Speaker Nancy Pelosi - Capital Pride - June 6, 2019

June 6, 2019

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CONTENTS

Volume 26 Issue 6

VALEDICTORIAN VALIDATION

When Matt Easton came out during his speech at the “LGBTQ-unfriendly” BYU, he became a catalyst for change.

Interview by Randy Shulman

PRIDE OF THE HOUSE

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Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks about her deep, longstanding ties to the LGBTQ community, and why passing the Equality Act is so incredibly important.

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Exclusive Interview by John Riley Photographed at the U.S. Capitol by Todd Franson

GREAT SCOTT

Pride headliner Calum Scott is a confident, remarkably honest gay singer-songwriter — and definitely not afraid to cry.

By Doug Rule

SPOTLIGHT: BIG DIPPER p.9 OUT ON THE TOWN p.14 LADIES’ NIGHT: BILLIE KRISHAWN’S HERSTORY p.16 THE FEED: FALSE FLAG p.27 THE FEED: SWIPE RIGHT p.27 THE FEED: CHECKED OUT p.27 VALEDICTORIAN VALIDATION: MATT EASTON p.31 COMMUNITY: ON THE MARCH p.37 COMMUNITY CALENDAR p.37 COVER STORY: NANCY PELOSI p.42 GREAT SCOTT: CALUM SCOTT p.49 A DEFIANT POSE: DOMINIQUE JACKSON p.53 SCENE: CAPITAL PRIDE HONORS p.56 FILM: DARK PHOENIX p.59 FILM: PAVAROTTI p.60 MUSIC: J.S. ONDARA p.63 NIGHTLIFE: WOMXN’S PRIDE KICKOFF CELEBRATION p.67 NIGHTLIFE LISTINGS p.68 NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS p.69 SCENE: PRIDE CELEBRATION KICKOFF PARTY p.76 LAST WORD p.78 Real LGBTQ News and Entertainment since 1994 Editorial Editor-in-Chief Randy Shulman Art Director Todd Franson Online Editor at metroweekly.com Rhuaridh Marr Senior Editor John Riley Contributing Editors André Hereford, Doug Rule Senior Photographers Ward Morrison, Julian Vankim Contributing Illustrator Scott G. Brooks Contributing Writers Sean Maunier, Troy Petenbrink, Bailey Vogt, Kate Wingfield Webmaster David Uy Production Assistant Julian Vankim Sales & Marketing Publisher Randy Shulman National Advertising Representative Rivendell Media Co. 212-242-6863 Distribution Manager Dennis Havrilla Patron Saint Jan Shulman Cover Photography Todd G. Franson Metro Weekly 1775 I St. NW, Suite 1150 Washington, DC 20006 202-638-6830 All material appearing in Metro Weekly is protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publishers. Metro Weekly assumes no responsibility for unsolicited materials submitted for publication. All such submissions are subject to editing and will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Metro Weekly is supported by many fine advertisers, but we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers, nor can we accept responsibility for materials provided by advertisers or their agents. Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles or advertising in Metro Weekly is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such person or organization.

© 2019 Jansi LLC.

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JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight on Pride

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MICHAEL THAD CARTER

EXY RAP SWAG comes in all shapes and sizes, and, if you’re gay bear Big Dipper, also with witty rhymes and fat beats. The Chicagoborn rapper, known for his sex-positive hiphop and day-glo videos, has lately been hustling from his current home base in L.A. to capitalize on the viral success of singles like “Lookin,” and to help build his community of indie queer artists.

Said hustle might entail directing a video for another performer, or producing his bi-annual, L.A.-based outdoor festival and market, Fruitcake. Or the Big D might be popping up at a Pride near you to perform tracks like “Pressed” and “Thiccness” that celebrate big boys, and have made the rapper a smirking, rhyming poster boy for body positivity. Not that he set out to help galvanize a movement.

“Initially, I thought it would be fun to make almost pop star visuals on myself, because I feel like we've not seen a fat, hairy dude sexualized the way that Britney Spears has been sexualized,” says the artist. “And I thought for specifically the car wash video for the song ‘Lookin,’ we've seen so many cheerleaders doing a car wash, bikini-clad models at a car wash, what if we just did that, but it's all chubby dudes? And not in a comical way, in a real sexy way. I got such positive feedback, with people

saying, ‘I feel represented by you and I feel like I could be stronger.’ Body positivity is such a buzzword right now. You can roll your eyes at something that feels like a trendy buzzword, but for the majority of the human experience we share the fact that we are walking around in human bodies together.

