JUNE 22,
2018
VOLUME 49
ISSUE 25
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AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE
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WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
BARBARISM AT THE BORDER No policies in place for detained LGBT immigrant children By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on Tuesday said there is no policy in place that specifically addresses the needs of LGBT immigrant children the Trump administration has separated from their parents. Cicilline told the Washington Blade he asked Southwest Key Programs CEO Juan Sánchez if such a policy exists when he visited Casa Padre, a facility in Brownsville, Texas, in which nearly 1,500 boys are currently living. Southwest Key, which is based in Austin, Texas, operates the facility that was once a Walmart
supercenter. Cicilline told the Blade that Sánchez “indicated there were no policies in place that address the needs of LGBT youth.” “That’s all he said,” said Cicilline. “They did say they attempt to address issues raised by the kids.” The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement oversees Casa Padre and other detention facilities in which immigrant children who have been separated from their parents are being held. The agency did not respond to the Blade’s request for comment about whether it has LGBT-specific policies in place. An Immigration Equality spokesperson on Tuesday said their organization is “not aware of any policies” that specifically address “how to treat or help LGBTQ youth or minors living with HIV.” Statistics from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security
U.S. Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.) on June 17 speaks with reporters outside the McAllen Border Patrol Processing Center in McAllen, Texas. PHOTO COURTESY OF RICHARD LUCHETTE/U.S. REP. CICILLINE
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Bowser, Council members sail to victory in primary Activists prepare for prolonged battle over Initiative 77
By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com
Mayor Muriel Bowser, D.C. Congressional Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, and five members of the D.C. City Council – all strong supporters of the LGBT community – sailed to victory in the city’s Democratic primary on Tuesday. Bowser and dozens of her supporters from throughout the city, including many of her LGBT supporters, joined her at the gay nightclub Town Danceboutique, where she held her election night victory party. LGBT rights advocates pointed out that this year’s primary continued the city’s longstanding status as a place where all serious candidates for public office are supportive of LGBT equality, both incumbents
MURIEL BOWSER won an easy primary victory, all but ensuring a second term as D.C. mayor. PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
and challengers. Thus similar to past years, many LGBT voters looked toward non-LGBT issues to help them decide which candidates to support. In a development that surprised some political observers, Initiative 77, a ballot measure calling for gradually raising the minimum wage for tipped workers to $15 an hour by 2025, won approval by voters in the primary by a margin of 55.1 percent to 44.9 percent. Although LGBT activists were divided over the initiative, many of the city’s LGBT tipped workers joined their straight counterparts in expressing strong opposition to the measure, saying it would lower rather than raise their overall income and could jeopardize their jobs by creating a severe financial burden on restaurants and other businesses that employ tipped workers. With Bowser and 10 of the D.C. Council’s 13 members opposed to the initiative, CONTINUES ON PAGE 11
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LO CA L N E W S
IMANI WOODY, founder and CEO of Mary’s House, said she’s looking to raise a total of $4.4 million. WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL KEY
Mary’s House receives $1.19 million in D.C. funding D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced last week that the city has awarded $1,193,239 in funding for Mary’s House for Older Adults, a planned home for LGBT seniors to be built in a residential area in Southeast Washington. Bowser said Mary’s House was one of nine projects selected as part of a $103 million city funding allocation aimed at preserving or producing affordable housing for more than 1,700 residents, including seniors and residents experiencing homelessness. “Using every tool in our toolbox means preserving the affordable housing we already have available, building new units, and funding innovative projects that do both – that’s what these nine projects will do,” Bowser said in a statement. Imani Woody, founder and CEO of Mary’s House, said the city funding allocation of $1.19 million was a major boost to efforts by Mary’s House to raise a total of $4.4 million needed for construction and related costs for completing the Mary’s House facility. Wood has said Mary’s House will be built on a property at 401 Anacostia Road, S.E., which is the site of a single family house where she lived with her parents as a child. Plans call for replacing the existing house with a new structure that will include 15 individual suites with a common kitchen, private bathrooms, a library, and rooftop garden, among other amenities. When completed it is expected to be D.C.’s only residential facility catering to LGBT seniors. “The older you get you have to figure out whether you’re going to have to fight ageism or fight homophobia,” Imani said in discussing problems LGBT seniors often face when looking for a retirement home. “And so this house, when you put the key in the door, you’re home and you don’t have to fight anymore,” she said. “You’re at a place where everybody knows your name you don’t have to put yourself back in the closet, which would be so hard to do.” Polly Donaldson, director of the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, which approved the city funding allocation for Mary’s House, said Mary’s House and other housing projects approved for the latest round of funding each met a series of criteria indicating they are viable projects that would boost the city’s and the mayor’s goal of increasing and preserving affordable housing in the District. “This is really a way to say we can help,” Donaldson said about the funding allocation for Mary’s House. “This is a nonprofit development. Mary’s House is a nonprofit organization and we think it’s important to support some big projects and smaller projects like this one,” she said. The announcement released by the mayor on the city funding for the nine projects says “Mary’s House (Ward 7) will produce 15 units for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/same gender loving (LGBTQ/SGL) seniors.” It says the funding would come from the city’s Housing Production Trust Fund, which was created to help support affordable housing. The announcement says Mary’s House is working in partnership with Northern Real Estate Urban Ventures, LLC, a real estate development company that Woody said has been involved in the Mary’s House project since its start several years ago. Woody said the next hurdle for Mary’s House is the need to raise $200,000 for “pre-development costs.” She added, “We need 200 people to write a check for a thousand dollars.” The Mary’s House website says its plans for financing the project include a “combination of bank loans, funding from the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, and grant money from foundations and individual donors.” LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Md. school district, trans student reach settlement
The Talbot County, Md., Public Schools and attorneys representing a male transgender student reached a settlement on Monday in a 2016 lawsuit filed by the then 14-year-old student challenging his school’s refusal to allow him to use the boys locker room and bathrooms. The settlement allows Max Brennan, who’s now 16, to freely use the boys’ restrooms and locker room at St. Michaels Middle High School in Talbot County, Md. His attorneys with the ACLU and the Maryland LGBT advocacy group Free State Justice consider the settlement a major victory for transgender rights. It follows a ruling in March by a U.S. District Court judge finding that the school district’s policy banning Brennan from using the bathrooms or locker room consistent with his gender identity violated Title IX of the U.S. Education Act of 1972, which prohibits sex discrimination. “The settlement agreement is a resolution of the parties’ claims without any finding of liability,” Free State Justice said in a statement released on Monday. “However, in the agreement the defendants acknowledge the likelihood of liability in light of the Court’s Memorandum and Order dated March 12, 2018,” the statement says. It was referring to the ruling by U.S. District Court Judge George L. Russell III in March denying the school district’s motion to dismiss the case and declaring that transgender students cannot be barred from sex segregated school restrooms or locker rooms that align with their gender identity under Title IX. “Under the settlement agreement, Max will have permanent access to restrooms, locker rooms, and other facilities owned and/or operated by the Board of Education that are otherwise designated for boys or men,” Free State Justice says in its statement. “Bringing this lawsuit has been a long journey that I hope will be able to help other transgender students in the future,” Brennan said in the statement. “I couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out and I am extremely hopeful for the future,” he said. Jennifer Kent, Managing Attorney for Free State Justice, said the court ruling in March and Monday’s settlement would have a positive impact on similar transgender cases in the future. “Though today’s case is over, Max’s bravery continues to ensure that students who are transgender are protected under the law,” Kent said. “Because of Max, Maryland school districts are now on notice that subjecting students who are transgender to separate and unequal treatment is illegal, pure and simple.” Kent noted that the Talbot County Public Schools began to back down on the restrictions it initially placed on Brennan last year by allowing him to use the boys’ bathrooms but not the boys’ locker room. Then earlier this year following Judge Russell’s ruling the school district told Brennan he could also begin to use the boys’ locker room on a temporary basis while the school system continued to claim it had the authority to revoke its position. Now, Kent points out, the settlement gives Brennan and other trans students the permanent right to use the bathroom or locker room consistent with their gender identity. LOU CHIBBARO JR.
Yoga with a Cop slated for July 1 Several new events are planned in the Third District to better connect D.C. residents to the police officers assigned to protect them. Among them is a program called “Yoga with a Cop,” which is planned for Sunday, July 1 from 4:30-6 p.m. at Unity Park in Adams Morgan. Holly Meyers from Embrace Yoga Studio will serve as volunteer instructor for the event. Organizers hope the healing practice of yoga will enable officers and community residents to tear down walls between them. STAFF REPORTS
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Comings & Goings Mack takes VP role at Kennedy Center; Finzel creates D.C. media list 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 comings and goings@washblade.com. Congratulations to Jeffrey J. Mack on his new position as Vice President of Development, Individual Campaigns for the Kennedy Center. The Kennedy Center, located on the banks of the Potomac River near the Lincoln Memorial in D.C., opened to the public in September 1971. But its roots date back to 1958, when President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed bipartisan legislation creating a National Cultural Center. To honor Eisenhower’s vision for such a facility, one of the Kennedy Center’s theaters is named for him. Prior to accepting this position, Mack was Chief Development Officer and co-interim Executive Director of the JEFFREY MACK PHOTO COURTESY OF MACK Washington National Opera (WNO). Jonathan Thomas, The Kennedy Center’s manager of national and international advancement, said of Mack’s hiring, “In his tenure as WNO’s Chief Development Officer, Jeff transformed the Development operation for the Opera and has helped to create a greater sense of unity between WNO’s fundraising staff and the rest of the company. WNO has also seen tremendous fundraising growth during his tenure. In the past year, Jeff has also undertaken additional responsibility in leading WNO as he held interim executive director responsibilities.” Mack is a nonprofit fundraiser with 22 years of experience. His previous positions BEN FINZEL included Chief Development Officer for PHOTO COURTESY OF FINZEL the American Red Cross and Director of Development for the Point Foundation. He has also worked for Outfest Film Festival, the Human Rights Campaign, and the University of Wyoming. He earned his bachelor’s in political science at the University of Wyoming. Ben Finzel has announced a new D.C. LGBT communications list he has begun. He created a private list and Facebook group of DC LGBT professionals in the communications arena (e.g. PR, marketing, public affairs, publicity, branding, digital/ social, etc.). The objective of the group is to foster professional development and networking among LGBT communications professionals in D.C. The list and Facebook group are private and are not shared with anyone. The purpose of the list is professional and is limited to sharing news of job openings, new hires and events the group will host throughout the year to build connections among the D.C. LGBT communications community. The list concept is based on Atlanta Family Communicators, a listserv begun in Atlanta 15 years ago by Atlanta PR pro Jim Brams. The D.C. list is called DC Family Communicators and will be allied with the Atlanta list so that users can share information (and job leads) and help foster greater community among LGBT communications professionals. While there are other existing LGBT or communications lists in D.C., Finzel said there is not a list solely intended for D.C. LGBT communications professionals. He believes there are still many LGBT communications professionals who don’t know each other in D.C. and this will help them to network with each other. If you would like to join the list send an email to info@renewpr.com.
LO CA L N E W S
Madaleno, Beyer among LGBT candidates on Md. primary ballot President Trump’s unpopularity, Larry Hogan loom over races By MICHAEL K. LAVERS mlavers@washblade.com Several LGBT candidates who are running for statewide office in Maryland will be on the ballot in Tuesday’s primaries. State Sen. Rich Madaleno (D-Montgomery County) is among the Democrats who are running to succeed Republican Gov. Larry Hogan. A poll that Gonzales Research and Marketing Strategies conducted between June 4-10 found 25 percent of Democratic voters would vote for Prince George’s County Executive Rushern Baker. Slightly more than 22 percent of respondents said they would vote for former NAACP President Benjamin Jealous. Madaleno came in third with 9.1 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him. The poll notes Hogan has a 75 percent approval rating. It also indicates he would defeat Madaleno by a 50-36 percent margin if they were to face off against each other in the general election. Madaleno campaign spokesperson Marguerite Gallorini told the Blade the ad in which Madaleno kisses his husband, Mark Hodge, and criticizes President Trump has “engaged a lot of people” and generated $4 million in free advertising. Gallorini also said Madaleno and his running mate, Luwanda Jenkins, have a “real progressive vision based on a record of actual results thanks to our long experience as public servants.” “We are confident that the voters are realizing this,” said Gallorini. Madaleno is running against former State Department official Alec Ross; lawyer Jim Shea and Krishanti Vignarajah, who was former first lady Michelle Obama’s policy director, in the primary. Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz died of a heart attack on May 17. His running mate, former Montgomery County Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, subsequently announced she would run for governor but endorsed Baker on June 13. Madaleno could become the country’s first openly gay governor if he were to defeat Hogan. Julie Verratti, who is Ross’ running mate, would be Maryland’s first out lieutenant governor if her ticket wins in November. “There are some people who try to make my candidacy about my sexuality, but not me,” Verratti told the Blade in a statement. “I am a solid candidate because of my life and work experience. Being gay is a part of who I am, but is not the reason people want to vote for me and Alec. They see us as advocates and as accomplished business leaders who know how to bring together diverse coalitions.” State Del. Mary Washington (D-Baltimore City) is running against longtime state Sen. Joan Carter Conway (D-Baltimore City) in Senate District 43. Washington would be the first openly LGBT person of color in the Maryland Senate if she were to win in November. Gender Rights Maryland Executive Director Dana Beyer is running against state Del. Jeff Waldstreicher (D-Montgomery County) and Michelle Carhart in Senate District 18. Beyer, who unsuccessfully ran against Madaleno in the 2014 Democratic primary, would become the country’s first openly transgender state senator if she were to win her race. “I will show up and represent our neighbors and our values,” said Beyer on Wednesday. Gabriel Acevero, who is running for the Maryland House of Delegates in House District 39, would be the first openly gay man of Afro-Latino descent elected to the Maryland General Assembly if he were to win his race. Mila Johns, who is running in House District 18, would be the first openly bisexual person elected to the General Assembly. Kevin Mack, who is running in House District 15, would be the first person with HIV elected to the General Assembly. “I wasn’t going to live in shame about it,” Mack told Mark King of the blog “My Fabulous Disease” in a recent interview about his decision to publicly disclose his status. “I wasn’t supposed to be alive past 40, so this is a gift. I am here.” Other openly LGBT candidates who are on the ballot in Maryland include Montgomery County Council candidates Pete Fosselman and Evan Glass. State Dels. Bonnie Cullison (D-Montgomery County), Anne Kaiser (D-Montgomery County), Luke Clippinger (D-Baltimore City) and Maggie McIntosh (D-Baltimore City), Howard County Registrar of Wills Byron MacFarlane and Frederick County Board of Election member Liz Barrett are running for re-election.
