After Orlando, new

PAC seeks gun

law reform, while
others say gays
should take
up arms in
self defense.
PAGES 14-15

JULY 01, 2016 VOLUME 47 ISSUE 27 AMERICAS LGBT NEWS SOURCE WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Comings & Goings

Flavell takes over AGLA; local attorneys honored
By PETER ROSENSTEIN
The Comings & Goings column is about sharing the professional successes of our community. We want to recognize those landing new jobs, new clients for their business, joining
boards of organizations and other achievements. Please share your successes with us at
comingsandgoings@washblade.com.

TJ Flavell was recently named president of

the Arlington Gay & Lesbian Alliance, which
is celebrating its 35th year. In addition to
serving as AGLAs president, Flavell serves
on the Human Rights Campaigns Greater
Washington D.C. Steering Committee as
communications chair and is the founder
of Go Gay DC, www.gogaydc.org, a popular
online destination. Flavell previously served
as president of PEN, now the Capital Area
Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce,
and as president of the Alexandria Gay &
TJ FLAVELL
PHOTO COURTESY OF EIKON PHOTOGRAPHY
Lesbian Community Association.
He said, Im delighted to serve as AGLAs
president. AGLA is a strong local beacon for
equality in Northern Virginia. Its an inclusive,
nonpartisan nonprot open to LGBTQ people
and straight allies. It provides fun social
activities, builds relationships with elected
ocials, and works with civic groups on
community service.
AGLA is growing and the board of directors
voted last year to reach beyond Arlington
and serve LGBT people and allies across
Northern Virginia. AGLA has a scholarship
ASHLAND JOHNSON
program and oversees the annual Mister
PHOTO COURTESY OF JOHNSON
and Miss Gay Arlington Pageant held at
Freddies Beach Bar & Restaurant.
Freddie Lutz, the owner of Freddies Beach Bar & Restaurant, has been incredibly
supportive in providing AGLA with the rich community focal point from which it
can radiate and grow, Flavell said. We couldnt do all this without Freddie.
For nearly 30 years, Flavells career has been focused on transforming education
through the use of technology. Currently serving as an online communications
specialist for an education nonprot, he has served as manager of the National
School Boards Associations Technology Leadership Network, a consortium of
tech-savvy school districts.
Congratulations are also due to Ashland Johnson, Olivia Hunt, Barbara A.
Schwabauer, Jason R. Parish and Michael Bosworth, ve local attorneys who have
been named by the National LGBT Bar Association as part of its 2016 list of 40
Best Under 40. The organization is the nations largest membership association of
LGBT and allied legal professionals. These attorneys are recognized as the countrys
most accomplished young LGBT legal professionals. The list includes young lawyers
from across the country who have distinguished themselves in their eld and
demonstrated a commitment to LGBT equality. Their awards will be presented
during the organizations Lavender Law Conference & Career Fair in D.C.on Aug. 5.
DArcy Kemnitz, executive director of the bar said, This years Bestunder 40
prove how necessary diversity is to a thriving legal community. These young
attorneys represent the very best of the profession. They come from law rms,
non-prots, corporations and the government. Their breadth of knowledge and
legal expertise demonstrate the signicant talent the LGBT community brings
to the law, and highlightthe impact a few can have on the greater good. Were
proud to honor them and all that they have accomplished.
Johnson is director of policy campaignsfor Athlete Ally; Hunt is an AmeriCorps
fellow at Whitman-Walker Health Legal Services; Bosworth is deputy assistant
to the president, deputy counsel to the president, in the White House Counsels
Oce; Schwabauer is a trial attorney with the Department of Justice, Civil
Rights Division, Litigation Section; and Parish is a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP.

LO CA L N E W S

Clinton campaign picks gay lobbyist as delegate

The Clinton campaign last week exercised its

right to select its own people, including prominent
gay lobbyist Steve Elmendorf and gay D.C. Council
staer David Meadows, to ll the remaining
seven delegate and alternate slots in the citys
46-member delegation to the Democratic National
Convention in Philadelphia.
The addition of Elmendorf and Meadows to the
delegation brings D.C.s total gay delegation to
the convention to four. Earl Fowlkes, who serves
as chair of the Democratic National Committees
LGBT Caucus as well as president of the Gertrude
Stein Democratic Club, has been designated as a
super delegate from D.C.
Gay Democratic activist John Fanning, an ocial
in the administration of D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser,
won election as a Clinton delegate in the citys
Democratic presidential caucus in March.
At the request of the Clinton campaign, Meadows
STEVE ELMENDORF was selected
was named as an alternate delegate for Clinton.
as a delegate to the Democratic
The action by the Clinton campaign rued
National Convention.
feathers among some of the citys Democratic Party
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY
activists, who had submitted their names to the
D.C. Democratic State Committee. The committee
is charged with selecting six add-on delegates and one add-on alternate delegate to
complete the partys three-month-long presidential delegate selection process.
Many local party activists, including lesbian attorney Lateefah Williams, a former Stein
Club president, and longtime gay Democratic activist Peter Rosenstein, submitted their
names as candidates for the add-on delegate slots, seeking to line up support among
State Committee members to select them.
All of them were passed over when the Clinton campaign submitted its own list of
candidates for the seven add-on delegate positions and the State Committee voted to
pick them.
Its not unusual for campaigns to do that, I dont think its such a big deal, said
Rosenstein, who was an early supporter of Clinton.
But longtime gay Democratic activist Phil Pannell called the action by the Clinton
campaign heavy handed, saying it usurped the local community at a time when D.C.
has been pushing for statehood.
The Clinton people are mostly unknown to D.C. people, Pannell said.
LOU CHIBBARO JR.

Blade wins 8 journalism awards

The Washington Blade was honored in multiple categories by the D.C. chapter of the
Society of Professional Journalists in its annual Dateline Awards competition earlier this
month.
Blade reporter and international news editor Michael K. Lavers won in the weekly
newspaper category of Best Series for his coverage of LGBT rights issues in Cuba titled,
Snapshots from Cuba.
Blade editor Kevin Na took two awards, one in the category of Commentary &
Criticism for a column titled, Why I Marched in Baltimore, his account of the aftermath
of last years riots. Na also took rst place in the category of Editorial/Opinion for his
column titled, Let Kameny Rest in Peace, a plea for community help in memorializing
the late LGBT rights activist.
Blade features editor Joey DiGuglielmo was a nalist in the Commentary & Criticism
category for Out Organist Powerful But Vexing. DiGuglielmo took rst place in the
Features category for A Murky Future for Phase I, an in-depth report on the status
of the iconic bar. Blade reporter Mariah Cooper was honored as the nalist in that
category for her story, Leisure Worlds LGBT Residents Enjoy Openness, Camaraderie.
Reporter Lou Chibbaro Jr. won rst place in the Non-Breaking News category for
his story, Runaway Grand Jury Rebukes U.S. Attorney, Indicts on Hate Crime. Lavers
was recognized as a nalist in that same category for Exclusive: Married Gay Man Fired
from Md. Church.
These well-deserved honors reect our ongoing, 47-year commitment to quality
journalism, said Blade publisher Lynne Brown. Our team works hard to bring local,
national and international LGBT news to our audience and were proud of these awards.
STAFF REPORTS

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LO CA L N E W S

Stonewall Dems honor Delaware governor

20 ocials, candidates attend
annual LGBT fundraiser

in seven years. It is hard to believe that

seven years ago it was legal in Delaware
to discriminate on the basis of sexual
orientation. And not only did we change
that, not only did we pass civil unions
and then passed marriage equality
and then we passed protection based on
gender identity as well.
And so weve made enormous progress
in seven years and which is something we
can all be proud of. But I think the other
perhaps even more important point is that
that progress was only possible because we
had a group of very dedicated advocates.
And you know its ne for people like
me to be willing to make these changes.
But the truth is without advocates who
lobby and who keep up the ght, these
things dont happen. And so although Im
the one who gets to take the very nice
plaque home the LGBT Hero Award
the truth is the real heroes are those in
the community who keep ghting.

Blade: Do you see anything else that

might be next? You will be governor
through the end of this year, right?

By LOU CHIBBARO JR.

lchibbaro@washblade.com
More than 20 Delaware elected ocials
and candidates for public oce, including
Gov. Jack Markell, joined 75 mostly LGBT
Democrats in Rehoboth Beach on June 25
for the 13th annual summer fundraising
event of the Barbara Gittings Delaware
Stonewall Democrats.
Markell was one of three people
honored by the organization for his
longstanding support for LGBT equality
as he nears completion of his second
term as governor. Under a state term
limits law he cannot run for a third term.
It was a great event because it really
gave an opportunity for us to reect on
the progress weve made in seven years,
Markell told the Washington Blade this
week in an interview.
It is hard to believe that seven years ago
it was legal in Delaware to discriminate
on the basis of sexual orientation, he
said. And not only did we change that,
not only did we pass civil unions and
then passed marriage equality and then
we passed protection based on gender
identity as well.
Markell attributed his ability to help
bring about those changes to the
committed advocates associated with the
Delaware Stonewall Democrats and other
LGBT advocacy groups.
And so although Im the one who gets
to take the very nice plaque home the
LGBT Hero Award the truth is the real
heroes are those in the community who
keep ghting, he said.
Peter Schott, the immediate past
president
of
Delaware
Stonewall
Democrats, said the groups annual
summer
fundraising
event,
held
this year at Mariachis Restaurant
in downtown Rehoboth, is typically
attended by Democratic elected ocials
and Democratic candidates running for
public oce from all sections of the state,
including Wilmington and Dover.
This has always been a big statewide
event, he said.
Others who attended this year were
U.S. Rep. John Carney (D-Del.), who is
running for governor; State Rep. Pete
Schwartzkopf, who serves as speaker of
the Delaware State House and represents
the Rehoboth Beach area; and Lisa Blunt
Rochester, the states former Secretary
of Labor who is one of three candidates
running for Carneys congressional seat.
Also attending were Sussex County
Clerk of the Peace John Brady, whos gay;
and Delawarean and former Stonewall
Democrats board member Anthony

Gov. JACK MARKELL accepted the Hero

Award last week.
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Roddy Flynn, who currently serves as

executive director of the bipartisan LGBT
Equality Caucus of the U.S. Congress in
Washington.
Brady and Flynn were also recipients at the
event of the organizations LGBT Hero Award.
Schott said Stonewall Democrats
members were especially appreciative
of Brady, who is retiring this year. He is
currently the only openly gay elected
ocial in the state.
Delaware and the nation have come a
long way when it comes to LGBT rights,
and we want to thank those who helped
make it possible, Schott said. But we
cant rest on our laurels. Funds raised at
this event will help elect LGBT-supportive
candidates this fall.
Markell told the Blade hes supporting
Carney to succeed him as governor.
Hes somebody who gets it, Markell
said. And I think hell be in a great
position to help the state build on the
progress that weve made over the last
eight years.
Following is the complete transcript of
Markells interview with the Washington
Blade, which took place Tuesday, June 28.
Washington Blade: What are your
thoughts on how the Delaware Stonewall
Democrats event went on June 25? Can
you tell a little about what you said there?
Gov. Jack Markell: It was a great event
because it really gave an opportunity for
us to reect on the progress weve made

Markell: In terms of law, I dont know that

we have a lot of changes still to make. But
I think yeah its about being a welcoming
and embracing community. And part of
our thrust from the beginning weve been
so focused on the economy. And one of
the most important things for building a
strong economy is to be inclusive because
the truth is the kinds of employers who we
want to grow in Delaware care most about
recruiting and keeping great talent. And
great talent comes from many dierent
backgrounds. And employers dont care if
their talent is white or black or Hispanic or
Asian. They also dont care if their talent is
straight or gay.
And as a result, we need to make sure
that we have a very nurturing, welcoming
community and environment and set of
laws and regulations so that everybody
feels welcome here. Thats how you build
a 21st Century economy. And I think in
that way the ght is never over because
you want to make sure that you continue
to push the culture.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

New Maryland LGBT

foundation debuts
Coinciding with the 47th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and to honor the
victims of the Orlando massacre on June 12, a new tax-exempt, Internet-based,
all-volunteer organization was launched June 28 called the Pride Foundation of
Maryland.
It was formed to promote the culture, history, and well-being of Marylands
LGBT community, according to the groups press release announcing its
formation.
Three individuals who previously had ties to the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and
Transgender Community Center of Baltimore and Central Maryland (GLCCB)
founded the organization. Brian Gaither, Matt Newcomer and Matt Thorn are all
former board members of the GLCCB. They have managed the basic nancial,
operational and regulatory obligations since June 2014 when the foundation
was chartered.
Unique to many LGBT organizations, the foundation is designed to be
managed entirely by volunteers. It employs social media and will use the talents
of LGBT people to create and promote programs that celebrate our lives and
uplift us as individuals, the statement notes.
Ive worked with a number of LGBT organizations. Some need sta. But the
model for the Pride Foundation only works if its committed to the principle of
being a volunteer-run organization, says Thorn, who was the GLCCBs executive
director from 2013-2014.
The foundation is a shared resource of Marylands LGBT community, which
will provide fundraising tools, targeted outreach and other support to those
working to fulll the foundations mission.
Through its digital infrastructure, the foundation can support all programming
conceived by and directed toward the multiple points of intersectionality in the
diverse LGBT community, says the statement. Programming may include a
speakers series, coordinated exhibits with Maryland institutions, festivals for
our families or professional networking.
To learn more, visit www.pridemd.org or email info@pridemd.org.
STEVE CHARING

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NATIONAL NEWS

wrong. Fairness and equality are core American values.

Cicilline called on Rep. Jason Chaetz (R-Utah), a supporter of the legislation and chair
of the House Committee on Oversight &Government Reform, to cancel the hearing.
Introduced by Rep. Raul Labrador (R-Idaho) in the U.S. House and Sen. Mike Lee
(R-Utah) in the U.S. Senate, the First Amendment Defense Act has the purported
purpose of preventing federal government action against individuals and businesses
thatoppose same-sex marriage for religious reasons. Critics say it essentially carves out
a legal exemption for anti-LGBT discrimination.
CHRIS JOHNSON

Draft x for N.C. law called unacceptable

Gay U.S. Rep. JARED POLIS (D-Colo.) is among the lawmakers who have urged the FDA
to end its ban on non-celibate gay and bisexual men from donating blood.
WASHINGTON BLADE FILE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

Lawmakers urge FDA

to end gay blood ban
More than 100 members of Congress have signed letters that urge the Food
and Drug Administration to lift its deferral policy towards non-celibate gay and
bisexual men who want to donate blood.
U.S. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) and Debbie Wasserman
Schultz (D-Fla.) are among the members of the U.S. House of Representatives
who have urged FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Cali to end the policy in the
wake of the June 12 massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando. U.S. Sens.
Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) and
Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) and other members of the U.S. Senate have signed onto
a separate letter to Cali.
We cant say some people can give blood, other people cant based on their
sexual orientation, U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), who represents Orlando,
told reporters on Tuesday during a conference call the Progressive Change
Campaign Committee and the National Gay Blood Drive organized.
Courtney Hagen of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee noted during
the conference call that more than 12,000 people have signed a petition urging
the FDA to end its policy. She also pointed out there were many sad stories in
Orlando of survivors who were unable to donate blood to their friends who had
been shot (inside the Pulse nightclub) simply because they were gay.
Gay U.S. Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) also took part in the conference call.
Its high time for this outdated and discriminatory policy to end, said the
Colorado Democrat.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Hearing for religious freedom bill set for July 12

A U.S. House committee has scheduled a hearing on July 12 for federal religious
freedom legislation seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination, the Washington Blade has
learned.
The House Committee on Oversight &Government Reform is set to hold ahearing on
the First Amendment Defense Act amid pressure from anti-LGBT advocates, including
the anti-gay National Organization for Marriage, to move forward with the legislation.
Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), whos gay and a co-chair of the LGBT Equality Caucus,
denounced the committees decision to hold a hearingin a statement as nothing more
than an election-year stunt to rally conservatives at the expense of LGBT Americans.
In most states, you can get married on Saturday, post photos of your wedding to
Facebook on Sundayand then get red or kicked out of your apartment on Mondayjust
because youre gay, Cicilline added. FADA exacerbates this injustice by allowing
religion to be used as a blanket excuse for denying LGBT people access to employment,
housing, mental health care, emergency shelters and other essential services. This is

