The Advocate, March-April 2023

SHOW CLOWN

WHY REP. GEORGE SANTOS AND THE IDEA OF LGBTQ+ REPUBLICANS IS STILL A JOKE

Trans Youth Fight for Their Lives

How 1973 Was More Pivotal for Queer Rights Than 1969

40-Year-Old Ban on Gay & Bi Blood Falls

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and your treatment. (bik-TAR-vee)

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Worsening of hepatitis B (HBV) infection. Your healthcare provider will test you for HBV. If you have both HIV-1 and HBV, your HBV may suddenly get worse if you stop taking BIKTARVY. Do not stop taking BIKTARVY without first talking to your healthcare provider, as they will need to check your health regularly for several months, and may give you HBV medicine.

ABOUT BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in adults and children who weigh at least 55 pounds. It can either be used in people who have never taken HIV-1 medicines before, or people who are replacing their current HIV-1 medicines and whose healthcare provider determines they meet certain requirements.

BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS.

Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains:

 dofetilide

 rifampin

 any other medicines to treat HIV-1 BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY

Tell your healthcare provider if you:

 Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.

 Have any other health problems.

 Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby. Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY.

 Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:

 Keep a list that includes all prescription and over-thecounter medicines, antacids, laxatives, vitamins, and herbal supplements, and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist.

 BIKTARVY and other medicines may a ect each other. Ask your healthcare provider and pharmacist about medicines that interact with BIKTARVY, and ask if it is safe to take BIKTARVY with all your other medicines.

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side e ects, including:

 Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section.

 Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that may have been hidden in your body. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY.

 Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY.

 Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.

 Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.

 The most common side e ects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%). These are not all the possible side e ects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088. Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY

Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

GET MORE INFORMATION

 This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.

 Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5

 If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, GILEAD, the GILEAD Logo, GSI, and KEEP ASPIRING are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: February 2021 © 2022 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. US-BVYC-0008 01/22

CONTENTS

Enough Clowning Around

The most recent scandal involving a gay Republican — Rep. George Santos caught in a web of lies — is really just the latest snafu in the long, sordid history of LGBTQ+ members of the GOP. Will queer Republicans ever have a respectful place within their own party, or will the circus act continue?

Features

19 Winning Example

Homophobia pushed professional NASCAR driver Zach Herrin away from his passion for nearly a decade — but now he's out, proud, and back in the driver's seat.

28 A Bloody History

What do the FDA's new "relaxed" rules around gay and bi men donating blood really mean?

47 A Year to Remember

Five decades ago, in 1973, a series of events caused the LGBTQ+ rights movement to pick up some major momentum. A look back on this pivotal year that changed the course of our history.

COVER George Santos photo illustration by Christopher Jones

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CONTENTS

Represent

8 Glam and Gay From the Grammys to glittery galas honoring Black excellence, some of our favorite LGBTQ+ stars showed up and were shining bright.

Up Front

12 The Lowest Blow The far-right continues its battle by attacking trans minors’ access to health care.

14 It’s About Time The first Black queer person is honored on U.S. currency.

15 Fallen Soldiers The sudden loss of two legendary ACT UP activists rocks the community.

16 Stroke of Genius This early 20th century queer artist was light-years ahead of his time.

Passages

24 So Hard to Say Goodbye Honoring some LGBTQ+ heroes we recently lost.

Around the World

26 The Fight Continues

The latest on LGBTQ+ equality from around the globe.

Entertainment

52 Punk Pioneer Trans rocker Laura Jane Grace is throwing a giant queer party.

55 Music to Our Ears How Spotify is helping elevate LGBTQ+ artists.

56 Real Friends Firestorm Negative reaction to a gay reality show sparks conversation around queer content.

58 Men on Film A new documentary celebrates gay lovers from bygone eras.

59 Jamie Goes to Mexico! A popular musical about a teen drag queen is now en español

60 Ballroom Bliss An iconic drag queen and activist amplifies her message on Dancing with the Stars Ireland

62 Modern Muses Some LGBTQ+ artists who are making waves in music.

#SeeHer

64 Breaking Through This queer stunt driver is carving her own path in a maledominated industry.

chief executive officer Mark Berryhill

chairman, global growth & development Michael Kelley

chief financial officer Joe Lovejoy

chief marketing officer Michel J. Pelletier

editorial director Neal Broverman

editor in chief Desirée Guerrero

executive creative director Raine Bascos

editorial

digital director Alex Cooper

senior politics editor Trudy Ring

editor at large John Casey

managing editor JD Glass

contributing editor Michael Kelley

senior national reporter Christopher Wiggins

staff writers Mey Rude, Ryan Adamczeski

art graphic designer Mariusz Walus

digital photo editor Nicole Arseneault

senior marketing designer Erik Brock

equalpride editorial

editorial director Neal Broverman

out, editor in chief Daniel Reynolds out, digital director Raffy Ermac out & pride.com, associate digital director Bernardo Sim

out traveler, editor in chief Jacob Anderson-Minshall out traveler, managing editor Donald Padgett plus, editor in chief Desirée Guerrero pride.com, editor in chief Rachel Shatto

advocate channel

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

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host & producer Jaymes Vaughan

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A NOTE FROM OUR CEO

Hi there! As CEO of equalpride, publisher of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus magazines, and producer of the Advocate Channel, I want to share some exciting updates.

In February, equalpride was part of the celebration for the 50th anniversary of Stonewall National Museum and Archives in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The 50th anniversary gala honored Margaret-Mary Wilson, the out CEO of United Health Group, along with LGBTQ+ activist Zander Moricz.

The Stonewall National Museum is the only national LGBTQ+ nonprofit headquartered in Florida and that means a great deal as our community faces so many obstacles there. The library and archives are essential as we challenge book bans, support educators, stand up for trans lives, and champion health care for all members of our community.

Additionally, we are proud to announce that equalpride has signed with the leading entertainment and sports agency: Creative Artists Agency.

CAA will support equalpride in a variety of areas including creative strategy and brand partnerships. This signing marks a new phase for our brands, allowing us to provide the best content for the LGBTQ+ community and its allies. It also expands our reach and ability to amplify meaningful stories of diversity, inclusion, and equality.

Thank you for being a loyal reader of our publications and websites. I welcome feedback and ideas, so please feel free to reach out at advocatemarkb@equalpride.com, IG @advocatemarkb.

Warmest Regards,

Mark Berryhill, Chief Executive Officer

An Old Party That’s Anything But Grand

AFTER BRIEFLY CHATTING online, I went on a date with a guy 10 years ago. The evening started off well — good restaurant, easy conversation, attractive guy. Then we talked politics and he uttered those dreaded words, “I’m a Republican.” As I planned my exit strategy, he followed up by adding, “A lot of gay people get angry when I tell them I don’t necessarily believe in same-sex marriage.”

This being 30-something me and not 40-something me, I didn’t walk out. Instead, I poked, asking how he could possibly feel this way. His response was that none of the same-sex relationships he knew were monogamous and simply not up to snuff with hetero marriages, which I guess he assumed were all just as the Bible intended. The self-loathing was palpable and heartbreaking.

Putting this issue of The Advocate together, I thought of that date and other LGBTQ+ Republicans. Not all hate themselves; most would probably say even 10 years ago that queer people should have marriage rights. But I still cannot fathom why any LGBTQ+ person would be part of a political party that constantly demonizes their own community — literally putting the most vulnerable in jeopardy — unless they have animus for their own brothers and sisters. That’s in addition to aligning with a party that wants everyone armed to the teeth, to shiver at the thought of Black history or addressing climate change, and to believe book bans are good but drag shows are the work of Satan.

The fact that George Santos is a Republican makes perfect sense, because he makes none. Gay or not, he’s a fraud who’s achieved his position in Congress by pathologically lying and stepping on other people; he should resign immediately — but his boss, empty suit House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, has no morality and looks the other way. Santos is a symbol of a political party rotten to the core, that stands for nothing except whipping up xenophobia so the wealthiest people in the world (think Elon and Rupert) can have bigger mansions.

So, anyone being a Republican in 2023, when Donald Trump is still the leader of the party, confuses most in our community. But an LGBTQ+ person? Like that date from 10 years ago, it’s just sad. In John Casey’s cover story (page 32), he explores the recent history of LGBTQ+ Republicans; how HIV and the rise of Ronald Reagan (jumpscare!) accelerated the party’s queer hatred and demonization. Also in this issue, senior political editor Trudy Ring goes back even further, 50 years ago, to detail how 1973 was a queer rights awakening (page 47), maybe even more pivotal than 1969, the year of Stonewall.

This spring issue also contains fascinating interviews with gay race car driver Zach Herrin (page 18), trans rocker Laura Jane Grace (page 54), and lesbian stunt performer Zandara Kennedy (page 64). Also don’t miss reading about the first Black queer person to be featured on U.S. currency (the legendary Pauli Murray, page 14) and the latest update on the decadeslong ban on gay and bi men donating blood (page 28).

In other news, I’m happy to announce our current executive editor, Desirée Guerrero, will be The Advocate’s new editor in chief! As editorial director of equalpride, I will continue to work alongside the brilliant, funny, and observant Desirée to continue the mission of The Advocate and we both will continue to oversee equalpride’s other properties, like Out, Plus, Out Traveler, and Pride.com. We have some exciting plans coming up we can’t wait to show you soon; thank you for being a reader and an advocate. As for us, we’re going to continue to advocate that the Republican Party stop attacking our trans youth (page 12). If you want to help, visit the Transgender Legal Defense Fund at transgenderlegal.org

Neal Broverman Editorial Director

CORRECTION

In our last issue, we misspelled the name of the head of the founder and executive director of the Black Trans Femme Collective, Jordyn Jay. We regret the error. Read more about the collective at btfacollective.org.

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The 65th Annual Grammy Awards

Los Angeles

AT THE FOLLOWING high-profile events, some of the biggest and brightest LGBTQ+ creatives and changemakers showed up and represented for our community — and looked absolutely fabulous doing it, of course!

LEFT TO RIGHT Kim Petras, Sam Smith, Violet Chachki, and Gottmik

Brandi Carlile

Laverne Cox

Lizzo

Want to stay undetectable*

with fewer medicines?

DOVATO is different: unlike other HIV treatments that contain 3 or 4 medicines, DOVATO contains just 2 medicines in 1 pill.

DOVATO is a complete prescription regimen for adults new to HIV-1 treatment or replacing their current HIV-1 regimen when their doctor determines they meet certain requirements.

Learn more at DOVATO.com

Important Facts About DOVATO

This is only a brief summary of important information about DOVATO and does not replace talking to your healthcare provider about your condition and treatment.

What is the most important information I should know about DOVATO?

If you have both human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection and Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, DOVATO can cause serious side effects, including:

• Resistant HBV. Your healthcare provider will test you for HBV infection before you start treatment with DOVATO. If you have HIV-1 and hepatitis B, the HBV can change (mutate) during your treatment with DOVATO and become harder to treat (resistant). It is not known if DOVATO is safe and effective in people who have HIV-1 and HBV infection.

• Worsening of HBV infection. If you have HBV infection and take DOVATO, your HBV may get worse (flare-up) if you stop taking DOVATO. A “flare-up” is when your HBV infection suddenly returns in a worse way than before.

° Do not run out of DOVATO. Refill your prescription or talk to your healthcare provider before your DOVATO is all gone.

Results may vary.

*Undetectable means the amount of HIV in your blood is below the level that can be measured by a lab test.

° Do not stop DOVATO without first talking to your healthcare provider.

° If you stop taking DOVATO, your healthcare provider will need to check your health often and do blood tests regularly for several months to check your liver function and monitor your HBV infection. It may be necessary to give you a medicine to treat hepatitis B. Tell your healthcare provider about any new or unusual symptoms you may have after you stop taking DOVATO.

For more information about side effects, see “What are possible side effects of DOVATO?”

What is DOVATO?

DOVATO is a prescription medicine that is used without other HIV-1 medicines to treat human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection in adults: who have not received HIV-1 medicines in the past, or to replace their current HIV-1 medicines when their healthcare provider determines that they meet certain requirements. HIV-1 is the virus that causes Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). It is not known if DOVATO is safe and effective in children. Please see additional Important Facts About DOVATO on the following page.

Ask your doctor about staying undetectable with fewer medicines in 1 pill.

No other complete HIV pill uses fewer medicines to help keep you undetectable.

Important Facts About DOVATO (cont’d)

Who should not take DOVATO?

Do not take DOVATO if you:

• have ever had an allergic reaction to a medicine that contains dolutegravir or lamivudine.

• take dofetilide. Taking DOVATO and dofetilide can cause side effects that may be serious or life-threatening.

