Los Angeles Blade, Volume 07, Issue 33, August 18, 2023

(LA Blade photo by Dawn Ennis)

Wilson Cruz on new role as chair of GLSEN, PAGE 02

AUGUST 18, 2023 • VOLUME 07 • ISSUE 33 • AMERICA’S LGBTQ NEWS SOURCE • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

FEATURES

Wilson Cruz: Why I’m taking on the role of the new chair of GLSEN

By DAWN ENNIS NEW YORK — These days, when actor, producer and activist Wilson Cruz isn’t walking a picket line with the Screen Actors Guild and supporting the striking members of the Writers Guild, he’s busy getting up to speed as the new chair of the board at GLSEN, the organization that is also known as the Gay Lesbian Straight Education Network.

“It’s really a turning point for the organization,” Cruz told the Los Angeles Blade in a recent phone interview. For the first time in GLSEN’s 33-year history, its board chairs and executive director represent BIPOC, nonbinary and trans people. “And it’s a great time to set a new course for this organization, because if there’s ever been a need for a GLSEN, it is in this moment when education and queer kids and the relationships to their education is so fraught.”

Variety first broke the news on July 26, but as it turns out, the award-winning actor best known for Star Trek: Discovery and My So-Called Life and for his advocacy spilled the beans to the Blade way back on June 8. That evening, Cruz joined his Star Trek co-stars Anthony Rapp and Blu del Barrio for a Q&A with fans, following a performance of Rapp’s extraordinary one-man off-Broadway musical, Without You. The Blade asked each of the stars on stage that night at the New Worlds Stages theater in Manhattan what their plans were for Pride Month, and Cruz let it slip that he was about to embark on this new adventure with GLSEN. “Just between you and the 30 people who are in here, I’m taking over as the chair of the board of GLSEN,” Cruz revealed to wild applause. Rapp asked his Star Trek “space boo” about the group’s current name, which Cruz confirmed will soon be known only by its acronym. “It’s basically an organization that works around the country to make sure that every school in this country is a safe place for queer kids,” said Cruz. And then he turned to the Blade and added, “You can’t print that yet! It’s off the record!”

Although newsworthy items are not traditionally considered “off the record” when a newsmaker says it after the fact, the Blade agreed to hold the story in exchange for this exclusive, in-depth interview following the official news release on July 26.

“This has actually been in motion for six months,” Cruz said in our conversation that day. “Why I am doing it is because I really believe in our new executive director, Melanie Willingham-Jaggers, who just came on officially as our executive director after Eliza Byard left, And I really, truly believe in her leadership and in the vision that she has for GLSEN going forward. I really fought for her to become our executive director, and I wanted to support her in this role.”

As he prepares to celebrate his 50th birthday in a few months, Cruz reflected on his lifelong journey as an advocate: A trailblazer on television at just 15, his work supporting fellow Puerto Ricans, serving as GLAAD’s director of entertainment industry advocacy and as its national spokesperson, serving on the board at GLSEN and now as its chair.

“This is my opportunity to help create a better world for the generations that come after me,” Cruz told the Blade. “For 30 years now, I have been a voice for LGBTQ youth because of the fact that I was Ricky Vasquez. And so, it’s been a passion of mine to make sure that the school experience for queer students is better than the one that I had.”

Cruz’s father kicked him out of their Southern California house on Christmas Eve, and he spent three months living in his car and at the homes of friends, he revealed in a 2020 podcast. But as he told Variety, most of his high school peers bullied him.

“I don’t even know what it was like not to be bullied,” Cruz said. “I was called faggot every day. It got to the point where I didn’t even hear it anymore.”

Without a network to support him, Cruz turned to other queer students and to teachers. “I went to high school in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, before there were gay-straight alliances,” he told Variety. “The only way I got through school was with my best friends — the other four gays kids I knew at school. I know because I had them in my life that I had a sounding board and that there was someone who could reflect back my own experience and make me feel like I was not ‘not normal.’ They saved my life. We saved

02 • AUGUST 18, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

WILSON CRUZ joined his Star Trek co-stars Anthony Rapp and Blu del Barrio on June 8, 2023 for a Q&A with fans. (Photo by Dawn Ennis)

each other’s lives.”

Cruz told the Blade that was another reason he is dedicating his time to GLSEN. “One of the things that I did have, which GLSEN is at the forefront, is how students can support each other,” he said. “These student-led groups, where you can see others like you, who you can relate to, who can support you, who you can in turn support. And as we know, community is how we support each other, our children, our families, if you will.

And GLSEN is also an amazing place for parents who have queer kids to come and be supported and have resources.”

Those resources are key at this time as LGBTQ+ children, their parents and healthcare providers as well as adults find themselves under attack across the nation. And GLSEN itself became a target earlier this year, because of its partnership with Target, as the Blade has reported.

The retail giant came under siege over its LGBTQ+ affirming “Pride Collection” of merchandise in May. Target moved some merchandise from display and purchase after physical assaults, verbal threats, and bomb threats.

“That whole controversy, it was about us,” said Cruz. “We received death threats, which were taken very seriously by the FBI and by the police. One of the ways that we’re protecting our staff is having them work remotely.”

In a statement released in May, GLSEN called out Fox News and other conservative news media: “Right-wing media outlets have spread harmful and vicious lies about GLSEN — and these intentional and heinous attacks have spurred an onslaught of hateful messages and threats to our mission and the physical safety of our staff.”

CONTINUES ON PAGE 04

FEATURES CONTINUED FROM PAGE 02

“This is my opportunity to help create a better world for the generations that come after me.” Cruz on his decision to lead GLSEN board the Blade. “And essentially it’s meant to be a committee and an organization of equals.

Cruz noted that GLSEN is also committed to countering the hate that has spread to The role of the people that are running it is to facilitate the ability of everyone to bring statehouses throughout 2023. their talent. And for me, what I look to, more than any“There have been 650, I would say, anti-queer and anthing, is to move everyone to consensus. I think we always ti-trans bills that have been introduced in the last year, want to be moving towards unanimity when it comes to I believe. And in terms of all of those legislative efforts, what we’re trying to do.” we rely on our core support, which is we work for more That self-deprecating comment absolutely required the comprehensive policies both statewide but also on the Blade to press Cruz to enumerate his so-called weaknessfederal level. So, we work with state leaders and federes: “There are some things that I’m not great at, but I’m al leaders. We work with supported educators to make learning, right? As in, I’ve never been the chair of a board. sure that there is at least one educator in every school So, I have to learn, you know, parliamentary rules of prothat students can look to who they know is an ally and in cedure. And Imara Jones is like a master at them, so I am their corner, we work all day to make sure that there is learning from her here.” inclusive curriculum, because we want to make sure that Plus, Cruz expects that at some point Hollywood’s onstudents see themselves reflected in their education and going labor dispute will be settled and he will be back to know their history and how we gained the rights that we work as an actor. Before the strikes, he spent almost a have gained and the intersectionality that lie within. And month filming in Phuket, Thailand alongside actor Benjawe support the GSAs, which used to be called Gay Straight min Bratt.

Alliances and are now called Gender and Sexuality Allianc“If and when I have to go to work and not be available, es.” she can take over for the time that I’m away,” Cruz said.

Cruz said his decision to lead GLSEN’s board was also “I was hesitant to do it at all because of my schedule. But a result of the woman named vice chair: Imara Jones, with Imara there, I feel really confident that the three of an award-winning journalist named to TIME magazine’s us — for the first time in 33 years that the leadership of 2023 list of 100 Most Influential People and the creator of this organization is all people of color, nonbinary or trans, TransLash Media, a Black trans-led nonprofit news orgayou know, queer people — that we really reflect who our nization and digital community. students are, that need to be helped by GLSEN the most.”

“Imara has been on our board for a year now, and the “Mel is nonbinary, I’m trans and then there’s Wilson, moment she came on, she was a powerhouse,” said Cruz. who is gay, and we’re all people of color,” said Jones. “I “She was powerful in her views. She was a leader right think that it just reflects the need to expand the thinking away. She really made sure that we stayed on task and about who is LGBTQ. I think that for so long we have had that we stayed true to our vision. I believe she’s probably very narrow definitions of who we think are ‘our commuthe strongest trans activist voice that I know personally, nity.’ And especially at this time of, as you said, unpreceand she does it with such joy and such reverence. And I WILSON CRUZ picketing, SAG-AFTRA strike on August 11, 2023 in dented attacks, I think that it’s really important that we love our working relationship.”

