Gay City
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 !
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
■ LEGAL
NY High Court
Revisiting
Co-Parent
Custody
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
The New York Court of Appeals, the
state’s highest bench, announced on
September 1 that it was granting Lamb-
da Legal’s petition to challenge the deni-
al of a lesbian co-parent’s right to bring
a suit seeking joint custody or visitation
with a child she had been raising with
her former Vermont civil union partner.
The action, regarding a ruling ear-
lier this year by the state Appellate Divi-
sion in Manhattan, gives the LGBT legal
advocacy group the opportunity to try to
persuade the high court to overrule its
controversial 1991 decision in a similar
case, also brought by Lambda.
In the case now headed to the Court
of Appeals, titled Debra H. v. Janice R.,
the plaintiff co-parent claims that the
couple planned together to have a child,
who was born about a month after they
entered into a civil union in Vermont
and two months after they registered
as domestic partners in New York City.
Debra “served as a loving and caring
parental figure during the first 2-1/2
years of the child’s life,” according to the
CO-PARENT P. 9
HUBBY NOT CHUBBY
4 FIERCE P. 28
MARIA PASSANNANTE-DERR, YETTA KURLAND AT AUGUST 28 FIERCE FRIDAY FORUM
Council Candidates
Get FIERCE
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
I
n an August 28 Friday Forum
hosted by FIERCE, a Chelsea-
based advocacy group for LGBTQ
youth of color, District 3 City Coun-
cil candidate Yetta Kurland repeat-
edly signaled her personal identifica-
tion with the struggles those young
people face. One of her opponents,
Maria Passannante-Derr, who has at
times clashed with the group in her
role on Community Board 2, voiced
her respect for FIERCE’s goals, even
as she challenged them to aggressively
seize opportunities already available
to impact policy debates.
The third candidate in the race, City
Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who
has served the district, which runs
from the West Village north to Chelsea
and Hell’s Kitchen, since 1999, did not
© GAY CITY NEWS 2009 • COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TM
NEWS YOUR FREE
LGBT
NEWSPAPER
SEPTEMBER 3-16, 2009
VOLUME EIGHT, ISSUE 18
■ REMEMBRANCE
Passionate Gay
Rights Voice
Stilled
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
O
n July 12, 1996, the US House
of Representatives, caught up
in a sudden nationwide frenzy
about the prospect that the Hawaii state
courts might be moving toward legaliza-
tion of marriage by same-sex couples,
passed the Defense of Marriage Act in a
342-67 vote. On September 10, the Sen-
ate followed suit, in an 85-14 vote, and
eleven days later, President Bill Clinton
signed the measure into law.
Among the 14 senators, all Demo-
crats, who stood against the prevailing
political gale was an old Massachusetts
sailing aficionado, Ted Kennedy, the
state’s senior senator.
GAY CITY NEWS
On October 3, the Empire State Pride
Agenda (ESPA), New York’s LGBT lob-
bying organization, held its fifth annual
fall dinner at Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt
Hotel. The scheduled speakers were
Mayor Rudy Giuliani and George Steph-
anopoulos, who was then the president’s
communications director.
KENNEDY P. 26
attend, citing a scheduling conflict.
FIERCE, the Fabulous Independent
In this issue:
Educated Radicals for Community
Empowerment, focused the discus- ■ ENDORSEMENTS
sion on its ongoing efforts to preserve
and enhance the West Village and the
City Council, Manhattan
Hudson River piers in Lower Manhat- DA, Comptroller, Public
tan as safe havens for LGBTQ youth, Advocate
many of whom travel from other parts ■ 12
of the city and region to socialize open- —————————————————
ly with their peers. The questions,
posed by FIERCE members Elegost ■ BACKSTAGE AT EDEN
Rosado and Chris Baez, probed the
In “Big Gay Musical,” 2 gays
candidates’ views on tensions between
youth, on one side, and neighborhood play 2 gays playing 2 gays
residents and police, on the other, and ■ 16
on recurring debates about expanding —————————————————
the hours, access, and services avail- ■ CAN ON THE RUN
able for young people on the piers.
An out lesbian who mentioned she is
Just what incarnation is
41, Kurland, a civil rights attorney, estab- this for Tom Judson?
■ 21

2/ History
When the Clothes Came Off
Jeffrey Escoffier looks at beefcake, porn, and society’s changing homo-sex mores
BY DOUG IRELAND
W
hy would a noted gay
intellectual devote
his time to a history
of the queer porn industry?
Because, as Jeffrey Escoffier
demonstrates in his fascinat-
ing account of this billion dollar
business, same-sex pornogra-
phy has not only been a win-
dow on changing sexual styles
and identities but has helped to
shape them.
As Escoffier writes in “Bigger
Than Life,” just published, “The
sexual revolution of the sixties
and seventies would never have
taken place without a series of
extended legal and political bat-
tles over obscenity and pornog-
raphy.” Escoffier chronicles how
a series of “struggles over free
speech and the First Amend-
ment that were also business
ventures… helped to create a
public space where it was per-
missible not only to discuss
patterns of sexual behavior but
also to portray sexuality honest-
ly and bluntly in fiction, on the
stage, and in movies.”
Escoffier has been both a
product of that sexual revolu-
tion and a significant intellec-
tual force within it. As the first
president of Philadelphia’s Gay
Activists Alliance in 1970, he
co-founded and edited The Gay
Alternative, a pioneering jour-
nal of gay culture and politics
and one of the skein of influen-
tial, early queer publications
that helped mold and spread
gay liberation’s first wave. When
he moved to San Francisco in
114 Christopher St.
Serving The Community
Btw Bleecker & Hudson St.
212-741-9641
Happy Hour Monday - Friday 2 - 8
2nd Tuesday of the Month is Fireflag/EMS Night
6 -1am 50/50 Raffle / BE A R NITE Every Thursday
3 - 16 SEP 2009
BIGGER THAN LIFE
The History of the Gay Porn Industry
from Beefcake to Hardcore
By Jeffrey Escoffier
Perseus Books/Running Press
$24.95; 367 pages
1977, he helped to found the
San Francisco Lesbian and Gay
History Project, and during the
’80s he was the executive edi-
tor of Socialist Review, a smart,
non-sectarian New Left journal,
run by a San Francisco-based
collective, that first brought to
national prominence a raff of
notable queer writers and artists
like the historian Alan Berube
(author of the groundbreaking
“Coming Out Under Fire: The
History of Gay Men and Women
in World War II”), the lesbian
feminist Amber Hollibaugh (who
went on to become senior strat-
egist at the National Gay and
Lesbian Task Force and is today
a leading authority on the prob-
lems facing LGBT seniors), and
Debra Chasnoff (the Academy
Award-winning filmmaker of Joe Dallasandro, in Paul Morrissey’s Warhol film “Flesh.”
“It’s Elementary” and other gay-
themed documentaries). which I regularly recommend to “education of desire.” We must gay films were the “beefcake”
Escoffier went on to found budding gay activists, remains not forget that until 1962, as magazines and film loops pio-
Out/Look, the national lesbian an important theoretical work Escoffier notes, “homosexual neered from the late ’40s on by
and gay quarterly, and while to this day. materials, even those without the likes of Bob Mizer and his
there he launched the Out- Now, with “Bigger Than Life,” any sexual content, were con- American Models Guild, whose
Write Lesbian and Gay Writers Escoffier shows how “pornogra- sidered obscene by definition. photographs showed well-oiled
Conferences, held throughout phy created space for increased The emergence of gay hardcore muscular youths wearing dis-
the ‘90s, which were undoubt- experimentation with a whole films provided explicit represen- creet posing straps over their
edly the largest gatherings of range of sexualities not orga- tations of gay sexual behavior genitals in various homoerotic
LGBT writers in history. Of his nized around procreation not otherwise available… and attitudes. (Thom Fitzgerald’s
five previous books, his seminal and reproduction.” For gays, the availability of such images 1999 docudrama “Beefcake,”
1998 work “American Homo: film pornography contributed helped to affirm the nascent gay which airs regularly on the
Community and Perversity” mightily to what the film critic identity.”
(University of California Press), Richard Dyer has labeled the The precursors of hardcore 䉴 PORN, continued on p.3
Find it
in the
A Village Landmark
©
archives
For Over 35 Years
Joseph@JosephLoGiudice.com www.GAYCITYNEWS.com
http://josephlogiudice.com
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 3 – 16 SEP 2009 3

䉴 PORN, from p.2 panions reacted to the dreary, unerotic company, “Boys in the Sand” was pre- cal” movie exploring his fascination with
plot by laughing or falling asleep as the viewed by Variety and became the first sadism and starring himself. Entitled
Here! cable TV network, brings wit to the soundtrack blared an orchestrated ren- gay hardcore film permitted to advertise “L.A. Plays Itself,” Halsted’s film intro-
story of Mizer and those not altogether dition of ‘June is Busting Out All Over’ in the New York Times. Poole’s film was duced “fisting” to the American public as
innocent early days of male nudity.) from the musical ‘Carousel.’” a smash hit with critics and viewers, and a form of sexual play, was a huge com-
When Clark Pollak, the editor of the Poole — a former dancer with the Bal- stayed on Variety’s list of the top 50 best- mercial and critical success, and was
beefcake magazine Drum, was arrest- lets Russes who’d choreographed Broad- grossing films for three months, making selected by New York’s Museum of Mod-
ed on an obscenity charge in 1966 for way musicals for the likes of Noel Cow- Donovan the first gay porn superstar. ern Art for its permanent film collection.
having broken the code by publishing ard, Marlene Dietrich, Liza Minnelli, and His photo graced the cover of the clos- The Poole and Halsted films ushered
full frontal male nude photographs in Stephen Sondheim — decided he could eted gay show biz magazine After Dark, in the era of “porn chic” a full year before
a deliberate provocation, the American do better. The result was 1972’s “Boys in thus landing him a role in a straight film the hetero porn smash “Deep Throat”
Civil Liberties Union took the case all the the Sand,” a tasteful gay hardcore film by noted sexploitation director Radley lent a new word to the political lexicon in
way to the US Supreme Court — which set in Fire Island and starring an unem- Metzger. the Watergate scandal.
eventually ruled that the nude male ployed Peekskill high school teacher, That same year, Fred Halsted, the By the 1980s, gay porn was big busi-
body is not obscene. The world-famous waiter, and part-time hustler, Cal Culver, owner of a chain of wholesale nurseries ness. Chuck Holmes, the founder of
photographer Robert Mapplethorpe drew who took the nom-de-porn Casey Dono- who’d never seen a gay pornographic
his inspiration from beefcake photos. van. Distributed nationally by Sayles’ film, decided to make an “autobiographi- 䉴 PORN, continued on p.11
In 1963, Kenneth Anger’s homo-
erotic classic “Scorpio Rising,” an hom-
age to the macho rites of a motorcycle
gang, and Jack Smith’s “Flaming Crea-
tures,” a campy transvestite extrava- =?6:.?F 2920A6<; ² AB2@1.F @2=A2:/2? " &
ganza, inspired a young Andy Warhol
to begin making sexually charged films
like “Kiss,” “Blowjob,” “My Hustler,”
and eventually 1968’s “Flesh,” the first 2Z]V_R @aNaR =_VQR .TR[QN
American film to feature full-frontal male
nudity, starring former Mizer model Joe
Dallasandro.
]_\bQYf R[Q\_`R` 0U_V`aV[R >bV[[
Well before the sexual revolution, the
Supreme Court, in 1948, made another S\_ ;Rd F\_X 0Vaf 0\b[PVY 1V`a_VPa
important contribution to the birth of gay
film pornography, with a decision involv-
ing Paramount that forced the Hollywood .` 0\b[PVYZRZOR_ N[Q @]RNXR_ 0U_V`aV[R >bV[[ UN` N `\YVQ
studios to divest themselves of their the-
ater chains. The fulgurant rise of televi-
_RP\_Q \S YRNQR_`UV] N[Q Re]R_VR[PR `b]]\_aV[T aUR 94/A
sion in the ’50s emptied the movie hous- P\ZZb[Vaf @UR UN`'
es of their customers, and many of those
theaters remained open only by showing
soft-porn hetero “sexploitation” films. ‘ D\_XRQ `bPPR``SbYYf a\ ]N`` ‘ 3\bTUa aV_RYR``Yf S\_ ZN__VNTR
But it wasn’t until the owners of the [bZR_\b` ]VRPR` \S ]_\94/A R^bNYVaf N[Q UN` aNXR[ aUR Rea_N
Park Theater in Los Angeles, Shan Say- YRTV`YNaV\[ V[PYbQV[T OVYY` aUNa `aR] \S T\V[T a\ .YON[f N[Q aUR
les and Monroe Boehler, decided in 1968 NQQ_R`` Q\ZR`aVP ]N_a[R_ OR[R¾a` U\ZR QV`a_VPa` \S 1RZ\P_NaVP N[Q
that there was an untapped gay market a_N[`TR[QR_ _VTUa` N[Q `NSR_ `PU\\Y` ?R]bOYVPN[ @aNaR @R[Na\_` a\ `UN_R
that a commercial movie house began S\_ 94/A f\baU UR_ ]R_`\[NY `a\_f NO\ba dUf
regularly showing films to appeal to male
ZN__VNTR ZNaaR_`
queers. The paucity of available material,
‘ 0\ZONaRQ UNaR N[Q cV\YR[PR
largely strung-together loops produced
NTNV[`a 94/A ;Rd F\_XR_` `V[PR UR_
by beefcake photographers and filmmak-
ers, led Sayles and Boehler to launch RN_YVR`a QNf` \[ aUR 0\b[PVY
their own production company, Signa-
ture Films, making Southern California
the historic epicenter of the emerging gay C\aR S\_ 0U_V`aV[R >bV[[ N ]_\cR[ YRNQR_ \[
porn industry. @R]aRZOR_ " V[ aUR 1RZ\P_NaVP =_VZN_f
The viewing public soon wearied of
the soft-core Boehler-Sayles flix, like the
vanilla romances directed by Pat Rocco, ddd]_VQRNTR[QN\_T
and since there were already some 400
movie houses around the country show-
ing hetero hardcore porn by 1969, Sig-
nature Films made the move into gay
hardcore. Boehler later split to form
Jaguar Productions, which gave William
Higgins, the legendary director of “surfer
porn” featuring California blond boys,
the chance to make his first hardcore
film.
One night in 1970, Broadway theater
director and choreographer Wakefield
Poole, his boyfriend, and the composer
and lyricist of the show they were all
working on decided to visit the Park-
Miller, the New York outpost of Sayles’
chain of gay porn theaters. “Poole’s com-
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

4/ Politics
Queens LGBT Vote Up for Grabs
Deirdre Feerick takes the fight to out gay Jimmy Van Bramer in 26th Council District
BY PAUL SCHINDLER endorsers reinforce that per-
spective. To be sure, some of

“I
’m running against an
openly gay man,” City
Council candidate Deir-
dre Feerick said in a recent
interview in her campaign
headquarters at the Anoroc
Democratic Club in Sunnyside.
“ Yo u h a v e t o k n o w t h a t
when I go to the [Queens] Les-
bian and Gay Democratic
Club and I stand up and seek
their endorsement, or when I
go to Stonewall and seek their
endorsement — do I feel con-
fident that I am going to take
that? Absolutely not.”
The gay man is Jimmy Van
Bramer, who worked most
recently as head of government
affairs for the Queens Pub-
lic Library system. The Coun-
cil District is the 26th, which
encompasses Sunnyside, Long
Island City, Woodside, a portion
of Astoria, and a sliver of Mas-
peth. And Feerick, an attorney
who has worked in investigative
and other policy posts for many
years at the City Council, was
half-right in being apprehensive
about her visits to the Queens
gay club and to Stonewall.
She snagged the endorse-
ment of the Queens club, by a
unanimous vote. Van Bramer,
on the other hand, picked up
Stonewall’s nod. A third LGBT
Council candidate Deirdre Feerick (center) with Charles Ober and Pauline Park.
club, the Jim Owles Liberal
Democratic Club, went with
Feerick, who faces Van Bramer
and Brent O’Leary in the Sep-
tember 15 Democratic primary.
Separate from the club
endorsements, Feerick has
picked up support from other
prominent LGBT figures in the
borough, including Brendan Fay,
the longtime gay and AIDS activ-
ist who founded the inclusive
Queens St. Pat’s For All Parade;
Charles Ober, a Ridgewood civic
activist and former president of
the Queens Pride House, who
last year waged an unsuccess-
ful bid for an open Council seat
in the adjacent 30th District;
Pauline Park, founder of the
New York Association for Gender
Rights Advocacy; and Melissa
Sklarz, the first transgendered
Democrat to win election at
the polls to a party post in New
York and a leader in the National
Stonewall Democrats.
During a one-hour interview
with Gay City News, Feerick
was often understated in talk-
ing about her experience and
accomplishments, but when
this reporter suggested that she
had enjoyed success in “win-
ning over” LGBT activists, the
candidate wasted no time grab-
bing the floor.
“I’m going to dispute that
assessment,” she said. “All of
those people that you mentioned
aren’t people that I’ve known as
a candidate. They’re people I’ve
known before, on a number of
different issues. I don’t know
that ‘win them over’ is quite right.
They’re individuals that I greatly
respect, who are active in LGBT
issues, and I was lucky to work
with them and learn from them,
and I was able to be helpful.”
Interviews with several of her
Van Bramer’s problems with
other LGBT activists reflect
internecine battles within the
Queens queer community. A
YouTube video of his endorse-
ment pitch to the borough’s gay
Democratic club makes clear
that members were unhap-
py that just a year after win-
ning their endorsement in his
unsuccessful 2001 bid for the
neighboring 25th Council Dis-
trict seat centered on Jackson
Heights, Van Bramer helped
found a rival local LGBT group,
the Guillermo Vazquez Inde-
pendent Democratic Club. And
some members of the now-
defunct Guillermo Vazquez
Club, such as Park and Ober,
were taken aback by what they
see as Van Bramer’s disavowal
of that effort in this year’s cam-
paign.
But Sklarz, a longtime trans-
gender activist who moved to
Woodside from Manhattan
about four years ago, has had
no role in those intramural
skirmishes.
“I’ve worked with both of
them,” Sklarz said of the two
rivals. “I like Jimmy. I just think
the world of Deirdre. If I were to
run for the City Council, I’d like
䉴 FEERICK, continued on p.26

