Contents
July 16, 2020
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Volume 27 Issue 10
SAIL ON PSALM
Theater dynamo Psalmayene 24 keeps calm and carries on creating new work and hosting an online salon series at Studio. By André Hereford
PATH TO VICTORY
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Annise Parker rose to become Houston’s first LGBTQ mayor. Now leading the Victory Fund, she’s helping others reach even higher. Interview by John Riley
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LIT UP
The newly-rechristened Chicks return with a comeback album that showcases their greatest strengths. By Sean Maunier
OUT ON THE TOWN p.5 SPOTLIGHT: ARTISTIC DIFFERENCES p.9 THE FEED: FUNDING HATE p.13 FAKE NEWS p.14 FRENCH CONNECTION p.15 BREAKING BARRIERS p.16 SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES p.17 QUICK CHECK p.18 HELPING HAND p.20 GALLERY: WHEN WE FIRST ARRIVED p.32 TELEVISION: CURSED p.34 VINTAGE SCENE p.37 LAST WORD p.39 Washington, D.C.’s Best LGBTQ Magazine for 26 Years Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrators David Amoroso, Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Justin Flippen Cover Photography PridePortraits.org During the pandemic please send all mail to: Metro Weekly PO Box 11559 - Washington, D.C. 20008 • 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.
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Out On The Town
SHAKESPEARE & AMERICA
QUARANTINE CREATIONS WHICH YESTERDAY IS TOMORROW?
Compiled by Doug Rule DESIDERIUM
Monumental Theatre Company has assembled a cast of actors and musicians for a staged reading of a new musical written by local actor/director Ricky Drummond, featuring music from the Oh Hellos, a Texas-rooted folk-rock collective led by siblings Maggie and Tyler Heath. Desiderium depicts the family members and friends struggling to express their grief and move forward after the death of a teenager. Caroline Dubberly directs a seven-member cast while Marika Countouris leads a whopping 12-member band. The reading, livestreamed on the company’s Facebook page, will be followed by a talkback with the cast and creative team. Monday, July 20, at 8 p.m. Free. Visit www.monumentaltheatre.org. SHAKESPEARE & AMERICA
Over the past few months Simon Godwin, artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and his creative crew have been hosting a weekly videocast that finds Godwin and dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg in conversation with various theatrical luminaries discussing the bard’s works. The last two Wednesdays in July bring “Shakespeare & Opera,” a discussion with operatic tenor Russell Thomas and Washington National Opera’s Francesca Zambello, exploring Shakespeare’s influence on creators working in an entire artistic genre other than literature (July 22), and “Shakespeare & Politics,” a discussion with Maureen Dowd, the Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist, Harry Lennix of NBC’s The Blacklist, and author Tina Packer of Shakespeare & Company, examining how frighteningly contemporary and relevant Shakespeare’s depiction of politics can be (July 29). Each “Shakespeare Hour Live!” session starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10 for non-STC members. Visit www. shakespearetheatre.org.
CHERUB ANTIQUES GALLERY
WANNABE
Local actor J.J. Johnson had planned to make his debut as a playwright at this year’s Capital Fringe until the summer festival was canceled due to the pandemic. Instead, 4615 Theatre’s resident artist Reginald Richard will direct a free staged reading of Johnson’s coming-of-age comedy about a black dreamer whose aspirations are a lot bigger than his small, working-class Virginia hometown. Loosely adapted from Johnson’s real life and set in the 1980s and 1990s, Wannabe will be livestreamed with an eight-person cast led by Evin Howell. Thursday, July 23, at 8 p.m. Free. Visit www.facebook.com/4615theatre. OLYMPIA
Olympia Dukakis (Moonstruck) is the focus of this intimate, fly-on-the-wall documentary that portrays the celebrated “octogenarian motherfucker” in all her brutally honest glory. The Massachusetts-born actress recounts her life story, warts and all, from rebelling against her hidebound Greek mother to charting her own way as an actress, with detours along the way to unflinchingly address bouts with addiction and depression. Olympia also features tributes from notable colleagues including Laura Linney, Diane Ladd, Whoopi Goldberg, Lainie Kazan, and Ed Asner, as well as Tales of the City creator Armistead Maupin and her famed political cousin, former U.S. presidential candidate Michael Dukakis. Now streaming through independent theaters nationwide, including the JxJ virtual programming of the Edlavitch DCJCC. Tickets are $12 for a 72-hour watch period. Visit www.olympiathefilm.com. THE PINEAPPLE COLLECTIVE: RAISING THE BAR
Founded five years ago to help foster a sense of community among women in D.C.’s budding food scene, the Pineapple Collaborative has since become a national entity operating in several markets and offering a range of products and publicaJULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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tions benefitting and spotlighting female foodies and entrepreneurs. Yet the organization’s bread and butter are the culinary events it organizes, from cooking classes to product tastings to panel discussions, designed as judgment-free, safe-space gatherings open to all but designed with women in mind. The group has been expanding its virtual presence, with the next offering a conversation and demonstration with Ashtin Berry, a New Orleans-based sommelier who has become nationally recognized as a diversity and equity activist and consultant in the hospitality industry. Berry will focus on upping the home bartender’s game while also dipping into the history and projecting the future of the spirits and beverage industry. Sponsored by Caviar, the food delivery app will offer attendees $15 in credit to be applied to a future order from any of the woman-run restaurants featured in the “Pineapple x Caviar’s WomenPowered Collection.” The roster includes 17 establishments in D.C., including Prescription Chicken, HipCityVeg, Purple Patch, Ethiopic, and Pizzeria Paradiso. Wednesday, July 22, at 8 p.m. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with suggested pricing tiers of $5 to $25 (plus Eventbrite fees). All proceeds go to panelist Berry, in recognition of lost income due to COVID-19. Visit www.pineapplecollaborative.com/events. EMMA BJÖRLING & PETRUS JOHANSSON
Every Wednesday through September the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress presents artists, in pre-recorded concerts from home, who represent a variety of music from folk cultures around the world. Among the offerings over the next two months are concerts focused on creole music from Louisiana, old time American fiddle music, music from the Balkan diaspora, African-American spirituals and freedom songs, and Black bluegrass. Next, however, are two musicians from Sweden, Emma Björling, a music teacher and choral arranger as well as one of the foremost singers of Swedish folksongs, and Petrus Johansson, a trained guitar and bass teacher and freelance jazz and rock guitarist. Wednesday, July 22, at noon. Free. Visit www.facebook.com/americanfolklifecenter for the premiere on the day of, or www.youtube.com/loc to watch all the concerts in the series. PBS SHORT FILM FESTIVAL 2020
This celebration of independent film and filmmakers features 25 shorts grouped into five topical categories: culture, the environment, family, humanity, and race. This year’s films, selected and provided by 18 PBS member stations and producing partners, offers at least four with LGBTQ interest or appeal, including In This Family, Del Rosario’s 12-minute drama centered on a man who revisits 10-year-old recordings capturing his Filipino family’s reactions after a teacher outed him as gay; Sweetheart Dancers, Ben-Alex Dupris’s documentary focused on a Two-Spirit couple out to shake up Native-American culture by participating in the traditional “Sweetheart Dance” at powwows across the country; Joyride, a poignant drama by queer Nicaraguan-American multidisciplinary artist Edwin Alexis Gómez; and Knocking Down the Fences, Meg Shutzer’s documentary about AJ Andrews and her breakthrough prowess on the softball field. Viewers can vote for their favorite film to determine the #PBSFilmFest’s Most Popular awardee, while a panel of seven independent film industry executives will select the Juried Prize. All films screen individually, plus several multifilm screenings offered by category as Facebook Watch parties. Visit www.pbs.org/filmfestival. 6
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SNAPS FROM MY HOME: ONLINE EXHIBITION
In 1990, artist David Hockney offered Snaps of My House, a collection of images of his Hollywood home captured using his very first digital camera. In homage to Hockney, Charlottesville’s Second Street Gallery presents an online photo exhibition that grew out of This Familiar Space, its previous online exhibition, still on view, featuring works by Stacey Evans. Evans along with Second Street’s Kristen Chiacchia curated Snaps From My Home by selecting among the many digital images submitted by a variety of artists taken in and around their own home along with their artistic statements about their relationship to home. Taken as a whole, the exhibition explores how the past few months of stay-at-home orders have affected artists and how they view their surroundings. Launches online Friday, July 17, at 5 p.m. On view through Aug. 21. Visit www.virtualssg.org. CHERUB ANTIQUES GALLERY CLOSING SALE
COVID-19 will lay claim to another long standing member of D.C.’s LGBTQ business community when Bruce Marine closes his Georgetown gallery at the end of the month. For nearly 37 years from its prime M Street storefront location, the Cherub Antiques Gallery has peddled many fine pieces of bar ware, sculpture, candelabra, art glass, and other decorative art primarily in the art nouveau and art deco styles, with an emphasis on works from the U.K. and Western Europe. Most of the remaining collection is viewable online, with all items on sale, reduced up to 50%. Open Thursday through Saturday afternoons and by scheduled appointment. Ends August 1. Located at 2918 M St. NW. Call 202-337-2224 or visit www.cherubantiquesgallery.com. WHICH YESTERDAY IS TOMORROW?