New York City. (Photo Credit: Wilson Cruz) have a wide lens of who our community is, so that we can “Wilson is amazing because Wilson brings both trebegin to energize people in the way that we need to, and mendous heart and reach and star power,” Jones told the also be able to push for solutions that are going to help us get to another place, because Blade in a phone interview Sunday. “And I think with that kind of combination, of the they’re going to include all of us. So, I think that it just is reflective of where we are and is ability to be able to shine brightly in the world as a star, but also be deeply connected to a really positive step forward.” community and what we’re trying to do and understanding what it is like for queer kids “We know from history, from our experience, from after 34 years, that when we do all across the country right now, I think that Wilson is the perfect chair.” those four things,” said Cruz, meaning GLSEN’s work with state leaders, with federal lead“She makes me feel stronger and I hope that I do the same for her,” added Cruz. “I ers, with educators and with students. “When we keep a young Black trans girl at the think it’s a great pairing of minds. And her strength really filled in for my weaknesses.” forefront of our minds, we know if we work to make her school experience better, we “I’ve served on a number of boards and I have a pretty strong grasp of parliamentary make the school experience for every student better.” procedure and just a good idea about how boards are supposed to function,” Jones told

04 • AUGUST 18, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOCAL

Charges dropped against Black trans man beaten by LASD Deputy felonies and a misdemeanor. The LA LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County County District Attorney later downgradDistrict Attorney’s Office announced this ed the charges to move forward with two past week that it has dropped all crimimisdemeanor charges: resisting arrest nal charges against a former 23-year-old and battery on an officer. A judge retrans male high school teacher involved duced his bail from $100,000 to nothing. in a violent arrest incident that took place The Los Angeles Times on Thursday last February in Whitter just outside a reported that prosecutors decided to convenience mart. drop the charges, reporting that previBrock had pulled into the front parking ously the department cleared Deputy spaces of the 7-Eleven on Mills Avenue Benza of wrongdoing but Brock lost his in Whittier last February 10 and as he teaching job due to the pending charges exited his Black Honda Civic he was conagainst him. On Thursday, he told the fronted by an LASD deputy, later identiTimes that news of the dismissal came fied by the Los Angeles Times as Deputy EMMETT BROCK (Photo: Courtesy Emmett Brock) as a relief and that his lawyer still plans Joseph Benza. to ask a court to declare him factually inThe confrontation, caught on the depnocent. uty’s body cam as well as the convenience store’s video sur“I am feeling relieved that the district attorney made the veillance system, escalated and Benza is seen on top of Brock, right choice and chose justice,” Brock said. “But I will feel more pressing him into the concrete and punching him multiple relieved when I get my job back.” times in the head. The altercation lasted around three minutes A spokeswoman for the district attorney’s office said only before Brock was cuffed and put into the patrol vehicle. that the case was tossed “due to insufficient evidence.”

Brock was screaming for help the entire time, yelling that The decision to drop the charges comes days after Brock’s the deputy was going kill him and that he was not resisting lawyer formally filed paperwork accusing the Los Angeles arrest. This was documented by the audio from both videos.

County Sheriff’s Department of a cover-up, saying that several Brock lost his job as a teacher as he’d been booked on three

deputies made false accusations to put his client behind bars with “excessive” bail.

Brock, who was taken to the Norwalk Sheriff’s Station after his arrest says that when he informed Sheriff’s personnel of his gender identity, he became humiliated when they asked to see his genitals before deciding which holding cell to put him in.

The Times reported: It wasn’t long before authorities asked Brock for a statement, during which he explained that he is transgender.

“So you’re a girl?” he said one jailer asked.

Brock said he wasn’t.

Then the man asked whether he had a penis — and Brock said he did.He explained what surgeries existed, and said that he’d been on hormones for years.

After one jailer asked for proof, Brock said, he spent a few awkward minutes in a bathroom showing her his genitalia and explaining the effects of testosterone.

The Sheriff’s Department in a statement said that a use-offorce review cleared Deputy Benza but that other aspects of Brock’s allegations were still under investigation.

“The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department takes all use of force incidents seriously,” the department wrote. “Unfortunately, we cannot comment any further at this time due to the pending litigation in this matter.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

Riverside school district enacts Outing policy for trans kids MURRIETA, Calif. - The Murrieta Valley Unified School District Board (MVUSD), Thursday night approved a policy mirroring one recently adopted by the Chino Valley Unified School District (CVUSD), that forces school faculty and staff to “out” students to parents whose gender identities may be changing.

The MVUSD board vote was 3-2 adopting the policy, which the language of is nearly identical to CVUSD’s policy, that is now under investigation by California Attorney General Rob Bonta.

The Attorney General announced last week that he opened a civil rights investigation into potential legal violations by CVUSD that he noted that proposed Parental Notification policy, likely has potential infringements on students’ privacy rights and educational opportunities.

The board in approving the policy delayed implementation until the administrative guidelines are written.

The local newspaper, the Press Enterprise, reported that the board room — which holds about 147 people — was full well before the open session of the meeting began at 5 p.m.

An overflow crowd was in the entryway. About a dozen law enforcement officers stood by. It took hours to get a vote, which came about 10:30 p.m.

Board member Nancy Young, who defeated a candidate backed by a conservative PAC in the November election, said Wednesday, Aug. 9, that she is “adamantly opposed” to the potential policy.

“Its illegal,” she said. “It’s a violation of Ed Code and state law and discriminates.”

Young cited the risk of lawsuits or a civil rights investigation by the state, as well as the stress the policy would cause to transgender students, who she said have “a suicide rate that is four times the suicide rate” of other students.

“Educating children works best with engaged parents and caring teachers working together to create a safe space for all children to learn,” said former teacher and Our Schools USA co-founder Kristi Hirst to the Blade. “This policy breaks down trust between our most vulnerable students and their teach-

ers. Murrieta following the lead of Chino Valley – with copies of Chino Valley’s illegal resolution in hand – makes it clear that attacking LGBTQ students for political gain is part of a larger inorganic movement that Our Schools USA is fighting against.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in an emailed statement to the Blade said: “I am deeply disturbed to learn another school district has put at risk the safety and privacy of transgender and gender nonconforming students by adopting a forced outing policy. My office remains committed to ensuring school policies do not target or seek to discriminate against California’s most vulnerable communities. California will not stand for violations of our students’ civil rights.”

Stephanie Young, a Murrieta resident and district teacher, attended the meeting the Press Enterprise noted, to oppose the potential policy and support transgender students. Young has a 17-year-old son who is trans.

“There’s gonna be kids who feel like nobody cares,” she said.

BRODY LEVESQUE

Sen. Dianne Feinstein hospitalized after fall at home SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), was hospitalized on Tuesday evening and then released and sent home after a fall in her home according to her spokesperson Adam Russell.

Speaking with the San Francisco Chronicle, Russell told the paper the ninety-year-old Feinstein went to the hospital as a precaution and was there for an hour or two. Her scans were clear and she has returned home.

The oldest serving member of the Senate, first elected to the Senate in 1992, has suffered from major health issues for several years. She revealed on March 2 of this year that she was hospitalized for shingles treatment after being diagnosed

with an infection in February. She was released from a San Francisco hospital on March 7. The shingles led to complications, including Ramsay Hunt syndrome that caused side effects like vision and balance impairment, her office said.

The Chronicle noted Feinstein had been scheduled to attend an anniversary event for the San Francisco cable cars Aug. 2, but missed the event due to a cough.

In addition to the illnesses, questions about Feinstein’s mental fitness have followed her for more than two years, and even her Democratic colleagues told The Chronicle in April 2022 that they believe her memory issues were hindering her ability to do the job. Feinstein defended her abil-

ities amid each new wave of concern.

Feinstein had announced on Valentine’s Day that she would not seek reelection: “I am announcing today I will not run for reelection in 2024 but intend to accomplish as much for California as I can through the end of next year when my term ends. Even with a divided Congress, we can still pass bills that will improve lives.

Each of us was sent here to solve problems. That’s what I’ve done for the last 30 years, and that’s what I plan to do for the next two years. My thanks to the people of California for allowing me to serve them.”

BRODY LEVESQUE

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • AUGUST 18, 2023 • 05

LOCAL

Xylazine found in limited quantities of illicit drugs in LA County

LOS ANGELES - The Los Angeles County Sheriff Department’s Scientific Services Bureau (Crime Lab) has detected xylazine in limited quantities of illicit drugs seized by local law enforcement in Los Angeles County, signaling that the substance is present in the local drug supply.

Xylazine is a veterinary anesthetic that is not FDA approved for human consumption; it can cause dangerously low blood pressure, a decrease in breathing rate and heart rate, and damage to tissue which can lead to skin wounds, large sores and ulcers, when consumed by people.