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Brother of Parkland shooter launches anti-bullying group Foundation funded by gay-owned company By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com The younger brother of the 19-year old youth charged with killing 17 people in the Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Fla., has announced the formation of a national anti-bullying organization that he says will be supported by high school and middle school students from across the country. Zachary Cruz, 18, told reporters Attorney MARIO WILLIAMS, MIKE DONOVAN at a June 14 news conference at the AND ZACHARY CRUZ at the National Press Club last week. National Press Club in Washington WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY LOU CHIBBARO JR. that he hopes the newly launched organization, among other things, will be able to help troubled, isolated young people victimized by bullying like his brother, Nicholas Cruz, before they engage in destructive behavior that can endanger the lives of themselves and others. “I cannot stand here today and defend my brother or make excuses for him,” Zachary Cruz said. “His story is complicated, tragic and can be told elsewhere,” he said. “However, I can say very clearly today that our schools all across the country have ticking time bombs in them. Bullying leads to abuse and violence and not the least isolation,” he said. Zachary Cruz has said he believes the behavior of his brother Nicholas was shaped at least in part by bullying he suffered while in school, which Zachary Cruz believes resulted in Nicholas becoming isolated and highly troubled. “If we don’t do something to bring isolated kids out of the shadows, if we don’t do something to help those kids build relationships with each other and with adults and ways to fit it,” he told the news conference, “then we can’t be surprised when the next bomb goes off.” Cruz and Mike Donovan, president and CEO of Nexus Services, Inc., a Virginia-based immigrant oriented bail bond company that is funding the new group, said they have named the new organization, We Isolate No-One (WIN): The Zachary Cruz Foundation to End Bullying. They said the nonprofit foundation has already begun operating a 24-hour antibullying hotline staffed by trained crisis responders employed by Nexus Services who will provide emergency assistance to bullying victims in crisis as well as report bullying cases to school principals. Donovan told the news conference the trained hotline staff provides crisis counseling for Nexus’s clients from one of the company’s call centers in Harrisonburg, Va. He said it was an easy transition for them to take on the additional role in operating the antibullying hotline. He said a nonprofit law firm funded by Nexus Services, called Nexus Derechos Humanos Attorneys, Inc., will follow up on the bullying incidents identified through the hotline or through WIN student chapters formed in schools to determine whether legal action should be taken if a school fails to appropriately respond to a bullying incident. According to Donovan, he and Nexus Services would be contributing between $800,000 and $1.2 million for the startup phase of WIN. Donovan, who’s gay and founded Nexus Services with his husband, has emerged as an LGBT rights advocate in Virginia. Cruz said his main focus this summer will be to encourage students in high schools and middle schools throughout the country to get ready to form WIN chapters in their schools at the start of the new school year in late August. “We will train to spot bullying, abuse and isolation and how to intervene to head off the problem,” Cruz told reporters at the news conference. “And all of this work will be peer to peer,” he said, adding that adults and school officials will play a supportive role. “While it may seem like a lot for kids to handle, we’re the ones who see this behavior,” he said. “It can be handled by teachers, but kids know. Since we know, it’s our responsibility to make changes.” Donovan told the Washington Blade after the news conference that he and Zachary
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Cruz are aware that there are other existing organizations, including LGBT organizations, that address the issue of bullying. “We have to work collaboratively with other organizations,” he said. “The benefit of WIN is that it has a national footprint immediately,” he said, adding, “It makes a ton of sense for WIN to work hand in hand with other agencies and with other organizations.” At least three national LGBT groups – the Tyler Clementi Foundation, the Trevor Project, and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) — work in various ways on bullying matters pertaining to LGBT youth. GLSEN initiated schoolbased student organizations called Gay-Straight Alliances, known as GSA clubs that students have formed in high schools and middle schools across the country. GLSEN spokesperson Joanna Cifredo told the Blade bullying is one of many issues that GLSEN addresses in its school related programs. “Bullying is a national issue and it’s a crisis,” Cifredo said. “We welcome all organizations that want to address bullying. There’s plenty of work to go around.” Zachary Cruz surfaced in the news earlier this year when he was arrested for trespassing on the grounds of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where his brother Nicholas is charged with fatally shooting 17 students and staff members on Feb. 14. An arrest report says Zachary Cruz told Broward County, Fla., Sheriff’s deputies he skateboarded onto the school grounds because he wanted to “reflect on the school shooting and soak it in.” A short time later he pleaded no contest to the trespassing charge and was sentenced to six months’ probation. Donovan said he first met Zachary Cruz when the law firm associated with Nexus Services challenged a decision by a judge to initially hold Cruz on a $500,000 bond for the trespassing charge that ordinarily would result in release on a $25 bond. With assistance and legal advice from the Nexus attorneys, Cruz requested and was granted from a judge a transfer of his probation obligation from Florida to Virginia, where Donovan offered him a job and a place to live and the chance to start a new life. Cruz immediately impressed him, Donovan said, by expressing an interest in dealing with bullying and saying he wanted to form an organization to end bullying. “And he was very clear that he believed that peer to peer work, that putting kids in charge of building better communities in schools was critically important,” Donovan recounted. “And he convinced me. Not only did he convince me that that was the right thing to do… But he convinced me that kids want that opportunity and it is our duty to empower them.” Additional information about the Zachary Cruz WIN Foundation can be accessed at weisolatenoone.com.
John Joseph Harmon dies at 58 John Joseph Harmon died May 29 at his Arlington, Va., home at 58 from complications associated with HIV/AIDS, according to his brother, Tom Harmon. Harmon was born Jan. 9, 1960, in Brockton, Mass., to Leona E. (Martin) and Robert L. Harmon. He spent his childhood years in Whitman, Mass., and was a graduate of Whitman-Hanson Regional High School, graduating in 1978. He moved JOHN JOSEPH HARMON PHOTO COURTESY FAMILY to Richmond, Va., in 1983 and then to Northern Virginia in 1991. “He will be fondly remembered for the enthusiasm he showed towards his various hobbies, which include watching golf, cooking, collecting baseball caps and following the Green Bay Packers,” Tom Harmon said. Harmon, who was gay, is survived by sister Mary Ann and brother-in-law Robert W. Corthell III of Bridgewater, Mass., and brother Thomas L. Harmon and his partner, Dr. Jose W. Melendez of Chicago. Harmon was an uncle to Mathew R. and Ginger Corthell of Lake Forest Park, Wash., and Daniel T. and Tara Corthell of Wilbraham, Mass., Adam M. Corthell of Stoneham, Mass., and Kaitlynn R. Corthell of Northampton, Mass. He was great uncle to Teagan and Gavin Corthell of Wilbraham, Mass. He is also survived by other extended family. A memorial service and reception is slated for Saturday, June 30 at 1 p.m. at Commonwealth Baptist Church (700 Commonwealth Ave., Alexandria, Va.). Donations in Harmon’s memory may be made to any agency that supports HIV/ AIDS survivors or Friends of the NIH (friendsatnih.org), which helps patients undergoing treatment at the National Institute of Health. JOEY DiGUGLIELMO
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Gina Ortiz Jones could be LGBT face of 2018 Dem victories Texas candidate criticizes family separation as ‘a travesty’ By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com Change could come to Washington after the congressional mid-term elections in November, and the bid of Gina Ortiz Jones to represent Texas’ 23rd congressional district certainly represents that possibility. Jones, who recently emerged a victor in the Democratic primary after a run-off in May, is a lesbian first-generation FilipinoAmerican who served as an intelligence officer in the Air Force in Iraq under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” In a phone interview with the Washington Blade on Friday, Jones said her campaign is an effort “to protect the opportunities that allowed me to grow up healthy, get an education and serve my country.” “My own story: I’m a first-generation American, I was raised by a single mother, I know what it’s like to need a little bit of help,” Jones said. “Reduced lunch, subsidized housing — I know why those are important because I actually needed those investments, and those allowed me to get an education.” Jones also acknowledged her race has significance for the LGBT community. If elected, she’d be the first openly gay person elected to Congress from Texas. “I’d be honored to be the first, but it is more important that I am not the last. And that’s what this race is about,” Jones said. “It’s about protecting all the opportunities that allowed me even just to get to this place, right? So, we are overdue in terms of representation, and I think we’re seeing every single day just how quickly the progress that we fought for can be ripped away from us if we don’t stand up.” The Democratic Party seeks to raise Jones’ profile as political observers rank the race for Texas’ 23rd congressional district, a Hispanic-majority district, as a toss-up at a time when progressive energy is high amid frustration and anger with President Trump. Jones is among the women politicos set to speak Monday at the annual LGBT gala in New York City hosted by the Democratic National Committee, an event she said she’s planning to attend because “now is the time to ensure that your voice is heard.” “That is a gathering of people who know exactly about the moment of time that we’re in,” Jones said. “Many people in the room have fought so hard for our rights, for our equality. And so, that makes me able to share my own story and talk about what’s going on in Texas and what I’m looking to fight for, and certainly, on
GINA ORTIZ JONES is a lesbian candidate running for Congress in Texas. PHOTO BY ANA ISABEL PHOTOGRAPHY
behalf of the LGBT community and the opportunity that we have.” Lucas Acosta, LGBT media director for the Democratic National Committee, said Jones is the right candidate for the LGBT community facing continued hostility from the Trump administration. “In the face of sustained Republican efforts to roll back the progress we’ve made, leaders within the LGBTQ community, and LGBTQ women of color in particular, are stepping up, running for office and fighting back,” Acosta said. “Ortiz Jones will be a strong advocate not only for her constituents, but also for the LGBTQ community and for all queer women of color, who deserve a voice in Congress.” Jones had stern words for Trump, whose administration has worked to roll back LGBT rights despite his promise during the election to be a friend to LGBT people — a promise Jones said he hasn’t kept. “The answer is that he has not,” Jones said. “He’s anything but a friend. I mean, with friends like that, who needs enemies?” The anti-LGBT rollbacks in the Trump administration have included a transgender military ban the courts have blocked the Pentagon from enforcing, executive actions for “religious freedom” seen to undermine LGBT rights and exclusion of LGBT people from the enforcement of federal civil rights laws. “For this administration to deny Americans ready and willing to serve our country, willing to die for our country and this administration has made policies essentially based on nothing but bigotry to deny those people the opportunity to serve in our military,” Jones said. With the Trump administration’s separation of migrant families seeking to enter the United States as a result of its “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, Jones — who’s running in a border district – also criticized the administration on that front. “I think it’s a travesty, it’s inhumane, it’s unjust and we have to get these families united as quickly as possible,” Jones said. Asked what the policy should be for migrant families seeking to cross
the border, Jones cited problems with changes in how immigrants can seek and be considered for asylum, a backlog in judgment of those case and access of legal resources to asylees. “That’s very concerning that people who may have legitimate cases are not even being able to make the case, right?” Jones said. “That’s not the kind of country we are. So we need much greater clarity on why people are not able to make their case.” Jones’ opponent in her race is Rep. Bill Hurd (R-Texas), who was the first black Republican elected to Congress from Texas and worked for the Central Intelligence Agency between 2000 and 2009. Hurd was seated in Congress in 2015, so has only been in Congress a short time, but nonetheless has developed an anti-LGBT record. In the previous Congress, Hurd was a co-sponsor of the First Amendment Defense Act, federal “religious freedom” legislation seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination. Last year, Hurd also voted on the floor in favor of an amendment that would have barred the U.S. military from paying for transition-related care, including gender reassignment surgery, for transgender troops. Jones criticized Hurd for voting for the anti-trans amendment, citing as it as hypocrisy on the basis he claims to support national security “and then takes votes like that that undermine military readiness.” “As someone that’s served in the military and under ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’ I know that if one person on that team is not 100 percent, that unit is not 100 percent and the mission is at risk, so this is now an issue of military readiness,” Jones said. Jones also said Hurd is “certainly no friend to the LGBT community” because he hasn’t spoken out against rollbacks of LGBT rights under the Trump administration. “In these times, when you are silent as the most vulnerable in our community are targeted and their rights are stripped from them, you are silent when those you need you the most, that’s just as telling,”
Jones said. “He has not uttered one word on behalf of the LGBT community as...our rights are under threat.” If elected to Congress, Jones identified reversal of Trump’s transgender military ban as a priority in her effort to advance LGBT rights as she recalled her own time in the military having to serve under “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” “When I think of national security, I don’t just think of Iraq and Afghanistan and China, Russia, I think about the pipeline of talent in the interest of national security, and that certainly includes members of the LGBT community who are, again, ready and willing to serve,” Jones said. Also on Jones’ priority list is expanding federal non-discrimination protections to include a prohibition on discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and transgender status. “I think every single day that this administration is intent on rolling back those protections, and they want to leave it up to states to decide, but that’s not how this discussion needs to happen, right?” Jones said. “Americans deserve to have equal access to health care, equal opportunity to serve their country and equal opportunity to provide for themselves and their families.” Asked if her sexual orientation has come up as an issue during her race, Jones said her now-defeated Democratic primary opponent had accused her of “hiding being a member of the LGBT community, which could not be further from the truth.” Jones said she “actually deliberately brought it up” during her campaign. This Texas race isn’t the only one of importance to LGBT people. U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke (R-Texas) is seeking to unseat Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who has built a substantial anti-LGBT record that includes introducing a constitutional amendment against the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in favor of same-sex marriage nationwide. On whether O’Rourke would prevail in his race and defeat Cruz, Jones said she’s hopeful her fellow Democrat would prevail and defeat the anti-LGBT senator. “I certainly hope so,” Jones said. “For the good of the state, for the good of the country, Ted Cruz needs to be retired. So, I think we are all hopeful that we will have a new junior senator from Texas.” Jones also had high praise for Lupe Valdez, the lesbian former Dallas County sheriff who’s seeking to defeat Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his bid for re-election. Like Cruz, Abbott has an anti-LGBT record that includes signing anti-LGBT “religious freedom” adoption legislation, urging the Texas Supreme Court to undermine marriage equality and calling for a special session of the legislature to pass antitrans bathroom legislation. ■ CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM
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It’s unclear whether U.S. Attorney General JEFF SESSIONS will make an appearance at Pride, although that seems unlikely. PHOTO COURTESY OF GAGE SKIDMORE
Justice Dept. to host Pride event on June 26 The U.S. Department of Justice is set to host an event recognizing Pride month and LGBT employees on June 26, the Washington Blade has learned. A spokesperson confirmed to the Blade the event is set to take place on that date in the Justice Department’s Great Hall per the annual tradition for DOJ Pride, the LGBT affinity group for Justice Department employees. It’s unclear whether U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions will make an appearance, although that seems unlikely. The Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment on whether Sessions — who has been criticized for his anti-LGBT record as a U.S. senator and rollback of LGBT rights as attorney general — will attend. Whether the Pride event would take place this year was in question. The Blade had made repeated requests for weeks with the Justice Department beginning in May seeking confirmation it would continue the annual tradition. Last year, Sessions revoked Obama-era guidance instructing schools to allow transgender students to use the bathroom consistent with their gender identity. Sessions also rescinded an Obama-era memo interpreting Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit anti-trans discrimination in the workplace and issued “religious freedom” guidance seen to enable anti-LGBT discrimination. Under his leadership, the Justice Department asserted before the U.S. Supreme Court in the Masterpiece Cakeshop case a First Amendment right for bakers to refuse to serve custom-made wedding cakes to same-sex couples. The department also sent a lawyer to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals to argue Title VII doesn’t cover anti-gay discrimination. The Pride event at the Justice Department takes place as the Trump administration is under fire for a “zero-tolerance” immigration policy, which is responsible for family separation of migrants at the border. President Trump has falsely blamed the law and Democrats for the policy and called on Congress to act. In years past, the sitting U.S. attorney general has made an appearance at DOJ Pride to address the Justice Department’s LGBT employees and recognize Pride month. Former U.S. Attorneys General Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch spoke at the event, as well as the Bush administration’s Michael Mukasey. CHRIS JOHNSON
U.S. withdraws from U.N. human rights council The U.S. on Tuesday announced it has withdrawn from the U.N. Human Rights Council. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley told reporters during a press conference at the State Department that Cuba, Venezuela, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries “with unambiguous and abhorrent human rights records” are members of the council. She also accused the council of having a “chronic bias against” Israel. “America has a proud legacy as a champion of human rights, a proud legacy as the world’s largest provider of humanitarian aid, and a proud legacy of liberating oppressed people and defeating tyranny throughout the world,” said Haley. “While we do not seek to impose the American system on anyone else, we do support the rights of all people to have freedoms bestowed on them by their creator. That is why we are withdrawing from the U.N. Human Rights Council, an organization that is not worthy of its name.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also spoke to reporters. “We have no doubt that there was once a noble vision for this council,” he said. “But today, we need to be honest – the Human Rights Council is a poor defender of human rights.”
