JANUARY 23 - FEBRUARY 5, 2009 VOLUME EIGHT, ISSUE 2

n TERROR HAUTE
YOUR FREE n GENE ROBINSON DISSED n TRANS FIRING OKAYED
LGBT Gay bishop at Obama Federal court says dress When a gay codger
loves a mass murderer
NEWSPAPER concert absent from HBO code not sex stereotyping

Gay City
P.7 P.15 P.17

A M E R I C A’ S L A R G E S T C I R C U L AT I O N G AY A N D L E S B I A N N E W S P A P E R !

neWS
TM

S E R V I N G G A Y, L E S B I A N , B I A N D T R A N S G E N D E R E D N E W Y O R K • W W W . G A Y C I T Y N E W S . C O M

n CRIMe

Five More
Prostitution
Busts IDed
in Chelsea
Video Store
BY DUncan OSBORnE

P
olice arrested at least
five men for prostitution
in a Chelsea porn shop
last September and October,
bringing the total number of
known prostitution arrests of
gay and bisexual men to 52 in
eight different businesses dat-
ing back to 2004.
P. 4

PATSY LYNCH
n EDITORIAL
Cymbals, symbols &
prosaic governing thE Dc GaY MEn’S chORUS, jOSh GROBan & hEathER hEaDlEY SInG “MY cOUntRY ‘tIS OF thEE” at thE lIncOln MEMORIal SUnDaY

hope, exuberance
n 10
——————————————
n NEST-LESS
A boyfriend boot
for Christmas
Gays Swept Up in

& anger
n2
——————————————
n FOOTSTEPS Obama’s Day, Despite
What’s up in dance
this season Rick Warren Prayer
n 20
—————————————— BY PaUl SchInDlER gay man from Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyve- left when they learned that the Fox News
sant. Terry was part of a crowd of about channel was the only available viewing

O
n SOUR CHERRIES n the day that Barack Hussein
Not quite the time Obama finally took the reins of
for Chekhov the presidency from the discred-
n 19 ited and unpopular two-term incumbent,
——————————————
George Walker Bush, many in the lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgender community
chose to emphasize their hopes — and often
too their exuberance — even as some con-
tinued to express puzzlement, dismay, and
anger over the choice of Pastor Rick Warren,
a staunchly anti-gay evangelical preacher,
to deliver the inaugural invocation.
“I don’t think that anything could pos-
sibly overshadow this day. It was such a
powerful outpouring of love and support,”
JEFFREY KUHN said Gregory Terry, an African-American
125 viewing the noontime swearing-in of
the new president in the LGBT Commu-
nity Center’s third floor meeting hall.
“It was all about Obama and nothing
overshadowed that,” he said.
“This is the greatest moment in time.
This is history in the making,” said a les-
bian who identified herself as Rocky Mar-
ciano. “I’m hoping he’s going to do well by
everyone, especially the gay community.”
Marciano was among a separate crowd
of roughly three dozen who watched the
Washington ceremony in the Center’s first
floor meeting space for SAGE, Services
and Advocacy for GLBT Elders. (A hand-
ful of those watching in the SAGE room
option there. CNN was broadcast on the
third floor.)
The unqualified enthusiasm expressed
by Terry and Marciano, however, was not
shared by everyone on hand at the Cen-
ter. Frustration, anger, and ambivalence
were also recurrent themes among those
watching — emotions aimed at Warren.
Last month, just as his role in the
inauguration was being announced by
Obama’s team, Warren told Beliefnet.
com, a faith-based Internet site owned
by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp, “I am
opposed to having a brother and a sister
be together and call that a marriage. I am
opposed to an older guy marrying a child

18 © GAY CITY NEWS 2009 • COMMUNITY MEDIA, LLC, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED P. 6
2/ City Life
Out of the Nest
All I got for Christmas was the boot from my boyfriend
BY ERASMO GUERRA
O
n Christmas Eve, I
surprised Pajarito
with a pack of Span-
ish flashcards so that he could
pick up a few basic words, just
like he always said he wanted
to. I also gave him a shiny, sil-
ver wallet from Marc Jacobs —
this was real Marc, unlike the
Louis Vuitton knockoff I’d given
him over the summer, which he
re-gifted to his sister in Thai-
land.
In the new wallet I’d stuffed
a pair of tickets for us to go see
Kathy Griffin, one of his favorite
comedians, who was appearing
at Madison Square Garden in
February.
“We didn’t say we trading
gifts,” Pajarito wailed with con-
fused excitement.
No, we hadn’t said anything,
just like he’d never given me a
straight answer about whether
we were officially boyfriends
after seeing each other for
more than a year. But buying
a Christmas gift for your sorta
boyfriend was just what you
did.
I kept waiting for him to
give me with a little some-
thing. When he didn’t, I made
excuses that staying with him
in his East Village duplex until
I found a place of my own was
generous enough, or that the
trip we were taking tomorrow
to Miami and Key West was our
gift to each other.
Then, before heading out to
dinner, Pajarito told me to close
my eyes and pressed something
into my hand, which turned out
to be a plastic bag with cheap,
disposable headphones.
“They from Switzerland,” he
said, smiling and batting his
dark lashes.
Yeah, freebies from that
Swiss Air flight he took to Bar-
celona in November.
A
fter dinner at Cucina de
Pesce, where we met up
with my younger broth-
er, Pajarito and I hurried back
to his apartment on East Fifth
Street and just before sleep, he
pressed his warm body against
mine and said, “So when we
come back from the trip where
you gonna stay?”
I’d been living with him for
the past ten days, ever since
returning from South Texas,
where I was from and where I’d
spent three months at a writ-
ing residency. I’d given up my
big, two-bedroom apartment in
Washington Heights because
For now, a Times Square apartment-sit is home.
there was no way to sublet it
while I was away.
Pajarito’s old roommate had
moved out, and he relocated
from the ground floor bedroom
to the more spacious one in the
basement. So it wasn’t like we
were cramped or anything; he
said he was just worried about
his new roommate upstairs,
and what she might think.
What was I thinking?
That Pajarito was a youth-
ful 33-year-old, who made an
I let go of my bags, my habits having
a stronger hold on me; Pajarito  and clung to my neck and nod-
clung to my neck, nodded to the
bed, and sing-sang, “Car-ry me.”
incredible six-figure income
as a graphic designer, and I
was an unemployed freelancer
whose only prospect was turn-
ing 39 in late January.
In these tough times, when
so many seemed to be los-
ing homes or jobs, at least I
wasn’t alone. I had friends and
a brother in the city who could
put me up. Still, if it wasn’t for
the red wine I’d drunk at din-
ner, I wouldn’t have been able
to sleep.
E I
arly Christmas morn-
ing the wine had worn
off, and, as Pajarito
slept, I packed for our trip and
debated wheeling my bag out
the door. Instead of going to
MIA, I’d go M.I.A.
So what if I lost the $400 I’d
already charged for the flight. At
least I’d done something for the
economy, and I wouldn’t invest
anymore of myself on someone
who just didn’t care.
Hadn’t I wanted to move out
anyway?
I couldn’t work from his
apartment. I did my best writ-
ing in the early morning and
Pajarito never woke before 10
a.m. and, in the evening, the TV
blared CNN and Anderson Coo-
per, or “Andy,” as Pajarito called
his obsession.
And while I didn’t have a
home, I’d certainly become
Pajarito’s doormat, pouring him
a glass of Pepsi Max each time
he howled “heow nam jung,”
giving him full-body massag-
es at night, and kneading his
hands in the morning. When-
ever I let go of one body part,
he held up another and cried
in a caricatured voice, “Jealous!
Jealous!”
If I refused to do any of
these things, he stomped and
whined, “So sad nobody care in
the whole world.”
n the end, I flew with Pajari-
to down to Florida, enjoying
the paid-for hospitality at
each hotel and guest house,
and before the New Year’s Eve
return flight to New York, I
made arrangements to stay at
a friend’s empty apartment in
Times Square.
Hours after landing at
La Guardia, Pajarito and I
returned to his place, ordered
take-out from a Thai restau-
rant on Avenue A, and rang in
the New Year watching Kathy
and Andy on CNN.
The following afternoon, my
brother joined us for brunch
and a movie.
Back at Pajarito’s apart-
ment, I started to re-pack my
bags.
“Didn’t meaning you have to
leave right away,” he said, his
full, lower lip thrust out with
an apologetic pout.
I let go of my bags, my hab-
its having a stronger hold on
me, and Pajarito came over
ded to the bed and sing-sang,
“Car-ry me.”
He wanted me when he want-
ed me. And when he didn’t, I
was supposed to go away.
S
aturday afternoon, I
grabbed my suitcase
and a bag of my belong-
ings and headed out to the
street to get a cab. Pajarito
didn’t follow me to the curb.
He merely poked his head from
behind his apartment door. I
tried not to look back.
In Times Square, long after
the confetti had been swept
up, I lay in that empty apart-
ment and stared at the plaster
ceiling all night. I listened to
the car alarms going off in the
parking lot next door, then the
groans of the garbage trucks
on their early morning rounds,
and the rest of the noise was
just me fussing with what
Pajarito had given me.
In pushing me out of his
nest, he’d given me back to
myself and, I suddenly real-
ized, the chance to flap my
own wings.
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
14 Days
14 Nights
FRI.JAN.23
GALLERY
Eroticism on Paper
The LGBT Community Center’s
first New York Erotic Art Fair will
present a diverse collection of artists
and their work, including a selected
group of Paul Cadmus’ etchings, vari-
ous works of Lancelott, an ink draw-
ing of Luis Garcia, a silkscreen of
N.S. Salter, a folio of six silver gelatin
prints by Ernestine Ruben, and other
works of gay erotic artistic expres-
sion from Michael Broderick, William
Donovan, E. Gibbons, Stefano Imbert,
and Tai Lin. Tonight, the Center hosts
a preview cocktail reception and open
bar, 7-9 p.m. Fine art photographer
JD Dragan and constructionist artist
Brian Crede will be on hand. Admis-
sion is $20. The fair continues Jan.
24, noon-8 p.m.; Jan. 25, noon-6
p.m. Campbell Soady Gallery at
the Center, 208 W. 13th St.
O O O O O O O
Paris Via Lagos &
New York
“Fantasy and Simulacrum” is a
saucy, sexual, erotic conversation and
engagement between Iké Udé’s alter
ego, Visconti, and Paris Hilton, and is
both a reference to and departure from
“Beyond Decorum,” his seminal con-
ceptual photographic series of cloth-
ing and shoes paired with titillating
text appropriated from adult personal
advertisements. Utilizing a cacophony
of visual material culled from gossip
blogs, porn sites, wallpaper samples,
fashion/lifestyle magazines, and
film, Udé’s new hybrid pictorial style
employs free association and an absurd
sense of humor. Born in Lagos, Nigeria,
and now New York-based, Udé’s work
is held in the permanent collections of
the Guggenheim and the Smithsonian
National Museum. Stefan Stux Gal-
lery, 530 W. 25th St. Jan. 23-24, 10
a.m.-6 p.m. 212-352-1600.
O O O O O O O
FILM
Body Language
Lesbian Cinema Art presents a
one-night-only screening of “Ash-
ley and Kisha: Finding the Right Fit,”
Tony Comstock’s documentary that
films a couple in a committed, loving
relationship in conversation about it,
and also the physical conversation
they have with each other during sex.
“Ashley and Kisha” is the fifth in Tony
Comstock’s “Real People, Real Life,
Real Sex” series. LGBT Community
Center, 208 W.13th St., reception
at 6:30 p.m.; screening at 7:30 p.m.
Admission is $8 at gaycenter.org or
$10 at the door.
O O O O O O O
c jan 23, continued on p.12
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 3

You’re invited!

T H E 8 T H A N N U A L H R C G R E AT E R N E W YO R K G A L A
3ATURDAY&EBRUARYs.EW9ORK(ILTON

0LEASEJOINUSFORTHETHANNUAL(2#'REATER.EW9ORK'ALA
4OGETHERWELLCELEBRATETHEYEARSSUCCESSESAND
REENERGIZEFORTHECHALLENGESAHEAD

K E YN OTE POLITICA L SPE A K ER

3ENATOR-ALCOLM3MITH
State Senate Majority Leader and President Pro Tem

A LLY FOR EQ UA LIT Y AWA R D CORPOR ATE EQUALIT Y AWARD

+EITH/LBERMANN
OF-3."#SCountdown

Additional guests and special performances to be announced

soon—buy your tickets now to get the news first!

Purchase tickets at greaterny.hrc.org

or call Box Office Tickets
at 800 494 8497
4/ Crime 23 jan - 5 feb 2009

Five More Prostitution Busts

Gay City News identifies more questionable arrests, at Unicorn DVD in Chelsea
c continued from cover Police made at least 25 Alicia Maxey Greene, spokes- priate and out of control.” older men. Eight of the 12
other arrests from 2004 person for Robert M. Morgen- Andrea J. Ritchie, direc- men arrested there were 42 or
“Generally, these are people thr ough 2007, including thau, the district attorney. tor of the Sex Workers Project older. When those men agreed
who are not working as pros- at least 23 at Video, Video, The gay community clearly at the Urban Justice Center, to what they thought was a
titutes and even when they Video, a porn shop that was sees the arrests as fake, and said the arrests and lawsuits consensual sexual encounter
are confronted by the under- located at Eighth Avenue and outside the store, the officers
cover they may be intend- 34th Street. then said they wanted to pay
ing to have sex, but not take Citing those prostitution The gay community sees the the men. If the men did not
any money,” said Linda Poust arrests, all of which were done refuse and walk away, they
Lopez, a supervising attorney by undercover officers, the arrests as fake, and the men as were arrested.
at the Legal Aid Society, who city brought nuisance abate-
is representing one of the five ment lawsuits against seven
having been set up. Police appear to have used
that same method of aggres-
men busted in Unicorn DVD, of the eight businesses seek- sively flirting, winning agree-
located at 336 Eighth Avenue ing to close them. Four of ment for consensual sex out-
near 27th Street. the seven lawsuits came in the men as having been set against the porn shops are to side the store, and only then
At least three of the men 2008. The city sued Unicorn up, judging by the angry com- punish “deviant sexuality.” mentioning money, with the
have pleaded not guilty. Attor- DVD on January 14 of this ments on websites where the She said at the town hall, four younger men as well.
neys for the other two known year. Two of the businesses, arrests have been discussed “The decision in Lawrence v. Gay City News identified
to have pleaded guilty either including Video, Video, Video, and at a January 15 town Texas in 2003 did not end the these patterns from review-
declined to comment or did were shuttered, while the meeting that drew some 300 policing of gay sex,” referring ing the detailed arrest records
not respond to a request for other four stayed open under people to the LGBT Commu- to the U.S. Supreme Court contained in the nuisance
comment. As Gay City News agreements with the city that nity Center. ruling that struck down sod- abatement suit brought
went to press, the remaining restricted their operations. “I think it’s very disturbing omy laws nationwide. against Blue Door and speak-
two men had not been identi- The police department has that there has been this pat- Two patter ns of arrests ing with two men arrested
fied. defended the arrests, saying tern of arrests,” said Thomas have emerged at Blue Door there. The records in the other
The five arrests are part of it is responding to commu- K. Duane, the out gay Chel- Video, a First Avenue porn 2008 lawsuits were far less
a wave of such arrests that nity complaints. The Manhat- sea state senator, at the town shop also the subject of recent detailed and did not identify
swept through Manhattan tan district attorney’s office, meeting. “This is harassment. law enforcement actions. One the men arrested.
porn shops in 2008, with cops which prosecuted the men, No matter how you look at suggests police were sending The men arrested in Video,
busting at least 27 men in at had no comment. this issue, the enforcement is younger cops into the store
MCTKW-3373 Gay City News LO2 11/4/08 5:09 PM Page 1
least six porn shops last year. “I decline to comment,” said completely, utterly inappro- to aggressively flirt, often with c chelsea, continued on p.5

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23 jan - 5 feb 2009
Mobilizing Over False Arrests
‘Prostitution’ stings at Manhattan video stores draws hundreds to Community Center
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
A
s R o b e r t P i n t e r, a
53-year -old gay man
and licensed massage
therapist, was being arrested
outside Blue Door Video on
First Avenue in the East Vil-
lage in October after agreeing
to leave the establishment
with a man in his 20s so the
two could engage in consen-
sual sex, he demanded to
know why he was being taken
into custody.
“Why the fuck do you think
we’re arresting you?” the offi-
cer in charge finally respond-
ed.
The police arrested Pinter
for solicitation of prostitu-
tion, despite the fact that he
and the younger man, who
turned out to be an under -
cover cop still identified only
by his badge number, had
made plans to go to a car so
that Pinter could perform fel-
latio on the other man. On
the way out of the store, the
undercover officer said, ‘Oh,
I want to pay you $50 to suck
your dick,’” a comment Pinter
found odd, but gave little
more thought to. He felt for-
tunate enough to have been
approached by the younger,
buff Asian-American man.
“This guy was half my
age,” Pinter recalled. “It was
my lucky day. I also thought,
‘How unusual, in Manhattan,
to have sex in a car.’”
Pinter was cuffed and
shackled and left in a police
van for four hours, spent
another three at the Seventh
Precinct, and then another
16 or 17 hours in the Tombs,
the infamous jail downtown
near police headquarters. On
the “strong” urging of a “poor-
ly prepared” Legal Aid attor-
ney, Pinter pleaded guilty to
disorderly conduct, paid a
small fine, and was ordered
to attend five health classes.
Pinter recalled his arrest at
a January 15 town hall meet-
ing at the LGBT Community
Center held to address a rash
of prostitution stings, result-
ing in the false arrests of
c Chelsea, from p.4
Video, Video were in their
20s, 30s, and 40s, with one
teenager. Some of the criminal
records related to that lawsuit
are sealed, and Gay City News
could not determine the age of
all the men.
Robert Pinter, whose October arrest for prostitution first sparked investigation into false
arrests of gay men by the NYPD, spoke at the January 15 town hall at the Center.
gay men, many of them over
40. The pattern of arrests
was first reported by Dun-
can Osbor ne, in Gay City
News, who learned of this law
enforcement activity when
contacted by Pinter.
In 2008, 12 men were
arrested for prostitution at
Blue Door. Eight of them
— 66 percent — were 40 or
older. But according to sta-
tistics from the NYPD’s press
office, only 17 percent of the
179 men arrested for pros-
titution in the Manhattan
South area last year were 40
or older.
Is Blue Door the center of a
previously undiscovered mid-
dle-aged hooker ring? One
that involves a 54-year -old
man visiting from California,
and a gay couple in their late
30s and mid 40s in New York
on vacation from Europe?
Pinter and others who spoke
at the Center January 15
doubt that very much.
“I think it’s very disturbing
that there has been this pat-
tern of arrests,” said Thomas
K. Duane, the out gay Chel-
Herald Price Fahringer, the
attor ney who represented
Video, Video, Video, argued
in court filings that police
entrapped the men arrested
for prostitution there. Most of
the arrests there “were solely
the result of police solicita-
tion,” Fahringer wrote. “We
Crime/5
porarily or permanently.
Pinter told the crowd of
roughly 300 at the Center
that a number of the men he
met at the court-mandated
health classes he attended
had been arrested under
the same circumstances in
which he was ensnared. One
man, he said, rebuffed the
overtures of a young, Asian-
American undercover cop at
a Chelsea video store and left
the establishment, only to be
chased down the street by
him and promptly arrested
by officers who joined the
first policeman.
For Andrea J. Ritchie,
director of the Sex Workers
Project at the Urban Jus-
tice Center, the arrests and
the legal actions against the
adult establishments are
GAY CITY NEWS
aimed at punishing “deviant
sexuality.”
“The decision in Lawrence
v. Texas in 2003 did not end
the policing of gay sex,” she
said at the town hall, refer-
sea state senator. “This is ring to the Supreme Court
harassment. No matter how ruling that struck down sod-
you look at this issue, the omy laws nationwide. “The
enforcement is completely, policing of sexuality casts a
utterly inappropriate and out much wider net. It captures
of control.” heter osexuals as well as
The Blue Door arrests are queers.”
among 50 questionable pros- L a s t y e a r, t h e p o l i c e
titution charges identified department initiated 899
Is Blue Door the center of a
previously undiscovered
middle-aged hooker ring?
by Gay City News in seven nuisance abatement cases
Manhattan porn shops over in which the city sought to
the past four years. Arrests close businesses where ille-
have also taken place at Chel- gal conduct was allegedly
sea and Midtown West video taking place. The targets
venues, including BH Con- include bars, nightclubs,
nections, Gotham City, the restaurants, and stores, and
Rainbow Store, Video, Video, the conduct being investi-
Video, and Blue Store, all gated range from underage
on Eighth Avenue, and the alcohol sales to drug-selling
DVD & Video Center on West to gambling to counterfeit
35th Street. Establishments goods vending.
where the arrests took place A thorough review of
have been fined, and some case files would be neces-
have been closed, either tem- sary to determine how many
urge that, absent the officers’ made a significant number of
prompting, these acts may not the 2008 arrests in the other
have occurred at all.” porn shops, including one offi-
Of the five men busted in cer who made all three known
Unicorn, two are now at least Unicorn arrests, according to
34 and a third is now at least an attorney familiar with those
27. cases. In some court records,
Several of the cops who the officers are identified by
made arrests in Blue Door also their badge numbers.
of these police lawsuits
involved alleged prostitution
or other sexual conduct, but
in the small number of files
in which final disposition is
posted online, 13 involved
prostitution. Comparing
that to the total number of
dispositions disclosed sug-
gests that sexual conduct,
prostitution, and unlicensed
massage businesses are a
significant focus of the police
department’s enforcement
efforts.
In a letter read at the town
hall, Rose Mendez, an out
lesbian member of the City
Council who represents the
Lower East Side of Manhat-
tan, including the East Vil-
lage, called for “a full investi-
gation into the actions of the
police department.”
City Council Speaker
Christine Quinn of Chelsea,
also an out lesbian, through
a spokesman, expressed her
concern about the arrests
and said she was seeking
further information from the
NYPD.
The Coalition to Stop the
Arrests (stopthearrests@aol.
com), a group founded by
Pinter, will meet at the Cen-
ter on January 29 at 6 p.m.
to plan next steps, and the
New York City Gay and Lesbi-
an Anti-Violence Project, who
co-hosted the town hall with
the Center, will hold a meet-
ing at its offices on January
28. Go to avp.org for details.
An AVP staff member also
noted that the City Coun-
cil will hold hearings on the
Civilian Complaint Review
Board, established to investi-
gate police abuses, on Janu-
ary 29 at 10 a.m. He urged
people concerned about the
prostitution arrests to attend
that hearing.
Other panelists at the town
hall included Sienna Baskin,
a legal fellow at the Sex Work-
ers Project at the Urban Jus-
tice Center, Joey Nelson from
the Queer Justice League,
Jennifer Ramirez, an AVP
organizer, and Gay City News’
Osborne.
Given that it successfully led
to arrests, it is likely that, in
those cases for which detailed
information is not publicly
available, police have consis-
tently used the method of first
getting agreement for consen-
sual sex and then mentioning
money.
6/ Politics 23 jan - 5 feb 2009

Hope, Exuberance & Anger

Gays swept up in Obama’s day, despite Rick Warren prayer
c continued from cover

and calling that a marriage. I

am opposed to one guy having
multiple wives and calling that
a marriage.”
Asked by the Beliefnet corre-
spondent whether he believes
“those are equivalent to gays
getting married,” Warren
responded, “Oh, I do.”
“My feelings are mixed,” said
Roger Braimon, a young white
gay man who lives around the
corner from the Center and
attended with a cousin and a
friend. “Of course I’m happy
he’s president. I was really
upset about the Rick War -
ren thing, so I’m optimistic,
but I’m a little unsure. If you
want to include someone with
an opposing viewpoint that’s
great, but I just think he could

GAY CITY NEWS

have picked so many other
people to do that who had
a more inclusive tone. I just
think it sends a bizarre mes-
sage.”
Braimon noted that Obama
doesn’t support marriage
equality for gay and lesbian
couples, but added, “I’m still
processing all the positive
things about it, which are
enormous, but you want to
feel included in the whole cer-
emony.”
Ryan McNamara, a young
white gay man who lives in
Lower Manhattan and sat
with three friends, including
Terry, watching the inaugura-
tion, said of Warren’s selection,
“Obama talked about bringing
Gregory Terry, Jerry Hoose, Ryan McNamara, and David Velasto watched the inauguration together at the LGBT Community Center.
people to the table for dialogue. white lesbian, said, “I think
But this wasn’t a discussion; it’s a shame that President
this was a platform. This was Obama chose [Warren] to be a
an honor, and I don’t think part of the inauguration, but
that Rick Warren is an honor- at the same time I hope we can
able person.” move beyond it to build a bet-
David Velasto, a young white ter future.”
gay man who lives in Williams- Begley lives in Sunset Park,
burg and was with McNamara Brooklyn, and works in that
and Terry, expressed ambiva- borough as well; she traveled
lence similar to Braimon’s. to Manhattan on Tuesday spe-
“The selection of Rick War- cifically to join an LGBT crowd
ren was offensive,” he said. to celebrate the moment of
But, overall the arc of his pres- Obama’s inauguration.
idency should show promise.” “I came just to be a part of
Gretchen Begley, a young a community to share it with,”
she said.
Velasto explained, “I wanted
to celebrate with people. I love
the LGBT Community Center;
it feels like home.”