Transformer, Logan Circle’s boutique art gallery, presents works by Dahlia Elsayed and Andrew Demirjian that reimagine the Silk Road caravanserai (central courtyard) as a potential site for exchanging ideas and culture through a multi-sensory, site-specific installation. The exhibition will have a one-day-only reception, limited to a socially distanced few. The artists have created a small batch of masks featuring the exhibition’s design motifs to be distributed while supplies last. They will also be on hand to discuss their work and conception as well as to help participants pause and reconnect with the ancient senses, rituals, and mythologies represented. Open to mask-wearing visitors on an individual, one-by-one basis this Saturday, July 18, from 2 to 6 p.m. Located at 1404 P St. NW. Call 202-483-1102 or visit www. transformerdc.org. QUARANTINE CREATIONS
Local artists have set out to depict their personal experiences with life during a global pandemic in an exhibition of new works at the VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital. Presented by Del Ray Artisans through the artist collective’s Gallery Without Walls program, Quarantine Creations showcases works by the gallery’s member artists, including Linda S Lowery’s All Stocked Up, an oil painting featuring a wooden wine rack fully stocked with bottles of red wine, and Suzanne Tillman’s Flattening the Curve, a colorful abstract collage. The exhibit doubles as a benefit for the nonprofit gallery, with participating artists pledging to donate 20 percent of sales. The exhibit is on full display online, or by scheduling an in-person visit to the hospital. Ends Oct. 24. VCA Alexandria Animal Hospital, 2660 Duke St. Call 703-751-2022 or visit www.DelRayArtisans.org.
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Spotlight
Frank Warren, Founder of PostSecret
Artistic Differences O
Artomatic marks its 20th anniversary by becoming an all-virtual festival.
VER THE COURSE OF TWO DECADES, ARTOMATIC ing, ‘We've lost income. We’ve had canceled exhibitions. We've has become a signature event in D.C. The multi-week, lost gigs. So could you use your platform to help us in a virtual multi-genre festival, held every few years, is celebrated sense?’” This year’s roster features the usual diverse mix of visufor its unjuried, open-to-all, community-oriented approach. al artists working in glass, sculpture, fiber, paint, drawing, and “Artomatic is a kind of conglomeration of everything: All mixed-media, and includes many Artomatic mainstays, among kinds of artists, all kinds of art, all kinds of workshops, all kinds them Tim Tate, Michael Janis, Terry Rowe, Liz Lescault, and of performance,” says Natalie Graves Tucker, the festival’s George Koch, the man who founded the event in 1999. executive director. She adds that the “true spirit of Artomatic In addition to the online visual art portfolios, the festival will be is walking around and seeing all the different art, all the work- supplemented with workshops held on Zoom, and performances shops.” And don’t forget all the live performances from yet more that will stream from participating artists’ social media pages. artists, ranging from musicians to magicians. Tucker concedes she was unsure if they would find enough interAll of that is on tap at Artomatic 2020 — well, except for the ested presenters and performers now that virtual interaction is “walking around” part. This year’s 12th iteration of the festival hardly new and trendy, and when the virus itself is one of the only — the first since 2017 — will also be the first all-virtual affair. things anyone still calls “novel.” “You hear about Zoom overload, It’s been further branded Artomatic 2.0 to mark the change and and that people are tired of being online,” she says. “But oh my denote a shift from the festival’s first 20 years. (Tucker herself gosh, we've been so overwhelmed with the responses!” represents another, related shift: She was hired last October The festival’s performance lineup includes actors with to become the first paid staff member at the formerly volun- Guillotine Theatre, musician Yousef Shami, and performance teer-run organization.) artist Carrie Fertig. Meanwhile, many workshops focus on “Artomatic 2.0 will be an online event where each visual doling out practical advice, from “Marketing for Creatives,” artist will have their own personal creative page that will to “Leveraging Social Media,” to “Pole Dancing” — the latter have their bio, their Website links, their social media links, a swing through the basics of “this fun, dance movement” as and five images [of their artworks], which they taught by Colleen Jolly. Click Here can sell through their own channels — whether The workshop series kicks off Monday, July Venmo, Cash app, or PayPal,” says Tucker. Because for More Info 20, with Frank Warren’s “A PostSecret Interactive Artomatic doesn’t charge the typical commission Presentation,” a discussion that will explore the that other art fairs and galleries do, artists receive the full value backstory to the popular project — including its launch at the of every transaction. 2004 Artomatic. As it happens, those artists were the key reason Artomatic “We’re getting people who got their start at Artomatic,” 2.0 was put in motion over the spring. “We asked our communi- Tucker emphasizes. “They’re coming back. It’s just so nostalty,‘What could we do to help?’ And we saw the artists were say- gic.” —Doug Rule Artomatic 2.0: A Virtual Experience begins Monday, July 20, and runs through Aug. 20. Tickets are pay-what-you-can, with a suggested price of $20. Visit www.artomatic.org. JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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CLINTON BRANDHAGEN
Spotlight
Sail On Psalm
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Theater dynamo Psalmayene 24 keeps calm and carries on creating new work and hosting an online salon series at Studio.
HEATER ARTISTS AND AUDIENCES WILL RETURN life has written a rich and compelling backstory to the play that to the brilliant dark eventually, but it’ll be a differ- I'm going to write.” ent world by then. Acclaimed playwright and director By real life, Psalmayene means not just the pandemic, but the Psalmayene 24 is already busy imagining that post-pandemic almost equally transformative Black Lives Matter protest movefuture, as it relates to both his art and his life as an artist. “Now ment that’s sparked what he calls “a new awakening.” that the present has been so dramatically transformed, I'm “A lot of people are all of a sudden realizing that Black peolooking at the future in a much different way,” says the Helen ple's lives have been in jeopardy in a very severe way in this Hayes Award-nominated talent, whose spring production of country for a long time,” he says. “And for many of us, this is Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over at Studio Theatre was suspend- nothing new. So I'm really thinking about how my work now ed due to the COVID-19 lockdown. responds to the response of this moment, because my work has “I think we were only open for like a week and a half, and always been infused with a level of consciousness about the then we had to shut down,” he says. “And then I had another struggles and the obstacles that Black people have had to overplay that was running, Zomo the Rabbit: A Hip-Hop Creation come and endure in this country.” Myth at Imagination Stage in Bethesda. That was in the middle Psalmayene brings these issues and more to the fore as of its run. Had to close that. And then I was getting host of Psalm’s Salons at Studio, a virtual venue Click Here ready to open another show at Theater Alliance — that allows Studio Theatre’s Artist-in-Residence a new musical that I'm writing called The Blackest for More Info to connect with the audience, and with guests Battle that was going to open in May.” like actor Justin Weaks, Galvanize DC founders The Blackest Battle — a musical that, according to the play- J.J. Johnson and Jefferson A. Russell, and Jjana Valentiner, wright, “explores so-called black-on-black violence through executive producer of the Making Space to Breathe/Gathering two warring hip-hop groups” — was postponed. But, as artists to Grieve vigil. Joined by frequent collaborator DJ Nick tha 1da are wont to do, Psalmayene 24 saw an opportunity in the set- spinning original music, Psalmayene 24 bills the Salon as a space back. He decided that Battle, set in the future, should reflect the for artists to discuss their craft, for the community to share life-changing effects of our strange here and now. “So it's more their experiences, and for audiences to kick back and enjoy the about looking ahead and trying to create a world that is some- party. “The whole idea was to create this jubilant vibe,” he says, how connected to this new reality, which is so starkly different “and create an energy of celebration even in the midst of all this than anything we could have ever imagined. In some ways, real chaos.” —André Hereford Psalm’s Salon at Studio streams on Thursday, July 23 at 5 p.m., and on Thursday, August 20 at 5 p.m. Visit www.studiotheatre.org/psalm-salons. JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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theFeed
Funding Hate
Jeffress and Trump
Trump administration provided millions in COVID relief loans to anti-gay groups. By Rhuaridh Marr
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NTI-LGBTQ ORGANIZATIONS AND RELIGIOUS entities have pocketed millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded relief funds intended to help support small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of the U.S. Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) shows payments totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars — and even into the millions of dollars — for anti-LGBTQ hate groups and at least $1,4 billion for the Roman Catholic Church. The payments were intended to “provide a direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll,” with the loans forgiven if employers used the funds to keep employees on payroll. But data released by the Trump administration — which initially tried to withhold information on recipients who received more than $150,000 — shows anti-LGBTQ churches and faith-based organizations receiving taxpayer-funded relief, the Associated Press reports. The notoriously anti-LGBTQ American Family Association, which regularly decries LGBTQ-supportive businesses and
includes the anti-gay outrage group One Million Moms, received a loan worth up to $2 million. (The list does not provide exact amounts, but rather ranges of values.) In the past year alone, One Million Moms has urged boycotts over gay representation in DuckTales, Marvel’s The Eternals, and Toy Story 4. Televangelist Robert Jeffress, who sits on Donald Trump’s Evangelical Advisory Board, received a loan of between $2 million and $5 million for his Dallas-based megachurch, LGBTQ Nation reports. Earlier this year, Jeffress called same-sex marriages “counterfeit,” has described gay people as “filthy” and “miserable,” and once told a lesbian teen who was considering suicide to undergo conversion therapy. Another organization to receive funding is Liberty Counsel, headed by anti-LGBTQ Matt Staver, which provides legal counsel and support to anti-LGBTQ individuals and lawsuits, and challenges pro-LGBTQ legislation. The group, which once claimed that the Q in LGBTQ referred JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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theFeed same-sex couples to adopt, calling Pride Month “harmful” for children, and urging people to attend church during the COVID19 pandemic because of an “attack” on human sexuality. The Associated Press noted that at least $200 million in loans were approved for archdioceses that have spent “hundreds of millions of dollars” paying victims of abuse or for bankruptcy proceedings as a result of sexual abuse cover-ups.
