Jia Zhang Ke didn’t exist, Western
ITS BIG SCREEN DEBUT. critics would have to invent China’s
bard of globalization. The prolific
director is becoming increasingly well
known in the US, although he’s yet to
have an arthouse hit here. He was even
profiled recently in the New Yorker.
AN EXCLUSIVE ONE NIGHT EVENT Since his 1998 debut, “Xiao Wu,” he’s
become quite prolific, making nine films
IN A MOVIE THEATER NEAR YOU in eleven years. After starting off with two
narrative films, he made his first docu-
THURSDAY, JULY 9TH mentary, “In Public,” in 2001. His docu-
mentaries have received little exposure
in New York, apart from the screening
of “Useless” at the 2007 New York Film
Festival.
Unfortunately, Jia’s a much better
narrative filmmaker than documentar-
FEATURING MEMBERS OF THE ORIGINAL CAST LIVE FROM ian. “Useless” suffers from having noth-
THE RED CARPET AND A LIVE SING-A-LONG FOLLOWING THE SHOW. ing to say about its subject, a fashion
designer. One leaves the film wondering
what Jia sees in her work, which draws
on Chinese folk culture in a manner that
some might find exploitative.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
Jia’s narrative films certainly don’t suf-
fer from an unclear point of view on the
changes China has recently undergone.
“Dong” mixed fiction and documentary
subtly, but “24 City” synthesizes them
into a seamless blend. Telling the story
of Factory 420 — an enormous factory
that’s about to be turned into a luxury
apartment complex called 24 City — Jia
mixes real interviews with staged ones.
The interviews in “24 City” proceed
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
THE CINEMA GUILD
24 CITY
Directed by Jia Zhang Ke
The Cinema Guild
In Mandarin with English subtitles
IFC Center
623 Sixth Ave. at W. Third St.
ifccenter.com
in rough chronological order, from the
oldest subject to the youngest. The film
starts out with He Xikun, a retired work-
er who remembers his supervisor Wang
Zhiren with great fondness. The two
men, who haven’t seen each other for
years, get together. He shows a tremen-
dous physical tenderness towards Wang,
breaking down in tears as he brushes
Wang’s hair and hand.
From there, a former Party official
is interviewed in an auditorium while a
badminton game proceeds in the back-
ground. Laid-off factory worker Hou
Lijun is interviewed while riding on a
bus. She recalls the haphazard life she’s
lived since being forced to leave Factory
420; she now gets by selling flowers ille-
gally on the street.
The next interview finally introduces
an element of fiction; the factory worker
to whom Jia talks is played by actress Lu
Liping.
“24 City” alternates between inter-
views, intertitles taken from classic poet-
ry, and glimpses of the near-demolished
䉴 CHINESE, continued on p.27
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 27

䉴 CHINESE, from p.26 factory’s demise. Wang found offhand

factory. These scenes have an odd, acci-
dental surrealism.
As a worker walks by a window, it sud-
denly breaks, as if someone had thrown
a rock through it. A woman carries an
IV drip bag past grounded planes. As if
bearing witness to the factory’s demise,
a cat rests upon a beam near its ceiling.
An eight-year-old girl rollerskates on a
rooftop overlooking the factory.
As it progresses, the film grows
stranger and more overtly fictional.
Actress Joan Chen plays a character
nicknamed Little Flower, who took her
name from a 1979 film starring Chen
herself.
At worst, Jia’s examination of the
human costs of China’s turn to capi-
talism risks a conservative — or, in the
context of Maoism, ultra-leftist — nos-
talgia for the past. However, it’s clear
from the opening scenes of “Platform,”
his epic treatment of the aftermath of
the Cultural Revolution, that Jia isn’t
pining for Mao. Instead, his films are
devoted to the people left behind by the
rise of China’s middle class.
Much of the energy in mainland Chi-
nese cinema seems to be coming from
non-fiction. Documentarian Wang Bing
is the most exciting Chinese director to
emerge since Jia. “24 City” seems influ-
enced by Wang’s nine-hour “West of the
Tracks,” an exhaustive treatment of a
moments of beauty amidst an environ-
ment of grating ugliness.
Jia is more drawn to conventionally
pretty images, but his depiction of the
factory’s final moments shares a great
deal with “West of the Tracks,” while his
willingness to let his interview subjects
— whether real or staged — speak at
length about their experiences brings
to mind Wang’s three-hour monologue,
“Fengming: A Chinese Memoir.”
For spectators who’ve followed Jia’s
work since “Xiao Wu,” “24 City” risks
appearing overly familiar. His determi-
nation to crank out a film almost every
year speaks to a desire to match his
country’s dizzying rate of change. Up to
this point, Jia dealt better with the real-
ity of Chinese life through the filter of
fiction.
“24 City” offers an innovative blend of
narrative and documentary that raises
the question of which form can better
treat the complex dilemmas facing the
workers at Factory 420. It suggests that
fiction becomes impossible to separate
from fact as people recall history.
That issue isn’t only relevant to Chi-
nese filmmakers, because the marginal-
ization of manual labor and factory work
depicted in “24 City” isn’t just a Chinese
problem. With a few changes, the film
could be remade in Cleveland or Detroit
with Halle Berry or Julia Roberts play-
ing Little Flower.

䉴 LIVELONG, from p.24 ily the most disjointed. F. Murray Abra-

and predictable enjoyable.
The first play, “Peer Review,” deals
with the popular management device
of seeking the input of co-workers on
employee performance. When Elliot is
not reviewed well, he parades his outrage
and upset through the office, where his
colleagues are either having sex with one
another or disinterested. Joey Slotnick as
Elliot is what makes this piece work, the
character slowly unraveling as he moves
from a “take this job and shove it” attitude
to being genuinely bereft when he’s cut
free.
In the second piece, “Homeland Secu-
rity,” Munro, a bureaucrat, is less con-
cerned with terrorist threats than late
lunch and a lost briefcase. He is a buffoon
estranged from his family, but John Bed-
ford Lloyd in the role manages to make
this cardboard character both sympa-
thetic and funny.
“Struggle Session,” the last piece, is eas-
ham plays a bum who goes from offering
street-corner solace to Beck, a nebbishy
mid-level executive who has been fired,
to working for him when Beck is surpris-
ingly reinstated in a better job. This is
fundamentally a fish-out-of-water piece
suggesting that the life of a bum is freer
than that of a corporate drone. Yawn. For-
tunately, Abraham and Daniel London, in
a fine performance as Beck, rescue this
piece with their distinct charm.
The rest of the 11-member cast is highly
competent, notably Aya Cash as an over-
sexed assistant and a bored teenager, and
Mary McCann as Munro’s wife. The others
— Daniel Abeles, C.J. Wilson, Greg Stuhr,
Daniel Yelsky, and Brennan Brown — are
very good in small parts that add perspec-
tive and character to the pieces.
The show is a scant 80 minutes long,
and you won’t find yourself watching the
clock, but even though I laughed and
smiled, the evening offered nothing to get
worked up about.