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health stresses that these findings highlight that the illicit drug supply in Los Angeles County remains dangerous and contains substances such as xylazine that can increase overdose deaths. People who are obtaining these drugs may not be aware that xylazine is present.

On March 8, 2023, the Los Angeles Department of Public Health released a health alert highlighting that xylazine is being mixed with illicit opioids such as heroin or fentanyl, or pressed into counterfeit pills (e.g., Norco, Percocet, Vicodin, etc.) or sedatives (Xanax) as a cheap additive to increase the effects of these drugs.

The safest course of action is to avoid using illicit drugs, according to Public Health. To minimize the risk of overdose for people who are using drugs, Public Health urges residents to:

Never use alone: Using with another person is protective and increases the chances of lifesaving interventions such as the administration of naloxone in instances of an overdose.

Use small “tester” doses: Starting with small amounts and increasing amounts slowly can help reduce the risk of an overdose if a substance someone is using is contaminated with fentanyl or xylazine.

Stagger drug use with others: Making sure at least 1 person in the group can administer naloxone to reverse an overdose can save a life.

Avoid mixing drugs: The effects of combining substances may be stronger and more unpredictable than using one drug alone, and mixing and using multiple drugs increases the risk of an overdose.

Carry naloxone: Naloxone can reverse an opioid overdose. While xylazine is not an opioid, because it is being found with opioids, naloxone can still successfully restore breathing and reverse the effects of opioids and fentanyl when xylazine is mixed with these drugs.

Use fentanyl test strips to test drugs for fentanyl: Being able to detect fentanyl in a substance can help people who use drugs use more safely—for example by having naloxone on hand or using smaller amounts of the substance or using a different drug that doesn’t contain fentanyl.

LASD Methodology The Crime Lab initiated a three-month pilot program start-

ing April 11, 2023, to track xylazine detected in controlled substances submitted to the Crime Lab. During that time, the Crime Lab analyzed a total of 4,608 controlled substance samples and detected xylazine in a total of 13 samples, resulting in an overall rate 0.003% of samples having xylazine.

It was noted that all samples that contained xylazine also contained fentanyl.

Of the 4,608 samples tested, 320 samples were found to contain fentanyl or fentanyl analogs, and of the 320 samples, 13 had an indication of xylazine, resulting in 4% of all substances with fentanyl also having xylazine. However, among the 4,608 samples, methamphetamine was the most prominent substance, being detected in nearly 3,000 samples.

These samples were collected from all jurisdictions throughout Los Angeles County and originated from Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department patrol stations or other local police agencies who use the Crime Lab services.

All controlled substance seizures were associated with a criminal case or incident including an arrest, seizure, or warrant service. Seizures varied in size—as small as a “dime bag,” a tablet or tablets, or as large as a kilo (brick).

Given the source of these tested controlled substances, these findings are not necessarily indicative of what may be prevalent in the community, nor does it indicate which type of drug is most used.

LA BLADE STAFF

Mobile phone thieves caught at Heart Club in WeHo… again WEST HOLLYWOOD - A video shared with with WeHo Times at early Sunday morning, alleges that pickpocket thieves were caught stealing cell phones and the phones were recovered and returned to their rightful owners, who were customers at Heart WeHo. As depicted in the video a man is detained and women are heard screaming, one woman calling him a “broke ass bitch.”

“We enforce the law here,” read the story about the incident posted in Heart WeHo’s official Instagram account. “If you steal, we will catch you.”

According to a person familiar speaking with the WeHo Times, “They have been caught before. Keep coming back.

They don’t arrest them unless they have more than 8 phones on one person. So we catch and release. Return the phones to the owners. They always work in teams, 2-3.”

This isn’t the first time pickpockets have been caught at the WeHo hotspot. Two individuals were arrested for stealing phones inside Heart on Friday, February 17, 2023. “More pickpockets arrested last night,” read a social media post. “If you come to and try to steal from our guests, we will catch you and you will be arrested!”

The video shows a male and female in custody at the ven-

Heart dance club & nightclub, 8911 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood. (Photo Credit: Heart WeHo/Facebook)

ue located at 8911 Santa Monica Boulevard. According to the short footage, a man who was visiting from New York had his phone stolen by one of the individuals. We also see a group

of people standing outside waiting to have their phones returned to them.

“He was here visiting from New York and his phone was stolen from his back pocket by the same people who steal cell phones every single time,” says the person behind the video.

“The duo right here was once again detained by our security. Hopefully we won’t be seeing them back in two weeks.

Thank you to the sheriff’s department and code compliance who are always first to show up. All these people are waiting for their stolen phones. I’m sure they did it in multiple venues across the city. They are stealing from our community–our queer community who come here for a safe space and have their phone stolen. We will catch you and you will be arrested.”

Deputies from the LA County Sheriff’s Department’s WeHo Substation arrested two individuals–both female–in a separate incident of phone thefts at Rocco’s WeHo located across the street from Heart WeHo. That incident occurred at roughly 1:30am on Sunday morning. A LASD spokesperson was not able to provide more information citing an ongoing investigation.

PAULO MURILLO

Conversion of vacant office buildings to affordable housing SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom announced Wednesday an update in the state’s efforts to build more housing with the selection of McCormack Baron Salazar, Inc. as lead developer to convert three state office buildings along Capitol Mall in Sacramento into affordable housing.

In 2019, to help address California’s Housing crisis, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order N-06-19 to prioritize

conversion of excess state properties into affordable housing. The three Sacramento buildings could transform into upwards of 400 new homes with a range of affordability.

This will not only add much-needed housing to the area, but shows how cities can reimagine what downtown neighborhoods and communities can be for their residents.

“We need to build more housing, faster. Everyone in Cali-

06 • AUGUST 18, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

fornia deserves to have a home and in just a few years we’ve made significant investments and progress to address the state’s housing crisis. Projects like these are reimagining what our cities look like – creating more housing near transit, work, and shops – all while increasing affordability and fighting climate change,” the governor said.

LA BLADE STAFF

NATIONAL

Pentagon sued for failing to correct discrimination after DADT repeal Plaintiffs allege thousands still face consequences of discriminatory policy

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com A lawsuit filed on Aug. 7 by a group of LGBTQ veterans seeks to address the U.S. Department of Defense’s failure to grant honorable discharges to service members who were fired before the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” in 2011.

The five plaintiffs, all of whom were kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation, also want the agency to remedy other manifestations of this “ongoing discrimination,” including biased language in the discharge papers of LGBTQ veterans.

Their class action complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court

for the Northern District of California, notes that the federal government has made significant overtures to recognize and condemn “the decades of discriminatory policies it enforced against LGBTQ+ veterans.”

However, the lawsuit argues, the plaintiffs — along with “thousands of others who were involuntarily discharged under anti-LGBTQ+ policies — continue to combat the effects of this discrimination.”

Discharge papers, known as DD-214s, are required to access veterans’ benefits and apply for jobs, loans, and apart-

ments.

A Department of Defense spokesperson said the agency does not comment on pending litigation.

News of the lawsuit was first reported on television Tuesday by CBS News, which has investigated the Pentagon’s failure to amend the service records of veterans who were dishonorably discharged because of their sexual orientation.

CBS found that “more than 29,000 individuals kicked out because of their sexuality were denied honorable discharges.”

LGBTQ Hawaiians need help

Maui wildfire has killed at least 100 people

By BRODY LEVESQUE The devastation of the wildfires that impacted the island of Maui is most evident in the city of Lahaina. The death toll has pushed past 100 people and is expected to rise in the coming weeks as recovery efforts continue.

In a statement to media outlets, the Hawaii Tourism Authority said “in the weeks ahead, the collective resources and attention of the federal, state and county government, the West Maui community, and the travel industry must be focused on the recovery of residents who were forced to evacuate their homes and businesses.”

Maui County estimates more than 80 percent of the more than 2,700 structures in the town were damaged or destroyed and 4,500 residents are newly in need of shelter.

There are numerous critical needs for the residents who have been displaced, many living in temporary shelters. Randy M. Soriano, the executive director of Hawai‘i LGBT Legacy Foundation, Honolulu Pride and the LGBTQ Center Honolulu on the island of Oahu is asking for assistance.

“Mahalo for checking in. It has been a devastating week for the entire state of Hawai’i. Our hearts go out to those who have experienced such a tremendous loss. Our organization is located on the island of Oahu so we’re fortunate to not have been directly affected but we’re trying to activate as much aid

as possible,” Soriano wrote in a Facebook post.

“Below I’ve included information on local partners that are collecting donations for those in Maui,” he noted: “The Maui Strong Fund is providing resources that can be deployed quickly, with a focus on rapid response and recovery for the devastating wildfires on Maui.

