metro weekly - 10-15-15 - lgbt history

8/20/2019 Metro Weekly - 10-15-15 - LGBT History

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR-IN-CHIEFRandy Shulman

ART DIRECTORTodd Franson

MANAGING EDITORRhuaridh Marr

SENIOR EDITORJohn Riley

CONTRIBUTING EDITORDoug Rule

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERSWard Morrison, Julian Vankim

CONTRIBUTING ILLUSTRATORScott G. Brooks

CONTRIBUTING WRITERSSean Bugg, Chris Heller, Connor J. Hogan,

Troy Petenbrink, Kate Wingfield

WEBMASTERDavid Uy

PRODUCTION ASSISTANTJulian Vankim

SALES & MARKETING

PUBLISHERRandy Shulman

BRAND STRATEGY & MARKETINGChristopher Cunetto

Cunetto Creative

NATIONAL ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVE

Rivendell Media Co.212-242-6863

DISTRIBUTION MANAGERDennis Havrilla

PATRON SAINTJohn Boswell

COVER ILLUSTRATIONChristopher Cunetto

METRO WEEKLY1425 K St. NW, Suite 350Washington, DC 20005

202-638-6830

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All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be

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© 2015 Jansi LLC.

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OCTOBER 15, 2015Volume 22 / Issue 24

NEWS 8

THE DEMOCRATIC DEBATE by Rhuaridh Marr

12 WALK TO END HIV by Doug Rule

14 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

FEATURES 19 LGBT HISTORY MONTH

20 MARK SEGAL by Jen Colletta

22 JOE LOBDELL

by Ray Simon

23 ARC/AIDS V IGIL by Matthew S. Bajko

24 P.L. TRAVERS by Gary M. Kramer

26 TRANSGENDER TIMELINE Compiled by the Staff of the

San Diego LGBT Weekly

FEATURE

28 DJ BILLY CARROLL CELEBRATES THE

MUSIC OF V ELVET NATION AT TOWN by Doug Rule

OUT ON THE TOWN 32 C RIMSON P EAK by Randy Shulman

34 R AVEN’S NIGHT by Doug Rule

FILM 37 S TEVE J OBS by Chris Heller

STAGE 39 C AKE O FF / T HE G UARD by Doug Rule

GAMES 41 Y OSHI’S WOOLLY WORLD by Rhuaridh Marr

NIGHTLIFE 45 OTTER CROSSING AT GREEN LANTERN photography by Ward Morrison

SCENE 52 LOVE, LOVE, LOVE - A CELEBRATION OF LIFE FOR CARL R IZZI AND MAME DENNIS AT TOWN

photography by Christopher Cunetto

54 LAST WORD


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Debatable SuccessCNN’s Democratic debate was the perfect antithesis to the circus antics

of the prior two GOP affairs

(L-R) Webb, Sanders, Clinton, O’Malley and Chafee

WHAT A DIFFERENCE A DAY MAKES. OR,

rather, what a difference four weeks, restrainedset design, competent moderation, and refined,

respectful candidates can make. This week’sDemocratic Party debate may not have had the same degree

of excitement and newsworthy bickering that has defined its

Republican counterparts, but as an actual debate, it was leaguesbetter than the pandering mess of Fox News or the quixotically

unmoderated CNN debate last month.Anderson Cooper is to thank for its success. Unlike Fox

News, who moderated well but threw ludicrously softballquestions to candidates not named Trump, or CNN’s own Jake

Tapper, who could have watched from home and had the sameimpact on the GOP field, Cooper maintained a vice-like grip on

proceedings — only occasionally relinquishing it to offer other

moderators the spotlight. If this is the standard for the debatesmoving forward, it’s something we’ll all benefit from, as Cooper

wasted no time in fact-checking candidates or pressing themfor answers — though there’s legitimate concern that CNN gave

Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders vastly more time to talk thanthe other candidates.

It’s also somewhat telling, especially in comparison to

Republicans, that LGBT issues were essentially a footnote inthis debate. Unlike their GOP competitors, support for same-sex

C N N

marriage, transgender rights, nondiscrimination and other fac-

tors are tacitly implied: Democrats support the LGBT commu-nity. Clinton affirmed as much during her opening statement as

did Martin O’Malley in his closing, but that’s about as much asit was discussed. It’s somewhat disheartening CNN didn’t allow

candidates to offer counterparts to GOP arguments against

transgender servicemembers, or the threat of religious freedomlaws, but there are several debates still to come.

Instead — and, really, thankfully — this was a debate aboutthe issues.

In that context, Clinton was arguably the strongest candidate

on the stage. With the most to lose coming into this debate, theformer Secretary of State had to convince voters that she was

still the party’s best candidate to challenge a Republican oppo-nent. With polished, confident delivery and strong command of

her own policies, Clinton set forth the terms of her presidencyto repeated applause from the audience. Challenging views that

her political career has been one of flip-flopping between theissues depending on public support, Clinton stuck to previous

assertions that her positions constantly evolve, saying: “I havebeen very consistent,” she said. “Over the course of my entire

life, I have always fought for the same values and principles,

but...I do absorb new information.”Not that she was given an easy ride on other matters. Her

L G B TNews Now online at MetroWeekly.comHIV Vaccine Enters Human TrialsJack Black on Brother’s Death from AIDS

by Rhuaridh Marr


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email scandal inevitably cropped up. Clinton stated she had

been “as transparent as I know how to be” — a very carefullychosen answer — before iterating that she wanted to “talk not

about my emails, but about what the American people want forthe next president of the United States.”

It was here that Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders came to

Clinton’s aid — perhaps to the surprise of some, but not to thosewho’ve watched him consistently chastise the media for focus-

ing on scandal rather than the issues. Responding to Clinton,Sanders stated: “Let me say something. I think the secretary is

right. And that is that the American people are sick and tired ofhearing about your damn emails!” It was enough to draw a big

laugh from Clinton and a standing ovation from the audience.

Clinton, however, pulled no punches in asserting herself as amore electable version of Sanders. (“I’m a progressive, but I’m a

progressive who likes to get things done,” she quipped.) Whenasked if Sanders was tough enough on gun control, Clinton force-

fully responded, “No. Not at all. We have to look at the fact thatwe lose 90 people a day from gun violence. This has gone on too

long and it’s time the entire country stood up against the NRA.”Sanders, who has previously opposed gun control measures

due to attitudes in rural Vermont, found himself on the defen-

sive against a more liberal opponent — something that can’toften be said for the Democratic Socialist. “We can raise our

voices,” he said. “But I come from a rural state, and the viewson gun control in rural states are different than in urban states,

whether we like it or not.”Clinton was also predictably taken to task for issues that

have put her at odds with the Democratic base. On Iraq, which

Sanders called “the worst foreign policy blunder in the historyof this country,” Clinton was attacked for voting in favor of the

war. “There was no real evidence of weapons of mass destruc-tion in Iraq,” said former Rhode Island Governor Lincoln

Chafee. “I know because I did my homework.” Clinton couldn’tbe shaken, however, instead spinning the attack into a defense

of her strong record on foreign policy.“After the election, [President Obama] asked me to become

Secretary of State. He valued my judgment,” she said, before reit-

erating her policies on Syria, ISIS, her role in capturing Osamabin Laden and the stance she’d take with Russia’s President

Putin. When former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley triedto attack Clinton on being too quick to use military interven-

tion, she slapped him down. “I was very pleased when GovernorO’Malley endorsed me for president in 2008,” she said with a

smile, “and I enjoyed his strong support in that campaign.”

Clinton was also, predictably, strong on women’s issues.On her Washington insider status — considered by many to

be poisonous in this campaign — she retorted: “I can’t thinkof anything more of an outsider than electing the first woman

president.” She also used Planned Parenthood to contrast theDemocratic field with their Republican counterparts: “They

don’t mind having big government to interfere with a woman’sright to choose and to try to take down Planned Parenthood,”

she said, to loud cheers and applause. “They’re fine with big

government when it comes to that. I’m sick of it.”For Sanders, last night was more of what the liberal Senator

has become known for: impassioned speeches, off-the-cuffremarks, factual arguments, and ideological rants. The same

charisma that has filled venues across the nation spilled overthe CNN stage, offering a counterpart to Clinton’s carefully

refined poise.

Sanders took big swipes at corporate America and class

inequality. The irony of his railing against “the casino capitalist

process” while standing in the Wynn in Las Vegas wasn’t lost,but his attacks on Wall Street, the hoarding of money by the

richest one-percent, and the incredible inequality in Americansociety played into the hands of the party’s liberal base. It also

offered a chance for Sanders to combat smear tactics against hisDemocratic Socialist ideology.

“What Democratic Socialism is about is saying that it is

immoral and wrong that the top one-tenth of 1 percent own 90

percent,” he thundered, before stating his affinity for Nordicnations and their liberal attitudes towards welfare and socialcare. “Those are some of the principles that I believe in, and I

think we should look to countries like Denmark, like Swedenand Norway and learn from what they have accomplished for

their working people.”

