Los Angeles Blade, Volume 06, Issue 45, November 11, 2022

Dems buck midterm trends; mixed results for LGBTQ candidates, pages 06 & 09

NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • VOLUME 06 • ISSUE 45 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOCAL

Newson wins handily in California midterm elections

In the early returns in key races statewide, California Governor Gavin Newsom handily won reelection as the Golden State’s Chief Executive.

“We have governors that won their reelection tonight in other states that are banning books, that are banning speech, that are banning abortion, and here we are in California moving in a completely different direction. That’s a deep point of pride,” Newsom said Tuesday evening, after his projected win.

Newsom, who emphatically defeated a recall aimed at kicking him out of office last year defeated his Republican challenger Brian Dahle. In her race, California Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis beat back her Republican opponent Angela E. Underwood Jacobs.

In the race to serve out the remainder of Vice President Kamala Harris’s Senate term, incumbent U.S. Senator Alex Padilla defeated GOP challenger Mark P. Meuser, and Padilla also won election to a full term.

In the race for Attorney General, Rob Bonta defeated his Republican challenger Nathan Hochman.

Out Insurance Commissioner of California Ricardo Lara has defeated GOP challenger Robert Howell.

In the hotly contested race for mayor of the City of Los Angeles, the early returns showed, with less than 25% of voters counted, candidates Rep. Karen Bass and developer Rick Caruso were nearly deadlocked.

In the race for Los Angeles County Sheriff with an estimated 28% of votes counted, AP reports that former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna is currently leading incumbent Alex Villanueva in the race for L.A. County Sheriff.

“When I first started to run for this job…the priorities were clear, but simple. Number one was to keep the resi-

dents safe, to keep you and your family safe,” former Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna, who is running for Los Angeles County Sheriff,” said to his supporters Tuesday night.

Luna leads incumbent L.A. County Sheriff Alex Villanueva by more than 184,000 votes with 29% of the votes counted, AP reports.

California voters also approved Proposition 1, the Reproductive Freedom Act, amending the state’s constitution to affirm the right to abortion care and contraceptives.

Voters rejected dueling ballot measures to legalize sports betting in person and online. Proposition 26 would have legalized in-person sports betting on tribal lands and at four horse-racing tracks, while Proposition 27 would have allowed licensed tribes and gambling companies to offer online sports betting.

In Long Beach, Democratic candidate Robert Garcia won the election for California’s 42nd Congressional District.

With this historic win, he is now the first out LGBTQ immigrant ever elected to Congress.

In a other closely watched U.S. Congressional races, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA 43rd District), according to the AP, holds a heavy lead against Republican challenger Omar Navarro.

Incumbent Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA 47th District) leads Republican challenger Scott Baugh by just over 19,000 votes.

Speaker of the House, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA 12th District), according to AP, maintains a heavy lead over Republican challenger John Dennis.

Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA 28th District) holds a solid lead with more than 30% of the votes counted, the AP reports.

In Riverside County, gay Democratic challenger Will Roll-

ins was leading incumbent U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, a Republican congressman for nearly 30 years. With 18.5% of precincts partially returning, Rollins was up by almost 9,000 votes, a margin of 56.5% to 43.5%.

Gov. GAVIN NEWSOM easily won re-election on Tuesday.

(Photo via Screenshot/Twitter)

Incumbent Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA 12th District) is leading Republican challenger Stephen Slauson by more than 50,000 votes with just under 25% of votes counted.

Incumbent Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA 14th District) leads Republican challenger Alison Hayden by more than 20,000 votes with 26% of the votes counted, the AP reports.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Beloved North Hollywood bookstore suffers arson attack

The Iliad Bookshop, located 5400 Cahuenga at the corner of Cahuenga and Chandler Blvds. in North Hollywood, was the target of an alleged arson attack at around 11 p.m. last Thursday evening.

LA Fire firefighters responded to the blaze in front of the rear entrance which was fully engulfed after an unknown person or persons stacked up books and items left out by the store.

In interviews with KCBS2 LA, KABC7, and other media outlets, the bookshop’s owner Daniel Weinstein, said that a flyer, which he categorised as “terroristic,” was left at the scene of the blaze. The damage to the building was primarily to the entrance area with noticeable scorch marks, there was smoke damage inside as well. Weinstein added that the store’s iconic two live-in cats, Zeus and Apollo, were not harmed.

There was no information as to the extent of the damages to the store’s inventory.

In a GoFundMe started by the bookshop to repair and recover from the attack, Weinstein wrote: “We were very lucky: neighbors saw the flames and flagged down a passing firetruck; had the firefighters arrived mere moments later, the entire store would probably have

The Iliad Bookshop was the target of arson.

(The Iliad Bookshop/Instagram)

gone up. As it is, we suffered heavy damage to the main entry. The doors (which are metal) are still functional, but will need to be either replaced or fixed. We lost lighting fixtures, signage, and wood framing; we also suffered damage to the mural on the right side of the doors. Smoke filled the interior of the store, but we were able to rescue our two cats Zeus and Apollo and we’re hopeful that the damage to the books and fixtures is minimal.

02 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

We have high insurance deductibles so we need to cover the cost of replacing the exterior lights, sign, and trim, and touching up the mural. We expect the funds we’re looking for to be divided between repair costs and a mural artist.”

The Iliad Bookshop has been a fixture in the North Hollywood community for over 35 years. In a March 2019 profile article by Los Angeleno magazine writer Augustus Britton, the shoppe was described as “a cozy mix of librarial reverence and old lore magic. The walls are lined with literary memorabilia, most notably art by R. Crumb and posters of Bukowski alongside author obituaries from days past. An aged photograph showing Weinstein drowning in a pile of hardcovers hangs on the wall.”

Britton goes on to say: “Weinstein’s 10 employees are awesome. There are no better poetic words to describe them. One could say they all look like fictional characters.

Grateful Dead fans, Philip K. Dick spies or Stendhal savants eating Chinese food at the counter while the shop’s spunky cats Zeus and Apollo — more nods to Greek mythology — climb over their shoulders.”

The fire is currently under investigation by LAFD arson investigators.

BRODY LEVESQUE

LOCAL

Bisexual singer Aaron Carter found dead

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department homicide investigators are continuing their investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of singer-rapper Aaron Carter, 34, who was found unresponsive in his home.

Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies and EMS from L.A. County Fire Department’s Fire station 129, responded to the Carter residence at 42502 Valley Vista Drive Saturday morning at approximately 11:00 a.m.

According to LASD spokesperson Deputy Alejandra Parra, the person making the 911 call, later identified as the house sitter, stated “she found a male unresponsive in the bath tub.” She was advised by the dispatcher to begin cardio pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) prior to the deputies arrival.

Shortly after the deputies arrived, LACD Fire department EMS personnel arrived and pronounced the male (Carter) deceased at the scene. Representatives for Carter’s family confirmed the singer’s death but did not provide any immediate further comment.

“We are still in the process of accepting this unfortunate reality,” Carter’s fiancé, Melanie Martin said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “Your thoughts and prayers are greatly appreciated.”

The singer’s publicist released a statement noting: “The family has been notified and will be flying out to Los Angeles. Aaron worked very hard towards the end of his life in recovery, to be a good father and to make amends with his family.”

The singer-rapper rose to fame as an adolescent star singing and acting. Carter, the younger brother of the Backstreet Boys’ Nick Carter was an actor in film and television shows like “Lizzie McGuire” and “7th Heaven.”

He opened for the Backstreet Boys on a 1997 tour, ac-

AARON CARTER was found unresponsive on Saturday.

(Photo via Aaron Carter/Twitter)

cording to The Hollywood Reporter, and he did the same for Britney Spears, according to The Associated Press.