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28 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

䉴 RHYTHM, from p.20

Leichter is also remount-

ing and updating his “Free the
Angels” (2001), featuring several
of the original cast members.
tional clarity, and athletic danc-
ing have garnered him a boatload
of fans.
His premiere of “Triptych” is
a bit of a departure. Unlike the
zany, romantic duets of “Love
Songs” (2006) or “Natural Selec-
dents. “That was the first time
I worked with a composer,” he
said, “so I wanted to extend the
collaboration with that composer
and with the lighting designer,”
Clifton Davis.
Keigwin’s last piece for his own
white, with a strip of neon on the
floor, and the dancers are in black
leotards.”
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
The finale of Keigwin’s pro-
gram will be a reprise of his hilari-
ous take on Ravel’s “Bolero” for
a cast of 50 performers. It stole 䉴 JUN 18, from p.22

K
eigwin founded his
troupe Keigwin + Com-
pany in 2003 with asso-
ciate director Nicole Wolcott and
has made a lot of noise in the
downtown dance world since
then. His sense of humor, emo-
䉴 LEGACY, from p.21
ing as the activism he spear-
headed. Cautious about being
stigmatized, he reluctantly
admits that it was his work as
an S&M dominant top hustler
that allowed him to feel liberated
and “release his anger in a cre-
ative, sexual way.” Diaries illus-
trate the volume of and extent of
his business, while grainy black
and white footage of him with a
client is particularly intriguing.
Ironically, this man who
helped his clients realize their
fantasies — Berkowitz acknowl-
edges mischievously that he
always did what his customers
said they didn’t want — was
tion” (2004), an ode on Darwin-
ian theory — both also on the bill
— “Triptych” is a formal piece, a
compositional essay with original
music by Jonathan Pratt.
Last year, Keigwin made a
dynamic piece for Juilliard stu-
also critical in helping “wake
up” the gay community about
the disease, in large part by
challenging unrestrained sexu-
al behavior. Lamenting the bur-
den that imposed on him, he
defends his controversial views
about multiple factors contrib-
uting to the onset of AIDS, a
position others interpreted as
denialism about the HIV virus
as the cause of the immuno-
logic collapse engulfing many
gay men at the time. Berkowitz
is seen in clips from CNN elo-
quently espousing his position.
Larry Kramer, who appears
throughout the film in archi-
val footage and present-day
interview segments, presents a
company was “The Elements,”
seen last summer at the Joyce.
“People really responded to the
last section, ‘Air,’ and that was
particularly a lot of dancing, and
I wanted to get back to that,” he
said. “The stage is going to be very
nice contrast to Berkowitz, and
puts the issues both men faced
in communicating to the com-
munity in bold relief. Kramer
battled to prevent scapegoating
of infected gay men, hoping to
win them the support and sym-
pathy society owed, and argued
that Berkowitz’s approach, even
as it urged responsible behavior,
threatened to contribute to mak-
ing gay men pariahs.
Despite his accomplishment
in reaching some gay men with
a safer-sex message, Berkowitz
was not without an Achilles heel.
He exposes his tendency for self-
destruction when he recounts
moving to Florida for a year as
his frustration with activism
the show at NYU’s Skirball Cen-
ter in 2007. And after a New York
Times review advised, “Go!,” the
second performance was delayed
for half an hour to accommodate
the crowd that wrapped around
the block to buy tickets.
overwhelmed him. Sonnabend
explains that Berkowitz’s drug
addiction was what reduced his
effectiveness, and prompted him
to leave New York. “Sex Positive”
makes clear that Berkowitz need-
ed guidance just as much as the
men he sought to educate.
Wein astutely uses video
clips as well as interviews with
Berkowitz’s friends, colleagues,
detractors, and even the sub-
ject’s mother to create a com-
prehensive study of a complex
man in just 75 minutes. Finally
recognized for his achieve-
ments, “Sex Positive” captures
Berkowitz warts-and-all in
an extremely fascinating and
rewarding portrait.
multi-media opus-in-progress titled
“Pestilence,” a concept initiated in resi-
dence at the Emily Harvey Foundation in
Venice. Marc Arthur is a playwright and
performer. His directorial credits include
“BaraBack StarFu*ker” and “The Key.”
Tonight, the three present new video
works and New York premieres. Anthol-
ogy Film Archives, 32 Second Ave. at
Second St., 7:30 p.m. Admission is $9;
$7 for students & seniors. Information at
anthologyfilmarchives.org.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
PERFORMANCE
A Tradition of
Transgression
Now in its third year, drag histo-
rian Joe E. Jeffreys’ “Drag Show Video
Verite” premieres a new edition of all
new footage documenting a who’s who
of New York City drag over the past 50
years. Of special note in this year’s foot-
age are recently discovered and never
before screened out-takes from the land-
mark pre-Stonewall drag documentary
䉴 JUN 18, continued on p.32

STONEWALL 69’ March with us:

Join Gay City on Sunday June 28 as we celebrate the
40th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, the event that
launched the modern gay rights movement worldwide.

St. Mark’s Church celebrates As we walk the entire 3 mile parade route we could
use your help handing out thousands and thousands of
Gay Pride Month newspapers to people on the sidelines....
40TH ANNIVERSARY
Sunday, June 28 at 11 a.m. GAYCITYNEWS.COM Email: march@gayciytnews.com to volunteer.

This Gay Pride Service will feature:

Musique led by Mary Seymour, Renoly Santiago,
Earl Giaquinto, Miss Velvita Louise a.k.a. James Solomon
Benn, Jahneen, Larry Marshall, Nanette Natal

The Vissi Dance Theater

with excerpts from “Butch Queen in Pumps”
Courtney Ffrench, Artistic Director

The Rev. Winnie Varghese, Priest in Charge

Jeannine Otis, Music Director
St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery

Join Us in Celebrating Life!

