FEBRUARY

26

2016

VOLUME 47

ISSUE 09

AMERICAS GAY NEWS SOURCE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Newly discovered documents shed light on 1960s-era

White House scandal that led to ouster of 2 senior aides
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com

President LYNDON B. JOHNSON (right) requested the resignation of his

longtime aide WALTER JENKINS (left) after he was arrested a second time
for having sex at a YMCA near the White House, according to newly released
documents. A second aide, who was revealed to be gay, was also ousted.

President Lyndon B. Johnsons longtime aide and White House special assistant Walter
Jenkins, whose 1964 arrest for alleged homosexual conduct created an uproar in the midst of
Johnsons re-election campaign, revealed in a condential memo that another longtime Johnson
aide was accused of engaging in homosexual acts, according to documents released for the rst
time last month by the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas.
The newly released documents include an October 1964 draft memo attributed to Jenkins that
reveals that a government background check discovered that White House secretary and Johnson
family friend Robert Bob Waldron had engaged in homosexual acts in the recent past.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 13

Black voters talk Clinton support

Shes always been a
voice for the voiceless
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
The conventional wisdom is Hillary Clinton has a
wall of support in the South in the Democratic primary
because of her popularitywith black voters.
One recent NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll has
Clinton up 68-21 percent over Sen. Bernie Sanders
among black voters.
That conventional wisdom was reinforced in a series
of interviews the Washington Blade conducted with
black LGBT voters in the South this week.Thosewho
spoke to the Blade in the days before primary contests
in their states are uniformly in favor of Clinton for a
range of reasons.
Alvin McEwen, a gay Columbia, S.C.-based blogger
who writes for Holy Bullies & Headless Monsters,
said he came to support Clinton because she has a

more realistic approach to her proposals.

Im 45, Im not one for revolution, McEwen said.
Im a very pragmatic individual. Its all about planning
and execution and the work. You got to build. It
doesnt happen fast. So, Clinton is the closer to my
style of how things move along for us or will happen
for us in the LGBT community.
Based on her record, McEwen said he thinks Clinton
can make things happen in Congress or make
things happen even without lawmakers if they decide
to obstruct her.
Were going to have to have somebody who can
work with Congress, or if Congress pulls that nonsense
they did when Obama was president, somebody
who knows the ins and outs, McEwen said. I think
Clintons the one to do it.
The views of black Americans will carry particular
weight in the upcoming Democratic primary on
Saturday in South Carolina, where an estimated 55
percent of the electorate in 2008 was black.
Other states in the South with signicant black
populations will follow South Carolina on Super

Gay blogger ALVIN MCEWEN supports Hillary Clinton.

PHOTO COURTESY OF MCEWEN

Tuesday. Among those states are Virginia, Alabama,

Georgia, Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas. The
contest in Louisiana will follow on March 5, followed
CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

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0 4 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

LO CA L N E W S

Victim in double murder led gay domestic violence report

Suspect released in
unrelated stabbing
case in 2014
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
One of two men shot to death in an allmale group home on Feb. 18 called D.C.
police for help in a gay-related domestic
violence incident at the home at 509 58th St.,
N.E., last August, according to a police report
and a police source familiar with the incident.
The man who sought help in the domestic
violence incident, Clifton David Francis, 51,
and his roommate, David Aumon Watkins Jr.,
45, died in a hail of bullets from a handgun
allegedly red by a third roommate at the
house, 29-year-old David Joshua Bright, a
police adavit states.
Police
charged
Bright
with
premeditated rst-degree murder while
armed in connection with the fatal
shootings. Police have yet to disclose
whether they have identied a motive for
the double murder.
Two separate police incident reports
led on Aug. 31, 2015, identify Francis
as the person who called for help in a
domestic violence incident at the group
home on that day.
On the listed date and time, C-1
[Complainant 1] reported to MPD that
S-1 [Suspect 1] made threats to harm
him, the report states. S-1 was placed
under arrest and transported to the Sixth
District for processing, it says.
A second incident report led earlier
that day was in response to another
domestic related call to police by Francis
in connection with the same incident.
The report says four people at the house
were involved in a verbal altercation
regarding living arrangements.
It says, No physical assaults took place.
All parties were advised of the domestic
violence laws in the District of Columbia.
Neither report identies the suspect
who was arrested or the oense
with which the suspect was charged.
However, a police arrest adavit led in
court identies the suspect as 57-yearold Kenneth Sloan and says Sloan was
charged with attempted threats to do
bodily harm.
The adavit says Sloan was previously
in a romantic relationship with a witness in
the domestic violence case who is believed
to also have been living in the house.
Sources familiar with the house, including
the police source, say all of the occupants of
the house at that time were men, indicating
the domestic violence report led by
Francis was gay related, even though the
police reports dont specically identify any
of the parties as gay.
Court records show a judge dismissed

the case against Sloan in November 2015

for want of prosecution, a term used in
situations where prosecutors are unable
to move forward with a case within a
required time period.
Court records show Bright, whos
charged in the double murder, has been
arrested in D.C. at least eight times on
various misdemeanor and felony charges
beginning in 2006. One of his prior arrests
on May 26, 2014, involves a charge of
assault with a dangerous weapon for
allegedly stabbing a man in the abdomen
in the 100 block of E Street, N.W.
A police arrest adavit says four
witnesses
observed
the
incident,
described the suspect to police, and
told police the suspect ed the scene
in an old model Chevrolet sedan. The
adavit says a police cruiser gave chase
to the suspects vehicle in a description
reminiscent of a Hollywood movie. It says
the suspect, later identied as Bright,
drove over sidewalks striking other cars,
drove in the wrong direction on a oneway street, and drove through numerous
red lights before nally being stopped by
pursuing police cars.
In a development likely to raise concern
among community activists, a prosecutor
with the U.S. Attorneys Oce led a
motion approved by a judge in December
2014 calling for the case to be dismissed
without prejudice. A dismissal without
prejudice allows prosecutors to reinstate
the case at a later date.
William Miller, a spokesperson for the
U.S. Attorneys Oce, declined to disclose
the reason for the decision to dismiss the
case, saying his oce has a longstanding
policy of not revealing reasons for
pursuing or not pursuing criminal cases.
Had Bright been convicted on the
charge of assault with a dangerous
weapon he would have faced a possible
maximum sentence of 10 years in jail.
The home where Bright and the two
men he is accused of killing lived is
operated by Friendship Place, a D.C.
non-prot organization that provides
temporary housing and social services
for homeless people in immediate need
of housing. The services are provided
under a program funded by the D.C.
Department of Human Services, the
groups director, Jean-Michel Giraud, told
the Washington Blade.
Giraud said Bright, whom police say had
been living in the house, was not enrolled
in Friendship Places housing program. He
said the program arranges for clients to
obtain their own separate leases from the
owner of the house and they are free to
invite others to stay at the house.
They can do in their own home what you
and I can do in our own home as long as
the landlord has no objection, Giraud said.
He said that under privacy rules he could
not disclose whether a resident in the

house raised concerns about a threat of

domestic violence. Giraud said employees
involved in operating the groups housing
program receive training on LGBT-related
issues and that LGBT clients are always
welcome in the program.
The arrest adavit for the double
slaying at the house on 58th Street, N.E.,
last week says a witness who was living
in the house called police after he heard
gunshots red in the house and allegedly
saw Bright shooting Francis multiple
times in the living room.

The witness reported seeing Bright

running in and out of the house and
up and down a staircase leading to the
bedroom where he was staying several
times before the shooting began, the
adavit says.
While shooting at decedent (Francis) at
close range, W-1 [Witness 1] states, Day-Day
was yelling, This will teach you! the adavit
says. It says that the witness and others
knew Bright by the nickname Day-Day.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

GREGORY ANGELO called the CPAC news a watershed moment in Log Cabins history.
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

CPAC accepts Log Cabin as sponsor

After years of being turned away, the national LGBT group Log Cabin
Republicans received notice last week that its application to become a sponsor
of the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference, known as CPAC, has been
approved, according to Log Cabin President Gregory Angelo.
Angelo announced what he called a watershed moment in Log Cabins history
at the regularly scheduled meeting of the groups D.C. chapter on Wednesday
night.
I couldnt wait to share this news with all of you as so many of you have been
asking me about this for probably a better part of a year now, Angelo told the
gathering, which included Jose Cunningham, the gay chair of the D.C. Republican
Party.
Im happy to say, Im pleased to say, Im honored to say that this morning Log
Cabin Republicans was accepted as formal sponsors at this years Conservative
Political Action Conference, Angelo said.
His jubilant announcement came one year after Angelo and LGBT conservatives
criticized the American Conservative Union, which organizes the annual CPAC
event, for rejecting Log Cabins request to become a sponsor on grounds that it
wasnt conservative enough and didnt submit a proper application.
Last years rejection followed similar rejections of Log Cabins request to
become a CPAC sponsor over the past several years. CPAC ocials in past years
had also refused to accept as a sponsor the conservative LGBT group GOProud.
Matt Schlapp, the ACU chair, has denied that his organization, which is
considered the nations preeminent conservative advocacy group, turned down
Log Cabins application in previous years because of anti-gay bias. Schlapp noted
that many prominent conservative advocates who are gay have attended and
participated in CPAC for many years.
Angelo declined to disclose the cost of Log Cabins sponsorship for the CPAC
event, but the CPAC website shows that the cost of the level of sponsorship that
Angelo appeared to be describing Wednesday night is $7,500.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

0 6 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

Bowser meets with Mariela Castro in Cuba

D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser on Monday
met with the daughter of Cuban President
Ral Castro who promotes LGBT-specic
issues.
A press release from D.C. ocials said
that Mariela Castro, director of Cubas
National Center for Sexual Education
that is known by the Spanish acronym
CENESEX, led Bowser on a tour of her
organizations headquarters in Havanas
Vedado neighborhood.
The press release described CENESEX
as a teaching and research institution in
the area of human sexuality, best known
for advocating for tolerance of LGBTQ
Cubans. It also applauded Mariela Castros
organization as a leader in education
concerning contraception and AIDS.
A city is only as strong as the health
and well-being of its residents, said
Bowser in the press release. No matter
D.C. Mayor MURIEL BOWSER this
week visited the organization run
your background or economic status,
by Mariela Castro, the daughter of
everyone has the right to quality health
Cuban President Ral Castro.
care and its encouraging to see that
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY
Cuba has made that a top priority.
Bowser on Tuesday spoke about the
meeting during a conference call with reporters from Havana.
We found it a very informative session, she said in response to the
Washington Blades question.
Bowser told the Blade that CENESEX focuses on human rights to eliminate
homophobia and transphobia across Cuba. She added that Mariela Castros
organization is analogous to non-prots in D.C. that work toward ending
discrimination and promoting human rights.
Bowser is among the ocials from D.C., Maryland and Virginia who are taking
part in an exploratory mission to Cuba that the Greater Washington Hispanic
Chamber of Commerce organized.
D.C. Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson and D.C. Councilmen Jack Evans
(D-Ward 2) and Vincent Orange (D-At-Large) are among those from the nations
capital who are taking part in the trip. Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett,
Montgomery County Councilwoman Nancy Navarro and Virginia Secretary of
Commerce and Trade Maurice Jones are also part of the Greater Washington
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce delegation to Cuba.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Clippinger endorses Van Hollen for U.S. Senate

Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen on Tuesday announced that gay state Del.
Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) has endorsed his U.S. Senate campaign.
I am excited to endorse Chris Van Hollen for U.S. Senate, Clippinger told the
Washington Blade in a statement.
Van Hollen as a member of the Maryland Senate co-sponsored a 2001 bill that
banned discrimination based on sexual orientation in the state. Clippinger also
pointed out to the Blade that Van Hollen politically and nancially supported
the campaign in support of Marylands same-sex marriage law ahead of the
2012 referendum on it.
The Baltimore City Democrat noted that Van Hollen is a co-sponsor of the
Equality Act that would add sexual orientation and gender identity to federal civil
rights law. Clippinger also pointed out that the congressman is a member of the
U.S. House of Representatives Transgender Equality Task Force.
Chris has been a leader on important issues for LGBT Marylanders, said
Clippinger.
Van Hollen declared his candidacy last March shortly after U.S. Sen.
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) announced her retirement from the U.S. Senate. The
congressman who has represented Marylands 8th Congressional District since
2003 will face Congresswoman Donna Edwards in the April 26 Democratic
primary.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

LO CA L N E W S

Gay minister seeks

Baltimore Council seat
AIDS activist, father of 5, is
second out gay man to run
By STEVE CHARING
Citing aws in the Baltimore City
government and drawing upon his own
experience of discrimination, Rev. Kinji
Scott has led as a candidate for the
Baltimore City Council in the 5th District. In
doing so, he becomes the second openly
gay candidate to run for the City Council in
2016. Kelly Cross recently announced he is
a candidate for the 12th District.
Scott, 46, and a father of ve sons, will
be among seven candidates vying for
the seat in the 5th Councilmanic District,
which includes the West Baltimore
neighborhoods of Pimlico, Mount
Washington, Cheswolde and Glen. It has
been represented by the retiring Rochelle
Rikki Spector for the past 36 years.
I am running for oce because the
Baltimore City Council has lost touch with
the citizens, Scott told the Blade. I am
not a politician.
Scott said that there is a need for a voice
that represents the peoples interests and
not those of the politicians and noted he
is that proven voice.
I have stood against the city
administration,
criminals
in
our
community, and Baltimore City Police
Department on behalf of Baltimoreans,
he said. I will continue when I am elected
to the City Council.
Scott, who prides himself as being the
only gay Baptist minister in Baltimore,
was an activist most of his life. However,
he says a tragic event in 2005 motivated
him to do more.
He had been a group home manager
for the now defunct Fellowship of Lights
a place in Baltimore where homeless
or runaway gay or straight youths ages 12
to 17 came for shelter. When Scott found
suitable housing for a 16-year-old boy
named Vatell Murray, who was a resident of
the home, the Baltimore City Department
of Social Services dismissed it, according to
Scott, and instead placed the teenager in
an area where people had threatened to
kill him. Department ocials, said Scott,
had promised to keep him safe.
Tragically, the teen was murdered
45 days later, and after denouncing the
tragedy publicly, Scott said he was red
from his job. Since then he has spoken
out on such community issues as lead
paint poisoning, juvenile services, housing,
police reform and public education. He
has also been a strong voice concerning
hate crimes against LGBT community,

Rev. KINJI SCOTT is running for Baltimore

City Council in the 5th district.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SCOTT

such as the beating of Kenni Shaw in 2012.

Scott accelerated his activism after his
experience at a Baltimore City Health
Department clinic soon after being
diagnosed in 2012 with the co-infections
HIV and syphilis. Scott said contracting
both infections is not uncommon from
MSM encounters.
Syphilis ulcers on the genitals establish
entry ways for HIV, Scott explained. We
cant simply talk about HIV without talking
about syphilis. Baltimore City Health
Department has to do a better spreading
this message in our schools, churches
and places where people gather like bars
and clubs. Especially when it comes to
our young LGBTQ community members
that message has to be established.
He added, The Baltimore City Police
stepped up patrolling the infamous meat
rack in Mount Vernon where young black
men sex workers can be found, but the
Health Department canvassing and
outreach has not increased. That needs
to happen and when I am elected I will
get it done.
Scott earned a masters in American
history from Southern Illinois University and
has completed all but his thesis for a second
masters in city planning from Morgan State
University. He said his lifes experiences and
his zeal to help others in need provide the
rationale for his candidacy.
I am an outspoken and passionate
activist with a history of advocating on
behalf of Baltimoreans, he said. I want
to advocate on behalf of Baltimoreans as
a member of Baltimore City Council.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NATIONAL NEWS

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 0 7

Can Sens. MARCO RUBIO or TED CRUZ stop Donald Trump? We should nd out next week.

MAYA YOUNG was found stabbed to death in Philadelphia.

SCREEN CAPTURE; COURTESY OF NBC PHILADELPHIA

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTOS; RUBIO BY LEE WHITMAN, CRUZ BY MICHAEL KEY

Super Tuesday should

clarify tumultuous 2016 race
12 states up for grabs in
make-or-break contest
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
The result of a tumultuous presidential
primary could become clear next week
when the results of the Super Tuesday
contests are known.
Combined with earlier contests and
the Democratic South Carolina primary
on Saturday, a total of 16 states will have
had their say in the presidential primary
for both parties.
On Super Tuesday, alternatively known
as the SEC Primary because of the
states involved, voters will give voice to
their picks in Alaska, Texas, Colorado,
Oklahoma,
Minnesota,
Arkansas,
Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia,
Vermont and Massachusetts.
On the Democratic side, former
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is
expected to fare well because many
of these states have signicant black
populations, where she enjoys a wide
margin of support.
Last week, an NBC/WSJ/Marist poll
found Clinton had a 28-point lead over
her rival Sen. Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.)
in South Carolina. Compared to the 60
percent support for Clinton, Sanders had
32 percent.
That margin of support for Clinton
extends to states on Super Tuesday.
An Emerson poll published Wednesday
found Clinton leading 56-40 over Sanders
in Texas. On Tuesday, a Fox 5 Atlanta poll
predicted Clinton would trounce Sanders
by a 57-29 margin in the state.
But Sanders has a few bright spots.
An Emerson poll on Monday found the
race between Clinton and Sanders in
Massachusetts was essentially tied, 46-46.
A Castleton University poll gave Sanders
a whopping 83-9 lead over Clinton in his
home state of Vermont.