Carter is perhaps most well known, however, for his sophomore album “Aaron’s Party (Come Get It),” which was released in 2000 and has been certified triple platinum, KTLA reported.

It included the title track as its first single, as well as a cover of “I Want Candy” and a basketball-themed song “That’s How I Beat Shaq.” The parody song features an accompanying video with NBA icon Shaquille O’Neal in which the Hall of Famer loses a game of pickup to the scrawny preteen.

The teenage Carter was seen as a heartthrob who had several high-profile romances, including with fellow child stars Lindsay Lohan and Hilary Duff. In 2019, he publicly came out as bisexual, although he admitted he had only dated women.

Following his initial twitter post Carter appeared on an

episode of The Doctors, during which he confirmed he was bisexual, and that he would be open to dating a man if one “comes into my life and sparks an interest.”

He later appeared to have partially walked back his coming out as bisexual saying his remarks were misconstrued.

In a podcast for Hollywood Life, Carter was asked if he would ever date a man. The 30-year-old singer said no.

“It was more so just a story that happened when I was like 17 with somebody. And I can find men and women attractive, but when it comes down to it, I think it was a little misconstrued,” Carter said. “I see myself being with a woman and having kids. I want to have a family.”

“I keep telling people that. I don’t want it to be misconstrued too much just because I was open about a story,” he added.

He later seemed to reconsider claiming that he was ready to embrace his bisexuality and would be open to dating a man if one caught his interest. He also had plans to include his bisexuality in his upcoming music.

KTLA reported that the singer also had publicly battled addiction for many years, facing legal troubles and entering rehabilitation while continuing with his music career, according to E!.

In September of this year, he entered rehab for the fifth time so he could regain custody of his infant son, Prince, according to the Los Angeles Times.

He also publicly feuded with many, including his brother Nick, whom he accused of trying to put him under a conservatorship.

In 2019, he revealed on “The Doctors” that he was diagnosed with “multiple personality disorder, schizophrenia, acute anxiety and manic depression,” according to CNN. BRODY LEVESQUE

L.A. Arboretum breaks ground on new visitor plaza

Officials of Los Angeles County and the Los Angeles Arboretum Foundation had shovels in hand Friday, November 4, to break ground for the construction of a new Visitor Plaza at the Los Angeles County Arboretum and Botanic Garden. The $10 million project is designed to set new standards in visitor hospitality, horticultural beauty, and improved garden access.

“The Arboretum is a partnership venture between the Arboretum Foundation and the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation.

The new Visitor Plaza will be a gateway for visitors from across L.A. County to enjoy the magnificent 127 acres,” Norma García-González, Director of L.A. County Parks and Recreation, said at the ceremony. “This bright new face for the Arboretum reflects the vastly increased community we serve and newfound appreciation for time spent in the natural world,” shared Richard Schulhof, Arboretum CEO. It was a proud moment for former President and Honorary Arboretum Foundation trustee, Ken Hill, PhD, who was part of the community and fundraising effort to build the new entrance. “The best result from this endeavor was discovering thousands of

friends of the Arboretum who love the gardens and are happy to support its improvement,” he said.

L.A. County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, a supporter of the new project, was at the groundbreaking. The new entrance will add an Arrival Plaza, Welcome Plaza and Ticketing Pavilion within the footprint and re-adaptation of the existing mid-20th century modern complex. The project, funded by the Arboretum’s first capital campaign in 40 years, is the Arboretum’s largest improvement to date.

The Visitor Plaza is scheduled to be completed in 2023 during the Arboretum’s 75th Anniversary. More than 700,000 visitors a year enjoy the Arboretum, which is governed through a private-public partnership between the nonprofit Arboretum Foundation and the County Department of Parks and Recreation. Project design was completed by EPT Design, Dunbar Architecture and Hunt Design.

FROM STAFF REPORTS

04 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

(Los Angeles Blade/LA Parks & Rec graphic)

NATIONAL

Federal court rules beauty pageant can bar trans women

namely the decision to cast the predominately white FoundA three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ing Fathers with actors of color.” in a 2-1 decision ruled this week that a beauty pageant can VanDyke noted that creator Miranda’s casting decision bar transgender women competitors. Upholding an earlier “was widely—though not universally—applauded,” and inruling from the U. S. District Court of Oregon in the case of cluded a footnote quoting an op-ed written by a University Green v. Miss United States of America, LLC, the court found of Michigan student that questioned the messaging behind that that requiring the pageant to be inclusive of trans conthe choice of actors. Blogger Camille Moore wrote that detestants would be a violation of its First Amendment right to spite Miranda’s aim to cast the Pulitzer Prize-winning show to free speech. reflect “America today,” the casting Anita Green, a trans woman, missed the mark in that in that it who has competed in multiple failed to acknowledge that even beauty pageants including Miss today, powerful figures would be Montana and Miss Earth, filed an rich, white men. application to participate in the The judge continued, explaining Miss USA pageant, but was rejectthat Hamilton’s mainly non-white ed on the basis that the pageant’s cast makes an important staterules specified that only “natural ment about American history that born females” can compete. is “integral” to the show’s message.

Green had applied in Oregon and filed the federal suit based on The ruling also noted “it is comher allegation that the pageant’s monly understood that beauty rejection was a violation of the ANITA GREEN, a trans competitor, was rejected by pageants are generally designed to Oregon Public Accommodations the Miss USA pageant. (Instagram/anitanoellegreen) express the “ideal vision of AmeriAct’s (“OPAA”) prohibition against can womanhood.” The panel held discrimination on the basis of that the Pageant’s message cannot be divorced from the Paggender identity. In its ruling the U. S. District Court found the eant’s selection and evaluation of contestants. The Pageant pageant’s First Amendment right to free expression and free would not be able to communicate “the celebration of bioassociation eclipsed the OPAA. logical women” if it were forced to allow Green to participate.

In the 58-page opinion, 9th U.S. Circuit Judge Lawrence The First Amendment affords the Pageant the ability to VanDyke, appointed to the federal bench by former President voice this message and to enforce its “natural born female” Trump, compared and contrasted the pageant’s requirement rule. to that of Broadway composer and producer Lin-Manuel MiThe judges concluded that forcing the Pageant to accept randa required protocols in casting his musical ‘Hamilton.’

Green as a participant would fundamentally alter the PagLaw & Crime noted: “The musical utilizes hip-hop music eant’s expressive message in direct violation of the First and lyrics to detail the rise and fall of Founding Father AlexAmendment. The judge’ also pointed out that contrary to ander Hamilton and has garnered widespread attention from Green’s argument, it does not matter that the Pageant is a the public and critics alike,” VanDyke wrote and also attributfor-profit entity that engages in commerce. That alone is not ed “some of the musical’s popularity” to “its casting choices,

enough to strip the Pageant of its First Amendment rights.

The ruling also noted that the application of the OPAA in this context lacks the compelling state interest. The State of Oregon has offered only “eliminating discrimination against LGBTQ individuals” as a compelling interest, but this broad formulation alone cannot suffice. The courts have a long-standing hesitation to enforce anti-discrimination statutes in the speech context. Application of the anti-discrimination law to the Pageant here would necessarily impact its message. Applying the proper Supreme Court guidance in this case required prohibiting the application of the OPAA to eliminate the Pageant’s “natural born female” rule.

Writing in dissent, 9th Circuit Judge Susan P. Graber, appointed to the Federal bench by former President Bill Clinton slammed the majority for its “radical departure” from “well-settled” legal rules.