Pompeo added the council “has become an exercise in shameless hypocrisy — with many of the world’s worst human rights abuses going ignored, and some of the world’s most serious offenders sitting on the council itself.” The U.N. created the council in 2006. The U.S. joined the council in 2009 after former President Obama took office. The council over the last decade has become an increasingly vocal champion of LGBTI rights. The council in 2011 narrowly approved an LGBTI rights resolution. It adopted a resolution against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity in 2014. The council in 2016 approved the creation of the U.N.’s first-ever position to combat anti-LGBTI violence and discrimination. Cuba and Venezuela are among the countries that voted for the resolution. The Human Rights Campaign and the Council for Global Equality are among the organizations that told Pompeo in a letter they are “deeply disappointed” with the Trump administration’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the council. “This decision is counterproductive to American national security and foreign policy interests and will make it more difficult to advance human rights priorities and aid victims of abuse around the world,” they said. MICHAEL K. LAVERS
TimesUp is working Three thousand women have contacted the TimesUp Legal Defense Fund seeking help in addressing sexual harassment and abuse in the six months since its inception, says Sharyn Tejani, the organization’s executive director. Speaking at a Power Women Breakfast on June 13 in Washington, D.C., sponsored by TheWrap, Tejani also said that over 700 attorneys have joined its network. Founded on Jan. 1, 2018 by more than 300 women in Hollywood, including high-profile leaders like Reese Witherspoon, Natalie Portman and Shonda Rimes, TimesUp was created in ‘TimesUp really was created as an part to honor the #MeToo movement’s organization for empowerment for efforts to give voice to the victims gender equity in the workplace,’ said co-founder HILARY ROSEN. of sexual abuse and misconduct. Its defense fund, managed by the National PHOTO BY CREATIVE COMMONS; Women’s Law Center, is the most COURTESY OF SKDKNICKERBOCKER successful GoFundMe campaign of all time, collecting $21 million in only two months. It offers free consultation for low-income and underprivileged women from all professions seeking redress for harassment claims. The event featured a panel discussion, at which Tejani was joined by TimesUp co-founders actress Amber Tamblyn and out activist, Democratic strategist and CNN contributor Hilary Rosen. “TimesUp really was created as an organization for empowerment for gender equity in the workplace, for changing behavior in the workplace,” Rosen said. “Every single day, I pay homage to these privileged women in the entertainment industry whose gift was really to figure out how to help low wage workers.” “For me, TimesUp exists so that no woman or man ever has to say #MeToo again, that’s the fundamental soul of what we’re doing,” Tamblyn said. While the progress described by Tejani and her colleagues seems promising, a new report published on June 12 by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine indicates that the problem of sexual harassment in the workplace may require a deeper solution than is offered by holding individual perpetrators accountable for their actions. The study was authored by 21 experts after more than two years of research and looks specifically at academic sciences, engineering, and medicine—but its findings can be applied to workplaces within the private sector as well. An overview of its conclusions states: “Attending to an organization’s climate is crucial to preventing and addressing harassment because organizational climate is the greatest predictor of sexual harassment. Organizations with tolerant, or even perceived tolerant, climates show higher rates of sexual harassment than those seen as intolerant.” JOHN PAUL KING
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Cicilline at the border: ‘This is not America’ CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01
indicate 2,342 immigrant children since early May have been separated from their parents under the White House’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy. The Associated Press on Tuesday reported the Trump administration has opened at least three “tender age” shelters in South Texas to house babies and young immigrant children who have been separated from their parents. Cicilline on Sunday traveled to South Texas with U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) and U.S. Reps. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), Filemon Vela (D-Texas), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Vicente González (D-Texas) and Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas). The lawmakers visited the McAllen Border Patrol Processing Center, the McAllen Border Patrol Station, the Hidalgo Port of Entry and the Port Isabel Detention Center. Cicilline told the Blade he and his fellow lawmakers met with 10 women who were being held at the Port Isabel Detention Center, which U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operates. Cicilline said a woman said her son was taken from her when she asked for asylum at a U.S. port of entry. Cicilline on Twitter said he saw dozens of “kids by themselves in cages” inside the McAllen Border Patrol Processing Center. No photos allowed inside detention center in McAllen, Texas. Saw dozens of kids by themselves in cages. Met a woman who hasn’t seen her daughter in two days. This is not America. #NotInMyName #FathersDayofAction #KeepFamiliesTogether — David Cicilline (@davidcicilline) June 17, 2018 “What is underway is a barbaric system of literally ripping children from their mothers’ arms,” Cicilline told the Blade. Trump faces worldwide criticism The Trump administration’s policy has sparked condemnation in the U.S. and around the world. Attorneys general from D.C., Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, California, New Mexico, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington in a letter they sent to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Homeland Security Secretary Kristjen Nielsen on Tuesday urges the Justice Department to “immediately cease these draconian practices.” U.S. Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), John Boozman (R-Ark.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), James Lankford
ANDREA (left) a trans woman who lives in El Salvador, eats lunch at a restaurant in the Salvadoran capital of San Salvador on Sept. 23, 2017. She asked the Blade not to use her real name and disclose her identity because of anti-trans violence in her hometown. Rampant violence has prompted many LGBT people in El Salvador and neighboring countries to flee. WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY MICHAEL K. LAVERS
(R-Okla.), Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and Rob Portman (R-Ohio) have sent a similar letter to Sessions and Nielsen. Cicilline is among the co-sponsors of the Keep Families Together Act, which would ban the Department of Homeland Security from separating migrant children from their parents, “except in extraordinary circumstances.” U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who is being challenged by U.S. Rep. Beto Rourke (D-Texas), has introduced a bill that seeks to “limit the separation of families seeking asylum in the United States and expedite the asylum process for individuals arriving in the United States with children.” Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday said they would pull their respective states’ National Guard troops from the border. Trump has continued to defend the policy in spite of these condemnations. The Associated Press on Wednesday reported Nielsen — who left a Mexican restaurant in downtown D.C. the day before after members of Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America heckled her — is drafting an order that would end the policy. It was not immediately clear at deadline whether Trump will support it, but the Associated Press reported he said at the White House that he would sign something “in a little while.” Cicilline bristled at the notion that Trump is using immigrant children as a bargaining chip to convince Democrats to support his immigration agenda. “The idea that you would enact a policy to rip children from their mothers’ arms is disgusting,” Cicilline told the Blade. LGBTI activists are among those who have also criticized Trump over this policy. “As a nation of immigrants, the United States has stood as a beacon of hope for people around the world fleeing
persecution, violence and oppression,” Human Rights Campaign Government Affairs Director David Stacy told the Blade on Wednesday in a statement. “The Trump-Pence administration’s attacks on immigrants, asylum seekers, and refugees is an affront to our values,” he added. “Like the vast majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle, we are appalled by this administration’s policy of ripping away children from their parents at the border.” Equality California National Policy Director Valerie Ploumpis on Tuesday said these families “have already faced such suffering, poverty, discrimination and hardship that they left everything behind for the hope of a brighter future.” “Too many members of our LGBTQ community know that pain,” she added. “That the Trump-Pence administration would further traumatize children by ripping them from their families — perhaps never to be reunited — truly shocks the conscience.” OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern agreed. “There is no justification for systematically taking children away from their families,” Stern told the Blade. “There is also no justification for systematically denying migrants entry to the U.S. who in many cases are fleeing violence, persecution and even economic devastation.” Trans woman dies in ICE custody Violence associated with gangs and drug trafficking have prompted LGBT and intersex people from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to flee their respective countries. A lack of access to education, employment and health care have made trans migrants in particular susceptible to discrimination, violence and exploitation. Roxana Hernández, a transgender
woman from Honduras with HIV, was one of 25 trans women who were part of a 300-person caravan that traveled to the U.S. border earlier this year. U.S. Customs and Border Protection took Hernández into custody on May 9 when she asked for asylum at the San Ysidro Port of Entry near San Diego. An ICE press release said Hernández entered its custody on May 13 and was being housed in a unit at Cibola County Correctional Center in Milan, N.M., for trans detainees. The press release notes Hernández was admitted to the hospital with “symptoms of pneumonia, dehydration and complications associated with HIV” on May 17. Hernández died from cardiac arrest on May 25. “She is the transsexual girl who died in the hands of the U.S. government,” said Erick Martínez, an LGBTI rights advocate in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. LGBTI rights advocates in El Salvador with whom the Blade spoke this week also reiterated their criticism of Trump’s immigration policy, which includes his continued support for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. “It’s sad,” said Bessy Rios, executive director of Asociación de Familiares y Amigos de Población LGBTI de la Mano Contigo. “Our people from the Northern Triangle — El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras — are being mistreated, discriminated against, forced to migrate and they are forced to return when they arrive to the border.” William Hernández, director of Asociación Entre Amigos de El Salvador, agreed. “The segregation that is occurring with the people who arrive — and above all with children — is a serious violation,” he told the Blade. Ernesto Valle in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this article.
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JUNE 22, 2018 • 11
Activists prepare for battle over Initiative 77 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 01
supporters expressed concern on Tuesday night that the Council might exercise its authority to block the measure from taking effect. They scheduled a rally outside the Wilson City Hall building for Wednesday morning to demand that the Council allow the initiative to become law. Bowser told reporters at her election night gathering that she was assessing what, if any, action she would take following Initiative 77’s approval by voters. “I want to really sit down and evaluate its impact with restaurant workers and people affected and see if they will be able to afford a quality of life in the city,” the Washington Post quoted her as saying. With dance music blaring, Bowser spent nearly an hour dancing with supporters and well-wishers on the Town dance floor. Joining her at the gathering were Council members Brandon Todd (D-Ward 4), who is not up for re-election this year; and Council member Kenyon McDuffie (D-Ward 5), who defeated four lesser-known challengers by capturing 69 percent of the Ward 5 vote. Gay candidate loses bid in Ward 1 Meanwhile, in another widely observed race, gay Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner and law librarian Kent Boese (D), whose supporters were hoping he might pull off an upset victory, lost his race for the Ward 1 D.C. Council seat to incumbent Democrat Brianne Nadeau. In a four-candidate race, Nadeau captured 47.9 percent of the vote compared to Boese, who came in second place with 25.3 percent. Community activist Sheika Reid received 13.39 percent and former D.C. Superior Court Judge Lori Parker received 13.05 percent. Each of the candidates expressed strong support for LGBT rights and Nadeau pointed to her support on the Council for a number of LGBT supportive initiatives. Boese received endorsements of the Gertrude Stein Democratic Club, the city’s largest local LGBT political group, and the LGBT Victory Fund, a national organization that supports LGBT candidates. Nadeau won the endorsement of the Trans United Fund, a political action committee that says it advocates for the interests of the transgender community and progressive causes. Although Boese expressed support for all of the trans specific issues included on the group’s candidate questionnaire, he came out against Initiative 77. Trans United Fund endorsed the initiative during the campaign. Throughout his campaign, Boese argued that he had a better command of both LGBT and non-LGBT issues than each of his four opponents. Nadeau disputed claims by Boese and the other
Council member BRIANNE NADEAU easily defeated gay challenger Kent Boese in her bid for re-election. PHOTO COURTESY OF CREATIVE COMMONS
two challengers that she fell short on constituent services for Ward 1 residents. In a concession speech at his election night gathering at El Tio Restaurant in the Columbia Heights neighborhood, Boese said he reached out to Nadeau to congratulate her on her victory, thanked his supporters, and promised to remain politically active in Ward 1 and the city. “Whether it’s on the ANC or any other forum that may be in my future, I am not going away,” he said. “I am going to provide the oversight that has been lacking over the past four years. And I’m going to do my part to make sure that the people of Ward 1 have the representation they deserve.” The other Council members who won re-nomination in Tuesday’s primary were Council Chair Phil Mendelson (D-AtLarge) and Council members Anita Bonds (D-At-Large), Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3), Kenyan McDuffie (D-Ward 5), and Charles Allen (D-Ward 6). Other winners in the primary included two gay Libertarian candidates and three gay Democrats who won election to seats on the D.C. Democratic State Committee. Gay Libertarian activist Martin Moulton won his party’s nomination for mayor in an uncontested race. He will be among the third party and independent candidates running against Bowser in the November general election. Fellow gay Libertarian Bruce Majors also won an uncontested race in the primary for the Libertarian Party nomination for the D.C. Congressional Delegate seat held by Norton. None of the candidates expected to run for mayor in the general election have widespread name recognition, and in a city where the overwhelming majority of voters are registered Democrats, Bowser is considered the strong favorite to win election to a second term as mayor in November. In the Democratic State Committee races in Tuesday’s primary, longtime
gay Democratic activist Philip Pannell won election to an at-large seat on the committee. Gay Democratic activist John Fanning won election to a Ward 2 seat on the committee and fellow gay Democratic activist David Meadows won election to a Ward 6 seat on the committee. Lesbian Democratic activist Audrey Alvarado lost her bid for a Ward 3 seat on the committee as did gay Democrat Franco Ciammachilli, who lost his bid for a Ward 6 seat on the Democratic State Committee. Among the Council races in the primary, some political observers thought Council Chair Mendelson and At-Large Council member Bonds were facing competitive challengers from the Democratic Party’s progressive wing. Longtime D.C. community activist and budget expert Ed Lazere waged an aggressive campaign against Mendelson. Like Mendelson, Lazere expressed strong support for LGBT rights. Although Mendelson won the endorsement of the Stein Club, the Trans United Fund endorsed Lazere. But the vote count on Tuesday night showed Mendelson retained support from most voters. He received 62.4 percent of the vote, with Lazere receiving 37.1 percent. In the At-Large race, Bonds, also a longtime supporter of LGBT rights, faced aggressive opposition from Democratic challengers Jeremiah Lowery and Marcus Goodwin, both of whom expressed support for LGBT issues. The Stein Club endorsed Bonds while the Trans United Fund endorsed Lowery. Bonds won the race by capturing 52 percent of the vote. Lowery received 23.8 percent and Goodwin received 23.4 percent. Gay bars joined campaign against Initiative 77 Owners and employees of three of the
city’s gay bars played a lead role in the campaign against Initiative 77. Among them was gay bartender Dito Sevilla, who works at Floriana Restaurant on 17th Street near Dupont Circle. Like other tipped workers opposing the initiative, Sevilla said he and all of the servers or bartenders he knows make far more in tips than the city’s current minimum wage of $12.50 per hour. If the D.C. Council allows it to take effect and if Congress follows its usual practice of not exercising its authority to overturn a D.C. law, Initiative 77 would repeal a provision in the city’s minimum wage law that allows restaurants, bars and other businesses that employ tipped workers to pay those workers less than the prevailing minimum wage for non-tipped workers. The “base” minimum wage for tipped workers is currently $3.33 an hour. However, a provision in the current law requires employers of tipped workers to pay them the difference if their tips combined with the lower minimum wage fall short of the full $12.50 minimum wage. Supporters of the initiative have argued that many employers do not pay tipped workers the difference if their tips fall short. They say tipped workers are reluctant to file a complaint with the city out of fear of retaliation by employers. Supporters also have argued that seven states, including California, have already eliminated the tipped wage system and none of the “horror stories” predicted by opponents have happened. Some supporters, however, acknowledge that overall earnings among some tipped workers have dropped in the states that have passed their own version of Initiative 77. Among the LGBT supporters of Initiative 77 were gay labor advocate and former Stein Club President Kurt Vorndran and Pride at Work Executive Director Jerame Davis. Pride at Work is an LGBT unit within the AFL-CIO. Davis, like virtually all supporters of the initiative, has said ending the lower “tipped wage” has not ended tipping in the states that adopted the new system and tipping would continue in D.C. if Initiative 77 is put in place. But opponents, including gay D.C. nightlife advocate Mark Lee, say D.C.’s situation is unique because of its status as a city rather than a state and its highly competitive restaurant and hospitality industry that operates on a tight profit margin. Lee and other opponents, including the Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington, argue that a $15 per hour wage would dramatically increase operating costs for restaurants and bars, forcing them to raise prices and in some cases adding a service charge to the bills of customers. Doing that, they say, could prompt customers to cut back on tips to offset their higher costs of food and beverages.
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Gay/bi prostate cancer book released NEW YORK — A new book devoted to gay and bi men with prostate cancer was released this week. “Gay & Bisexual Men Living with Prostate Cancer (from Diagnosis to Recovery)” by Jane M. Ussher, Janette Perz and B.R. Simon Rosser (from LGBT scholarly publisher Harrington Park Press) bills itself as “the most current and comprehensive book on the subject published to date incorporating the tremendous new developments in cancer treatment from the past 10 years.” The authors say the book was needed because LGBT people, women and racial minorities have been “underrepresented in clinical trials which limits our ability to identify their needs and to respond to them thoughtfully.” “The LGBT community has been described as experiencing an ignored epidemic and characterized as a growing and medically underserved population in the area of cancer care,” the publisher said in a press release. “In no disease is this inequality more apparent than in prostate cancer. Of the hundreds of thousands of studies devoted to prostate cancer, only 88 small-scale efforts have focused on understanding the experiences of (GBT) individuals with prostate cancer.” Issues covered include how prostate cancer and its treatment affects sexual function in gay sex. The 352-page book retails for $95 (hardcover) and $45 (paperback) on Amazon.