Why do we have to hate our different bodies? Why are we so hateful towards some bodies versus others?”

Combating hatred is one reason Big Dipper will rock the stage at this year’s Capital Pride. “All these transwomen are being killed constantly, people are still being bashed on the streets,” he says. “The more public and the more visible we as a queer community become, the more threatened the bigots become, and so it's great to have the celebration for Pride and great for me to get out and do shows and entertain people because the queer community deserves a little lighthearted entertainment. B But it’s also our responsibility to make sure everyone feels empowered to keep fighting and keep moving.

Pride was not founded at a pier party where everyone just did fucking GHB and danced along to Ariana Grande songs. Pride was started because people were fighting for their lives. That is a message that gets lost really quickly, but it's not lost on me. We need to be able to keep fighting.” —André Hereford

Big Dipper

Big Dipper performs on the Capital Pride Concert Stage between 5 and 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 9.

For more information visit www.capitalpride.org/concert.

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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Spotlight on Pride CAPITAL PRIDE PARADE

RANDY SHULMAN

On Saturday, June 8, more than 200 organizations and entities will make their way — by float, vehicle, or on foot — through 1.5 miles through two of D.C.’s historically LGBTQ neighborhoods, Dupont and Logan, cheered on by hundreds of thousands of supporters and spectators. This year’s grand marshals are transgender activist and advocate Earline Budd, Pulse shooting survivor Brandon Wolf, out Brigham Young University valedictorian Matt Easton (see page 31), and Hailie Sahar and Dominique Jackson (see page 53) of FX’s hit show, Pose. The parade kicks off from 21st and P Streets NW at 4:30 p.m. before winding its way through Dupont Circle, up New Hampshire Avenue, down 17th Street, over to 14th Street via P Street, then up to its end at T Street. Visit www.capitalpride.org.

LGBTQ COMEDY NIGHT

The DC Comedy Loft presents a night of stand-up from gay comics and will also donate a portion of each ticket sold to SMYAL. Headliner Ian Harvie (pictured) was Margaret Cho’s opening act for years before becoming known as a groundbreaking transgender comedian who made his acting debut as Dale in Amazon’s Transparent.

The roster also includes New York-based trans actor/ comedian Peter Smith, L.A.-based Baltimore-native Alex Powers and gay L.A.-based performer Jared Goldstein.

Friday, June 7, at 9:45 p.m., and Saturday, June 8, at 7:30 and 9:45 p.m. Above the Bier Baron Tavern, 1523 22nd St. NW. Tickets are $18, plus a two-item minimum. Call 202-293-1887 or visit www.dccomedyloft.com.

PRIDE AT SAAM

On Sunday, June 9, the Smithsonian American Art Museum offers its first-ever all-day LGBTQ-inspired art and performance event. The centerpiece of the day’s programming is the East Coast debut of artist/choreographer Brendan Fernandes’s Free Fall 49, a dance-based installation responding to the Pulse Nightclub shooting in Orlando with DJ Lauren Flax and D.C.-area performance artists and dancers in the Kogod Courtyard from 3 to 6 p.m.

Guests can also view works by LGBTQ artists Sadie Benning, Anna Anthropy, Barbara Hammer, and Wu Tsang in the “Feminist Pride Media Art Gallery,” or listen in on Collection Highlights Gallery Talks focused on LGBTQ artists and artworks represented in the galleries, and share their oral histories via American University’s Humanities Truck set up in the F Street Plaza. Open from 11:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. at 8th and F Streets NW. Free. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.americanart.si.edu.

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JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Spotlight on Pride NOT THE WHITE HOUSE PRIDE PARTY

The women- and queer-owned and operated distillery Republic Restoratives hosts a pride brunch with LGBTQ44, billed as the unofficial network of Obama LGBTQ Alumni.