A Washington Free Beacon poll last

week found Sanders leading Clinton 4943 in Colorado, which recently legalized
marijuana. According to a report in
Politico, the Sanders campaign has
sought to muscle up in Minnesota on the
belief his message would resonate in that
state. For Sanders, those two states will
likely serve as a test for his endurance
going forward.
On the Republican side, Super Tuesday
may be the last chance for the Republican
establishment to stop Donald Trump
from winning the partys nomination.
After former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush
dropped out of the race following his
abysmal performance in the Republican
South Carolina primary, many Republican
ocials endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio
(R-Fla.) in hopes he would save the party,
but that didnt seem to have any impact
on the Nevada Republican caucus, where
Trump ran away with a victory on Tuesday
by a double-digit margin.
Polls this week show Trump has the
lead in several Super Tuesday states.
A Fox 5 Atlanta poll predicts Trump
will win Georgia with 34 percent of the
vote, an Emerson poll predicts hell win
Massachusetts with 50 percent of the vote
and a Castleton University poll predicted
hed win Vermont by 32 percent.
One state Trump may not win on Super
Tuesday is Texas, where an Emerson poll
on Wednesday showed the real estate
magnate essentially tied with Sen. Ted
Cruz (R-Texas), 29-28, in the senators
home state, followed by Rubio at 25
percent.
Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired
neurosurgeon
Ben
Carson
have
essentially become afterthoughts as
they continue to poll in the single digits.
Kasich, the second-place winner in New
Hampshire, is pinning his hopes on
Midwestern states later in the primary
process after Super Tuesday, while
Carson stays in the race even though he
has no place to win.

Trans woman killed in Philadelphia

PHILADELPHIA A transgender woman was stabbed to death in Philadelphia
this week.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Maya Young was stabbed in the neck
and chest around 11:50 p.m. on Feb. 20 in the citys Frankford neighborhood.
She died a short time later at a local hospital.
My heart is with her sister, family, friends and community, Nellie Fitzpatrick,
director of the Philadelphia Mayors Oce of LGBT Aairs, told the Philadelphia
Inquirer.
The Inquirer reported that police have yet to make an arrest in Youngs death.
Her murder took place a day before San Antonio police found a trans woman
dead in a local motel.
Out In SA, a local LGBT newspaper, reported that ocers found Veronica
Banks Canos body in a bathtub on Feb. 19.
Friends told Out In SA that Cano was in her mid-30s and grew up outside of San
Antonio. They said that she had worked as a nurses assistant in her hometown.

GLAD changes its name

BOSTON A New England-based LGBT legal advocacy group on Feb. 23
announced that it has changed its name.
Gay and Lesbian Advocates and Defenders, which formed in 1978 in response
to an anti-gay police sting at the Boston Public Library, is now GLBTQ Legal
Advocates and Defenders. The new name ensures that the organization will still
be known by the acronym GLAD.
GLADhas blazed a trail of legal victories for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender
and queer people across New England and the nation, said GLAD Executive
Director Janson Wu in a press release that announced the name change. As we
continue our pioneering work, were proud to bringallof our communities into
our name.
GLAD is the latest LGBT advocacy group to change its name in recent years.
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force in 2014 announced it had changed
its name to the National LGBTQ Task Force. Parents, Families and Friends of
Lesbians and Gays in the same year changed its name to PFLAG.

Congressional LGBT group elects new officers

WASHINGTON The LGBT Congressional Sta Association on Feb. 23
announced the election of its 2016 board members.
The organizations members elected Mitchell Rivard as president and Todd
Sloves as vice president respectively. Ross Arnett, Robert Edmonson, Raghib
Allie-Brennan, Yesenia Chavez, Michael Wong and Megan Crouch were also
elected to the LGBT Congressional Sta Associations board of directors.
The LGBT Congressional Sta Association is dedicated to helping LGBT
staers succeed on Capitol Hill and our new board of directors is already putting
together great career and networking events for the new year, said Rivard in
a press release. We are always welcoming new members, both Democrats
and Republicans, and look forward to expanding the great progress the LGBT
CSA has made over the last year. We are a safe and diverse space for any LGBT
Capitol Hill staers looking to meet new people and get advice for their career.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

0 8 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

New effort seeks to shut down

ex-gay group as fraud
National LGBT organizations are set on
Wednesday to le a complaint seeking
to shut down a Virginia-based ex-gay
group for engaging in widely discredited
sexual orientation conversion therapy,
the Washington Blade has learned.
The 38-page complaint, obtained in
advance by the Blade, is set to be led
before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission
and accuses People Can Change
an organization that oers therapy
services to support and guide men who
seek to transition away from unwanted
homosexuality of engaging in fraud.
According to the complaint, People
Can Change oers the services based
on the false premise that being gayis a
mental illness cause by a developmental
disorder an assertion debunked by
major psychological and medical groups,
A complaint has been led against the ex-gay group People Can
which have rejected conversion therapy.
Change.
There is substantial competent and
reliable scientic evidence that conversion
therapy, including the methods employed by PCC, is ineective and can and often does result in signicant
health and safety risks to consumers of those services, as well as economic losses exactly the types of
injuries that are at the heart of the FTCs mission to protect consumers from harm, the complaint says.
The complaint asksthe Federal Trade Commission to stop People Can Change from advertising, marketing
and all forms of business and calls on the agency to investigate other practitioners making similar claims.
The practice of ex-gay conversiontherapy is rejected by major medical and psychological institutions,
including American Psychological Association, the World Health Organization, the American Medical
Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics.
The organizations thatare set to le the complaint are the Human Rights Campaign, the Southern Poverty
Law Center, the National Center for Lesbian Rights and the D.C. oce of the law rm Cooley LLP.
Samantha Ames, #BornPerfect Campaign Coordinator for the National Center for Lesbian Rights, said in
a statement the complaint is the rst clear opportunity for the Obama administration to end conversion
therapy throughout the country.
We sincerely look forward to working with the Federal Trade Commission to investigate this fraudulent
and unethical organization along with every trusted professional who prots from the anguish of LGBTQ
youth and their families, Ames said. But, even more so, we look forward to the day when every human
being, no matter their sexual orientation or gender identity, knows they were born perfect.
The complaint is similar to a lawsuit led in 2012 against the now defunct New Jersey conversion therapy
provider JONAH, or Jews Oering New Alternatives for Healing, to compel the group to stop its program.
Following a trial revealing the organizations bizarre practices, in June of last year a New Jersey jury found
JONAH guilty of consumer fraud. As a result of a subsequent suit, JONAH agreed to pay $3.5 million in legal
fees, shut down entirely, and pay $72,400 in damages to compensate the plaintis who underwent therapy
with the organization.
Scott McCoy, senior sta attorney for the Southern Poverty Law Center, said in a statement the ruling
against JONAH served as the basis forthe complaint before the Federal Trade Commission.
Our case shut JONAH down, shed light on PCCs harmful practices, and helped develop this important
action to stop PCC and others in this industry from misleading and harming more people, McCoy said.
According to the People Can Change website, among the programs aorded by the organization is a 48hour Journey Into Manhood, which oers group exercises for gay and bisexual men to experience healing
from their sexual orientation. Programs this year are set to take place in Florida, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Utah,
Poland, Texas and California. The cost for the U.S. workshops is $650.
The Washington Blade has placed a call toPeople Can Change to request a comment on the complaint
led against the organization.
California, Illinois, New Jersey, Oregon and D.C. have passed laws prohibiting ex-gay therapy for minors.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo this month took executive action to protect youth from the practice and
bar insurers from covering it.
President Obama last year came out against the practice of conversion therapy. Although the Obama
administration has advocated a state-by-state approach to end the practice, the White House has said it
welcomes congressional action on the issue.
CHRIS JOHNSON

NATIONAL NEWS

Miss., Ga., lawmakers approve

religious freedom bills
Lawmakers in Mississippi and Georgia last week
approved religious freedom bills that critics say would
allow anti-LGBT discrimination.
The Mississippi House of Representatives approved
House Bill 1523, which is known as the Religious Liberty
Accommodations Act, by a 80-39 vote margin.
The measure would allow ocials to decline to issue
marriage licenses to same-sex couples because of their
religious beliefs. HB 1523 also applies to those who
decline to participate in the provision of treatments,
counseling or surgeries related to sex reassignment or
gender identity transitioning...based upon a sincerely held
religious belief or moral conviction.
HB 1523 would also apply to businesses, foster care
agencies, employers and landlords.
Laws and government actions that protect the free
exercise of religious beliefs and moral convictions about
marriage and human sexuality will encourage private
citizens and institutions to demonstrate tolerance for
those beliefs and convictions and therefore contribute to
a more respectful, diverse and peaceful society, reads the
measure. In a pluralistic society, in which people of good
faith hold more than one view of marriage, it is possible for
the government to recognize same-sex marriage without
forcing persons with sincerely held religious beliefs or
moral convictions to conform.
HB 1523 denes the sincerely held religious beliefs or
moral convictions that it would protect as marriage is or
should be recognized as the union of one man and one
woman and sexual relations are properly reserved to
such a marriage.
Male (man) or female (woman) refer to an individuals
immutable biological sex as objectively determined by
anatomy and genetics at time of birth, reads the measure.
Critics of HB 1523 also contend it would allow
government agencies to sponsor so-called conversion
therapy.
Once again, legislators are modernizing the Jim Crow
Era with the passage of HB 1523, said the American Civil
Liberties Union of Mississippi in a statement.
When we seek to codify legislation that discriminates
against any class of people no matter our diverse
theological beliefs about marriage we tarnish the
treasure of religious freedom and the highest ideals of
our democracy, it adds.
HB 1523 will now go before the Mississippi Senate.
The Georgia Senate last week approved House Bill 757
by a 38-14 vote margin.
The measure would allow publicly funded organizations
and individuals to deny service to anyone based on their
religious beliefs.
Georgia lawmakers supporting this legislation are
making a grave error that damages their states brand,
said Freedom for All Americans Executive Director Matt
McTighe in a statement. Todays Senate vote is noticeably
out of step with the overwhelming majority of Georgians
who disagree with this type of discriminatory legislation.
Lambda Legal Senior Attorney Beth Littrell in a
statement urged the Georgia House of Representatives to
oppose HB 757.
Freedom of religion does not give any of us the right to
harm others, she said.
The Virginia House of Delegates last week approved a
Kim Davis religious freedom bill. A bill that would protect
pastors who refuse to ociate same-sex marriages is
currently before the Florida Senate.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 0 9

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 0 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

NATIONAL NEWS

Jeb Bush ends presidential campaign

Many pundits now say DONALD TRUMP is the inevitable GOP nominee for president.
PHOTO BY ANDY KATZ; COURTESY OF BIGSTOCK.COM

Trump scores big wins in S.C., Nevada

The Republican caucuses in Nevada on Tuesday resulted in another win for
Donald Trump by a signicant margin, contributing to the sense the real estate
magnate will become the partys nominee in the general election.
With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Trump had 45.9 percent of the vote,
followed by Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) with 23.9 percent and Sen. Ted Cruz
(R-Texas) with 21.4 percent. Ohio Gov. John Kasich and retired neurosurgeon
Ben Carson each tookless than ve percent of the vote.
At his victory speech in Treasure Island Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Trump
predicted his supporters would be celebrating for a long time that night.
We werent expected, a couple of months ago, we werent expected to win
this one, Trump said. You know that, right? We werent. Of course, if you listen
to the pundits, we werent expected to win too much, and now were winning,
winning, winning the country. And soon, the country is going to start winning,
winning, winning.
Trump has a reputation for staying away from LGBT attacks as part of his
campaign, but last week on the Christian Broadcasting Network, he told host
David Brody voters can trust him to oppose same-sex marriage.
They can trust me on traditional marriage, Trump said. I was very much in
favor of having the court rule that it goes to states and let the states decide. And
that was a shocking decision for you and for me and for a lot of other people. But
I was very much in favor of letting the states decide. And thats the way it looked
like it was going and then all the sudden out of nowhere came this very massive
decision and they took it away.
Trump on Saturday won the South Carolina primary.With 100 percent of
precincts reporting, Trumptook 32.5percent of the vote.
In his victory speech in Spartanburg, S.C., Trump hit on his familiar themes of
rebuilding the military, ending Common Core and making America great again
as he bragged about his support and looked to upcoming contests.
Lets go, Trump said. Lets have a big win in Nevada. Lets have a big win in
the SEC. Lets put this thing away and lets make America great again.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) narrowly beat Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for a second place
nish. Rubio claimed 22.5 percent of the vote compared to the 22.3 percent won
by Cruz. The three remaining Republican candidates retired neurosurgeon
Ben Carson, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Ohio Gov. John Kasich each
tookless than 10 percent of the vote.
CHRIS JOHNSON

Following his abysmal showing in each of the rst three presidential primary contests,
former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush announced late Saturday he is ending his bid for the
presidency.
The people of Iowa and New Hampshire and South Carolina have spoken, and I really
respect their decision, and so tonight, I am suspending my campaign, Bush said as he
choked back tears.
Despite his withdrawal and poor showing in each of the rst primary states, Bush said
he was proud of his campaign and the agenda he proposed for the country - taking a
veiled jab at Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
In this campaign, I have stood my ground, refusing to bend to the political winds,
Bush said. We put forward detailed, innovative conservative plans to address the
mounting challenges because, despite what you might have heard, ideas matter, policy
matters and I truly hope that these ideas that weve laid out will serve as a blueprint
for a generation of conservative leaders at every level of government so that we can
take back our country.
Bush made no mention of whom hed endorse now that hes left the race. Trump
walloped him in South Carolina, a state that was seen as make or break for Bushs
presidential ambitions.
Upon the start of his presidential campaign, Bush was considered the establishment
choice and became the best-funded Republican candidate in the race.
Compared to other Republicans in the race who indicated they would appoint
Supreme Court justices who would overturn the decision on same-sex marriage or
push for a U.S. constitutional amendment to reverse it, Bush was a relative moderate
in terms of LGBT issues.
After the Supreme Court ruling on marriage equality, Bush said he disagreed with the
ruling, but good people who have opposing views should be able to live side by side.
The candidate also said he would accept LGBT non-discrimination laws on the state
level and openly transgender service in the U.S. military.
CHRIS JOHNSON

DNC makes LGBT case for Obama court pick

As Republicans, including presidential candidates Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio,
prepare to block conrmation of President Obamas upcoming nominee to the U.S.
Supreme Court, the Democratic National Committee made the case on Monday for
LGBT people to support his pick.
In a 57-second video produced by the Democratic National Committee, Democratic
LGBT advocates argue even after the Supreme Court ruling on same-sex marriage, the
makeup of the court is still important for LGBT rights.
Under the banner of the media campaign #FillTheSeat, the video is slated to be the
rst in a series of others each day this week aimed at encouraging support for Senate
conrmation of Obamas nominee. According to the DNC, the next video will seek to
engage the immigrant community.
Among those featured in the video is Earl Fowlkes, chair of the DNC LGBT caucus,
who says theres still plenty at stake for the LGBT community that could be decided by
the court.
Other speakers in the video reference the possibility the Supreme Court may
determine if LGBT people are covered under prohibitions on gender discrimination in
existing civil rights law.
One speaker says a federal judge ruled a transgender student wasnt protected under
Title IX from discrimination at his school. Thats apparently a reference to U.S. District
Judge Robert Doumers ruling in favor of Gloucester High School in Virginia, which
sought to bar student Gavin Grimm from using the restroom consistent with his gender
identity.
Another speaker cites a federal judge who determined sexual orientation isnt covered
under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Thats likely a reference to U.S. District Judge
Andrea Wood, who in January found the law doesnt prohibit anti-gay discrimination in
the workplace. (Wood was bound under existing precedent in the Seventh Circuit and
allowed the plainti to rele his case to more specically allege discrimination on the
basis of gender in the workforce.)
It remains to be seen whether the interpretation of federal civil rights law to include
LGBT people will come to the Supreme Court. At the videos end, Julia Fahl, a DNC staer,
says Obamas nominee is important in case LGBT rights return to the justices.
Whoever President Obama appoints could provide the critical vote on legislation
impacting our lives, Fahl said.
CHRIS JOHNSON