GAY CITY NEWS

Like many at the Center,
Begley’s expectations about
Obama were less about spe-
cific LGBT gains than general
goals for the nation. “I hope
we’re going to see an end to
the war in Iraq, and an end to
the war in Afghanistan, and a
respect for human rights,” she
said.
“I would hope that the world
has a higher opinion of the
US,” Braimon said.
Asked what expectations
he had for advancing LGBT
issues, he said, “I think those
will be secondary to the econ-
omy and getting the troops out
of Iraq,” and in response to a
GAY CITY NEWS
Robert Penn recalled his days riding at the back of the bus in New Orleans as he celebrated
Barack Obama’s presidency.
1998 published “The Gay
Men’s Wellness Guide,” was
similarly focused on the big
picture. Asked what he expect-
ed from the new administra-
tion regarding LGBT political
goals, he said, “Nothing very
specific has been articulated,”
and later added, “I am hopeful
that a new era of not being the
ugly American has arrived.”
Penn is right in noting
that LGBT issues were not a
incoming White House press
secretary, asked whether
Obama remained commit-
ted to overturning the Don’t
Ask, Don’t Tell military policy,
crisply replied, “Yes.”
And at noon on Inaugura-
tion Day, the White House
website, whitehouse.gov, was
updated to reflect the new
president’s priorities and reit-
erated Obama’s campaign
pledges on LGBT issues —

follow-up question whether
those priorities made sense to
him, Braimon said, “Sure.”
Gretchen Begley traveled to the Center from her home in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, to mark the Robert Penn, an African-
occasion with others in the LGBT community. American gay man, who in
focus of discussion during the
Obama transition, but dur-
ing a YouTube question and
answer session earlier this
month, Robert Gibbs, the
expansion of hate crimes
protections; enactment of a
comprehensive workplace dis-
c Obama’s day, continued on p.8
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
Gene Robinson’s Silent Prayer
Gay Episcopal bishop’s invocation absent from HBO Lincoln Memorial telecast
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
T
he Presidential Inaugu-
ral Committee denied it
— and Gene Robinson
concurred with their view —
but the invitation that Barack
Obama’s team extended to the
out gay Episcopal bishop from
New Hampshire to deliver the
invocation at the January 18
“We Are One” concert at the
Lincoln Memorial was widely
interpreted as an olive branch
to the LGBT community after
Pastor Rick Warren, an anti-
gay evangelical preacher, was
selected to open the January
20 inauguration with a Chris-
tian prayer.
So it came as a shock to
gays nationwide who tuned
into HBO’s coverage of the
event that Robinson’s prayer
was not part of the two-hour
program.
By that evening, HBO had
responded to a query from
AfterElton.com about Robin-
son’s absence.
“The producer of the con-
cert has said that the Presi-
dential Inaugural Committee
made the decision to keep the
invocation as part of the pre-
show,” HBO said in an email
message.
The ball was now in the
Top Obama Gay Appointees Emerge
New administration will include at least 11 LGBT staffers in key roles
BY PAUL SCHINDLER
A
s the new Obama
administration swings
into action, at least 11
high-level LGBT appointees
appear poised to join the effort.
Of greatest interest to New
Yorkers is the news that Fred
Hochberg, who last year left
his post he held since 2003 as
dean of the Milano School for
Management and Urban Policy
at the New School University,
is likely to become the head of
the Export-Import Bank of the
United States. The bank is the
nation’s official export credit
agency, helping to finance dis-
tribution of American goods to
international markets. During
its 70-year history, it has sup-
ported more than $400 billion
in US exports.
Hochberg’s pending
appointment was reported by
ABC News on January 9 and
heralded in a press release the
same day from the Gay and
Bishop Gene Robinson delivering the invocation at the pre-inaugural “We Are One” concert at
the Lincoln Memorial on January 18.
Presidential Inaugural Com-
mittee’s hands, and on Mon-
day, Josh Earnest, PIC’s com-
munications director, issued
the following statement: “We
had always intended and
planned for Rt. Rev. Robin-
son’s invocation to be includ-
ed in the televised portion
of yesterday’s program. We
regret the error in executing
this plan — but are gratified
that hundreds of thousands
of people who gathered on
the Mall heard his eloquent
prayer for our nation that was
a fitting start to our event.”
Lesbian Victory Fund, which
helps identify and elect openly
LGBT candidates for public
office.
Hochberg has long been
active in Democratic and gay
circles in New York, and led
the Small Business Adminis-
tration during President Bill
Clinton’s second term. He is
a past board chairman of the
Human Rights Campaign, the
Washington-based national
LGBT lobbying group.
As of press time on January
22, Hochberg had not respond-
ed to an email message seek-
ing comment.
On January 14, the Wash-
ington Post reported that John
Berry, director of the Smithso-
nian’s National Zoo in Wash-
ington and a former assistant
secretary of the Interior under
Clinton, is in the final stages
of vetting for the post of direc-
tor of the Office of Personnel
Management. OPM, known for
nearly 100 years until 1979
Politics/7
Robinson’s prayer began
shortly before 2:25 p.m., with
the HBO telecast kicking off at
2:30, and the then-president-
elect and his wife descend-
ing the steps of the Lincoln
Memorial moments later to
take their seats.
Ironically, the Lincoln
Memorial was the site of
another famous appearance
aimed at redressing an act of
public bigotry. In 1939, the
Daughters of the American
Revolution denied a request
by African-American contralto
PATSY LYNCH
Marian Anderson, by then an
international opera star for
more than a dozen years, to
use Constitution Hall, DC’s
premier music hall, which
Hundreds of thousands, the group owns, for a concert
however, might overstate the before an integrated audience.
audience Robinson in fact In response, First Lady
enjoyed. A microphone mal- Eleanor Roosevelt stepped
function made it difficult for in to ensure that the Lincoln
much of the crowd to hear Memorial was available to
the prayer, and the bishop Anderson. On Easter Sunday
was peppered with shouts of 1939, before an integrated
“Louder.” crowd of 75,000, with mil-
A knowledgeable source told lions more listening on radio,
Gay City News that the crush Anderson opened her con-
of entertainers eager to take cert with “My Country, ‘Tis of
part in the concert led to last- Thee.”
minute scheduling shuffles, The planners of “We Are
bumping Robinson’s prayer to One” tipped their hat to
a slot just prior to the arrival of Anderson’s historic appear-
Obama and his wife Michelle. ance with a video briefly
as the Civil Service Commis- Carol M. Browner, the EPA
sion, oversees the federal civil head under Clinton, Sutley will
service workforce, which num- serve as one of the administra-
bers about 3 million. tion’s key advisors on environ-
Joe Solmonese, executive mental issues.
director of the Human Rights In Los Angeles, Sutley
Campaign, hailed Berry’s was credited with increasing
pending appointment as “the municipal use of wind and
highest-ranking” LGBT federal solar power and reducing the
government posting in histo- number of diesel trucks serv-
ry, and said, “In his new role, ing the port.
John will make critical deci- On January 5, the Obama
sions regarding the implemen- transition team announced
tation of fair workplace policies the appointment of Bradley J.
for millions of federal workers.” Kiley as director of the Office
Obama’s first LGBT hire of Management and Admin-
was also a particularly high istration, basically overseeing
profile pick. Nancy Sutley, who the day-to-day functioning
has been Los Angeles’ deputy of the West Wing. Kiley was a
mayor for energy and envi- deputy assistant in that office
ronment, was named as chair in the Clinton administration,
of the White House Council and more recently served as
on Environmental Quality on vice president of finance and
December 15. Along with the operations at the Center for
new head of the Environmen- American Progress, a liberal
tal Protection Agency, Lisa policy research and advocacy
Jackson, the incoming Energy organization.
secretary, Steven Chu, and Kiley will take the post held
the White House energy czar, in the Clinton administration
describing the DAR flap and a
clip from her opening notes of
that song. As the video faded,
Josh Groban and Heather
Headley were standing on
stage reprising “My Coun-
try, ‘Tis of Thee.” When the
camera scanned the all-male
chorus behind them, the red
ribbons on each man’s chest
signaled that the singers
were the Gay Men’s Chorus
of Washington, who other -
wise went unidentified by the
announcers or HBO.
The participation of the cho-
rus in the tribute to Anderson
had deep political resonance,
and the new president must
have understood its import. It
also adds credence to the view
that the transition team was
scrambling to undo the dam-
age among LGBT voters creat-
ed by the invitation to Pastor
Warren.
How the event’s planners
botched Bishop Robinson’s
invocation remains a mystery,
and a source of endless debate
on the Internet.
Robinson’s prayer, which
unlike Warren’s was written to
embrace an interfaith theme,
can be found at episcopalcafe.
com/lead/faith_and_politics/
gene_robinsons_prayer_for_
pres.html.
by Virginia Apuzzo, a longtime
lesbian activist in New York,
who at that time had the high-
est executive branch position
ever achieved by an openly
LGBT person.
The Advocate, on January
8, reported that Brian Bond,
who formerly headed the Gay
and Lesbian Victory Fund and
also worked for the Demo-
cratic National Committee,
will become the deputy direc-
tor of the White House Office
of Public Liaison. That office
is a politically sensitive opera-
tion that oversees the admin-
istration’s relationship with a
wide variety of constituencies,
including the LGBT communi-
ty. Bond is expected to be the
key White House go-to guy on
gay issues.
Dave Noble, who served as
director of LGBT voter mobi-
lization in the Obama cam-
paign, is widely reported to
c appointees, continued on p.30
8 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
c obama’s day, from p.6
crimination law inclusive of both sexu-
al orientation and gender identity; oppo-
sition to a federal marriage amendment
and repeal of the Defense of Marriage
Act; federal recognition of all the rights
that states confer through domestic
partnerships, civil unions, or marriage;
strengthened adoption rights; repeal
of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell; HIV preven-
tion efforts unimpeded by homophobic
restrictions of the content of campaigns;
and the end of the federal ban on clean
needle exchanges.
Penn said he was “extremely disap-
pointed” with Warren’s role at the inau-
guration, but “extremely grateful” the
nation elected Obama president.
“I can say, as Michelle Obama said a
year ago, for the first time I am proud to
be an American,” Penn said.
He also lauded the choice of the Rev-
erend Joseph Lowery to deliver the
benediction on Tuesday.
“Reverend Lowery was on Martin
Luther King’s team from the beginning,
and he’s nearly 90 now,” he said. Penn,
who grew up in Indiana in the 1950s
and ’60s, recalled visiting his grandpar-
ents in New Orleans. His light-skinned
grandfather was forced to bring his
darker-skinned grandson to the back of
the bus to travel around the city.
As Penn spoke to this reporter, a
huge cry of joy erupted in the room as
former President Bush boarded a heli-
copter to leave Washington. Their cheers
were louder and more sustained than
the spirited booing Warren received as
he mounted the podium to deliver his
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Pat Slone and her spouse Barbara Police organized the SAGE gathering for the inauguration.
Christian prayer.
The Warren matter seemed not to
have particular resonance among the
crowd in the SAGE room.
John Naranjo described the pastor as
“just another guy.” He added, “There are
a lot of stupid voices out there; you don’t
worry about them.
“I’m exhilarated,” he said. “I’m hope-
ful that he’s going to turn the country
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GAY CITY NEWS
around.”
Asked if he considered the new presi-
dent a friend of gays, Naranjo added,
“Oh, absolutely.”
Barbara Prince and her spouse, Pat
Slone, who live in Chelsea and were
the first female couple to marry in New
Canaan, Connecticut, were both simi-
larly dismissive of the significance of
Warren delivering the invocation.
“It wasn’t a big deal that he was
there,” Slone said. “I was caught up in
the moment.”
Several gay men out in Chelsea bars
on Inauguration Night also minimized
the import of Warren’s role.
“There are worse evangelicals out
there,” said Steve Schmersal, 40, of the
GAY CITY NEWS
East Village, who celebrated the his-
toric day with four of his co-workers at
Barracuda on West 22 Street. “It’s just
the invocation. Can you name another
person who’s given an invocation at an
Prinny Alaví, an Iranian immigrant, lauded Obama for
mentioning Muslims in his Inaugural Address.
inauguration ever?”
While disagreeing with Warren’s selec-
tion, Schmersal thought the pastor’s
positive national visibility outweighed
his anti-gay sentiments.
“He’s not a cabinet post — this is
nothing,” he added. “The speech he gave
was about inclusiveness. It was a nice
invocation.”
Josh Otten, 23, of Hell’s Kitchen, who
celebrated with a friend at View Bar on
Eighth Avenue, said, “I hate that fucker,”
but added, “It feels like the beginning of
a new time — everyone viewed today as
the start of something better.”
Otten’s friend Don Hood, 24, of Chel-
sea, was weary of the media hoopla sur-
rounding the inauguration, but said
GAY CITY NEWS
that the gay community had to be with
Obama — Warren or not.
“Once we got rid of Hillary, who else
are you going to vote for?” he said. “We’re John Naranjo said of Rick Warren, “There are a lot of
gay.” stupid voices out there; you don’t worry about them.”
Prinny Alaví, an Iranian immigrant
lesbian who came to the US in the for mentioning Muslims in his Inaugu-
1970s, was at the Center celebrating ral Address.
with the SAGE crowd. She expressed “This was, like, incredible and excit-
wonder that a man with the middle
name Hussein had taken the oath of
ing,” she said. “I was happy to be at the
Center to share it.” — Additional report-
office as president and lauded Obama ing by Patrick Hedlund.
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 9

n legal

Fired for ‘Faggot’ Slur, Assault

Appeals court upholds Transit Authority’s dismissal of employee for treatment of rider
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD ing to another TA employee when a he found “clearly excessive.” involving assaults of customers. And
customer approached to ask about The TA appealed, and won a rul- Grissett was an employee whose

A
divided panel of the New York
Appellate Division for the
2nd Department in Brook-
lyn upheld a decision by the Tran-
sit Authority to dismiss a subway
conductor accused of calling a cus-
tomer a “faggot” and grabbing him
by the neck so hard that he left a red
impression on his skin.
A labor arbitrator had earlier con-
cluded that the conductor was guilty
as charged, but had ordered his rein-
statement without back-pay. The
Transit Authority appealed to uphold
the discharge under its policy of “Zero
Tolerance” for violence by employees.
The December 30 decision for the
court by Justice Howard Miller did
not spell out the details of the inci-
dent, but they were described in a
January 6 article in the New York Law
Journal, based on the opinion written
by the labor arbitrator, Kinard Lang.
That opinion was included in the
Appellate Division’s court records.
The incident took place in April
2006 at the Main Street Terminal in
Flushing, at the end of the 7 subway
line. The conductor, Jack Grissett,
was standing on the platform talk-
express service from that station.
Grissett told the customer that there
was no express service due to track
work. The exchange devolved into
an argument, during which Gris-
sett allegedly called the customer
a “faggot.” The customer allegedly
shot back with a comment about the
sexuality of Grissett’s late father. It
was then that Grissett then allegedly
grabbed the customer by his neck.
The customer complained to the
TA, which suspended Grissett, inves-
tigated, and decided to dismiss him. A
TA superintendent saw the reddened  where the arbitrator found that the
impression of Grissett’s hand on the
customer’s neck. Eleven years ago,
Grissett, then a 21-year TA employ-
ee, was suspended for five days after
an incident involving an assault of a
customer.
Grissett’s union took the matter to
arbitration on his behalf. Lang, the
arbitrator, found that Grissett had
engaged in the alleged conduct, but
that discharge was too severe con-
sidering the length of his employ-
ment with the TA.  Lang claimed to be
relying on a union contract provision  wrote; courts in the past had upheld
authorizing him to modify a penalty
ing from Supreme Court Justice
Bruce M. Balter that the arbitrator
had exceeded his authority by order-
ing the reinstatement. Now it was the
union’s turn to appeal, arguing to the
Appellate Division in January 2008
that the contract authorized the arbi-
trator’s action. The Appellate Division
panel took almost a year to reach its
decision, probably due to the sharp
split among its members, two of
whom issued a vehement dissenting
opinion.
Justice Miller found that in cases
employee was guilty of an assault,
the contract expressly provided that
the TA’s disciplinary penalty must be
upheld unless the arbitrator found it
to be “clearly excessive in light of the
employee’s record and past precedent
in similar cases.” According to Miller,
the contract stated that exceptions
“will be used rarely and only to pre-
vent a clear injustice.”
The arbitrator’s opinion failed to
support his conclusion that the dis-
missal was “clearly excessive,” Miller
dismissals of TA employees in cases
record included a past assault on a
customer. The union, Miller noted,
provided no cases to support its
argument that Grissett’s penalty was
excessive, while the TA cited several
that demonstrated the opposite.
The dissenters, in an opinion by
Justice William E. McCarthy, argued
that the court failed to abide by the
requirement of deferring to the arbi-
trator’s judgment. Normally, judicial
review of arbitration decisions is nar-
rowly circumscribed, since the par -
ties go to arbitration in the first place
to substitute the arbitrator’s judg-
ment for court’s in determining rights
under the union contract.
Miller countered that the contract
was clear in limiting the arbitrator’s
discretion, by singling out assaults
as violations for which TA manage-
ment’s judgment should normally be
upheld.
According to the Law Journal’s
report, the attorney for the union,
Beth M. Margolis of Gladstein, Reif
& Meginniss, was considering peti-
tioning the Court of Appeals to
review the case, but such review is
not guaranteed.

