metro weekly - 10-29-15 - denis o'hare

8/20/2019 Metro Weekly - 10-29-15 - Denis O'Hare

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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 SAINTRussell Edgington

COVER PHOTOGRAPHYFrank Ockenfels / FX

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

reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes noresponsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject

to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims

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their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles oradvertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of

such person or organization.

© 2015 Jansi LLC.

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OCTOBER 29, 2015Volume 22 / Issue 26

NEWS 6 NOVEMBER IMPACT

by John Riley

8 THE ACADEMY OF

WASHINGTON CLOSES

by John Riley

COMMENTARY 10 BACK WHERE WE STARTED

by Sean Bugg

12 COMMUNITY CALENDAR

SCENE 15 WHITMAN-WALKER HEALTH’S

WALK TO END HIV

photography by

Ward Morrison

FEATURES 18 DENIS O’HARE

Interview by Randy Shulman

24 ANDY SCAHILL

Interview by Doug Rule

31 HIGH HEEL DRAG R ACE

photography by Todd Franson and

Ward Morrison

34 HALLOWEEN HAPPENINGS

by Doug Rule

OUT ON THE TOWN 36 GALA’S FUEGO FLAMENCO FESTIVAL

by Doug Rule

38 THE 12TH ANNUAL FALL FESTIVAL OF

SOUTH ASIAN ARTS

by Connor J. Hogan

FILM 43 SUFFRAGETTE

by Rhuaridh Marr

MUSIC 45 M USIC COMPLETE: N EW O RDER

by Gordon Ashenhurst

STAGE 47 AT W IT ’ S E ND

by Kate Wingfield

GAMES 49 ASSASSIN ’ S C REED SYNDICATE

by Rhuaridh Marr

NIGHTLIFE 53 DIK BAR

photography by Ward Morrison

CLUBLIFE 60 BRIGHT LIGHT BRIGHT LIGHT

by Doug Rule

62 LAST WORD


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November Impact A handful of smaller, low-profile elections could impact progresson LGBT rights

(L-R) McCabe, Conway, Bevin and Black

W

ITH ALL THE ATTENTION THAT’S BEEN

lavished upon next year’s presidential race,one could almost be forgiven for not realizing

there are elections this November for local andstatewide offices.Despite the lack of a showy, controversial frontrunner like

Donald Trump, who can attract the attention of millions withhis unconventional style, local and state elections are often

consequential and likely to have a profound impact on thelives of LGBT voters, particularly those living in more conser-

vative states.For instance, in Houston the fate of the LGBT community

could literally swing on a few thousand votes. While Houston

is holding municipal elections this year, the city’s voters willalso be determining the fate of a ballot initiative known as

Proposition 1, meant to keep in place the Houston Equal RightsOrdinance (HERO), which provides nondiscrimination protec-

tions in employment, housing and public accommodations toLGBT Houstonians.

Of the 13 candidates running to succeed out lesbian Mayor

Annise Parker, only two have not embraced Proposition 1. Thefirst, Ben Hall, vehemently opposes HERO, while the second,

Bill King, has avoided taking a firm position on the issue. Kingtold FOX 26 Houston in July that he saw “no need” for a nondis-

crimination ordinance. However, he later clarified that remark,insisting that while he is not in favor of discrimination, he is

concerned about the effects of the law. King has raised objec-tions to allowing transgender individuals to use the restroom

they feel appropriate, echoing claims made by HERO opponents

that the law will somehow put women and children at risk.

King, one of three candidates with the potential to make a

runoff among the top two vote-getters on Nov. 3, has said thatif elected, he may not drop the issue if the voters choose to pass

HERO. While he said he would “honor the will of the voters” ifHERO is repealed, he did not extend that same courtesy shouldsupporters of the ordinance prevail. Instead, he said that he

would offer amendments to the ordinance that specifically focuson the issue of transgender restroom use.

Polling on Proposition 1 has been all over the map, withconflicting polls showing both opponents and supporters of the

ordinance leading but significantly under the 50 percent markneeded for passage. As a result, political observers are predict-

ing a close finish when it comes to deciding whether LGBT

people in Houston will be protected against discrimination.Closer to home, the battle for control of the Virginia Senate

has the makings of a barn-burner, as Democrats and Republicansattempt to seize enough seats to control the upper chamber.

With the retirement of moderate Republican Sen. John Watkins(R-Richmond City, Bon Air, Midlothian), the GOP have only one

senator remaining in their caucus who has consistently voted

for nondiscrimination legislation. Moreover, whichever partygains the majority will be in control of the committees that are

slated to hear pro-LGBT legislation in January, which coulddetermine whether bills are killed or allowed to be voted upon

by the full Senate.Both political parties are pouring the bulk of their money

and canvassing efforts into a handful of Senate races. BesidesWatkins’ old seat Democrats are playing offense in two seats

in Hampton Roads, and another in Northern Virginia against

the conservative firebrand and fierce LGBT opponent Sen.

L G B TNews Now online at MetroWeekly.comAnti-gay politician outed on Adam4AdamSanders hits Clinton over past support for DOMA

by John Riley


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Dick Black (R-Leesburg, Lovettsville, Purcellville, Gainesville),

who faces Dr. Jill McCabe in this Loudoun County-basedseat. Republicans, meanwhile, have fielded strong challengers

against pro-LGBT senators including John Miller (D-NewportNews, Williamsburg, Hampton) and John Edwards (D-Roanoke,

Pearisburg, Blacksburg).

But the biggest local battles with the most fireworksare largely expected to be the races for the Fairfax County

School Board. The Democrat-dominated board has votedtwice in the past year to expand its nondiscrimination

policies to include sexual orientation and gender identity.In response, groups like the Traditional Values Coalition,

the Virginia Christian Alliance, and grassroots conserva-

tive activists have pounced, waging a “throw the bums out”covert campaign against several incumbent board members.

While the nondiscrimination policy is not the only issuebeing debated among school board candidates, it is one of the

more prominent ones. And, most notably, it has been raisedeither directly or indirectly by almost all non-incumbent

candidates, particularly those who have been endorsed bythe Fairfax County Republican Committee.

The Kentucky Governor’s race could prove most interesting

for the casual LGBT observer. Democratic Attorney GeneralJack Conway is in a tight race with Republican businessman

Matt Bevin to succeed Gov. Steve Beshear. Both Conway andBeshear have been under attack for weeks for their connections

to the controversy being played out in Rowan County, whereClerk Kim Davis has galvanized social conservatives with her

opposition to being forced to issue same-sex marriage licenses.

Conway is under attack for refusing to defend Kentucky’s

ban on same-sex marriage after a federal judge declared itunconstitutional. Critics say he should should have appealed

that decision to the Supreme Court. Beshear, in his role as gov-ernor, stepped in to help defend the ban, which was eventually

overturned. But Beshear has received a backlash for refusing tocall a special session of the legislature to pass a bill that would

allow county clerks like Davis to refrain from issuing licenses

to same-gender couples. Such a measure has more than enough

votes to pass, not only with support from Republicans, whocontrol the state senate, but from Democrats, who control theHouse of Representatives by a narrow margin.