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 2 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

NATIONAL NEWS

Black LGBT voters on why they support Clinton

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

by Mississippi on March 8, then North

Carolina and Missouri on March 15.
McEwen said he shares the sense black
Americans overwhelmingly favor Clinton
and thinks she enjoys support in the black
community because of her background.
She did work in the Obama
administration, McEwen said. And even
if Obama doesnt say anything, that does
rub o on her positively in the eyes of a
lot of Americans, particularly black South
Carolinians.
Darius Jones, a 26-year-old gay resident
of Columbia, S.C., and vice president of
South Carolina Black Pride, cited Clintons
support for LGBT rights as the reason
why hes supporting her candidacy.
One of the main reasons Im
supporting Secretary Clinton in the
primary is because of her stance when it
comes to LGBT rights here in the South
not just in the South but in the nation,
period, Jones said. She has a long
history of ghting for our rights and just
for equality.
Jones said hes volunteered with the
Clinton campaign by participating in
phone banks and voter registration
drives. On the day of the South Carolina
primary on Tuesday, he plans to canvass
voters to get other Clinton supporters to
the polls.
E. Taylor Doctor, a gay 27-year-old
resident of Richmond, Va., who works for
the states department of public health,
said Clintons work with minorities is a
reason hes casting his vote for her on
Tuesday.
From the beginnings of the marriage
equality bills that the United States
backed in the early 2000s, to speaking for
womens rights in Uganda and speaking
up for Black Lives Matter across the
United States... shes always been a voice
for the voiceless and a prime example of
what I want to see the president of the
United States...look like and model for
other countries as well, Doctor said.
Tiany Adams, a 39-year-old resident of
Columbia, S.C., and pastor at the Kingdom
Outreach Fellowship, said he has been a
long-time supporter of Clinton because
the candidate has always supported
LGBT rights, always supported the lift of
economic disparity with people of color,
shes always been an advocate for groups
Im a part of.
A lesbian who said her child has
endured bullying in school, Adams
cited Clintons support for federal antibullying legislation known as the Safe
Schools Improvement Act and the
Student Non-Discrimination Act as well
as the candidates backing of federal
comprehensive LGBT non-discrimination
legislation known as the Equality Act.
I know that she is in support of the

PATRICIA LASSITER of Georgia supports

Hillary Clinton.
PHOTO COURTESY OF LASSITER

Equality Act and Im excited, Adams said.

Obviously people of color have beneted
from the Civil Rights Act, and so to be
able to add gender identity and sexual
orientation to the protected classes,
thats good. Thatd be awesome.
Patricia Lassiter, a 52-year-old black
lesbian in Columbus, Ga., said shes
casting her vote for Clinton on Super
Tuesday because the candidate going
to hit the ground running once she
occupies the White House.
We need a strong, unied party, and
with Hillary, well have a unied party,
well have a person who has so much
experience not just domestically, but
foreign policy and she thinks on her
feet, and shes not afraid of anything,
Lassiter said.
A member of the Georgia Democratic
Party LGBT caucus as well as Georgia
Equality and Georgia Unites, Lassiter said
shes making phone calls into all caucus
states, walking neighborhoods and
attending rallies for Clinton.
In comparison to Clinton, black
LGBT voters in the South who spoke
to the Blade were less supportive of
Sanders despite his outreach eorts to
the black community.
Doctor said he wants his president to
be a little more polished, saying he hasnt
heard much about Sanders as a politician
or activist in politics until this point.
I do think hes popular with younger
generations, but I want someone whos
not so much popular, but rather someone
whos not afraid of being unpopular
so long as the job is getting done,
Doctor said.
Lassiter said she and Sanders agree
on a lot of things, but took issue with his

lack of foreign policy experience and said

hes only been a Democrat for less than
a year.
What we need besides just a president,
which is huge, is we need coattails,
Lassiter said. And so, with Hillary, we
have people that will follow her into oce
and will help her get things done. You can
have the best president on Earth, but if
that president, he or she, does not bring
in people that will help with the agenda,
you may as well not have that president.
The Sanders campaign didnt respond
to requests to comment for this story.
Although Sanders is considered to enjoy
signicant support among millennials,
Lassiter said she doesnt think the
candidate has the same level of support
among that generations black population.
People are talking a whole lot about
millennials and Bernie Sanders, Lassiter
said. From what Im seeing with my
walking and talking on the phone, the
millennials who are following Sanders are
mostly white.
Jones said its hard to say Sanders isnt
a good candidate because he shares a lot
of the same views as Clinton, but said hes
too one-note about the economy and
doesnt oer the same level of inclusion.
He really has said too little about the
LGBT community in the United States,
Jones said. He may have said some things
and he may have briey touched on to
something, but he doesnt go in depth.
He doesnt state that he has a plan. He
doesnt even state that he wants to include
everyone, so I just cant vote for him.
But for all the dissatisfaction with
Sanders, the Republican candidates
earned far worse reviews among the
black LGBT voters who spoke to the

Blade.
McEwen said a Republican should not
be able to win the White House because
all their candidates are dastards,
especially in terms of their anti-LGBT
policies.
Trumps a disaster, McEwen said.
Cruz is psycho. Rubio is the most
dangerous because Rubio wants to twist
everything. He wants to disenfranchise
gay families and then turn around and
basically make them feel guilty because
theyre complaining that hes doing it.
For Doctor, the Republican presidential
primary has devolved into personal
disputes among the candidates, which
he said has disheartened him.
It never ceases to amaze me that
it seems like the right wing and the
conservative movement always seems
to nd, for a lack of a better word, pawns
to push an agenda that is exclusive and
conservative and cantankerous and at
the end of the day only benets a certain
percentage of the population and not the
whole, Doctor said.
Its that trepidation over Republican
candidates that prompts black LGBT
voters to say theyll vote for Sanders in
the general election if he should prevail in
the Democratic contest.
Jones, despite his misgivings about
Sanders, said hed vote for the candidate
in the general election and believes he
would open up on LGBT issues if he were
the Democratic nominee.
I fully believe that although Bernie
Sanders has not said anything right now,
Im sure he would have no choice but to
hear the LGBT community, Jones said.
Im quite sure he would have no choice
but to open up knowing he has to be

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

N A T I O NA L NEW S

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 1 3

Longtime Johnson aides linked to homosexual conduct

After Johnson accepted Kennedys oer,
Johnson and his wife, Lady Bird Johnson,
who became good friends with Waldron,
invited Waldron and Wiley to join them on
the convention stage along with Johnson
and Kennedys family members and close
friends as the Kennedy-Johnson ticket
was introduced to tumultuous applause
in the packed convention hall.
Waldron points out in his oral history
that during nearly all of the years he
worked for Johnson he remained on the
payroll of Texas Congressman Homer
Thornberry, who was a close Johnson
friend and political associate.
Homer I know called numerous times
and said Bob is spending all of his time
with you, why dont you transfer him
to your payroll? the source that knew
Waldron as well as Thornberry said.
And for whatever reason they just kept
cajoling Thornberry to keep him on his
payroll.
The source speculated that one
possible reason Johnson didnt want to
ocially appoint Waldron to his sta was
because he or Jenkins, who was in charge
of hiring Johnsons sta, were reluctant
to directly hire someone who might be
identied as gay.
Jenkins, meanwhile, had served on
Johnsons payroll beginning in 1939,
shortly after Johnson won election as a
congressman from Texas. Jenkins left the
sta to serve in the Army during World
War II before leaving the military as a
major. At Johnsons urging, he ran for a
seat in the U.S. House in 1951, but lost his
race. He later joined Johnsons U.S. Senate
sta and remained with Johnson during
Johnsons tenure as Senate Majority
Leader, vice president and president.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

The Washington Blade obtained copies

of the documents from the Mattachine
Society of Washington, which spent
months working with LBJ Library ocials
to identify and discover the documents
from the librarys voluminous collections.
The group, which is headed by veteran
gay rights advocate Charles Francis, has
taken the name of the organization cofounded in the early 1960s by gay rights
pioneer Frank Kameny as D.C.s rst gay
rights group.
The recently revived version of
the group specializes in obtaining
government documents, long withheld
from the public, that tell how thousands
of gays were red from federal jobs
during the post-World War II era of antigay witch hunts.
Francis said he and Mattachine board
member Pate Felts, with the help of the
law rm McDermott, Will & Emery, which
serves as pro bono counsel for the group,
traveled to the LBJ Library to retrieve the
documents with the full cooperation of
library ocials.
The Johnson White House at the time
disclosed that Jenkins resigned from his
job at Johnsons request shortly after
his 1964 arrest for allegedly having sex
with a man in the mens room at a YMCA
facility located near the White House.
An FBI report released as part of the LBJ
documents, but that had been reported in
the media earlier, says Jenkins had been
arrested in 1959 on a similar morals
charge at the same YMCA bathroom as
the 1964 arrest.
A source who knew Waldron told the
Washington Blade that Johnson also
terminated Waldron from his White
House position after Jenkins 1964 arrest,
even though Waldron was never accused
of wrongdoing and was never publicly
identied as gay at the time he worked
for Johnson. In addition to working at the
White House as a presidential secretary
he had been retained to perform similar
duties for Johnson during Johnsons
tenure as Senate Majority Leader and
U.S. vice president during the Kennedy
administration.
Waldron states in an oral history
released as part of the LBJ Library
documents that he told friends and
associates in 1964 that he decided to
change careers and left his White House
job voluntarily to enroll in an interior
design school in New York. He became
a nationally acclaimed interior decorator
based in Washington, doing decorating
work for prominent political gures for
26 years, and remained friends with the
Johnson family.
He died in December 1995 of
complications associated with AIDS at the
age of 68.

JOHN MACY, head of the U.S. Civil Service Commission in the 1960s, referred to homosexuals
as perverts and led eorts to re gays from the federal workforce.

Every decorator in D.C. knew that

Waldron was gay as did most of his
clients, said the source who knew him
and who spoke to the Blade on condition
of not being identied. He most denitely
was not a closeted gay man, nor did he
make any attempt to hide his orientation.
According to the source, unlike Jenkins,
who was married with six children,
Waldron was a lifelong bachelor. He
regularly took on the role as escort
at White House functions and on
presidential trips abroad for another
longtime Johnson administrative aide,
Mary Margaret Wiley. But it was widely
known that the relationship between the
two was strictly platonic, the source and
others who knew them have said.
Waldron, a native of Texas, says
in his oral history that he attended
Northwestern University to study court
reporting and later attended business
school in Texas. He says in his oral

history that nearing nishing a degree

and no job I went to law school. While
nishing his second year at law school
he says he accepted an oer in 1955
by Congressman Homer Thornberry
(R-Texas) to take a job as administrative
assistant in Thornberrys congressional
oce in Washington. That job brought
him to Washington, where he remained
for the rest of his life.
It couldnt be conrmed whether
Waldron completed and graduated from
any of the colleges or law school he
attended. He states in his oral history that
he had no intensions of practicing law.
Waldron stated in his oral history that
he took notes at Johnsons request as
Johnson conferred with his inner circle
advisers at the 1960 Democratic National
Convention in Los Angeles when John F.
Kennedy sent word that he would like
Johnson to become his vice presidential
running mate.

Arrested at the YMCA

Among the newly released documents
from the LBJ Library is a personal
remembrance of Johnson from yet
another longtime Johnson administrative
staer, Mildred Stegall, who worked for
Johnson nearly as long as Jenkins had and
worked closely with Jenkins.
One of the saddest days of the
president and my lives was the day
President Johnson asked for Walters
resignation due to reported misconduct,
Stegall wrote. It was a tremendous loss
because Walter was like the presidents
right arm and the most valuable member
of the sta and I think the most capable.
Added Stegall, I cant begin to count
the times the president asked me, What
do you think happened? My answer was
always the same. I simply do not know.
Stegall noted that Jenkins checked
himself
into
George
Washington
University Hospital after his arrest,
CONTINUES ON PAGE 14

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 4 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

NATIONAL NEWS

LBJ documents shed light on White House gay scandal

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

where doctors said he was suering from

exhaustion and emotional distress.
I have always thought that Walters
resignation was asked for too quickly,
she wrote. Had he stayed in the hospital
for several weeks with a reported nervous
breakdown the matter might have blown
over, but there was no way to know and
the president took the only course he
thought he could take.
An FBI report on the Jenkins arrest,
dated Oct. 22, 1964, says Johnson asked
FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover to arrange
for a full and complete investigation
when he learned of Jenkins arrest one
week after it took place on Oct. 7 of that
year.
The report says Jenkins, then 46,
attended a party with his wife that day at
the new oces of Newsweek magazine
before the two left the party about 8 p.m.
It says Jenkins planned to return to his
White House oce to work in the evening
as he often did. But the report says
he apparently decided to make a stop
someplace else before returning to work.
At 8:15 p.m. Mr. Jenkins was arrested
in the basement mens room of the YMCA
Building, 1736 G Street, N.W., Washington,
D.C., by ocers of the Metropolitan
Police Department, the FBI report says.
Arrested at the same time for engaging
in an indecent act with Mr. Jenkins was
Andy Choka, a 60-year-old retired Army
enlisted man.
The report adds, Mr. Jenkins made
no attempt to hide his identity from the
ocers, willingly accompanied them and
admitted to having been arrested one
previous time on a morals charge. The
previous arrest occurred shortly before
10:30 p.m. January 15, 1959, in the same
basement mens room of the YMCA. He
was charged with loitering for indecent
purposes.
It says Jenkins was released following
the 1959 arrest after posting and forfeiting
$25 collateral. Following his 1964 arrest,
he and Choka were released after each
posted $50 collateral, the report says.
The
report
says
an
apparent
miscommunication between D.C. police,
the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service
resulted in the White House not being
informed of Jenkins 1959 arrest at the
time Jenkins received his White House
security clearance in 1961 when he began
work for then-Vice President Johnson.
Mr. Jenkins was interviewed by the FBI
on Oct. 18, 1964, and admitted having
engaged in the indecent acts for which
he was arrested in 1959 and 1964, the
report says. He claimed that he had been
enticed by the arresting ocer on the
former occasion and that his mind was
befuddled by fatigue, alcohol, physical
illness and lack of food the latter time.

CHARLES FRANCIS (left) and PATE FELTS reviewing documents in the LBJ Library document reading room in Austin.
PHOTO COURTESY OF FRANCIS

The report says an extensive

background investigation turned up
no evidence that Jenkins compromised
government secrets or acted in any way
against the interests of the country or the
government.
A favorable appraisal of Mr. Jenkins
loyalty and dedication to the United
States was given the FBI by more than
300 of his associates, both business and
social, representing divergent political
backgrounds, who were interviewed in
this investigation, the report says.

Waldron outed by Jenkins?

The FBI report had been released shortly

after the investigation into Jenkins 1964
arrest. But the LBJ Library documents
released to the Mattachine Society of
Washington last month included for the
rst time several drafts of an internal
memo that Jenkins reportedly prepared
to clarify and take strong exception to
some of the statements attributed to him
in the FBI report.
Among other things, Jenkins said in all
of the drafts of the memo that the FBI

report could give the impression to some

that he might have associated with people
who may have engaged in homosexual
conduct, even though the report didnt
say this directly.
Never in my years of government
employ, with one single and limited
exception, did I associate with any
person employed by any branch of
the government, or any other oce,
whether employed by the government
or otherwise known to me to be a
homosexual, he stated in one of the
drafts.
The one exception, Jenkins wrote,
is Mr. Bob Waldron. The relevant facts
in his case are as follows: Mr. Waldron
was employed by Congressman Homer
Thornberry over a period of some years.
From time to time he was loaned to the
sta on which I was working because of
his exceptional skill as a stenographer
and typist, Jenkins says in the draft
memo.
He says at the time when Thornberry
left Congress to become a federal judge,
Waldron applied for a job with the
National Aeronautics and Space Council
and underwent a background check for

that position.
The eld investigation of Mr. Waldron
came to my attention, and it contained
information alleging that Mr. Waldron
had engaged in homosexual acts, Jenkins
wrote. I did not know, and I do not know
at this time, whether Mr. Waldron was or
is in fact a homosexual, but I thought that
the allegations were sucient to warrant
my recommending that Mr. Waldrons
application should be rejected. It was
rejected.
He states in his draft memo that the
rejection of the application took place in
January 1964.
Thereafter, on a few occasions, I was
present at large social gatherings where
Mr. Waldron was also present, the memo
says. This was the limit of my association
with him after receiving the allegations
described above. I reiterate that this
is the sole exception to the categorical
statement made above.
What appears to be the nal version
of the Jenkins memo, dated Oct. 27, 1965
and which bears Jenkins name but not his
signature, Waldrons name is omitted. He
is described only as a person employed
CONTINUES ON PAGE 15

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

N A T I O NA L NEW S

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 1 5

Hoover accused Moyers of posting bail for gay staffer

age of 67 from a stroke.
Bill Moyers, one of Johnsons
presidential press secretaries and a
longtime Johnson staer, appeared to
sum up the views of those who knew and
worked closely with Jenkins during the
Johnson years in a 1999 interview with
Out magazine.
When they come to canonize political
aides [Jenkins] will be the rst summoned,
for no man ever negotiated the sharkinfested waters of the Potomac with more
decency or charity or came out on the
other side with his integrity less shaken,
Moyers said. If Lyndon Johnson owed
everything to one human being other than
Lady Bird, he owed it to Walter Jenkins.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 14

by a member of Congress who from time

to time was loaned to the sta where
Jenkins worked meaning Johnsons sta.
The source who knew both Waldron
and Jenkins believes Johnson and
his White House legal advisers were
clearly informed of the earlier draft that
named Waldron as having been linked
to homosexual acts. The source also
thinks White House legal advisers may
have played a role in drafting the memo
for Jenkins.
Coming at the time of the Jenkins arrest,
the source said Johnson and his advisers
most likely decided to let Waldron go out
of concern that he could have triggered
yet another homosexual scandal at the
White House.
Francis agrees with that assessment,
saying Waldron, like Jenkins, became
expendable despite his years of loyal
service to Johnson.