HCF will not be collecting a fee for donations to the Maui Strong Fund; 100 percent of the funds will be distributed for community needs.

Please consult the following links for more information. If you still have questions, contact Donor Services at donorservices@hcf-hawaii.org or (808) 566-5560. www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong Our hearts go out to our Maui ‘ohana. Please donate to one of our trusted partners, hawaiiancouncil.org/maui and hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong.”

On the Big Island of Hawai’i the Prizma Hawai’i LGBTQ+ Center wrote: Notice and Request for Volunteers: Prizma Hawai’i LGBTQ+ Center and Hawai’i Island LGBTQ+ Pride will partner to participate in the “Hawai’i County Task Force for Maui Recovery Assistance.”

“Please share any upcoming details that we will be post-

ing with our Island Ohana so we can help Maui during their recovery.

We are asking for volunteers to help be at the Prizma Hawai’i LGBTQ+ Center to accept donations during the times of 5 p.m. -8 p.m. throughout the week and weekend times from 9 a.m. -12 p.m. Please message our page or contact Beverly Tese to help fill in spots. Any other non-profits that would like to partner please reach out as well. We will post a calendar of dates and times very soon.

Thank you for supporting us to help Maui, Prizma Hawai’i LGBTQ+ Center Committee.”

Hawai’i Community Foundation and Maui United Way are accepting online monetary donations to benefit Maui residents affected by fires.

The Hawai’i Community Foundation started a Maui Strong Fund to support residents affected by the wildfires: www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org/maui-strong.

Maui United Way is accepting donations to its Maui Fire and Disaster Relief fund at www.mauiunitedway.org/disasterrelief.

People trying to locate loved ones who may be impacted by the fires can call the American Red Cross hotline at 1-800733-2767.

Elliot Page offers up advice & encouragement for LGBTQ+ youth The 36-year-old Canadian actor discussed his autobiography Pageboy

By BRODY LEVESQUE WASHINGTON - Academy-award nominee Elliot Page interacted with LGBTQ+ and other young people during an audience question and answer period from the Creativity Stage at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center this past weekend for the 2023 Library of Congress National Book Festival.

The annual event was founded in 2001 by former First Lady Laura Bush and the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington, who died in November of 2018. The book festival brings together authors, the public, and includes book-signings, musical performances, storytelling, panel discussions, demonstrations of illustration and new technologies.

The 36-year-old Canadian actor discussed his autobiography/memoir Pageboy, that details his life and transition, which was published on June 6, 2023. Upon its release, the book debuted atop The New York Times Best Seller List for Nonfiction.

Afterwards he took questions from the audience.

08 • AUGUST 18, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

ELLIOT PAGE speaks with audience members during a Q&A at the Creativity Stage during the 2023 Library of Congress National Book Festival.

(Screenshot/YouTube Library of Congress)

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NATIONAL

First Republican primary debate to take place on Aug. 23 It remains unclear whether Trump will participate

By CHRISTOPHER KANE | ckane@washblade.com The Republican National Committee will host the party’s first 2024 presidential primary debates next Wednesday, Aug. 23, in Milwaukee.

Five declared candidates have met the threshold requirements to participate: (One) 40,000 unique donors with at least 200 unique donors per state, (two) polling one percent or higher in three national polls recognized by the RNC, or in two national polls and in two polls from early voting states and (three) agreeing to support the eventual Republican nominee.

These GOP hopefuls are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who formerly served in the U.S. House of Representatives, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who formerly served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. during the Trump administration, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a billionaire former tech mogul, and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Three more — former President and current GOP frontrunner Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, who formerly served in the U.S. House and as governor of Indiana, and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — have not yet signed loyalty pledges but otherwise will qualify.

(Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Perry Johnson, conservative talk radio host Larry Elder and former congressman Will Hurd are also in the running.)

It’s Trump’s race to lose Just before he was handed a 13-count felony indictment on Monday, polling showed the twice impeached former president had grown his lead over DeSantis from six points in January 2023 to a whopping 38 points, while Ramaswamy trailed behind the Florida governor by just seven points and a one or two-point difference distinguished the rest of the field.

In 2015, the last time he faced a primary contest against a crowded pool of Republican hopefuls, Trump by August was leading the pack, though by a slimmer margin of 11 points.

In a distant second place was Jeb Bush, who was governor of Florida from 1999-2007 and ultimately suspended his campaign after a poor showing in the South Carolina primary.

However, and despite the many scandals that roiled his insurgent campaign eight years ago, Trump had run on a populist economic platform with a relatively cohesive message stressing his business bona fides and outside-the-Beltway career as a real estate mogul.

The picture looks different now.

Should he secure the Republican nomination, Trump would square off against President Joe Biden, who already beat him in 2020.

Efforts by Trump to stay in power despite that decisive loss culminated in the Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ issuance on Monday of 13 felony indictments against him for election fraud and violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. “Trump and the other defendants charged in this indictment refused to accept that Trump lost, and they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump,” the indictment said.

The former president will now face a total of 91 charges in four separate cases that will soon be adjudicated in courtrooms from Fulton County, Ga., to New York, with the former

carrying a mandatory minimum 5-year sentence — and the specter of live television coverage whose impact on the 2024 race will be difficult to forecast.

What to watch for next week Most of Trump’s 2024 rivals reacted by coming to his defense following Monday’s news of the fourth set of indictments. Depending on whether he opts to participate in the Milwaukee debate, the other candidates may or may not take the opportunity to differentiate themselves from the former president and make the case for why they — and not he — should be nominated to take on Biden.

For instance, Christie told Fox News he is “uncomfortable” by the indictment, calling it “unnecessary,” but hedged that “we can’t normalize this conduct” by Trump and promised to call him out from the debate stage.

With such a solid lead, Trump may well skip the event despite having participated in all but one of the 12 presidential debates held between August 2015 and March 2016. Of the 17 major declared candidates, only U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich (R) participated in all 12.

The U.S. Supreme Court established the nationwide constitutional right to same-sex marriage with Obergefell v. Hodges on June 26, 2015, prompting each of the GOP presidential primary candidates to go on the record with their respective positions.

A couple months later, during the Aug. 5 debate hosted by Fox News and Facebook in Cleveland, Kasich disclosed that he had recently attended a friend’s same-sex wedding, adding that “God gives me unconditional love” and therefore “I’m going to give it to my family and my friends and the people around me.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (R), by contrast — who had warned Obergefell would usher in the “criminalization of Christianity” — inveighed from the debate stage against policies allowing gay and transgender service members to serve openly in the military.

Now, of course, transphobia is ascendent on the right.

Hundreds of anti-LGBTQ bills, most targeting the transgender community, have been introduced in conservative state legislatures this year, prompting the Human Rights Campaign to declare a state of emergency for LGBTQ people in the U.S. Experts say it’s all about keeping evangelicals voting.

Whether and how the Republican Party’s embrace of anti-LGBTQ policies and rhetoric will be reflected on the debate stage next week remains to be seen.

2024 candidates on LGBTQ issues The GLAAD Accountability Project details the records of each of the eight GOP hopefuls who are likely to appear on the debate stage next week. Here are some excerpts: Trump: In March 2023, GLAAD writes, the former president “vowed to crack down on ‘transgender insanity’ and pledged to ‘revoke every Biden policy promoting the disfigurement of our youth’ at the first rally of his 2024 presidential campaign.

He said that he would ‘keep men out of women’s sports’ if re-elected president, after he last year misgendered transgender athlete Lia Thomas. He added: ‘I will immediately sign

10 • AUGUST 18, 2023 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

(Washington Blade photos on top row by Michael Key; screen captures on bottom row via YouTube)

an executive order to cut federal funding for any school pushing critical race theory, transgender insanity and other racial, sexual or political content on our children.’”

DeSantis: During an interview with Fox News in July 2022, DeSantis “lied about gender affirming care,” GLAAD notes, telling host Laura Ingraham: “They will actually take a young boy and castrate the boy. They will take a young girl and do a mastectomy, or they will sterilize her because of the gender dysphoria.

There is no evidence that this is something that’s effective medical care.”

Ramaswamy: In May 2023, Ramaswamy told Fox News Digital that “Target ‘spit in the face of conservatives’ in an anti-transgender attack on the retailer for selling swimwear designed to accommodate a variety of body types,” GLAAD writes.

Pence: Last month, GLAAD notes, the former vice president, “as a part of his 2024 presidential bid, said that as president, he would again prohibit transgender Americans from serving in the military, as was the policy when he was vice president under Donald Trump: ‘… having transgender personnel, I believe, erodes unit cohesion in a very unique way.’”