As a result of Beshear’s refusal to hold a special session, someconservative Democrats — of which Davis was one — appear

to have soured on their Party. A recent Bluegrass Poll showed

Republicans gaining in all down-ticket races, particularly inthe Attorney General’s race, where Beshear’s son, Andy, is the

Democratic nominee and is currently tied with his opponent.That same poll also showed incumbent State Auditor Adam

Edelen — whose name has been floated as a potential opponentfor Sen. Rand Paul’s Senate re-election in 2016 — leading but

statistically tied with his opponent. Even Secretary of State

Alison Lundergan Grimes, who enjoys an eight-point lead overher opponent, is polling below the 50% mark, which is usually

dangerous for any incumbent. While LGBT rights have rarelybeen discussed in any of the down-ticket races, political observ-

ers will likely be parsing results for weeks afterward to see ifthe Davis controversy has resulted in a cultural and political

realignment within the Bluegrass State.l

OCTOBER 29, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM

The Academy of Washington Closes After years of declining membership and participation, the venerated D.C. social club

for drag performers dissolves

by John Riley

AFTER 55 YEARS, THE ACADEMY OF WASHINGTON,a social club for drag performers, has shut down. On

Monday, Oct. 26, the board of directors decided to dis-solve the corporation, effective immediately. In an email to its

members, the corporate officers implied that the decision was a

long time coming.“As many of you have been aware, the Academy of Washington

has been on life support for several years,” the email obtained by Metro Weekly reads. “It’s not working and there hasn’t been any

movement forward at all — in fact, it’s been moving in the oppo-site direction. We are unable to get contestants for contests such

as Miss Gaye America (DC), Mr. and Miss Gaye USA (DC), and

Zodiac.... [We] have operated at a loss of the 2015 calendar year.“With the creation of a functioning, responsive Board of

Directors, we had hoped that we could start turning thingsaround. However it has become clear to the Board that the

membership has no confidence in the leadership of the orga-nization,” the email continues. “It is time to take responsible

action to save the reputation of the Academy. Action needs to betaken now before things get worse or we are financially forced

to take action.”

According to the email, all current titleholders must return

the crowns and title regalia provided to them to the board ofdirectors, as those items are considered corporate assets. The

House Mothers of Addison Road and Beekman Place, will con-tact individual members to discuss the impact of the decision

and what it means for them.

Andre Hopfer, a.k.a. Tula, says the decision was difficult butultimately necessary.

“Even though it was a social club, the Academy was a busi-ness,” says Hopfer. “It’s depending on income to pay for things,

and over the last few years, membership has dropped. Peoplehad other things to do, other places to go. You know, people

moved away, we didn’t gain a lot of new members. So it was

really a financial decision, because we just couldn’t keep thegroup going for lack of income. We couldn’t afford to rent places

anymore where we could meet and do shows. So that was one ofthe driving factors.”

Hopfer attributes the Academy’s struggles to recruit pageantcontestants to the decrease in dues-paying members, claim-

ing that there was simply less interest in competing for dragpageant titles. But he also notes that greater acceptance of

the LGBT community, and in particular, drag performers, has

reduced the need for an Academy-type organization — which


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maybe the purpose of the group has changed.

“I’m very, very sad,” he continues, “because it’s been a veryimportant part of my life. For 22 years, I’ve planned my fall, win-

ter and spring around the organization. It’s like losing a familymember.... It’s sad and it’s devastating.

“And it’s going to be difficult, because people are going toask questions, they’re going to say, ‘Well, why did it happen?’

I don’t think there’s a clear answer. So many variables areinvolved it’s like there is no straightforward answer. Sometimes

things just go.” l

was once a safe haven for drag performers.“When the Academy was created in the ‘60s, it was illegal

to do drag,” he says. “It was an issue to be gay. Doing drag was

something that was against the law, you could be arrested forimpersonations. So the Academy was created for people to have

a safe place to go, and then it grew and was enormously popularinto the 1990s.

“Drag has become fairly mainstream. You don’t have to go tothe Academy to do drag. You can go to any bar and drag. You can

do anything you want to do in drag, which is a good thing, but

OCTOBER 29, 2015 METROWEEKLY.COM

COMMENTARY

Back Where We StartedStart planning now for the end of the “no drama Obama” era in January 2017

ASMALL GLIMMER OF OPTIMISM STILL LIVES

within my cynically encrusted soul. I’d hoped that aftertaking a week-long break from political news, I’d find a

refreshingly less crazy environment in our presidential election/

entertainment complex.

As you can imagine, my small glimmer has been downgradedto a tiny flicker.

By way of explanation, my first awareness of politics was theNixon era, when Watergate hearings interrupted Gilligan’s Island

during the after-school television block — a tenuous awareness,given that I thought “Watergate” probably had something to do

with Kentucky Dam a few miles down the road from my house.

My political acumen rose a bit over the following years ofFord and Carter, leading to my high school years as one of the

ubiquitous, middle-American children of the Reagan era.But my true political awakening came during the 1990s,

during the AIDS crisis and the country’s entrenched hatred ofhomosexuals, when it felt like Bill Clinton would be the one who

opened the door for us. During that campaign — and even for atime after it — I felt it truly, madly, deeply that there would be

grand changes for us.

This would be the part where my youthful idealism cameup against the limitations and shortcomings of the Clinton

administration and left me with the husk of cynicism, butthat’s cry me a river territory shared by many, many people of

my age and inclination.So it’s not a lingering disappointment I felt when I re-

engaged with the news after a few days, but a deja vu of dread

finding it still basically neck deep in a Republican manufactured“scandal” (Benghazi) set to ensnare another Clinton (Hillary).

It’s a preview of the world we’re going to be living in once againstarting January 2017.

Compare the last seven years of the Obama administration tothe ones I mentioned above, in terms of attendant drama. Yes,

we’ve had a slow burn of crazy across the country when it comesto President Barack (Hussein, and don’t you forget it!) Obama,

but hate-inspired scammers like birthers have been fairly con-

tained in the 20 or so percent of the population who’ll believeanything sold to them by a New York huckster with helmet hair

and a taste for gold. Plenty of conspiracy theories have beenhatched, but none have turned into actual quagmires (unless,

naturally, a Clinton is involved).

The Obama years are totally different than the 1970s, whichwere defined as an era by political corruption and criminality.As popular as Reagan was in the 1980s — and hated, as well —

his administration ended with the humdinger of Iran-Contra, a

scandal which completely contradicted the entire narrative ofhis reborn America.

And the Clinton years in the 1990s were often off-the-railscrazy, with no accusation against the White House power cou-

ple too insane for serious media investigation or congressionalinvolvement. This was the era of congressmen shooting pump-

kins in the backyard to “prove” Vince Foster was murdered, of

stories of pre-presidential cocaine rings flying out of Arkansasairstrips, of an ouroboros investigation that eventually found

targets because there were enough shady operators and recklessbehavior around to get roped in.

Finally, in the 2000s, we got George W. Bush abandoning apost-9/11 unity stance to wage a scorched-earth political campaign

to pursue a war that turned out to have been declared on the basisof lies. Plus the cronyism that gave us Dick Cheney and exacer-

bated Katrina and presiding over the greatest economic collapse

since the Great Depression with a deer-in-headlights outlook.Seriously, Obama’s only recent competitor for drama-free

presidency is George H.W. Bush who, while definitely contro-versial, managed to not only wage a war but to win and end it

within one term. Although there was that pesky savings and loanscandal involving his son who hasn’t been a governor, so it’s not

a perfect analogy.

Anyway, in terms of presidential scandal over the past fewyears, what have we got? That the Obamacare web site launched

broken, before being fixed and becoming a non-issue? Saying then-word in a completely relevant and appropriate context?

So, nothing. Compared to the past few decades, we’veenjoyed a period of no grifting, no dalliances, no tabloid type

behavior.While Obama’s time in office has been far from a pana-

cea, I did hope and expect the no drama accomplishment.

Unfortunately, I hoped for too much and thought it couldbecome the norm. Instead, we’re probably going to find our-

selves right back where we started.I’m gonna miss this guy. l

by Sean Bugg


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SATURDAY, OCT. 31ADVENTURING outdoors grouphikes 7 easy miles on the C&O Canalin western Maryland. Bring bever-ages, lunch, bug spray, and about$14 for fees. Carpool at 10 a.m. fromGrosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station.

Theresa, 252-876-1469.adventuring.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture group takeswalking tour of historic Harpers Ferry,W.V. Bring beverages, lunch, and about$10 for fees. Carpool at 9 a.m. fromGrosvenor-Strathmore Metro Station,return by 5 p.m. Craig, [email protected].

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.