Moyers questioned
in Jenkins case

Creating revulsion
among co-workers

Jenkins and Waldrons departure from

the White House came at a time when
Kameny and his gay rights associates
organized protests outside the White
House calling for an end to the U.S. Civil
Service Commission ban on gay civilian
workers at all federal government
agencies and departments.
Kamenys correspondence to then-Civil
Service Commission director John Macy
prompted Macy to send Kameny his now
infamous revulsion letter in which Macy
said the Commission would not lift its
ban on homosexual employees because
such employees were sexual deviates
and would create revulsion among their
co-workers.
President Kennedy appointed Macy as
head of the Civil Service Commission and
Johnson retained him after assuming the
presidency.
The
condential
Jenkins
le
safeguarded by Mildred Stegall shows
how quickly a bachelor family friend,
who was as close as one could get to
LBJ, could be transformed into a sexual
deviate and thrown overboard, Francis
said in discussing Waldrons fate.
Mainstream
Johnson
historians
like Doris Kearns Goodwin and Robert
Caro need to address the tumultuous
investigations and destruction of gay and
lesbian Americans beginning in the late
1940s and early 1950s and continuing and
even intensifying through the Johnson
years, Francis said.
Others familiar with the Johnson
administration have said the political
realities of the time, especially the 1964
presidential election in which Johnson

President LYNDON B. JOHNSON (center) rekindled his friendship with two former aides who
were ousted in gay scandals, but only after he left oce.

was running against Republican Barry

Goldwater, made it impossible for
Johnson to do anything other than
jettison Jenkins and Waldron.
After Johnson left the White House in

1969 he and Lady Bird welcomed both

Jenkins and Waldron to the LBJ Ranch in
Texas and resumed his friendship with
the two men.
Jenkins died in November 1985 at the

Another of the LBJ Library documents

released last month to the Mattachine
Society of Washington is a Jan. 15, 1965
letter from J. Edgar Hoover to President
Johnson informing Johnson that an FBI
agent one week earlier heard a rumor
that [presidential advisor Bill] Moyers
posted the $25 bond for Jenkins release
in connection with Jenkins 1959 arrest at
the YMCA.
The rumor was that an unidentied
D.C. police sergeant knew that Moyers
posted the bond, Hoover said.
Without making any open inquiry
into the matter, it has been discreetly
determined that copies of collateral
receipts maintained by the Metropolitan
Police Department have been destroyed
and there is no way to determine by
documentary evidence who, if anyone
other than Mr. Jenkins, posted collateral
for him in connection with his arrest on
Jan. 15, 1959, Hoover told Johnson.
The above is being furnished for
your information and no investigation
to identify and interview the unnamed
sergeant will be conducted in the absence
of a specic request from you, Hoover
wrote in his letter.
The documents released by the LBJ
Library to Mattachine Society do not
include a reply by Johnson to Hoovers
letter.
[T]his is a rumor and totally unfounded
in fact, Moyers replied in a Jan. 18,
1965 letter to Hoover. I was attending
Southwestern
Baptist
Theological
Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, at the
time, Moyers states in his letter. I was
not in Washington on any date between
1954 and January, 1960, Moyer said,
adding, I have never posted bond for Mr.
Jenkins or, for that matter, anyone else.
Moyers, who later became a nationally
known journalist, couldnt immediately
be reached by the Blade for comment on
the Hoover letter.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 6 F EB RUA RY 2 6, 2016

Chase Brexton, MICA to host

trans multimedia project
Chase Brexton Health Cares LGBT Health Resource Center and the Maryland
Institute College of Art (MICA) are sponsoring To Survive on This Shore a
presentation of photographs and interviews documenting more than 40 peoples
life experiences and issues with gender, identity, age and sexuality.
The lives and challenges of transgender and gender-variant adults over the age of
50 are documented in words and images in a multimedia project opening on March
3 at Chase Brexton Health Care, 1111 N. Charles St. in Baltimore.
A reception and discussion with project co-creator Jess T. Dugan will take place
March 3 at 5 p.m. The project will remain open at the Chase Brexton location
through June 24.
We intentionally seek out subjects whose experiences exist within the complex
intersections of gender identity, age, race, ethnicity, sexuality, socioeconomic class
and geographic location, said Dugan, the collaborative projects photographer
in a statement. Though everyone in our project identies somewhere along the
transgender spectrum, there is no single narrative that captures the varied paths
that lead to gender discovery or transition.
In addition to the original exhibit, the project will pay homage to the rst-ever
National Honor Our LGBT Elders Day by adding Baltimore stories to the show
on May 17. That endeavor, which is a result of a partnership between the LGBT
Health Resources Center and the University of Maryland Baltimore County, seeks
to record the life stories of older LGBT adults. The entire process is collaborative
and requires participants to be involved for a total of four one-hour sessions on
Tuesdays or Thursdays from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. during the months of March and April.
Transportation can be provided, if needed.

BA LT I MO RE N E W S

To Survive on this Shore shines a light on a group of individuals who so often

are left invisible by our society, said Nate Sweeney, executive director of the LGBT
Health Resource Center. It means so much to us to help share the images and
stories of transgender and gender diverse older adults with the community at large,
but especially with younger people. For many LGBT identied people, seeing our
elders gives us a chance to see our own futures, and that can be crucially important
for someone who is struggling with accepting and loving themselves today.
Besides the exhibit, Dugan will be a guest lecturer at MICA on March 1 from 1-2:30
p.m. in the Main Building, Room M110, at 1300 W. Mt. Royal Ave.

Queer Queens of Qomedy return to Baltimore

Poppy Champlin is bringing back her comedy troupe The Queer Queens of
Qomedy show to Magoobys Joke House in Timonium on March 6. The show begins
at 5 p.m.
The Q3 show has been touring for 11 years and comic producer Poppy Champlin
had a reception in Baltimore last year. Champlin is bringing two of her lesbian pals
and nationally known comics Karen Williams and Mimi Gonzalez to share the bill.
Champlins television credits includingLOGO, Showtime, HBO, VH-1 and Comedy
Central.
I am proud of this all-star lineup, Champlin told the Blade. I know this show will
be one of the best for the year.
Tickets are $25 for general admission and $40 for VIP, which includes a meet
and greet with the comedians before the show with wine and cheese and preferred
seating. Magoobys is located at 9603 Deereco Rd. in Timonium. For more
information, call 410-252-2727.
STEVE CHARING

A dance poetry work remembering the lives of the artists lost to AIDS. This work was
deeply influenced by the anthology Persistent Voices: Poetry by Writers Lost to AIDS.

Veteran dance critic George Jackson writes,

...Forget-me-nots are small but persistent flowers.
Daniel Phoenix Singh planted a field of them in
his new Mortal Tongues, Immortal Stories

Photo by Stephen Baranovics

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

H E A L TH NEW S

FE B R U A R Y 26, 2016 17

Keep your promise to protect each other.

HIV rates remain high for black, Latino gay men

BOSTON Half of black men who are gay and a quarter of Latino gay men will
be diagnosed with HIV in their lifetimes if current trends continue, according to
a rst-of-its-kind federal analysis released Tuesday, the Boston Globe and other
media outlets report.
The report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is the rst to
project the lifetime risk of HIV infection state by state and among certain groups
of people. Based on death data from 2009-2013, the CDC concluded that gay
and bisexual men, African-Americans and people who live in the South have the
highest risk of infection, the Globe reports.
It is well-known that blacks and Latinos have been hit disproportionately by
the HIV epidemic and that gay men are most at risk. But the new data present
the disparities in striking terms, intended to drive public policy discussions, the
article said.
Overall, the lifetime risk of an HIV infection has dropped among all Americans.
Today, it is 1 in 99. About a decade ago, the risk was 1 in 78. Yet disparities
continue.
Among other key ndings in the CDC report:
Among men who have sex with men, the lifetime risk of HIV infection is one
in six. But the risk varies by race. For black men who have sex with men, the
lifetime risk is one in two, for Latinos one in four, and for whites one in 11.
All African-American men have a lifetime risk of one in 20, compared with
one in 132 for white men.
Among people who inject drugs, the risk is one in 23 for women and one in
36 for men. Women are more vulnerable because they may also be exposed
through sex.
People in Washington, D.C., have the highest risk in the country, while people
in North Dakota have the lowest. States with the highest risk are Maryland,
Georgia, Florida, and Louisiana. Massachusetts ranks near the middle, with
residents facing a lifetime risk of one in 121.
The geographic disparities reect, with few exceptions, which states have
expanded Medicaid, Sciortino told the Globe. Where Medicaid provides services
to the needy, the risk of infection goes down, he said.
From 2008-2011, the dierence in life expectancy between those with HIV and
those who were not infected was 13 years. But for those who started treatment
early, the gap was only eight years, and among infected people who dont have
hepatitis, dont use drugs or alcohol, and dont smoke, the life-expectancy gap
was ve to seven years, the Globe reports.

Wills & Trusts

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Partnership & Prenuptial Agreements

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in DC/MD/VA since 1983
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Active-duty trans soldiers

fare better than vets: study

OLYMPIA, Wash. A new study nds that mental and physical health
problems are more prevalent among transgender veterans than active-duty
trans soldiers, Good Therapy reports citing a study published in the journal
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designed
to
measure physical and mental health to explore dierences between current and
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t i o Nif revision
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omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is
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age
of
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Transgender veterans were more likely to experience depression than activewashington blade newspaper. This includes but is n
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and
warranties.
duty soldiers with 64.6 percent of transgender vets experiencing it. Of current
trans soldiers, 30.9 percent reported symptoms of depression and 15.9 percent
of vets and 1.8 percent of active-duty trans soldiers had been diagnosed with
FamilY | eState PlaNNiNG | emPloYmeNt | immiGratioN
substance abuse problems, the report discovered.
ComPleX litiGatioN | Civil riGHtS | lGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS
No signicant dierences in health existed between the two groups, though
veterans had a higher average body mass index. Age and longer periods of
service led to more physical and mental health issues, researchers found.
Researchers said more study is needed to determine if these problems are
at to r N e YS at l aW d C | m d | va
more prevalent for trans than cisgender service members, a component this
3 0 1 . 8 9 1 . 2 2 0 0 S P - L aw. C o m
study did not explore, Good Therapy reports.

Serving Our COmmunity fOr 35 yearS

Silber, Perlman, Sigman &tilev, P.a.

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 8 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

VIEWPOINT

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

09

ADDRESS

Making America
homophobic again
GOP race turns scary as Trump
closes in on nomination

KEVIN NAFF is editor of the Washington Blade

and can be reached at kna@washblade.com.

What began as an entertaining summer

watching the Republican Party eat its own
turned scary last weekend as Donald Trump
won a landslide victory in South Carolina. It
would take an unprecedented break with
electoral history for Trump to lose the nomination, having also won in New Hampshire.
Trump embarrasses himself, the Republican Party and our country each time he
opens his mouth. The mainstream media
deserve considerable blame for his dominating the polls, granting endless softball
interviews since last summer at the expense of airtime for other candidates who,
unlike Trump, are required to put on a suit
and actually show up in a studio to be interviewed. He lies about everything and is

rarely challenged. It took Fox Newss Megyn

Kelly to stand up to the bully and his misogyny. Otherwise, the softies of morning
news allow Trump to say any outrageous
thing out of fear he wont come back to
their shows and goose ratings again.
Trumps rise is the predictable and unavoidable consequence of glorifying stupidity and anti-intellectualism. In a beautiful display of karma, Sen. John McCain
was attacked by Trump for being captured during the Vietnam War. It was McCain who gave us Sarah Palin in a cynical
ploy to appeal to uneducated, racist Tea
Partiers. You reap what you sow.
The only positive contribution Trump
has made: repeatedly assailing presumed
front-runner Jeb Bush as low-energy, a
fatal and apt description that Bush couldnt
shake, no matter how hard he tried to reanimate. Thank you, Donald, for sparing
us another Bush in the White House.
As bad as Trump is, the alternatives
could be worse for LGBT Americans, with
Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio already
spelling out plans for how to undo marriage equality and advance so-called religious freedom measures. Rubio, at age
44, is supposed to represent the future of
the party. Yet his positions on a range of
issues, including LGBT concerns, smack of
E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

the 1950s, not a new American century

(which, by the way, started 16 years ago).
It is simply unimaginable that an LGBT
voter could support any of these candidates. The Log Cabin Republicans should sit
out this election and hope for a Democratic
landslide so the GOP can nally get serious
about retooling for a new era. Maybe then
Log Cabin will carry more meaningful inuence with party leaders and convince them
to renounce homophobia in the platform
and to oppose laws that dissuade or prevent African Americans from voting. After
Mitt Romneys 2012 thumping, RNC leader
Reince Priebus announced plans for an
autopsy to right the ship and appeal to
a broader base of voters. The report concluded that, among the steps Republicans
take in the Hispanic community and beyond, must be to embrace and champion
comprehensive immigration reform.
On gay voters, the report noted, Already,
there is a generational dierence within
the conservative movement about issues
involving the treatment and the rights of
gays and for many younger voters, these
issues are a gateway into whether the Party
is a place they want to be.
So what happened? Instead of immigration reform, we got Trump promising to bully Mexico into building a nearly 2,000-mile
border fence, a laughable goal embraced
by legions of his deluded supporters. Instead of moderating on gay rights, we got
Rubio and Cruz vowing to attack us in new,
creative ways and even contending that the
U.S. Supreme Court ruling on marriage is
not settled law. Trump, meanwhile, ipopped on previous pro-gay statements
and pledged to reverse nationwide marriage equality, apparently unaware of how
the three branches of government operate.
In short, the Republican Party is a nonstarter for any serious minded LGBT voter who cares at all about his or her basic
rights under the law. Make no mistake:
If any of the Republicans manages to get
elected, the LGBT community will be back
on defense, fending o attacks on marriage
equality, transgender rights and more. The
next president will likely get multiple Supreme Court picks, raising concerns about
fresh lawsuits seeking to undermine marriage equality. In addition, we can be sure
that a Republican president would undo
many of the various pro-LGBT administrative changes enacted by President Obama.
Priebus and the GOP establishment have
lost control of their party. Its been fun to
watch, but the joke will be on us if Trump,
Cruz or Rubio lands in the White House.

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CO MMUNI K A TE

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 1 9

Inside Out is my Oscar pick this year

Film inspires childlike reassessment
of my adult emotions

KATE CLINTON is a longtime humorist and

regular Blade contributor.