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10/ Editorial 23 jan - 5 feb 2009

n Letter from the editor

PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER

Cymbals, Symbols & the Prosaics of Governing
JOHN W. SUTTER
BY PAUL SCHINDLER

A
646.452.2500
JWSutter@communitymediallc.com colleague whose Nobody has paign, Obama and 2008, in which the major-
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER & CO-FOUNDER insights I trust as been happy articulated a ity Democrats fail to deliver a
TROY MASTERS much as anyone’s told about the climate consistently single significant piece of legis-
646.452.2502 me that the choice of Rick War- in Washington strong platform lation for our community.
troy@gaycitynews.com on LGBT rights, Obama says he’s ready to
ren, the anti-gay evangelist, to during the past
EDITOR IN-CHIEF & CO-FOUNDER give the inaugural invocation, eight years — or one that was advance our agenda, but let’s
PAUL SCHINDLER
coupled with the shabby treat- for that matter, reaf fir med on be clear — the initiative must
646.452.2503
editor@gaycitynews.com ment of out gay Bishop Gene the poisonous hostility toward the White House website at come from us. The out LGBT
Robinson, who was bumped President Bill Clinton during the stroke of noon on Tuesday. caucus in Congress has now
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Duncan Osborne from the televised portion the previous eight years. The president does not sup- crept up to three, with Colora-
CONTRIBUTING EDITORS of Sunday’s Lincoln Memo- But, the LGBT commu- port marriage equality, but he do Democrat Jared Polis join-
Christopher Byrne (Theater), Susie Day, rial celebration concert, repre- nity should guard against the is in favor of according federal ing Barney Frank of Massa-
Doug Ireland (International), sented nothing less than a big risk that the emerging Obama recognition and reciprocity of chusetts and Tammy Baldwin
Brian McCormick (Dance)
Dean P. Wrzeszcz “fuck-you” to LGBT Americans national consensus may con- rights and benefits to whatever of Wisconsin.
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
from the incoming Obama clude that some of the “petty package of entitlements a given They will have to do some
Betsy Andrews, Seth J. Bookey, administration. grievances” are ours. Are our state confers on same-sex heavy lifting in the next two
Anthony M.Brown, Kelly Jean Cogswell, “I think they’ve made it crys- objections to Warren “petty”? I couples. Of course, such an years — our community, for
Dean Daderko, Tate Dougherty, Andres Duque,
Michael Ehrhardt, Steve Erickson, Nick Feitel, tal clear what their posture is certainly don’t think so, but I approach is endlessly compli- example, does not yet have
Jim Fouratt, Joe Fyfe, Deborah Garwood, going to be toward our com- am concerned about stopping cated to contemplate in prac- buy-in from Missouri Demo-
Erasmo Guerra, Emily Harney, Andrey Henkin, munity,” this colleague told the music of political debate tice, something that points up crat Ike Skelton, the House
Frank Holiday, Andy Humm, James Jorden,
Brendan Keane, David Kennerley, Gary M. Kramer, me, reminding me of the great and disagreement at a moment the advantages of getting this Armed Services Committee
Arthur S. Leonard, Rachael Liberman, expectations prior to the Clin- when the LGBT community issue over with by adopting chair, on ending Don’t Ask,
Michael T. Luongo, Lawrence D. Mass,
Winnie McCroy, Eileen McDermott,
ton presidency that were so still lacks a decent chair at the simple marriage equality. Don’t Tell. And Frank, in par-
Gregory Montreuil, Ioannis Mookas, Carrie Moyer, quickly dashed by Don’t Ask, table. Still, that position puts the ticular, having rejected the
Stephen Mueller, Christopher Murray, Don’t Tell, and several years The screw-up on airing Bish- new administration very close overwhelming community
David Noh, Wayne Northcross, Lori Ortiz,
Pauline Park, Sheila Pepe, John Reed, later by the Defense of Mar- op Robinson’s invocation at the to an open embrace of gay consensus in 2007 that the
Nathan Riley, Andrew Robinson, Gerard Robinson, riage Act. Lincoln Memorial on January marriage, as does Obama’s job discrimination bill needs to
Chris Schmidt, Sarah D. Schulman, But I am not prepared to 18 — which the Presidential call for repealing the Defense protect transgendered Ameri-
Jason Victor Serinus, Linda Shapiro,
David Shengold, Gus Solomons Jr., David Spiher, accept that verdict on what Inaugural committee acknowl- of Marriage Act. His posi- cans as well as gay men and
Drew B. Straub, Stefen Styrsky, Jerry Tallmer, we can expect from President edged was a regrettable “error” tions on ending Don’t Ask, lesbians, must be willing to
Stefanos Tsigrimanis, Kathleen Warnock, work more collaboratively with
Benjamin Weinthal, Lee Ann Westover,
Barack Obama. — was simply inexcusable. Don’t Tell; enacting a com-
James Withers, Kai Wright, Susan Yung To be sure, the Warren-Rob- The Warren matter itself prehensive employment non- a diverse coalition of our move-
inson fiasco is troubling and recalls the unfortunate inci- discrimination act protecting ment’s leaders.
GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
Mark Hasselberger, Jamie Paakkonen insulting. The new president dent 14 months ago when the entire LGBT community; But even as we accept
defended Warren’s role in the gospel singer Donnie McClur- expanding the scope of hate responsibility as a commu-
SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVERTISING
FRANCESCO REGINI inauguration by talking about kin, who claims to be ex-gay crimes legislation; and return- nity and look to our elected
646.452.2496 the need for America to better and is now stridently opposed ing HIV prevention to a sound officials in Congress, we must
francesco@gaycitynews.com tolerate a diversity of opinions, to LGBT rights, was employed scientific basis are all on point also remind the new adminis-
ADVERTISING MANAGERS including those we don’t agree by the Obama campaign in as well. tration again and again of the
COLIN GREGORY with. But can any group be African-American churches The devil, of course, is in promises Barack Obama has
646.452.2468 in South Carolina. The “tol- the details of the execution. As made. He has the potential to
colin@gaycitynews.com
asked to tolerate the intoler-
ance of others toward them? erate intolerance” argument with gay marriage in Albany, be a transformative president,
ALLISON GREAKER
646.452.2485 In his Inaugural Address, was trotted out then, too, sug- everyone understands that but integrity and keeping faith
allison@gaycitynews.com the new president said, “We gesting that the new president out of the box, the key national with the people are the sine
Jason Sherwood come to proclaim an end to might be better at understand- priorities are elsewhere — spe- qua non of achieving that suc-
646.452.2471
jsherwood@gaycitynews.com the petty grievances and false ing what goals we aspire to cifically, on the economy and cess.
promises, the recriminations than at empathizing with our our two foreign wars. Gay and lesbian Americans
Dale Kanzler
646.452.2484 and worn-out dogmas that for hurt and wounded dignity in But, we cannot accept supported the new president
dale@gaycitynews.com far too long have strangled our the face of anti-gay attacks. another two-year congressio- in record numbers, and we
Jason Sparks politics.” In fact, throughout his cam- nal cycle, as we did in 2007 rightly expect his leadership.
646.452.2505
jsparks@gaycitynews.com
Fern Wallach
646.452.2483 n Letters to the editor
wallach@communitymediallc.com
ACCOUNTING SIT DOWN APRIL 15 IS people with estates of more than $1 January 17, 2009
DAVID JAFFE APPROACHING million, the issue could be different. To the Editor:
646-452-2477 January 9, 2009 The New York estate tax is based upon New York State and federal taxes
david@gaycitynews.com To the Editor: January 16, 2009 the calculations of the federal estate must be uncoupled. Lacking repeal
NATIONAL DISPLAY ADVERTISING The key phrase in this matter of To the Editor: tax credit of long ago. The federal form of DOMA, uncoupling state and fed-
Rivendell Media / 212.242.6863
gay marriage is that of opponents hav- “No Joint Filing For Married Gays” allows a marital deduction, but not for eral taxes would also have the effect of
Web master ing “no standing,” i.e., no definable (by Paul Schindler, Jan. 9-22) covers same-sex couples. Will the Department relieving a surviving same-sex spouse of
Arturo Jimenez
Arturo@gaycitynews.com interest in opposition (“Westchester taxes as if they are a single item. In of Taxation and Finance, in the spirit the New York State inheritance (death)
Gay City News, The Newspaper Serving Gay and Lesbian NYC, is pub- Marriage Order Upheld,” by Arthur S. terms of dollars, the more significant of the governor’s directive, allow the tax on the family assets.
lished by Community Media, LLC. Send all inquiries to: Gay City News,
145 Sixth Ave., First Fl., NYC 10013 Phone: 646.452.2500 Written Leonard, Jan. 9-22). This legal prin- tax (but only for a few lucky people) is estate of a married decedent an estate Edie Windsor
permission of the publisher must be obtained before any of the contents
of this paper, in part or whole, can be reproduced or redistributed. All ciple should be the basis of striking the estate tax. deduction for bequests and designa- New York City
contents (c) 2009 Gay City News.
down any and all of the specious argu- As to the state income tax, which tions to the surviving same sex-part-
Subscriptions: 26 issues, $90.00
(c)2009 Gay City News. All rights reserved.
ments presented by the holy roller big- hits most people, not being able to file ner? The article does not address this January 20, 2009
Gay City News is a registered trademark ots on this issue as well as in the mat- jointly has little impact for any couple issue. For older couples living in Man- To the Editor:
of Community Media, LLC. ter of Roe vs. Wade regarding abor- where each has taxable income over hattan for many years in a coop bought For a state with such a large gay
John W. Sutter, President
Fax: 646.452.2501; tions. What male of the species ever the very low level for the maximum long ago, the wrong answer could force population, New York continues to treat
E-mail: JWSutter@communitymediallc.com
got pregnant? Where is his standing rate. They will get an insignificant ben- the survivor to move from their marital us like second-class citizens. This is the
in opposition to a woman’s abortion? efit by filing jointly. For couples with home to pay New York’s high estate latest case in point. In May 2007, Gov-
There simply is none. low and very different incomes, there is tax. ernor Paterson issued a directive stating
Jon Connery a lost benefit. Dennis Mack
Hawley Pennsylvania As to the estate tax, which hits New York City c letters, continued on p.14
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
n washington postcard
M
illions watched as
America came to its
senses and elected
Barack Hussein Obama as
the 44th president of the Unit-
ed States. People cried and
cheered. The world started on
the slow road to forgiveness.
So why am I so pissed? I
was one of the first to jump
to the defense of Barack
Obama when he announced
that homophobe Rick Warren
would give the invocation at
his historic inauguration. I told
friends and family that this
was a gesture of reconciliation
and that an invocation was
symbolic, not policy-related.
Now I am not so sure.
Imagine my surprise and joy
at receiving two official tickets
to the “We Are One” inaugural
concert kick-off event. I scored
these tickets because of my
participation on Obama’s LGBT
Policy and Steering Committee
during the campaign. When
I received them, no details of
the event were released. Then
it was announced that openly
gay Episcopal Bishop Gene
Robinson would deliver the
invocation there. I felt truly
vindicated.
My husband Gary and I
made an extreme sacrifice to
attend this event. Our surro-
gate mother’s egg implantation
was scheduled for Sunday, at
the same time as the inaugural
event. We went back and forth
on what to do, but ultimately
decided that we needed to be
in Washington. We needed to
hear Bishop Robinson begin
the healing process for our
community.
At great expense and ener-
gy, we arranged to have a video
link from Union Station to the
n a dyke abroad
Obama Inauguration: Symbol of Change?
T
he wave of Obamani-
acs who made their
way across America to
shiver at DC’s National Mall
knew Barack Obama was not
just the 44th president of the
United States, but a symbol of
historic achievement, of possi-
bility, and, yes, of change.
Just a couple of genera-
tions out from Rosa Parks and
segregated lunch counters,
ten years from the lynching
of James Byrd, and three and
a half years since the most-
ly black population of New
Orleans was left for dead, it
meant something that “Hail to
New View From Under The Bus
Anthony M. Brown (r.) and his husband Gary L. Spino at the Lincoln Memorial for Sunday’s “We Are One” pre-inaugural concert.
fertility clinic in Connecticut
so that we could share in this
very real moment of our child’s
journey toward life. I felt guilty
for missing the implantation
in person, but was ecstatic at
the possibility of being in two
places at the same time via
Internet technology.
I knew that it would be
worth it. I have met Bishop
Robinson on several occasions
and knew that once the world,
especially the gay community,
heard his voice at this event,
they would realize that Obama
really did care about the gay
community and our many
needs in this intolerant world.
But the vast majority heard
nothing.
The tickets I received guar-
anteed Gary and me a place up
front near the stage, so when
Bishop Robinson entered, we
the Chief” was finally played
for a black man.
Yeah, I get that, even though
I went to a high school where
the battles of school busing
had been fought before I got
there, and Alice Walker and
Toni Morrison were already
required reading in college.
David Dinkins was mayor of
New York in my first years
there. Then Cory Booker took
Newark. Denzel took two
Oscars. Colin Powell and Condi
Rice took the reins as secretar-
ies of State, and outshone the
president they served.
History exists side by side
Perspective/11
BY ANTHONY M. BROWN
were filled with emotion and
pride. We listened to his words
and cried as we held on to one
another. But we also heard
the throngs of people behind
us yelling, “Louder, Louder.”
It wasn’t until later that we
found out that there was a
problem with the amplification
to the greater crowds on the
mall.
When Bishop Robinson
finished and walked off there
was an odd pause, as if we
were waiting for something. As
the video package opening up
HBO’s coverage of the Lincoln
Memorial event next began
to play, our hearts sank as
we realized that his beautiful
words were not aired.
Why? How could this hap-
pen?
Presidential Inaugural
Committee spokesman Josh
By Kelly Jean Cogswell
with the future, and the sym-
bolism of Obama’s accom-
plishment resonates even in
Paris, where his election led
to impromptu celebrations on
the metro by people of color,
and young black job appli-
cants suddenly vowed to begin
including their pictures with
their resumes, hoping that
the color of their face wouldn’t
land them in the recycling bin
anymore. “Not when there’s a
black American president.”
That’s reason enough to cel-
ebrate. And in the spirit of the
local countdown to “Obama
Day,” I tried to embrace at
Earnest issued the follow-
ing statement in response to
questioning about Robinson’s
exclusion: “We had always
intended and planned for Rt.
Rev. Robinson’s invocation to
be included in the televised
portion of yesterday’s program.
We regret the error in execut-
ing this plan — but are grati-
fied that hundreds of thou-
sands of people who gathered
on the mall heard his eloquent
prayer for our nation that was
a fitting start to our event.”
Bullshit!
Bishop Robinson’s inclusion
in the inaugural festivities was
a bone thrown to the LGBT
community because of our
outrage at Obama’s embrace
of the uglier side of religion.
HBO says it was a production
decision. The producer of the
concert told the media that the
least the symbolism of his
inauguration. Out with the
old, in with the new, the fulfill-
ment of Martin Luther King’s
dream and the reassertion of
America’s promises of liberty
and justice.
But watching Obama bow
his head at the bigot Rick War-
ren’s invocation, I found myself
shivering with fury, though
according to the good ole boy
Warren, the proper way to
overcome adversity is not via
projectile vomiting and rage,
but with “a quiet and humble
response ... disagreement
without being disagreeable.”
Presidential Inaugural Com-
mittee made the decision to
keep the invocation as part of
the pre-show.
We may never know if the
Presidential Inaugural Com-
mittee knew all along that
Robinson’s words would be
precluded from the broad-
cast. We may never know if his
inclusion was, as the PIC sug-
gested, always a planned part
of this first official inaugural
event or whether it was a last-
minute mollification aimed at
our community.
The unfortunate collateral
damage for the LGBT com-
munity from this faith-based
“confusion” is that there is now
a taint on the very promise of
a president who we wanted
to believe in. The honeymoon
may be over, but the marriage
is now just beginning.
I have always tried to see
the silver lining. I know that
Barack Obama’s election
marks a critical shift toward
where I believe that this coun-
try needs to go. But the LGBT
community needs more than
lip service or simple inclusion
in a laundry list of minorities.
I don’t know if the Presidential
Inaugural Committee really
cares about the gay commu-
nity. I hope that Obama does.
What I do know is that if we
remain silent, about anything,
we get nothing.
Anthony M. Brown currently
heads the Nontraditional Fam-
ily and Estates Law division of
the law firm of McKenna, Sira-
cusano & Chianese and is the
executive director of The Wed-
ding Party (theweddingparty.
org). He can be reached at
Brown@msclaw.net.
Warren, mentioning some-
thing about “civility,” too, in
a tasteful jab at the queers
uncivilized enough to demon-
strate against his participa-
tion, sounded a lot like George
W. Bush in his own inaugu-
ral address in 2001. In case
you’ve forgotten, the worst
president in history began his
term pledging (threatening)
to conduct himself with “civil-
ity, courage, compassion, and
character,” defining it as the
“choice of trust over cynicism,
of community over chaos.” And
c inauguration, continued on p.12
12/ Perspective
n albany watch
Drug Reform at Long Last
C
hange is the theme
with the Democrats in
control, and in Albany,
issues are surfacing that the
Republicans had routinely
blocked. Gay marriage is one,
but Rockefeller drug law reform
is also long overdue.
Governor David Paterson
put it succinctly in his State
of the State speech: “Few pub-
lic safety initiatives have failed
as badly and for as long as the
Rockefeller drug laws. These
laws did not work when I was
elected senator in 1985, and
they do not work today.”
This is a call for action and
the reformers are mobilizing,
telling the Legislature, “Yes we
can.”
Drug law changes are certain
to be a big issue this year. The
Senate will pursue reform. The
Senate committee that over-
sees criminal law has a new
chair, Eric Schneiderman, a
liberal Senator who represents
parts of the Upper West Side,
Harlem, and Riverdale. For the
first time in memory, the Codes
Committee is led by a legisla-
tor who believes the push for
law and order has gone too far.
Schneiderman, a high profile
advocate in the drive for drug
law reform, is also a member of
the Commission on Sentencing
Reform that will make its rec-
ommendations by the end of
January. His membership on
the Commission will give him
c inauguration, from p.11
apparently of silence and cen-
sorship over opposition.
We know where civility
leads. Or should. After eight
years of Bush. But for every
queer outraged at Warren’s
presence at Obama’s inaugu-
ration, it seems there’s been
another queer online trying
A1PP
:PV
BY NATHAN RILEY
added authority on this issue.
The drive for a new drug
policy will be heralded at a
high power conference, New
Directions in Drug Policy, on
January 22, bringing together
health care professionals, law
enforcement leaders, elected
officials, and activists. Drug
law reform efforts have often
seemed dominated by celebri-
ties or the families of prisoners,
but its strongest roots are in
the public health community.
The conference’s conveners are
the New York Academy of Med-
icine and the Drug Policy Alli-
ance, two organizations that
regularly develop scientific and
professional recommendations
aimed at swaying policy mak-
ers.
The organizers have assem-
bled a grand coalition, includ-
ing groups ranging from the
State Medical Society and the
New York City health depart-
ment to community activists
such as those from the Drop
the Rock Campaign . The LGBT
Community Center is a co-
sponsor, as is the Correctional
Association, a prison reform
organization that made drug
law reform its top priority. The
Black, Hispanic, and Asian
Caucus in the State Legislature
and the Positive Health Project
are also in the coalition. The list
is long and impressive.
The coalition has an ambi-
tious agenda —  they are try-
to enforce silence. “Save your
anger for something impor-
tant. Warren’s just a symbol.”
Like Obama’s just another
president?
If we recognize the power of
a symbol of a black man bust-
ing open the White House,
rending history itself, how can
we ignore what it means to put
front and center the anti-gay,
ing to end “an over-reliance on
criminal justice approaches.”
The long-standing conven-
tional wisdom skewed funding
toward incarceration and polic-
ing, and shortchanged preven-
tion and treatment. The con-
veners believe that this flawed
approach has made the prob-
lem look intractable, a self-ful-
filling prophecy that prevented
significant progress. Their agen-
da includes more than repeal;
it also proposes a new policy.
Public health approaches used
in other cities, such as Vancou-
ver, will be reviewed. The Drug
Policy alliance has boiled down
its thinking to two principles —
science and compassion.
The Legislature is on board
with the new initiative. The
State Assembly recently con-
vened six committees — Codes,
Corrections, Judiciary, Public
Health, Social Services, and
Alcoholism and Drug Abuse
— to develop a comprehensive
new public health framework.
A simple summary can’t do
justice to the full range of ideas,
but the public health approach
has gone well beyond its justly
recognized first major victory
— needle exchange for drug
users that has dramatically
cut new HIV infections in that
population. Elsewhere, there
are new treatment options that
are producing good results.
Along with methadone, heroin
users can now take buphenor-
anti-choice, ultra-conservative
Rick Warren? He’s likewise
riding a crest of cultural and
historical momentum — even
if it’s going the other direction.
Despite Obama’s speech
extolling the virtues of democ-
racy, equality, and justice, giv-
ing Warren an enormous plat-
form at the inauguration sent
a powerful message that in the
name of inclusion, bigots have
a place in the White House as
long as they promise to smile.
Bullies have justification to
harass queer kids to death at
schools. Preachers can exco-
riate gays and nurture HIV
through the ignorance that
men can dominate women.
For the sake of Obama’s sym-
bol of that inclusiveness,
queers face exclusion, home-
lessness, poverty, violence
because we, apparently, are
not deserving of rights. Who
are not human, really, if you
listen closely to pastor Rick
when the national U.S. media
isn’t eavesdropping.
Frankly, queers are screwed
when the symbol of Change
phine, a drug that prevents
users from feeling “dope sick”
when they stop their daily use.
Other programs help stop acci-
dental overdoses, but they can
conflict with current law. One
of the most basic rules is don’t
rely on the morphine/heroin
drugs alone. Friends can help
a user survive an overdose. Yet
current law too often disperses
drug users, cutting them off
from needed social support.
The bottom line of all the
new approaches is the emerg-
ing public health community
consensus that with relative-
ly little money compared to
the expense of incarceration,
deaths and illness from drug
use can be reduced.
Programs that use harm
reduction to help drug users
find ways to avoid danger radi-
cally change the relationship
between them and health care
workers. A positive relation-
ship emerges that makes it
possible for users to trust in
new behaviors and treatment
medications. Implicit in the
approach, however, is aban-
donment of our current over-
reliance on abstinence-only
programs.
It’s hard to predict the pre-
cise course of events in Albany,
but the Legislature’s Demo-
crats seem well positioned to
deliver on their long-deferred
promise to turn the corner on
the failed Rockefeller drug laws.
gets caught embracing the
symbol of Hate, even if Obama
eventually allows us to openly
serve in the military, and even
dumps DOMA. Because if the
black civil rights movement’s
taught us anything, it’s that
culture doesn’t move in tan-
dem with legislation. Laws go
only a short way toward solv-
ing the burning problems that
the symbols of hate pour gas-
oline on. A black man may be
president, but school boards
will still find ways to segre-
gate. There’s a Voting Rights
Act, but votes have a way of
going astray. Free black men
are locked in jail in horrible
numbers. And what about
Latinos, and Asians, and
Native Americans? We haven’t
come anywhere near dealing
with the complexity of race in
America.
Obama’s choice of the ultra-
conservative — and long-wind-
ed — Rick Warren to bless his
presidency is a reminder that
queers have an even longer
way to go. Civility and empty
rhetoric won’t take us there.
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
14 Days
14 Nights
c jan 23, from p.2
DANCE
Tolerating
Intolerance
Using ten musicians, dancers, and
actors to create a satiric and terrify-
ing look at the potential consequences
of PC culture, “Orgy of Tolerance” by
Belgian director, visual artist, and cho-
reographer Jan Fabre, is comprised of
absurd sketches provoking laughter
that chokes. Politics, sex, consumerism,
love are all moral targets. Peak Per-
formances at Montclair State Uni-
versity, One Normal Ave. at Valley
Road, Montclair, New Jersey, Jan.
23, 7:30 p.m.; Jan. 24, 8 p.m.; Jan. 25,
3 p.m. Tickets are $15 at peakperfs.org.
O O O O O O O
‘50s Memory
In “Elephant Dreams,” choreog-
rapher and director Edisa Weeks and
Delirious Dances merge the story of
Joseph Merrick (a.k.a. the Elephant
Man) with Disney’s “Dumbo” and trans-
plants them to America in the 1950s.
Weeks delves into issues of alien-
ation, loneliness, beauty, ambition, and
integrity to question what is illusion
and what it normal. Joyce SoHo, 155
Mercer St., btwn. Prince & Hous-
ton Sts. Jan. 23-24, 8 p.m.; Jan. 25, 3
p.m. Tickets are $18;$12 for students &
seniors at joyce.org or 212-352-3101.
O O O O O O O
BENEFIT
Dances from the
Heart
Choreographer Rob Ashford hosts
a gala benefit for Dancers Responding
to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/
Equity Fights AIDS, featuring some of
the best and brightest in today’s dance
landscape. The evening will include
performances from the American Ballet
Theatre, Battleworks, Broadway’s “Billy
Elliot,” Camille A. Brown, Dresden
SemperOper Ballett, Les Ballet Gran-
diva, Paul Taylor Dance Company, and
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. ABT soloist
Carlos Lopez will perform a world pre-
miere by choreographer Chase Brock.
Cedar Lake Theater, 547 W. 26th St.,
7:30 p.m. Tickets are $150 for the per-
formance; $250 for VIP seating and an
after-party with the artists at dradance.
org or 212-840-0770.
O O O O O O O
THEATER
Are You Talking To
Me?
“Loaded,” a new play by Elliot
Ramon Potts directed by Hector Lugo,
is a dark comedy which asks the ques-
tion, “What happens when fuck bud-
dies start talking?”  Running 90 min-
utes, “Loaded” unfolds in real time as
the characters — a jaded, 47-year-old
c Jan 23, continued on p.14
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 13

The Board of Directors and Staff of The Lesbian, Gay Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
Invite You To Attend

A Farewell Celebration for Richard Burns

Tuesday, February 3, 2009 · 6:00PM - 8:00PM
7:00PM program
cocktails & hor d’ourves
As the Center closes a quarter-century of work serving
the LGBT community and embarks on its next phase we
will say goodbye to our Executive Director, Richard Burns.
Richard has been the longest serving leader of an LGBT
organization in the United States, serving as Executive
Director since December 1, 1986
Richard developed the Center from a staff of three into
the nation’s leading and most comprehensive LGBT
community center, with a staff of 80 and a budget of
more than eight million dollars. As the force behind
the Center’s groundbreaking and innovative programs,
Richard saw emerging needs in our community and
responded by creating an array of services and initiatives
that have moved the LGBT movement forward in
significant ways.
“Richard Burns has been the driving force of the Center
for the past 22 years,” said Center Board President, Bruce
Anderson. “His vision, passion and dedication to our
home and our community will always reside within the
walls of the Center. He has embodied the values of this
space we call the “Grand Central Station” for New York’s
LGBT and allied communities, leaving an unparalleled
legacy we will always cherish.”

