MARCH

25,

2016

VOLUME 47

ISSUE 13

AMERICAS GAY NEWS SOURCE

It starts with appointing

anti-gay Supreme
Court justices
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com

DONALD TRUMP has said hed appoint justices to the Supreme Court who would
overturn marriage equality.
PHOTO BY CHRISTOPHER HALLORAN; COURTESY OF BIGSTOCK

Human rights abuses overshadow

presidents historic trip
By MICHAEL K. LAVERS
mlavers@washblade.com
Two independent LGBT rights advocates are among
the 13 Cuban dissidents with whom President Obama
met this week in Havana.
Juana Mora Cedeo of Alianza Mano and Nelson
lvarez Matute, who works with her organization,

Donald Trump has renewed his

commitment to appoint justices to the
U.S. Supreme Court who would reverse
marriage equality but legal observers
are skeptical hell be able to make good
on his pledge if hes elected president.
On Monday, Trump during a news
conference at a D.C. construction site,
announced hed make public soon a list of
10 conservatives from which as president
hed select his nominees for the Supreme
Court. The list, Trump said, was being
made in consultation with The Heritage

attended the nearly two-hour meeting in the Cuban

capital. Secretary of State John Kerry, National
Security Adviser Susan Rice, senior White House
adviser Valerie Jarrett and U.S. Chief of Mission Jerey
DeLaurentis were also present.
All of the individuals around this table have shown
extraordinary courage, said Obama, according to a
pool report. They have spoken out on behalf of the
issues that they care deeply about. Some of them
represent specic constituencies inside of Cuba. Some
of them have broader concerns regarding democracy,
the ability to speak freely, worship freely, or assemble

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Foundation, a conservative think-tank

known for its opposition to LGBT rights.
Were going to have a conservative,
very good group of judges, Trump said.
Im going to submit a list of justices,
potential justices of the United States
Supreme Court that I will appoint from
the list. I wont go beyond that list.
Responding to criticism from rival
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) that a Trump
administration would be open to
appointing liberals to the Supreme
Court, Trump said, People say maybe Ill
appoint a liberal judge. Im not appointing
a liberal judge.
Making the case it would be a disaster
for Republicans to run a third-party
candidate against him in the general
election, Trump said that would enable
CONTINUES ON PAGE 12

or are advocating on behalf of democratic practices

here in Cuba.
Mora told the Washington Blade during a telephone
interview after the meeting that Obama listened to
everyone.
He listened to each part, including the LGBT
community, said Mora.
Mora is a vocal critic of Cuban President Ral Castro
and his daughter, Mariela Castro, who promotes
LGBT-specic issues on the island as director of the
CONTINUES ON PAGE 13

SCRUTINIZED

SHES A WONDER

BMORE BRIGHT

Merrick Garland ruled

against 4 gay plaintis,
but no bias seen in record.

Fans celebrate as
Wonder Woman nally
makes big-screen debut.

Innovative light show

comes to Baltimores
Inner Harbor next week.

PAGE 11

PAGE 21

PAGE 23

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Liberty Counsel appeals dismissal of Va. lawsuit

The Liberty Counsel has appealed a ruling that dismissed its lawsuit against
the Fairfax County School Districts LGBT-inclusive nondiscrimination policy.
The anti-LGBT legal group on March 17 led a notice of appeal of Fairfax
County Circuit Court Judge Brett Kassabians ruling with the Virginia Supreme
Court.
The Liberty Counsel last December led the lawsuit on behalf of Traditional
Values Coalition President Andrea Laerty and an unnamed minor. His parents
and two of their friends are also named as plaintis.
The lawsuit alleges that members of the Fairfax County School Board violated
Virginia law when they added sexual orientation and gender identity to the
districts nondiscrimination policy in November 2014 and May 2015.
Robert Rigby, Jr., president of FCPS Pride, a group that represents LGBT
employees of the Fairfax County School District, criticized the Liberty Counsel in
a press release he issued on Tuesday.
With these tactics, Liberty and their allies seek to delay FCPS progress in
developing policies, regulations, resources for families, and trainings for sta
and students to implement fair and successful treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender students, their families, sta and applicants, said Rigby.
The Liberty Counsel has yet to return the Blades request for comment.
Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in March 2015 said state law allows
school boards to include sexual orientation and gender identity in their
nondiscrimination policies. This opinion overturned then-Attorney General
Jerry Kilgores 2012 position that said ocials cannot add such language to such
provisions, unless the General Assembly passed a law allowing them to do so.
A Virginia House of Delegates committee last month killed state Del. Bob
Marshall (R-Prince William County)s bill that would have prevented municipalities
from enacting measures against anti-LGBT discrimination.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

LPAC endorses Edwards for U.S. Senate

A lesbian political action committee on Friday endorsed Maryland
Congresswoman Donna Edwards in the race to succeed retiring U.S. Sen.
Barbara Mikulski.
LPAC Executive Director Beth Shipp in a statement described Edwards as an
outspoken champion and advocate for LGBTQ women and the issues we care
about.
From LGBT rights to womens equality to social justice, Donna has been on the
front lines of all the important battles weve fought and she has stood shoulder
to shoulder with us every step of the way, said Shipp. LPAC is incredibly proud
to support her and we look forward to having her voice in the U.S. Senate next
year.
I am thrilled to receive the support of LPAC in my race for the United States
Senate, said Edwards in the LPAC statement. Together, we have fought to
achieve womens and LGTBQ equality right here in Maryland and all across our
country.
LPAC is the rst LGBT-specic organization to endorse Edwards in her race
against Congressman Chris Van Hollen ahead of the April 26 Democratic primary.
Both candidates spoke in support of Marylands same-sex marriage law ahead
of the 2012 referendum on it. Edwards and Van Hollen are also co-sponsors
of the Equality Act, which would add sexual orientation and gender identity to
federal civil rights law.
Whenever inequality pops up, you have to smack back at it, Edwards told the
Washington Blade last month during an interview at her Prince Georges County
campaign oce.
A poll the Baltimore Sun and the University of Baltimore released last week
shows that Edwards is ahead of Van Hollen by a 34-28 percent margin. The
candidates latest Federal Election Commission lings indicate that Van Hollen
has raised more than 10 times the amount of money than Edwards.
Edwards and Van Hollen on Friday faced o in their rst debate that took
place on the Kojo Nnamdi Show on WAMU.
Neither candidate discussed LGBT-specic issues during the debate. Van
Hollen noted that former state Del. Heather Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) is
among the Maryland elected ocials who have endorsed him.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

LO CA L N E W S

Lesbian judges seek

election in Baltimore
Community can count
on all of us for fair
treatment in our courts
By STEVE CHARING
While much attention is being focused
on Baltimores mayoral and City Council
contests, another important race is
taking place that impacts the citys LGBT
community. Six sitting judges on the
Circuit Court, running as a slate, are
seeking election for a term of 15 years.
Their names will be on the ballot on April
26. They preside over the dierent cases
that come to Circuit Court, including
criminal, civil, family (divorce, child
custody, adoptions) and juvenile.
Two of these judges are out lesbians:
Shannon E. Avery and Audrey J.S. Carrin.
The other four Michael DiPietro,
Karen C. Friedman, Wanda Keyes Heard
and Cynthia H. Jones have also
demonstrated fairness toward LGBT
Marylanders.
For example, Judge Friedman is well
known for an opinion she wrote when
she was a judge in the orphans court in
which she broke ground in respecting
the wishes of a same-sex couple prior to
marriage equality.
Judge DiPietros brother is an out gay
man, Avery told the Blade. Judges Jones
and Heard have demonstrated values of
fairness and equality to LGBT people. We all
marched in the Pride parade last summer.
She added, While Audrey Carrin
and I have a particular interest to the
community, we can vouch for the whole
ticket. The LGBT community can count on
all of us for fair and equal treatment in
our courts.
Avery, who was appointed by Gov.
Martin OMalley to the District Court in
August 2010 and then to the Circuit Court
in February 2014, has a long record of proLGBT activism since 1989. Aside from being
on numerous boards and commissions
and serving as an adviser to several elected
ocials, Avery is the past president of the
FreeState Legal Project. She was co-chair
of the Baltimore Justice Campaign that
secured domestic partnership benets for
Baltimore City employees.
Avery spearheaded a police advisory
board for LGBT issues, as well as an LGBT
youth advocacy board that is now known
as the Youth Equality Alliance (YEA!). She
is currently a member of the International
Association of LGBT Judges and works as
an adjunct professorat theUniversity of
Baltimore School of Law.

Judges AUDREY CARRIN and SHANNON

AVERY are running for a 15-year term.
PHOTO COURTESY OF CARRION AND AVERY

Judge Carrin, a fellow of the Maryland

Bar Foundation and the Baltimore City
Bar Association Foundation, has been
a member of the Maryland Hispanic
Bar Association since 1993. Carrin was
appointed to both the District Court and
Circuit Court by Gov. Parris Glendening.
She currently sits on the Civil Docket of the
court and is the director of the Business
and Technology Case Management
Program, which covers complex civil
business matters.
For approximately six years I was the
judge in charge of our family division and
in that role I created an atmosphere that
was welcoming to our LGBT families,
Carrin told the Blade. I approved
hundreds of same-sex second parents
adoptions and included same-sex
families in our annual adoption month
celebration in November. It has always
been important to me that LGBT families
be treated with respect.
Carrin added, When I sat as the drug
court judge in the Juvenile Division I made
sure that the counselors who worked
with our youth were sensitive to LGBT
issues. Every year for the past 10 years
Ive taught the diversity section of the new
judges orientation in which among other
topics I cover LGBT subjects.
Avery said it is important to have out
lesbians and gay men represented in the
judiciary because people need to see
that the judiciary represents a fair crosssection of the population.
It contributes to the legitimacy and
sense of fairness of the courts, she said.
We are really proud of the diversity of the
six sitting judges who are running in 2016.

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LO CA L N E W S

Gay couple gets 15 months for health care fraud

Two charged with
stealing from federal
employee program
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
A federal judge in Washington on
March 10 sentenced a gay retired State
Department official and his husband to
15 months incarceration for a scheme
that prosecutors say enabled them
to obtain at least $257,000 through
false medical claims from a federal
employee health insurance plan.
The sentencing came five months
after former State Department official
Russell Sveda, 70, and his husband,
Richard Victor Schachter, 56, pled guilty
to one count each of health care fraud
in the U.S. District Court for the District
of Columbia.
A statement released by the U.S.
Attorneys Office, which prosecuted
the case, says the two men signed
statements admitting they submitted a
series of false claims for reimbursement
of medical services they claimed Sveda
received while the two were living in
Germany between February 2007 and
October 2010. Charging documents say
Sveda signed over power of attorney
authority to Schachter, who in turn
filed false medical claims on Svedas
behalf.
Based
on
information
the
government has received to date,
$257,000 of those claimed medical
services, purportedly performed in
Germany, are known to be false given
the dates when travel and other
records establish that Sveda was not in
Germany, the statement says.
In an October 2015 charging
document, prosecutors say passport
stamps and border crossing records
obtained by federal investigators,
including the FBI, found that at times
when Sveda claimed he was receiving
medical treatment in Germany he and
Schachter either were traveling or
staying in vacation destinations.
Among other things, the charging
document says the two were traveling
on the Queen Mary 2 from New York
City to Southampton, England on one
occasion when Sveda purportedly
was receiving medical treatment in
Germany. On another occasion, the
charging document says, both men
were staying in the upscale Canyon
Ranch Spa in Lenox, Mass., at a time
when Sveda filed claims for medical
services totaling $50,000 allegedly
performed at a treatment facility in
Germany.

In addition to sentencing the men to

15 months incarceration, U.S. District
Court Judge Thomas Hogan sentenced
them to 36 months of supervised
probation upon their release. He also
required that they jointly pay $257,000
to the U.S. Office of Personnel
Management as restitution.
Hogan said the 15 months sentence
would be adjusted to reflect the 24
days that Sveda and Schachter spent in
jail following their arrest at their home
in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Fla., on July
10, 2015.
The arrest came two days after the
two were hit with a 24-count indictment
handed down by a federal grand jury
in Washington. Among other things,
the indictment charged the two with
spending the money they improperly
obtained through false medical claims
for Sveda, in part, on travel in Europe
and to pay for other expenditures
unrelated to medical services.
In
separate
pre-sentencing
memorandums filed in court by
attorneys representing Sveda and
Schachter, the attorneys urged Judge
Hogan to sentence the men to the time
they already served following their
arrest and to a term of supervised
release.
Federal Public Defender attorney
Mary Manning Petras, who represented
Sveda, argued that Sveda acknowledges
he engaged in wrongdoing. But she
said in the memo that he attributes
a downward spiral that led him to
become involved in the instant offense
to a long history depression and
alcoholism and a more recent affliction
of prescription drug abuse.
She noted that Sveda successfully
completed
a
substance
abuse
treatment program shortly before the
sentencing was to take place.
She also noted that despite his
bouts of depression and drinking
problems, Sveda served for years as
a distinguished State Department
official in many important assignments
overseas and in the U.S. Among other
things, he was one of the first to help
found the group Gays and Lesbians in
Foreign Affairs Agencies, or GLIFAA,
which advocates on behalf of LGBT
Foreign Service employees, Petras says
in her sentencing memo.
Schachters Public Defender attorney
John Carney argued that Schachter
currently suffers from a number of
mental health disorders, including
mental
illness,
alcoholism,
and
other diagnosed illness. Similar to
Sveda, Carney states in his sentencing
memo that Schachter had recently
acknowledged the severity of his
alcohol and substance abuse problem

and committed to a substance abuse

and alcohol program.
The attorneys for the two men also
state in their respective court memos
that their clients each struggled with
accepting and being accepted as gay
men during their early years.

People who knew the couple have

said they were active in D.C.s gay social
scene in the 1990s and that Sveda
was the host of sought after parties
in his Adams Morgan townhouse
during times when he was stationed in
Washington.

JIM SLATTERY is president of Brother, Help Thyself.

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Slattery re-elected president

of Brother, Help Thyself
The board of directors of the LGBT charitable group Brother, Help Thyself
voted unanimously on March 9 to re-elect longtime gay activist and D.C. mayoral
aide Jim Slattery as the groups president.
In a special meeting, the groups board also unanimously re-elected Baltimore
activist Andrew McCarty as vice president, Beth Brockelmen as secretary, and
activist and Dignity Washington ocial Mark Clark as treasurer.
It doesnt seem at all possible that three years have gone by since I was rst
elected BHT president, Slattery said in a statement. The magnitude of the
work we do and those we assist with funding helps me always look ahead with
optimism and a renewed energy, he said.
I remain humbled by, and in awe of, the Boards condence and trust in me
and look forward to a great year ahead working on behalf of the DC/Baltimore
regions LGBTQ community, Slattery said.
BHT describes itself as a 501(c) (3) grant making community based organization
that provides nancial and other support to non-prot organizations serving the
GLBTQ and HIV/AIDS communities in the Baltimore/Washington, D.C. metro
area.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.

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NATIONAL NEWS

Civil rights leaders condemn

religious freedom bills
Ugly justication of bigotry
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbbaro@washblade.com
Trans author JANET MOCK cancelled her appearance at Brown.
PHOTO BY JUSTON SMITH; COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

Mock cancels Brown University appearance

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Transgender author and advocate Janet Mock this week
cancelled her scheduled appearance at Brown University amid controversy that
a Jewish student group had organized it.
The Brown Daily Herald reported that Moral Voices invited Mock to speak on
March 21. Brown/RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Hillel and a number of
other on-campus groups co-sponsored the event.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency reported 159 Brown students signed a Change.
org petition that urged Mock to disassociate herself from Hillel because it is a
corporation that has consistently defended and even advocated for the Israeli
states policies of occupation and racial apartheid. The petition also accuses
the Jewish organization of engaging in pinkwashing...to deect attention from
Israels colonization and occupation of Palestinians.
Mocks appearance at Brown University was to have taken place nearly two
months after protesters forced the cancellation of a reception at the National
LGBTQ Task Forces annual conference that was to have featured two LGBT
advocates from Israel.

LGBT groups march in St. Pats parade

NEW YORK LGBT people for the rst time in more than two decades
marched openly in New Yorks annual St. Patricks Day parade on March 17.
I never thought Id see the day when I could march up Fifth Avenue in the St.
Patricks Day Parade with my husband, Brendan Fay, chair of the Lavender and
Green Alliance, told WNBC as the parade began. When we started in 1991, after
getting arrested so many times for protesting the parade, wow, what a moment
this is.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio had previously boycotted the parade because
of its controversial policy.
Parade organizers in 2015 allowed NBCUniversals LGBT employee group to
march. De Blasio this year marched with the Lavender and Green Alliance.
Today everyone is celebrating together, de Blasio told WNBC.
Former New York City Council Speaker Christine Quinn was among those who
also marched in the parade.

Conversion therapy bans advance in Colo., Vt.

DENVER Lawmakers across the country continue to advance eorts to ban
so-called conversion therapy for minors.
The Colorado House of Representatives March 17 approved a bill that would
prohibit the controversial practice. A similar measure passed in the Vermont
Senate the day before.
The idea that being somehow queer or trans-identied is something that
needs to be xed or something that can be xed is obviously very dangerous
especially because when youth come out to their parents, parents struggle with
that, Outright Vermont Executive Director Melissa Murray told Northeast Public
Radio.
D.C., California, Illinois, New Jersey and Oregon have passed laws that ban
conversion therapy to minors.
A bill that would have banned the controversial practice in Virginia died in the
state Senate in January.