What should I tell my healthcare provider before using DOVATO?

Tell your healthcare provider about all of your medical conditions, including if you:

• have or have had liver problems, including hepatitis B or C infection.

• have kidney problems.

• are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. One of the medicines in DOVATO (dolutegravir) may harm your unborn baby.

° Your healthcare provider may prescribe a different medicine than DOVATO if you are planning to become pregnant or if pregnancy is confirmed during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.

° If you can become pregnant, your healthcare provider may perform a pregnancy test before you start treatment with DOVATO.

° If you can become pregnant, you and your healthcare provider should talk about the use of effective birth control (contraception) during treatment with DOVATO.

° Tell your healthcare provider right away if you are planning to become pregnant, you become pregnant, or think you may be pregnant during treatment with DOVATO.

• are breastfeeding or plan to breastfeed. Do not breastfeed if you take DOVATO.

° You should not breastfeed if you have HIV-1 because of the risk of passing HIV-1 to your baby.

° DOVATO passes to your baby in your breast milk.

° Talk with your healthcare provider about the best way to feed your baby. Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements.

Some medicines interact with DOVATO. Keep a list of your medicines and show it to your healthcare provider and pharmacist when you get a new medicine.

• You can ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist for a list of medicines that interact with DOVATO.

• Do not start taking a new medicine without telling your healthcare provider. Your healthcare provider can tell you if it is safe to take DOVATO with other medicines.

What are possible side effects of DOVATO?

DOVATO can cause serious side effects, including:

• See “What is the most important information I should know about DOVATO?”

What are possible side effects of DOVATO? (cont’d)

• Allergic reactions. Call your healthcare provider right away if you develop a rash with DOVATO. Stop taking DOVATO and get medical help right away if you develop a rash with any of the following signs or symptoms: fever; generally ill feeling; tiredness; muscle or joint aches; blisters or sores in mouth; blisters or peeling of the skin; redness or swelling of the eyes; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue; problems breathing.

• Liver problems.People with a history of hepatitis B or C virus may have an increased risk of developing new or worsening changes in certain liver tests during treatment with DOVATO. Liver problems, including liver failure, have also happened in people without a history of liver disease or other risk factors. Your healthcare provider may do blood tests to check your liver. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following signs or symptoms of liver problems: your skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow (jaundice); dark or “tea-colored” urine; light-colored stools (bowel movements); nausea or vomiting; loss of appetite; and/or pain, aching, or tenderness on the right side of your stomach area.

• Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis).Too much lactic acid is a serious medical emergency that can lead to death.Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the following symptoms that could be signs of lactic acidosis: feel very weak or tired; unusual (not normal) muscle pain; trouble breathing; stomach pain with nausea and vomiting; feel cold, especially in your arms and legs; feel dizzy or lightheaded; and/or a fast or irregular heartbeat.

• Lactic acidosis can also lead to severe liver problems, which can lead to death. Your liver may become large (hepatomegaly) and you may develop fat in your liver (steatosis). Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get any of the signs or symptoms of liver problems which are listed above under “Liver problems.”

• You may be more likely to get lactic acidosis or severe liver problems if you are female or very overweight (obese).

• Changes in your immune system (Immune Reconstitution Syndrome) can happen when you start taking HIV-1 medicines. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections that have been hidden in your body for a long time. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you start having new symptoms after you start taking DOVATO.

• The most common side effects of DOVATO include: headache; nausea; diarrhea; trouble sleeping; tiredness; and anxiety.

These are not all the possible side effects of DOVATO. Call your doctor for medical advice about side effects.

You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.fda.gov/medwatch, or call 1-800-FDA-1088.

Where can I find more information?

• Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist.

• Go to DOVATO.com or call 1-877-844-8872, where you can also get FDA-approved labeling.

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BET’s Inaugural Black & Iconic Soiree

Carter the Body

Durand Bernarr

LEFT TO RIGHT Dyllón Burnside, August Paris Van Michaels, and Brandon McDaniel

LEFT TO RIGHT Ali Krieger, Karine JeanPierre, and Ashlyn Harris

Jackie Cox (left) and Jan Sport

Ariana DeBose

Symone

Milan Garçon

UP FRONT

The Right is Waging War on Trans Youth

Across the nation, right-wing politicians are trying to restrict health care for trans minors, and they’re misleading the public in their effort.

BY TRUDY RING

Gender-affirming health care for transgender youth is under attack in state legislatures around the nation.

Bills to ban or restrict gender-affirming care have been introduced in more than 20 states this year — in conservative states such as Kansas, Texas, and Tennessee as well as liberal strongholds like Hawaii, New Jersey, and Oregon. They have little chance of passing in the more progressive areas, but the right-leaning states are advancing them eagerly. As of press time, bills to this effect have been signed into law in South Dakota and Utah.

The politicians behind these bills — all Republicans — are using words like “experimental,” “mutilation,” and “castration” to describe gender-confirmation procedures. They ignore the fact that treatment with hormones and puberty blockers is endorsed by the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and other major medical groups. Genital surgery is not usually recommended for minors.

In signing South Dakota’s ban into law in February, Gov. Kristi Noem issued a statement saying, “We are protecting kids from harmful, permanent medical procedures.” But far from harmful, these procedures are often lifesaving. “This ban won’t stop South Dakotans from being trans, but it will deny them critical support that helps struggling transgender youth grow up to become thriving transgender adults,” the American Civil Liberties Union responded.

The bills that would ban gender-affirming care — 95 introduced this year, at the last count by the ACLU — are part of a wider assault on LGBTQ+ rights that’s been going on since 2021, in what seems to be a reaction to having a pro-LGBTQ+ president in the White House. More than 300 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced in state legislatures in 2023, many of them specifically targeting trans youth. In addition to trying to ban gender-affirming care, they seek to limit trans youth’s participation in school sports, keep LGBTQ+ issues out of school curricula, and

even force teachers and counselors to out LGBTQ+ students to their parents.

“These bills represented a coordinated effort to deny transgender people our freedom, our safety, and our dignity,” said a statement from Chase Strangio, deputy director for transgender justice at the ACLU’s LGBTQ & HIV Project. “Across the country, trans people and our families are gearing up to fight back and prevent every one of these bills from becoming law. The history of LGBTQ people in the U.S. shows we are hardly strangers to having our health care politicized or our safety threatened by misinformed and misguided politicians. Even in the face of such an unprecedented effort to deny our existence, we are only more determined to build the future we all deserve.”

Legal efforts against some of these attacks are succeeding, at least temporarily. Bans on genderaffirming care in Arkansas and Alabama, enacted in 2021 and 2022, respectively, are blocked by courts while lawsuits against them proceed. So are most of the “child abuse” investigations ordered by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, directed at parents who allow their kids access to gender-affirming care.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem

Coining Queer History

Poet and activist Pauli Murray will be the first Black queer person to appear on U.S. currency.

Nonbinary Black activist, lawyer, priest, and poet Pauli Murray will be featured on a quarter in the next round of the U.S. Mint’s American Women Quarters Program — making Murray the first Black queer person to appear on U.S. currency. Murray’s quarter will be issued in 2024. Others in the 2024 group are Patsy Takemoto Mink, the first woman of color to serve in Congress; Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, a Civil War–era surgeon, women’s rights advocate, and abolitionist; Zitkala-Ša, a writer, composer, educator, and

activist for Native Americans’ rights; and Celia Cruz, the Cuban-American singer known as the Queen of Salsa.

“All of the women being honored have lived remarkable and multi-faceted lives, and have made a significant impact on our nation in their own unique way,” Mint director Ventris C. Gibson said in a press release. “The women pioneered change during their lifetimes, not yielding to the status quo imparted during their lives. By honoring these pioneering women, the Mint continues to connect America through coins which are like small works of art in your pocket.”

Murray, born in 1910 in Baltimore, was assigned female at birth but questioned their gender and is now understood as nonbinary. They grew up in Durham, N.C., and became a lawyer and activist against sexism and racism. They graduated at the top of their class from Howard University School of Law.

Murray’s book, States’ Laws on Race and Color, published in 1951, was described by civil rights lawyer and future Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall as the Bible for civil rights litigators. In the 1950s, Murray joined the law firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkin, Wharton, and Garrison, where they met their longtime partner, Irene Barlow, who was office manager there.

In the 1960s, Murray served on the Committee on Civil and Political Rights as part of President John F. Kennedy’s Presidential Commission on the Status of Women and continued to be active in the Black civil rights movement, but objected to the fact that movement organizations were largely led by men while women did much of the work. In 1966, they helped found the National Organization for Women, “but later moved away from a leading role because [they] did not believe that NOW appropriately addressed the issues of Black and working-class women,” according to the Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice.

Murray taught an American studies program at Brandeis University from 1968 to 1973. In 1973, following Barlow’s death, Murray entered General Theological Seminary, and in 1977 they were the first Black person perceived as a woman to become an Episcopal priest in the U.S.

Murray wrote several other books, including a poetry collection, an autobiography, and a volume on the government of Ghana. Their best-known book, Proud Shoes: The Story of an American Family, chronicles the difficulties faced by her grandparents in Durham due to racism. It has remained in print since its initial publication in 1956. Murray died of cancer in 1985. Their life and significance were chronicled in the documentary film My Name Is Pauli Murray, released in 2021.

David J. Johns, executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, issued a statement praising the Mint’s honoring of Murray.

“The announcement by the U.S. Mint that it will include civil rights activist Rev. Dr. Pauli Murray, the first Black queer person to be featured on U.S. currency, deserves celebration,” he said. “This moment is a reminder that wherever there is history there is Black history and that Black history has always included the contributions of Black queer, trans, and nonbinary/nonconforming members of our beautifully diverse community.”—TRUDY RING

Pauli Murray in 1946

Triumph and Tragedy

ACT UP’s Oral History Project celebrates a funding windfall while also mourning the sudden death of two of its members.

Earlier this year, the AIDS Coalition To Unleash Power Los Angeles (ACT UP/LA) announced it had received the first major funding for its Oral History Project, provided by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. ACT UP/LA credited much of this big step forward to lesbian L.A. County supervisor Sheila Kuehl, who lobbied for the funding.

The Oral History Project is “mainly motivated by the continuing deaths of ACT UP/LA members whose histories have not been preserved,” stated a press release. The project — announced on World AIDS Day 2021 by ACT UP/LA members Mary Lucey, Nancy MacNeil, Jordan Peimer, Helene Schpak, and Judy Ornelas Sisneros — aims to capture the stories of AIDS street activism from 1987 to 1997, “from the voices of those people who lived through those times.”

“Not only were voices silenced by AIDS, but we are now continually at risk of losing the stories of the people who championed their fight — some with HIV/AIDS, some without — but all people who put their lives and freedom on the line to address this loss,” said project member MacNeil.

Luis Pardo, one of the activists interviewed for the project, said, “Looking back on the actions

we carried out made me remember that AIDS activism was a major part of my life and left me transformed. After leaving ACT UP/LA around 1993, my life changed profoundly. I went back to school in Berkeley...and I joined advisory committees and research task forces focused on finding cures and vaccines for HIV, but of course never felt the same level of excitement as with ACT UP.”

Sadly, shortly following this announcement, tragedy struck. On February 11, MacNeil and her longtime partner and fellow member on the project, Mary Lucey, suddenly passed, sending shockwaves through the community.

In an official statement from ACT UP/LA, their colleagues expressed “shock and deep sorrow at the deaths of co-producers Mary Lucey and Nancy Jean MacNeil…. We launched this project together in 2021. It was an honor to work alongside these two incredible warriors.”

No further details of Lucey and MacNeil’s deaths had been released as of press time.

—DESIRÉE GUERRERO

For more information about the Oral History Project, visit actupla.org or contact actuplaoralhistory@gmail.com.

Partners in life and activism, Mary Lucey (left) and Nancy MacNeil of the ACT UP Oral History Project died within hours of each other.

The GazeGay

Artist J.C. Leyendecker’s queer aesthetic shaped modern America.