Clinton quickly stepped in to retort: “We are not Denmark....We are the United States of America. And it’s our job to rein in

the excesses of capitalism so that it doesn’t run amok.”Sanders also appealed to those disaffected with current

foreign policy, while defending his decision to conscientiouslyobject to the Vietnam War. “I am not a pacifist, Anderson. I

supported the war in Afghanistan,” he said. “I happen to believe

from the bottom of my heart that war should be the last resortthat we have got to exercise diplomacy.”

He also had arguably the strongest answer when asked aboutthe Black Lives Matter movement. “Black lives matter,” he stat-

ed emphatically. “On any given day some innocent person likeSandra Bland can get into a car, and then three days later she’s

going to end up dead in jail.... We need to combat institutionalracism from top to bottom.”

The issue also gave O’Malley the opportunity to defend

against criticisms of his stewardship during the Baltimore pro-tests. “When I ran for Mayor of Baltimore...we were burying

over 350 young men every single year, mostly young, and poor,and black,” he said. “I said to our legislature...that if we were

burying white, young, poor men in these numbers we would bemarching in the streets and there would be a different reaction.”

Indeed, O’Malley had a few choice moments during thedebate, such as calling Donald Trump “that carnival barker,”

but particularly on climate change. The entire Democratic field

supports efforts on climate change (“the fossil fuel industry isfunding the Republican Party,” railed Sanders), but O’Malley

has used the strongest rhetoric, demanding that we move “toa 100 percent clean electric energy grid by 2050” — promising

that it would be the first order he signed in office.However, he struggled against Clinton and Sanders. His liber-

al politics are overshadowed by Sanders, while Clinton ran rings

around him in foreign policy. Attempts to attack the latter onSyria fell flat, after his question of whether she underestimated

the Russians gave Clinton carte blanche to put forward her ownpolicies, rather than let O’Malley state his own. He did, however,

have perhaps the strongest closing statement of the night.“On this stage, you didn’t hear anyone denigrate women,

you didn’t hear anyone make racist comments about newAmerican immigrants, you didn’t hear anyone speak ill of anoth-

er American because of their religious belief,” he said. “What

you heard instead on this stage tonight was an honest search forthe answers that will move our country forward.”

Conversely, neither Lincoln Chafee nor former VirginiaSenator Jim Webb provided voters enough reason to elevate

them from their meager positions in the polls.Webb was arguably the more confusing candidate, with

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many of his policies and ideals speaking more to moderate

Republicans than Democrats. He also found himself on awk-ward footing when discussing issues of race. Asked whether he

was out of step with the party for his opposition to affirmativeaction, something he’s called “state-sponsored racism,” Webb

responded that he supports it for African Americans, but not

“everyone, quote, ‘of color,’ other than whites.”Webb spent most of his time on stage complaining that he

wasn’t given enough time to speak. He wasn’t incorrect — esti-mates put him and Chafee last that regard — but whining to

Cooper did little to make him seem presidential.“This debate...is kind of frustrating because unless some-

body mentions my name I can’t get into the discussion,” Webb

complained.“You agreed to these rules and you’re wasting time,” Cooper

snapped back.Chafee, meanwhile, offered occasionally thoughtful respons-

es and took swipes at Clinton by espousing his 30-year careerwith “no scandals.” However, he derailed any momentum with

bizarre responses to questions.Asked whether he could be trusted by voters, given he’d

switched from Republican to Independent to Democrat — the

latter occurring just two years ago — Chafee called himself “a

block of granite when it comes to the issues.”“It seems like pretty soft granite,” Cooper responded.

Later on, when asked about Glass-Steagall, Chafee defendedvoting to remove it because his father had died. “[It] was my very

first vote, I’d just arrived, my dad had died in office,” he said.“Are you saying you didn’t know what you were voting for?”

Cooper asked.

“I’d just arrived at the Senate. I think we’d get some take-

overs, and that was one,” Chafee responded, to little enthusiasmfrom the audience.

If viewers didn’t like Hillary before the debate, her perfor-

mance is unlikely to have changed any minds, but it will cer-tainly boost her flagging campaign and have appealed to unsure

voters. Sanders was able to present himself to his widest audi-

ence yet and took full advantage of the opportunity — though hisliberal policies are still at odds with more moderate parts of the

Democratic base. If this week’s debate was the standard bearerfor those moving forward, however, and if Webb and Chafee

drop out to allow the other three candidates to breathe moreand go deeper, the next debate on November 14 is certainly one

to look forward to. l

OCTOBER 15, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM

HIV HeroesStepping Out

Danny Pintauro to be honored at Whitman-Walker Health’s 29th annual Walk to End HIV

by Doug Rule

LAST MONTH, DANNY PINTAURO CAME OUT ASHIV-positive. The actor, who, in his youth, portrayed

Jonathan in ’80s sitcom Who’s The Boss, also announcedhis intention to become an HIV activist, with a particular focus

on outreach to younger LGBT people.Whitman-Walker Health will honor Pintauro by presenting

him with a Courage Award at the organization’s 29th Annual Walk

to End HIV next Saturday, Oct. 24th. Also receiving a CourageAward at this year’s event is Dázon Dixon Diallo, who, in 1989,

founded the Atlanta-based SisterLove, Inc., the first women’sHIV/AIDS organization in the southeastern United States.

Both Pintauro and Diallo will take part in the walk, Whitman-Walker’s largest annual public fundraiser, this year organized

around a superheroes theme and the tagline “Superheroes Don’tFly, They Walk to End HIV.” Participants in the 5-kilometer,

timed run and walk are encouraged to dress up in superhero garb,

with awards and prizes for Best Couple, Best Team, even Best Pet.David Mallory, Director of Annual Giving at Whitman-Walker

and lead organizer of the walk, says adopting a theme is one wayof trying to keep people — especially younger people — engaged.

“We recognize we’re in competition with a lot of other walksand good causes out there,” Mallory says. “This is an opportu-

nity to hopefully make the event fresher, make it memorable,

make it a fun experience.”Fun certainly wasn’t a motivating factor of the event when

it was started nearly three decades ago as the AIDS Walk. Backthen, anger, fear and sadness compelled as many as 20,000

people to raise awareness and as much as $1 million to fight

a deadly disease ravaging the nation. While “there’s still anelement certainly of memorializing folks who have passed,”

Mallory says the walk, which last year attracted over 7,000people and raised $700,000, reflects a far more optimistic era.

“We’re at a much more hopeful point where we actually can,through education, through testing and through providing care

immediately, reduce HIV infections in this city.” Last year,there were 533 new HIV diagnoses, down by more than half

from as recently as 2008. Eventually, as last year’s name change

makes plain, the goal is to end HIV — something unthinkableeven just a few years ago.

“I think we took a calculated risk with the name change,” saysShawn Jain, Whitman-Walker’s Director of Communications.

“Taking a 28-year institution and changing the name, thatprobably wasn’t the most brilliant move from a pure branding

perspective, to be honest. But we did it because we really believe

that that term AIDS is so old-fashioned, and so stigmatizing.“So many people, even when they come in to get tested,

still have so many misconceptions about HIV,” Jain continues.“People still talk about the cocktail, or the side effects, as if we’re

in 1994. That’s hard to overcome, but I think the language is areally important part of it — especially when we had decades

of ‘AIDS equals death’ mantra. I think in order for us to reallymake progress, we have to talk about it as HIV. As a chronic

condition.”

Despite all the changes over the years, Mallory says the walkstill attracts “a diverse community that has HIV as one of its

priorities,” including representatives from every college and alot of high schools in the region, as well as corporate groups and

LGBT groups. “Seeing so many different types of people justcome together for a common effort,” he says, “it’s always inspir-

ing, it’s always uplifting, it’s always encouraging.”

The Walk to End HIV is Saturday, Oct. 24, including entertain-

ment at 8:15 a.m., the timed 5K run at 9:15 a.m. and the walk at9:20 a.m., all at Freedom Plaza, 14th Street and Pennsylvania

Avenue NW. Registration will start at 7 a.m., or can be done inadvance at walktoendhiv.org. l


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SATURDAY, OCT. 17ADVENTURING outdoors grouphikes 7.5 strenuous miles with 1700feet of elevation gain on mountainoverlooking Harpers Ferry, WV.Bring beverages, lunch, sturdy boots, bug spray and about $15 for fees.

Carpool at 9 a.m. from Grosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station. Jeff, 301-775-9660. adventuring.org. Black Women for Positive Change

presents a DMV SUMMIT ONNON-VIOLENCE COMMUNITYFORUM at the Metropolitan AfricanMethodist Episcopal Church, onthe roles for youth, parents, com-munity and religious leaders, and lawenforcement in preventing violence. 9a.m.-3 p.m. 1518 M St. NW. For moreinformation and to register, visiteventbrite.com.