BRAZILIAN GLBT GROUP, includ-ing others interested in Brazilian cul-ture, meets. For location/time, email [email protected].

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practice

session at Hains Point, 972 Ohio Dr.,SW. 8:30-10 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/ walking/social club welcomes alllevels for exercise in a fun and sup-portive environment, socializingafterward. Meet 9:30 a.m., 23rd & PStreets NW, for a walk; or 10 a.m. forfun run. dcfrontrunners.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.

FRIDAY, OCT. 30LGB 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

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

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) prac-tice session at Hains Point, 927 OhioDr. SW. 6:30-8 p.m. Visitswimdcac.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. 29Bet Mishpachah hosts

CROWDSOURCING: COMMUNALETHICS IN JUDAISM AND REALLIFE, the first of four classes offered by Rabbi Laurie Green, focusingon discussions about the interplay

between Jewish tradition and com-munal ethics, and how they apply toreal-life situations. Memorial recep-tion in memory of Barrett Brick, apast president of Bet Mishpachah andthe World Congress of Gay, Lesbian,Bisexual, and Transgender Jews,at 6:15 p.m., prior to the start of theclass. 7-9 p.m. DC Jewish CommunityCenter, 1529 16th St. NW. For moreinformation, visit betmish.org.

GAYS AND LESBIANS OPPOSINGVIOLENCE (GLOV), an organiza-tion dedicated to reducing violenceagainst the LGBT community andfighting on behalf of victims’ rights,holds its monthly meeting at The DCCenter. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW,Suite 105. For more information, visitglovdc.org.

WEEKLY EVENTS

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.

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.

LGBTCommunityCalendarDIGNITYUSA 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, NOV. 1

WEEKLY EVENTS

BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressiveand radically inclusive church holds

services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, betheldc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC) practicesession at Hains Point, 972 Ohio Dr.,SW. 9:30-11 a.m. Visit swimdcac.org.

DIGNITYUSA offers Roman CatholicMass for the LGBT community. 6p.m., St. Margaret’s Church, 1820Connecticut Ave. NW. All welcome.Sign interpreted. For more info, visitdignitynova.org.

FRIENDS MEETING OFWASHINGTON meets for worship,

10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW,Quaker House Living Room (next toMeeting House on Decatur Place),2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbiansand gays. Handicapped accessiblefrom Phelps Place gate. Hearing assis-tance. quakersdc.org.

HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORTGROUP for gay men living in the DCmetro area. This group will be meet-ing once a month. For information onlocation and time, email to [email protected].

Join LINCOLN CONGREGATIONALTEMPLE – UNITED CHURCH OF

CHRIST for an inclusive, loving andprogressive faith community everySunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW,near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood.lincolntemple.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITYCHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led by Rev. OnettaBrooks. Children’s Sunday School, 11a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax.703-691-0930, mccnova.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIANCHURCH, inclusive church withGLBT fellowship, offers gospel wor-

ship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional wor-


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ship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW.202-232-0323, nationalcitycc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THEINCARNATION, an “interracial,multi-ethnic Christian Community”offers services in English, 8 a.m. and10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m.1525 Newton St. NW. 202-232-0900,saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTCHURCH OF SILVER SPRING invites LGBTQ families and individu-als of all creeds and cultures to jointhe church. Services 9:15 and 11:15a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave.uucss.org.

MONDAY, NOV. 2BOOK READING UPLIFTS HISSPIRIT (BRUHS), a book and filmdiscussion group for GBT menof color, hosts author K. MurrayJohnson, who will discuss his book,

Image of Emerald and Chocolate.The group will also screen StanleyBennett Clay’s “You are Not Alone,”a documentary about black gay menand depression. 6-9 p.m. MartinLuther King, Jr. Library, 901 G St.NW. For more information, visit face- book.com/bruhsdc.

The DC Center hosts a VOLUNTEERNIGHT for all those interested inhelping out around the center. Dutiesinclude: sorting through book dona-tions, safe-sex kit inventory, cleaningup around the center, and other tasks.Pizza provided. 6:30-8:30 p.m. 200014th St. NW, Suite 105. For more

information, 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.

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-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, 9a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an appointmentcall 202-745-7000. Visit whitman-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 offers

free, rapid HIV testing. No appoint-ment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14thSt. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

NOVASALUD offers free HIV testing.5-7 p.m. 2049 N. 15th St., Suite 200, 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 Van

Buren 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, NOV. 3

WEEKLY EVENTS


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].

HIV TESTING at Whitman-WalkerHealth. At the Elizabeth Taylor MedicalCenter, 1701 14th St. NW, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. At the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK

Jr. Ave. SE, 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. For an


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appointment call 202-745-7000. Visitwhitman-walker.org.

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 CourtNW. thedccenter.org.

IDENTITY offers free and confiden-tial HIV testing in Gaithersburg,414 East Diamond Ave., and inTakoma Park, 7676 New Hampshire Ave., Suite 411. Walk-ins 2-6 p.m.For appointments other hours, callGaithersburg at 301-300-9978 or

Takoma Park at 301-422-2398.

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

OVEREATERS ANONYMOUS—LGBT focused meeting everyTuesday, 7 p.m. St. George’s

Episcopal Church, 915 Oakland Ave., Arlington, just steps from VirginiaSquare Metro. For more info. callDick, 703-521-1999. Handicappedaccessible. Newcomers [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. CathyChu, 202-567-3163, catherine.chu@

smyal.org.

US HELPING US hosts a supportgroup for black gay men 40 andolder. 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 forHIV, syphilis, gonorrhea and chla-mydia. Hepatitis and herpes testingavailable for fee. whitman-walker.org.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4BOOKMEN DC, an informal men’sgay-literature group, discussesDavid McConnell’s “AmericanHonor Killings: Desire and Rageamong Men”. 7:30 p.m. ClevelandPark Library, 3310 Connecticut Ave.NW. All are welcome. bookmendc. blogspot.com.

LULAC LAMBDA COUNCIL #11125holds a meeting of the LGBT chapterof the nation’s largest Latino civilrights and community service organi-zation. 7 p.m. El Rinconcito II, 1326

Park Rd NW. RSVP: [email protected].

THE TOM DAVOREN SOCIALBRIDGE CLUB will meet for SocialBridge. 7:30 p.m. Dignity Center,721 8th St., S.E. (across from MarineBarracks). All welcome, no partnerneeded. 301-345-1571 for more infor-mation.

WEEKLY EVENTS

AD LIB, a group for freestyle conversation, 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 Ohio

Dr. 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.

METROHEALTH CENTER offersfree, rapid HIV testing. No appoint-ment needed. 11 a.m.-7 p.m. 1012 14thSt. NW, Suite 700. 202-638-0750.

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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15SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

scene

scan this tag

with your

smartphone

for bonus scenepics online!

Whitman-WalkerHealth’s Walk

To End HIV

Saturday, October 24

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

WARD MORRISON


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16 SEE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW .METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE


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Scream Queen F R A N K O C K E N F E L S / F X

American Horroout, w


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Denis O’Hare is gradually getting used to the heels.

“It’s a learning curve,” he says. “Stairways aretreacherous. But I have to say I’ve gotten to the point

where I almost don’t notice it. I’ll be in them and I’mactually not aware that I’m in them.”

O’Hare is part of the regular, go-to ensembleon Ryan Murphy’s American Horror Story, having

appeared in four of the five series. He played thefacially-burned, mysterious Lee Harvey in the inau-gural season, Murder House, following it two years

later in 2013 with a gripping, disturbing performanceas the verbally-challenged Spaulding in Coven. Last

year, he created Stanley, a gay man with a rather siz-able appendage and less-than-savory plans for the

denizens of a travelling “freak show.” He received anEmmy nomination for his performance.