NEAL BROVERMAN

DECADES BEFORE TOM of Finland sketched idealized drawings of men in lust, illustrator J.C. Leyendecker turned his appreciation for the male form into cash cows for corporations, using muscled, half-dressed men to sell soap, magazines, and detachable collars. Viewed from a 21st-century lens, Leyendecker’s covers for the Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s, and advertising images for men’s clothing, don’t have a gay subtext; they’re just gay. But while the German-born, Chicagoraised Leyendecker practically shouts of his love for men in his art — many of his works were modeled on his longtime partner, Charles Beach — the homoeroticism was subtly absorbed by American consumers. Subversively, Leyendecker’s illustrations, appearing on billboards, store windows, and mass transit, helped shape the aesthetic of the early 20th century, before the culture gravitated to the more antiseptic images of Norman Rockwell, who succeeded Leyendecker as the Saturday Evening Post ’s premiere illustrator. Leyendecker’s lasting influence will be explored in “Under Cover: J.C. Leyendecker and American Masculinity,” an exhibition at the New York Historical Society on view from May 5 to August 13 and featuring 19 of the artist’s original oil paintings, along with his editorial work, magazine covers, and drawings. “J.C. Leyendecker was an amazingly talented artist whose illustrations have come to embody the look and feel of the first half of the century while simultaneously demonstrating how fluidity in gender expression and queer representation were actually quite common at the time, contrary to current assertions that they are unique to our own moment,” Donald Albrecht, Historical Society guest curator, said in a statement. “Not only did his work exemplify the zeitgeist, but it depicts a deeply nuanced view of sexuality and advertising that broadens our understanding of American culture.”

Discover more about Leyendecker and the exhibit at nyhistory.org.

Man in the Mirror

Artist J.C. Leyendecker

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT

1. Cover of Collier’s , November 10, 1917

2. Record Time, Cool Summer Comfort

3. Thanksgiving/1628-1928 (Pilgrim and Football Player)

4. Men with Golf Clubs

5. In the Yale Boathouse

THE NEW FRAGRANCE

RUB THE BOTTLE TO DISCOVER SCENT

BY ANDREW STILLMAN

DRIVING FORCE

Potential sponsors turned their backs on out motorsports contender Zach Herrin — until one of the most influential LGBTQ+ organizations took his phone call.

WHEN OUT NASCAR driver Zach Herrin recently returned to the track after a 10-year absence, corporations weren’t exactly knocking down his door to slap their logos on his racing suit. Even though his team has conversations “all day, all week, every month, all throughout the year” with various brands, they were constantly told Herrin doesn’t “fit” within the multimillion dollar marketing budgets of the companies.

This challenge wasn’t new for Herrin — auto racing isn’t known as the most inclusive of sports. Still, Herrin loves racing after being “practically raised on the track” and managed to turn a weekend hobby with his father into a career. Herrin also

wanted to emulate his big brother, Josh, who became one of the few Americans to have competed in NASCAR World Championships at a professional level.

“I was able to follow in [Josh’s] footsteps to determine what it would take to get to these levels,” Herrin says. “And my parents knew what it would take as well, which ultimately led me to achieve that goal to start racing professionally at 16.”

Not long after taking the leap into the professional world, however, Herrin couldn’t deny there was “something different” about him, and something he’d

never allowed himself to focus on while he’d kept his sights on his racing goals.

“I had this part of my identity that I was just kind of pushing to the side,” he said. “The motorsports industry can be pretty one-sided at times, not very welcoming to all topics of gender, religion, sexuality, whatever it may be. It’s pretty much, ‘This is it, this is what motorsports is and what it’s supposed to be. If you don’t fit in, get out.’”

Although he’s long known NASCAR and its fans skew very conservative, Herrin slowly realized he wasn’t compatible with the closet.

Zach represents such a positive role model for the full participation of LGBTQ+ people in sports.

—Tom Warnke, Lambda Legal Media Relations Director

“[Coming out] ultimately led me to walk away from everything we had worked toward,” he said. “I had felt happier making that decision. I was able to come out to my family and friends. And through this period, I’ve been able to grow this part of my identity, trying to express myself and how I want to be perceived in today’s world as a gay man.”

After nearly a decade away from the track, Herrin made his professional NASCAR debut in November. At the time, what was meant to be a multi-season partnership with a big brand fell through, taking him from multiple races to almost none in a blink, which left him feeling more than a little discouraged.

For the new season, Herrin teamed up with Lambda Legal, the oldest and largest national LGBTQ+ legal organization. Herrin initially reached out to the CEO, Kevin Jennings, who was reluctant at first about sponsoring him. Herrin stayed in contact, particularly tracking the work Lambda was doing to fight against Florida’s “don’t say gay” bill, which severely limits the discussion of LGBTQ+ issues in the state’s public schools. When Jennings discovered the first race of the season was in Florida — at the legendary Daytona International Speedway — he agreed to team up with Herrin and make a bold statement — showcasing one of NACAR’s only out drivers at one of the biggest races of the year in a state fighting against LGBTQ+ rights. On his uniform and car, Herrin proudly wore the Lambda Legal logo and spoke to media about Lambda’s mission and the dangers of “don’t say gay.”

“Lambda Legal is very proud to sponsor and partner with Zach Herrin Racing for 2023,” says Tom Warnke, Lambda Legal’s media relations director.

“Zach represents such a positive role model for the full participation of LGBTQ+ people in sports on the national stage, while our community is facing more than 300 unconstitutional legislative proposals across the country. While we aren’t disclosing the financial details of our partnership, we can say that even highprofile LGBTQ+ athletes unfortunately do need financial support to run their race…. Partnering with Zach represents a priceless opportunity to reach the general public and help them understand the cost of these attacks from state legislators across the country. And we hope that LGBTQ+ Floridians — especially young people, who have been targeted by Florida’s notorious “don’t say gay or trans” law and efforts to ban all gender-affirming care — will be proud to find themselves represented on the track at Daytona.”

Herrin is leaning into his place as a role model for young LGBTQ+ people, especially those trying to break through in industries historically hostile to the community.

“I’m learning the struggles of LGBTQ+ people within the motorsports industry in NASCAR that have always been here, but I’ve never been able to connect with them,” he says. “Hearing the challenges that they’ve faced when they’ve gone to a race in the past...it was a terrible experience for them, and they haven’t gone back since.”

Herrin commends NASCAR as a brand and corporation for “doing the right things” as of late — last year the organization released Pride merch (“Yascar,” NASCAR’s account tweeted) — but he says it still has room to learn.

“I hope that with time, and maybe with me helping bridge this massive community now, that this [outreach] is going to continue,” he says.

Herrin is leaning into his place as a role model for young LGBTQ+ people, especially those trying to break through in industries historically hostile to the community.

For the following individuals, who spent their days advocating for others, their legacies will live on.

BY ADVOCATE EDITORS

HENRY BERG-BROUSSEAU

Trans rights activist Henry Berg-Brousseau, who worked to oppose anti-transgender legislation in his home state of Kentucky before going on to work with the Human Rights Campaign, died December 16, 2022, at the age of 24. His mother, Kentucky Democratic state Sen. Karen Berg, said Berg-Brousseau died by suicide.

In a statement posted on Twitter via Bluegrass Politics, Berg said that her son had spent his life “working to extend grace, compassion, and

SHATZI WEISBERGER

Shatzi Weisberger, a lesbian, longtime activist for many causes, and death educator, died in December at age 92 at her apartment in New York City.

Weisberger worked as a nurse for 47 years, some of which was spent caring for people with AIDS during the height of the epidemic in the 1980s and ’90s. “My main interest was birth, coming into the world, and death, leaving the world,” she told The Advocate in a podcast interview last year.

HOWARD BRAGMAN

A lovable (and sometimes fierce) lion of the entertainment industry has passed away — Howard Bragman succumbed to leukemia on February 11 at the age of 66.

Working in the public relations sphere for decades, Bragman founded numerous PR and media companies and represented clients like Cameron Diaz, Monica Lewinsky, and Terrence Howard. Bragman also personally oversaw the high-profile coming outs of celebrities like basketball player Sheryl Swoopes, football player Michael Sam, country singer Chely Wright, TV icon Meredith Baxter, and actor Chaz Bono.

Bragman was also philanthropic, bequeathing a $1 million endowment to establish the Howard Bragman Coming Out Fund on the facilities of the University of Michigan, his alma mater.

“Coming out is this most personal of journeys, and it’s a challenging journey,” Bragman said. “It’s so important for students to know they are not alone and that the Spectrum Center is there for them.”

Bragman released the book Where’s My Fifteen Minutes? Get Your Company, Your Cause, or Yourself the Recognition You Deserve in 2009. He is survived by his boyfriend, Mike Maimone, who initially reported his passing.

Weisberger was also an activist with Jewish Voice for Peace, Black Lives Matter, the prison abolition movement, the antinuclear movement, and more. She became known as the “People’s Bubbie,” using the Yiddish term for “grandmother,”

understanding to everyone, but especially to the vulnerable and marginalized.”

Berg said Berg-Brousseau had dealt with mental illness, “not because he was trans but born from his difficulty finding acceptance.”

In addition to advocating for trans rights, Berg-Brousseau protested against LGBTQ+ “conversion therapy” and spoke to the Kentucky Senate Education Committee. His speech to the committee was shared on John Oliver Tonight.

“We must fight for our transgender family,” Kelley Robinson of HRC said in statement following Berg-Brousseau’s death. “We must celebrate his light, and honor him by continuing to fight for full equality for all.”

Berg-Brousseau is survived by his mother, his father, and his sister, along with other family members.

If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned that someone you know may be, here are some helpful resources: The 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline (dial 988); Trans Lifeline (877) 565-8860. The Trevor Project Lifeline (for LGBTQ+ youth ages 24 and younger) (866) 488-7386 or text START to 678678.

which was her Twitter handle as well.

In October of 2022, she was diagnosed with untreatable pancreatic cancer and invited The New York Times to cover her journey to death. She surrounded herself with friends, although toward the end she did not want visitors, and reconnected with her estranged son. She did not wish to take pain medication, but eventually the pain became so extreme that she had to.

“I was a political lesbian for many years,” she said in her Advocate interview. “I just loved being around lesbians.... I was very much into arguing against nuclear technology. My first demonstration…was here in New York City and we did a ‘die-in’ along with other people lying on the ground. And I started to cry because I felt that I was in the right place, doing the right things with the right people. I felt very together about it. I have been an activist ever since.”

KATHY WHITWORTH

Arguably the most successful female golfer of all time, Kathy Whitworth died in December at age 83. The lesbian golfer was a trailblazer in the sport and first began competing in the 1950s.

“Whitworth, whose rookie season was 1959, won 88 tournaments over her career, her last coming in 1985 at the age of 46,” reported Outsports. “That number has never been equaled by any man or woman in golf.”

“It is with a heart full of love that we let everyone know of the passing of the winningest golf professional ever, Kathy Whitworth,” her longtime partner, Bettye Odle, said in a statement. “Kathy passed suddenly... celebrating Christmas Eve with family and friends. Kathy left this world the way she lived her life, loving, laughing, and creating memories.”

AROUND THE WORLD

BY ALEX COOPER

AFRICA Egypt

Police in Egypt are entrapping gay men and other LGBTQ+ people through dating apps. Same-sex relations are not

illegal in the country, but a law against “debauchery,” used to prosecute sex work, is being used against people seeking same-gender dates or sexual partners. Police sometimes make it appear that app users are offering sex

for money, which makes cases easier to prosecute. Police officers will also look for LGBTQ+ people looking for a date and will even allegedly fabricate evidence against them. Simply using a dating app can be grounds for arrest.

Taliban security officials appear to target gay men and transgender women in a more systematic fashion than before. “The Taliban’s undisguised hostility toward sexual and gender diversity doubles the risk level LGBTIQ Afghans face. Their safety should be paramount, yet LGBTIQ Afghans’ voices and concerns continue, inexplicably, to be excluded — in UN human rights reporting, in negotiations, in humanitarian planning,” said Neela Ghoshal, Outright’s senior director of law, policy, and research.

India

A transgender couple conceived a baby — a first for the South Asian country. Ziya Paval, a trans woman and Zahad, a trans man, welcomed their child, who was born a month early, in February. The couple had stopped hormone therapy while Zahad was pregnant.

Japan

Sri Lankan LGBTQ+ community members and equal rights activists participate in a Pride parade in Colombo

ASIA Afghanistan

Global LGBTQ+ rights group Outright International released a report detailing the continued persecution of LGBTQ+ people in Afghanistan after the Taliban retook the city more than a year ago. The report found that

Almost two-thirds of Japanese citizens support marriage equality, according to a recent poll. The Kyodo news agency survey found that 64 percent of respondents support same-sex marriage. The poll comes on the heels of a scandal in Japan where an aide to Prime Minister Kishida was fired after he said he didn’t want to live near LGBTQ+ couples. Last November, a Japanese court upheld the current ban on same-sex marriage.

Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government has come out in support of a bill that would decriminalize same-sex sexual activity. The country’s foreign affairs minister, Ali Sabry, told local media that there is a bill being introduced that would decriminalize such relations, but would not legalize same-sex marriage. “I think that there is a lot of consensus for that, so let that come to Parliament,” Sabry said.

Defendants react behind the bars at a court in Cairo

BELOW March in celebration of the World Day of Transgender Visibility in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on January 29, 2023.