The nations preeminent mainline civil

rights organization released a report on
Monday asserting that religious freedom
arguments used to justify discrimination
against LGBT people in dozens of bills
pending in state legislatures is rooted
in past eorts in the United States to
support slavery and racial segregation on
religious grounds.
The Leadership Conference Education
Fund, the educational arm of the
Leadership Conference on Civil and
Human Rights, announced the release
of the report during a conference call in
which the organizations president and
CEO Wade Henderson called the latest
crop of religious freedom legislation an
ugly justication of bigotry.
Henderson was joined by Sarah
Warbelow, legal director of the Human
Rights Campaign; Rep. Bobby Scott (DVa.), the ranking minority member of the
House Committee on Education and the
Workforce; and Gretchen Borchelt, vice
president for reproductive rights and health
at the National Womens Law Center.
Religious rationalizations have been
used to defend slavery and Jim Crow
segregation, oppose rights for women, and
promote discrimination against Muslims,
according to the report, called Striking a
Balance: Advancing Civil and Human Rights
While Preserving Religious Liberty.
Recently, the concept of religious
liberty has been corrupted by those
seeking to devise legal and political
strategies to oppose and undermine
protection against discrimination on the
basis of sexual orientation and gender
identity, the report says.
A Leadership Conference statement
says the 22-page report released on
Monday is an updated version of an
earlier report raising objections to and
outlining legal and political strategies
for opposing more than 100 religious
freedom bills that have been introduced
in states throughout the country.
The report notes that the U.S. Supreme
Courts 2014 ruling in Burwell v. Hobby
Lobby appears to have set the stage for
the religious freedom bills. The court
ruling reinterpreted the federal Religious
Freedom Restoration Act, which Congress
passed in the early 1990s with strong
bipartisan support for the purpose of
protecting religious minorities.
Under
the
high
courts
new
interpretation, for-prot corporations
could make a religious exercise claim

There can be no religious exemption

from basic human dignity, said WADE
HENDERSON, CEO of the Leadership
Conference on Civil and Human Rights.
PHOTO COURTESY USDA

under RFRA, an interpretation that the

report says opens the way for legislation
to exempt non-religious organizations or
companies from complying with LGBT
non-discrimination laws on the basis of
religious beliefs.
When RFRA was adopted in the early
1990s, it was supported by a broad
bipartisan coalition and was intended
to provide protection for religious
minorities, Scott said during the
conference call. Now, Scott said, I am
concerned that RFRA is being used as a
sword, and not a shield, to advance harm
to the rights of others in the pursuit of
anothers religious exercise.
HRCs Warbelow said the new
crop of RFRA laws are motivated by
discrimination.
A lot of that discrimination will occur
to the LGBT community, who are often
the target of such legislation, she said.
These bills are not motivated by a true
desire to protect religious minorities, but
instead to allow an individual to claim their
religious beliefs as a reason to poke holes
in legislation designed to protect us all.
Henderson, citing past eorts by some
to use religious beliefs to justify slavery
and segregation, said the latest round of
religious liberty bills is not new.
But they are dangerous, he said.
There can be no religious exemption
from basic human dignity. And to wrap
this bigotry in a false ag of religious
liberty is the true abomination.
Supporters of religious liberty bills deny
they are aimed at discrimination. They
argue that such legislation is intended to
prevent people, for example, who oppose
same-sex marriage based on deep religious
beliefs from being forced to provide
services such as selling wedding cakes or
renting reception halls for gay weddings.

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RUFSKIN

crafted in california

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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The Manhattan apartment of

Bayard Rustin was added to the
National Register of Historic Places.

NATIONAL NEWS

transgender people in public accommodations, which critics charge would enable men
to enter womens restrooms for nefarious purposes. LGBT advocates have rejected that
idea, saying unseemly behavior in the restrooms would remain illegal with or without
the ordinance.
CHRIS JOHNSON

PHOTO COURTESY OF NEW YORK STATE HISTORIC

PRESERVATION OFFICE

2016 hopefuls split wins on Western Tuesday

Bayard Rustin residence

declared historic place

The U.S. National Park Service earlier this month added the Manhattan
residence of famed gay civil rights activist Bayard Rustin to its National Register
of Historic Places.
Rustin, among other things, was the lead organizer of the 1963 African
American civil rights march on Washington led by Martin Luther King Jr.
A National Park Service statement says he purchased apartment 9J in a highrise apartment building in the Penn South complex in the West Chelsea section
of Manhattan in 1962 and lived there until his death in 1987.
In 1977, Bayards partner, Walter Naegle, moved into the apartment, the
statement says. Naegle continues to live there, preserving the apartment
almost exactly as Rustin left it.
Bayard Rustin, a gay African American Quaker, civil rights advocate, proponent
of non-violence, and campaigner for social and economic justice, had an impact
on many of the nations social justice achievements since the 1930s, the Park
Service statement says.
In the course of his quarter-century residence in Penn South, Rustin organized
and led the August 28, 1963 March for Jobs and Freedom in Washington, D.C.,
the statement says.
Among other endeavors, Rustin led for many years the A. Philip Randolph
Institute, an organized labor advocacy organization; and became a restless
world traveler for Freedom House, a human rights organization, the Park
Service statement says.
In the mid-1980s he recognized the struggle for Lesbian and Gay civil rights
and lobbied the New York City government to support the lesbian and gay rights
bill, it says.
LGBT history advocate Mark Meinke said the addition of the Rustin residence
to the National Register of Historic Places represents the seventh LGBT-related
site to be recognized, with more to come.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.

N.C. lawmakers seek to undo Charlotte ordinance

North Carolina lawmakers have announced a special session of the legislature this
week to undo a recently passed pro-LGBT non-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte.
In a joint statement on Monday, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore and Lt.
Gov. Dan Forest, who oversees the Senate, said theyd hold the session on Wednesday
to reverse the ordinance, which is set to take eect April 1. (Visit washingtonblade.com
for updates.)
We aim to repeal this ordinance before it goes into eect to provide for the privacy
and protection of the women and children of our state, the lawmakers said.
A special session of the North Carolina Legislature costs the state an estimated
$42,000 a day. According to the Charlotte Observer, lawmakers invoked rarely used
authority under the state constitution to call a special session. North Carolina Gov. Pat
McCrory refused to do so, reportedly on the basis lawmakers seek to pass a measure
that would do more than undo the Charlotte ordinance.
Approved by the Charlotte City Council last month by a 7-4 vote, the Charlotte NonDiscrimination Ordinance prohibits businesses in the city from engaging in anti-LGBT
discrimination. At the time, McCrory warned Charlotte the legislature would respond to
undo the measure if the city council approved it.
The most contentious part of the ordinance is the non-discrimination protections for

The 2016 presidential candidates split wins

in three states holding contests on Tuesday,
although Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
remain the front-runners for their parties
respective nominations.
On Tuesday, which was dubbed Western
Tuesday because of the states involved, both
parties held a closed-door primary in Arizona
and caucuses in Utah, while the Democrats alone
caucused in Idaho. (The Republicans already
caucused in Idaho on March 8.)
Clinton and Trump won Arizona, while Sen.
Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.) won the Utah Democratic
caucuses. Sen. Ted Cruz won theUtah Republican
caucuses and all 40 delegates as Trump nished
third behind Gov. John Kasich. In Idaho, Sanders
Sen. BERNIE SANDERS defeated
beat Clinton handily, 78-21 percent.
Hillary Clinton in two more contests
In the Arizona Democratic primary, where
this week.
Hispanics make up 29.6 percent of the
population, Clinton won 58-40 percent over
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTOBY MICHAEL KEY
Sanders.
Meanwhile, Trump won Arizona with 47.1
percent of the vote, followed by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) at 24.7 percent and Ohio Gov.
John Kasich at 10 percent. Arizona is a winner-take-all state for Republicans, so Trump
claims all 58 delegates in the state.
Sanders won the Democratic caucuses in Utah, which has a more homogenous
white population. Sanders took 79.7 percent of the vote, followed by Clinton with
19.8percent.
CHRIS JOHNSON

NFL could withhold Super Bowl in Georgia

The National Football League isthe latest to speak out against a religious freedom
bill pending before Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal, suggesting hopes for Atlanta to host
futureSuper Bowls could be in jeopardy if the measure becomes law.
Brian McCarthy, an NFL spokesperson, issued a warning about Georgias HB 757,
which was approved by the legislature last week, in a statement to the Washington
Blade and other media outlets.
NFL policies emphasize tolerance and inclusiveness, and prohibit discrimination
based on age, gender, race, religion, sexual orientation or any other improper
standard, McCarthy said. Whether the laws and regulations of a state and local
community are consistent with these policies would be one of many factors NFL
owners may use to evaluate potential Super Bowl host sites.
According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Arthur Blank, owner of the Atlantic
Falcons, had hoped to land multiple Super Bowls in his teams new stadium set to
open in 2017.
HB 757 would allow faith-based organizations to deny services or employment
to individuals in a manner that violate such faith-based organizations sincerely
held religious belief. The bill also contains language similar to the federal
Religious Freedom Restoration Act, although the bill says it cant be invoked for
discrimination on any grounds prohibited by federal or state law.
Now that the legislature has approved the measure, it remains pending before
Deal, who indicated he would reject an earlier version of the measure. His
spokesperson has said he would review the measure in April before making a
decision on whether to sign or veto it.
CHRIS JOHNSON

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NATIONAL NEWS

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 5 1 1

Garland rebuffed gay plaintiffs in 4 cases

Despite record, he doesnt
have the slightest anti-gay bias
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
Many LGBT groups have joined President
Obama in calling for the U.S. Senate
to consider the nomination of Merrick
Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court, but a
look at the recently announced nominees
record reveals he joined in several rulings
against the interests of LGBT parties who
sought his aid before the federal judiciary.
A Washington Blade investigation into
Garlands record as a chief judge on the
U.S. Circuit Court for the D.C. Circuit found
his LGBT-related cases are few in number
and lacking in magnitude, but in at least four
cases Garland joined rulings against gay
plaintis or self-proclaimed gayadvocates.
One lawsuit was led by an Ohio-based
radio station professing to serve a gay
audience; another by a sailor discharged
from the Navy after being accused
of sexual assault against three other
shipmates;another by gay rights protesters
seeking to sue law enforcement ocials
for spraying a chemical deterrent on them
during former President George W. Bushs
inaugural parade; and another by an
inmate jailed for threatening the president
who said he was at risk in his place of
incarceration because hes gay.(Keen News
Servicerst reported the rst three in this
list after Obama announced the Garland
nomination.)
The Blade could nd norulings written by
Garland himself pertaining to LGBT people,
only opinions written by other judges that
he joined. Since his tenure on the bench
starting in 1997, Garland was never asked
to rule on major LGBT rights issues, such as
the constitutionality ofstate sodomy bans,
state prohibitions on same-sex marriage or
the Defense of Marriage Act.
Although the Supreme Court has already
issued its milestone ruling in favor same-sex
marriage, Garlands record on LGBT-related
litigation may be of note to LGBT advocates
seeking justice under the law in other
matters. Such litigation could decide the
constitutionality of HIV criminalization laws,
whether the right to religious freedom
includes the ability to deny services to
LGBT people and whether LGBT people
are covered under the gender provisions
of current civil rights laws in cases of
discrimination in employment or housing.
In 2001, Garland was on a three-judge
panel adjudicating a complaint from Grid
Radio, an unlicensed low-power radio
station in Cleveland, Ohio, professing to
serve gay men and women and the arts
community. The Federal Communications
Commission told Jerry Szoka, operator of
the station, to cease broadcasting and pay

U.S. Supreme Court nominee MERRICK

GARLAND ruled against gay plaintis in at
least four cases.

an ancillary $11,000 forfeiture because Grid

Radio was operating without a license.
Szoka contended he never sought a
license because the FCC at the time had a
ban on microbroadcasting, which would
have prohibited a low-power station like
Grid Radio from operating. The FCC order,
Szoka contended, was unenforceable,
because the agencys microbroadcasting
ban contravened federal law and the First
Amendment, and because the forfeiture
was unreasonable, excessive and beyond
his ability to pay.
In a Feb. 8, 2002 decision, Garland
and Senior Circuit Judge Stephen
Williamsjoined the opinion of Judge David
Tatel rejecting Szokas claims and arming
the FCC order against him.
Absent a demonstration that the lowpower ban was indisputably unlawful or
unconstitutional, the Commission had
no obligation to reconsider the ban in the
context of an enforcement proceeding
against a single unlicensed operator, the
decision says. Moreover, the forfeiture is
reasonable under the circumstances of this
case, and the operator waived his inabilityto-pay claim.
In 2003, Garland as part of the same
three-judge panel heard an appeal of Jim
Turner, a petty ocer who served in the
Navy for seven years before the service
expelled him with an other than honorable
discharge after three shipmates accused
him of sexual assault.
Turner who petitioned the Navy
secretary to reverse the decision, but
was rebued argued the commanding
ocer investigating the charges abused
his discretion by proceeding against him
under Article 15, which he said is reserved
for minor oenses, and by asking him
and other shipmates if they were gay,
which would have been in violation of the
enforcement of Dont Ask, Dont Tell.
Even though the Board of Corrections of
Naval Records found error on procedural
points in the discharge and lack of sucient
corroboration, Garland joined Williams in an

April 15, 2003, decision that uphelda district

court ruling rejecting Turners claims.
Chief Petty Ocer Clanahan, who
conducted the investigation at Captain
Franks request, at one point asked Seaman
Maurer whether he was homosexual, the
decision says. Turner says that this and
the coercive conditions of the interview
violated that portion of the Dont Ask,
Dont Tell regulations that precludes
asking members of the armed forces their
sexual orientation. Assuming the question
was a violation and the regulations are
enforceable, Turners claim still fails. There
is little reason to believe that the error (if
such it was) aected the ADB or Article 15
proceedings.
In 2004, Garland was part of another
three-judge panel adjudicating a lawsuit
led by the International Action Center,
which billed itself as an unincorporated
political association opposed to racism,
sexism, oppression of lesbians, gays,
bisexuals and transgendered people, war
and militarism and the program of the
Bush administration, as well as supporters
Elizabeth Ayer and Lowell T. Fletcher.
According to their complaint, Ayer and
Fletcher on the day of Bushs 2001 inaugural
parade were engaged in only lawful,
peaceful activity at the Navy Memorial on
Pennsylvania Avenue when ocers with
the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department
without justication, struck [them]...and
sprayed a chemical agent into [their] eyes
and faces at close range. Additionally, Ayer
and Fletcher alleged the police struck and
sprayed other demonstrators while other
uniformed and non-uniformed police
ocers watched and did nothing.
The plaintis sought to hold the ocers
supervisors personally liable for money
damages for those injuries, which was
allowed by the district court overseeing on
the basis that the supervisors had a duty to
train their subordinates to prevent alleged
misconduct under the First and Fourth
Amendments.
But in an April 16, 2004, decision, Garland
joined U.S. Circuit Judge Harry Edwards
and then-U.S. Circuit Judge John Roberts
(now chief justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court) in reversing the lower court decision,
remanding with instructions to arm
qualied immunity for the supervisors.
We hold that absent an allegation
that the MPD supervisors had actual
or constructive knowledge of past
transgressions or that the supervisors were
responsible for or aware of clearly decient
training, the supervisors did not violate
any constitutional right through inaction
or failure to supervise, the decision says.
Having found no constitutional violation
..., there is no necessity for further inquiries
concerning qualied immunity.
In 2013, Garland was part of another
three-judge panel hearing a petition from

Jeremy Pinson, a gay federal prisoner

serving a 20-year sentence for threatening
the president, knowingly and willfully
making a false statement to a U.S. marshal
and mailing threatening communications.
According to the decision, Pinson made
good use of the federal courts during his
time in prison, having led more than 100
civil actions and appeals across the nation.
In the case before Garland and other
judges, Pinson sought a fee waiver for
challenging his incarceration in the special
management unit at the Federal Correctional
Institution in Talladega, Ala. Because special
management units house gang-aliated
and other disruptive inmates who present
unique security concerns, Pinson alleged
being placed in such conditions would put
him at substantial risk becausehes gay and
a former gang member.
But in an Aug. 5, 2014 decision, Garland
joined U.S. Circuit Judge Sri Srinavasan (who
was thought to be on Obamasshort list as a
potential nominee for the current Supreme
Court vacancy) and U.S. Circuit Judge
Thelton Eugene Henderson in denying
Pinson relief. The decision is based on
Pinsonrunningafoul of the Prison Litigation
Reform Acts three-strikes provision for
a fee-waiver and not being able to show
under the precedent of Mitchell v. Federal
Bureau of Prisons qualication for the
imminent danger exception.
Like Mitchell, Pinsons claim rests on
the BOPs decision to designate him to
a particular facility notwithstanding its
reputation as a dangerous place for inmates
possessing certain characteristics here,
as a rival gang-member and homosexual,
and in Mitchell, as a government snitch,
the decision says. The Mitchell court found
such contentions insucient to satisfy the
imminent danger exception, even though
Mitchell, unlike Pinson, further alleged that
he had already been attacked by the time
he led his complaint. We see no ground to
reach a dierent conclusion here.
Despite these rulings, LGBT advocates
who saw the rulings say they dont think
they indicate an anti-LGBT bias or predict
Garland would rule against LGBT people in
cases before the high court.
Paul Smith, a partner at the D.C.-based
law rm Jenner & Block who successfully
litigated against state sodomy bans
before the Supreme Court in 2003, was
unconcerned about the decisions.
I know Judge Garland well and he doesnt
have the slightest anti-gay bias, Smith said.
He is about as fair and unbiased a person
as I know. Nothing in these cases causes me
concerns about his ability to rule fairly and
on the law in cases involving LGBT people
or claims.

CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 2 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

NATIONAL NEWS

Trumps far-fetched plan to undo marriage equality

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

the election of a Democratic president

whod have numerous opportunities
to make liberal appointments to the
Supreme Court.
Youre going to have probably four
and could even be ve Supreme Court
justices approved that will never allow
this country to be the same, Trump said.
Itll take a hundred years, but that wont
work. So they better be careful, and they
certainly should be careful with third
party stu.
Trumps pledge to appoint justices
to the Supreme Court from a list of
conservatives
builds
on
previous
comments in which he said he opposes
same-sex marriage and would seek
to appoint justices whod reverse the
Supreme Courts historic 2015 Obergefell
v. Hodges decision.
Calling the ruling shocking and
massive in an interview last month
with the Christian Broadcasting Network,
Trump said social conservatives should
trust him to oppose same-sex marriage.
In a January interview on Fox News just
before the Iowa caucuses, Trump said
hed strongly consider appointing
justices whod reverse the Supreme
Courts historic decision in favor of samesex marriage.
Despite the renewed commitment from
Trump, legal experts say Trump is unlikely
to change the makeup of the court for
some time, and even if he did, its hard
to imagine a sucient conict emerging
that would prompt the Supreme Court to
reverse the decision.
James Esseks, director of the American
Civil Liberties Unions LGBT & HIV Project,
said the chances are virtually nil of
Trump overturning the Supreme Court
ruling in favor of marriage equality.
First Trump has to win the election,
Esseks said, then he has to have the
opportunity to replace justices on the
high court who had ruled in favor of
Obergefell. Such an opening, Esseks
said, would likely only happen as time
goes on after the country has become
more acclimated to marriage equality,
which polls have shown 60 percent of the
population already supports.
Theres no reason to think this is going
to happen anytime soon, Esseks said.
The more time goes on, the more the
country gets used to the current reality,
which is same-sex couples are marrying
in every corner of the country. This is
just part of the landscape now. I think its
very unlikely both that theres going to
be justices that want to overturn it and
the countrys going to be a place where
people are going to want to have this
discussion again in any serious way.
Evan Wolfson, former president of
the now-closed Freedom to Marry, was

EVAN WOLFSON said instead of fretting about Donald Trump, LGBT advocates should focus on
the new goal of securing non-discrimination protections in federal law.
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

among those skeptical that Trump could

reverse the Supreme Court decision on
same-sex marriage.
While there are scenarios one could
spin out in which our freedom to marry
is overturned, I think it highly unlikely,
especially given that more than 1 million
gay people have gotten legally married
and, even before winning in the Supreme
Court, we had won in the court of public
opinion, Wolfson said. A near supermajority of Americans support the
freedom to marry.
If Trump meets the rst condition of
changing the makeup of the court, there
then would need to be a conict on the
issue of same-sex marriage that would
compel the court to revisit the issue.
One possibility is a state could decide to
defy Obergefell and pass a law barring or
inhibiting marriage rights for gay couples.
Such a measure already failed just two
months ago in Tennessee. The Natural
Marriage Defense Act, which would have
sought to block the Supreme Court ruling
in favor of same-sex marriage, died in a
House committee after a 4-1 vote against
the measure.
Another way the conict could present
itself to the Supreme Court is a Kim Davislike situation in which a clerk refuses
to give marriage licenses to same-sex
couples, prompting either a lawsuit from
same-sex couples or from the clerk if that
ocial is removed from his or her post.
In either scenario of a new state law or
a deant clerk, the subsequent lawsuit
would almost certainly result in the trial
court and the appellate court upholding
same-sex marriage in accordance with
the precedent of Obergefell. At that
time, the Supreme Court would have the
opportunity to weigh in after a writ of
certiorari is led before justices.
But Esseks said even with a changed
court in those situations, justices may deny
the petition to rehear the issue because the
Supreme Court has already ruled.
You got to look around: We havent
seen a backlash of the basic idea that

same-sex couples get to get married,

Esseks said. It is now part of reality in
this country, and we see some nibbling
around the edges, but no frontal assault
because this is right and people dont see
a way around the Supreme Court, and I
dont think that even with a President
Trump that that is going to change.
John Eastman, board chair of the antigay National Organization for Marriage,
stood out from the pro-LGBT legal
observers by saying hes not so sure
Trump would be unable to reverse the
decision.
If he replaces Ruth Bader Ginsburg and
Anthony Kennedy with people who are
more Scalia and Alito and Thomas, then
I think the chances are good, Eastman
said. It was certainly a contentious
decision, one where the dissent uniformly
challenged not only the reasoning of
the decision and the wrongness of the
outcome, but the very legitimacy of the
decision.
Eastman drew attention to the dissent
written by the late U.S. Associate Justice
Antonin Scalia, which Eastman said
encouraged states not to comply with the
decision.
In those terms, I think we have a
decision much like Dred Scott and
Lincolns response in rst inaugural,
Eastman said. It settles the matter for
that particular group of plaintis but if it
were to take it as settling the matter for
the entire country, well have ceased to be
self-governing to that extent.
In the event the Supreme Court did
elect to reconsider the issue, another
layer of defense for marriage equality is
stare decisis, a legal term meaning the
Supreme Court generally allows an issue
already resolved by the courts to remain
resolved.
One example of a Supreme Court
decision exemplifying this idea is the 1992
ruling of Casey v. Planned Parenthood,
the result of a lawsuit challenging several
provisions of Pennsylvania state law
restricting access to abortion. When

the Supreme Court decided to take up

the case, observers wondered 19 years
after Roe v. Wade if newly appointed
U.S. Associate Justices Anthony Kennedy,
Sandra Day OConnor and David Souter
would elect to roll back abortion rights.
As it turned out, those three justices
upheld the right to an abortion (although
they altered the standard for analyzing
restrictions on that right) under the
principle of stare decisis.
The Roe rules limitation on state power
could not be repudiated without serious
inequity to people who, for two decades
of economic and social developments,
have organized intimate relationships
and made choices that dene their views
of themselves and their places in society,
in reliance on the availability of abortion
in the event that contraception should
fail, the justices wrote. The ability of
women to participate equally in the
economic and social life of the Nation has
been facilitated by their ability to control
their reproductive lives. The Constitution
serves human values, and while the eect
of reliance on Roe cannot be exactly
measured, neither can the certain costs
of overruling Roe for people who have
ordered their thinking and living around
that case be dismissed.
Adam Romero, senior counsel and
Arnold D. Kassoy Scholar of Law for the
Williams Institute at the University of
California, Los Angeles, cited the Casey
decision in saying stare decisis would
likely be the guiding principle for a
Supreme Court revisiting the issue of
same-sex marriage.
Stare decisis would strongly counsel
any future justice of the Supreme Court to
not overrule Obergefell v. Hodges, even if
that justice has personal reluctance to the
correctness of its holding, Romero said.
However, the rule of stare decisis is not
absolute. If a majority of the court were
inclined to overrule Obergefell, it could
certainly do so in the appropriate case, or
could limit Obergefells reach in the area
of parenting for example.
Wolfson said instead of fretting about
Trump overturning the ruling in favor
of same-sex marriage, LGBT advocates
should focus on the new goal of securing
LGBT non-discrimination protections in
federal law.
Rather than worrying about remote
worst-case scenarios, better to focus on
avoiding the greater danger: That we get
complacent, miss chances to capitalize
and expand on the marriage conversation
as an engine of transformation, and fail
to do the legal and political organizing to
harness the power of our marriage win to
the work of winning non-discrimination
protections while increasing cultural
acceptance and inclusion for LGBT
people throughout the U.S. and around
the world, Wolfson said.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

N A T I O NA L NEW S

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 1 3

Obama meets with LGBT activists in Havana

rights; including freedom of speech,
assembly and religion, said Obama.
Castro in his prepared remarks
stressed that his government defends
human rights. He also referenced Diana
Nyad, the lesbian swimmer who swam
from Havana to Key West, Fla., in 2013.
Castro challenged CNNs Jim Acosta, who
is Cuban American, and MSNBCs Andrea
Mitchell when they asked him about
political prisoners and human rights.
Give me a list, Castro told Acosta,
responding to his question about political
prisoners.

Promoting American values

NELSON GANDULLA DAZ told the Blade that police questioned him in advance of President
Obamas visit.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01

National Center for Sexual Education.

Mora met with House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and other members
of Congress in February 2015 during their
trip to Havana. Mora also took part in
a hearing on anti-LGBT discrimination
that the Inter-American Commission on
Human Rights held in D.C. last October.
In Cuba there exists a word called
dissident if you disagree with the
government, Mora told the Blade last
May during an interview in Havana. We
really dont consider ourselves dissidents,
but we are in this category.
Tania Garca Hernndez of the LGBTI
Help Line, which is based in the province
of Villa Clara and is aliated with the
Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights,
another independent advocacy group,
welcomed Obamas meeting with Mora
and other human rights activists.
I am one of the many straight people
who are very happy, Garca told the
Blade on Tuesday. The voice of the LGBTI
community was amplied among the 13
people representing civil society in Cuba
who had access to this unforgettable
meeting with President Barack Obama.
He listened to their sad reality, she
added.

Dissidents detained
The meeting took place on the last
day of Obamas historic trip to Cuba that
began on Sunday.
Obama on Tuesday referenced gay
rights advances in the U.S. during a
speech that he delivered at Havanas
Alicia Alonso Grand Theater.
Ral Castro was among those who
were in attendance.
There are still enormous problems in

our society, but democracy is the way that

we solve them, said Obama in his speech
Thats how we got health care for more of
our people. Thats how we made enormous
gains in womens rights, in gay rights.
Obama in December 2014 announced
the U.S. would begin the process to
restore diplomatic relations with Cuba
that ended in 1961, two years after the
Cuban Revolution.
Cuba and the U.S. reopened embassies
in D.C. and Havana last summer. Florida
Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen,
who was born in Cuba, and other critics
of the normalization of relations between
the U.S. and the Communist island note
the Castro governments human rights
record has not improved.
Cuban police on Sunday detained
several members of the Ladies in White,
a dissident group that holds weekly
protests against the Castro government
in Havanas Miramar neighborhood,
hours before Obama and his family
arrived on the island.
Cuban Foundation for LGBTI Rights
President Nelson Gandulla Daz told the Blade
on Monday during a telephone interview from
the city of Cienfuegos that a female police
ocer questioned him on March 18.
They visited me to know if I was going
to move around Cuba or my province in
the coming days, he said.
An independent LGBT activist in
Havana with whom the Blade spoke on
Monday said that police detained more
than 50 human rights advocates ahead of
Obamas arrival. The activist added that
parks and other places in Havana where
LGBT Cubans traditionally gather have
been besieged by security and police.
Obama on Monday made numerous
references to human rights during a joint
press conference with Castro after they
met in Havana.
We will speak up for universal human

Freedom to Work President Tico

Almeida, who is Cuban American, is
among those who applauded Obamas
trip to Cuba.

President Obamas historic visit to

Cuba succeeded in promoting American
values ranging from free speech to
entrepreneurship to LGBT fairness,
Almeida told the Blade. He spoke with
strength and Cubans listened with
keen interest and growing hope for a
better future. Im particularly proud that
President Obama invited Cuban LGBT
advocates to speak with him during
his extended meeting with the Cubans
leading the charge for free elections, free
press and the freedom to marry.
Almeida singled out Cuban American
U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marco
Rubio (R-Fla.) for their continued opposition
to the normalization of relations between
Washington and Havana.
Id like to see Republicans follow
President Obamas lead by going to Havana
to meet with the Cuban citizens who are
pushing for democracy, said Almeida.

Disney, Marvel may boycott Georgia

over religious freedom bill
The company responsible for blockbuster movies of Marvel Comics
superheroes pledged on Wednesday to stop doing business in Georgia if
a religious freedom bill that would enable anti-LGBT discrimination there
becomes law.
As rst reported by Variety, a Disney spokesperson told media outlets on
Tuesday the company would take our business elsewhere if any legislation
enabling discrimination becomes law in Georgia.
Disney and Marvel are inclusive companies, and although we have had great
experiences lming in Georgia, we will plan to take our business elsewhere
should any legislation allowing discriminatory practices be signed into state
law, the Disney spokesperson said.
Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Walt Disney Studios, is currently producing
Guardians of the Galaxy 2 at Pinewood Studios outside Atlanta and has
recently completed production there of Captain America: Civil War.
Georgia HB 757 would allow faith-based organizations to deny services or
employment to individuals that violate such faith-based organizations sincerely
held religious belief. The bill also contains language similar to the federal
Religious Freedom Restoration Act, although the bill says it cant be invoked for
discrimination on any grounds prohibited by federal or state law.
The legislature has approved the bill and it remains pending before Gov.
Nathan Deal, who indicated he would reject an earlier version of the measure.
His spokesperson has said he would review the measure in April before making
a decision on whether to sign or veto it.
A coalition of nearly 500 businesses has already spoken out against it,
including Arbys, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, Deloitte, Delta, Dow Chemical,
Google, Home Depot, Honeywell, Marriott, UPS and Wells Fargo. The Georgia
Chamber of Commerce and the Metro Atlanta Chamber have also come out
against the legislation. Last week, the National Football League suggested it
could withhold the Super Bowl from Atlanta if the bill is enacted.
Disneys threat to boycott Georgia comes just days after Human Rights
Campaign President Chad Grin called on Hollywood to join with LGBT
advocates and pledge to boycott Georgia if Deal signs the religious freedom
bill into law. The Motion Picture Association of America, which represents major
studios, has also spoken out against the legislation.
CHRIS JOHNSON

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

14 M A R C H 25, 2016

BA LT I MO RE N E W S

Howard County Executive ALAN

KITTLEMANS LGBT Roundtable
is believed to be the only such
meeting among the states
jurisdictions.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY STEVE CHARING

Howard Co. exec convenes LGBT Roundtable

Steve Weinberg
ATTORNEY AT LAW

SERVING OUR COMMUNITY

FOR 33 YEARS
PERSONAL INJURY PROBATE
WILLS/ POAs CIVIL LITIGATION
CONSERVATORSHIPS GUARDIANSHIPS

202-861-0077

Deb Dunn, a physicians assistant on Chase Brextons medical team at the Columbia
Center, says that the personnel at the countys detention center lack sucient training
for treating transgender adults and adolescents. She and other representatives from
the countys LGBT population responded to questions from Howard County Executive
Allan H. Kittleman and held an open discussion during the second installment of the
LGBT Roundtable on March 15. The rst such meeting occurred on Oct. 26.
The meeting, which takes place at the George Howard building in Ellicott City, Md.,
is part of Kittlemans ongoing desire to stay informed about issues concerning the
LGBT community. The LGBT Roundtable is not a formal group or a commission; it is a
periodic listening session for members of the community to bring issues to the county
executives attention.
At the rst meeting, topics discussed included de-gendering single stall restrooms;
training for rst responders and other county employees; ways to make both county
government and private businesses more LGBT-friendly; and generally encouraging
greater social acceptance through education and institutional change.
Ten people were involved at the March meeting where several topics were
discussed. Among them were how senior centers treat LGBT elders as well as the
interaction between transgender individuals and county service providers. Kittleman,
a Republican who worked to pass marriage equality while he was a member of the
General Assembly, agreed to bring in department heads at subsequent meetings to
foster a better understanding of LGBT issues.
As county executive, I convened the LGBT Roundtable to ensure that I continue to
have open lines of communication with the LGBT community and to better hear and
understand the issues that are important to the community, Kittleman told the Blade.
In this way, we can ensure that county government is doing all it can to promote
acceptance and inclusiveness of all people, and work to eliminate discrimination
based on a persons sexual orientation or sexual identity.

Chase Brexton launches HIV prevention clinic

In an eort to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission and increase access to

lifesaving treatment, Chase Brexton Health Care has launched the new POWER
(Protecting Ourselves With Every Resource) Clinic to oer HIV and sexually transmitted
2141 P STREET NW SUITE 103
infection testing, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis
WASHINGTON DC 20037
(PEP) for HIV.
E-MAIL steveweinbergdc@aol.com
We started the POWER Clinic as a dedicated space for people to learn about PrEP
LICENSED IN DC, MD AND VA
without fear of stigma or judgment, said Dr. John Vaz, Director of HIV and Infectious
Diseases at Chase Brexton in a statement. While PrEP has been around for a few
ADVERTISIN
G Pthere
ROO
F isnt a lot of information out there. PrEP is the newest tool in our
years,
still
toolbox
to
help
stop the spread of HIV.
ISSUE DATE: SPEC
SALES REPRESENTATIVE: JERYL PARADE (JPARADE@WASHBLADE.COM)
The POWER Clinic, funded in part by a grant from the federal Centers for Disease
REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of
proof.
willebed
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and will
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adviC
e Proof
m
i a t ifinal
oN
be
L submitted
i t i G for
a publication
t i o Nif revision
aP
Pe
a L Swithin
C
o L ofL a B o r a t i o N
the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts
NS
omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is
have insurance. Uninsured patients will be charged a sliding fee based on their
responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users
GN
can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or
EVISIONS
any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any
income. Insured patients can be referred to the clinic by a primary care provider,
copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair
/LOGO REVISIONS
competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation,
HMO or managed care plan. Patients are able to receive same-day HIV testing.
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by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertisers breach of any of the foregoing representations
payment and insertion schedule.
and warranties.
Charles St. in Baltimore. Its regular hours are Thursdays, by appointment, from 1-4
p.m., and Fridays, for walk-ins, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. The clinic also oers PEP (postexposure prophylaxis) an HIV prevention method that involves starting anti-HIV
FamiLY | eState PLaNNiNG | emPLoYmeNt | immiGratioN
medications within 72 hours after being potentially exposed to HIV to try to reduce
ComPLeX LitiGatioN | CiviL riGHtS | LGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS
the risk of becoming infected.
Patients may contact the POWER Clinic with questions at 410-837-2050, ext. 8813.
The new Chase Brexton HIV patient hotline is 410-837-2050 ext. 8829. Additional
information is available at chasebrexton.org.
at tor N e YS at L aw d C | m d | va

Serving Our Community for 35 years

Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A.