The DC Center hosts a monthly

ASYLUM SEEKERS/ASYLEESFORUM for LGBT asylum seekers/ refugees and their supporters. 7-9 p.m.2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For moreinformation, visit thedccenter.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture group visits six private homes during 14th Annual Reston Home Tour. $30.Meet at 9:45 a.m. at the Wiehle Avenue Metro Station. Kevin, 571-338-1433. [email protected].

BURGUNDY CRESCENT, a gay volun-teer organization, volunteers today forthe Lost Dog & Cat Rescue Foundation

at Falls Church PetSmart. To partici-pate, visit burgundycrescent.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURALHEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5p.m., and HIV services (by appoint-ment). 202-291-4707 or andromeda-transculturalhealth.org.

BET MISHPACHAH, founded bymembers of the LGBT community,holds Saturday morning Shabbatservices, 10 a.m., followed by Kiddushluncheon. Services in DCJCCCommunity Room, 1529 16th St. NW. betmish.org.

FRIDAY, OCT. 16LGB PSYCHOTHERAPY GROUP foradults in Montgomery County offersa safe space to explore coming outand issues of identity. 10-11:30 a.m.16220 S. Frederick Rd., Suite 512,Gaithersburg, Md. For more informa-

tion, visit thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practicesession at Hains Point, 927 Ohio Dr.SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

GAY DISTRICT holds a facilitateddiscussion group for GBTQ men,18-35, on the first and third Fridays ofeach month. 8:30-9:30 p.m. The DCCenter, 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.202-682-2245, gaydistrict.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. At the Elizabeth TaylorMedical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointmentcall 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

METROHEALTH CENTER offersfree, rapid HIV testing. Appointmentneeded. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.202-638-0750.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-affirming social group for ages 11-24.4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW.Contact Tamara, 202-319-0422, layc-

dc.org.

SMYAL’S REC NIGHT providesa social atmosphere for GLBT andquestioning youth, featuring danceparties, vogue nights, movies andgames. More info, [email protected].

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-6p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

THURSDAY, OCT. 15The DC Center hosts a monthly

meeting of its POLY DISCUSSIONGROUP, for those interested in dis-cussing polyamory and other consen-sual non-monogamous relationships.7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit thedc-center.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)practice session at Takoma AquaticCenter, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9p.m. swimdcac.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES gay and lesbian square-dancing group featuresmainstream through advanced squaredancing at the National City ChristianChurch, 5 Thomas Circle NW, 7-9:30p.m. Casual dress. 301-257-0517,

dclambdasquares.org.

The DULLES TRIANGLES Northern Virginia social group meets for happyhour at Sheraton in Reston, 11810Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar, 7-9 p.m. All welcome. dullestri-angles.com.

METROHEALTH CENTER offersfree, rapid HIV testing. Appointmentneeded. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700.202-638-0750.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. 202-567-3155

or [email protected].

US HELPING US hosts a Narcotics Anonymous Meeting, 6:30-7:30 p.m.,3636 Georgia Ave. NW. The group isindependent of UHU. 202-446-1100.

WOMEN’S LEADERSHIPINSTITUTE for young LBTQ women,13-21, interested in leadership devel-opment. 5-6:30 p.m. SMYAL YouthCenter, 410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3163,[email protected].

Metro Weekly’s Community Calendar highlights important events in the D.C.-area

LGBT community, from alternative social events to volunteer opportunities.

Event information should be sent by email to [email protected].

Deadline for inclusion is noon of the Friday before Thursday’s publication.

Questions about the calendar may be directed to the

Metro Weekly office at 202-638-6830 or

the calendar email address.

LGBTCommunityCalendarBRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, includingothers interested in Brazilian culture,meets. For location/time, email [email protected].

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practicesession at Hains Point, 972 Ohio Dr.,SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walk-ing/social club welcomes all levels forexercise in a fun and supportive envi-ronment, socializing afterward. Meet9:30 a.m., 23rd & P Streets NW, for awalk; or 10 a.m. for fun run. dcfront-runners.org.

DC SENTINELS basketball teammeets at Turkey Thicket RecreationCenter, 1100 Michigan Ave. NE, 2-4p.m. For players of all levels, gay orstraight. teamdcbasketball.org.

DIGNITYUSA sponsors Mass forLGBT community, family and friends.6:30 p.m., Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill, 3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria. All welcome. For more info, visit dig-nitynova.org.

GAY LANGUAGE CLUB discussescritical languages and foreign lan-guages. 7 p.m. Nellie’s, 900 U St. NW.RVSP preferred. [email protected].

IDENTITY offers free and confidentialHIV testing in Takoma Park, 7676New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 12-3 p.m. For appointments otherhours, call 301-422-2398.

SUNDAY, OCT. 18ADVENTURING outdoors group hikesseveral moderate miles along historicroad in Shenandoah National Parkat the height of fall color season andenjoys annual Apple Harvest Festivalat nearby Graves Mountain Lodge.Bring beverages, lunch (or buy one atthe Festival), bug spray and about $15for fees. Optional dinner at Lodge fol-lows. Carpool at 9:30 a.m. from EastFalls Church Metro Station. Bill, 443-244-5495. adventuring.org.

MONDAY, OCT. 19

CENTER FAITH, a group for LGBTand questioning people and their reli-gious allies, holds its monthly meetingat The DC Center. Brown bag dinnerstarts at 6:30 p.m., before the meet-ing. Meeting runs from 7:30-8:30 p.m.2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For moreinformation, visit thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 927 OhioDr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.


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DC SCANDALS RUGBY holdspractice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. GarrisonElementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscan-dals.wordpress.com.

GETEQUAL meets 6:30-8 p.m. atQuaker House, 2111 Florida Ave. [email protected].

HIV Testing at WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH. At the ElizabethTaylor Medical Center, 1701 14thSt. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the MaxRobinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave.SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appoint-ment call 202-745-7000. Visit whit-man-walker.org.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY(K.I.) SERVICES, 3333 Duke St., Alexandria, offers free “rapid” HIVtesting and counseling, 9 a.m.-4 p.m.

703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER offersfree, rapid HIV testing. No appoint-ment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14th

St. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV test-ing. 5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-

789-4467.

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155 or test-

[email protected].

THE DC CENTER hosts Coffee Drop-In for the Senior LGBT Community.10 a.m.-noon. 2000 14th St. NW. 202-682-2245, thedccenter.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gaymen’s evening affinity group. 3636

Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATERPOLO TEAM practices 7-9 p.m.Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 VanBuren St. NW. Newcomers with atleast basic swimming ability alwayswelcome. Tom, 703-299-0504, [email protected], wetskins.org.

WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTHHIV/AIDS Support Group for newlydiagnosed individuals, meets 7 p.m.Registration required. 202-939-7671,[email protected].

TUESDAY, OCT. 20CENTER BI, a group of The DCCenter, hosts a monthly roundtablediscussion group examining issuesof bisexuality and identity. 7-8 p.m.2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For moreinformation, visit thedccenter.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURALHEALTH offers free HIV testing, 9-5p.m., and HIV services (by appoint-ment). 202-291-4707, andromeda-transculturalhealth.org.

ASIANS AND FRIENDS weekly dinnerin Dupont/Logan Circle area, 6:30 [email protected], afwashington.net.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)practice session at Takoma AquaticCenter, 300 Van Buren St. NW. 7:30-9p.m. swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/walk-ing/social club serving greater D.C.’sLGBT community and allies hosts anevening run/walk. dcfrontrunners.org.

THE GAY MEN’S HEALTHCOLLABORATIVE offers free HIVtesting and STI screening and treat-ment every Tuesday. 5-6:30 p.m.Rainbow Tuesday LGBT Clinic,

Alexandria Health Department, 4480King St. 703-746-4986 or text 571-214-9617. [email protected].

THE HIV WORKING GROUP of THEDC CENTER hosts “Packing Party,”where volunteers assemble safe-sexkits of condoms and lube. 7 p.m.,Green Lantern, 1335 Green Court NW.thedccenter.org.

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS—LGBTfocused meeting every Tuesday, 7 p.m.St. George’s Episcopal Church, 915


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Oakland Ave., Arlington, just stepsfrom Virginia Square Metro. Formore info. call Dick, 703-521-1999.Handicapped accessible. Newcomerswelcome. [email protected].

SMYAL offers free HIV Testing, 3-5p.m., by appointment and walk-in, for youth 21 and younger. Youth Center,410 7th St. SE. 202-567-3155, [email protected].

SUPPORT GROUP FOR LGBTQ YOUTH ages 13-21 meets at SMYAL,410 7th St. SE, 5-6:30 p.m. Cathy Chu,202-567-3163, [email protected].