NEWS BRIEFS By PAUL SCHINDLER AND PATRICK HEDLUND

After surviving what he termed
a “despicable” summer in Albany,
State Senator Thomas Duane,
an out gay Chelsea Democrat,
expressed confidence that a vote
on same-sex marriage was pos-
sible by the end of September,
despite the likely political wran-
gling that will occur when lawmak-
ers return to session.
Speaking at a town hall meet-
ing on September 1 in Times
Square, Duane spent the initial
part of the public Q & A apologiz-
ing for the “inexcusable” actions of
senators on both sides of the aisle.
Legislation Duane has advo-
cated most vocally for — gay mar-
riage and rent regulations — had
certainly been pressing for a place
in the queue before a Republican
coup, which lasted only weeks but
managed to paralyze Albany, send-
ing both of the controversial issues
to the backburner, he explained.
“I think we have the votes
— I know we have the votes,”
Duane said of the marriage bill.
“There are enough votes to pass
marriage in the Senate, if people
can vote their conscience, if peo-
ple can vote the way they told
me they’re going to vote. In poli-
tics, we may be the exception,
but generally when someone
says you have my vote, you can
take it to the bank — because
that’s really the only thing we
have with each other.”
Duane added, however, that
due to rifts caused by the shakeup
— including those that bitterly
divided members of the Democrat-
ic caucus — and continued antag-
onism toward Governor David Pat-
erson, the marriage bill would not
make it the floor on September 10
when the Senate first convenes for
a special session, largely to take
up nominations requiring approval
by that chamber.
Paterson, he said, “has made
this a signature issue, and I think
on September 10, they’re not going
to want to give him, some of them
would not want to give him a vic-
tory.”
But the full Legislature is also
expected to be called into session
later in the months, and Duane
argued that the marriage issue
remains ripe enough for advocates
to resume their lobbying following
strides they made in winning sup-
porters earlier this year.
“At the moment, generally in
the activist community, people
are thinking that [late September]
is the better time because there’s
a better chance to win, because
it would be too difficult to rev
everybody up again” after that, he
said, adding that the marriage bill,
the Gender Expression Non-Dis-
crimination Act (GENDA), and the
LGBT-inclusive, anti-bullying Dig-
nity For All Students Act (DASA)
“were literally in the pipeline to be
brought to he floor and be voted on
positively.”
“The end of September is now
the time that we’re working to rev
everyone back up again, get it on
the floor and get it passed,” Duane
added.
Given his aim of corralling 32
votes to win passage of the mar-
riage measure, Duane’s comments
about fellow Democrat Hiram
Monserrate of Queens, who is fac-
ing three felony counts of assault
in connection with an alleged
domestic violence incident against
his girlfriend, Karla Giraldo, last
December, came as something of
a surprise.
“Of course, everyone is inno-
cent until proven guilty, and I also
think that—from what I’ve read
in the papers, from what I know
of the case—it seems to me like
a classic case of domestic violence
where the victim changes their
story after the fact,” Duane told
the town hall gathering. “While
everyone is innocent until proven
guilty, I would be surprised if there
wasn’t a plea to something, and
hopefully a felony, but maybe not.”
— PH
Hubby Not
Chubby, In
Vermont, In
September
Ben & Jerry’s, which has been
something of an icon for progres-
sive corporate behavior, is honoring
the start of marriages by same-sex
couples in Vermont this month by
renaming its Chubby Hubby flavor
Hubby Hubby. The effort is being
made in partnership with Free-
dom to Marry, a group that plays
the leading role in mobilizing pub-
lic support for marriage equality
nationwide. The name change will
effect only Vermont Scoop Shops
throughout the month of Septem-
ber. Chubby Hubby lovers in other
states will be able to honor bulging
䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.11
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 3 – 16 SEP 2009 5
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

6/ Politics
A Second Time at Bat
Leslie Crocker Snyder, former prosecutor, judge hopes to be Manhattan’s next DA
BY PAUL SCHINDLER

L
eslie Crocker Snyder
recalls the incident from
the early 1970s, not long
after she began her nine years
as an assistant district attorney
in Manhattan.
A defense attorney arrived in
court with a well-dressed client
who had a good job at a top New
York bank. The man, married
with children, had been arrest-
ed in a public bathroom while
engaged in sex with another
man. His attorney told Snyder,
“Now that I see I have a woman
prosecutor, I’m sure you won’t
be sympathetic.”
Snyder is uncertain what
the defense attorney meant;
p e rh a p s h e a s s u m e d s h e
would instinctively side with a
wronged wife whose husband
was leading a double life. But
Snyder had a very different
view. The episode was, “I think,
the most poignant experience I
had as a young ADA,” she said Leslie Crocker Snyder, with Assemblyman Micah Kellner to the right, marched with the Stonewall Democrats in the June 28 LGBT Pride March in Manhattan.
during a recent interview with
Gay City News. Snyder met with “I didn’t have the author - 1980 challenge to the sodomy Snyder wrote, “One evening, we McCarthy Era. As a 2002 HBO
the newspaper to discuss her ity to dismiss them all the time, law at the state’s highest bench, had tickets for the Broadway miniseries, “Angels” won an
candidacy to succeed longtime so I would give it as disorderly the Court of Appeals. play ‘Angels in America,’ and the Emmy. The late closeted right-
Manhattan District Attorney conduct,” she said of how she In February of this year, after police ‘detail’ had to accompany wing McCarthy ally Roy Cohn,
Robert Morgenthau. often handled such cases in Gay City News ran a series us inside the theater. They were who was mercilessly indicted in
“The poor man, struggling for the courtroom. “Nobody would of stories reporting a pattern looking forward to a Broadway the play, might have labeled it
his own sexual identity, doing know what it was.” of false arrests of gay men on show; but, to their dismay and anti-American, but that was in
absolutely nothing wrong, and During those same years in trumped-up prostitution charg- ours, the play included very no way a conventional critical
now he’s here on a criminal the DA’s office, Snyder, a gradu- es, Snyder was among the earli- realistic acts of anal sodomy on response to “Angels,” nor was
charge, so basically I dismissed ate of Harvard’s Radcliffe College a very brief scene of late-night
the case,” she explained. “I did and the Case Western Reserve sex in Central Park — the sort
dismiss the case. I dismissed School of Law, founded and led Snyder was “well known as an of conduct Snyder said she was
the case. I always felt good what she said was the nation’s loathe to prosecute 20 years
about that.” first Sex Crimes Prosecution assistant DA who refused to earlier — viewed as gratuitous;
The defendant, she said, “was
in very bad shape emotionally,
Bureau. From that vantage
point, she worked to reform
prosecute sex charges involving in fact, it was a moment of pro-
found dramatic import.
you could just tell. He was prac- state laws to afford rape victims consenting adults.” Asked about that passage in
tically crying with relief when he better protections and confiden- her book, Snyder struggled to
was released.” tiality in the prosecution of such put it in context.
William Hibsher, an attor - crimes. est public figures to speak out, stage as well as anti-American “I apologize for the wording,”
ney with Bryan Cave LLP, a She was less successful in penning an op-ed for the New sentiments. The detectives were she said. “The words ‘we were
board member at Manhattan’s advocating for repeal of New York Blade. appalled: What sort of weird, dismayed’ related to the secu-
LGBT Congregation Beth Sim- York’s sodomy statute, which Given that record, a passage ultra-liberal perverts were they rity team’s feelings, it was my
chat Torah, and a former board criminalized consensual same- from “25 to Life,” Snyder’s 2002 protecting?” projection of their feelings. I
member at Lambda Legal, said sex conduct and was often the memoir of her career as a pros- Tony Kushner’s two-part should not have been snide in
Snyder was “well known as an basis for prosecution of gay men ecutor and later a Manhattan “Angels in America,” which writing about it.” About “Angels
assistant DA who refused to ensnared in public settings. State Supreme Court judge, is opened on Broadway in 1993 in America,” she added, “I felt
prosecute sex charges involving Hibsher, in an email response puzzling, even jarring. Describ- and won the Tony for Best Play it was an extraordinarily impor-
consenting same-sex couples.” to Gay City News, recalled not ing a period when law enforce- in two consecutive years and tant play and moment in the
Snyder acknowledged that only her stymied efforts in Alba- ment officials insisted that she also a Pulitzer Prize, was a sear- gay rights movement.”
did not mean she was able to ny but also her later advocacy, and her family accept a security ing indictment of the Reagan “25 to Life” was widely pro-
make criminal charges go away on the City Bar Association’s detail because of evidence that administration’s deadly inac- moted by Snyder on cable news
altogether in every case she was Sex and Law Committee, of a violent gang whose criminal tion on AIDS and a critique of programs, and it seems doubt-
assigned involving lewdness several amicus briefs support- trial she was presiding over had homophobia and the closet
and sodomy arrests. ing Lambda Legal’s successful made death threats against her, going all the way back to the 䉴 SNYDER, continued on p.30
3 - 16 SEP 2009
Winning Preferred to Fighting
Melinda Katz, Assembly, City Council veteran, aims at citywide comptroller post
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
“M
y opponents talk
about fighting all
the time,” Melinda
Katz said of her three rivals in
the September 15 Democratic
primary for city comptroller.
“I’m not afraid to fight. I like a
good fight. But I like winning my
point of view better. And build-
ing a consensus and getting to a
good result.”
At another point in a recent
one-hour interview with Gay
City News, the eight-year City
Council incumbent from Forest
Hills said, “Once in a while you
gotta win. Once in a while.”
Katz — who worked for several
years as a corporate mergers and
acquisitions attorney after com-
pleting law school at St. John’s
but before her election at 28 to
the State Assembly — wants vot-
ers to know that she’s tough and
that she’s results-oriented.
Talking about her responsi-
bilities since her election to the
Council in 2001, she said, “As
chair of the Land Use Committee
and on the Education Commit-
tee, I have fought the adminis-
tration very, very hard, and won.
I sat toe to toe with the adminis-
tration to create more affordable
housing and to create jobs.”
She also said of her record
since entering public life, “I have
been a tough fighter — in Albany
against huge organizations and
huge affiliations like HMOs. And
in Albany and here in the city,
when it came to creating his-
toric districts, when it came to
landmarking, when it came to
protecting communities, when it
came to rezoning, I sat toe to toe
with developers. And the admin-
istration.”
Katz’s campaign website is
specific in pointing to results —
almost 90,000 units of afford-
able housing funded or pre-
served under her watch as City
Council Land Use chair, and
more than 6,000 blocks down-
zoned, across all five boroughs,
to protect the historic charac-
ter of neighborhoods; in her
years in Albany, authorship of
the nation’s first law requiring
HMOs to give women access to
OB/GYN services without first
obtaining a primary care refer-
City Councilwoman Melinda Katz marching in the June 28 LGBT Pride March on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue.
ral and several measures aimed
at strengthening the ability to
prosecute child abusers, includ-
ing Catholic priests and the dio-
ceses that employed them.
Asked why after serving in
Albany for five years, giving
up her seat in a failed 1998
bid to replace Senator Charles
Schumer in the congressional
district Anthony Weiner now
represents, and serving eight
years in the Council, she is aim-
ing to be city comptroller, she
said, “My skill set is best suited
for comptroller… This is where I
want to be. This is an important
job.”
Turning back to her achieve-
ments on the Land Use Com-
mittee, Katz added, “I have
done everything I can to not
only monetize one of the [city’s]
assets — which is land use —
but also squeeze all the social
value I could out of it. I squeezed
the amount of affordable hous-
ing I could out of every project
that came through my district.
I made sure the prevailing wage
was used wherever it was actu-
ally appropriate. In 2009, we
are facing an economic — and, I
would venture to say, political —
I guess that turmoil is the word I
use, and we need to make sure
that the city keeps running and
creates jobs.”
People have lost faith in gov-
ernment, she argued, pointing
to the recent half-cent increase
in the sales tax; Katz noted she
is the only comptroller candi-
date who opposed that hike.
She emphasized that the comp-
troller’s office, by ensuring that
money is well spent, the pro-
grams it funds are well managed,
and the results are transparent,
can restore confidence in govern-
ment.
Regarding the office’s core
responsibility of auditing city
agencies, she said, “Many people
find it unexciting. I think it’s one
of the most exciting functions of
the comptroller’s office, because
think of what you can find.”
The recent reauthorization of
mayoral control over the city’s
public schools by the State Leg-
islature, she said, opened up
the Department of Education to
“complete audit” by the comp-
troller’s office.
“How many millions of dol-
lars are wasted at Tweed?” she
asked, referring to the schools
headquarters on Chambers
Street just north of City Hall.
“How much money is going into
schools? How much to bus five-
year-olds across their boroughs
rather than sending them to
their local school?”
“The main job of the comp-
troller is to find inefficient use of
money, but also the inefficient
ways we’re using it,” Katz contin-
ued. “In other words, could there
be a better system in place? I
want to put my audit depart-
ment out of business, that’s what
I want to do. I want to spend
money in the audit department
so that they continue to find the
inefficiencies of each of the agen-
cies, so that the next year there’s
less inefficiencies, and the next
year it keeps getting less and
less.”
Katz speaks about auditing,
negotiating, going toe to toe,
reaching consensus and better
results with an enthusiasm prob-
ably more often found among
M&A lawyers than City Coun-
cil members, but she brings the
same positive energy to talking
about herself, her upbringing,
and her family.
Born and raised in New York,
she is a single mom raising her
14-month-old son, Carter, in
the same house in Forest Hills
where she grew up, which she
bought after the death of her
father 22 years ago. Her father
founded the Queens Symphony
Orchestra, whose maestro he
served as, and her mother, who
died in an auto accident when
Katz was just three, started the
Queens Council on the Arts —
there was, apparently some level
of creative competition in the
family from the get-go. Her three
Politics /7
brothers, all older, have followed
in their parents’ footsteps — two
of them leading performing arts
programs, the third designing
women’s haute couture.
Katz noted that, of ten Demo-
crats running in the Septem-
ber 15 primary for the three
citywide offices, she is the only
woman, yet acknowledged she
is not blazing any brand new
trail. Public Advocate Betsy Got-
baum, former Comptroller Eliz-
abeth Holtzman, and Carol Bel-
lamy, who held the now-defunct
post of City Council president,
all preceded her as female city
officials elected by voters across
all five boroughs.
Still, one of the main sec-
tions of her campaign website is
titled “Women for Katz,” and she
boasts endorsements by Ger-
aldine Ferraro, another Forest
Hills Democrat who was the first
woman nominated for vice pres-
ident by a major party, Brooklyn
Congresswoman Yvette Clarke,
and no less than seven of her
female colleagues on the City
Council.
“I know that I have done things
in the Legislature that may not
have happened if I were not a
woman,” she explained.
Katz said that she was “for
gay marriage before it was cool
to be for gay marriage,” and she
co-sponsored both the gay rights
and the hate crimes laws in the
Assembly. Incumbent Comptrol-
ler William Thompson’s strong
record of shareholder activism
on behalf of LGBT employees of
companies held in the city pen-
sion funds’ portfolio is some-
thing Katz told Gay City News
she plans to build on. And she is
cross-endorsing with Jimmy Van
Bramer, an out gay candidate for
the 26th City Council District in
Sunnyside and Long Island, the
seat being vacated by Eric Gioia.
Yet Katz has not enjoyed the
traction among LGBT political
groups achieved by several of
her rivals. Councilman John
Liu, also from Queens, has been
endorsed by five of the city’s
six gay political clubs. Brook-
lyn Councilman David Yassky
snared the sixth, and also
recently won the endorsement
of State Senator Tom Duane, the
out gay Chelsea Democrat.
 new
8 3 – 16 SEP 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM

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C O M M U N I T Y PA R T N E R S M E D I A PA R T N E R S
3 - 16 SEP 2009
One DOMA Suit Gone, For Now
Justice Department succeeds in jurisdictional challenge to married California gay couple’s claim
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
U
S District Judge David O. Carter
has granted the Obama adminis-
tration’s motion to dismiss a law-
suit challenging the Defense of Marriage
Act on the ground that the court lacks
jurisdiction to hear the case.
The lawsuit, Smelt v. United States,
claims that DOMA is unconstitutional,
but Carter never got to the consideration
of the underlying arguments. Instead, on
Unfortunately, the Obama administration
made the unnecessary argument
that DOMA is constitutional.
August 24, he accepted the government’s
contention that because the case was
originally filed in California state court it
must be dismissed, since the state court
has no jurisdiction to hear suits against
the federal government that challenge the
constitutionality of a federal statute. The
case was in front of Carter’s court because
the federal government’s response to the
filing of the state court suit was to petition
a US court to have it moved there.
Carter dismissed the case without prej-
udice, meaning that the plaintiffs, Arthur
䉴 CO-PARENT, from p.1
Appellate Division’s April 9 ruling, but
she never legally adopted the youngster.
After the women ended their relation-
ship, Debra sought a court order grant-
ing her joint legal custody and visitation
rights when Janice cut off her access to
the child. Janice presented a different
account to the trial court, claiming that
there was no intent for Debra to be a
parent of the child. Her attorney moved
to dismiss the case, arguing that Debra
lacked standing to sue.
Janice’s dismissal motion depended
on the 1991 ruling in Alison D. v. Vir-
ginia M., in which the Court of Appeals
ruled that a lesbian co-parent, as a
“legal stranger” to the child, could not
seek custody or visitation, because New
York law only authorizes a “parent” to
seek custody. The high court acknowl-
edged that the statute did not define
the term “parent,” but it was unwilling
to give it an expansive meaning beyond
its traditional legal sense.
Justice Harold Beeler, the trial judge
hearing Debra H. v. Janice R., found
that in some later cases the New York
Smelt and Christopher Hammer, a gay
couple who married last year in Califor-
nia, are free to re-file the case in federal
court. Their attorney, Richard Gilbert,
announced he would do just that.
Gilbert began representing the couple
five years ago, and the original federal
suit they filed was knocked down by the
US Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit,
which ruled they lacked standing to chal-
lenge DOMA because they were not mar-
ried when that suit was undertaken. To
have standing, a plaintiff must present a
“real case or controversy,” not a hypotheti-
cal case.
Since then, Smelt and Hammer mar-
ried, during the six-month window when it
was legal in California. In December 2008,
the couple filed a new lawsuit, claiming
that as a married couple they were entitled
to challenge DOMA’s constitutionality.
Even though Proposition 8 was upheld by
the California Supreme Court this May,
that bench also ruled that marriages that
took place prior to the November election
courts had allowed non-parents to use
“equitable estoppel” arguments in cus-
tody disputes, by which a plaintiff co-
parent could make the case that they
had reasonably relied on the expec-
tations created by their ex-partner’s
actions and words about the intended
family arrangement. Beeler dismissed
One possiblity is that the court is
ready to rethink the issue and
catch up with other states.
Janice’s motion, reasoning that Debra
should be allowed the opportunity to
prove the necessary facts. He also con-
cluded that that the women’s civil union
tended to support Debra’s claim that
they intended to raise the child together
as a family. Beeler ordered that, while
the case proceeded, Debra be allowed
visitation with the child on Sundays.
The Appellate Division reversed Beel-
er’s determination, ruling that the case
would remain valid.
The new suit, however, was filed in state
court because the couple, disabled and
with limited resources, did not want to pay
the federal court fees, and the US court
was unwilling to waive them. But one won-
ders what Gilbert was thinking. Under
the doctrine of sovereign immunity, state
courts do not have jurisdiction over claims
against the federal government.
Why the Justice Department didn’t
promptly move in state court to have the
case dismissed based on this jurisdic-
tional ground is unclear. Instead, once
it succeeded in having the case removed
to federal court, Justice moved for dis-
missal there. Unfortunately, and quite
provocatively, the Obama administra-
tion also made the unnecessary argu-
ment that DOMA is constitutional. Not
only were their arguments, in my view,
wrong, but a June brief filed by the Jus-
tice Department included a defense of
DOMA so far-reaching that many gay
supporters of the president reacted with
anger. Obama rushed to staunch the
damage at an LGBT Pride reception at
the White House, and when the Justice
Department filed a follow-up reply brief
on August 17, the White House issued
a statement reiterating the president’s
commitment to DOMA’s repeal.
The dismissal of Smelt is likely a mere
speed bump, since the federal district
remained governed by Alison D. v. Vir-
ginia M., and discounting the other
cases that Beeler relied on. “Our reading
of precedent is such that the doctrine of
equitable estoppel may not be invoked
where a party lacks standing to assert
at least a right to visitation,” the Appel-
late panel ruled.
In granting Lambda Legal’s petition,
the Court of Appeals renewed Debra’s
right to visitation until resolution of the
case.
Several other New York trial judges
have expressed unhappiness with the
Alison D. precedent in recent years,
frustrated that it bars them from getting
to the important question of whether
the best interest of the child is served
by preserving their relationship with a
Legal /9
court would have jurisdiction over a case
filed directly in that court. Gilbert also
has the chance to remedy a fault the Jus-
tice Department identified in the lawsuit
just dismissed — the failure to allege with
any particularity that Smelt and Ham-
mer had actually been adversely affected
by DOMA. Now that Smelt and Hammer
are legally married in California, their suit
should be able to make the case that they
are deprived of rights because of the fed-
eral government’s refusal to recognize their
marriage.
Challenging the other major compo-
nent of DOMA — the right of other states
to refuse recognition of their marriage —
might prove more difficult since that sec-
tion is, in my view, purely symbolic. States
have always had the right to refuse to rec-
ognize marriages that violate their public
policy, so if Smelt and Hammer were to
travel to another state and demand some
form of recognition, no state would have to
rely on DOMA in order to defend its policy.
Arthur S. Leonard is a professor at
New York Law School and the editor of
Lesbian/ Gay Law Notes. Leonard ear-
lier wrote about the June brief filed by the
Justice Department in Smelt v. US. Dun-
can Osborne recently profiled the plaintiffs’
attorney, Richard Gilbert. The online version
of the story, at gaycitynews.com, includes
links to both.
non-biological co-parent. It is hard to
predict what the Court of Appeals will
do in this case, or why it granted review.
One possibility is that the court is ready
to rethink the issue and catch up with
other states where such custody and
visitation claims can be heard. A less
optimistic possibility is that the court,
mindful of the continued attempts by
lower court judges to get around the
1991 precedent, might want to reiter-
ate that those judges are bound to fol-
low it until the Legislature amends the
custody laws to explicitly authorize co-
parents to bring such claims.
Although second-parent adoption
has become available in New York since
the Alison D. case was decided, many
same-sex couples have children togeth-
er without setting up the necessary legal
framework through adoption to ensure
that both the biological parent and the
partner co-parent have clear standing to
have their custody and visitation claims
heard in court should their relationship
falter.
These issues could be resolved much
more simply, of course, if same-sex mar-
riage were available in New York.
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

10/ Legal
Protecting HIV Confidentiality
NY appeals panel limits scope of patient data doctor under misconduct probe must disclose
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD the court cites no prior rulings, reaching its Board’s request did not fall within any of history should be disclosed,” the court
conclusion by reference solely to statutory the exceptions specified in the confidenti- added.