3 0 1 . 8 9 1 . 2 2 0 0 S P - L aw. C o m

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M A R C H 25, 2016 15

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PROTECT YOURSELF WITH EVERY RESOURCE.

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Bi Canadians are most likely to turn to binge drinking, a new study nds.

Mood disorders more likely for LGB Canadians

NEW YORK A new study published this week in the American Journal of Public
Health reports that LGB Canadians experience more mood and anxiety disorders
than their straight counterparts and are more likely to turn to heavy drinking.
The study, billed as the rst of its kind in Canada, says that bi participants
reported the highest level of anxiety and drinking.
Often gay, lesbian and bisexual people are grouped together in studies, but we
found there are important dierences in their reported health, said Basia Pakula,
a Ph.D. candidate in the University of British Columbias School of Population and
Public Health who led the study. These ndings are extremely useful because this
information has not been available for us in Canada until now.
The ndings come from more than 220,000 Canadians who participated in the
Canadian Community Health Survey between 2007 and 2012. The study found
that gay and lesbian Canadians reported about twice the rates of anxiety and
mood disorders compared to heterosexual Canadians. For bisexual Canadians,
the rates were nearly four times those of heterosexuals and approximately twice
the rates of gay or lesbian respondents.
The researchers say the studys ndings can be used to plan and allocate
resources for health services that better respond to the issues facing these groups.
While this study did not look at the causes of anxiety and mood disorders in
this population, an extensive body of research suggests LGB people experience
chronic stress related to prejudice and stigma, Pakula said.

UK PrEP rollout hits snag

LONDON A planned PrEP rollout in the UK has hit a snag as NHS England
announced this week it was not their responsibility to commission the drug, which
has proven an eective means of reducing the risk of HIV transmission, the Guardian
reports.
Terrence Higgins Trust, the largest provider of HIV and sexual health services in the
voluntary sector, expressed shock and disbelief as structured plans for introducing
the drug were shelved. More than 2,500 men who have sex with men are diagnosed
with HIV each year in the UK, according to the trust.
Described as a HIV game changer and already available in the U.S., France, Canada,
Israel and Kenya, the process of public consultation would have been one of the nal
steps before a decision is made on NHS availability. The consultation response forms
part of a submission to the clinical priorities advisory group, the body that it had been
thought would make a decision on PrEP at its next meeting in June, the Guardian
article notes. NHS England essentially said more research is needed.

Psych group urges decriminalization of gay sex

GENEVA, Switzerland The World Psychiatric Association has this week released
its strongest position statement on LGBT rights to date, calling for the universal
decriminalization of sex between people of the same gender, Gay Star News reports.
The WPA represents more than 200,000 psychiatrists from 118 countries and its
membership includes 138 national psychiatric societies around the world. The WPA
says it was prompted to issue a statement on the issue due to recent controversies
around homosexuality in many countries around the world.
WPA considers sexual orientation to be innate and determined by biological,
psychological, developmental, and social factors, the group said in a statement.
The WPA statement says that diversity in sexual orientation had now been studied
extensively for more than 50 years and it was now known that around 4 percent of
the people in any society experience meaningful same-sex attraction, while around
one-in-200 identify with a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth,
Gay Star News reports.

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1 6 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

VIEWPOINT

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

13

ADDRESS

Merrick Garland and blacktracking

Obama has done his job;
now we must do ours

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

Blacktracking, a word coined by comedian Bill Maher, means The act of changing ones mind because President Obama
agreed with you. The latest example of
blacktracking is Senate Republicans refusing to act on the nomination of Chief Judge
Merrick Garland of the U.S. D.C. Circuit to
replace Antonin Scalia on the Supreme
Court, despite having previously praised
him, solely because Obama picked him.
Our president gets it from both sides.
The right treats him as illegitimate and
opposes him relentlessly, then calls him
a despot when he resorts to his executive authority. The left constantly suspects
him of selling them out, on the theory that
anything short of giving them exactly what
they want when they want it is betrayal.
This is the new Manichaeism, where
the world is all light versus darkness, with
no shades of gray and no room for compromise. It threatens to rip our country
apart. The right is by far the more destructive, so I will start there.
Republican justications for inaction on
Garland do not withstand inspection. They

claim the people should have a say rst,

despite the people having elected Obama
twice to four-year terms. They say the Scalia seat must be lled with a like-minded
justice, despite George H.W. Bush having
replaced liberal Justice Thurgood Marshall
with the conservative Clarence Thomas.
The only principle involved is their pretense
that elections only count when they win.
Oh, and now the National Rie Association
gets a veto. Can you say farce?
The president addressed the merits and
the politics brilliantly by naming an experienced, moderate judge highly regarded in
both parties, whose admirers range from attorneys who have dealt with him to students
he tutors at J.O. Wilson Elementary in Northeast D.C. If the Senate conrms, we get a
modest, process-minded justice who focuses on the facts and respects precedent,
in contrast to the arrogant, results-driven
ideologue he would replace. If Mitch McConnell and his do-nothing caucus remain
intransigent, they risk their Senate majority.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, who soldiers on
despite the waning plausibility of his
presidential aspirations, said he would
withdraw Garlands nomination, echoing leftists who suspect a nefarious deal
between Obama and the GOP to block a
more progressive option. This disrespect
was unsurprising coming from Sanders,
who admitted last week that he only ran
as a Democrat for the media coverage.
Of course many of us want more diversity on the court. Obama, in fact, has
named a large number of minorities and
women to the federal bench, including 11
gay judges, enriching the pool for future
vacancies. But GOP obstruction poses a
particular challenge. By putting the ball

in the Republicans court with a sterling

choice, Obama spotlights their nihilism.
The Blade reports that Garland joined
decisions in four cases that went against
gay plaintis. But it also quoted people
like Paul Smith, who successfully argued
the Texas sodomy case before the court
in 2003: I know Judge Garland well and he
doesnt have the slightest anti-gay bias.
Nothing in these cases causes me concerns
about his ability to rule fairly and on the law
in cases involving LGBT people or claims.
If we care only about results and not a
fair process, courts lose the trust and respect on which they depend. With a leading presidential candidate inciting mobs,
liberals who claim to be more responsible
cannot threaten to undermine the president if they dont get their preference. A
prominent attorney I know once referred
to Scalia as a thug in a black robe. Surely
the remedy cannot be merely to replace
him with one who will do our bidding.
Progressives should spend less time on
conspiracy scenarios and more on retaking the Senate. For all his faults, Chuck
Schumer would be vastly better than the
current majority leader.
The president has named a superbly
qualied, scrupulous, evenhanded judge.
Not a mere partisan operative, but a
judge. Obama is the statesman, neatly
aying the vandals across the aisle by his
example. But if his nal judicial legacy is
to be more than an elegant Rose Garden
ceremony, the stark contrast between
his faithful conduct of his oce and their
dereliction must be driven home repeatedly between now and November.
Copyright 2016 by Richard J. Rosendall.
All rights reserved.

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V I E W PO I N T

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 1 7

Why some gays are part of the problem

Stop vilifying trans people with
whom we share a common legacy
By KEVIN JENNINGS
Gay neoconservative Joseph Murray recently called for the dividing of movements
for justice and equality based on sexual orientation and gender identity eectively
promoting the idea that gay people should
somehow leave behind the trans community and those who simply do not conform
to what it means to be a man or woman.
As a gay man, I was taken aback by the
revisionism of such views views that
are ahistorical and ignorant of todays realities.
Trans and gender nonconforming
people have been at the forefront of the
struggle for justice and equality for all
of us. Sylvia Rivera, Marsha P. Johnson,
and other trans patrons of the historic
Stonewall Inn were at the forefront of
launching the modern-day LGBT rights
movement and pushing back against the
rampant police brutality in 1969. Then
there are todays trans activists like my
friend Grace Sterling Stowell who has

been running the Boston Alliance of GLBT

Youth (BAGLY) for the past 30 years.
For gay people to rewrite history and
turn our backs on the trans people who
have fought at our side is far from strategic. Its cowardly and wrong.
While some like Murray would suggest
that gay people are completely dierent
than those who are trans and gender nonconforming, we need not look far from our
own childhood experiences. Growing up
in the 1970s, I remember attending my fathers funeral at church and crying over his
death. But my brother glared at me and
hissed, Stop crying. He then added more
forcefully, Dont be a faggot.
The message I got was clear: real boys
didnt show their feelings even if they were
eight and at their dads funeral. So how do
you separate the issue of gender expression and sexual orientation? You cant.
These kinds of experiences persist in
the present day. According to GLSENs
2013 National School Climate Survey,
more than 80 percent of LGBT students
experience harassment at school. And it
is deeply rooted in the issue of gender
nonconformity.
Whether its the eeminate boy who

is mocked for throwing like a girl or the

tomboy who doesnt like to wear pink,
students who do not conform to societys
rigid gender expectations suer from the
earliest and most virulent forms of harassment. Childhood bullies dont make
a distinction between sexual orientation
and gender identity they persecute
anyone who deviates from gender norms.
Sadly, that mindset hasnt changed
much among those who single out others for being dierent, even in our own
community. Some gay men have gone
as far as privileging and even fetishizing
gender expression that conforms to societys rigid expectations of what it means
to be a man. Case in point: witness the
number of online proles where gay men
are seeking masculine only or straight
acting partners.
As gay men, our own struggles toward
belonging and acceptance are deep-seated, but they should not be used to vilify
trans and gender nonconforming people
who we share a common legacy with.
Unlike the fringe views of Murray, the
LGBT community has expressed a strong
commitment to advance an inclusive
agenda of equality and justice for all of us.

Thousands of LGBT people recently

took part in the Our Tomorrow campaign,
a nationwide eort to identify the future
priorities of the movement among everyday community members. Out of more
than 14,500 unique contributions, trans
issues ranked as the top issue among
participants.
This nding only conrms what so
many of us actually know: We cant and
wont leave anyone behind.
Those proposing a so-called divorce
of our movement want to throw trans
and gender nonconforming people under
the bus in a vain attempt to win the approval of those who hate us. Thats not a
path toward liberation. Its a dead end.
And thats why more of us who are gay
need to spend time listening to and lifting
up trans people so the world can better
understand who all of us are. Otherwise
we keep allowing bullies in our childhood and adult lives to win.
KEVIN JENNINGS is an educator, social justice
activist and author of seven books. He is
executive director of the Arcus Foundation, a
global foundation dedicated to the idea that
people can live in harmony with one another
and the natural world.

V I E W PO I NT

Hillary is the leader of my lifetime

She will get us closer to an
AIDS-free generation
By ALLIDA BLACK, Ph.D.
When I rst began to pay attention to
the outside world, the civil rights movement gave me courage and a dream
to pursue. In college, it was ending the
Vietnam War, poverty and housing discrimination and then the condescending treatment women received from the
movement leaders showed me my view
was way too simple. I learned rst-hand
about sexual violence through my work
with rape victims in Atlanta. Ive devoted
my lifes work to ghting injustice and
righting wrongs in our country, but nothing prepared me for the AIDS epidemic.
AIDS shattered everything we knew
and thought we could depend on and
it left us exposed, infected, in indescribable pain, horried by government inaction and stereotyping, and scared and
angry beyond words. Those closest to
us were dying, and we had to develop
our own rules, medicines, laws, budgets,
clinics, alliances, underground travel and

drug networks, to help those we love ght

and die with dignity, surrounded by love.
The AIDS epidemic formed our community. It made us love in new ways. It
broke our hearts and it taught us how to
piece them back together heartbeat by
heartbeat.

Few, if any, of her LGBT New York constituents questioned her commitment to
ghting AIDS. As their senator, she voted
to expand global AIDS research, improve
AIDS programs for women and girls
around the world and supported prevention and treatment services. As Secretary

It is hard to put into words the aching, gaping

hole AIDS brought to us. I lost 300 friends
and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic.
Hillary Clinton didnt need that searing
personal grief to act. She has a record of
working on AIDS a record of speaking out despite the risks and a record of
commitment throughout decades. As
rst lady, she supported and endorsed
AIDS organizations with a loud and clear
voice. I will always remember standing on
the National Mall as she traveled through
the AIDS quilt, stopping to capture in her
mind the love and pain each panel conveyed.

of State, she gave a speech in which she

shared a vision of an AIDS-free generation
when few dared to do that. I remember
the unbelievable joy I felt when I watched
that speech. She has fought to expand
funding for AIDS clinics and research,
and make drugs available, stood against
discrimination and hysteria, championed
the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR), and promoted education
programs.
It is hard to put into words the ach-

ing, gaping hole AIDS brought to us. I lost

300 friends and colleagues to the AIDS
epidemic. Hillary doesnt carry that pain
in such a personal way, but she understands that others have felt the pain we
have. She cares about us and the friends
weve lost during this horric epidemic.
She is a erce, powerful, eective and inclusive leader. And she is bold enough to
say that she misspoke about the Reagans
work on HIV and AIDS.
All who know me have heard me
say that Hillary Clinton is the leader
of my lifetime and she has championed all the issues Ive spent my life
trying to tackle. She is the leader who
can stand up for those who have been
left behind. She will help lead us closer
and closer to an AIDS-free generation,
and I am proud to stand behind her.
ALLIDA BLACK, Ph.D. has been active in the
AIDS community for decades. She co-founded
the National Association of People with AIDS,
helped lead the National Lesbian and Gay
Health Foundation, co-coordinated the Second
International Conference on AIDS, and ran the
Atlanta Gay Center. She is a research professor
of history and international aairs at the
George Washington University in D.C. and a
passionate Hillary Clinton supporter.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 8 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

VIEWPOINT

Passing privilege debate conjures stereotypes

Dangers of oppressing those
who are gender nonconforming
By SUZI CHASE
A graphic making the rounds of social media depicts two young feminine-looking girls
standing outside a locker room. The caption
reads, So, tell me, which girl shouldnt be allowed in? At rst glance, it looks like a positive
message with laudable intention. Our detractors imagine a guy in a dress when opposing transgender girls using female changing
facilities at school. It visually highlights that
transgender girls are, rst and foremost, girls.
No one can dispute the pictures timeliness. Recently, South Dakota came close
to forbidding schools from allowing trans
girls into female changing facilities after a
bill easily passed both houses of the legislature there. Only a massive nationwide eort,
teaming prominent transgender celebrities
and spokespeople with local transgender
youth, brought a last minute change of heart
for Gov. Dennis Daugaard who initially refused to meet representatives of the transgender community. An even more restrictive
bill is gaining steam in Tennessee after unanimous endorsement by lawmakers on a review committee. Transgender schoolchildren
desperately need us to educate the country
about their reality.
However, this image raises troubling issues.

This image making the rounds on social media

has good intentions that are undermined by
reinforcing gender stereotypes.

You cannot tell which is the transgender

girl. Were to conclude that being indistinguishable from a cisgender girl qualies her
to use the girls locker room. In transgender
circles that is known as passing, when a

trans persons gender history is not evident

by looking. Vicious controversy surrounds
that term. Many trans people revile it and refuse to engage in dialogue using it. Alas, no
other agreed upon term exists.
Transgender people feel extraordinary
pressure to pass. Passing privilege allows
open movement without fear of harassment.
It facilitates securing employment, making
social connections and even nding safe
housing. People wont discriminate against
someone they dont know to be trans.
The diculty of becoming passable varies
widely, depending heavily on facial and bone
structure and response to hormone therapy.
For many, passing involves multiple surgeries
with costs in the tens of thousands, and insurance coverage is spotty. Passability becomes
a socio-economic indicator, more available to
wealthier trans people and those with access
to high-quality transition-related health care.
Some trans peoples body shape and size
defy any medical intervention to help them
pass. However, men and women who do
not pass are no less male and no less female,
every bit as deserving of access to spaces
available to other members of their gender.
The mindset that passability aects ones entitlement to use a locker room leads us in a
dangerous direction, essentially amounting
to discrimination based on appearance.
Unfortunately, the graphics worldview
seems widespread among people with little
personal knowledge of how trans people live.
Images of feminine trans women in the mens

room or bu trans guys in the ladies are incongruous and jarring, even to those having
little familiarity with transgender issues. We
are powerfully tempted to incorporate such
images in campaigns against restrictive restroom measures, such as the #WeJustWantToPee seles.
Eective as those images seem, we need
to resist such temptation. Basing our case
for restroom and locker room access on the
notion that those who look female belong in
female spaces wins us ground, but only at
the cost of compounding the pressure trans
people already feel to conform to gender
expectations imposed by our culture. If we
insist that trans men and women resemble
our general notion of what men or women
ought to look like, we not only reinforce gender stereotypes but also disproportionately
oppress those who cant or prefer not to live
up to those stereotypes.
The South Dakota victory was not won by
presenting impactful images. Instead, the
transgender students the law would mistreat
were humanized by airing their stories and
acquainting decision makers with the realities of their lives. That needs to be our goal in
future eorts if we are truly to move toward
a world where the entire spectrum of appearances, gender identities, and presentations
can live comfortably and safely.

SUZI CHASE is a Maryland-based freelance

writer.

CO MMU N I KA T E

This election has jumped the shark

But GOP is zombie-like
and wont die

KATE CLINTON is a humorist who has

entertained LGBT audiences for 30 years. Her
monthly column appears exclusively in the
Blade. Reach her via kateclinton.com.

On Scandal, when Olivia Pope, no

relation to Pope Francis or the lesbian
cruise company, says to her ex, Fitz the
president, Fish rot from the head, she
says it with an extra bit of actressy nostril
are that means she really means it.
Fitz was one of the most unlikable TV

presidents ever until Kevin Spaceys President Francis Underwood came along. But
for no apparent reason, Fitz inspires undying love and loyalty in his supporters.
He asks atly, What does that mean?
Olivia gets on her best high horse, rears
back and tells Fitz POTUS that the reason
some of his Secret Service detail had a
party that got out of hand and a young
woman was killed, is that his men have to
escort prostitutes and extreme fangirls up
to his quarters and that is just not a good
example to give to the agents, hence the
thing about the sh. She nishes her routine and nails her landing with an amazing patented Olivia Pope laser glare.
Scandal went over the shark and
through the woods a few seasons ago,
yet we watch it and every time, especially
when weve forgotten to record it and
have to sit through muted commercials
because ABC has disabled fast forward,
we take bets on what disease the ad is

about, and vow to break up with Olivia.