US HELPING US hosts a supportgroup for black gay men 40 and older.7-9 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

Whitman-Walker Health’s GAYMEN’S HEALTH AND WELLNESS/STD CLINIC opens at 6 p.m., 170114th St. NW. Patients are seen onwalk-in basis. No-cost screening for

HIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chla-mydia. Hepatitis and herpes testingavailable for fee. whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, OCT. 21BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’sgay-literature group, discusses select-ed essays from “Love, ChristopherStreet: Reflections of New York City,”edited by Thomas Keith. 7:30 p.m.at the DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW,Suite 105. All welcome. bookmendc. blogspot.com

THE TOM DAVOREN SOCIALBRIDGE CLUB meets for SocialBridge. 7:30 p.m. Dignity Center, 7218th St. SE, across from the MarineBarracks. No reservation and partnerneeded. 301-345-1571 for more infor-mation.

WOMAN TO WOMAN: A SUPPORTGROUP FOR HIV-POSITIVEWOMEN WHO LOVE WOMEN,meets on the third Wednesdayof each month at The Women’sCollective. Light refreshments served.

5:30-7 p.m. 1331 Rhode Island Ave.NE. For more information, contactJune Pollydore, 202-483-7003.

WEEKLY EVENTS

AD LIB, a group for freestyle con- versation, meets about 6:30-6 p.m.,Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome.For more information, call FaustoFernandez, 703-732-5174.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 927 OhioDr. SW. 7-8:30 p.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holdspractice, 6:30-8:30 p.m. GarrisonElementary, 1200 S St. NW. dcscan-dals.wordpress.com.

HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m.and 12:05 p.m. All welcome. 118 N.Washington St., Alexandria. 703-549-1450, historicchristchurch.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-WalkerHealth. At the Elizabeth TaylorMedical Center, 1701 14th St. NW,9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max RobinsonCenter, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointment call 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-walker.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg, 414East Diamond Ave. Walk-ins 2-7 p.m.For appointments other hours, call

Gaithersburg at 301-300-9978.

JOB CLUB, a weekly support pro-gram for job entrants and seekers,meets at The DC Center. 2000 14th St.

NW, Suite 105. 6-7:30 p.m. For moreinfo, www.centercareers.org.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.11 a.m.-2 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite200, Arlington. Appointments: 703-789-4467.

PRIME TIMERS OF DC, socialclub for mature gay men, hostsweekly happy hour/dinner. 6:30 p.m.,Windows Bar above Dupont ItalianKitchen, 1637 17th St. NW. Carl,703-573-8316.l


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19/56

CAVEMEN SCRATCHED THEIR HUNTS INTOwalls, Egyptians lined their tombs in hieroglyphs,

the Ancient Greeks commemorated importantfigures in beautiful sculptures. Cataloguing our

existence for future generations is part of what defines ourhumanity — to inspire, to teach, to warn, to be remembered.

History matters.Nowhere is that sentiment more important than in the LGBT

community. As we face ever more insidious challenges — reli-

gious bigotry, veiled discrimination, the onslaught of extrem-ism — it’s important to reflect on those who helped transform

our lives from an intolerable past to a more palatable present.

Every Pride parade, every Scruff message, every time a person

is chastised for not addressing Caitlyn Jenner with the properpronoun — all are advances brought by the trials and tribulations

of the heroes of our past.That’s what LGBT History Month is for. Throughout October,

we celebrate those who worked so hard to ensure a gay child, a

transgender teen or a lesbian grandmother today can feel thatlittle bit more secure in themselves. Courtesy of Philadelphia

Gay News and LGBT publications from across the nation, wepresent a series of articles acknowledging forgotten heroes,

incredible progress and inspiring leaders. It’s our history, afterall. It’s our duty to learn it.


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I’M STANDING ACROSS THE STREET FROM STONE-

wall in Sheridan Square. Here I was, an 18-year-old kidliving at the YMCA in six-dollar-a-night room with no job, no prospects for the future, no real place to live and

no money in my pocket. I’m thinking, What am I going to do?And it came to me: This is exactly what I want to do. I’m going

to be a gay activist.”More than 45 years after that fateful night outside the

Stonewall Inn, Mark Segal still considers himself, first and fore-most, an activist.

“That’s what’s inside me and what always will be,” he says.

“Everything else is secondary.”Adding to his list of “secondary” titles is a new one: author.

Segal, the founder and publisher of Philadelphia Gay News, has just released his memoirs, And Then I Danced .

The 320-page book takes readers from Segal’s meager begin-nings in a Philadelphia housing project, to his pinnacle of danc-

ing with his husband in the White House.

It’s a journey that many have prompted him to write aboutover the years. But, it wasn’t until a 2007 reunion of Gay Youth

— which he founded in New York City in 1969 — that he startedto gain an appreciation for his own role in the LGBT commu-

nity’s development.“We had the reunion in the New York Gay Community

Center and there were about 100 of us who created this bigcircle,” Segal says. “Each of us talked and, as they went around,

people were saying that the organization saved their lives, that

they were going to commit suicide until they found Gay Youth or

that we saved them from bullying or harassment. It wasn’t until I

was halfway home on the train that it all of a sudden hit me whathad just happened. Literally in the train car, I just started howl-ing, just crying out loud. It really affected me.”

A few years later, another incident again brought Segal fullcircle: Comcast senior executive vice president and chief diver-

sity officer David L. Cohen invited him to join the media con-glomerate’s Joint Diversity Council.

“I thought it was going to be just a rubber-stamp positionand I said I didn’t have time for it,” he recalls. “And David said,

‘Mark, there are only 40 people nationwide being asked to join

this advisory board. Don’t you understand your history? Thereyou were 40 years ago disrupting media, and now we’re asking

you to advise media.’”Cohen was referring to Segal’s infamous “zaps,” in which he

targeted media personnel on air to raise awareness about LGBTissues. That such encounters caught him by surprise are in part

attributable to his tendency to stay forward-focused.

“I usually just go project to project to project and don’t lookback,” he says. “So I really didn’t look back at all the things I had

done or what the full impact of them was.”But, as the significance of his decades of activism began to

evince itself to him, Segal started seriously considering recount-ing that work in book form — especially at the prompting of his

now-husband, Jason Villemez.“Jason would say to me every night, ‘Do the book, do the

book. Sit at your computer and start writing,’” Segal says, not-

ing that at the time he was wrapping up work on one of the

Dancing With History By Jen Colletta


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nation’s first LGBT-friendly affordable senior-living facilities,and Villemez knew the memoir-writing would be a good way to

keep that momentum going. “He was conscious that the minute

that ribbon was cut, I’d go from being 2,000 feet into the air tocrashing to the ground if I didn’t have a project to work on.”

Hiring an agent and publisher was easy work, but decidingwhat information to include and what to leave out was not.

Segal had been amassing vignettes of his recollections, which hethought could serve as the memoir’s foundation.

“I thought I would just take what I had started writing andput it into book form. It didn’t quite happen like that. Once I

signed the contract, we basically threw out everything I had and

went back to scratch,” he laughs.He set to work creating an outline of his life, checking dates

and facts and researching his own storied history.That history began in 1951. Segal’s hardworking yet poverty-

stricken parents, Shirley and Martin, raised him and his brotherin a South Philadelphia housing project, after the city took over

Martin’s bodega by eminent domain. As a member of the only

Jewish family in the project, Segal’s feelings of being an outsidergerminated from a young age, compounded by his worn clothes

and lack of material possessions.But what Segal didn’t lack as a child was conviction: in ele-

mentary school, he refused to sing “Onward, Christian Soldiers,”his first act of civil disobedience, which was supported by his

mother. His grandmother, Fannie Weinstein, also played apivotal role in his upbringing. She brought Segal, at age 13, to a

civil-rights demonstration at Philadelphia City Hall, his first (of

many) public demonstration.Exploring the struggles of his childhood in that first chapter

was among the most challenging aspects of writing And Then I Danced — as the self-doubt Segal experienced in his youth

resurfaced.“The first chapter was extremely difficult to write because

there are a lot of things in there that people don’t know about

me. I struggled to continue with it because I really didn’t believe

in myself,” he says. “I had Jason read the first chapter and at theend he was sitting on the sofa crying, and I said, ‘Wow, you reallydidn’t like it that much?’ And he said, ‘No, there were things here

even I didn’t know.’ He really liked it and his support got me tocontinue.”

Working with editor Michael Dennehy, Segal crafted andrecrafted 15 chapters for a final product that takes readers

through the LGBT community’s evolution, seen alongside

Segal’s own development. From his burgeoning coming out —beginning with a childhood pull to the Sears Roebuck male mod-

els — Segal’s story is as much a commentary on the times as it ison his own experience. “There was no name for it, at least none

that I knew, but somehow it seemed wrong that I was looking atthe men in the catalog,” he writes.