EUROPE

Spain

Lawmakers adopted new laws in mid-February that included a new policy that would allow anyone 16 and older to change their gender on their federal ID card without any medical evaluation. The new law was passed with 191 votes in favor of it, 60 opposed, and 91 abstentions, according to Agence France-Presse. “This law recognizes the right of trans people to self-determine their gender identity, it depathologizes trans people. Trans people are not sick people, they are just people,” said the country’s equality minister Irene Montero. Other new Spanish laws include bans on conversion therapy, bans on intersex surgeries on babies, and one that grants lesbian mothers equal parenting rights.

Finland

Finland passed legislation in February that makes it easier for transgender people to change their gender on legal documents, while also abolishing the requirement that trans people must provide a medical certificate indicating that they are infertile or sterilized before the Finnish government would recognize their gender. This will protect trans people from having to undergo invasive procedures, Amnesty International said in a statement. “By passing this act, Finland has taken a major step towards protecting trans people’s rights and improving their lives and right to self-determination,” said Matti Pihlajamaa, Amnesty International Finland’s LGBTI rights advisor.

United Kingdom

The U.K. government blocked a Scottish law intended to allow trans people in Scotland to change their legal gender without a medical diagnosis. Advocates have long argued that the process to change legal documents is unnecessarily bureaucratic and intrusive. The U.K. government, led by the Conservative party, has a record of being anti-trans. The block on the legislation is heating up political tensions between Scotland and the rest of the U.K. — a Scottish referendum for independence failed in 2014, but since Brexit, a possibility of another referendum seems to only increase.

SOUTH AMERICA Brazil

In a trip to the White House, newly elected Brazilian President Luis Inácio Lula da Silva issued a joint statement with President Joe Biden emphasizing their commitment to LGBTQ+ rights. “They discussed common objectives of advancing the human rights agenda through cooperation and coordination on such issues as social inclusion and labor rights, gender equality, racial equity, and justice and the protection of the rights of LGBTQI+ persons,” the statement read. It stands in stark contrast to former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric

GLOBAL

In a report from Human Rights Watch, researchers found that across 26 countries, lesbian, bisexual, queer women, and nonbinary people face violence from a variety of groups, including security forces and their own families. “Lesbian, bisexual, and queer women are renowned for leading human rights struggles around the world,” said Erin Kilbride, LGBTQ+ rights and women’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch and author of the report. “But the scale of brutal violence, legal discrimination, and sexualized harassment these communities face is rarely documented.” The study focused on cisgender and trans women along with nonbinary people.

LEFT The president of the Trans Platform Federation, Mar Cambrollé Jurado (with fist raised), and the Minister of Equality, Irene Montero (clapping next to her), celebrate the approval of the Trans Law on the steps of the Congress of Deputies in Madrid, Spain.

Breaking (Down) the Rules

What to know about the FDA’s revelatory new policies on blood donation from gay and bi men.

BY SCOTT A. SCHOETTES

The Federal Drug Administration recently proposed changes to blood donation policy to replace the deferral for sexually active gay and bisexual men with an individual risk assessment applied to all potential blood donors regardless of sexual orientation or gender. This move from an identity-based deferral to one based on a potential donor’s recent sexual activities is a transformative change in the FDA’s management of blood safety and marks the end of the overtly discriminatory policy that has been in place for 35 years.

The FDA’s capitulation should be heralded as a significant if long overdue victory in LGBTQ+ civil rights. Instead, misconceptions regarding the basis for the now discarded identity-based deferrals, the fitful way the FDA updated the policy over the past decade, rhetoric used to argue for the discriminatory policy, and imprecise communications rolling out the new policy all combined to obscure the historic nature of the change and to temper celebration of the victory.

When the FDA first recommended deferring “sexually active gay and bisexual men with multiple partners” in 1983, little was known about AIDS beyond that it was deadly, the majority of those affected were gay men, and it could be transmitted sexually and via blood transfusion. Given the substantial number of blood/plasma users diagnosed by 1985, the indefinite deferral for all gay and bisexual men

implemented at that time was the only practical way to reestablish the safety of the blood supply.

Almost simultaneously, HIV was identified as the cause of AIDS and, shortly thereafter, scientists developed the first test to detect HIV antibodies in blood. All blood donations could now be tested to ensure the donor did not have HIV. However, this test sometimes resulted in a false negative if the donor was recently infected. Deferrals, therefore, were still needed to ensure the blood of people infected within the previous six months — referred to as the “window period” — did not end up in the blood supply.

Those deferrals, however, only needed to cover the window period, with a “cushion” to account for faulty memory or the unusually late false negative, and the FDA started using 12-month deferrals for some risk categories in 1992. But the lifetime deferral for gay and bisexual men continued. Without a valid reason for a deferral of more than a year, the policy became discriminatory. Over time, more sensitive tests were developed, and the window period was reduced to 9-11 days. Nonetheless, the deferral for gay and bisexual men remained lifelong.

In addition to significantly reducing the window period, scientists soon established that some activities, such as oral sex, present little to no risk of HIV transmission and others, such as receptive anal sex, present 13 times the risk (or more) of vaginal sex. That is why, in the early 2010s, advocates began calling for an individual risk assessment inquiring about specific sexual activities and a deferral of no more than 60 days for those that assessment determined to be at higher risk.

Unfortunately, those calls went unheeded. Instead of taking swift action based on well-established science, the FDA slowwalked the process by maintaining the focus on gay and bisexual men and first studying a five-year deferral (2012), and then a oneyear deferral (2014), and then implementing a one-year deferral (2015), and then — when the blood supply ran short during COVID — implementing a three-month deferral (2020).

This sudden shift in stance merely confirmed in the eyes of many that the FDA’s intransigence was never based on significant risk to the blood supply or the need for more data. And tellingly, after 2015, there was no longer a deferral for transgender women, among whom HIV prevalence is higher than for gay and bisexual men. The policy had become completely untethered from the science, and the FDA lost credibility continuing to defend it.

That is why the proposed changes announced in late January are monumental: deferrals will finally be based on the science of HIV transmission and will be applicable to every blood donor, not just to gay and bisexual men. Essentially anyone who has anal sex with new or multiple partners in the previous three months will be deferred. And though the current science also supports an even shorter deferral and only for those who have had receptive anal sex with a new or multiple partners, those refinements can be made down the line. The change to deferral based on individual risk assessment — and not sexual orientation — is the critical turning point to a fair, inclusive, and non-stigmatizing policy.

Activist Hanif Leylabi during a protest against the ban on gay and bisexual men giving blood

tool, may cause a false negative test result when a person’s blood is tested post donation. Understandably, the continued inability to donate is frustrating for gay and bisexual men who are taking PrEP; but the potential false negative is a valid reason for maintaining this deferral. Donating in contravention of this rule is a donor unilaterally deciding they are not at risk and that their blood does not need to be tested like everyone else’s — but it does. Until the FDA establishes a way to confirm a PrEP user’s HIV-negative status at time of donation, PrEP users need to forego donating.

3. Contrary to some well-meaning but confused people, people living with HIV also cannot donate blood, no matter how much their viral load is suppressed by effective treatment. Though it indeed is not possible for an HIV-positive person with an undetectable viral load to transmit HIV sexually — a concept popularized as “Undetectable = Untransmittable” or “U=U” — the same does not hold

true for blood donation. Even a person with an undetectable viral load has HIV in their blood — and when a large enough amount of blood is infused directly into another person’s circulatory system, HIV transmission will possibly occur. At least for now, people living with HIV will also need to find other ways to be of service.

For years, the LGBTQ+ community cried: “Science Not Stigma” and “Follow the Science!” Now that the FDA is (finally) doing just that, the community needs to follow its own advice. The past 35 years have demonstrated that good things come to those who wait, and if patience can be exercised just a bit longer, a good thing called “pathogen inactivation” will make safe blood donation possible for everyone! Let’s celebrate that — and the elimination of a discriminatory policy before it was rendered moot.

Scott A. Schoettes is an attorney and advocate who lives openly with HIV. He engages in impact litigation, public policy work, and education to protect, enhance, and advance the rights of people living with HIV.

ISABOUTASSERIOUSAS OFIDEATHE

TheGOPdecidedlongagothatscapegoatingthecommunity ismorevaluablethancourtingit.Willthateverchange?

BYJOHN CASEY

GEORGESANTOS LGBTQ+REPUBLICANS

IN THE SPRING of 1987, Republican Congressman Stewart McKinney died of HIV-related complications. Though his family denied it, McKinney was long rumored to be gay or bisexual.

Prior to McKinney, the first two out — and not by choice — gay members of Congress were Republicans, and both left under a swirl of controversy and criminal activity. In October of 1980, while running for reelection, Maryland Congressman Robert Bauman was arrested and charged with soliciting sex from a 16-year-old male sex worker. He lost his reelection bid. The following year, Mississippi Republican Congressman Jon Hinson was arrested at a bathroom stall in a D.C. federal building, along with a male Library of Congress employee, on an oral sodomy charge; Hinson was forced to resign. Bauman, Hinson, and to a lesser extent, McKinney have essentially been erased from the meager history of LGBTQ+ Republican politicians.

Forty years after these three men served in Congress, things haven’t changed much in terms of LGBTQ+ Republicans officeholders, particularly at the federal level. There is one Republican member of Congress, who, coincidentally, is lying about himself, has a sexual harassment complaint against him, and is under federal criminal investigation. The only difference is that George Santos was first elected as an out gay man.

To understand why there has not been more of an effort to field LGBTQ+ candidates and why the party still hasn’t made headway with queer voters, it’s important to note that the GOP made anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric and policies an unofficial (and later official) cornerstone of its platform for four decades. That means that overwhelmingly, LGBTQ+ voters consider the Democratic Party an ally — or, at least, less of an enemy than the GOP. According to a GLAAD poll conducted after the 2020 presidential election, 81 percent of LGBTQ+ voters went with Joe Biden.

The negative feelings LGBTQ+ voters have about Republicans stretch back decades.

Only one month before McKinney’s death, President Ronald Reagan, the standard-bearer of the party at the time, gave his first speech about AIDS at a luncheon for members of the College of Physicians. Reagan had been silent about the disease since it started to rage in 1982. Because it overwhelmingly affected gay men, Reagan, who had gay friends in

Hollywood, stayed away from mentioning AIDS and its sufferers.

James Kirchick, the author of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington, says the intersection of gay identity and AIDS for Republicans likely started within the Beltway, when Republican operative Terry Dolan, the founder and chairman of the National Conservative Political Action Committee, died of HIV-related complications in December of 1986.

TOP TO BOTTOM Rep. Stewart McKinney; Rep. Robert Bauman; Rep. Jon Hinson

In his book, Kirchick writes, “NCPAC exerted its influence primarily through the medium of the 15- and 30-second television attack ad, which Dolan pioneered and made into a staple of American political campaigns. ‘A group like ours,’ Dolan once bragged, ‘could lie through its teeth, and the candidate it helps stays clean.’”

Dolan lied through his teeth for years about his sexuality, all the while pushing conservative “values” and hyping his Christianity. “Of all the many gay men working in the Reagan administration and conservative movement during the 1980s, none more vividly exposed the punishing contradictions of their precarious existence than Terry Dolan,”

Kirchick writes. “By day, he attended Catholic mass and delivered speeches containing assertions like, ‘I can think of virtually nothing that I do not endorse on the agenda of the Christian right.’ By night, he frequented the Eagle and cruised the steam room at a Capitol Hill gym.” But Dolan’s short and secret life put the Republican Party in a bind.

“At the Catholic monastery where Dolan’s evening memorial service was held a few days after his burial, the controversy over his alleged AIDS diagnosis presented the hundreds of friends and political allies in attendance with an uncomfortable realization: Here was the conservative movement’s most effective strategist reportedly struck down by a plague many of them considered divine punishment for an immoral lifestyle,” Kirchick notes.

Before the deaths of McKinney and Dolan, both parties were relatively quiet about homosexuality. The Democrats had Gerry Studds from Massachusetts, who was forced to come out due to his involvement in the 1983 House page scandal investigation. He was subsequently censured by the House after admitting a consensual relationship with a 17-yearold male. Fellow Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank came out in May 1987, prompted in part by McKinney’s death. Frank told The Washington Post that after McKinney died, there was “an unfortunate debate about, ‘Was he or wasn’t he? Didn’t he or did he?’ I said to myself, I don’t want that to happen to me.”

However, Frank also had a scandal that forced him to publicly address his sexuality. In 1985, he hired a male prostitute, who eventually moved in with Frank and became an aide of sorts. Frank had hired him, with his own money, to clean his house, be his driver, and run errands. The news of the relationship broke in 1989.