The last animated Disney feature I saw

was Fantasia. When Mickey Mouse, the
sorcerers apprentice, started hatchetizing the multiplying brooms and water
started sloshing out of the buckets, I had
my rst panic attack. Just now I am realizing why I still feel a little rill of fear when
someone mentions bucket lists.
Because of the Fantasia-induced trauma, I successfully avoided most Disney
animations. I begged o invitations from
friends for special birthday eld trips to

the movies, Nah, thanks, Ive got tickets

to The Song of Bernadette.
In my single digited youth, I was a charter member of the Mickey Mouse Club.
Who needed cartoon features when you
could follow, with growing excitement,
the animated adventure of Annette Funicellos darling breast buds under her
short-sleeved, white cashmere turtleneck?
I have been a bad aunt to my nieces
and nephews, both blood, chosen and
grand, because I have not seen Antz,
Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., the lingua
franca of their youth. When my pre-verbal
next-door neighbor was belting out some
song, I was unable to personally shazam
it as the theme song to Frozen. I meant
to see Up.
The morning after a deep-freeze induced, cabin-fever related spontaneous
pizza/dance party with the kids across
the hall, their Mom knocked on our door,
handed me a DVD and said, Would you
just watch this? She put Inside Out in
my hand. I had embarrassed myself the

night before with my lmic ignorance as

we tried to reach a group consensus on a
movie to watch. Karate Kid III? Seriously?
I dont know from Pixar, anime, 3-D,
but Inside Out is gorgeous, colorful
and vibrant, especially if in your peripheral vision, the sky outside the window is
a wintry, Northeastern cement-colored
monochrome. The story is ingeniously
told from the point of view of a girl, Riley.
Her feelings Joy, Sadness, Fear, Disgust
and Anger are the lms characters.
The narrative arc follows baby Riley to
baby butch Riley, an 11-year-old hockeyplaying tomboy. The family moves from
Minnesota to San Francisco. Epic hijinks
ensue.
In the control room of Rileys psyche,
the relentlessly perky Joy rides herd on a
blue Sadness, purple Fear, green Disgust
and a red Anger. A malfunction in the
combo Star Trek/Xbox console expels Joy
and Sadness from home base. The fellow
travelers, accompanied by Bing Bong an
imaginary friend, try to get back home
through the landscape of imagination,

abstract thought and memory. Their mission is to reconstitute the disintegrating

Riley.
I know. I now sound like a small child
answering the question, Did you like the
movie? Twirling a curl, staring ahead,
watching a movie replayed on the back
of the eyeballs, speaking in a trance. And
then he , and then she, and then. . .,
and then. . ..
(Hail Caesar inspired no such a recitation. Though it is hilarious. Besides
my freebie, George Clooney, you should
check out Alden Ehrenreich as cowboy
Hobie Doyle.)
Inside Out inspired a welcomed,
childlike reassessment of my own tired
adult emotions: fear of Facism, disgust at
the profundity of misogyny, sadness for
immigrants displaced by war and mindburning anger about the state of the
republic. Refresh. For a little while they
were just pixillated toons managed by an
irrepressible Joy. EMOTIONAL ROLLERCOASTER. Inside Out is the only Oscar
nominee Im rooting for this season.

V I E WPO I NT

Taking a page from Black Lives Matter

Trans movement needs to
raise similar awareness
By SUZI CHASE
Two seemingly unrelated events involving teenagers have commanded attention in recent days.
In South Dakota, Gov. Dennis Daugaard
agreed to meet with a group of transgender students before he decides whether
to sign a rst-of-its-kind bill restricting
bathroom use in schools based on biological sex. A lot rides on this meeting. By
all accounts, Daugaard intends to sign the
bill. If it becomes law, anti-transgender
forces nationwide will take notice, and
similar bills will spring up elsewhere. The
future of transgender rights in America
may well rest on this small group of teens
making their case.
Meanwhile, much closer to home,
groups of teens in Howard County Maryland have been protesting the lack of severity of school administration response
to a video in which a local high school
student expresses racist opinions. The
protesters aim to call attention to racism
in their schools through walkouts, teachins, and a black out, where students and
sta wear black for a day.
In both cases, teenagers are standing

up for their rights.Unfortunately, the similarity ends there. The Maryland students
are riding the well-organized wave of the
Black Lives Matter campaign, which has
awakened national consciousness to the
deadly consequences of the sorry state of
relations between law enforcement and
the African-American community. Previously, only those directly aected had
much awareness of the problem.

level, and such courts are known to take

the temperature of public opinion when
they rule. Yet all weve managed is a viral
photo campaign reaching only active users of social media. A public discussion is
needed explaining the true catastrophic
reality of forcing all the myriad presentations and identities to visit only restrooms
consistent with body sex. Its an easy case
to make. Only a few minutes with anyone

Black Lives Matter has become an

easily recognized symbol for the intolerable
status quo regarding racism in America.
No similar campaign attempts to explain the issues involved with transgender restroom use, despite an onslaught
of bills attempting to restrict our ability
to use public sanitary facilities safely. A
Florida law last year narrowly missed passage, successfully clearing two of three
committees required to bring it to the
house oor for near certain approval.
The Gavin Grimm case in Gloucester, Va.,
attempts to bar a male transgender student from using the boys restroom at
his school. It has reached the appellate

whose gender identity is at odds with

their body sex makes obvious the disastrous consequences of these bills.
On occasion, our community actively
shies away from the issue. When I testied before the Maryland Senate Judicial
Proceedings Committee in 2014 in favor
of the transgender rights bill, leaders
forbade us to mention bathroom use.
Let the opposition bring it up, we were
told. More recently, an LGBT rights bill in
Houston fell to public bathroom paranoia
when opponents succeeded in dening

the issue. Our community and its leaders need to take a page from the AfricanAmerican civil rights playbook.
Black Lives Matter has become an easily recognized symbol for the intolerable
status quo regarding racism in America.
That movement has explained its issues
so eectively that now three words sufce to describe them. If were to stem the
tide of oppressive bathroom legislation,
we must do the same. The phrase, Transgender Bathroom Rights needs universally to evoke the hornets nest of issues
arising when burly, hairy trans men reluctantly tromp into the womens room
and willowy trans women fearfully case
the mens room hoping natures call wont
lead to harassment, violence or worse.
Gov. Daugaard has only a few days to
decide what to do about the bill on his
desk. By the time these words are published we will know whether our gender
identities have been outlawed in South
Dakota school bathrooms or whether
those brave teens will have succeeded
in thwarting the bill. Either way, our job
going forward is clear. Transgender advocacy must raise awareness to the point
that next time defending our rights wont
be left up to a group of children.
SUZI CHASE is a freelance writer based in
Maryland.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 0 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

I N SI D E LG BT W A SH I N G T O N

Biden undermines legacy with comments on primary

Perhaps the veep should keep
quiet about Dem contest

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a D.C.-based LGBT rights

and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly
for the Blade.

Joe Biden will leave oce with an impressive

legacy. He is credited with being authentic, a
favorable attribute in any politician. For Biden,
it has always been a double-edged sword. His
authenticity sometimes lacks a lter.
Bidens history includes terrible tragedies
he and his family suered. Shortly after winning his Senate seat in 1972, Biden lost his
wife and their 13-month-old daughter in a
car accident. In 1988 he had brain surgeries
for cranial aneurysms and last year he lost his
son Beau at the age of 47 to a brain tumor.
No parent should have to endure that.

A lesser man might have left the public

arena in 1972 but Biden was committed to
public service and the people of Delaware.
He also has a huge ego something politicians need to succeed. You must believe in
yourself and that you can do more for people
than anyone else. Later, Biden was even willing to have hair plugs and his teeth whitened
to recapture his youthful looks. Biden is a

This authentic and decent man is known

for occasionally putting his foot in his mouth.
His verbal gaes go from funny to hurtful to dangerous. Some of the verbal gaes
sounded outright racist. In 2007, while ling papers to run for president, he said of
Barack Obama, I mean, you got the rst
mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking

Weighing in on the Democratic race he

almost joined, Biden said he never felt Clinton
was the prohibitive favorite to win.
good-looking man and when you meet him
you can feel his sense of decency and caring.
Biden ran for president twice and seriously
thought about doing it again. But reality overtook ambition this year between his sons
death and understanding his last two tries in
1988 and 2008 didnt go well. In 1988, Biden
faced plagiarism charges, forcing him to drop
out and in 2008 he dropped out after getting
less than 1 percent in the Iowa caucuses.

guy. I mean, thats a storybook, man. Talking

about Indian-Americans in 2006, he told an
Indian-American supporter you cannot go
to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin Donuts unless you
have a slight Indian accent. Im not joking.
Recently, Biden has taken to commenting
on the Democratic primary and his comments seem to be out of pique rather than
anything else. It might be resentment that
Hillary Clinton is running and winning rather

than himself. In one interview, he described

Bernie Sanders as more authentic on economic inequality than Hillary Clinton and
defended Sanders record on gun control.
Weighing in on the Democratic race he almost joined, Biden said he never felt Clinton
was the prohibitive favorite to win.
In an interview this past week Biden
complained The Democratic candidates to
succeed Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bernie
Sanders, were downplaying the success of
the economic recovery on Obamas watch.
Its a big mistake. He added, I could support
either one of them. I just have a dierent
political sense of how we should be talking
about the issues that face us, to enhance the
possibility that we keep the White House.
Not sure what he is hearing but Sanders himself accused Clinton of tying herself to Obama
and Clinton never makes a speech where she
doesnt talk about the successes of the Obama
administration. To defend Sanders record on
gun control is outrageous as Sanders voted
against the Brady bill ve times and against allowing people to sue gun manufacturers.
Joe Biden has a great legacy. Maybe withholding comment on the current Democratic
primary battle would be a wise decision.
VIEWPOINT

Republican sabotage works

Liberals should lose the
smugness and get busy

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

A catalogue of recent Republican behavior reads like the devils handbook:

Obstruct always and everywhere.
Blacken the presidents name with such
a barrage of foul and farcical attacks and
disputes of his legitimacy that even calling
him a patriot provokes denunciations from
right-wing radio. Belittle the best-prepared
and most seasoned candidate by unleashing every sexist trope and suggesting that
the only possible reason anyone could support her is that she is a woman.
Drill down into our subterranean sea of
bile until the nation gushes with misogyny,
racism, xenophobia, sectarianism, homohatred and anti-transgender panic. Deect
every frustration away from pilfering plutocrats and onto the most downtrodden.

Disparage every expert. Mock every decent

impulse. Stoke every source of overseas
strife to justify more and more ruinous
militarism, while gutting protections for the
public safety and health. Deny the presidents right to do the job for which he was
duly elected. Blame the resulting chaos on
the Democrats.
This may not be America the Beautiful,
but it has brought the GOP close to total
domination of the machinery of power.
Spare me glib and fanciful assurances that
the Republican Party is dead. I will believe
the radical right is nished after Democrats
regain the House, Senate, a majority of
state legislatures and governorships.
Let us not distract ourselves with facile revolutionary rhetoric that is all cloud
castles and no plan. Avoid high ves while
watching the Republican parade of lunacy.
Even if Democrats retain the presidency,
our ability to enact our policies will depend
on down-ballot races that too many of us
ignore. Republicans have a turnout advantage in non-presidential elections. The right
hardly needs its voter-suppression tactics
when millions of progressives disenfranchise themselves by sitting out midterms.
We need to awaken ourselves to the danger our nation faces: a shrinking group of
privileged bullies seeks to extend and secure its power by keeping the rest of us at

one anothers throats.

Rejecting incremental eorts in favor of
instant magical perfection will only hand
reactionaries an undeserved win. If you
doubt Republicans contempt for the general welfare, look at Michigan Gov. Rick
Snyders handling of the water crisis in Flint
caused by his own reckless, undemocratic
policies. Weigh his partys demand for profligate military spending against its refusal
to repair crumbling infrastructure. The
GOP is the student slacker who entertains
his way to being elected class president
without ever showing a learning curve on
any subject.
Why do we allow this degradation of
our country to continue? Either we are
more sympathetic to the rampaging bigotries than we wish to acknowledge, or
we are afraid to challenge them. Perhaps
we think the madness will run its course,
like a 24-hour virus; or we whistle past the
graveyard, assuring ourselves that if worse
comes to worst, our own privilege will protect us.
We ignore at our peril our adversaries
structural advantages: liberals are clustered in large cities. Gerrymandering turns
the will of the people into a mockery. The
allocation of Senate seats gives disproportionate power to rural and conservative
states. Another advantage the right enjoys

is how gullible we are. How in the world can

so many voters believe that both parties
are equally responsible for government
gridlock when it was Republicans who
vowed from the outset to block everything
Obama did, and Republicans who turned
their primaries into a festival of intolerance
and scapegoating?
Americas founding values were the fruit
of the Enlightenment, but were never selfimplementing. We must make them real
in each generation. Virtue is not a lifeless
object that can be passed down like an
heirloom. Our character and prospects are
harmed when we are blind to the struggles
of others. Greatness becomes a slogan on
a hat.
If you seek a particular outcome, embrace the work and respect those who
are doing it. Do not posture self-righteously while snubbing potential allies, as
Black Lives Matter Chicago leader Aislinn
Pulley did to President Obama. She called
his Feb. 18 White House meeting with
civil rights activists a sham, while issuing
a long list of utopian demands. In happy
contrast was Campaign Zero co-founder
Brittany Packnett, sitting between the
president and the attorney general, using
her place at the table.
Copyright 2016 by Richard J. Rosendall.
All rights reserved.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

V I E W PO I NT

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 2 1

Gays for Bernie: Playtime is over

Take down the Che posters
and embrace reality
By BROCK THOMPSON
OK my lovely gays and lesbians supporting Bernie Sanders, playtime is over. If you
are still feeling the bern, time to visit the
free clinic of realism so we can all move on.
And you know, I get it. I was a socialist in
college, too. I had the Che poster hanging
proudly in my dorm room and still my political tendencies lean pretty far to the left.
But Im also a realist. And I realize that Bernie simply cant win, and also shouldnt win.
But why, exactly? First o, hes not winning. So, theres that. Clinton is so far ahead
in the delegate count. And her recent victory
in Nevada has given her clear momentum
and proved she still can pull women, union
voters and minorities to the polls. Thats the
same formula that will propel her to victory
come November. Saying that Sanders has
already proved his ability to win a diverse
state when he won New Hampshire is sort

of like saying gay men enjoy a diverse array

of cocktails by combining dierent avored
vodkas with soda water. Its simply not the
case, as we will continue to see come Super
Tuesday next week.

people he was still around.

I predict Hillary will have this all sewn up
by March 15. By the time this goes to press,
shell be on the verge of a huge victory in
South Carolina, the same state that helped

Hillary is the best candidate to continue

Obamas tremendous legacy of equality.
Put simply, shes had our back, and its
time for us to have hers.
Secondly, Im in the camp that thinks
that not even Sanders himself thought he
would do this well in a primary ght. Im not
even sure Sanders would disagree with me
when I say that he shouldnt win, that this
simply doesnt belong to him. Sanders was
facing a reality in the Senate that saw his
liberal, leftist voice being replaced by the
far more appealing Elizabeth Warren. A
quick campaign gave Bernie a voice again
on a national platform. Im not convinced
he wanted anything more than to remind

further cement Donald Trumps frontrunner status. And while he and the GOP with
it has devolved into a blend of American
proto-fascism and reality television, Hillary
Clintons message has gotten clearer, focusing on income and social inequality and
saving the middle class. And in many ways,
we can thank Sanders for pushing Clinton
to the left and practically forcing her to improve upon both her message and her vision for the country.
Her legacy on LGBT rights is hardly shal-

low. Not convinced? Watch her 2011 speech

commemorating International Human
Rights Day she made as secretary of state.
If you still doubt her sincerity and commitment after watching that, then you didntlike
her to begin with and theres little that can
be done to change your mind. Yes, Sanders
has an impressive record on his own in that
regard. But it is with speeches like that, proclaiming before the world that gay rights are
human rights, that gave Clinton far more of
an impact on LGBT rights than her rival.
Its clear that Hillary has been a staunch
supporter of us and has had an impact on
the lives of LGBT people around the world.
She is the best candidate to continue
Obamas tremendous legacy of equality.
Put simply, shes had our back, and its
time for us to have hers.
Bernie supporters, I admire your drive,
passion and tenacity. But playtime is over.

BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based freelance

writer.

GREAT PERFORMANCES AT MASON

VISIT US AT CFA.GMU.EDU

Disney Fantasia

Walnut Street Theatre

featuring
Czech National Symphony Orchestra;
Ted Sperling, conductor

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 28 AT 7 P.M.

A prequel to Long Days Journey Into Night, Eugene ONeills
only true love story remains one of his most definitive works.
ONeill at the height of his powersmasterfully employing
classical fundamentals to wring hauntingly poetic truths about
love and self-delusion from gritty everyday experience.
(Los Angeles Times)
$44, $37, $26

Live in Concert

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 27 AT 8 P.M.