But then Shonda Rimes and her leading ladies, Scandals Kerry Washington,
How to Get Away With Murders Viola
Davis and Greys Anatomys Ellen Pompeo do a commercial for Hillary Clinton
and were all BFFs again and have set the
DVR for record every episode. At least I
hope I did.
We all have our election-anxiety coping
mechanisms: adult coloring books, tidying up, binge-purge watching The Great
British Bakeo, or sucker-punching protesters. Shondaland with its strong, complicated black and white women in the
lead is my happy place.
This election has jumped the shark.
The GOP has always treated the presidency as its own entitlement program. In
fact they get quite put out when they lose
their executive suite to a young white Arkansas governor or a young black Illinois
senator. How dare they?!

The Obstinence Only Party lampoons

identity politics and its correctness and
then uses class, race and LGBTs to divide and conquer. Ive never believed
that the GOP will be destroyed in this
war between the base, AKA voters and
the establishment. Time and time again
theyve proven that their mascot is not an
elephant but a zombie.
Trump has merely rented out the Republican Party to run a white male identity campaign. Even he underestimated
how many chairs and tents he would
need. But the Don of Twitterland is legitimate hair apparent of the rot of a party
that stole an election, started a capricious, endless war in Iraq and trashed the
economy.
Olivia Pope got it right. Now I want to
see her turn her gladiator xing skills to
that short, white, pragmatic policy wonk
of a vice president, and get her elected
president.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

I N S I DE LGB T W A S HING TON

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 1 9

Pepco/Exelon merger: We are debating a bribe

Ad campaign raises more
questions than it answers

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a longtime Democratic

Party and LGBT rights activist. He is a regular
contributor to the Blade.

As a resident of the District of Columbia

and owner of a small place in Delaware,
I have an interest in the proposed Pepco
Holdings Company/Exelon merger. Not
being familiar with all the intricacies of the
delivery of energy, it sometimes seems
our elected ocials are simply debating
the size of the bribe being oered the
District in exchange for its approval of the
merger. Some may resent these so-called
benets being called a bribe but since they
are up for negotiation and have a cash
value it seems an appropriate term to use.
There have been a number of ads recently in the Washington Post, paid for by
Exelon, trying to convince readers to put

pressure on the Public Service Commission

to approve the merger. The most recent ad
featured the smiling faces of former Mayor
Anthony Williams, now CEO of the Federal
City Council, and Jim Dinegar, president
and CEO of the Greater Washington Board
of Trade, and is headlined Only the Merger Provides $78 million in Benets. While
that may sound like a lot of money, consider that in 2015Exelon had revenues of
$29.4 billion. That number no longer looks
so generous. While having the greatest respect for Anthony Williams (I tried to convince him to run for a third term) you have
to wonder if support even from someone
of his stature will be enough to get people
to buy into this merger.
The ad claims the merger would result
in fewer and shorter power outages and
support for renewable energy, something
Pepco has promised to do on its own. The
Pepco website claims We are upgrading
our electric system to make it more reliable,
and were excited to have our customers
start to see the benets of our work. Our
work and commitment has signicantly
reduced both the frequency and duration
of power outages. From December 2010
to January 2015, outages on feeders that
we worked on as part of our Reliability Enhancement Plan decreased by 51 percent

and the outages that did occur were 60

percent shorter. Based on this, we must
question how a merged company would
do better. Are there penalties if it doesnt?
What recourse do customers have the next
time there is a major storm and people lose
power for days on end; can we reverse the
merger? The ad says Pepco will hire another 100 union workers. Is there a date certain for them to do this and who will monitor to ensure Pepco always has 100 more
union workers it has now?
We have seen ads funded by Exelon
listing support for the merger from nonprots in the District of Columbia. I am
a member of one of those organizations
and asked the CEO how the organization
agreed to have its name in that ad. Were
they promised money? Did the board or
membership vote on this? The answer to
these questions was no and it made me
question what happened in all the other
organizations listed.
Pepco was incorporated in 1896. As a
subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (PHI),
it claims to deliver safe, reliable electric
service to more than 815,000 customers
throughout Maryland and the District of
Columbia.It proudly claims in the last ve
years to have donated more than $10.5
million to 2,100 local organizations. Do we

subtract that amount from the $78 million

promised making it really only $68 million in new benets? Pepco Holdings, Inc.
(PHI) is one of the largest energy delivery
companies in the mid-Atlantic region and
serves about two million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland
and New Jersey. PHI subsidiaries Pepco,
Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric
provide regulated electricity service; Delmarva Power also provides natural gas
service. PHI also provides energy eciency
and renewable energy services through
Pepco Energy Services, which is a provider
of deregulated energy and energy-related
services for residential, small business and
large commercial customers. Will that company grow under the merger with Exelon,
which is a Fortune 150 company working
in every stage of the energy business? That
includes, according to their website, power generation, competitive energy sales,
transmission and delivery; doing business
in 48 states, D.C., and Canada and employing 30,000 people nationwide.
As a citizen who pays bills from PHI
companies in two locations, these ads
dont provide enough information to decide whether or not to support the merger. The oered bribe doesnt seem quite
big enough.

V I E WPO I NT

Life in the D.C. gay bubble

What responsibilities do we
have to those with less?
By BROCK THOMPSON
Lets face it, to be gay and living in Washington, D.C., at this moment were pretty fortunate.
I was reminded of this while having cocktails with work colleagues last Sunday afternoon. We were all from the South, and
all around the same age, and beyond that
what we really share in common is that we
all left as soon as we could. We laughed
as we talked about our gay childhoods, remembering that all we had in the way of
material was the JC Penneys mens underwear advertisement in the Sunday paper.
Now I wonder how I ever found Jim Palmer
sexy. Thats what we had until a few years
later when the Bowex commercial began
to air. You remember that one, right? The
shirtless guy in the red shorts? Ill let you
Google that yourself.
Well enough about that. That was Arkansas in 1988, and now Im in Washington
in 2016. And anyone who has been in this

town for at least, say, 10 minutes, knows

that we love our gay brunches and happy
hour fundraisers. And last week I went to
a couple of these for two very worthy gay
organizations. The rst was the Williams
Institute, a sort of gay and lesbian think
tank and research center run out of UCLA.

top bar on U Street. If you havent heard

of this wonderful organization, you should
really acquaint yourself. Deftly managed
by Sultan Shakir, SYMAL empowers LBGT
youth within our city by providing a safe
space and a plethora of resources. The organization is well worth your charity.

Weve had a hard time pivoting from our marriage

victory to other issues that are more
important and more pressing.
They tackle everything from immigration
rights, to HIV/AIDS health, and have actually made a considerable mark on queer
law and public policy. My friend Jonathan
invited me along. Poke around their website, particularly the research theyve compiled about LGBT life in the South. Pretty
fascinating stu.
The second event was an afternoon fundraiser for SMYAL, held on a trendy roof-

Though of course dierent, both organizations are alike in their mission how
to strengthen our community by providing
resources and advocacy to those who may
not have it. And with the noble eorts of
these organizations and others like them, I
have to ask: Why is there not a larger eort
by our community to take on these issues?
Specically, after our marriage victory,
what does equality mean now? And for us

that live here in D.C., that enjoy relatively

full equality under the law, where being
gay probably helps you get a job, what responsibility do we owe those who live in
places around the country who may see
full equality as a bridge too far?
To be honest, it seems as a community
weve had a hard time pivoting from our
marriage victory to other issues that are
more important and more pressing, especially to our peers outside the safety of city
walls fair housing and employment protection. Also, the fact that most Americans
think this is already law should tell us we
have some catching up to do, or at least
that we need better messaging.
But how do we play catch up? I realize,
too, that Im writing this up from a white,
middle-class perspective. Thats also a conversation worth having. But again, if there
is a national dialogue happening around
any of this, I appear to be missing it.

BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based freelance

writer. He writes regularly for the Blade.

2 0 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

13

MARCH

25,

2016

PAGE

21

AFTER YEARS OF DELAYS, WONDER WOMAN FINALLY MAKES HER BIG-SCREEN DEBUT
By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
joeyd@washblade.com

WALTER FORBES with his Wonder Woman collection.He owns replicas of Wonder Womans
bracelets and tiara and has several photos and items signed by Lynda Carter.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Wonder Woman has nally made it to

the big screen.
The Amazon princess, who debuted in
comic book form in 1941, makes her silver
screen debut in Batman v. Superman:
Dawn of Justice, the estimated
$250-million spectacle from director Zack
Snyder with Henry Cavill reprising his role
as Superman, Ben Aeck debuting as
Batman and Gal Gadot (The Fast and the
Furious) as Wonder Woman.
The movie, which opens today (Friday)
on an estimated 30,000 screens in 61
markets around the globe, is part of
the D.C. Extended Universe series that
launched with Man of Steel, a 2013
Superman reboot. Suicide Squad,
featuring the D.C. Comics anti-hero team,
is slated for an August release. Wonder

Woman will nally get her own lm with

an eponymous release slated for June
2017 in which Gadot will star.
For many Gen. X gays, the 1975-1979
TV show Wonder Woman starring Lynda
Carter, who has enjoyed decades of
adoration because of the role, is beyond
iconic. She performs her concert LongLegged Woman at the Kennedy Center at
7 p.m. on April 2.
Carter does not have cameos in either
Dawn of Justice or next years lm and
has focused on singing in recent years.
A resident of D.C. suburb Potomac, Md.,
she has appeared at LGBT events such
as AIDS Walk Washington in 2010 and
the Capital Pride parade in 2013, where
she was grand marshal. She performs
annually at the Kennedy Center and has

earned acclaim for songs she recorded

for the video game Fallout 4.
But for many, shell always be known as
Wonder Woman. Her performance was
so indelible that merchandise featuring
her likeness continues to be churned out
on items such as the Wonder Woman
77 comic series, a Hallmark ornament of
her as the character and more.
She told superfan Mike Pingel, author
of The Q Guide to Wonder Woman
(2008) and Channel Surng: Wonder
Woman (2012), in a Frontiers interview
published last week that shes honored
by the attention.
Its a thrill to have my Wonder Woman
image resurrected after all these years,
she said. In life, you carry around these
memories. Then you meet people who

share their memories and you end up

experiencing it all over again through their
eyes. Its great to have a big resurgence of
relevance, not just being in the past but
something happening right now.
So if the character is so perennially
popular, why did it take so long to bring
her to the silver screen when male
superhero lms have been made about
even lesser-known characters like Iron
Man (2008), Jonah Hex (2010), Thor:
the Dark World (2013) and more? The
Wonder Woman movie has languished
in development limbo since the mid-90s.
A 2011 pilot for a possible NBC series
was not picked up. The CW abandoned
another TV project in 2014.
CONTINUES ON PAGE 33

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 2 M A RCH 2 5 , 2 016

QU E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R CH A RLE S D RA G O N E T T E

CHARLES DRAGONETTE
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

By JOEY DiGULIELMO
joeyd@washblade.com
Never seen the gay classic The Boys in the Band on stage? Nows your
chance.
The seminal work by Mart Crowley will be performed April 1-16 in the
Gunston Theatre Two (2700 S. Lang St., Arlington, Va.) at Dominion Stage
(dominionstage.org) with an all-gay cast. Details at dominionstage.org.
Charles Dragonette, stage manager for this production, discovered the
piece through its 1970 lm adaptation and says although it might appear
dated and overly bitchy, its still a major work of gay art.
For all of it that can be problematic to some LGBT audiences who only
want rosy, upbeat depictions, it contains the seeds of the revolution that
began with the Stonewall riots the year after the play was rst produced.
He also calls it an important step where gay men were represented as
good and bad, clever and dull and they were all unprecedentedly still alive
at the end.
Dragonette discovered theater work around 2008 when he got tired of being
a theater widow for his husbands sound design work and began helping
backstage, soon occupying a variety of tech production slots and occasionally
being cast in small roles.
Dragonette, 71 and busily retired, came to Washington in 1971 with the
Navy. He lives in Alexandria, Va., with husband Alan Wray. He enjoys theater,
history, gardening and reading in his free time.

How long have you been out and who

was the hardest person to tell?
Since late 1960s, early 1970s. My father
was the hardest (1980) but he became
my best friend as a result.
Whos your LGBT hero?
Many. Frank Kameny was my rst.
Whats Washingtons best
nightspot, past or present?
Hah! I am SO out of the nightclub hot
spot scene! Pier Nine and Lost & Found
were my rst D.C. spiritual homes and I
dont think anythings been as wondrous
since.

Describe your dream wedding.

The one I had small gathering of gay
and straight friends on the banks of the
Potomac.
What non-LGBT issue are
you most passionate about?
Environment
What historical outcome
would you change?
Start of World War I.

Madonna
on Hoarding:
We are living in a
material world and
I am a material girl.
VALERIE M. BLAKE, Associate Broker, GRI

Dupont Circle Office 202.243.7700 (o) 202.246.8602 (c)

Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com www.DCHomeQuest.com

Whats been the most memorable pop

culture moment of your lifetime?
Spontaneously marching in New York
Citys Gay Pride Parade in 1976. My rst
visit to the AIDS Quilt.
On what do you insist?
Respect and communication
What was your last
Facebook post or Tweet?
Happy birthday to my sister much
blander than my usual political sniping.

If your life were a book,

what would the title be?
Im a Stranger Here Myself

If science discovered a way

to change sexual orientation,
what would you do?

Ignore it!

What do you believe in

beyond the physical world?
That its all physical world; we just lack
the science to access and explain it.

Whats your advice for LGBT

movement leaders?
Choose your battles; focus; remember
the rest of the LGBT community is not
the enemy.
What would you walk
across hot coals for?

Love

What LGBT stereotype

annoys you most?
Self hate, ageism, separatism

Whats your favorite LGBT movie?

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of
the Desert

Whats the most

overrated social custom?
Obsessive political correctness
What trophy or prize
do you most covet?
When Im gone, to have someone notice.

What do you wish youd known at 18?

Everything! But especially, that I am
enough (and that I was actually pretty
hot then).
Why Washington?
It has enough of everything for every
taste and not too much of anything.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

O UT& A B O UT

M A R C H 25, 2016 23

PHOTO BY ATELIER MATEO M; COURTESY OF FINN PARTNERS

Digital Skin by Atelier Mateo M, one of the installations at Light City Baltimore.

Inaugural Baltimore
extravaganza features
art, music and more
By MARIAH COOPER
mcooper@washblade.com
Baltimore may not look like it now,
but in a few days it will be transformed
into a wonderland of light, creativity
and innovation that could put Alices
Wonderland to shame. Light City is
Baltimores rst multi-genre spectacular
that incorporates art, music and
education. It runs from Monday, March
28-Sunday, April 3.
Light City was the brain child of couple
Justin Allen and Brooke Hall from What
Works Studio, a Baltimore creative
agency. Hall is CEO and founder and Allen
is CMO and creative strategist. The two
were inspired by Vivid Sydney, a similar
light extravaganza that has been running
since 2009 in Sydney, Australia. Wanting
to bring the concept to Maryland, the
couple reached out to the Baltimore
Oce of Promotion and the Arts whose
members agreed to get on board.
The new team then set out to prod
creative minds to gure out how to
recreate the idea while making it distinctly
Baltimore.
Bill Gilmore, executive director at
the Baltimore Oce of Promotion and
the Arts, says the project began from
scratch with meetings involving neighbor
associations, arts communities and
technology communities.
We did about 17 of these just sort of
bringing people into the fold because we
thought it was a good idea but we didnt
really know how it was going to manifest
itself here, Gilmore says. Because we
wanted the festival to be about Baltimore,
for Baltimore.
After engaging with numerous groups,
these organizations sent in proposals for
ideas; 240 proposals wound up coming in
from all over the world for the event, which
runs from 7-11 p.m. each night except, April
1-2 when it runs from 7 p.m.-midnight.

Now in its completed phase, the festival

has become a three-layered artistic
haven.
The light installation component will be
a one-and-a-half mile BGE Light Art Walk,
from the south shore of the Inner Harbor
to Harbor East, featuring 50 attractions
including lit up visual artworks, street
theater and musical performances. A few
pieces on display will be Digital Skin by
Atelier Mateo M, which lets guests paint on
their friends to digitally map their faces and
bodies and watch them come to life; Blur
Hour by New American Public Art, which
uses light towers and seating that responds
to peoples movement in the space; and
Dear Baltimore by Thick Air Studios, a
collection of letters oating seven feet
about the ground propelled by bicycles
placed throughout the Light City location.
Out magician David London will add
to the street theater element. London is
curating Circus of Wonders at Waterfront
Garden at Pier 5 (711 Eastern Ave.,
Baltimore). There will be juggling, escapes,
re spinning and comedy performances
throughout the week.
Music is another highlight of the festival.
Bands, dancers and major DJs will be
performing on stage throughout Light
Citys run. Baltimore-based lesbian rapper
TT The Artist performs on Tuesday, March
29 from 10-11 p.m. DJ Jazzy Je, best known
for his work with Will Smith, will perform
on Thursday, March 31 from 10-11 p.m.
Electronic musician Dan Deacon performs
on Saturday, April 2 from 10-11 p.m.
Festival-goers can take time to reect
on important issues with the Social
Innovation Conference on March 28-29,
the Health Innovation Conference and
Sustainability Innovation Conference on
March 30-31 and the Creative Innovation
Conference on April 1-2. Topics at the
conferences all focus on social change.
Conference tickets are $99.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
Light City Baltimore
A Festival of Light, Music and Innovation
March 28-April 3
Locations vary at the Inner Harbor and beyond
Full details at lightcity.org

WE NEED YOU TO MAKE

HIV/AIDS HISTORY

TAKE STEPS WITH US:

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

24 MA R C H 25, 2016

F I LM

PHOTO BY PAUL GRACE

Actor JAKE GRAF says lming The Danish Girl, out now on various home video formats, was extremely satisfying.