Both Studds and Frank went on to be reelected numerous times and retired on their own terms. Prior to the scandal-filled ’80s, there was hardly a blip on the radar as far as LGBTQ+ candidates and issues were concerned.

Journalist James Kirchick, author of Secret City: The Hidden History of Gay Washington

Rep. George Santos

“There were some rumblings around 1974 and 1975 when New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug introduced the Equality Act, which was the first federal gay rights legislation. But in the early years of AIDS, the stark differences between the two parties’ attitudes towards the disease and gay men began to appear, as Democrats had positions on sex education, funding, and treating the disease which were opposed by Republicans,” Kirchick offers.

Fred Karger was a Republican political consultant who began his career in the 1970s and worked on several highprofile Republican campaigns throughout his career, including for Ronald Reagan; Reagan’s close friend U.S. Senator Paul Laxalt of Nevada; Texas Governor John Connally, who changed parties, becoming a Republican in 1973; and U.S. Senator Bob Dole of Kansas.

As a gay Republican, he took big steps in order to avoid being perceived as gay. “There were rumors, I’m sure,” Karger says. “But I did a pretty good job of hiding, especially back then; I had no choice. If I wanted a successful career, I had to stay in the closet. During this time, I had a relatively healthy relationship that began in 1979 and lasted about 10 years, and I went to some gay parties. But I was petrified that my secret would come out. During this time, there were several Republican and Democratic consultants who were gay, but you risked your career if you came out. It’s a real tragedy that we

couldn’t be our true selves. Three decades later, I’m still pissed about that.”

Karger says he was fortunate for one thing, and that was working for legendary Republican strategist Bill Roberts. “He managed Ronald Reagan’s entry into politics in 1966 and worked for Arizona Republican Senator Barry Goldwater,” Karger recalls. “Roberts was a moderate guy, and if there were any candidates who were too extreme, we could veto them.”

One thing that Roberts and Karger agreed on was that California’s Proposition 6 had to be defeated in 1978. “We really were instrumental in getting Reagan to oppose California Prop. 6, which was known as the Briggs Initiative, that basically said if you were a school employee or a teacher, you could be fired for being gay,” Karger says.

Karger and Roberts convinced political consultant Peter Hannaford to ask his close friend Reagan to oppose the ballot measure. “It really turned into an aggressive campaign, and we were elated when Reagan agreed it was wrong,” Karger

ACROSS Former President Ronald Reagan, pictured on the White House steps with wife Nancy Reagan in 1981, lost much LGBTQ+ support by his lack of response to the AIDS crisis.

BELOW Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (on left) shakes hands with gay political consultant Fred Karger while the two competed for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012

Reagan (far right) and George H.W. Bush (far left) celebrate a second term as president and vice president at their inauguration in 1985, alongside their wives, Nancy Reagan and Barbara Bush

notes. “He wrote a letter in opposition and an op-ed against the [proposition] in the Los Angeles Examiner. He was instrumental in the [initiative] being defeated. That was a big deal, because remember, Reagan was preparing to run for the presidency, so supporting the gay community was risky. And at the time, we hoped that he would be an ally moving forward.”

“Reagan had a lot of gay friends, and Nancy? She had a million, which is why it’s so infuriating that he ignored our community and AIDS for so long. He really disappointed us and let us down,” Karger says.

The Log Cabin Republicans, an organization of LGBTQ+ conservatives, had formed in 1977. “Back then, the organization had clear goals, and primarily one of those was to fight against the Briggs Initiative,” Karger remembers. For a while, they tried to do some work in raising awareness in the Republican Party about HIV and AIDS. But the difference between the Democrats’ response and the Republicans’ was night and day. The Republican Party just wouldn’t budge on AIDS, mainly because they didn’t want to be perceived as helping the gay community. They were beholden to the Christian right, who passionately preached that homosexuality was a sin.”

In 1990, there was a bit of comity between the two parties when Congress passed the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act to provide grants to improve care those affected by HIV. The bill was named after a teenage Indiana boy who contracted HIV through a blood transfusion and died of AIDS complications in April of 1990. The legislation passed 95-4 in the Senate and by voice vote in the House; it was signed into law by President George H.W. Bush. Having the bill named for White, who became a national figure, gave cover for Republicans to support a bill for AIDS funding that on the surface made no mention of gay men.

Despite signing the Ryan White bill, Bush had a poor record on LGBTQ+ issues and AIDS. Frank, by then retired from Congress, told the Washington Blade in a 2018 interview that he asked Bush to rescind the rule put in place under President Eisenhower that said gay and lesbian federal employees could not get security clearances. “He refused to do it. Bill Clinton did a few years later,” Frank said shortly after Bush’s death.

And when the Blade asked Larry Kramer about Bush’s record on HIV and AIDS, Kramer said succinctly, “I will not give him credit for anything. He hated us.”

When Bush ran for reelection in 1992, he faced a galvanized Christian right led by former Nixon speechwriter and political pundit Pat Buchanan, who challenged Bush in the Republican primary race. Buchanan made gay rights his target and gave a vicious speech about “homosexuals” at the 1992 Republican National Convention in Houston.

Why Republicans haven’t fielded more LGBTQ+ candidates reflects the party’s inability to relate to the community

It was during Clinton’s first term as president that a gay Republican, one without any scandals, surfaced. In March of 1994, California Republican Congressman Robert Dornan outed a colleague, fellow Republican Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin, during a debate on the House floor about an antigay education imitative. Gunderson came out and became the first out gay Republican elected to Congress when he won his reelection bid that same year. He did not seek reelection in 1996.

When Gunderson came out, he felt accepted within the Republican Party. “Honestly, I was,” he says. “But it was the classic case of first, get to know a person who is gay and then your feelings will change. Because my Republican colleagues knew and respected me both as a person and as a legislator, the fact that I was gay just didn’t matter. More than one colleague would come up to me and say things like ‘My nephew is gay’ or ‘My sister is a lesbian.’”

Two years later, Jim Kolbe, a Republican representative from Arizona, came out after he voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, which angered a lot of activists, who threatened to out him. Kolbe served openly, was reelected five times, and opted not to run again in 2006. He died last year.

Since Gunderson and Kolbe came out, several Republican congressmen have come out as gay or bisexual after they left office — Michael Huffington of California and Aaron Schock of Illinois

are just some examples. And then there was Florida’s Mark Foley, who was caught sending lurid texts to a page in a 2006 repeat of the 1980s scandal.

In the 2012 election cycle, Karger became the first out gay major-party presidential candidate, eight years before Democrat and current Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg ran. Karger switched sides and supported Buttigieg in 2020. “Even 13 years ago, being a gay Republican was shocking. I remember dropping the gay bomb during a campaign speech in Manchester, N.H., and how all the Republicans in the crowd had frozen expressions,” Karger recalls. “I never ran away from it, and I eventually dropped out, but I can tell you I would get tons of emails and messages from Republican voters telling me their son or brother was gay.”

And here we are today. Since Kolbe’s retirement, the Democrats have elected 17 LGBTQ+ representatives and senators to Congress. And the Republicans? One: George Santos.

Why Republicans haven’t fielded more LGBTQ+ candidates reflects the party’s inability to relate to the community, its refusal to support and sponsor equality legislation, and a failure to recruit queer candidates, according to many former party strategists and consultants.

Rich Tafel, who was a longtime Republican consultant, thinks the party doesn’t do enough to cultivate talent. “The party has no pipeline,” he declares. “We’ve lost ground in nurturing young candidates.”

Gunderson however doesn’t see it that way. “I honestly think the party will be happy to support and recruit LGBTQ candidates when and if shown they are the most qualified and competitive,” he counters. “But we have two big problems. First, gerrymandered districts have resulted in primaries where ‘the purest conservative’ wins nomination. This doesn’t help socially moderate Republicans. Second, the gay movement needs to be for more active in building a bipartisan roster of qualified, openly gay candidates.”

And Tafel agrees that work needs to be done on getting rid of extreme polarization — on both sides. “Extremism is a crisis in this country, even with the Democrats, and extremism plays into the fact

Despite being the nation’s second out gay Republican congressman, Jim Kolbe supported the Defense of Marriage Act.

that Republicans aren’t going to promote a gay candidate, when the base of the party supports anti-LGBTQ laws,” he says.

However, Tafel thinks the Republican Party might be at a tipping point and will slowly start to move away from Trumpism. “More and more, the whole MAGA movement is considered to be dangerous, and they are losing consequence,” he says. “They’re going to hit rock bottom, and then the party will have to undergo a serious reality check.”

Citing his own experience, Gunderson agrees that the clock might be ticking for Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd. “One of the things I learned early in my political career is that every movement needs an enemy,” he recalls. “When I ran for reelection as an openly gay Republican, the garbage thrown against me by conservative opponents was just incredible and despicable. But they were convinced if folks like me got reelected, then gays would become accepted in the party. So today, the conservative social activists continue to use the gay sector as ‘the enemy.’ It works in motivating their base. So the question is, how long will that last?”

“I honestly believe that post-Trump there will be a gradual return to the Republican Party of my time known for limited government, local control, free enterprise, and a strong foreign/defense policy,” Gunderson continues. “When that happens, as the young today become the majority of voters, you will see the party’s positions moderate.”

But someone younger than Tafel, Karger, and Gunderson says Trumpism isn’t going away anytime soon.

“I don’t know that engaging more LGBTQ candidates in the Republican Party is fixable in the current atmosphere of the Republican Party,” argues Tim Miller, a gay former Republican National Committee spokesperson and a writer for The Bulwark, a neoconservative news and opinion website. “In theory, at some of the state levels, which is where you recruit candidates, prospective LGBTQ+ candidates won’t run and buck the system because of all the antigay rhetoric and legislation. And if you are gay, chances are you don’t want to be Republican because of all the party’s vitriol against our community.”

Furthermore, Miller says, it’s a supply and demand issue, and there isn’t a demand for what the party supplies. “The kinds of people attracted to the Trump era are grifters, frauds, aggrieved, bombastic, and phonies,” he says without directly mentioning the name “George Santos.”

And while Tafel and Gunderson think Trumpism might be close to a breaking point, Miller disagrees. “MAGA and its ongoing nationalist white culture war

Former congressman Steve Gunderson of Wisconsin

In March of 1994, California Republican Congressman Robert Dornan outed a colleague, fellow Republican Steve Gunderson ... Gunderson came out and became the first out gay Republican elected to Congress when he won his reelection bid that same year.

isn’t easily reversible,” he says. “If Trump lives or dies, it’s going to go on. For example, if Nikki Haley runs for the Republican presidential nomination [which she is], there’s hardly anyone in the current party thinking that supports a globalist female. That’s not what the party is anymore.”

But one thing they all agree on is that the Log Cabin Republicans don’t mean anything anymore. “To be honest with you, I never joined the Log Cabin group, and I’m glad I never did,” Miller says. “They’re a tool of Trump now, and as far as I’m concerned, they’re useless, just like the Republican Party.

Log Cabin is Trump’s now and will be for the foreseeable future, so we’re not going to see any LGBTQ+ Republican candidates.” Log Cabin Republicans president Charles Moran did not respond to a request for comment regarding the party’s problems with LGBTQ+ candidates and voters.

The ineffectiveness of the Log Cabin group means that there are no guardrails to prevent the party from shifting more toward using social and LGBTQ+ issues as wedges, according to Gunderson. “While Trump has claimed to be supportive of gays, his MAGA movement is made up of very conservative voices,” he says. “While it includes some libertarians who should support our

sector, they simply focus on very different issues. Identity politics of any sort is one of their main targets. During COVID, the Republicans became ‘big government conservatives’ in terms of spending. Now these same big government conservatives are engaging in social issues.”

Kirchick tries to push the narrative that Trump was somehow not as bad for LGBTQ+ people than Reagan or the Bushes, though that argument usually comes from a white gay man thinking of only white gay men and not the demonization of trans people and people of color in general that Trump regularly whipped up. Kirchick’s argument may hold less and less weight as the 2024 election draws near; Trump has already made attacking trans youth and genderaffirming care a centerpiece of his third presidential run.

Since he was elected, the only thing Santos has advocated for has been himself.

—Tim

Miller, former RNC spokesperson and writer for The Bulwark

Any moderation Trump showed on LGBTQ+ rights “may change if he goes up against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made anti-LGBTQ legislation a focal point,” Kirchick admits. “Trump may have to try and match DeSantis. If DeSantis gets the nomination, you definitely won’t be seeing any gay candidates, particularly at some of the state levels, where state legislators are taking their anti-LGBTQ legislation leads from Florida and DeSantis.”