Law & Crime reported: Under the doctrine of “constitutional avoidance,” Garber explained that the court should have first determined whether OPAA even applied to Green’s claim before diving into First Amendment analysis. Graber reprimanded the majority for its “insistence in reaching an unnecessary constitutional issue,” and reminded her fellow judges that constitutional avoidance is, and has long been, a bedrock judicial principle.

Graber then used VanDyke’s proffered examples in a logical assault on the majority’s ruling: given the nature of performances, a solid argument could be made that OPAA does not even apply to beauty pageants. Therefore, VanDyke’s Hamilton analogy does more to undermine the majority’s ruling than to support it.

Graber wrote: “Choosing actors for a production of Hamilton, making a sequel to an 80s cinema classic, and assembling a troupe of Beyonce’s backup dancers are intensely selective processes that cannot be said to be open to the public as contemplated by the OPAA. It is highly unlikely that the OPAA would apply to the selection of performers for those roles.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Florida Board of Medicine restricts trans youth healthcare

The Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy finalized their proposed rules to restrict gender affirming care for transgender youth in the state which, when in effect, will be the only ban on gender-affirming in effect in America. Similar measures in Alabama and Arkansas are currently blocked in court.

The board voted 6-3 (with five others not present) on Friday to adopt a new standard of care that forbids doctors to prescribe puberty blockers and hormones, or perform surgeries, until transgender patients are 18. Exceptions will be allowed for children who are already receiving the treatments.

The boards landed on similar language that would bar future puberty blockers, hormone replacement therapy and extremely rare surgical interventions as treatments for gender dysphoria in youth.

That language included an exception for young people already receiving these treatments for gender dysphoria prior to the effective date of the rules. However, they disagreed on allowing nonsurgical treatments for gender dysphoria to

continue through Institutional Review Board-approved clinical trials.

The Board of Osteopathy approved language allowing transgender youth to access gender-affirming care via those studies while the Board of Medicine rejected that proposal, paving the way for different rules governing MDs and DOs (Doctors of Osteopathy). No such IRB-approved studies are currently being conducted in Florida.

Once the rules are posted, advocates have the opportunity to request an additional hearing and workshop from the Boards, a move that groups have indicated they will take. If denied, the rules move to a 21-day period in which the public can submit written comments before a final, procedural vote by the Boards.

The New York Times reported that before the medical board decided to craft the new standard, members received personal calls from the state’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, urging them to do so. Earlier this year, Florida became one of at least nine states to bar Medicaid coverage

of gender-affirming care, affecting thousands of low-income adults and children.

“With young lives on the line, another state agency has placed the political ambitions of Ron DeSantis over its duty to protect Floridians,” said Nikole Parker, Equality Florida Director of Transgender Equality. “These rules, as written, put transgender youth at higher risk of depression, anxiety, and suicidality. Those are the facts purposely ignored by a Board of Medicine stacked with DeSantis political appointees who have put their toxic politics over people’s health and wellbeing. Transgender Floridians exist. We are part of this community. Gender-affirming care is lifesaving care — and it is care that is supported by every major medical organization, an overwhelming majority of medical providers, and should be left to young people, their families, and their doctors. Not politicians. Shame on the Florida Boards of Medicine and Osteopathy for trading the suffering of transgender youth and their parents for cheap political points.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • 05

NATIONAL

Focus shifts to lame duck session after likely GOP takeover of House Advocates hope to advance marriage bill in Senate

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com With Republicans expected to wrest control of the U.S. House after the midterms, LGBTQ advocates are turning their focus toward priorities for the lame duck session before the next Congress is seated – while bracing for a hostile legislative environment next year. (Visit washingtonblade.com for updated election results.)

In the near term, a Republican majority in the House will put pressure on Senate Democrats to bring a floor vote to codify protections for same-sex marriage before the year’s end.

The House passed the Respect for Marriage Act (RFMA) this summer, which would require the federal government to recognize preexisting marriages between same-sex couples – a safeguard to gird against some of the consequences that would result if the conservative U.S. Supreme Court reverses or substantially Sen. TAMMY BALDWIN is looking for 10 weakens its landmark marriage equality ruling.

Republican votes for a marriage bill in the Senate.

“All eyes are on the RFMA,” said Albert Fujii, press secretary for the LGBTQ Victory Fund, which works to elect pro-choice LGBTQ candidates. Clearing the 60-vote threshold in the upper chamber during this legislative session is reasonably likely given that a key number of Republican senators may support the bill because they are slated to retire or lose their reelection bids, Fujii told the Washing-

06 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

ton Blade on Tuesday.

Should Republicans secure a majority in the House, Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Ca.) is expected to become Speaker, a position for which he is backed by former President Donald Trump.

The Bakersfield congressman said that if his party takes the House, they will reinstate extremist anti-LGBTQ Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) right to serve on committees in the chamber. Greene was stripped of her committee assignments last year following revelations that she spread conspiracy theories and endorsed violence against House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca.) on social media.

A Republican majority in the House would also mean greater chances of success for anti-LGBTQ legislation that has already been introduced, such as a federal version of Florida’s Parental Rights in Education (“Don’t Say Gay”) bill and Greene’s measure to criminalize healthcare providers who offer medically necessary care for transgender minors, Fujii said.

“With McCarthy as speaker, those bills have a greater chance of moving forward,” with members voting them out of committees and calling for floor votes, Fujii said.

Republicans only needed a net gain of five House seats in the midterms to win a majority. FiveThirtyEight, a site that aggregates and analyzes polling data, estimated that 10 Republican candidates faced odds of 90% or greater to pick up new seats.

Some of those represent districts that were redrawn to include more GOP voters, while others – in Colorado, Florida, Montana, and Texas – represent newly created districts that were expected to go red.

According to FiveThirtyEight, there were 19 House seats not currently occupied by Republican members that Republican candidates were favored to win, while Democrats were expected to flip only as many as five red seats.

The

2022

WEHO

CITY COUNCIL RACE

John Heilman

John Duran

PROJECTED WINNERS

Lauren Meister

Progressive groups celebrate LGBTQ midterm wins

Progressive LGBTQ groups celebrated the pro-equality LGBTQ candidates running in key midterm races across the country on Tuesday, several of whom claimed victory as Election Day stretched into the night.

Becca Balint and Maura Healey were among the first candidates whose races were called, both becoming the first women and the first LGBTQ people elected to, respectively, represent Vermont in Congress and serve as governor of Massachusetts.

The LGBTQ Victory Fund, which supports pro-choice LGBTQ candidates, toasted the candidates’ success “shattering lavender and glass ceilings.”

“The future of LGBTQ equality and women’s rights were on the ballot — and Vermonters delivered tonight,” Victory Fund President Mayor Annise Parker said in a press release on Balint’s win. “For nearly a decade, Becca led efforts to pass meaningful legislation to increase fairness and equity within Vermont. Now, she is ready to do the same in Congress.”

In a press release announcing Healey’s victory, Parker said, “In the face of so much hate and intolerance sweeping our nation, her win is a sign — especially to LGBTQ kids in desperate need of hope — that LGBTQ people have a place in American society and can become respected public leaders.”

LPAC, a group that supports women and nonbinary LGBTQ candidates running for public office, also published press releases celebrating Healey and Balint on Tuesday afternoon.

Just before midnight, the Victory Fund called Robert Garcia’s victory for California’s 42nd Congressional District. Garcia will be the first openly gay immigrant elected to Congress.

“We are confident Robert’s deep policy experience and ability to build strong, diverse coalitions will make him an exceptional

legislator,” Parker said. “His win tonight will inspire countless other LGBTQ and first-generation Americans to pursue careers in public service.”

Democrat and LGBTQ ally Wes Moore also made history on Tuesday, becoming Maryland’s first Black governor-elect in his race against Donald Trump-backed far-right candidate Dan Cox, while gay Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas (D-N.H.) won their reelection bids.