Haley: In June 2023, Haley “falsely claimed that transgender girls playing sports contribute to teenage suicide ideation,” GLAAD said, echoing previous comments in which the former South Carolina governor “said President Joe Biden’s support of transgender rights will destroy women’s sports, saying, ‘Across the sporting world, the game is being rigged against women and in favor of biological men.’”

Christie: The organization notes that as governor, Christie signed bills “instituting broad new protections for trans New Jersey residents: One directing schools to let students use bathrooms and locker rooms based on their gender identity or provide ‘reasonable alternative arrangements,’ and another prohibiting health insurers from discriminating against transgender residents.” At the same time, GLAAD highlighted that he “vetoed a bill that would have eased access to accurate birth certificates for transgender people.”

Scott: GLAAD highlighted a 2010 report in Newsweek that Scott “considers homosexuality a morally wrong choice, like adultery.”

Burgum: In May 2023, GLAAD notes, Burgum “signed a bill into law that allows public school teachers and state government employees to ignore the pronouns their transgender students and colleagues use.”

INTERNATIONAL

UN human rights experts condemn Taliban over treatment of LGBTQ+ Afghans Extremist group regained control of country in 2021

By MICHAEL K. LAVERS | mlavers@washblade.com United Nations human rights experts on Aug. 14 sharply criticized the Taliban over its treatment of LGBTQ and intersex people and other groups in Afghanistan.

“Two years ago, the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan.

Since then, the policies they have imposed on the Afghan population have resulted in a continuous, systematic and shocking rescinding of a multitude of human rights, including the rights to education, work and freedoms of expression, assembly and association. Consistent credible reports of summary executions and acts tantamount to enforced disappearances, widespread arbitrary detention, torture, and ill treatment, as well as arbitrary displacement have caused increased concern,” reads a statement that Victor Madrigal-Borloz, the independent U.N. expert

on LGBTQ and intersex issues, and others signed. “The hardest hit are women and girls, ethnic, religious and other minorities, people with disabilities, displaced persons, LGBTQ+ persons, human rights defenders and other civil society actors, journalists, artists, educators and former government and security officials.”

“Despite reassurances by the Taliban de facto authorities that any restrictions, particularly in terms of access to education would be temporary, the facts on the ground have demonstrated an accelerated, systematic and all engulfing system of segregation, marginalization and persecution,” the statement further notes.

The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan on Aug. 15, 2021.

The last American forces withdrew from the country 15 days lat-

er.

The State Department in its 2022 human rights report notes the Taliban “criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual activity, and representatives routinely enforced this position through violence, intimidation, harassment and targeted killings.”

“Under sharia, conviction of same-sex sexual conduct is punishable by death, flogging or imprisonment,” reads the report.

“Individual Taliban members made public statements reiterating that their interpretation of sharia includes the death penalty for homosexuality.”

CONTINUED AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

Memorial to LGBTQ+ Holocaust victims vandalized in Berlin Anti-queer attacks on the rise in Germany

By BRODY LEVESQUE The Memorial to Persecuted Homosexuals under National Socialism located at the edge of the German capital city’s famed Tiergarten Park was vandalized this past weekend, according to a Berlin Police spokesperson.

The Berlin Police said that a park security official observed a male suspect “papering” the monument with slips of paper later found to contain Biblical verses condemning homosexuality and then attempting to set the memorial ablaze by tossing a burning object at it. The suspect fled when confronted by the guard.

Berlin Police are investigating this incident and another attack against a memorial for victims of the Holocaust, the “Platform 17” memorial, inside the Berlin-Grünewald train station.

The Memorial to Persecuted Homosexuals under National Socialism, in the shape of a cube with a window insert where a video of a same-sex couple kissing can be seen, was first erected in 2008.

German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported that under the Nazi regime in Germany from 1933-1945, gay people were systematically repressed and persecuted, with some 50,000 being convicted on account of their sexuality.

Many thousands of them were deported to concentration

insults. That is about 15 percent more camps and large numbers murdered cases than in the previous year. The gay there. anti-violence project “Maneo” in Berlin The second arson attack took place at also reports a slightly higher number of the “Platform 17” memorial, which honcases. According to Maneo, they will be ors the German Jewish people who were “at a high level” overall in 2022. sent to their deaths during the HoloThe queer commissioner of the fedcaust from the Grünewald train station. eral government assumes that the In a statement issued Monvast majority wants queer people to be day the Berlin-Brandenburg Lesbian and able to live without fear and have equal Gay Association decried both incidents: rights. However, the results of a study “We are shocked by the inflammatory The Memorial to Homosexuals persecuted from 2023 showed “that this consent is energy of both acts and hope that the under Nazism in Berlin on July 23, 2022.

(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers) not stable and self-evident.” person responsible in both cases will be Kerstin Thost, the spokesperson for caught quickly.”

Berlin-Brandenburg Lesbian and Gay AsThese past two weekend incidents sociation told ZDF: are among a rising rate of anti-LGBTQ sentiments in Germany, “We all have a responsibility now to work tirelessly to protect Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, a German television station, reand treat everyone equally,” said Thost. “In this situation, everyported. one should position themselves for human rights and democAccording to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, the number racy. Even those who are not affected by queer hostility themof attacks against queer people increased in 2022. Last year, selves.”

1,005 cases were counted, including 227 violent crimes and 341

Malaysia bans Swiss watch maker’s LGBTQ+ products Homosexuality remains criminalized in Southeast Asian country

By BRODY LEVESQUE The Home Ministry in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority conservative Southeast Asia country where homosexuality is illegal, punishable by punishments such as caning and imprisonment, announced that it has banned all Swiss watchmaker Swatch products that contain any LGBTQ elements, whether on watches, boxes or wrappers.

The ministry said the ban has been implemented under the Printing Presses and Publications (Prohibition of Undesirable Publications) Order 2023, noting that the Swatch products are “likely to be prejudicial to morality.” “(The Swatch products) have been banned as they are detrimental, or possibly detrimental, to morality, public interest and national interest by promoting, supporting and normalizing the LGBTQ movement, which is not accepted by the gener-

al public of Malaysia,” the ministry said in its announcement.

“The home ministry again states its commitment to ensure public safety and peace by monitoring and controlling all forms of publications to curb the spread of elements, teachings and movements that contradict the local socio-cultural setup,” the statement continued.

In its announcement, the Malaysian government also warned that anyone found with or owns any such products produced by Swatch could face up to three years in jail or a maximum fine of RM20,000 ($4,372.06), or both, if convicted.

In May of this year, Malaysian authorities seized watches bearing the letters “LGBT” but, according to a lawsuit filed in July by the Swiss company, also confiscated watches from its 2023 Pride collection.

Al Jazeera reported in a lawsuit filed with the High Court in Kuala Lumpur, the Swiss watchmaker is seeking compensation and the return of 172 watches seized by officials over their alleged “LGBT elements.”

Swatch said in the filing that the seizure of the watches, valued at RM64,795 ($14,164.39), had no legal basis as well as including items that had no connection to LGBTQ activism.

“Without a doubt, the seized watches did not and are not in any way capable of causing any disruption to public order or morality or any violations of the law,” Swatch said in the lawsuit, which was filed on June 24 and first reported by the Malay Mail.

CONTINUED AT LOSANGELESBLADE.COM

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • AUGUST 18, 2023 • 11

MICHAEL K. LAVERS is the Blade’s international news editor. Reach him at mlavers@washblade.com.

Trump must be held accountable for Jan. 6

The insurrection remains one of this country’s darkest days I will never forget Jan. 6, 2021.

I left my apartment in Dupont Circle shortly after then-President Donald Trump’s speech to his supporters on the Ellipse ended. I rented a Capital Bikeshare bike in Thomas Circle and rode it down 14th Street to Freedom Plaza. I soon began to live stream on my iPhone the thousands of Trump supporters on Pennsylvania Avenue who were making their way towards the U.S. Capitol. I thought to myself that they looked and sounded like a bunch of idiots, but they were peaceful and largely ignored me. I was wearing my press pass around my neck, but it was hidden under my coat. I did not feel unsafe.

I was largely unaware of what was happening at the Capitol when I reached the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street, N.W., in part because cell phones were not working due to the overloaded networks. The crowd, however, had grown more ominous.

Kaela Roeder, a wonderful journalist who had just finished her fellowship with the Washington Blade, was somehow able to call me from the east side of the Capitol. Police cars from various law enforcement agencies were racing up Constitution Avenue with their sirens wailing when she told me she no longer felt safe and asked me if it was okay if she left.

“Get the hell out of there,” I said.