Dancing hippos, frolicking unicorns, one famous mouse
dabbling in magicall come to life with live music! The Czech
National Symphony Orchestra accompanies scenes from the
original Fantasia (1940) and from the popular Fantasia 2000.
Fantasiareminds us of the emotional storytelling power of
classical music. (Spinningplatters.com) $60, $51, $36 ff

A Moon for the Misbegotten

Metropolitan Jazz
Orchestra
Caribbean Rhythms
Journey to the Islands

Jim Carroll, Artistic Director; Victor Provost, Steel Pan

SATURDAY, MARCH 5 AT 8 P.M.
Sway to island rhythms, and imagine a warm breeze beneath
the palm trees with the sounds of steel pans floating by, as
Met Jazz and steel pan virtuoso Victor Provost (Washington City
Papers Jazz Percussionist of the Year for the past five years)
transport you to the Caribbean shores.
$44, $37, $26

ff = Family Friendly performances that are most suitable for families with younger children

TICKETS

888-945-2468 OR CFA.GMU.EDU

Located on the Fairfax campus, six miles west of Beltway

exit 54 at the intersection of Braddock Road and Rt. 123.

2 2 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

Mariinsky Ballet
Valery Gergiev, Artistic Director of the Mariinsky Theatre
Yuri Fateev, Deputy Director of the Ballet Company

THE BRILLIANT RUSSIAN CLASSIC!

Raymonda
MARIUS PETIPAS

Choreography by Marius Petipa (1898),

revised version by Konstantin Sergeyev (1948)
with choreographic fragments by Fyodor Lopukhov

Music by Alexander Glazunov | Libretto by Lidia Pashkova and Marius Petipa

based on a medieval legend

Yekaterina Kondaurova with Andrei Ermakov, photo by Valentin Baranovsky

Set and costume design by Simon Virsaladze

Now thru February 28 | Opera House

with the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
Principal casting is available at kennedy-center.org

TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

KENNEDY-CENTER.ORG (202) 467-4600
Tickets also available at the Box Office. Groups call (202) 416-8400.
Russian Cultural Initiatives are supported by The Vladimir Potanin Foundation.
International Programming at the Kennedy Center is made possible through the generosity of the Kennedy Center International Committee on the Arts.

March 1 April 17
Limited Availability

Pride Nights
March 18 & April 8

Photo of Evan Casey, Laura C. Harris and Thaddeus McCants by Christopher Mueller.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning comedy

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL UMPIRE ENJOYS NO-HASSLE COMING OUT

By KEVIN MAJOROS

ARTS

AND

ENTERTAINMENT

As a kid growing up in Eugene, Ore.,

Dale Scott was a Los Angeles Dodgers
fan. When he went to visit his grandfather
in Los Angeles in 1973, he attended his
rst Major League Baseball game and in
a game against the New York Mets, he
witnessed the legendary Willie Mays in
his nal season as a player.
Scott wasnt just drawn to watching the
players though; he was also watching the
umpires. Even in his hometown, when
he was attending the games of the local
minor league team, the Eugene Emeralds,
his eyes were on the umpires.
Next week when Scott starts his 31st
season as a MLB umpire, he will be doing
so as the only openly gay umpire in Major
League Baseball. Ever since quietly coming
out in an interview at the end of 2014, it
has been business as usual for Scott.
I came out after my 29th year and
I was already an established veteran
umpire, Scott says. All the guys I work
with already knew about me, but I kind of
thought I would receive some backlash
from the fans.
He didnt hear a single remark but what
did happen was that players, trainers
and even a ball boy gave encouraging
remarks. About 200 emails ooded into
his inbox from police ocers to sports
ocials and Scott answered each.
I didnt know what would happen after
I came out, but I was surprised that all the
comments were so uplifting, Scott says.
It was a relief for me and I felt free.
Scotts career in baseball began as a
little league player who spent a lot of
time on the bench, where he started
watching the umpires. At 15 years old, he
quit playing and began umpiring in little
leagues around the Eugene area.
After graduating with an associate of
science degree in radio and television
broadcasting, Scott headed o to Blue
U, slang for an intensive umpire training

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

09

FEBRUARY

DALE SCOTT (right) says he was ooded with encouraging e-mails after coming out in 2014.
PHOTO BY BILL GREENBLATT, UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL; USED WITH PERMISSION

program authorized by Major League

Baseball at two separate locations
in Florida. Each school sends its top
students to the Professional Baseball
Umpires Corporation evaluation course,
also in Florida.
Not everyone who advances nds a
place in Major League Baseball. There are
only 76 umpires in MLB, which includes
the 19 crew chiefs. For those selected
from the evaluation course, the launching
pad begins in the various minor leagues.
Scott advanced quickly and began his
rst year as a MLB umpire in 1986. Shortly
thereafter, he started dating his partner

Michael, whom he married in 2013.

Umpires arent given a particular region
to work and they end up doing a lot of
travel. During the main baseball season,
they receive four one-week breaks where
Scott usually heads home. His husband
also travels with him on occasion.
So what do umpires do in the o season?
These days Scott spends time at his
vacation home in California, but for 18 years
he refereed in the sports of basketball and
football. He says it was partially for exercise,
but the similarities between the sports kept
him sharp for his MLB position.
Even though the rules are dierent,

26

2016

PAGE

23

every sport has components that are the

same for a referee, Scott says. There is
game control, dealing with the players,
coaches and fans, understanding the
rules and just having the right instincts on
the elds.
In September 2001, Scott was elevated
to the position of crew chief, which means
he is accountable for the other three
umpires in his crew. They rotate eld
positions and every fourth game, Scott is
behind the plate. In situations such as a
mishandled beanball or a screw-up on a
rule, Scott has the ultimate responsibility
for the nal call. A bad call on his part can
result in a suspension or ne.
Learning to trust the judgment of his
crew has been less stressful for Scott
than what he considers his biggest
responsibility rain.
Because of the implications, Major
League Baseball is contracted with
WeatherBug and each team has ties to
local meteorologists.
There is a lot of money at stake at each
game and the best weather information
isnt always accurate, Scott says. We
try to weed through all the factors, but a
bad weather call impacts so many things
including travel days for the teams. It is
very stressful.
When trying to sum up his career, Scott
mentions things like the concussions
from foul balls, the rst player he ejected
from a game, the run-ins with colorful
characters like Tommy Lasorda and the
fact that he is 220 games short of 4,000
games as a MLB umpire.
It is amazing to me that I am starting
my 31st year and that I have umpired
in three World Series and three All-Star
Games, he says. It is also amazing that
the direction of our country is allowing
me to openly be who I really am.
The rst game of the spring training
season is Thursday, March 3.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 4 F EB RUA RY 2 6, 2016

Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R CE D RI C G U M

How long have you been out and who

was the hardest person to tell?
Ive been out as far back as I can
remember. As far as telling someone,
Ive never had to have that sit-down
conversation with anyone. Its always
just been.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

CEDRIC GUM
By JOEY DiGULIELMO
joeyd@washblade.com
Cedric Gum came to Baltimore in 2011 for an internship with Center Stage,
a theater company. He was happy to return to the area permanently last
February.
He works by day as a peer navigator at Chase Brexton Health Care and says
the city has everything he needs. Hes also a spokesperson for the CDCs HIV
Treatment Works campaign, having come out as HIV-positive in 2013.
It was important for me to speak out because there was so much stigma
and a lack of education surrounding HIV, says the 26-year-old Lakeview, Ark.,
native. As someone living with it and educating himself about it, I saw so
much opportunity to be a voice that could inspire and also educate.
Gum is single and lives in Middle River in Baltimore County. He enjoys
acting, working out, basketball, cooking, traveling and writing in his free time.

202.747.2077

Whos your LGBT hero?

Growing up, I needed to see someone
like me whom I could relate to. As I got
older, I became familiar with Bayard
Rustin and his work in Civil Rights. I
immediately designated him as my
personal LGBT hero.

Whats Baltimores best

nightspot, past or present?
Baltimores best nightspot, in my
experience, has been Red Maple. Its
small, yet full of life especially when the
music overtakes you.

Describe your dream wedding.

My dream wedding would be my
partner and I, along with the individual
ociating the wedding, in the center of
Delphi Theatre in Greece. After the kiss,
Im whisked away to Paris to enjoy a
weekend of French culture, ending the
trip with a moonlit night under the Eiel
Tower. Thats not dreaming too much,
right?

What non-LGBT issue are

you most passionate about?
Mental health. This is an issue that has
been ignored or swept under the rug for
too long.

What historical outcome

would you change?
With all the past and present massive
killings of racial groups or any other
group of people, if I had the opportunity
to change all of them, I would.

Whats been the most memorable pop

culture moment of your lifetime?
Super Bowl 2013! Kelly Rowlands epic
choreography was everything to me. For
a brief moment, I forgot it was Beyoncs
half-time show.

On what do you insist?

Being open, honest and respectful even
when its dicult.

What was your last

Facebook post or Tweet?
Pray, b****, pray. Not today, Satan! It
was an early morning and the attitudes
were running rampant.
If your life were a book,
what would the title be?
Second Time Around.

If science discovered a way

to change sexual orientation,

what would you do?
I would remain exactly the way that I am.

What do you believe in

beyond the physical world?
I believe there is a lot left to be
discovered.
Whats your advice for
LGBT movement leaders?
Remember why you started. The ght
for change clearly hasnt come easy,
but continue to keep in mind why you
started ghting for the change you are
seeking. We are almost to the nish line.

What would you walk

across hot coals for?
Free Adele tickets and unlimited travel
benets.

What LGBT stereotype

annoys you most?
That all gay men are feminine and live
their lives in the societal expectations of
women. Its annoying because it tends to
degrade ones personal expression and
truth to self.

Whats your favorite LGBT movie?

Paris Is Burning. The emphasis placed
on community and support is something
I feel strongly about when it comes to
those underrepresented, often ignored
individuals within the LGBT community.

Whats the most

overrated social custom?
Being kissed when the clock strikes 12
on New Years Day.
What trophy or prize
do you most covet?
I have a strong desire to have an Emmy,
Tony or Oscar by the time Im 75. That
gives me plenty of time to get everything
in order.

What do you wish youd known at 18?

I wish I had known that life becomes
more expensive the older you get and
that I wouldnt be married by the time I
was 25. I might have tried a little harder
to keep the person I was with at the time.
Why Baltimore?
Why not? Its called Charm City for a
reason. Im still trying to gure out where
the charm is actually located. However,
Baltimore oers many opportunities for
me to learn and grow as a person and
thats ultimately what I wanted to do upon
relocating. Since moving here, Ive started
my career in HIV outreach and even had
the opportunity to perform in the rst
show that ever required me to sing aloud
seriously in front of people. All in all,
lifes been pretty darn good to me.

W A SH I N GTO NB LAD E.C OM

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 2 5

I m here.
I m living.
I m happy.
So take that, HIV.
Cedric - Baltimore, MD
Living with HIV since 2012.

HIV

TREATMENT

WORKS

After my diagnosis, it took me a while to accept the fact that being HIV-positive is not the end of the world: Its just
the beginning of a whole new way of life. The first meds I was prescribed gave me some bad side effects. But I worked
with my doctors to find a new one that was better for me. Now I feel great and my viral count is undetectable. That
list of things you wanted to accomplish before you were diagnosed? Its still possible if you stay in care and work with
your doctor to find the treatment thats best for you.

Get in care. Stay in care. Live well.

cdc.gov/HIVTreatmentWorks

LIVE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

26 FEB R U A R Y 26, 2016

O U T & A BO U T

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

the

PRESENTED BY WAMUS BLUEGRASS COUNTRY

GIBSON
BROTHERS
W/ JIMMY GAUDREAU

& MOONDI KLEIN

SATURDAY FEB

the

27

SHADOW

BOXERS
W/ THE ROOKS

SUNDAY FEB

28

THURS, FEB 25

ALL GOOD PRESENTS:

PINK TALKING FISH

FRI, FEB 26

THE BLACK LILLIES

W/ SAM QUINN

STILL COURTESY OF OLSON PRODUCTIONS

TUE, MAR 1

LUTHER DICKINSON &

THE COOPERATORS
W/ AMY LAVERE & WILL SEXTON
WED, MAR 2

LIL ED & THE BLUES

IMPERIALS W/ VINTAGE #18

THEHAMILTONDC.COM

By MARIAH COOPER

Royal Road screening planned

The Royal Road by lesbian lmmaker Jenni Olson screens at Busboys and
Poets (625 Monroe St., N.E.) on Tuesday, March 1 from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
The lm, an ocial selection for the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, showcases
the urban California landscapes with a voiceover by Olson and a voiceover cameo
by Tony Kushner. Olson discusses topics as varied as the Spanish colonization
of California and the Mexican American War to butch identity and Olsons quest
for unavailable women. There will be a question-and-answer session with Olson
after the screening.
Admission is free but there is a suggested $5 donation. For more information,
visit busboysandpoets.com.
PHOTO BY CRYSTAL PRIDMORE

An evening of French opera

Washington Concert Opera presents
La Favorite by Gaetano Donizetti for
a one-night performance at Lisner
Auditorium at George Washington
University (730 21st St., N.W.) on Friday,
March 4 at 7 p.m.
The opera tells the story of the mistress
of the King of Castile who falls in love with
a devout monk, played by gay performer
Randall Bills, seen here. Kate Lindsey and
Javier Arrey also star. The opera will be
performed in its original French version
with English subtitles. Tickets range from
$40-110.
For more details, visit concertopera.org.
PHOTO COURTESY OF DAKSHINA

Dakshina interprets works by gay poets

Dakshina Dance Company presents Mortal Tongues, Immortal Stories at
Atlas Performing Arts Center (1333 H St., N.E.) on Saturday, Feb. 27 at 9 p.m. and
Saturday, March 5 at 1:30 p.m.
The multimedia dance performance, led by Daniel Phoenix Singh, will combine
dance and spoken word poetry, written by artists who have been lost to AIDS
and performed by queer spoken word artists. The performance will explore the
history of HIV/AIDS and the current trends in the infection including access to
health care. Tickets are $30.
For more information, visit atlasarts.org.

Arlington Cinema
hosts Oscar party
Arlington Cinema & Drafthouse (2903
Columbia Pike, Arlington, Va.) hosts D.C.
Film Societys 24th annual Oscar watch
party on Sunday, Feb. 28 at 7 p.m.
Local movie critic Tim Gordon will host
the event. There will be a Predict the
Winners contest, giveaways and a silent
auction. Tickets can be purchased day of
starting at 6:30 p.m. Doors open and the
red carpet pre-show begins at 7 p.m. The
Oscars broadcast is at 8 p.m.
Tickets are $20. For more information,
visit back oce.arlingtondrafthouse.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

FI L M

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 2 7

Former U.S. Rep. BARNEY FRANK, left, will

attend screenings of Compared to What? The
Improbable Journey of Barney Frank in the
region next week. One is Tuesday, March 1 at
the Avalon Theater. Another is Wednesday,
March 2 at the D.C. JCC.
STILL COURTESY OF THE WASHINGTON JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL

Gay themes emerged

organically for
Jewish Film Festival
By BRIAN T. CARNEY
Films about the queer experience are
front and center in the 2016 Washington
Jewish Film Festival.
This years festival includes 69 lms
and a variety of special events that will
be staged throughout the D.C. area.
The festival continues through March 6.
The full schedule can be found at wj.
org/2016.
A sidebar called Rated LGBTQ
showcases nine extraordinary narrative
and documentary movies that provide
a forum for diverse perspectives within
the queer spectrum including (LGBT) and
intersex stories.
Festival Director Ilya Tovbis says that
the Rated LGBTQ sidebar emerged
spontaneously from this years screening
process. He and a small army of
volunteers looked at more than 13,000
lms. Their rst criteria is lms that
deal with Jewish or Israeli identity. After
that, Tovbis says, we look for quality,
originality and diversity of voice. Once we
get through all of that, every year we end
up with certain trend lines.
This year, one of those trend lines was
lms that explore the breadth of the
queer experience.
We didnt say, Lets look at gay voices
in cinema, Tovbis says It was really
the other way around. We saw we had
a number of lms on this topic, so the
sidebar came together rather organically.
He says its hard to pick favorites.

I love them all, he says. By the time

we get to the nal selection, Im in love
with all of them.
Among the selections are the North
American premiere of Marzipan Flowers,
a new Israeli lm by director Adam Kalderon.
The lm centers on Hadas, a middle-aged
widow who forges a connection with her
new roommate Petel, a transgender woman
with a mysterious past.
Its an incredible lm, not just for
the transgender content which is wise
and smart and funny, but its also a
tremendous example of independent
Israeli cinema, Tovbis says. It was
shot on a shoestring budget and uses
green screen in a really clever way. The
screenplay is crackling with energy that
is both recognizable and something you
havent really seen before.
The sidebar also includes Compared
To What? The Improbable Life of
Barney Frank, a documentary directed
by the husband-and-wife team of Sheila
Canavan and Michael Chandler.
The lm reveals a Barney Frank you
only thought you knew, Canavan says.
It is an intimate and entertaining look
behind-the-scenes at the public and
private life of one of Americas greatest
legislators. The lm follows Frank from the
halls of Congress to the streets of Boston
and to the side of his loving partner Jim
Ready as they take their vows and he
becomes the rst member of Congress to
enter into a same-sex marriage.
While making the lm was exhausting
(Frank typically worked seven days a week
from 8 a.m.-11 p.m. most nights and Canavan
and Chandler followed him everywhere), the
lmmakers were unexpectedly energized by
what they found.