Democrat and LGBTQ ally Maxwell Alejandro Frost, 25, became the first Generation Z candidate to win a congressional seat, where he will represent Florida’s 10th Congressional District in the House.

Per pool reports, by 11:30 p.m., President Joe Biden made congratulatory calls to Healey; Polis; Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.); U.S. Sens. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); Democratic Rhode Island Gov. Dan McKee; Democratic Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker; Democratic Maine Gov. Janet Mills; U.S. Sens. Michael Bennett (D-Colo.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Alex Padilla (D-Calif.); U.S. Reps. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) and Jennifer Wexton (D-Va.), U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser), U.S. Sen.-elects Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), and Pennsylvania Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro.

Meanwhile, Tina Kotek is locked in a close race for Oregon’s governorship whose outcome may not be clear until later this week. If elected, she would join Healey as the nation’s first openly lesbian governor.

And the fates of LGBTQ candidates in closer races for seats in the lower chamber are still unclear. These include U.S. Reps.

Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Sharice Davids (D-Kan.), who

MAURA HEALEY won her race for Massachusetts governor.

NATIONAL

(Blade photo by Michael Key)

are running for reelection, along with Jamie McLeod-Skinner and Will Rollins, who are competing for House seats in Oregon and California, respectively. Maloney, the DCCC chief, trailed Mike Lawler as of Wednesday morning and is expected to lose his bid for re-election.

Heather Mizeur, who would have been Maryland’s first openly lesbian member of Congress, conceded her defeat Tuesday evening to incumbent Republican Maryland Congressman Andy Harris.

A historic number of LGBTQ candidates ran for elected office this year, advocacy groups said. The Victory Fund endorsed 411 people in races in 49 states, D.C., Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Human Rights Campaign, America’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group, also touted the diverse pool of candidates in the midterms, citing the record numbers of transgender and gender nonconforming people who ran this year. The organization also noted that the electorate is composed of more LGBTQ voters than ever before.

“We will continue to stand and fight every day alongside our allies and partners across the country, in support of a pro-democracy, pro-equality, and pro-choice future,” Interim HRC President Joni Madison said in a press release from the organization.

CHRISTOPHER KANE

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • 09

NATIONAL

Trevor Project CEO removed after ‘workplace well-being’ concerns

The board of directors of the Trevor Project, which describes itself as the world’s largest suicide prevention and mental health organization for LGBTQ young people, has “elected to make a change in leadership” by removing from office it’s chief executive officer and executive director since 2017, Amit Paley, according to a statement released to the Washington Blade.

The Blade reached out to Trevor Project for comment after the publication Teen Vogue broke the news about Paley’s dismissal in a Nov. 4 story. The story cited an unidentified source familiar with the organization as saying the dismissal was brought about following “staff dissatisfaction, particularly as it relates to the organization’s quick large-scale growth and the burden it put on employees.”

In its statement to the Blade, which is identical to the one it sent to Teen Vogue, Trevor Project says in recent years it has struggled to provide its services for LGBTQ youth at risk for suicide in the midst of a hostile political climate in which LGBTQ youth and their families are under attack.

“The Trevor Project is currently facing a period of transition, rethinking how to sustainably grow our 24/7 crisis services to respond to the public health crisis of LGBTQ youth suicide and address the mental health disparities impacting these youth,” the statement says.

“In 2017, the organization averaged less than 200 inbound crisis contacts per day; in 2022, it’s averaging more than 2,000 crisis contacts per day,” the statement continues.

“This intense climate has led to significant stress on our organization, and many members of our staff have raised concerns about workplace well-being, professional development, prioritization performance metrics and resourcing compensation — particularly as they impact our BIPOC [Black, indigenous and people of color], transgender, nonbinary and disabled team members,” the statement says.

“While a comprehensive, independent review of the Trevor Project is being conducted, the board of directors elected to make a change in leadership,” it says, while making no specific mention that it dismissed Paley.

In response to a request by the Blade for comment, Paley arranged for a communications firm representing him to send the Blade the same statement he released to Teen Vogue.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to lead the Trevor Project’s life-saving team for over five years,” Paley’s statement says.

It points out that under his tenure, the organization expanded its services by launching a “24/7 digital crisis service, created a ground-breaking research department, expanded the world’s largest campaign to end conversion therapy and grew our team from 50 employees to over 500.”

The statement, which makes no mention of the reported concerns raised by employees, concludes by saying, “the Trevor Project’s vital work is needed now more than ever, and I will always remain deeply committed to the organization’s vision of a world where all LGBTQ young people see a bright future for themselves.”

The Trevor Project’s statement, meanwhile, says until a permanent CEO is identified, Peggy Rajski, one of Trevor Project’s founders and longtime board member, will serve as interim CEO. It says Gina Muñoz, the board’s chair emeritus, will serve as special assistant to the interim CEO. Teen Vogue reports in its Nov. 4 story that two sources familiar with the Trevor Project said at some point prior to Paley’s removal, more than 200 employees signed a letter to the board expressing dissatisfaction with Paley’s leadership.

An earlier article by Teen Vogue published on July 25 reports that some staff members at that time were calling on Paley to resign after news surfaced that he worked prior to joining the Trevor Project for the corporate consulting firm McKinsey and Co. helping the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma increase its sales of opioid drugs.

With many LGBTQ youth, along with other young people, dying from the overdose of opioid drugs across the country, some of the Trevor Project staffers thought it was hypocritical for Paley to join the Trevor Project as CEO shortly

DeSantis crushes Crist in Florida guv race

Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Tuesday defeated Democrat Charlie Crist in the state’s gubernatorial election.

DeSantis as of 8:12 p.m. ET was ahead of Crist by a 57.541.9 percent margin with 74 percent of the total number of votes counted.

DeSantis, who signed Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law earlier this year, narrowly defeated Democrat Andrew Gilliam in 2018. DeSantis, who is a former congressman, is expected to run for president in 2024.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

Florida Gov. RON DESANTIS was easily re-elected on Tuesday.

10 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

AMIT PALEY (Screen capture via HRC YouTube)

after promoting the sale of opioids, the Teen Vogue article reports.

The article reports Paley sent an email to the staff after news about his links to opioid sales surfaced, stating, “If I knew then what I know now, I would not have agreed to do any consulting work for [Purdue] and I regret that I did.”

At the time Paley became Trevor Project’s CEO in 2017 and during his first few years there, Trevor Project had offices in West Hollywood, Calif., and New York City, with a smaller office in D.C. But according to spokesperson Tali Mackay, currently, “the Trevor Project is fully remote, and we do not have physical offices.”

One former employee who spoke to the Blade on condition of not being identified said most concerns raised by staff members about Paley were not because he wanted to expand the Trevor Project’s programs to meet the needs of a growing number of clients.

The main concern, the former staffer said, was his perceived inability or unwillingness to address the needs of the staff, including transgender staff members who felt their specific needs weren’t being met.

“It’s hard to make that kind of growth,” the former staffer said. “And I think he had a vision, but that vision had to turn inward more than outward sometimes.”

Both Paley and the Trevor Project officials declined to comment further than what they said in the statements they released, their respective spokespersons said.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

NATIONAL

D.C. selected to host WorldPride 2025

the Capital Pride Alliance has what it takes to deliver InterPride, a global organization representing a robust WorldPride.” more than 400 Pride organizations in at least 70 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, who expressed strong countries, announced last week that it has selected support for the Capital Pride Alliance’s 2021 bid to D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance to host WorldPride 2025 host WorldPride, told the Washington Blade in a in D.C. statement on Thursday that she looks forward to The international Pride event, which is usually WorldPride being held in D.C. held every two years, draws thousands of partic“Pride in D.C. is a manifestation of our DC values ipants from throughout the world to the host city.