Lawmakers in the North Carolina House are preparing a proposed x to the states
recently enacted anti-LGBT law, according to a local media report, but LGBT advocates
are assailing the revision as no better than the controversial statute.
The proposal, obtained exclusively by WBTV Charlotte, attempts to change House Bill
2, which LGBT advocates, the business community and the Obama administration have
criticized as legalized discrimination. However, the proposed revision doesnt seek to
alter the contentious parts of the law.
Chris Sgro, executive director of Equality North Carolina and interim member of the
state legislature, said hes incredibly disappointed with the proposed change.
It is a doubling-down of the discrimination that were already suering with because
of HB 2, Sgro said. I dont think that the business community and certainly not the
LGBT community are going to see this as any sort of solution, and thats probably
because nobody in leadership talked to anybody in the LGBT community before theyve
tried to come up with this draft as we have seen it.
The current law, enacted within one day of consideration by the North Carolina
Legislature and signed into by law by Gov. Pat McCrory, undoes all pro-LGBT city nondiscrimination ordinances in the state, including one recently approved in Charlotte,
and prohibits transgender people from using the restrooms in schools and government
buildings consistent with their gender identity.
The exception to this last component is transgender people who have changed
the gender marker on their birth certicate, which in North Carolina requires gender
reassignment surgery. Many transgender people choose not to have the surgery for
personal reasons or because the surgery is unavailable or unaordable.
In the proposed revision, among the biggest changes is the creation of certicates of
sex reassignment for North Carolina transgender residents who are born out of state
and unable to change the gender marker on their birth certicates. The certicate of
sex reassignment would be ocial documentation verifying non-native North Carolina
transgender residents have obtained gender reassignment surgery.
As requested by McCrory, the proposal also restores the ability of North Carolina
residents to sue in state court if they feel theyve faced discrimination.
CHRIS JOHNSON

White House mum on plans to lift trans military ban

Defense Department ocials say theyre planningin the coming weeks to announce
an end to the prohibition on openly transgender people serving in the U.S. military, but
the White Houseis steering clear of commenting onthe potential change.
Following media reports the ban on transgender service would soon come to an
end, White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Eric Schultz declined to comment
Monday in response to a Washington Blade question on whether the White House had
a role in the agreement to go forward.
I dont have ocial reaction from the White House on that, Schultz said. Obviously,
thats a decision made by our Defense Department ocials, so I dont have an updates
for you on that process.
Asked ifPresident Obama is pleased with movement toward a more inclusive military,
Schultz recalled comments the president made in favor of gay service members during
a recent speech at the Air Force Academy.
The president has actually spoken to this, Schultz said. He spoke recently at the
Air Force commencement, and he was deeply moved by not only the caliber of the
cadets, but also the diversity of the class. He saw openly gay students. He saw Muslim
Americans, Hispanic Americans. He saw women graduate who would soon serve in
combat. So hes spoken quite frequently about the inclusivity of our military and how
that is a strength and helps make our military the greatest in the world.
But that vision conspicuously left out transgender service members. Asked to arm
Obamas vision applies to them, Schultz replied, Again, youre asking about a specic
policy decision made by our Defense Department ocials, so I dont want to get ahead
of them.
CHRIS JOHNSON

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NATIONAL NEWS

House oor sit-in recalls early days of LGBT activism

Democrats moved to act
on gun reform after
Orlando massacre
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
Feeling the aftershocks of a tragedy
aecting the LGBT community, activists
facing daunting odds held a demonstration
aimed
at
disrupting government
proceedings in an eort to make change.
That introduction could have been
used for any number of news stories on
actions conducted by ACT UP during the
height of the AIDS epidemic in the 1980s
or GetEQUAL at the start of the Obama
administration urging action on Dont
Ask, Dont Tell repeal.
Last week, the actors werent grassroots
LGBT activists but Democratic lawmakers
staging a 25-hour sit-in on the oor of the
U.S. House to urge action on gun safety
legislation. The demonstration, enacted by
lawmakers wearing rainbow-colored pins,
took place after a mass shooting in which
the target was a gay nightclub in Orlando,
Fla., and the overwhelming number of the
49 people killedwere LGBT.
U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)
proceeded with business on the oor
and lawmakers never got the votes they
were seeking on background checks and
no y, no buy gun legislation, but the

On left, activists participate in civil disobedience at the FDA in 1988. On right, Congressman
JOHN LEWIS (D-Ga.) joins a sit-in on the House oor to protest inaction on gun control.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO OF FDA PROTEST BY DOUG HINCKLE; IMAGE OF CONGRESSIONAL SIT-IN COURTESY C-SPAN

demonstration made national headlines

and rallied a large segment of the American
population frustrated with inaction after
endless mass shootings and casualties.
The same could be said for
LGBT
grassroots
activists,
whose
demonstrations werent immediately
followed by results. But after time passed,
the Food & Drug Administration released
HIV medications at an accelerated pace,
Dont Ask, Dont Tell was repealed and
President Obama signed an executive
order barring anti-LGBT workplace

discrimination among federal contractors.

Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), whos gay
and one of the lawmakers who planned
the demonstration, acknowledged an
attack on LGBT people was the impetus for
the action, but said what generally was in
his mind was the deadliest mass shooting
in the history of the United States.
That was a gay club and very clearly
targeted because it was a gay club, Cicilline
said. So, I think it was a conversion of both
a hate crime and domestic terrorism, and I
think it was just the most recent and most

horric example of this epidemic of gun

violence in our country, and many of us
really feel very strongly that theres got to
be a response. It cannot be that we have
another mass shooting and that we get up,
have a moment of silence and we devote
exactly one-minute of silence, nothing else,
as our response to this kind of violence.
Leading the sit-in was Rep. John Lewis
(D-Ga.), who in the 1960s participated in
civil disobedience to advocate for civil
rights laws and spoke at the March on
Washington in 1963. The appearance of
Lewis leading the sit-in imparted to the
demonstration a sense of morality from
the civil rights movement of the 1960s.
Despite the similarities of the House oor
sit-in to LGBT activism, LGBT movement
leaders who participated in activism over
the course of recent decades had dierent
reactions to the demonstration.
Peter Staley, a New York-based gay
rights activist who participated in ACT UP
demonstrations in the 1980s, endorsed the
House oor sit-in and called it a pivotal moment
in eorts to enact gun safety legislation.
The House sit-in, led by one of my
personal heroes, John Lewis, was a
watershed moment, Staley said. It
represented the end of fear by the
Democratic Party toward the NRA. They
had nally had enough, and are realizing
that voters have had enough as well.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Gay man charged with threatening U.S. senators released

Fairfax resident placed
under home detention
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
A federal judge in Alexandria on Tuesday
agreed to release into home detention a
gay man arrested by U.S. Capitol Police
on June 24 for allegedly making threats to
shoot at least two U.S. senators in the face
and watch their brains splat.
At a hearing in U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia, Judge Teresa
Carroll Buchanan agreed to a request
made by Geremy Kamens, an attorney
who is representing Kyler George
Schmitz, 28, that his client be released to
the custody of his aunt and be conned
to his home in Alexandria.
In addition to home detention,
Buchanan set additional conditions for
Schmitzs release pending trial, including
prohibitions on entering D.C. and
attempting to contact any politician.
Buchanan also imposed a prohibition
on his accessing the Internet except for

contacting his bank and his employer at Uber,

and a requirement that he be evaluated at
his own expense for alcohol and drug abuse
and to undergo a mental health evaluation.
Schmitz is also barred from sending
any Twitter messages, Buchanan said.
The action by the judge took place
after Kamens conferred privately in the
courtroom prior to the start of the hearing
with Assistant U.S. Attorney Alexander
Berrang, the lead prosecutor in the case.
Berrang didnt object to the defense request
for release to home detention, indicating the
defense and prosecution had worked out an
agreement in advance of the hearing that
was presented to the judge.
In a ve-page adavit in support of
a criminal complaint against Schmitz,
Capitol Police said they became aware
of a Twitter user with the user name @
Chirperson posting a threat on a U.S.
senators Twitter page on June 14. The
message sent to the senator, according
to the adavit, was, Im going to shoot
you in the head for allowing someone to
murder my loved ones.
Schmitzs Twitter message was sent,
according to the adavit, two days after

the shooting rampage at a gay nightclub

in Orlando, Fla., in which 49 people lost
their lives.
The adavit says Capitol Police
investigators traced the person posting
the threatening tweets to Schmitz by
identifying his IP address through a
Verizon FIOS residential account at an
address on Jeerson Drive in Alexandria.
The adavit identies the senator
allegedly threatened by Schmitz only as
U.S. Senator 1.
However, Politico cited Capitol Hill
sources as identifying one of the initial
targets of Schmitzs threats as U.S. Sen.
Roy Blunt (R-Mo.).
During a separate preliminary hearing
for Schmitz the previous day, June 27,
Buchanan ruled that the government
presented sucient evidence to establish
probable cause to move the case forward
to trial.
The adavit, meanwhile, states that
Schmitz allegedly made a separate threat
to a U.S. Senator 2 on June 16 in which he
allegedly posted on Twitter, Im going to shoot
you in the face, you will not hurt my people
again, I promise #BangBangByeBitch. The

second senator wasnt identied in Monday

or Tuesdays court hearings.
Schmitz allegedly made additional threats
to Republican members of Congress, the
adavit says, through a tweet stating, @
HouseGOP @SenateGOP I cant wait to
shoot you in the face one by one.
U.S. Capitol Police Special Agent
Lawrence Anyaso, the author of the
adavit, states that he and another
Capitol Police investigator visited Schmitz
at his residence on June 15 and conducted
a non-custodial interview with him.
During the interview, Schmitz admitted
that he is the Twitter user @Chirperson
and that he purposefully sent the tweet,
and intended the tweet as a direct threat
to U.S. Senator 1, Anyaso wrote.
Schmitz allegedly made more threats to
Senators 1 and 2 on June 17, according to
the adavit. Among the threats Schmitz
allegedly posted via Twitter on the 17th to
Senator 1 was, I am literally going to buy
a gun shoot you in the face I watch your
brains splat #BangBangByeBitch.
Kamens declined to comment when
approached by a Washington Blade
reporter after Tuesdays court hearing.

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

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 1 1

THERES MORE
SUMMER FUN
IN BALTIMORE.
With art in the street, music in the air,
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FIND YOUR PARK

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July 1517, 2016

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 2 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

I N T E RN A T I O N A L N E W S

Murdered Bangladeshis nephew

honors uncles legacy

Pope: Church should ask

forgiveness from gays

NORFOLK, Va. Virginia Beach Human

Rights Commissioner Raj Islam had just
worked an overnight shift as an EMS captain
for the citys Department of Emergency
Medical Services on April 25 when he
received a phone call from his mother. She
told him that his uncle, Xulhaz Mannan,
had been killed inside the apartment in the
Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka in which he
lived with his elderly mother.
I got the phone call and I was just like,
What? Islam told the Washington Blade
on June 18 during an interview at Hampton
Roads Prides annual festival in Norfolk, Va.
At rst I thought it was a random thing
because it was in my familys home.
Islam spoke with the Blade less than
two months after members of an al-Qaida
branch in Bangladesh hacked Mannan and
Virginia Beach Human Rights Commissioner RAJ ISLAM is the
his friend, Mahbub Rabbi Tonoy, to death.
nephew of Xulhaz Mannan, a prominent Bangladeshi LGBT activist
Mannan was a prominent activist who
who was hacked to death on April 25.
founded Bangladeshs rst LGBT magazine.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS
He also worked for the U.S. Embassy in
Dhaka for eight years before joining the U.S.
Agency for International Development last September.
Islam told the Blade that Mannans mother was inside the apartment when the militants attacked his uncle
and Tonoy. He said they took both of (Mannans) eyes out in front of her.
She still asks, Where is he at? said Islam, referring to Mannans mother. She still calls my aunt in Florida
[to ask,] Wheres your brother at? I cant nd him here.
Islam spoke with the Blade shortly after Hampton Roads Pride presented a scholarship in honor of Mannan.
The murdered activists younger sister, older brother, his wife and their two daughters and Islam attended a
USAID ceremony in D.C. earlier this month that honored Mannan.
To see and hear from my brother about what (Mannan) was doing I was like, wow, Islam told the Blade.
I never highlighted it because that was his work. Thats not something for me to push out over here in the
States because its also dangerous over there.
Its illegal to be homosexual, he added. As we see being the editor of the rst LGBTQ magazine ... the
results (are what we saw happen.)
President Obama last month personally expressed his condolences to Mannans family. USAID Administrator
Gayle Smith and other U.S. ocials did the same when they traveled to Dhaka less than two weeks after the attack.
Mannan and Tonoy are among the growing list of activists, secular academics, writers, bloggers and
members of religious minority groups who have been killed by Islamists since early 2015. Bangladeshi Prime
Minister Sheikh Hasina and her government have come under increased criticism from those who feel it has
not done enough to eectively respond to terrorism in the predominantly Muslim country.
They want to turn away any sort of ownership of having terrorist groups in their country, Islam told the
Blade, referring to the Bangladeshi government. They call them gangs or hooligans. They dont call them as
organized groups.
Islam spoke with the Blade six days after a gunman killed 49 people and injured 53 others inside Pulse, a
gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla.
The gunman pledged his allegiance to the so-called Islamic State during a 911 call he made from inside the
nightclub, but there is no evidence to suggest the Sunni extremist group prompted him to carry out the massacre.
The gunmans father told reporters that his son became very angry when he saw two men kissing in
Miami. The Los Angeles Times on June 23 reported federal law enforcement ocials have found no evidence
to support claims that the gunman visited the Pulse nightclub or used hookup apps to contact gay men.
This is a disturbed individual, Islam told the Blade.
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump in the days after the Pulse nightclub
massacre reiterated his call to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. and suspend immigration
from areas where there is a proven history of terrorism against the United States, Europe and our allies.
The billionaire also boasted that he would do more to protect LGBT Americans than Hillary Clinton if he were
elected president.
I will ght for you while Hillary brings in more people that will threaten your freedoms and beliefs, tweeted
Trump on June 14.
Islam, who is Muslim, described Trump as a straight-up bully. He also told the Blade that the billionaires
anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant rhetoric simply bolsters the so-called Islamic State and other militant groups.
Hes feeding fear and more fear inside our country, said Islam. As far as Im concerned, hes no better
than them.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Pope Francis on Sunday said the Roman Catholic Church

should ask forgiveness from gay people over the way it
has treated them.
The church ... must not only ask forgiveness to the gay
person who is oended, Francis told reporters during a
press conference that took place while on a ight to Rome
from Armenia, according to a transcript from the Catholic
News Agency. She must ask forgiveness to the poor too,
to women who are exploited, to children who are exploited
for labor. She must ask forgiveness for having blessed so
many weapons.
The church must ask forgiveness for not behaving
many times, he added. When I say the church, I mean
Christians.
Francis made his comments in response to a question
about whether he agrees with German Cardinal Reinhard
Marx who said in the days after the Pulse nightclub
massacre in Orlando, Fla., that the church should apologize
to gay people for marginalizing them.
They must not be discriminated against, said Francis.
They must be respected and accompanied pastorally.
One can condemn, but not for theological reasons, but for
reasons of political behavior.
Francis comments come nearly three years after he told
reporters that gay men and lesbians should not be judged
or marginalized.
Francis DeBernardo, executive director of New Ways
Ministry, a Maryland-based group that ministers to LGBT
Catholics, in a statement he released on Sunday noted
the Vaticans tone towards LGBT people in the church has
become more moderate since Francis became pope in 2013.
No pope has said more welcoming words to LGBT
people than Pope Francis recommendation today that the
church indeed all Christians should apologize for the
harm religious traditions have caused to LGBT people,
said DeBernardo. The popes statement was simple, yet
powerful, and it fell from his lips so easily. The simplicity of
his language will provide an immense blessing of healing
and reconciliation to LGBT people and Catholics who
support them, who have been waiting decades to hear
such a simple, honest statement from the Vatican.
Francis, who is the former archbishop of Buenos
Aires who opposed eorts to extend marriage rights for
same-sex couples in Argentina, has previously said the
church has grown obsessed with gay nuptials and other
social issues.
The Argentine-born ponti has met with several LGBT
people during his papacy, including a transgender man
from Spain who was rejected by his fellow parishioners
after underdoing sex-reassignment surgery. Francis last
September met with Yayo Grassi, a former student, and
his partner during his trip to D.C.
Francis in 2015 said during a rally for families in the
Philippine capital of Manila that ideological colonization
seeks to destroy the family.
Catholic bishops who gathered in Rome last October to
discuss the family released the nal draft of a document
that, among other things, states unions between same-sex
couples are not even remotely analogous to Gods plan
for marriage and the family.
The document also criticized the extension of marriage
rights to gays and lesbians as a condition for poor
countries to receive nancial aid. Special U.S. Envoy
for the Human Rights of LGBTI Persons Randy Berry
last November dismissed this claim during his visit
to the Vatican.
MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 1 3