A
unanimous five-judge panel of the
Manhattan-based First Depart-
ment of the New York Appellate
Division has ruled that a subpoena seek-
ing the full medical records of nine patients
of a doctor under investigation for miscon-
duct must, with some qualification, be
complied with, despite the doctor’s claim
that the nine, all of whom are HIV-positive,
refuse to give written consent for disclosing
their information.
The August 25 ruling, on a subpoena
from the State Board for Professional
Medical Conduct (BPMC), stipulated that
the records must be redacted to mask the
identity of the patients, anyone else men-
tioned in the records, and any descriptions
of their sexual practices. In this way, the
court found, the privacy rights of patients
protected under the state’s HIV confiden-
tiality law can be balanced with BPMC’s
legitimate investigative needs.
This decision is apparently a ruling of
first impression — one on which there is
not yet any binding legal precedent — since
language and the legislative intent found in
the records of the relevant laws’ passage.
The court’s opinion is not attributed to
any one member of the panel, comprised
of Presiding Justice Angela Mazzarelli and
Justices John Sweeny, Eugene Nardelli,
David Freedman, and Rosalyn Richter.
The opinion states that BPMC received
complaints about the doctor, who special-
izes in treating HIV-positive patients, suf-
ficient to merit investigation. When the
Board requested the medical and billing
records of the nine patients, the doctor’s
lawyer responded with a letter raising con-
fidentiality concerns and seeking guidance
“to assure that he did not act in violation
of the Public Health Law,” which affords
confidentiality protections to HIV-positive
patients.
The doctor also contacted his patients,
asking if they would authorize release of
the records, but none consented.
BPMC responded with a subpoena,
demanding all the records. The doctor
countered with a suit arguing that the
ality law.
The trial judge, New York County Justice
Nicholas Figueroa, ruled in favor of BPMC,
taking the position that “a physician may
not invoke patient privacy rights to shield
himself from a misconduct investigation.”
The Appellate Division agreed that the
Board has a right to subpoena evidence
relevant to its investigation, but also found
that the doctor should not be required to
release the records without taking steps
to protect his patients’ privacy.
The appellate ruling warned that the
confidentiality guaranteed initially might
not be maintained throughout the case.
“We caution, however, that the redac-
tion of the names at this stage of the
investigation should not be construed to
mean the names are to be permanently
redacted,” the court wrote. “There may be
a point in the future when the needs, or
the results, of the investigation warrant
disclosure of certain identities.”
BPMC had established “no reason
why personal information such as sexual
The court noted that an “anomaly” in
the confidentiality statute made it unclear
whether a subpoena might not complete-
ly override the protections it confers, but
was unwilling to adopt that view. Instead,
the appeals panel gave each of the nine
patients the opportunity to offer objec-
tions in court to the release of any specific
information in their records before they
are turned over to BPMC.
Given the confidentiality concerns of the
case, the court offered no specifics about
the charges against the doctor, and also
granted a motion to alter the name of the
case to protect the doctor’s “anonymity,”
something the state did not oppose.
Attorneys Robert L. Schonfeld and Ben-
jamin Giezhals of the Garden City firm of
Moritt Hock Hamroff & Horowitz LLP rep-
resent the doctor, and the state is repre-
sented by the New York State Law Depart-
ment’s Richard Owen Jackson. Lambda
Legal’s Thomas W. Ude, Jr. filed an amicus
curiae arguing that the patients’ confiden-
tiality be protected.

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gaycity
news.com
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 BRIEFS, from p.4
spousal waistlines unabated.
“At the core of Ben & Jerry’s
values, we believe that social

1$
justice can and should be some-
thing that every human being is
entitled to,” said Walt Freese,
the CEO of Ben & Jerry’s. “From
the very beginning of our 30 year
history, we have supported equal
rights for all people.”
“It’s not polite to talk with your
mouth full, but the most important
thing that all us ice cream lovers
can do to support the freedom to
marry is speak with the people we
know about why marriage matters
and the need to end marriage dis-
crimination in every state,” Free-
dom to Marry’s Evan Wolfson said.
In early April, the Vermont
Legislature overrode Republican
Governor James Douglas’ veto of
the new marriage equality law by
two-thirds margins in both hous-
es. — PS
Volunteer
Vacations
In Maine
Earlier this year, Maine became
䉴 PORN, from p.3
Falcon Studios, made so much money
from porn that he became a wealthy real
estate mogul, a player in Democratic
Party politics, and bought himself a seat
on the board of the Human Rights Cam-
paign. At his death from AIDS in 2000,
his will turned over Falcon Studios and
all its income to a foundation named
after him which financed gay and politi-
cal causes.
AIDS fueled a quantum leap in the
profitability of hardcore gay porn, for, as
Escoffier writes, “As the AIDS epidemic
devastated the lives of gay men, more
gay men were choosing to stay at home
and watch pornography than go out to
cruise for sex.”
AIDS also generated controversy in the
porn industry, especially about the use
of condoms on-screen. Some argued that
the illusion of bareback sex was neces-
sary to keep customers satisfied and
away from promiscuity. Others, includ-
ing many HIV-positive gay porn stars
like Al Parker and Mike Henson, insisted
that pornography had a mission to eroti-
cize condom use as an integral and nec-
essary part of sexual play, and became
crusaders for safe sex. Even AIDS-fight-
ing groups like the Gay Men’s Health
Crisis made porn films to promote safe
sex. By the ’90s, Escoffier says, nearly all
gay porn producers prescribed the use of
condoms. The portion of Escoffier’s book
devoted to porn in the age of AIDS is grip-
ping and insightful — and the list of porn
stars who died of AIDS is quite long.
Today, Escoffier writes, “after slightly
3 – 16 SEP 2009 11
the fifth state to allow same-sex the state’s LGBT rights lobby, on
couples to marry. In November, vot- August 31, filed a complaint with
ers there will consider Measure 1, a the state Ethics and Campaign
Proposition 8-style effort sponsored
by a group called Stand for Marriage
Disclosure Board detailing what
they alleged are clear violations
5IPNBT
%
4IBOBIBO
aimed at turning back the brand
new right. Fighting back in defense
of Iowa campaign finance law
by the National Organization for ±"UUPSOFZ
BU
-BX±
of lesbian and gay couples, Equality Marriage (NOM), a Washington-
Maine, the state’s LGBT rights organi- based group fighting against
zation, has launched No on 1/ Protect marriage equality. NOM was
Maine Equality. The group is hosting responsible for the infamous
a full-time volunteer drive during the “Gathering Storm” TV ads ear-
month of October, at which point early lier this year.
voting begins in the state, to mobilize The complaint charges that
allies of the community to make their $86,060 was spent by NOM to
voices heard. benefit Stephen Burgmeier, an
Volunteers are asked to commit anti-gay candidate running in a
at least a week to the effort, with special election for a vacant Iowa
orientations set for each Sunday in House of Representatives seat. /FX
:PSL
&NQMPZNFOU

the month, followed by six days of “We reject the use of divi- -BXZFST
"TTPDJBUJPO
work. Those participating will iden- sive fear-based appeals to influ-
tify supporters of marriage equality,
help recruit other volunteers, and
ence Iowa elections and believe
transparency is vital to a healthy
Over A Decade of Experience
engage in a get-out-the-vote effort.
Those interested in volunteering
democratic process,” said Connie
Ryan Terrell, the Interfaith Alli-
Litigating Employment and Civil Rights
should visit protectmaineequality.org. ance’s executive director.
Similar complaints have been
Cases for our Community
Stand Up lodged against NOM in California
For Marriage and Maine.
Equality in Iowa In April, the Iowa Supreme 2007 - 2009 Deputy Commissioner,
The Interfaith Alliance of
Iowa Action Fund and One Iowa, 䉴 BRIEFS, continued on p.28
New York State Devision of Human Rights
2006 Honoree: New York City Council -
more than 40 years the gay porn indus-
“Contributions and Service to New York City”
try is in the midst of a major transfor-
mation — it lives almost entirely in
cyberspace.” In recognition of this fact, 2003 Honoree: Common Cause
Escoffier — in partnership with the
Adult Entertainment Business Network, “Holding Power Accountable”
the world’s largest supplier of adult
video on demand — has set up a web
Ethical New Yorker of the Year Award
site named after his book at biggerthan-
life-thebook.com/, where one can pur-
chase viewing time to see many of the
classic porn films he writes about in his
Former Aide to Mayor David N Dinkins
book. and Public Advocate Mark Green
When asked if he thought sex was
dirty, Woody Allen famously quipped,
“Yes, if it’s done right!” Escoffier’s defini-
tive social history of gay porn on film
and video is not only absorbing, enter-
taining, and gossipy, with just the right
EMPLOYMENT LAW / CIVIL RIGHTS
amount of dirt and dish, but analytical. ',6&5,0,1$7,21‡6(;8$/+$5$660(17
“Bigger Than Life” is thus a valuable 3$571(56+,3$*5((0(176',63,7(6‡&,9,//,7,*$7,21
contribution to our understanding of
changing sexual mores and gay porn’s 0$75,021,$/&8672'<‡0(',&$/0$/35$&7,&(
influence on them.
It’s worth noting that a new survey
3(5621$/,1-85<
out just this week shows that a majority
of kids are now having sex by the age of
13. With gay porn today so widely acces-
sible online to these kids, and with the
Thomas D. Shanahan, P.C.
rampantly urgent demand for bareback
porn and proliferation of bareback gay
videos, the gay porn industry needs to
551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 2010
ask itself what kind of sexual practices
it is teaching these young people explor-
ing their sexuality. HIV infection rates
New York, NY 10176
are again surging, especially among the
young, but safe sex messages, once so
prevalent in gay porn videos, have all but tel (212) 867-1100 WWW.SHANAHANLAW.COM
disappeared. Isn’t it time for the gay porn fax (212) 972-1787 TOM@SHANAHANLAW.COM
industry to bring them back?
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

12/ Endorsements
■ SEPTEMBER 15 PRIMARY
PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

The Stakes in the Third Council District

JOHN W. SUTTER
JWSutter@communitymediallc.com
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER
TROY MASTERS
troy@gaycitynews.com