— an opportunity for people to celebrate themCapital Pride Alliance submitted a bid to host selves & the diversity of our community,” the mayor WorldPride 2025 in September 2021 but lost the bid said. “What better way to celebrate 50 years of Pride to an LGBTQ organization in Taiwan that proposed in D.C. than with the largest LGBTQ+ event in the holding the event in the Taiwanese port city of Kaohworld. See you at the pride of our lifetime in 2025.” siung.

In its statement announcing D.C. had been seBut in a surprise development, the Taiwanese lected to host WorldPride 2025, InterPride also angroup Kaohsiung Pride announced in August of this nounced a WorldPride would be held in 2026 and its year that it withdrew its bid and abruptly cancelled members voted by a margin of 59 percent to 37 perits plans for hosting the event in Taiwan. cent to select Amsterdam in the Netherlands over That immediately raised the question of whether D.C. will host WorldPride 2025. (Blade file photo by Michael Key) Orlando, Fla., to be the host city. The announceInterPride would reopen the bidding process or sement says the two competing groups were Pride lect D.C.’s Capital Pride Alliance, which was the runAmsterdam and Come Out with Pride of Orlando. ner up group in the 2021 bidding.

An official with Pride Amsterdam says in the statement that, among its activities planned In its announcement late last week, InterPride said the question of what to do about for WorldPride 2026, will be a commemoration honoring the victims of the 2016 Pulse WorldPride 2025 was discussed at great length at its Annual General Meeting and World Nightclub massacre in Orlando, in which 49 mostly LGBTQ people were shot and killed by Conference in Guadalajara, Mexico, held Oct. 27-30. a lone gunman who targeted the gay nightclub. Police shot and killed the gunman.

“The membership was asked to decide whether the event should not take place in 2025, Bos has said that among the events planned for WorldPride 2025 will be a celebration or if it should be awarded to the first runner-up, the Capital Pride Alliance (CPA) from of the 50th anniversary of D.C.’s first LGBTQ Pride event in 1975, which began as a block Washington, D.C., U.S.A.,” the InterPride announcement says. party near Dupont Circle.

“Seventy-four percent (74 percent) of the membership voted to award WorldPride 2025 In a statement released on Friday, Capital Pride Alliance says the proposed dates for to CPA, while 19 percent voted not to hold World Pride in 2025 and 7 percent abstained,” WorldPride 2025 are May 22 through June 8. according to the announcement.

“WorldPride DC 2025 will feature a vibrant and innovative slate of cultural programs that “The Capital Pride Alliance is thrilled and honored to have been awarded the privilege highlight the best that Washington, D.C. has to offer,” the statement says. “It will include of hosting World Pride 2025,” Capital Pride Alliance Executive Director Ryan Bos said in a a human rights conference, in partnership with the 34th annual D.C. Black Pride,” it says. statement. “We thank InterPride for this wonderful opportunity to share the best of the “We would like to thank the members of our team who put in countless hours to adWashington region with our friends from around the globe and to have them participate vocate on behalf of Washington, D.C., in addition to our many local and national LGBTQ+ with us on the 50th anniversary of Pride in D.C.,” Bos said. organizations, local businesses, government agencies, and our corporate advocates who In a separate statement, InterPride Co-Presidents Linda DeMarco and Hadi Damien conprovided support for the bid,” said Ashley Smith, president of the Capital Pride Alliance gratulated Capital Pride Alliance for being named host of WorldPride 2025. board of directors.

“We are glad the Capital Pride Alliance was still willing to host WorldPride 2025, and we LOU CHIBBARO JR. welcome the vote of confidence the membership put in them,” the two said. “We all trust

NYC LGBTQ historic sites project receives ‘excellence’ award

The National Trust for Historic Development has chosen the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project as the recipient of its Trustees Award for Organization Excellence.

The LGBT Historic Sites Project is one of nine historic preservation-related organizations that were recognized with awards at a Nov. 4 virtual ceremony that was available to the public.

“The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is a nationally recognized and influential cultural heritage initiative and educational resource that identifies and documents diverse extant LGBT sites from the 17th century to 2000,” the announcement says.

“The only permanent organization of its kind in the U.S., the project staff have created an interactive website, National Register nominations, publicans and programs and school educational materials, among other resources,” the announcement continues.

‘Sitting at the intersection of historic preservation and social

The Stonewall Inn during New York City Pride (Blade file photo by Michael Key)

justice, the organization has been particularly eager to doc-

12 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

ument LGBT sites associated with women and Black, Asian, Latinx, trans and gender-variant communities,” according to the announcement. “In the near future, they hope to prioritize local sites of LGBT history associated with Indigenous and Two-Spirit peoples,” it says.

In its announcement, the National Trust for Historic Preservation says its National Preservation Awards ceremony is held each year during its annual PastForward Conference, which was held virtually on Nov. 4.

“Each year at the PastForward Conference we come together to recognize those making a real difference in historic preservation,” said Paul Edmondson, president and CEO of the National Trust for Historic Preservation. “This year’s recipients embody not just the preservation of American History, but also demonstrate how preserving historic places can play a key role in addressing critical issues of today, including climate change, equality and housing,” Edmondson said.

LOU CHIBBARO JR.

V O L U M E 06 I S S U E 45

KENT & DIEGO

have been together for 20 years, married for over a decade, and are raising two beautiful children together. They are featured in an ad produced by GLAAD and Family Equality now running nationwide.

We need all who support us to speak up Married gay fathers fight to save marriage equality

When we met 20 years ago, neither of us could have imagined the life we now share. We have been inseparable ever since and are happily — and legally — married, with two exceptional children. Our relationship is rooted in love, respect and commitment and is more resilient because of hard-won gains and painful losses.

LGBTQ couples and our marriages have the support of an overwhelming majority of Americans. Now we are speaking out in a new campaign to encourage all who support us to speak up.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, tossing out rights Americans have had for almost 50 years, we immediately saw the threat. Our rights will likely be the next to go, as laid out in the concurring opinion urging the court to reconsider Obergefell. The U.S. Senate then delayed a vote on codifying marriage equality until after the election. Our rights as a family are in the hands of judges and voters, a reality most couples never have to face.

But our love story is as extraordinary and ordinary as any other. We serendipitously met while sitting one in front of the other at a concert in 2002. We got engaged three years later on Christmas Eve 2005, with a “downon-one-knee” proposal, and a scavenger hunt leading to two silver rings hung from a crystal cross tree ornament.

We began our shared journey toward becoming a family after popping the question: Would you do me the honor of spending the rest of your life with me? The crystal cross is the final ornament we place on our Christmas tree each year with our children.

We had a quintessential chapel wedding in December 2007. Our parents walked us down the aisle, and our sisters and two best friends stood with us to witness our commitment, surrounded by family and close friends.

Our wedding was not yet a legal marriage but it had every element of meaning important to any couple.

In 2011, we expanded our family through adoption. Despite the birth family choosing us as a couple, our state of residence considered us nothing more than roommates.

One of us became our son’s legal adoptive parent, while the state relegated the other to the status of “other adult in the household.”

The fear and anxiety we faced as a committed couple,

living in a state without marriage equality, led us to travel to Washington, D.C., in 2012 to make our marriage legal.

After many conversations with each other and family, we decided to relocate to a state with marriage rights in 2014 — a choice we realize not all families can make. We started over with a young child, a new home and employment and no family and friends support system.

We worked with a local attorney to secure legal recognition for the non-adoptive parent, a process that involved legal fees, paperwork, and patience. We also amended our son’s birth certificate to include us both as his parents. In 2015, we expanded our family again when we welcomed our second child, whom we could adopt jointly as a married couple.