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

1 4 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

NATIONAL NEWS

New PAC debuts amid energized LGBT gun control efforts

Fund to back candidates
who favor gun control,
LGBT rights
By CHRIS JOHNSON
cjohnson@washblade.com
In the aftermath of the mass shooting
at a gay nightclub in Orlando leaving 49
people dead and 53 wounded, new eorts
are emerging in the LGBT community to
take on gun control in remembrance of
the LGBT victims of the attack.
One major development is the
establishment of a new political action
committee called the PRIDE Fund to End Gun
Violence, which seeks to focus eorts from
the LGBT community to elect to Congress
lawmakers who will supportmeaningful gun
safety legislation and defeat those who wont.
Leading the eort as executive director
is Jason Lindsay, a D.C.-based gay political
operative who over the course of 12 years
has worked in congressional oces,
on national campaigns and served as a
congressional relations ocer with the
Department of Veterans Aairs. Lindsay
served for 14 years in the U.S. Army
Reserve and was deployed to Iraq in 2003.
In an interview with the Washington
Blade, Lindsay said the impetus for founding
the PRIDE Fund to End Gun Violence was the
desire of the LGBT community to take on
gun control after the Orlando shooting.
In the aftermath of Orlando, looking at
so much of the energy in the community
around the issue of gun control,most of the
discussion was on protests and participating
in calling members of Congress, which
we know hasnt worked, Lindsay said.
Members of Congress continue to ignore
the will of the American people on this issue,
so the driving force was really to shape a
political action committee where we could
have the most direct impact on the electoral
policy of gun control.
In the rst four days after its creation,
Lindsay said the PRIDE Fund to End Gun
Violence has raised about$10,000, but the goal
isto raise $500,000 before November.Lindsay
said he hasnt yet engaged with LGBT rights
groups, but has already started dialogue with
gun control organizations, like the Newtown
Action Alliance.
The immediate goal is were quickly
ramping up the organization, Lindsay
said. Weve accomplished an incredible
amount in the last 10 days, but the rst
thing is we need volunteers and we need
people to get involved, so we can quickly
grow the movement.
Theshort-termgoal for the committee,
Lindsay said, is expanding the website and
growing other technology platforms in
addition to establishing a hub for volunteer
operations enabling further growth and
fundraising. On Thursday, the committee

Jason Lindsay is executive director of the newly formed PRIDE Fund to End Gun Violence.

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

is set to hold a volunteer meeting at 7 p.m.

at a yet-to-be determined location in the
Dupont Circle area.
But the long-term vision, Lindsay said,
is to enact gun reform legislation at the
federal level, such as an expansion of
background checks, no y, no buy
legislation, restrictions on magazines and
a ban on assault ries. A yet-to-be-formed
policy committee, he said, will work
directly on those issues and determine
specic bills tosupport.
The policy committee, Lindsay said,
will also decide over the next couple of
weeks criteria for endorsing candidates
running for Congress, but generally that
will consist of support for LGBT rights and
gun reform legislation.
At this point, were organized at the
federal level, Lindsay said. Thats the
way were registered with the Federal
Election Commission. We have not yet
had the opportunity of state races, but
thats something our policy committee is
going to be looking at.
Lindsay said the committeealso intends to
endorse presumptive Democratic presidential
nominee Hillary Clinton, but hasnt yet set a
time for when that will happen.
Mark Glaze, a gay D.C. political
operative whos worked on both LGBT
rights and gun control eorts, said the
PRIDE Fund to End Gun Violence appears
to be taking o at a crucial time.
If Ive had a better idea all year, I cant
remember what it is, Glaze said. I think
when the community puts its brains, its
determination and its money to work, it
generally achieves what it sets out to do,
and adding their juice to the ght against
gun violence is exactly what weve needed
for a while.

The establishment of thePRIDE Fund to

End Gun Violence is but one eort among
LGBT advocates to join the ght for gun
control in the Orlando shooting, which
LGBT advocates and President Obama
have called a hate crime and terrorist
attack against the LGBT community.
On Tuesday evening, the New Yorkbased LGBT grassroots group Queer
Nation held a two-hour meeting at the
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender
Community Center in Manhattan, where
150 attendees made and discussed
proposals for action.
In the wake of Orlando, were not
going to be silent, said Alan Klein, a
spokesperson for Queer Nation. The
49 demand that we turn the anger and
sorrow that the LGBT community felt into
action, and thats what were going to do.
According to Queer Nation, activists
decided to organize a large action in New
York City during the Republican National
Convention to target presumptive
Republican presidential nomineeDonald
Trump for his anti-LGBT and pro-gun
positions, but between now and then
additional actions will take place.
Another newly formed LGBT activist
group, Gays Against Guns, turned out up
to 750 on Sunday at the New York City
Pride parade, where activists aliated
with the group chanted Stop the NRA!
and staged die-ins along the route
similar to demonstrations conducted
byHIV/AIDS activists in the 1980s.
According to Gays Against Guns,
the activists who engaged in the dieinsrepeated in unison, How many more
have to die? and were trailed by 49 silent
marchers in white veils who eachcarried
a placard with the name and photo of

someone who died in Orlando.

Gun violence has become a public health
crisis in the U.S., said Gays AgainstGuns
co-founder John Grauwiler.The NRA and
their enablers in D.C. have blood on their
hands and make us gag in disgust. We
intend to have great fun in the weeks and
months ahead haunting their collective
bad conscience until they do the right
thing or get kicked out of power. Theyve
hit us too close to home this time.
Within a week of the Orlando shooting,
the nations largest LGBT advocacy group,
the Human Rights Campaign, approved
a resolution arming the organization
wouldsupport gun safety reform measures.
And yet, another faction within the
LGBT community is urging LGBT people
to arm themselves in the aftermath of the
Orlando shooting. One such faction is Pink
Pistols, which, under the slogan, Pick On
Someone Your Own Caliber, urges gay
people in the 31 states that allow concealed
carry permits to arm themselves and learn
to use rearms safely.
Lindsay cautioned against calling on LGBT
people to arm themselves in the aftermath
of the Orlando massacre, pointing out
even the National Rie Association has
said rearms dont belong in a place where
people are drinking, such as the Pulse
nightclub where the shooting took place.
I would say that more guns doesnt
equate to less violence and being
protected, Lindsay said. I think taking
assault-style weapons o the street and
working to improve our gun control
policy is important, but adding more into
the mix just isnt the solution.
Amid other gun eorts control eorts
in the LGBT community and elsewhere,
Lindsay said the establishment of the
PRIDE Fund to End Gun Violence is
important because it will provide
additional focus.
Our motivation was we thought it was
important to have a unique and dedicated
LGBTQ voice that was solely focused on
the issue of gun reform and protections,
Lindsay said. And we have a strong desire
to work collaboratively with all other
groups involved both gay and straight
to really create change in this country.
If eorts of gun control advocates to
enact legislation are successful, Lindsay
said it would be a very positive step
toward making the country safer in the
aftermath of the Orlando shooting.
I think that its important for there to be
a comprehensive plan to end gun violence
in America to really counter the increase in
the lethality of these attacks, Lindsay said.
There is the discussion of terrorism, we
need to focus on mental health...and those
things are incredibly important, but at
the same time, limiting the access to such
powerful assault-style weapons is one of
the rst steps I think we can take.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

NEWS

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 1 5

Pink Pistols besieged with new members

Gay group says it
promotes gun training,
shattering of stereotypes
By LOU CHIBBARO JR.
lchibbaro@washblade.com
Lesbian activist Gwendolyn Patton,
national leader of the LGBT gun advocacy
group Pink Pistols, says she was
heartbroken when she learned that 49
mostly LGBT people were shot to death
on June 12 at an Orlando gay nightclub by
Omar Mateen.
Patton, 54, said the horric incident
at the Pulse nightclub conjured up
memories of gay-bashing incidents the
LGBT community has grappled with for
years and reminded her that the mission
of Pink Pistols goes beyond just training
LGBT people to use guns for self-defense.
We have an even more poetic vision,
she told the Washington Blade in an
interview this week.We teach queers to
shoot and we teach the world we did it,
she said with an emphasis.
The idea is that if the general public
becomes aware that there is a portion of
the GLBT community that may be armed
with a lawfully owned rearm and have the
training and the skills necessary to use it
eectively, this is a deterrent to make those
that would attack us think twice, she said.
Theyre choosing the gay community
because they think that were a safe target
to attack, that were not going to ght back.
The whole stereotype about the GLBT
community is that were weaker, were
passive, were pacists, were unwilling to
ght, she said. Its the whole stereotype
of gay men as being weak and eeminate.
Patton is a former computer programmer
and systems analyst who lives in a
Philadelphia suburb. She has been mostly
wheelchair bound and legally disabled
since 2006 when in a freak accident the
hood of her car slammed down on the top
of her head by a forceful gust of wind.
Essentially, it broke my neck, she said,
noting that she suered shattered neck
and upper back vertebrae causing severe
pain and immobility.
Despite this hardship, she has continued
to serve as spokesperson and later chief
coordinator or First Speaker of the
national Pink Pistols group since 2001. Her
dedication and outspokenness, according
to those who know her, has in itself
shattered stereotypes of gun advocates.
Patton and Dexter Guptill, coordinator
of the Pink Pistols chapter in Northern
Virginia, point out that the national
organization got its start in 2000 in
response to an article written by gay
journalist and commentator Jonathan
Rausch, which was published in Salon.
With the 1998 gay bashing murder of

GWENDOLYN PATTON is national leader of

the LGBT gun advocacy group Pink Pistols.
PHOTO COURTESY OF PATTON

University of Wyoming student Matthew

Shepard still fresh in the minds of
the LGBT community, Rausch startled
activists by proposing that gays should
create Pink Pistols task forces, sponsor
shooting courses and help homosexuals
get licensed to carry guns.
Pink pistols would do far more for the
self-esteem of the next generation of
gay men and women than any number
of hate-crime laws or anti-discrimination
statutes, Rausch said in his article.
Guptill, who like Patten, rst become
involved with Pink Pistols in 2001, reports
that gay activists in Boston were the rst
to take up Rauschs proposals by forming
what is believed to be the Pink Pistols
rst chapter in that city in 2000.
They asked Rausch if they could use
the name and he said go for it, Guptill
said. And a number of chapters sort of
sprang up like mushrooms.
According to Patton and Guptill, the
chapters along with the national group
established a precedent of helping LGBT
people learn the basics of using rearms
from more experienced members and
through certied trainers. The chapters also
coach members on whether guns could be
legally purchased in their states and how to
go about applying for a permit or license.
The Northern Virginia chapter, the only
known chapter in the D.C. metropolitan
area, meets informally at an indoor shooting
range in Lorton, Va., called Sharp Shooters,
Guptill said. The next chapter gathering at
the range is scheduled for July 10.
He said beginners are always welcome
and experienced gun owners, like him,
are pleased to serve as mentors for
newcomers, teaching them the ropes of
shooting and, if suitable for them, how to
legally purchase a rearm.

Patten and Guptill noted that they,

like many Pink Pistols members across
the country, often hear of situations
like the one reported by Rausch in his
Salon article where an LGBT person is
confronted by one or more attackers.
Upon pulling out their gun, the attackers
almost always withdraw without a shot
being red, Patten and Guptill said.
In other words, a gun is often the most
ecient way to deescalate a situation,
Guptill said. The odds are with you. But
if you pull that gun out you have to be
ready to pull the trigger as well.
He and Patton said thats where the
prior training advocated by Pink Pistols
comes into play. Both said gun use
training by experts fosters an ethical
mindset that promotes responsibility
and caution as well as an ability to assess
when to use and not to use a gun when
confronted with danger.
Gay gun rights advocate Tom Palmer,
senior fellow with the libertarian advocacy
organization Cato Institute, said most
of the nations attention has focused on
legislation stalled in Congress to prohibit
gun ownership for people on federal
terrorist watch and airline no-y lists.
He said far less media attention has
been given to local and state anti-gun laws
that in Florida would have prevented any
of the victims in the Pulse nightclub attack
from carrying a legally owned gun due to
a state ban on guns inside establishments

that serve alcoholic beverages.

He said such laws should be repealed,
noting that people trained to use
rearms tend to be responsible and
must undergo a background check to
carry a concealed weapon.
Patton said gun owners she knows
in the LGBT community would do what
drivers do when going with friends to
bars and nightclubs have a designated
non-drinker with the group who has the
gun just as a designated driver doesnt
drink alcohol when joining friends at bars.
Yes, weve had some really incredible
response after the Orlando incident,
Patten said. That was a horric tragedy.
It has torn the hearts out of us all. And
a lot of people determined after that,
that they didnt want to be vulnerable
anymore, she said. They wanted to take
on the responsibility for their own safety.
Patton said that within two weeks
after the Orlando incident Pink Pistols
Facebook membership jumped from
1,500 to over 7,500.
Weve also had a greater number of
people asking for information on how to start
a chapter in the past two weeks than weve
had in the previous two years, she said.
Even more astonishing, Patton said,
has been an enormous outpouring of
support from mainline gun advocacy
groups and businesses.
CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Blade, D.C. Public Library

announce partnership
The Washington Blade and the DC Public Library have entered into a partnership
to make the newspapers story and photo archive available to the public.
The Library will digitize, store and make the newspapers full archive available
on Dig DC, the online portal maintained by the DC Public Librarys Special
Collections department. Readers will be able to search and retrieve Washington
Blade stories and photos for free. Commercial use of archived material will be
subject to fees. The Blade will retain ownership of its content.
The Blade was covering the local and national LGBT community long before
the mainstream media, said Washington Blade publisher Lynne Brown. Many
of our stories were never told elsewhere and were excited that our partnership
with the DC Public Library will make this material readily accessible again.
Published by Brown Na Pitts Omnimedia, The Washington Blade was founded
in 1969 and is known as the newspaper of record for the LGBT community locally
and nationally.
The rst decades worth of material will be ready for public access in 2017. The
full process is expected to be completed in 2019. The Library will manage and
migrate the les to newer formats so that the public will be able to use them.
The Blade chose DCPL after a long search for the right partner in this project.
Many institutions were interested in hosting the Blades content but after
careful review, we realized the DCPLs local roots along with its commitment
to excellence and its experience with the technology involved made it the ideal
partner, said Brown. Were excited to get started.
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

16 J U L Y 01, 2016

BA LT I MO RE N E W S

Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman convened the third LGBT roundtable on June 20.