But that might not include Wyoming, an anomaly of sorts, according to one of its Republican state representatives, Dan Zwonitzer, who has been out since 2016 and continues to be reelected. “Admittedly, the last two election cycles have been a bit tougher for me,” he says. “However, historically no one in the legislature or even my constituency treats me any different because I’m gay. What might be worse to them is that they treat me more as a moderate. That’s why I see a schism for both parties who are becoming more extreme and less pragmatic.”

While Wyoming is overwhelmingly Republican, Zwonitzer says the state is a bit insulated in some ways from a lot of the national political dialogue. “This is a small state. We all know each other,” he says. “On a local level, my district includes the state capital, and many of the residents reflect the old Republican Party’s attitudes. We’re not necessarily part of the new Republican Party. We don’t follow the mandates of the state party platform and the national platform. Both have gone too far, and the planks don’t represent what we stand for, at least in my district, and of course, I hope that holds true.”

“The political environment has become so vitriolic and demands allegiance to one individual rather than doing the right things to move us forward,” he continues. “And one reason we are not seeing more LGBTQ+ candidates is because they must pass a litmus test about whether they have allegiance and support the orthodoxy, and who knows how long this will last.”

The 2022 midterms made history when Democratic congressional candidate Robert Zimmerman faced another gay

candidate, Republican George Santos, in a district on New York’s Long Island. In an interview with USA Today, Log Cabin President Charles Moran said Santos represented diversity within the party and the LGBTQ+ community. “There really is a lot of diversity in the LGBT community in political thought,” Moran said.

For his part, Santos told the paper, “I’m a gay married man. I am openly gay, have never had an issue with my sexual identity in the past decade, and I can tell you and assure you, I will always be an advocate for LGBTQ folks.”

Since he was elected, the only thing Santos has advocated for has been himself, according to Miller, while everything about him, including his sexuality and party affiliation, among many other things, has been called into question. “George Santos doesn’t believe in anything,” Miller says unequivocally. “He could have just as easily run as a Democrat and pretended to like Obama, but the competition on the Democratic side was too steep, so Santos took the easy way.”

Gunderson, who is arguably the dean of gay Republican legislators, thought at one point the Republican Party might be shifting, and while it didn’t, he now has hopes that future generations will save the party. “Around the years 2014—2016, there was evidence that Republicans were becoming more accepting, and Republican voters, according to polls, appeared to be more welcoming to gay candidates,” he says. “For example, by 2014 over 60 percent of Republicans between 18-29 supported [marriage equality]; and even 52 percent of Republicans up to 50 supported [marriage equality].”

“I think in time, as the younger generation comes of age, and they start running for office, and occupying more legislative seats, things might change,” Gunderson predicts. “This generation all knows someone who is gay, and their attitudes are much more progressive. At least that’s my hope, and the hope of my generation of fellow Republicans who are counting on it.”

U=U and you

What does U=U stand for?

Today, a major goal for HIV treatment is helping you reach an undetectable viral load. When your viral load is undetectable, there is so little virus in your blood that a lab test can’t measure it.

Current research shows that taking HIV treatment as prescribed and getting to an undetectable viral load and staying undetectable prevents the transmission of HIV to others through sex. Reaching and staying undetectable is only possible by sticking with your treatment.

There are many resources for education and information to help you get to and stay undetectable, including the link below.

And always remember, speak openly and honestly with your healthcare provider to learn about HIV and what is best for you.

BY TRUDY RING

969 is etched in LGBTQ+ history as a landmark year because of Stonewall, but there’s another year that’s just as significant or maybe more so — 1973. That was the year the American Psychiatric Association declared that homosexuality is not a mental illness. It was also the year that saw the founding of three major LGBTQ+ organizations, all still active: Lambda Legal, the National Gay (now LGBTQ) Task Force, and PFLAG, all observing their 50th anniversary this year. They all had roots in the activism that rose up in the first few years after Stonewall. LGBTQ+ Americans — generally referred to then simply as gays or gays and lesbians — were fed up and ready to fight back. Forty-five states still had sodomy laws on the books. Police entrapment and brutality were common. And protection from discrimination — well, it didn’t exist.

The event that led to the founding of PFLAG was a protest calling for a gay rights ordinance in New York City. Morty Manford and other members of the Gay Activists Alliance did a “zap,” or direct action, seizing the stage at the April 1972 Inner Circle dinner, a gala event for journalists and politicians. The protesters, Manford in particular, drew the ire of Michael Maye, president of New York’s firefighters union. Manford ended up in the hospital after a severe beating by Maye.

Someone from the hospital asked Manford’s mother, Jeanne Manford, if she knew her son was gay. She replied that she did. She went into action, writing letters to New York newspapers expressing her outrage at her son’s assault and defending gay people’s right to live free of discrimination and brutality. She then marched with him in the Christopher Street Liberation Day March in June, with a sign saying, “Parents of Gays: Unite in Support for Our Children.”

Morty Manford remarked that his community needed an ally organization, and Jeanne and her husband, Jules, held the first meeting of what would become PFLAG in a Greenwich Village church March 11, 1973. Similar groups were founded around the U.S. throughout the 1970s, and the Federation of Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays was incorporated as a national organization in 1982. The first national president was Adele Starr, who had founded PFLAG’s Los Angeles chapter.

Fifty years ago, queer activism blossomed and changed the course of history.

“PFLAG is the ally cornerstone of the movement,” says Brian Bond, the organization’s executive director, noting that the group today “stands of the shoulders” of its founders.

Lambda Legal, which started as Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, has brought and won many landmark cases in the past 50 years on issues including employment discrimination, safe schools, marriage equality, transgender health care, HIV and AIDS, and many more. But its first legal case was to establish its right to exist.

Bill Thom had gathered a group of fellow lawyers to form a nonprofit to work on gay rights. But when Lambda Legal filed its articles of incorporation with New York State, the state said there was no need for such an organization and that it was “neither benevolent nor charitable,” says Kevin Jennings, the group’s current CEO. “The government didn’t even want to allow us to incorporate,” he notes. So Lambda Legal sued the state for the right to incorporate, and after a protracted court battle, it was officially authorized to practice law on October 18, 1973. Thom ran the group out of his apartment, with a Band-Aid on his mailbox inscribed with Lambda Legal.

But even without a fancy office, “within the first couple years of its founding, Lambda Legal was already winning landmark cases,” Jennings says. It represented military personnel who’d been kicked out for being gay, student groups that had been denied recognition, and parents threatened with losing their children, advancing rights with each case. Later there was the case of Wisconsin gay teen Jamie Nabozny, who’d been severely bullied in school; his suit was the first to win protections for students. Then there was AIDS discrimination to be fought, marriage equality to be won, and more.

“We, way ahead of the curve, won marriage equality in Iowa,” Jennings says. The decision came down from the Iowa Supreme Court in 2009, making it the third state with marriage equality, after Massachusetts and Connecticut. “Basically, any advance has happened through litigation, not legislation,” he says. But legislation is important too, and so is lobbying government and the private sector, along with organizing the grassroots, as the National LGBTQ Task Force knows. Activists including Howard Brown, Martin

Duberman, Barbara Gittings, Ron Gold, Frank Kameny, Nathalie Rockhill, and Bruce Voeller

Parents march at the Gay Pride parade in New York City, June 1974; lawyer Dick Ashworth is seen at right. Ashworth later became one of the founding members of PFLAG

founded the group as the National Gay Task Force in October 1973. Voeller was its first executive director.

Task Force activist Jean O’Leary, later its co-executive director, and psychologist Charles Silverstein made the presentation to the American Psychiatric Association that led the APA to remove homosexuality from its list of mental disorders in December 1973.

“It was a very well-organized presentation. We knew what everybody was going to do,” Silverstein told The Advocate’s LGBTQ&A podcast in 2021, in one of his last interviews.

(He died in 2023.)

O’Leary went on to organize the first gay and lesbian contingent to meet with White House officials — a session with Midge Costanza, a top aide to President Jimmy Carter, in 1977. The Task Force has also fought for the rights of LGBTQ+ federal employees, military members, people living with AIDS, and more. It has also pioneered intersectionality in the movement and helps hone activists’ skills through its annual Creating Change conference.

From the start it emphasized being out and proud, recalls David Rothenberg, who served on the Task Force’s first board of

Morty Manford, a representative of the Gay Activists Alliance of New York and part of the origin story of PFLAG

directors. “I was the classic deeply closeted person,” Rothenberg recalls. But when he was recruited for the board, he was told he had to be out. So he came out on national television, on The David Susskind Show. “The other is less threatening when they’re seen,” he notes.

Rothenberg was then executive director of the Fortune Society, a nonprofit that helps formerly incarcerated people reenter society. He was prepared to resign when he came out, but the Fortune Society’s board wouldn’t accept his resignation. He stayed another 15 years.

The Task Force’s profile grew. Jeff Levi, who was director of government affairs from 1983 to 1986 and executive director from 1986 to 1989, recalls testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1986, when it was considering the elevation of conservative Supreme Court Justice William Rehnquist to chief justice. The Task Force was opposed.

Levi’s appearance was marked by an unforgettable exchange with Strom Thurmond, the racist, homophobic

senator who chaired the Judiciary Committee. Thurmond asked, “Does your organization advocate any kind of treatment for gays and lesbians to see if they can change them and make them normal like other people?” Levi replied, “Well, Senator, we consider ourselves to be quite normal, thank you.”

Years later, all these organizations still have to persuade some Americans that LGBTQ+ people — especially transgender people, given that the far right has whipped up so much transphobia — are “quite normal.” As PFLAG, Lambda Legal, and the Task Force see it, their job is far from done.

“I thought we would be past some of the challenges we face today,” Bond admits. He notes, “The arc is bending, and it’s bending in the right way, but nothing comes easy. … We will ultimately win this fight, this struggle, but it will take us all collectively to do so.”

Jennings adds, “Advances can be rolled back, so we’re planning for our next 50 years.”

LGBTQ+ activists, including members of the National Gay Task Force, convinced the American Psychiatric Association to drop homosexuality as a mental disorder.

Senator Strom Thurmond (R-SC) was a major LGBTQ+ rights antagonist of the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s.

LAURA JANE GRACE’S REBEL YELL IS LOUD AS EVER

As she tours across the country this spring, the Against Me! founder is creating a space where trans punks can feel at home.

BY MEY RUDE

Laura Jane Grace performing at the U.K.’s Reading Festival

ALL THROUGH APRIL and May, music venues across the eastern United States will be alive with the raucous music of Against Me! founder and punk icon Laura Jane Grace. Across 19 headlining shows with opener Weakened Friends, as well as another five shows with Frank Turner and The Interrupters, Grace will be performing classic Against Me! and solo songs, as well as new material. In a chaotic world that tries to bring them down, Grace’s fans can be assured

that they can go to one of her shows and rock out to the same anarchist and trans anthems they’ve been screaming for two decades. And her rebel yell is just as loud as it was in 2012, when Against Me! were the darlings of the punk scene and Grace bravely came out as trans.

Looking beautiful with a shaved and tattooed head, and eyes that shine bright when she talks about her love for performing, Grace rejects the notion that her new music has to be Earth-shattering

and groundbreaking. She just wants to make more of the music that she loves.

“I feel like for the past decade straight, it’s always this expectation of artists releasing ‘their most personal record yet. So personal, it’s like you’re waking up next to them in bed.’ It has to be more, more, more!” she says. “I’m at this age now where, all right, I’m 42 fucking years old. I do not give a shit about impressing anybody. I’m doing this just because this is what I fucking love doing, and this is what I’m always going to do.”

While Grace isn’t worried about impressing anyone, she is conscious of the political message her shows send, especially when touring in states that have laws targeting trans people.

“It’s strange,” Grace says, “So many of those states that have on their dockets proposals about laws that would ban shows that are considered drag shows, I would technically fall under that. I think there’s an importance then of going to those places because I think that you’re demonstrating how absurd that is in a lot of ways.”

“I’m an avowed anarchist, and it always pisses me off when people accuse me of even being a liberal,” she adds, noting that she plays her song “Baby, I’m an Anarchist” at nearly every show. “A lot of those ethics and those messages are just inherently ingrained into the songs. So those political messages are always going to be there.”

Just as the punk community became a home for Grace, she makes her shows a home for queer and trans punks (and nonpunks) across the country. She knows the power of gathering in a room full of other trans people and allies.

“Playing songs about the trans experience, I think just the representation in general, it’s really effective oftentimes to just go to these places,” she says of touring in states like Florida that have anti-trans laws (coincidentally or not, Against Me! formed in the Sunshine State back in 1997). “If you have a show where other trans people or gender-nonconforming people feel comfortable coming out to the environment, just even the group presence often in those places just makes a statement.”