We hung up and I rushed to where she had been, which was easier said than done on a Capital Bikeshare bike. I arrived at the east side of the Capitol less than 10 minutes after we spoke. I saw thousands of Trump supporters on the Capitol steps. I saw at least three people with pro-Trump signs standing in a window.

I left the Capitol and rode my bike back to Dupont Circle after I received a text message that indicated a curfew was going into effect in D.C. at 6 p.m. I was sending quick text messages to family and friends in New Hampshire, Florida and elsewhere in the U.S. and around the world while on my way home to let them know that I was alright. The insurrection happened on Wednesday — deadline day — and Blade Editor Kevin Naff called me while I was on 17th Street and asked me to write the cover story for that week’s issue. I said yes, and arrived home a few minutes later. I only realized how bad things were at the Capitol when I began to watch MSNBC’s live coverage.

I wrote the cover story in less than half an hour. I then spent the rest of the day trying without much success to understand

what had just happened in our city.

Kaela and I met for coffee at the Blade office at 11 a.m. on Aug. 1, more than two and a half years after the insurrection.

Special counsel Jack Smith a few hours later announced Trump had been indicted on four charges related to Jan. 6.

• Count 1: 18 U.S.C. 371 (Conspiracy to Defraud the United States) • Count 2: 18 U.S.C. 1512(k) (Conspiracy to Obstruct an Official Proceeding) • Count 3: 18 U.S.C.§§ 1512(c)(2),2 (Obstruction of and Attempt to Obstruct an Official Proceeding) • Count 4: 18 U.S.C. 241 (Conspiracy Against Rights) My first thought after learning about the indictments was justice is hopefully (and finally) coming to a man responsible for one of this country’s darkest days. It was also another reminder there is rarely a day that I don’t think about Jan. 6.

The insurrection was in the back of my mind last October while I was covering the first-round of Brazil’s presidential election in Brasília, the country’s capital. (Now Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defeated then-President Jair Bolsonaro in the second round that took place on Oct. 27, but the right-wing demagogue who is known as “Trump of the Tropics” refused to acknowledge his defeat and did not attend Lula’s inauguration. Thousands of Bolsonaristas on Jan. 8, 2023, stormed the country’s Congress, presidential palace and Supreme Court.) I also thought about Jan. 6 last month when a young Belgian couple with whom I was making small talk at the Be Fucking Nice Coffee Shop — a real place with good coffee and even better food — in Punta Allen, a small fishing village near Tulum, Mexico, that I visited while on vacation, said Americans will get what they deserve if Trump once again becomes president.

I know what I saw and heard on Jan. 6. The country knows what it saw and heard on Jan. 6. The world knows what it saw and heard on Jan. 6.

Those aligned with the thrice-indicted former president who continue their pathetic attempts to convince us that something else happened on that horrible day are nothing more than professional assholes who are desperate to remain relevant. Let’s hope their efforts will ultimately fail and history will view Jan. 6 for what it is: One of this country’s darkest days. Let’s also hope Trump will finally be held accountable for what he did.

V O L U M E 07 I S S U E 33

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©2023 LOS ANGELES BLADE, LLC.

PETER ROSENSTEIN is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist.

He writes regularly for the Blade.

Is Trump behind bars a good thing?

Incarceration could turn former president into a martyr

I often dream about Donald Trump behind bars, wearing an orange jumpsuit, to match his face makeup, and wake up with a smile on my face. But in the light of day I question if that is a good thing for the country, and I am not sure.

Don’t misinterpret my meaning. I want to see him convicted on every count, of every indictment. My only thought is whether putting him in jail for his crimes, makes him a lasting martyr to his cult. Is that the worst punishment for him? Will he fade from view if we put him in a minimum-security prison?

Is there any punishment where he can be kept quiet? One of my friends facetiously suggested Guantanamo. (I think it was only facetious.)

I believe he will be convicted of several charges, if not all, and juries and judges will have to determine what the sentences will be. Clearly, whatever they are, he will use every appeal available to him, going all the way to the Supreme Court if that is an option. There are differences between the federal charges, which are on one level, and the state charges, like those anticipated in Georgia. If he is convicted of those there is no option for a presidential pardon.

What makes Georgia particularly interesting is its RICO law, which may make moot whether Trump has to do prison time if Fani Willis, the prosecutor in Fulton County, decides to use it in her indictment. As reported in Newsweek,, Elie Honig, a former federal prosecutor and CNN’s legal analyst, said, “under Georgia State law, if somebody’s convicted of RICO, there is a five-year mandatory minimum.” Georgia has a stronger RICO law than the federal government. Honig added, “RICO charges could be used in the case against Trump if Willis’s office can convince a grand jury that numerous people were working together as part of an illegal plot to keep Trump in power after losing the 2020 election.” From all reports we have seen that is clearly easy to show.

In the federal case brought by Special Counsel Jack Smith, being tried

in D.C., U.S. Judge Tanya S. Chutkan, has already said, “while the former president has First Amendment rights to free speech, those rights are not absolute and must be weighed against protecting the integrity of the court process, regardless of his status as a political candidate.”

Judge Chutkan went on to say, the “existence of a political campaign” will not have a bearing on her decisions and that Trump running for president should not interfere with the orderly administration of justice. If that means he can’t say exactly what he wants to say about witnesses in this case, then that’s how it’s going to be.” Let the games begin.

Many of us will follow these cases, along with those in New York and Florida, religiously. To political junkies, newspapers, and TV networks, this is manna from heaven. But let us never forget what this is really about. While it may entertain some, it is about a homophobic, sexist, racist, anti-Semitic president trying to stage a coup in the United States. Trump did something most of us thought unthinkable. We believed these things happened only in banana republics, not in the Unites States. Trump and his minions of what Mike Pence called ‘crackpot lawyers,’ along with his cult followers, gave us a very disturbing wake-up call. That is what these court cases, particularly the ones in D.C., and potentially if it comes to fruition, in Georgia, are both about.

So, no matter what happens to Trump, whether or not he ends up in jail, it is crucial juries convict him of the crimes he is both accused of, and by his own words, has perpetrated.

It seems clear these cases won’t be finally decided, appeals and all, before the 2024 election. So, before we possibly see him in jail, if the Republican Party, or as I call it the Trump cult, allows him to be its candidate for president, it will be up to the American people to net out justice for what he has done to them.

They will have the chance to do that in November 2024, by handing him a resounding defeat.

LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • AUGUST 18, 2023 • 13

‘Red, White & Royal Blue’ director on new film, royal weddings, and more Matthew López moves from theater to movies with gay rom com

These days, it seems that gay rom coms are as prevalent as right-wing religious fanatics protesting said movies. There is even a preponderance of gay Christmas movies. On the Hallmark channel, no less. So, does “Red, White & Royal Blue” have what it takes to stand apart from the pack? Based on the popular novel by queer writer Casey McQuiston, “Red, White & Royal Blue” isn’t just notable for its storyline involving the budding romance between Alex, the bisexual First Son of the first female POTUS, and gay British Prince Henry. “Red, White & Royal Blue” marks the directorial debut

by Tony and GLAAD Media Award-winning gay playwright Matthew López (“The Inheritance” and “Some Like It Hot”).

Matthew generously made time in his busy schedule for an interview in advance of the movie’s release, which premiered last week on Prime Video.

BLADE: Matthew, considering your long and lauded history in the theater, was the prospect of directing your first feature film daunting, thrilling, or both?

MATTHEW LOPEZ: Generally thrilling, occasionally daunting. But it was only daunting in that there was just a steep learning curve. I was acutely aware of the things I didn’t know, and on occasion, there were things I didn’t know I didn’t know until I had to know it [laughs], at the risk of sounding like Donald Rumsfeld. But it was mostly thrilling, and it was great fun, really. I’d do it again if they let me.

BLADE: With actors such as Taylor Zakhar Perez and Nicholas Galitzine in the lead roles of First Son Alex and Prince Henry, “Red, White & Royal Blue” will have no trouble drawing gay men. Do you think the actors could have the same draw on straight audiences?

LOPEZ: I hope so. I’ve spent a lifetime as an avid consumer of straight love stories, and not just because I had no other options, but because I genuinely wanted to see any of those particular films. I don’t see any reason why the stream doesn’t flow in both directions. This is as unapologetically a queer rom com as “Moonstruck” was as unapologetically an Italian rom com. It is part of what makes this movie unique.

It is inescapable, but it also is, we hope, if we’re successful and if we’re lucky, it becomes part of the larger canon of rom coms, rather than simply kept in a corner. We want as many people to see this movie as possible, but we also knew that we wanted to make a movie that was as specific as possible.

We never tried to hide who we were in order to find an audience. I think that kind of specificity is what people are really desiring these days.