PHOTO BY COURTESY HOWARD COUNTY EXECUTIVES OFFICE

HoCo tackles trans issues at roundtable

Howard County Executive Allan H. Kittleman convened the third LGBT roundtable
discussion of his term on June 20, focused on transgender issues. Fifteen people
attended, including representatives from the executives oce, LGBT individuals,
a deputy police chief and the director of the Department of Corrections.
Major Ellsworth A. Jones III, Deputy Chief of Operations for the Howard County
Police Department, briefed the attendees on the types of training ocers are
given at the entry level and annual in-service instruction, including distance
learning training on sexual orientation and gender identity. The training covers
such areas as sensitivity, arrest and search, hate bias recognition as well as
dealing with implicit and explicit bias incidents.
Jack Kavanagh, director of corrections, was also on hand to answer questions
specically related to the intake and housing of transgender inmates.
Sharon Brackett, board chair of Gender Rights Maryland, oered guidance on
the importance of the proper use of pronouns regarding transgender individuals
and discussed the diculty in obtaining proper gender markers for Maryland ID
cards and drivers licenses.
Deb Dunn, a physicians assistant on Chase Brextons medical team at the
Columbia Center where her patients are exclusively transgender, raised concerns
about how such individuals both adults and adolescents are misgendered
and housed incorrectly at the detention center.
Kavanagh pointed out that his department is sensitive to these concerns and
is actively taking steps to properly place these individu als.
The meeting was important to Kittleman, especially in the aftermath of the
Orlando massacre. I am deeply saddened by this senseless loss of life, he said.
We hope that this and future gatherings will allow us to strengthen positive
relationships with all our county agencies like police and corrections, and that as
a result, every person in Howard County can feel more secure.

Frederick celebrates amid enhanced security

Just two weeks removed from the massacre at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando,
an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people attending the fth annual Frederick Pride
LICENSED IN DC, MD AND VA
festival were undeterred in their celebration on June 25. The event, which
featured nearly 100 vendors on a brilliant sun-splashed day, took place at Carroll
ADVERTISIN
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R O OPark
F
Creek
in downtown Frederick, Md.
This
is
my

rst Pride event ever, said Jimmy Hennigan from Laurel. Its really
ISSUE DATE: 03.04.16
SALES REPRESENTATIVE: BRIAN PITTS (bpitts@washblade.com)
cool to see a bunch of people coming together, not being judged, laugh a lot and
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i a twillifinal
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omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is
Stephanie Mellone of Montgomery County attended with her husband and
responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users
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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,
his partner, she says. Its more important now than ever.
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the memory of Orlando in the forefront, a small memorial was created
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next to one of the stages. In addition to paid guards, security was bolstered to
include four plainclothes police ocers and several S.W.A.T. personnel stationed
on top of a nearby building plus 20 uniformed ocers from the Frederick City
FamiLY | eState PLaNNiNG | emPLoYmeNt | immiGratioN
Police Department. There were also several representatives from Frederick
ComPLeX LitiGatioN | CiviL riGHtS | LGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS
County EMS.
We wanted to strike a balance between having visible security while still
providing that safe space for the LGBTQ community that was open and free,
Kristopher Fair, chair of The Frederick Center, which ran Frederick Pride, told
at tor N e YS at L aw d C | m d | va
the Blade.
3 0 1 . 8 9 1 . 2 2 0 0 S P - L aw. C o m
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HE A LTH NEW S

J U L Y 01, 2016 17

New study explores LGB health disparities

NEW YORK LGB people are more likely to suer psychological distress, drink heavily
and smoke according to new research published this week in the American Medical
Associations Internal Medicine journal, CNN and other outlets report.
Carrie Henning-Smith, a health policy researcher at the University of Minnesota and
co-author of the study, billed it as one of the largest, and most comprehensive studies
of its kind to nd dierences in health and health behaviors by sexual orientation, CNN
reports. LGB health disparities have been widely studied and reported.
Researchers analyzed data collected from more than 68,000 adults nationwide as
part of the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions 2013 and 2014 National Health
Interview Surveys. The surveys included questions about sexual orientation, chronic
conditions, mental health, alcohol consumption, cigarette use and overall health.
The researchers discovered that gay and bisexual men were more likely than straight
men to suer severe psychological distress, heavy drinking and heavy cigarette smoking.
Lesbians were more likely than straight women to experience psychological distress,
poor or fair health, and heavy drinking and smoking. Bisexual women were more likely to
suer multiple chronic conditions, CNN reports.
The data did not allow us to identify specic causes of health disparities in this study,
CNN quoted Henning-Smith as having said. However, we know from other research that
the experience of being part of a stigmatized minority population can lead to chronic
stress, which, in turn, can have negative impacts on health and health behaviors. The
researchers hope that the data could help to inform and encourage clinicians to be more
sensitive to and aware of the specic psychological and physical needs of LGB patients.
Additionally, health care providers should be prepared to provide clinically
recommended guidelines that address the unique health needs of their patients, said
Gilbert Gonzales, assistant professor of health policy at Vanderbilt University and lead
author of the study, according to CNN.
We need to make sure all of our health surveys and electronic health records collect
information on sexual orientation and transgender identity in order to track our progress
towards eliminating LGBT health disparities, he told CNN.

Officials link Calif. mans death to meningitis

LOS ANGELES A mans death was linked to an invasive meningococcal outbreak
aecting gay and bisexual men in Southern California, public health ocials said last
week according to the Los Angeles Times.
This strain of the rare disease was rst identied in May and since then, nine men in
Los Angeles and Orange counties have fallen ill with a meningococcal infection, according
to Dr. Karen Smith, public health ocer for the California Department of Public Health.
Most of the men were gay or bisexual. One of them has died from the infection, the Times
reports.
We are concerned that gay and bisexual men in Southern California may be at
increased risk for meningococcal disease, Smith said in a statement.
She urged men who have sex with other men to get a meningitis vaccination. HIVinfected people, she said, have an increased risk of getting sick from meningococcal
disease.
The U.S. Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices recommended this week that
all HIV patients routinely receive meningococcal vaccines.
Michael Weinstein, president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, called on public
health ocials to increase the supply of vaccines and work closely with community health
organizations to spread awareness.
The foundation is working to make the vaccines available at Southern California-area
wellness centers next week, he said, according to the Times.
Gay men are extremely over-represented in these meningitis case numbers in Los
Angeles, Weinstein said in a statement. The CDC and the NIH, in conjunction with local
health departments, should really be studying the issue far more intensively.
The rare infection is caused by the bacteriaNeisseria meningitides, which aect the
bloodstream and can lead to meningitis. At least six cases were caused by a particular
strain of meningococcal bacteria, the Los Angeles Times reports.
Meningococcal disease spreads by close exposure to sneezing or coughing,or direct
contact with saliva or nose mucus, the health department said. Symptoms usually begin
within a few days of exposure and include fever, vomiting, severe headache, sti neck,
confusion, a rash and muscle pains.
Smoking, having close contact with an infected person such as kissing or sharing
beverages or cigarettes and living in group settings for prolonged periods are associated
with an increased risk of illness.
Outbreaks and cluster of serogroup C meningococcal disease have been reported in
New York City, Los Angeles County and Chicago since 2014.

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1 8 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

VIEWPOINT

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

27

ADDRESS

PO Box 53352
Washington DC 20009
PHONE

Orlando attack
rocked our world
Despite horror of shooting,
love will prevail

LOUIS LOPEZ is a board member of the DC

Center for the LGBT Community.

June was LGBT Pride month, a time

when we celebrate values like equality,
diversity, inclusion and dignity. As a civil
rights attorney, Ive had the good fortune
to spend the majority of my career working on these noble values and against discrimination rooted in ignorance, stereotypes, assumptions, bigotry, fearand
yes, sometimes anger and hate. The horric tragedy in Orlando rocked my world
on many levels, particularly because it
threatened these values that I hold so
dearly.
I attended several of the vigils held in
Dupont Circle for the Orlando victims. At
each one, I was struck by the intersectionality of so many dierent groups coming
together LGBT community members

and allies, people from varying racial,

ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds,
and people of all dierent faiths as well
as some who do not subscribe to any
particular set of religious beliefs or simply may be questioning a greater power.
It was truly inspiring. I am the youngest,
openly gay son in a big, Mexican-American, Catholic, middle-class familyof nine
children who grew up in Kansas. I realize
there is a lot packed into what I just said
but viewed another way, it all perfectly
describes who I am.And just like me, each
victim in Orlando has their own complex,
yet inter-connected and perfect story too.
Earlier in my life, I struggled with trying to reconcile parts of who I am, such
as my faith and my sexual orientation and, to some extent, being Latino.
Many people in the LGBT community
have had similar struggles. Society often makes many of us feel that we have
to choose which parts we can be, and
to whom and when we can share those
parts. Even worse, society makes many
of us feel that we have to actually reject
some of who we are, particularly when
we get messages suggesting that being
gay is not normal or it makes us bad
people.But members of our community
are gay and people of color.We are gay
and people of faith. And this is not just
the reality, it also is normal and it is
E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON

good.We have worked so hard to ensure

that dierences among us are not used
as reasons to discriminate. That stereotypes and assumptions are not used to
justify bigotry and hate. We cannot let
fear and ignorance cripple these eorts
now.
I am passionate about these issues. I
am so lucky to have found a place to work
that not only makes me happy and proud
every day, but also allows me to be my full
authentic self. I say this because for many
in the LGBT community, gay bars and
clubs historically have provided the safe
space where people could bring their full
authentic selves, often for the rst time,
without fear of judgment, ostracism, or
even injury by family members at home,
strangers on the street, or law enforcement in their communities.
I remember my rst time at a gay nightclub, seeing two men holding hands and
later dancing together. It was beautiful
and it made me feel welcome, proud and
happy. In one article I read, an Orlando
resident who frequented the Pulse nightclub stated that the club was where he
learned to love himself as a gay man.The
recent tragedy threatened this space that
had long been viewed as safe and happy,
not just in Orlando, but all around the
world because it could have happened
anywhere.
Here in Washington, D.C., we are fortunate to have many places that are providing help to the LGBT community in the
wake of the Orlando shooting massacre.
The DC Center for the LGBT Community
is providing much of the needed assistance, from hosting a forum attended by
hundreds to mourn and discuss the impact of the attack to oering individual
and group mental health counseling for
people grieving or suering from prejudice and violence.
Along with countless others, I will
continue to work tirelessly to be one
of those who not only supports our
community during this time of healing, but also advocates for action both
to ensure the LGBT community has
safe spaces as well as to prevent tragedies like this from happening in the
future. While we have accomplished
much, we still have a long way to go.
Let us all remain hopeful that in the
end, kindness, respect, justice and yes,
I daresay even love will prevail.

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V I E W PO I N T

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 1 9

Four things we can do to prevent gun violence

Theres a long road ahead,
so lets get started
By BROCK THOMPSON & CHASE HARDIN
What a dierence a year can make.
This time last June, we waited with baited
breath on the steps of the Supreme Court for
the marriage equality decision. Once handed
down, it was as if the entire city erupted into
celebration. That night, scores of LGBT Washingtonians descended on a White House
bathed in rainbow colors. It seemed as
though the world, or at least the country, had
nally accepted us. That was June of 2015.
June 2016 had no air of celebration. Come
the morning of the festival on Sunday, news
reports came that 49 people were killed at a
gay club in Orlando. Like last June, some descended on the White House, not in celebration this time but in sorrow and grief. Most
it seemed went to our old sanctuary, Dupont
Circle, by habit or memory, to that sacred
space in the old neighborhood where years
ago we mourned those we lost to AIDS.
In the aftermath of marriage equality, we
had to earnestly ask ourselves whats the
next priority? Fair housing, employment non-

discrimination? Both worthy. Both pressing

concerns. But, here we are. In the aftermath
of the worst mass shooting in our nations
history, the Pulse nightclub massacre, talking about guns and gun violence. Whether
we like it or not, this is the issue weve been
handed.

things you can do right now to start.

Call your senator and member of Congress immediately. Write them a letter or
email demanding they support commonsense gun violence prevention laws. A trite
move? Hardly. Youd be surprised how eective a tool this can be.

Anyone with a cursory knowledge of our shared

past knows that we are tenacious ghters.
The question of whether or not we are
strong or resilient enough isnt even really a
question. Anyone with a cursory knowledge
of our shared past knows that we are tenacious ghters. Clearly, this ght will be decidedly dierent from that of marriage equality.
The dierence here marriage equality was
won at the Supreme Court. This ght cannot
be. Lawyers and legal experts cant swoop in
and save us. Nor will the Supreme Court simply hand us sweeping gun reform legislation.
This will not be a judicial eort, but an electoral one. And a long one to be sure.
So where do we even begin? Here are four

Hit the streets and knock on doors. Dont

just support candidates in the upcoming election who support gun violence prevention;
work hard to elect them. Know where your
candidates stand, who gives them money,
and let them know youre voting for them because of their position on gun violence prevention. Donate money to their campaigns
and volunteer to knock on doors.
Settle in for a ght. Get ready for the long
haul. Virtually unopposed, the gun lobby has
held the mic for 30 years, and changing the
conversation on gun violence will not happen overnight. It will take years to unravel the

NRAs decades-long reign as one of the most

powerful lobbies in Washington. Get to know
the long-standing gun violence prevention
organizations and support their eorts.
Remember. It seems almost silly to say,
but too often these tragedies are whisked
o the front pages. Work hard to remember
the victims. And not just the 49 people that
lost their lives, but 104 people shot whose
lives will never be the same again those
shot in the spine who may never again
dance in a club like Pulse or those victims
that were lucky enough to escape injury
but will surely suer from the psychological
trauma of having witnessed the shooting. Or
remember as victims the rst responders,
who had to tune out the sounds of ringing
cell phones coming from the dead bodies,
as friends and loved ones desperately tried
to contact them.
Can we do this? Gays have long, long memories. And this ght is likely to last a while.
But then again, what a dierence a year can
make.

BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based writer.

CHASE HARDIN is with Americans for
Responsible Solutions.

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

Trumps moronic statements a boon for Hillary

Dems, Republicans must unite
to deny him White House

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

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

The Democratic and Republican nominating conventions are weeks away but the
presidential race is in full swing. A billion
dollars and 25 years of Republican attacks
have left their mark on Hillary Clinton showing up in her high negatives. When asked
why they dont like or trust her, people respond with everything from Whitewater
to Vince Foster to Benghazi. Shown proof
Hillary has done nothing wrong after being
endlessly investigated, many simply dont
believe the investigations. Add to that the
rampant sexism in the country and what is
surprising is how well Hillary is doing. In the

latest Washington Post and Reuters polls

she is leading Trump by double digits.
Trump is helping Hillary by making every
eort to sound like a moron. Between his
statements on the Orlando massacre and
his inability to grasp the global implications
of the Brexit vote he is succeeding beyond
his wildest dreams. What makes this particularly scary is listening to some Americans
say they are more than happy to vote for
a moron.
On the Brexit vote the Washington Post
reported, As the value of the pound collapsed in the morning and stock markets
around the globe plummeted, Trump attended a surreal ribbon-cutting at his luxury golf resort in this seacoast village (in Scotland) and barely mentioned the global news
until reporters pressed him to do so. When
he did comment he said, I think its a great
thing that happened. People are angry, all
over the world. People, theyre angry. He
added, When the pound goes down, more
people are coming to Turnberry, frankly.
For traveling and for other things, I think it
very well could turn out to be a positive.
The Post went on to report, When asked
if he was traveling with his foreign policy
advisers or consulting them, Trump said he

had been in contact with them but theres

nothing to talk about. Guess he thinks
the loss of trillions of dollars in the worlds
economy in one day, the drop of billions in
Americans 401K accounts, the uncertainty
for American business and the potential
loss of millions of jobs isnt worth his time
to think about.
This all came a week after his remarks on
the massacre in Orlando. He began those
remarks with surprising comments, at least
from a Republican, on the need to respect
the LGBT community. Then quickly went
o the rails in a rambling attack on Clinton
and Obama claiming the killer was born
in Afghanistan when it had already been
established he was born in New York. He
doubled down on his attacks on Muslims
saying he would ban all from entering the
U.S. and suspend immigration from most
of the world. He kept ranting about radical Islam as if just saying that would make
Americans and the world safer. He then
said if everyone in the Pulse nightclub had
one or more guns strapped to their body
things would have been dierent and
claimed falsely Clinton wants to abolish the
Second Amendment.
I predict this campaign will get more bi-

zarre as we near November. We will hear

the Bernie or Bust crowd continue to say
they want Bernie to be the nominee of the
Democratic Party and will never vote for
Clinton even after their hero Bernie nally
admitted he wont be the nominee and will
vote for Clinton.
The Republican establishment, which
has totally lost control of their party, will
either stay home or some like Brent Scowcroft and Hank Paulson will vote for Clinton.
We have seen the unusual with the United
Auto Workers and the former CEO of GM
both endorsing Clinton but the union saying some of their members in Michigan are
still considering voting for Trump.
The Brexit vote should lead some of those
workers to carefully consider their vote. It is
one thing to take out your anger at the economic situation and vent your feelings about
immigration at the polls. This seems to be
what the people in the UK did yet many are
now regretting the hangover resulting from
that vote. The precipitous drop in the value
of their currency is just the rst repercussion
of venting their anger. Democrats, independents and rational Republicans must unite
to make sure Trump gets nowhere near the
White House.