“I loved playing Stanley,” says O’Hare from his

home in Los Angeles. “He was, to my mind, a versionof the American spirit. He had that sort of ‘can-do,

anything is possible, reinvent yourself, make the

most of your life, pull yourself up by the bootstraps’feeling that can turn into hucksterism. And Stanleydidn’t kill anybody. He never laid a finger on any-

body. Which people forget. He simply used his gift of

gab and his logic and his persistence to get people todo things. In essence, he didn’t commit any crimes.

That, to me, is the dark side of American ingenuity.He was Paper Moon gone wrong.”

Stanley was arguably O’Hare’s most chilling per-formance on the series to date — the banality of the

character’s evil the undercurrent that provided FreakShow its gravitas, its tragedy. Until now.

In AHS: Hotel, O’Hare has been awarded the

plum role of Liz Taylor, a towering, turban-sporting,cocktail-dress wearing figure whose full purpose to

the whacked-out narrative has yet to be revealed.For the moment, Liz is lurking quietly, nefariously in

the background, often judging the actions unfoldingaround her with an exaggerated lift of her thickly-

mascaraed eyelids. Though Elizabeth Taylor is her

namesake, Liz is equal measure Agnes Moorehead.O’Hare is unwilling to reveal any of Liz’s secrets, and

will only tease with, “She’s got some good stuff com-ing up with Lady Gaga in episodes 5 and 6.”

An out actor since the start of his career, O’Harehas made a career out of forging memorable char-

acters. “I’m a character actor,” he says. “My bread

and butter is to basically inhabit anything.” Hisformidable credit list includes True Blood , on which

he played a gay vampire, the films Milk and Dallas Buyer’s Club, and a regular stint as the liberal leaning

Judge Abernathy on The Good Wife. O’Hare is alsono stranger to the stage. He’s won two Tonys in his

Broadway career, one in 2003 for his turn in RichardGreenberg’s gay baseball dramedy Take Me Out, and

another in 2012 for his solo work in An Iliad.

But it’s television — and its power of immediacyand narrative — that currently has his tell-tale heart.

“I think movies right now are in a terrible state,”he says. “If I see one more Marvel Comics movie,

grand dame Denis O’Hare spills his guts about comingn horror and heels, and life on the set with Lady Gaga

Interview by Randy Shulman


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I might kill myself. They’re so boring. I don’t understand theobsession with the Marvel Comics universe. And yet all the

money is being sucked into those productions. And where is

the amazing, cutting-edge, transformative filmmaking?” It’s ontelevision, he posits. “We have these amazing creative minds

like Ryan Murphy and Shonda Rhimes bringing new universesinto birth.”

Still, even television has its downside.“It speaks to our ever-shrinking attention-span,” says the

easy-going, soft-spoken actor. “If you can’t sit for 20 minutesbetween commercial breaks and just watch something, what

does that say about your ability to truly take it in? We, as artists,

are trying to weave a spell. And part of that means that you haveto pay attention, unbroken. That’s something a movie still can

do. When you’re sitting in a movie for two hours at a stretch,you’re not getting up, you’re not tweeting, you’re not reading

your email. But watching TV at home in your living room, godknows what you’re doing. You’re playing Candy Crush, you’re

checking out your email, you’re tweeting while you’re doing it.

You’re not getting the full experience.“I have a hard time watching American Horror Story with

friends when I’m at home,” he continues, “because if anybodyspeaks or anything, I’m like, ‘Shut up! Be quiet!’ As an artist,

I want it to be experienced in a certain kind of way. At thesame time, there’s an ownership quality to it when fans tweet

immediately, when fans are so excited that they want to discussthings with their friends and want to jump in. That enthusiasm

is not a bad thing. It generates a sort of cultural focus, which

also doesn’t exist in films.”As for Liz, he’s clearly having the time of his career — par-

ticularly with her tight-fitting, sequined apparel.“It’s tough when we costume her,” he says, “because I have

a bald head and I have big shoulders and I’ve got big hands —I’m not necessarily a feminine looking guy. I would say forty

percent of what we put on we have to throw away because it

just doesn’t work. But when we find the right thing, it’s just

delicious.”

METRO WEEKLY: You grew up in a suburb of Detroit. What was

your childhood like?

DENIS O’HARE: In many ways, it was extraordinarily ordinary. I

have no regrets about my childhood. I have no bad memories. Ihad a pretty wonderful childhood. I am fourth of five kids, and

I had a really great family.

That being said, I think I started displaying little signs ofeccentricity, despite my parents attempts to keep me on the

straight and narrow. I started playing organ when I was five.I just sat down and started playing, without really any lessons,

by ear. I became a classical music freak at about six, because of“Peter and the Wolf,” which my parents had an LP record of. I

used to conduct the orchestra in my living room. I would make

up the signs for the different musical instruments and thenpoint to them and “conduct” them.

I was hospitalized at eight for a weird ear infection andwhile there, I was given a book called Knowledge of the World . It

was sort of a weird encyclopedia — a little bit of every language,every musical instrument, every flower, every tree. I read it

cover-to-cover and vowed to play ten musical instruments andspeak ten languages before I died. I wanted to work for the U.N.

and be a translator. By the time I was about 12 or 13, I wanted

to build my own harpsichord because I was deeply in love withJohann Sebastian Bach, and I wanted to emulate him. I played

clarinet in grade school and oboe in high school. I took up vocal

lessons and studied opera. I was accepted to the University ofMichigan’s voice department as an opera student.

MW: Very musically inclined.

O’HARE: Yes, but I was also acting this whole time. I had fallenin love with acting at eight and started doing school plays. I was

a pig my first venture out. My mom made me a Campbell’s Soupcan nose — that was disgusting. I was also a heavy kid — what

they call husky. So I was very aware of my weight and my look.Playing a pig was not the best way to launch your career.

MW: You came out in high school during the ’70s. That reallywasn’t as heard of back then. I can only think of one gay student in

my high school, and I’m not sure he was even fully out.

O’HARE: I knew what I wanted at five. I also knew to keep mymouth shut. Which is a strange thing to know that, at five, but

I knew enough just to not tell anybody. I was messing aroundwith my first boyfriend at 12. By the time I got to high school,

I just wanted to start talking about it. I couldn’t handle it any-more. Part of what helped me was the Rocky Horror Picture

Show. Because that was a milieu in which to express yourself

and be accepted — the guy on screen is being celebrated as atransvestite and he was in love with a bodybuilder. It felt like it

was kind of okay to be gay.MW: How did coming out go at the time?

O’HARE: Both badly and alright. The badly part was that I cameout to my psychology teacher, a man I will never forget — Mr.

O’Brien — and I’ll name him because I hate him to this day.This was a Catholic boy’s high school, so there was also that

going on. I’ll never forget, our psychology textbook, when they

discussed homosexuality, showed a picture of a man flash-ing kids in a playground. That was the picture that went with

homosexuality in a psychology textbook.This guy was a psychologist and he was secular, I figured he

would be at least broad-minded enough to listen to me. So I hada very intense conversation with him. I was 16 or 17, I honestly

don’t remember. And I did a roundabout discussion where I told

him I was having problems with girls. And he said, “Well, did

you get somebody pregnant?” And I remember saying, “No, it’sthe opposite.” And he was like, “What’s the opposite of gettingsomeone pregnant?” I was like, “Uhhhhh,” trying to hint at anal

sex or something. And when he finally got it, he was so horri-fied, he stood up and told me to shut my mouth and said to never

talk about it again with anybody, ever. And then he walked awayand left me there. That was the only adult interaction I had.

I came out to my best friend at the time, and he did not take

it well. He was straight. But I also had a best friend who wasgay who went to a rival high school. So we had this great sup-

port system. And my other best friend, who went to a differenthigh school as well, he also was my support system — and my

one-time lover. So I did have people who were with me in thesame boat. And that gave me the courage more than anything,

because I knew I had a ready ear, I knew I had compatriots. I

knew I definitely wasn’t alone.MW: It’s really alarming how the school psychologist reacted. It

seems counterintuitive to his profession.