In a way, Grace has become one of punk rock’s Mommies, creating a space for outcasts to gather and feel like they belong. The stage is one of Grace’s homes and she throws one hell of a house party, and everyone’s invited.

Grace’s tour kicks off April 5 in Columbia, Mo., and closes on May 13 in Asbury Park, N.J.

Sound Effects

Spotify is helping LGBTQ+ musicians get a foothold in a notoriously exclusive industry.

Sam Smith, Kehlani, Kim Petras — the list of openly LGBTQ+ or nonbinary mainstream musicians is esteemed but small. With the launch of its latest project, GLOW, streaming music service Spotify declared its commitment to support and promote LGBTQ+ artists and creators who often struggle for representation in the music industry.

“Being queer myself and having struggled to come to this point where I feel safe and confident in being who I am, this is a very special moment to me,” said Global Music Programs and Social Equity lead Bel Aztiria at the January launch party, held at Spotify’s office and production space in Los Angeles. “We know the LGBTQIA+ community has long shaped music and culture, and we want to honor this immense contribution all year round, beyond cultural moments.”

GLOW features a hub and playlist highlighting the latest music from queer artists, with an initial selection including Bruses, Jean Seizure, Leland, Liniker, Natalia Lacunza, Arlo Parks, Joesef, Pabllo Vittar, Sam Smith, Tove Lo, and Villano Antillano. These artists will be amplified on the hub throughout the year and featured on billboards across the U.S.

The program will also offer songwriting workshops for artists, provide marketing and brand partnership support, and facilitate charitable giving to nonprofit organizations like QORDS, Astraea, Black Trans Femmes in the Arts, ChamberQUEER, Allgo, It Gets Better, Youth Music, and Casa Chama.

A panel discussion at the event featured queer musicians Leland, Miki Ratsula, Isaac Dunbar, and Arlissa. Leland, whose work has been featured on shows like RuPaul’s Drag Race, Love, Victor, and The Other Two, admitted that early in his career he worried that singing openly about same-sex relationships would bar him from radio play.

“There is a unique sense of freedom in saying exactly what you want to fucking say,” he said of the songwriting sessions. “I’m really happy to be in this chapter where we can go into rooms…and everyone can sing about whoever they want to sing about, knowing that you’re going to be affirmed and celebrated.”

—CHRISTINE LINNELL

Brazilian singer Pabllo Vittar performs at Memorial da América Latina in Sao Paulo

Real Talk

The pile-on was almost immediate for The Real Friends of WeHo. But was the queer hate for the gay reality show irrational or appropriate?

BY NEAL BROVERMAN

Tacky. Phony. Unwatchable. The Twitter reviews of MTV’s newest reality show, The Real Friends of WeHo, were not kind. Ratings for the show — centered on gay men like stylist Brad Goreski, choreographer Todrick Hall, TV host Jaymes Vaughan, and their group of “friends” birthed from central casting — were just as sour, especially for a series that aired in the timeslot between Emmy-winning cultural phenomenon RuPaul’s Drag Race and its popular behind-thescenes companion series, Untucked

The online vitriol towards WeHo , much of it generated from LGBTQ+ viewers, lobbed poison-tipped arrows at what

is basically the latest piece of reality programming featuring upscale people spending money, drinking too much, and calling each other names. Truth be told, WeHo is not much different than ratings juggernauts and queer fan favorites like Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills or Vanderpump Rules (both of which often film in West Hollywood). So why did people, especially LGBTQ+ people, so loudly reject the exploits of a group of gay guys? Is the standard for content different when it comes to queer non-competition shows, at least when queer people are watching?

Yes and no, says Zack Peter, host of the Housewives -themed podcast #No Filter with Zack Peter. One of the biggest issues

with WeHo was not the sexual orientation of the cast but the inauthentic connections between the stars, he says. A reality show always casts its stars, but the most successful feature family dynamics (Housewives of Beverly Hills) or friendships that pre-date the show (Housewives of New Jersey).

“Think of the Real Housewives franchise, it’s been around for so long, we’ve become so savvy that we know real chemistry and we know casting,” Peter says. “We know when someone’s just brought on a show so they’re a name, or when they bring on someone younger to attract a younger audience. These tricks and gimmicks, we see right through it.”

Aside from the issue with “Real Friends” being in the title, Peter said the setting also helped doom the show. In the popular queer imagination, West Hollywood is associated with a gay superficiality that is less aspirational and more exclusionary. Whether true or not, WeHo often brings to mind thick bank accounts, thin waists, and “no fats or femmes” Grindr profiles.

“I don’t personally like WeHo,” says Peter, who resides in downtown L.A.

“I don’t go out; I don’t like the association that gay men just love to party and fuck each other, and we all have gang bangs. A good threesome is a good threesome, but I’m a career person. I’m so much more than the fabulosity of being gay and wearing a boa and going to a drag show on Sunday. That’s fun and a great aspect of the community, but there’s so much than that. I wish that would get represented a little more.”

A show about young, attractive gay men working in the entertainment and fashion industries in a place packed with gay bars and restaurants is just too on the nose, Peter says. Instead, he believes a cast featuring a true cross-section of the queer community — doctors, teachers, parents, monogamous couples — and

based on preexisting connections would fare much better with a gay audience.

“I want to see a variety of gay men; people who are career-focused or family-focused, relationship- and marriage-focused,” he says. “All the things that break the mold of what people think of as gay men.”

Still, Peter admits that all the gripes against WeHo were not entirely legitimate.

“It’s hard too for gay men; it’s hard for us to root for each other,” he says. “I think it comes down to a deeper-rooted insecurity; we were raised to be unsure of ourselves. The climate is changing and things are shifting, but that inherent judgment we have of ourselves is projected onto judgment we give to other gay men.”

Peter hopes another network takes a stab at a queer-led reality show since, well, gay people are so fun to watch.

“I always think gay men have such rich histories and such big obstacles they’ve had to overcome that they’re going to naturally be entertaining,” Peter says. “Gay men have great wit because we had to develop a personality, a sense of humor, a sharp tongue as a means of defense. Maybe, at the end of the day, WeHo is a good thing because it opened the door and provided an opportunity for more shows like this to come to fruition. I don’t really want to see another Real Friends, but someone has to do it first and then somebody has to come around and do it better.”

Podcaster Zack

Peter (left) interviews reality star Harry Jowsey

The Camera Doesn’t Lie

Queer relationships lost to time get new life in the documentary 100 Years of Men in Love.

Married couple Hugh Nini and Neal Treadwell were having a relaxing afternoon browsing a Dallas antique store when they stumbled upon something that would change their life — a 1920s-era photograph of a male couple embracing. That discovery from over two decades ago evolved into a passion for historic photos of male couples posing, hugging, kissing, and caressing in images that could have gotten the subjects arrested or worse. Now in ownership of over 3,000 pictures culled from flea markets, shoe boxes, family archives, estate sales, and old suitcases, Nini and Treadwell turned their collection into a book, Loving: A Photographic History of Men in Love 1850s-1950s, and, more recently, a documentary.

100 Years of Men in Love: The Accidental Collection, directed by David Millbern and airing on Here TV, is both a lovely reminder that queer love is not a 21st century invention (take note, Gov. Ron DeSantis) and a bittersweet history lesson on queer perseverence. Punctuated by quotes from writers Walt Whitman and Henry David Thoreau (both of whom have long been rumored to be gay or bisexual), the film hopes to bring light to love stories lost to time. At great risk to themselves, these man documented their relationships, which will now live on as a beacon for future generations. Wanting to memorialize and preserve a relationship scorned by nearly all aspects of society is “the definition of true love,” Millbern said in a statement. —NB

Find out more at here.tv/100yearsofmeninlove.

The various lovers of Men in Love

The Whole World is Talking About Jamie

A new Mexican production proves a popular musical’s message is universal.

Currently presented in more than seven countries around the world, and with its popular film version now streaming on several platforms, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie has proved itself to be a powerful ongoing presence in the world of musical theater.

The original London production, written by Tom MacRae and composer Dan Gillespie Sells, and cocreated by Jonathan Butterell, was inspired by a 2011 BBC documentary called Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, directed by Jenny Popplewell. The stage version follows student Jamie New as he overcomes bullying and ostracization in order to follow his dreams of becoming a teen drag queen. Since then , Jamie has won dozens of nominations and awards, including

two WhatsOnStage Awards (Best New Musical in 2018 and Best West End Show in in 2019) and is beloved by audiences and critics alike.

Now a new production, adapted and directed by Alejandro Villalobos, is the first Spanish version of the show. Todo El Mundo Habla de Jamie is set to premiere this spring at the Manolo Fábregas Theater in Mexico City. Also leading the production is Gabriel and María Guevara (who also brought Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song to Mexican stages last year) and musical director Analí Sánchez Neri, with choreography by Hugo Curcumelis.

The title role of Jamie New is shared by two amazing young Latinx talents: Nelson Carreras, a Cuban-Guatemalan artist most known for participating in Mexican reality show La Academia 2022, and Joaquín Bondoni, a 19-year-old Mexican actor, singer, and model.

Presented in arrangement with Concord Theatricals and produced by 33 Productores, the show includes a cast of 30 actors and actresses, many of them part of the LGBTQ+ community, and an eight-piece orchestra.

“It is a musical. It’s pop. It’s cool. And it’s funny,” says director Villalobos. “It is a performance full of contrasts, which invites us to delve into the mind of our protagonist and see the world through his eyes, transforming with him the gray and dark context of life in the small town where he lives [into] a musical full of light and color.” —DESIRÉE

GUERRERO

Nelson Carreras (left) and Joaquin Bondoni share the title role of Jamie

BIG GIRL PANTIES

How legendary drag performer Panti Bliss became an “accidental activist” and the reigning queen of Ireland.

BY ALAN DIAMOND

While it’s true Ireland no longer has a monarchical system after declaring itself a republic and withdrawing from the British Commonwealth in 1949, today’s reigning “Queen of Ireland” is none other than Panti Bliss, the country’s most well-known drag performer.

Unlike Ireland’s neighboring British monarchy with their creation of heirs and spares to ensure succession, Panti wasn’t born into this role — she didn’t inherit it from anyone. Instead, the self-described “accidental activist” forged a new path to become a part of queer history.

“I didn’t set out to be an activist,” she admits in between her rigorous Dancing with the Stars Ireland rehearsals. “I’m a queer person living in a homophobic world, and sometimes that bothered me, and when things bother me, I want to change them — but I didn’t set out wanting to change the world, you know, like Gandhi or something! So that’s why I call myself an ‘accidental activist.’”

Born in Ireland six months before the Stonewall Riots took place, Rory O’Neill grew up in a small rural town in county Mayo, far from the world of drag and the birth of the queer rights movement in the United States. After a brief performance stint during college in Ireland in the late ’80s, O’Neill moved to Japan and became a hallmark on the Tokyo club scene, where his alter ego and drag name Panti Bliss

came to life. Returning to Dublin in 1995, O’Neill, performing as Panti, pioneered and orchestrated some of the city’s most influential club nights, hosted Alternative Miss Ireland for 18 years, and performed worldwide. Since his return to Ireland, he has been open about being HIVpositive and continuously campaigns for its prevention, urges people to get tested, and works hard to raise awareness of how it can be lived with.

In 2014, O’Neill sparked a nationwide uproar in Ireland after a television appearance where he called specific individuals and organizations homophobic. The ensuing scandal, an Irish stew, if you may, became known as “Pantigate” and ignited a divided Ireland — those standing behind Panti, and the homophobes who weren’t. Following the television appearance, Panti rose to true acclaim during a famous “noble call’ speech in Dublin’s Abbey Theatre — a must-watch oration about queer oppression available on Panti’s YouTube. The address for equality was recognized worldwide by notable figures such as RuPaul, Ellen DeGeneres, Graham Norton, Stephen Fry, Madonna, and many more posting on social media in support. Shortly thereafter, Panti became the fearless trailblazer in Ireland’s “Yes” campaign for marriage equality, and O’Neill’s life and work in the lead-up to the 2015 Irish referendum became the

subject of the triumphant documentary

The Queen of Ireland . In 2019, Rory married partner Anderson Cabrera at a ceremony in Dublin surrounded by family and friends.

Today, O’Neill is among the hopefuls competing in this year’s season of Ireland’s Dancing with the Stars and making history by doing so as Ireland’s first same-sex pairing. Partnered with the Ukrainian professional dancer Denys Samson, O’Neill performed in drag as Panti and closed out the show’s first week, performing a captivating cha-cha-cha to

Whitney Houston’s “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” that earned an impressive 23/30 points.