While everyone was asking why Barney

was leaving, we wanted to know why hed
stayed, she says. We assumed that we
would nd a discouraged, even cynical,
politician. Instead we discovered a fully
engaged optimist who still saw as his role
as ghting for those who could not ght
for themselves.
Compared To What? will be
screened twice during the festival. After
both screenings, there will be a questionand-answer session with the lmmakers,
along with Congressman Frank and his
husband, Jim Ready.
Rated LGBTQ also includes the lesbian
romantic comedy Portrait of a Serial
Monogamist. Christina Zeidler, who cowrote and co-directed the lm with John
Mitchell, says the movie is a romantic
comedy centered on the charming Elsie,
the perfect girlfriend who also happens to
be a serial monogamist with a long history
of broken hearts. When Elsie breaks up
with her girlfriend of ve years to pursue
another woman, she faces her Jewish
mothers disapproval, conicting advice
from friends, and the nagging suspicion
that she may have made a big mistake.
When creating the lm, Zeidler and
Mitchell wanted to oer a fresh spin on
the traditional rom-com formula. The
idea for the lm was spawned when the
two were having beers after one of her
hockey games.
We started talking about the movies
that we love, specically romantic
comedies, and how the protagonist is
often an emotionally immature guy, who
is kind of a jerk, but charming enough
that you like him anyway, Zeidler says.
Zeidler thought it would be refreshing
to see a woman in that role and Mitchell

jumped on board.
I was drawn to the idea of doing
something totally original, Michell says.
I thought it was a great starting point.
Some of the other lms in the Rated
LGBTQ series include the iconic Sunday,
Bloody Sunday, the historic 1971 John
Schlesinger movie about a bisexual love
triangle; Third Person and The Good
Son, two moving Israeli documentaries
about intersex and transgender issues;
and, Yona and Feelings Are Facts,
documentaries about two lesbian artists,
the Hebrew poet Yona Wallach and the
legendary dancer Yvonne Rainer.
The sidebar will also include a special
collaboration with Story District (formerly
known as Speakeasy DC). On Saturday
Feb. 27, the two groups will present God
Loves You? True Stories about Faith and
Sexuality, an evening of true stories
about belief and identity that will be
performed live. Complete details at wj.
org/rated-lgbtq.
Other festival highlights include A Tale
of Love and Darkness, the directorial and
screenwriting debut of Natalie Portman (who
will appear at the closing night reception), a
screening of the classic Barry Levinson lm
Avalon to accompany the presentation of
the festivals Visionary Award to actor Armin
Mueller-Stahl, the sixth annual community
education day about Arab Citizens of Israel,
the world premiere of Black Jews: The
Roots of the Olive Tree, and Demon,
a chilling contemporary retelling of the
Dybbuk legend.
None of the lms can be boxed in to
say its only a lm for or about Jews, he
says. Its about many things. In the case
of the sidebar, its about being gay and its
about being Jewish.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 8 F EB RUA RY 2 6, 2016

A RT S & CU LT U RE

HOT HITS & HIDDEN JEWELS

From CultureCapital.com
YOUR LINK TO THE ARTS IN METRO DC

Disney Fantasia: Live in Concert

Feb 27. GMU Center for the Arts.
888-945-2468. cfa.gmu.edu.

Enjoy favorite scenes from this groundbreaking lm and its popular sequel,
Disney Fantasia 2000, with a richness of sound that only a live orchestra can
provide. Stunning Disney imagery appears on screen above the orchestra as
it plays Tchaikovskys The Nutcracker Suite, Beethovens Pastoral Symphony,
Resphigis Pines of Rome, and Dukass unforgettable The Sorcerers Apprentice.

NSO Pops: Broadway Today with Darren Criss & Betsy Wolfe
Feb 26-Feb 27. The Kennedy Center.
202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.

Broadway powerhousesDarren Crissand Betsy Wolfe team up for a hit parade

of fresh favorites from The Last Five Years, The Book of Mormon, Frozen, and
more along with songs from Cabaret, Company, and other modern classics.

Carmen: An Afro-Cuban Jazz Musical

Thru Mar 6. Olney Theatre.
301-924-3400. olneytheatre.org.

Olney turns Bizets passion-fueled opera into a sexy, swinging AfroCuban Jazz
musical, moving the action from 1820s Spain to Cuba in 1958, on the verge of
revolution.

THEATRE
Road Show. Thru Mar 13. The Flick. Mar
1-Apr 17. Signature Theatre.
703-820-9771. signature-theatre.org.
A Midsummer Nights Dream. Thru Mar
13. Folger Theatre. 202-544-7077.
folger.edu.
Shear Madness. Ongoing.
The Kennedy Center. 800-444-1324.
shearmadness.com.
Seorita y Madame: The Secret
War of Elizabeth Arden and Helena
Rubinstein. Thru Feb 28. GALA Hispanic
Theatre. 202-234-7174. galatheatre.org.
Between Riverside and Crazy. Thru Feb
28. Constellations. Thru Mar 7.
Studio Theatre. 202-332-3300.
studiotheatre.org.
Guards at The Taj. Thru Feb 28.
Woolly Mammoth. 202-393-3939.
woollymammoth.net.
Walnut Street Theatre: A Moon for the
Misbegotten. Feb 28. GMU Center for
the Arts. 888-945-2468. cfa.gmu.edu.
Othello. Thru Mar 27. Shakespeare
Theatre Company. Sidney Harman Hall.
202-547-1122. shakespearetheatre.org.
Atlas Intersections Festival: The Rude
Mechanicals: Antigone Reected. Feb
26-Feb 27. Annalisa Dias: Servant of
the Wind. Feb 26-Feb 27. MOVES/The
Maverick Lemons Dance Project. Feb
27. Taurus Broadhurst Dance. Feb
27. Terry Nicholetti: Meeting Bessie
Bluefeld. Feb 27-Feb 28. Alice Howes:
The Jury. Feb 28. EcoSono/Matthew
Burtner/Rita Dove: The Ceiling
Floats Away. Feb 28. 202-399-7993.
Seeatlasarts.org for full schedule.

DANCE

Kabarett & Cabaret

Thru Mar 6. In Series at Source Theatre.
202-204-7763. inseries.org.

The 1930s Nazi persecution brought a ood of artists to America: Kurt Weill,
Marlene Dietrich, Frederick Hollander, Erich Korngold, Arnold Schoenberg, and
many others. They, in turn, brought Expressionism and the dark, raunchy world
of the Kabarett to this continent. This show features iconic songs like Falling in
Love Again and Lola, plus forgotten Berliner and Viennese cabaret gems, and
their American ospring, such as Speak Low.
PHOTO COURTESY OF GMU CENTER FOR THE ARTS

Buy
Discount Tickets
ticketPLAce.org

Mariinsky Ballet: Petipas Raymonda.

Thru Feb 28. New York City Ballet. Mar
1-Mar 6. The Kennedy Center.
202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.
Couch Conversations & Performance:
Dance and Politics. Feb 28. Arts Club
of Washington. 202-331-7282 ext. 116.
artsclubofwashington.org.
Soul In Motion - Still Here. Feb 27-Feb
28. Joes Movement Emporium.
301-699-1819. joesmovement.org.
Atlas Intersections Festival:
Dissonance Dance Theatre: Heads or
Tails. Feb 28. DDT at Atlas.
202-540-8338. ddtdc.org.

MUSIC
Patty Grin, Sara Watkins & Anas
Mitchell. Mar 1. Strathmore.
301-581-5100. strathmore.org.
Requinte Trio. Feb 26. The Eddie
Lounge Reunion Show. Mar 3. AMP.
301-581-5100. ampbystrathmore.com.
Leah Crocetto in Recital. Feb 26. WNO.
Ray Chen, violin, & Adriana Horne,
harp. Mar 3-Mar 5. NSO. The Kennedy
Center. 202-467-4600.
kennedy-center.org.
Swimming in Dark Waters: Other

Voices of the American Experience.

Feb 26. GW Lisner Auditorium.
202-994-6800. lisner.gwu.edu.
Calder Quartet. Feb 28. WPA at
The Kennedy Center. 202-785-9727.
washingtonperformingarts.org.
Rhythm Caf: The Life & Times of
Sammy Davis Jr. Feb 27. Smithsonian
Anacostia Museum. 202-633-4844.
anacostia.si.edu.
US Marine Band: Character Pieces. Feb
28. Schlesinger Concert Hall.
703-845-6156. schlesingercenter.com.
Metro Mambo Time Machine. Feb 28.
Metro Mambo. Dance Place.
202-269-1600.
Lunasa with Tim OBrien. Mar 2.
RCC at CenterStage. 703-476-4500.
restoncommunitycenter.com.
ABCs of American Art Song. Feb 28Mar 5. In Series. Source Theatre.
202-204-7763. inseries.org.
Itamar Zorman, violin and Kwan Yi,
pianist. Feb 26. John Eaton. Feb 27.
Herb Alpert and Lani Hall. Feb 29Mar 1. International Guitar Night.
Mar 2-Mar 3. The Barns. 877-965-3872.
wolftrap.org.
Suite Delights. Feb 26. Washington
Bach Consort. First Congregational
United Church of Christ. 202-429-2121.
bachconsort.org.

MUSEUMS
National Gallery of Art. Power and
Pathos. Thru Mar 20. 202-737-4215.
nga.gov.
Museum of Women in the Arts.
Pathmakers. Thru Feb 28. Salon Style:
French Portraits from the Collection.
Thru May 1. 202-783-5000. nmwa.org.
Smithsonian Anacostia Museum.
Twelve Years That Shook And Shaped
Washington: 1963-1975. Thru Oct 23.
202-633-4820. anacostia.si.edu.
National Portrait Gallery. Alexander
Gardner Photographs, 1859-1872. Thru
Mar 13. 202-633-8300. npg.si.edu.
National Geographic. Pristine Seas.
Thru Mar 27. 202-857-7000. nglive.org.

GALLERIES
The Art League Gallery. Biennial
Ikebana Show. Mar 3-Mar 6.
703-683-1780. theartleague.org.
JCCNV. Local Color and More. Thru Apr
4. 703-323-0880. jccnv.org.
Zenith Gallery. Full Circle. Thru Apr 30.
From History to the Dream. Thru Mar 5.
202-783-2963. zenithgallery.com.
Gallery Neptune & Brown. Erick
Johnson. Feb 27-Mar 26. 202-986-1200.
neptuneneart.com.
JCC of Greater Washington. Sharon
Dar. Thru Feb 28. 301-881-0100.
jccgw.org.
Fisher Art Gallery. Al-Mutanbbi Street
Starts Here. Thru Mar 13. 703-534-5726.
schlesingercenter.com.
Neptune Fine Art. Lois Dodd. Thru Feb
28. 202-338-0353. neptuneneart.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

FI L M

FE B R U A R Y 26, 2016 29

PHOTO BY NICOLA DAVE; COURTESY OF CBS FILMS

About 25 percent of all LGBT characters seen in mainstream lm releases in 2014 were in one lm
Pride, seen here. A new study nds diversity lacking in Hollywood.

New study backs

up claims of
#OscarsSoWhite movement
By BRIAN T. CARNEY
On Monday, days before the controversial
2016 Academy Awards presentation, a
scathing report from the prestigious Media,
Diversity and Social Change Initiative at
the University of Southern Californias
Annenberg School of Communications
oered powerful new evidence about the
lack of representation and inclusion at
every level of the lm industry.
This is no mere diversity problem.
This is an inclusion crisis, writes Stacy
L. Smith, author of the study. It is clear
that the ecosystem of entertainment is
exclusionary.
In the Comprehensive Annenberg
Report on Diversity, Smith and her
research team analyzed about 400
movies and television series that were
released by 10 major studios. Their
sample included 109 lms that were
released in 2014 by the studios and their
art house divisions and 305 broadcast,
cable and digital television series. Each
piece was analyzed for its representation
of women, members of racial and
ethnic groups, and LGBT characters. In
addition, the researchers analyzed the
participation of women and people of
color in key behind-the-camera creative
positions and the inclusion of women in
Hollywood executive suites.
Like the absence of people of color
and out actors among the Academy
Award acting nominees, the lack of
representation of women, people of
color and LGBT people in Hollywood is
staggering. For example, of the 11,194
characters that could be evaluated
for apparent sexuality, only 231 were
identied as LGBT. This represents only
two percent of the speaking roles in
movies and television, signicantly less
than the 3.5 percent of the U.S. population
that identies as LGBT.

Of these characters, more than 70

percent were male and almost 80 percent
were white. Only seven characters were
identied as transgender and most of these
characters appeared in one digital show.
Among the major movies released in
2014, only 66 speaking characters were
identied as LGBT, and over half of these
characters appeared in just two movies
(Pride and Love Is Strange).
The statistics are equally grim for
members of underrepresented racial
and ethnic groups. In the Annenberg
sample, only 28 percent of all speaking
characters were identied as black,
Hispanic/Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern or
other. This is far below their proportion in
the U.S. population (38 percent). Of these
characters, 65 percent were male and only
35 percent were female. Out of the 109
feature lms analyzed by the team, 20 (18
percent) did not have any black characters
at all and 55 (50 percent) did not have any
Asian or Asian-American characters
For female characters in lm, the
statistics are even more unsettling.
According to the study, female characters
ll only 28.7 percent of all speaking roles
in lm. This is a staggering ratio of almost
three male characters on screen for every
female character. Further, only 27 percent
of lms featured a female lead and only
8 percent of lms were gender balanced
(where women were roughly half of the
cast). These statistics were far worse for
feature lms than for television series.
More than 25 percent of women in
lm were depicted in sexually revealing
clothing or shown with full or partial
nudity; this statistic was actually lower
for lm than for broadcast, cable and
streaming television.
As the study forcefully concludes, the
hashtag #OscarSoWhite is only the tip of
the iceberg when it comes to describing
the problem of inclusion in Hollywood.
Not surprisingly, the study nds that the
lm industry still functions as a straight,
white, boys club.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 0 F EB RUA RY 2 6, 2016
E-mail calendar items to calendars@washblade.
com two weeks prior to your event. Space is limited so priority is given to LGBT-specic events
or those with LGBT participants. Recurring
events must be re-submitted each time.

TODAY
Gay singer Rahsaan Patterson
performs at Bethesda Blues & Jazz Supper
Club (7719 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda,
Md.) tonight at 7 p.m. Patterson has
collaborated with Ledisi and Lalah
Hathaway and been praised by Chaka
Kahn. Tickets range from $50-65. For more
information, visit bethesdabluesjazz.com.
Bear Nonsense hosts a happy hour
at Rock & Roll Hotel (1353 H St., N.E.)
from 6-10 p.m. tonight. Drink specials
will include $9 Yuengling draft pitcher, $4
Yuengling draft pint, $8 PBR draft pitcher,
$3 PBR draft pint, $6 Ketel One drinks and
$4 rail drinks. There is no cover charge.
For more details, visit bearnonsense.com.
NSO Pops presents Broadway Today
with Darren Criss and Betsy Wolfe
at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St. N.W.)
tonight at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 8 p.m.
Criss and Wolfe will sing songs from The
Book of Mormom, Frozen, Cabaret,
Company and more. Tickets range
from $25-99. For more information, visit
kennedy-center-org.
Rhiannon
Giddens
presents
Swimming in Dark Waters: Other Voices
of the American Experience at Lisner
Auditorium (730 21st St., N.W.) tonight
at 8 p.m. The concert will cover the
resistance of the South in the past and
present and the history of protest songs
by Leyla McCalla. Tickets are $35. For
more details, visit culturecapital.com.
Reel Armations presents In the
Grayscale at Human Rights Campaign
(1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) with
screenings at 7 and 9:15 p.m. The Chilean
lm tells the story of a businessman
who begins a love aair with a young
teacher. General admission tickets are
$12. VIP tickets are $25 and include
one complimentary cocktail or drink,
one popcorn and VIP seating and
recognition. For more information, visit
reelarmations.org.