We felt secure returning to raise our sons near family in 2015, following the Obergefell ruling. It seems ancient history to think of all the steps we had to take to get the same legal recognition and protections as any other couples and parents. Since Obergefell, families of all shapes and sizes have been increasingly accepted and welcomed in communities.

Still, there is no doubt the court can take marriage rights away and will try. The risk to our family and all LGBTQ families is crystal clear and deeply troubling. For us, if the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell, a dormant constitutional amendment banning the legal recognition of same-sex marriage in our current state of residence would immediately invalidate the legal recognition of our marriage.

We got married because we love each other and we want to be there for each other. Our marriage helps protect our kids and us. We never want to worry about one of us not being allowed in a hospital room, being eligible for survivor benefits, or, God forbid, having our kids not seen as part of our family. All families deserve love and protection.

Equality for all families should not be a partisan issue.

LGBTQ families already have the support of people from all parties. By sharing our story, we want to alert every LGBTQ and ally American to take action to protect our family and our marriage. It’s time for politicians to catch up.

14 • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

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Racist puppet act shows white gay men commodifying Black bodies A reminder that many spaces aren’t safe for LGBTQ people of color

Leather bar Touché, located in Rogers Park in Chicago, is under fire after allowing Jerry Halliday, a white puppeteer, to perform a transphobic and racist act with a Black puppet named “Sista Girl” during Touché’s 45th anniversary party.

Halliday’s distasteful 45-minute set trafficked in racial stereotypes and mocked Black women and Black vernacular.

At one point, “Sista Girl” asks the predominantly white audience, “fellas you wanna know the quickest way to get a man’s attention? Just go in the back of the room and go yeahhhh.” Halliday then lifts Sista Girl’s skirt and exposes her private area, which he calls an “afro puff” and likens to a “Brillo pad” to “do my pots and pans” and “whistle while I work, lawd.”

This harmful scene employs the Jezebel stereotype, which hypersexualizes Black women and dates back to slavery. The Jezebel stereotype is one of three pernicious sexist stereotypes that play into racist tropes about Black women’s sexuality. Labeling a Black woman a “Jezebel” has been used to rationalize the sexual exploitation and rape of Black women.

This performance is a reminder of how the white LGBTQ community participates in colonizing and commodifying Black bodies within capitalism.

When an audience member pushes back, heckling Halliday to verbalize how racist his act is, Halliday responds in a blaccent and threatens to “cut” the noisy audience member. As another audience member chimes in to add how weird the act is, Halliday drowns out their dissent by directing the audience members that want him to finish the act to clap.

The room is quickly engulfed in claps and boos as the two audience members leave the bar.

In that moment, the audience — mostly gay white men — does not see the bridges of allyship burning or hear the call to form a bucket brigade to douse the sparks of racism before it consumes them. They are mesmerized by the laughter floating through intoxicated air, forgetting the Black and Brown women who sacrificed their bodies on the front lines of history and held the bricks of the foundation the audience now stands on, free to mock those who gave them this right.

Even after some patrons left and bartender Cris Bleaux

BRANDIE BLAND

is a Blade Foundation fellow.

quit on the spot, the continued support of Halliday and Touché in this performance is a slap in the face for the Black LGBTQ community and a clear declaration that Black people and Black queerness are not welcome at Touché.

Besides Halliday’s inability to understand and recognize how his performance of Blackness — as he puts it, he is “a Black woman trapped in a white’s man body”— is harmful, the bigger issue is those audience members who wanted the performance to continue. Under the cover of a spotlight and the word “comedy,” few questioned the entitlement in assuming that Black bodies should be used and displayed for their entertainment.

Halliday’s performance and Touché’s complicity in platforming racism, transphobia, anti-Blackness, and misogynoir is a reminder to Black LGBTQ folks that many spaces aren’t safe or built for us.

In the aftermath, apologies for being complicit in racism in 2022 are exhausting and predictable. The apologies only come after the anger has risen to a boil and the lid on the pot starts to loudly clank against the rim. Yet the continued platforming of minstrelsy leaves marginalized communities dancing to the same Jim-Crow tune, questioning why the LGBTQ community still lacks accountability in the entertainment scene.

And the “sorry we got caught” apology Touché posted after videos of Halliday’s act began to go viral is disingenuous. In its apology, Touché claims it did not properly vet Halliday and his performance. Yet an advertisement for the event, which Touché manager David Roche wrote, touted the venue’s longstanding ties to Halliday: “to salute our early days on Lincoln Avenue, we just had to bring the talented puppeteer Jerry Halliday back.”

Touché’s management had plenty of chances to stop the performance. Instead, Touché sat back and profited while Halliday raked in cash tips from the audience “for Sista Girl and her five children.”

Let’s be clear, Touché: Black women, Black people, and Black culture are not here for your entertainment.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • 15

Riding the joy train with Amy Ray

New solo project ‘If It All Goes South’ focuses on healing

By GREGG SHAPIRO to do on the other ones. I think I didn’t even know that until we Whether out singer/songwriter Amy Ray is performing with started making this one. This is more successful at combining longtime musical partner Emily Saliers as one half of the Indigo a few of my punk-abilly influences into an Americana world.

Girls, as she has since the mid-1980s, or going solo as she did Also, some of that spontaneity we were starting to get on “Holwith her solo debut “Stag” in 2001, you recognize her instantler.” Now that we’ve played together as long as we have as a ly. Her distinctive vocal style, which suits whatever genre she’s band, it was at its peak on this record. I think we just needed to performing – folk, punk, Americana, or gospel – has become as make a couple of records to get to that place. I like them all, but much her trademark as the outspokenness of her lyrics. for different reasons. They do different things for me. This one “If It All Goes South” (Daemon), Ray’s exceptional seventh gathers up all the loose ends of “Holler” and “Goodnight Tensolo album is a welcome addition to her singular output, touchder” musically and ties them up and puts them in a different ing on themes of queerness and social issues, all performed in context, and almost raises the bar. Lyrically, I wanted to have her warm and welcoming manner. Amy was gracious enough songs that were about healing, a “you’re not alone” kind of vibe, to make time to talk about the new album around the time of because of the time period that we had just been through. It’s its release. also the same producer (Brian Speiser) on all three, and we’ve worked together on projects. It started off casually – “Hey, I’ve BLADE: Before we get to your new album “If It All Goes been wanting to do this country record with these songs. Let’s South,” I wanted to go back in time a little bit. Your 2001 solo do this together.” debut album “Stag” and its 2005 follow-up “Prom” are firmly rooted in a punk rock/riot grrrl aesthetic. While the Indigo Girls BLADE: Am I reading too much into the album’s title “If It All are more than capable of rocking out, did you feel that the Goes South,” or is it a play on words, as in “goes south” as a songs on those albums wouldn’t have been a good fit for what direction and as deterioration? you do with Emily (Saliers)?

RAY: You’re not reading too much into it. There’s even more AMY RAY: Yes. I think it was because of two things. One was you can read into it, politically. When I was writing (the song) the collaborators. Those were people I’m a fan of, most of them “Chuck Will’s Widow,” Georgia was the epicenter of some big are people that Daemon Records (Ray’s record label) had an political movement. When Warnock got elected and Abrams association with, in some way or another. It was kind of like this declared running for governor again, I was like, “Oh man, I’m other camp of people that were different from the collaborain the right place for once.” But we knew it wasn’t always going tors that the Indigos would typically play with. It tended to be to be easy. My perspective in that song was a couple things. “If more studio accurate, in some ways. As opposed to that punk it all goes South, count it as a blessing, that’s where you are.” rock ethic which is music being from a different place, and acYes, it’s directional, and also like, if things get really shitty, try curacy maybe being less important than technical prowess. to make the best of it, of course, it’s what you tell your kids all the time.