2 0 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 2 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

VIEWPOINT

Amid chaos, dont count Trump out

Persuading voters requires
listening to them

RICHARD J. ROSENDALL is a writer and activist.

Reach him at rrosendall@starpower.net.

The rst week of summer brought a bewildering barrage of news, both good and bad.
President Obama designated the Stonewall
Inn a national monument. We learned that the
Pentagon will announce an end to the military
ban against transgender service members on
July 1. House Democrats staged a historic sitin to demand gun control. On Sunday, Hillary
Clinton marched in the New York Pride parade. Abroad, Pope Francis said the Catholic
Church should apologize to gay people, women and others it has harmed.
The panicked response to the British vote
to leave the European Union wiped out $2 tril-

lion from global markets; the pound sank to

its lowest value in 31 years; and London banks
faced the loss of business to rivals in Paris and
Frankfurt. Prime Minister David Cameron said
he would step down, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn suered mass resignations from
his shadow cabinet. Donald Trump, visiting
one of his golf courses in Scotland, praised the
result and was roundly mocked by Scots who
had voted to remain.
Brexit leader Nigel Farage exulted about
winning without a single bullet being red,
one week after Labour MP Jo Cox, who supported remaining in the EU, was killed by a
man shouting, Put Britain rst. Many Brits
searched Google the morning after the vote
to nd out what they had voted for. Young
people voted to remain; their parents voted
to leave. Pro-Leave forces had no post-Brexit
plan, while Cameron smartly left the triggering of Brexit to his successor. Scottish leader
Nicola Sturgeon talked of blocking Brexit.
A similar tide of resentment and isolationism is sweeping the United States. Those who
say the British crackup cannot happen here
have a few factors on their side: American
voters are more racially diverse than British
voters; our economy is much stronger; and

Clinton has a double-digit national lead over

Trump. On the other side is Americas history of destructive irrationality: witch hunts
from Salem to McCarthyism; genocide against
Native Americans from the Trail of Tears to
Wounded Knee; internment of Japanese
Americans in World War II; race riots like those
in Springeld, Omaha, and Tulsa; and the rush
to war in Iraq, in which news media acted as
cheerleaders. With such a grim catalogue, we
have no business criticizing others.
Clinton has electoral math in her favor, and
prominent Republicans have rejected Trump,
with some endorsing Clinton. On the other
hand, a New York Times reporter, in line with a
prevalent anti-Clinton media narrative, writes,
Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump won a combined
25 million votes during the primary season,
compared with 16 million for Mrs. Clinton.
With that level of creativity, anyone can devise
favorable math.
Trump taps into a deep vein of nativism. His
national polling numbers, while down, are higher than they ought to be given his disgraceful
behavior; and he is close in key states. He is running against someone who has been the target
of relentless smears for a quarter century. Liberals take a win for granted at their peril.

We cannot change other peoples minds. But

we must try to help people see the implications
of their decision. One candidate is sane and
experienced, has a detailed grasp of policy and
knows world leaders. The other is gaspingly ignorant, shoots from the hip, and is openly contemptuous toward women and minorities.
The Brexit vote shows the danger of ignoring people who disagree with the political elites.
The costs of Britains austerity policy were not
evenly distributed. Given a chance to vote their
frustrations, people did so. The fact that leaving
the EU will not return them to an idealized past,
and that they cannot wall themselves o from
the global economy, hardly matters now. Buyers remorse will not undo all the damage.
If we want to prevent a conservative Supreme Court that will reverse all our gains, we
should stop our premature self-congratulations
and try to persuade people, which requires listening to them. Secretary Clinton is mocked
for her listening tours, but her improved campaigning style shows that she has indeed been
listening. With reason for hope as well as concern, let us be about our work. We have 19 long
and uncertain weeks until the election.
Copyright 2016 by Richard J. Rosendall.
All rights reserved.

Sex, Religion, and LGBT Health

Wednesday, July 13, 2016 7:00 PM

Jack Morton Auditorium, Media and Public Affairs Building, The George Washington University
805 21st Street, NW Washington, DC 20052

The 2016 LGBT Health Forum will be held Wednesday, July 13, 2016 at 7pm in the Jack Morton Auditorium in GWs School of Media and Public Affairs, the original CNN
Crossfire studio. Speakers and panelists for Sex, Religion, and LGBT Health will delve into the role of the faith community in supporting the health of LGBT persons,
creating a more accepting environment locally and globally for LGBT people, curbing the spread of HIV, and abolishing conversion therapy. Additional panelists include
Washington Blade columnist Rick Rosendall. The Forum will be followed by a VIP after party to meet and greet speakers. Tickets available at lgbt.columbian.gwu.edu.
BISHOP
GENE
ROBINSON

First openly gay Bishop

in historic Christianity.
Robinson was elected
Bishop in the Episcopal
Diocese
of
New
Hampshire in 2003. He
is a Senior Fellow at
the Center for American
Progress, working towards equal protection and civil
rights for the LGBT community. He was asked by
President-elect Obama to give the invocation at the
opening inaugural ceremonies in 2009.

BEvERLy
LITTLE
THuNdER

Lakota tribe elder and

founder of Kunsi Keya
Tamakoce. Beverly began the Womens Sundance after being asked
to leave her traditional
Sundance family. In
challenging the tradition of men being superior to women, Beverlys vision allowed women of Native American descent to
still honor the ceremonies of their ancestors.

RABBI
dEBORAH
WAXMAN

Currently serving as the

president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical
College and Jewish
Reconstructionist Communities, which seek
to foster a progressive,
inclusive approach to
Judaism that balances the needs of communities and
individuals.

REvERENd
CEdRIC
HARMON

Ordained pastor in
Washington, D.C., affiliated with the National
Baptist and Missionary
Baptist Churches. He
has been working for
human rights and social
justice in issues of religion and government throughout his career. Reverend Harmon is now the executive director of Many
Voices, a Black church movement in support of gay
and transgender justice.

SponSored by: The WashingTon Blade, aids healThcare FoundaTion, gilead sciences, WhiTman Walker healTh, sorraia consulTing, aBundance managemenT

Webres farewell
LONG-TIME WASHINGTON BALLET ARTISTIC DIRECTOR REFLECTS

IMAGINATION STAGE PRESENTS

THE LITTLE MERMAID
In collaboration with the Washington Ballet
Continues through Aug. 14
Lerner Family Theatre
4908 Auburn Ave., Bethesda
Tickets start at $10
imaginationstage.org

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
joeyd@washblade.com

ARTS

AND

ENTERTAINMENT

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

VOLUME

47

ISSUE

27

JULY

01,

2016

PAGE

23

Septime Webre didnt plan on The

Little Mermaid, an Imagination Stage
production produced in collaboration
with the Washington Ballet, to be his swan
song. It just kind of worked out that way.
But the 54-year-old co-choreographer
says everything the Ballet has done this
season he mentions the April Carmina
Burana performances and the Bowie
& Queen rock show in May as being
tting farewells. He wrapped his tenure at
the Ballet this week and will join the S&R
Foundation, a non-prot started in 2000 by
Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno to support
artists and scientists, as its artistic director.
During a Washington Blade interview,
Webre who lives in Adams Morgan with
his partner of ve years, Marc Cipullo
shared his philosophies, struggles and plans.
His comments have been edited for length.

BLADE: Did you rue many feathers

along the way?
WEBRE: I never felt I rued feathers
precisely, but I tried to push the envelope.
I took over the Washington Ballet from
Mary Day, who was 89 years old when I
became the director. She was a fabulous
visionary, but the company was a bit
sleepy. She had a great aesthetic and she
loved classical ballet and she loved new
work, so there was a connection I had
with her. But right away, the company
began to grow. The audiences began to
grow, we had standing ovations at every
show the rst run. In my rst year, I
took the Washington Ballet to Cuba, we
produced a Carmina Burana that was,
at that time, very unprecedented for us.
Those rst programs were so popular
that a buzz developed very early on.

WASHINGTON BLADE: Why are you

leaving?
SEPTIME WEBRE: I feel great about
my accomplishments here. Its grown
amazingly. But particularly in the last few
years, Ive had a yearning to be in the
studio a bit more. Being the director of a
company, there are administration duties,
PR duties, marketing duties, all thats
involved in overseeing an organization
that has grown from a $2 million to a
$12 million budget, so I had already been
thinking that maybe another chapter
would be interesting to really focus on
creativity and less institution building for
a while. That coincided with a blossoming
of my work as a freelance artist in the last
few years.

BLADE: You make it all sound so

easy, though. What obstacles did you
encounter?
WEBRE: Well, without a doubt our huge
labor dispute in 2005. That was immense.
We had grown so rapidly over the course
of my rst ve years the number of
performances had probably doubled we
had grown, but the admin support hadnt
grown with it. . We were working on a
huge, new version of The Nutcracker,
a huge project, and in the midst of that,
the dancers very appropriately decided
to join a union. That was the right time
in our organizations history to do that,
but over the course of negotiating that
rst contract, which took a year, our
Nutcracker was canceled and we lost a
million dollars. The dancers were out of
work for months and there was so much
acrimony. We were in the Washington
Post every day for 19 days, I think. . But
we were eventually able to settle it when
we got the lawyers out of it. We settled in
March 2006 and went back to work in April.
That was a big one. . Another challenge
was in 2009 when the City Council
eliminated earmarks. They rescinded that
appropriation two months into our scal
year and so suddenly we had a million
dollar hole and we had to scramble. We
had to cancel our Nutcracker orchestra
to save $350,000 and we performed to
taped music, just because otherwise we
were not going to survive.

BLADE: Was the managerial aspect

stultifying?
WEBRE: No. Ive enjoyed all that
institution building and felt like I wanted to
do that while I was still somewhat young
and energetic, or at least while my Grindr
age was still young. Im 54 but I skew young.
Im an energetic kind-of guy. So those
duties werent stultifying, but they certainly
got in the way of creating new work. In
the last several years, Ive done full-length
ballets based on The Great Gatsby, on
Hemingways The Sun Also Rises, last
year I did a Washington Irving project and
also Alice in Wonderland. These works
have been much in demand over the last
ve or six years and Ive also had some
commissions by other companies.

SEPTIME WEBRE, artistic director of the Washington Ballet since 1999, says he worked to fuse
classical ballet elements with contemporary and popular art during his tenure.
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY JOEY DIGUGLIELMO

BLADE: I assume the name recognition

of these works helps?
WEBRE: Thats part of it but its also
the return of narrative works in ballet
after the era of modernism, which
was my generation, and an aesthetic
dominated by George Balanchine
and Merce Cunningham. These were
abstract artists and from the mid-century
through the time I was dancing, serious
choreographers really didnt tackle
narratives. It was not considered serious.
But during my choreographic career, I
began to tackle them because in many
ways, its who I am. Theres something
inside of me, this boisterous Cuban family
and the brothers on the weekend, all we
do is get together and drink cold Mexican
beer and tell stories. So I was naturally
drawn to these great books and they also
happen to sell tickets.
BLADE: You were part of a larger trend
with this?
WEBRE: I would say I was an early
adopter of the return to narrative. You
could feel it in the air, particularly in the
90s. It was a convergence of factors
the death of George Balanchine in

the early 80s, we had been through

modernism and that era and something
new was needed. Also just with the
nancial realities in the world, ballet
companies were increasingly having
to rely on box oce in a nancially
challenging market and those story
ballets sold better. I was just on the
front of a trend.
BLADE: How much of your work
roughly has been choreographing vs.
other duties at the Washington Ballet and
did that change over time?
WEBRE: Ive been creating a new work
about every two years. Thats probably
been the average. In the early years we did
one a year, but they were smaller works.
I would put my work into three dierent
buckets. One is the creation of new ballet,
the second is programmatic creativity,
which I found really exciting. Curating
repertoire, teaching, developing dancers,
developing ancillary programs that are
not creating ballets, but theyre really
creative like the beerballet&bubbly series
that brought thousands and thousands
of Millennials in to watch rehearsals. A
third would be institution building.

CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 4 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

Q U E E RY : 2 0 Q U E ST I O N S F O R SE A N SU RLA

SEAN SURLA

WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY

By JOEY DiGULIELMO
joeyd@washblade.com
The Capital Fringe Festival returns July 7-31 with more theater, dance,
music, visual art and everything in between.
Theres always plenty of LGBT content each year, but this years 60-minute
solo performance dubbed 75 Lezbos, 2 Trannies, 1 Pannie, Me & Me Too!
by Sean Surla staring Corin Andrade, is one of the gayest. Lead character Me
thought love was forever but after experiencing tremendous pain and loss,
she turns to Me Too for understanding.
Surla had dabbled in playwrighting when she wrote several eorts for her
family members on their milestone occasions, but this is her rst public play.
My dream was to be a lm director a la Woody Allen, she says. When
I didnt get into an environmental Ph.D. program a year ago, I told myself I
would nally write, direct and produce a play. I nally gave myself permission.
It runs July 8, 10, 14. 15, 21 and 23. Tickets are $17. Times and locales vary.
Details at capitalfringe.org.
Surla works as a landscape architect by day and as a playwright/director in
her free time. The 56-year-old Takoma Park, Md., native has lived here most
of her adult life. Shes single and enjoys drawing, archery, rock climbing and
chess in her free time.

202.747.2077

How long have you been out and who

was the hardest person to tell?
I came out to my mom at 15. She said
she could tell that I had crushes on girls
when I was young and that she read up
on having gay children to be supportive.
Maybe its beennot easy telling some
bosses.

Whos your LGBT hero?

Gertrude Stein and Alice B. Toklas
devoted, loving, cutting edge artistic
couple; avant-garde writer, art collectors,
ahead of their time. Or Romaine Brooks,
another ahead-of-her-time lesbian/artist.

Whats Washingtons best

nightspot, past or present?
The Lincoln Memorial and the Mall at
night.

Describe your dream wedding?

Outside in nature, family and friends,
great food, music, a wonderful party.

What non-LGBT issue are

you most passionate about?
Saving our environment and whats left
of nature.

What historical outcome

would you change?
The dominance of gas cars over electric
at the turn of the 20th century, among a
million other things!

Whats been the most memorable

pop culture moment of your lifetime?
Armstrong walking on the moon.

On what do you insist?

I insist on honesty, although I rarely get
it.

What was your last

Facebook post or Tweet?
Our premiere of 75 Lezbos, 2 Trannies,
1 Pannie, Me & MeToo.

If your life were a book,

what would the title be?
The Cause of Consciousness

If science discovered a way

to change sexual orientation,

what would you do?

Id become pan sexual to fully
experience and appreciate the mans
perspective, plus Id have no end of
partner choices. I crave abundance.

What do you believe in

beyond the physical world?
Love

Whats your advice for LGBT

movement leaders?
Keep doing the great job youre doing
making change! Dont ever stop. You are
all an inspiration for perseverance in the
face of failure/despair! I love you for it!