GAGE SKIDMORE
to pedophiles, was approved for a loan worth up to $1 million. Perhaps the biggest beneficiary was the Catholic Church, which continues to reject LGBTQ identities and families, receiving at least 3,500 loans totaling at least $1.4 billion and possibly up to $3.5 billion, AP found. While most Catholics support LGBTQ equality, Church leaders are more focused on firing gay teachers, refusing to allow
McEnany
Fake News
Trump’s press secretary praises his ‘great record’ with LGBTQ community while ignoring trans military ban. By Rhuaridh Marr
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HITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY KAYLEIGH McEnany responded to a question about Donald Trump’s ban on transgender people serving in the military by praising his “great record” with the LGBTQ community. McEnany was asked on Monday about the ban — which Trump announced on Twitter three years ago this month — and whether the president would reconsider the policy after 116 members of Congress wrote a letter last week urging him to allow trans people to serve openly in the military. The press secretary responded by pivoting to the Trump administration’s much vaunted plan to decriminalize homosexuality globally. “I haven’t talked to him about that specific policy, but this president is proud that in 2019 we launched a global initiative to end the criminalization of homosexuality throughout the world,” McEnany responded. “He has a great record when it comes to the LGBT community,” she continued. “The Trump administration eased a ban on 14
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blood donations from gay and bisexual men and he launched a plan to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030.” McEnany was then challenged with the fact that the public supports open transgender military service, as well as the Supreme Court’s recent ruling that the Civil Rights Act protections trans people against employment discrimination. “I have no updates for you,” McEnany responded, before adding, “But several of the events that you cited, like the Supreme Court ruling, I would refer you back to Justice Kavanaugh, who said, ‘We are judges, we’re not members of Congress. Instead of a hard earned victory won through the democratic process, today’s victory is brought about by judicial dictates.’ So we’ll always stand on the side of correct statutory interpretation.” McEnany’s assertion of Trump’s “great record” with LGBTQ people flies in the face of the Trump administration’s actions since he took office in 2017. GLAAD’s Trump Accountability Project, which monitors anti-LGBTQ actions by the president’s administration, has reg-
theFeed and deliberately” targeted LGBTQ people during his presidency. One member of the commission stated that Trump was “undoing decades of civil and human rights progress.” McEnany also has a history of anti-LGBTQ rhetoric, including using her previous role as a political commentator to attack LGBTQ people. She argued that the Supreme Court’s 2015 ruling legalizing marriage equality nationwide was a threat to religious liberty, said that allowing trans people to use bathrooms and other facilities matching their gender identity would lead to an increase in voyeurism and assaults against women, and claimed that Vice President Mike Pence “loves all people” after his anti-LGBTQ record was raised. At the time of her hiring as Press Secretary earlier this year, GLAAD President & CEO Sarah Kate Ellis said in a statement that McEnany had spent her career attacking LGBTQ people. “Whether it be her opposition to marriage equality or her attacks on transgender people, McEnany has shown that she knows how to, and even enjoys, using the media to spread dangerous, anti-LGBTQ messages to wide audiences,” Ellis said. “Unfortunately, in her new role as Press Secretary, she will have the power to continue doing so, but now with the White House name attached to hers.”
JENNA JACOBS
istered 153 attacks on LGBTQ people in the 1,271 days of Trump’s presidency. That includes the administration stripping discrimination protections for transgender people from the Affordable Care Act during a global pandemic, as well as pushing ahead with plans to allow shelters to deny access to trans people. His administration has also defended an Idaho law that bars trans female athletes from competing in women’s sports, argued that foster care agencies should be allowed to discriminate against same-sex couples, and hired a White House liaison who called America a “homo-empire” ruled by a “tyrannical LGBT agenda.” And that’s only in the last month. The Trump administration has also argued that it should be legal to fire LGBTQ employees, rescinded Obama-era guidance protecting transgender students, attempted to forcibly discharge HIV-positive members of the military, and fought to revoke the citizenship of a gay couple’s child. Plus, Trump has nominated numerous anti-LGBTQ judges, hired anti-LGBTQ figures to his cabinet (including his vice president), and surrounded himself with anti-LGBTQ advisers. His administration’s actions have been so blatantly antiLGBTQ that in November last year, the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Civil Rights declared that Trump had “blatantly
French Connection Gay couple attacked by mob say police told them not to kiss in public. By Rhuaridh Marr
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FRENCH GAY COUPLE ALLEGE THAT THEY WERE told by police not to kiss in public after being attacked by a group of people outside of a bar. The men, identified by France Info as Eric and Nicolas, were drinking in the bar of the restaurant where Eric works in Ajaccio, on the French island of Corsica. When the men shared a kiss around 3 a.m. while standing at the bar, another customer started to cause a scene. “I felt a hand on my shoulder,” Eric said, in a translation by LGBTQ Nation. “I turned around and I found myself face-to-face with a guy who was around 20-years-old, who said, ‘Aren’t you
guys ashamed to kiss here?’ I pushed his hand off my shoulder, and his voice got angrier.” The man reportedly started to insult the couple, but other bar patrons intervened. Eric said that an older man “told me not to say anything, that they were just jerks.” However, the arguing allegedly led to one of the bar’s managers approaching the couple and suggesting that they were at fault for the abuse because of the kiss. Eric and Nicolas left the bar, but claimed that they were pursued into the street by several other people who started to attack JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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theFeed However, they were eventually heard by other officers, who recommended that the men submit to a medical exam and file a formal complaint. They later filed a complaint of willful violence and homophobic slurs. Corsican LGBTQ organization ARCU issued a statement on social media decrying the attack and praising the courage of the couple for going public about the attack. ARCU said it was part of a pattern of homophobic attacks by youth on the island, after a gay tourist was assaulted by a group of teenagers in Ajaccio last year. Police allegedly closed the tourist’s complaint “without further action.” The organization urged elected officials to condemn the attack, and to raise awareness of homophobia on the island. ARCU said that without strong condemnation and raised awareness about anti-gay attacks, “victims weakened by the trauma of assault” would be discouraged form reporting incidents to authorities. “We have the right to love whoever we want in Corsica, without having to fear for our lives, our health, our families, our images, our reputations,” ARCU wrote. “Without being afraid of judgment or having to justify ourselves.” They added: “We have the right, just like everyone else, to show a simple gesture of love without being assaulted.” After ARCU’s post, Ajaccio Mayor Laurent Marcangeli issued a statement saying he “strongly condemns this unbearable aggression” and that he stands alongside victims of homophobic violence. He added that Ajaccio “will continue to fight any form of discrimination.”
JOSIE CLOUGH FOR SPORTS ILLUSTRATED
the couple, with Nicolas saying it was “impossible to remember exactly what happened, it was so fast.” “We didn’t even have enough time to turn around before they started punching,” Eric said. “I had had two beers, so I was sober enough, but I was seeing red. Really.” He continued: “I fell, I got back up again, I got a punch in, I got punched some more, then I fell down again.” Eric said he was left bloodied and with a sore jaw after being punched in the face, and that the force of the punch meant he “couldn’t chew for four days.” He also said that he knew one of his alleged attackers, claiming he had worked with both the man and his brother. “We were not friends, just colleagues, he worked in the dining room, me at the bar,” Eric said. “He knew I was gay, everyone knows that. But there had never been any problem. Until that night.” He continued: “That someone close to me, even distant, does not try to calm his friend, but rather enters the fight, it pisses me off.” The attack eventually stopped when some of the bar’s other customers came outside to investigate the noise, which caused the attackers to flee the scene. Eric and Nicolas said they went to a nearby police station to report the attack, but that the first officer they spoke to echoed the bar manager by telling them not to kiss in public. “One of the policemen who received us told us the same thing as the bar manager,” Eric said. “That we didn’t have to do that. To kiss in public.”