BLADE: A little more DIY. RAY: Yeah! And I also think the subject matter, the songs BLADE: As any Indigo Girls fan or follower of your solo outwere just a little more singular in a way that was hard to do put knows, you have a history of playing well with others, in them as the Indigo Girls and not dilute the message. As soon addition to Emily (Saliers), “If It All Goes South” is no exception as you get us together, we really shift the other person’s song, with guest vocalists including Brandi Carlile (“Subway”), H.C. it becomes a duet. The subject matter to me was so specific McEntire (“Muscadine),” Allison Russell (“Tear It Down”), Natalie and gender queer and punk rock edge that it didn’t feel like it Hemby (“From This Room”), and the trio I’m With Her (“Chuck would work. At that time, when I wrote (the song) “Lucy StonWitt’s Widow”). When you begin the recording process for an ers,” Emily wasn’t interested in doing some of those songs. She album do you have a wish list of musical guests or how does wasn’t down with the attitude. Now, she would say, I’m sure that work? just knowing her, that [laughs] she’d do it now. Because her RAY: I usually have a wish list when I’m writing the song. attitude has changed. I was hanging out with and influenced by Alison Brown, she’s part of the band, so I always think about people that were from that DIY movement, and there was lots her banjo playing when I’m writing. She doesn’t tour with us, of gender queer conversation. It was a different place than Embut she’s in the band. I started writing “From This Room” a long ily was in as a gay person. Now, I look back on all of it and I think time ago, and I started writing it as a duet. I didn’t have anybody I was, all the time, reaching around to different collaborations in mind at that point, but I hadn’t finished it yet. When I was finbecause I love collaborating with different kinds of people. It ishing it for the record, I had just seen Natalie Hemby with The always teaches me something. It’s also a different itch that I get Highwomen and had also just had met her and Emily writes scratch. with her sometimes. So, I knew her and I was thinking about her voice. When I wrote “Subway,” in part, in tribute to (the BLADE: In terms of trajectory, to my ear, your most recent late DJ) Rita Houston, who had been so crucial. She and Brandi three solo albums – 2014’s “Goodnight Tender,” 2018’s “Holler,” Carlile were super close. She really helped develop Brandi’s caand the new one, “If It All Goes South” (Daemon) – in addition reer in being such an indicator station, getting other people on to being alphabetically titled, feel like an Americana trilogy. Do board. So, I was thinking about Brandi and the chorus vocals you consider them to be linked? that would be there because I was writing kind of an ambitious RAY: Yeah. I mean I didn’t say to myself, “This is the third one chorus for me [laughs]. I’m like, “I’m gonna have to have Brandi and then I’ll stop.” But “If It All Goes South” was definitely a rein here!” For “North Star,” that kind of gospel song at the end, cord where there was a thread from the other ones and some when I wrote it and Jeff Fielder, the guitar player, and I were things that I wanted to achieve that I didn’t feel like I was able 16 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • NOVEMBER 11, 2022

AMY RAY’s new solo album ‘If It All Goes South’ is out now.

(Photo by Sandlin Gaither)

demoing it, I was like, “This is not right. There’s another ingredient. I don’t know enough about the kind of music I’m trying to write to do it.” I got Phil Cook to come in, as a co-writer really, to finish the song musically. Fill out the chords and make it the gospel song I was trying to write. The only person I wanted to do this was Phil Cook. I am just very specific. Like Sarah Jarosz, on this record in particular I wanted to get a mandolin player and I wanted Sarah to play mandolin. We’re always covering the parts ourselves. Jeff’s a great mandolin player, but Sarah Jarosz is a fucking prodigy [laughs]. … It’s never like a wish list of, “Who’s famous? Who can we get?” It’s more a case of who are these songs geared towards, so that when they come into the studio, you don’t tell them anything, really. They just do what they do great, and it works.

BLADE: You mentioned the late, queer, influential WFUV DJ Rita Houston, and I was wondering what you think the loss of Houston means for new artists?

RAY: It’s a huge hole in the universe of people that would take a new artist and sort of help develop them, take chances at radio, and give people that space. She also was a mentor to artists. She wasn’t ever judging your art by whether you were gay or not, or what color your skin was. … She was a mentor in shared musicality. Being able to trust her and understanding how that taught you about the terrain that you’re in and who you can and can’t trust in that way.

BLADE: “Subway” ends with the line “This Georgia girl has got it bad for New York.” With that in mind, could there be an Amy Ray or Indigo Girls musical on Broadway at some point in the future?

RAY: [Big laugh] That’s Emily’s territory. She’s working on some things. A couple of different musicals, and I’m not working on them with her. She’s developing two different ones, and I think one of them has actually gotten some traction and some workshopping that’s pretty important. There is a musical that a friend of mine from high school has been writing that’s really interesting and it’s gotten a lot of workshops. It’s still in the early stages. It uses Michelle Malone’s music and my solo music. Then there’s a movie coming out called “Glitter and Doom” which is a movie musical that’s just Indigo Girls music. It’s coming out next year, I think. We’re still working on the final credits song.

BLADE: After the current Indigo Girls tour wraps up, is there a possibility of an Amy Ray solo tour?

RAY: Yeah. We’re booking dates in February for the South.

I’ve tried touring in cold places in February, and it’s hard [laughs]. We’ll head up to the North in May.

FILM

‘Far From Heaven’ still packs a punch 20 years later Queer classic a merciless deconstruction of American identity

By JOHN PAUL KING First and foremost, our identification is imprinted upon Moore’s character, Cathy WhitaOne of the joys of great movies – as any real cinema buff can surely attest – is the ability ker, a housewife living within a picture-perfect existence as the dutiful homemaker and to revisit them through a new set of eyes. Though the images they show us are frozen, wife. Her husband, Frank (Dennis Quaid), is a higher-echelon executive at a television manunchanging from the day they were first captured, you the viewer and the world you live in ufacturing company – the 1950s equivalent, perhaps, of a tech bro – whose paycheck she are different each time you watch them. spends in the daily running of the household she shares with him and their two young chilThis shift in perspective becomes even more apparent when the movie in question is dren, a job made considerably easier by the presence of hard-working housekeeper Sybil a film you haven’t seen in many years. There’s a risk involved, of course: re-watching a (Viola Davis); her copious personal time favorite, you may find it doesn’t live up is filled with the obligatory demands to your fond memories; alternatively, of her class position – organizing fundyou could discover previously unappreraisers, car-pooling kids to after-school ciated layers that make you love it even functions, and planning parties demore than you did before. Either way, signed as much to show off her famiyou’re likely to experience the movie as ly’s position of status and privilege as if it were completely new. for anything else. Her idyllic existence, Sometimes, though, the power of a however, is about to be disrupted. movie over time can be deepened by Frank, as she discovers in the most just how much watching it feels the awkward way imaginable, turns out to same – and that’s why queer filmmakhave long-repressed homosexual deer Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven,” sires, upon which he has begun acting which turns 20 years old this month, by delving into the hidden underground speaks even louder to us now than it world of closeted 1957 queer life and did in 2002. which have put an even greater emoEven then, of course, it was a look tional distance into their already-perback at a faraway past. Set in the upfunctory marriage. At the same time, per-middle-class world of Hartford, she herself begins a friendship with Conn., in the late 1950s, it transported her Black gardener, Raymond (Dennis us into a seminal period of our history Haysbert), a widowed father raising a and forced us to take stock of just how daughter on his own while operating a much things have changed – and just JULIANNE MOORE and DENNIS QUAID in ‘Far From Heaven.’ successful landscaping business servhow much they haven’t – in our own (Image courtesy Focus Features) ing the prosperous white community. time.