Best Wishes!

RSVP at gaycenter.org or call 212-620-7310

GayCity_Richard_advfin.indd 1 1/16/09 5:29:15 PM

14 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 www.gaycitynews.com

News briefs By Andy Humm

New President
Once
Supported Gay
Marriage
Barack Obama, who in
recent years took the stand
that marriage should only be
between a man and a woman
and that gay couples should
get civil unions, told the Chi-
cago gay paper Outlines in
1996, “I favor legalizing same-
sex marriages, and would fight
efforts to prohibit such mar-
riages.”
The response to a candi-
date’s questionnaire when
Obama was running for the
Illinois Senate was unearthed
by Tracy Baim, publisher of the
Windy City Times, when she
was going through some of her
old file boxes. The survey bore
Obama’s signature.
Obama has opposed state
and federal constitutional
amendments against same-sex
marriage and favors repealing
the Defense of Marriage Act
that bans federal recognition
of same-sex marriages. But his
opposition to same-sex mar-
riage was used by proponents
of Prop 8 in California in ads
to pass it, particularly in the
African-American community.
Obama’s positions on LGBT
rights were posted at 12:01
PM on Inauguration Day at
the WhiteHouse.gov website
in the civil rights section. It
includes all the pro-LGBT posi-
tions that he took during the
campaign.
Hillary Clinton, at her Sen-
ate confirmation hearings for
Secretary of State, said in
response to a question from
Wisconsin Democrat Russ
Feingold that she would look
into recognizing the gay part-
ners of State Department
workers. She said, “My under-
standing is other nations have
moved to extend that partner-
ship benefit. And we will come
back to you to inform you of
decisions we make going for-
ward.
Obama Doesn’t
Push Some
Boundaries
with His Kids
Barack Obama has often
included LGBT people among
the litany of groups he wants
justice for, including on the
night of his historic election.
But like so many, he omitted
references to sexual orien-
tation when reaching out
to young people — in this
case, in a sweet, otherwise
children, Malia and Sasha,
that was published in Parade
magazine on the eve of his
inauguration.
“I want us to push our own
human boundaries to reach
beyond the divides of race
and region, gender and reli-
gion that keep us from seeing
the best in each other,” he
wrote.
At the pre-inaugural con-
cert at the Lincoln Memorial,
however, Obama did, in front
of his kids and several hun-
dred thousand others, talk
about his “belief that if we
could just recognize our-
selves in one another and
bring everyone together”
then “we just might perfect
ourselves in the process,” cit-
ing “gay and straight” as two
of the groups who need to be
brought together.
Warren Opens
Door — to Anti-
Gay Anglicans
Despite Pastor Rick War-
ren’s efforts to moderate his
image in the run-up to giving
the invocation at Obama’s
inauguration, he could not
resist speaking out on behalf
of anti-gay Episcopalian par-
ishes that are losing legal
cases to retain their property
if they break away to join anti-
gay dioceses. Under Church
law, all Church property is
owned by the diocese, not the
individual parish.
In a letter to Christian-
ity Today, Warren offered the
schismatic congregations a
home at his Orange County,
California, Saddleback Church,
writing, “We stand in solidar-
14 Days
14 Nights
c jan 23, from p.12
man used to having the upper hand in
intimate encounters and a hopeful,
quick-witted 24-year-old — reveal
themselves in a sexually charged tête-
à-tête. LGBT Community Center, 208
W. 13th St. Jan. 23, 7 p.m.; Jan. 24, 2
& 7 p.m. Admission is $20; $35 seating
with an open bar at gaycenter.org.
O O O O O O O
NIGHTLIFE
Bears In Winter
Two-for-one specials and $3 Bud
tall boys should be enough to make
tonight’s Metro Bears party a success
as the Dugout, 185 Christopher St.
at Weehawken St., from 8 p.m. on.
O O O O O O O

SAT.JAN.24
thoughtful open letter to his c BRIEFS, continued on p.30

c letters, from p.10
that state agencies recognize same-sex
marriage.However, the commissioner
of Taxation does not accept Paterson’s
directive.
Joint filing would provide a very
important immediate financial advan-
tage to gays. But Lambda doesn’t view
this as an area for legal challenge. Why?
And why haven’t the governor and attor-
ney general disputed the commissioner’s
decision?
William Stern
Manhattan
THE RICK WARREN
TAKE-AWAY
January 11, 2009
To the Editor:
Way before Donnie McClurkin and
Rick Warren “diversity” attacks on
LGBT people, many groups, apparently
including Gay City News, backed Barack
Obama, the candidate who didn’t support
our basic civil right to marriage equality
(“The Take-Away from the Rick Warren
Affair,” by Paul Schindler, Jan. 9-23).
The attitude was, and seemingly still is:
“Well, he’s not McCain/ Palin.”
The lesson has to be uncompromising
support for gay issues, and let the elec-
toral circus wend its own path to the big
top. Would Obama, or any African Ameri-
can, support a candidate who didn’t back
black voting rights? Why were we falling
over ourselves to support this guy? I join
Larry Kramer to ask, “Where’s the self
respect?”
Bob Schwartz
Chicago
January 12, 2009
To the Editor:
I think it’s perfectly fine for Rick
Warren to speak at the inauguration.
Warren’s a good man and great leader.
Besides, some of us out there have
been helped in a positive way by him.
Even though I have gay desires, I’m not
so thrilled about forcing everyone out
there to accept something they find to
be a wrong lifestyle. Just let them be
and for goodness sakes — be tolerant. I
for one, as a gay man, have not given up
my rights to the LGBT hate groups. I think
and speak for myself!
J. Gill
Long Beach, California
January 9, 20009
To the Editor:
I want you all to know that this has
gotten out of hand. With the ACLU and
others complaining about Prop 8 and
demanding to be recognized, I wish
you all would just be quiet! Enough is
enough. As a Marine Corps veteran, this
is not the country that I remember. Every-
one is bitter, gays think they have rights
because of sexual preference, and reli-
gion has no place in America. There are
people who sue against the use of Jesus
Christ. There are people that sue to be
recognized as a gay person. Now people
are suing because of a prayer!
There is one thing that I must say and
this is for all who do not love America
and believe that we are all equal in life,
there is a boat, plane,or ship leaving
daily. Get on it and bug the daylights
out of other people. You will find out in
a hurry, they won’t put up with it. Have a
nice blessed day!
SeJohn Emmons
Collinsville, Illinois
January 13, 2009
To the Editor:
Regarding “Obama’s First Gift to
Africa: Rick Warren” (by Kelly Jean Cog-
swell, Jan. 9-22), if only you knew Pastor
Martin SSempa, I don’t think you would
be writing such ill-researched data on the
man. I pray from his church and, unlike
you, I know him personally. He stands
for a 100 percent AIDS-free society, and
condoms don’t offer that. And maybe
if you were not gay, you would be more
objective in writing this article!
Allen Mukooki
Kampala, Uganda
MAN UP
January 19, 2009
To the Editor:
I attended the first queer tango
festival in Buenos Aires (“Argentine
Tango Returns to Roots,” by Michael
T. Luongo, Jan. 9-22). It was great.
December is a very busy time at
work, so I couldn’t get vacation time
approved. There are queer tango fes-
tivals in California, the US, and Den-
mark this summer which I wouldn’t
miss. I just wish we had something
in New York. I enjoy dancing tango
with women, but I can feel the pas-
sion when I have a man in my embrace
and the dance means so much more.
Thanks for your article.
Patrick Loughran
Mount Holly, NJ
LEAVE HIM ALONE
January 12, 2008
To the Editor:
Bashing Bush is a tired, worn-
out game (“Bush Signs Bill Aiding
Gay Partners,” News Briefs, by Andy
Humm, Jan. 9-22). Demonizing Repub-
licans and blaming them for all the ills
of the world is a boring obsession of
the left. Liberalism is lazy, feel-good
onanism, not rational politics. Gay
rights should not merely be a façade
for promoting ever more government
paternalism.
Jon Smith
Maple Valley, Washington
DIVA DISH
January 10, 2009
To the Editor:
Regarding the discussion of the
Met’s New Year’s Eve production
of “La rondine” (“Diva-Worthy,” by
James Jorden, Jan. 9-22), actually
the design style of the exquisite sets
was Vienna Secession, c. 1898 - 1915,
echoing the characteristics of Klimt,
Olbrich, and Hoffman. A feast for the
eyes. And the fabric of Magda’s dress
in the restaurant scene was similar to
Peche’s stuff, from the Wiener Werk-
statte.
Susan Eiffert
Great Barrington, Massachusetts
January 15, 2009
To the Editor:
It was wonderful to come home
from the movie theater today and read
James Jorden’s comments on what
had just been seen. There appears
to be a genuine and solid foundation
in and on the material on which he is
writing. And he may truly be the only
one.  After living up here in Maine
after a long period in New York City, I
know I can find real performance criti-
cism both good and bad. I can’t thank
you enough. I enjoyed this afternoon’s
performance very much. I had never
seen the piece. Now I can keep going
back to your writing to keep my mem-
ory alive.
Dominic Garvey
Boothbay Harbor, Maine
WRITE US!
Address letters to the editor, of no
more than 250 words, to:
Editor@gaycitynews.com ;
Or fax them to 646-452-2501;
Or mail them to 145 Sixth Ave., 1st fl.,
NY, New York 10013.
Please include your phone number,
for confirmation purposes only. The edi-
tors reserve the right to edit all letters
due to space constraints.  DJs Cool Breeze and Mario offer up
gaycity
news.com
COMMUNITY
Older Kids Need
Families, Too
You Gotta Believe! is a group that
sponsors the Adopting Older Kids and
Youth is A-OKAY. Every Sat., 3-6 p.m.,
the group offers trainings at the LGBT
Community Center, 208 W. 13th St.,  to
help prospective foster parents become
certified. You Gotta Believe! understands
that each family must determine if adopt-
ing an older child is the right choice for
them. For more information, contact Mary
Keane at 646-691-7986 or MaryTKeane@
aol.com, or visit yougottabelieve.org.
O O O O O O O
NIGHTLIFE
The Sounds of
West 13th Street
A quarter-century ago, the Saint,
Paradise Garage, and Studio 54 were
still around, but the LGBT Community
Center decided to step up to produce a
dance party, now known as Dance:208,
to help pay the rent, offer an alterna-
tive to the sometimes daunting club
scene, and provide a refuge and a way
to blow off steam in those early, dark
days of AIDS. In the 25 years since, the
line-up of DJs has been awesome —
Frankie Knuckles, Coco Lachine, Larry
Glick, Hedda Lettuce, DJ Susan Mora-
bito, Cheer NY, DJ Louis Morhaim,
DJ Johnny Dynell, the Imperial Court,
Willi Ninja, the Gay Men’s Chorus, DJ
Michael Fierman, DJ Robbie Leslie,
DJ Ted Snowdon, DJ Karin Ward, and
Rolleren, to name just some. Tonight,
celebrate those 25 years. 208 W. 13th
St., 9 p.m.-1 a.m. Admission is $8 at
gaycenter.org or $10 at the door.
O O O O O O O
County of Kings
the best in reggae, R&B, and hip–hop
at Brooklyn’s top urban dance party.
Club Langston 1073 Atlantic Ave.
at Franklin Ave., 11 p.m. Admission
is $10 before midnight; $15 after that.
718-623-5780.
c 14 days, continued on p.15
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
14 Days
14 Nights Trans
c
Dress Code Loss
Federal court okays firing for wearing make-up, feminine hair style
14 days, from p.14
SUN.JAN.25
PERFORMANCE
Rites and Wrongs
Justin Bond, of Kiki and Herb fame,
presents his original show “Rites!,”
which he describes as the “soundtrack
to the trans-neo-pagan revolution.” Our
Lady J is the musical director. Zipper
Factory, 336 W. 37th St., 9:30 p.m.
Tickets are $25 at thezipperfactory.com
or 212-352-3101.
O O O O O O O Miller’s ruled that the employ-
COMEDY
United Nations of
Laughs
Brad Loekle calls himself the kinky
clown. Tonight he hosts a smorgasbord
of comedic talent, with Canadian Rob-
ert Keller (Here! TV); Mexican Diana
Saez (Sirius Radio); and Irish Cubana
Becky Donohue (“Premium Blend”).
“Electro Shock Therapy Comedy Hour,”
Therapy, 348 W. 52nd St., 10 p.m. No
cover charge and $6 cosmos all night.
O O O O O O O starting her job, started wear-
NIGHTLIFE
The Trucks Live On
Muscle bears, leather daddies, and
fetish boys are all invited to chill out
and heat up in the hot tub to the music
of Daddy DJ Gustavo. Truck Stop @
The Park, 118 Tenth Ave. at 18th St.,
6 p.m. Admission is $5. 212-352-3313;
truckstopparty.com.
O O O O O O O according to Creed, who also
Blasting With Buds
DJ MK offers up the best of mix tape
in an early evening tea dance with $3
drinks and a beer blast that runs until 9
p.m. Gym, 167 Eighth Ave. at 18th St.
O O O O O O O ed “greeter of the month” three
MON.JAN.26
BOOKS
Turkish Delight
Mehmet Murat Somer is a star in
his native Turkey. His murder mysteries,
which feature one of the most unique
and hilarious sleuths in literary history
—- a drag queen nightclub owner who
unwittingly gets mixed up in Istanbul’s
underworld, solving crimes and set-
ting things right while remaining her
ultra-glamorous self — mainstays on
bestseller lists. Tonight, Somer appears
at a book party that features beverage
bargains, networking, and an author
interview. LGBT Community Center,
208 W. 13th St., 6-8 p.m. Admission is
$10; $5 for OutProfessionals members.
O O O O O O O The July 6 ruling by the
CABARET
Make Me A Song
Alysha Umphress was recently seen
in  William Finn’s revue “Make Me a
Song.” Tonight she appears in Scott
c Jan 26, continued on p.19
n legal
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
A
sex discrimination
claim by a gender -
transitioning retail
sales employee fired for using
make-up and letting her hair
grow longer than her employer
deemed appropriate for men
has been rejected by the US
District Court for the Northern
District of Indiana. On Janu-
ary 5, Chief Judge Robert L.
er was merely enforcing a non-
discriminatory dress code, and
was not in violation of the 1964
Civil Rights Act’s ban on sex
discrimination or of a similar
Indiana law.
Family Express Corpora-
tion hired the plaintiff, then
presenting herself as Christo-
pher Creed, in 2005, as a sales
associate. Creed had by then
already begun research on
gender transitioning, and after
ing clear nail polish, trimming
her eyebrows, and sometimes
wearing mascara. She also
grew her hair out, wore it “in a
more feminine style,” according
to the court opinion, and start-
ed to use the name Amber.
Local management and her
co-workers in the store sup-
ported her gender transition,
stated that no customers com-
plained to her and the store
management never told her
that they had received com-
plaints. She won positive job
evaluations, and was designat-
n Legal
Lesbian Family Membership Claim Denied
Minnesota court rejects public accommodation argument against club
BY ARTHUR S. LEONARD
T
he Minnesota Court of
Appeals has ruled that
the Rochester Athletic
Club did not violate the state’s
ban on sexual orientation dis-
crimination by places of pub-
lic accommodation when it
denied a family membership to
a lesbian couple raising a child
together.
intermediate appellate court
decided a question of first
impression — one for which
there is no settled precedent
— about whether the anti-bias
law’s public accommodations
provision applies to situations
in which a policy is “neutral”
times.
Creed claims she was first
shown the company’s formal
dress and grooming policy in
late 2005, several weeks before
she was discharged. She
dressed in conformance with
the policy, except that her hair
length and make-up violated
standards for male employees.
In December 2005, a district
store manager and the com-
pany’s director of operations
arrived at Creed’s store and,
according to her account, dis-
puted by Family Express, she
was told she could not pres-
ent herself in a feminine man-
ner at work, and was asked
whether it would “kill her” to
appear masculine for eight
hours a day while at work. She
was also told for the first time
about customer complaints.
When she refused manage-
ment’s demands, she was fired
and subsequently filed a fed-
eral lawsuit.
Judge Miller’s opinion is
respectful, even sympathetic to
Creed’s situation, but he con-
cluded that precedents sup-
porting the right of employers
to have dress codes and apply
them uniformly took prior -
ity over an employee’s right to
express her gender identity.
Miller acknowledged that some
federal courts have concluded
that sex stereotyping can vio-
late sexual discrimination pro-
visions of the Civil Rights Act,
but concluded that Family
Express was not acting based
on stereotypes about how
men or women should present
on its face but disproportion-
ately disadvantage members of
particular groups.
Amy and Sarah Monson
were told that their application
had been rejected because the
club only extended discounted
family memberships to legally
married couples. The Monsons
sued, claiming that the club’s
policy discriminated against
gay couples in violation of a
state law that provides that
“it is an unfair discriminatory
practice to deny any person
the full and equal enjoyment of
the goods, services, facilities,
privileges, advantages, and
accommodations of a place of
public accommodation” based
on sexual orientation, among
themselves, but was merely
requiring all employees to com-
ply with a non-discriminatory
dress code.
Federal law has been inter-
preted to allow dress and
grooming codes based on gen-
der, so long as neither men nor
women bear a greater burden
as a result.
Critically, Miller treated
Creed as a man in analyz-
ing her discrimination claim,
and held, in effect, that an
employer uncomfortable with
a transitioning employee may
adopt a dress code for which
that employee’s appearance is
non-conforming, and then dis-
charge the employee for failing
to conform. This conclusion
seems totally inconsistent with
the developing case law on sex-
ual stereotyping and gender
non-conformity, which holds
that such a firing may violate
the Civil Rights Act.
Unfortunately for Creed,
Indiana is in the 7th Circuit,
home of some of the worst
decisions on this subject.  In
the neighboring 6th Circuit,
two appellate decisions have
now upheld sex discrimina-
tion actions for transgendered
employees fired when their
employer learned they would
be transitioning.  nel policies of a company sub-
Miller equates this case to
one from the California-based
9th Circuit, which upheld the
dismissal of a woman who
refused to comply with the
employer’s requirement to
wear make-up. The 9th Circuit
ruling is problematic enough,
many categories.
They argued that since the
club did not require proof of
legal marriage from appli-
cants, it was likely that there
were unmarried heterosexual
couples enjoying family mem-
berships, and that, in any
event, the club’s legal marriage
requirement, together with the
refusal of Minnesota to recog-
nize same-sex marriage, com-
bined to discriminate against
same-sex couples.
A trial judge rejected their
claim, and the Monsons
appealed.
In his opinion for the appel-
late court, Justice Randolph
W. Peterson noted that the
case presented two potential
15
but applying a male standard
of dress to an employee whose
gender identity is female is an
entirely different matter.
Miller’s opinion once again
highlights the failure of the
Civil Right Act’s sex discrimi-
nation provision to provide
appropriate protection for the
individual employee’s right to
private life. President Barack
Obama’s recent statement that
he will seek enactment of the
Employment Non-Discrimi-
nation Act, including gender
identity as well as sexual orien-
tation protections, is welcome
news, but it will be important
to establish in the statute —
not just in the legislative histo-
ry — an intent to allow employ-
ees to appear in their desired
gender identity on the job.
In this case, nobody was
complaining that Creed was
not presentable, or that her
appearance had actually
impeded her ability to work.
And basing the discharge on
customer complaints, if they
in fact occurred, runs counter
to the lessons of federal race
and sex discrimination claims,
where courts have rejected the
argument that customer pref-
erences or biases should be
allowed to dictate the person-
ject to legal nondiscrimination
obligations.
Put simply, a good employee
such as Amber Creed should
not be subjected to this kind
of humiliating discrimination
because of intolerant custom-
ers.
discrimination theories — dis-
parate treatment and dispa-
rate impact. Peterson found
that discrimination based
on treatment was not proved
because the club’s rule did not
on its face discriminate based
on sexual orientation. The pol-
icy as articulated also denied
family membership to unmar-
ried different-sex couples, so
the court held that the exclu-
sion was based on marital sta-
tus, not sexual orientation.
The court rejected specula-
tion about unmarried differ-
ent-sex couples enjoying fam-
ily memberships, noting the
Monsons offered no proof on
c minnesota, continued on p.30
 16 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 www.gaycitynews.com

Winter in the

Hudson Valley
“COLD SPRING BY CANDLELIGHT,” set for

4C Saturday, Dec. 6, 2008 – Kick off the Holiday Season in Cold Spring
CURRIER & IVES MEETS “IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”
Brewster, N.Y. –“Cold Spring by Candlelight: Holiday Festi-
val and House Tours on Main Street America” is the premier
holiday destination event of the year and it’s set for Satur-
day, December 6, 2008 from noon – 6 p.m. in Cold Spring
– on – Hudson, New York.
This is a self-guided walking tour and the Trolley will be
available for just 10 cents per ride to get you around the
Village during the tour.

Advance tickets may be purchased through at

www.ColdSpringbyCandlelight.com. All major credit cards are accepted. For more informa-
tion, log onto www.ColdSpringbyCandlelight.com or call 845-278-PARC, ext. 287. Advance
tickets sales end at noon on Dec. 4, 2008.

Thunder Ridge Ski Area

Family Skiing….only minutes Away! We’re so close
you won’t hear one, “Are we there yet?” Located
in the rolling hills of Patterson, New York, we are The Cold Spring Depot
just 35 minutes from White Plains and 60 minutes
from New York City! With 32 trails and 5 lifts, The Cold Spring Depot Restaurant, the original train station in the village, is a warm and invit-
we welcome all ages and abilities of skiers and ing respite from the winter weather. Enjoy a Captain Morgan and cider at the bar with the
snowboarders. Lessons, rentals, spacious lodge roaring fireplace, or sit in the diningroom and enjoy a variety of comfort foods as you watch
with cafeteria and state of the art snowmaking! the trains go by outside to romantic places unknown. Try the “market buster” daily specials for
Ride the Metro-North Ski Train and catch our free just $9.95” or have a Cedar Plank Salmon for dinner. The Depot food is great, the atmosphere
shuttle from the Patterson train station! Ski and is cozy, and the staff is friendly. All major credit cards, reservations suggested on weekends.
Stay overnight packages available too! Children are welcome. Pets only outside during the summer.