Lauded trans-themed
lm out on DVD, Blu-ray
By BRIAN T. CARNEY
When director Tom Hooper started
lming The Danish Girl, the story of
trans pioneer Lili Elbe thats out this
month on DVD, Blu-ray and On Demand,
he knew he wanted to use trans actors in
cis-gendered roles throughout the movie.
I feel theres not an equality of
opportunity for trans actors, the Academy
Award-winning director said. I wanted to
reach out to the trans community.
Through a series of open casting calls,
trans actors Jake Graf and Rebecca Root
were cast in small cis-gendered roles in
the movie and a number of trans actors
were cast as extras in the party scenes.
Graf plays Henri, a friend of art dealer
Hans Axgil (Matthias Schoenaerts), and
Root plays one of the nurses tending to
Lili after her operations.
It was great to have Rebekah and Jake
play cis-gendered roles which I think
makes the whole thing quite interesting,
Hooper says. They ended up becoming
people we could go to for advice and
Eddie and Alicia talked to them a lot. And
luckily Jake is uent in French.
Both actors had a great time shooting
their scenes. Grafs scene was more lighthearted, a party introducing Gerdas art
to Parisian audiences.
Matthias was hilarious, constantly
cracking jokes on set, yet able to switch

back into character at a seconds notice,

Graf says. We improvised a whole scene
together in French, which sadly got cut.
More importantly, it was Schoenaerts
who named the character Henri, which
Graf says, is innitely better in the credits
than man on stairs.
Both Graf and Root were part of the
delegation representing the movie The
Danish Girl and the television show
Transparent at the White House
for the Champions of Change event
last November. The event marked
Transgender Day of Remembrance and
honored the work of nine LGBT artists
from across the country.
It was just wonderful to see that public
acknowledgement from the presidents
oce, Root says. It was brilliant.
Graf and Root have been busy since
The Danish Girl wrapped. Graf, an
award-winning director, is promoting
his fourth lm, a short called Dawn.
He describes it as a very sweet tale
about unconditional acceptance and
unexpected connection, all shot at dawn
in London. The lm will premiere at BFI
Flare (the London LGBT lm festival) this
month and a U.S. premiere has been
conrmed for June. Hes also writing a
web series called Spectrum East about
the lives and loves of a group of mostly
queer East Londoners (he plays one of
the male leads) and hes starting work on
his rst feature lm.
Grafs YouTube channel is Jakerson55;
his Twitter handle is @JakeGraf1.
Root is now lming season two of the

ground-breaking BBC Two television

series Boy Meets Girl.
The show is the result of the Trans
Comedy Award, a 2013 BBC talent search
for scripts with positive portrayals o
trans characters. The award-winning
script by Elliott Kerrigan has become
the rst BBC comedy to prominently
feature transgender issues and to star
a transgender actor. Root plays Judy, a
40-year old trans woman who becomes
involved with a younger man. The series
has won rave reviews for dealing with
complex social and personal issues with
humor and compassion.
More information on Root, including
her poetry and her work as a voice coach
for transgender people, can be found at
rebeccaroot.co.uk.
Both actors are proud to have been
part of the trail-blazing movie. Graf has
already seen the movie changing hearts
and minds.
I have heard countless rst-hand
accounts of estranged parents tentatively
going to see the lm, and sheepishly
reaching out to their trans children, with
a new found understanding, and a desire
to build bridges, he says. I feel hugely
privileged to have been even a small part
of it.
I think people will see this as a
landmark lm, Root says. Its an
important part of the mosaic in the trans
conversation really coming into the public
consciousness. It might sound corny, but
I think it really reminds us of the power of
movies to open our eyes.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

T HE ATER

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 2 5

Three average folks explore life

and longing in character study
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
Workplace friendships vary. In Annie
Bakers enthralling The Flick now
at Signature Theatre, they become
incredibly meaningful, at least for a time.
Set in a shabby movie theater in smalltown, central Massachusetts, the story
follows the evolving triangular friendship
of three lonely, low-wage workers who
come together for a brief but intense
time. The trio includes 20-year-old Avery,
an extremely socially awkward lm geek
whos taking a year o from school
following an emotional crisis; Sam, the
35-year-old career usher who lives in his
parents attic; and Rose, a 20-something
projectionist with intimacy issues.
At almost three-and-a-half hours,
Signatures winning production, superbly
staged by the companys out resident
director Joe Calarco, is longish, but it
doesnt lag for a second. In slice-of-life

PHOTO BY MARGOT SCHULMAN; COURTESY OF SIGNATURE

EVAN CASEY in The Flick, an illuminating and

realistic character study.

scenes of dierent lengths, The Flick

(which won the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for
Drama when the playwright was 33)
explores what happens in a movie theater
after the lm ends, audience les out and

the lights go up.

While they sweep up popcorn and
discarded wrappers, ball-capped Sam
(Evan Casey) and new employee Avery
(Thaddeus McCants) slowly get to know
each other. They play a kind of six degrees
of separation game in which Sam oers
up the names of wildly dissimilar actors
and Avery miraculously connects them.
Occasionally Rose swoops down from her
projectionist booth and playfully vexes
her male coworkers.
None of the workers are particularly
happy in life but they carry on. Via cell
phone to his vacationing therapist Avery
says, Like maybe Im gonna be that weird
depressed guy and I should just like
accept it. And thatll be the life I get. And
thatll be OK.
Playwright Baker is not afraid to use
long pauses of silence reective of real
life work scenarios. Her characters
casual dialogue ostensibly mundane
exchanges is in fact usually revelatory
and often steeped in poignancy. Scenes
end in blackouts followed lm score
snippets from classics like The Pink

Panther, Star Wars and Citizen Kane.

While Baker puts a laser-like. yet never
condescending, focus on the happenings
of a revival theater that is on the verge of
changing from gorgeous 35 mm lm to
digital, she subtly touches on a range of
themes including race (Avery is AfricanAmerican and the others are white) and
class (for Avery whose father is a professor
of semiotics at a private university, his job
is a temporary gig solely related to his
love for lm and most likely wont nd its
way onto his resume, but for the others,
as Rose explains, working at the movie
theater is how they feed themselves).
Its a timely piece for a society in which
young people saddled with astronomical
student loans face an erratic job market
and often rely on their parents to live.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
THE FLICK
Through April 24
Signature Theatre
4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington
$40-94
703-820-9771
Sigtheatre.org

GREAT PERFORMANCES
AT MASON
VISIT US AT CFA.GMU.EDU

Virginia Opera

The Flying
Dutchman
SATURDAY, APRIL 23 AT 8 P.M.
SUNDAY, APRIL 24 AT 2 P.M.

With hauntingly beautiful music and inspired

by Wagners own dangerous sea voyage,
The Flying Dutchmans story of the phantom
seafarer on an endless quest for redemption
through true love and the adoring young
woman who has vowed to save him has
fascinated opera lovers since its premiere
in 1843. Sung in German with English
supertitles.
$98, $80, $48

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.

LIVE
Easter v

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

26 MA R C H 25, 2016

O U T & A BO U T

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

GOSPEL BRUNCHES
FEATURING WILBUR JOHNSON
AND THE GOSPEL PERSUADERS

10AM, 12:30PM, 3:00PM

SUNDAY MAR

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BOMBINO

W/ LAST GOOD TOOTH

WEDNESDAY MAR

30

FRI, MAR 25

AN EVENING WITH

GOLDEN GATE WINGMEN

PHOTO COURTESY OF FAUX ENTERTAINMENT

SAT, MAR 26

RED BARAATS
FESTIVAL OF COLORS

Drag divas come to Fillmore

WITH MADAME GANDHI AND RAJAS

Faux Entertainment and Live Nation present Divas of Drag at Fillmore Silver
Spring (8656 Colesville Rd., Silver Spring, Md.) on Wednesday, March 30 at 9 p.m.
Former RuPauls Drag Race contestants stop by D.C. on their national tour to
perform on the Fillmore stage. Drag queens performing include Jujubee, Raven,
Alyssa Edwards, Latrice Royale, Milk, Kennedy Davenport and Stacy Layne
Matthews. Wendy Ho will be the special guest host. Tickets are $30.
For more information and to purchase tickets, visit llmoresilverspring.com.

TUES, MAR 29

ALL GOOD PRESENTS:

AN EVENING WITH K I

MOCK

THURS, MAR 31

ALL GOOD PRESENTS:

TURKUAZ AND KUNG

FU

By MARIAH COOPER

Peak bloom season imminent for cherry blossoms

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The Cherry Blossom Festival brings a urry of activities that have something
for everyone in the coming weeks.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival opening ceremony is at the Warner
Theatre (513 13th St., N.W.) on Saturday, March 26 from 5-6:30 p.m. Enjoy
traditional and contemporary performances that celebrate the beauty of the
cherry blossoms. Performers include Japanese soprano singer Asako Tamura,
comedy troupe Gamarjobat, jazz conductor Miho Hazara, the 6821 Quintet and
musical duo Dois Hazuki. Admission is free but advance ticketing is required.
The National Building Museum (401 F St., N.W.) hosts a Family Day on
Saturday, March 26 from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Activities will include folding origami
masterpieces, designing a memorial for the National Mall, building a tatebanko
diorama and trying on traditional Japanese clothing. Admission is free.
The Blossom Kite Festival is located on the grounds of the Washington
Monument near 17th St., N.W. and Constitution Ave. on Saturday, April 2 from
10 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Watch kite iers from across the country and the world give
kite demonstrations and compete. Bring your own kite or make your own at the
activity station. Admission is free.
The Southwest Waterfront Fireworks Festival is at the Southwest Waterfront
(600 Water St., S.W.) on Saturday, April 9 from 1-9 p.m. Fireworks begin at 8:30
p.m. There will be a beer and cider garden, calligraphy, sailboat making, a food
truck rally, face painting, T-shirt making and much more. Entry is free.
The National Cherry Blossom Festival Parade begins on Constitution
Avenue from 7th Street to 17th Street on Saturday, April 17 from 10 a.m.-noon.
Performers include cast members from the musical Jersey Boys, R&B singer
Raheem DeVaughn, The Voice contestant Sisaundra Lewis and pop singer
Tiany. Grandstand seating tickets are $20. Standing on the street is free.
Following the parade, the Sakura Matsuri Japanese Street Festival will be on
M Street and New Jersey Ave. S.E. from 10:30 a.m.-6 p.m. Various performances
celebrating Japanese culture will be on four stages. Admission is $8 in advance
for adults and $10 afterwards and at the gate. Children 12 and under are free.
The Cherry Blast party at Carnegie Library is on Saturday, April 16 from 6
p.m.-2 a.m. There will be a dance party, sushi and saki workshops, a cosplay
competition, Tokyo street food, manga vendors, anime fashion show, gaming
competition and more. Certain events have separate admission prices. Tickets
range from $20-25 for single events or are $75 for all. VIP admission is $125.
For more information on all of the National Cherry Blossom events, visit
nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
Outdoor goods store Filson (1534 14th St., N.W.) will be giving away
complimentary cherry blossom seeds with every purchase through April 17.
For more details, visit lson.com.

PHOTO COURTESY OF DANCE PLACE

Dance outt honors

those lost to AIDS
Sean Dorsey Dance, led by transgender
choreographer Sean Dorsey, performs
The Missing Generation at Dance Place
(3225 8th St., N.E.) on Saturday, April 2 at
8 p.m. and Sunday, April 3 at 7 p.m.
The performance piece pays tribute
to the gay and transgender individuals
whose lives were lost to the AIDS epidemic
in the 80s and 90s. Mixing dance with
theater and storytelling, the multi-media
dance delves into the history of the AIDS
crisis using rst hand historical accounts.
Dorseys dedication to the project was a
two-year endeavor collecting an archive
of recorded oral history interviews which
are included in the show.
Tickets are $25 in advance and $30 at
the door. Seniors and college student
tickets are $15. For more details, visit
danceplace.org.

Keep your promise to protect each other.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

M US I C

M A R C H 25, 2016 27

PHOTO BY ALICIA ROSE

BOB MOULDs new album is a visceral, satisfying and succinct new chapter in an illustrious career.

By CHRIS GERARD

(240) 778-2330 (703) 536-0220

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Bob Mould cements another level to

the ridiculously impressive and inuential
musical legacy hes built over a 35-year
career with his superb new album, Patch
the Sky. Its Moulds third album in four
years, following the stellar Silver Age
(2012) and Beauty & Ruin (2014).
The gay, alternative-rock icons career
has veered in multiple directions over
the decades. He was an integral part of
the widely revered trio Hsker D during
the 80s, recording albums like New
Day Rising and Candy Apple Grey that
are among the decades most hallowed
in alternative rock. After departing the
trio, Moulds acclaimed rst solo album,
Workbook (1989), became one of the
cornerstone albums of that era, thanks in
part to the hit See a Little Light.
Thus started a long and fruitful solo
career for Mould that continues strong
as ever. Some albums have done better
than others (Copper Blue with Sugar
was particularly successful), and there
are some hidden gems (Black Sheets
of Rain doesnt get nearly the attention
it deserves). Patch the Sky is vintage
and essential Bob Mould it builds on
everything that has come before it.
The album begins with a cascade of
electric guitar descending into the brisk
rocker Voices in My Head. Moulds voice
sounds as good as ever and the melody
grabs hold immediately. Its like welcoming
back an old friend, and hes unburdening
himself the only way he knows how. The
End of Things is particularly savage and
seems imbued with bitterness. The band
plays with reckless abandon, like the
whole thing is going to careen o the rails
at any moment but never does.
Hold On is a tight-as-nails melodic
rocker that could t onto Copper Blue
with no problem. Mould delivers an
impassioned vocal which is well down
in the mix to be part of the electrical
storm surrounding it. You Say You is

a rigid three minutes of garage rock

played with tight precision. Mould has
surrounded himself with ace musicians
(Jason Narducy on bass and Jon Wurster
on drums) for this set, and that comes
through loud and clear in every song.
Pray for Rain is a force of nature, a
potent hard rock explosion with blistering
guitar. One imagines it was so loud when it
was recorded that the air practically sparked
with electricity. Hands are Tied, at a brisk
1:45, could be a raucous ode to the days
of playing tiny rundown hell-holes with
Grant Hart and Greg Norton in Hsker D.
Black Confetti is one of the albums more
b r e a s t a u g M e n tat i o n s k i n c a r e e y e l i F t b r o w l i F t k y b e l l a Fa c e l i F t b r e a s t l i F t
complex tracks, with an expansive sound
and tremendous vocal by Mould thats
submerged in massive swells of guitar.
Mould says on the Merge Records
website that the dark intensity of Patch
the Sky reects ongoing turmoil in his
personal life.
Ive had a solid stretch of hard
emotional times, and thanks for the
condolences in advance. I dont want
to go into the details more death,
relationships ending, life getting shorter
because theyre already in the songs.
Just listen and see if you can t yourself
into my stories. The words make you
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PROOF #1
ISSUE DATE: 10.26.12
SALES REPRESENTATIVE: BRIAN PITTS (bpitts@washblade.com)
are there. These feelings are wedged
REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of
proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of
into three-minute power-pop gems that
the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts
REVISIONS
omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is
are performed with blazing REDESIGN
intensity and
responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users
can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or
TEXT REVISIONS
musical dexterity.
any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any
copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret, music, image, or other proprietary or propety right, false advertising, unfair
IMAGE/LOGO
REVISIONS
competition, defamation, invasion of privacy or rights of celebrity, violation of anti-discrimination law or regulation,
Moulds remarkable career continues
or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the
ADVERTISER SIGNATURE
NO REVISIONS
washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all
By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contr
with yet another great album. How
liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonableMODEL
legal fees and expenses that may be incurred
washington blade newspaper. This includes but is n
W
by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertisers breach of any of the foregoing representations
payment and insertion schedule.
EN
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long can the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
and warranties.
OF
KY
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ACTUAL SMARTLIPO PATIENT OF DR. MICHAELS
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MD
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die-hard fans that pick it up. This is a
Phone: (301) 468-5991
shame, because Mould is one of the
AWARDS
preeminent rock musicians still going
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 8 M A RCH 2 5 , 2 016

A RT S & CU LT U RE

HOT HITS & HIDDEN JEWELS

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

The Flick
Thru Apr 24. Signature Theatre.
703-820-9771. signature-theatre.org.

Set in the popcorn-strewn, empty aisles of a crumbling Massachusetts movie

theater, this 2014 Pulitzer Prize winner exposes the surprising tenderness and
comedy in the everyday.

Joseph Moog, piano

Mar 26. Washington Performing Arts at The Kennedy Center.
202-785-9727. washingtonperformingarts.org.

A two-time International Classical Music Award winner, youngGerman pianist

Joseph Moog is renowned for seemingly eortlesstechnique, coupled with
expressiveness and sensitivity beyond hisyears. His D.C. debut includes
Tchaikovskys Grand Sonata.

Cocktails and Canvas

Mar 31. VisArts at Rockville.
301-315-8200. visartsatrockville.org.

We provide the partially sketched 16 x 20 canvas, paint, brushes, easels, paints,

apron and instructor. We also provide the snacks and a complimentary glass of
wine. Our instructors will help you whether you are a total beginner or looking
to brush up your skills and paint in a social setting.