Naïve but good-hearted, she clings to Borrowing more than a page from the hope that psychological treatment can “cure” her wayward husband, while denying her the glossy Technicolor melodramas of the era in which it takes place – in particular, the own feelings toward Raymond and remaining willfully dismissive of the stigmatizing gossip work of Douglas Sirk, a German immigrant whose outsider’s eye tinged the soapy escapist that sweeps her social circle – even her closest friend (Patricia Clarkson), whose loyalty films he directed with a subtle undercurrent of social criticism that would only come to be ends up extending only as far as her own prejudices will allow – about the nature of their appreciated by a later generation – “Far From Heaven” is both a painstaking homage to a relationship. Even in a real 1950s melodrama, she would be in for a hard lesson. classic genre and a merciless deconstruction of American identity.

That lesson might be entirely predictable from our contemporary point-of-view – our Awash in rich fall colors and adorned down to the smallest detail with pristine replication knowledge of the pernicious influence of homophobia and racism on those who dared to of the period’s iconic clothing, architecture, décor, and automobiles, its aesthetic – breathveer from the heteronormative path proscribed and enforced by the social order of our takingly beautiful from start to finish – was accomplished by team effort. Haynes wrote past is firmly established enough to foresee exactly how wrong things will go on both of a screenplay ripe with the familiar over-the-top style of the vintage films he wanted to these fronts – but what makes it resonate with modern audiences has nothing to do with recreate and directed with an eye toward emulating the visual conventions – framing, camany expectation of a happy ending. era angles, editing choices – with which they were composed, even to the point of using Instead, the power of “Far From Heaven” lies in the uncomfortable realization that sexold-fashioned rear projection process shots for driving scenes; cinematographer Edward uality and race are still, decades later, a great divider within the American social order.

Lachman captured it all on film utilizing the same lens filters and lighting techniques used Haynes – who rose to prominence as one of the architects of the “new queer cinema” of in the originals; Elmer Bernstein, who composed the music for many of the same classics the ‘90s by exploring the traumatic memories of Boomer childhood in films that questhat inspired the film, envelops the narrative the lush romantic strains of his final major tioned the then-dominant assumptions of established norms – crafts his film with a heightmovie score, adding an even more tangible layer of authenticity to the package; and an ened reality that feels more like a sedative-induced hallucination than a tranquil dream; in impeccable cast of gifted screen actors, led by Julianne Moore in a performance that won paying tribute to the films that influenced his youth, he re-imagines them through the lens her the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival (and should have won her an of hindsight, revealing the “American Dream” that reinforced our preconceived assumpOscar, according to many awards-show pundits who consider her loss to Halle Berry in tions about the “natural order” of things to be nothing more than a cruel and manipulative “Monster’s Ball” one of the Academy’s most egregious snubs), play out the drama with all lie more likely to prevent our happiness than enable it. That message, clear two decades the skill required to honor the movie’s mise-en-scène while still making each moment feel ago, now rings truer than ever. palpably real.

In 2002, it was a quietly devastating assertion that only the privileged few had reason to Yet as impressive as the film is as a technical achievement in style, it’s not defined by look back fondly on mid-20th-century life in our country. In 2022, in the wake of a disasthat measure alone. Rather, the style functions entirely in service of a larger goal, in which trous conservative push to “make America great again” by regressing to the strictures of a the myth of “the good old days” is lavishly rendered onscreen only to be torn down by a long-tarnished fantasy, it’s a chilling reminder of just how much we have to lose. narrative that asserts all the reasons why they weren’t so good after all.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • NOVEMBER 11, 2022 • 17

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Geena Davis kicked ass onscreen long before she did in real life Iconic actress revisits her ‘Polite’ life in new memoir

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By KATHI WOLFE real life,” Davis writes.

Years ago, a colleague But, “Dying of Politevideotaped me as I apolness” is a more than apt ogized for bumping into title for the memoir. Her a desk. “I’m sorry,” I said parents were loving, but to this inanimate object, polite to the point of ab“I hope I didn’t hurt your surdity. feelings.”

They insisted that Davis If you’re terminally posay “no thank you, I’m not lite, love kick-ass movies thirsty” “even if someone and worship bad-asses, was handing me an alyou’ll lap up “Dying of Poready poured glass of ice liteness: A Memoir” by water,” Davis writes. badass, feminist, AcadeOne of Davis’s childhood my-Award-winning actor memories was of the time and activist Geena Davis. her 99-year-old great-unIn the memoir (Davis’s cle drove her and her debut as an author), Dafamily to his house. The vis, 66, tells entertaining, relative kept veering into sometimes moving, stothe oncoming “if blessedries about her wide-rangly empty,” traffic lane, she ing life: from her childhood ‘Dying of Politeness: recalls. Rather than saying (her parents were more A Memoir’ anything, “my parents simpolite than Emily Post ever

By Geena Davis ply moved me to the spot dreamt of) to her acting c.2022, Harper One between them on the back career to finishing in 24th $28.99 | 288 pages seat,” Davis writes, “thinkplace in archery in the ing, I presume, that when 2000 Summer Olympics the inevitable head-on collision occurred, I’d trials. be killed a little less in the middle.”

Davis, a queer and feminist icon, has been The humor in this anecdote of a childhood in many movies. Her awards include an Oscar brush with death is typical of the wit sprinkled for best supporting actress for her portrayal throughout “Dying of Politeness.” of dog trainer Muriel Prichett in “The AccidenDavis, who grew up in Wareham, Mass., tal Tourist,” the adaptation of the Anne Tyler decided at age 3 that she wanted to be in the novel of the same name. Davis watched her movies. After studying acting at Boston Uniboyfriend (Jeff Goldblum) turn into an insect versity, Davis left college and moved to New in “The Fly” and played Barbara in the comeYork. dy-horror picture “Beetlejuice.”

Davis may have been as she writes, “a cripDavis is loved by LGBTQ folk for her work in plingly polite New Englander,” but she wasn’t two 1990s classics. lacking in chutzpah.

In 1991, she was Thelma (Susan Sarandon In New York, Davis worked as a Lord and was Louise) in “Thelma and Louise,” the clasTaylor sales clerk. On a dare, she joined a sic film that made many women cheer and a group of mannequins in a café scene in the lot of men squirm. department store window. Soon, people lined Just a year later, Davis was Dottie in the up to watch her perform in street theater. movie that’s still a fave of hetero and queer Davis got her first movie role in “Tootsie” girls and women — “A League of Their Own.” after Sidney Pollack saw her pictures in the Unlike the series with the same name recentVictoria’s Secret catalogue. Dustin Hoffman, ly released by Amazon Prime, the film has no starring in the movie, mentored her. He told explicitly queer characters. But with Madonna her not to sleep with her co-stars.

(Mae) and Rosie O’Donnell (Doris), the picture The memoir is more than entertaining. has a fab queer quotient.

Davis writes of sexual harassment, her effort You’d think, after watching Davis as Thelma to create inclusion in Hollywood by founding and Dottie, that the Oscar-winning actor leapt the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media from her mother’s womb as a badass. and how her dad cared for her mom when But it’s clear from the get-go that it took she had dementia. more than a minute for Davis to emerge as It’s hard to think of a timelier book than her badass self. Davis could easily have titled “Dying of Politeness” in our current political not only the first chapter of her memoir, but climate. Badassery is needed the entire book, “My Journey to Badassery.” now more than ever.

“I kicked ass onscreen way before I did so in

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