Eventually, Segal learned the name for “it” and came out to

his family, who, despite the wholly unaccepting societal natureof the time, embraced his identity. Segal’s own self-acceptance

was intrinsically tied to New York City. He realized at a youngage that the city was a haven for gay people, so he moved to the

Big Apple the moment he graduated high school.He quickly became immersed in a growing and changing

LGBT scene. The premiere LGBT activist group, MattachineSociety, was gradually becoming outdated, being brushed aside

by a new wave of social revolution.

And, a month after he moved to New York City, Segal foundhimself at Stonewall Inn on June 28, 1969. And Then I Danced

recounts Segal’s first-hand experience of the seminal riot and

ensuing LGBT mobilization. From those four reactionary nightscame Gay Liberation Front, an organization that Segal believes

hasn’t gotten the credit it’s due.

“From the ashes of Stonewall came GLF, and GLF createdthe foundation of everything that today is the gay community,”

Segal says. “We created the first trans organization in America in1969. We created the first gay youth organization that dealt with

gay issues in 1969. We created the first medical alerts for the gaycommunity and the first gay community center. And at the end

of that first year, we created the first gay Pride march. And all ofit had to do with ending invisibility and creating community.”

It was with those missions in mind that, upon his return to

Philadelphia in the 1970s, Segal undertook a campaign to targettelevision coverage of LGBT issues, an undertaking that secured

a wealth of television firsts — and forged his unlikely friendshipwith Walter Cronkite.

From the airwaves, Segal turned his attention to politicalcircles, using his burgeoning notoriety to stage uniquely crafted

demonstrations, such as chaining himself to a Christmas tree in

Philadelphia City Hall and throwing a faux reception in the officeof then-District Attorney Arlen Specter to thank him for his sup-

port for gay-rights legislation — which he had not yet offered.Segal said it’s those kinds of actions that are needed to enliven

the LGBT community’s modern political activism.“We need that spark of creativity and fun again. Gay lib-

eration can be fun,” Segal says. “We have to get away from theInternet and the online petitions and start doing things to get

people’s attention. Our leaders are stuck in this quagmire because

they’re used to being in suits and ties in offices in New York andWashington, D.C., and not out among people. We need to think

outside the box. Be nonviolent, but think outside the box.”Creativity needs to be paired with tenacity, Segal noted —

another message he hopes readers, especially of the youngergeneration, take from his book.

“I wanted to show young gay people how our community got

the rights that we have today. It wasn’t writing letters or visiting

Congresspeople,” he recalls. “Many of us got arrested, receiveddeath threats, were targets of physical violence. It was a roughride getting to where we are today. It wasn’t, ‘One, two three.

We’re there.’ Any social-justice movement takes a lot of workand a lot of time.”

For Segal, much of that work in the past four decades wasfocused on getting Philadelphia Gay News off the ground.

And Then I Danced traces the history of the publication,

which celebrates its 40th anniversary next year, from its mea-ger beginnings in a building with no plumbing and a leaky roof,

where staffers would use quarters from the newspaper boxesfor lunches, to a 2014 awards dinner where it received a national

award for its investigative series on the murder of a local trans-gender woman.

Exploring such transitions through the writing process, Segal

said, was eye-opening.“I encourage anybody, whether you publish it or not, to write

your own memoir. You learn so much about yourself,” he says.“It sounds strange, but I don’t think I had an appreciation for

what I’ve accomplished until I read the finished book. This mademe look back. I didn’t realize all the issues I was involved in, and

how much change they had made over the years. I’m just begin-ning to get in touch with my own history. And I’m finding out

I’m a different person than I thought I was.”

Jen Colletta is the editor of the Philadelphia Gay News. She can be

reached at [email protected]


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W HEN JOSEPH ISRAEL LOBDELL PASSEDaway in 1912 at the Binghamton State

Hospital, his death went largely unnoticed.Joe, as he was known, was 82 and had been

confined to mental institutions since 1880.

In his lifetime, Joe was a crack shot and a wonderful fiddleplayer. He opened a singing school and, for a while at least,

found modest success with that business. There was adventurein his life, too. Joe traveled west to Minnesota, where he guard-

ed land on the frontier.Within the context of 19th-century American social history,

experiences like these were not uncommon, but one aspect of

Joe’s life is extraordinary: He was born in 1829 as a woman,Lucy Ann Lobdell.

Although Joe Lobdell died in obscurity, he’s recentlystarted to attract attention. In 2011, for example, Dr. Bambi

Lobdell, a distant cousin, published A Strange Sort of Being: TheTransgender Life of Lucy Ann/Joseph Israel Lobdell, 1829-1912.

And earlier this year, journalist William Klaber released a novelabout Joe, “The Rebellion of Miss Lucy Ann Lobdell.”

It seems as if Joe’s time has come.

Dr. Lobdell, who teaches gender studies and literature atSUNY Oneonta, certainly feels that way. Her book includes both

an analysis of Joe’s life informed by queer theory and transgen-der studies, as well as primary documents about him.

She regards Joe as a gender outlaw and argues that he is bestunderstood as a transgender man. It was a term unknown to Joe,

but Dr. Lobdell believes that it most closely approximates his

understanding of himself — and restores a modicum of dignityto him.

“I use the word transgender, in its widest application, tomean not cisgender and not gender-conforming,” she says.

For Dr. Lobdell, this isn’t simply an academic exercise. She con-tends that many of the issues confronting Joe, including societal

expectations and gender roles, are still relevant to LGBT people.Joe’s history is important, Dr. Lobdell explains, because “it

tells a story of how his otherness was framed as deviance andsignaled by his gender presentation, his refusal to conform.

“So he crossed the boundaries of gender roles and gender

presentation and sexuality, though the people back then didn’trealize that,” she adds, “because most people, including women

in the 19th century, thought that women didn’t have any sexualdesire.”

Fortunately for scholars, there are contemporary, writtenaccounts of Joe’s life. Chief among them is a book Lobdell pub-

lished in 1855: Narrative of Lucy Ann Lobdell, the Female Hunter

of Delaware and Sullivan Counties, N.Y. In a 2012 podcast withSusan Rich, Dr. Lobdell described it as part-melodrama, part-

feminist manifesto.One immediate result of the book’s publication was a mea-

sure of notoriety for its author. The “Female Hunter” becamefodder for journalists. For the remainder of his life, whenever

Joe ran into trouble, periodicals like The Stamford Mirror andThe Jeffersonian mentioned the “Female Hunter.”

Copies of the narrative are rare. Fortunately, Dr. Lobdell

includes it in its entirety in “A Strange Sort of Being.” That’spartly because she conceived of her work as an academic text-

book, one that could be adopted for college classes in genderstudies and sexuality. “I just packed it full of all sorts of gender

theory and gender analysis and queer theory,” she said whenasked to sketch its contents.

Within Lucy’s narrative, there are a few confirmed facts

worth noting. To begin, Lucy Ann Lobdell was born Dec. 2,1829 just outside of Albany, N.Y. The family was poor, but Lucy

wanted an education. To pay for schooling, she was given chores.That was how she learned to shoot, a skill she put to use at vari-

ous times later in life.Around 1852, the Lobdell family moved to Long Eddy,

Tragedy and TriumphBy Ray Simon


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THIRTY YEARS AGO THIS MONTH, TWO SAN

Francisco men, fed up with government inaction

as AIDS decimated the gay community, chainedthemselves to a federal building within sight of City

Hall. Their act of civil disobedience would inspire countlessother activists to join them, and, later, local political leaders. The

demonstration, which became known as the ARC/AIDS Vigil(ARC standing for AIDS Related Complex), lasted a decade and

was the city’s longest-running protest.

It started on Oct. 27, 1985 when Steve Russell and Frank Bert,who were both HIV-positive, handcuffed themselves to the

doors of 50 United Nations Plaza, a federal building in the city’s

Civic Center district. Soon, a core group of volunteers joined

them to keep vigil 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

A tent kitchen was set up, staffed by volunteers, to feed theprotesters, who took turns sleeping on mattresses and tents in

front of the building. Over time, the vigil turned into a placewhere people, whether living with AIDS themselves or strug-

gling to care for or grieve for a loved one, could find camaraderieand comfort.

“When I am out here talking to people about my condition,

about my health, it helps me. It helps me to talk to them becauseI was there. My family disowned me since I came down with

AIDS,” Wes North, who married Bucky Stewart at the vigil in

N.Y. Roughly a year later, Lucy married a man named GeorgeWashington Slater and gave birth to a daughter — her account

depicts an unhappy marriage. When Slater abandoned them,

Lucy returned to her family, left her daughter with them andslipped away one evening in 1854.