Sampaio
Breaking Barriers Valentina Sampaio is Sports Illustrated’s first openly trans swimsuit issue model. By Rhuaridh Marr
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ALENTINA SAMPAIO HAS BECOME THE FIRST openly transgender model to feature in Sports Illustrated‘s annual swimsuit issue. The Brazilian model makes history with her appearance in the July 21 issue, which features Sampaio modeling two different swimsuits — 16
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a one-piece by Haus of Pink Lemonaid and a bikini by Triangl — CNN reports. Sampaio, 23, has also penned an essay for Sports Illustrated, saying she is “excited and honored” to be included in the issue. She also discussed the historic nature of her selection, as well as
theFeed in 2017 she became the first openly trans model to feature on the cover of Vogue Paris. In a statement to the Los Angeles Times, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s head of talent Anthony Ramos said it was joining institutions “from the Girl Scouts of the USA to Miss Universe in recognizing the simple fact that trans women are women.” ““Talented women like Valentina Sampaio deserve to be spotlighted and given equal opportunities,” he said. “Her work in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit is a significant step forward as the modeling industry continues its evolution on traditional standards of inclusion.” In a post on its Instagram account sharing news of Sampaio’s presence in this year’s issue, Sports Illustrated Swimsuit said they would shut down those who posted hateful comments about the model. “Our Instagram channel is a platform for inspiration, inclusivity and support,” they wrote. “SI Swimsuit will not tolerate any hateful or offensive comments. Those who violate these terms will be deleted, blocked & reported.”
GOFUNDME
her humble origins in Brazil. “I was born trans in a remote, humble fishing village in northern Brazil,” she wrote. “Brazil is a beautiful country, but it also hosts the highest number of violent crimes and murders against the trans community in the world — three times that of the U.S.” She continued: “Being trans usually means facing closed doors to peoples’ hearts and minds. We face snickers, insults, fearful reactions and physical violations just for existing. “Our options for growing up in a loving and accepting family, having a fruitful experience at school or finding dignified work are unimaginably limited and challenging. “I recognize that I am one of the fortunate ones, and my intention is to honor that as best I can.” Sampaio thanked Sports Illustrated for “seeing and respecting me as I truly am” and “understanding that more than anything, I am human.” It’s not the first time Sampaio has made history for trans representation in the modeling industry. Last year she became the first openly trans model to be hired by Victoria’s Secret, and
Menendez
Suspicious Circumstances Murdered Virginia man’s friend claims he may have been target of anti-gay hate crime. By John Riley
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HE FRIEND OF A NORTHERN VIRGINIA MAN WHO was killed last week claims he may have been targeted due to his sexual orientation. Police found the body of 24-year-old Jose Escobar Menendez, of Winchester, on the roadway along Emerald Point Terrace, near Winding Road, in Sterling, Virginia, around 3:30 a.m. last Wednesday. Authorities have not yet revealed the cause of death in the case. “This remains a very active investigation, and at this time the motive is unclear,” Kraig Troxell, a spokesman for the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, told the Loudoun Times-Mirror. “There is no indication there is a threat to the community.” No information on a possible suspect has been released by police at this time. But a woman, going by the Twitter name @lesliecobenas,
who describes herself as Menendez’s friend, says he was gay and that she fears he may have been the victim of a hate crime. In a now-deleted tweet, she claimed that Menendez’s body was in “very bad shape,” but declined to say how he died. “We know it was a homicide, but no one has any idea what his whereabouts were that night or with whom,” she said in the deleted tweet. “He was murdered & we believe it was due to his sexuality…. We think he met up with someone off of a dating app.” The woman told the Times-Mirror in an interview that Menendez was an “amazing friend.” “He was so sweet — always happy and cheerful,” she said. “He was always that person to hype you up. He just wanted everyone to have a good time.” A GoFundMe page has been set up for Menendez’s funeral JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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theFeed ing accommodations for this tragedy,” he wrote. “[This] is the reason I am fundraising to help out the most that we can during the time that was already devastating for us. Please, we appreciate any help and from the bottom of our hearts, thank you so much. #JusticeForJose.”
MARCELLO CASAL JR. FOR AGÊNCIA BRASIL
costs, and had raised more than $12,000 as of Monday evening. The organizer of the page, Ricky Alvarenga, says he is a cousin of Menendez and has asked for respect and privacy for the family. “We are as a family completely devastated and broken and the last thing that we would ever expect was to have to be mak-
Quick Check
OraQuick
DC Department of Health launches home-based HIV testing kit program. By John Riley
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HE D.C. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH HAS LAUNCHED a program for D.C. residents to obtain free, at-home HIV test kits.The OraQuick rapid HIV test allows a person to self-swab their mouth and get a result in 20 minutes. Residents can visit GetCheckedDC.org to get information about a test and order one, which will then be mailed to their D.C. address. The District was one of the first jurisdictions in the country to recommend everyone ages 13 to 84 get tested for HIV at least once a year. In 2016, Mayor Muriel Bowser released the 90/90/90/50 Plan to End the HIV Epidemic in the District. That plan aims to get 90% of people with HIV to know their status, 90% of people with HIV to be on treatment, 90% of those on treatment to achieve viral suppression, and to reduce the number of new HIV diagnoses by 50%. The District has already made progress toward achieving the first goal, with 87% of District residents with HIV know18
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ing their status. The home testing kit should provide a new, more easily accessible way for people to get tested. “Mayor Bowser has set the goal of ending the HIV epidemic in the District of Columbia,” Dr. LaQuandra Nesbitt, the director of the D.C. Department of Health. “While we are asking people to stay at home during the coronavirus pandemic, they can know their HIV status by taking this convenient test. “D.C. is breaking down barriers and affording equitable access to HIV testing through this initiative…. [We] encourage all D.C. residents to know your status and know the options for prevention and treatment.” The Department of Health is also offering itself as a resource to residents, regardless of the test result. For those who test negative, the department can provide them with additional HIV prevention methods, including linking individuals with pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, a daily
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theFeed Center at 202-741-7692. The Health and Wellness Center will be able to start people who test positive on antiretrovirals on the first day they are seen. GetCheckedDC.org will be updated on a regular basis to include a list of HIV, STD, and hepatitis testing sites. Residents can also find information on sexual health for all ages on www.sexualbeing.org, and for young people and their parents on www.sexisdc.org.
JOHN RILEY
pill proven to reduce rates of infection among those who take it. For those who test positive, D.C. has a number of doctors and medical providers who can link patients with high-quality medical care, including antiretroviral medication — which will lead to successful viral suppression, thus nearly eliminating the rate of transmission — as well as counseling and other support services. Those with HIV are encouraged to schedule an appointment with a medical provider or call the D.C. Health and Wellness
John Fanning and the late Ron Simmons at the 2017 BHT Grant Ceremony
Helping Hand BHT Foundation will open its upcoming 2020 grant cycle on July 15. By John Riley
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HE BHT FOUNDATION, THE LOCAL NONPROFIT that provides financial support to local community organizations that serve the LGBTQ and HIV communities, will open its upcoming 2020 grant cycle on July 15. The foundation annual bestows grants of varying amounts to local nonprofits from D.C. and Baltimore that have annual budgets under $500,000 based on need. Applications will then be vetted, taking into account any ongoing initiatives, the results of any grant money previously given, and how the organization’s overall mission serves the LGBTQ and HIV communities. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the BHT Foundation suspended its regular grant cycle and announced an abbreviated application window for this year’s grantees, who will be honored at a ceremony, yet to be announced, sometime in mid-October. The deadline for applying is Aug. 31. Additionally, the BHT Foundation’s board of directors recently approved four emergency grants totaling $10,000 to assist specific civil rights organizations, in light of demonstrations held throughout the country to protest police brutality, systemic 20
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racism, and racial profiling, especially after the officer-involved death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd. Nina Love, the president of BHT Foundation, previously told Metro Weekly that the foundation would be deliberately centering organizations that focus on racial and social justice. That means that special weight will be given to qualified organizations that specialize in civil rights issues or serve historically marginalized and under-served populations. To assist potential applicants, BHT will host two grant informational workshops on how to go about applying for money from the BHT foundation. The first workshop, focusing on a general overview of the process, will be held on Tuesday, July 21, from 7-9 p.m. The second, focusing on grant writing and best practices, will be held on July 28, from 7-9 p.m. Those wishing to attend the virtual workshops are asked to sign up on BHT Foundation’s Eventbrite page. For more information about the BHT Foundation, or to apply for a grant, visit the organization’s website at www.bhtfoundation.org.