E
verything changed in more assertively liberal lead- We should also consider more port our work. She was criti-
EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDER
PAUL SCHINDLER
Christine Quinn’s polit- ership. It is clear to us, how- concretely the benefits our cal to our success and to our
editor@gaycitynews.com ical career in January ever, that Quinn’s reelection own community gains by hav- being able to sustain a cam-
ASSOCIATE EDITOR 2006 when she was elected — and the potential that she ing Quinn in the position she paign for four years.” It is true
Duncan Osborne speaker of the City Council. will serve another ter m as is. that the HIV Forum received
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS She was no longer the repre- speaker — will, on balance, At the August 13 debate at city funds, but it is also a fact
Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day, sentative solely of the Third preserve a critical progressive NYU, she spoke in detail about that it is no longer asking for
Doug Ireland (International), Brian McCormick Council District, arguably the voice on the Council and, cru- a meeting she had with Long money. Carlson’s testimony is
(Dance), Dean P. Wrzeszcz
heart of progressive thought cially from the standpoint of Island Republican Senator significant.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Betsy Andrews, Seth J. Bookey,
and politics in New York. Nor our community, keep a proven John Flanagan on the pend- Kurland’s is a power ful
Anthony M.Brown, Kelly Jean Cogswell, was her primary citywide LGBT advocate at the highest ing marriage equality legisla- new voice in the LGBT and
Dean Daderko, Tate Dougherty, Andres Duque, identity limited to being the councils of city government. tion. Her opponents in this progressive communities,
Michael Ehrhardt, Steve Erickson, Nick Feitel,
Jim Fouratt, Joe Fyfe, Deborah Garwood, longest-serving LGBT Council These, too, are no small race, Maria Passannante-Derr but while she has identified
Erasmo Guerra, Emily Harney, Andrey Henkin, member. things. and out lesbian Yetta Kurland, issues on which greater com-
Frank Holiday, Andy Humm, James Jorden, Brendan As speaker, she’s had the The broad outlines of
Keane, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, Arthur S.
Leonard, Rachael Liberman, authority and shown the polit- Q u i n n ’ s p r o g r e s s i v e bona
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass, ical wiles to wield enormous fides should be familiar to
Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott,
influence over that body, even voters. Endorsed by Tenants
Gregory Montreuil, Ioannis Mookas, Carrie Moyer,
Stephen Mueller, Christopher Murray, as she has been chief sur - PAC, she has been a defender
Quinn’s reelection will keep
David Noh, Wayne Northcross, Lori Ortiz,
Pauline Park, Sheila Pepe, John Reed,
rogate for the Council in its of city rent regulations vital a proven LGBT advocate at the
decidedly unequal relation- to the housing security of
Nathan Riley, Andrew Robinson, Gerard Robinson,
Chris Schmidt, Sarah D. Schulman, ship, under the City Charter, millions, and an outspoken highest councils of city government.
Jason Victor Serinus, Linda Shapiro, with the mayor’s office. After advocate of home rule reform
David Shengold, Gus Solomons Jr., David Spiher,
Drew B. Straub, Stefen Styrsky, Jerry Tallmer, years as a respected leader to end the undue influence
Stefanos Tsigrimanis, Kathleen Warnock, in LGBT and left-leaning cir - upstate Republicans have on
Benjamin Weinthal, Lee Ann Westover,
James Withers, Kai Wright, Susan Yung
cles, Quinn has found there city affordable housing policy. said they too would lobby state munity input is appropriate,
are now critics, even enemies Her efforts on ensuring a liv- senators to push the issue she has not yet articulated
ART DIRECTOR
Mark Hasselberger
within those ranks. ing wage for home health care over the top. Neither, however, persuasively detailed solu-
No action she has taken workers, a vital but woefully could convincingly assert that tions. We expect to hear more
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Jamie Paakkonen has sparked more progres- marginalized segment of New they would bring nearly the from her in the future. Pas-
sive backlash than her active York’s economy, are emblem- same prestige or influence to sannante-Derr comes from a
SENIOR VP OF ADVERTISING/MARKETING
FRANCESCO REGINI support last fall for Mayor atic of why she has the sup- such an effort. political family long allied with
francesco@gaycitynews.com Michael Bloomberg’s light- port of the Working Families When Gay City News the aspirations of LGBT New
ning-fast dismantling of the Party. An advocate for wom- reported on an outrageous Yorkers, and she has strong
ADVERTISING MANAGERS
term limits that would have en’s rights and choice, Quinn pattern of false arrests of gay credentials as a West Village
COLIN GREGORY
colin@gaycitynews.com barred him and Quinn from has been endorsed by Planned men on trumped-up prostitu- community activist. Unfortu-
reelection to their current Parenthood and NARAL Pro- tion charges, having a lesbian nately, her campaign has too
ALLISON GREAKER
allison@gaycitynews.com posts. Both went back on pre- Choice NYC. City Council speaker willing to often devolved into anger, and
JASON SHERWOOD
vious public commitments on Despite a “slush fund” stand up and able to get the some of her comments about
jsherwood@gaycitynews.com the issue, and the approach scandal early in 2008 that ear of the NYPD was invalu- the LGBT youth who frequent
JULIO TUMBACO the speaker co-signed defied implicated the speaker’s office able. After a YouTube video the Hudson River piers down-
julio@gaycitynews.com two voter referenda. Most dis- — about which, frankly, every- surfaced criticizing the speak- town raise concer ns about
DANI ZUPANOVICH turbing about the episode was body is awaiting final resolu- er for alleged indifference to whether she brings the requi-
dani@gaycitynews.com that the mayor could have put tion of several pending inves- the issue, Robert Pinter, the site empathy to their claim to
Please call (212) 229-1890 for the question in front of voters tigations — Citizens Union, courageous gay man who went a place at the table.
advertising rates and availability. last November had he come the city’s most respected public with the story of his In the next four years, we
ACCOUNTING forward earlier with a pro- good government group, has false arrest, stepped up to dis- would like to see more aggres-
DAVID JAFFE
david@gaycitynews.com posal he clearly gave thought strongly praised the reforms pute that charge. He wrote, of sive leadership from Quinn.
NATIONAL DISPLAY ADVERTISING
to for some time. The courts Quinn initiated regarding the the police’s acknowledgment If she is reelected speaker, we
Rivendell Media / 212.242.6863 have upheld the action by the Council “member item” pro- that the arrests should stop, hope she will work to resist the
Web master Council and the mayor, but we cess, as well as other changes “Christine Quinn’s leadership encroaching privatization of
Arturo Jimenez believe that it was wrong and in Council practice enacted provided a forum for this rare public space in New York. We
Arturo@gaycitynews.com
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay and Lesbian NYC, is
corrosive of public trust in earlier. admission by the NYPD and urge her to revisit the urgent
publishedby Community Media, LLC. Send all inquiries to: Gay City News, government. This is no small And Quinn has the sup- the genesis for the positive First Amendment question of
145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., NYC 10013 Phone: 646.452.2500 Written
permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents disagreement, and we make port of the Empire State Pride changes that followed.” whether police can reasonably
of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All
contents (c) 2009 Gay City News. no effort to explain it away. Agenda and the Gay & Lesbian Pinter is no powerful inter- require a permit for crowds as
That said, the September Victory Fund, a Washington- est group. small as 50. And we need to
Gay City News is a registered trademark
of Community Media, LLC. 15 Democratic primary for the based group working to elect Similarly, Dan Carlson, who see New York rededicate itself
John W. Sutter, President
Fax: 646.452.2501; District 3 seat Quinn has held LGBT candidates. co-founded the HIV Forum in to creative solutions to the
E-mail: JWSutter@communitymediallc.com since 1999 is about more than Vo t e r s , o f c o u r s e , o f t e n 2004 to battle the scourge of ongoing crisis of AIDS and HIV
the term limits question. We cast a jaundiced eye toward crystal meth use among gay transmission in our city.
Subscriptions:
26 issues, $90.00 wish the speaker had shown endorsements from orga- men, wrote of Quinn that she These are the expectations
(c)2009 Gay City News. greater independence from the nized interest groups eager “worked lock-step with com- that we bring to our endorse-
All rights reserved. mayor, and there are issues to enhance their influence munity groups to do all that ment of Christine Quinn for
on which we would have liked with a powerful incumbent. government could do to sup- reelection.
3 - 16 SEP 2009
■ SEPTEMBER 15 PRIMARY
Our Choices For Manhattan-wide, Citywide Races
M A N H AT TA N D I S T R I C T
ATTORNEY
The hard-fought contest to
succeed Robert Morgenthau,
the 34-year incumbent, as
chief prosecutor in Manhattan
features three highly creden-
tialed criminal justice profes-
sionals. Former Judge Leslie
Crocker Snyder, Cyrus Vance,
Jr., and Richard Abor n all
worked for Morgenthau early in
their careers, and each prom-
ises changes in the DA’s office,
favors gr eater community
input on criminal justice policy,
understands the need to engage
young people in crime preven-
tion initiatives and to divert
nonviolent offenders from incar-
ceration, and — critically — has
spoken out against the target-
ing of gay men, as was the case
in up to dozens of false prosti-
tution arrests reported by Gay
City News.
“I think our backgrounds
are massively different, mas-
sively different, and I think that
our backgrounds would define
what we would do in the office,”
Aborn observed in an inter -
view with Gay City News. We
agree, and that is our reason for
endorsing Richard Aborn.
In her years at the DA’s office,
Snyder did laudable, even pio-
neering work on the issue of
sexual assault against women,
and gay activists recall her
■ SEPTEMBER 15 PRIMARY
LGBT Council Contenders Who Deserve Support
I
n addition to the District
3 contest that includes
two out lesbians, there is
an unusually strong field of
City Council candidates run-
ning competitively elsewhere
in the city, surely a sign of the
community’s growing political
maturity.
In Manhattan’s District 2,
which runs from the Lower East
Side north roughly to Gram-
mercy Park, incumbent Rosie
Mendez will probably not have
trouble in either the primary
or the general election, but it
should not go unmentioned that
the critical issues that brought
her to public life — tenant pro-
advocacy, dating to the 1970s,
for ending the criminal prosecu-
tion of gay men for consensual
sex. As a judge, Snyder faced
some of the most hardened, vio-
lent drug gangs from the bad
old days here in New York, but
the public posture she adopted
in the immediate aftermath of
her time on the bench, perhaps
best shorthanded by the title of
her memoir, “25 to Life,” was
at odds with the crying need to
create a public discourse con-
ducive to meaningful criminal
justice reform. Of greatest con-
cern, though, is a derogatory
mention of the play “Angels in
America” in her memoir that
is hard to reconcile with her
professed commitment to free
sexual expression by gay men.
Even accepting Snyder’s expla-
nation that the reference did not
reflect her own squeamishness,
its publication certainly played
to prejudices held by some of
her readers.
Vance has offered a spe-
cific plan for decentralizing his
office so that prosecutors get to
know the communities they are
charged to protect. His oppo-
nents have faulted him for the
16 years he lived in Seattle, but
New York has always drawn tal-
ent from afar, and while there
he participated in a significant
class-action gender discrimi-
nation lawsuit. His emphasis
tections, affordable housing,
civil liberties, and LGBT rights
— have remained at the cen-
ter of her work on the Council.
Zuckerman is clearly positioned to
win if supporters from the LGBT
community help make that happen.
She has won three significant
rezonings in her district, aimed
at protecting the residential
character of neighborhoods she
serves, and is working to effect
on the DA as manager of the
city’s largest law firm and his
close ties to Morgenthau, how-
ever, raise questions about
how much a commitment to
creative criminal justice reform
animates Vance’s pursuit of the
office.
Aborn is clearly the stand-out
reformer in this field. In a coun-
try besotted with a love of guns,
he headed up the Brady Cam-
paign to Prevent Gun Violence,
where he was the chief strate-
gist behind passage of three
major federal gun control laws.
When New York threatened to
fracture over the 1999 police
killing of Amadou Diallo, he led
an investigation of the NYPD’s
internal disciplinary proce-
dures. He has also headed up
the Citizens Crime Commission
of New York, a non-profit advo-
cating for significant progressive
criminal justice goals.
Even as he’s worked to
reform police departments, he’s
also earned their trust, having
consulted for law enforcement
agencies from Scotland Yard to
the Los Angeles Police Depart-
ment, whose chief, Bill Brat-
ton, who formerly headed up
the NYPD, has endorsed him.
Aborn has also won endorse-
ments from dozens of elected
officials in Manhattan, includ-
ing committed reformers like
Congressman Jerrold Nadler
two more and lend an assist to
yet another in neighboring Chi-
natown. She is an outspoken
critic of continued abusive evic-
tions across the city, and has
been ranked in the top five pro-
ponents of civil liberties among
her 51 colleagues by the Human
Rights Project of the Urban Jus-
Endorsements /13
and State Senator Eric Schnei-
derman.
This country is weakened by
the fact that so many Ameri-
cans fill too many jails. Crimi-
nal justice reform is an urgent
need, and as Manhattan dis-
trict attorney, Richard Aborn
can play a singular role in that
effort.
CITY COMPTROLLER
Four members of the City
Council — David Yassky of
Brooklyn and David Weprin,
Melinda Katz, and John Liu of
Queens — are vying to succeed
William Thompson as the city’s
comptroller. The role of comp-
troller is critical — especially in
light of indictments during the
past year over the use of City
Council “member item” money,
ongoing investigations of the
role of placement agents in
steering the investment of state
— and perhaps city — monies,
and recent reports that the city
pension funds have been under-
performing the market. Each of
the candidates has committed
to battle waste and inefficien-
cies, make city budgeting more
transparent, and be a watchdog
against fiscal impropriety.
We are impressed by the
commitment of one candidate
to go further. “I don’t see the
comptroller as a bureaucratic
position,” Liu said in a recent
tice Center.
Mendez has been a staunch
critic of the false arrests that
ensnared perhaps dozens of gay
men in Manhattan video stores
on trumped-up prostitution
charges in the past year or so.
A regular speaker at protests
aimed at drawing attention to
the arrests, she has called for
investigations by the Internal
Affairs Bureau at the NYPD,
the Civilian Complaint Review
Board, the district attorney’s
office, and perhaps the state
attorney general. Still an activ-
ist after four years in office,
Rosie Mendez deserves strong
support on September 15.
Gay City News interview. “It
absolutely can be and should
be an office as agent of change.”
That posture is what leads us
to endorse John Liu, who has
amply demonstrated his follow-
through in his eight years on the
City Council. Last year, as the
Council acquiesced to Mayor
Michael Bloomberg’s request
to extend term limits, Liu took
a principled stand in opposi-
tion. In a body where bucking
the powerful office of speaker
carries political risks, he bit the
bullet, and says, “I haven’t felt
any changes in my role in the
budget process.”
“It would be fair to say that
my background is one of being
excluded, whether blatantly or
de facto,” he said of his child-
hood in Flushing as an immi-
grant from Taiwan. The first
Asian American elected to any
legislative position in New York
City, Liu has been a stalwart
friend and highly visible ally
of the LGBT community. That
record lends substantial cred-
ibility to his pledge to “shatter
all the records” in using New
York City’s substantial pension
investments as a tool to nudge
corporate America toward fair
workplace and marketplace
practices for the LGBT commu-
nity.
䉴 CITYWIDE, continued on p.15
In Queens District 25, long-
time LGBT and Democratic
Party activist Daniel Dromm
is taking on incumbent Helen
Sears to represent Jackson
Heights, Elmhurst, Woodside,
and Corona. Dating back to the
early 1990s, when the anti-gay
murder of Julio Rivera sparked
outrage and a determination
to speak up and be visible in
Queens, he has played a criti-
cal leadership role in the bor-
ough’s LGBT community — in
its annual pride celebration,
its community center, a gay
Democratic club, and assist-
䉴 LGBT COUNCIL, continued on p.14
14
䉴 LGBT COUNCIL, from p.13
ing the victims of homophobic violence
and their families. During the educa-
tion curriculum wars of the early ’90s,
Dromm, a school teacher, became the
target of a vicious anti-gay propaganda
campaign waged by a local school board
member, a challenge he surmounted
with considerable dignity. This year, an
anonymous smear campaign, based on
a 38-year-old tale of his arrest as a teen-
ager when police nabbed him necking in
a parked car, was launched against him,
a reminder that gay sexuality will always
be an issue for some in politics.
The dust-up this year is particularly
unfortunate given Sears’ good record on
gay issues, which has attracted support
among several LGBT leaders in Queens.
Notwithstanding the incumbent’s
embrace of our community’s agenda, she
has had eight years on the Council, and
Dromm would be a welcome gay voice
from a district outside Manhattan. He
is a dedicated activist and hard worker
who has kept on his toes throughout a
long campaign season. Dromm deserves
support from LGBT voters.
I
n neighboring District 26, which
encompasses Sunnyside, Long
Island City, and Woodside, Jimmy
Van Bramer, a government affairs spe-
cialist for the Queens Public Library
system, is contesting an open seat cur-
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3 – 16 SEP 2009
rently held by Eric Gioia. Van Bramer
has been an activist dating back to his
years as a student at St. John’s Univer-
sity, and was among the founders of the
Queens Pride House nearly a decade
ago. One of the youngest board mem-
bers at the Empire State Pride Agenda
in the 1990s, he was also active in early
election campaigns by Manhattan LGBT
officials, such as Assemblywoman Deb-
orah Glick and Senator Thomas Duane.
Glick, Duane, and out gay Assembly-
man Daniel O’Donnell have endorsed
Van Bramer, as has the Washington-
based Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund,
which works to elect viable LGBT candi-
dates nationwide.
The Queens queer community is a
contentious one, and the club where
Dromm has long been a leader is not
supporting Van Bramer, and several
other LGBT leaders have also endorsed
Van Bramer’s principal opponent, Deir-
dre Feerick, an attorney who works for
the City Council. Feerick has a strong
record on women’s issues and clearly
has friends who respect her in the LGBT
community, but we believe Van Bram-
er’s impressive history of activism as an
out gay man would make him the more
urgent voice on the Council for the needs
of our community.
I
n an open contest for Melinda Katz’s
29th Council District seat, Lynn
Schulman, a hospital executive who
Richard
ABORN for D.A.
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formerly worked as communications
director at the Gay Men’s Health Crisis,
is making a spirited run against two for-
mer elected officials — Karen Koslowitz,
who served the district on the Coun-
cil until January 2002, and Michael L.
Cohen, who served in the State Assem-
bly until 2005. Schulman cut her teeth
in politics in the late Congresswoman
Bella Abzug’s 1976 run for the US Sen-
ate, and three years later became district
liaison for West Village Assemblyman
William Passannante, the first legislative
sponsor of New York State’s gay rights
bill. She has also worked for former
West Village City Councilwoman Carol
Greitzer and Brooklyn Councilwoman
Sara Gonzáles. With the endorsements
of four reform-minded councilmembers
from three different boroughs, Schul-
man, who would represent Forest Hills,
Kew Gardens, Rego Park, and Richmond
Hills, would have a running start on her
pledge to bring critically needed new per-
spectives to the Council.
I
n Brooklyn’s District 39, which
includes portions of Park Slope,
Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Wind-
sor Terrace, Kensington, and Boro
Park, Bob Zucker man, who most
recently headed up the Gowanus Canal
Community Development Corporation
and its affiliate, the Gowanus Canal
Conservancy, is in a very hard-fought
race against three other well-known
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candidates. Zuckerman comes to the
race with a very diverse résumé, having
also run the New York Nightlife Asso-
ciation, a trade organization, and the
Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chamber of
Commerce, and owned a business that
produced a Consumer Internet Expo at
Madison Square Garden a decade ago.
When the credibility of the Stonewall
Democrats was reeling in the late 1990s
after the club backed Mayor Rudy Giu-
liani in his reelection bid, Zuckerman
arguably played the key role in reviv-
ing its fortunes and building it into the
city’s largest LGBT club. In Brooklyn,
he has been active in efforts to launch
a community center to serve the bor-
ough’s diverse queer community.
The 39th District race has taken on
an unusually high profile for a Coun-
cil contest. One of Zuckerman’s oppo-
nents, Josh Skaller, headed up Democ-
racy for New York City, a grassroots
political reform advocacy group that
grew out of Howard Dean’s 2004 presi-
dential campaign, and the former Ver-
mont governor has endorsed him. A
more salient endorsement in the race,
however, came when Brooklyn Con-
gressman Anthony Weiner threw his
support to Zuckerman, offering telling
testimony from a hometown guy.
Zuckerman is clearly positioned to
win this race if supporters from the
LGBT community help make that hap-
pen on September 15.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 3 – 16 SEP 2009 15
■ PERSPECTIVE

Two Cents on Health Care

BY KELLY JEAN COGSWELL

W
hen I drop in on the Ameri-
can health care debate, my
only response is “Freaks!”
Seriously. Universal health care =
death panels? Communism? Arma-
geddon? On the other hand, who on
earth believes access and regulation
will fix it all?
I’m an unexpected skeptic. I’m living
in France where the value of universal
coverage is self-evident. Despite their
complaints about the high cost of care,
middle-class French people pay very
little, poor people pay nothing, and even
outsiders like me benefit from govern-
ment regulation, subsidies, and a sys-
tem among the best in the world.
To give you an idea of what it means
in financial terms, last year I had an
ovarian cyst that involved a lot of doc-
tor visits and eventually surgery. I paid
full price for everything before my insur-
ance returned the bulk of it. Sixty euros
($86) covered one visit to a private gyne-
cologist, 28 euros for a visit to a public
clinic. A sonogram was 80 euros. An
MRI ran 454 euros. Surgery with three
whole nights in the hospital was 4,450
euros ($6,367) including hospital bed,
surgeons’ fees, anesthesiologist, medi-
cation, bedpan, coffee, and croissants.
And I waited less than a month for this
non-emergency surgery to be sched-
uled.
The most important thing, though, is
that at every stage, the care was com-
petent and professional. Hell, it was the
best I’ve ever had. Unsurprisingly, the
World Health Organization as well as
the Commonwealth Fund rank France,
along with Switzerland, Britain, Can-
ada, and Japan, as having the best
health care systems in the world, not
just in access, but in having the best
outcomes in all age categories for can-
cer, heart disease, diabetes, and rates
of other chronic diseases.
For me the question is, even if the
flying pig of universal health coverage
manages to get past the increasingly
The key to success of medical care
is not just access, but access to
one standard of care for everyone.
powerful lobbyists and their congres-
sional lackeys to give every Ameri-
can insurance, can the United States
actually transform its medical culture
enough to make universal health care
work? Access aside, America’s exist-
ing health care system stinks. You can
pay a lot, or pay a little, but you’re still
in a country rated a pathetic 37th on
results.
My theory is that the key to the suc-
cess of French medical care is not just
access, but access to one standard of
care for everyone. I’d heard about it
from one of my old neighbors, a medi-
cal social worker, who told me how he
might spend a morning in a slum with
a recent hospital discharge, and the
afternoon visiting a patient whose pos-
sible inheritors were squabbling in an
adjoining room.
I got a chance to watch it myself last
year. In the waiting room at the public
hospital, there’d be a student, a middle-
class matron, an au pair. The secretar-
ies terrified rich and poor alike with the
same French bureaucratic chill. The
doctors greeted everyone with the same
face of professional interest, the same
polite handshake.
Compare that mix of patients and the
imposition of the same social conven-
tions to New York, where there’s clearly
a two-tier system of health. The poor
are treated by specialists in the poor,
who rarely leave their medical ghettoes
to treat the rich. In public clinics, nurs-
es snicker at patients to their faces,
make fun of accents even if they have
one themselves. Doctors, usually paid
less than their peers in private prac-
tice, assume that the financial poverty
includes moral and intellectual lack,
too, and treat you accordingly.
Which is not to say they don’t pre-
scribe the expensive procedures and
tests. The problem is that the staff just
don’t take the same care with some poor
schmuck as they would with the rich.
There was the time I was on Medicaid
and having intestinal problems. They
recommended a colonoscopy, and I
was right in the middle when the anes-
thesia wore off. They couldn’t give me
more because my blood pressure had
dropped, which they hadn’t prepared
for, though apparently it’s a common
side effect. Despite the fact I was beg-
ging them to stop, these medical pro-
fessionals just went straight on like I
wasn’t there begging them to please, oh
my God, please stop.
No, access isn’t everything. I could
tell you a dozen stories like that. Only
a few of them mine. Should I be happy
more people get access to that?
I think this two-tier system is also
bad for the middle-class and rich.
Aware of the differences in pocket
books, the potential for patient lawsuits
as much as the payoffs in lucrative
tests and prescriptions, I doubt doctors
give them the objective, thoughtful care
they should. They don’t hold back from
offering useless treatments, and they
don’t take chances when they ought
to.
Reform? Hell. Better burn down the
house.
Check out Kelly Sans Culotte at http://
kellyatlarge.blogspot.com/.

䉴 CITYWIDE, from p.13
PUBLIC ADVOCATE
Former Public Advocate Mark Green,
civil liberties attorney Norman Siegel,
and City Councilmen Eric Gioia and
Bill de Blasio are running for public
advocate, an office with limited legal
authority, but with staff resources and
a bully pulpit suited to an aggressive
public servant eager to be a watch-
dog and a proponent of change. Green
made effective use of the office during
his eight-year tenure that ended in
2002. Siegel served admirably as head
of the New York Civil Liberties Union
and has been a dedicated marriage
equality litigator. Gioia is an earnest
and passionate advocate who has used
his role on the Council to bring needed
attention to the issues of hunger and
homelessness.
Amidst these strong candidates, our
choice is Bill de Blasio. As head of the
City Council General Welfare Commit-
tee, de Blasio mobilized voters to advo-
cate for their own interests. “When
the mayor or any agency is not doing
what they’re supposed to be doing, the
public advocate is the watchdog,” de
Blasio told Gay City News earlier this
summer. “But you don’t just stand up,
you don’t just have a press conference,
you don’t just put out a press release,
you go and organize communities to
achieve political change.” He has used
this approach to win tens of millions of
dollars for children’s services, to block
closings of senior centers, and to bar
landlords from discriminating against
the use of Section 8 vouchers. De Bla-
sio was also outspoken in his criticism
of last year’s term limits extension.
When discussing the recent false
arrests of gay men on prostitution
charges, he tied them to a much
broader pattern of “concerns about
policing” — from the harsh crackdown
on protesters at the 2004 Republican
National Convention to the harass-
ment of Critical Mass bike riders. His
instinct to look at issues with that
sort of holistic perspective and then to
tackle them by awakening the voices
of average New Yorkers will serve de
Blasio well as public advocate.

■ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

KURLAND VERSUS
QUINN
September 1, 2009
To the Editor:
Your article about the recent debate
among candidates seeking to unseat
City Council Speaker Christine Quinn
(“Passannante-Derr Comes Out Swing-
ing Against Quinn,” by Duncan Osborne,
posted online, Aug. 14) omitted one
major reason that her supporters have
grown disenchanted with Quinn — her
abandonment of the fight against AIDS in
New York City. Quinn’s lack of leadership
on AIDS — and the presence of another
candidate who would provide it, Yetta
Kurland — has prompted me to publicly
endorse Kurland over Quinn. (Although
I am president of the AIDS organization
Housing Works, I am endorsing Kurland
as an individual. This letter should not be
construed as an endorsement by Housing
Works).
Quinn’s progressive bona fides are
largely based on the grassroots work
she did fighting for AIDS housing and
tenants’ rights. Since becoming speaker,
Quinn has turned her back on efforts to
provide housing to poor New Yorkers
living with HIV, primarily by blocking
legislation known as HASA for All. Every
major New York City AIDS organization
endorses HASA for All. It would save mil-
lions by reducing strain on city services.
It would save the lives of tens of thou-
sands of New Yorkers by housing them
before they get seriously ill, not after.
Why doesn’t Quinn support it? Because
the short-term costs might not sit well
with the middle-class voters she needs
to get elected mayor.
Quinn has also sold out the AIDS com-
munity to Mayor Bloomberg. For the last few
years, Bloomberg has attempted to slash
funding for critical AIDS services. Quinn left
it to other City Council members to oppose
and forestall the worst of those cuts.
Kurland supports HASA for All and
has repeatedly said that funding for AIDS
services is one of her most important
concerns. I sincerely hope that, come
November, we have a new City Council
member from District 3, one who will carry
on the fight to end AIDS in New York City,
no matter how high she rises.
Charles King
Manhattan
䉴 LETTERS, continued on p.28

16/ Film
Backstage at Eden
Two gay actors play gay actors playing gay actors
BY GARY M. KRAMER
I
n “The Big Gay Musical,”
Paul (Daniel Robinson)
and Eddie (Joey Dudding),
two gay theater actors, star
in the Off-Broadway musical
“Adam and Steve: Just as God
Made Them.” The film depicts
the characters’ lives on stage
and off as they grapple with
issues of love and sex — and in
Eddie’s case, coming out. It is
an auspicious big screen debut
for the queer actors, who have
until now performed mostly
on stage. Robinson appeared
in “Hairspray,” while Dudding
was cast in revivals of “A Cho-
rus Line” and “La Cage aux
Folles.”
If the story is typical back-
stage drama, and the musical
within the film is an odd piece
of theater — imagine a reli-
gious revival featuring semi-
naked gay angels — “The Big
Gay Musical” offers its leads
an excellent showcase for
their talents. The men perform
a pas de deux in one of the
film’s highlights, and Robin-
son is sure to be remembered
for a show-stopper of a tune
entitled, “I Want to Be a Slut.”
Paul, depressed after a break-
“I am not a boozy guy, but I
love show tunes — I play
them at the gym.”
up, gets liquored up and per-
forms this number with gusto.
“I am not a boozy guy, but
I love show tunes — I play
them at the gym,” Robinson
explained in a recent phone
interview, adding that he
had real qualms about this
sequence. “That was the hard-
est day, my drunk scene,” he
recalled. “I’ve [acted drunk]
on stage a lot, but to do it on
film is completely different. On
stage, you play to an audience
that’s farther away, and there’s
a comedic element to it. In the
film, it was sad, and I had to
sing a song drunk.”
After rising to that challenge,
THE BIG GAY MUSICAL
Directed by Casper Andreas &
Fred M. Caruso
Fred M. Caruso Productions
Opening Sep. 11
Chelsea Clearview Cinemas
260 W. 23rd St.,
clearviewcinemas.com
however, the actor was soon
faced with another. “Filming
simulated sex and pretend-
ing that you are enjoying it is
hard,” Robinson insisted. He
worried about the facial expres-
sions appropriate when he was
doing his love scene with adult
film actor Brent Corrigan.
He admitted that when he
first read “The Big Gay Musi-
cal,” he turned it down. “It was
a little too over the top for me.
I wasn’t comfortable with the
sex scenes and the nudity. It
was too nude and gay for me.”
Robinson, who has stripped on
stage for “Broadway Bares,”
has never done a gay show
before, and this worried him. “A
huge reason why I didn’t take
the film in the first place was
that I didn’t want to be seen as
a gay actor,” he acknowledged.
“‘Big Gay Musical’ was like put-
ting a tattoo on my body. I’m
committing to this.”
Eventually, he decided the
film was a good opportunity.
Looking back on it, he said
that the sex scene “was harder
to read than to do.” He added
that the film’s editing eased
some of his fears about having
his naked body exposed on film
forever.
Robinson also found that
playing two characters — Paul
and Steve, his character in
the musical within the film,
was complicated. “The stage
[scenes] were more difficult
than I thought because you had
to pretend you were acting,” he
said. “It was easier for me to
play the real world of Paul.”
Daniel Robinson as Paul and Joey Dudding as Eddie in “The Big Gay Musical,” which opens on
September 11.
Dudding concurred, claiming
he too had difficulty creating
simultaneous character arcs
for Eddie and Adam. “I tried to
portray [Eddie] as honestly as
possible,” he explained. “I’m
familiar with learning songs
and choreography in a short
period, but the off-stage scenes
were new territory.” The actor
thanks co-director Casper
Andreas for keeping on him on
track and helping him, during
the 17-day shoot, to make the
right choices in approaching
his performance.
Eddie is a naïve character
3 - 16 SEP 2009
never had any reservations
about sexuality.”
Yet the actor did have con-
cerns about the sex his char-
acter engages in. In a dramatic
moment, Eddie has unprotect-
ed sex with a man he meets
in a bar. The way this scene is
played caused Dudding anxi-
ety. “It’s a serious scene, and
that was a big thing for me to
[play] — being overcome in
the heat of the moment,” he
explained. He was relieved the
scene didn’t feature nudity he
might have considered gratu-
itous, though like Robinson,
Dudding appeared in “Broad-
way Bares” and showed it all
off. “It indulges your inner
stripper,” he joked about the
charity event.
If the actors were nervous
about making the leap from
stage to screen, they both
handled it with considerable
aplomb. They depended on each
other and boosted each other’s
confidence during rehearsals.
“We were constantly coaching
each other on set,” Robinson
explained. “We watched each
other and flagged things like
the overuse of arms.”
“There is no rivalry between
us,” Dudding said with pride.
“We have a real friendship off
screen.”
Now with the release of “The
FRED M. CARUSO PRODUCTIONS
Big Gay Musical,” both actors
ar e hoping to launch film
careers.
For all the challenges, Rob-
inson admitted that mak-
ing the film paid dividends.
“I didn’t want to do it at first,
but I’m happy I did it because
it put me as an actor and an
— a gay virgin, and not out to artist at a completely differ -
his parents. He is far removed ent level,” he said. “It made
from Dudding’s personal expe- me want to do more. I’m more
rience growing up, despite the confident, and [willing] to try
fact that the actor’s hometown, more things. I put my balls to
L ynchburg, Virginia, is the the wall. I danced, I sang, I did
site of the late Jerry Falwell’s drama and comedy. This movie
megachurch. Fortunately helped me find my passion and
for him, his family was not in drive.”
lockstep with the zealotry of Dudding is equally inspired.
Lynchburg’s favorite son. “I do “My ideal life would continue
not come from a very religious to do theater and more film,”
background, like Eddie does,” he said. “I’d like to do a roman-
Dudding said. “My parents are tic comedy and play someone
very accepting of my life. No funny. I keep getting cast as
major drama when I came out. serious. I’m not that serious!”
I can’t relate to his virginity. I Except, perhaps, about acting.
3 - 16 SEP 2009
Making Up Some More Dances
Mark Morris, joined by Yo-Yo Ma, Emanuel Ax, shows his stuff at Mostly Mozart
BY GUS SOLOMONS JR
L
incoln Center’s popular Mostly
Mozart Festival appropriately fea-
tures frequent appearances by the
Mark Morris Dance Group, since Morris
is arguably our most musically sophisti-
cated choreographer and hangs out with
the likes of Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax.
This season, Beethoven’s lyrical “Cello
Sonata No. 4 in C major” and Charles
Ives’s thorny “Trio for Violin, Cello, and
Piano” have inspired him — the former
by its beauty and the latter by its diffi-
culty — to make up (his term) two new
dances.
In the first of the two movements of
“Visitation,” four dancers, led by an odd
person out (Maile Okamura on August
21), meet and greet, then pair up, with
Okamura surging across the space inde-
pendently. At the end of the first move-
ment, the four tip her upside down.
The second movement begins with
Okamura still balanced on her shoul-
ders, while others do solos, ignoring her.
In this section, the original quartet dou-
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Dance /17
The dancers toss phrases amongst
themselves, enriching the contrapun-
tal texture — a sideways skip with arms
circling; torsos bobbing and twisting
with hands wrapping the waist; a little
hop with extended arms, like wings. The
motifs compound, creating complexity
that, like the music, never loses clarity.
Our visual and aural senses experience
parallel delight. As the music ends, the
cast scatters like leaves blowing into the
wings.
Nicole Pierce lights the broad Rose
LINCOLN CENTER MOSTLY MOZART FESTIVAL
Theater stage with subtle mastery, bath-
ing the dance in soft sunlight. Eliza-
beth Kurtzman’s coordinated rehearsal
clothes — loose pants and shirts in
muted tones of gray, rust, and pale aqua
— are intended not to distract from the
lyricism of the motion, but they’re pretty
bland.
However, Kurtzman’s bright faux uni-
The Mark Morris Dance Group presented new works based on Beethoven, Ives and reprised Schumann-set “V.” forms, in reds, yellows, and blue-greens
with military stripes, diagonal sashes,
bles to eight dancers, as if to amp up the The nine split into three trios, two carry- and sparkling buttons, transform the
kinetic volume. Motifs from the first part ing the third horizontal, like the shuttle-
get repeated and spatially elaborated. cock of a loom. 䉴 MOSTLY MOZART, continued on p.20
DWaVO`O DWVO\¸a
DWRS] 2D2>OZOQS
;S\¸a1ZcP ;S\¸a1ZcP
"V`a%ROga "V`a%ROga
>`WdObS >`WdObS
DWRS] DWRS]
0]]bVa 0]]bVa
3\b`O\QS 3\b`O\QS
2D2 2D2
DWRS] DWRS]
<]dSZbWSa <]dSZbWSa
%'%&bV/dS #' &bV/dS
0Sb"&bV"'bVAb 0Sb!&bV!'bVAb
 #&  $  !#"$&
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

18/ Film
Lured Into the Crap Game
Leslie Cockburn struggles to convey the sub-prime tragedy
BY STEVE ERICKSON
O
n the surface, “Ameri-
can Casino” might
seem like a rather
straightforward documentary
about the sub-prime mortgage
loan crisis, but it contains sev-
eral films within it. The first is
a rather dry overview of the
roots of the crisis, told mostly
through talking-heads inter -
views.
The second is an examina-
tion of the crisis’ effects on its
victims. As depicted by Leslie
Cockburn, they’re mostly mid-
dle-class African-Americans;
about half the film concentrates
on Baltimore. This section plays
like a real-life equivalent of “The
Wire,” only without cops and
criminals.
Finally, the film takes on a
post-apocalyptic sci-fi tinge
when it ventures to suburban
Stockton, California, and exam-
ines festering swimming pools,
now breeding grounds for mos-
quito larvae and deathtraps for
neighborhood rodents.
If “American Casino” could
integrate all these segments
into a whole, it would be a
A block of foreclosed row houses in Baltimore.
first-rate documentary. Unfor-
tunately, it never quite gels,
playing like three episodes of
the PBS investigative journal-
ism series “Now” edited into a
90-minute film.
Told without narration –– but
with extensive use of on-screen
text –– “American Casino” uses
gambling as a metaphor for the
rise and fall of the sub-prime
mortgage industry. Cockburn
speaks to industry insiders who
talk blithely about guessing the
value of billion-dollar securities.
A mortgage salesman
describes the routine practice
of fraud within his industry,
which often inflated homeown-
ers’ incomes in order to justify
underwriting mortgages with
monthly payments that would
likely in time become unafford-
able. In Baltimore, Cockburn
depicts a schoolteacher, a min-
ister, and a therapist who’ve
been left homeless or are in the
process of foreclosure.
The first 15 minutes of
“American Casino” are relative-
ly dull. A procession of econo-
mists and bankers explain the
complicated math behind the
sub-prime mortgage crisis. As
AMERICAN CASINO
Directed by Leslie Cockburn
Argot Pictures
Opens Sep. 2
Film Forum
209 W. Houston St.
Filmforum.org
with many disciplines, econom-
ics comes with its own vocabu-
lary, and “American Casino”
treads a fine line between
dumbing down complex issues
and explaining them in lan-
guage that the average intelli-
gent spectator can understand.
Alas, the film never finds
the right tone for this difficult
engagement, relying heavily
on jargon. It doesn’t help that
Cockburn never achieves a
visual style fitting for the mate-
rial. Her juxtaposition of inter-
views and exterior shots of Wall
Street office buildings feels pat
and glib.
Only when it arrives in Bal-
timore does “American Casino”
take on real vitality. Rather
than the abstractions of Wall
Street bigwigs, it addresses
economics on the street level.
Cockburn’s subjects are all
thoughtful people who never
ARGOT PICTURES
Patricia McNair is a Baltimore therapist fighting foreclosure on her home.
imagined that they’d risk home-
lessness.
She has chosen people
who thought they were on the
proper side of America’s eco-
nomic divide –– indeed, people
who spend their days coun-
seling the even more desper-
ate. Daniel Mitchell teaches
human rights at a high school.
Minister Almalene Wade lives
in a friend’s car when not cop-
ing with parishioners driven to
depression or substance abuse
by losing their own homes.
Cockburn’s use of music also
becomes more expressive when
she leaves Wall Street behind.
In its opening reel, “American
Casino” deploys music unob-
trusively, but in Baltimore, she
relies on a soundtrack of locally
produced hip-hop. I’m not sure
if any of it was composed spe-
cifically for the film, but its lyr-
ics address the same concerns,
speaking from the perspective of
disenfranchised homeowners.
Cockburn also makes use
of several mour nful Bruce
Springsteen songs. In her most
adventurous moment, she cuts
between the soundtrack of a
Senate meeting on finance and
a funk song with the chorus
“Everyone’s broke.”
In Baltimore, poverty is quite
visible. In Stockton, it’s far less
so. Nevertheless, it’s been hit
just as hard by the mortgage
3 - 16 SEP 2009
ARGOT PICTURES
crisis. Computer graphics show
neighborhoods decimated by it,
where most of the homes are in
hock.
Foreclosure Radar CEO Sean
O’Toole drives down a block
with Cockburn, pointing out
homes about to be foreclosed.
While the street looks placid
–– the signs of decay are fairly
subtle, like an inattention to
weeding –– only three of its
homes are in the clear.
“American Casino” empha-
sizes the way minorities were
targeted by greedy, unethical
bankers, but it also shows that
the problem can affect anybody.
Next month, Michael Moore
will chime in on America’s
economic woes with “Capital-
ism: A Love Story.” Is fiction or
documentary the best way to
depict an event like the sub-
prime mortgage crisis? A nar-
rative film like Kelly Reichardt’s
“Wendy and Lucy” deals well
with the consequences of our
financial collapse, but leaves
the underlying ideology in the
background.
“American Casino” is most
successful when it comes clos-
est to a documentary version of
the kind of neo-realism exem-
plified by Reichardt. Cockburn
does well when she focuses
on ordinary people but seems
shakier when she zooms out for
the big picture.
3 - 16 SEP 2009
Identical Differences
French twins star in film exploring a sexuality divide
BY GARY M. KRAMER
T
he rakishly handsome Alexandre
Carril and Victor Carril co-star
in “Give Me Your Hand,” openly
gay director Pascal-Alex Vincent’s lyrical,
hypnotic film that depicts a bond between
twins. In his minimalist French drama,
the pair —Alexandre plays Antoine and
Victor is Quentin — travel across France
to their estranged mother’s funeral. They
fight, often physically, and after Antoine
spies Quentin with a male lover, they split
up, possibly never to reunite.
Vincent directed Alexandre and Vic-
tor before, in his fantastic short “Baby
Shark.” And while he wanted to make a
feature with them, he said he did not want
to “do a psychological essay on twins. The
film was inspired by their story.” His idea,
he explained, was to investigate “what
makes you different from your brother.”
As an identical twin myself, I felt com-
pelled to bring Henry, my straight twin,
with me to interview Alexandre and Vic-
tor. The actors were both amused and
impressed at seeing double.
Speaking through an interpreter, they
talked about why singletons are so fasci-
nated by twins. Like my twin, Henry, who
is analytical, Alexandre considered the
question before answering. “People who
aren’t twins have a fantasy about having
one—a desire,” he said. “Some civiliza-
tions have a right of passage to adulthood
where people go looking for their missing
other half. That is something we are not
comfortable with, because we are not so
well divided. We are really about having
all kinds of facets and dimensions inside
us.” Henry concurred, observing, “Twins
are more integrated.”
“Because we are twins, we are used to
playing with that inherent schizophrenia
that comes with it.”
Victor, like me, is more spontaneous.
He said, “It was really interesting — we
were in Paris, and after the screening of
the film, two young people came up to
us and were actually really interested in
knowing if one brother was indeed gay,
and if we had slept with each other.” I
nodded in agreement. People are always
curious about twins — especially the sex-
ual proclivities of gay/straight twins. This
interest is addressed in the film; many of
the folks Antoine and Quentin encounter
inquire about the differences between the
brothers.
Alexandre Carril, Henry Kramer, Victor Carril, and Gary Kramer compare notes on twindom.
GIVE ME YOUR HAND
Directed by Pascal-Alex Vincent
Strand Releasing
Opens Sep. 11
Quad Cinema
34 W. 13th St., quadcinema.com
The Carrils are deliberately cagey and
mysterious about their off-screen sexu-
ality. The interpreter explained only this
— that they would like to keep their sex
lives separate, but it is not easy because
they share a common taste. “We are often
attracted to the same person,” admitted
Alexandre. “It can cause problems.”
“Problems” suggests fights, and the
fights between the twins are legendary.
In examples of art imitating life, “Give Me
Your Hand” features three hand-to-hand
battles between the brothers, the first
of which is animated. Alexandre sports
a scar over his left eye — emphasized in
the film to distinguish the twins — which
he got when Victor hit him with a skate-
board. My Henry shows off a scar over his
left eye he got from being hit by a boomer-
ang. The twins gasped in awe at the simi-
larities.
“We fight over really silly things,” Vic-
tor said, with a wry, devilish smile, and
then director Vincent injected, “They
had very violent fights in real life. They
were famous for the fights on the street,
which are more violent than the ones in
my film. So we used that. Their bodies are
full of scars. Alexandre uses his fists. Vic-
tor uses objects — pencils, or knives, or
things that can cut.”
We compare other visible differences in
our bodies. Where I am muscled, Henry
is less defined. Where Alexandre has
chest hair, Vincent does not. “Careful!
That could be the subject of fighting!,”
the filmmaker warned adding, “Fight-
ing is a way of saying that they love each
other.”
The love-hate bond between the boys is
never in doubt. In the film, they are often
seen walking or quietly sitting together.
A train ride they share on their jour-
ney is especially poignant and beautiful.
Throughout the film what emerges is that
they each know what the other is think-
ing. This symbiosis is something Vincent
presents with remarkable acuity.
Such shared moments are common to
all twins. Recently Henry and I connect-
ed over the same song we heard indepen-
dently. The Carril twins confirmed that
they too bond using music. “We have
the same song in our heads, and real-
ize it when he’ll whistle it.” It is unclear
from the overlapping voices which twin
said that. Alexandre offered this: “I read
books about twins, but that didn’t help
me develop magical powers.”
The French twins do, however, try
some puzzling sleights of hand, shar-
Film /19
ing a common photo ID, driver’s license,
and metro card, even though they don’t
live together. “Because we are twins, we
are used to playing with that inherent
schizophrenia that comes with it,” Victor
explained. “Perhaps we are more at ease
at playing a role, and being an actor, tak-
ing it further.” Alexandre finished his
brother’s thought on this subject, saying
of their casting in the film, “Once it was
determined who played which role, we
accepted our parts. In both characters,
there were elements that corresponded
to each of us.”
Vincent explained that after he cast
the twins, there was some conflict. It was
not as he expected, about the film’s gay
versus straight sexuality, but because
one twin had a week more of shooting
time than the other.
Alexandre changed the subject. “We
knew from each other to play these char-
acters, but in real life, there is no leader,”
he said. “There is no hierarchy between
us. There are multiple facets in both of
us, and we don’t want to consider that one
is one side of something, and the other
has the other side of it. We are not cut in
two. For example, in terms of sexuality,
one of us didn’t get everything feminine.”
As Henry and I suspected, the Carrils
fully complement each other, just as us
Kramers do. “Give Me Your Hand” deftly
and accurately illustrates this balance. It
provides an engaging portrait of two lives
shared but separate. It is something sin-
gletons may begin to understand better
after seeing this absorbing, often mesmer-
izing film.
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