Gay City News is the newspaper of record
St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery for New York’s dynamic GLBT community.
131 East 10th St. at 2nd Avenue 145 Sixth Avenue, New York, NY 10013
212-674-6377 / www.stmarkschurchbowery.org Advertising: 646.452.2496 or francesco@gaycitynews.com
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 29
30
■ IN THE NOH
Lovely LaChanze
The Wiz returns, “Seraphine”’s director, and the Gay Lady
BY DAVID NOH
W
ith her huge, wide-set eyes,
mega-watt smile, and shim-
mering musicality, two-time
Tony winner LaChanze has always
reminded me of Diana Ross and, indeed,
she told me that to play this diva of divas
is her dream role: “I just admire her so
much, and if anyone ever plans that
project, I am there! I’d like to express
all the beauty and joy of her, as well as
some of the darker side, without which
she could never have made it to the top
and stayed there.”
In the meantime, LaChanze is appear-
ing in an update of one of Ross’ vehicles,
“The Wiz”, at Encores!, playing Glinda,
as well as Auntie Em. “This goes back to
the original Frank Baum books in which
all the Kansas characters found their
doubles in Oz. And I’m a younger Auntie
Em –– she doesn’t have to be an old lady,
which brings a new freshness to the
show. Dorothy is basically this little flow-
er child with her head in the clouds and,
as both Em and Glinda, I show her the
way, with love and support. I’ve wanted
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to be in this show forever, grew up sing-
ing all the songs, and to be cast in this
is such an honor. And I get to sing the
eleven o’clock number. Well, Ashanti [as
Dorothy] really has it, I guess, and she’s
going to be wonderful. I don’t know how
much stage experience she’s actually
had, but she is beautiful and so talented
and really capable of carrying this show,
which isn’t an easy thing to do.”
Directed by Thomas Kail, the show
should be quite a spectacle: “Just wait
‘til you see Andy Blankenbuehler’s cho-
reography –– it’s gonna knock you out.
We have dancers from everywhere, all
doing their thing beautifully. I’m so used
to carrying a show –– here I just come in
and out, and I am dying to dance, which
I was originally trained for. I said, ‘Just
let me play a Munchkin,’ but they’re not
having it!”
“The Color Purple” was the show that
will forever enshrine LaChanze in the-
atergoers’ hearts, an experience she said
was “so incredibly special. Originally, I
heard they wanted to cast a film person,
not theater, in the lead, so there were
some other ladies up for it. But, after my
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WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
I honestly did not expect. Chita Rivera
and Patti LuPone were my competition
that year, and to be even mentioned in
the same category was incredible. My
husband [Derek Fourdjour] was so great
about it that night. He just kept saying,
‘No matter what happens, we’re going to
a great party afterwards.’ He kept repeat-
ing this right up until the award, and
when they called my name, I sat there,
frozen, until he said, ‘Well, you better get
on up there and get it.’ I was so shocked
I forgot to thank him, the producers,
Oprah Winfrey –– terrible! It was truly
an out-of-body experience. But then
we went to that party, and I had a great
dress, vintage, which my stylist helped
me find in some shop, because I didn’t
want to do designer.”
The day I interviewed her, President
Obama had given his speech in Cairo
to the Islamic world, and I had to ask
LaChanze appears in “The Wiz” at Encores!, playing Glinda LaChanze about her feelings. She was in
and Auntie Em. her eighth month of pregnancy when she
lost her previous husband in the World
audition, I knew I had totally nailed it –– Trade Center on 9/11, and she said,
sometimes you have doubts, but not that
time. And then, to win the Tony, which 䉴 IN THE NOH, continued on p.35
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32/ Opera
Evil Queen, Good Queen
Handel and Gluck heroines at Lincoln Center
BY DAVID SHENGOLD
H
andel’s oratorio “Atha-
lia,” heard in Alice Tully
May 16, truly merited
the sobriquet “Great Performers.”
His third attempt at the form,
premiered at Oxford in 1733, it’s
very strong musically and has a
dramatic enough plot to sustain
narrative interest.
We don’t hear enough about
the Old Testament apostate
Athalia, whose mother, Jezebel
–– devoured for her wickedness
by dogs in the street –– gets all
the Bette Davis film titles. Atha-
lia so desired to annihilate the
race and legacy of the House
of King David that she killed
descendants of his, including
most of her own grandchildren;
one boy, Joas, has been raised
in secret by his still-devout Aunt
Josabeth. The two personas gave
Handel a chance to write two
extremely contrasting soprano
roles; Tully’s excellent exponents
could not have been much more
different.
■ OPERA
That’s All He Wrote
Despite cast changes, Schenk’s “Ring” conveyed its drama
BY ELI JACOBSON
T
he final revival of Otto
Schenk’s “Ring” had
many audience members
already in nostalgic mourning
for its realist charms. The “Die
Walkure” production has seen
the most use and is showing its
age — the trees look tatty and
the costumes suggest dated
’80s goth rocker garb. Mean-
while, casting was shaken up
by health-related withdrawals of
the originally scheduled Brun-
nhildes — Christine Brewer and
Lisa Gasteen — forcing the Met
to borrow Irene Theorin and
Linda Watson from the Wash-
ington and LA “Ring” perfor -
mances, and fly Katarina Dalay-
man in from Europe.
“Die Walkure” ended up with
three Brunnhildes, three Sieg-
munds, and two Sieglindes,
Hundings, and Wotans in
Ger man soprano Simone
Kermes (Athalia) thrilled the opera
queens who want their divas
one part Nina Hagen, one part
Diamanda Galas, and one part
Erna Sack. This ultra-hip Elisa-
beth Schwarzkopf pupil –– surely
unique –– is capable of fantastic,
if undeniably mannered singing,
and certainly puts her stamp on
things. Dressed as Aelita, Queen
of Mars, she was spectacular in
Handel’s “Siroe” at BAM five years
ago. On this occasion, I found her
exciting but leaning too far in the
direction of self-conscious Diva
Mode, what with Erwin Schrott-
like semi-parlando delivery of
cantilena passages, too many off-
pitch notes, and that Vera Hruba
Ralston accent. Which is not to
negate that some of Kermes’ con-
tribution was very accomplished
and very enjoyable.
Josabeth was Sarah Fox, a
very gifted British singer with
a sizable, attractive, and well-
rounded soprano capable of the
䉴 QUEEN, continued on p.33
four performances. Theorin
replaced Brewer for the first two
“Walkure” performances. An
attractive woman with a shape-
ly figure and an expressive face
suited to the detailed acting
demanded in her more mod-
ernist productions in smaller
houses, her voice seemed only
a partial fit for Brunnhilde.
Ideally cast in youthful heroic
roles like Sieglinde and Chryso-
themis, her vocal placement
is rather high and her middle
lacks sonority and depth. In her
debut performance, she started
out strong with a ringing battle
cry, but both upper and lower
register tired by the middle of
the third act, causing pitch
problems. The following Sat-
urday matinee found Theorin
pacing herself better with more
vocal control.
Waltraud Meier’s Sieglinde
seemed overly mannered in Act
Tenor Vinson Cole, with remarkably fresh vocal form and keenly committed phrasing was the
undoubted hero of Gluck’s “Alceste.”
I with a hangdog subservient
mien oddly segueing into orgas-
mic rolling on the floor. However,
the last two acts saw her ablaze
with real dramatic excitement.
Meier’s frightened ravings in Act
II turned into a mini-mad scene,
while Sieglinde’s realization that
she is pregnant in Act III was a
thrilling resurgence to life. Vocal
shortcomings — some sour
hollow middle tones and a lim-
ited top — could be ignored in
the face of Meier’s well-shaped
musical phrasing and dramatic
flair.
Johan Botha sang only the
“Walkure” premiere on April 6,
and delivered a vocally beau-
tiful performance of plangent
lyricism yet capable of heroic
strength. Lacking the baritonal
middle and forceful declamation
of the other two Siegmunds, his
acting was rudimentary, and the
chemistry with Meier’s Sieglinde
ERIN BAIANO
unconvincing. The tonal beauty
compensated amply — the aural
element seducing the critical
eye and mind.
When Botha became indis-
posed the morning of the April
11 matinee broadcast, Gary
Lehman, the heroic last-minute
Tristan of the last year’s two ill-
starred revivals, was sent into
the breach yet again with win-
ning results. Only given a few
hours’ notice and never having
sung Siegmund in German,
uncut and with full orches-
tra, Lehman’s baritonal timbre
effortlessly filled out the low
declamation while his top rang
out. Best of all, he was the most
youthful and athletically virile
of the Siegmunds, galvanizing
Waltraud Meier’s Sieglinde with
more spontaneous passion.
James Morris in his last Met
䉴 RING, continued on p.34
11 - 24 JUN 2009
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 JUN 18, from p.28
“The Queen” (1968), with commentary
by the film’s star Flawless Sabrina.
Also of note is rare footage of Divine
(backstage and onstage in “The Neon
Woman” at Hurrah’s) and Jewel Box
Revue lead performer Mr. Lynn Carter.
This material is part of “The Emerald
City,”a 1970s NYC public access cable
television program that covered the
gay community. Concert pianist and
drag diva Jacqueline Jonee will open
the screening with a grand piano per-
formance. New York Public Library
for the Performing Arts at Lincoln
Center, Bruno Walter Auditorium, 6
p.m. Admission is free, dress in option-
al. Check out a trailer at youtube.com/
watch?v=L4k-OrzY-gQ.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
Ladies of the
Concrete Canyon
John Kelly returns to New York
with a performance that took the city
by storm more than a decade ago, in
“Paved Paradise Redux: The Art of Joni
Mitchell.” This is not a drag show, not
an impersonation, not even simply an
homage. It is a moving work of perfor-
mance art. Joni Mitchell herself told the
New York Times in 1997, “I was braced
for a lampooning. I didn’t expect to be so
touched. I cried in two places.” Abrons
Arts Center, 466 Grand St. at Pitt St.
Jun. 18-21, 25-27, 8 p.m. Tickets are
$20 on Thu., Sun.; $25 on Fri, Sat., at
ovationtix.com or 212-352-3101.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
BOOKS
40 Years of
Treasures
Perry Brass produces a second eve-
ning celebrating the art, passion, and
soul of the LGBT movement, 40 years
after Stonewall, with members of the
Greater New York Independent Publish-
ers Association (GNYIPA), including
Doric Wilson, John Finch, Steven Hauck,
Robert W. Cabell, and Heidi Russell.
Francine Trevens directs the evening
cornucopia. Barnes & Noble, Lincoln
Triangle, 1972 Broadway at W. 66th
St., 6 p.m. Free.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
COMMUNITY
Pride at City Hall
New York City Council Speaker Chris-
tine C. Quinn and Councilwoman Rosie
Mendez, the two out LGBT members of
䉴 JUN 18, continued on p.33
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 11 – 24 JUN 2009 33