Philip Johnson: A Life of Architectural Invention

Mar 30. The Smithsonian Associates at Ripley Center.
202-633-3030. smithsonianassociates.org.

From his own celebrated residence, the Glass House, to the Chippendale
Skyscraper in Manhattan, to the Gate of Europe towers in Madrid, Philip
Johnsons aesthetic found its reection both in buildings of stripped-down
beauty and bold idiosyncrasy. In a richly illustrated lecture, historian Bill Keene
traces Johnsons life and his legacy.
PHOTO COURTESY OF SIGNATURE THEATRE

Buy
Discount Tickets

THEATRE
Frances Ruelle. Mar 25. Shear
Madness. Ongoing. The Kennedy Center.
202-467-4600. kennedy-center.org.
Moment. Thru Apr 24. Studio Theatre.
202-332-3300. studiotheatre.org.
Falling Out Of Time. Thru Apr 17.
Theater J. 202-518-9400. theaterj.org.
SWAN Day: Staged-Reading Marathon.
Mar 26. Museum of Women in the Arts.
202-783-5000. nmwa.org.
Marjorie Prime. Thru Apr 10. Olney
Theatre. 301-924-3400. olneytheatre.org.
ASC on Tour: Julius Caesar. Mar 29. The
Importance of Being Earnest. Mar 30. The
Alden. 703-790-9223. mcleancenter.org.
American Idiot. Thru Apr 9. Keegan
Theatre. 202-265-3767. keegantheatre.com.
GAMARJOBAT: A Shut Up (Silent)
Comedy from Japan. Mar 28. National
Cherry Blossom Festival. Embassy of
Japan. nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
Othello. Thru Mar 27. 1984. Thru Apr
10. Shakespeare Theatre Company.
Sidney Harman Hall. 202-547-1122.
shakespearetheatre.org.
THE SECOND CITY - Fully Loaded.
Thru Mar 26. The Barns. 877-965-3872.
wolftrap.org.
110 in the Shade. Thru May 14. One
Destiny. Thru May 20. Fords Theatre.
202-347-4833. fords.org.
Fourth Friday SCAPE Nights. Mar 26.
Workhouse Arts Center. 703-584-2900.
workhousearts.org.
After the War. Mar 25-Apr 17. Mosaic
Theater Company. Atlas. 202-399-7993.
mosaictheater.org.
Antigone Now. Mar 26-Apr 2.
SCENA Theatre. Atlas. 202-399-7993.
scenatheater.org.
Romeo and Juliet. Thru Mar 27.
Synetic Theater. 866-811-4111.
synetictheater.org.
Discord. Mar 31-Apr 24. Washington
Stage Guild. Undercroft Theatre.
240-582-0050. stageguild.org.
They Dont Pay? We Wont Pay. Thru
Mar 26. Ambassador Theater. Mead
Theatre Lab. 703-475-4036. aticc.org.

MUSIC
Rachel Barton Rine. Mar 27. National
Gallery of Art. 202-737-4215. nga.gov.
Loston Harris. Mar 26. AMP.
301-581-5100. ampbystrathmore.com.
NSO: Cristian Macelaru, conductor:
Nikolaj Znaider, violin. Mar 31-Apr
2. The Kennedy Center. 202-467-4600.
kennedy-center.org.
Rokia Traor. Mar 25. Jos Gonzlez with
yMusic. Mar 26. Bedroom Community.
Mar 29. GW Lisner Auditorium.
202-994-6800. lisner.gwu.edu.
Yoko K. Mar 25. The Clarice. Joes
Movement Emporium. 301-405-2787.
claricesmithcenter.umd.edu.
Guy Mintus Jazz Trio. Mar 28. The
Embassy Series. Embassy of Israel.
202-625-2361. embassyseries.org.
Opening Ceremony. Mar 26.

National Cherry Blossom Festival.

Warner Theatre. 202-783-4000.
nationalcherryblossomfestival.org.
Lawrence Brownlee, tenor & Kim
Pensinger Witman, pianist. Mar 25.
Black Violin. Mar 30-Mar 31. The Barns.
877-965-3872. wolftrap.org.

MUSEUMS
National Gallery of Art. Louise
Bourgeois: No Exit. Thru May 15.
202-737-4215. nga.gov.
Folger Shakespeare Library.
Shakespeare, Life of an Icon.
Thru Mar 27. folger.edu.
National Archives. Amending
America. Thru Sep 4. 202-357-5000.
archivesfoundation.org.
Museum of Women in the Arts.
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 Geographic. Pristine Seas:
The Oceans Last Wild Places. Thru Mar
27. Crocs. Thru May 8. 202-857-7000.
nglive.org.
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian. One Life: Dolores Huerta.
Thru May 15. 202-633-8300. npg.si.edu.
Sandy Spring Museum. The Agrarian
Transformed. Thru May 7. 301-774-0022.
sandyspringmuseum.org.

GALLERIES
The Art League Gallery. March Open
Exhibit. Thru Apr 3. Fritz Desroches. Thru
Apr 3. 703-683-1780. theartleague.org.
JCCNV. Local Color and More. Thru Apr
4. 703-323-0880. jccnv.org.
Fisher Art Gallery. Jessica Kallista.
Thru Apr 24. 703-534-5726.
schlesingercenter.com.
Foundry Gallery. Fran Abrams. Thru
Mar 27. Lindsay Mullen. Mar 30-May 1.
202-232-0203. foundrygallery.org.
Gallery Neptune & Brown. Erick
Johnson. Thru Mar 26. 202-986-1200.
neptuneneart.com.
Arts Club of Washington. March Art
Exhibition. Thru Mar 26. 202-331-7282.
artsclubofwashington.org.
Goethe-Institut. American Universitys
Berlin Studio Program. Thru Apr 29.
202-847-4700. goethe.de.
ReCreative Spaces. Arthur Kwon
Lee. Thru Mar 31. 202-907-5934.
recreativespaces.com.
Robert Brown Gallery. Oleg Kudryashov
and Masha Trebukova. Thru Mar 31.
202-338-0353. robertbrowngallery.com.
VisArts at Rockville. Calla Thompson.
Thru Apr 10. 301-315-8200.
visartsatrockville.org.
Zenith Gallery. Turning 38... Continuing
to Innovate. Thru Apr 16. 202-783-2963.
zenithgallery.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

S P O RTI N I N D. C.

M A R C H 25, 2016 29

I love the Wharf, listening to jazz at

Westminster Church, and playing
basketball with other guys.

Im a
transgender man
and Im part of DC.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BRYAN YAMASAKI

Please treat me the way any

man would want to be treated:
with courtesy and respect.

BRINDA DASS in action. She says rock climbing is both physically and mentally satisfying.

Discrimination based on gender identity and

expression is illegal in the District of Columbia.

Local enthusiasts nd
challenge, company in
emerging sport
By KEVIN MAJOROS
Once considered a recreational activity,
rock climbing has evolved over the past
decade into a competitive sport. The
competitive aspect is still changing it
just missed being added to the line-up at
the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
This week in the Blades rookies & vets
series, we clip in with two LGBT athletes
who are competing without the benet of
a team.
Brinda Dass attended her rst Team
D.C. SportsFest three years ago as a
member of the Capital Splats racquetball
club. She had joined the Splats after
moving to D.C. in 2008 to work for the
federal government.
One table over from where Dass was
stationed were the rock climbers and she
found herself thinking it would be fun to
give the sport a try. After reaching out to
climber Bryan Yamasaki, she joined the
summer climbing series.
Growing up in Chennai, India, Dasss
sport of choice was squash. She arrived
in the United States in Birmingham, Ala.,
to pursue her Ph.D. in cell and molecular
biology. After discovering that the area
didnt agree with her, Dass transferred to
Texas Tech University. It was there that
she picked up racquetball.
There werent a lot of women playing
and I was getting a lot of court time as
part of mixed doubles teams, Dass says.
Her segue into rock climbing has
benetted Dass in several ways. At 44,
she is stronger and tter than ever and
the sport has equalized the strength on
both sides of her body.
I love that climbing is physical and
mental, intense and short, Dass says. It
isnt competitive in the traditional sense
as you are competing with yourself.
Sport climbing consists of ascending a
wall clean without a fall or a break, using
a harness and rope and clipping in at

dierent places during the climb. Point

values are given for dierent paths.
Bouldering is ascending a short wall
without a harness and points are only
received for completing the climb.
Acquiring techniques in breaking your
fall to the mattress on the oor is a much
needed skill to avoid injuries.
Dass had her rst competition at the
end of 2015 in Coatesville, Pa., where
she signed up as a novice. The ocials
bumped her into the intermediate
division during the event because of her
abilities. Her second competition followed
in Milton, Pa., and she is now training
for the North American OutGames in St.
Louis in June.
Some of her training is alongside
the veteran Yamasaki, but she has also
settled in to a three-days climbing, twodays yoga training per week schedule.
I love looking up at a wall and trying to
gure out the ow, Dass says. Once you
gure out all the pieces, then you have to
adjust for your own body type.
Bryan Yamasaki says he has enjoyed
mentoring Dass for competitions and that
she helps him with his personal sanity.
His own path to competitive climbing
began at the 2014 Gay Games in Cleveland
where he won gold in bouldering and
silver in sport climbing.
After you win something, you just want
more, Yamasaki says.
Since winning those medals, he has
competed in New Jersey, New York,
Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Ohio.
Like Dass, he also has his sights set on the
North American OutGames in St. Louis.
Yamasaki grew up in Darnestown, Md.,
and competed in the sports of soccer
and cross country. During his time at
Ohio University he was too busy playing
baritone horn in the marching band to
think about sports.
After returning to the D.C. area, he
was looking for an activity outside of the
drinking scene and began climbing in
2011 at Earth Treks in Rockville. He found
himself hooked from the start.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

If you think youve been the target of

discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov
or call (202) 727-4559.

OFFICE OF

GLBT
AFFAIRS

Show your support! Spread word of the #TransRespect

campaign by photographing this ad and sharing on Twitter.

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3 0 M A RCH 2 5 , 2 016

CA LE N D A R

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
Team D.C. hosts Night Out at the
Wizards vs. Minnosota Timberwolves at
Verizon Center (601 F St., N.W.) tonight at
7 p.m. Tickets are $30 and include a free
Wizards T-shirt. For more information,
visit teamdc.org.
The V D.C. presents Glitther, a ladies
dance party, at Zeba Bar (3423 14th St.,
N.W.) tonight from 9 p.m.-3 a.m. There
will be specials from 9-11 p.m. including
$3 PBRs, $5 Fireball shots and half-prized
pizza. DJ Deedub will spin tracks. For
details, visit facebook.com/thevdcevents.

SATURDAY, MARCH 26
Green Lantern (1335 Green Ct., N.W.)
hosts RockBoxx, a gay dance party,
tonight from 9 p.m.-2 a.m. DJ Jim Gade
will play music. Bacardi drinks will be $5.
There is no cover. For more information,
visit greenlanterndc.com.
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts Risque,
a dance party, tonight from 10 p.m.-3 a.m.
DJ PornStar will play music. Casey Everett
and Dylan Knight will make special guest
appearances. There will be drink specials
all night. Cover is $5. For details, visit
cobaltdc.com.

SUNDAY, MARCH 27
The Mansion on O Street (2020 O
St., N.W.) hosts a brunch and tour today
from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Brunch includes
a breakfast/omelet station, desserts,
juice, tea, coee and more. Vegetarian
and vegan options available. Along with
brunch, enjoy a self-guided tour of the
mansion. There will also be a contest
with prizes for best Easter bonnet and
decorated egg. Admission is $75. For
more information, visit omansion.com.
D.C. Gurly Show presents Gurlies
Get Lucky, a St. Patricks Day-themed
burlesque show, at the Pinch (3548
14th St, N.W.) tonight at 8 p.m. Bailey
Jameson, Twinkle Toes, Lola Rose, Miss
Fanny Tittington and more will perform.
For more details, visit facebook.com/
dcgurlyshow.

MONDAY, MARCH 28
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.
Us Helping Us (3636 Georgia Ave.,
N.W.) holds a support group for gay black
men to discuss topics that aect them,

Affirming churches
plan Easter services
Friday-Sunday is Holy Week culmination
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY JOEY DIGUGLIELMO

The National Cathedral is one of many

LGBT-arming houses of worship that is
celebrating the Paschal Triduum, the climax
of the Christian calendar, this weekend.

share perspectives and have meaningful

conversations. For details, visit uhupil.org.

TUESDAY, MARCH 29
SMYAL (410 7th St., S.E.) hosts a
transgender and non-binary support
group today from 5-7 p.m. For more
details, visit smyal.org.
Bachelors Mill has half-price drinks
from 5 p.m.-2 a.m. tonight. They also
have pool, video gaming systems and
cards. Admission is free. For more details,
visit bachelorsmill.com.

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30
Kensington Row Bookshop (3786
Howard Ave., Kensington, Md.) hosts a
poetry reading tonight at 7 p.m. Readings
will be from poets Hiram Larew and
Mike Maggio. Open readings will follow.
This event is free. For more details, visit
kensingtonrowbookshop.com.
SMYAL hosts an open mic night today
from 5-7 p.m. Gay youth can come to
talk openly about the issues they face
with their sexual orientation or gender
identity. For more information, visit
smyal.org.

THURSDAY, MARCH 31
Out folk/Americana singer Stewart Lewis
performs at Mr. Henrys Restaurant (601
Pennsylvania Ave., S.E.) from 8-11 p.m. Doors
open at 6 p.m. There is no cover but there is a
$12 per person minimum purchase required.
For more details, visit mrhenrysdc.com.
Transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey
hosts a dance workshop for LGBT people at
the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.) today
from 5:30-7:30 p.m. The workshop is designed
to help LGBT people who felt uncomfortable
dancing learn how to express themselves.
Wear comfortable clothing to move in. For
more information, visit thedccenter.org.

EDITORS NOTE: There are hundreds of LGBT-arming houses of worship in the D.C.
area. This list is not meant to be exhaustive. Other churches and gay-arming groups
in the region include Dignity Northern Virginia (Catholic), Langley Hills Friends Meeting
(a Quaker group in McLean, Va.), Metropolitan Memorial United Methodist Church (3401
Nebraska Ave., N.W.), More Light Presbyterians (various parishes in the region), People
of Faith for Equality in Virginia (ecumenical), Temple Sinai, Unity of Fairfax Church and
others.

FRIDAY, MARCH 25 (GOOD FRIDAY)

All Souls Memorial Episcopal Church (2300 Cathedral Ave., N.W.) holds
Stations of the Cross at 7 p.m. allsoulsdc.org.
St. Margarets Episcopal Church (1830 Connecticut Ave., N.W.) oers a
Good Friday service at noon. stmargaretsdc.org.
National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, N.W.) holds a Good
Friday services at 12:15 and 7:30 p.m. nationalcitycc.org.
St. Georges Episcopal Church (160 U St., N.W.) hosts a Good Friday service
with the Holy Eucharist at noon. Stgeorgesdc.org.
Church of the Pilgrims (2201 P St., N.W.) hosts a Good Friday service at 7
p.m. churchofthepilgrims.org.
Christ Church, Washington Parish (620 G St., S.E.), an Episcopal church on
Capitol Hill, has Good Friday services today at noon and 7:30 p.m. Details at
washingtonparish.org.

SUNDAY, MARCH 27 (EASTER)

Seekers Church (276 Carroll St., N.W.) has an Easter potluck breakfast today
at 8 a.m. and Easter worship at 10 a.m. with a sermon by Marjory Bankson.
Details at seekerschurch.org.
Takoma Park Presbyterian Church (310 Tulip Ave., Takoma Park, Md.)
hosts a potluck Easter Sunday breakfast at 9 a.m. Bring a breakfast dish to
share. Easter worship begins at 11 a.m. takomaparkpc.org.
Dignity Washington will have an Easter Sunday service at St. Margarets
Episcopal Church at 6 p.m.
Washington National Cathedral (3101 Wisconsin Ave., N.W.) has a day
lled with Easter services. Festival Holy Eucharist services will be at 8 and 11
a.m with the Right Rev. Mariann Edgar Budde presiding over the services.
Passes are required for entry and are available at cathedral.org.
At 4 p.m. there will be an Easter Day Choral Evensong featuring the Cathedral
Choir of Men and Boys. An Easter Day Organ Recital follows at 5:15 p.m. with
Cathedral artist-in-residence organist Jeremy Filsell performing. There is a
suggested $10 donation.
National City Christian Church (5 Thomas Circle, N.W.) hosts a Gospel
Worship service at 8:30 a.m. There will be a traditional service at 11 a.m. as
well as a service in Spanish at 11 a.m. nationalcitycc.org.
Metropolitan Community Church of Washington (474 Ridge St., N.W.)
oers one Easter services at 9 and 11 a.m. with a concurrent childrens service.
The United Church (1920 G St., N.W.) holds an Easter service at 11 a.m.
theunitedchurch.org.
St. Thomas Parish (1772 Church St., N.W.) holds an Easter Sunday service
at 11 a.m. followed by a coee hour at noon. stthomasdc.org.
Christ Church, Washington Parish (620 G St., S.E.), an Episcopal church on
Capitol Hill, has a sunrise service today at 6:30 a.m. at Congressional Cemetery
and Holy Eucharist at 9 and 11 a.m. at the church followed by an Easter egg
hunt and coee hour. Details at washingtonparish.org.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A D V I CE

M A R C H 25, 2016 31

POTOMAC PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS

LYNDA CARTER
Long-Legged Woman
W I T H H E R A L L - S TA R B A N D

Know the non-monogamy

risks before trying it at home

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.