O’HARE: Well, you know, this is a high school where the swim

coach taught psychology, the basketball coach taught religion,and the football coach taught history. This is the same football

coach who told me that the Wall of Berlin was the Iron Curtain.And I told him, “No, the Iron Curtain is a metaphor and the Wall

of Berlin is actual physical reality.” And he told me I was wrong,

and made me come up to the front of the class and do 20 pushups.MW: How did it go with your parents?

O’HARE: Not well. It was a long journey. I will say that today


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things are remarkable. I came out to my dad when I was a soph-omore in college. It could not have gone worse. It was rough in

the beginning. My mother’s no longer here — she died in 2008 —but accepted me a long time ago. She spent my high school years

prodding me, trying to get a rise out of me by bringing up thingslike Anita Bryant — “That Anita Bryant certainly is doing good

work in Florida” — and see what I would do. I remember I camehome with Gore Vidal’s The City and the Pillar at one point and

proudly threw it on the kitchen table. And my mother was smart

enough to realize what it was. She was horrified that I was read-ing Gore Vidal, but also that Gore Vidal book.MW: But things improved.

O’HARE: Yeah, things did improve. The one thing about Irish

Catholics is that it would never cross their minds to cut off tiesto their family. Family comes first. Family comes before coun-

try, before religion, before everything. And my father never

ever, ever, ever gave me any indication that he would reject me.He was certainly struggling with it, but he never stopped loving

me and made that abundantly clear to me. Within, I would say,four years he was staying with me and my boyfriend in Chicago

in our house. And to this day, my husband Hugo and I stay intheir house in the same bedroom together. He’s accepting of my

son — he considers him his grandson.MW: Looking back, was it worth coming out at an early age during

that era?

O’HARE: I don’t think I had a choice, you know? I have a weirdsort of integrity — I feel like I have to be truthful. In the case of

high school, I couldn’t hide it anymore. And in terms of comingout to my father, I didn’t want to take his money anymore if I

felt like I was taking it under false pretenses. So I would ratherhe cut me off my sophomore year in college knowing what I

was, than to lie to him, take his money and then tell him later.

If he was going to help me for college, I wanted him to help meknowing who I was.MW: Could you have, at the time, even conceived of the advanceswe’ve made in the past 40 years?

O’HARE: No, absolutely not. I’ve been alive long enough to haveseen a strange evolution. When I was growing up, the role

models were Paul Lynde, or the characters from The Boys inthe Band , or Doctor Smith from Lost in Space. That was the

landscape — these very effete, bitter, acerbic, witty people.There was no other role model. And even then I was confused

because that didn’t fit naturally on my body. That wasn’t quitewhat I was, but I figured, “Well, that’s what I have to be.” And if

you look at Boys in the Band , which was a product of its time, itpredicted for us a life of bitterness, unhappiness and loneliness.

That’s what our future was. So to now be married and have a kid is pretty extraordinary.

But before we go patting ourselves on the back, let’s not for-

get that we have a country where people are trying to enfran-chise religious discrimination against us. We still don’t have

protections on the federal level to be fired from a job. We don’thave protections on the level of housing. We have people like

Kim Davis who can openly mock the law and get away withit. And we have people who, every day, say awful things about

us in public. On the radio. On TV. So we’re definitely not at a

place of full equality. I still live in a world where I see peoplechange their attitude toward me when they find out I’m gay. In

conversation, they’ll say “Oh, you’re married. What’s your wife’sname?” And I go, “It’s not a wife, it’s a husband.” It’s a subtle

shift. Not always, but enough times to make me feel like “Oh,okay, this is still a thing.”

MW: Do they visibly disparage it?

O’HARE: I’m alien. I’m not like they are. I’m different. Whatever

commonality they thought they had with me has now been sud-

denly shifted in that revelation.MW: Matt Damon recently made that statement about actors,

claiming that gay actors should not disclose their sexualitybecause it ruins their their ability to play things and could impact

their careers. You’re a gay actor, yet being out doesn’t seem to haveimpacted your career at all.

O’HARE: I love Matt Damon. I love his work. And I like his poli-

tics. I agree with him on most issues. I take the spirit of whathe was saying, but rather than focus on Matt I think we should

focus on the larger society.In many ways, Matt is emblematic of the struggle that we

still have to overcome, which is that we’re not the defaults,we’re the other. The default is straight. And that’s what Matt

was, I think, unintentionally giving voice to. He’s representingin many ways the mainstream culture which still sees us as

S U Z A N N E T E N N E R / F X

“When I was growing

up, the role models

were Paul Lynde,

or the characters

from The Boys in the Band . These very

effete, bitter, acerbic,witty people.

I WASCONFUSED BECAUSETHAT WASN’T QUITE

WHAT I WAS, BUTI FIGURED, ‘WELL,

THAT’S WHAT IHAVE TO BE.’”


22/64


different. And you know, just like white privilege doesn’t know

that it’s white privilege, straight privilege doesn’t understandthat it’s straight privilege. It’s hard for them to feel it. I’m notangry at him, I don’t castigate him at all. I think if anything,

it’s very helpful to realize that even someone as enlightened asMatt, as a straight man, is living in a world of straight privilege.

And doesn’t understand that of course he’s out — he’s out as a

straight person.I don’t think Matt was being prescriptive — I think he was

being descriptive. He was just telling it like it is. And I think he’sright: a young, leading man, who is 25, coming out may have an

adverse impact on their career. I never had to make that choicebecause I’m a character actor. My job is to disappear into my

character — I’m not asking the audience to imagine being in lovewith me. But if you’re a 25-year-old male actor and you’re play-

ing a romantic lead, you’re asking the audience to be in love withyou. Still, I’m not sure that it makes a difference — I don’t thinkit’s hurt Matt Bomer, for instance. But I think Matt Damon did

us a favor in pointing out that there are certain attitudes that stillexist in straight culture. And that even someone as great an ally

as Matt can still be unaware of his own straight privilege.MW: It’s occurred to me that this season of American Horror

Story has the highest percentage of out opening-credit actors I’ve

ever seen in a single show — you, Matt Bomer, Cheyenne Jackson,Sarah Paulson. And, of course, the creator Ryan Murphy is gay. It

feels like the gayest show on television. When you have that manyout actors on the set, is there a different kind of feel to it, a differ-

ent kind of camaraderie?

O’HARE: What I’ll say is that I’ve noticed that sets in general overthe past 20 years have changed remarkably. I don’t think that

American Horror Story is any different. The Good Wife set is

remarkable — it’s a fantastic working environment. True Blood is a remarkable set — very, very comfortable. It’s been a long

time since I felt like a set was in any kind of way homophobicor scary. It’s been a cultural evolution. In California in general,

the Teamsters — the crew guys — are great. I wasn’t quite ascomfortable when we were shooting [ AHS: Coven ] down in New

Orleans. But nothing bad ever happened and they were lovelypeople. So I would love to be able to say that American Horror

Story is better than this or that set, but I think it’s not.

That being said, it’s nice to have somebody else on set withyou who knows your shorthand. If I’m sitting with Evan Peters

and Wes Bentley, I’m as comfortable as I am sitting with MattBomer and Cheyenne Jackson. It’s a pretty extraordinary group

of people. I’ve never felt any sense that I have to change who Iam now because of who I’m sitting with.