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PATH TO
VICTORY Annise Parker rose to become Houston’s first LGBTQ mayor. Now leading the Victory Fund, she’s helping others reach even higher. Interview by John Riley Portrait by PridePortraits.org
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“I’m not old enough for Stonewall, but I’m not that much past it,” says Annise Parker. “I was a fly on the wall for virtually every significant LGBTQ event in Texas in the ’70s and ’80s.” Activism has been a hallmark of Parker’s life, ever since the president and CEO of LGBTQ Victory Fund and Victory Institute attended her first political organizing event — the Texas Gay Conference — during her sophomore year at Rice University in 1975. A founding member of Rice University’s LGBTQ student group in 1979, Parker would later work for several LGBTQ organizations, including the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus, the Lesbian/Gay Rights Lobby of Texas, the Lesbian/Gay Democrats of Texas, and briefly, as a Victory Fund board member shortly after the organization’s founding in 1994. A natural introvert and self-described loner who was raised in a conservative Republican household, nothing in Parker’s upbringing indicated that she would one day become one of the nation’s most prominent LGBTQ figures. But her parents and grandparents taught her the importance of civic engagement from a young age, a lesson she later incorporated into her own activism, much of which took place after regular work hours. “I was an oil company employee by day, activist by night,” she says. “I was spending 40 hours a week at work, and 10 to 20 hours a week as an actively gay volunteer. Throughout the ’80s, I was arguably the most visible lesbian activist in Houston.” In 1991, Parker ran for a Houston City Council seat, in hopes of providing political representation for the city’s LGBTQ community. Outraised financially and outmaneuvered strategically, she suffered one of her worst political defeats. Four years later, she ran for special election to an at-large seat, finishing third among 19 candidates. The early losses taught her valuable lessons about campaign organizing, messaging, the importance of fundraising, and creating political alliances — all of which she utilized in a successful bid for an at-large seat on the Council in 1997. Parker would be elected by the citizens of Houston eight more times, serving as an at-large councilmember, the city controller, and ultimately, its mayor for three terms. When she assumed the mayoralty of the country’s fourth-largest city in January of 2010, she also became the first out LGBTQ mayor of a major American city. In January 2018, Parker, who lives in Houston with her wife of 30 years, Kathy Hubbard, assumed the helm of the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a political action committee that seeks to get LGBTQ people elected to public office, and Victory Institute, its educational nonprofit arm, which provides training and specialized programs to potential political office-seekers and support to LGBTQ officeholders to better ensure their success. Parker’s oversight of the Victory Fund has come amid a surge in the number of LGBTQ individuals seeking political office, as well as an increase in the number of LGBTQ elected officials. In the United States, that number currently stands at 855, covering officeholders from both major political parties as well as nonpartisan elected leaders in local, legislative, and statewide offices in 47 of 50 states and the District of Columbia. “There are almost 900 openly LGBTQ candidates who are running across America this year,” she says. “Victory [Fund] has engaged, at least at a minimal level, with about half of them. And we’ll probably end up endorsing about 300 of them as the most viable candidates.” 24
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While the Victory Fund doesn’t concern itself with the specifics of policy positions or partisan politics — instead leaving that up to individual candidates — Parker does note that President Donald Trump has served as a motivating factor for many LGBTQ people, particularly those who are Democrats, to pursue public office. But she largely eschews political handicapping and punditry in favor of an eagle-eyed focus on the organization’s larger goal of growing the number of LGBTQ officeholders. “Our elected officials represent 0.17 percent of all elected positions,” she says. “So if we’re supposed to represent 4.5 percent of the population, we’d have to elect more than 22,000 officials across the country just to be at parity. That's a long way to go. “Our goal is to have representation in every state house, and then, ultimately, in every State Senate in America, and to grow that to that critical mass, which, in our definition, is about three officials,” she adds. “It makes a difference when we send one. It slows down the bad bills and changes the discussion. But it doesn’t really change the outcomes of bills. But three seems to be a magic number. Your allies can join you, and you can act in concert to advocate for certain causes. “We’re also focusing a lot this year on state Senate races, because redistricting is coming up. There are a lot of places where the state Senate is just like the U.S. Senate, where they have a filibuster rule. You get one person in, and they actually can stop the bad stuff.” METRO WEEKLY: Let’s start with your childhood. ANNISE PARKER: I grew up in Houston. I'm a Houstonian.
And both my parents were born in Houston. And even though Houston’s a big, sprawling city, I grew up out in the rural outskirts of Houston. And so I had the best of both worlds. I had the opportunity to be near a big, vibrant city. But I grew up near cows and horse pastures. MW: How many siblings do you have? PARKER: I have one one sibling, who’s 15 months younger. MW: What were your parents like? PARKER: One of the blessings in my life is that both my mother and my grandmother were college graduates. Both my grandmother and my mother worked outside the home. So I was raised to be independent with the expectation that I would be able to support myself. I was born in 1956. So for a child of the fifties, that was an unusual expectation. MW: What were you like as a child? PARKER: I am an introvert. I was painfully shy. Very, very serious. And like most introverts, I was a loner. I was happiest when I was by myself, whether that was roaming around in the woods and pastures, or curled up with a book. When I was in the sixth grade, so that would have been about 12, my family moved to Mississippi. Then we went to South
Carolina and ultimately moved, for my Dad's job, to an army base in Germany. I went to three middle schools and three high schools. I graduated high school in Charleston, South Carolina, my second time through Charleston, and I came back to Houston to go to Rice University in Houston. I was a National Merit Scholar — I knew I could go anywhere. I wanted to go to Rice. I wanted to come back home. MW: What did you study? PARKER: I had a triple major in the social sciences: I finished degree work in psychology, sociology, and anthropology. MW: Did you have any interest in politics back then? PARKER: I never wanted to go into politics myself, because, remember, I was shy and introverted, and that was not my thing, but my parents were faithful voters. I have early memories of standing in line with my folks to vote back when it was a really big deal, when the voting machines were impressive. You walked in, and pulled this big red handle and the curtains closed behind you, and the fact that they would stand in line waiting to vote — it impressed me. My parents were active community volunteers, as were my grandparents. And so I was expected when I was growing up to be part of community activities or volunteer. So I went to college. I was out. Actually, I came out when I was in high school in Germany. I was determined to be publicly out. So during my freshman orientation at Rice, I told my orientation group that I was lesbian and I was out throughout my college career. I attended my first LGBTQ political organizing event in 1975. It was still the very early days of the LGBTQ rights movement. And the funny little difference doing political organizing for the LGBTQ community then and now, is that we couldn’t communicate with each other. We were all on little islands. We shared telephone contact lists like they were made of platinum. And there were so many people who were so deeply, deeply closeted that you guarded your list of other gay people with your life. It was a very different way of organizing. And there weren't a lot of us. I was part of the lesbian group on campus that started in 1976. I didn't start it, but there were a dozen of us who were involved in it. And I’m one of the founding members of my university's LGBTQ student group, started in 1979, the year after I graduated. And for several years, I was the point of entry. They would publish — on campus, the beginning of each semster — an ad in a school paper that, if you're gay and you want to be connected to the LGBTQ student group, here's the number you call. And it was my home phone number. It didn't have my name on it, but it was my own phone number. So, you know, I'd get the idiot prank calls for a while. MW: You learned political engagement from your parents when you were younger. Did they ever talk about their political beliefs?