Last year’s brunch raised over $10,000 for the legal advocacy group TransLAW, which remains the brunch’s beneficiary as “their work couldn’t be more crucial” at a time when trans rights are under sustained attack from the Trump administration. Food is courtesy the gay-owned BBQ Bus, to be washed down with cocktails featuring in-house spirits, from Civic Vodka to Rodham Rye. DJ Tezrah spins. Sunday, June 9, from noon to 4 p.m. Republic Restoratives is at 1369 New York Ave. NE. Tickets are $20. Call 202-733-3996 or visit www.republicrestoratives.com.

ONE VOICE

The Kimpton Carlyle Hotel Dupont Circle celebrates Capital Pride with a summer-long art exhibition in its lobby featuring local LGBTQ artists and allies. Curated by Julie Ratner and Golie Miamee of Artworx Consultants, One Voice includes works by Tom Hill (pictured), Maggie O’Neill, Wayson Jones, and Rose Jaffe, in addition to several permanent works by world-renowned mixed-media artist Michele Oka Doner and Michael Crossett’s piece “Community,” which was commissioned for Kimpton in partnership with Shop Made in DC. Now through Sept. 2. 1731 New Hampshire Ave. NW. Suggested donation of $5 per person that will benefit Kimpton brand partner the Trevor Project. Call 202-2343200 or visit www.carlylehoteldc.com.

JOEY ARIAS: T-CABARET & T-DANCE

New York’s bawdy and eccentric singing drag artist Joey Arias returns to D.C. for two events over Capital Pride weekend. The first stop is an “outrageous cabaret” at Lucky Buns, 2000 18th St. NW (formerly L'Enfant Cafe). The night ends in a post-show disco party. The next day, Arias hosts a T-Dance from 4 to 8 p.m., a “classic disco”-driven event in the mold of historic gay afternoon soirees in Fire Island and Provincetown, at Abigail, 1730 M St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $20 and include one shot of Tom of Finland Organic Vodka (proceeds of which benefit the Tom of Finland Foundation and its work to preserve and promote erotic art). Visit www.DCPrideParty.com.

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JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

JOSEPH RESSLER

Out On The Town

CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL & CONCERT

The LGBTQ community takes over America’s Main Street — Pennsylvania Avenue — between 6th and 3rd Streets NW beginning at noon on Sunday, June 9. The annual day-long Capital Pride festival features 300 exhibitors representing everything from community groups to businesses to vendors of food and drink, including multiple beverage gardens serving alcoholic refreshments. The festival also includes three performance stages, including the Monument Festival Stage, the Dupont Dance Stage, and the Capitol Concert Stage, the primary perch with the U.S. Capitol as a backdrop.

Presented by Hot 99.5 and Pride Radio, this year’s concert kicks off at 1 p.m. and features an eclectic lineup of local and national performers, plus a slew of headliners throughout the day (roughly one per hour) including top pop/EDM producer Marshmello, Swedish pop starlet Zara Larrson, gay American Idol/YouTube/Drag Race/Broadway sensation Todrick Hall, transgender singer-songwriter Shea Diamond, gay British pop singer-songwriter Calum Scott (see page 49), Nina West from RuPaul’s Drag Race, and gay DJ/rapper Big Dipper (see page 9). After the sun sets comes the festival’s official closing event, a two-hour dance party featuring Washington-native DJ Tracy Young enticing Pride-goers to dance in the street — a truly only-in-D.C. kind of awe-inspiring affair. Visit www.capitalpride.org for the full lineup, more activities, and details about the VIP Concert Experience.

Compiled by Doug Rule

PRIDE 2019 DC FRONTRUNNERS PRIDE RUN 5K

The popular local LGBTQ running and walking club offers its 7th annual Pride Run 5K at the Congressional Cemetery. The event is followed by a Finish Line Party, with beer and snacks for participants, a live DJ, entertainment, and race awards ceremony. This year’s race is sponsored by SoFi Lending Corp. and benefits the Team DC Student-Athlete Scholarship, the Wanda Alston Foundation, and Casa Ruby. Friday, June 7, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. 1801 E St. SE. Reservations, requiring a refundable $30 deposit per participant,

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are officially sold out. Visit www. dcfrontrunners.org.

LEZ B REAL PRIDE CELEBRATION FEAT. PINEAPPLECITI & POEISM

Songbyrd, Adams Morgan’s intimate music complex, offers a “Queer Poetry & Portraits” celebration in honor of Capital Pride co-presented by 8thaus and Sensorship. This Friday, June 7, starting at 11 p.m., comes a “Lez B Real” photoshoot combined with an open-mic night open to all queer poets and rappers and featuring feminist artist/poet/photographer Poeism and PineappleCITI, a gay, black “unapologetic trap bounce rapper” hailing from Newark. 2477 18th St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $20.