What would you walk

across hot coals for?
My daughter and loved ones, but mostly
my daughter.

What LGBT stereotype

annoys you most?
That its a choice.

Whats your favorite LGBT movie?

Alien
Whats the most
overrated social custom?

Small talk

What trophy or prize

do you most covet?
Nobel Peace Prize or Oscar.

What do you wish youd known at 18?

To be more discerning picking my love
partners, before having sex with them.
To be sure of their character, honesty,
self-awareness, ability to communicate
and grow. I still wish I knew innately
my ability to make things change and
happen.

Why Washington?
Its the most beautiful city in the world.
Especially the Mall, LEnfants design (not
Montgomery Mall), the green space,
monuments, you cant beat the free
museums, culture, 13-story building
height limit for the panoramic (and
phallic) sensual views anywhere else in
the world. Stunning!

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

T HE ATE R

J U L Y 01, 2016 25

PHOTO COURTESY OF OLNEY THEATRE

Director WILL DAVIS says he gets at Evitas heart by paring it way down.

Award-winning director brings

heart, simplicity to Evita
By PATRICK FOLLIARD
A frequently produced musical like
Evita isnt something youd automatically
connect with director Will Davis. Typically
hes attracted to physically adventurous
new works, mostly plays, to which he can
bring his interest in movement.
But when Olney Theatres out artistic
director Jason Loewith asked if hed be
interested in directing Andrew Lloyd
Webber and Tim Rices celebrated rock
opera, Davis was intrigued.
I told him all I knew about Evita
was the scores big hit Dont Cry for Me
Argentina. And much to Jasons credit, he
said that was great. He really wanted to
see my take on the musical.
Davis jokingly calls his production a
one-room Evita the action takes place
entirely in a slightly dilapidated ballroom
in La Casa Rosada, Argentinas executive
mansion. There are almost no props. Hes
more interested in telling the story of
Argentinas ambitious yet ill-fated First Lady
Eva Peron through Che Guevaras eyes.
Ultimately I said yes to the project
because theres an interesting tension.
Its really the story of Che, Davis says.
Hes an unreliable narrator because he
has opinions not good about her.
Che is sad and blames Eva for all that is
wrong with his country.
Played by Robert Ariza (whom Davis
describes as a real star) Che moves
through the piece with the velocity of grief.
Also the musical reduces its title
character (Rachel Zampelli) to a saint and
whore, he says. I wanted to complicate
Eva and give her a little humanity back.
Davis, whos transgender, grew up
in Northern California. He earned a
bachelors degree in theater studies
from DePaul University in Chicago and a
masters in directing from the University
of Texas, Austin. His transition journey has

been gradual. Prior to transitioning, he

lived as a straight woman and was married
to man whom he has since amicably
divorced. While living as a woman, Davis
came out as gay. And then about ve years
ago, he came out as transgender.
For me, scarier than coming out was
living as a woman. It was a fraught time for
sure, says Davis, 33. Today Im dealing
with my masculinity and femininity.
Finally I dont feel like Im walking through
the world in female drag, which is how
how I felt for most of my life.
Earlier this year, Chicagos prestigious
American Theater Company named Davis
its new artistic director. Because hes a
trailblazer, Davis is interested in being visible.
Its important that the theater
community and the queer community
know that theres a light on at ATC.
In the spirit of visibility Davis happily
describes the physical aspects of his
transition. He has undergone top
surgery, an innocuous name for a double
mastectomy which Davis describes as
a massive and very serious procedure.
He gets weekly male hormone injections.
Ive willingly put myself through puberty
for the second time as an adult. My hair
is thinning, and I have to think more
about cholesterol and heart health. On
ADVERTISING
the upside, Im close to having a decent
PROOF #1
ISSUE DATE: 05.09.14
SALES REPRESENTATIVE: BRIAN PITTS (bpitts@washblade.com)
amount of cute stubble.
He says transition looks dierent for
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CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
WILL DAVIS
Evita
Through July 24
Olney Theatre Center
2001 Olney-Sandy Spring Road
$33-75
301-924-3400
Olneytheatre.org

LIVE
OWEN

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

26 JU L Y 01, 2016

O U T & A BO U T

UPCOMING PERFORMANCES

DANOFF

OF NBCS THE VOICE

W/ MIKE SCHIAVO
THURSDAY JUNE 30

MAJOR
&
the

MONBACKS
W/ M. H. & HIS ORCHESTRA

SATURDAY

JULY 2

WED, JULY 6

PHOTO BY JON TSIAVIS

RADNEY FOSTER, AN ACOUSTIC EVENING

Etheridge, Benatar join forces

THURS, JULY 7

Melissa Etheridge will bring her rock hits to Wolf Traps

Filene Center Thursday, July 7 at 8 p.m.
Shell be joined by 80s icons Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo,
who will revive classics like Hit Me With Your Best Shot
and Love is A Battleeld.
Tickets range from $30-$60. For more information, visit
wolftrap.org.

W/ WILL KIMBROUGH

THE IGUANAS
FRI, JULY 8

CAROLYN WONDERLAND
AND TORONZO CANNON
SAT, JULY 9

NAOMI SHELTON &

THE GOSPEL QUEENS AND
KEVIN JACKSON

THEHAMILTONDC.COM

PHOTO COURTESY OF ASK RAYCEEN

Ask Rayceen returns

Ask Rayceen, a free monthly variety show, will take
place on Wednesday, July 6 at the HRC Equality Center
(1640 Rhode Island Ave N.W.).
The night will start with a Listening Lounge with live
music by singer Anthony Newman. Spiritual presentations
will be given, as well as burlesque performances, improv
comedy and slam poetry.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and the show will begin at 6:30.
Guests are advised to bring cash for snacks and beverages,
rae tickets and tipping performers. For more information,
visit facebook.com/askrayceen.

Cabaret series relaunches at Signature

Arlingtons Signature Theatre hosts the annual Sizzlin
Summer Nights cabaret series featuring Signature favorites,
D.C. stars and Broadway performers July 5-22.
The series starts o with the Sizzlin Summer Bash on July
6 and boasts dierent performance every night. This seasons
acts include Signature stars Will Gartshore, Erin Driscoll,
Shayna Blass, Bob McDonald and more. The D.C. Gay Mens
Chorus returns with a special cabaret honoring the music of
Frank Sinatra, Stephen Sondheim and Barbra Streisand.
Individual tickets to cabarets in the series are $35 each.
All-access passes are available for $175, and can only be
purchased through the box oce by phone or in person.
For more information, visit sigtheatre.org.

By SELENE SAN FELICE

D.C.-area 4th of July celebrations planned

National Archives (700 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W.)
hosts Independence day celebrations all week. Musical
performances by PanLara Youth Steel Orchestra and D.C.
Legendary Musicians take place on Friday, July 1 and Saturday,
July 2 at noon. On Monday, crafts, music presentations and
more run between 8-11:45 a.m. There will also be a dramatic
reading of the Declaration of Independence by re-enactors
portraying Abigail Adams, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
John Hancock, Ned Hector, Thomas Jeerson, and George
Washington. Fore more information, visit archives.gov.
The city of Takoma Park holds its rework display at
Takoma Park Middle School (7611 Piney Branch Rd., Md.)
Monday at approximately 9:30 p.m. There will be multiple
vendors selling food, drinks, T-shirts and other novelties. For
more information, visit takomapark4th.org.
The Brixton hosts an Independence Day Party on its
rooftop Monday starting at 1 p.m. There will be no cover
charge, and the party includes beer specials, a hot dog-eating
contest and an ice luge. For details, visit brixtondc.com.
Downtown Rehoboth Beach presents its reworks display
on Rehoboth Beach Main Street (28 Lake Ave., Rehoboth
Beach, Del.) on Sunday at 9:15 p.m. Live entertainment will
be performed before and after the reworks. For more
information, visit downtownrb.com.
The annual A Capitol Fourth Concert begins from 8-9:30
p.m. on Monday night on the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol.
Performers will include Smokey Robinson, Kenny Loggins,
Alisan Porter, General Colin L. Powell, Gavin DeGraw,
Cassadee Pope, Amber Riley, Jackie Evancho, Sutton Foster,
Yolanda Adams, Scott Hamilton and the cast of Broadways
ON YOUR FEET! The Musical. Following the concert, the
reworks display begins at 9:15 p.m. Both the show and
reworks display are free and open to the public. Get a less
crowded sneak peek of the concert by attending the full
dress rehearsal on Sunday, July 3 at 8 p.m. Gates open at
3 p.m. and its recommended to arrive by 6 p.m. For more
details, visit pbs.org/a-capitol-fourth/concert.
National Independence Day Parade begins Monday at
11:45 a.m. and on Constitution Avenue between 7th and
17th streets. Expect to see fe and drum corps, military
servicemen and women, elaborate oats and VIPs. For more
information, visit july4thparade.com
The D.C. Eagle (3701 Benning Rd. N.E.) hosts a 3rd Floor
Balcony Bash & Block Party Monday. There will be a BBQ
& Balcony Keg Tent from 6-9 p.m. DJ Kudjo Onyx starts
spinning on the roof balcony at 6 p.m. Happy Hour is from
5-8 p.m. For details, visit dceagle.com.
Nellies Sports Bar (900 U St N.W.) puts on a Special 4th of
July Drag Brunch Monday morning from 10:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Shi-Queeta Lee and her Divas will serve up interpretations
of Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, Dolly Parton, Liza
Minnelli and more. Enjoy an all-you-can-eat buet. Your rst
Mimosa or Zing Zang Bloody Mary is included with a $36.83
ticket. For more information, visit nelliessportsbar.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

FI L M

J U L Y 01, 2016 27

Keep your promise to protect each other.

PHOTO FROM JUNE MURLEY; COURTESY OF WITNESS FILMS, LLC

The late KITTY GENOVESE whose short life and death are shrouded in urban legend and lore.

New gay-themed docs

explore murder, fetish
By BRIAN T. CARNEY
Two excellent but very dierent
documentaries about LGBT mysteries
premiere this weekend.
The Witness takes a second look at
the famous murder of Kitty Genovese in
1964. According to the New York Times,
Genovese was a single woman murdered
on the street outside her Queens
apartment, screaming for help while 38 of
her neighbors looked on and did nothing.
The story shocked the nation, leading to the
creation of the 911 emergency system and
inspiring countless studies of Bystander
Apathy. It even served as the model for
episodes of HBOs Girls and NBCs Law
and Order earlier this season.
Unfortunately, a follow-up report by
the Times on the 40th anniversary of the
crime revealed that the original report
got the story entirely wrong. There were
not 38 silent witnesses and some of
Genoveses neighbors did indeed come
to her aid. And Genovese was not single.
She was living with her girlfriend, Mary
Ann Zielonko, who was ostracized by the
Genovese family after Kittys death.
These revelations led her younger
brother Bill to begin his own investigation
into his sisters life. It also led him to
journalist and screenwriter James
Solomon who was working on his own
project about the Genovese murder. The
two decided to collaborate and Solomon
followed Bill as he reclaimed her life
from her infamous death.
First-time director Solomon says the
movie is a deeply personal perspective
on a very public crime. It follows Bill as he
unwraps multiple mysteries about what
happened that night, about who his sister
really was, about her murderer Winston
Moseley and about the media coverage
that got it all wrong. For example, Bill, 16
at the time of the murder, had no idea that
his sister was a lesbian, and while Mary Ann
frequently visited the family with Kitty, it is
not clear how many family members were
aware of the nature of their relationship.

Wills & Trusts

Powers of Attorney Living Wills
Partnership & Prenuptial Agreements

The Witness, now playing at the

Angelika Pop-Up at Union Market, is a
powerful look at a brothers struggle to
discover the truth about his sisters death
and the ongoing erasure of queer lives in
the mainstream media.
Tickled, directed by David Farrier
and Dylan Reeve, starts out on a much
lighter note. Farrier, a New Zealand
journalist who specializes in weird, pop
culture stories, as he put it, discovered
a phenomenon online called competitive
endurance tickling. A mysterious website
hosted by Jane OBrien Media paid athletic
young men a lot of money to travel to Los
Angeles and participate in matches where
they restrained and tickled each other.
What Farrier thought would be a quick
two-minute story about an unusual fetish
soon spiraled into a urry of threats and
lawsuits. His requests for an interview
Some think I should dress more like
with Jane OBrien Media were met with
a woman. Some think I should dress
a nasty homophobic response. They
more like a man.
refused to meet with a gay journalist,
even though Farrier is bisexual. (He came
out during the successful 2013 campaign
for marriage equality in New Zealand.)
Like any good journalist, Farrier decided
to follow the story down the rabbit
hole, despite the personal insults and
threatened lawsuits. With his trademark
humor and determination, he and
Reeve traveled across America, visiting
the studios where the very homoerotic
videos are lmed and tracking down the
ADVERTISING
mysterious and litigious man behind the
tickling empire. Farrier
even
agrees
to
be
PROOF #1
ISSUE DATE: 10.26.12
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Please treat me the same way any
tied down and tickled himself to gain the
want
REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions mustperson
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of treated:
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the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week
of publication.Brown
naffand
pitts respect.
with
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omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is
Tickled, which premiered
at the
responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users
REDESIGN
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will not violate
any criminal
laws or identity and
Discrimination
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TEXT
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Sundance Film Festival, earns
high
praise
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
expression
is
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in
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of Columbia.
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competition,
defamation,
invasion
of
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or
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of
celebrity,
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Docs where the lm had its East Coast
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discrimination,
visit www.ohr.dc.gov
Premiere last month. Its a great lm-and warranties.
or call (202) 727-4559.
entertaining and very complex at the same
time, he says. You dont know where its
going. You start with this lm that sounds
so quirky but it becomes this well-made
GLBT
AFFAIRS
investigative journalism documentary that
just digs deeper and deeper and deeper
into this bizarre world.
Tickled opens today at the Landmark
Show your support! Spread word of the #TransRespect
campaign by photographing this ad and sharing on Twitter.
Atlantic Plumbing Cinema. And o the
record, Farrier admits he is very ticklish.

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

www.PartnerPlanning.com

Serving the LGBT Community

in DC/MD/VA since 1983

Lawrence S. Jacobs/McMillan Metro, PC

I may not fit some

ideas about gender,
and I am a proud
part of DC.

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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

2 8 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

A RT S & CU LT U RE

This Week in the Arts provided by CultureCapital.com

Patti LaBelle
Thru Jul 1. Strathmore.
strathmore.org.

Savor the grace, artistry, and remarkable voice that propelled her from The
BlueBelles to LaBelle to international pop stardom and hits like On My Own
and If You Ask Me To. Singer, author, actress, starthere is nothing this living
icon cant do.

Kinky Boots
Thru Jul 10. The Kennedy Center.
kennedy-center.org.

Its Broadways huge-hearted, high-heeled hit! With songs by Grammy- and

Tony-winning pop icon Cyndi Lauper, this Tony-winning musical celebration
is about the friendships we discover, and the belief that you can change the
world when you change your mind.

Evita
Thru Jul 24. Olney Theatre.
olneytheatre.org.

The legendary Tony Award-winning musical Evita tells the story of

Argentinas passionate political gure Eva Pern, whose love for her countrys
descamisados (the shirtless ones) was surpassed only by her naked ambition.

July 4th Celebrations

Jul 4. Locations throughout Metro DC
CultureCapital.com.

Get the schedule for Monday, July 4thconcerts, parades, reworks and
celebratory events at CultureCapital.com, Your Link to the Arts in Metro DC.
PHOTO COURTESY OF STRATHMORE

THEATRE
The Bridges of Madison County.
Thru Jul 17. The Second Citys Almost
Accurate Guide to America. Thru Jul
31. The Kennedy Center.
kennedy-center.org.
District Merchants. Thru Jul 3. Folger
Theatre. folger.edu.
La Cage aux Folles. Thru Jul 10.
Signature Theatre.
signature-theatre.org.
Hand To God. Jul 7-Aug 7. Studio
Theatre. studiotheatre.org.
Another Way Home. Thru Jul 17.
Theater J. EDCJCC. theaterj.org.
Next to Normal. Thru Jul 10. Keegan
Theatre. keegantheatre.com.