䉴
14 DAYS QUEEN, from p.32

needed precision and agility.

The superb conductor Ivor
Bolton should be a more fre-
quent invitee. The playing of
tion featuring a severely miscast
Heather Harper. Meanwhile, local
chances to hear Regine Crespin,
position; her upper voice, usu-
ally her glory, was compromised
nearly throughout, in pitch and

14 NIGHTS
䉴 JUN 18, from p.32
the chamber, host a Celebration of LGBT
Pride, commemorating the 40th anniver-
sary of the Stonewall Rebellion. Hon-
orees include Bruce Cohen, the Oscar-
winning producer of “Milk,” Heritage of
Pride, which produces the LGBT Pride
March in Manhattan and related events,
My only reservation about Fox
would be traces of plummy ora-
torio diction that made “bloom-
ing” into “blyooming.”
As the hidden boy-king
redeemer Joas, who puts Judea
back on the Davidic path to
righteousness, Johannette
Zomer fielded a real “early music
soprano” of a high caliber, aptly
fleet and androgynous.
Welsh countertenor Iestyn
the youthful “Concerto Koeln”
was fantastically bracing, with
lickety-split rhythmic alertness.
Gone are the days when Euro-
pean choruses are hopeless in
English. The fresh-sounding
Balthasar Neumann Choir
uttered the occasional over -
Teutonic final consonant, but in
general performed with expert
and precision phrasing.
Shirley Verrett, and Jessye Nor-
man in the great role –– a Thes-
salian queen willing to sacrifice
herself to save her husband’s life
–– have slipped away.
This performance reinforced
how eminently worthy and grip-
ping Alceste is, making one hope
for a staging soon, perhaps with
Christine Brewer, who sings it at
Santa Fe this summer, or Chris-
tine Goerke. As has been the
breath control. Her vocal preoc-
cupations kept her from making
contact with the music’s emo-
tional core, despite evident appli-
cation (some nice trills) and ver-
bal clarity; even in top form, her
timbre would seem too bright for
Alceste.
Tenor Vinson Cole has rarely
received his due as an artist in
New York. Concert opera suits
him well; his remarkably fresh

and Make the Road/ GLOBE, Gays and Davies (Joad, the High Priest) is
Lesbians of Bushwick Empowered, which a good, committed artist with a
fights for social justice in Brooklyn and pleasant, rather ethereal, and
Queens as part of an inclusive community not overwhelming sound. Tenor
movement. Broadway hottie Cheyenne James Gilchrist presents a very
Jackson is the musical guest star. City academic aspect –– maybe not
Council Chambers, 5:30 p.m. You must the worst look for the shifty
RSVP to eventscoordinator@council.nyc. turncoat priest Mathan! His is
gov or 212-788-5613 by noon on Jun. 17. not inherently a very beauti-
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ful sound, having that earnest
“Pears soap” quality that can
make oratorio a shade less than
C
ollegiate Chorale ended
its season May 26 with
a flawed but salutary
performance of Gluck’s “Alceste”
(the Paris version) in the Rose
Hall, from acoustical, intimacy,
and lighting perspectives a fine
place for concert opera. Gluck’s
masterwork has never really
established itself in New York,
despite Met revivals promisingly
starring Marjorie Lawrence and
case throughout this year of rare
exposure, the NYCO Orchestra
under George Manahan showed
its mettle and what it can accom-
plish when not taxed by over-
scheduling, with only a brass
flub in Hercules’s aria as evident
demerit. This reading was hard-
ly intended as an “historically
informed” version, but Mahahan
successfully contrasted tempi
and texture, evading the pitfall
vocal form, thorough grasp of
French style, admirably flex-
ible dynamic palate, and keenly
committed phrasing made his
Admete the evening’s undoubted
hero. Three substantive bari-
tones doubled their roles. Rich-
ard Zeller, a capacious-voiced,
incisive High Priest and clearly
“inside the part,” proved woofier
and thus less impressive as the
Hades-conquering Hercules.

DANCE
FRI.JUN.19
Tea Dance
Puerto-Rican born choreographer
Yanira Castro debuts her newest piece,
“Dark Horse/Black Forest,” an intense
䉴 JUN 19, continued on p.34
enjoyable, but he showed duc-
tile phrasing and full mastery
of the necessary style. With his
expert coloratura, Welsh bass
Neal Davies is usually first-rate
in this type of assignment; his
Abner was well-considered, but
in terms of tone quality not up
to his usual standard.
Rose Bampton (1941), Kirsten
Flagstad (in her 1952 farewell to
the company), and Eileen Farrell
(in her 1960 debut opposite Nico-
lai Gedda’s acclaimed Admete).
Its last prominent appearance
hereabouts was an ill-starred,
poorly conducted (Raymond Lep-
pard) 1982 City Opera produc-
of treating Gluck in too marmo-
real a fashion. The Chorale itself
provided solidly enjoyable work,
with Evandre and the tiny “cory-
phée” parts honestly voiced by
choristers.
D e b o r a h Vo i g t , l o o k i n g
splendid, performed despite
announced and obvious indis-
Kyungmook Yum (Herald and
Apollo) and Ryan Kinsella (Ora-
cle and Infernal Deity) both fur-
nished highly sonorous and dra-
matic cameos.
David Shengold (shengold@
yahoo.com) writes about opera
for many venues.