Call 202-450-2917 or visit www. songbyrddc.com.

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LGBTQ+ PRIDE READINGS

Petworth’s Loyalty Bookstore — formerly known as Upshur Street Books — presents two LGBTQthemed events over the next week in honor of Pride Month. First up, Saturday, June 8, at 5 p.m, is a Pride Week Author Reading featuring poet Gregg Shapiro (More Poems About Buildings and Food) and fiction writer Philip Dean Walker (Read By Strangers, At Danceteria and Other Stories). After Capital Pride, Wednesday, June 12, at 7 p.m., comes an LGBTQ spin on the bookstore’s Poets In Protest Reading Series, during which LGBTQ poets will read a piece of their own and a piece written by a queer or trans literary predecessor, an acknowledgement of the community’s diversity, lineage, and evolution. The series features

C. Thomas, the 2019 Finalist for Poet Laureate of Alexandria, and Melena Chertock (Crumb-sized), on the planning committee for D.C.’s LGBTQ literary festival OutWrite.

827 Upshur St. NW. Visit www. loyaltybookstore.com.

MILK BAR D.C. PRIDE EDITION CLASS

Local drag doyenne Ba’Naka co-hosts a special pride-themed class at chef/owner Christina Tosi’s new Milk Bar Flagship store in Logan Circle. There, attendees will be instructed in how to build their own 6-inch Milk Bar Birthday Cake, learning how to create vanilla funfetti layers, frosting, and crumbs, before turning their cake scraps into little Birthday Truffles. Milk Bar will have Please Bring Chips on the bar with drinks for sale. And

a portion of the event’s proceeds will go to SMYAL. Friday, June 7, at 7 p.m. 1525 15th St. NW. Tickets are $95 plus $5 EventBrite fee. Call 202-506-1357 or visit www.milkbarstore.com.

MORTIFIED LIVE PODCAST: PRIDE EDITION

LADIES’ NIGHT

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Women of hip-hop have a Millennial moment in an updated staging of Herstory at the Kennedy Center.

HE STORY OF WOMEN IN HIP-HOP COULD FILL A THOUSAND VOLUMES, AND continues to be written by consumers and creators of the culture, from Young M.A to Cardi B. Although, neither of those rappers were a blip on the pop culture radar when D.C.based playwright and director Goldie Patrick debuted her stylized chronicle of women in hip-hop Herstory: Love Forever, Hip Hop at the D.C. Hip Hop Theater Festival in 2005.

In keeping pace with the evolution of what is still a male-dominated field, Patrick is reviving Herstory for the Kennedy Center’s ongoing Hip Hop Culture season, and has updated the script to include — and speak to — the next hip-hop generation. Representing that generation of Millennial hip-hop fans both in real life and among the play’s all-female ensemble, actress Billie Krishawn portrays “Eve,” a character who “is just a culmination of everything that hip-hop is right now.”

Notions of what hip-hop is right now are, of course, subjective, and the play explores thorny topics like sexual objectification and misogyny, along with the question of what might be killing the culture. But Eve sees hope.

“She is everything that is beautiful with Millennials,” Krishawn says. “How we have technology and are able to use that to our advantage, the optimism, the light, being able to not be so bogged down or jaded about what's going on with the world, but being able to see all that's gone on with the world with a sense of optimism. I think she, in a lot of ways, is the light that's keeping hip-hop alive.”

Not all of the play’s characters reflect such an optimistic point of view, but all appear united in the purpose of acknowledging the contributions of pioneering women like Queen Latifah, Sister Souljah and MC Lyte, Salt ’n’ Pepa, and Spinderella. The play “is beautiful in that way,” says Krishawn, noting, however, that Herstory isn’t about “just the people who are behind the mic, [but] we also acknowledge other people who came along the way that were a big part of hip-hop itself but weren't necessarily putting out albums or records.”