“I showed [my mom] the video of me on the national news. And she looked at me, and said, ‘You look very pretty on TV.’ I WAS TALKING ABOUT BEING OPENLY GAY AND FIGHTING BIGOTS IN HOUSTON. BUT SHE JUST TOLD ME I LOOKED NICE ON TV.” JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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“My volunteer coordinator was a trans woman. Members of the Log Cabin Republicans [said] they couldn’t support me if I insisted on having her visible. I TOLD THEM THAT I WAS SORRY TO HEAR THAT, AND MAYBE WE WOULD HAVE A CONVERSATION AFTER I WON.” PARKER: Oh, they were all — my parents and my grandparents
— they were all conservative Republicans. This is at a time when the state of Texas was conservative Democrats. They were contrarian. So they were all Republicans. I remember that. I do have an earlier memory, too, that absolutely made an impression. And that was when Kennedy was shot in Texas. I guess I was in the second grade, and my parents — who were absolute Goldwater supporters and very conservative — were horrified that something like this had happened in Texas. I remember the TV set being on, the old black and white TV at home, and it was all about the shooting and Kennedy lying in state. And just miles of people coming through to view the casket. The whole world stopped, and my parents, who had nothing nice to say about Kennedy, were horrified and appalled at the shooting. But we weren't a family that talked a lot about politics. It was like a civic duty. They were informed and they were engaged. My dad's parents volunteered for political campaigns in later years, but my parents didn't. MW: You mentioned coming out in high school. What was the initial reaction of your family? PARKER: I was about twelve, I guess, when I put a name to it. And at 15, we were living in an Army base in Germany. And I entered a relationship with a girl — I was 15, she was 16. Her parents walked in on us one day. And we were prevented from seeing each other. My dad was in the Red Cross. He served in the military, but we were very close to military installations. And we were living on officer's row. Her dad was a sergeant. So they didn't travel in the same circles, they didn't know each other. We were prevented from seeing each other. But my parents didn't know. I was absolutely miserable. I started doing a lot of really stupid things. But I also started attending a Sunday school class with her on base so that we could see each other. And then her family relocated back to the States a year before mine did. So that was the end of that relationship. It wasn't until I was in college, my senior year in college, that I got a letter from my mom, and inside the letter from my mom was an eight-page letter from my current girlfriend's mother. And it started off: "Mrs. Parker, last year, at Rice, your daughter and my daughter had a big love affair. And I tried to end it. They won't stop it. You need to do something about it.” And she went on for eight pages. My mom just put it in an envelope and sent it to me. She didn't want to talk about it. So did my parents know? Yes. Did they want to address it? No. And I wasn't in any hurry to address it, either. MW: When did they finally get at least comfortable with addressing the idea? PARKER: It was a long time. In the mid-eighties I became the president of the Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus. And my parents, at that point, were stationed in Italy. So I'd see them 26
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twice a year for a few days. I could keep secrets, I guess. I remember picking my mom up from the airport — I don't remember what year it was. She had stopped to visit friends in Charleston before she got to Houston. And she said, “Oh, so-andso in Charleston says she saw you on a national news show.” And I almost drove off the road, I was so startled. Yeah. Like, what was I thinking? I thought, “Oh, she'd never see this in Italy.” I could be on the nightly news, the 6 o'clock news. And so I took her home and I showed her the video I'd made of me being on the national news. And she looked at me, and said, “You look very pretty on TV.” I mean, I was talking about being openly gay and fighting bigots in Houston. But she just told me I looked nice on TV. We didn't actually talk about it until I was well into my 30s. The woman I was with, my wife today, [we] had been living together for a year, and my 90-year-old grandparents moved in with us so we could take care of them. And that was the catalyst for all sorts of family conversations, because we just had to recognize that if they were going to be living with us, that we shared a bedroom. We shared all of these things, and the whole family needed to understand that we would take care of them, but that we would be doing it as a couple. It wasn't my roommate, and let's just get those things out of the way. And we did. MW: You and your wife have been together for almost 30 years. What has family life been like? PARKER: It’s been an interesting journey. We'd been together a year and my ninety-year-old grandparents moved in with us. And we took care of them. My grandfather died. My grandmother is in a nursing home. We took in a 16-year-old street kid who came to live with us. We never formally adopted him, but he’s our son and he’s 44 years old now. And so, we built the family organically. We adopted two girls, a seven-year-old and a twelve-year-old, from the State of Texas Children's Services, out of foster care. And then later, our third daughter, a 15-yearold, joined us. And so we've been through the informal fostering process and the formal adoption process. It’s fortunate for me that I had a lot of schedule flexibility, and my wife has been self-employed throughout our time together. So we were the homeroom moms. We were the ones who came to all the school productions, and showed up at the activities. We were blessed to be able to do that. MW: You worked in the oil industry prior to entering politics. How did you make that transition? PARKER: Well, I was an active community volunteer. And at that point, I was no longer a fly on the wall. I was leading LGBTQ organizations in the mid-eighties and on. But it never occurred to me, why not run myself, because it was not my personality. But in 1991, I was recruited to run for a city council seat to represent the LGBTQ community. There was a major redistricting battle going on. We were to redistrict the city council and var-
COURTESY OF VICTORY FUND
ious communities of interest were putting forward candidates, and I was recruited to be the candidate for the LGBTQ community. I wasn't really ready to run, wasn’t a good candidate, lost the race, got absolutely shellacked. I crawled into a fetal position for a while after losing. I’d much rather be helping out other candidates, which I'd been doing for many years by that point, than running myself. But in 1995, this time on my own, I decided I wanted to run in a special election, a six-week campaign [for City Council]. I finished third out of 19 candidates. The first and second place finishers had both already been elected to other things. And one was a Democrat and one was a Republican, even though this was a nonpartisan race. So they had name I.D. They had networks. They knew how to do fundraising. I finished third. And what I realized was that I knew more about the city than they did. I was a better candidate than they were, but that I needed to do certain things to be successful if I was going to do it again. And so the next time I ran, two years later, I won my seat on the Houston City Council, the first of nine consecutive races. The most important thing I had to do was figure out — in the first two races, every time my name was printed, it said, "Annise Parker, gay activist," and occasionally, "Annise Parker, lesbian activist, running for Houston City Council.” And I couldn't ever
get past the perception, that everybody, if they got their information from the media, every time they saw it thought I was a single-issue candidate. I had to learn how to raise money. I had to upgrade my campaign team. And I had to master my own narrative about who I was. And in order to do that, I had to change the media coverage. We had two newspapers and three TV stations back then. I made a portfolio of the coverage from those two races and I made appointments with the editorial boards or the editor of each of those entities, and I took the portfolio in. And that race where there were 19 candidates and I said to the newspaper, “Look, here’s your listing of everyone in this race. And here's what we do for a living. You actually put what every one of their occupations is. Me? You say I'm a lesbian activist, or a gay activist. I've worked for Mosbacher Energy Company for, at his point, 18 years. I don't see anywhere on here where you refer to anybody else by what they do as volunteers, or by their sexual orientation. I’d be perfectly happy, whichever way you decide to do it, just be fair.” I kept having those conversations over and over again. And the third time I ran — you know, I could say I'm persuasive, but I think the world changed, too — they stopped. The newspapers would figure out a way to make reference to my sexual orienta-
“DONALD TRUMP HAS BEEN THE BEST RECRUITER FOR DEMOCRATIC CANDIDATES AT EVERY LEVEL OF THE BALLOT YOU COULD POSSIBLY HOPE FOR. They may have been inspired because they’re so appalled by him and his policies. But the ones who win are the ones who offer a plan that voters can identify with.” JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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COURTESY OF VICTORY FUND
tion, but it would always be after the jump. With all due respect, nobody reads after the jump. So if they could get you into it that far, you don't care anymore, you're already hooked. So the coverage changed. And I raised enough money in that race to go up on TV, control my own message in a way that I had never been able to do before. And that's how I was able to be successful. MW: Did your opponents make an issue of your sexuality? PARKER: Every piece of literature I put out had some reference to the resume — "past president, Houston Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus” — with the word gay and lesbian in every piece of literature I put out. But also “employee, Mosbacher Energy Company,” and, by that point, I was president of the largest civic association in Houston. It meant people stopped talking about my sexual orientation. My opponents couldn't talk about it because, “You know, she's a lesbian.” “Well, duh. It says so right on her own literature.” So it changed the conversation. There were actually six other people in that race, and it became more like, “Well, it’s not a problem to me that she's a lesbian, it shouldn't matter to anybody.” They had to figure out some way to bring it up without looking like complete asses doing it. The weekend of the runoff election, I was against a Republican businessman who had all the Downtown backing, and I had all but two of the minority-elected officials in the region who were with me because I had helped them with their campaigns over the years. He put out an attack piece, only to black households, and it was one of those comparison pieces: he was the family man, I was single. He belonged to his church, I had no known religious beliefs. This contrast, to say, basically, that I was a lesbian. And only to black households. I still got 75 percent of the black vote. I’d already gathered the support of the leadership. But also, 28
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because of my work on housing issues and neighborhood issues as a volunteer, I had a network. My best volunteers in that race were senior citizens. I was a United Way volunteer in senior services, and I’d had lunch at every senior center in Houston. I sat there and played dominoes with those little old ladies. So they were with me. It was a nine-month campaign built upon a network and a resume built over 20 years. MW: After you were elected to the Houston City Council, you eventually became controller and then mayor. What was the nature of your political battles during those years? PARKER: City government is the most functional level of government, because it has to be. It’s about getting trash picked up. It’s about filling potholes. It’s about making sure that basic services are performed. I would submit that during my entire 18 years in full-time public life and three positions, that if you just followed the votes that were cast in city hall, it was impossible to tell how people lined up politically. There were philosophical divides and there were certain things like birth control in city clinics, or afterschool programs where there was never a pure Republican or Democratic divide, but where you could see conservative and more progressive divisions. But I realized I had spent so long as an activist and as a spokesperson for the community, that I had to very consciously, when I assumed office, change my role and change my mindset — that I wasn't going to be a spokesperson for the LGBTQ community. I was going to be open, but I wasn’t the spokesperson. My job was to represent my constituents. I did engage whenever LGBTQ issues came up, like moving our Pride Parade from a daytime parade to a nighttime parade. We had to rewrite city ordinances to do it. Once the community made the decision to do what they wanted to do and came to me, then it was my responsibility to make it happen.
“PETE BUTTIGIEG WAS A GAME CHANGER. I’m certain that there are people who didn't support Pete Buttigieg because he’s openly gay. But the party apparatus was completely available to him. The next time someone runs from our community, that will be the expectation.”