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WEDDING
PARTY!
A DOUBLE-WEDDING GIVEAWAY CONTEST! LGBT Pride Month Reception. The New York City Bar Association will
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Starting June 12, Gay City News readers may enter to win: 2009 and honoring Elaine Arabatzis, Esq., Diversity and Pro Bono Counsel,
• round-trip tickets to Key West Dickstein Shapiro LLP, and Suzanne B. Goldberg, Esq., Clinical Professor of
Law, Columbia University School of Law, for their significant contributions
• 5-day 4-night honeymoon to LGBT communities. The program will be held on Tuesday, June 23, 2009
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Two lucky couples will be drawn on Valentine’s Day, The City Bar's LGBT Rights Committee (Carmelyn P. Malalis, Esq., Chair, and
February 14, 2010. Visit GayCityNews.com to participate! Lisa Linsky, Esq., Event Chair) proudly sponsors this event with the assistance
of The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Law Association of Greater
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34 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

䉴 RING, from p.32

Wotans lacked the easy vocal

too much the anti-hero despite
the composer’s adoration — the
performer has an uphill battle to
14 DAYS
breadth and range of 20 years
ago, but this vocal vulnerability
translated into greater emotion-
al sensitivity and depth. Wotan’s
make him appealing. John Tom-
linson as Hagen displayed vocal
deterioration on top, but the easy
size and darkness of his middle 䉴
14 NIGHTS
JUN 19, from p.33
journey is one of increasing loss and bottom provided a sizeable
and renunciation, which the share of brooding menace. As love story presented in the most inti-
bass-baritone must have shared the often undercast Gibichung mate space: a bathroom. The audi-

KEN HOWARD/ METROPOLITAN OPERA

as each performance became
a farewell. Morris relinquished
his signature role gloriously
despite audible signs of fatigue
in Act III. Former Wotan John
Tomlinson’s black bass tones,
roughened characterfully by the
years, made for a convincing
Hunding. Yvonne Naef’s astrin-
gent soprano-colored mezzo bit
into Fricka’s every phrase with
specific determination while her
movements were like watching
a chess game — she countered
Wotan’s every move.
Schenk’s “Goetterdaemmer-
ung” is still an impressive spec-
tacle, maybe the greatest all-
around production in his “Ring.”
On April 25, a cast of intelligent
singing actors, using less than
heroic voices with consummate
skill and insight, created a musi-
cal and dramatic whole greater
than the sum of the individual
parts. Katarina Dalayman’s dark
Gary Lehman, seen here with Adrienne Pieczonka, was sent into the breach as Siegmund with
only a few hours’ notice, with impressive results.
middle voice, broadening with a
hint of steel at the top, compen-
sated for a soprano of less than
Wagnerian weight. Womanly
and intense in the vein of Frida
Leider, her sensitive phrasing
was distinguished by real legato,
and her acting was purpose-
ful and passionate. Dalayman’s
Immolation Scene was sung
mostly with soft piano tone as
an internal monologue, a com-
munion with the heroine within
rather than an grandolinquent
public statement. Dalayman
paced herself beautifully with
siblings, Margaret Jane Wray
as Gutrune found a congenial
role for her warmly ample, but
short, soprano, while debutant
Scottish bass-baritone Iain Pat-
erson was an intriguingly bitter
Gunther, with an imposing tone
and presence that belied his
weakness of character.
James Levine’s conducting
enough tonal freshness to fill out showed no new insights — slow,
the last ecstatic phrases hero- lyrical, broad-paced, lacking
ically. What a difference from her internal detail and rhythmic
dramatically ineffective, vocally cohesion, while the horn sec-
submerged Isolde of last Decem- tion made numerous flubs; the
ber! sword motif was mangled every
Christian Franz as Siegfried time.
was less fortunate in his pac- Otto Schenk was on hand to
ing, running out of voice just rehearse the casts for the first
before his death scene in Act III. two cycles, and the psychologi-
One had to admire his commit- cally detailed acting of several of
ment despite a less than heroic the above-mentioned singers is
tone and appearance. Several proof that, while Schenk’s “Ring”
attempts at heroic exuberance may be concept-free, it is only
came off as unintentionally com- drama-free when the singers
ical. Wagner’s Siegfried is already are lacking.
ence is privy to an emotional and pri-
vate exchange between a couple that
evolves into a formal, sensual dance.
There are two casts; one being real-life
couple Luke Miller and Darrin Wright.
The lobby bathroom of the Gershwin
Hotel will be transformed by lighting
designer Kathy Couch, installation artist
C. Merritt Houghton, video artist Peter
Richards, and composer Stephan Moore,
and performances are limited to a live
audience of seven, with closed-circuit
TV viewing in any of the hotel’s135
rooms. A sneak peek is at twitter.com/
darkbloom8. Gershwin Hotel, 7 E.
27th St. Miller and Wright perform
Jun. 19-21, 26-28, 7 p.m. Tickets are
$55 for opening night, $45 for Fri., Sat.,
$20 for Sun. To purchase tickets for the
live performance visit ps122.org or call
212-352-3101. To reserve a room at the
Gershwin, call 212-545-8000 or visit ger-
shwinhotel.com.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
䉴 14 DAYS, continued on p.35