The choreographers, stylists, reporters and behind-the-scenes players who built the culture also are given a voice in a story that’s still unfolding. Meanwhile, out queer D.C. native Krishawn will continue to write her story as one of the region’s exciting young talents in the theater. Fresh off her first Helen Hayes Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actress in Constellation’s Melancholy Play, the performer says, “I definitely feel ridiculously grateful that so much has happened between my first show, Jumanji, at Adventure Theatre, to now. I'm just grateful to have so many opportunities to create work that reflects me naturally. And I’m excited to continue to be a part of things where I get to tell stories.” —André Hereford Herstory: Love Forever, Hip Hop runs June 14-15, at the Kennedy Center, Family Theatre. Tickets are $25-$35. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

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JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

An unsent love letter he had written as a teenager didn’t just send David Nadelberg on a wistful trip down memory lane. It sparked the idea for a project focused on the strange, extraordinary, or just plain embarrassing things people create as kids.

Launched in 2002, Mortified is a spin on the popular genre of curated storytelling shows in which strangers from all walks of life take to the stage — as well as the airwaves a la podcast — to “share the shame” of their “teen angst artifacts,” created when they were all so young and impressionable. Revealing such memorabilia, organizers say, can be a revelatory experience: “You’d be surprised what you discover in the process.” The June show features childhood diary entries, stories, and other adolescent scribblings “exploring sexual and gender identity, coming out, and other LGBTQ stories.” Friday, June 14. Doors at 8 p.m. Black Cat Mainstage, 1811 14th St. NW. Tickets are $17 in advance, or $20 at the door. Call 202-6674490 or visit www.blackcatdc.com.

NATIONAL PRIDE SHABBAT

Rabbi Shira, Aaron Shneyer, and Rabbi Laurie Green of Bet Mishpachah, and members of GLOE at the Edlavitch DCJCC lead an inclusive Shabbat service celebrating the diversity of D.C. Jewish life on the eve of the Capital Pride Parade. The service, co-presented by Sixth and I and open to all, begins at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Juney 7, with dinner reception to follow.

All Souls Unitarian Church, 1500 Harvard St. NW. Tickets are $15 to $30 including dinner reception.

Call 877-987-6487 or visit www. sixthandi.org.

#NOH8 PHOTOSHOOT AT W WASHINGTON HOTEL

D.C.’s W Hotel is hoping to entice Pride-goers to check out its extensively renovated new digs with two events on Sunday, June 9. From noon to 2 p.m., comes a new version of the decade-old #NOH8 campaign, only now it’s styled as a visual protest in support of gender and human equality as well as the original push for marriage. Photos taken in the swanky setting will cost between $25 and $40, and there will also be specialty cocktails to try at the reimagined Living Room bar.

Then, from 4 p.m. until close, the W’s all-new Corner Office restaurant, featuring artisan wood-fired pizzas and craft beers in a garden setting, will offer specials for happy hour. 515 15th St. NW. Call 202-661-

The Crown & The Crow. DJ Sean McClafferty will work to get everyone dancing when they’re not eating food provided by District Taco.

Proceeds from the event will benefit Strength in Our Voices, a D.C.based mental health education and support organization. Sunday, June 9, from 1 to 4 p.m. The Crown & Crow, 1317 14th St. NW. Tickets are $18. Call 202-763-7552 or visit www.thecrownandcrow.com.

NEWSEUM

PRIDE PARADE PREGAME PARTY AT THE SALLY

RISE UP: STONEWALL AND THE LGBTQ RIGHTS MOVEMENT

A groundbreaking exhibition commemorating the events at New York’s Stonewall Inn fifty years ago this month, when patrons stood up against the widespread police raids and anti-gay harrassment of the era. As seen through artifacts, images, and historic print publications, the Newseum’s Rise Up spotlights the Stonewall uprising as the key spark helping ignite the modern LGBTQ movement. Yet the exhibit also puts things in proper perspective by examining other pivotal moments of history, including the 1978 assassination of Harvey Milk, one of the country’s first openly gay elected officials; the creation of the rainbow flag as a powerful symbol to represent the community; the pioneering advocacy of early movement leaders, none more so than hometown hero Frank Kameny; the impact of the AIDS crisis; and the more recent cultural progress in terms of military representation and marriage equality. The role of the news media and popular culture in general is also naturally touched on in an exhibit hosted by the Newseum’s Freedom Forum Institute, a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for a free press and the First Amendment. Now to Dec. 31. 555 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are $22.95 for general admission. Call 292-6100 or visit www.newseum.org.