SATURDAY, FEB. 27
Community on the Hill Church (3655
Calvert St., N.W.) hosts a concert featuring
soprano Narda Munoz, tenor Jesus
Hernandez and pianist Barbara Wilkinson
tonight at 7 p.m. The program will consist
of arias, operatic duets and romantic
Zarzuela songs. Refreshments will be
served. Tickets are $20 and are available
at the entrance. For more information,
visit unitychurchdc.org.
Team D.C. hosts its annual fashion
show and model search at Town (2009
8th St., N.W.) tonight at 8 p.m. Tatianna
from RuPauls Drag Race will guest
judge. Bidding will be for clothes right o
the models backs. Proceeds benet the

CA LE N D A R
Team D.C. College Scholarship Program
for LGBT Athletes. There is a $15 cover.
Doors open at 7 p.m. For more details,
visit teamdc.org.
Brencore Blues Allstar Band presents
a musical tribute to B.B. King at Publick
Playhouse (5445 Landover Rd., Cheverly,
Md.) tonight at 8 p.m. Tickets range
from $25-30. For more information, visit
culturecapital.com.
Joes Movement Emporium (3309
Bunker Hill Rd., Mt Rainier, Md.) presents
Soul in Motions performance of Still
Here. A recreational form of dance and
music from West Africa inspires the
dance and music. Tickets are $25. For
more details, visit culturecapital.com.
Black Cat (1811 14th St., N.W.) presents
Gay/Bash, a gay dance party, tonight
at 10 p.m. Heidi Glum, Summer Camp,
Alotta McGriddles and Salvadora Dali will
perform. DJ Donna Slash will play music.
There will be a show at 11:30 p.m. and 1
a.m. Cover is $7. This is an all-ages event.
For more information, visit blackcatdc.com.
Makers Lab, an alternative LGBT
dance party, presents Unbreakable: A
Janet Jackson Day Party at Tropicalia
(2001 14th St., N.W.) today from 4-8 p.m.
DJ Lady Ryan and DJ Baronhawk Poiter
will play music. This party is for guests 21
and over. Cover is $10. For more details,
visit makerslabdc.co.
The Conscience Drama Directive
presents The Prescient Conscience of Eric
Bentley: the SCOTUS Marriage Decision
(2015) and Lord Alfreds Lover (1978)
tonight at 9 p.m. at the Atlas Performing
Arts Center (1333 H St., N.E.) as part of the
Intersections Festival. The work recounts
the nal years of Oscar Wilde. Bentleys
work predicts the modern-day work of
the Supreme Court. After the hour-long
performance, a panel panel discussion
will be held. Tickets are $20. Details at
atlasarts.org/intersections.

SUNDAY, FEB. 28
Perrys (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts
its weekly Sunday drag brunch today
from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95
for an all-you-can-eat buet. For more
details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
Nellies Sports Bar (900 U St., N.W.)
hosts a drag brunch today with shows at
10:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. Brunch buet
is $26 and the rst mimosa or Bloody
Mary is free. For more information and to
purchase tickets, visit nelliesdragbrunch.
eventbrite.com.

MONDAY, FEB. 29
The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W..)
hosts coee drop-in hours this morning
from 10 a.m.-noon for the senior LGBT
community. Older LGBT adults can
come and enjoy complimentary coee
and conversation with other community
members. For more information, visit
thedccenter.org.
Producer Don Michael Mendoza kicks

PHOTO BY NATHAN JOHNSON; COURTESY OF THE KENNEDY CENTER

DARREN CRISS performs Broadway hits with Betsy Wolfe in two performances this weekend at
the Kennedy Center. Its a presentation of the NSO Pops.

o the launch of his blog Producing the

District and Other Adventures during
a La-Ti-Do show at Bistro Bistro (1727
Connecticut Ave., N.W.) tonight at 8 p.m.
Doors open at 7:55 p.m. Tickets are $15.
For more details, visit facebook.com/
producingthedistrict.

TUESDAY, MARCH 1
Bachelors Mill has half-price drinks all
night tonight from 5 p.m.-2 a.m. tonight.
There is also pool, video gaming systems
and cards. Admission is free. For more
details, visit bachelorsmill.com.
Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.)
hosts its weekly FUK!T Packing Party from
7-9 p.m. tonight. For more details, visit
thedccenter.org or greenlanterndc.com.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 2
The Tom Davoren Social Bridge
Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the
Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for social
bridge. No partner needed. For more
information, call 301-345-1571.
The Ask Rayceen Show is at Liv
Nightclub (2001 11th St., N.W.) this
evening at 6 p.m. There will be a match
game with a celebrity panel including
Dainty Dainridge, Chelsea Shorte and

Private Tails. Quineice will give a live

music performance. Queen Nefertittie
will perform burlesque. Curt Mariah will
announce the event, DJ Honey will play
music and Rayceen Pendarvis will host.
Admission is free. For more details, visit
facebook.com/askrayceen.
Bookmen D.C., an informal mens
gay literature group, discusses Was by
Geof Ryman at the Cleveland Park Library
(3310 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) tonight
at 7:30 p.m. The novel is a re-telling of
The Wizard of Oz. All are welcome. For
details, visit bookmendc.blogspot.com.

THURSDAY, MARCH 3
Gamma MD, a support group for
men in mixed-orientation relationships,
meets today at 2 E 2nd St., Frederick, Md.,
tonight from 6:30-8:30 p.m. The group
is for men who are attracted to men
but are currently or were at one point
in relationships with women. Meeting
locations are in private residences. For
more information about the group and
location, visit gammaindc.org.
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) hosts Fight
4 Yr Rights Activist Night today from 5-7
p.m. LGBT youth can come to learn about
historical activist movements. For details,
visit smyal.org.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

M US I C

FE B R U A R Y 26, 2016 31

Legendary Morel back

with new outt, single
By CHRIS GERARD
When last we heard new studio material
from Rich Morel it was with Deathx, hard
groovin post-punk revivalists with more
than a hint of psychedelia.
Now that Deathx is on hiatus, Morel
is unveiling a new project. Collaborating
with vocalist Jason Barnes, the duo is
called Sistr Mid9ight and they are rmly in
the realm of electronica. Their rst single
Femaphilia is already available on the
duos Bandcamp page, and they will be
performing with Prince Rama at Comet
Ping Pong in D.C. on Saturday, March 5.
Perhaps its not surprising that Morel
is now going for a more electronic sound,
given his successful career as a D.J.,
songwriter, musician and producer in
that arena. He has 25 no. 1 singles on the
Billboard Club Chart. Just let that sink in
for a minute.
His partnership with Bob Mould for
the Blowo DJ series has been massively
successful. His new project seems to dive
back into all of those things. Femaphilia
has a bit of a new wave vibe at rst that
brings to mind Soft Cell, but then it turns
much more aggressive with heavy guitars
until it sounds almost like glam rock meets
industrial. Morel describes it as groovy
and dirty, and that pretty much nails it.
The enigmatic lyrics seem to involve the
idea of being trapped inside a body that
doesnt represent who that person is.
Pull the lid back and make me
everything that you are/like a rib from
Adams skin/Im the latest and the greatest
rock star/Am I the man you seek?/
Mannish girl, boyish freak. Barnes voice
is supple and he knows how to project a
feeling. For the sinuous electronic verses
of Femaphilia, he seems to be going for
cool, detached and sexy, but during the
harder sections he shows hes perfectly
capable of rocking out.
It turns out that the seed of Sistr
Mid9ight was rst laid during a project for
Deathx. Morel met Jason Barnes while
preparing for a video shoot.
I was looking for a performer to appear
in a Deathx video when I saw Jason
performing as Pussy Noir, he says. I was
really struck by his presence and male/
female sexuality. I was sparked by the idea
of working with Jason. I always wanted to
do a project that pulled stylistically from
artists like Grace Jones, Bowie and Jason
was the perfect collaborator.
If youre gonna pick artists to draw
inspiration from, you can do a lot worse
that David Bowie and Grace Jones.
Femaphilia does indeed sounded

PHOTO BY STEPHEN BENEDICTO

RICH MOREL, left, and JASON BARNES have

joined forces as Sistr Mid9ight. Their rst eort
shows promise.

indebted to those two legends and

the duos name is derived from Sister
Midnight, a song Bowie rst wrote with
Iggy Pop for his 1977 classic The Idiot
and then re-recorded with dierent lyrics
on his Lodger album as Red Money.
While only Femaphila is available
now, more is on the way.
We started working in the studio last
year and are continuing to record now,
Morel says. I love the idea of releasing
singles and EPs as we record them. Its
more immediate. Weve got a bunch
ready to go now, so yes theyll be more
releases soon.
To get a sneak preview of some of
these songs, check out the Comet PingPong show, as Morel has promised they
will perform a selection of tracks that
will eventually be available for purchase.
Sistr Mid9ight may be in their infancy as a
recording entity, but there is plenty of talent
and promise for exciting things to come.

Our salute to country music

with special guests the
DC Cowboys!

March 12 8pm
March 19 3pm (ASL) & 8pm
March 20 3pm (ASL)

Lincoln Theatre, 1215 U Street NW

Tickets: 1-877-435-9849
or visit GMCW.org

ASL tickets or groups of 10 or more: call 202-293-1548

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 2 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

P H O T O S BY H U G H CLA RKE

UpRoar Lounge and Restaurant (639 Florida Ave., N.W.) is billed as D.C.s Newest Gay Bear Bar.
Patrons socialize on the rooftop deck and downstairs in the bar on Saturday, Feb. 20.

BROOKLAND

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MARY KEEGAN MAGNER

Call 301-785-1601 Office: 301-718-0010

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A D V I CE

Boyfriends sexual requests

raise deeper issues

MICHAEL RADKOWSKY, Psy.D. is a licensed

psychologist who works with gay individuals
and couples in D.C. He can be found online
at personalgrowthzone.com. All identifying
information has been changed for reasons
of condentiality. Have a question? Send it to
Michael@personalgrowthzone.com.

MICHAEL,
My boyfriend Tom wants me to start
taking Truvada and Im not sure I want to.
He says if were both taking PrEP, we
can have better sex. Hed like us to stop
using condoms so we can feel closer.
While I like the idea of unprotected sex with
him, Im also nervous about it because we
recently opened up our relationship at Toms
initiative and now he hooks up with other
guys pretty frequently. He says that because

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 3 3

he always uses a condom with them and is on

Truvada, I dont have to worry about either of
us catching something. But I still worry, which
is why I want to keep using condoms. Its also
why I dont hook up with anyone.
The other reason he wants me to go on
Truvada is because he thinks Id be more
comfortable having sex with other guys
and we could play around together, which
hed like. I dont really want to do this but I
dont want to say no to his fantasies.
Tom says I have an anxiety issue and I should
have a more positive attitude about sex.
Am I being unreasonable? Should I
listen to Tom? We get along very well but
since he started bringing this up, I always
have a feeling that hes disappointed in
our sex life.
MICHAEL REPLIES:
Are you being unreasonable about your
safer-sex choices? A physician is the best
person to answer this question, so please
make an appointment with yours. But I can
tell you that nothing is a guarantee against
all STDs, except celibacy. PrEP can lower the
chance of HIV transmission and condoms
are useful against a range of STDs, but they

arent foolproof and folks dont always use

them even when they intend to. You can also
be exposed to a smorgasbord of diseases
through oral sex (usually done without a
condom), rimming and even kissing.
Clearly, there are varying degrees of
risk and the decision of how much to
take on should be yours. It sounds like
your decision making is being clouded by
your anxiety about making Tom unhappy.
Wanting to please your partner should
not be the sole criterion for a decision
that involves your health. You can get
into serious trouble by ignoring your own
sense of what is right for you in order to
please someone else.
Is Tom suggesting hell walk if you dont
start taking PrEP and joining him for
hookups? Or are you only fearful that he
will? If hes threatening to leave, have a
talk with him about this. Making threats
to get your boyfriend to do what you want
is toxic and destructive to a relationship.
Speaking of threats, how did the two
of you decide to open your relationship?
Was it a mutual decision, or due to
pressure from Tom? Im wondering how
much you are saying yes to things you
dont want to do.
I also wonder if you want to keep using
condoms because you dont trust Tom.
You dont mention this, but when one
person feels pressured by their partner

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as you describe, trust is often an issue.

If Tom is simply expressing his
dissatisfaction, then if you decide not to
do what he wants, you will have to learn to
tolerate his unhappiness as he comes to
terms with your choice. Remember, while
its important to be considerate of your
partner, its not your job to keep him happy.
Actually, its not possible to make other
people happy. Each of us is responsible
for our own happiness, regardless of our
partners actions.
Regarding your not having a positive
attitude toward sex, this is a dierent
issue from the level of sexual risk you are
willing to take on.
Are you interested in being close to
Tom and having a pleasurable sex life
with him? If so, why is Tom questioning
your attitude? Being sex-positive does not
mean being OK with doing anything and
everything, and not setting boundaries
that make you feel comfortable. This is
another topic for discussion with Tom.
There are great opportunities here for
you and Tom to improve your relationship
skills. You have the chance to get better at
clarifying how you want to conduct yourself,
even if your boyfriend disapproves. And
the two of you get to gure out how you
can be a couple even when you want
two dierent outcomes, which is the big
challenge of all relationships.

3 4 F E B RUA RY 2 6, 2016

W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

WA SH I N GTO NB LADE.C OM

F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 3 5

REALESTATE

Awaiting start of the spring market

Its the busiest
time of the year
By TIM SAVOY
We are just one week away from March
2016, the beginning of the spring real
estate market. This year, Zillow predicts
that the best time to list a home will be
between March 20-31. This trend of listing your home between mid-March and
mid-April has become commonplace. In
short, the spring real estate market is the
hottest for Washington, D.C.
Listing your home in the spring doesnt
necessarily mean the greatest increases
in price; in fact, prices gradually increase
throughout the year naturally instead
of spiking in particular seasons. However, because of much more pleasant
conditions from the frigid winter and a
combined increase in the presence of
motivated buyers in the marketplace,
inventory naturally rises in the housing
supply market. For buyers, this doesnt
mean that increased supply means less
competition; in fact it is the opposite. D.C.
is one of the biggest sellers markets in
the U.S., with a standard shortage of inventory at all times. This means that buyers must be prepared to compete for the
homes they want.
If you are a homeowner who has not
already started the process of selling
your home, you may be a little late to the
party in preparing for the spring market.
For many sellers, the process of listing,

preparing, showing and ultimately selling

your home is a lengthy process that starts
long before the home hits the MLS. Sellers who prioritize selling for the highest
price will be surprised often times that
simple maintenance and repair items to
the home can increase its worth. For example, fresh paint, closet organization,
and de-cluttering are simple projects that
show o the home better to buyers. Staging for the spring is simple: neutral tones
and depersonalizing your space shows
buyers what their lives may look like if
buying your home.
As to larger projects, trends show that
buyers really like move-in quality houses.
For sellers who are looking to update
their homes for the spring market, kitchen and master bathroom renovations deliver the biggest rate of return. However,
be sure to keep in mind the market you
are selling to, as all renovations are not
created equally. For example, if selling a
property in the middle price range of your
market, there may not be as much rate of
return on your renovation investment by
purchasing the highest end upgrades, appliances and nishes.
For buyers, this is the right time to be
preapproved for a mortgage. As the demographics of homebuyers continue to
trend locally and nationally, more and
more young buyers are entering the market armed with pre-approval letters and
primed to make an oer. Whereas 20 percent conventional nancing was the norm
for years, buyers now are taking advantage of low down payment programs with

Sid Binks, PhD, ABPP-CN

Board Certified in Clinical Neuropsychology
Licensed Clinical Psychologist

Individual & Couples Therapy

for the LGBTQ Community
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3000 Connecticut Ave. NW 202.255.5187 SidBinks@aol.com

LGBTC.com/html/sid_binks.html

The trend of listing your home between mid-March and mid-April has become commonplace
in D.C.

reduced or little mortgage insurance.

Buyers who are on the fence about a
2016 purchase should explore their loan
options now instead of waiting to test interest rates.
The spring marketplace can be one
of the most competitive markets for hot
property. For buyers looking to purchase
soon, I recommend breaking into the
market now, as competition will only increase in the next 60 days. While multiple
oers are common in D.C., some buyers
may prefer to explore listings that stayed
on the market the past 60 plus days over
the winter, as this is normally an indicator that properties have been overpriced.

You never know if you can nd a great

deal on a property listed months ago at
a higher price.
In all, this springs market is primed to
show a steady market in the D.C. area.
With more and more buyers entering the
market after steady years of growth, 2016
shouldnt come with any surprises and
continue our regions growth. With interest rates and younger buyers coming to
the market, sellers should do their absolute best to prepare their home for sale.
TIM SAVOY (@SavoyRealEstate) is a real estate
agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Dupont/Logan. Reach him at 202-400-0534
or timothy.savoy@cbmove.com.

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W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M

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ISSUE DATE: 02.26.16

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WA SH I NGTO N B LA DE.C OM

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F E BRU A RY 2 6 , 2 0 1 6 3 7

HOME IMPROVEMENT
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