20/ Theater
Gods and Fathers
Irish Rep duo, Public’s “Bacchae” triumph in complex challenges
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE Told through a series of stories
AFTER LUKE
as the son goes from being beat- WHEN I WAS GOD

T
here’s an evening of two
short plays at the Irish
Rep absolutely worth see-
ing. Playwright Cónal Creedon’s
two one-acts are lyrical evoca-
tions of the complex and some-
times incomprehensible rela-
tionships between fathers and
sons.
In “After Luke,” he inter -
prets the parable of the Prodi-
gal Son, found in the Gospel of
Luke, in modern Cork. Maneen
has gone off to London to try to
make his fortune while Son has
stayed home with his father,
known as Dadda. Maneen is
Dadda’s biological son, while
Son is from his mother’s first
marriage. The boys have
always had a tempestuous
relationship, with Dadda serv-
ing as referee. While Maneen
en up in the sport of hurling to
ping-pong to finally finding him-
self as a soccer referee, it is, like
the first play, an aching, eco-
nomical, and original look at the
challenges all fathers and sons
face when the dreams of one
clash with the independence of
the other.
In this play, Gregg plays the
father and Mellamphy the son.
They are both excellent here as
well, with Mellamphy exhibit-
ing a surprising range, show-
ing himself to be that rare adult
actor who can convey a little boy
convincingly and movingly.
T im Ruddy has directed
both pieces with sensitivity and
heart. This is an extraordinary
and wonderful evening not to be
missed.
The Irish Repertory Theatre
132 W. 27th St.
Wed.-Sat. at 8 pm.;
Wed., Sat., Sun. at 3 p.m.
Through Sep. 27
$55-$65; irishrep.org
Or 212-727-2737
nature of this conflict are what
make “The Bacchae” such a
fascinating study.
While the ancient Greek style
was steeped in pageantry and
polemics, Akalaitis makes the
conflict visceral, accessible, and
exciting for a modern audience.
The story concerns the god Dio-
nysus who, denied his divinity
because his mother is mortal, is
determined to prove himself the
equal of any on Mount Olym-
pus. Through the force of his
personality, he creates a cult

trumpets his biological pri-
macy in the family, Dadda has
a different sense of which boy
has acted as a real son.
The writing is poignant and
realistic, and through situation
and reflection we see the com-
plexities of the family dynam-
ic. The delicacy and poetry
of the writing conveys enor -
mous depth, and the actors —
Michael Mellamphy as Maneen,
Gary Gregg as Son, and Colin
Lane as Dadda — give simple
and resonant performances.
“When I Was God,” the second
play, also addresses the father/
son relationship. In this case,
it’s a father who wants his son
to be a sports champion and the
son who struggles to be his own
person while pleasing his father.
E
uripides’ “The Bacchae”
had its first performance
more than 2,400 years
ago, but in Joanne Akalaitis’
stunning production just com-
pleted at the Delacorte in Cen-
tral Park, the issues and the
drama — allowing for differ -
ences of style, expression, cul-
tural hegemony, and religion —
remain relevant today.
At issue is whether rational
government founded on what’s
empirically knowable is more
powerful than what is believed
without proof. But it goes fur-
ther, to examine the dichoto-
mous nature of humans that
makes them revel in passion
and yet yield to cultural struc-
ture. The constant tension and
the essentially irreconcilable
of ecstatic women throughout
the known world. He returns to
Thebes to demand his due, but
runs afoul of the state governed
by Pentheus, who imprisons
him. Dionysus, being a god,
escapes and wreaks revenge on
Pentheus. It is only when ratio-
nality returns that the mortals
realize what they’ve done.
Akalaitis’ galvanizing stag-
ing effectively balances the long
declamatory speeches by vari-
ous characters with the fluid
motions of the chorus. Aided
by Philip Glass’ spectacular
score, choral speech and sign-
ing provide all the backdrop
required for the action — some-
times festive; sometimes dark
and dangerous. The chorus
reflects the action and keeps
Anthony Mackie was exceptional as Pentheus in the Public Theater production of “The Bac-
chae.”
the focus. Akalaitis’ staging on
John Conklin’s contemporary
architectural interpretation of
an ancient theater is at times
breathtakingly beautiful.
Nicholas Rudall’s transla-
tion is outstanding, offering the
impact of ritual and the clar-
ity of real characters. The cast
handles it very well, in par -
ticular Rocco Sisto as the mes-
senger with a long, expository
speech that manages to wring
the heart, and Joan Macintosh
as Agave, Pentheus’ mother,
who has the dramatic equiva-
JOAN MARCUS
lent of an 11 o’clock number as
she realizes she has murdered
her son. Anthony Mackie is
exceptional as Pentheus, find-
ing a full range of emotion in
an essentially narrow charac-
ter. Jonathan Groff is certainly
stretching himself as Dionysus,
and while he was effective and
appealing, he lacked some of
the boldness and fire the script
indicate.
This was a daring choice for
the Public — no surprise there
— and an unforgettably power-
ful evening.