MW: What LGBTQ-specific issues did you engage with? PARKER: Four times in my adult life, three times while I was in
public office as an out lesbian, the citizens of Houston voted that we didn’t have equal civil rights. The first time was in the ’80s while I was still a leader in the movement. The city passed a nondiscrimination in city employment ordinance. It was repealed by the voters. Then we had a statewide marriage referendum that was passed by all voters in Texas, until, thankfully, the Supreme Court ruled on marriage. Then we had a preemptive referendum to prevent the city from ever offering domestic partner benefits, which passed. And then the fourth time was when in my last term in office, we passed the HERO ordinance, a nondiscrimination ordinance, that was repealed by the voters. It was painful. It was hurtful. There's a YouTube video out there, still, of the concession speech I made on behalf of all of those who asked to protect the HERO ordinance. And you can see how angry and hurt I am. But I have seen the changes. I've seen that difference from when I started in the ’70s working on these issues, to today. It's not perfect, it's not done. We can still be undermined. But it is so different. And I've seen the progress and I understand that as long as you can see incremental change, and that it does get better, you have to stay in the fight. If you just give up, nothing changes. MW: Do you think a candidate would still be viable today if they ran on an overtly anti-LGBTQ platform in Houston? PARKER: I don't think so. The most noted anti-LGBTQ bigot in Houston since the ’80s is Dr. Stephen Hotze. He still funds lawsuits. He's a right-wing nut job, but he's still out there. He endorses candidates. And when I ran for mayor the first time, my opponent actually solicited and received his endorsement. And the outcry was so negative that he ended up having to repudiate it. There are members of city council who have voted wrong on LGBTQ issues every time they come up, but they’re never going to stand up and say they do it because they hate gay people. They don't even do the “hate the sin, love the sinner” conversation anymore. They figure out some other rationale for doing it. The HERO ordinance went down on bathroom issues, pure and simple. And in fact, the biggest opponents weren’t shy about that. They came to city council when we passed the ordinance, and stood in the council chamber and essentially said, “If you'll just take the trans issues out, if you take gender identity out and just say sexual orientation, we will leave it alone.” I didn’t necessarily believe them, but they actually did that. MW: There’s a train of thought, outlined by the Dallas Principles, that to achieve LGBTQ equality we can’t leave any part of the community behind. PARKER: And I have always believed that. And in fact, when I won a council seat in '97, when my best volunteers were little old
ladies, my volunteer coordinator was a trans woman. And I had members of the Log Cabin Republicans tell me that they couldn’t support me if I insisted on having her as visible and public in that campaign. And I told them that I was sorry to hear that, and maybe we would have a conversation after I won. I have believed in full inclusion and have worked for that. MW: I am struck by the leadership roles that mayors and city council members have had to assume amid the COVID-19 pandemic. From your own experience, if you had confronted something like this, how would you have protected Houstonians from COVID? PARKER: There’s a lot of things I could complain about with the current mayor, but I could only hope that I would have been as strong and as decisive as he and our county judge have been in COVID-19. They have — particularly the county judge, but the mayor, as well — stepped up over and over again, made really hard decisions, focused always on public safety and not gotten enough credit for it, particularly in a state like Texas, or Florida, Arizona, places where the government at the governor's level has made appallingly bad decisions. Local governments have had to pick up the pieces and, for the most part, local governments have been courageous and decisive. MW: What sort of tools does a mayor have at their disposal, particularly when, say, the governor or the president doesn't step in? PARKER: It depends on the state. I used to try to commiserate with my colleague mayors in the Northeast that receive a lot of their funding from the state. If they control the pursestrings, they can jerk you around. But cities in Texas are home rule cities and they have an independent taxing authority and taxing base, and virtually complete authority in an emergency, unless and except when the governor overrides it. But mayors across the country have the ability to make public safety decisions and have been exercising it. They can do mask mandates. They can always shut down outdoor activities. They enforce whatever ordinances there are. Houston is a little more difficult because we're the only major city in America that has no zoning and we're also where the most lightly-regulated cities in America from a business standpoint. The tools are fewer. But mayors all across the country are stepping up and using their power. MW: Where do you think the federal response went wrong? PARKER: Starting at the White House. I think that the Trump administration started dismantling the CDC and the pandemic response units within it early on, and then tried to play games. Unfortunately, if you work for an agency like the CDC, you may know what you've done and you may know what's wrong, but you also want your job and you want your pension, and if the president tells you to sit down and shut up, that’s what you do. MW: Some political scientists point out that we’re seeing a lot more candidates for a city council and local office either attaching themJULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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selves to the president or running against him. And it’s destroying PARKER: We were among the first people to get behind [congresthat sense of “all politics is local.” sional candidates] Ritchie Torres and Mondaire Jones, as well PARKER: And that is certainly not what we teach them at Victory. as [New York State Senate candidate] Jabari Brisport, whose Now, Donald Trump has been the best recruiter for Democratic race still hasn't been called, but we think he'll be there, too. It is candidates at every level of the ballot you could possibly hope important to us that the candidates that we support are reflective for. They may have been inspired because they’re so appalled by of America. And interestingly, we have data going back quite a him and his policies. But the ones who win are the ones who find few years, in terms of who we’ve endorsed. Just in the last few the appropriate sort of local issues and offer a plan that voters years and since we've been publishing our “Out for America” can identify with. report and stats on our endorsed candidates, the LGBTQ people In nonpartisan years, it’s a very different feel, but this is a very who run — not just the ones who we support — are three times partisan year. If you're running as a Democrat, you’re expect- as diverse as the general pool of candidates. ed to be anti-Trump. And if you’re running as a Republican, I Victory has specific programs to increase the number of canthink you have to kiss up. But because of decades of partisan didates of color which are available on the Institute’s website. gerrymandering, we don't have very many seats at the federal We work hard to increase that number. From the standpoint of level, congressional seats, for example, that are in play. You can Pete Buttigieg running for president, and everybody said, “Oh play along the margins, but because of the way we redistricted, well, he's doing really well in Iowa and New Hampshire, but there's not a lot a candidate can do, which is [why] it's big news black people in the South will never vote for someone who’s when we flip a seat red to blue or blue to red. openly gay.” I'm here to tell you that’s not true, but what will MW: Is it harder nowadays to find LGBTQ Republicans who can make even more of a difference is that if we have more and more meet those criteria? It seems there are fewer out Republicans open candidates of color, officials of color at the highest levels, attempting to run, and that more LGBTQ people are identifying including Mondaire and Ritchie and advocates who will get out with the Democratic Party in this current environment. and dispel that myth. PARKER: Well, way more than 80 percent of our LGBTQ elected MW: Obviously, it's not an elected position, but will we see an out officials are Democrats. It’s an interesting fact. If you go to our LGBTQ person in a presidential cabinet, as opposed to a “cabiwebsite “Out for America,” where you can sort by party affilia- net-level position”? tion, there are more trans elected officials than there are openly PARKER: We absolutely expect in a Biden administration there LGBTQ Republican elected officials in America. And nearly all will be. And we fully expected that, had there been a Clinton of our self-identified Republicans are elected in nonpartisan administration, there would have been as well. There's no doubt down-ballot races. Because as you mentioned, it is so difficult in our minds. to get through Republican primaries. It was bad before Trump, MW: What do you think is the next frontier in LGBTQ politics? but they have become absolutely toxic for LGBTQ candidates. So PARKER: Pete Buttigieg was a game changer in a lot of ways. they're not running. Or they're not running openly. He wasn't the first LGBTQ candidate for president. That was We work hard to endorse Republicans. Our standards as an Fred Karger, who ran eight years ago in Obama's re-elect as a organization are that you have to be openly LGBT. Candidates Republican. But he was more of an insurgent candidate and the have to believe in some level of a right to privacy, which includes party did everything they could to keep him out. the right to abortion. Some of our candidates only believe What was fascinating to watch in the Pete Buttigieg camin it after rape and incest, all the way paign — and we ultimately endorsed Click to Learn More About him, but we made him wait for it for six to others who support the full Planned Parenthood position. And they have to be months, and he had to prove himself — is The Victory Fund fully trans-inclusive. We have declined to that he was treated like any other candiendorse some who do not believe that gender identity is their date by the party in the primary. Sure, I’m certain that there are issue to care about. people who would never have supported him and didn't support It’s difficult for a lot of Republicans because we are pro- him because he’s openly gay. But in terms of the party apparatus, choice. We ask them in their hearts, “Can you find a place here it was completely available to him. And the next time someone where you can define yourself in a way that we can support runs from our community, that will be the expectation. And we’ll you?” But that is a hurdle in terms of seeking our endorsement. eventually get there on the Republican side as well. We train them, whether or not they can ever sign our pledge and One of our goals at Victory is to make sure that there is a be an endorsed candidate. And we’ll do our best to sustain them deep pool, a bench, of candidates. Right now, we have two U.S. because we believe that our democracy is better when we're in senators, two governors, two attorneys general, a handful of both parties and we're represented everywhere. statewide elected officials. That’s not a deep enough bench to be MW: What do you think accounts for the increase in the number of presidential material, to be vice presidential candidates. So what transgender candidates running for office? is the next big milestone? To have a bench of 20 or 30 people, big PARKER: Well, I would say success breeds success. And it’s city mayors, statewide elected officials with a national profile, because the more we win, and the more we talk about the ones who can really step up. who win, the more they feel like they might have a chance. But Pete did an amazing job. He’s actually got great political skills the other factor is that the trans community has been under and was a phenomenal candidate. But he had to work really hard such attack by the right. You know, they still attack the gay and to go from a mayor of a mid-sized city with a kind of hard name lesbian community. But really, a lot of the worst bills have been to pronounce to a presidential contender. And so, one of our anti-trans bills. And the Trump administration is virulently goals is to make sure that the next one to make that leap doesn’t anti-trans. And so if you have any self-respect and you're under have to work quite as hard. attack, you're going to stand up for yourself. MW: We’re also seeing a number of LGBTQ people of color being Learn more about The Victory Fund by calling 202-VICTORY successful in their races this cycle. (842-8679) or visiting www.victoryfund.org. 30
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Gallery
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When We First Arrived
ARLIER THIS YEAR, WHITMAN-WALKER OPENED its new cultural center on 14th Street NW with an art exhibition aimed at generating attention all its own, through its focus on the thousands of asylum-seeking children who have been separated from their families and are being detained in holding pens by the U.S. government. The Corner at WhitmanWalker re-opens for the first time since March for a limited-time showing of When We First Arrived, to shed more light on this ongoing humanitarian and public policy crisis. Curated by the Corner’s executive director Ruth Noack, 32
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the exhibit showcases over 100 artworks created by leading visual artists responding directly to testimonies from some of the detained children and organized in close collaboration with DYKWTCA — an art initiative whose name is an acronym for Do You Know Where The Children Are? Sales of the donated works of art will benefit the Safe Passage Project, Terra Firma, Innovation Law Lab, and Team Brownsville. Limited daytime hours from now to Sunday, July 19. Located at 1701 14th St. NW. Free entry, but donations welcome. Call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.