Source Festival. Thru Jul 3. Three Fulllength plays, evenings full of 10-minute
plays and Artistic Blind Dates.
CulturalDC. Source Theatre.
culturaldc.org.
The Good Devil. Thru Jul 17. WSC
Avant Bard. Gunston II.
wscavantbard.org.
Playback In The District! Thru Oct
26. HBC Playback Theatre. The Den.
thehbctheater.com.
Capital Fringe Festival: Kick Before
You Drown. Jul 7-Jul 14. Atlas. DEATH
BE NOT LOUD! Jul 7-Jul 16. MLK Jr.
Memorial Library. Aint That Rich.
Jul 7-Jul 16. MLK Jr. Memorial Library.
...and a Ghost Grrl. Jul 7-Jul 17.
Trinidad Theatre. The Immaculate Big

Bang. Jul 7-Jul 17. Caos on F.

See CultureCapital.com for
complete Fringe schedule.

Four Justices. Thru Oct 16. npg.si.edu.

MUSIC

The Art League Gallery. Alex Tolstoy.

Thru Jul 3. Tabletop. Thru Jul 3. Not a
Box. Jul 5-Jul 31. theartleague.org.
District Architecture Center. Built to
Scale. Thru Aug 27. aiadac.com.
gallery Neptune & Brown. Ladies
First. Thru Jul 16. neptuneneart.com.
Arts Club of Washington. Members
Summer Exhibition. Thru Jul 29.
artsclubofwashington.org.
Foundry Gallery. Take It Outside. Jul
6-Jul 31. foundrygallery.org.
ISAAG. Sketching: A Way
of Seeing. Thru Jul 11.
idbstaassociationartgallery.org.
Glen Echo Park. Explorations. Thru
Jul 17. Synesthetica. Thru Jul 17.
glenechopark.org.
Torpedo Factory. Anne Smith. Thru
Jul 1. Please Touch. Thru Jul 17.
torpedofactory.org.
VisArts at Rockville. Brad Blair. Thru
Jul 10. visartsatrockville.org.
WPA. EnterState: Sensing the Natural
World. Thru Jul 9. wpadc.org.
Zenith Sculpture Space. Movers and
Shakers. Thru Oct 2. zenithgallery.com.
DCAC. Panaceas Box. Thru Jul 10.
dcartscenter.org.
Flashpoint Gallery. Anne Bouie. Thru
Jul 9. culturaldc.org.
Brentwood Arts Exchange. Je
Herrity. Thru Aug 20. Jackie Brown and
Carol Barsha. Thru Aug 20.
pgparks.com.
Gallery Underground. Suite
Inspirations. Thru Jul 29.
arlingtonartistsalliance.org.
Montpelier Arts Center. Spatial
Interpretation. Thru Jul 31. Kevin
Rohde. Thru Jul 31. arts.pgparks.com.

Ambrosia. Jul 6. AMP.

ampbystrathmore.com.
Free Summer Outdoor Concert:
Tuelo. Jul 6. Strathmore.
strathmore.org.
DC Legendary Musicians. Jul 2.
National Archives.
archivesfoundation.org.
PanLara Youth Steel Orchestra
Performance. Jul 1. #ArchivesJuly4
Transcribe-a-thon. Jul 1. National
Archives. archivesfoundation.org.
A Capitol Fourth Concert Rehearsal.
Jul 3. West Lawn US Capitol.
NSO: America the Beautiful. Jul 1.
Wolf Trap. wolftrap.org.
Jazz in the Garden: Speakers of the
House. Jul 1. National Gallery of Art.
nga.gov.
Art on 8th: Ernesto Gato Gatell y
su Banda. Jul 2. Duende Quartet. Jul
7. Dance Place. Arts Plaza at Monroe
Street Market. danceplace.org.
Eagles tribute band- Free Concert.
Jul 3. The Alden. McLean Central Park.
mcleancenter.org.
Mary Chapin Carpenter with The
Milk Carton Kids. Jul 2. Bob Dylan
with Mavis Staples. Jul 5-Jul 6. Pat
Benatar & Neil Giraldo and Melissa
Etheridge. Jul 7. Wolf Trap.
wolftrap.org.
The Rock & Roll Relics. Jul 7. Glen
Echo Park. glenechopark.org.
By & By Bluegrass. Jul 1. Mary Ann
Redmond. Jul 2. The Sweater Set. Jul
3. Arlington Cultural Aairs. Lubber
Run. arlingtonarts.org.

MUSEUMS
Folger Shakespeare Library.
Americas Shakespeare. Thru Jul 24.
folger.edu.
National Archives. Amending
America. Thru Sep 4.
archivesfoundation.org.
National Gallery of Art. In
Celebration of Paul Mellon. Thru Sep
18. Hubert Robert. Thru Oct 2. nga.gov.
National Museum of Women in the
Arts. She Who Tells a Story. Thru Jul
31. Alison Saar In Print. Thru Oct 2.
nmwa.org.
Smithsonian Anacostia Museum.
Twelve Years That Shook And Shaped
Washington. Thru Oct 23.
anacostia.si.edu.
National Geographic. THE GREEKS.
Thru Oct 10. nglive.org.
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian. Eye Pop. Thru Jul 10. The

GALLERIES

AND MORE
First Fridays with ACAS (Adinkra
Cultural Arts Studio). Jul 1. PGAAMCC.
pgaamcc.org.
Artist Demonstrations. Jul 2. Torpdeo
Factory. torpedofactory.org.
Film: Her Sisters Secret. Jul 2. Film:
The Big Broadcast preceded by Me
and the Boys. Jul 2. National Gallery of
Art. nga.gov.
Capital Fringe Festival: GLACIER:
A Climate Change Ballet. Jul 7-Jul
17. Capital Fringe Festival. Atlas.
capitalfringe.org.
Falls Church July 4th Celebration &
Fireworks. Jul 4. George Mason HS.
Gaithersburg 4th of July Celebration
& Fireworks. Jul 4. Bohrer Park at
Summit Hall Farm.
Sylvan Theater Stage Concert. Jul 4.
National Sylvan Theater.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

M US I C

J U L Y 01, 2016 29

Commitment is something
we prove everyday.

PHOTO BY MOMENTO MORI; COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA

The Cure in a show in Singapore in 2007.

Marathon three-hour
Merriweather set packs
hits, deep cuts
By CHRIS GERARD
Last Wednesday, June 22, British
alternative-rock titans the Cure brought
its rst extensive tour of America in nearly
a decade to Merriweather Post Pavilion.
A sea of people packed the venue on a
beautiful summer night to see one of the
most enduring and inuential bands of
the last 40 years.
It was clear from the beginning that
the Cure has lost none of its considerable
power, as members started the show
with the ery rocker Open from their
1992 album Wish.
Robert Smith looked and sounded
much like he always has. He walked out on
stage in his usual disheveled black frock,
dark spiderweb hair and mussed red
lipstick. Smith is now 57, but his distinct
swampwater voice is as powerful as ever.
Over the course of 32 songs, he switched
back and forth between acoustic and
electric guitar, keeping the between-song
banter to a minimum (and most of the
time his thickly accented mumbles were
inaudible anyway). Bassist Simon Gallup,
who has been alongside Smith since
almost the beginning, stalked around
the stage with restlessly intensity, while
guitarist Reeves Gabrels, keyboardist
Roger ODonnell and drummer Jason
Cooper formed a tightly wound and
explosive musical unit. One might argue
that Simon Gallups bass was too high in
the mix and Roger ODonnells keyboard
was a bit too low, but that would be a
minor quibble. By and large the Cure
sounded fantastic.
The band eortlessly switched from
brooding rockers to somber emotional
pieces to ebullient pop, the schizophrenic
combination for which the Cure is so
famous. The crowd was incredibly
enthusiastic as the band traipsed through
its enormous catalog, pulling out big hits,
deep album cuts and a few obscurities
for the die-hards. Pictures of You was
an early highlight, with the spine-tingling
swirls of keyboard and guitar backing
Smiths bittersweet memories of a love

he let slip through his ngers. Big hits like

Just Like Heaven, The Walk, In Between
Days and Lovesong had the large
and surprisingly diverse crowd singing
along to every word. The rarely played
US
Bananashbones was a treat, as was All
ALLTH
C
I Want, a hard-edged deep cut the band
WI EGAL
R L RS!
dusted o from 1987s Kiss Me, Kiss Me,
U
YO ATTE
Kiss Me. The behemoth of the main set
M
was the seven-minute epic From the Edge
of the Deep Green Sea, which featured
blistering guitar work by Gabrels.
The band played four encores,
beginning with the throbbing bassheavy Sinking from 1986s The Head
OVER 50 yEaRs Of sERVing DElawaRE!
on the Door. An incendiary take on
Shake Dog Shake was followed by the
1994 soundtrack hit Burn from The
Crow, and then their old warhorse A
Forest, a classic from 1980s Seventeen
Seconds. As the night wound toward its
conclusion, the band amped the crowd to
a fever pitch as they rampaged through a
series of hits including Lullaby, Wrong
Number, Fascination Street, Lets Go
to Bed and Close to Me.
By the time of Why Cant I Be You?, a
clearly winded Robert Smith gamely tried
to hit the songs very high notes without
much success, but it hardly mattered
the crowd did a wonderful job lling
in for him, singing every word with
blissful euphoria. The show closed with
Boys Dont Cry, a 1979 single that was
never a hit on either side of the Atlantic
but somehow 37 years later a packed
amphitheater in suburban D.C. sang a
ADVERTISING
long to every word as if it was a worldwide
chart-topper.
PROOF #1
ISSUE DATE: 02.26.16
SALES REPRESENTATIVE: BROOKE JORDAN (bjordan@washblade.com)
At the end of the epic three-hour show
REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of
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Merriweather was still full. After the band
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REVISIONS
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waved their goodbyes to REDESIGN
thunderous
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 alone
REVISIONS
any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any
applause, Robert Smith stood
in
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,
the spotlight on the stage,
basking
in
or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the
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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 cont
the crowds love and appreciation. He
liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred
washington blade newspaper. This includes but is n
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.
paused momentarily in front of each
section as the entire place stood and
cheered, arms in the air clapping wildly. It
was an amazing moment. Smith seemed
like he didnt want to leave the stage, he
was so obviously touched and moved.
Eventually he shambled o, looking over
his shoulder one last time at the stillstanding, still enthusiastically cheering
crowd, and it was nally over just as the
clock was hitting 11 p.m.

302-227-1400

www.schmittrod.com

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 0 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

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
FlashPoint (916 G St. N.W.) will host
Get Used To It! A Musical Revue at 8
p.m. tonight and Saturday. Composer and
lyricist Tom WIlson Weinberg addresses
the struggles the LGBT community faces
in seeking freedom, equality and love.
Tickets are $35. For more information,
visit Rainbowtheaterproject.org.
The National Gallery of Art (6th &
Constitution Ave NW) hosts Jazz in the
Garden tonight from 5-8:30 p.m. in its
sculpture garden. Speakers of the House,
a mashup of popular D.C. bands All Mighty
Senators and the Junkyard Saints will
perform old school funk, boogaloo and
rock. For more information visit nga.gov.
La Cage aux Folles will close out its
season at the Signature Theatre (4200
Campbell Ave., Arlington) with Pride
Night, which includes a post-show
reception after the 8 p.m. performance.
Tickets range from $40-96. For more
information, visit sigtheatre.org.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture
(1400 Independence Ave. N.W.) holds
a Nighttime Farmers Market every
Friday through September from 4-7p.m.
Vendors include farmers, food trucks,
bakers, and specialty producers selling
jellies, pickled foods, fresh juices, soaps
and more. All vendors are either growing
their own product or sourcing ingredients
from farms, mostly within the Chesapeake
Bay region. For more information, visit
usda.gov/farmersmarket.
Target Gallery at the Torpedo Factory
(105 North Union Street, Alexandria)
presents Please Touch, an interactive
exhibit where visitors are encouraged
to feel, brush, share, lick and even dine
upon the presented works in order
to understand them. The exhibit runs
until July 17. For more information, visit
torpedofactory.org.

SATURDAY, JULY 2
The African American Festival
takes over Camden Yards (1101 Russell
Street, Baltimore) today from noon-10
p.m. and Sunday from noon-9 p.m. This
event celebrates life, music and culture
with celebrity artists and entertainers,
childrens
activities,
arts,
history,
education, nancial literacy, health and
wellness and more. For more information,
visit africanamericanfestival.net.
The immersive ICEBERGS installation
held inside the National Building Museums
Great Hall (401 F St., N.W.) opens to the
public today at 10 a.m. Visitors can get a
glimpse of what its like under the oceans
20-foot waterline from the ground oor or
see it from above the waterline on the third

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL BUILDING MUSEUM

Tired of the summer heat yet? Get cool with Icebergs at the National Building Museums Great Hall.

balcony. The exhibit was designed by James

Corner Field Operations, the same rm that
developed New Yorks High Line, and is
built from reusable construction materials.
The exhibit runs through Sept. 5. For tickets
and more information, visit nbm.org.

allowed for the holiday. No athletic wear,

hoodies, T-shirts, tank tops, sneakers,
baseball caps or snapbacks. Tickets start
at $20 and are nonrefundable. For ages
21 and older only. For table reservations,
contact Info@jbcevents.com.

SUNDAY, JULY 3

MONDAY, JULY 4

Perrys (1811 Columbia Rd., N.W.) hosts

its weekly Sunday Drag Brunch today
from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The cost is $24.95
for an all-you-can-eat buet. For more
details, visit perrysadamsmorgan.com.
The Liaison Hotel (415 New Jersey Ave.
N.W.) hosts a Sip and Dip Pool Party at its
rooftop pool and bar today from 1-7 p.m.
The event is rain or shine with no refunds.
For ages 21 and older only. Tickets start at
$20. For more information, email Info@
sipanddipdc.com.
Eat Green DC! hosts Green Grazing
Sunday! At Serendipity Bar & Lounge
(3301 12th St., N.E.) today from 2-8 p.m.
There will be cannabis edible tasting,
music, art and a DJ spinning Old School
R&B, Hip-Hop, & Reggae. For ages 21 and
older only. Tickets are $10. It is strongly
encouraged that tickets are purchased
online and attendees use CASH/Venmo
apps. For more information, contact Kia
Jackson at kiawomman@yahoo.com.
Town Danceboutique (2009 8th St N.W.)
says goodbye to its WTF nights after
seven years of weird. For the nal event,
there will be performances by BaNaka,
Pu$$y Noir, JaxKnife and Salvadora
Dali with music by Ed Bailey and Aaron
Riggins. Doors open at 10 p.m. For more
information, visit towndc.com.
JBC events hosts its fourth annual
White Party tonight at SAX (734 11th
St. N.W.). Music will be spun by DJ RI5E
and DJ Pouria. Red and blue will also be

American Ice Company (917 V St. N.W.)

hosts its fth annual Crab Crack today
from 1-8 p.m. First come, rst served. For
more information, call 202-758-3562.
Project Anity and Hungervan will
be preparing brown bag meals for
100 individuals in the D.C. homeless
community today at 6:15 in the Salvation
Army Harbor Light Center (2100 New
York Ave. N.E.). The bags will consist of
sandwiches, salad and fruit. Volunteers
will be handing out bottles of water, coee
and/or tea. Volunteers are needed to help
prepare and distribute the meals at seven
dierent locations in D.C. starting with
6th & Constitution. For more information,
email info@projectanity.org.