BLADE: There are some powerful and emotional scenes in “Red, White & Royal Blue,” but the one that hit me the hardest is when Alex, son of the first female POTUS, came out to his mother Ellen, played by Uma Thurman. What was it like to work with Uma? LOPEZ: I adore her. She was so very happy to be in this movie, which was so wonderful. She really understood Ellen.

She and I had so many wonderful conversations about her before production. I involved her in a lot of costume design

By GREGG SHAPIRO decisions. She was really wanting to understand this woman holistically. That scene was just so beautiful. By the time we shot it, she and Taylor had really bonded, and they had shot a lot of scenes together at that point. It was the loveliest, warmest environment on set. I mean, it was a very lovely, warm environment on set every day, but that day you can just see in that scene the genuine affection that these two actors have for one another. It was real.

TAYLOR ZAKHAR PEREZ and NICHOLAS GALITZINE in ‘Red, White, and Royal Blue.’ (Photo courtesy of Amazon Prime Video)

BLADE: Ellen is a staunch Democrat. As a Florida native, and considering what has occurred here during the reign of the current governor, was that in any way what appealed to you about directing and co-adapting the screenplay for “Red, White & Royal Blue”?

LOPEZ: No, I loved the story, and I didn’t give a shit what the governor of Florida thinks about it. I couldn’t care less what that man thinks, only as it relates to the health of the union. I didn’t have this story growing up. I didn’t have access to characters such as these when I was younger. It took until I was in my 40s to read it, to get a novel that had a character like Alex. That I knew implicitly was really special. To me, it was really powerful to read a novel that had a queer, Latino, young man at the center who was a very positive characterization of a queer Latino man. Someone who was filled with hope and possibility. I wanted to bring that into the world.

The politics in the novel and in the movie are a hopeful one.

It’s not something that is, I hope, too much of a fairy tale.

BLADE: I loved seeing out actor and writer Stephen Fry’s name in the credits at the beginning, and without giving anything away, was surprised to see him, very close to the end, in the role he plays. What did it mean to you to work with Stephen?

LOPEZ: I’ve always been such a fan of his and really admired him greatly. We had had some sort of communication through other people over the years because he had seen “The Inheritance” in London. He got word to me, through our producers, how much he loved it. I had been working at one point on another film that I thought I was going to make, and when he found out that I was working on it, he was like. “I’d really love to be a small part in it if you have anything.” But I

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never talked to him and never met him. When this role came around [laughs], we thought, “Let’s see if he really means what he says!” He jumped at it! It didn’t take long at all for him to say, “Yes.” That was fun. Just to watch him and work with him is just a great thrill and a pleasure. It was for everybody. Everybody was really excited the day that he came on set.

BLADE: “Red, White & Royal Blue” is being released at a time when, following the passing of Queen Elizabeth and the situation surrounding Harry and Meghan, questions about the necessity of a monarchy have gotten more attention. Do you think “Red, White & Royal Blue” is a help or a hindrance in that regard?

LOPEZ: I don’t really have an opinion one way or the other about that because I think that the movie isn’t actually about the royal family. It uses the royal family as a vehicle to tell the story of a person trapped in a circumstance. I think the thing that is so amazing about Casey McQuiston’s novel is that Casey actually gives us a character that, historically, we haven’t had too much sympathy for. And yet, because Casey draws this character in a way that a lot of us can relate to, which is a person trapped against their own will and circumstances that they are powerless over, you really care for Henry and you really feel deeply for Henry. I also knew that, as we were making this film, I didn’t want the audience to think about the actual royal family when they were watching the film.

Because I think if they did, they would be taken out of the story. I think we use the trappings of royalty as a way to tell our story, but it doesn’t take an opinion one way or another, because that’s not what the movie is about.

BLADE: The movie begins with a storybook royal wedding, but the real love story is the one between Alex and Henry.

In recent years, the UK has begun taking actions such as the posthumous pardoning of thousands of gay men for gross indecency, and such, as well as Prime Minister Sunak’s recent apology to LGBT members of the military. With that in mind, do you think that the characters of Alex and Henry could also have a storybook wedding?

LOPEZ: Absolutely! I think the British people would support it. The British people are no different than the American people in many ways. There are, of course, great pockets of resistance to change. There is an adherence to traditionalism. I live in London, I’m a resident of the UK. The people that I know there are good and accepting people by and large. I think that Alex and Henry absolutely could have the wedding that they wanted if they wanted it.

BLADE: Have you started thinking about your next film, theater, or writing project?

LOPEZ: I’ll honestly tell you that the thing I’ve been thinking about lately is getting a fair deal from the studios for writers and for actors. As a striking writer who also happens to be a non-striking director, beyond releasing this film, my primary concern is making sure that we can go back to work with a fair contract.

FILM

Trans sex workers tell it like it is in ‘Kokomo City’ ‘I wanted to humanize the transgender experience’

By JOHN PAUL KING It’s probably rare for a film review to begin with a news report about a real-world crime, but “Kokomo City” is a rare film.

On April 18, a transgender woman known as Koko Da Doll was fatally shot in Atlanta.

She was the third Black transgender sex worker killed in the city to that date in 2023, and the 10th trans, nonbinary, or gender-nonconforming person to die by violence in the U.S. It was a story that made limited headlines, but comparatively far more (unfortunately) than usually accompany the killings of Black transgender sex workers; that’s because Koko – whose “non-performance” name was Rasheeda Williams – was one of four trans women, from both Atlanta and New York City, profiled in the Sundance-honored documentary “Kokomo City,” which went into limited theatrical release on Aug. 4. The film, which was executive produced by boundary-breaking queer multi-hyphenate talent Lena Waithe (among others), offers a remarkably candid, completely unfiltered, and entirely non-judgmental portrait of its subjects as they share the experiences and observations that have occurred on the job.

KOKO DA DOLL in ‘Kokomo City.’ (Photo courtesy Magnolia)

In the film, Koko – along with fellow sex workers Daniella Carter, Liyah Mitchell, and Dominique Silver – provide extensive interviews in which they “get real” about the perspective on life bestowed upon them by their work. Sometimes horrifically shocking, sometimes unflinchingly blunt, their anecdotes paint a portrait of society seen from the bottom up; but it’s a far cry from the hand-wringing and moralizing some might expect to accompany a film about such a subject, instead giving these four fully self-aware individuals a chance to sound off about all the hypocrisies and social stigmas that define and constrain our culture’s view of sex in general, and queer sex in particular, while revealing the intelligence and strong sense of self – and yes, the strong sense of humor, too – necessary to survive as a member of one of the world’s most widely disregarded classes of human being. It’s transgressive in a way that many will find refreshing, even thrilling, but others will find appalling.

As much as we might wish otherwise, most of us are likely to believe that the audience for “Kokomo City” probably won’t include the people who most need to see it. Those who are predisposed to restrictive judgments around sex work and trans people are not likely to add it to their streaming queues – a shame if only for the loss of their own opportunity to recognize and empathize with the humanity of people they would otherwise demonize in their imaginations. That doesn’t matter, however, to the movie’s director - two-time Grammy-nominated producer, singer and songwriter D. Smith, who made history as the

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first trans woman cast on a primetime unscripted TV show.

For her feature film directorial debut, Smith aimed to elevate her subject’s voices not just as an expression of queer experience, but of the wider Black experience, as well.

Couch-surfing with friends over a three-year period as she collected the material for her movie, she was concerned, first and foremost, with delivering the story these four women had to tell. In its final form, her documentary is a testament to individual truth within a dichotomy that has no space for it; the Black community as a whole, itself ostracized and oppressed within mainstream culture while subject to the strict norms of acceptability built into its own traditions and heritage, has long held a particular stigma against queer sexuality. As Smith offers in her press notes, “So many of our Black children grow up afraid and confused because of traditional values or admissible violence against them, sometimes leading to death. [It’s] a conversation that’s been avoided for many, many years [that] has now taken center stage.”

To hear her four interviewees tell it, those hard-and-fast-beliefs disappear quickly behind closed doors – but even so, in public, the prejudice holds fast. Indeed, Smith offered five other directors the opportunity to helm the project, and all of them balked before she decided to do it herself.

“I went out and bought a camera and a nice lens and filmed it myself.,” she says. “No assistant, no lighting person, no editor. Just the vision of a truth.”

Part of that truth, she says, was “to create a film that people outside of the LGBTQ+ community could be drawn to,” but she also wanted to be authentic in her presentation of these women. She was asking them to be real, so she had to be, too.

“At the time of [the film’s] conception,” she says, “there was a lot of transgender content with this narrative I call the ‘red carpet narrative.’ It’s when a fierce PR team puts a trans woman in a fabulous gown and has her speak like a pageant finalist. That’s not our real experience.”