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14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 14 DAYS, from p.34
MUSIC
SAT.JUN.20
A Light of Hope
Lavender Light: The Black and People
of All Colors Lesbian and Gay Gospel Choir
presents its annual Gay Pride Concert, “A
Brand New Day,” performing a wide range
of gospel music, from traditional spiritu-
als to classic and contemporary favorites,
including “Oh Sweet Wonder” by Ricky
Dillard and “Grateful” by Hezekiah Walker.
The choir is in its 24th season, and artis-
tic director Ray Gordon said, “This is an
extraordinary time to be living in America.
The election of the first black president,
five states actually legalizing gay marriage.
Although we are in the midst of many
struggles — war, injustice, the economic
downturn — I believe that there is hope
at the end of the tunnel.” Maybe that’s
the message to check out right about now.
Peter Norton Symphony Space, Peter
Jay Sharp Theatre, 2537 Broadway at
95th St, 8 p.m. Tickets are $28 at lavender-
light.com or 212-864-5400.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ can have a father and we can
THEATER
A Playwright’s
Night
The TOSOS Robert Chesley / Jane
Chambers Playwright Project is a forum
for playwrights to have their work read to
an invited audience, with no staging and
Q & A. It’s just an opportunity for play-
wrights to be heard. Tonight, in honor of
the 40th anniversary of Stonewall, there
will be a reading of Robert Patrick’s his-
toric play “The Haunted Host,” directed
by Mark Finley and featuring Christopher
Borg. ART/NY, the Mitchell Room,
third fl., 520 Eighth Ave., btwn. W.
37th & 38th Sts., 6:30 p.m. Free.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ emas) gives you a visually rich,
COMMUNITY
SUN.JUN.21
Pride Begins Here
The week of LGBT Pride events in
Manhattan presented by Heritage of
Pride kicks off this afternoon with the
LGBT Pride Rally. The first such rally
occurred one month after the June 1969
Stonewall Riots, when 500 people gath-
ered for a “Gay Power” demonstration in
Washington Square Park, followed by a
candlelight vigil in Sheridan Square. This
year’s rally will include longtime gay and
AIDS activist Cleve Jones, who initiated
䉴 JUN 21, continued on p.36
䉴 IN THE NOH, from p.30
“Obama has absolutely become
our global leader right now, and
can hopefully take us all to a
place of peace. I still suffer from
post-traumatic stress of those
events — have to take Xanax
before I ever get on a plane.
When it happened, people said,
“I would understand if you just
stayed in bed with the sheet over
your head, but I had children to
raise. They couldn’t lose both a
father and a mother! I just had
lunch with another 9/11 widow
and we talked about how ordi-
nary life has to take over, but
you know it will never be ordi-
nary again, you never forget.
“I was ready to quit the busi-
ness and just devote my time
to my children, but then Eve
Ensler called me and said, ‘I
have this play, “The Vagina
Monologues.” You can do it any-
way that’s comfortable for you
— even just sit on a stool, but I
want you to do it.’ So it was real-
ly she who brought me back. As
far as what happened, I never
come from a place of hate or bit-
terness, because what does that
cover? Fear, plain and simple.
I’m just grateful God sent me
another husband, so my kids
really be a family again.”
Our interview ended when
LaChanze was called to a cos-
tume fitting, and she told me,
“Just wait ‘til you see what Paul
Tazewell has whipped up for
Glinda! So fabulous — I love it
and want to lose a few pounds
— [not that she has any need to,
I said] –– I know, I know, but I’m
Glinda and she’s gotta be just
perfect!”
M
artin Provost’s “Sera-
phine” (now in lim-
ited release at the
Angelika and Lincoln Plaza Cin-
intensely detailed portrait of
the outsider artist, Seraphine
de Senlis. Released last year in
France, it won the Cesars (the
French Oscar) for Best Film
and for Best Actress, Yolande
Moreau, a powerful force of
nature. In an interview, Provost
explained, “I don’t make films
all the time. I also work in radio
and write books, and a couple of
years ago a friend called me and
said I should look into her work.
I was then questioning what
to do next, but when I saw the
material, it was obvious that this
was a project I had to work on.
What overwhelmed me was the
fusion between these two mar-
11 – 24 JUN 2009
Sam Sifton, New York Times culture editor, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Rocco Landesman, and Times
publisher Arthur Sulzberger.
ginal characters — a cleaning
lady and her employer, Wilhelm
Uhde (Ulrich Tuku), a homo-
sexual in the early 20th century
who was forced to flee Germany
and moved to Paris. There was
something about his writing
that was visionary, about the
dangers his country was facing
and what was to come.
“In writing the script, it was
obvious that I had to find an
actress capable of disappear-
ing into the role, and Yolande
is this type of actress who does
that and does not have an ego.
There were so many fortunate
coincidences on this film. I live
out in the country outside Paris
and was able to meet Yolande
through a contractor who had
renovated my house. A couple of
weeks after I met her, I went to
the Kandinsky library in Beau-
bourg and saw a press clipping
that contained an ink drawing
of Seraphine done by an auto-
didact neighbor, which was
the spitting image of Yolande.
I photographed it and showed
it to her. She has a great sense
of humor and said, ‘It’s not flat-
tering, but there is a striking
resemblance.’”
“At the Cesars, we were sit-
ting together, and all the pho-
tographers were away from us,
shooting the other actresses
she was competing against. She
turned to me and whispered,
‘Well, I guess it’s not going to
be me.’ So we made our peace
with it, but suddenly her name
was announced and then all
the cameras converged on us
in a rush –– so funny. When
she accepted, she was magnifi-
cent and extraordinary, and she
always is.”
Upcoming for Provost is a
film about French lesbian writer
Violette Leduc: “I had never read
her writing, but my publisher
did a bio of her, and I found a
text she had written about Sera-
35
to concentrate on writing rather
than acting. Sam Sifton proved
a brilliantly lively interlocutor,
who realized that the ideal inter-
view is conversational sans the
interviewer’s need to egotisti-
cally insert himself before ques-
tions are fully answered (note to
Charlie Rose and Larry King).
PAUL M. GAYKOWSKI/ NEW YORK TIMES
McCraney also wrote “Wig
Out,” and was eloquent in
describing a special performance
given for the “ballroom children”
(the real life cross-dressing high
divas): “I was nervous, because
they can be the harshest audi-
ence. You have got to bring it
or else. And afterwards, I was
touched when this one little trans
girl told me, ‘I now have a role to
play.’” The play did not go over so
well when it went to London and
played in, of all places, that bas-
tion of Brit preppiness, Sloane
Square: “They didn’t get us. The
British idea of drag is more some
hairy guy prancing around in
a dress for laughs. You could
hear a mouse pissing on cot-
ton. I mean crickets.” McCraney
was both touching — shedding
a tear about his late mother, a
drug addict he wish he’d been
able to help more — and funny,
sighing about his usually being
the youngest person in the room
at these kinds of events: “After-
wards, I’m always like, ‘Let’s go
find the party!’ I usually have
no takers, but I know Rocco
MUSIC BOX FILMS
[Landesman, newly appointed
chairman of the National Endow-
ment for the Arts] here would join
Yolande Moreau as Séraphine de Senlis. me!” Landesman jovially nodded
his assent.
phine. I was struck by the beau- Times publisher Arthur Sulz-
ty of it and I read everything by berger, Jr., gave a speech, as he
her: Seraphine was a woman did at the festive Vows event on
who threw herself solely into her June 2. This cocktail party cel-
work while Violette catapulted ebrated all the gay and lesbian
herself into every possible expe- couples who have had their
rience to write her books.” weddings announced in what
Times GLBT and Allies affin-
T
h e N e w Yo r k T i m e s ity group co-chairman, Tom
should change its time- Kulaga, called “the gay sports
honored nickname to pages.” It was no mean feat
the Gay Lady, after two recent to locate all the couples, dat-