2400 or visit www.wwashingtondc. eventbrite.com.

PRETTY BOI DRAG: #PRETTYBOIPRIDE BRUNCH, #OPENKINGNIGHT

The art of drag kings lives on in D.C. via Pretty Boi Drag, co-founded by former DC King Pretty Rik E. And the organization presents two events in honor of this year’s Capital Pride. First up comes a brunch on Saturday, June 8, from noon to 3 p.m. at the organization’s usual host venue the Bier Baron Tavern, mere steps away from the official parade kickoff at 4:30 p.m. Brunch features an all-inclusive roster of performers as well as music from DJ Tezrah. Tickets are $20 in advance, or $25 at the door, not including food, which is available a la carte, or drink, with $15 getting you bottomless Mimosas and $20 bottomless Bloody Marys. A week later, at 8 p.m. on Thursday, June 13, comes Pretty Boi’s first Open King Night

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“Pride Spectacular,” featuring performances from both veteran and amateur drag kings showing their pride — maybe even you, if you registered in advance. Also Bier Baron Tavern, 1523 22nd St. NW. Tickets are $10 in advance, or $!5 at the door. Call 202-293-1887 or visit www.prettyboidrag.com.

PRIDE + SHINE BRUNCH PARTY AT URBANA

The modern Italian restaurant inside the Kimpton Hotel Palomar, up the block from the start of the Capital Pride parade route, hosts its third annual daytime party this Saturday, June 8. “Vice President” Mike HotPence — whose m.o. is “shaking my can for causes and committees under attack from the Trump-Pence administration” — makes a special appearance, collecting donations for the Trevor Project. DJ Trayze will turn the double-sided bar into a dance party with popular pride jams blasting throughout the restaurant,

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featuring a $50 pride bar package from noon to 6 p.m. including select beer, wine, mixed drinks, and unlimited pizza. The centerpiece is Chef Ethan McKee’s Bottomless Brunch, including stations for omelettes, charcuterie, and pizza, with cocktails, craft beers, rainbow Jell-O shots, and Pride-themed Bellinis prepared by bartender Andrea Tateosian. DJ Trayze will spin popular pride pop tunes from noon for a party that will spill over into the hotel’s banquet space and benefit the Trevor Project. Saturday, June 8, from noon to 6 p.m. Urbana, 2121 P St. NW. Free to attend, but reservations for front-row brunch seating strongly encouraged. Call 202-9566650 or visit www.urbanadc.com.

PRIDE DRAGTEA

KC B. Yoncé, Ba’Naka, Sasha Adams, and Tatianna will perform at an afternoon tea party hosted

by Lena Lett at the new Victorian Era-styled 14th Street hotspot

The new restaurant and lounge at the renovated hotel The Fairfax at Embassy Row throws open its doors — and its newly unveiled outdoor terrace overlooking Massachusetts Avenue — on Saturday, June 8, beginning at 2:30 p.m. The occasion is the Capital Pride Parade, which kicks off one block away. Guests at The Sally can enjoy drink specials — including pride-themed concoctions “Strawberry’s Field,” a mix of Wheatley Vodka, Licor 43, kiwi, and strawberry, and “Real Ladies Never Blush,” a fizzy blend of prosecco, limoncello, and pomegranate. Both cocktails will go for $9, while two craft beers will set you back $5 each: Fordham & Dominion Brewing’s Cherry Blossom Lager or Sapporo Nippon Lager. Seasonal menu items from executive chef Ricardo Planas’s menu will also be available, as will pride party favors and festive music. 2100 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Call 202-293-2100 or visit www.thesallydc.com.

STONEWALL AT 50: LGBTQ+ ACTIVISM IN THE UNITED STATES

The Library of Congress celebrates “LGBTQ+ Pride Month” with a new display commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. Drawing from the papers of early LGBTQ rights pioneers Lilli Vincenz and Franklin Kameny, the exhibit puts that turning point in the LGBTQ movement in context with materials representing activism from the time periods before — those from the education-focused homophile movement of the 1950s — and after, or the more radical gay liberation movement. The display also includes flyers and ephemera from the very first pride event, the Christopher Street Liberation Day in 1970. On display through July 11. The Great Hall in the Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First St. SE. Call 202-707-8000 or visit www. loc.gov/events.