TUESDAY, JULY 5
The D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W. #105)
hosts a FUK!T Packing Party on the rst
Tuesday of the month. Help put together
safer sex kits to be distributed at LGBT
spaces in D.C., including Town, JRs, Green
Lantern, and the D.C. Center. Enjoy happy
hour specials, meet new people, and nd
out more about the HIV Working Group and
the FUK!T campaign. For more information,
contact brant@thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, JULY 6
The Tom Davoren Social Bridge
Club meets tonight at the Dignity Center

(721 8th St., S.E.) for Social Bridge at

7:30 pm. No partner needed. For more
information, call 301-345-1571.
Bookmen D.C., an informal mens gayliterature group, discusses Gay Artists in
Modern American Culture, by Michael S.
Sherry, at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Cleveland
Park Library (3310 Connecticut Ave., N.W.).
All are welcome. For more information,
visit www.bookmendc.blogspot.com.
The Golden Crown Literary Society
holds its 12th annual conference today
through July 10 at the Hilton Alexandria
Mark Center (5000 Seminary Rd.,
Alexandria, Va.). The conference gives
readers, authors, aspiring writers, editors,
publishers, and media the opportunity to
learn about and meet colleagues as they
explore lesbian literature. Membership
in the society is not required to attend. For
more information, visit goldencrown.org.

THURSDAY, JULY 7
As part of Capital Fringe Festival,
The DOMA Diaries will be put on at
the Mead Theatre Lab (916 G Street N.W.)
tonight at 6:30 p.m. Three LGBT couples
ght against the Defense of Marriage
Acts oppression in this look at modern
American history. The show runs through
July 23rd. Tickets are $17. For more
information, visit capitalfringe.org.
The Jazz and Cultural Society (2813 12th
Street N.E.) hosts Cecily: A Celebration
of Womanhood tonight at 7:30 p.m.
In celebration of Vernard Grays 75th
birthday and in dedication to his mother,
Cecily will honor powerful women with
music, showing how they love and lead.
Tickets are $30 and include a Herbed
Roasted Chicken or Kickin Southern Fried
Whiting dinner. For more information,
visit cecilymusic.com.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

S P O RTI N I N D. C.

J U L Y 01, 2016 31

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Lambda Divers relaunch

gay scuba group
By KEVIN MAJOROS
After being formed in 1989 by David
Bress, Lambda Divers enjoyed a long
period of success promoting recreational
scuba diving to the LGBT community in
the D.C. area.
Over the years, their participation at
the international Diving for Life event
has raised more than $200,000 for local
LGBT charities with a focus on HIV/AIDS
prevention.
That all ended in 2014 when everyone
involved in the organization found
themselves at a crossroads in terms of
their interests and direction.
Toward the end of last year, they
reconvened and conducted a survey as to
what the members wanted to accomplish
going forward. They found there was
enough interest to relaunch the group.
In January of this year, a new board
was formed and the divers rejoined
Team D.C. Their rst focus was to kicko a membership drive with their rst
two big pushes at Team D.C. SportsFest
and Capital Pride. The Pride Festival
resulted in 68 new email addresses from
interested parties.
Their next course of action was to
partner with Blue Planet Scuba to launch
their Discover Scuba Splash Party at
Gallaudet University followed by a happy
hour at H Street Country Club.

We had instructors working poolside to

introduce people to the experience of scuba
diving, says Vice President Ross Yerger. Its
important to show them what they need to
be comfortable under the water.
The group is planning more Discover
Scuba events and happy hours to
continue the push for new members.
They were expecting to sponsor their rst
dive in 2017 but that changed when they
were approached by David Bress, one of
the original founders of Lambda Divers.
David has completed 998 dives,
Yerger says, and he wanted Diving for
Life to be his 1,000th dive.
In the diving community, multiple clubs
sponsor the same trip to obtain group rates
and defray costs. The local divers have
attached themselves to two international
events coming up later this year.
Yerger, who works as a federal agent
in D.C., received his diving certication
right after graduating from Penn State
University. After several years of not diving,
he rediscovered his love for scuba diving on
a trip to Puerto Rico. He met the Lambda
Divers through a friend in 2009 and is
looking forward to the future of the club.
The happy hours we are going to host
in between the diving trips helps to keep
people engaged, Yerger says. We are
going to target quieter settings for the gettogethers so people have a better chance
to talk and share photos from prior trips.
They have trips planned to Bonaire
(Sept. 10-17), Lake Phoenix (Aug. 19-21),
the Phillipines (Nov. 5-12) and to Cozumel,
Mexico in 2017.

Reese Witherspoon
on Etiquette:
It really bothers me when
people dont use coasters.
Particularly on my table.
VALERIE M. BLAKE, Associate Broker, GRI

Dupont Circle Office 202.243.7700 (o) 202.246.8602 (c)

Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com www.DCHomeQuest.com

SUMMER IN REHOBOTH?
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PROOF #

ISSUE DATE: 06.10.16

SALES REPRESENTATIVE: JERYL PARADE (jparade@washbl

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

3 2 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

P H O T O S BY MI CH A E L KE Y

The Frederick Center produced the fth annual Frederick Pride festival at Carroll Creek Linear Park in Frederick, Md., on Saturday, June 25.

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

A D V I CE

Walking on eggshells kills

relationship intimacy

MICHAEL RADKOWSKY, Psy.D. is a licensed

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

MICHAEL,
How much hooking up is too much?
My boyfriend and I have an open
relationship so its been OK with me
that George is meeting other guys. I play
around as well.
But George is spending too much time
on this. Hes on hookup apps about as
often as I check my email and Im sure hes
having sex with new guys almost every day.
I tried bringing up my concern with him
but he got angry at me for judging him and
said that if this isnt aecting our sex life, I
have no business telling him what to do.
Point taken. We do have good and
frequent sex. But I often feel like Im
second ddle to whomever he was just
screwing or is about to screw. It seems
like his mind is elsewhere.
Another problem is that George says he
hates his job, wants a new one, but never
seems to nd the time to get his resume
together and look for something better.
Id like to tell him to use some of the
time he spends on the prowl to work
on improving his career. I did bring this
up but he got furious about my wanting
to take away one of the big sources of
joy in his life and called me anti-gay for
questioning his right to hook up. Which I
wasnt and which Im not.
So now I dont say anything. But
lately I am resentful whenever I hear
him complain about work and Im tense
whenever I see him cruising online.
How do I stop getting angry?
MICHAEL REPLIES:
Is George hooking up too much? While
you may think so, its a matter of opinion
and he may not agree with you.
Most of us are powerfully drawn to sex.

J U L Y 01, 2016 33

Were wired for this. Sex can help us feel

attractive, connected, powerful, calm and
alive. So when sex is readily available, more
true than ever for gay men, it can be hard to
turn down and almost irresistible to pursue.
The problem is, its easy for us to
become like those rats in a cage, swiping
the bar for a nonstop supply of sugar
water, oblivious to anything else. Thats
how we stop putting our life force into
relationships,
friendships,
careers,
hobbies and everything else that can
make up a satisfying existence.
But if George wants to spend his time
pursuing hookups, thats his choice to
make and his life to live as he wants.
You cant change him or tell him what his
priorities should be.
What you can do is decide if you
want to be with someone who by your
report is focused elsewhere sexually
and complains about his life while doing
nothing to change it.
Do your reasons for wanting to be
with George outweigh your anger and
annoyance? If you stay with George, are
you willing to accept his high-frequency
hookups and let go of your anger?
Remaining angry about something you
cant change will keep your relationship
bitter and hostile. So if youre willing to
stay, you have to make your peace with
George as he is.
If you decide to stay, stop letting your
fear of Georges anger interfere with your
speaking up about whats important for
you to say. Talk with George about what
youd like in this relationship and how
his disconnection gets in the way of you
two being close. And tell him how his job
whining, coupled with his lack of action,
impacts your respect for him.
This isnt about you telling George what
you think he should do. Its about you
letting him know the sort of life you want
to have with him and how his behavior
aects you. Talking to him about all this
is the denition of intimacy: letting him
know you well.
You may get a reaction from George that
you dont like, but you may get a positive
response. You cant know that in advance.
But in any case, relationships are not about
coddling your partner or staying silent
because he accuses you of victimizing him
when you speak your mind.
When you walk on eggshells, youre
going to have a tentative, fragile, tense
relationship. Do you want to continue
down that path?

3 4 J ULY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

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WA SH I N GTO NB LADE.C OM

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 3 5

REALESTATE

Will Brexit impact D.C. real estate?

Mortgage rates likely to fall
to historic lows
By TIM SAVOY
The United Kingdom last week voted to
leave the European Union after a national
referendum. As most of us woke up in the
D.C. area on Friday, many were shocked
at the result, which many viewed to be
a guarantee that the United Kingdom
would remain in the EU.
Now that the votes have been counted,
there remain many mysteries and questions as to how the decision of the Brits
will affect the markets across the pond as
well as the entire world economy. How
will the U.S. dollar be affected by the
Brexit vote? How will the U.S. economy
and real estate market be impacted by
this decision?
One thing remains certain: Homeownership remains one of the strongest ways
to hold wealth in the D.C. area.
Immediately following the announcement of Brexit, the pound, seen as one
of the strongest international currencies,
fell to its lowest exchange rate to the dollar in decades. This devaluation of the
pound compared to the dollar at first
glance makes future travel to the UK appear more appealing. But, how does this
affect our market?
Home loans are about to be cheaper
as the aftermath of Brexit unfolds. Speaking to interest rates, mortgage rates will
continue to fall after the Brexit decision;

though, rates have already been extremely low to begin with. With the fall
of the pound, many investors moved
their money from investment in the UK
to a safer market, such as the U.S. As this
money has poured into the U.S. market,
we generally expect that Treasury rates
will fall. With this, mortgage rates will also
decline to historic lows.
Prior to the Brexit vote, homes in the
area were considered at an all-time high
and inventory very low. As to immediate
aftershocks of the Brexit vote, nearly every international stock market felt losses
in the opening trading on Monday following the vote. Even with the Brexit vote,
the Washington-area housing market is
seen as one of the strongest in the country. Sellers who are thinking of entering
the market shouldnt plan to see a huge
change in sales prices since the areas inventory is already so low.
However, because the international
economy is showing declines overall,
consumer confidence in entering the
market may waiver. Even with lower
mortgage rates, first-time homeowners
and those thinking of entering the market may be dismayed and wait out to
enter the market until the full effect of
Brexit has taken place. Because of this,
there may be an impact on the days a
home is for sale on the market before
going under contract.
As to current homeowners who do
not wish to sell, many believe in the immediate aftermath of Brexit that one of

British voters have elected to leave the European Union, sending world markets plunging.

the greatest markets that will succeed will

be in home refinance, allowing current
homeowners to achieve historic low rates
through their refinance.
For investors and potential buyers
that hold a lot of their wealth portfolio in
stocks, their 401k, and who were interested in entering the market borrowing
against this investment, Brexit may have
weakened their buying power. The investor population that leans heavy toward
investment holdings in the stock market
tends to purchase within the luxury real
estate market. Thus, one market that
may be hardest hit with Brexit could be
the high-end condominium and fee-simple market (generally considered at price

points of $1.2 million plus in the D.C.

area).
The Brexit decision has been a shakeup
for the global economy. The decision may
not have been expected, but the entire
world is now seeing ripples from the decision of just one nation. The real estate
market in the United States has the opportunity to capitalize on lower rates if
buyers can remain confident in the value
of homeownership.

Tim Savoy (@SavoyRealEstate) is a real estate

agent with Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage Dupont/Logan. Reach him at 202-400-0534
or timothy.savoy@cbmove.com.

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J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 3 7

CAT CARE & DOG Walking Chucks

Whisker Watchers. Offer cat feeding
& mid day dog walking for Shaw and
Logan Circle. If you live in Dupont, call
and we can discuss options. Multiple
years of cat experience and dog
ownership. Please visit my web site:
www.chuckswhiskerwatchers.com.
Thanks!

PHOTOGRAPHY
STEVE OTOOLE
PHOTOGRAPHY Fine
Art Photographer for
Portraits & Weddings.
Check out my new
website - www.
steveotoolephotography.
com. Specializing in
Bears & Big men.
Steve 703-861-4422.

CLEANING

LEGAL SERVICES

FERNANDOS CLEANING:
Residential & Commercial Cleaning,
Reasonable Rates, Free Estimates,
Routine, 1-Time, Move-In/Move-Out.
(202) 234-7050, 202-486-6183.

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.

MAID TO CLEAN Gay owned,

awesome, trustworthy & reliable!
Serving the DC/VA area. Mention
this ad for $50 off. Maidtoclean.com.
(703) 299-0101.

OUR GUYS AROUND TOWN

MOVERS. Professional Moving &
Storage. Let Our Guys Do The
Heavy Lifting. Mention the Blade
for 10% off of our regular rates.
Call today 202.734.3080. www.
ourguysatmovers.com.

PAINTERS
FINESSE INTERIOR/
EXTERIOR PAINTING.
Chalkboard & Dry Erase
paint. Wood Staining.
Plaster Repairs. Pressure
Cleaning. Free Estimates.
Elmer 240-462-3760.

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ARE FREE

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RENT / VA
Furnished Condo, no
utilities, Metro nearby
$1650 Metro access,
marble bath w/Jacuzzi,
internet, cable, eatin kitchen w/modern
dinner/serving ware,
Queen bed, cell/txt 571213-1879.

SALE / VA

TREE SERVICE
BRANCHES TREE EXPERT Company.
Full service certified arborists,
pruning, insect & disease diagnosis,
treatment & removal. 301-589-6181.
www.BranchesTreeExperts.com.
Angies List Award Winner 09, 10,
11, 12.

SHARE / DC
SW DC WATERFRONT GWM ISO
same to share luxurious home.
Private Bath en Suite with guest
room. Cable, WiFi, Utilities, Maid,
Parking, W/D, DW Included. Beautiful
Garden & Outdoor areas to enjoy.
Call Bruce (202) 488-4888.

BEACHFRONT COLONIAL
BEACH VA 4BR/4BA Home
plus 2BR/1BA Guest
House. $729,900 contact
the owner 804-2244151. MLS: WE9600252.
Fantastic water views
from every room! Friendly
eclectic community.

DEADLINES

SUMMER IN REHOBOTH?
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3 8 j uly 0 1 , 2 0 1 6

HOME & DESIGN

MAGAZINE featured
home 3300 N. Vermont
St, Arlington, VA
22207. Come see this
total renovation of
a Country Club Hills
contemporary! This lightfilled home integrates
the indoors and outdoors
throughout. Starting
with the waterfalls on
the welcoming entrance
terrace, to the soaring 20
formal living room, each
major area of the home
has access either to
terraces, patios or decks.
State-of-the-art audio/
visual systems, climate
controlled wine cellar,
exercise room, designer
kitchen, oversized 3-car
garage, and so much
more. Fabulous master
suite with expansive
dressing area. Located
minutes from Capitol Hill,
Downtown, and major
transportation hubs.
Priced at $2,600,000 Steve
Klintberg, McEnearney
Associates, 703.517.1881
direct, 703.525.1900
office, SKlintberg@
McEnearney.com, 4740
Lee Highway Arlington,
VA 22207.

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

ENHANCE YOUR
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM/CLASSIFIEDS

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PLACE YOUR CLASSIFIEDS ONLINE

WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

WOMENS PERSONALS
GWF, SOFT BUTCH, attractive,
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MENS PERSONALS
RETIRED DAD for Intelligent son.
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send short bio and a face shot for
same: rmontaign@gmail.com.
ACTIVE RETIREE Interests; Art,
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male 25 to 55 approx. Muscular build
a plus! brostonjon@aol.com.

EXCEPTIONAL CUSTOM BODYWORK!

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EROTIC SWEDISH MASSAGE
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NEW HOT WHITE GUY In Town

Hot guy in town visiting. Great
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com. Cleveland Park metro.

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or Rent our dungeon. Explore
your fantasies! Surprise a BF or
FB. Awesome, clean, discrete. Fully
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(Tutorial/instruction available). 202544-5688.

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

J U LY 0 1 , 2 0 1 6 3 9

Come Celebrate Your Independence

with Us This Sunday!
Open Later for the Fourth

4 to 8pm every Saturday @ the houSe Beer $5 / door $10 35350 GeorGia ave NW
FREE TO LISTEN
AND REPLY TO ADS
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A D V E RT I S I N G
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ISSUE DATE: 07.01.16

REVISIONS
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