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Television
generally well-staged fight scenes. The show doesn’t lack for villains, with Nimue and friends desperately resisting the Red Paladin, a brutal, crusading army of monks hellbent on extinguishing all Fey-kind. However, it’s a young girl desperate to join the Red Paladin, only to Cursed remixes Arthurian legend into an overwrought origin story be repeatedly rejected, who makes for for the Lady of the Lake. By André Hereford the show’s most compelling villain. Sister Iris is delivered in a perfectly evil turn by HE PRODUCERS OF NETFLIX’S NEW FANTASY SERIES CURSED HAVE Emily Coates, who captures the frightpacked scores of characters, creatures, and factions from the eponymous source ening zealotry of one who would sell her novel, written by Tom Wheeler and illustrated by Frank Miller, into a vivid, if soul to gain the favor of powerful men overcrowded adaptation. Miller, the legendary artist behind Sin City, and Wheeler, who don’t respect or care about her. But best known for ABC’s ancient Rome mini-series Empire, are also showrunning the Iris is just a trickle of quicksilver in this thoughtful reimagining of Arthurian tales about sorcerers, kings, and warriors. This rambling stream. version follows a young lady warrior — teen sorceress Nimue (Katherine Langford) — The performances of the expansive who is dispatched on a mission to deliver the mythical sword of power to the wizard cast are hit-and-miss, and one or two so Merlin (Gustaf Skarsgård). overacted as to be unintentionally comiDaring and resourceful, Nimue often summons the means or magic to save herself cal. On the intentional side, Skarsgård (son from much distress, and Langford, co-star of Love, Simon and Knives Out, swings the of Stellan, brother of Alexander and Bill) mighty sword with conviction. But she doesn’t really breathe fire into the character, has fun as the weaselly wizard Merlin, and whose mission is reiterated and repeated every episode, while her Shalom Brune-Franklin Click Here to tragic destiny remains just vaguely implied. Clearly, Nimue is meant brings fierce heart to her to play a momentous role in a worsening conflict between mankind Watch the Trailer role as Nimue’s closest and her enchanted kind, the Fey folk. Cursed (HHHHH) meanders ally, Igraine, the show’s towards that turning point along a bumpy road of backstories and turnarounds, flash- one major queer character. Cursed posibacks, tangents, and withheld secrets. tions a young rogue named Arthur as So often, characters in possession of pivotal information stop just a sentence shy of say- Nimue’s true closest ally, but as played by ing the one thing it might be most helpful to say. A few go to their graves keeping secrets Devon Terrell (Obama in the 2016 drama that, in turn, keep Nimue constantly in the dark, a frustrating mode of telling her story. It’s Barry), both Arthur’s journey and the cenup to the strong visuals to carry much of the interest in building the world around her, a tral romance feel forced — much like the land of verdant woods and rippling streams, demon bears and enchanted blades. Miller heroine’s odyssey of quests, escapes, and fans will be pleased to see striking scarlet sprays of blood and violence in the sparse but chases in myriad far-flung directions.
Iron Lady
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Cursed is available for streaming on Netflix. Visit www.netflix.com. 34
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ROBIN HARPER
Music
Lit Up
you die peacefully in your sleep/Just kidding I hope it hurts like you hurt me.” We may not know exactly what Maines means when she sings, “You’re gonna get what you got coming to ya,” but it’s hard not to root for her anyway. The newly-rechristened Chicks return with a comeback album As much fun as they’re having on this that showcases their greatest strengths. By Sean Maunier album, The Chicks are keen to remind fans that they are still willing to stake out HEN YOU’RE THE CHICKS, DON’T HAVE THE OPTION OF DOING a stand on the things that matter to them. the right thing without everyone noticing. When the associations with the “March, March,” the only pointedly politantebellum southern states became too glaring to ignore, they dropped the ical song on the album, is a stirring tribute “Dixie” from their name about as quietly as possible when even your most innocuous to social justice movements that swells gestures get blown up through a megaphone and become immediately polarizing. After and soars and easily stands up with the all, this is a band that for almost two decades has worn Natalie Maines’ comments on title track as one of the most catchy songs the Iraq War that alienated huge swathes of the then-Dixie Chicks’ fanbase overnight, on the album. an event still referred to as “the incident.” Digging in their heels rather than backtrackAfter “Tights on my Boat,” the album ing to salvage the situation may have lost them some fans for good, but it cemented takes a turn, winding towards its end on their reputation as artists who would rather stick true to who they are than water a slower, more pensive note. “Julianna themselves down. Come Down” is an empowerment anthem Gaslighter (HHHHH), their first album since 2008’s Not Ready to Make Nice, is alto- with some on-the-nose lines that give gether a more buoyant, upbeat record than its predecessor, although the stomping pop- voice to the difficulty and loneliness of rock boldness remains. Producer Jack Antonoff’s fingerprints are all over the album, putting on a brave face and performing lending the songwriting a larger-than-life power pop punch. That for the world. As the said, however, their signature vocal harmonies are as captivating Click Here to Watch the album ends on a vulas ever and Emily Strayer’s banjo and the occasional flourish of nerable, confessional Video for “Gaslighter” fiddle or steel guitar brings warmth to the project. note with “Set Me While the trio has more or less put country behind them, the title track is a prime Free,” we are reminded that as much raw example of the genre’s great tradition of wronged women out for justice and vengeance. talent as The Chicks have, what truly sets The target of its indictment is left vague, although Maines’ recent divorce allows us to them apart is knowing who they are and make some educated guesses. Later in the album, almost as a coda to “Gaslighter,” what they bring, and refusing to deviate “Tights on my Boat” is addressed to a cheating partner, full of sharp lyrics like “I hope from it even for a second.
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Gaslighter will be available to stream and download on July 17th. JULY 16, 2020 • METROWEEKLY.COM
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Vintage Scene
17th Street in 1997: Trumpets, Cobalt, and JR.’s - Photographs by Randy Shulman To see more photos from this event online, click on the photos below.
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Vintage Scene
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Omega’s Grand Opening in 1997 - Photographs by Randy Shulman To see more photos from this event online, click on the photos below.
LastWord. People say the queerest things
“I could high five God, but I wasn’t living to the fullest I was sad. I was depressed. ” —RICKY MARTIN, in an interview with Proud Radio on Apple Music, discussing the impact of his rise to fame while remaining in the closet. “There came a moment that I said, ‘We need to stop. We need to stop the tour’...I said, ‘I can’t. I can’t do this. I need to go home. I need silence. I need to cry. I need to be angry. I need to forgive myself for allowing myself to reach this level, to get to where I’m at.’ And I took some time and I took a sabbatical.”
“Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script. But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down. ” —Filmmaker JAMES GUNN, in a tweet claiming that he wrote the character of Velma as gay in the 2002 film Scooby-Doo. The character was altered to make her sexuality “ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel),” Gunn said.
“For me, what this bill really means is protecting black trans women, who are the most vulnerable of the communities we’re trying to protect here. ” —COLORADO STATE REP. BRIANNA TITONE (D), speaking at a signing ceremony for four pieces of LGBTQ-inclusive legislation, including a ban on so-called gay and trans panic defenses, and a change to make it easier for trans minors to correct the gender markers on their state documents. “We really went from a place where discrimination was legalized in the 1990s to where we are today, where Colorado is a leader,” said Gov. Jared Polis (D), who is gay.
“We don’t allow attacks against people based on sexual orientation or gender identity and are updating our policies to ban the promotion of conversion therapy services. ” —TARA HOPKINS, Instagram’s public policy director for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, speaking to BBC News. Instagram will remove all content on the social media platform that promotes anti-LGBTQ conversion therapy, after previously banning adverts that promote the debunked practice.
"Young people need to be able to see themselves in the people they look up to. ” —MARTHA MCCABE, retired Canadian Olympic swimmer, coming out as lesbian in an interview with CBC. "I want to be an example to young female swimmers and help ones who are struggling with this, so they can see it's normal," she said.
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