137 Birch Hill Road | Patterson, NY 12563 1 Depot Square | Cold Spring, NY 10516
845-878-4100 | www.thunderridgeski.com 845-265-5000 | www.coldspringdepot.com

Cathryn’s Tuscan Grill The Garrison

One of the best Italian Restaurants in the US, as Located an hour north of New York City in the pictur-
rated by the Zagat Survey, Cathryn’s is sure to esque Hudson Highlands, The Garrison is a 300-acre
please. After receiving the Award of Excellence property with sweeping views of the Hudson River and
from Wine Spectator, Cathryn’s now has a lovely surrounding mountainous landscape. The Garrison of-
informal wine tasting every Tuesday evening and fers guests an 18-hole golf course with stunning views,
delicious $16.09 lunches M-F. The freshest ingre- a critically-acclaimed fine dining restaurant called Val-
dients combined with a brilliant chef, create culi- ley, overnight accommodations in the four-room Inn,
nary splendor at this lovely restaurant tucked away private event spaces, and a day spa and yoga center.
along a garden walkway in Cold Spring. Cathryn’s A relaxing refuge that offers an abundance of outdoor
is rated “Very Good” by The New York Times and and nearby cultural activities, The Garrison is perfect for
graciously welcomes all Hudson Valley Getaways travelers. We are open seven days. a restorative weekend getaway of spa treatments, out-
door activities, and fabulous cuisine. We’d be delighted
91 Main Street | Cold Spring, NY 10516 to host your LGBT celebration!
845-265-5582 | www.TuscanGrill.com
2015 Route 9
Le Petit Chateau Inn Garrison, NY 10524
One –half mile to Culinary Institute of America, 845-424-3604 | www.thegarrison.com
Le Petit Chateau is nestled amongst trees and a
beautiful pond in Hyde Park. ur CIA Chefs impart
techniques while preparing breakfast. Artisanal
Cheese Plates from Hudson Valley purveyors
and French wine prepare you for a relaxed escape.
Our rooms have modern amenities with beautiful
linens, private baths, cable TV, Wireless Internet
Our fireplaces make romantic getaways. Antique
shopping, local arts and crafts in our quaint villages, experience a slower pace of life. Biking,
cross country skiing, and hiking. Concierge services: Private Chef Dinners and Lunches, Sea-
sonal Packages, and restaurant reservations at the CIA.
39 West Dorsey Lane | Hyde Park, NY 12538
845-437-4688 | www.lepetitchateauinn.com
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
A Monster’s Own Story
Edmund White imagines a codger with the hots for a mass murderer
BY DAVID KENNERLEY
T
erre Haute, taken from
the French phrase
meaning “high ground,”
is the name of the federal pris-
on in Indiana where killers
are killed. It’s also the name of
Edmund White’s spare, spell-
binding drama about one of
Terre Haute’s most notorious
denizens, Timothy McVeigh,
and the long-in-the-tooth,
bisexual journalist — modeled
after Gore Vidal — who visits
the bomber during his final
days to find out what makes
him tick.
The beauty of the play, as well
as the source of its unrelenting
tension, is watching these two
forces wrestle for control of an
ideological higher ground. Could
it possibly be that McVeigh had
justification for murdering 168
innocent men, women, and chil-
dren — “collateral damage,” as
he calls it?
Although tethered to actual
events — McVeigh became pen
pals with Vidal after reading
Winter in the
Hudson
Valley
Robert A. McCaffrey Realty Inc.
Robert A. McCaffrey Realty Inc. was
established in 1987 and is a major real-
tor serving Philipstown (Garrison, Cold
Spring), Putnam, Dutchess and Or-ange
Counties. Offering a wide range of
proper-ties, from luxurious Hudson Riv-
er estates to village cottages, residential
and commercial, R. A. McCaffrey Realty
is especially active in the luxury market.
Our offi ce team of associate brokers
and sales agents, all local residents, can
provide the personalized, knowledge-
able service you deserve. Mr. McCaffrey
is a fourth generation resident of Philip-
stown and can provide answers to any
questions about the area.
143 Main St. | Cold Spring, NY 10516
845-265-4113 | www.mccaffreyrealty.com
TERRE HAUTE
59E59 Theaters
59 E. 59th St.
Tue.-Sat. at 8:15 p.m.;
Sat. at 2:15 p.m., Sun. at 3:15 p.m.
Through Feb. 15
$35; 212-279-4200 or
ticketcentral.com
his essays about the Oklahoma
City massacre in Vanity Fair
— White has invented a fanci-
ful narrative and changed their
names to Harrison and James.
Apparently, White tweaked Har-
rison to be more emotionally
volatile then the chilly, detached
McVeigh, and he couldn’t resist
layering bits of his own snarky
psyche onto James, the Vidal
character. In real life, the face-to-
face encounters never occurred.
If this sounds vaguely famil-
iar, that’s because parallel terri-
tory is covered in “Capote” and
“Infamous,” the film explora-
tions of “In Cold Blood” released
a couple of years ago, where the
eccentric Truman Capote visits
the brooding young murderers
of the Clutter family on Death
Theater/17
Building in Oklahoma City in
1995. On the outside is James,
a erudite old coot who becomes
fascinated, even besotted, by the
strapping terrorist. At first, they
are ostensibly using each other
— Harrison needs to “get his
message out” and James needs
a “project” to stave off boredom.
But both men get more from
their bond than they bargained
for.
After exchanging letters, both
VALENTINA MEDDA
men own up to being afraid of
disappointing the other upon
finally meeting in person. “It’s
Peter Eyre and Nick Westrate star in Edmund White’s “Terre Haute” at the 59E59 Theaters sort of like a first date,” says
through February 15. Harrison sheepishly. Later, he
insists he likes girls, yet may be
Row. But here the stakes are known for his unapologetic, a virgin. During their four-day
much higher. raw accounts of man-on-man affair, the two men will have
An early crusader for gay coupling — he also co-authored their share of spats and recon-
rights and visibility, White is “The Joy of Gay Sex” — and his ciliations, spilling many painful
renowned for his essays and openness about his HIV-positive truths about morality and mor-
seminal novels, such as “A Boy’s status. tality along the way.
Own Story” and “The Beautiful Confined to a screened-in To our astonishment, the
Room is Empty,” which nur- cube of a cell is Harrison, the paranoid prisoner, who wit-
tured the flowering of gay lit- Gulf War vet with a buzz cut nessed the 1993 FBI siege of
erature beginning in the 1980s. whose fear of an ever-growing the Branch Davidian com-
Compared favorably to Nabokov tyrannical government led him
and Proust, the literary lion is to bomb the Murrah Federal c monster, continued on p.28
The Bird & Bottle Inn
and Restaurant
This historical 1761 pre-revolutionary Inn with oak
plank floors and wood beam ceilings takes you back
in time to stagecoaches, the Pony Express, and Wash-
ington’s army. Fabulous fireplaces create a romantic
and intimate setting where you will enjoy the fresh-
est seasonal autumn game fare. Enjoy the Tavern
Menu, Saturday and Sunday Brunch, or Fine Dining
creations Thursday through Sunday in cozy dining
rooms. Our award winning American cuisine delights
even the most sophisticated palate. Join us at the bar
for cocktails or an evening nightcap. Make all your
special occasions memorable at one of the finest Inn’s
in America.
1123 Old Albany Post Road (Route 9)
Garrison, NY 10524
845-424-2333 | www.thebirdandbottleinn.com
The Pig Hill Inn
Our European hospitality is sure to relieve the
pressures of your everyday routine. From our
gorgeous individually decorated rooms to
the peacefulness of our garden terrace you
will enjoy privacy and romance while our
staff pampers you. When you return home
you will feel refreshed, relaxed and reju-
venated. Cold Spring-on-Hudson is easily
reached from New York City by train or car.
This quaint little Hudson River town is home
to fine dining, antique shops, boutiques,
art galleries, theatre festivals, hiking trails,
numerous historic attractions and so much
more. Come for a weekend getaway or stay
for a whole week!
73 Main Street | Cold Spring, NY 10516
845-265-9247 | www.pighillinn.com
18/ Theater 23 jan - 5 feb 2009

Perpetual Motion
Jeffrey Kuhn keeps “39 Steps” plot running as he builds his stellar career
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE ALRED HITCHOCK’S THE 39 STEPS isn’t physically demanding. include playing Boq in “Wick-
Helen Hayes Theatre Kuhn said that they all get ed,” and an unforgettable per-

F
or many actors, tak-
ing over a role in a hit
Broadway show can
seem like jumping onto a mov-
ing train. For Jeffrey Kuhn,
who recently leaped into the
hilarious production of “Alfred
Hitchcock’s The 39 Steps,”
that’s more than just a figure
of speech.
Kuhn as Man #1 plays a
variety of supporting roles, as
does Arnie Burton as Man #2,
in the whimsical and break-
neck-paced show that fully
recreates the original movie on
stage in a zippy 105 minutes.
Throughout the show, Kuhn
is rarely still, playing a variety of
characters, sometimes chang-
ing them mid-sentence and
participating in the rollicking
physicality of the show, which,
with only a few props, some
very clever lighting, and some
additional effects, transforms
the stage again and again as
the characters dash between
locations.
The story centers on the
exploits of Richard Hannay,
who brings a questionable
woman home, only to have her
stabbed in his flat. He sets off to
220 W. 44th St.
Tue. at 7 p.m.; Wed.,
Sat. at 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. at 2 p.m.; Sun. at 3 p.m.
$111.50; 212-239-6200
find the killer — and escape the
police — and the chase is on,
covering much of England and
Scotland before dramatically
ending with an on-stage crash
of a simulated bi-plane inside
the London Palladium.
The show, a Roundabout
production, opened early
last year at the Cort to strong
reviews. This month, it moved
to the Helen Hayes Theater
with Sean Mahon (“The Seafar-
er”) in the role of Hannay.
Kuhn has been with the
show since October and said
he’s excited about the change.
Moving to the west side of
Broadway may mean an
increase in foot traffic — and
the Helen Hayes sports a hilar-
ious photo mural of the com-
pany, including Kuhn in many
of his roles.
Kuhn credited his co-stars
with helping him seamlessly
integrate into the show — no
easy task given the split-
By always moving forward, Jeffrey Kuhn
has forged an enviable career.
second timing and precision
required to keep the illusions
working.
“When I was watching per-
formances before I went in,” he
said, “I lived in abject terror of
five or six things going wrong,
which would ruin the perfor-
mance.” As he watched, all of
those things did go wrong, yet
the performances continued
because the actors worked so
well together that they covered
one another’s backs.
That’s not to say the show
physical therapy once a week,
and napping, particularly on
two-show days, is an essen-
tial. He said this is one of the
first shows he’s been in where
there’s really nowhere to
hide. He and Burton bear the
responsibility of the storytell-
ing and keeping the plot mov-
ing. “It’s really exciting,” he
said. “Unlike ‘Wicked,’ where
you’re sharing the stage with
other amazingly talented
actors, you’re really flying out
there without a net.”
Kuhn has had the kind of
career many actors dream of —
he works steadily. Trained as a
dancer growing up in Canada,
he ended up doing more plays,
including a famous produc-
tion of “Timon of Athens” at
Stratford, Ontario. After work-
ing with Garth Drabinsky on
readings of a new musical,
“Ragtime,” he was part of the
show’s production in Canada
and one of four or five original
cast members who moved with
the show to New York in 1998.
“Ragtime” got him his green
card, and he’s hasn’t stopped
since.
Highlights of his work
formance as Giuseppe Zangara
in the Roundabout production
of “Assassins” in 2004. Prior to
joining “The 39 Steps,” he was
playing Peter in the all-male
“Romeo and Juliet” for The
Shakespeare Theatre Company
in Washington.
When we sat down to chat in
the theater district, Kuhn was
bustling between photo shoots,
performances, and ongoing
rehearsals with Mahon, who
was getting up to speed more
each day with the role of Han-
nay. While the company isn’t
required to be at all the rehears-
als, he said they all want to be
— that’s part of the show’s fun
and camaraderie, a feeling that
certainly spills out over the foot-
lights.
This is an exciting time for
Kuhn, and he said he feels
more and more like a New
Yorker every day. He just
bought an apartment in the
neighborhood and appreciates
his good fortune at being both
a working actor and a Manhat-
tan homeowner. It’s a life that
so many dream of, and Kuhn
appears to be loving every min-
ute of it.

Bad Manners, Good Play

“Becky Shaw” takes pointed aim at notions of modern love and scores a hit
BY CHRISTOPHER BYRNE friddo suggests, as Thackery
BECKY SHAW
did, that shared worldview and

I
t’s likely that audiences will
long discuss which char-
acters are the most unset-
tling, as well as who’s right and
who’s wrong, in Gina Gion-
friddo’s new comedy, “Becky
Shaw,” about love, now at Sec-
ond Stage. Still, it’s impossible
not to be charmed by these
people, probably because each
expresses an undeniable core
of truth. It is neither right nor
wrong to focus on getting by
for one’s own good, but can
anyone truly say he or she is
not interested in having a rela-
tionship? And what is the cost
of refusing to play? That theme
may seem ponderous, but it’s
actually fascinating.
It’s obvious that the title
character is named to put
one in mind of “Vanity Fair,”
Thackery’s 19th century novel
Second Stage Theatre
307 W. 43rd St.
Tues. 7 p.m.; Wed.-Sat. 8 p.m.;
Wed., Sat. 2 p.m.; Sun. 3 p.m.
$70.00 212-246-4422
In fact, Gionfriddo shows us,
they can be debilitating.
Gionfriddo’s wit and her will-
ingness to delve into charac-
ters’ deeper motivations make
this a surprisingly substantive
play that is at the same time
deliciously effervescent. People
are in love with one another
and wretched to one another,
struggling with their feelings,
beliefs, and preconceptions,
telling the truth — and basical-
ly being the emotional messes,
at least where intimate rela-
tionships are concerned, all
too recognizable in 2009.
While on the surface explor-
communication are greater
determinants of relationship
success than earning poten-
tial. Class can be surmounted;
character is more difficult to
change.
Gionfriddo takes a refresh-
ingly gimlet-eyed view of rela-
tionships, suggesting that
there are some things about
one’s partner that are better
not to know, absolute hon-
esty is not the same as love,
and the dewy-eyed princess-
inspired notion of romantic
love is a cynical fable that, far
from leading to happily ever
after, can result in a lifetime of
misery.
The story concerns Max, a
wealthy investment banker
who was raised as an adop-
tive son in the same home as
Suzanna, a doctoral student
JOAN MARCUS

of manners. The essence of
this play is to challenge the
notion that rules and stric-
tures — as they did in the Vic-
torian era — don’t exist today.
ing whether or not people are
right for each other based on
economics and education —
because that’s what her char-
acters understand— Gion-
in psychology. Max is real-
istic and reason incarnate,
while Susanna is romantic,
David Wilson Barnes is brilliant as Max in Gina Gionfriddo’s new comedy, “Becky Shaw,” at
c becky shaw, continued on p.19 Second Stage.
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
14 Days
14 Nights The
c
Rich and Oblivious
An Anglo-American Chekhov takes the stage in Brooklyn
jan 26, from p.15
Nevins’ “Curtain Call,” singing some
of the current stage’s hottest tunes.
Splash Bar, 50 W. 17th St., 11:30
p.m. Admission is free until 10 p.m.; $5
after that. You must be 21.
O O O O O O O of new plays in which to per-
TUE.JAN.27
CABARET
Huckleberry
Friends
“Morgan Sills Sings the Johnny
Mercer Songbook” is the first New
York show celebrating the centen-
nial of the noted lyricist who was
a prolific contributors to the Great
American Songbook.Sills, who won
a MAC (Manhattan Association of
Cabarets) Award nomination for
“The Roger Edens Songbook,”  will
sing Mercer classics “Days of Wine
and Roses,” “Moon River,” and
“That Old Black Magic,” as well as
some seldom-heard gems. Metro-
politan Room, 34 W. 22nd St., 7
p.m. The music charge is $20 and
there’s a two-drink minimum. For
reservations, call 212-206-0440 or
visit metropolitanroom.com.
O O O O O O O classics fresh and alive. In
LA COMUNIDAD
El País Nuevo
Grupo de Apoyo para inmigrantes
es un espacio seguro donde Inmigrant-
es LGBT (sin importar su estatus inmi-
gratorio) se ruinen cada otro martes
a discutir asuntos relacionado con el
ajuste emocional de mudarse a un país
nuevo. LGBT Community Center, 208
W. 13th St., 6 p.m.
O O O O O O O Richard Easton, as the dod-
Wanna Be a Bio
Daddy?
Men considering, preparing for, or
in the process of conceiving through
surrogacy or in cooperation with a
woman meet the fourth Wednesday of
each month in a program sponsored by
Center Kids to obtain information and
share support for one another. LGBT
Community Center, 208 W. 13th St.,
6:30-8:30 p.m., 6:30-8 p.m. A donation
of $5 per household is requested. For
more information, call 212-620-7310,
ext. 228 or email terry@gaycenter.org.
O O O O O O O a realist but with a bit more
CAREER
Out to Network
The same team that produces Out
to Work, the annual LGBT career fair,
hosts an evening that offers assistance
in building a professional network that
can serve as a lifeline and a source of
new leads, more business, and promis-
ing referrals. A quarterly business card
exchange is in the works. LGBT Com-
munity Center, 208 W. 13th St., 6-8
p.m. Admission is $10.
O O O O O O O set Max and Becky up on a
c 14 days, continued on p.21
n theater
BY ANDY HUMM
D
ame Eileen Atkins,
holding forth last
summer on the lack
form, said sardonically, “Do
we really need yet another
‘Cherry Orchard’?”
The new one here is to be
welcomed as the first offer -
ing from The Bridge Project, a
collaboration among Joseph
Melillo’s Brooklyn Academy
of Music, Kevin Spacey’s
Old Vic in London, and Neal
Street Productions, with a
sensational troupe of English
and American actors from
Simon Russell Beale to Ethan
Hawke, under the direction of
Sam Mendes. They will start
per for ming “The Winter’s
Tale,” a really old play pur -
portedly by Shakespeare, in
repertory starting February
10. What’s not to like?
Mendes directed Beale in
productions of “Uncle Vanya”
and “Twelfth Night” at BAM
six years ago and made those
“Cherry Orchard,” Beale’s
star continues to shine as
Lopakhin, the merchant urg-
ing the sale of the estate on
idly rich Ranevskaya, played
by an equally luminous Siné-
ad Cusack. And there are
more than able supporting
performances from Hawke,
a convincing 26 (he’s 38), as
perennial student Tofimov, to
dering and dotty servant Firs.
Much has been made about
how this 1904 play, Chek-
hov’s last before his untimely
death that year, has much to
say to our current circum-
stances, as the wealthy are
once more forced to give up
c becky shaw, from p.18
filled with ideas of what love
and relationships should be.
Suzanna’s mother, Susan, is
heart perhaps than Max. Her
husband, Suzanna’s father,
has died, leaving them in
financial straits and with
many mysteries unresolved.
Max and Susan deal with
the challenges at hand, but
Suzanna can’t. She marries
Andrew, a man who has per-
haps too much compassion,
particularly for Becky Shaw,
an office temp he works with.
When Andrew and Suzanna
date, everything goes to hell.
What makes this play so fas-
Sinéad Cusack and Simon Russell Beale shine in a BAM production of “The Cherry Orchard,” directed by Sam Mendes, that otherwise falls
short of expectations.
THE CHERRY ORCHARD
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Harvey Theater
651 Fulton St., btwn.
Ashland & Rockwell Pls.
Jan. 23-24, 27-31, Feb. 24-27,
Mar. 1-2 at 7:30 p.m.;
Jan. 25, Feb. 1 at 3 p.m.; Feb. 28,
Mar. 8 at 2 p.m.
$30-$90; bam.org or
718-636-4100
their summer homes. Like
who gives a damn?
“Cherry Orchard” probably
plays better in good times, as
a reminder of how tenuous
and vapid the lives of the rich
can be. Now that we are knee-
deep in an economic crisis,
the agonies of Ranevskaya as
cinating is that one can never
tell if Becky is a pathetic waif
or a scheming manipula-
tor. One thing we do know is
that she turns everyone’s life
upside down.
Gionfriddo keeps the action
going, the verbal darts flying,
and the audience guessing.
Just when you think there’s
a moral absolute, there’s a
sharp turn and everything is
off balance again. It’s a real
gem, and as deftly directed by
Peter DuBois, one of the high-
lights of the season so far.
The company is delightful.
David Wilson Barnes, who
was so different and equally
good in “Lady” earlier this
year, is brilliant as Max. The
character owns the evening
she deals –– or doesn’t deal
–– with the need to sell her
beloved family estate to pay
for a life of comfort in Paris
are not ones that evokes
much sympathy –– fascinat-
ing as it can be to watch the
avoidance behavior of self-
involved masters and the feal-
ty of servants who don’t want
to lose their place in Russian
society either.
“We must be paying for our
sins!” Ranevskaya laments. If
only.
Mendes tries to foreshadow
the revolution that will soon
totally upend the lives of these
oblivious souls, but his dimly
lit production never generates
the heat a story like this could.
He has successfully reclaimed
and commands the stage,
and while some will find Max
unbearable, his brashness
can never be taken as a lack of
feeling. Barnes creates a char-
acter attacked for his inability
to meet other people’s expec-
tations, but who is actually a
responsible adult.
Emily Bergl is perfectly all
over the map as Suzanna.
Hers is the most dynamic
character. At the end she final-
ly comes into her own, rather
than trying to be what others
want or expect her to be.
Thomas Sadoski is terrific
as Andrew, with a well of car-
ing and compassion that is
perfectly played — and thor-
oughly repellent — though he,
too, adds a little more reason
19
JOAN MARCUS
the play as the comedy it
is, but neither paced it well
enough nor filled the big mod-
ern BAM stage with enough
drama to rivet the house. And
lose the whiny music while the
players are whining on stage.
We get it.
All that said, this produc-
tion is worth your time and
money, if only to see some of
the best actors of our time
together. I hope they are just
warming up for a hot “Win-
ter’s Tale” next month.
See gaycitynews.com for a
web bonus: a review of Mike
Leigh’s Ecstasy, which is fin-
ishing up its run at the Red
Room in the East Village on
January 25.
to his make-up by the end.
Kelly Bishop is crackling as
Susan, an older woman who
knows what’s what, but is at
the same time human and
loving enough that she never
slips into caricature.
Annie Parisse is a sensa-
tional Becky; she keeps you
guessing about who she is and
what her motives are right up
to the final curtain.
The functional and well-
conceived set is by Derek
McLane, and the outstand-
ing costumes are by Jef f
Mahshie.
It’s fun to know that in our
world of no rules, the rules
are stricter than ever — and
so delightfully satirized. Don’t
miss this.
20/ Dance 23 jan - 5 feb 2009

Coming Attractions
Suggestions for getting the best dance value in the season ahead
BY BRIAN MCCORMICK ulative, savage, and desperate
In “Elephant Dreams,” cho- ways we try to resist the most