In terms of gay sensibility, I agree with you, it’s obviously

because it has a gay creator that there is more of an opportunityto tell stories that are outside the straight and narrow. I would

liken it to Shondaland. That when you have a black showrunner[like Shonda Rhimes] suddenly you have access to a wider pool

of stories and that person is going to naturally gravitate towardstories that other people might not. I don’t consider How to

Get Away With Murder or Scandal black shows by any means,but because Shonda is running these shows, we have a greater

diversity in terms of storyline and a greater diversity in terms of

casting and maybe even writers. I think that’s fantastic.MW: We’re only a few episodes in, but there seems to be a strong

emphasis on children in AHS: Hotel.O’HARE: One of the most revolutionary things about what’s hap-

pened to Ryan Murphy in the past three years is he’s become aparent. And more than anything I think that American Horror

Story is obsessed with children — and obsessed with the rela-

tionship between children and parents. The little vampire kids

Lady Gaga has are surrogate children. There will be anotherchild later in the show. Wes’ character’s relationship with hismissing son is the driving sadness in his relationship. Chloe

Sevigny’s character is a pediatrician. My character of Liz has abackstory coming up, which I don’t want to spoil. There is this

huge new concern that Ryan has with kids. And a lot of the writ-ers have kids and, oddly enough, a lot of the actors have kids.

Matt Bomer’s got three kids. I have a kid. Wes Bentley has two

kids. All of our kids are young. We spend a lot of time on the settalking about our kids.MW: Speaking of kids, how old is Declan?

O’HARE: Four and a half.MW: Are you taking him trick or treating?

O’HARE: Oh, of course. He loves dress up. He’s way into cos-

tumes. He’s been a Spider-man freak for two years and I think

he’s just moving off Spider-man and now he’s moving into StarWars. I think he’s going as a Stormtrooper.MW: Are you one of those no candy parents, all healthy options likeraisins and nuts?

O’HARE: [ Laughs.] Oh, no. He gets candy. We tried, we tried, butyou can’t stop it. It’s a tidal wave. We have a whole jelly bean

reward system worked out with him. He’s very candy fixated.MW: Your work on AHS is impactful in that each of your char-

acters has been so absorbing in their own way, but Liz seems to

be out of another world entirely. Can you talk a little bit about portraying Liz?

O’HARE: The first thing I’ll say about her is that she knows exact-

F R A N K O C K E N F E L S / F X


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ly who she is. And with that comfort and that security comespower. And she’s an incredibly powerful person and character

because she has no secrets from herself — she’s not lying on anylevel. She is able to see others really clearly, and to articulate

what they’re doing to themselves. She’s able to diagnose theworld really, really easily. That being said, she has flaws, she

has hopes, she has dreams, she has regrets, she has lots of dark-ness in her past, but she’s attempting to live her life and betterherself and, in a weird way, stay out of trouble. You know, the

hotel is a nest of trouble. And she’s just trying to stay out of it.MW: There’s so much complexity to the character itself, just in

terms of what you’re bringing to her. Would we classify her astransgender? A transvestite?

O’HARE: This has been an evolution for me — and I think anevolution for the writers. Like all things in American Horror

Story, we as actors really never know anything. [ Laughs.] Ryan

himself works instinctively. So he’ll have a very strong image orthumbnail sketch of a character and then, as he and the writers

move forward, they refine and explore and add. So they’re also

figuring out who they are. My own evolution of understandingtransgender issues has really been pushed along in this process.So I would say Liz is gender-fluid. She thinks of herself as a

woman. She is on a journey of identity. She may be done with

that journey, she may be going further. But she’s pretty solidwith who she is. And I’m not sure that I could find a proper title

that would satisfy her or anybody else. I feel pretty comfortablesaying gender-fluid.MW: Here’s hoping she’s not revealed to be the faceless creaturewith the metal dildo.

O’HARE: God, I hope not. That’s too much time in the makeup chair.MW: You’ve done a lot of horror — this, True Blood. Do you enjoy

working in the genre?

O’HARE: You know, I do. I also do The Good Wife. I’ve played a judge on that for years. I also did Brothers and Sisters, where

I played a political operative. I play a lot of government types.That’s my other go-to guise. Really button down, really straight

laced, really frustrated, angry government bureaucrats. I actu-ally love those tightly button-downed characters. At the same

time, what I love about the horror genre work is that the char-

acters are bigger, the emotional palate wider, and the imagina-tive work richer. What you’re asked to imagine yourself doing

is more outlandish. You know, if you’re doing a cop procedural,your range of emotions is going to be fairly constrictive, unless

they give you a crazy personal backstory. I think about Law &Order, and it’s a lot of exposition. You play various emotions

from intrigue to interest to cynicism to disappointment. But

with horror, you’re asked to play things like the shock of beingpenetrated from behind by a metal dildo, the realization that

your 500-year-old lover has just been reduced to goo and you’refeeling it from miles away because you’re a 3,000 year old vam-

pire, watching the ghost of your burned children haunt you in abasement, being a butler who’s had his tongue cut out because of

love for his witch employer. The imaginative work is sort of offthe charts. And as an actor, it’s really, really exciting.MW: I have to ask, what’s it like working with Lady Gaga?

O’HARE: You know, I gotta tell you, it’s pretty normal. She comesto the set with no trappings. She’s ready to do her work. She

comes prepared, memorized, serious, having asked a lot of ques-tions. She wants to do a good job. There’s no hullaballoo around

her. She’s as down to earth as she can possibly be given the enor-mous celebrity surrounding her. And she navigates the set like

any of us. She’s a worker among workers, which is the highest

compliment that I can give to someone like that.MW: Since this is our Halloween issue, I’m obliged to ask: Do you

remember the first horror movie that you saw in a theater?

O’HARE: Yes! It was The Conqueror Worm.MW: Oh, wow, the Vincent Price one.

O’HARE: Yep. I don’t know why I saw it. I think I went with my

brother and my sister. I didn’t know what it was about. I was too

young. Now I know it was about the Salem Witch Trials. Then,I just knew that it was scary, because Vincent Price was scary.MW: What scares you?

O’HARE: Ann Coulter. [ Laughs.] But I think what truly scares

me are knives. And knives around my throat. I have a real issuewith my neck. I don’t like my neck to be touched, I don’t like

anyone to put their hands around my neck, and the idea of aknife on my neck is really, really awful to me. Just horrid.

MW: Is that a rider in your contract then? No knives to Liz Taylor’s

neck?

O’HARE: It hasn’t happened yet, so maybe it’s an unwritten con-

tract I send out. I send out some vibe.MW: You know someone will read this and a knife will be put up

to Liz’s neck.

O’HARE: Ai-yi-yi, no, no!

MW: I wonder if there are going to be a lot of Liz Taylors out for

Halloween this year.

O’HARE: I hope so. It’s a great look, you know what I mean?

There’s a lot of bald guys out there who can really work it.

New episodes of American Horror Story: Hotel air Wednesdaysat 10 p.m. on FX. Past episodes can be found on FX Now. Visit

fxnetworks.com. l

“I would say Liz is

gender-fluid. She thinks of

herself as a woman. She is ona journey of identity. She may be

done with that journey, SHE MAY BE GOING FURTHER. BUT SHE’S

PRETTY SOLID WITHWHO SHE IS.”

S U Z A N N E T E N N E R / F X


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According to Andy Scahill, gays have a special dark place in the horror canon

Interview by Doug Rule

Portrait by Cedric Terrell

NDY SCAHILL HAS BEEN OBSESSED WITH HORROR EVER

since he can remember.

He would soak up as much Clive Barker and Southern gothic

literature as he could, holed up in the library in his nativeCincinnati. Eventually, he forced himself to conquer his great-

est fear — far scarier than anything he had read.

“I hated being deathly shy — and so paralyzed by it,”

Scahill explains, noting that even talking on the telephone

gave him anxiety as a kid. After forcing himself to be in the

public spotlight by acting in theater, Scahill soon became

“the learned extrovert” he calls himself today.

Scahill has also become a learned expert on the topic of film — hor-

ror film in particular. After earning his doctorate from the University

of Texas at Austin, Scahill moved to the Mid-Atlantic to teach filmstudies at George Mason and then Georgetown universities. Now,

MacMillan has released his first book, The Revolting Child in HorrorCinema: Youth Rebellion and Queer Spectatorship, drawing on bothhis interests as a gay man as well as his work in academia. He’s cur-

rently an assistant professor at Maryland’s Salisbury University,

where he’s also assistant editor of Literature/Film Quarterly, whichfocuses on celluloid adaptations.