䉴 MOSTLY MOZART, from p.17
cast of “Empire Garden,” the
Ives dance, into a platoon of
giddy irregulars. They wittily
define a clan of eccentric charac-
ters –– all the pants are a bit too
short.
Ives described his trio as a
reflection of his college days at
Yale. The first movement recalled
a philosophy lecture, the sec-
ond, antics and games, and the
third, Sunday service, which
ended “near the ‘Rock of Ages.’”
The music quotes from frater-
nity songs and familiar tunes ––
“Sailor’s Hornpipe,” “Long, Long
Ago,” “Dixie” –– and Morris, in
complementary fashion, refers in
his movement to disco and yoga.
At times, like the music, the
dancing borders on chaos, the
dancers each doing their own
version of the material; then sud-
denly, they coalesce into linear
formations or fall into momen-
tary unison.
There is a remarkable ego-
less-ness about the dancing
of Morris’s talented company.
Virtuosos all, they never assert
their personalities on the chore-
ography. They are a community
clearly enjoying their job of vivi-
fying the music, and their focus
on musicality reminds us to lis-
ten harder.
Ma’s cello, Ax’s piano, and
Colin Jacobsen’s violin sing with
such finesse it’s a shame the
musicians are out of sight in the
pit, which seems to muffle the
volume of their superb playing.
Or maybe the Rose is just too
vast for chamber music.
The movement palette, espe-
cially of “Garden,” is wonder-
fully frenetic and seems to mark
a refreshing expansion of his
kinetic imagination.
The program closed with a
reminder of why Morris is a mas-
ter choreographer. “V” (2001),
set to the Schumann “Quintet
in E-flat major for Piano and
Strings,” is a Morris master-
piece of musical visualization.
The movement features presen-
tational hand flourishes and
passionate, tilted embraces, in
which there’s never any actual
touch –– like air kisses; they
skewer schmaltziness.
Seven barelegged dancers in
royal blue tunics and seven in
pale body suits form two teams
that articulate the symmetry of
Schumann’s recapitulations.
In the slow movement, dancers
progress across the stage, crawl-
ing on feet and hands from oppo-
site directions, one group moving
on the beat, the other on the off-
beat. The passage repeats, mov-
ing this way, then that, becom-
ing seductively hypnotic. It gives
us time to try figuring out its
construction, and then to marvel
at its poetic simplicity.
3 - 16 SEP 2009
Ham on the Run
Tom Judson’s second, third, and remarkable fourth acts
BY WICKHAM BOYLE
H
ere is how Tom Jud-
son’s bio reads: Mid-
dle-aged former actor,
musician, waiter, bartender,
porn star (a.k.a. Gus Mattox),
writer, carpenter, composer,
activist, street food vendor,
bike messenger, chorus boy,
callboy, and all around gadfly.
Given an imminent return to
the stage, it’s not unreason-
able to present the incredible,
ever-changing arc that is Jud-
son’s life as a theatrical set
up.
Dark stage: Enter Tom Jud-
son, a boyishly handsome,
muscled, tattooed, middle-
aged man toting an accor -
dion. His life unfolds: 1982—
composer about town; 1990
— meets Bruce Bir nbaum;
1995 — Bruce dies of AIDS;
1999 — on the Road with
“Cabaret.”
CANNED HAM
Dixon Place
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btwn. Rivington & Delancey
Sep. 23-24 at 8 p.m.
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2003 — Enter T om Jud-
son, reborn as Gus Mattox,
“world’s oldest gay porn star”;
2006 — wins Best Performer
of the Year at the Gay Porn
Awar ds and r etir es; enter
Acme Housing — renovating
and flipping homes upstate;
2008 — enter the recession
and housing slump; Jud-
son takes two months in the
Caribbean to work construc-
tion and write; 2009 — enter
Tom Judson, writer, thespian
and still a star, in “Canned
Ham.”
When finally reached by
phone, Tom Judson launched
right into the trajectory of his
Theater /21
newest work, “Canned Ham.”
I will get to the backstory of
the name, but for now go with
it and hear the tale Judson is
telling: “So according to Ter -
rence McNally, since this is
a one-man show, I couldn’t
do a reading with a cast, the
usual way a writer hears a
new work, so I should have
someone read it to me. So I
got John Glover to read it to
me.”
Okay, stop. In the pantheon
of theater, let alone gay the-
ater, McNally and Glover are
above-the-marquee names,
and here they are, firmly
in Judson’s corner proffer -
ing counsel. Judson is not a
middle-aged man who just
decides to write a play; when
Judson writes, actors, direc-
tors, and producers clamor.
And rightfully so.
䉴 JUDSON, continued on p.25 Tom Judson, in his very latest incarnation.
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A fly-on-the-wall portrait of Anna Wintour.
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22
■ IN THE NOH
The Boys of Late Summer
Danny Kaye, Peter Allen honored, flea market Author, Lewin’s camp classic
BY DAVID NOH
B
rian Childers is current-
ly playing Danny Kaye,
a protean, multi-faceted
talent, in “Danny and Sylvia”
(St. Luke’s Theater, 308 W. 46th
St., open run; telecharge.com),
a retelling of the song and dance
man’s early years through 1948,
when he played the London Pal-
ladium. The musical includes
the story and struggles of Kaye
and his wife, Sylvia.
Childers, a native of South
Carolina, appeared in another
musical at Washington’s Ameri-
can Century Theater in Wash-
ington, and its artistic director,
Jack Marshall, saw his possibil-
ities for bringing to life the script
of “Danny and Sylvia.” That,
Childers said, “was the start of
this incredibly long, wonder-
ful journey. We started with a
five-performance, semi-staged
reading in May 2001, and the
response was overwhelming. It
was decided that we would open
American Century’s fall season
with a full-blown production. We
were nominated for Helen Hayes
Awards, I won the award that
year for Best Actor in a Musical,
and it was decided to remount
the show at Metrostage Theater
in Virginia.
“After that, we went to New
York for the Chip Deffaa Festi-
val, where it was directed by the
fantastic, late Tommy Walsh.
We got great reviews but didn’t
get picked up for the real com-
mercial run we were hoping for.
Many years passed, with a five-
“Danny was really a genius who could
sing, dance, act, clown, and hold an
audience in the palm of his hand.”
performance run at the Forum
Theater in New Jersey, and then
producer Hy Juter, who always
loved the show, helped us put
on a night backers’ audition in
New York where we finally got
the money we needed for this
Off-Broadway run.”
From Childer’s perspective,
“Danny was really a genius who
could sing, dance, act, clown,
Ava Gardner stakes a claim to being the most beautiful woman ever in Albert Lewin’s “Pandora and the Flying Dutchman,” also starring
James Mason.
and hold an audience in the
palm of his hand. He was a true
entertainer, a word which isn’t
used much these days. You
have triple threats, but Danny
was much more than all those
things. His brand of comedy
was unique, with his double-
talk gibberish, but he could also
be elegant, understated, and
simple, a consummate perform-
er who is sadly forgotten in this
day and age. At one point, he
was the highest paid entertainer
in Hollywood. He also conduct-
ed symphony orchestras, was
a professional Chinese chef, a
pilot, and fascinated by surgery
of any kind. You can see his
influence on comedic entertain-
ers nowadays, such as Martin
3 – 16 SEP 2009
Short, Robin Williams, or Jim
Carey.”
In researching the part,
Childers said, “I’ve read every
book, seen every movie, TV
show, just immersed myself in
all things Danny. The role itself
is a marathon, requiring stami-
na and energy from the start of
the show to the end. You can’t
waver, or the audience won’t
believe you. I spoke to everyone
I could about the onstage/ off-
stage person. What was impor-
tant was to not only be able to
master the hands, patter, gib-
berish, and vocal inflections,
but also to portray him as a
human being.”
Kaye’s family was not involved
in the development of the show,
“but the Kaye estate has seen
the show since and approved
wholeheartedly. We just had
some Kaminskys [Kaye’s real
last name] come see the show
last month, and they were
overwhelmed with joy for our
keeping his memory alive and
keeping true to the story of his
youth.
“Our audience consists of
Kaye fans who grew up with
him and remember all his songs
and comedy, but we also get
a younger crowd who haven’t
heard of him or his personal
life, like his relationship with
his wife, Sylvia Fine, who is por-
trayed by the fabulous Kimberly
Greenberg. The show includes
both his classic material like
‘Tchaikovsky’ and ‘Minnie the
Moocher,’ and original songs
and material that drive the story
forward. The book is written
by his former publicist, Robert
McElwaine, and is a valentine to
both Danny and Sylvia.”
Although both Kaye’s wife
and daughter always denied
it, rumors persist that he was
bisexual, the most sensational
of which has Vivien Leigh once
discovering him in bed with
her husband, Laurence Olivi-
er. Childers said, “Well, I will
give you my stock answer on
the relationship with Laurence
Olivier: I wasn’t in the room so
I don’t know. There were defi-
nitely rumors of affairs with
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
Laurence Olivier, and also Eve
Arden, Gwen Verdon, and oth-
ers. I believe that Danny had
a lot of demons that we don’t
deal with in this show... that’s a
whole different show.
“I believe that Danny was
bipolar or manic/depressive
before it was really diagnosed.
He went to therapy three times
a day, five times a week for psy-
choanalysis. His mother died
young, and I personally think
that he was looking for some-
thing and someone to fill that
void, which really explains a
lot about his relationship with
his wife, who really controlled
his career for many years. But
regardless of his offstage per-
sona or demons, he never let an
audience down. He was always
the most at home onstage in
front of a live audience.”
A
nother multi-talent,
Peter Allen, was cel-
ebrated by fellow Aussie
Darren Williams in his show
“Not the Boy Next Door –– the
Peter Allen Songbook,” at the
Metropolitan Room. Allen, Wil-
liams told me, “has always been
a huge influence on my musical
career. In the early ’60 –– before
my time –– he started off as part
of a duo called the Allen Broth-
ers on “Australian Bandstand,”
along with the Bee Gees and
Olivia Newton-John. My father,
Warren Williams, was also a
part of the “Bandstand” family,
although he never made it quite
so big as the others, but is still
performing wonderfully back in
Australia. As one of four music-
loving kids in our family, Dad
would tell us stories from the
“Bandstand” days and show us
the old videos. I always loved
vocal harmonies, and the Allen
Brothers and the Bee Gees
always caught my ear. Later,
I realized Peter’s songwriting
talents and fell in love with his
amazing and often underrated
compositions.”
Williams described his show
as “not an impersonation of
Peter Allen. It is a tribute to this
wonderful entertainer and song-
writer, exploring his life and
times from humble beginnings,
growing up in a small Austra-
䉴 IN THE NOH, continued on p.23
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 IN THE NOH, from p.22
lian country town to being discovered
by Judy Garland, his marriage to Liza
Minnelli, and finally becoming a star
in his own right. As well as performing
my own arrangements of his hit songs,
including ‘Arthur’s Theme,’ ‘Don’t Cry
Out Loud,’ ‘I Honestly Love You,’ etc.,
the show explores some of his equally
brilliant hidden gems, most of which are
autobiographical, and put the icing on
the cake of such an interesting showbiz
story, so to speak.”
Asked how Allen is remembered
today in Australia, Williams said, “He
is an icon at the highest level. His com-
position, ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ is
known as Australia’s unofficial nation-
al anthem and is often sung at major
sporting events, and has been the theme
song for Quantas Airways for many
years. Another of his songs, ‘Tenterfield
Saddler,’ also captures the Australian
spirit, and is widely considered to be one
of the greatest autobiographical songs
ever written.
“I think he contributed more than he
is given credit for in the entertainment
industry. Not many people realize that
he was the first major recording art-
ist to openly come out back in the ’70s,
risking his own career and a recording
contract with A&M. Nobody else had
the guts before him, so he paved the
way for so many others after that. He
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3 – 16 SEP 2009 23
was always true to himself, which also
shows in his songs.
“I myself was born and raised in
Sydney, one of four children who all
ended up as professional entertainers.
As a child, I was a boy soprano, win-
ning many contests at Sydney’s Opera
House. Later I studied musical theater
at the Actor’s Center in Sydney and
appeared in leads in the Australian pro-
duction of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s
‘A Grand Night for Singing,’ as well as
an international cast of ‘South Pacific.’
My proudest moment, career-wise, was
being awarded the Australian Vari-
ety Entertainer of the Year, in honor of
Peter Allen, which inspired me to do this
show. Five years ago, I relocated from
Sydney and now live in the beautiful
neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights.”
A
rtistic dreams flourish in the
unlikeliest of places, like Man-
hattan’s Antique Garage on West
25th Street, where Larry Baumhor sells
vintage photographs every weekend. He
also writes, having self-published three
books (shortstoriesandphotos.com) that
reveal his utterly unique, self-ruminat-
ing, and neurotically funny take on life
and its absurdities. The titles say a lot
— “Gefilte Fish in the House of Bedlam,”
CAROL ROSEGG
“SexPsyche,” “Who’s the Putz on Face-
book?,” as does this opening sentence:
䉴 IN THE NOH, continued on p.24 Brian Childers stars as Danny Kaye in “Danny and Sylvia,” which has an open-ended run at St. Luke’s Theater.
24
䉴
IN THE NOH, from p.23
“Have you ever eaten smoked gefilte fish,
not with the traditional horseradish,
but with a couple of cigarette ashes on
top, billows of cigarette smoke in the
air, served by a Jewish grandmother
who wore a brassiere as a blouse, with
a Viceroy cigarette dangling from her
lips?”
Baumhor said, “During the past 22
years, writing has become an extension
of who I am. I evolved as a writer with
my own voice, culminating in ‘Gefilte
Fish in the House of Bedlam.’ Before I
began writing that, I had an epiphany.
I said to myself, I have to expose my
raw gut level emotions, regardless of
how embarrassing they may be. And
while doing this, I want to incorporate
humor and satire. I felt people could
relate to me being naked on the page.
And in part, I wanted to connect to
my readers, relate to them on an emo-
tional level. I was fascinated with the
late comedian Andy Kaufman in that
he often left you in bewilderment as
to what the differences were between
reality and fantasy. I used this concept
in my writing.”
“I’ve written five novels, four unpub-
lished, one nonfiction manuscript, 30
short stories, articles, hundreds of
poems and letters. I’ve written some
articles for newsletters and online, but
I was never able to crack the literary
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journals, publishers, or agents. I must
have close to a thousand rejections
over the years.”
On the surface, dealing with cus-
tomers and friends at the Garage,
Baumhor seems the most easy-going
and affable of souls, but he said, “I
live life existentially, in the moment,
sucking the marrow out of my experi-
ences. I believe that life is absurd and
that happiness comes from coming to
terms with your suffering and pursu-
ing your dreams. I’m filled with com-
passion and love, and often live in my
subconscious, acting like a goofball. I
know that every day could be my last
day. I open my heart and soul for peo-
ple I feel connected to. However, I do
not socialize much, and feel discon-
nected to society. I have a distrusting
attitude towards most people. I feel
that race, religion, and class are forces
of evil destroying the world that have
been justified by mankind.
“Without my customers and dealer
friends at the Garage, I would not be a
published author. I’m friendly with art-
ists, writers, photographers, and many
creative people who inspired me and
made suggestions regarding editing,
stories, and book covers. Ken Brown,
a customer who buys snapshots, is a
prolific artist, filmmaker, and photog-
rapher who collaborated with me in
designing the covers of my books.
“I’ve been selling at the Garage for
ten years. Initially, I began selling
ephemera, books, and photos. I saw
there was a market for vintage pho-
tography, and changed my inventory.
I also have a passion for photography
and love finding vernacular surreal
images. Many of my customers feel as
though they’re collecting art, especial-
ly with the vernacular surreal photos.
For two dollars and up my customers
can buy a snapshot that is evocative of
their aesthetic taste. Certain snapshots
are very collectible, many of which
were taken by mistake, such as odd-
ball juxtapositions, double exposures,
and exotic compositions. Filmmakers
Lorca Shepperd and Cabot Philbrick
filmed and produced the documentary
‘Other People’s Pictures’ about snap-
shot collecting at the Garage, which
won awards at several film festivals.
“A plethora of celebrities have
patronized the Garage, purchasing
collectibles and antiques. I personally
do business with Alan Dershowitz and
Joe Franklin. Many others have passed
through — Sigourney Weaver, Berna-
dette Peters, Nicole Kidman, Sheryl
Crow, Gloria Vanderbilt, Marisa Tomei,
Catherine Deneuve, Michael Imperioli,
Paul Shaffer, Bette Midler, Penny Mar-
shall, Sarah Miles, Joan Collins, Joy
Behar, Heidi Klum, and Monica Lewin-
ski. Michael Jackson and Heath Ledger
patronized the Garage.
“Trying to earn a living as a photogra-
phy dealer at the Garage is a constant
struggle. But it’s the passion I have for
selling photography and the friend-
ships I’ve developed over the years that
are the driving force behind my profes-
sion. To surround myself with creative
people has been a wonderful, enlight-
ening experience that has fostered my
commitment as a writer.
“Unfortunately, the Garage is clos-
ing in the near future, ending an era of
antique/ collectible markets in Chel-
sea. The buildings were sold to devel-
opers whose intention is to demolish
the Garage and build high-rises. The
demolition of this culture in Chelsea
began about three years ago. There
were about six outdoor flea markets,
some of which began in the 1960s.
These markets, a cultural phenome-
non in New York City, known through-
out the world, attracted thousands of
patrons on the weekends, were forced
to close by developers who built these
mortar -gnawing high-rise buildings
at 24th and 25th & Sixth Avenue. The
Garage was supposed to close Novem-
ber 2008, but due to the collapse in
the economy, the developers are delay-
ing demolition of the Garage. However,
eventually the Garage will be demol-
ished. The owner of the Garage Flea
Market, who leases the property, has
opened Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market at
39th & Ninth Avenue in hopes of revital-
izing the past years of the outdoor flea
markets, and to have a venue for cus-
tomers who shopped at the Garage.”
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
F
ilm Forum honors James Mason
with a special screening of “Pan-
dora and the Flying Dutch-
man” on September 14 (209 W. Hous-
ton St., filmforum.org). Mason — in a
select group with Charles Boyer, John
Barrymore, Ralph Richardson, Rob-
ert Mitchum, George Sanders, Roger
Livesy, Anton Walbrook, Joel McCrea,
Robert Ryan, Sterling Hayden, and Jeff
Bridges — is one of my favorite actors.
He rarely disappointed in presenting
human, complex, sometimes androgy-
nous characters, however dark. His
craft was a far cry from the predictable
yawn-inducing “manly” heroics of such
big-gun names as Gary Cooper (post-
1943), Spencer Tracy, James Stewart,
and Gregory Peck.
“Pandora” is a real cinematic one-
off, the luridly romantic Technicolor
fever-dream of studio aesthete writer-
director Albert Lewin, best known for
“The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1945),
which shares with “Pandora” the film-
maker’s obsession with baroque decor,
fruity epigrams, and taver ns with
names like the Two Turtles. It begins
with the “moving finger” quote from
Omar Khayyam’s poetry — which
Josef von Sternberg also employed in
his camp epic “The Shanghai Gesture”
— and progresses to “the measure of
love is what one is willing to give up
for it.” In the case of playgirl/nightclub
singer Pandora Reynolds (Ava Gard-
ner, staking a major claim to being the
most beautiful woman ever), it means
demanding that her lovers push their
cherished race cars into the sea, face
deadly bulls in the corrida, and basi-
cally put up with her maddeningly per-
verse yet irresistible allure.
Shot with salivating lushness by
cinematographer Jack Cardiff, divine-
ly gowned by Bumble Dawson (with
maybe the best hat in movie history),
Pandora fecklessly wends her way
through an F. Scott Fitzgerald lost gen-
eration world set on the Costa Brava,
stepping over chiffon scarf-festooned
ancient sculptures lying on the beach,
until she meets her match in Hendrik
van der Zee (Mason, at his brooding
best), who just may be the legendary,
lost Flying Dutchman. Alan Rawst-
horne’s fraught score crashes to keep
up with lines like “Her voice spoke
words that passed like flame through
my tortured ears to take possession of
my burning brain,” “Pandora should
appear as woman in the abstract —
bride, mother, the original and generic
egghead from which we can imagine
the whole human race to be hatched,”
and “A profound and unconscious jeal-
ousy of his dead father had created a
permanent and incurable disturbance
in the violent soul of Juan Montalvo.”
You’ll scream, you’ll die.
Contact David Noh at Inthenoh@aol.
com and check out his new blog at http://
nohway.wordpress.com/.
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 JUDSON, from p.21
I have known Tom Judson in near-
ly all his incarnations, and he always
surprises me. The last time I looked, he
was renovating houses, so how did the
idea for a one-man show materialize?
“It really started in January during
the hard winter. I thought, I am not
going to be here next winter; I will be
some place warm. Oh, I’ll just bounce
around; maybe I’ll go to Key West
and work as a bartender. Or maybe it
could be interesting to try a few dif-
ferent warm-weather places. Then
I saw this little metal camper sitting
by the side of the road. I love the lore
of campers and the architecture, so
I bought the camper for $100. And
it was settled. I decided, that’s what
I will be doing. I love campers. I will
drive around in the warm weather
and rake gravel or wash dishes. I
will be Mr. Itinerant Worker for three
months and I’ll bring my accordion. I
used to be famous, so I’ll be this for-
mer porn star and play the accordion
and maybe I could tell stories. Then
the light bulb clicked on.
“People have been telling me, that I
should tell stories from the industry
and my life. And if this were a movie,
you would have heard harp music
and seen things fall into my plate
from above. The original plan was to
do the show in gay bars across the
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country, but when I wrote the first
draft of the script, it ran longer than
people would be able to watch stand-
ing, so I decided to do it in theaters
with traditional seating.”
I promised you backstory on the
name of the show and her e it is:
According to Judson, the nickname of
the style of camper he purchased and
renovated — shirtless with an elec-
“I’ll be this former porn star and play the
accordion and maybe I could tell stories.
Then the light bulb clicked on.”
tric metal polisher — is the Canned
Ham. Judson explained, “I am a big
ham, so it all made sense. The logo
for the show is Scout from “To Kill a
Mockingbird” dressed in her ham cos-
tume. I saw the logo in my head in the
instant I decided to tour the show.
Really.”
Moving from idea to actuality is a
leap, but at this juncture the work
came fast and furious for Judson. “I
wrote the first draft while I was work-
ing construction this past summer
on a Caribbean island called Saba.
I wrote it in three days. My wonder -
ful boss had seen me working away
at the chore list for a month, and she
said, ‘Go to Cottage In the Sky, and
don’t come back until you’ve written
the play.’ And so I went up there and
wrote the first draft. It came so quick-
ly, it came so fast, I wasn’t sure what
I had, so I sent it to Charles [Busch,
playwright, actor, and drag artist].
His response was, ‘Do you want a real
critique or just enthusiastic encour -
agement.’ I said the former, of course.
His real critique was so positive it
read like enthusiastic encourage-
ment. So I dove back into the second
draft.”
It’s evident that Judson has lived
what is often called an interesting life,
but making it coherent and stagewor-
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thy is a different challenge. “This play
is a memoir of the last 20 years of my
life, my adulthood. When I turned 30,
I hosted a party with lots of friends
and a 20-piece orchestra. Now, as I
am about to turn 50, it is just me and
my accordion. I needed that 20-piece
orchestra back in the day. Now I know
it is all in me.”
Judson’s world premier is Septem-
ber 10 at Jason’s Upstairs in upstate
Hudson, near his home in Catskill.
Then it is on to Dixon Place — the
last time he per formed that venue
was when Dixon Place was in founder
Ellie Covan’s living room. After that,
the show goes on the road, presented
by ChiChi LaRue, porn director and
drag queen extraordinaire. The pro-
ducing company Tweed and director
Kevin Maloney are searching for a lon-
ger-term venue in New York.
All Judson knows for now is that
“the route is a south and west circle
from New York City, and I will return
by the northern route. But it’s all still
gelling.”
This is how it is for Tom Judson.
Despite set backs and bone-crushing
heartache, he toddles off into the sun-
set, swathed in a canned ham, ready
for his next close up.
Follow Tom Judson’s adventures at
http://cannedhamcamper.blogspot.
com/.
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䉴 KENNEDY, from p.1 was greeted like a conquering

At that time, before national
political ambitions led Giuliani
to repudiate his support for
ending the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell
military policy and in favor of
civil unions, the former mayor
was working to burnish his
credentials as a moderate, and
had embarked on what ESPA
termed “a more productive dia-
logue” with the group. A year
later, ESPA would stay out of
the mayor’s race, and Giuliani,
grateful that his Democratic
opponent had not gotten the
group’s nod, finally embraced
what at that time was a land-
mark city domestic partnership
law.
But in October 1996, many
gay activists saw nothing to be
gained from dialogue with Giu-
liani, and several dozen picket-
ed outside the event. The may-
or’s speech inside was generally
received politely, even warmly
by some, but there were loud
hecklers as well.
Stephanopoulos was sup-
posed to be on hand to intro-
duce a video message from
Clinton, but at the last minute
he was unable to leave Wash-
ington. The video presenta-
tion went ahead, with Clinton
lamenting the defeat in the Sen-
ate the month before, by a 50-49
vote, of the federal Employment
Non-Discrimination Act. Clin-
ton pledged, if reelected, to fight
for passage the following year,
but in fact the Senate has never
approved the measure, which
throughout its legislative his-
tory was always shepherded by
Kennedy.
The president made no men-
tion in his video remarks of his
having signed DOMA.
In lieu of Stephanopoulos,
Kennedy was dispatched to New
York to serve as the evening’s
chief Democratic speaker. He
hero. His passion, vigor, and
emotional connection to the
crowd that evening recalled the
electrifying concession speech
he had offered at the Democrat-
ic National Convention 16 years
earlier, also in New York.
In an interview with NY1
News, Christine Quinn, the out
lesbian speaker of the New York
City Council, recalled just how
singular an event Kennedy’s
appearance at the 1996 ESPA
dinner was.
“It was a remarkable thing
in the ’90s to have a man like
Ted Kennedy in New York stand
with the LGBT community and
declare our efforts part of the
civil rights movement,” she said.
Ted Kennedy was the first
US senator to publicly voice his
support for marriage equality
for same-sex couples. During
the early years of the AIDS cri-
sis, when funding to address
the epidemic was often late in
coming and mired in the poli-
tics of the culture wars, Ken-
nedy brought his unique stat-
ure on the health care question
to bear in playing a leadership Senator Ted Kennedy addressed the 1996 fall dinner of the Empire State Pride Agenda at Manhattan’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.
role. His was a vigorous voice in
opposition to the innumerable tion drive, Kennedy stood up advantage. We’ve rejected that dent of the Human Rights
anti-gay riders the late Repub- on the Senate floor and said, tactic before, and I’m hopeful Campaign, the Washington-
lican Senator Jesse Helms of “We all know what this issue that we will do so again.” based LGBT lobby, in a written
Scott D. Gortikov, the exec- release, was unstinting in his
utive director of MassEquality, praise of Kennedy.
the group that led the success- “The nation has lost its great-
“The nation has lost its greatest ful drive to protect the state est champion and strongest
high court victory for gay mar- voice for justice, fairness, and
champion and strongest voice for riage in Massachusetts from compassion,” he said. “The loss
justice, fairness, and compassion.” being overturned, released a
statement saying, “Senator
to our community is immeasur-
able. There was no greater hero
Kennedy’s commitment and for advocates of LGBT equal-
leadership on fighting for equal ity than Senator Ted Kennedy.
North Carolina tried to attach is about. It’s not about how rights is unmatched. He rallied From the early days of the AIDS
to legislation, particularly in to protect the sanctity of mar- against discrimination dur - epidemic, to our current strug-
the late 1980s and early ’90s. riage, or how to deal with ing the beginning of his career gle for marriage equality he has
When the US Senate con- activist judges. It’s about poli- nearly half a century ago and been our protector, our leader,
sidered a federal marriage tics and an attempt to drive worked to promote marriage our friend. He has been the core
amendment pushed by former a wedge between one group equality as recently as this of the unfinished quest for civil
President George W. Bush as a of citizens and the rest of the summer.” rights in this country and there
centerpiece of his 2004 reelec- country, solely for partisan Joe Solmonese, the presi- is now a very painful void.”