I
f you have to limit your
spending on dance and
per for mance over the
next few months, here are a
few things you will want to
save from the chopping block.
They’ll return far more value
than they cost, and will help
keep you from starving for
the lively arts this winter. Of
course, this is just a sampling
of what’s out there. Broadway
shows may be closing down,
but the dancing in New York
City has neither stopped nor
reographer/director Edisa
Weeks merges the story of
Joseph Merrick (a.k.a. the
Elephant Man) with Disney’s
“Dumbo” and transplants
them to America in the 1950s.
Weeks delves into issues of
alienation, loneliness, beau-
ty, ambition, and integrity to
question what is illusion and
what it normal.
JACK FERVER
“Death Is Certain”
Dance Theater Workshop
certain thing. High-octane cho-
reography and brutally honest
text are set to an original score
written and performed live by
John McGrew of Apollo Run.
FEBRUARY
REDEVELOP (DEATH VALLEY)
The Chocolate Factory
5-49 49th Ave., btwn.
Fifth St. & Vernon Blvd.
Long Island City
Feb. 12-28, Thu.-Sat. at 8 p.m.
Mon. , Feb. 24 at 8 p.m.
$15; chocolatefactory.org or

slowed. Studio Series
219 W. 19th St.
Jan. 30-31 at 7:30 p.m.
JANUARY $5 suggested;
dtw.org or 212-924-0077
DELIRIOUS DANCES
“Elephant Dreams”
Joyce SoHo
155 Mercer St., btwn. In the work-in-progress
Prince & Houston Sts. “Death Is Certain,” which will
Jan. 23-24 at 8 p.m.;
premiere at Danspace Project
Jan. 25 at 3 p.m.
at St. Marks Church in April,
$18;$12 for students & seniors
joyce.org or 212-352-3101 choreographer Jack Ferver
and dancers Liz Santoro and
Tony Orrico look at the manip-
212-52-3101
Conceived, directed, and
choreographed by Chocolate
Factory artistic director Brian
Rogers, “redevelop (death
valley)” is inspired by his
experience living and work-
ing in Long Island City, and
his fascination with western
Gold Rush-era ghost towns.
The work juxtaposes found
footage and field recordings,
CHRIS WOLTMANN
Stephen Petronio celebrates his 25th anniversary season at the Joyce in late April and early
May, with an evening-length work featuring a live commissioned score by Nico Muhly.
precisely executed miniature footage of ghost towns, video
dances, and video captured in interviews with LIC natives,
real time to construct a series dances made from real estate
of interwoven visual narra- ads, text from FDR’s fireside
tives around ideas of shared, chats, and a meal prepared
temporary, and abandoned and eaten onstage, “redevelop
living spaces. Assembled
from — among other things — c attactions, continued on p.23

5IF

(VJEF
UP
-FTCJBO

Europeans do it out BOE
(BZ
MJGF
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in the open.
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23 jan - 5 feb 2009
14 Days Darkness & Light in London
14 Nights Two gay-themed plays shine as theater world mourns master
c 14 days, from p.19
WED.JAN.28 T
POLITICS
Wish You Were
Here With Us
President Barack Obama promised
it, the White House website already
talks about, so let’s send Washington
a little reminder that we’ll be waiting.
Postcards for the President is an effort
to get thousands of missives headed to
the White House asking the new prez
to urge Congress to move promptly to
repeal the Defense of Marriage Act,
which denies legal gay marriages in
Massachusetts and Connecticut —
and maybe soon in New York, New
Jersey, Vermont, Maine, and California
— federal recognition. A kick-off party
for the effort takes place tonight at
Therapy Bar, 348 W. 52nd St., 8 p.m.
For complete information on the effort,
visit postcardstothepresident.com.
O O O O O O
THU.JAN.29
POLITICS
Albany Crunch
Time
New York State is facing its most
serious budget crisis since the Depres-
sion – a deficit of over $12.5 billion, with
the transit system another $1.2 billion
in the hole. Hear from Manhattan state
legislators about the choices facing New
York. Assemblymen Dick Gottfried, Sena-
tor Tom Duane, and Assemblywoman
Linda Rosenthal will host a forum at
the American Bible Society, 1865
Broadway at 61st St., 6:30-9 p.m. For
more information, call Gottfried’s Com-
munity Office at 212-807-7900 or email
GottfrR@assembly.state.ny.us.
O O O O O O
COMEDY
A Laugh Riot
The Tom Ragú Comedy Revue pres-
ents an evening of laughs, with special
guests Susan Prekel, Pat Galante, Poppi
Kramer, Lori Sommer, Brad Loekle, Jeff
Lawrence, Cara Kilduff, Robin Cloud
and Sharon “Mama” Spell. The Stone-
wall Inn, 53 Christopher St., at Gay
St. just east of Sheridan Sq., 7 p.m.
Admission is free, with a two-drink
minimum.
O O O O O O
THEATER
Black Magic
Women
Patricia Ione Lloyd’s “Black Tale” is
a contemporary hip-hop fairytale cen-
tered on the Greek myth of Persephone,
or just another day in the hood. The
work includes poetry, movement, ele-
c jan 29, continued on p.22
BY ANDY HUMM
h e d e ath of Har old
Pinter leaves an enor-
mous hole in the Eng-
lish — nay, world — theater.
And while his successor was
not in sight in the glancing light
of a solstice sojourn in London,
there was plenty to recommend
seeing on the more reasonable
pound — at $1.45 versus two
bucks just a few months ago.
As David Hare’s new “Geth-
semane” at the National The-
atre’s Cottesloe opens, the tense
pauses pile up in a Pinteresque
mix of menace and politics as a
thuggish, wealthy ruling party
fundraiser (Stanley Townsend)
lures a middle class govern-
ment functionary (Daniel Ryan)
to work in his world of pay-to-
play.
The arguments among the
players — from a teen slut (Jes-
O sica Raine) to the prime min-
ister (Anthony Calf) — are all
compelling and timely (“There’s
only one safe place for a politi-
cian to live and that’s in igno-
rance”), if overlong, but never
quite live up to the first scene’s
promise.
Best are the baddies the pols
are drawn to — Townsend as
the coarse but realistic fund-
raiser and Pip Carter as his
blasé but direct young gay
assistant. I’ve seen Carter play
an earnest young Harold Mac-
millan in “Never So Good” and
a starstruck fan in “Present
Laughter,” and he is unrec-
ognizable from role to smash-
ing role. “Gethsemane” runs
through February 24 before a
national tour.
O a middle class government functionary, Daniel Ryan, to work in his world of pay-to-play.
“H
amlet” (closed
January 10) is
even more sinister
a play, but the literally dark
Royal Shakespeare Company
production at the Novello in
the West End does not add
much illumination to this com-
plex classic, despite able per-
formances from Patrick Stew-
art’s restrained Claudius to
Edward Bennett, pinch-hitting
the lead for a disabled David
O (“Dr. Who”) Tennant who plays
crazy more naturally. But there
is ample drama in Bennett get-
ting through this mountain of
a role and making it his own.
Full disclosure on what I
missed, though: Tennant made
it back for the last week of the
run. The Guardian hailed him
as “the greatest Hamlet of his
generation.” Timing is every-
thing.
War horses Tophorn and Joey, presented by Handspring Puppet Company, in the National’s revival of “War Horse,” at the Oliver and later the
New London Theatre through September 26.
In “Gethsemane,” Stanley Townsend is a thuggish, wealthy ruling party fundraiser who lures
I
most looked forward to the
National’s “War Horse,” in
a revival before a West End
run in March. Its mix of hard-
won sentiment and the horrors
of World War I recalls silent
movies about the Great War
that didn’t end all wars after
all. The phenomenal theatri-
cality of Handspring Puppet
Company in bringing horses to
virtual life and death through
the most sophisticated of
puppetry is a singular experi-
ence, exceeding the effect in
“Equus.”
Under the direction of Mari-
anne Elliott and Tom Morris,
this deceptively simple boy-
and-his-horse story manages
to fill the vast Olivier stage
and sweep up it audiences in
waves of emotion and wonder
while making a bold anti-war
Theater/21
SIMON ANNAND
rear balcony. At the Menier,
Sondheim’s words are clear,
from the stirring weekend in
the country to the searing
sending in of the clowns.
“A Little Night Music” runs
through March 8, but is sold-
out, so you may need to find
some London favor to call in.
F
or all these heavy-
weights, my greatest
pleasure was in two
wildly different gay-themed
CATHERINE ASHMORE
works. In “The Pride” (just
closed at the Royal Court
and worthy of a transfer), a
straightforward compare-and-
contrast of gay life in 1958
and today, debut playwright
Alex Kaye Campbell asks such
statement. “War Horse” is at impertinent questions as: Do
the Olivier through March 18 the politics of the man on the
and transfers to the New Lon- other end of that prick you’re
don Theatre March 28, with sucking off in the park matter?
the run initially scheduled His skillful troupe of four —
through September 26. all in dual roles under Jamie
Lloyd’s nimble direction —
T
he sun never sets in a does suggest things may not
Swedish summer or have progressed as much as
on Stephen Sondheim, we pretend in how we treat
at least at the Menier Choco- each other, even if the prevail-
late Factory that sent us his ing social climate, at least in
marvelous “Sunday in the the West, has mostly improved
Park with George” and now from the era of aversion thera-
is mounting Trevor Nunn’s py described here.
take on “A Little Night Music.”
A
Despite the intimate stage at t the King’s Head The-
the Menier, the production atre off the back of an
seems pitched for larger ones Islington pub, more
in London and New York. gaiety was on display than in
As a young fool in 1973, I left all the Soho clubs combined.
the original Broadway produc- Glenn Chandler, who writes
tion at intermission, unable to
understand the lyrics from the c london, continued on p.28
22/ Dance
Operatic Vein at Parsons
International choreographers shine at Cedar Lake
BY GUS SOLOMONS, JR
A
t the Joyce, David Par-
sons pulls out all stops
in his full evening col-
laboration with the East Village
Opera Company.  Conceived by
Parsons and EVOC principals,
AnnMarie Milazzo and Tyley
Ross, “Remember Me” sets
the tale of an ill-starred love
triangle to 15 operatic arias,
arranged by EVOC musicians
in pop-rock style and sung
onstage by Milazzo and Ross.
Parsons gets in all his famil-
iar steps — cactus-crooked
arms, hunched jumps, spins
with arms wrapping the
waist, sudden collapses to the
ground; there’s even an extend-
ed quote from his 1986 “Sleep
Study.” His skillful deployment
of dancers in space in canons,
swirling eddies, tightly grouped
phalanxes — all saturated with
Howell Binkley’s genius light-
ing — keeps the stage pulsing
with energy.
Statuesque Milazzo’s big alto
voice — cringingly over-ampli-
fied, alas — gives pop luster to
“Habanera” from Bizet’s “Car-
men,” backing heroine Abby
Silva’s expositional solo as
the object of rival lovers’ affec-
tion. Nimble, charismatic Ross
wraps his multi-octave tenor
voice around chestnuts like
“La Donna E Mobile” from Ver-
di’s “Rigoletto” and Schubert’s
“Ave Maria,” making them
startlingly contemporary. The
singers’ reedy voices lack oper-
atic vibrato, but their pitch
and articulation are dead-on.
It’s too bad Theresa Squire’s
skimpy costumes for the
women are so redolent of
young Britney. There’s a little
too much MTV-style hip wag-
ging in some of Parsons’ move-
ment for them, and an aerial
duet for Silva in a harness
and her earthbound lover,
Zac Hammer, doesn’t soar,
although Ross and Milazzo’s
rendition of the “Flower Duet”
from Delibes’ “Lakme” that
backs it does.
Parsons has wrangled
dance, music, and media into
a powerful theater piece, with
stunning production design
by Jason Thompson, which
employs video backdrops that
establish locales and rein-
force dance images. In one
knockout passage to “Nessun
Dorma” from Puccini’s “Turan-
dot,” a lineup of dancers, con-
nected hands to elbows like
bicycle chains, ripple their
arms; a video recording of the
In a collaboration with the East Village Opera Company, David Parsons gets in all his familiar
steps.
same movement, mirrored top
to bottom, plays on screen.
Can we expect Parsons like
his concert-dance colleagues
— Tharp, Lubovitch, Jones,
Armitage, et al. — to start
lending his modern dance sen-
sibility to Broadway?
S
ince artistic director
Benoit-Swan Pouffer
started commissioning
international choreographers
to add more substance to the
repertory, Cedar Lake Contem-
porary Ballet has gained artis-
tic credibility and transcended
its initial reputation as the
company funded by Wal-Mart
money. Its winter season fea-
tures Canadian Crystal Pite’s
hit ballet from last season,
along with premieres by Italy’s
Luca Veggetti and Holland’s
Didy Veldman — choreogra-
phers with impressive creden-
tials, including works for the
Kirov and Les Grand Ballets
Canadiens, respectively.
Vigetti’s quartet “memory/
measure” is set to a score
by Paolo Aralla that sur -
rounds bits of spoken text
with blasts of harsh, electron-
ic noise. Jubal Battisti, Jon
Bond, Soojin Choi, and Aca-
cia Schachte (in toe shoes),
dressed all in black, inhabit a
white floor, lit with cool, sub-
tly shifting moods by Roderick
Murray.
The choreography — show-
ing influences of William For-
sythe’s Improvisation Tech-
niques — scatters individual
phrases across the space; indi-
viduals coalesce into pairs for
sive partners, swinging, hang-
ing, and bracing on the sturdy
frames.
Reed-thin Ana-Maria
Lucaciu, in gray tights, crawls
emotively over a table and
chair and blurts snatches of
text, as Nina Simone brays,
“Ne me quitte pas.” Schachte
pulls down her panties in erot-
ic anticipation of action with
the guys outside her door, but
instead gets haunted by a
ghostly presence that pushes
its form into an elastic panel in
another door.
Battisti yearns to join the
party on the other side of his
door, and later forlornly tosses
handfuls of confetti on Kittel-
berger and Marina Mascarell’s
super-slow-motion fight-cum-
YI-CHIN WU
seduction, set to Offenbach’s
“Barcarole.” Philip Feeney
arranged the musical collage
that accompanies the shifting
moods.
simultaneous and overlapping The men dance in a unison
duets. Schachte sinks into spi- clump like linebackers; the
dery deep plies on point, part- women chat and giggle like
nered by Bond; Battisti twirls sorority sisters. Four of them
with Choi hanging in his arms, do a phrase, alternately yell-
legs splayed, then he flips her ing, “Jason!” and collapsing
over his back. into scurrying Kittelberger’s
The stretchy, resilient danc- arms, until he’s carrying three
ing in black on the white floor of them at once.
suggests calligraphy. When By the time dancers begin
dancers aren’t active, they trudging along the periph-
prowl the periphery of the ery of the room, you wonder
shimmering rectangle; their what Veldman’s dance is driv-
presence modifies the visual ing at. The dancers’ recorded
picture. voices confess their phobias —
Expressionless faces belie a heights, the dark, spiders, fail-
lack of emotional communica- ure, fear itself. Then, as Dean
tion, and evenness of texture Martin croons “And the Door is
gradually mutes the initial Still Open,” they barge across
impact. Sleekly executed by the space, slamming doors as
Cedar Lake’s marvelous danc- they leave, like the climax of
ers, Viggetti’s vocabulary lacks a drawing room comedy but
sufficient dynamic contrast to without the comedy.
maintain our attention from P it e’ s “T e n Du et s on a
striking beginning to inconclu- Theme of Rescue” remains the
sive end. most choreographically satis-
T h e f i n a l e , Ve l d m a n ’ s fying work on the program. A
“Frame of View,” is nothing if semicircle of lights on rolling
not ambitious. The sprawling, stands (by Jim French) bears
38-minute ballet is a kaleido- silent witness to the shadowy
scope of skits and bits that encounters of five dancers —
careens from melodrama to Battisti, Bond, Choi, Nickemil
mystery to farce. Nine dancers Concepcion, and Ebony Wil-
dressed with eclectic exuber- liams — who exchange roles
ance by Miriam Buether would as rescuer and rescued.
seem to come from totally differ- Set to selections from Cliff
ent worlds. Their actual world Martinez’s film scor e for
is a forced perspective room “Solaris,” the duets and seam-
(also by Buether), outlined in less transitions between them
white pipe with a door centered depict passionate characters
in each of three walls. in urgent, intimate relation-
Jason Kittelberger in an over- ships. This emotional essay
coat, Choi in a chambermaid’s gains eloquence from the
mini-dress, and Christopher specificity with which Pite
Adams in checked pajamas translates feeling into uniquely
each begin with solos that have expressive movement — not
them using the doors like pas- generic athleticism.
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
14 Days
14 Nights
c jan 29, from p.21
ments of Negro spirituals, mythology,
classic parables, and nursery rhymes,
and travels to the not-so-far-away land
of Bed-Stuy “Do or Die” Brooklyn. Rae
Dawn Chong stars in a staged reading
of “Black Tale” presented by Poets and
Playwrights. LGBT Community Cen-
ter, 208 W. 13th St., 6 p.m. reception;
7 p.m. program. Admission is $10.
O O O O O O O
FRI.JAN.30
DANCE
A New Certainty
“Death Is Certain” will premiere at
Danspace Project at St. Marks Church
in April, but Jack Ferver’s new work in
progress will get initial exposure at the
Dance Theater Workshop Studio
Series this weekend. Choreographer
Jack Ferver and dancers Liz Santoro
and Tony Orrico look at the manipula-
tive, savage, and desperate ways we
try to resist the most certain thing.
High-octane choreography and brutally
honest text are set to an original score
written and performed live by John
McGrew of Apollo Run. 219 W. 19th St.
Jan 30-31, 7:30 p.m. A $5 donation is
suggested. For reservations, visit dtw.
org or call 212-924-0077.
O O O O O O O
PERFORMANCE
The Female Nude
Amy Greenfield, whose work aims
to put into play Isadora Duncan’s
words, “Women will dance… a new
nakedness, no longer at war with
spirituality and intelligence,” is the
creator of award-winning cine-dance
cycle “Club Midnight: Flesh into
Light.” Her latest installments are
presented this weekend. “Spirit In The
Flesh” transforms Leonard Nimoy’s
original photography series, “Shek-
hina,” into site-specific multimedia,
melding his images with live dance,
music, film, and words — Kabbalistic
and Nimoy’s own — spoken onstage
by Emmy Award-winning actress
Maeve Kinkead. The dancers, Tasha
Taylor, Victoria Maniglio, and Andrea
Beeman, bring Nimoy’s images to life.
Music is by John Zorn, among oth-
ers. In “Live Tides,” on-stage dancer
Vittoria Maniglio’s sculpted nude
body is the alter-ego of the on-screen
woman, and both interact with the
ocean tides. Music is by Philip Glass.
among others, with poetry by Charles
Simic performed by Dennis Hopper.
Leonard Nimoy Thalia Theater,
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway
at 95th St. Jan. 30-31, 7:30 & 9:30
p.m. Tickets are $25; $20 for seniors;
$15 for students at symphonyspace.
org; $30 at the door.
c 14 days, continued on p.26
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
c attRactIOnS, from p.20
(death valley)” unfolds as a gradual
unveiling, demolition, and removal of
the performance and the space itself.
laVa
“we become”
Brooklyn Lyceum
227 Fourth Ave., btwn. President & Union Sts.
Thu., Fri. at 8 p.m.; Sat., Sun. at 7 p.m.
Feb. 12-Mar. 1
$20; lavalove.org
The acclaimed all-female ensemble
LAVA combines movement, theater,
and acrobatics to push the limits of
dance and the female form. Their new
piece deals with neighborhood and the
delicate balance of harmony and revo-
lution, separatism, and integration.
“we become” epitomizes the spirit of
collaboration central to LAVA’s work,
and integrates the work of two eminent
women artists — singer/songwriter
Toshi Reagon and visual artist Nancy
Brooks Brody.
laURa PEtERSOn chOREOGRaPhY
“Forever”
DNA/Dance New Amsterdam
280 Broadway at Chambers St., second fl.
Feb. 18-21 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 22 at 3 p.m.
$20; $15 for students & seniors
dnadance.org; 212-279-4200
Laura Peterson’s “Electrolux” was a
wild, kinetic entanglement that played
out on a plush carpet. For her latest cre-
4ICKETMASTERCOMs 
 “Dazzling 70 Minute Show!” -WSJ
ation, co-presented by DNA and Dixon
Place, she’s chosen the kaleidoscope
— its symmetry, dazzle, and continu-
ally changing geometrical equilibrium.
Peterson’s new evening-length dance
— with lighting by Mandy Ringger and
music by Lumberob — will be performed
on a large luminous white circle with the
audience seated all around.
hIlaRY EaStOn + cOMPanY
“The Reclamation”
Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 W. 55th St.
Feb. 18-22
Feb. 18-19, 21 at 8 p.m.; Feb. 22 at 2 p.m.
$20; $10 for students & seniors;
212-415-5500
Invasive plants. Aggravated nature
lovers. The massive force of a hur -
ricane. All these are part of Hilary
Easton’s witty, sensuous new dance-
theater work, “The Reclamation.” The
world premiere performance opens the
15th annual 92nd Street Y Harkness
Dance Festival.
MaRCh
DancEMOPOlItan
Broadway Musical Series
Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater
425 Lafayette St., below Cooper Sq.
Mar. 5 at 7:30 p.m.; Mar. 6-7 at 9:30 p.m.
$20 at door/$15 in advance at 212-967-7555
Table reservations, with minimum,
at 212-539-8778
With the huge success of Doug
Elkins’ “Fraulein Maria” and David
123 West 43rd Street, New York City
“Outrageously Funny!” -Backstage
Parker’s “ShowDown,” DancenowNYC
has invited eight choreographers to
present a new work inspired by their
favorite Broadway musical.
SaSa aSEntIc
“My private bio-politics”
Dance Theater Workshop
219 W. 19th St.
Mar. 5-7 at 7:30 p.m.
$26; dtw.org or 212-924-0077
In this solo work, emerging Serbian
choreographer Sasa Asentic probes
what it means to be contemporary —
personally and publicly. Beginning as
an investigation of how dance is expe-
rienced in transient Eastern European
cultures, the work has grown into an
actual dialogue with the audience,
debating the global expectations of a
performing body.
jEREMY nElSOn & lUIS laRa MalVacÍaS
“Sooner Than You Think”
Ailey Citigroup Theater
405 W. 55th St.
Mar. 18-19, 21 at 8 p.m.; Mar. 22 at 2 p.m.
$20; $10 for students & seniors;
212-415-5500
Surrounded by the intriguing instal-
lation environment of Luis Lara Mal-
vacías, “Sooner Than You Think,”
which closes the Harkness Dance
Festival, features solos by Nelson and
Malvacías. Sometimes separately and
sometimes in overlapping fashion, the
duo move in and out of lighting and
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video designs by collaborator David
Tirosh, taking their audience through
two distinct journeys inspired by imag-
es and ideas exchanged over the course
of a year’s traveling.
aPRIL
jOE GOODE PERFORMancE GROUP
“Wonderboy”
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Apr. 23-25 at 8 p.m.; Apr. 26 at 2 & 7:30 p.m.
$19-39; 212-242-0800
Joe Goode returns to New York City
and the Joyce with “Wonderboy,” an
extraordinary new collaboration with
acclaimed puppeteer Basil Twist. Goode
and his talented dance theater group
integrate Twist’s exquisite creation
into their unique fusion of text, song,
and dance. Featuring original music
by Carla Kihlstedt and Matthias Bossi,
“Wonderboy” is a tale of a peculiar hero
isolated by his gift of sensitivity.
StEPhEn PEtROnIO cOMPanY
“I Drink the Air Before Me”
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at 19th St.
Apr. 28-29 at 7:30 p.m. Apr.-May 2 at 8 p.m.
May 3 at 2 & 7:30 p.m.
$19-49; 212-242-0800
The master celebrates his 25th anni-
versary season with an evening-length
work featuring a live commissioned
score by Nico Muhly and costumes by
men’s fashion designer Adam Kimmel.
WRITTEN & PERFORMED BY
DIRECTED BY GEORGE DEMAS
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“A superb performance in a
work... Tremendously poignant...”
- The New York Times
TED GREENBERG’S
THE COMPLETE PERFORMER
24/ Film
There’s A Place
For young, gay Terence Davies, Liverpool was no revolution
BY STEVE ERICKSON
I
n “Of Time and the City,”
British director Terence
Davies looks back with
fondness on the boredom,
poverty, and self-hatred of his
youth. Maybe it’s inevitable that
one will grow nostalgic for the
time and place where one grew
up. This contradiction is never
brought to the surface, but the
attentive viewer can’t miss it.
Davies’ first documentary,
“Of Time and the City” was par-
tially funded by the city of Liv-
erpool, which probably wasn’t
too happy with the grim results.
One of Britain’s greatest work-
ing directors, Davies hasn’t
made a film in eight years; the
critical success of “The House
of Mirth,” made in 2000, didn’t
help him sustain a career as a
director. The film rages against
the England of the ‘40s and
‘50s, but it does so lovingly and
with real engagement.
The Beatles are undoubt-
edly Liverpool’s most famous
contribution to British cul-
DJ
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OF TIME AND THE CITY
Directed by Terence Davies
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Film Forum
ture. For Davies, their rise was
simply another marker of his
alienation. Over a photo of the
band, he sneers sarcastically,
“Yeah, yeah, yeah!” For him,
rock ’n’ roll was too crude to
be taken seriously, compared
to the show tunes and Tin Pan
Alley pop he preferred. As a
response, he delved into classi-
cal music. In exploring Davies’
unorthodox musical tastes,
“Of Time and the City” cre-
ates its wittiest combinations
of sound and image. He shows
teenagers dancing to rock ’n’
roll in crowded nightclubs,
but the soundtrack is classi-
cal music. This is more than
just a cheap joke (although it’s
a pretty funny one); it’s a way
of conquering his feelings as
an outsider by imagining that
his tastes and experiences are
universal.
GAY CHRISTOPHER STEET
76 Christopher St.
at 7th Ave
Friday 9 p.m. - 4 a.m.
Saturday 9 p.m. - 4 p.m.
Sunday 5 p.m. -11 a.m.
23 jan - 5 feb 2009
described as “kitchen-sink
poetry.” His best films, “Distant
Voices, Still Lives” and “The
Long Day Closes,” combine a
cinephile’s sensibility, incor-
porating quotes and allusions
from  classic Hollywood films,
with a dreamlike approach to
BERNARD FALLON / STRAND RELEASING
editing. To some extent, “Of
Time and the City” covers the
same ground as those films,
although it’s more explicit
about Davies’ gayness and the
homophobic climate of the Eng-
land of his youth. He points to
“The Long Walk,” looking west down Liverpool’s Everton Brow, 1969, as seen in “Of Time the Dirk Bogarde vehicle “Vic-
and the City.” tim,” a film often credited with
opening the doors to England’s
Davies describes himself as a deconsecrated church that’s decriminalization of homosexu-
a “very happy, very contented now become a fashionable res- ality, as a turning point in his
born-again atheist,” adding taurant. For all Davies’ anger life, and plays an excerpt from
“Thank God!” Yet he’s clearly against organized religion, the an early ‘60s radio show full of
still affected by a Catholic child- film suggests that something gay double entendres.
hood. For him, religion is tied got lost in the conversion from Still, “Of Time and the City”
to gay self-hatred. As a teen- church to restaurant. Through- is a unique film, even among
ager, he tried to pray away his out, Davies seems  more dis- Davies’ other work.
homosexuality, coming to the tant  from contemporary Liv- For long stretches, “Of Time
conclusion that God didn’t erpool than the more overtly and the City” simply combines
exist because he never became oppressive world of his child- images and music and lets the
attracted to girls. Very early on, hood.
“Of Time and the City” heads to Davies’ style could be c liverpool, continued on p.25
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www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 25