“What I like about film,” Scahill says, “is not so much the film, but

how people experience film. How do we see film differently based on

our social identities or the time period?”

And how is that some films can be seen as scary — and gay — to

some but not others? Scahill has some theories about that.


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METRO WEEKLY: What inspired your book?

ANDY SCAHILL: It was my dissertation, so I’ve been working on

this for quite a while. I was interested originally in a film from

the ’50s called The Bad Seed , which featured a little blonde pig-tailed girl who commits murder. It’s campy and kind of fun. I

saw that nobody had really written about it as a campy text. Andit kind of just grew from there. I got interested in other images

of bad children and that was the germ of it. I didn’t think about itin terms of queerness at all at first, I was just going to do a book

on what forms does the bad child take — a monstrous child andwhat does that tell us about ourselves and our culture.

In the book, I talk about the monstrous child as a metaphor

for queer youth. When I was looking at monstrous children,before I thought about queerness at all, I would notice that the

type of monstrous children in horror films — the child whoharbors a dark secret, the child who gets

taken over by something in adolescence, orthe child who goes out and seeks others like

them — for me, they all speak to formation of

the queer child. And because there wasn’t away to talk about queer children, I think they

come up in other ways — through metaphor.That’s what I find fascinating.

MW: What it was about horror that enraptured you as a young gay kid?

SCAHILL: When I was a kid I used to read CliveBarker. Voraciously. Even before I knew

he was gay, there was something about the

way he dealt with monstrosity and sexualityand perversity that spoke to me as a teen-

ager. Even his most monstrous figures havethis sort of place in the public conscious-

ness. That speaks to us and our ambivalencetoward monstrosity in a modern world. It

repels but also fascinates us.

The kind of horror films that I’ve always

been interested in are psychological. I’venever been a gore horror kind of guy. I ask this of my studentswhen I teach horror films: Why do we subject ourselves to mas-

ochistic experience? What’s wrong with us that we do this? Toa certain degree, it’s a little bit about catharsis. It’s the thrill of

a roller coaster. You get that exhilaration. And also you get thisrelease valve on all the things that society represses — and you

get to entertain these dangerous fantasies.

As a gay kid, a lot of times I didn’t want to see the monstergo away. I liked this eruption of chaos into this more normal,

often suburban life. I think even as a kid, normativity bored me. Iwasn’t invested in the couple getting together. I was more inter-

ested in the baddie. So when you get to the ’80s and you start tohave these really charismatic movie villains like Freddy Krueger

— to me Freddy Krueger was the star. He was the one moving

from sequel to sequel, not the individual protagonists.MW: That might all be different in future, when there will probably

be more gay couples represented in horror films. You might bewriting a very different book in 50 years.

SCAHILL: Yeah, exactly. [ Laughs.] You know there’s been someattempts with specifically queer horror. There was Hellbent a

decade ago. There’s also a Kickstarter campaign to get TylerJensen’s documentary made about the queerness of A Nightmare

on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge. That’s a film that is so obvi-

ously about gay repression — about Freddy Krueger becomingmore or less a metaphor for repressed sexuality. That comes out

when he’s kind of sexually aroused in the school locker room.

A lot of people consider that to be the gayest horror film evermade, even though it was never specifically stated.

MW: Gays seem to only factor into the major horror and slasher

films in the subtext. No characters are openly gay.

SCAHILL: Yeah, and I think there is something too about gays and

lesbians as moviegoers — we’re kind of scavengers. We’ve haddecades and decades of not being able to say gay. And so, what

[film historian] Vito Russo says, we play in the closet. So we’veestablished a really elaborate code system. You can’t say he’s

gay but we all kind of know. If you’re in on the codes, you knowwhat we’re talking about. But that makes you suspicious about

all kinds of things in cinema. All relationships start to look sus-

picious. All these intense friendships, and intense conflicts even,start to look suspicious if you’ve been fed a steady diet of coding.

You start to look for it everywhere.MW: But the sexuality of monsters like Jason in

Friday the 13th is never really discussed.

SCAHILL: Yeah, he’s kind of asexual in Friday

the 13th. It’s interesting that in this and Halloween, how they refocused on the childin the reboot. And how they’re stunted, and

forever children in a way — they haven’t pro-fessed any sexuality.

MW: You could also look at these througha puritanical lens — the virgin is the one

who survives, the promiscuous ones suffer themost.

SCAHILL: Yeah, absolutely. There’s this

mounting danger of sex in any horror. Iagree with that in part — especially in slasher

film where, if you have sex, you die. But Ithink, if you think about when we’re most

vulnerable, it’s when we’re naked. It’s whenwe’re in the shower. I think you can read it as

puritanical, but I think it’s also just about our

anxieties about vulnerable states. Sex makes

us vulnerable. Being naked makes us vulner-able, and those are the frightening things. Being asleep makesus vulnerable. And often characters are attacked while they’re

sleeping, or even in dreams. There’s nothing puritanical aboutthat. I think it’s overall anxiety about those moments in which

we haven’t armored ourselves in every way.MW: So even if we become a really sex-positive society, sex is still

going to be at the crux of a lot of horror?

SCAHILL: Absolutely. The subconscious is this vulnerable state,and I think a lot of times in the greater straight culture, there’s

anxiety about, if I probe my subconscious, what am I going tofind there? Am I going to find this hidden queer monster that

I have to repress again? The horror film is also in a way abouthow repression fails over and over again. And that stuff that we

repress, be it our own desires or be it other races, or women, that

comes back for revenge in the horror film.A little bit of repression is good for society — if we repress

our desire to injure other people, or what-have-you. But wehave lots of things that we repress in society that we don’t need

to — women, other cultures, children, the poor. And often in thehorror film, this is what comes to the surface, and comes back

for revenge.MW: One of the terms you reference in the book that really stood out

for me, in context of The Exorcist in particular, was about “baby

bitches from hell.”

SCAHILL: Yeah, that’s a great one! That’s Barbara Creed. I think

that’s a really good example of not only repressing children, but


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we’re repressing women. And repressing our own sexuality. Part

of the horror of The Exorcist is that she’s on the cusp of woman-hood, and all of this is coming to the surface. The anxiety about

menstruation. Carrie also deals with this.MW: I imagineThe Exorcist has a special meaning to you, as it does

to many Washingtonians or those associated with Georgetown. Iknow you’re going to be at the official dedication of the Exorcist

Steps this Friday, Oct. 30.

SCAHILL: I’m excited for the event. It’s interesting, when I was

at Georgetown, the window out of my office looked out over the

church, which starts the film. So I had that steeple in my windowevery time I was in Georgetown.

I can’t think of too many horror films in which the locationbecomes a mecca. But it is here. What would otherwise be, in

any other movie, a nondescript staircase, takes on an aura in The Exorcist. I can’t think of too many examples where people make

a mecca to something so banal as an entrance to a house.MW: Did director William Friedkin set a new bar for horror filmswith The Exorcist?

SCAHILL: Yes, for a couple of reasons. William Friedkin hasthis interest in art cinema. We see this art cinema aesthetic at

times in dream sequences. Along with Rosemary’s Baby and TheShining , those three films I think really took horror up as a genre,

to where you could have an artistic, existential even, horror film.One made for the mass market, but still allowing you to do these

sort of artistic flourishes. And I think that was a rarity in horror

cinema, or genre cinema up until that point. To have this mix-ture of art and horror, a pulpy genre.MW: Another notable thing about The Exorcist was how scary themedical tests were and how it preyed on people’s fears or misun-

derstandings about medical science and the powers of medicine.SCAHILL: Yeah, something like that hadn’t really been seen

before. We might call that kind of medical horror.