Shortly afterwards, Joseph Israel Lobdell appeared inBethany, Pa., where he opened a singing school. From this point

forward, details of Joe’s life can be pieced together — if sketch-ily — from occasional newspaper accounts or court documents

about him.In retrospect, it appears that the writing and publication

of Lobdell’s narrative marks a significant transition. For the

remainder of his life, more than five decades, he uses the namehe’s chosen for himself and dresses as a man — except on those

occasions when a sheriff or deputy tried forcing him to wearwomen’s clothes.

The singing school attracted students, most of them thedaughters of well-to-do farmers and businessmen from the pro-

vincial town. There is some evidence that Joe was well-liked by

his pupils. According to Dr. Lobdell, someone once interviewedthe descendant of a woman who had attended the school.

“Apparently, a lot of women danced with Joe when he was asinging teacher,” Dr. Lobdell said. “And this one woman remem-

bered her grandmother saying, ‘I can’t believe that’s really awoman. He was the nicest boy I ever dated’.”

Problems arose, however, when Joe’s “identity” was revealed.He was chased out of Bethany by a mob threatening to tar and

feather him.

Undaunted, Joe headed west, arriving in Minnesota, wherehe sometimes went by the name La-Roi. In Minnesota, Joe

worked odd jobs and even guarded land for its owners. Hisphysical courage should be noted: Minnesota’s winters were

harsh, he was living on the edge of the wilderness with only hisrifle to protect him, and clashes with Native Americans were

always a distinct possibility.

Once again, however, Joe’s “identity” was revealed. After atrial, he was sent back east to his parents’ home. Depressed and

unable to find work, he entered the County Poor House in Delhi,

N.Y., in 1860.It’s there, roughly a year later, that Joe met Marie Louise

Perry. Marie, who had been abandoned by her husband, arrivedphysically weakened and emotionally upset. Joe helped nurse

Marie back to health, which restored his spirits, too. One night,the two escaped from the Poor House and were married by a

Justice of the Peace. Joe now had a bride, a woman about adecade younger than him.

Joe and Marie were together for almost 20 years, but their

life was not easy. They eked out a living doing odd jobs orsurvived on whatever food Joe’s hunting provides. Often, they

lived outdoors in the thick woods of upstate Pennsylvania andNew York. The couple was desperately poor and, consequently,

always in imminent danger of being arrested for vagrancy.Joe’s life took a turn for the worse around 1878. Shortly after

receiving a Civil War pension (Slater was killed in the war), his

brother has him declared insane. In 1879, he was taken away tothe Willard Insane Asylum in Ovid, N.Y.

While locked up, Joe became a patient of Dr. P.M. Wise,who published a brief article about Joe in 1883. In that account,

entitled “A Case of Sexual Perversion,” Dr. Wise related a tellingstatement from Joe. The patient, whom he insisted on viewing

as a woman, told him that “she considered herself a man in allthat the name implies.”

Dr. Lobdell thinks we should take Joe at his word, something

she views as paramount.“What I’m trying to do is give Joe back his voice, because — and

this is another way it should resonate with people today — trans-gender people oftentimes are not allowed to tell their own story.”

Ray Simon is an editor and writer based in Philadelphia. To learn

more about Joe Lobdell, visit lucyjoe.com. l

Vigil-izationBy Matthew S. Bajko


24/56


December 1985, told a television news reporter at the time. “Myfamily has not wanted to have anything to do with me since I

came down with AIDS.”

According to archival materials about the vigil, the demon-strators listed six demands they wanted to see federal officials

act on, including publicly recognizing AIDS and condemn-ing AIDS-related discrimination. They also were calling for a

“Manhattan Project”-type effort to find an AIDS cure.“We need $500 million in federal money for research to

find a cure for ARC/AIDS Related Complex,” read one flierhanded out by vigil organizers. “We make a moral appeal to the

American government to condemn AIDS hysteria and bigotry

through education.”Numerous politicians joined the vigil and were arrested,

helping to revive the media’s waning interest in the demon-stration. According to old news clippings, gay former San

Francisco Supervisor Harry Britt and former Berkeley MayorLoni Hancock, now a state senator, both were arrested after

chaining themselves to the building.

One flier advertised a “Breakfast with Nancy” at the vigil oneFebruary, referring to Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-San

Francisco), now the House minority leader. In the summer of1987, two years into the vigil, Pelosi entered Congress and her

main objective at the time was to demand action on AIDS.It was also a site to collect the names of those lost to AIDS,

several of whom died while taking part in the vigil. Both Russelland Bert died prior to the vigil’s end, said several participants.

In November 1985, the annual candlelight march honoring

former Supervisor Harvey Milk, the first gay person to win elec-tive office in San Francisco, and former Mayor George Moscone

— both of whom were assassinated in City Hall in 1978 — endedat the federal building, where marchers attached placards bear-

ing the names of those lost to AIDS on the facade.Longtime gay-rights activist Cleve Jones, who helped orga-

nize the march, conceived of the AIDS quilt that night, accord-

ing to a history of the national HIV memorial, as “the wall of

names looked like a patchwork quilt.”More than just an encampment for demonstrators, the vigilserved as a clearinghouse for people to learn the latest news

about AIDS. The volunteers also used bleach to clean injectiondrug users’ needles and passed out condoms.

“It was an educational experience for me, from the out-of-towners and those from other countries stopping by and

thanking us for what we were doing, saying they were not even

mentioning AIDS in their state/country, to the times I had to

console someone whose partner was suffering from dementia,”said Terrie Frye.

Starting in 1987, Frye spent three years working as an AIDS

Vigil volunteer, after she happened to ride her bicycle throughU.N. Plaza and noticed the “mess tent.”

“I was not HIV-positive, and only HIV-positive folks could bemembers of the vigil, but I wanted to cook for them, and they had

a rule that only members were allowed in the mess tent, so theymade me an honorary member,” she recalls.

The outdoor protest came to an end 10 years after it started,when a severe rainstorm blew away the tent encampment. Just

three demonstrators remained at that point, according to media

accounts in December 1995.Since then, the AIDS Vigil has been mostly forgotten to the

history books and the fading recollections of participants. Duringthe 25th anniversary of the protest, Frye created an exhibit about

it that she displayed during the city’s 2010 Pride festival.Four years ago, an effort was launched to erect a plaque or

monument at the location in order to commemorate the protest

and its participants, but nothing has come of it.And a local filmmaker — who, as a graduate student in San

Francisco State University’s broadcasting program in the mid-1980s, was part of a small crew who interviewed several vigil

participants — had tried to pull together a documentary in timeto screen on Oct. 27, 2015 to mark the 30th anniversary of the

start of the vigil. But he has struggled to line up financing tomake the film, titled Not With Standing , and is unsure if it will

ever get made.

“The reaction is always, ‘There is no AIDS crisis anymore.’Nobody cares about AIDS,” said Nick Aquilino, 61, who is gay

and HIV-positive and now lives in Sausalito.With another film about the 1969 Stonewall protests released

this fall, Aquilino remains dumbfounded as to why the years-longdemonstration in San Francisco fails to spark similar interest.

“The thing that sticks out for me is these guys were so

determined to gain some kind of acceptance for a disease they

didn’t cause,” says Aquilino. “Thirty years ago, this kind of thingwasn’t very common. They weren’t on the street for weeks, theyweren’t like the Occupy people and done with their protest and

said, ‘Let’s go back to our normal lives.’ These guys who wereliving there, they were there for 10 years.”

Matthew S. Bajko is an assistant editor at the Bay Area Reporter.

To see archival footage about the AIDS Vigil and interviews with

several participants, visit notwithstandingfilm.com. l

P.L. TRAVERS, AUTHOR OF MARY POPPINS,was born Helen Lyndon Goff on Aug. 9, 1899 in

Queensland, Australia. She moved to England in

1924, and used the name P.L. Travers — an abbre-viation of her pseudonym Pamela Lyndon Travers, which she

used in her days as a dancer and Shakespearean actor on the

Australian stage. Reportedly, her wealthy relatives did notapprove of Travers performing, so, being independent-minded,

she moved to England where she forged a career as a writer.

The name P.L. Travers appealed to Goff because it soundedmore masculine — or at least, gender-nonspecific. Travers

was the name of her father, an alcoholic banker whose career

P.L. Travers: A spoonfulof speculation

By Gary M. Kramer


25/56


declined almost as quickly as he did (he died of tuberculosis at43). His daughter was 7 years old when he passed.

The author, who first published poems as a teen in Australia,was fond of myths and fantasies. TShe constructed her own

rather mysterious persona so that no one could really know hertruth. Her famous literary heroine, based on an aunt of Travers’,

was a magical nanny who helped her charges through difficult

situations with sensible, even tough advice. Travers, who was

very no-nonsense herself, was also fascinated with eastern phi-losophy and theosophy, Sufism and Hinduism.