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WASHINGTON — Students in Virginia’s Fairfax County School District will be taught about PrEP, joining Maryland’s Montgomery County School District after the school board voted last week to approve the lessons, the Washington Post reports. No time frame for implementation of the lessons was given. PrEP, the daily drug that has been lauded for its effective ability to block HIV transmission, will be part of the district’s family life education curriculum, which includes lessons on sex. Although not exclusive to gays, PrEP is most widely prescribed and used among gay and bi men. Its inclusion was vigorously opposed at a recent board meeting the Post said “devolved frequently into jeers.” The curriculum change appears in lessons that teach students about preventing and treating sexually transmitted infections. In addition to abstinence, which is already taught, students will learn that PrEP and condoms can help prevent transmission of the virus, the Post reports. An advisory committee was directed by the school board to review the Fairfax family life education curriculum and to compare it with state standards. The advisory panel recommended that the school district include information about PrEP at all high school grade levels, the Post reports. Robert Rigby, president of FCPS Pride, an employee group that advocates for the district’s LGBT students and workers, said informing students about the drug is vital. “It’s a terrific tool in fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic,” he said, according to the Post article. “For our individual student who might be at risk at some point in their lives, it’s something they need to know about.” Opposition voiced included concerns that PrEP may cause kidney and bone damage, parent Hope Wojciech, a Fairfax resident, said, according to the Post. About 830 comments were received opposing the change, the Post reports.
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STOCKHOLM, Sweden — LGB people in Sweden are more likely than their straight siblings to seek and receive treatment for psychiatric disorders, Psychiatry Advisor reports citing a new study published in the European Journal of Epidemiology. The longitudinal cohort study tracked 1,154 people who self-identified as LGB ADVERTISER SIGNATURE and their siblings. The queer siblings were more than three times as likely to By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the been treated for mood disorders and nearly twice as likely to have been washington blade newspaper. This includes have but is not limited to placement, payment and insertion schedule. prescribed antidepressants compared to their straight brothers and sisters. Bi men and women were about two-and-a-half times more likely to have received outpatient psychiatric treatment and to have been prescribed antidepressants. Sweden’s robust public health care system was a factor, researchers said. More research is needed, authors said, to explain the findings although other studies have documented disparate mental health challenges for LGBT people stemming largely from societal discrimination. More than half of the siblings studied showed no evidence that psychiatric disorders were linked to them being related. Data was taken from a Swedish national health registry.
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Trump destroys families and facts U.S. faces self-inflicted humanitarian crisis
PETER ROSENSTEIN is a D.C.-based LGBT rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.
Donald Trump believes ripping children away from their mothers is the right thing to do. He is a disgusting lying SOB excuse for a man. What other way can you describe the person responsible for what is happening on our border and how his administration and Justice Department are enabling it? We in the United States now have a self-inflicted humanitarian crisis on our hands. We are taking young children away from their mothers and warehousing some in an old Walmart. The administration is talking about setting up a tent city to house these children apparently learning how to do this from the refugee camps in Gaza and Syria. The difference here in the United States is we are setting up these tent camps for children who will
be in them due to our taking them from their mothers. The Trump administration has determined mothers running away from violence and fleeing their homes for safety and a better life in the United States are criminals and punishing their innocent children is appropriate. To justify this, the attorney general quotes the Bible. Aside from a blatant disregard for the separation of church and state he asks people to believe God supports this atrocity. Adding fuel to the fire, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the president’s spokesperson, lies about the basis for what is happening and insults a reporter who dares ask her “as a mother what do you think about what the administration is doing?” Sanders’ lies include blaming Democrats for not passing legislation to stop this cruelty the Trump administration is inflicting on these children. She knows the White House can stop it immediately and that both houses of Congress are controlled by Republicans. She and Trump are trying to turn this into a political issue rather than a humanitarian atrocity of his making. My question to Americans is have we fallen so far in our country people will not cry out demanding it stop? Have Evangelical Christians who support Trump become a cult and refuse to speak up when he rips apart families? E DIT OR IA L C A R T OON
Is Trump their Jim Jones? Would they be willing to replay the scene from Jonestown, Guyana “where at Jim Jones’ direction, 909 members of the People’s Temple died, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in a revolutionary suicide that included over 200 murdered children?” They must know this heinous act of ripping children from their mothers is Trump’s policy not law. Just as it is Trump administration policy to deport Dreamers even as he tries to deflect and blame others for it. Have we fallen so far we will accept Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) castigating the few remaining Republicans with enough decency and spine to question the despot in the White House? Yes I am calling him a despot. This man who makes friends with our enemies and enemies of our friends. The man who calls Kim Jong-un, the most brutal dictator in the world, a fine man and lauds him for what he is doing for his people. This brutal dictator who has put 100,000 of his people in gulags; rules with an iron fist by intimidation; and murdered members of his own family. This is the man our president befriends and admires. For sure the world is turned upside down and there will be no righting it until we rid ourselves of this madman in the White House. Whether he is taken down by the justice system or the voters, we must make sure he is stopped. The hate in our country is not new but Trump has enabled it to come out in the open. He encourages it. Trump watches a candidate like Corey Stewart in Virginia spew hate and stand with a white supremacist to receive his endorsement before adding his own full-throated endorsement. One must pray the god I have always considered fair and decent will enter the conscience of those who continue to support this disgusting, vile man in the White House. That his daughter Ivanka, who believes it is OK to share a picture of herself hugging her daughter while her father rips other daughters from their mothers will open her eyes to this outrage her father is inflicting on innocent children. That Sarah Huckabee Sanders who claims to be religious, will realize defending a policy, not a law, that rips a baby from their mother is a vile and horrendous thing to do. That Mike Pence and his wife who claim to be so religious will actually follow the tenets of the Bible and love they neighbor as thyself and protect the children. My fervent hope is Americans will wake up from this nightmare in time to make amends and reclaim our position in the world among our friends.
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Gay men need to be more present Leaving our phones at the door might help solve the problem
BROCK THOMPSON is a D.C.-based freelance writer. He writes regularly for the Blade.
OK, I have this phone duck at home. But more about that later. I’ve written about this before, but I’m in this dinner club. A small but fairly active group of gay men who play a sort of dinner roulette — every quarter or so you choose a date to host a dinner, invite five others, and no one knows who is who until a day or two before. It’s been a fantastic avenue to meet new friends. So back to that phone duck. Well, there was this wicker basket in the shape of a duck that was in my apartment when I moved in.
It was so ridiculous I couldn’t get rid of it. It turns out that it also perfectly holds six smartphones, even those annoying ‘plus’ ones. Anyone that comes for supper at my home has to put their phone in the duck for the duration. A custom that has become so popular and welcome that people now ask for it before I can even bring it out. It’s as if folks welcome the disconnect.
ing for the next best thing? And it’s something that I’ve routinely dodged, maybe because I’m the world’s worst at this. Maybe it’s a classic case of delayed adolescence, and I will freely admit that I am one huge adolescent. Maybe it’s just men being men. My friend James calls it the “Cheesecake Factory Menu Syndrome.” Our choices at any given night are just
Our choices at any given night are just so vast that picking, settling, focusing on one seems too much to ask really. This is certainly a phenomenon that’s been well documented, well before phone duck was trotted out of the cupboard. But more succinctly for us, gay men seem to suffer from their own brand of ADD, a sort of Gay-D-D if you will. I often take people’s suggestions for columns, and this idea is one that is thrown at me with some regularity and in some variation: Why can’t gay men focus? Why can’t gay men be more present? Why are we all look-
so vast that picking, settling, focusing on one seems too much to ask really. He describes it as chatting with a guy in a crowded bar, and that guy will curiously have one eye fixed on him, while the other is fixed on the door. Gay men are like that. And it’s really not our fault. Can we get cut some collective slack here? For many of us, we were more or less the only one of us in our towns,
our high schools, our churches. To be treated not only to just a few more of us, but a few hundred more is something to behold. And imagine, too, those of us that grew up in a certain age (a pre-Internet age) and all we had was the JC Penny men’s underwear ad to sustain us. No wonder we still haven’t grown up. But what’s to do, really? I doubt there is a duck big enough to accommodate an entire bar. But maybe there should be. Recently my friend Andrew treated me to a Jack White concert at D.C.’s Anthem. Incredible, mainly because the whole event was phone-free. The company he works for, Yondr, makes these sort of pouches for phones. You enter, you put your phone in, the pouch locks, and you have nothing to do but enjoy the moment and the people you’re with. A sort of phone duck idea for an entire venue. The pouch unlocks when you leave. They’ve been hugely popular at schools, concerts, and even weddings. Will something like this help us? To be honest, it couldn’t hurt. Phones are not the cause of gay men being so distracted, but they certainly aren’t helping. If being gay is a shared experience, maybe we should be more aware of being in that experience.
O UR B US I NES S MATTER S
Is D.C. headed toward electing the many by the few? Unless District officials reform voting process, political legitimacy is at stake
MARK LEE is a long-time entrepreneur and community business advocate. Follow on Twitter: @MarkLeeDC. Reach him at OurBusinessMatters@gmail.com.
District-neighboring Montgomery County, Md., provides a cautionary tale for the future of D.C. elections. The county, similar in Democratic domination and one-party governance, has produced frustrated and confused voters this election season. It is the result of term limits phasing out incumbents, something D.C. has smartly not enacted, and generous campaign public financing, a more extravagant one to be implemented for District elections in the future. What bewilders voters to the north is the huge number of candidates vying for new-
ly “open” seats. Thirty-eight candidates are competing to be the Democratic nominee for only four at-large County Council seats and six Democrats are seeking the party’s nomination for county executive. As in the District, winning the Democratic primary is tantamount to later gliding through the general election. Even highly engaged civic-minded types who studiously attend candidate forums, track competitor positions, and attentively follow local elections complain it is simply too difficult to wade through the morass of aspirants. Or keep names attached to faces or policies aligned with those names and faces. Less attuned voters will likely surrender to being perplexed and abandon actually participating at the polls. What is worse, though, is regardless of who and how many vote, such crowded litanies of candidates almost always produce a singular result. Politicos get elected winning only a minority of votes, oftentimes not within range of a majority, and from within the confines of one party’s restricted contest. The resulting diminishment of electoral legitimacy is already the case in D.C., where the nearly 20 percent of enrolled independent voters not affiliated with a
political party are prohibited from fully participating in elections. This is due to the city’s increasingly archaic “closed primary” system in which only party-registered voters get to play the game. In the midcity Dupont-Logan-Shaw neighborhoods home to a sizable number of LGBT voters, the number of independents is higher – at fully one-in-four registered voters. The danger for both “MoCo” candidates and challengers in future D.C. elections, as the District has rightly designated the ballot box as the city’s term limit mechanism, is simple. Absent an open election system and either an inclusive nonpartisan primary and subsequent top-two run-off, or a more complex “ranked-voting” scheme, D.C. is headed toward electing officials with an ever-shrinking share of votes. It’s what now happens with the two farcical “set-aside” D.C. Council at-large seats reserved for non-majority-party candidates. Democrats, with a makeover that wouldn’t get them an audition at a small-town drag show, switch affiliation to “independent” and win the specially reserved seats in crowded fields on one ballot only, typically garnering a percentage barely above 10 percent. This now isolated phenomenon will be-
come standard if the intentional goal of the coming outlay of an incredible largess of cash to be doled out under future campaign public financing occurs. After all, the notion is to encourage people to run for office and, if that is the actual result, there will be bountiful ballots like the one over the state line. A ludicrously extravagant total allocation of $75,000 will be conveyed to any Council candidate once they sign up, collect a low number of signatures to qualify for the ballot, and raise a few small donations from fewer people than you probably invited to your last house party. At a whopping projected cost of $25 millionor-more each cycle, the idea is that lots of people will toss hats in the ring. D.C. incumbents, of course, like – and benefit from – this nonsense. More likely to reject taxpayer funds due to their ability to more quickly raise larger amounts of cash, they will instead gain advantage in crowded fields of challengers requiring either they only command an evershrinking voter base or serve as a familiar entity for confused voters confronted with a plethora of candidate identities. Unless D.C.’s antiquated election system is reformed, those elected by the few will find their political credibility shrink among the many.
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Summerfest is coming! Discover how you can #LIVEtheRemyLife at our open house this Saturday.
Your summer oasis awaits at The Remy. Join us for food, fun, music and a taste of what our stunning apartment community can bring to your life. From the resort-style saltwater pool (complete with luxe cabanas) to the rooftop deck with grills, scenic views and lounge seating, you’ll find an unbelievable place to call home, right next to the New Carrollton Metro.
Plus, you’ll have an opportunity to talk to our current residents, grab a bite from the food truck and meet local businesses, including personal trainers, fashion boutiques, office space providers and artists, and even residents who own some of the local businesses. But wait, there’s even more to check out while you’re here:
Hardwood-inspired flooring and spa-inspired baths Luxe clubroom with bar area, billiards table, foosball and more State-of-the-art fitness facility, including Pilates, spin and yoga studio Pet-friendly living with pet spa and dog run
Gourmet kitchens, including quartz countertops and stainless steel appliances
Join us at The Remy Summerfest this Saturday, June 23, 2018, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.! 7 7 3 0 H A R K I N S R OA D , L A N H A M , M D 2 0 70 6 / T H E R E M YA P T S . CO M / 3 0 1 . 6 3 7. 8 0 6 5
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America Now: SOLSTICE EDITION Saturday, June 23 | 5:30–11:30 p.m. | Free NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AMERICAN HISTORY & SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM & NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Keep cool at the summer’s hottest event, America Now, when three of your favorite museums unite for a mid-summer moveable feast featuring a happy hour, block party and live concert. AmericaNow.si.edu
America Now is a three-museum collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of American History, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is made possible by the generous support of the Robert and Arlene Kogod Family Foundation. The Washington Post is the media sponsor of America Now.
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A rock trifecta — from left are TYLER GLENN (Neon Trees), DAN REYNOLDS (Imagine Dragons) and JAMES VALENTINE (guitarist for Maroon 5) at the ‘Believer’ premiere Monday night in New York. PHOTO BY KRISTINA NAMELSS COURTESY STARPIX FOR HBO
Crisis of faith? Gay Mormon doc ‘Believer’ features Neon Trees frontman Tyler Glenn By ABBY WARGO Tyler Glenn, frontman of rock band Neon Trees, is on a mission to help change people’s minds and hearts. He is featured in the documentary “Believer,” which follows Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds on his journey to fight for love and acceptance of LGBT people in the Mormon community. Reynolds, along with Glenn, organized a festival called LoveLoud to foster love and acceptance. “Believer” airs Monday, June 25 at 8 p.m. EST on HBO.
Glenn spoke with the Blade by phone Tuesday from New York, where he is currently starring in “Kinky Boots” on Broadway. WASHINGTON BLADE: In the documentary, you mentioned that you first came out to your producer. What made you decide to come out? TYLER GLENN: My band, we were at a pretty great peak in our career, and I was still very, very unhappy. I was living
my dream, but the things that should have been making me happy weren’t making me happy. I had a bit of a mental situation and I decided to go into therapy and cancel a tour. It was around the time that we were writing for our third record, and I started writing songs for that album. Eventually while I was in therapy, I came out to my therapist. … I realized that this identity crisis I was having really wasn’t anything at all, it really was that I just needed to be a whole person
and be out there. So I tested the waters with him because we were so intimately creative and he had known me so long. … We had a long talk and I was received with such excitement. … I’d never really associated being gay with good things, to me it was always something I needed to suppress or keep hidden or be ashamed of. That started the process of me coming out slowly to my family and friends and CONTINUES ON PAGE 32
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By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com Does your repartee sparkle? Perhaps more so with beer goggles? Ever feel it’s a waste to let so much good insight flit away into the ether? That’s sort of what happened to college friends Tom Hausman and Josh Hall. A friendship blossomed out of their mutual failure to secure spots on the University of Maryland (College Park) college improv team (“Neither of us was actually funny enough,” Hausman says). While working together on Hall’s senior project, the idea to do a drinking talk show about queer life “came about rather organically.” Two Beer Queers debuted last September and now has 21 episodes (they run between 40-90 minutes) and four “minisodes.” They’re on all social media or at thetwobeerqueers.com. “The Hole Time?!: a Live Record of the Two Beer Queers” is Monday, June 25 at 8 p.m. at TRADE (1410 14th St., N.W. ground floor), their first live taping. They promise hilarity, insight, poppers jokes, at least one bad pun, audience interaction and “fab guests.” No cover. Look for the event on Facebook for details. “Ninety percent of our nightlife experiences are at Trade, so when they reached out about having a recording there, we knew we had to do it,” Hausman says. “As our improv history might suggest, we enjoy having the spotlight on us from time to time.” Hausman credits his friendship with Hall for making the show, which averages about 600 listeners per episode, work. Hausman, a 21-year-old Aurora, Colo., native, came to the D.C. area in August 2014 to study journalism at the University of Maryland. He is dating and lives in College Park, Md. Hausman graduates in May and is job hunting. He enjoys making music, baking and photography in his free time.