DEAR MICHAEL,
My boyfriend Jeremy and I are thinking
of opening our relationship. Weve been
together for two years, things are getting
routine and we think it would be exciting
to bring in some variety to our sex
life.But we dont want to undermine our
relationship in any way.
We know that couples often develop
rules around sex with other people to
keep their relationship safe. What are your
suggestions for rules that will help the two
of us stay strong and also have some fun?
MICHAEL REPLIES:
Everything we do in life has a cost. This
includes how we handle our relationships
and manage sexual boundaries.
Choosing to be monogamous means
that youll have to forego other alluring
partners and opportunities, while putting
eort into keeping sex between you two
interesting not necessarily such a
dreary challenge.
If you open your relationship sexually,
youll also open your relationship to
some risks. Theres no way around this.
And unfortunately, the rules that many
couples establish to try and avoid these
risks often lead to other problems.
Here are some of the most common
rules and their frequent downsides:
Dont ask, dont tell. Essentially, you
each make a commitment to keep your
head in the sand about what the other is
doing, in order to limit getting your face
rubbed in your partners hookups.
As much a charade as the old military
policy, this rule creates a relationship
where you both give the appearance of
not doing something you are doing, and
icing on the insincerity cake pretend
that you dont know your partner is
fooling around.
Youre not going to get much
genuineness in such a relationship. Nor
will you know each other deeply, which

will put a ceiling over how intimate the

two of you can be. Instead, youre likely to
get a brittle relationship that lacks depth
and is all about appearance.
Agreements to limit what each of
you does sexually with others. The
aim here is avoid feelings of betrayal and
keep some things sacred to the couple.
Many of us have a dicult time drawing
a line as the temperature rises. When you
are naked and hard with a hot guy, will
you remember (or want to remember)
what you agreed not to do?
Agreements limiting with whom
you have sex. One frequent ri on this
rule is to restrict how many times you
are permitted to have sex with the same
outside person. The risk, of course, is that
youll get attached to, perhaps fall in love
with someone else through repeated
encounters. Mutual friends and former
romantic partners are also often o-limits.
If youre having great sex with another guy
youre strongly attracted to, are you likely to
call it o because its bad for your primary
relationship? Or are you likely to keep going
and keep your rendezvous a secret?
You can easily nd yourself in dangerous
territory, in terms both of lying to your
partner and having a full-blown aair. This
combination is often a knockout punch to a
committed relationship.
Only having sex with others when you
are together. A popular choice for couples
that want to open their relationship while
avoiding the risks of secret keeping. The
complaint I hear most often from couples
that go down this road: one or the other
feels neglected by the third person, by
the partner or by both.
The guy getting less attention may
feel bad about himself and jealous of
his partner, while the guy getting more
attention may feel bad about his partner
being neglected and upset. Alas, not a
recipe for no-strings fun, this rule is likely
to create sour feelings and bitterness.
Much as we might like to believe
otherwise,
relationships
are
not
unbreakable. Theyre fragile, easily
damaged by jealousy, dishonesty and
betrayal. Sometimes the damage can
be repaired, but a steady stream of
behaviors that erode the warm feelings
and connection between two people will
take a toll.
This is why I tell couples that are
considering opening things up: If you
value your relationship, proceed with
caution.
As for the rules that work best? My
answer is simple: Respect your partner
and respect your relationship.
Is there a way to do so and still have an
open relationship? The challenge is yours.

APRIL 2
at 7:00 PM
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NY Daily News

Tickets are available at the

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and kennedy-center.org.
Visit www.lyndacarter.com

T ER R A CE T H EATE R

3 2 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

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

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A R T S & EN TE RTA I NMENT

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 3 3

WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

LYNDA CARTER was grand marshal in the

Capital Pride parade in 2013. She says she
understands lmmakers wanting their own
platform for the new lms.

PHOTO COURTESY OF PINGEL

LYNDA CARTER with author MIKE PINGEL.

PHOTO COURTESY OF WARNER BROS.

GAL GADOT as Wonder Woman with HENRY CAVILL as Superman and BEN AFFLECK as Batman in Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice. The lm
opens March 25.

Wonder Womans heart is key to lms success: fans

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 21

Honestly I think it could be that they

just didnt know what to do with her, says
Pingel, whos gay and is now working on
books about The Bionic Woman and
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.
Hollywood is so male-dominated,
sometimes I think men dont know what
to do with her. They have a woman
director, though, now [Patty Jenkins] and
hopefully shell be able to bring the heart
and soul back to Wonder Woman that
they had on the TV show. The show they
tried in 2011 was just horric. They didnt
understand the essence of who she was,
her quality in helping the underdogs.
She was so mad and so angry and they
couldnt nd the heart of the character.
It wasnt the actresss fault. Even though
shes changed a lot in the comics, too,
shes always standing up for the rights of
people who cant do it for themselves.
Thats really the basis of why she does it
the heart, not the glory.
Washington resident Walter Forbes
says the 70s show and Carter are special
to him because he watched the show
growing up with his mother, who died
of cancer in 1999. He rst met Carter 10

years to the day after his mother died.

I always saw her as kind of a mother,
nurturing-type gure, Forbes, 37, says of
Carter. When I met her, she was all that
and more. Just like Id hoped she would be.
Forbes, whos gay and says his boyfriend
does not mind his Wonder Woman
obsession, thinks nding the right level of
toughness versus vulnerability was a lot
of the delay.
When people hear the word Amazon,
most people think of Xena or almost like a
Red Sonja-type of character. Shes a woman
but they want her to be almost like a man.
Lynda didnt look like a man, she wasnt built
like a man, but at the same time she wasnt
too prissy or sexy or anything like that. I
think a lot of the directors have wanted to
take that role and turn her into something
she wasnt and they got hints from the fans
that they werent going with that.
He agrees with Pingel that the failed TV
pilot was a good indication of how bad a
bad Wonder Woman could be.
It sucked, he says. They had her
going around choking people, it was so
violent, everybody knew her identity. Im
like, OK, what is this show about? Youve
just stripped everything away. Even in
the comic books, she was a loving person.

She didnt parade around like some

barbarian. That just wasnt the essence
of who Wonder Woman was.
Carter said in a 2010 Blade interview
that although she loved doing the role
and has enjoyed the fans over the years,
shes moved on.
I really love her and I really think shes
great and I particularly love the idea of
her, Carter said. Theres so many things
I like about it, but Im busy living my life
now, so I dont think about it a lot. Its a
little like something really outstanding in
your life that everybody talks about and
that is wonderful and you loved doing it
but youre busy doing other things so you
really only think about it when somebody
else brings it up.
Despite fan speculation, Carter told
Pingel a cameo didnt happen because of
scheduling conicts.
I had some nice conversations with Patty
Jenkins, and we couldnt get my schedule
and their schedule to meet up. It didnt work
out, but I wish them well. Understandably
they want a platform that is uniquely their
own. I believe its an homage to the original
in regards to the heart of the character.
That is what matters.
Forbes says it would have been an

insult if Carter had been oered just a

brief appearance.
I dont want to see her in just some
walk-by role, Forbes says. Like Lynda
Carter just happens to be in Starbucks
or something. I think thats kinda tacky.
Like when Lou Ferrigno was in one of the
Hulk movies and he was a security guard
or something. I was like, Are you serious?
He brought this character to life and now
hes at the front desk? If all they gave
her was a walk-by role, it wouldnt be
worth her time. It would be an insult.
Forbes says even if Wonder Woman only
has a small role in Dawn of Justice as of
press time, the extent of her part is largely
unknown and her own lm bombs, it will
not diminish what Carter accomplished.
Ill denitely see it and support it and
Im open to giving Gal Gadot a chance to
feel the role, he says. Im just glad to
see this character back. The fans need
to give it a chance, too. Already, online
people are saying, Oh, they changed
the uniform, its too dark, it looks like
Xena, and so on. I mean, come on, give
it a chance. The uniform changed in the
comic books, why wouldnt they change
it for the movie? Im excited about this
new franchise.

3 4 MA RCH 2 5 , 2 016

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WA SH I N GTO NB LADE.C OM

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 3 5

REALESTATE

Billy buys a bungalow in Brookland

Tips for surviving the
home buying process
By VALERIE M. BLAKE
This is the story of Billy Brady and how
he bought a bungalow in Brookland.
Once Upon a Time, Billy, at age 24, was
Young & Hungry to become a homeowner, but he didnt know where to begin.
One day his friend Kevin from Work
suggested that he look at ads from real
estate agents in the Blade and select a
Person of Interest to become his representative. After doing some research, Billy
made an appointment with the New Girl
at Limitless Energy Realty, Jessica Jones.
On the day of the appointment, Jessica
greeted him warmly and said, Im so glad
you chose me. Were going to have the
Best Time Ever! Then they sat at the table
and discussed what kind of home would
bring Billy Satisfaction.
Billys requirements were few. Since his
current apartment was Crowded, his new
home must have a lot of space. He was
also a Top Chef, so a large kitchen with
an island in The Middle was an important
feature. Finally, his home needed to be
close enough to his job that The Strain of
commuting during Rush Hour would be
kept in check.
Next, Jessica counseled Billy to talk with
one of her best lenders. Better Call Saul,
she said. Hes a Family Guy and will make
the lending process less Grimm. Once we
know how much you can afford, well be-

come House Hunters.

With pre-approval letter in hand, Billy
was Psyched and scheduled an afternoon
of showings with Jessica for the next
weekend.
The first house they saw was an Ugly
Betty. Jessica also pointed out a large crack
in the foundation, noting, A structural inspection might be Justified. This could be a
House of Cards waiting to fall down, so Curb
Your Enthusiasm until we know more.
The second place they visited had an
Awkward layout and needed some Home
Improvement, but it was livable. Still Jessica cautioned, If youre not a Rehab Addict and dont have Billions of dollars to
fix things, you could be up Schitts Creek.
The third place, however, was simply
Unforgettable. It was located in Brookland, the Community Billy liked the best.
It had a covered front porch with a swing,
Black-ish shutters and an inviting red
door. The master bedroom was painted
in muted Shades of Blue and there were
Rosewood panels in the dining room.
Eureka! Ive found the one, Billy exclaimed with Glee. So he and Jessica went
back to The Office to write an offer.
According to Jessica, there were 8 Simple Rules for having the best offer in a
sellers market.
Rarely do you get a Second Chance, so
make your best offer the first time.
Your Entourage will want to give you
advice but listen to your agent.
Find out whats important to the seller
and use it as Leverage.
If The Price is Right, then your offer is

This is the story of Billy Brady and how he bought a bungalow in Brookland.

more likely to be accepted.

Make no Bones about it - your earnest
money deposit should be large enough
that the seller knows youre, well, earnest.
Endeavor to limit contingencies to
those needed to stay within your budget
and protect your interests.
Keep an open mind and understand the
Rules of Engagement during negotiations.
Be available to your agent for decisions
during the offer presentation time; dont
go Galavanting about.
We all like Happy Endings, so as you
probably figured out, Billys offer was accepted. Even though it was Late Night, he
just had to call his parents. Mom, he said
into the phone, Guess what? Ive found
A Place to Call Home! Delighted, his

mother replied, Oh, Billy! Im in Seventh

Heaven and Im so proud of you.
Jessica continued to guide Billy Step by
Step while his home inspection was completed and his appraisal prepared. And then
one day he answered the phone and heard
the four little words he had Wanted to hear
for so long: Your loan has been approved.
Finally on settlement day he met The
Closer. Hi, My Name is Earl, said the
man at the head of the table, Feel free to
ask me any questions as we close on your
new house today.
VALERIE M. BLAKE can be reached at 202-2468602 or Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com. Each
Keller Williams Realty office is independently
owned and operated. Equal Housing Opportunity.

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

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DEADLINES

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WA SH I NGTO N B LA DE.C OM

LEGAL NOTICE
SUPERIOR COURT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
PROBATE DIVISION
2016 NRT 10
Rose R. Gildenhorn, Name of Deceased Settlor
NOTICE OF EXISTENCE OF REVOCABLE TRUST
Rose R. Gildenhorn whose address was 3801 New Mexico Avenue, N.W. #1022,
Washington, DC 20007 created a revocable trust on June 23, 1994, which
remained in existence on the date of her death on November 1, 2015 and Harry
Gildenhorn & Jeffrey Gildenhorn, whose addresses are 10905 Roundtable Court,
Rockville, MD 20852 & 3200 Ellicot Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20008 are the
currently acting trustees, hereinafter the Trustee. Communications to the trust
should be mailed or directed to Harry Gildenhorn at 10905 Roundtable Court,
Rockville, MD 20852.
The Trust is subject to claims of the deceased settlors creditors, costs of
administration of the settlors estate, the expenses of the deceased settlors
funeral and disposal of remains, and statutory allowances to a surviving spouse
and children to the extent the deceased settlors residuary probate estate is
inadequate to satisfy those claims, costs, expenses, and allowances.
Claims of the deceased settlors creditors are barred as against the Trustee
and the trust property unless presented to the Trustee at the address provided
herein on or before September 25, 2016 (6 months after the date of the first
publication of this notice). An action to contest the validity of this trust must be
commenced by the earliest of (1) November 1, 2016 (one year from the date
of the deceased settlor( or (2) September 25, 2016 (6 months from the date
of first publication of this notice) or (3) ninety days after the Trustee sends the
person a copy of the trust instrument and a notice informing the person of the
trusts existence, the Trustees name and address, and the time allowed for
commencing a proceeding.
The trustee may proceed to distribute the trust property in accordance with
the terms of the trust before the expiration of the time within which an action
must be commenced unless the Trustee knows of a pending judicial proceeding
contesting the validity of the trust or the Trustee has resolved notice from a
potential contestant who thereafter commences a judicial proceeding within
sixty days after notification.
This Notice must be mailed postmarked within 15 days of its first publication to
each heir and qualified beneficiary of the trust and any other person who would
be an interested person within the meaning of D.C. Code, sec. 20-101(d).
Date of first publication: March 25, 2016, Harry Gildenhorn & Jeffrey Gildenhorn.
Anne Meister, Register of Wills, Clerk of the Probate Division.

PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

MASSAGE / CERTIFIED
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massage therapist
available 12-8 Sun-Tues.
Call or text Garyat 301704-1158 or visit http://
www.mymassagebygary.
com/.DC appointments
available Wed, Fri, Sat.
Please call/text for
details. Thank you.

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washingtonblade.com

BEST MASSAGE by male

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Hotels welcome. Call
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BODY & SOUL

GET YOUR MIND IN SHAPE
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BUSINESS
OPPORTUNITY
WASHINGTON COUNTY
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.Call me for additional
information. Strata
Realty, MICHAEL HILL
301-992-4777.

COUNSELING
LGBTQ AFFIRMING THERAPY at
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families, adolescents. Over 15
years serving the community. Mike
Giordano, LICSW. 202/460-6384
mike.giordano.msw@gmail.com.
www.WhatIHearYouSaying.com.
COUNSELING FOR GAY MEN.
Individual/couple counseling w/
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202-580-8861. gaymenscounseling.
org. No fees, donation requested.

EMPLOYMENT
A2Z HAIR STUDIO is an
upscale salon looking
for new & young fresh
faces. We have 3 chairs
available. We are
conveniently located
near the Clarendon
Metro station. There is
also free parking. Email
your resume to: info@
a2zhairstudio.com or
call for an appointment:
703.243.9622. You can also
visit our website: www.
A2ZHairstudio.com.

MA RCH 2 5 , 2 0 1 6 3 7
LOCKER ROOM ATTENDANTS
NEEDED! The Crew Club, a gay mens
naturist gym & sauna, is now hiring
Locker Room Attendants. We all
scrub toilets & do heavy cleaning. You
must be physically able to handle the
work & have a great attitude doing
it. No drunks/druggies need apply.
Please call Richard at (202) 319-1333.
from 9-5pm, to schedule an interview.

LEGAL SERVICES
ADOPTION & ASSISTED
REPRODUCTIVE Law Attorney Jennifer
Fairfax represents clients in DC, MD
& VA. interested in adoption or ART
matters.301-221-9651,JFairfax@
jenniferfairfax.com.
FULL SERVICE LAW FIRM
Representing the GLBT community
for over 35 years. Family adoptions,
estate planning, immigration,
employment. (301) 891-2200.Silber,
Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A. www.
SP-Law. com.

LIMOUSINES / DRIVERS
KASPERS LIVERY SERVICE
BMW 2016 750XI Luxury Sedan
Service; Hourly, Point to Point and
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http://www.KasperLivery.com
Phone 202-554-2471.

PHOTOGRAPHY
STEVE OTOOLE
PHOTOGRAPHY Fine
Art Photographer
for Portraits and
Weddings.Check out
my new website - www.
steveotoolephotography.
com. Specializing in Bears
and Big men. Steve 703861-4422.

CLEANING
TOO NEAT GUYS INC.
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in DC & Northern VA. Over 20 years
experience, gay owned, licensed,
bonded & insured. Email: tooneat@
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MAID TO CLEAN Gay owned,

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HOME IMPROVEMENT
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Wall. Wallpaper Removal, Power
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Gilpainting@Comcast.Net.
BRITISH REMODELING HANDYMAN
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MOVERS
OUR GUYS AROUND TOWN
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for 10% off of our regular rates.
Call today 202.734.3080. www.
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CONTINENTAL MOVERS
Local & Long distance
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x hour x two men plus
driving time. Big &
small jobs also. 202 438
1489 / 301 340 0602,
cmora53607@msn.com.
www.continentalmovers.
net.

PAINTERS
FINESSE INTERIOR/
EXTERIOR PAINTING.
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Elmer 240-462-3760.

TREE SERVICE
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pruning, insect & disease diagnosis,
treatment & removal. 301-589-6181.
www.BranchesTreeExperts.com.
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11, 12.

DEADLINES

SUMMER IN REHOBOTH?
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WOMENS PERSONALS

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BODYWORK

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DC Realtor
Long & Foster

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REAL ESTATE AGENTS

Buying or selling a home
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W AS HI N G T O N BL A D E .C O M

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