n opera

City Opera’s Barber Moment

Lauren Flanigan, Teddy Tahu Rhodes highlights of “Antony and Cleopatra” resuscitation
BY ELI JACOBSON Sills as Cleopatra in Handel’s “Giulio and spectacle. These revivals showed of disaster. Like an even more fickle
Cesare” enchanted both Julius Caesar that there was much good music in Cleopatra, Mortier left City Opera in

M
ore than four decades ago,
two Cleopatras battled it out
on the newly constructed Lin-
coln Center Plaza. At the newly erected
Metropolitan Opera House, the world
premiere of Samuel Barber’s “Antony
and Cleopatra” opened on Septem-
ber 16, 1966. Leontyne Price starred
as Cleopatra with Justino Diaz as her
Antony in a disastrously elephantine
Zeffirelli production.
Just across the plaza at the brand
new New York State Theater, Beverly
and the city’s critics and audiences.
There could be only one winner in
the public eye, and the scrappy inno-
vative City Opera with its new super-
star prima donna went on to two
decades of successes. Barber’s opera
was deemed a failure and was never
again professionally staged in this city.
Later revivals at Julliard, Spoleto, and
Chicago used Barber’s revised score
that removed several incidental char-
acters and their music, narrowing the
dramatic focus and eliminating sprawl
this opera, but still it failed to establish
a foothold in the international reper-
toire.
Fast forward 42 years to the pres-
ent to find Lincoln Center once again
under construction but no New York
City Opera in sight, and to witness a
present-day tale of powerful leaders
led astray by hubris, amour fou, and
betrayal. Dr. Susan Baker, City Opera’s
board chairwoman, besotted by Bel-
gian impresario Gerard Mortier, led
the venerable opera house to the brink
the lurch before his directorship even
started to pursue financially greener
pastures in Europe. City Opera’s only
operatic presentations this season, as
its Lincoln Center home undergoes
renovation, were two concert perfor-
mances of Barber’s “Antony and Cleo-
patra” at Carnegie Hall.
The City Opera’s current superdiva,
the versatile Lauren Flanigan, starred
as the serpent of the old Nile with New
c opera, continued on p.28

c liverpool, from p.24
two flow together. Davies’ voice-over is
eloquent — perhaps the best-written
documentary narration since Thom
Andersen’s “Los Angeles Plays Itself”
— and his delivery captivating, but
much of the time, he lets music do the
talking for him. This produces mixed
results.
There are moments when the film
achieves a stunning, mysterious
beauty — strings swelling dramati-
cally as a line of people get off an esca-
lator. Unfortunately, there are also
times when the juxtaposition of image
and soundtrack seems random, even
banal, as when it sets a montage of
soldiers heading off to war to the Hol-
lies’ “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother.”
Davies remembers the Liverpool
of his youth through a filter combin-
ing sarcasm and poetic allusions. He
quotes everyone from Carl Jung to
Willem de Kooning, ending with a T. S.
Eliot citation. The vast majority of “Of
Time And The City” consists of archi-
val footage, rather than images shot
by Davies. Anyone who’s seen “Distant
Voices, Still Lives” or “The Long Day
Closes” knows what an eye Davies
has; it’s too bad that his use of other
people’s footage and his own newly
shot images of Liverpool can’t quite
match his earlier work’s beauty. about something entirely different.
What does Davies think of pres- The rewards of “Of Time and the City”
ent-day Liverpool? It’s hard to say, lay elsewhere than direct commen-
because he remains silent about it. tary about the present. This cinematic
When he shows crowded streets and essay revisits the world that inspired
nightclub-goers lining up for a night his best films more directly and cut-
of dancing, his voice-over muses away tingly than before.
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CELEBRATES
25 YEARS
saturday, january 24, 2009 | 9pm
music by bobby viterritti, carlos sanchez and ted snowdon
$8 at gaycenter.org, $10 at the door
photo by lars jensen | tokyoportraits.com

the center thanks our amazing dance 208 volunteers!

208 West 13th Street, New York, NY

212.620.7310 | www.gaycenter.org

Dance208_25.indd 1 1/20/09 12:53:09 PM

26 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
n in the noh
P-Town in the Snow
A cosily dark cape; delovely de Niese; Angela’s sub
BY DAVID NOH
I
had a particularly exces-
sive New Year’s Eve and
seriously paid the piper,
so when a lawyer pal invited
me to accompany him on his
annual retreat to Provinc-
etown, I jumped at this Zen-
affording chance. I’d never
been there before in winter,
but wanted it to be the same
romantic getaway it was for
Joan Crawford in her most
intelligent vehicle, Otto Prem-
inger’s “Daisy Kenyon” (1947).
And it was! The isolated,
deserted feeling made it more
beautiful than ever, sans teem-
ing hordes of straight gawkers,
and gays and dykes with their
kids. Parking was plentiful and
dinner reservations unneces-
sary.
We stayed at Admiral’s
Landing and, as the sole
guests, had the entire run of
this wonderfully hosted, per-
fect B&B, which boasts a fab-
ulous library of all things gay
and cultural. The small num-
ber of establishments that
were open more than served
the purpose — Michael Shay’s
endless salad bar, the Mews
(which offers a two-for-one din-
ner night, an event the whole
town showed up for), and our
favorite, Fanizzi’s, which does
excellent everything, especial-
ly the stuffed artichoke and
squash soup my friend found
addictive. A few choice shops
were open for shopping and,
yes, Marc Jacobs-by-the-Sea
had a sale on.
Bar-wise, it was all about
the charmingly Victorian Gif-
ford House and the eternal
A House, founded in 1798,
where Tennessee Williams
used to pass out after strenu-
ous nights, and supposedly
finished “The Glass Menag-
erie.” The intimate crowds
gathered around the bars, like
cordial cavemen around a fire,
reminded me of similarly dark,
cosily huddled scenes in Reyk-
javik or Budapest. At the A
House, Ms. Thirsty raunchily
presided over Karaoke Night as
well as Bingo (as her hilarious
alter-ego, Rikva Bronstein),
and there was that requisite
moment of drama when a
drunk nearly toppled over the
karaoke machine as he was
escorted out.
O
n January 12, sopra-
no Danielle de Niese,
singing Eurydice,
stood out like a timelessly ele-
gant beacon in Mark Morris’
cluttered, chaotically trendy
Carol Rosegg
Jacob Fishel and Kathryn Meisle in Red Bull’s production of “Women Beware Women.”
when she returns to him from
the dead, everything is coming
from her love and happiness
to see him again. He has been
forbidden by the gods to look
at her, and that’s what makes
the third act so difficult. She
feels this huge rejection. Her
radiant smile and eyes were
her prize and fortune, so when
Orfeo doesn’t look at her, she
feels that death is actually bet-
ter.
“You can’t understand a
character like Eurydice until
you actually play her, and I
found it frustrating during
rehearsal at first because I
really couldn’t see what Steph-
DANIELLEDENIESE.COM
anie [Blythe, her Orfeo] was
thinking. The eyes tell every-
thing — mirrors of the soul
— and not being able to see
her created a huge amount of
Soprano Danielle de Niese, who sang Eury- insecurity.”
dice in Mark Morris’ Metropolitan Opera De Niese is a trained danc-
production of “Orfeo.” er who studied ballet, mod-
ern, jazz, and tap, and moved
Metropolitan Opera produc- delightfully in Glyndebourne
tion of “Orfeo,” serving Gluck’s Opera’s “Giulio Cesare,” but
celestial music with the grace- does not dance in “Orfeo.”
ful reverence it deserves. A “I was a little disappointed,
pure stage animal, physi- because when I learned Mor-
cally gorgeous, with an innate ris was directing this, I did ask
musicality, for me, de Niese the powers that be to mention
truly represents the new face that I had dance experience if
of opera, and a presence like he wanted to do anything,” she
hers is what’s definitely going recounted. “But rightly so, the
to keep this ever-embattled, production had already been
often too elitist art form alive conceived and created and
for fresh audiences. there wasn’t enough time, with
Possessing a disar ming our truncated rehearsal time
California girl energy that because it was a revival, to re-
belie her exotic looks, de Niese choreograph anything. It was
described her performance already running like a well-
to me: “The story is based on oiled machine and, anyway,
Virgil’s recounting, a great love Eurydice really is coming from
story of this incredible musi- a very demure, weakened, doc-
cian, Orfeo, who loses Eury- ile place which maybe wouldn’t
dice, who was everything to fit into the dance.”
him — a tremendous blow. So, She loves her Isaac Miz-
rahi costume, though: “It’s
fabulous. It originally had a
big gauze thing in the bodice
to hold it up, because it was
structured with no shoulders.
But when they did test taping
for our HD broadcast, they dis-
covered that when I moved, the
gauze wrinkled and gave the
illusion away, so they ripped
out the gauze, and on opening
night I suddenly had a differ-
ent structured costume with
bare skin, which most people
said looked much better. It has
little pieces of gauze which I
trail about everywhere, as if to
bear witness that I was there.
There’s gauze stuck on the
doorknob every time I open my
dressing room door. It’s a little
bit difficult to navigate, with
Stephanie’s guitar hanging on
her back and the gauze can
get caught in it, but it’s worth
every bit of it because it looks
and feels really beautiful. I feel
very feminine in it, and that is
crucial to playing her because
she has to be anything but
hardened or edgy. I was think-
ing it might make a great wed-
ding dress, although I have no
immediate plans to marry.”
De Niese does have a man in
her life: “My personal life has
been very fruitful, wonderful.
I’ve been dating somebody for
a couple of years, Gus Chris-
tie, who is the chairman of the
board at Glyndebourne Opera.
It was unexpected. I’ve known
Gus since 2005, but we got
together in 2007.”
The singer returns to Glyn-
debourne in “Giulio Cesare”
this year, has her Carnegie
Hall recital debut on Febru-
ary 27, and will be making
her Covent Garden debut in
March in a new production of
“Acis and Galatea.”
“But the really exciting thing
is that I’m doing Susannah in
‘The Marriage of Figaro,’ in the
very same production in which
I sang Barbarina ten years
ago,” de Niese said. “Someone
had to remind me that it was
the tenth anniversary of my
Met debut and I’m not even
29!”
Asked about her favorite
singer, she replied, “Kiri, Kiri,
Kiri [Te Kanawa]. I studied
with her and she and Ger -
ald Martin Moore are my two
gurus. For the big diva she is,
she is also an incredible edu-
cator who creates a safe sanc-
tuary where you feel you can
try anything. I like to be tested
and challenged, but I respond
better to positive egging-on,
c in the noh, continued on p.27
www.gaycitynews.com
14 Days
14 Nights
c 14 days, from p.22
SAT.JAN.31
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The Lesbian Herstory Archives, the
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achievements of the archives to date and
launch an endowment fund campaign
aimed at securing its financial future. Co-
founder Joan Nestle will host the eve-
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toasts, and performances. LGBT Com-
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Dating Madness for gay male artistic/
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Admission is $20 at the door. For more
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212-971-1084.
O O O O O O O
NIGHTLIFE
All Dressed Up...
Army, Navy, or schoolgirl, uniforms
are hot! The Lesbian Sex Mafia hosts a
c Jan 31, continued on p.28
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 27

c in the noh, from p.26 tralia but sacrificed a lot to come to power and aristocratic voice and bear-
America, which they did for me and my ing that reminded me of Diana Rigg, at
rather than scare tactics. Like Gerald, brother, a gifted athlete. This country her very best (“Phedre,” London 1999).
she creates a haven where you get rid presented better opportunities for us,

I
of all your psychological stuff and really and they are my biggest supporters, was looking forward to seeing the
learn to sing.” come to everything. I trained in Europe, Metropolitan Opera’s stylish Deco
Only in opera would there be resent- learning languages, so I feel at home “La Rondine” with Angela Giorghiu
ment about a singer’s beauty, and when everywhere, which is a good thing in who, with her over-the-top glamour,
I mention certain sniping Internet chat this career because you’re always trav- cancellations, and diva fits, is the most
about this, de Niese said, “That’s so eling, always alone.” dished-about singer since Kathleen
wack. My best friend called me up and After Orfeo’s opening performance, Battle’s retirement. Unfortunately, I
said, ‘There are people fighting over O’Neal’s was where everyone repaired, forgot a prime tenet — Giorghiu always
how much you work out. They couldn’t with Stephanie Blythe enjoying a meal, cancels toward the end of a run, and
believe how toned your biceps were!’ and the Mark Morris dancers at a near- sure enough it was left to the ever-reli-

COURTESY: METROPOLITAN OPERA

First of all, everyone has a different
opinion about beauty, and I certainly
don’t walk around thinking, ‘God, I’m so
beautiful.’ I’m grateful that my reviews
have focused more on my voice than
my looks, and I certainly didn’t get hired
by Kurt Masur, Leonard Slatkin, Seiji
Ozawa, Bill Christie, Charles Macker-
ras, or James Levine for my looks.
“What Tom tells you about Bill tells
you more about Tom than Bill. People
actually can’t reconcile the fact that
beauty and brains can exist in one per-
son. Journalists actually love to ask me
by table. An ebullient Morris showed
up, shouting “Cunt!” when someone
mentioned a mutual acquaintance
and his escort. Costume designer Mar-
tin Pakledinaz told me about “Stormy
Weather,” a show he’s been working
on in Pasadena, with Leslie Uggams
Maureen O’Flynn proved herself ever-reliable, in a Janu- as Lena Horne: “Originally Leslie only
ary 13 performance of “La Rondine,” offering a sensitive sang once, ‘Stormy Weather,’ at the end
interpretation and delicate phrasing that beautifully of the show, but when she did it she
served the role of Magda. was so incredibly phenomenal — the
voice! — that they’ve put more songs in
my outside, except that my body and for her. It’s amazing.”
face are the canvas I need to serve a
able Maureen O’Flynn to substitute on
January 13. O’Flynn’s sensitive inter-
pretation and delicate phrasing beau-
tifully served the role of Magda in this
evanescent Traviata lite-Boheme-Fled-
ermaus Puccini pastiche, so much so,
that Giorghiu, who I am hearing from
all sides has lost her middle voice, was
hardly missed. Backstage, as Met bene-
factress Mercedes Bass swept by to
congratulate Roberto Alagna, a jubilant
O’Flynn told me that her lovely Act II
dress had indeed been designed just for
her, although the hat drove her crazy

about this in a way in which they want
me to say, ‘I know. It’s so unfair that
I’m so beautiful.’ Give me a break: there
are so many other really bad world
problems. I did a French interview and
was asked about image. Image is some-
thing that didn’t just happen. Look at
Geraldine Farrar, a great singer who
did movies, or Caruso or Callas and the
golden age of opera singers on TV, like
Beverly Sills and Pavarotti. I was born
this way and have nothing to do with
I
much better greater purpose than my absolutely adored Red Bull The-
own vanity, so I hope people see that. atre’s production of Thomas Mid-
“I was born in Australia, so I have dleton’s “Women Beware Women”
this Southern Hemisphere Common- (January 2). Under the direction of
wealth connection, but I grew up in Los Jesse Berger, an amazingly lavish,
Angeles, from age ten, a Californian scrupulously detailed Jacobean perfor-
through and through. My parents are mance unfolded on St. Clement’s small
Sri Lankan where I get my skin color, stage, accompanied by effective live
but they are mixed with Dutch and music, and the ensemble performanc-
Scottish, raised in a Commonwealth es, with one exception, were exception-
culture with English their mother al. Kathryn Meisle was a standout as
tongue. They were comfortable in Aus- scheming Lady Livia, with a malicious
as she couldn’t hear anything. I figured
as much, as her Acts I and III gowns,
plucked from God knows where, were
pretty lousy.The first looked like Mar-
garet Dumont had rejected it for “A
Night at the Opera” and the other had
O’Flynn looking as if she were about to
sing Azucena’s gypsy in “Il Trovatore.”
Contact David Noh at Inthenoh@
aol.com and check out his new blog at
http://nohway.wordpress.com/.