The self-titled “gender discombobulist” is cognizant that being on a family entertainment show and invited weekly into the viewer’s home is an opportunity to change perceptions. It might not be apparent to every viewer, but Panti’s ensembles, routines, and song selections are unambiguous; these decisions are meticulously selected and as carefully contoured as the makeup on her cheeks. The notion that little boys and girls in similar rural towns and villages that O’Neill grew up in, where he felt alone and desired to escape from, can now see someone like Panti perform each week on the TV is a driving factor for the star.

“I know sometimes we can overblow these things, saying ‘It’s just an entertainment show on TV,’ but it is massively popular. When I was 15 years old, a queer boy struggling to deal with all of that…if I had seen a samesex couple dancing together on the same level playing field — completely ordinarily, like all the other contestants, at 6:30 p.m. on a Sunday evening on a family entertainment show — it would have meant the world to me.”

While Ireland has changed so much in Panti’s lifetime, her mere existence and participation on the hit show have ruffled some feathers, revealing “if I go

deep enough into my Twitter mentions, you’ll always find some crazies.” But without missing a beat, Panti joyfully proclaims that the reaction received from the general Irish public has been “overwhelmingly positive and lovely!”

Still, activism isn’t for the faint of heart, and while Ireland has transformed significantly over the years, like everywhere, “homophobia still exists here.” With her strenuous training schedule of about 6-8 hours each day, Panti should be applauded for the work being done. Not only is she getting her “pre-pandemic body back” and competing each week, she’s showing viewers at home how one can not only live with HIV, but that one can flourish with it, too — an issue that most people outside the queer community might not be as well-versed on. “Dancing on the telly every Sunday evening is part of that process of letting people know that it’s not this huge thing to be feared anymore.”

From initial meetings O’Neill had with the show’s producers, he revealed it was crucial that he’d get to dance out of drag and “at least one week as Rory because I think it’s important to have two fellas dancing in your parent’s living room.” This impactful statement was seen just last year on the U.S. version of the show. After 29 seasons and 336 contestants, season 30 finally featured a permanent same-sex couple each week, with Jojo Siwa and her professional dancing partner Jenna Johnson placing second.

While Panti is a current favorite to win this season of Dancing with the Stars Ireland , she’s also a contestant people are closely watching as she’s keeping viewers guessing what she’ll do next. “I’ve never been one for behaving, and if they wanted someone to behave on the show, they wouldn’t have asked me.”

Panti also has some exciting projects in the pipeline. Between making sporadic pop-ins at her two Dublin establishments, Pennylane Bar and Pantibar, she’s also set to go on an international tour once the reality competition show concludes in March, and will be appearing in the upcoming Disney+ docu-special, Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming, with Dave Letterman, premiering on St. Patrick’s Day.

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT A Bliss-ful moment; Panti preps for the camera; an out-ofdrag Rory O’Neill

Artists for a New Beginning This Spring

These queer artists are releasing new self-defining music, perfect for listening to during all your new beginnings.

BY MEY RUDE

CHRISSY CHLAPECKA

TikTok’s head “bimbo” Chrissy Chlapecka doesn’t just make funny and inspiring videos about radical self-love, queerness, and leftist politics, she also knows how to write and record one hell of a pop song. While music is a new venture of Chlapecka, she’s not straying from what she knows best. Her debut single “I’m So Hot’’ is an anthem of sexy confidence, just like the message she shares in her TikToks. “I think the way I become my most vulnerable self is through music,” Chlapecka, who uses she/ they pronouns, says. “I was singing in my room ever since I was a kid, to drown out the chaos that was going on around me. And music has always been my first love and my first form of therapy, almost. And now as I create, and as I write more, and as I release more, people are getting more of a well-rounded Chrissy than the Chrissy you see online, which is already incredibly well-rounded. I’m proud of myself for the vulnerable moments I have, which are not always easy to do, but I think now I can really just be my most authentic, bad bitch self.”

MAZIE

With her own brand of psychedelic pop, mazie takes you on a journey with her debut album, blotter baby, released in February. After her song “dumb dumb” went viral on TikTok, mazie has steadily built an impressive library of songs and a devoted fanbase. Whether it’s uptempo bratty pop-punk, low tempo dreamy Wurlitzer piano tunes, or earwormy alt-pop, mazie’s brash attitude is clear throughout. While there’s plenty of fun to be had on blotter baby, mazie balances it out with more introspective songs based on her real life. “I would love to say that I’m not a fiend for validation, but I totally am,” she says. “So it’s always so nice when people positively respond, especially when they’re connecting it to their own experiences, because that blows my mind every time.”

REBECCA BLACK

While many of us know the name Rebecca Black from her viral 2011 song “Friday,” the real Rebecca Black is much more interesting. We’re starting to get to know that real Rebecca on her debut album, Let Her Burn, a pop collection full of songs perfect for playing in a gay club. While Black says that the entire album represents her, she’s most excited for fans to hear two specific songs that really expose parts of herself she hasn’t shown much of before. “I think that the album as a whole is what makes the most sense, but I think people will be really surprised by some of the darker tones,” she says. “There’s a song called, ‘What Am I Going to Do With You?’ that is one of my favorites, and it’s probably one of the most surprising sounds people might expect to hear from me. Also a song called ‘Performer,’ which is on the completely opposite of the spectrum.”

PRATEEK

Queer, Indian-American New England native Prateek is one of the most exciting new voices (and guitarists) in Americana music. Influenced by classic alt-country, blues, and indie artists like Jason Isbell and John Hiatt, Prateek delivers an authentic blues rock and roll sound. His debut album, coming out April 6, adds a new dimension to his music, layering horns, crunchy eclectic guitar, driving drum beats, and smooth backing vocals onto his already impressive lyrics and vocals. “Til June is the album I’ve always wanted to make, inspired by the albums I’ve loved. I hope this album can mean as much to someone as John Hiatt’s Bring the Family or Foy Vance’s The Wild Swan mean to me.” With songs like the scorching noir-blues rocker “Diamonds,” the bluesy classic country heartbreak song “You’re Still On My Mind,” and the 70’s rock ballad title track “Til June,” it soon will.

MARIS

Indie pop singer MARIS stepped onto the scene last year with the single “Heavenly Bodies,” and now, her single “False Idol” is here to be your next pop obsession. The song is the layered and lush, full kind of pop music you hear from artists like Haim and Florence + the Machine. The song is about trying to escape the dynamic we can so often fall into by elevating heroes to impossible pedestals. “We referenced a ton of things sonically, but that day I was wanting a mash of the dance beat and bass drive of an ’80s pop song, with the lush harmonies of a Fleetwood Mac arrangement, and a tangible feeling of power coming into your life as you reject the concept of false idols controlling how you feel about yourself,” MARIS says of writing the song. “Lyrically, I love the imagery of somebody being so big in your mind that they tower over you and block out the sun. ‘I’ve been running from your shadow’ has such a colorful action to it, and accompanied with the dance beat, I can’t help but bop along.”

GIRLI

MISS GRIT

Miss Grit’s new song “Nothing’s Wrong” is the kind of song that sticks with you for days. Full of tenderness and raw feeling, Margaret Sohn’s (they/she) beautiful voice soars above electronic sounds, piano, strings, and horns. “Nothing’s Wrong” is one of the several terrific songs on their debut album Follow The Cyborg. Fans of LCD Soundsystem, Phoebe Bridgers, and Mitski will instantly fall in love with Miss Grit and their exploration of identity and self. The album traces the journey of a cyborg, discovering what it means to be perceived, what it means to be labeled, and what it means to be human.

London-based singer girli (real name Milly Toomey) has been releasing music since she was a teen, but her new music is some of the best she’s ever made. Her latest single, “Imposter Syndrome,” delves deep into mental health issues over a thumping pop beat. It’s a theme that’s been present in many of her songs, something that helps fans form deeper relationships with her music. “I overthink everything and find it hard to see myself through a positive lens. I kind of go through life feeling like everybody else has a guidebook and I’m just making it up as I go and getting it wrong, and I know a lot of my fans relate to that,” girli says. “One thing that always surprises me is while I think everybody has got their lives sorted out, people think the exact same about me, while I feel the opposite about myself. I hope this song will showcase that these thoughts can affect anyone, and show my fans that I’m a real person with real struggles exactly like theirs, and challenge the curated ‘perfect’ life that social media convinces us everyone has but us. I hope people listen to this and feel less alone.”

High Octane Heroine

Zandara Kennedy is one of the few women and queer stunt performers in Hollywood. Now, she’s turning her attention to opening doors for other marginalized people in the entertainment industry.

BY DESIRÉE GUERRERO

ZANDARA KENNEDY WAS born was a thirst for adventure. The Los Angelesbased professional stunt performer, stunt coordinator, and precision driver has been breaking boundaries and kicking butt in a straight male-dominated field for many years now.

“I was always that kind of adventurous kid that wanted to have experiences,” Kennedy says. “My parents put me in gymnastics when I was very young. I did trampoline and circus [training] for a long time.”

But then, she explains, “we moved from Ottawa, which is the capital of Canada, to a small town outside of Vancouver — which I don’t recommend, as a 13-yearold gay child, moving to the town with the most churches per capita of North America. That was challenging for sure. So I just worked to get out of there as quickly as possible.”

To add to her woes, a broken arm thwarted the path to Kennedy’s dreams of becoming a Cirque de Soleil performer, so she had to think outside of the box in order to put her skillset to use.

After graduating high school early, Kennedy relocated to Vancouver, where she got her motorcycle license and became a motorcycle courier. It was there that she discovered “that the film industry was a thing that existed. It’s so weird how you can watch movies your whole life [and] never consider that it’s a job for people to make them.”

Kennedy says that a chance meeting with a man already working in the stunt industry opened her eyes to a whole new world,

though she admits it wasn’t the most pleasant of experiences. Sexual harassment and sexist attitudes were baked into the industry and both have continued to be an issue throughout her career.

“I was introduced to my first stunt man, I think I was about 18. He saw that as a great opportunity to try to hit on a very young woman — a really great welcome to an industry that is known for some of those problematic elements,” she says. “But in spite of that, I was like, Oh, I can do all of the things that I love.”

From there, Kennedy says she was hooked and spent most of her time and resources building her skills and improving her craft. She attended the Motion Picture Driving Clinic founded by legendary stuntman Rick Seaman, known for his work on early-aughts blockbusters like Charlie’s Angels, Chain Reaction, and Paycheck.

“I’ve always loved being behind the wheel… I went back home and bought a 1987 Ford Crown Victoria and I would drive it late at night, early in the morning, in the rain, practice sliding into parking spots and doing other stuff, making little videos with other newer stunt people that I had met. And that dedication to the driving so early actually ended up being the thing that set me apart from the other performers, and it really became my niche.”

“And that led me to a drift school,” Kennedy says. Drifting is a dangerous driving maneuver featured in many movies and TV shows. “And I got in a drift car and was like… I have to do this all the time. This is the thing that I was put here to do.”

With her extensive experience and training in things like drifting, rally racing, motorcycle riding, acting, hand-to-hand combat (Ju Jitsu, Muay Thai), weapons and sword fighting, grappling, freediving, fire stunt work, and more, Kennedy has quickly become a respected and formidable force in the stunt industry. She is currently one of Canada’s top precision drivers and the only Canadian woman to earn a Formula Drift Prospec license. She’s also one of the youngest stunt coordinators in the field, regardless of gender.

Some of her notable TV and film credits include X-Men , Deadpool , Riverdale , Supernatural, Fear the Walking Dead, The Bold Type, Lucifer, Nancy Drew, as well as doing professional driving work for brands like Audi, BMW, and Mercedes. Kennedy has also stunt-doubled for Katee Sackhoff and the late Anne Heche, to name a few.

And, because of a lack of diversity in stunt work, Kennedy wants to open up the field to others from marginalized communities.

“One of my mentors is a Black man, and he’s also a stunt driver. And there was a point where we would both get a phone call for the same job because [the character was a] Black woman,” says Kennedy. “So Gaston [Morrison] and I got together and we did a workshop, a stunt driving workshop for women of color.”

Kennedy also works with Racing Pride, an organization that promotes LGBTQ+ inclusivity within the motorsport industry. In addition to being an advocate for women and people of color in stunt work, she’s also and ally for stunt people with disabilities. She’s also currently working toward her next goal of competing as one of only a few women in the 2023 Formula Drift Pro2 competition.

“There’s a lot of women in the community that I’m a part of that I’ve told, ‘It’s an open door. Call me, let me know how I can help you. Let me tell you what training is going to be best because I’ve done it all.’ And I don’t want the jobs that aren’t for me. I want to be surrounded by more competent women that show that we deserve the job.”