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How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell? I came out sometime in November of 2013 by leaving a note on the counter and driving very fast to school. I was lucky enough to have just the most heartwarming reception. Once I was out, telling people was super easy and everyone found out just about all at once. Maybe the hardest person to tell was myself? Who’s your LGBT hero? Photographer Robert Mapplethorpe or musician SOPHIE are just absolute ICONS. What’s Washington’s best nightspot, past or present? Trade was one of my first, and I still love the atmosphere there. Nothing has it beat. Describe your dream wedding. Very sparkly and very queer with the man of my dreams. What non-LGBT issue are you most passionate about? The marginalization and stigmatization of sex workers. What historical outcome would you change? Shangela being excluded from the “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” season three finale. I still think Trixie might have won, but it would have been a better fight. What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime? The release of Brendan Maclean’s (very NSFW) “House of Air” music video. I was obsessed with its ability to say “fuck it” to any sort of prudish expectations. On what do you insist? They’re all good dogs, Brent.
FamiLY | eState PLaNNiNG | emPLoYmeNt | immiGratioN ComPLeX LitiGatioN | CiviL riGHtS | LGBt | adoPtioN | BuSiNeSS
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What was your last Facebook post or Tweet? Something about crying in a lactation room in the San Antonio airport. If your life were a book, what would the title be? “The Art of Getting Emotionally Attached Way Too Fast”
If science discovered a way to change sexual orientation, what would you do? Destroy that research and prevent it from being used. What do you believe in beyond the physical world? A good nap. What’s your advice for LGBT movement leaders? Remember where the movement came from and upon whose shoulders we stand. What would you walk across hot coals for? A Jackalope Dog with cream cheese and onions. It’s a hot dog made out of jackrabbit and antelope meat from Biker Jim’s in Denver. What LGBT stereotype annoys you most? That there have to be stereotypes! Let the people live how they want! What’s your favorite LGBT movie? “Look At the Pictures,” the Robert Mapplethorpe documentary. What’s the most overrated social custom? Needing a specific time to start drinking. If we don’t have to define happy hour, it’s always happy. What trophy or prize do you most covet? An Aphex Twin “Drukqs” quadruple vinyl box set from the early 2000s in fairly good condition. My most coveted possession and after the challenge of finding it, it’s definitely a trophy too, What do you wish you’d known at 18? Long distance relationships aren’t worth the effort, break it off NOW. Why Washington? There is something magical about getting drunk a mile away from the president, you know? Especially nowadays — it’s a necessity.
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PHOTO BY JOAN MARCUS; COURTESY KENNEDY CENTER
The touring company cast of ‘Hamilton.’
‘Hamilton’ at last Tony-winning smash musical lives up to enormous hype By PATRICK FOLLIARD At long last, “Hamilton” has come to Washington. The national tour of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s pop phenom, hip-hop-heavy musical chronicling the extraordinary life of founding father Alexander Hamilton has moored at the Kennedy Center Opera House though mid-September. After opening on Broadway in summer, 2015, it went on to win 11 Tony Awards and the Pulitzer Prize. Miranda’s sweeping, breathing, sung(and rapped-) through score wastes no time in asking, “How does a bastard, orphan, son of a whore and a Scotsman, dropped in the middle of a forgotten spot in the Caribbean by providence, impoverished, in squalor grow up to be a hero and scholar?” The answer, not surprisingly, is “by working a lot harder, by being a lot smarter.” The show’s testosterone-charged early numbers like “My Shot” introduces the young guns/architects of the American experiment. At the center is Alexander
Hamilton (Austin Scott), surrounded by the Marquis de Lafayette (Bryson Bruce), Hercules Mulligan (Chaundre Hall-Broomfield), Aaron Burr (Nicholas Christopher) and Hamilton’s favorite John Laurens (Rubén J. Carbajal) — all played by actors of color. Hamilton, an up-andcomer who arrived in New York at 19, boasts to his new drinking buddies, “Hey yo, I’m just like my country, I’m young, scrappy and hungry and I’m not throwing away my shot. It’s time to take a shot!” Rather quickly, Hamilton rises to become aide de camp to Gen. George Washington (Carvens Lissaint) during the Revolutionary War, first secretary of the treasury, architect of America’s banking system, founder of the Federalist Party and more. He gets a career boost from the socially prominent and rich Schuyler sisters, Eliza (Julia K. Harriman) his long-suffering wife, and older sister Angelica (Sabrina Sloan), who also finds him irresistible. Seems there’s nothing Hamilton can’t do and he does it all with a sense of urgency. First act closer “Nonstop” asks, “Why do you write like you’re running out of time?” The second act is rife with political maneuvering, a sex scandal, marriage
problems, tragedy and more. The hype surrounding “Hamilton” is warranted. Director Thomas Kail’s incredibly dynamic staging is perfection. The actors are carefully cast, brilliantly putting America’s racial history in the spotlight. As Hamilton, handsome actor Austin Scott brings energy, timing and a gorgeous voice to the production. Andy Blankenbuehler’s innovative and muscular choreography performed by a large, terrific ensemble is an integral part of the narrative. Paul Tazewell’s great looking period costumes including beautifully made coats and flattering breeches; and the Schuyler sisters’ lovely pastel gowns are charming. It’s a pleasingly cohesive and exciting production to say the least. But it’s mostly about the music. Miranda’s rap establishes George Washington as heroic. Lafayette is witty and Hamilton wonderfully brash. Thomas Jefferson is comically written. Though there’s a lot of hiphop, R&B and rap, the score also includes some more traditional Broadway tunes. There’s scorned wife Eliza’s ballad “Burn” powerfully performed by Harriman. And King George (Peter Matthew Smith) makes a delightfully memorable appearance signing
“You’ll Be Back,” a ‘60s British pop-sounding message to the colonies. The Kennedy Center’s Opera House’s acoustics are fine and the orchestra is excellent. Still, some of the rapidly sung raps take a minute to settle into, so getting familiar with the score before seeing the show, would be time well spent. “Hamilton” is by far the most anticipated Kennedy Center event since 1981 when Elizabeth Taylor stepped onstage as scheming Regina Giddens in “The Little Foxes.” But the three-year wait for “Hamilton”, and the expense and hassle involved in securing tickets, all fade away once seated in the theater. It’s worth it. The finale is titled “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story.” Though Miranda was inspired by the 2004 biography “Alexander Hamilton” by historian Ron Chernow, it’s his musical version, a remarkable blend of present and past, told with candor and love, that will be most remembered. ‘HAMILTON’ Through Sept. 16 The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts $99-625 202-467-4600 Kennedy-center.org
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PHOTO COURTESY AT&T AUDIENCE
A still from ‘Alone in the Game.’
Sports doc highlights coming-out challenges ‘Alone in the Game’ features Rogers, Kenworthy, Rapinoe et. By MARIAH COOPER mcooper@washblade.com Riley Tindol was the ideal student athlete in his small Alabama town where football isn’t just a sport but a way of life. His dedication earned him a spot on the Vanderbilt football team but despite reaping the success from his passion, Tindol found himself falling into a depression as he struggled to hide his sexuality for fear of losing everything he worked for. Tindol’s story is one of many that occur frequently in the world of sports and is one of the stories highlighted in the documentary “Alone in the Game,” which had its world premiere at AFI Docs on June 15. If you missed it, it debuts on the AT&T AUDIENCE Network on Thursday, June 28 at 8 p.m. David McFarland, creator and executive producer of the film, says he was inspired to create the documentary after working toward LGBT acceptance and equality for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. After meeting with advocates from around the world on the issue, McFarland
decided to explore the deeply embedded homophobia-in-sports culture. The film features interviews with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, former ESPN President John Skipper, former NBA center Jason Collins, former NFL lineman Ryan O’Callaghan, MLS Cup champion Robbie Rogers, Olympic freeskier Gus Kenworthy and professional soccer midfielder/winger Megan Rapinoe. While McFarland was able to secure numerous interviews for the documentary, he says one of the biggest obstacles was getting “certain key power players” to actually show up. “This just reinforces what we’re still doing today,” McFarland says. “It’s a subject matter some are comfortable talking about and many aren’t at the institutional level. This begs a very serious question for our leaders in sports across all the leaders, federations and governing bodies of sports … ‘Are we living in a time where equality and inclusion truly exist for LGBTQ athletes?’ For me, the answer is no. We’re not.” In comparison, Hollywood’s inclusivity has increased over the years with more actors feeling safe to come out as the culture of acceptance grows. Despite that trend, McFarland says sports culture is much further behind. “They are tucked so far in the closet
because there are real-life ramifications that can come back and squash their dreams of being an athlete,” McFarland says. “Imagine that collegiate or high school athlete that has the courage to come out to their coach. That coach may not be accepting. If that coach is not accepting, then all of a sudden the perception of that player changes. That can affect their playing time on the field, their position on the team. It can be as extreme as, ‘We don’t want you here.’ That doesn’t necessarily happen in Hollywood.” Those consequences are covered in the film which showcases the importance of fitting in for both financial gain and social acceptance. Rogers recalls overhearing from his teammates that being gay is “disgusting” and decides he can’t come out to his team because it would be “unhealthy.” Kenworthy says he earns the majority of his income through sponsorships, something he was concerned he would lose when he came out. In one interview, a closeted NCAA Division 1 football player gives an interview with a blurred face and distorted voice as he says he doesn’t believe his teammates would be accepting and is certain his coaches would treat him differently. Other stories explore the challenges of being a gay college athlete in a similar
vein to Tindol’s story. Haley Videckis and Layana White are former Pepperdine University women’s basketball players who tell of discrimination they faced from the university for their sexual orientation and for being a couple. Trevor Betts, a transgender student athlete, also gives insight into the transgender experience in athletics as a team member on a male high school wrestling team. The theme of the film is exploring the challenges attached to coming out in such a homophobic-dominated culture that leads many athletes to develop depression, suicidal ideation and suicidal thoughts. They’re stories McFarland has heard time and again including from one closeted professional athlete who told McFarland he was afraid to come out but, at the same time ashamed of his silence. “Unfortunately his lucky break is tied to him believing that because he’s gay he has to live a closeted life to hold onto his life and dreams and to keep moving forward physically and mentally,” McFarland says. “He then begins to question his own future. And perhaps the love of his life will have to wait. Perhaps indefinitely. That’s a real issue that is still alive and well today. Sports is truly one of the last frontiers that the LGBT community has to break down in terms of the closet.”
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PHOTO COURTESY RCA
CHRISTINA AGUILERA’s musical funk — and not the good kind — continues on underwhelming new album.
Xtina’s return? New album, her first in six years, continues musical tailspin By THOM MURPHY Christina Aguilera has been in a musical wilderness for going on a decade now. So underwhelming were her last two studio albums — the meager-selling, meagercharting “Bionic” (2010) and “Lotus” (2012) — that in recent years, she’s more widely known for her work on “The Voice” or her memorable guest appearance this year on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” So is Xtina back is the big question with new album “Liberation,” out last week. With its non-glam, super close-up cover image, is this an all-new Aguilera ready to compete with current pop acts? It’s getting strong reviews in some outlets. But other early signs are not good. First single “Accelerate” failed to crack the U.S. Hot 100. And despite numerous collaborations from artists such as Demi Lovato, Shenseea, GoldLink and 2 Chainz, the music struggles despite her best efforts toward innovation. The title track “Liberation” opens the album. Against a piano and string accompaniment, we hear the sounds of a child playing as Aguilera whispers, “Where are you/are you there/remember.” The title “Liberation” seems an odd choice for both the track and the album. If it is indeed liberation that Aguilera has in mind, it’s hard to see how the theme ties the album together in any coherent way. Aguilera resorts to similar interludes and filler tracks throughout. To introduce her song “Maria,” she sings a 30-second snippet of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s “Maria” (“The Sound of Music”), which she titles “Searching for Maria.” It’s delivered beautifully in Aguilera’s whispered soprano and one almost wishes she would have included the entire song. The song that follows, Aguilera’s own “Maria,” samples heavily from the Jackson 5’s “Maria.” Rather than liberation per se, the singer takes us on a reflective tour of what seems to be her early musical
influences. Aguilera belts soulfully over the busy, repetitive musical landscape. Even with the interesting (if unoriginal) choice of samples, the final product is chaotic and messy. Similar criticism could be made of Aguilera’s cringeworthy “Sick of Sittin’.” In a painful faux rock style, it’s a confusing tirade against fans, among other unnamed characters: “Just be thankful I gave you this/‘cause I don’t need it” and “I survived the dark ages/but the former trailblazer took out the knife and cut ties.” But the real offender is the chorus. Aguilera repeats the phrase “I’m sick of sittin’” ad nauseam with only slight variations. The song has all the vices of an earworm but none of the virtues. And she seems to have forgotten the most important thing about musical tirades — they should sound good. Not every track is bad. Several are OK if forgettable. “Deserve,” a pleading, lovesick ballad, may find its way to radio. It’s most reminiscent of Aguilera’s classic sound. “Fall In Line,” featuring Demi Lovato, is cool, powerful ballad addressed to young women. Encouraging women to speak their minds, the duo sings: “And maybe it’s never gonna change/but I got a mind to show my strength/and I got a right to speak my mind.” The only downside is the annoying electronic male voice in the bridge that symbolizes society’s expectations for women and recurs a second time at the end. A couple songs stand out. The album’s lead single “Accelerate,” which features 2 Chainz and Ty Dolla $ign, experiments playfully with multiple hip-hop beats. It sounds almost as though three different songs were spliced together, yet it works surprisingly well. It’s one of the few songs worth a second listen. “Like I Do” is another successful collaboration. Rapper GoldLink opens the track with a cooly flowing verse, full of short stops and starts and Aguilera gives the song a restrained, sensual energy. But the few happy exceptions on the album are hardly enough to justify the rest. It’s just hard to listen to and in the age of Spotify, one wonders if many of the songs were intended to be heard at all.
BY MATTHEW LOPEZ DIRECTED BY TOM STORY
EXTENDED THROUGH JULY 7!
ORDER TODAY! 240.644.1100 | RoundHouseTheatre.org Bethesda Metro: 1 Block | Convenient Parking!
E: 01.13.2017
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24 • JUN E 22, 2018
O U T & A BO U T
By GRACE PERRY
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY WYATT REID WESTLUND
CALL FOR RESERVATIONS M-TH 11:30AM-10PM • F-SAT 11:30AM-11PM SUN. BRUNCH 11AM-3PM / DINNER 3-10PM
322 MASS. AVE. NE • 202.543.7656
Us Helping Us goes purple for 30th Us Helping Us presents “30 Shades of Royalty: Summer Soirée” on Thursday, June 28 from 6-10 p.m. at Capitol View at 400 (444 N Capitol St., N.W.). The event will celebrate the different shades of black LGBT royalty and commemorate Us Helping Us’ 30th anniversary as a D.C. nonprofit, honoring the founding members of the organization and those lost to HIV/AIDS. The soirée will feature a DJ, food and drinks and the dress code is purple. Tickets are $30 each and can be purchased at uhupil.org. Drinks are not included in ticket price.
Sam Smith plays D.C. July 3
CAFEBERLIN-DC.COM
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY WYATT REID WESTLUND
Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Sam Smith plays D.C.’s Capitol One Arena (601 F St., N.W., 8 p.m.) Tuesday, July 3 with opener by American country singer, Cam. Known originally for his feature in Disclosure’s “Latch,” Smith has since gained international recognition as a solo artist, with hit singles “La La La,” “Money on My Mind,” and “Stay With Me.” The Londonnative is currently on tour for his second studio album “The Thrill of It All,” which was released last November and features hit single “Too Good At Goodbyes.” Tickets range from $40-125 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. There is a four-ticket limit for the event and a twoticket limit for the front row package.