In England, Travers lived with Madge Burnand, the daughter

of the editor of Punch. The women shared a flat in London, andlater rented a cottage together in Sussex. Much speculation has

been made about whether they were lovers.Actor Emma Thompson played Travers in the 2013 film

Saving Mr. Banks, which depicted Travers’ battle with Walt

Disney to make Mary Poppins. The actress spoke with The Advocate about Travers’ relationship with Burnand.

“I don’t know whether they were lovers or not,” she stated,“but she did live with Madge for a long, long time, and she

certainly had very complex, passionate relationships with both

women and men. She was an explorer of her own condition, andvery possibly her own sexuality.”

It was while living with Burnand that Travers published Mary Poppins, the work that would give the author her great-

est fame. Travers wrote five sequels and, as Saving Mr. Banks depicted, she reluctantly sold the rights to Disney. Travers,

apparently, was not fond of the Julie Andrews/Dick Van Dykemusical and particularly hated the animated dancing penguins.

Few specifics about Travers’ sexual relationships have everbeen detailed. Her diary recounted her friendship (and pos-

sibly a relationship) with Jessie Orage, whose husband, Alfred

Richard Orage, was a pupil of the spiritual teacher G.I. Gurdjieff.Travers became a follower of Gurdjieff, and through him

became an occasional member of The Rope — a group that consist-ed mostly of lesbian writers, including Jane Heap, founding editor

of Little Review, and Kathryn Hulme, author of The Nun’s Story. Valerie Lawson, author of Mary Poppins, She Wrote, a biog-

raphy of Travers, indicated that both Travers and Orage “loved

men.” Their close friendship, Lawson indicates, was formedover the loss of Orage’s husband, and Travers’ editor, George

William Russell.Whether their friendship crossed over into a sexual rela-

tionship is not known. But Jim Korkis, a Disney historian, wasquoted in the Orlando Weekly (around the time of Saving Mr.

Banks ) saying that, “It has been assumed that Travers wasbisexual, although no one really knows for sure. She was known

to be extremely flirtatious around younger men. At one point,

she told an acquaintance that she thought that Walt [Disney] had‘eyes’ for her.”

Travers certainly was secretive and private. It was perhaps asource of pride for her. New Statesman quotes her as saying, “I’m

a private sort of person, as anonymous as possible — and that’snot humility.”

Other articles about the author that surfaced around the timeSaving Mr. Banks was released have been even more candid.

According to the Daily Mail, Travers was said to be “neitherwarm nor kindly. She was an intellectual snob who wrote eroticprose, was a one-time fascist sympathizer, occasional lesbian and

appalling mother.”Unpacking that quote, Travers is known to have written

poetry for the erotic publication The Triad , and she wrote bookreviews for New Pioneer, an anti-Semitic British magazine of

the far right in the 1930. The article’s last point likely refers to

the fact that, at age 40, Travers adopted a son, Camillus, whodiscovered he was a twin at age 17. Upon learning this — and that

his twin grew up poor in Ireland — his relationship with Traversbecame strained.

It is entirely possible that Travers adopted Camillus so she

would have someone to love. While she lived with Burnand,and was close to Orage, her rumored same-sex encounters may

have happened without being disclosed. This is likely becauseTravers was alive (and prominent) during the era when women

did not discuss relationships outside of marriage. Females inthose days were expected to marry — if they lived together, there

was always speculation about them being lovers. Moreover, if awoman lived alone, it was presumed she was likely promiscuous.

Travers was certainly sharp enough — and discrete enough — notto let anyone know her true nature. For all anyone knows, she

could have been asexual, given how little evidence there is of

any lover(s).But whether Travers was asexual, bisexual or something else

entirely, it was certainly a taboo at the time for a woman to beintimately involved with other women. As Travers was gaining

fame as a children’s author, the exposure of a same-sex relation-ship could have been especially harmful to her career. (Travers

was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1977).

This may account for why she felt she needed to maintain privacy.Travers never published an autobiography. And while the

news articles and biographies hint at what might have been, allanyone can really do is speculate.

Gary M. Kramer is an award-winning, Philadelphia-based

film critic, author of Independent Queer Cinema: Reviewsand Interviews and co-editor of Directory of World Cinema:

Argentina. l

Travers (right) with Julie Andrews and Walt Disney


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c. 1800: “Woman Chief”

Barcheeampe

A leader of the Crow nation, the

“woman chief” was known for her war

exploits and had several wives.

1871: We’Wha

Two-spirit Zuni Native American who

was born male but lived as a woman.

An accomplished weaver and potter,

in 1886 the 6-foot Zuni maiden met

President Cleveland, who was unaware

that she was two-spirit.

1952: Christine Jorgensen

A trailblazer who was the first person in

America to receive sexual-reassignment

surgery. Jorgensen, a former GI,

became a household name and put the

issue of gender identity in the

American conscience.

1957: Billy Tipton jazz album released

Renowned jazz musician lived his life as

a man and “married” several women.

He was discovered to be biologically

female upon his death.

1965: Dewey’s Coffee Shop Protest

One hundred and fifty “nonconforming”

people protested Dewey’s Coffee Shop

in Philadelphia because it refused ser-

vice to young people who were dress-

ing in clothing that did not conform to

their gender. The protest led to an end

of the discriminatory policy.

1966: Transsexual Phenomenon

published

Dr. Harry Benjamin published a seminal

work that described the medical transi-

tion for transgender people. Benjamin

helped Jorgensen in her transition and

acknowledged her in the preface of the

book: “Without Christine Jorgensen and

the unsought publicity of her

‘conversion,’ this book could hardly

have been conceived.”

1969: Stonewall RiotsThe legendary seminal event of the

LGBT civil-rights movement included

members of the transgender com-

munity. The LGBT community resisted

police abuse on the night after Judy

Garland’s funeral, which many cite for

the frayed nerves.

1970: Street Transvestite Action

Revolutionaries (STAR)

Started by transgender legends Sylvia

Rivera and Marsha Johnson, STAR was

an advocacy group for transgender

people. Both Rivera and Johnson were

rioters at the Stonewall Inn and helped

usher in the tepid acknowledgment of

TransgenderForward

Compiled by the Staff of the San Diego LGBT Weekly

transgender Americans as part of the

gay civil-rights movement.

1975: Minneapolis passes

transgender legislation

Minneapolis becomes the first city to

pass an antidiscrimination law protect-

ing transgender people. That’s right,

Minneapolis, in 1975.

1977: Renée Richards

The next transgender icon who pierced

the American consciousness. Richardswas an eye doctor who became a pro-

fessional tennis player and challenged a

ban that prevented her from playing in

the U.S. Open as a woman. The New

York Supreme Court overruled the ban,

making Richards the catalyst for a land-

mark decision concerning

transgender rights.

1986: FTM newsletter

Lou Sullivan published the FTM news-

letter, which was later transformed by

Jamison Green into FTM International,

the world’s largest information and

networking group for female-to-male

transgender people and transsexual

men. Sullivan is credited with bringing

female-to-male transgenderism

to the forefront.

1991: Rift with Michigan Womyn’s

Music Festival

Nancy Burkholder was removed from

the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival

when she was discovered to be trans-

gender. The removal led to an annual

protest by the transgender community,

which continued through this year,

when the festival ceased.

1993: Brandon Teena

Teena, a transgender man, was mur-

dered in Nebraska. The story of his jour-

ney and death was later chronicled in

the Oscar-winning film Boys Don’t Cry .

1995: GenderPac formedTransgender activist RiKi Wilchins

formed the first advocacy group dedi-

cated to gender identity and expression.

The organization ushered in the period

in which the national transgender move-

ment took hold.

1999: First Transgender Day of

Remembrance

The first Transgender Day of

Remembrance honored those who have

died due to anti-transgender violence.

The commemoration was a direct

result of the murder of Rita Hester in

Massachusetts.

Transgender Pride flag created

Monica Helms created the transgender

flag, saying, “The stripes at the top and

bottom are light blue, the traditional

color for baby boys. The stripes next to

them are pink, the traditional color for

baby girls. The stripe in the middle is

white, for those who are intersex, tran-

sitioning or consider themselves having

a neutral or undefined gender. The pat-

tern is such that no matter which way

you fly it, it is always correct, signifying

us finding correctness in our lives.”

2002: Transgender legal-aid

organizations establishedThe Sylvia Rivera Law Project in New

York and the Transgender Law Center

in San Francisco were created to

advance transgender civil rights using

the legal system.

2003: National Center for

Transgender Equality established

Activist Mara Keisling, with the support

of other transgender activists, founded

the organization dedicated to advancing

the civil rights of transgender people.

Expansion of San Diego anti-bias law

The San Diego City Council added

gender identity to the city’s anti-discrim-

ination ordinance, the Human Dignity

Ordinance, with a unanimous 7-0 vote.

2006: California’s Gwen Araujo

Justice for Victims Act

AB 1160 passed into law to prohibit the

use of so-called “panic strategies” in

criminal defenses. The legislation was

named in the memory of a transgender

teenager from Newark, Calif., who was

attacked and killed in 2002. The law

proved ineffective when tested during

the murder trial for Larry King’s killer.