events there. On May 28, its
first New York Times Outstand-
ing Play Award was given to
ing back to 2002, but Kulaga’s
intrepid team, using Facebook,
MySpace, and any means nec-
Tarell Alvin McCraney for “The essary, got the job done, and
Brothers Size.” Twenty-eight, people came from far and wide.
beautiful, and gifted, it would And how fabulous was it to see
be easy to hate McCraney, but Sulzberger lead a toast to them
he won everyone over with an all, including the very first and
impassioned performance of the latest couple to be featured,
a scene from his play. When respectively, Drs. Leslie Mill-
playwrights read from their er and Alicia Salzer, and Kate
own work, it can often be a dull Adamick and Kay Diaz.
trial, but the Times Center fair-
ly exploded with McCraney’s Contact David Noh at Inthe-
f-bomb-laced passion, causing noh@aol.com and check out his
actress Marilyn Sokol to lament new blog at http://nohway.
aloud to him about his decision wordpress.com/.
36
■ BOOKS
May Is Gay In NY Books
Publishing Triangle, Lambda Literary Society gather to fete authors
BY MICHAEL T. LUONGO
F
rom the first week to
the last, May in New
York was the place and
the time for gay publishing
awards. On May 7, the 21st
annual Publishing Triangle
Awards were presented in
the T ishman Auditorium of
the New School. The awards
honor the best lesbian and
gay fiction, nonfiction, and
poetry published in 2008, but
the titles of the awards send a
message honoring the work of
outstanding writers who came
before.
For instance, the Shilts
Award for Gay Non-Fiction
memorializes San Francisco
Chronicle journalist Randy
Schiltz, who died of AIDS in
1994 and wrote the ground-
breaking books “And the Band
Played On,” about the early
AIDS epidemic, and “Conduct
Unbecoming,” about the war
waged against gays in the mili-
tary. This year’s award recipi-
ent was Kai Wright, whose
book “Drifting Toward Love”
(Beacon Press) looked at the
lives of African-American and
Latino gay men. The Audre
Lorde Award for Lesbian Poet-
ry, won by Elizabeth Bradfield
for “Interpretive Work” (Red
Hen Press), is named for the
famous African-American poet,
essayist, and activist who died
of breast cancer in 1992.
Martin Duberman, the
author of more than 20 books,
received the Publishing Tri-
angle’s Bill Whitehead Lifetime
Achievement Award, named for
11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 JUN 21, from p.35
the AIDS Quilt, Cathy Marino-Thomas
from Marriage Equality New York, Dustin
Lance Black, who won the 2008 Oscar
for Best Screenwriter for “Milk,” the
Imperial Court of NY, the Gender Offend-
ers, vocalists Rachel Sage and Michael
Ashanti, comedian Marga Gomez, and
performance poet Staceyann Chin. Bry-
ant Park, 42nd St. at Sixth Ave., 2-6
p.m., 2-6 p.m. Full details on all HOP
events, including the Jun. 28 Fifth Ave-
nue march, at nycpride.org.
MICHAEL T. LUONGO
MICHAEL T. LUONGO
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
AT THE BEACH
No Day of Rest
Edmund Whit, Andrew Holleran, and Felice Picano were honored with Pioneer Awards by the Martin Duberman received the Publishing Tri- FIPAP, the Fire Island Pines Arts Proj-
Lambda Literary Society. angle’s Lifetime Achievement Award. ect, and the Fund in the Sun Foundation
offer you the chance to combine two
book news, it was one of Lamb- cherished obsessions, shopping and
da Lit’s largest events, with working on your tan, SOS, Shopping on
about 400 attendees. Enter - Sunday. SOS features the most coveted
tainer Scott Nevins served as labels from Seventh Avenue, including
the master of ceremony. Pio- Calvin Klein, Diesel, Prada, Ron Chere-
neer Awards were given to Les- skin, and many more. Malan Breton,
lie Feinberg, a transgendered Emmett McCarthy, and Stella Zotis from
author and activist who was “Project Runway” present live fashion
unable to attend, and Andrew shows throughout the afternoon. Whyte
Holleran, Felice Picano, and Hall, the Pines, 11-3 p.m. Admission is
Edmund White, three men $20 after noon; $50 for VIP shopping 11
who, along with David Berg- a.m.-noon. Tickets at fipap.org.
man, are surviving members of ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
the early gay writing group the
MICHAEL T. LUONGO
Violet Quill. Felice Picano was COMMUNITY
both honored and amused, Pride on the Lower
saying, “People came out of East Side
the woodwork from God only The Fourth Arts Block and the Lower
Alison Bechdel, seen here with June Thomas, won the Publishing Triangle Ferro-Grumley Award knows where to come for this East Side Business Improvement District
for LGBT Fiction. event. I guess it was to see the partner to bring Gay Pride to the East
Golden Girls awarded.” Side with Pride Goes East, a week-long
an editor at E.P. Dutton and The 21st annual Lambda The Lesbian Fiction Award celebration of special events and local
Macmillan who died of AIDS in Literary Awards were held May was a tie between Emma deals throughout the East Village and
1987. 29, and are timed for Book Donoghue, for her book “The Lower East Side, with exclusive restau-
More on all the Publishing Expo America, the US’s larg- Sealed Letter” (Houghton Miff- rant deals, nightlife specials, shopping dis-
Triangle Awards is at publish- est book convention. In spite
ingtriangle.org. of the poor economy and bleak 䉴 BOOKS, continued on p.37 䉴 JUN 21, continued on p.38
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Dinner - Unforgetable dishes such as lamb tagine, whole grilled red snapper, and much more.
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WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
Kai Wright (r), seen here with Kim Powers and Bruce Shenitz, received the Publishing Triangle’s Shilts Award for Gay
Non-Fiction.
䉴 BOOKS, from p.36
lin Harcourt), and “All the Pretty Girls”
author Chandra Mayor (Conundrum
Press). Scott Heim won the Gay Fiction
Award for his novel “We Disappear”
(Harper Perennial). Christopher Rice,
novelist and president of the board of
trustees of the Lambda Literary Soci-
11 – 24 JUN 2009 37
MICHAEL T. LUONGO
ety, commented on the “computer
glitch” of website Amazon that prevent-
ed searches for gay books, which the
group scrambled to press the online
giant to correct. “Never before has the
need for an association which fills our
needs been more acute,” he said.
For more on the Lambda Literary
Awards winners visit lambdaliterary.org.
$1.95
EACH
38
■ COMMUNITY
Looking Back 40 Years
Public Library focuses on 1969 and Stonewall
BY DUNCAN OSBORNE
T
o mark the 40th anni-
versary of the Stonewall
riots, the New York Pub-
lic Library will exhibit photos,
newspaper articles, and other
materials documenting one year
in the early gay rights move-
ment.
“The exhibit is just about
gay and lesbian activism from
1969 to 1970,” said Jason
Baumann, the exhibit’s cura-
tor and the library’s coordina-
tor of collection assessment
and LGBT collections. “The
tone of gay and lesbian activ-
ism changed that year.”
The riots that broke out in
June 1969 following a police
raid on the Stonewall Inn in
the West Village are generally
seen as marking the start of
the modern gay rights move-
ment, though there certainly
were “pockets of activism,” as
Baumann said, prior to that.
“What changed in 1969 and
1970, there really is an upris-
ing of energy,” Baumann said.
Those riots are marked by the
queer community with annual
pride marches, rallies, and cel-
ebrations around the globe.
It is a modest exhibit, but
the New York Public Library
system, which encompasses
four major research centers,
Marsha P. Johnson handing out flyers in support of gay students at NYU in 1970.
The Gay Liberation Front marches on Times Square in 1969.
with a main building at 42nd
Street and Fifth Avenue and
87 branches in Manhattan,
Staten Island, and the Bronx,
could not display all the queer
documents it owns. (The city’s
libraries were incorporated
before the 1898 five-borough
consolidation, and Brooklyn
and Queens maintain their
own systems.)
Collections are measured in
linear feet and, altogether, the
library has “one-and-a-half to
11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
14 DAYS
14 NIGHTS
䉴 JUN 21, from p.36
counts, and free entertainment. Highlights
include “Tainted Love,” a group exhibition
curated by Steven Lam and Virginia Solo-
mon for Visual AIDS that considers two
related questions regarding art and politics