A Dfi V nal E R Tweekend ISING PR O O F29-30 Town’s June
Orioles’ Pride Night is June 27
Town Danceboutique (2009 8 St., N.W.), D.C.’s largest gay nightclub, hosts its final weekend of parties next weekend. The final Bear Happy Hour starts at 5 p.m. on Friday, June 29. Entry continues through 8:30 p.m. Per tradition, Friday night, June 29 will be open to all guests 18 and up and ADVERTISER SIGNATURE By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contract obligations with the washington blade newspaper.show This includes is not limited to placement, include a drag atbut 9:30 p.m. featuring Tatianna, ShiQueeta-Lee, Ba’Naka payment and insertion schedule. and more. Tickets ($40) for the show can be purchased at flavorus.com. Seats operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. There will also be a special show by all the Ladies of Town upstairs later in the night and music will be by Wess and BacK2bACk. Doors open at 9 p.m. and entry tickets ($35) can be purchased at the door. The Closing Party is Saturday night will host virtually all the same festivities — drag show and the Ladies of Town — but music will be by Wess and Town owner Ed Bailey and the party will only be available to guests 21 and up. The Saturday night drag show is sold out. Admission after the drag show is $35. Details at towndc.com.
The Baltimore Orioles invite fans to celebrate Pride over an evening of baseball at LGBT Pride Night on Wednesday, June 27 at 7:05 p.m. at Camden Yards (333 W Camden St., Baltimore). They play the Seattle Mariners in this first official Pride event for the Os. Alongside their ticket, each attendee will also receive an Os Pride cap at the door and a portion of the ticket proceeds goes to benefit Moveable Feast: a Baltimore-based organization that provides food and other services to those suffering from HIV/AIDS and other lifethreatening conditions. Tickets range from $15-75 and can be purchased at mlb.com/orioles.
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From dyke band leader to filmmaker, Silas Howard reimagines his whole life
A vision for ‘Jake’
JUNE 22, 2018 • 25
By BRIAN T. CARNEY One of the first things one notices about Silas Howard, director of the new queer movie “A Kid Like Jake,” are his impressive tattoos. “That’s the benefit of being in a punk band,” he says. “I got to collect a lot of tattoos.” The transgender artist grew up in a small town in rural Vermont, an upbringing that began to shape his worldview. “We were very working-class, sometimes more on the poverty line, and that’s what really formed me as much as my queerness or transness,” Howard says. “I was always sort of genderbending in my own way. That propelled me to go out west to San Francisco and come out in the era of ACT UP, the first Gulf War and Jesse Helms.” Presenting at the time as a butch lesbian, but still struggling with his sexual identity, Howard didn’t feel at home in either the gay or lesbian communities. He found a home in the queer punk crowd and founded a dyke punk band called “Tribe 8.” The band toured nationally and internationally for the next decade and became a pioneer of the queercore movement. For Howard, punk is an attitude about life. “It’s great for filmmaking,” he says, “because it’s about not waiting for permission. It’s great for being trans because it’s about being whatever gender you want. It pushes against binary, pushes against rules.” He adds, “it’s a natural fit for times such as these when there are a lot of very terrible rules and laws.” In 2001, Howard turned to from music to cinema. Working with his friend Harry Dodge, Howard wrote, directed and starred in his first film, “By Hook or by Crook.” The film was presented at the Sundance Film Festival and won several major awards on the LGBT festival circuit. Following his successful debut, Howard says, “I went to UCLA and got my degree and made a bunch of short-format work. I just made whatever I could get funding for and just kept telling stories, mostly about my community.” While he was working on his degree, Howard also transitioned. Then he made television history. “Transparent” creator Jill Soloway asked him to direct three episodes of season two, making him the first transgender person to direct the show. The show was a great experience for Howard.
PHOTO COURTESY HOWARD VIA IFC FILMS
Director SILAS HOWARD says his punk aesthetic informs his filmmaking.
“When I started to work on Transparent,” he says, “the directing felt very familiar which was nice. I felt really at home in the actual work of, ‘What is this scene about?’ and ‘Wow are we approaching it?’ That show was great because there was a lot of permission to experiment and a really dialed-in cast that was just brilliant to collaborate with. What was unfamiliar was that level of cast, that budget, the amazing snacks that were on set, getting paid. That was all very new.” In addition to “Transparent,” Howard has worked on a number of television series, including “Faking It,” where he helped launch the career of teen trans actor Elliot Fletcher, “This Is Us” and “The Fosters.” In the midst of all his television work, Howard was asked to direct the indie movie, “A Kid Like Jake.” Based on the stage play by Daniel Pearle, the movie is about Greg and Alex Wheeler (Jim Parsons and Claire Danes), an upwardly mobile Brooklyn couple who are forced to reexamine their roles as spouses and parents when their 4-year old son Jake (Leo James Davis) begins to engage in “gender-expansive play.” “I came into a project that had a beautiful
script and these two incredible actors,” Howard says. “I was attracted to the script because the dialogue is so honest, so gutwrenching. I love the little moments and the missed connections between people in the film They’re so real.” Once Howard came on board, he and Pearle “worked for a couple of months making some changes.” Some of these changes have proven quite controversial, but they are great examples of how Howard approaches storytelling. For example, they added the character of Sandra, played by Howard’s “Transparent” colleague Amy Landecker. Sandra is one of Greg’s patients. She is only seen in her therapy sessions with Greg and her scenes have no direct ties to the main plot. But, as Howard points out, “everyone in this film is struggling with identity. Here you’re dealing with someone who didn’t want to be a mother. Her scenes don’t follow a normal film structure, but it fills out the world of the movie.” In addition, following Pearle’s original stage script, where Jake doesn’t appear on stage at all, Pearle and Howard minimized Jake’s screen time until the final moments of the film. They didn’t
want the audience to focus on Jake’s gender identity, but rather on the reaction of his family and their friends. “I don’t think of ‘A Kid Like Jake’ as a trans story or a gay story or a queer story because Jake is 4 and he may go any number of ways,” Howard says. “We intentionally sort of flipped the camera on the parents and the larger society. It’s not his story.” When he’s not promoting “A Kid Like Jake,” Howard is focused on two new projects. He is co-executive producer and episode director of Ryan Murphy’s new series “Pose” set in New York’s drag ballroom culture circa 1987. He’s also working on “The Lusty,” a film about the dancers at San Francisco’s Lusty Lady who fought to organize the first union in the world for exotic dancers. “There are these amazing LGBTQ storylines on every show I’ve worked on as well as storylines about class and race and religions. It’s an amazing time to be working in television. … It’s a privilege to tell these stories and I want to extend that out to newer voices and other stories that need support to get up on the screen.”
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This Week in the Arts provided by CultureCapital.com
Rhythm & Blues Thru Jul 21. gallery neptune & brown. galleryneptunebrown.com.
This exhibition showcases masterful painting, drawing, and printmaking techniques in works that explore movement, color, form, and texture of gallery Neptune & Brown artists.
On The Town Thru Jul 22. Olney Theatre Center. olneytheatre.org.
Three young sailors on shore-leave hit 1944 New York City in a mad sprint to find love before being shipped off to war. Gabey sets off in search of a beauty he’s only seen on a subway poster — that month’s Miss Turnstiles — while his comrades stumble into romances with a cabby who sets her own destinations and an anthropologist in search of the perfect “primitive man.”
A Capital Fourth Concert July 4. West Lawn US Capitol. kennedy-center.org
The National Symphony Orchestra under the direction of conductor Jack Everly joins host John Stamos and special guests including Jimmy Buffett, The Beach Boys, Pentatonix, The Temptations, Luke Combs, Lauren Alaina, CeCe Winans, Joshua Bell, Renée Fleming, the Choral Arts Society of Washington, the U.S. Army Herald Trumpets, and the U.S. Army Ceremonial Band. Check CultureCapital.com for complete schedule of July 4th events including festivals, parades and fireworks and concerts.
Dancing in my Cockroach Killers Thru Jul 1. GALA Hispanic Theatre. galatheatre.org.
Inspired by friends, family, and Puerto Rican icons as varied as Lolita Lebrón and Joe Cuba, Gomez’s characters face real life challenges with courage and flair. This pulsating bilingual musical is full of hope, passion, and laugh-out-loud humor. PHOTO COURTESY OF GALLERY NEPTUNE & BROWN
THEATRE Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of The Temptations. Thru Jul 22. Hamilton. Thru Sep 7. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org. Botticelli in the Fire. Thru Jun 24. Woolly Mammoth. woollymammoth.net. Motown the Musical. Jun 26-Jun 28. Wolf Trap. wolftrap.org. Other Life Forms. Thru Jul 7. Keegan Theatre. keegantheatre.com. The Importance of Being Earnest. Jun 23. Dupont Underground. dupontunderground.org. The Remains. Thru Jun 24. Studio
Theatre. studiotheatre.org. The Scottsboro Boys. Thru Jul 1. Signature Theatre. sigtheatre.org. The Vagrant Trilogy. Thru Jul 1. Mosaic Theater Company at Atlas. mosaictheater.org. Trayf. Thru Jun 24. Theater J. theaterj.org.
DANCE Art on 8th: Heart Stück Bernie. Jun 22. RebollarDance. Jun 23-Jun 24. Dance Place. danceplace.org.
MUSIC Charlie Wilson with Sheila E. Jun 24. Tony Bennett. Jun 23. Dr. Dog and Manchester Orchestra Critical Equation Tour with (Sandy) Alex G. Jun 22. Wolf Trap. wolftrap.org. Herbie Hancock. Jun 24. Strathmore. strathmore.org. Hip Hop Culture: Rock Rubber 45s After Party. Jun 22. Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org. Jazz in the Garden: Hendrik Meurkens Quartet. Jun 22. National Gallery of Art. nga.gov. Melissa Etheridge. Jun 22-Jun 23. A Night of Jazz with Gregory Porter. Thru Jun 27. NSO at Kennedy Center. kennedy-center.org. The Emperor of Atlantis. Thru Jun 24. In Series at Atlas. inseries.org.
MUSEUMS Dumbarton Oaks. Outside/IN: Martha Jackson Jarvis at Dumbarton Oaks. Thru Aug 19. doaks.org. Folger Shakespeare Library. Form & Function: The Genius of the Book. Thru Sep 23. folger.edu. Kreeger Museum. Second Nature: Portuguese Contemporary Art from the EDP Foundation Collection. Thru Jul 31. kreegermuseum.org. Library of Congress. Letters to Lyrics: Alexander Hamilton at the Library of Congress. Thru Aug 21. Drawn to Purpose. Oct 10. loc.gov. National Archives. Remembering Vietnam. Thru Jan 6. archivesfoundation.org. National Gallery of Art. Glimpses of Seventeenth-Century Life. Thru Jun 28. Italian Renaissance Collection. Thru Jun 30. nga.gov. National Geographic. Titanic: The Untold Story. Thru Jan 6. Tomb of Christ. Thru Jan 2.nglive.org. National Museum of Women in the Arts. Hung Liu In Print. Thru Jul 8. Heavy Metal—Women to Watch 2018. Jun 28-Sep 16. nmwa.org. Smithsonian Anacostia Museum. A Right to The City. April 20. Thru Jan 6. anacostia.si.edu.
National Portrait Gallery,
Smithsonian. Black Out: Silhouettes Then and Now. Thru March 10. The Sweat of Their Face: Portraying American Workers. Thru Sep 3. npg.si.edu.
GALLERIES DC Arts Center (DCAC). Judging Me Judging You. Thru Aug 12. dcartscenter.org. Gallery Underground. Out of the Blue All-Member Exhibit. Thru Jun 29. arlingtonartistsalliance.org. Glen Echo Park. Arigat?, 10 Years at Glen Echo Park. Thru Jul 1. Super America: Paintings and Prints by Ric Garcia. Thru Jul 1. glenechopark.org. Goethe-Institut. 1968: A Time of Uproar in Europe and the US. Thru Aug 24. goethe.de. Hill Center. Hill Center Galleries Regional Juried Exhibition. Jun 27-Sep 22. hillcenterdc.org. Korean Cultural Center DC. Artistic Records exhibition. Thru Jun 28. koreaculturedc.org. Strathmore. Jennifer Kahn Barlow. Thru Dec 1. strathmore.org. The Art League. Michael McSorley: ''Collections of Perceptions''. Thru Jul 1. theartleague.org. Waverly Street Gallery. Waverly Street Gallery presents 'Resilence' with Han-Mee Artists. Thru Jul 7. waverlystreetgallery.com. Zenith Gallery. Journeys, Memories, and Dreams for the Future. Thru Jun 23. zenithgallery.com.
AND MORE... Arlington Cultural Affairs. Lubber Run Amphitheater Free Summer Concerts Summer 2018. Jun 15-Sep 16. At Lubber Run. arlingtonarts.org. Capital Fringe. Capital Fringe Festival. Jul 7-29. At various locations. capitalfringe.org Strathmore.Artists in Fiction Book Club. Thru Jul 18. strathmore.org. Hill Center. At Home Gourmet: Cuba. Jun 26. hillcenterdc.org. Anderson House. Author's Talk: The Art of the Peales in the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Jun 22. societyofthecincinnati.org.
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J U N E 22, 2018 • 27
PHOTO COURTESY OF THEPINESRB
DANE WILFONG was recently hired as executive chef of The Pines.
New Rehoboth restaurant finds its chef Dane Wilfong promises ‘from scratch fresh take on tavern cuisine’ at The Pines By BLAKE CHAMBERS REHOBOTH BEACH, Del. — Residents and visitors alike here have watched with anticipation the gradual transformation of the old Hobo’s on Baltimore Avenue into the new two-story restaurant and lounge, The Pines. Dane Wilfong was recently hired as executive chef of The Pines, which is slated to open later this summer. Wilfong has more than a decade of experience working in restaurants and catering. Wilfong began his career near his hometown of Baltimore at a young age. He became passionate for the restaurant industry and was inspired to study Hospitality and Tourism at Anne Arundel Community College. He has also received accreditations from the American Culinary Federation and certifications as a Sommelier and Serve Safe Practitioner. Prior to taking on the role of executive chef of The Pines, Wilfong served as executive chef of Whitehouse Caterers at Overhills Mansion. As executive chef, Wilfong will work alongside The Pines co-owner, Tyler Townsend, to choose local food partners, organize menus and assist in the oversight of culinary operations and kitchen staff. “I tend to use a lot of hyper local ingredients,” Wilfong said. “You go to Delaware because we have a little bit of everything right out our back door.” Townsend, who was on a path to becoming Major League Baseball’s first openly gay player, had to leave baseball behind due to a recurring hamstring injury. In an interview with the Washington Blade in 2015, Townsend discussed his journey of coming out as gay and what it was like hiding his sexual orientation from teammates and coaches. Townsend returned to Florida
International University to complete his studies in hospitality management after his baseball career ended. He was accepted to Florida International on a scholarship and played for the university for three years before he left his senior In loving memory of year to play for the minor league system. “It was a transition for sure. I did not really know what I wanted to do after baseball,” Townsend said about switching from baseball to becoming a restaurateur. 1958 to 2014 “My family had restaurants growing up, so I was somewhat familiar with them,” he said. “I started to get into wine and loved going out to a great meal with friends and PFLAG promotes the equality and well-being of gay, lesbian, bisexual, family, so when I went back to get my and transgendered persons, their families and friends through: degree, I chose hospitality management.” For Townsend, the biggest challenge he • Support to cope with an adverse society. sees to finding success with The Pines is • Education to enlighten an ill-informed public. just carrying out his vision. He has no doubt • Advocacy to end discrimination and secure equal civil rights. that the restaurant will be successful. Townsend’s dream for The Pines is to Trained facilitators lead the Arlington Support Group and confidentiality is maintained. For create the best place for diners to have a further information about the Arlington Support Group, contact us at arl.pflag@gmail.com. good time and make happy memories. Our groups meet on the second Sunday of each month, from 3 – 4:30pm at the Unitarian “I’ve worked hard to get where I am Universalist Church in Arlington, at George Mason Drive & Route 50. today, and I saw that in Dane,” said Townsend. Townsend said he and A.L.Y. is a group for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Questioning Youth and Allies in Wilfong felt like a good match, and he is grades 7-12. Our goal is to give LGBTQ youth a safe place to gather. Trained facilitators lead the looking forward to seeing what Wilfong youth group. Confidentiality maintained. For more info, contact: aly.pflagdc@gmail.com. comes up with. “We have a very thoughtful and unique Our Washington DC Chapter of PFLAG may be reached at 202-638-3852. vision for The Pines.” Wilfong said. “The town of Rehoboth is currently filled with ADVERTISING great food and lots of love, but I feel we PROOF #1 an upscale ISSUE DATE: 180622 SALES REPRESENTATIVE: can set ourselves apart with city approach to our tavern concept, REVIEW AD FOR COPY AND DESIGN ACCURACY. Revisions must be submitted within 24 hours of the date of proof. Proof will be considered final and will be submitted for publication if revision is not submitted within 24 hours of while still being able toREVISIONS realize what the date of proof. Revisions will not be accepted after 12:01 pm wednesday, the week of publication.Brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) is not responsible for the content and/or design of your ad. Advertiser is makes Rehoboth so great toREDESIGN so many. We responsible for any legal liability arising out of or relating to the advertisement, and/or any material to which users can link through the advertisement. Advertiser represents that its advertisement will not violate any criminal laws or TEXT REVISIONS any rgihts of third parties, including, but not limited to, such violations as infringement or misapporpriation of any hope to utilize our local resources from 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, farms, orchards, growersNO and captains or any other right of any person or entity. Advertiser agrees to idemnify brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the ADVERTISER SIGNATURE REVISIONS washington blade) and to hold brown naff pitts omnimedia llc (dba the washington blade) harmless from any and all By signing this proof you are agreeing to your contr liability, loss, damages, claims, or causes of action, including reasonable legal fees and expenses that may be incurred for our entirely from scratch fresh take washington blade newspaper. This includes but is n by brown naff pitts omnimedia llc, arising out of or related to advertiser’s breach of any of the foregoing representations payment and insertion schedule. and warranties. on tavern cuisine.” Along with Townsend, the restaurant is owned by Bob Suppies. As stated on its website, the restaurant will offer “a We also host private events winning combination of sensational interior design, a lively atmosphere, LINCOLN Restaurant TEDDY & The Bully Bar creative American cuisine, crafty cocktails 1110 Vermont Ave., NW 1200 19th St., NW Washington, DC 20005 Washington, DC 20036 and first-class customer service.” The www.lincolnrestaurant-dc.com www.teddyandthebullybar.com restaurant plans on mixing old and new, 202-386-9200 202-872-8700 combining classic Rehoboth dishes with Wilfong’s twist creating a modern style.