First transgender person elected to

statewide office

Kim Coco Iwamoto was elected to

statewide office in Hawaii as a member

of the Board of Education.

2008: First transgender mayor

in America

Stu Rasmussen became the first

openly transgender mayor in America

in Silverton, Or. Rasmussen previously

had served as the mayor prior to com-

ing out as transgender. He prefers male

pronouns but dresses as a woman.

2009: Chaz Bono transition

Child of Sonny and Cher, Chastity

Bono transitioned to become a man.

He chronicled his transition in a docu-

mentary, then went on to become a

contestant on Dancing with the Stars ,

as well as a transgender activist and

spokesperson.

2010: First transgender presidentialappointees

President Obama appointed the

first two transgender people in his-

tory. Amanda Simpson was appointed

as senior technical adviser in the

Commerce Department’s Bureau of

Industry and Security, and Dylan Orr

was appointed as special assistant to

the Department of Labor

Assistant Secretary.

First transgender judge in America

Victoria Kolakowski became the first

openly transgender judge in America,

elected by the voters of Alameda

County, Calif., in the Bay Area.

New passport policy

The U.S. State Department announced

a new policy eliminating the require-

ment for surgery to update gender

markers on passports.

2011: First NCAA trans athlete

Kye Allums became the first openly

transgender athlete to play in the

National Collegiate Athletic Association.

California’s Gender

Nondiscrimination Act

AB 887 passed into law, expanding

the state’s nondiscrimination laws to

protect transgender people by includ-ing discrimination based on “gender

identity and expression” as a type of

“gender” discrimination.

New veterans policy

Veterans Health Administration (VHA)

established a policy of respectful deliv-

ery of healthcare to transgender and

intersex veterans.

2012: Matrix director transitions

Lana Wachowski came out as transgen-

der while promoting her movie Cloud

Atlas . She is most noted for the “Matrix

Trilogy,” created with her brother.

2013: Official debut of

“gender dysphoria”The American Psychiatric Association

debuted the term to describe those

who deem themselves transgender.

2014: Laverne Cox covers Time

The Orange is the New Black star made

headlines as the first transgender per-

son to be featured on the cover

of Time magazine.

Women’s colleges open doors

Mills College and Mount Holyoke

allowed transgender women to enroll at

their female-only institutions.

Gender identity protected in

federal employment

The Department of Labor issued a rule

banning discrimination based on gender

identity in federal employment.

Surgery covered by Medicare

The Obama administration lifted a

decades-old ban on using Medicare cov-

erage for gender-reassignment surgery.

2015: Caitlyn Jenner debuts

The former Olympic athlete and reality

star came out as transgender, going on

to be featured on the cover

of Vanity Fair .

First trans national anthem singer

Breanna Sinclairé became the first

transgender person to sing the national

anthem at a professional sporting event

at the Oakland Coliseum before theOakland A’s game with the

San Diego Padres.

Pennsylvania gets transgender

physician general

Pennsylvania made U.S. history with

the appointment and confirmation of Dr.

Rachel Levine as the nation’s first open-

ly transgender state physician general.

White House appointment

President Barack Obama appointed

transgender attorney Shannon Price

Minter to the President’s Commission

on White House Fellowships. Minter

was the lead attorney arguing before

the California Supreme Court to over-

turn Proposition 8. l

A S GAYS AND LESBIANS CELEBRATE MARRIAGE EQUALITY

across the United States, the transgender members of the

LGBT community continue to work diligently to place their civil

rights front and center, as we move into the next chapter of

LGBT equality.

To many, it seems as if the transgender movement has come from

nowhere in the last decade, but the reality is that transgender Americans

have been fighting for civil rights along with the lesbian, gay and bisexual

members of our community for decades. Here are a few key highlights of

transgender people within the tableau of American LGBT civil-rights history:


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28/56

Classic Carroll


BILLY WAS ONE OF THE PEOPLE WHO REALLY

HELPED create the identity of Nation in its musical pre-

sentation,” says Ed Bailey, who organized the weekly gayparty Velvet from 1999 to 2006 at the now closed Nation

nightclub. “His unique style was well-accepted by a largegroup of people,” including two main types of Velvet regulars — those

who preferred his more edgy, urban house sound, and devotees of thediva-driven, tribal circuit sound.

So when Carroll, who retired as a club DJ four years ago after a 35-yearcareer, proposed stepping out of retirement to play a Velvet Nation

Classics party at Town, Bailey didn’t hesitate for a second. “I wanted togive Billy the opportunity to come back and play again,” he says.

Calling Carroll “a sweetheart” and ”one of my favorite people in gen-

eral,” Bailey adds, “This just kind of made sense. It just feels right.”

METRO WEEKLY: What was it about Velvet Nation that inspired you to comeout of retirement?

BILLY CARROLL: Nation was such a monumental club, at such a monumental

time for clubs. I played there so many times, and the parties were just soepic back then. It was such a magical time — not uncommon to have 3,000

people there. And that room. They don’t make them like that anymore.I just want to celebrate Nation, playing all the big anthems and some of

the songs that were very popular there that might not have been popular

elsewhere. Nation was very different, it was a

very musically intellectual crowd. They werepeople that would travel for DJs. They knew

all the mixes of obscure house tracks and stuff.

And that’s what made it so fun to play.MW: What triggered you to retire in the first

place?

CARROLL: I had a really, really great 35-yearcareer. And I wanted it to end on my terms.Because just being a DJ doesn’t seem to be

enough anymore — you need to be a producer,you need to be some sort of a musical artist.

And my thing was always taking a little bit

from every producer and weaving it togetherand making a night out of it. That’s what I

enjoy doing. I didn’t have a desire to sit in thestudio and create stuff.MW: Your big breakthrough came with gigs at

New York’s legendary Studio 54.

CARROLL: I played at Studio 54 a few times, as

This Saturday, Billy Carroll steps out of

retirement to relive Velvet Nation Classics at

Town Danceboutique

By Doug RuleMetro Weekly’s Velvet Nation archive photos by Henry Linser and Michael Wichita

P H O T O C O U R T E S Y O F B I L L Y C A R R O L L


29/56


one-offs. I filled in for somebody, or played a party with another

DJ, or it was a special party and somebody brought me in onit — there were a few of those different sorts of situations. But

I started with a regular gig in New York, and it was not playing

for gay people, which didn’t happen until 1990. Back in the ’70s

and ’80s, I played more of an urban program for a more urbansetting. It was a very unique situation — there’s this white gay DJplaying in black straight clubs. It was definitely a novelty.MW: Did you grew up in New York?

CARROLL: I grew up in Connecticut, but I would go out dancing in

New York City when I was 16, and my father knew I was doingit. I got caught coming home in the morning a couple of times,

and my father finally just put his foot down: “You ain’t going

anywhere.” So I just made plans to move there. I worked at Lord& Taylor selling shoes during the day and finished high school at

night. And went out pretty much every night after that.MW: Did you start DJing then?

CARROLL: No, I started DJing when I was 19. The turning point

“NATION WAS VERY DIFFERENT,IT WAS A VERY MUSICALLY

INTELLECTUAL CROWD.And that’s what made it so fun to play.”


30/56


was going to the club Gallery with DJ Nicky Siano. It was justamazing to me. And the people I used to dance with at the club,

who were also in high school — Frankie Knuckles and Larry

Levan. We were all in that room. Obviously they went on to bevery famous DJs. But I had a very long, steady career. Never

really famous, but just a long, healthy career. And I always wasemployed. It was enough for me.MW: Did you start your company Billy Carroll Events after youretired?

CARROLL: I started a small catering company in 1987, and nowwe’re a full event-planning service — from catering to the decor.

Especially with gay marriage now being legal everywhere,

there’s been a huge uptick in business the last couple of years.MW: Have you become a wedding DJ? Is that a service you offer?

CARROLL: No, I never do my own events. Never. I definitely keepthe two separate. When you’re planning someone’s wedding,

you have to wear so many hats that day, I certainly can’t be in theDJ booth focusing on music.

MW: Are you married yourself?

CARROLL: I am. On October 30th I’ll be married a year to myhusband of 35 years. We got married last year on our 34th anni-

versary. Even after 34 years, it’s different. It’s always been good,but it’s been amazing, being married. I just love saying the word

“husband.” I love it. And I lucked out, I got a great partner inmy life. It just feels really good to be married — legally so. I just

never thought I’d see that.MW: I understand you’re turning 60 next year. Any plans for a big

party?

CARROLL: No, it’s just a number. I certainly don’t feel 60, and Idefinitely don’t act 60. I am still waiting to grow up. [ Laughs.]MW: Do you plan to take more gigs

metro weekly - 10-15-15 - lgbt history

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