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28 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
c monster, from p.17
pound in Waco, Texas, where
many perished — hr labeled it
“government-sanctioned kill-
ing” — does make a case, albeit
a twisted one, for his actions.
He contends the brutes in
Washington, DC are so cor-
rupt, blatantly ignoring the
civil liberties they were sworn
to uphold, that bombing the
Murrah Building was sim-
ply a desperate sounding of
an alarm. His grudge is not
wholly ridiculous, given recent
c london, from p.21
TV’s long-running “Taggart”
crime drama, has applied his
considerable skill to a spoof
on 1920s public school life, in
“Boys of the Empire” (closed
January 11), firing on all cyl-
inders from the opening of the
inventive program through the
hilarious adventures of boys,
masters, townies, and parents
mixing class, international
politics, and sexuality.
Patrick White directs the
young players at a dizzying
pace and a splendid time is
had by all — on stage and
in the audience. Now on at
the King’s Head is the well-
received gay “Fucking Men” by
Joe DePeitro, through January
28.
D
irector Melly Still,
who wowed with
“Coram Boy,” has
conjured up a dark “Cinder-
ella” for the holiday season
c opera, from p.25
Zealander barihunk Teddy
Tahu Rhodes, in his compa-
ny debut, as her Antony. The
good news that emerged from
this concert is that the orches-
tra and chorus were in superb
form. This critic attended the
second performance on Janu-
ary 16 and whatever musical
inaccuracies may have been
evident on opening night were
entirely gone. George Mana-
han led a superior account of
the score that made its sty-
listically disparate elements
come together in a convincing
way.
Barber wrote the libretto
himself, cutting down Shake-
peare’s text with Zeffirelli’s
input, and later edited it fur-
ther in 1970 with the help of
Gian Carlo Menotti. Though
the language is mostly Shake-
speare’s, the dramatic struc-
ture seems abrupt and dis-
jointed at times. Background
and context are missing in
action as the royal lovers
careen from Alexandria to
Rome and from power to polit-
ical downfall in just over two
hours. Most of the supporting
freedom-busting atrocities
perpetrated during the Bush
administration.
“Terre Haute” comes to New
York following a triumphant
run in London’s West End,
after breaking through at the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival
in 2007. Joining the transfer
is Peter Eyre, who made his
mark in Merchant Ivory films.
Recalling the world-weary
cynic played by Ian McKellen
in “Gods and Monsters,” Eyre
embodies James with a heady
mix of guile and vulnerability.
for ages seven and up, graph-
ically and magically drama-
tizing this good versus evil
fairy tale at the L yric Ham-
mersmith. Elizabeth Chan is
the heart of the show as the
long-suffering Cinderella,
but baddies — evil stepsis-
ters and stepmother — once
again get the best lines.
“N
oël at Noël” is at the
New End in Hamp-
stead through Jan-
uary 29, and thanks to Cow-
ard interpreter John Michael
Swinbank for making it one of
the few shows open on Christ-
mas Eve. (Virtually nothing
is open on Christmas Day in
London, not even the bus and
tube lines, leaving church
and telly the only entertain-
ments.) Swinbank is hailed
in publicity materials as “one
of Western Australia’s more
unusual exports,” and in the
spirit of the season, let’s leave
it at that.
characters emerge as ciphers,
and even Antony loses much
of his complexity and interest.
Barber’s score has a rather
conservative English feel to it,
tonal and straightforward like
William Walton or early Ben-
jamin Britten. There is a lot
of direct, spare, and often dry
setting of Shakepeare’s text
contrasted with lush Roman-
tic flights with exotic accents
on the drum and flute; these,
however, come too seldom to
raise the dramatic tempera-
ture to the heat of ill-fated
passion.
Notable exceptions were
the gorgeous duet in Act II,
where Antony and Cleopa-
tra share their last happy
moment before going to
battle with Octavius Cae-
sar, and Cleopatra’s justly
admired death scene. Per -
haps more adherence to the
spirit and less to the letter
of Shakespeare would have
served Barber better — look
at what Verdi and Boito did
with “Otello.”
The cast was entirely up
to the mark. While Price had
a voice of uncommon volup-
tuous beauty to summon
He knows just how to deliver
lines such as, “I see boys like
you wandering around New
York with their parents…
young, dumb, and full of cum”
to rattle his opponent.
Nick Westrate (“Moon for the
Misbegotten”) has a tougher
time with Harrison, not always
evoking the “charming socio-
path” when the script requires.
Yet he does achieve forceful
moments. When the relentless
James asks if he was proud of
the bombing, Harrison’s reply,
“The Tree of Liberty had to be
C
aveat: Can we stop
with the fag jokes?
In “Cinderella,” the
prince unveils partygoers
in search of his beloved and
when one turns out to be a
male waiter, the audience is
cued to laugh and most do.
And the earnest “War Horse,”
also attracting lots of children,
has a soldier telling his supe-
rior — in a joke, of course —
that he’ll shoot him if he tries
to dance with him. Ha, ha.
I’m not asking for what is
derisively called political cor-
rectness, just for not taking
lazy and cheap shots at any-
one — especially when vio-
lence is presented as a funny
response to any hint of homo-
sexuality.
A
lso In London: Don’t
miss the “Byzantium:
330-1453” exhibit at the
Royal Academy of Arts through
March 22 or “Taking Liberties:
The Struggle for Britain’s Free-
Cleopatra’s wiles and fascina-
tion, Flanigan has more of her
volatile temperament and infi-
nite variety of mood, aided by
a more incisive delivery of the
text. Some swooping attacks
on high notes — possibly a
sign of lingering indisposition
— were contrasted with steely
commanding tones. Her dra-
matic focus never wavered,
culminating in an impressive
death scene.
Rhodes was handsome of
person and baritone voice, but
lacked any kind of ambiva-
lence or self-destructive arro-
gance in his characterization,
and so failed to give Antony
depth and complexity. Bass-
baritone David Pittsinger as
Enobarbus sang sonorously
with firm legato and was an
audience favorite, though
much of the brusque humor
of Shakespeare’s character-
ization is lost. Rising heldent-
enor Simon O’Neill had a hint
of Irish tenor plangency to
go along with the heroic dec-
lamation as Octavius. The
superb mezzo sopranos San-
dra Piques Eddy and Laura
Vlasak Nolen were under -
used but mightily welcome as
watered with blood,” lands
hard.
George Perrin, who also
directed the West End produc-
tion, guides the drama with
admirable restraint, avoiding
the potholes of polemic and
coaxing the subtleties of ideas
and mannerisms into poignant
relief.
Yet the erotically charged,
soul-baring climax — which I
cannot give away here — would
have been more satisfying if it
revealed, shall we say, just a
little bit more.
dom and Rights” at the British
Library until March 1.
C
oming Up of Note:
Bette Bourne is Quen-
tin Crisp in “Resident
Alien” at the New End January
28 through April 5. Stoppard’s
“Every Good Boy Deserves
Favour” at the National Janu-
ary 12 through February 9.
Marlowe’s “Dido, Queen of
Carthage” at the National
March 17-May 7. Jude Law in
“Hamlet” at Wyndham’s May
29-August 9. Mark Raven-
hill’s “Over There” at the Royal
Court February 25-March 21.
Lee Hall’s “The Pitmen Paint-
ers” at the National January
27-April 14. Richard Green-
berg’s “Three Days of Rain” at
the Apollo January 30-May 9.
Ian McKellen in “Waiting for
Godot” at the Haymarket April
30-June 9. And “Plague Over
England” about John Gielgud’s
arrest for “importuning” at the
Duchess February 11-May 16.
Charmian and Iras.
Barber’s opera continues
to fascinate with its genuine
compositional strengths, yet
fails to rise to the musical and
dramatic heights the subject
requires. Still, City Opera in
this sole operatic presentation
at once resuscitated a neglect-
ed but worthy work and fea-
tured several up and coming
American singers. NYCO’s role
and purpose in the musical
life of this city never seemed
clearer than at Carnegie Hall
on Friday night.
Hopefully, that mission will
be clear to newly appointed
general manager and artis-
tic director George Steel, who
like Shakespeare’s Octavi-
us, is a fairly young, untried
leader who will have to clean
up after the failures and mis-
guided ambitions of his prede-
cessors. Octavius went on to
become the most successful
of the Roman emperors, and
one wishes the same fate for
Steel. For the sake of this city
and this nation, he and our
new president will have to rise
above uncertainty and eco-
nomic crisis to lead us in new
directions.
www.gaycitynews.com
14 Days
14 Nights
c jan 31, from p.26
BDSM play party with a uniform theme
for women and transfolk. All the play
is safe, consensual, and confidential.
Paddles, 250 W. 26th St., 5-11 p.m.
Admission is $20; $15 for LSM mem-
bers. For more information, visit Lesbi-
anSexMafia.org or call 212-726-3844.
O O O O O O O
SPORTS
SUN.FEB.1
Game Time
DJ Smokey provides the warm-up
music for this year’s Super Bowl con-
test between the Pittsburgh Steelers
and the Arizona Cardinals. There’ll be
free food, $3 beers, and plenty of dudes
who love to watch a man bend over and
snap that ball. Gym, 167 Eighth Ave.
at 18th St., 5 p.m. Game time is 6.
O O O O O O O
MUSIC
A Refined Super
Bowl Sunday
Music Salon is the LGBT Com-
munity Center’s only ongoing clas-
sical music event. Cello diva Ilya is
your hosts for a late afternoon of hot
melodies,sweet tea and treats, and
mingling with fellow music-lovers.
To day, Music Salon hosts a Pre-Val-
entine’s Costume Ball, an occasion
to dress up and court your sweetie in
traditional style. LGBT Community
Center, 208 W. 13th St., 3-5 p.m.
Suggested donation is $15. For more
information, visit xanga.com/music-
salon or call 917-743-0838.
O O O O O O O
COMEDY
Lesbos, Breeders
& Black Folk
Brad Loekl, in his weekly “Electro
Shock Therapy Comedy Hour,” tonight
presents a little something for every-
one, with a mixed bag of comedic
genius. Yamaneika! (BET) will headline
a show that also includes Leah Dubie
(Here! TV’s “Hot Gay Comics”), Chantal
Carrere (Logo’s “Wisecrack”), and Dave
Rubin (Here! TV’s “The Dave Rubin
Project”). Therapy Bar, 348 W. 52nd
St., 10 p.m. Free admission; $6 cosmos
all night.
O O O O O O O
MON.FEB.2
CABARET
Waving the
Tricolor
Nikki Renee Danielshas appeared in
“Aida, “Nine”, “Lestat”, “Look of Love”
and the revival of “Les Miserables,”
and tonight she’ll be belting her best
at Scott Nevins’ “Curtain Call.” Splash
Bar, 50 W. 17th St., 11:30 p.m. Admis-
sion if free until 10 p.m.; $5 after that.
You must be 21.
c 14 days, continued on p.30
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
FYQMPSF
OFX
IPQFMBNCFSUWJMMF
Lexington House B&B
One of the things we like about New Hope is that
all B&B’s are gay-friendly. But The Lexington
House is also gay-owned. And only one B&B can
be ranked #1 in New Hope on www.TripAdvisor.
com, and that’s The Lexington House. Come visit
us and find out why. Mention this ad and receive
5% off of a two-night stay. Or come visit for three
nights and get the fourth night free (both offers
good until the end of November, 2008). You might
enter as strangers, but will leave as friends. We look
forward to meeting you! -Mike and Ed
6171 Upper York Road | New Hope, PA 18938
215-794-0811 | www.lexingtonhouse.com
Hotel Du Village
We are a country inn, nestled in the Bucks County countryside,
just one and a half miles north of New Hope providing easy ac-
cess to the many fine shops and entertainment in the area. Our
inn offers 20 rooms, all with private bath and air conditioning
and a bridal suite for weddings. The inn is located on the same
grounds as the restaurant, making it convenient for visitors af-
ter a day in town. We also provide a continental breakfast for
guests staying at the inn. Our restaurant, specializing in country
French cuisine, is open for dinner every evening with the excep-
tions of Monday and Tuesday. We are very proud supporters of
the LGBT community and look forward to greeting you!
2535 River Road | New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-9911 | www.hotelduvillage.com
Gallery Piquel
Featuring Bronze Sculpture, Contemporary Oil Paint-
ings and original “Wearable Art” Jewelry, Gallery Piquel
presents the work of an array of international and lo-
cal artists. Some hold positions of honor in important
Museum and Corporate Collections, while others are
just emerging on the art scene. Each has a unique point
of view and their work has that special “something” to
engage and inspire.
Open Friday-Sunday 12pm-5pm or later, often on
other days and happily by appointment.
39 North Main Street
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-3523 | www.gallerypiquel.com
Bucks County, PA
Jim Briggs, Associate Broker,
“Zuider Zee”, egg tempera & oil on panel,
by M. Briscoe.
29
The Mansion Inn
A beautifully restored 1865 Victorian manor home, located on
the banks of the Delaware River in historic New Hope, PA,
known for its art and antiques shopping. The Mansion Inn is a
perfect location for your civil union, family reunion, business
meeting or just a leisure trip. The Inn offers award-winning fine
dining on premises and luxurious rooms and amenities.
Visit our sister property: The Majestic Hotel, 19 Main
Avenue, Ocean Grove, NJ 07756. 732-775-6100.
www.majesticoceangrove.com (walking distance of Asbury Park).
9 South Main Street
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-1231
www.themansioninn.com
J&W Gallery – Fine Art
Celebrating it’s 11th year in 2008, this sophisticated yet re-
laxed space is now the oldest Fine Art Gallery in New Hope.
Opened in 1997 by Joseph Licata and Walter Czajkowski, it rep-
resents over 30 established and emerging artists in oils, mixed-
media and photography. Featured Provincetown artist: Michael
McGuire: oils, Sept. 26 - Oct. 27. Opening reception: Saturday,
Sept. 27, 6-9pm. Visit the Gallery and see why it is known as
“The Destination for Fine Art in New Hope”. Come and cele-
brate the Arts every Second Saturday of the month for special ex-
hibitions, food and entertainment: 9/13,10/11,11/8 & 12/13.
20 West Bridge Street
New Hope, PA 18938
215-862-5119 | www.jwgallery.com Michael McGuire - Lone Shack - 36x36, oil on canvas, 2008.
Reinboth & Company
Reinboth is a luxury interior design and retail stu-
dio that started in 1992 in Lambertville, NJ. To-
day, Reinboth is the standard-bearer of good taste
and sumptuous living in the region. Specializing
in the modern aesthetic, Reinboth has designed
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in Northern New Jersey, Princeton, Bucks County,
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30 23 jan – 5 feb 2009 www.gaycitynews.com

c appointees, from p.7 Department. Jean-Pierre

be the president’s choice for
White House liaison to NASA.
Prior to joining the Obama
campaign, Noble led the Capi-
tol Hill lobbying efforts for the
National Gay and Lesbian
joined the campaign after serv-
ing as the Washington press
secretary for Congressman
Anthony Weiner, a Brooklyn-
Queens Democrat now run-
ning for mayor.
Vice President Joe Biden’s
cratic National Convention
and more recently worked
at the US Global Leader -
ship Campaign, which aims
to increase US investments
in oversees development and
diplomacy, will serve as First
Lady Michelle Obama’s deputy
the Bush administration’s
global AIDS coordinator, 14 Days
14 Nights
responsible for overseeing the
President’s Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, will
be staying in that post under
Obama. c 14 days, from p.28
A physician, Dybul had

Task Force, and he has also
worked for the National Stone-
wall Democrats.
Karine Jean-Pierre, who was
a regional political director in
the Obama campaign, has
been tapped to be the White
House liaison to the Labor
c BRIEFS, from p.14
ity with them, and with all
orthodox, evangelical Angli-
cans.”
Out Gay Mayor
May Bow Out
Over Lying
About Sex with
Teen
Portland was the largest US
city with an out gay mayor when
Sam Adams’ term started this
TUE.FEB.3
director of administration will chief of staff. expected to move on, but earli-
be Moe Vela, a Denver Civil Anthony Bernal, who did er this month sent a note to his
Service commissioner who scheduling and advance work colleagues, “I wanted to let you
advised Vice President Al Gore for Clinton and Gore, will be know that I have been asked COMMUNITY
on Hispanic Affairs from 1996 director of scheduling for Dr. to rescind my resignation, so I A Fond Farewell to
until 2000. Jill Biden, the vice president’s will be continuing in the coor- Richard Burns
David Media, who was dep- wife. dinator position beyond the Twenty-two years after arriving
uty CEO of the 2004 Demo- Ambassador Mark Dybul, inauguration.” in New York to take the reins of the
still-young LGBT Community Center,
Richard Burns is set to depart early
press that he had a mentoring brook Crown Court judge, tenced to five days of commu- Out Lesbian in March to become chief operating
relationship with Breedlove. handed down the sentence to nity service by a New York City President for officer at the Arcus Foundation, a
The police union and three George O’Dowd on January 16, court after he reported a rob- “24” non-profit grants-making group with
newspapers, including The Ore- saying that the singer had used bery only to have police at the Cherry Jones, 52, the out les- two principal areas of focus, one of
gonian and Just Out, the Port- “gratuitous violence.” scene discover cocaine in his bian Tony Award-winning stage them social justice issues related to
land LGBT paper, have called O’Dowd met 29-year-old apartment. In 1977, he was con- star of plays like “Doubt” and sexual orientation and gender iden-
on Adams to resign. “You lie Audun Carlsen in early 2007 victed for attempted theft. (Paul “The Heiress,” is now playing tity. Tonight, the Center holds a cel-
when you’re 15 until you start through the Gaydar dating Schindler) US President Allison Taylor on ebration of his tenure and wishes him
growing up,” said Just Out pub- website. Carlsen traveled to the the TV series “24” on Fox. Her the best. LGBT Community Center,
lisher Marty Davis. “You don’t singer’s apartment for a late- Utah Poll character is of indeterminate 208 W. 13th St., 6-8 p.m. Cocktails
lie when you’re 42… We’re night “photo shoot.” Follow- Mixed on LGBT party, but, according to Jones, “I and hor d’ourves at 6 p.m.; program at
having to deal with our icon, our ing that evening, O’Dowd sent Rights think my hair is Republican.” 7 p.m. RSVP at gaycenter.org.
gay mayor, lied to us.” him several messages through A poll by the Salt Lake Tri- Jones’ partner of five years, O O O O O O O
Adams’ current partner is Gaydar, and on April 28, 2007, bune found that “56 percent of Sarah Paulson, is in the new
Peter Zuckerman, a reporter for Carlsen returned to the apart-

month, but he is already under
pressure to resign — including
from the local gay press — for
lying during his campaign about
a relationship with a man who
may or may not have reached
the age of consent at the time.
In 2007 as he began his
mayoral campaign, Adams
denied having had a sexual rela-
tionship with Beau Breedlove,
a legislative intern, in 2005,
whom he now acknowledges
dating when Breedlove was 17
and having sex with after he
turned 18.
The Oregon Department of
Justice is now investigating
whether the sex did, in fact,
take place when Breedlove
was 17, below the legal age of
consent in Oregon. That would
subject him to charges of felony
second-degree sexual abuse
The Oregonian.
Murderer of
Transgendered
Woman Guilty
in UK
James Hopkins, 42, has
finally been convicted of mur-
dering Robyn Browne, 23, a pre-
op transsexual, in her central
London flat in 1997. Police were
able to break the case through
DNA technology not available
at the time of the crime 11 years
ago. Hopkins’ bloody palm prints
at the scene, where he stabbed
Browne nine times in the chest
and neck, were matched with a
new national database.
The Gaol Won’t
Be No Culture
Club
ment.
Carlsen testified that
O’Dowd and another man
attacked him when he arrived,
handcuffed him to a wall, and
beat him with a chain until he
was able to escape.
O’Dowd explained to police
that Carlsen had tampered with
his computer the first evening
that they met. “I asked him to
come because I wanted to find
out if this guy had borrowed my
stuff,” he said. “I got a friend
there because I wanted to
make sure he didn’t leave so I
could check the computer and
his phone. The friend was just
there in case he tried to stab me
or take a hammer to me.”
Carlsen testified that
O’Dowd screamed, “Fucking
whore! Now you’re going to get
Utah voters support increased
legal protections for same-sex
couples,” but 70 percent don’t
want any change to the state
Constitution, which forbids
marriage and civil unions for
gay couples, and 54 percent
oppose unmarried couples
adopting or providing foster
care.
The poll is seen as helping
the Common Ground Initiative,
a package of six LGBT rights
bills that Equality Utah pro-
posed in response to defensive
Mormon Church statements
after their success with Prop
8 in California that it had no
problem with “same-sex bene-
fits on matters of fair housing,
employment protection, pro-
bate rights, and medical care,”
the newspaper said.
Meanwhile, Gary S. Bar-
ABC comedy “Cupid,” playing a
therapist to Cupid (Bobby Can-
navale), set for March.
“Milk” Oscar-
Nominated
“Milk,” about the life of gay
icon and slain San Francisco
Supervisor Harvey Milk, was
nominated for Best Picture by the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts
and Sciences. Sean Penn, who
plays the title role, was nominated
for Best Actor and Josh Brolin, for
Best Supporting Actor in his role
as Dan White, the former Super-
visor who assassinated Milk and
Mayor George Moscone.
Gus Van Sant got a Best Direc-
tor nod for “Milk” as did Dustin
Lance Black for Best Original
Screenplay for the film. Both men
are out gay.
THU.FEB.5
COMEDY
Girls Gone
Hilarious
Sisters are doin’ it for the laughs,
including Latina laugh legend Marga
Gomez, in a rare New York appear-
ance. Saucy wit Becky Donohue
hosts, with funny ladies Lisa Kaplan,
Kate McKinnon, and Annie Neczy-
por on the roster. Gotham Comedy
Club, 208 W. 23rd St., 7 p.m. The
cover charge is $20, with a two-drink
minimum. Reservations at 212-367-
9000. Prior to the show, beginning at
5:45 p.m., LYNX Lounge and Out Pro-
fessionals host a women’s social and
networking mixer with snacks and $5
margaritas.
O O O O O O O

and several misdemeanors,
including sexual delinquency of
a minor.
“I want to apologize to the
people of Portland for my dis-
honesty,” Adams said. “I should
have been truthful from the
beginning.” He denies having
had sex with Breedlove before
he was 18. In 2007, he told the
c minnesota, from p.15
that point. Plaintiffs alleging a
disparate treatment case must
prove the defendant acted with
discriminatory intent if a poli-
cy is neutral on its face. It also
held that the Monsons could
not look to the state’s policy on
FRI.FEB.6
“Milk” also got nominations
Boy George, the androgy- what you deserve”. kley, a gay Iraq veteran, has in Film Editing (Eliot Graham), Cos-
nous pop star who came to O’Dowd pleaded not guilty announced that he is looking tume Design (Danny Glicker), and
fame in the 1980s band Culture but did not take the stand at his to run for Congress from Utah’s Original Score (Danny Elfman). COMMUNITY
Club, has been sentenced to 15 trial. vast suburban and rural 2nd Stephen Daldry, who still Celebrating Black
months in jail after a December Radford termed the assault Congressional District in 2010 acknowledges being a gay man History Month
5 jury conviction for the false on Carlsen “premeditated, cal- against Jim Matheson, an although he married a woman in Men of All Colors Together honor
imprisonment of a male hustler lous, and humiliating,” robbing anti-gay Republican. Barkley is 2001, got a Best Director nomina- Black History month with an appear-
in his East London apartment, the victim of his “human dig- the co-host of a weekly online tion for “The Reader.” He is also ance by writer, scholar, and gay
the UK’s Pink News reported. nity.” radio show, “Shared Sacrifice the director of the screen and activist Martin Duberman, a profes-
David Radford, a Snares- In 2008, O’Dowd was sen- Internet Radio.” stage versions of “Billy Elliot.” sor emeritus at Lehman College and
the founder of CUNY’s Center for
Lesbian and Gay Studies, who will
disparate impact. Prominent used to prove a violation of the concluded that the Legislature discuss the life of Paul Robeson, the
among those precedents is public accommodations pro- did not intend to apply the dis- acclaimed African-American singer,
Levin v. Yeshiva University, vision of state human rights parate impact theory in public actor, and hero of the left who was
a 2001 New York Court of law. The Minnesota Supreme accommodations cases. blacklisted during the McCarthy era.
Appeals decision that found Court had approved this theo- The Monsons could attempt LGBT Community Center, 208 W.
the university’s refusal to ry in an employment discrimi- to appeal this ruling to the 13th St., 7-9 p.m. Admission is $5.
let same-sex couples live in nation claim, however, and Minnesota Supreme Court, For more information on the event or
married-student housing the Monsons pointed to that which has not yet addressed MACT/ NY, call 908-289-3714.
violated New York City’s sex- precedent. the question. Otherwise, gay O O O O O O O

marriage by same-sex couples
in imputing discriminatory
treatment to the club.
Peterson pointed out that
the raft of precedents the Mon-
sons cited from other jurisdic-
tions all relied on a theory of
ual orientation discrimina-
tion ordinance.
Unfortunately for the
Monsons, Minnesota appel-
late courts had not previ-
ously addressed the question
whether this theory could be
The appellate court pointed
out the employment and pub-
lic accommodations provi-
sions of the Minnesota human
rights statute had different
language describing what dis-
crimination was prohibited. It
gaycity
rights advocates in Minnesota
might press for an amendment
to the human rights law, mak-
ing the disparate impact theo-
ry available in public accom-
modations cases such as the
one brought by the Monsons. news.com
www.gaycitynews.com 23 jan – 5 feb 2009
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