In the film, they even align the medical community as thissort of priest exorcism — and putting really violent acts upon

the girl’s body. The mother, when talking about the exorcist, shecalls him the witch doctor, which is interesting given that we

have this invasive medical procedure as well. I look at that scenespecifically when I do a queer reading of the film.

MW: Are you saying there’s a gay angle to it?

SCAHILL: If you’re just watching it as author William Peter Blatty

intended, you think of the movie as a story of rescuing a girl

from possession. Another way to read it though is as a story of

revenge — against the state, against the medical community.

That the possession allows her body to revolt against these medi-cal/religious invasions of her body. And I find it very pleasurable

to watch her body revolt. I don’t think I’m supposed to. I don’tthink the movie is necessarily made for that type of pleasure.

And yet, I think a lot of people find it really pleasurable to watchher vomit on a priest. When I screen that film with my students,

the students laugh at that scene. What does that say about theirspectatorship?

MW: That they’re lapsed Catholics?

SCAHILL: Right. I mean, that’s me for sure. And I think, for aninstitution that’s been so antagonistic towards my body and my

desire, it’s really pleasurable to watch a body on screen be antag-onistic towards that, that institution. And when I look at how

people have taken up the image of Regan MacNeil, in parody orin public discourse, or even jokes, there is something pleasurable

in the way that her image has circulated.MW: Is The Exorcist your favorite horror film?

SCAHILL: I’m a classic guy. I love the classic haunted house tale

— so The Haunting is probably my favorite. Robert Wise’s 1963original. And it became the template for every horror film after

it, from The Shining to The Babadook — they’re all circling backto it. And I think what’s brilliant about it, is that it plays on that

boundary between, is it supernatural or is it psychological? AndI always like that kind of tension.

MW: What would be your least favorite horror film?

SCAHILL: It would probably be — I haven’t seen it — but Saw,what people call torture porn. Because what I like is the thought-

fulness and the ability to suggest without showing. I feel likethese films are just splattered bukkake, really. I just find that

they show too much and tell too little.MW: Is the psychological aspect why horror is more fascinating

to gay people in general, because coming out and accepting your

identity is an inherently psychological act?

SCAHILL: Yeah, absolutely. You know, I’m a Hitchcock guy. I love Psycho. I love The Birds. He once said, you can give your audi-ence a 10-second shock, and they’re shocked for 10 seconds. Or,

you can tell them something is coming, and you can let the sceneplay out for 10 minutes, and you get that 10 minutes of anxiety

and anticipation and dread. And that’s really the crux of it.He was also really interested in perverse sexualities. So there

are many characters that could quite easily be read as gay —

Bruno in Stranger On a Train, often Anthony Perkins in Psycho

“Why do we subject ourselves

to masochistic experience?

What’s wrong with us that we do this? IT’S

A LITTLE BIT ABOUT CATHARSIS. IT’S THETHRILL OF A ROLLER COASTER. You getthat exhilaration.”


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is read as a latent homosexual. Hitchcock was really interested

in the failure of repression, too. And also his queer characters —

especially Bruno in Strangers On a Train — they had a lot moremobility, because they knew how to perform. They could put on

the mask when they needed to, and take it off when they had to,or wanted to. And that’s one of the things I got really interested

in with these horror films about children. Because so much ofit is about performing the expectations of a good child. I think

that’s something that resonates with us a lot, those of us whogrew up gay and knowing that something was different about

us. Having to understand what the expectations are and to try

to perform them.MW: Do you remember the first horror film that you ever saw?

SCAHILL: You know, a lot of people talk about The Wizard of Oz astheir first horror film. Which I think is kind of funny, how many

young people get traumatized by that film.MW: I guess I’ve always thought of that film as a kind of gay kid’s

fantasy — and not simply because Judy Garland is the star. It’s the

opposite of a horror film to me.

SCAHILL: Well the witch and the flying monkeys — and all the

darkness, twisted-ness of that arena. It’s interesting, the pro-duction of the film, they actually dialed back a lot of Margaret

Hamilton’s scenes because they tested so poorly with children.

So they refused a lot of her more aggressive scenes to make itmore child-friendly.

My parents wouldn’t have let me see a horror movie early on,

so it was probably one of the slashers. I want to say Nightmare on Elm Street just because I feel like it has such a permanent place

in my mind. But I don’t remember being traumatized by it. Ifanything I probably found it wildly entertaining.MW: Are you watching American Horror Story? What do you thinkof it?

SCAHILL: I was a fan of the first season. I haven’t watched this sea-son yet. I think of American Horror Story as a kind of pastiche or

jukebox of horror film references. And there are different levels

of pleasure. I think it works on its own, if you’re just enjoying thepulpiness of it, and the taboo-breaking of it — which I think is a

big part of American Horror Story, in that it really tries to oblit-erate taboos. It’s fascinating that this has become so successful

with an American audience. But I also think it works on that levelof saying, oh, okay, I know that reference from Freaks or from Halloween or from Sleepaway Camp. So it works on that level.

For me, it becomes more of a program with too large of a cast,telling too many stories. And it becomes unable to tell a single

story. That’s the problem with a lot of ensemble shows. So forme, I would just wish it would focus in on one or two stories.

MW: What would you say is the future for gays in horror films?SCAHILL: I think we’ll start to have more gay voices in produc-

tion. We’ve been questioning the easy answers that horror usedto give us, about who was good and who was the monster. And I

think more and more we get into the horror of normativity, and

the horror of losing identity within the horde. I think the riseof the zombie movie kind of speaks to this. Because what is the

zombie movie except the loss of individuality, and the loss of selfamidst the horde?

Zombie movies have been interpreted hundreds and hun-dreds of ways. They’re so semiotically empty that they can be

a critique of consumerism, they can be a race critique, they can

be about our reactions to global crises. But at their heart I think

they are about the loss of self.MW: And vampires are another perennial category in which gayssometimes play a part.

SCAHILL: Yeah, vampires have undergone a real renaissance. Wepoo-poo Twilight a lot, but I call it the domestication of the vam-

pire. I miss the old vampires. I like when they represented purepolymorphous perversity, pure libido, and they were dangerous

and erotic. Instead, they’ve become really synonymous with

almost creating families of their own. And True Blood takes partin this as well — it’s really domesticating this anarchic figure.

They used to be pure sexual anarchy, but now they just want afamily. They want to settle down.MW: And what could be more horrific than that?

SCAHILL: Right? If you look at Twilight, it’s obviously the good,

white, hetero-normative vampires that play baseball and eat

apple pie against the nomadic, often nonwhite tribes of vam-pires — they’re the bastards. They’re the ones that can’t settle

down and form families and really inculcate to this Americanway of life.

The Revolting Child in Horror Film: Youth Rebellion and Queer

Spectatorship ($95) is published by Palgrave Macmillan (October2015). It is available on Amazon.com.

The Exorcist Steps, 3607 M St. NW, will be dedicated in a ceremony featuring the film’s director William Friedkin and writer William

Peter Blatty this Friday, Oct. 30, at 4 p.m. Visit film.dc.gov. l

“What would be,

in any other movie,

a nondescript staircase,

takes on an aura in

The Exorcist.

I CAN’T THINK OFTOO MANY EXAMPLESWHERE PEOPLE MAKE

A MECCA TO SOMETHINGSO BANAL AS THE

ENTRANCE TO A HOUSE.”


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31SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THIS EVENT AT WWW.METROWEEKLY.COM/SCENE

scene

scan this tag

with your

smartphone

for bonus scene

pics online!

High Heel Race

Tuesday, October 27

PHOTOGRAPHY BY

TODD FRANSON &

WARD MORRISON


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ALLOWEEN IS IN FULL SWING, PEAKING WITH COSTUME CONTESTS AT

nearly every bar in town this Saturday, Oct. 31. And because Daylight Savings ends at 2a.m. Sunday morning, you get an extra hour of horrific fun everywhere you go.

Before it hosts the fir

metro weekly - 10-29-15 - denis o'hare

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