Joseph A. Cox
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CA LE N D A R experience through various musical lenses. Food and drink is available for purchase at the venue and seating is general admission, first-come, firstserved. Tickets are $45 each and can be purchased at wolftrap.org.
E-mail calendar items to calendars@washblade. com two weeks prior to your event. Space is limited so priority is given to LGBT-specific events or those with LGBT participants. Recurring events must be re-submitted each time.
By GRACE PERRY
MONDAY, JUNE 25
TODAY “Ideal Home” will be screened tonight at Human Rights Campaign Headquarters (1640 Rhode Island Ave., N.W.) at 7 p.m. Starring Paul Rudd and Steve Coogan, the movie tells the story of a gay couple, Paul and Erasmus, whose lives are turned upside down when a boy shows up at their door claiming to be Erasmus’ grandson. General admission tickets are $12 and VIP tickets are $25 and include one complimentary drink and movie popcorn or candy. Tickets can be purchased at reelaffirmations.org. Summer Rooftop Silent DISCO is tonight at 8 p.m. at the Embassy Row Hotel (2015 Massachusetts Ave., N.W.). The party will feature three live DJs and three music channels for attendees to choose from — all on an open-air dance floor and all through wireless headphones provided on-sight. Food and drinks are also available for purchase. Tickets can be bought for $10-20 online at Eventbrite.com or $20 at the door. Grammy-winning lesbian icon Melissa Etheridge takes the stage tonight at the Kennedy Center (2700 F St., N.W.) at 8 p.m. for a performance with the NSO Pops. With hits like “Come to My Window” and “I’m the Only One,” Ethridge’s renowned career has cemented her place in rock history. Tickets range from $24-99 and can be purchased at kennedy-center.org. She will also perform Saturday, June 23 at 8 p.m.
SATURDAY, JUNE 23 The Mayor’s Office hosts LGBTQ Senior Splash today from 2-5 p.m. at the Turkey Thicket Recreation Center (1100 Michigan Ave., N.W.). The afternoon will feature water aerobics activities, refreshments and a “Know Your Rights” workshop provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The event is free and open to the public, but a reservation is required. To RSVP, visit Eventbrite.com. “McKellen: Playing the Part” screens today at 5 p.m. at the Folger Theatre (201 East Capitol St., S.E.). Centered around a 14-hour interview, the film tells the untold story of gay actor Ian McKellen, who has starred in countless blockbusters including “Lord of the Rings” and “The Da Vinci Code.” The running time is 96 minutes. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at folger.org. Little Theatre of Alexandria (600 Wolfe St., Alexandria) performs “The Nance” tonight at 8 p.m. for the last time. Winner of three Tony Awards, the show tackles the nuances and challenges of gay life in New York City in the 1930s. The theater is Metro accessible and tickets are $22 each. To
Coffee & Conversation for Older LGBT Adults takes place today from 10 a.m.-noon at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.). Residents may stop by and enjoy a complimentary cup of coffee over conversation with fellow LGBT community members. For more information, email david@thedccenter.org.
TUESDAY, JUNE 26
PHOTO COURTESY KENNEDY CENTER
Lesbian rock icon MELISSA ETHERIDGE performs with the NSO Pops tonight and Saturday at the Kennedy Center.
purchase tickets, visit thelittletheatre.com. Winchester, Va., hosts its inaugural Pride Celebration today from noon6 p.m. at Old Town Winchester (33 East Boscawen St., Winchester, Va.). The event includes guest speakers, vendors, drag shows, a scavenger hunt, plus awards for best Pride outfits. The event is free and open to the public. For more information, search for the event on Facebook. Frederick Pride is today, starting with a multi-faith pride service at 10 a.m. at the Evangelical Reformed Church (15 W Church St., Frederick, Md.). Those interested are encouraged to start their Pride weekend with prayers and songs from various faith traditions in celebration of LGBT pride and identity. After the service, the seventh annual Frederick Pride Festival begins at 11 a.m. in Carroll Creek Linear Park (14 E Patrick St., Frederick, Md.). The festival will feature bands, drag shows, DJs, dancing and additional live acts at the amphitheater, and organizers are expecting up to 7,000 attendees. The event is free and open to the public. For more information on the weekend’s festivities, visit frederickpride.org. D.C. Arts Center (2438 18 St., N.W.) hosts Gay Night Out (GNO) tonight at 7:30 and 10 p.m. Produced by D.C. native Bryce Sulecki, GNO brings together trendsetting LGBT musicians and performers for a night of entertainment and dancing hosted by Jane Saw. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at Eventbrite.com. Hooray for Books (1555 King St.,
Alexandria, Va.) hosts a book launch party with local author Kristin Levine today from 2-5 p.m. Levine’s book “The Jigsaw Jungle” chronicles a young girl’s coming of age as the mysteries of her father’s life slowly unravel. The event is free and recommended for children 10 and older.
SUNDAY, JUNE 24 Harry Styles plays Capitol One Arena (601 F St., N.W., 7 p.m.) tonight with country singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves. Although he rose to stardom as a member of the boy band One Direction, Styles now has a successful solo career of his own, with hit singles like “Sign of the Times” and “Sweet Creature.” Tickets range from $39-100 and can be purchased at ticketmaster.com. Tea and Flowers: Femme High Noon Tea is today from 3-6 p.m. at Street Artist Studios (52 O St., N.W.). April Rameé of Antler Alchemy begins a new series of femme community gatherings to discuss and learn about plant medicine. No prior experience with plant medicine is required and the event includes tea, vegan snacks, Pranayama teachings and more. Tickets are $33 and can be found at Eventbrite.com. “The Seven Deadly Sins” takes the stage today at 1 p.m. at Dock 5 at Union Market (1309 5 St., N.E.). Hosted by Wolf Trap in partnership with Halcyon’s By the People, this theatrical production observes and comments on the American
Cobalt (1639 R St., N.W.) hosts Gaymer Night tonight at 7 p.m., featuring multiplayer games on seven TVs, raffle prizes and drink specials including $3 Bud Lite. For more details, look for the event at cobaltdc.com. Genderqueer D.C. meets tonight at 7 p.m. at the D.C. Center (2000 14th St., N.W.). Anyone who identifies outside of the gender binary is encouraged to attend the support group, including those individuals just beginning the process of questioning and understanding their identities. For more information, visit genderqueerdc.org.
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 27 The Lambda Bridge Club meets tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Dignity Center (721 8th St., S.E.) for duplicate bridge. For several decades, the Lambda Bridge Club has provided a social space for gay bridge players. No reservations are required, and newcomers are welcome. Call 202841-0279 if you need a partner. Port City Brewing Co. (3950 Wheeler Ave., Alexandria, Va.) presents “A Guided Pairing: Cheese, Charcuterie & Beer” tonight from 7-9 p.m. As part of its “Month of Love,” Port City is hosting a cheese, charcuterie and beer guided pairing with six courses in total. Tickets are $40 each and include gratuity. Reservations are required; RSVP at portcitybrewing.com/ events. Primer Timers of D.C. meets upstairs at Dupont Italian Kitchen (1637 17th St., N.W.) tonight at 6:15 p.m. for dinner and socializing. Call George at 301-395-0544 or v isit primetimersdc.org for details.
THURSDAY, JUNE 28 SMYAL for Summer takes place tonight from 6-8:30 p.m. at the Josephine Butler Park Center (2437 15 St., N.W.). Attendees can enjoy beverages and hors d’oeuvres while helping raise money for SMYAL, an organization working to serve the needs of D.C. LGBT youth. Tickets range from $10-500 and can be purchased at tiny.cc/ SMYAL4Summer18.
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J U N E 22, 2018 • 29
YOU NEED TO GET TO SIGNATURE THEATRE’S PRODUCTION OF THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS. THIS ONE IS THE REAL DEAL.“ – BROADWAYWORLD
SEARING. “ A VIBRANT, TIMELY, AND DANGEROUS. FUNNY.“ SOCIALLY IMPACTFUL “ BRILLIANTLY PROVOCATIVE. – DC THEATRE SCENE
“ THOUGHT-PROVOKING, “SMART.
EXECUTED.“
WASHINGTON BLADE PHOTO BY EVAN CAPLAN
Milk is a new bakery on 15th St. Part of a chain, it’s considered one of the ‘flagship’ shops.
Milking it New Logan Circle bakery offers wacky concoctions By EVAN CAPLAN Washington’s newest dessert bar is so close to Vida and Number Nine, you could throw a chocolate malt cake truffle at it. Taking over a former auto repair shop, Milk Bar (1525 15th St., N.W.; milkbarstore.com) opened its doors June 2, just in time for Capital Pride. Chef, founder and CEO Christina Tosi is a Virginia native, but began her Milk Bar empire in New York in 2008 and has now opened 14 Milk Bar locations. This includes two other spots in Washington — at CityCenterDC, connected to the Momofuku restaurant; and at the Wharf, which also opened earlier this year. This Milk Bar, however, is standalone building, billed as a “flagship” that’s complete with desserts exclusive to the location, a classroom, an events space and outdoor communal picnic tables to show off colorful desserts to passers-by. “I have tremendous respect for all of the creativity going on within the D.C. culinary scene right now, especially the rise of innovative neighborhood spots,” Tosi says. “In that spirit, we want Milk Bar Logan Circle to be a gathering space for neighbors, a destination for families and a place to learn and be inspired by others.” And a destination heavy on the sugar. For Tosi and her team of dessert scientists, almost nothing is too wacky or out of the box. Like her other locations, this flashy flagship starts with a menu of the famed Milk Bar classics: the Compost Cookie (pretzels, potato chips,
Photo of The Scottsboro Boys ensemble by Christopher Mueller
– MD THEATRE GUIDE
MUSICAL. – THEATERMANIA
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Now through July 1
From the creators of Cabaret and Chicago comes a stunning musical based on a true story
coffee, oats, graham cracker, chocolate chips), B’day truffles (vanilla-infused milk rainbow cake, coated with white chocolate and rolled in rainbow cake crumb), cereal milk, soft serve, and yes, the controversially named crack pie (mostly butter, sugar and eggs but true to its name, is as addictive as pie could be). Yet Tosi is truly showing off her baked-good chops at the Logan Circle shop, where she’s going to play with the offerings, with new items constantly popping out of the oven. One way she’s doing that is combining two breakfast faves: the subtly named Coffee+Donut, a “curated and crafted cone concoction.” It starts with a homemade cinnamon sugar-donut waffle cone layered with hot, thick chocolate fudge. It’s filled with soft serve and generously topped with donut crumbs, chocolate dough bites and a jump from something called coffee “sand.” The fudge, while warm and gooey, is almost imperceptible under the soft serve but holds the whole thing together. The cone is drippy, messy and decadent — something plenty of people will want to stick their tongues in. Customers in search of something with a measurement of protein may look to the savory breakfast items, called bombs. Exclusive to this Logan spot is the sausage, egg, and cheese bomb, along with others like the spinachartichoke bombs, possibly one of the only items with something nominally green involved. The bombs tend to be heavy on the dough, but are otherwise interesting takes on breakfast items. Other offerings available only at this shop includes catering, ready-made carryout cakes and soft-serve toppings.
Free parking 16 area restaurants
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Thank you for hosting Pride Birthday Cake Class benefiting the Blade Foundation. Visit Milk Bar Flagship at Logan Circle at 1525 15th St NW
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BO OK S
J U N E 22, 2018 • 31
Hope’s flame
琀栀攀
一䄀䬀䔀䐀 夀伀䜀䄀 䴀漀渀搀愀礀猀 ☀ 眀攀搀渀攀猀搀愀礀猀
New novel is poignant portrait of grief
㘀㨀㌀ 倀䴀
琀甀攀猀搀愀 礀猀 ⼀㈀ 瀀爀椀挀攀 氀漀挀欀攀爀猀 ☀ 爀漀漀洀猀 㠀 愀洀 ⴀ 洀椀搀渀椀最栀琀
TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER has been reading since she was 3 years old. She lives in Wisconsin with two dogs and 12,000 books. Reach her at bookwormsez@yahoo.com.
The picture reminds you of a thousand things. You recall the day it was taken: the smell of the air, the background sounds, food and drink, laughter and the sense that this was forever. You’ve seen that photo many times throughout the years, but it never fails to remind you of the best of times. Or, as in the new book “Tin Man” by Sarah Winman, it may represent the worst. Ellis Judd rarely thought of reading anymore, though there were books piled around his apartment. They were Annie’s, so he ignored them. He mostly ignored the picture sitting among them, too, and tried not to think about the people in it. But, of course, that was impossible; his face was one of the three in the photograph. And there was Annie, his wife and the love of his life, five years dead from an automobile accident. And Michael, his best childhood friend. He’d never forget the day he and Michael met: Ellis was visiting Mabel, an older woman and the local greengrocer, when Michael arrived to stay. Both 12 years old, they’d become on-the-spot friends. Years later, Michael was the reason Ellis met Annie, and she instantly loved him, too. Ellis was glad for it. But then, not too long after Annie and Ellis were married, Michael seemed to disappear and Annie pestered Ellis on and off. Didn’t he wonder where Michael had gone? Didn’t he want him back in his life? Didn’t Ellis miss his best friend? He did, and one day, Michael walked back in, as if nothing had happened and things seemed to pick up where they left off. Ellis was content again with his day-to-day until the car accident, and his entire world died. It took awhile to heal — as if that would ever fully happen — but his losses made distant memories keener and Ellis began thinking about a painting that his mother
猀愀 琀甀爀搀愀 礀猀 最爀愀戀 愀 ␀㔀 漀昀昀 挀愀爀搀 愀琀 吀刀䄀䐀䔀 昀愀挀攀戀漀漀欀⸀挀漀洀⼀琀栀攀挀爀攀眀挀氀甀戀
㌀㈀ 㐀琀栀 猀琀 一圀
PHOTO COURTESY PUTNAM
and Michael had particularly loved. Having it would mean a lot so, knowing that it was stored in his father’s attic, Ellis fetched it. That’s when he found a boxful of Michael’s things, including a notebook. There are a thousand emotions that you’ll feel when you read “Tin Man,” starting with a melancholy sense of foreboding. Don’t beat yourself up for it, though. Every character here has reason to feel that life is no good. That alone might make you not want to read this book — why try something when you know it’s going to depress you, right? Wrong: author Sarah Winman also repeatedly offers a most persistent flame of hope in her story, from Ellis’ mother, who finds beauty in a boobyprize painting; to Annie, who happily understands Michael’s needs; and Ellis himself, who learns again what he already knew. Readers will know it, too, long before they get to the pinnacle of this book. But the love-story-not-love-story that pulses to the lingering end is worth the journey, times two. And that makes “Tin Man’ a book you should picture yourself reading.