— What constitutes activism in art and
what is love within the context of activ-
DIANA DAVIES/NYPL MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVES DIVISION, DIANA DAVIES PAPERS
ism? (La MaMa Galleria, 6 E. First St.,
btwn. Bowery & Second Ave., Thu.-
Sun., 1-6 p.m. through Jun. 28); Pride @
DMAC, a weeklong celebration featuring
theater, cabaret, dance, and digital video
installations (DUO Multi-Cultural Arts
Center, 62 E. Fourth St., btwn. Bowery
& Second St., Jun. 21-28, duotheater.
org); “Too Much Light Makes the Baby
Go Blind,” the New York Neo-Futurists’
attempt to complete 30 plays in 60 min-
utes (The Kraine Theater, 85 E. Fourth
St., btwn. Bowery & Second Ave.,
Jun. 26-27, 10:30 p.m.); “Black Girl Ugly,”
a multi-layered performance piece inves-
tigating the self-esteem of black women
and “The Super Queeros,” a night of
two miles of stuff” that is gay- bians, the Gay Activists Alliance, debauchery with help from HyperGender’s
related distributed among its and the Street Transvestites sexy, naked queers (WOW Café The-
various collections, Baumann Action Revolutionaries, accord- atre, 59-61 E. Fourth St., btwn. Bowery
said. The Stonewall exhibit, ing to a library press release. & Second Ave., Jun. 27, beginning at
with just 80 pieces, represents Many of the photos were 8 p.m., wowcafe.org).
a tiny portion of all that mate- taken by Diana Davies. ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
rial. “She very kindly gave us the
The documents to be exhib- rights,” Baumann said. MUSIC
ited include “original pho- The exhibit will be open for a Klezbo Brunch
tographs, pamphlets, police month starting on June 1 in a Isle of Klezbos, a women’s ensemble
reports, newspapers, and let- third floor hallway at the main putting new and sometimes outrageous
ters” from that year, with a building. With 100,000 monthly spins on traditional music, will provide the
focus on records from the Gay sounds for a Father’s Day klezmer brunch,
Liberation Front, the Radicales- 䉴 STONEWALL, continued on p.39 with a special menu that includes bagels,
lox, and other tasty treats. City Winery,
155 Varick St., btwn. Spring & Vandam
Sts. Brunch starts at 10 a.m., music
goes from 11-2 p.m. For reservations, call
212-608-0555 or visit citywinery.com.
✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯ ✯
MON.JUN.22
DIANA DAVIES/NYPL MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVES DIVISION, DIANA DAVIES PAPERS
COMMUNITY
DIANA DAVIES/NYPL MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVES DIVISION, DIANA DAVIES PAPERS
A River Garden
The LGBT Community Center’s Garden
Party started in 1984 with 1,000 donors and
friends and one catering company. Nowa-
days, the gala attracts more than 2,300
and features over 35 food participants.
Celebrity chefs this year include Rebecca
Charles (Pearl Oyster Bar), Dave Pasternak
(Esca), and Daniel Angerer (Klee Brasserie).
And back as event chair this year is Gourmet
editor-in-chief Ruth Reichl. Plus, there’s a ton
of music, comedy, and speeches from com-
munity leaders. Hudson River Park Trust,
Pier 54, W. 14th St. at the Westside
“Ida,” a member of the Gay Liberation Front Highway, 6-10 p.m. Admission is $100,
and the Lavender Menace in 1970. $90 for Center䉴 members,
JUMP, at gaycenter.org.
continued on p.38
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 TRANS RIGHTS, from p.3
with the signatures of a host of VIPs,
among them Paris Mayor Bertrand Del-
anoe and Jacques Delors, former presi-
dent of the European Union’s governing
commission; and writers, academics and
scientists, and including two winners of
the Nobel Prize for Medicine, Professors
Luc Montaigner and Françoise Barré-Sin-
oussi, honored for their work in the dis-
covery of the HIV virus.
To underscore its support for this year’s
IDAHO events, on the eve of May 17 the
French government officially announced
it would no longer classify transgender
identity and expression as a mental disor-
der, becoming the first government to take
that action. French Minister of Health
Roselyne Bachelot announced on May 16
that she had directed the country’s Haute
Autorité de Santé (HAS, or High Author-
ity for Health) to execute this change in
policy.
At the same time, in the Netherlands,
at a May 15 conference on LGBT rights
sponsored by the Dutch Parliament in
connection with IDAHO, the country’s
minister for Foreign Affairs, Maxime Ver-
hagen, announced that the government
would end the legal requirement that
transgendered people must first under-
go gender reassignment surgery before
obtaining new government identity docu-
ments. Verhagen acknowledged that
existing Dutch law violated Principle 18 of
the Yogyakarta Principles, the right to be
protected from medical abuses.
“These breakthrough victories in France
and the Netherlands show that we can
achieve our goals,” IDAHO’s Tin told Gay
䉴 STONEWALL, from p.38
visitors, the exhibit is sure to gain expo-
sure, as many will have to pass through
it on their way to the third floor reading
room.
Two “panel versions” of the exhibit,
made up of a smaller number of items,
will tour the library’s branches for the
next year. The exhibit will also go live on
the web in early June at nypl.org.
The library has also digitized roughly
2,000 images of early gay rights and
AIDS-related events and documents.
Those are already accessible on the
library’s website. Much of gay material
the library owns was collected by Mimi
Bowling, who ran the library’s manu-
scripts division, but has retired.
“She was really instrumental in build-
ing a lot of these collections,” Baumann
said. “That’s what we’re working on right
now, to take care of what she amassed.”
In addition to the exhibit, Baumann
>Ê˜œÜ
will teach a class on researching gay
history on June 13 at 2:00 p.m.; David
Carter, author of “Stonewall: The Riots
That Sparked the Gay Revolution,” a
2004 book and the definitive account of
the 1969 riots, will give a lecture on June
17 at 6:00 p.m.; and members of the Gay
11 – 24 JUN 2009 39
City News. The IDAHO petition for trans-
gender rights has already been signed
by more than 300 organizations from 75
countries, “a majority of which are from
the global South — Africa, Latin America,
and South Asia,” Tin said. In another first,
the petition has been endorsed by seven
organizations from China.
Also for the first time, the National Gay
and Lesbian Task Force, under its new
executive director Rae Carey, broke its
long refusal to engage in international
LGBT solidarity actions by endorsing the
IDAHO transgender petition. Other U.S.
organizations supporting this petition
include Soulforce, Equality Nevada, the
Durham Gender Alliance in North Caro-
lina, and the New York Association for
Gender Rights Advocacy, NYAGRA. Still,
support in the US for IDAHO remains
remarkably sparse, and the largest US
LGBT organization, the Human Rights
Campaign, continues to boycott IDAHO
and has failed to endorse its transgender
rights petition. In contrast, IDAHO has
been officially endorsed by the European
Union, which represents 27 countries,
as well as by individual governments like
those of the United Kingdom — where
LGBT organizations staged more than
80 separate IDAHO events this year on
May 17— Costa Rica, Belgium, the Neth-
erlands, Luxembourg, and, of course,
France.
For more information on IDAHO and its
global online petition campaign for trans- Gay,
gender rights, click on idahomophobia.
org/wp/. Doug Ireland can be reached Str8,
through his blog, DIRELAND, at http:// Bi,
direland.typepad.com/. Curious?
DIANA DAVIES/NYPL MANUSCRIPTS AND ARCHIVES DIVISION, DIANA DAVIES PAPERS
A Gay Liberation Front flyer.
Liberation Front, an early gay group, will
participate in a panel discussion on June /ÀÞʈÌÊÀiiÊUÊ
24 at 6:00 p.m.
“I love having them here,” Baumann
said. “They’re the most utopian and most
646-731-6658
radical organization.”
All the events related to the Stonewall
exhibit will take place in the library’s
main building. 1800GayLive.com MC 7003 Ent only 18+ *Limited Free Trial Photography by Kevin E. McPherson
40 11 – 24 JUN 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

HAPPY
PRIDE MONTH

On the 40th anniversary

of Stonewall, Mayor
Bloomberg honors and
remembers those who
were there and joins
the LGBT community in
the continued struggle
for full equality and
marriage rights. www.mikebloomberg.com
Paid for by Bloomberg for Mayor 2009