She wanted to present something different. “I wanted to feel something untampered with. Something that looks like my actual experience. Something that we can all find ourselves in. Something without all the rules and laws that separate us as people of color. I wanted those walls down. In this film, I was able to share the private lives of four transgender sex workers who are never represented publicly. I offered the girls freedom. Freedom to talk like us. Look like us. Don’t worry about the politics. Forget about makeup. Don’t worry about calling your glam squad today. Just tell your story. I wanted to humanize the transgender experience.”

Captured in stark-but-stylish black-and-white, “Kokomo City” does exactly that. Putting the spotlight on four women who are anything but the so-called “norm” and who are accustomed to having their voices silenced, or at least ignored, Smith gives us a raw-yetdeeply considered perspective that challenges the audience by taking them out of their comfort zone, yet never ceases to be entertaining.

To be sure, there is an almost a joyous vibe to “Kokomo City,” no doubt largely due to the freeing, cathartic sense of unburdening its subjects must have felt in getting the chance to share their truth with the world.

Sadly, that joy must now be forever tempered by the knowledge that Koko, whose life shines so brightly from the screen, has been lost to us – who, though authorities say there is no evidence her death was motivated by homophobia or transphobia, is nevertheless yet another victim of the deeply embedded hate and violence that haunts our culture and makes movies like this one seem so very, very precious.

At the same time, hearing her voice ring among the others in Smith’s wildly entertaining documentary – which won the Sundance Film Festival’s NEXT Innovator Award and NEXT Audience Award and has gone on to win acclaim at other festivals including the Berlinale and LA’s OutFest – gives it an even greater sense of urgency, a higher imperative to present both the beauty and vulnerability of trans women, and turns the film into a celebration of her unquenchable light.

It also introduces Smith as a filmmaker to be reckoned with, and we are excited to see where she takes us next.

BOOKS

The play’s the thing in new book ‘Gays on Broadway’ An engaging LGBTQ history of the Great White Way

By TERRI SCHLICHENMEYER You had to look around you and check your seat.

Yep, you were still in a theater in a large building, fanny planted in a dusty red seat. You weren’t in a Brooklyn tenement or a castle, or at a society party but the performance you caught made you think you were, at least for a couple hours. As they say, and as in the new book, “Gays on Broadway” by Ethan Mordden, the play’s the thing.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the LGBTQ history of the Great White Way “starts with drag queens.” In the earliest parts of the 20th century, many comedies were written “specifically calling for a male character forced ... to disguise himself as a woman,” often to the delight of audiences. Still, any overt mention of such things was forbidden then.

By the 1930s, Mordden says, “our tour mostly starts now.” Not only were audiences treated to titillating hints of gayness that were barely concealed, but the “odd gay character” often showed up in plays on purpose. And yet, behind the scenes, few gay or lesbian actors dared to come ‘Gays on Broadway’ out; many of them, instead, entered “lavBy Ethan Mordden ender marriages.” c.2023, Oxford University Press In 1942, New York’s “Wales Law,” a sort $29.95 | 233 pages of Hays Code for Broadway, shut down a “salute to vaudeville,” putting all of Broadway on notice. Even so, “gay characters did turn up in a few postwar titles.” This was, after all, a time when Tennessee Williams’ hand was all over theater – especially with what Mordden calls his “Beautiful Male” character: shirtless, buff, and highly memorable for gay audiences.

In the 1950s, Williams’ influence was joined by some “honestly gay characters” onstage, and by the talents of Tallulah Bankhead, who “maintained a strong association with camp humor.” By the 1960s, “gay characters were everywhere on Broadway,” the word “gay” was acceptable, and the adventurous theatergoer could find nudity off-Broadway.

A decade later, though Broadway was “still partly stuck in stereotype mode,” says Mordden, “now it was the turn of gay people.”

You’ve seen your favorite play how many times? You’ve followed a handful of actors from off-Broadway to on, and you’ve discovered some intriguing talent. And now you need “Gays on Broadway” to fill in the gaps of your knowledge and to see how it all began.

Starting more than a century ago – before movies were a thing and TV was invented – author Ethan Mordden acts as a sort of usher as he takes readers on a trip that goes both back- and on-stage. Mordden casually but constantly name-drops, and it’s good to see often-forgotten actors mentioned in a way that may spur you to learn more about actors and their long-ago plays. He also delightfully highlights the cleverness of actors and writers who winked at audiences when “gay” was a bad word.

Almost as much fun as collecting playbills, almost as good as a seat behind the orchestra, this is one of those books that theater-goers will want to take to the show to read during intermission. Get “Gays on Broadway” and take a seat.

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AUTOS

Tip-top pocket rockets: BMW M2, BMW Z4 German automaker leads in rankings for user-friendly options

Sure, German cars are uber exciting, but Asian brands are much more reliable. Right?

Well, not exactly.

This year, for the first time, BMW tops the list in what is considered the holy grail of product-quality resources: Consumer Reports. Along with improved reliability, BMW leads in the rankings for user-friendly options—including innovative infotainment systems.

To be sure, seven of the top 10 most-reliable vehicles are still made by Asian automakers.

But today’s BMW drivers can enjoy both style and substance, with rides that are fun, fast, furious—and now very dependable.

BMW M2 COUPE $64,000 MPG: 16 city/24 highway 0 to 60 mph: 3.9 seconds Cargo room: 13.8 cu. ft.

By JOE PHILLIPS

than before, which adds more leg and elbow room inside.

My test car came with the weight-saving carbon-fiber package. This included bucket seats with rigid thigh bolsters, as well as a quirky hard protrusion that stuck up awkwardly between my legs. Intended to keep you seated firmly in place when swooshing in and out of twisty curves, the intrusive seat design can sometimes smoosh your nether regions. In other words, there’s a reason these seats are called “ball busters.”

BMW Z4 ROADSTER $55,000 MPG: 25 city/33 highway 0 to 60 mph: 5.2 seconds Cargo room: 9.9 cu. ft.

PROS: wicked fast, easy to drive, cushy cabin CONS: low ground clearance, no second BMW M2 row, skimpy storage IN A NUTSHELL: Built on the same platPROS: lively acceleration, taut handling, form as the less-expensive but also less-luxsexy exhaust growl urious Toyota Supra coupe, the BMW Z4 CONS: rigid front seats, tight backseat, convertible is more of a comfortable cruiser hard-to-access seatbelts than cheeky racecar. Two fine engine choicIN A NUTSHELL: I have a love-hate relaes are available, though neither propels the tionship with two-door cars. They fail the Z4 as fast as the Supra or BMW M2 coupes. test when it comes to ferrying lots of peoStill, handling and braking are splendid. ple or more than a few suitcases. And forMost important, my tush appreciated the get about cross-country trips, especially if more traditional seating in the Z4 compared you want to pull over and catch 40 winks by with those butt-blasting seats in the M2. stretching out in any sort of rear cargo area.

As with all BMWs, styling on this two-seatBut it’s hard to resist the convenience of a er is dramatically sculpted. My only comcoupe or convertible when scooching into plaint was with the doors, which are so darn tight parking spaces or weaving through long you need to lean over and reach into congested traffic. And these rides can be another county to close them. a blast to drive. That’s the case with the The high-quality cabin is surprisingly spaBMW M2 super-coupe, a pocket rocket that cious, with plenty of headroom, even with comes standard with a 435-hp engine and the top up. But storage cubbies are few and six-speed manual transmission. Expect aufar between. Luckily, the trunk offers decent tomotive purists to forgo the optional eightstowage, thanks to the power-operated top speed automatic, though it is a tad faster. that takes up no cargo space when lowered.

The feisty styling boasts flared fenders, And despite having a fabric top instead of muscular side panels and an arousing rear BMW Z4 a thick metal one, there’s very little road spoiler. As my husband Robert said, “This noise. car is ‘sex on wheels.’ ” Yes, indeed.

As with the M2, the Z4 is actually a lot of Of all the BMW high-performance M cars, car for the money. Pricey competitors to the Z4 include the $101,000 Porsche Boxster S the M2 is the smallest and least expensive. Yet it’s loaded with the latest bells and whisand $110,000 Mercedes SL-Class. tles: sport-tuned suspension, track-oriented tires, side-impact airbags, knee airbags, HarWhile crossovers and other SUVs may rule most showrooms today, these two rousing, man Kardon surround-sound stereo, 12.3-inch digital gauge display and an even-larger reliable and relatively affordable two-door rides offer plenty of temptation.

14.9-inch infotainment touchscreen. This second-generation M2 is also longer and wider

18 • LOSANGELESBLADE.COM • AUGUST 18, 2023