䉴 FEERICK, from p.4
to be a candidate like her.”
Sklarz explained that as a
member of the Democratic
State Committee, Van Bramer
several years ago gave her a
key assist in getting the state
party on board in support of a
transgender nondiscrimination
measure pending in Albany.
She met Feerick, who is a local
Democratic district leader, while
still living in Manhattan; Sklarz
said that when she first arrived
in Woodside, Feerick was one
of the few people who reached
out to her to discuss getting
involved in Queens politics.
“I don’t think I’ve ever not
supported the LGBT candi-
date,” Sklarz said.
Like Sklarz, Fay admires both
candidates, saying his choice
was “not as clear-cut” as in some
other races, that if “we wake up
on the 16th and its Deirdre or
Jimmy, it will be a great day for
New York City.” But, he added,
“There’s something different
about Deirdre. It’s unusual that
she doesn’t come across as a
candidate with polished sound-
bites. There’s a certain transpar-
ency about her. I am hoping that
others will see that like I do, as a
strength.”
Fay, a filmmaker and an
activist on issues from marriage
equality to AIDS to immigration
reform, has been best known in
recent years for his leadership
on the St. Pat’s for All Parade,
founded to provide an alter -
native to Manhattan’s Fifth
Avenue parade that excludes
openly LGBT contingents. Feer-
ick, he said, reached out to him
about four years ago to offer her
assistance as a district leader
in broadening support in Sun-
nyside for the event. This year,
she provided financial backing
and threw a free pre-parade
breakfast at the Anoroc Club.
Fay said he never felt pressure
to offer support for her race in
return.
Feerick impressed Fay not
only for standing with the LGBT
community, but also in her
advocacy on issues like domes-
tic violence and undocumented
immigrants. He recalled talking
with his fellow Irish-American
about the fact that the 26th Dis-
trict is home to the city’s largest
number of undocumented Irish
immigrants; she reminded him
that the same issues face Mexi-
cans, Guatemalans, and other
ethnic groups across the city.
Ober said he first met Feer-
ick about a decade ago when he
was president of the Ridgewood
Democrats and she headed up
Anoroc. “I think that Deirdre is
just an outstanding candidate
and an outstanding person,”
he said. “She’s very responsive
and she knows how the bills get
moved and passed in the Coun-
cil. She knows all the details of
䉴 FEERICK, continued on p.27
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
䉴 FEERICK, from p.26
the budget.” Ober added that he is confi-
dent that on LGBT issues, “she would be
a tremendous and courageous ally on the
City Council.” The strength of her relation-
ships with elected officials citywide and
especially in Queens, he said, might make
her “the very best person” to advocate on
measures such as marriage equality with
state legislators.
Feerick boasts lifetime residence in the
26th District, having grown up the daugh-
ter of an NYPD detective and teamster
father and a nurse mother in Long Island
City and Sunnyside, before attending
SUNY’s University at Albany and Brook-
lyn Law School.
When she first went to the Council, she
worked in its Oversight and Investiga-
tions Unit, where she was responsible for
auditing a wide range of city agencies and
recommending steps to improve efficiency
and effectiveness. Feerick’s work soon
caught the eye of Ronnie Eldridge, chair of
the Women’s Issues Committee and one
of the most prominent progressives on
the Council throughout the 1990s, who
asked her to assume the role of counsel
to her committee. Eldridge, Feerick said,
was among her earliest endorsers in this
year’s race.
Feerick’s work soon caught the eye of Ronnie
Eldridge, chair of the Women’s Issues Committee
and one of the most prominent progressives
on the Council.
A good deal of the work on Eldridge’s
committee involved addressing domestic
violence and sexual assault, and it was on
these efforts that Feerick first met Chris-
tine Quinn, now the Council speaker but
at that time head of the New York City
Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project.
Feerick said that as committee counsel,
she began to work with a broader range
of Council members and developed the
skills she argued will be essential if she is
elected.
“Working as counsel to a commit-
tee, you brief the Council members,” she
explained. “That’s one of the strengths I
bring. Just like a Council member tries to
lobby fellow members to get on board with
a piece of legislation, when you’re a coun-
sel to a committee, you are briefing Coun-
cil members, and you have a responsibil-
ity to let them know what the cons could
possibly be or what the objections are.”
Asked about last year’s storm over a
Council leadership “slush fund,” Feer-
ick treaded carefully. “If the speaker
>Ê˜œÜ
has funds to further the agenda of the
speaker’s office, then that’s what it is,
but it’s not something else,” she said. In
the wake of the scandal, however, “great
strides have been made” in reforming the
member item appropriations, in terms of
vetting and transparency, Feerick said.
3 – 16 SEP 2009 27
And she challenged the notion, wide-
ly batted about, that Quinn has moved
away from her progressive roots. “I think
that the issues that the speaker has put
forth as priorities are harkening back to
where she came from, that’s where she
came in,” she said.
A supporter of marriage equality for
same-sex couples, Feerick talked about
her efforts to lobby veteran Queens Dem-
ocratic State Senator George Onorato —
to date, resistant to the measure pend-
ing in Albany — to come around on the
issue. Noting that she is only discussing
those conversations because Onorato
“seems to have” done so already, she
suggested the senator has demonstrat-
ed a more open mind than some others
she has raised the issue with. “Senator
Onorato has always listened, reflected,
and thought,” Feerick said. “And he
asked questions. And my conversations
with him, like I said, have been respect-
ful, and while we may have a difference
of opinion, it is not like other conversa-
tions have been.”
As is often the case in Democratic
primaries, the battle for union endorse-
ments has been spirited in the 26th
District. Van Bramer took home three
big prizes — the Working Families
Party, the Service Employees Interna-
Gay,
Str8,
Bi,
Curious?
tional Union Local 1199 United Health
Care Workers East, and SEIU’s Local
32BJ, the building service workers.
For her part, Feerick won endorsement
by the United Federation of Teachers,
run until recently by out lesbian Randi
Weingarten, who has now turned her
attention to the national union, and
the Retail, Wholesale, and Department
Store Union.
Media outlets have raised questions
about the relationship between the
Working Families Party and a for-prof-
it political consulting affiliate, Data
and Field Services, that it created;
Feerick has filed a complaint with the
city Campaign Finance Board seeking
an inquiry into Van Bramer’s relation-
ship with DFS. Ten days after the DFS
story first appeared, however, Citizens
Union, widely seen as the city’s lead-
ing good government group, stated its
“preference” for Van Bramer.
(Full disclosure: Jimmy Van Bramer
was a frequent contributor to Lesbian and /ÀÞʈÌÊÀiiÊUÊ
Gay New York, where this reporter was
his editor. Pauline Park has been an occa-
sional contributor to both LGNY and Gay
646-731-6657
City News. Melissa Sklarz recently wrote
a story for Gay City News about her visit
to the White House to attend President
Barack Obama’s LGBT Pride Reception.) 1800GayLive.com MC 7002 Ent only 18+ *Limited Free Trial Photography by Kevin E. McPherson
 3 - 16 SEP 2009

28/ Politics
䉴 POLITICS, from p.1
lished from the start simpatico
with fellow LGBTQ community
members roughly a generation
younger. As part of its effort to
embrace youth of varying gender
identities, FIERCE typically asks
speakers at its events to state
their “preferred gender pronoun”
or PGP, by which they wish to
be identified. Passannante-Derr,
also an attorney, was initially
caught off-guard by the ques-
tion, saying she wanted to be
called “Maria.” Prompted again,
she said that “her” is her PGP.
Kurland answered the same
question by saying audience
members could apply any gender
identification to her they wished,
adding later, “I am in a lot of ways
gender-nonconforming.”
P a s s a n n a n t e - D e r r, a t
other points, was proactive in
embracing goals in line with
FIERCE’s agenda, calling for
an inspector general in the
public schools to investigate
harassment and discrimina-
tion against queer students,
saying she “firmly believes”
any redevelopment approved
at Houston Street’s Pier 40 will
include a 24-hour drop-in cen-
ter for LGBTQ young people,
and pledging that if elected to
the Council she would make
discretionary “member item”
money available to the group.
Kurland seconded her rival’s
commitment on Pier 40, and on
many broad policy questions,
the two candidates largely hit
the same notes. Many of their
differences emerged when they
got down to specifics. On sever-
al occasions, Kurland empha-
sized two leading themes of her
campaign — that choices need
not be made between polar -
ized options and that public
decision-making must be more
open and transparent. Speak-
ing to the simmering ten-
sions in recent years between
LGBTQ youth of color and
more affluent and less racially
diverse neighborhood resi-
dents, she said, “I want to find
a way for us to dialogue better
with the greater community.
I think we’ve been put into a
false dichotomy where it’s the
bad kids versus the bad com-
munity residents, and I don’t
think that really exists, and
the way we’re going to do that
is to roll up our shirtsleeves,
with respect for all of us.”
At the same time, Kurland
argued, the procedures in place
for approving how land regulat-
ed by the city, such as the piers,
can be used — governed by
the Uniform Land Use Review
Procedure, or ULURP — dis-
enfranchises certain portions
of the community, in this case,
the FIERCE constituency. “The
ULURP system that happens
now often times excludes com-
munity involvement,” she said.
“We need to find creative ways to
bring everyone to the table.”
Passannante-Derr took great
exception to Kurland’s asser-
tion. “I disagree with your first
statement that the ULURP pro-
cess is not all-inclusive of the
community,” she said, pointing
out that approval is generally an
eight-month effort that involves
numerous levels and agencies
of government, all of them open
to public input. Expressing her
confidence that a 24-hour drop-
in center at Pier 40 could and
should result from the process,
she said, “With your support
and your participation, at the
board, at the borough president
level, at city planning, and the
City Council, that will happen.
But you have to be at the hear-
ings with your testimony… It’s a
lot of work.”
FIERCE challenged Passan-
nante-Derr to explain why,
during the debate several
years ago about the Christo-
pher Street pier’s curfew, she
supported the relocation of
the LGBTQ night scene to Pier
54 at West 13th Street, which
the group said was out of the
way, less safe, and inherently
a temporary fix, given the like-
lihood of redevelopment there.
The candidate responded that
the proposal “was not in any
way disrespectful,” but rather
aimed at opening up space for
young people wishing to stay
out later than 1 a.m. End-
ing discussion of the topic in
something of a stalemate, Pas-
sannante-Derr said, “If it’s still
unacceptable, I’d like to know
why it’s still unacceptable.”
But when asked about
opportunities for making more
affordable food available at
Pier 45, just above Christo-
pher Street, Passannante-Derr
laid responsibility back at
FIERCE’s feet. “Why don’t you
start something down there?”
she asked. Then, recalling that
the group is a non-profit, she
added, “Maybe you could have
a separate, for-profit organiza-
tion that would provide food
down on Pier 45.”
Desireé Marshall, the evening’s
“referee,” read an email from
Quinn, expressing her regret
at missing the event and recall-
ing efforts her office had worked
on with FIERCE in recent years.
Kurland, in turn, used regret-
ful tones in noting the Council
speaker’s absence. “I am sad-
dened that she is not here,” she
said of Quinn. “LGBTQ youth
have been ignored for too long.
And you deserve to have all three
of the candidates here tonight…
We need our elected officials lis-
tening better.”
Passannante-Derr passed on
that chance to swipe at Quinn,
but later said, “Years ago I sup-
ported Chris. I thought she was
a reformer.”

䉴 LETTERS, from p.15
August 22, 2009
To the Editor:
I feel compelled to write in defense
of Speaker Christine Quinn in light of the
debates that took place last week. I was
appalled in reading how Speaker Quinn’s
opponents spoke about her tenure as
Council member. Classifying this elec-
tion as being about “an arrogant incum-
bent that has sold out our community
for a right-wing Republican mayor” is
ludicrous and borderline stupid. Mayor
Bloomberg is hardly a right-winger and
Christine Quinn is far from arrogant.
I know firsthand how the speaker is
effective, empathetic, and good-hearted.
In 2004, I, along with others, launched
the HIV Forum, a grass-roots community
initiative to raise awareness about ris-
ing HIV infection rates and rampant and
very dangerous crystal meth use among
gay men. Speaker Quinn worked lock-
step with community groups to do all
that government could do to support our
work. She was critical to our success and
to our being able to sustain a campaign
for four years. I saw up-close how con-
sidered she is in her decision-making;
she looks at all angles and her passion
for doing good for the community was
apparent.
She may not have been perfect so far,
but her heart has been in the right place.
Given her record, I believe she deserves
respect, and it was clear from Osborne’s
article she wasn’t given her due at those
debates. Is it wrong to challenge a public
official? Absolutely not. Should she get a
free pass because of her good work? No.
That’s her job.
What I take issue with is using hyper-
bole to disrespect an incumbent who has
clearly worked hard, fought and battled
many competing interests while still
achieving a great deal for our community.
I fully support the speaker for a third term.
We should be so lucky to have someone of
her commitment and character serve as
our representative again.
Daniel Carlson
Chelsea
Co-Founder, HIV Forum
New York City
DROMM VERSUS
SEARS
September 1, 2009
To the editor:
On September 15, primary voters in
Queens City Council District 25 have the
opportunity to return someone to office who
has been a strong ally of the LGBT community
(“Homophobia Must Cease in Queens Council
Race,” by Paul Schindler, posted online Aug.
7). Helen Sears has co-sponsored every piece
of LGBT-specific and LGBT-inclusive legisla-
tion introduced in the Council since she was
first elected in 2001, including the transgen-
der rights law enacted in 2002, the Dignity in
All Schools Act (prohibiting bias harassment
in schools) enacted in 2004, and a domestic
partnership benefits law (ultimately invali-
dated by the Court of Appeals).
Helen Sears has also secured funding
for LGBT community organizations, including
Queens Pride House and the AIDS Center of
Queens County (ACQC). Even the Lesbian &
Gay Democratic Club of Queens — founded
by Danny Dromm, one of Helen’s primary
opponents — has taken note of her strong
commitment to LGBT equality, as it did in
the December 2005 issue of its newslet-
ter: “On November 7th, the club was hon-
ored to host Council Member Helen Sears
who Represents: Parts of Jackson Heights,
Elmhurst, East Elmhurst, Rego Park, Wood-
side, Corona. Ms. Sears spoke passionately
about her commitment to securing full LGBT
rights and reminding the audience that she
has been a long time supporter... Each time
Ms. Sears attends the club, she wows us
with her ability to speak on a wide range of
issues of importance to our members. (Its no
wonder she was re-elected in a landslide the
next day to 4 more years.)”
The LGBT community could not have a
stronger ally in the City Council than Helen
Sears, and if you live in the 25th district, I
urge you to vote to re-elect her as our Coun-
cil member.
Pauline Park
Jackson Heights
WRITE US!
Address letters to the editor, of no more
than 250 words, to:
Editor@gaycitynews.com ;
Or fax them to 646-452-2501;
Or mail them to 145 Sixth Ave.,
1st fl., New York 10013.
Please include your phone number, for
confirmation purposes only. The editors
reserve the right to edit all letters due to
space constraints.

䉴 BRIEFS, from p.11
Court ruled unanimously in favor
of equal marriage rights for gay
and lesbian couples, and the
Democratic leaders of both the
State Senate and House have
vowed to block a constitutional
amendment vote to overturn the
decision. Republican critics of
the court, however, have vowed
to keep their battle against mar-
riage equality alive. — PS
Repeated Anti-
Gay Taunts
Forces Two
Teachers on
Leave
The Minneapolis-area Anoka-
Hennepin School District, Minne-
sota’s largest, have placed two
high school teachers on leave
after settling a suit by a student
who said he had been repeated-
ly taunted with anti-gay harass-
ment, the Minneapolis Star
Tribune reports. According to an
investigation by the Department
of Human Rights, Alex Merritt,
18, was a junior at the Second-
ary Technical Education Program
in suburban Anoka during the
2007-2008 school year, when
Diane Cleveland, a 39-year-old
social studies teacher, said of
him, “The boy’s fence swings
both ways,” as his classmates
looked on. When Merritt wrote
a report on Benjamin Franklin,
Cleveland commented that he
had a “thing for older men.”
Walter Filson, a 56-year-
old law enforcement teacher,
was found to have told Mer-
ritt’s fellow students that the
youth “enjoys wearing women’s
clothes,” and, in another effort
to snuff out any remaining inter-
est in American history, respond-
ed to his plans to do a report on
Abraham Lincoln by saying,
“Since you like older men.”
Cleveland’s attorney, Phil Vil-
laume, claimed, “Our position is
that she is taking an unpaid, vol-
untary leave of absence at her
request.”
Merritt eventually transferred
to Zimmerman High School,
from which he graduated this
year. The Department of Human
Rights findings led the Anoka-
Hennepin District to make a set-
tlement of $25,000 to the young
man. — PS
WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM 3 – 16 SEP 2009 29

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䉴 SNYDER, from p.6
ful that many of her readers discerned
the subtlety she now ascribes to that
passage.
In one respect, “25 to Life” is emblem-
atic of the needle Snyder is working to
thread in the three-way Democratic
primary contest for district attorney.
In the book, she writes about presid-
ing “over the trials of some of the most
violent drug gangs” in the 1980s and
1990s, when the city at times staggered
under the weight of serious crime.
Those sections of “25 to Life,” the title
itself, and her frequent cable television
appearances established her bona fides
as a no-nonsense crime fighter, but she
now says that image masked the book’s
attention to alternatives to incarcera-
tion for nonviolent offenders, particu-
larly youth.
In a recently issued position paper
on LGBT issues, Snyder pledged to
focus on queer homeless youth, often
both victimized and the targets of law
enforcement efforts, in her work on
criminal justice alternatives. Her cam-
paign biography details her involve-
ment with Abraham House, a Bronx
facility that houses convicts who would
otherwise be incarcerated and offers
services to anyone who has been in
prison and their families, as well as
with the Andrew Glover Youth Program,
which is a similar effort aimed at young
people on the Lower East Side and in
East Harlem.
The risk that Snyder’s criminal jus-
tice perspective might be viewed as too
hard-line and inflexible by the liberal
Manhattan Democratic primary elec-
torate is typified by the flak she caught
in 2005 over her support for the death
penalty, when she unsuccessfully chal-
lenged incumbent Morgenthau.
In this year’s campaign, Snyder has
said her previous advocacy for the
death penalty applied only to cases
involving terrorists and serial child
rapist murderers, and that in the past
several years she concluded that the
risk of wrongful conviction outweighed
any justification for using that sanction
even in those limited circumstances.
In interviews with Gay City News and
at an April debate sponsored by the
Stonewall Democratic Club, Snyder’s
opponents, Richard Aborn and Cyrus
Vance, Jr., ridiculed that change of
heart, saying that evidence about exe-
cutions of innocent defendants has
been discussed for decades and sug-
gesting the shift was a purely political
calculation made in advance of another
DA race.
Snyder explained that her work on
behalf of the Westchester County dis-
trict attorney, for whom she led a year-
long investigation that exonerated Jef-
frey Deskovic, convicted in 1990 at the
age of 17 for the rape and murder of a
high school classmate, “was the kind of
saturation I had never had… I learned
a lot.”
She pointed out that former Supreme
Court Justice Harry Blackmun, after
more than two decades on the bench
as a supporter of the death penalty,
switched his position in 1994, say-
ing he was “tired of tinkering with the
machinery of death.” Sitting Justice
John Paul Stevens more recently came
to the same conclusion.
“I am able to listen to other points of
view,” Snyder said. “I hope that people
can evolve. I evolved.”
The power of Snyder’s story about
Deskovic was blunted, however, late in
July when the former convict endorsed
Aborn.
Even as Snyder makes clear she
has proven herself tough enough to
take on big city violence — “serious
crimes need to be treated seriously
and I offer no apology for that” — her
campaign emphasizes reform and pro-
gressive preventive alternatives. She
has pledged to aggressively prosecute
hate crimes — significantly commit-
ting to combat the targeting of “victims
because of gender, identity or sexual
orientation,” despite the fact that New
York law does not explicitly offer pro-
tections for the transgender communi-
ty (the few prosecutions to date typical-
ly relying instead on evidence of either
gender or sexual orientation bias). Sny-
der said she would establish a dedicat-
ed hate crimes unit in the DA’s office.
Building on her credentials in sex
crime prosecutions, Snyder is also
interested in taking on domestic vio-
lence, pledging to elevate the office’s
efforts on that score to a full bureau.
She supports expanding the DA’s
domestic violence expertise in situ-
ations involving unmarried couples
and LGBT victims, and committed
to increasing HIV/ AIDS awareness
among ADAs and other staff.
Snyder boasts the support of several
influential progressive women in New
York politics, including Geraldine Fer-
raro, the 1984 Democratic vice presi-
dential nominee, Ruth Messenger, the
1997 Democratic mayoral nominee,
and Karen Burstein, the out lesbian
1994 Democratic attorney general can-
didate, and is also endorsed by EMI-
LY’s List, which works to elect women
to public office. Among her LGBT sup-
porters, in addition to Hibsher, are the
Stonewall Democratic Club, East Side
State Assemblyman Micah Kellner,
Sean Patrick Maloney, who worked in
the Clinton White House and until late
last year in top posts for Governors
Eliot Spitzer and David Paterson, and
Richard Socarides, who was also an
aide to the former president. Former
Mayor Ed Koch and Citizens Union,
a good government group, have also
endorsed Snyder.

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BILLIE JEAN KING
ENDORSES MIKE BLOOMBERG FOR MAYOR
Mike is a strong supporter of
marriage equality.
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W\/ZPO\gO\RVOaUcO`O\bSSRS_cOZ`WUVba
O\RPS\S¿bab]<SeG]`Y1WbgQ]c^ZSa[O``WSR
SZaSeVS`S
Mike works to address health
issues unique to our community.
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VSOZbVQ]dS`OUST]`R][SabWQ^O`b\S`aQ`SObSR
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3 – 16 SEP 2009 WWW.GAYCITYNEWS.COM
“Mike Bloomberg really cares
about the LGBT community. He
wants to make New York City a
better place in every way.”
—Billie Jean King,
Tennis legend and LGBT activist
Mike stands behind our community
in combating discrimination.
’;WYSQ`SObSRbVSµ@Sa^SQbT]`/ZZ¶
O\bWPcZZgW\U^`]U`O[T]`1WbgaQV]]ZaO\R
SfbS\RSRbVS1WbgVc[O\`WUVbaZOe
And…Mike knows our
work is not yet done!
www.mikebloomberg.com/LGBT
Paid for by Bloomberg for Mayor 2009