‘TIN MAN: A NOVEL’ By Sarah Winman Putnam $23 214 pages
I love the Wharf, listening to jazz at Westminster Church, and playing basketball with other guys.
”
I’m a transgender man and I’m part of DC. Please treat me the way any man would want to be treated: with courtesy and respect. Discrimination based on gender identity and expression is illegal in the District of Columbia. If you think you’ve been the target of discrimination, visit www.ohr.dc.gov or call (202) 727-4559.
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A RT S & E N T E RT A I N ME N T
Glenn solo album charts painful acceptance journey CONTINUED FROM PAGE 19
eventually to my band and then publicly in [Rolling Stone] magazine. BLADE: Do you still believe in the Mormon church? GLENN: I don’t believe in the church, but I’ve neither been excommunicated nor have I removed my name from the records. I stopped believing in church and in organized religion altogether in 2016. I’m slowly rebuilding my views on faith, to be honest. I don’t know where I’m at, but I’m really happy not having religion in my life. BLADE: In 2016, you released your solo album “Excommunication.” How do you think that album affects LGBT youth and especially LGBT Mormons? GLENN: It’s interesting, I made that record in real time. As I was experiencing my faith crisis and abandoning Mormonism, I was writing songs and eventually made that album. I put it out on the label my band is tied to, but I never viewed it as a commercial thing, I viewed it as something I wanted to get out of me. So I kind of put it on the shelf for a while and needed to move on because it was a very painful and emotionally fraught experience creating that album. But to be able to have it out there for almost two years, the messages that I get and the people that discover that I have an album under my own name — it’s gone beyond Mormonism. It’s really made an impact on all LGBT people that had been affected or felt oppressed by religion. To me, it’s so beautiful to see it take a life of its own, you know. I didn’t think that was going to happen. It was always sort of a record that I wanted to make but I never anticipated that it would find its way into peoples’ lives in such an intimate way. I continually get messages from people discovering the songs and to me that has been a real treat and added a lot of value to an experience that was really painful for me. I’m really proud of the album but it’s an album that I rarely listen to, I rarely play from at shows, because — not to sound cliché — it’s an album that’s very personal to me, and kind of triggers stuff when I think about it. For me, it’s a really emotional thing, but it’s been cool to watch it be special for other people. BLADE: In “Believer,” Dan apologizes to you for being a bad ally. What did that apology mean to you and what did you originally think of the idea that would become the LoveLoud festival? GLENN: Dan and I have known each other for 15 years but never really known each other. We’ve always known of each other, we’ve run in similar circles, we know each other’s siblings and things like that, but I think when both of our bands started to become successful, there was like an
TYLER GLENN (left) with DAN REYNOLDS at the ‘Believer’ premiere party.
air of competition. I was deeply moved that he took the time to call me, and since then he’s been so inclusive in including me in the process of his faith crisis. I’ve gotten to be really personal friends with him, which is nice because he’s always been a person in my life, but not someone I knew in a deep way. He was also a fan of “Excommunication,” and to know that he was affected by it, and that he saw my struggles and validated that, was just a beautiful gesture. And then to include me on creating LoveLoud — the whole LoveLoud foundation is just its own animal now — it’s just a really pure thing. I know that there’s often, and even in myself, questions like, “OK, but you’re this straight white guy, do we really need you to save the gay people?” But to me, I’ve gotten to know him in a way that I see his pure intentions. It’s not perfect, but he’s got pure intentions to hopefully stay loud and make people feel faith. That’s the whole message of LoveLoud, and hopefully the message people take from “Believer.” I can validate and stand by Dan as someone
who is truly an ally and it’s really cool to see him grow in that way. BLADE: How did LoveLoud affect or move people? Do you think “Believer” will do the same? GLENN: In the credits, there are videos that people have sent to LoveLoud and kind of tell about their experiences; those are really touching to watch. A lot of personal family members and friends in that community were really moved by the event. We tried to keep it an event where everyone felt included; we didn’t want to exclude (people who are) believing Mormons, religious or didn’t understand LGBT culture; we wanted it to be a space where we were all sharing stories and music, and that’s really what it became. To see it grow and become an even bigger platform this year is really exciting. The first year, it had no big sponsors, it was very grassroots, put together through the energy and focus of everyone involved. This year, there’s gonna be bigger acts and bigger sponsors. In a way, that just
PHOTO BY KRISTINA NAMELSS COURTESY STARPIX FOR HBO
shows approval from people who want it to continue to grow. The whole point of LoveLoud is to make people feel like they have a place and to change people’s lives and hearts. It’s doing that so far and it’s really cool to see. BLADE: What message do you want LGBT teens struggling with acceptance to hear most? GLENN: Personally, if I were to have heard or even just seen examples of healthy, open LGBT people, that would have changed my life. … For me, I want young LGBT people to know that you are absolutely perfect the way you are, that we all are struggling to find a place in this world regardless of sexuality, and I want them to know that we are divine and being queer is a superpower. I shouldn’t feel like I’m a challenge. It took me way too long to accept that. I hope and wish that young people that have that chance would take it and live their lives to the fullest and not feel like they are made to be less than.
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REALESTATE
Condo – can do or can’t do? Features attractive to some are turnoffs to others By JOSEPH HUDSON So, you want to buy in a condo building? Well, what are your most important reasons for doing so? Do you want three neighbors? Or 300? Do you want a pool and a roof deck? Do you want a washer and dryer in your unit? Balcony? Do you want a doorman? No, you just want big closets and bike storage? Condo living can be as varied as the styles of single-family freestanding and row homes you see in this area. You can really be living in the lap of luxury, with party rooms, gyms, elevators, flat panel TVs that have the news and Metro schedule in the lobby, 24-hour concierge, package service and complimentary coffee and water. It can feel like you live in a hotel. Or it can be back to basics where a row house was cut into two condos, and the fees are low only to cover when large projects need to be completed, like new gutters, fixing a roof or tuck-pointing. No door people, no elevator, no bells and whistles. What people sometimes find attractive about certain condo buildings, other buyers get turned off by. An important lesson a client and I recently learned while we were looking at the various buildings in the city that were close enough for her commute to be short, but near enough to restau-
If a balcony is on your must-have list, are you willing to part with something else to get it? BIGSTOCK PHOTO; COURTESY OF CASANOWE
rants and entertainment, is to ask: “What rules and regulations do you have for your roof deck? Other public spaces?” Are the hours of use going to be enough for the buyer to spend time on the roof deck with a glass of wine in her hand and watch the sun go down? We recently decided to NOT put in an offer at the last minute when she realized the one amenity that really sold her on the building was not available for
the hours that would work for her. One important benefit of buying a condo in D.C. is that the buyer gets the “condo-doc review period,” which really gives the buyer a chance to see all the bylaws and finances of a building, as well as rules and any planned maintenance for the year. With this period, the buyers can see if the building is financially sound and well maintained. If they decide it’s not,
then they can be let out of the contract to buy the unit. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about condo living in D.C. I’ve got answers.
JOSEPH HUDSON is a Realtor with Compass. Reach him at 703-587-0597 or joseph. hudson@compass.com.
CASABLANCA: The story of a beautiful woman trapped in a historic palace by a senile, old man with small hands. To be used at the top of collateral:
VALERIE M. BLAKE, Associate Broker, GRI, Director of Education & Mentorship Dupont Circle Office • 202-518-8781 (o) • 202.246.8602 (c) Valerie@DCHomeQuest.com • www.DCHomeQuest.com
To be used at the bottom of collateral:
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W A SH I N G T O N BLA D E . CO M
THE CAPITAL PRIDE ALLIANCE EXTENDS A VERY DEEP THANK YOU TO THE ADVOCATES WHO HELPED US TO MAKE THE PRIDE 2018 CELEBRATION IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL A SUCCESS! NATIONAL PRESENTING ADVOCATE
UNAPOLOGETICALLY PROUD PRESENTING ADVOCATES
RAINBOW ADVOCATES
LOVE WINS PLATINIUM ADVOCATES
TRUE COLORS GOLD ADVOCATES
OUT AND PROUD SILVER ADVOCATES
COMMUNITY SPIRIT ADVOCATE
BE TRUE...BE YOU BRONZE ADVOCATE
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ENHANCE YOUR AD WITH OUR UPGRADES PICTURES BOLD TEXT LARGE TEXT COLOR AND MORE CONTACT US AT 202-747-2077
BULLETIN BOARD 19,000 SF OFFICE SPACE at Walter E. Washington Convention Center The construction at 801 Mount Vernon Place NW, Washington, DC 20001 will include the following trades: Paint, Carpet, Glass, Millwork, Electrical, Mechanical, Plumbing, Sprinkler, and Drywall. CBE Participants are encouraged to participate. Please contact Mark Bonacci at (703)740-3787 for further information regarding this project.
MASSAGE ROSSLYN - CMT available for massage in Arlington, SunTues or DC, Thurs-Sat. Call or text Gary 301-704-1158. mymassagebygary.com.
COUNSELING COUNSELING FOR GAY MEN. Individual/ couple counseling w/ volunteer peer counselor. Gay Men’s Counseling Community since 1973. 202-580-8861. gaymenscounseling. org. No fees, donation requested.
SWEDISH MASSAGE with deep tissue/stretching & reflexology elements. EZ parking/5 min walk from metro. 202-731-9737. $90hr.
BODY & SOUL PSYCHIATRIC & PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGIC Consultation. Afternoon through late evening appointments. Adult Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner. Special interest in ADHD, Autism, Anxiety Disorders. Rockville, Maryland office. Call (301)969-1616. www.eveningpsych.com.
ISO EMPLOYMENT LOOKING FOR PART-TIME housekeeping or cat sitting work. Available for weekdays. Call Gina Blake 202-956-9549.
EMPLOYMENT OPTIONS: Partnership with Owner/Stylist, Assume lease w/options. Booth rent w/option to buy Location: Dupont Circle Price: Reasonable and negotiable depends on options. Call: 202-955-5556 WHOLISTIC SERVICES, INC. seeking Full Time Direct Support Professionals to assist intellectually disabled adults with behavioral health complexities in group homes & day services throughout DC. Requirements 1 year exp., valid drivers license, able to lift 50-75 lbs, complete training program, become DDS Med Certified within 4 months of hire, ability to pass security background check. Associates degree preferred. For more information, please contact the Human Resources (HR) Department at 202-832-8787.
Results-Oriented • Affordable
Larry Cohen, LICSW
30 years serving the LGBT community
202-244-0903 socialanxietyhelp.com
See website for NPR story on my work
Ed.D., LICSW, LCSW, CSAC
Offering psychological solutions for depression, anxiety, chronic pain and illness
(202) 544-5440
www.drleephillips.com
DAVE LLOYD & ASSOCIATES Top 1% Nationwide NVAR Life Member Top Producder
703-593-3204
WWW.DAVELLOYD.NET ENTHUSIASTICALLY SERVING DC & VIRGINIA
Place your HOUSING TO SHARE ad online at washingtonblade.com and the ad prints free in the paper and online.* *25 words or less prints free - anything more is $1/word.
SALON TO OWN
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy
Dr. Melvin L. Phillips, Jr.,
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LOCKER ROOM ATTENDANTS NEEDED! The Crew Club, a gay men’s naturist gym & sauna, is now hiring Locker Room Attendants. We all scrub toilets & do heavy cleaning. You must be physically able to handle the work & have a great attitude doing it. No drunks/druggies need apply. Please call David at (202) 319-1333. from 9-5pm, to schedule an interview.
LEGAL SERVICES ADOPTION & ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE Law Attorney Jennifer Fairfax represents clients in DC, MD & VA. interested in adoption or ART matters. 301221-9651, JFairfax@ jenniferfairfax.com. FULL SERVICE LAW FIRM Representing the GLBT community for over 35 years. Family adoptions, estate planning, immigration, employment. (301) 891-2200. Silber, Perlman, Sigman & Tilev, P.A. www.SP-Law. com.
Place your HOUSING TO SHARE ad online at washingtonblade.com and the ad prints free in the paper and online.* *25 words or less prints free - anything more is $1/word.
LIMOUSINES KASPER’S LIVERY SERVICE Since 1987. Gay & Veteran Owner/ Operator. 2016 Luxury BMW 750Li Sedan. Properly Licensed & Livery Insured in DC. www.KasperLivery.com. Phone 202-554-2471.
PHOTOGRAPHY STEVE O’TOOLE PHOTOGRAPHY Fine Art Photographer for Portraits & Weddings & more! Check out my website - www. steveotoolephotography. com. Specializing in Bears & Big men. Steve 703-861-4422.
CLEANING FERNANDO’S CLEANING: Residential & Commercial Cleaning, Reasonable Rates, Free Estimates, Routine, 1-Time, Move-In/ Move-Out. (202) 234-7050, 202-486-6183.
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SHARE ADS ARE FREE. Place your HOUSING TO SHARE ad online at washingtonblade.com and the ad prints free in the paper and online.* *25 words or less prints free - anything more is $1/word.
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ELECTRICIAN ELECTRICIAN FOR RESTORING
power outages, installing recessed lights & ceiling fans, wall mounting TVs, AV system configurations, electrical repairs & renovations 202-294-5000
HANDYMAN PLASTERING & STUCCO Quality work. DC licensed http://www.rtbullard.com. 703-845-1565.
GREAT SCOTT MOVING INC. Local & Long Distance, Pianos! A Great Move at a Great Price call (301) 699-2066. Highly` rated by Consumer Check Book, Better Business Bureau, Yelp & Angie’s List. We’ve moved the Blade, let us move you!
RENT / DC CAPITOL HILL 1BR $1,539.00
+ util/mth. 1122 F St. NE #4. Call or email Joel Martin at 202-498-1065 jn1martin@aol.com
RENT / VA ARLINGTON 1BR APT. CLOSE IN, W/D on premises. 703-979-2372.
SALE / MD
Bathroom Sinks, Tubs, Vanities, Kitchen Sinks, Disposals, Boilers & Furnaces, Hot Water Heaters, Drain Service! 202-251-1479. Licensed, Bonded & Insured. DC Plumbers License #707. Visa, MasterCard, American Express accepted.
MOVERS AROUND TOWN MOVERS. Professional Moving & Storage. Let Our Movers Do The Heavy Lifting. Mention the ‘Blade’ for 5% off of our regular rates. Call today 202.734.3080. www. aroundtownmovers.com
Playmates and soul mates...
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Washington:
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BODYWORK THE MAGIC TOUCH: Swedish, Massage or Deep Tissue. Appts 202486-6183, Low Rates, 24/7,
PLUMBERS DIAL A PLUMBER, LLC - FULL SERVICE PLUMBER JUST SAY: I NEED A PLUMBER!
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In-Calls.
ELEGANT 1920’s COLONIAL REVIVAL Hagerstown $765,000 Architect-designed Colonial Revival on treelined boulevard in Oak Hill Historic District. Grand center hall, manicured landscaping, stone walls, charming porches, Vermont slate patio. Small city location, commutable to D.C. metro area. Convenient to City Park, Maryland Symphony; walk to Gordon’s Grocery. $765,000.00, Hagerstown, MD. Cathy Wantz, Realtor, 301-791-9046. http:// www.realestatetoday. pro/#/1165-the-terrace/
LUCAS IS BACK 5’ 9”, 170 lbs, 36 yo, Latino Masseur offering Swedish to Sensual massage on my heated table, in a private atmosphere. In/ out, Hotels welcome, Parking Available, 24/7. Call Lucas, 240-462-8669. fromlucas@yahoo.com.
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18+ MegaMates.com
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OPEN DAILY 3pm till 1am
r m e um
S C e l e b r at i o n
Every Sunday on the patio nce from 3-8 -Da T n o o aftern
DJ BIFF
Nightly Drink $6 Specials 8pm-Close
Happy Hour Drink Prices
Enjoy our Patio Bar 37298 Rehoboth Ave. Rehoboth Beach, De 19971
DIEGOSHIDEAWAY.com