YOGA AT THE MAYFLOWER

CorePower Yoga leads a special yoga class to get you pumped for the Capital Pride Parade later in the day. Saturday, June 8, at 11 a.m. The Mayflower Hotel, 1127 Connecticut Ave. NW. Free. Call 202-347-3000 or visit www.themayflowerhotel.com.

Museum at the Motorola Solutions Foundation Building, 444 E St. NW. Free for the first 50 guests courtesy of Target, otherwise $19.95 to $21.95 for museum admission. Call 202-737-3400 or visit www.lawenforcementmuseum.org.

FILM

MAGNOLIA BAKERY

ECHO IN THE CANYON

PRIDE SWEETS & TREATS

A number of restaurants and bakeries are getting in on the Pride act through the creation of specialty desserts, most of which are doubly sweet by virtue of benefiting LGBTQ charities.

On the day of the Capital Pride Parade, the curbside Glaces de Diplomate ice cream cart at Le Diplomate (1601 14th St. NW) will include a colorful Rainbow Cone featuring a creamy French-style glace made in-house and covered completely in rainbow sprinkles. All proceeds from sales of the $5 cones will be donated to the Capital Pride Alliance. Call 202-3323333 or visit www.lediplomatedc.com. At Osteria Morini (301 Water St. SE) in the Navy Yards, pastry chef Tova Hillman has fashioned the colorful and decadent Rainbow Italian Almond Cake, a five-layer creation interspersed with raspberry and apricot jam and coated in a silky dark chocolate glaze. The cake will be available for dine-in only through Sunday, June 9, at a price of $11, with 20-percent of proceeds going to Casa Ruby. Call 202-4840660 or visit www.osteriamorini.com/washington-dc. Also available for dine-in only until Sunday, June 9, is the Pride Sundae at Nicoletta Italian Kitchen (901 4th St. NW), the newest restaurant in Mt. Vernon Triangle. Rainbow-colored cake bites are added to fior di latte vanilla soft-serve ice cream and then coated in sweet chocolate sauce and finally decorated with festive rainbow sprinkles. The Trevor Project will receive 20 percent of proceeds for each $7 sundae sold. Call 202-697-6888 or visit www.nicolettakitchen.com. Finally, New York’s famed Magnolia Bakery now has a location in Union Station (50 Massachusetts Ave. NE), where this week the store is focusing on Pride Cupcakes, made with rainbow confetti and topped with vanilla buttercream icing and an edible rainbow decoration ($3.95 each).

But all month long, the store will be dolloping Pride Pudding, with layers of vanilla, vanilla wafers, and bananas, and topped with rainbow sprinkles, in quantities ranging from a small single-serving ($4.50) to a large party bowl ($75), with proceeds donated to the Trevor Project. Call 202-424-2224 or visit www.magnoliabakery.com.

YOUTH PRIDE DANCE 2019

The Kimpton Hotel Palomar plays host to this annual event, open to any young LGBTQ individuals ages 13 to 21. The substance-free dance is hosted by SMYAL along with the Youth Pride Alliance, Damien Ministries and Capital Pride.

Saturday, June 8, at 7 p.m. 2121 P St. NW. Free. Call 202-956-6650 or visit www.youthpridealliance.org.

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WITNESS: STONEWALL RIOTS DISCUSSION AT LAW ENFORCEMENT MUSEUM

A few days after Capital Pride wraps, the National Law Enforcement Museum hosts a panel discussion with the full title “Witness: Stonewall Riots: Fifty Years of Change for Law Enforcement and the LGBT Community.” The discussion moves beyond the famous New York police raids of the Stonewall Inn, which helped spark the whole LGBTQ movement, to the present day relation-

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ship between the police and the community, nationally as well as in D.C. Panelists include David Carter, author of Stonewall: The Riots that Sparked the Gay Revolution, Lt. Brett Parson, the manager of the LGBT Liaison Unit of the D.C.’s Metropolitan Police Department, and Lucian Truscott IV, a former Village Voice staff writer and columnist for Salon who has written about his experiences being on the scene during the 1969 Stonewall uprising. Thursday, June 13, at 7 p.m. National Law Enforcement

Andrew Slater’s documentary traces L.A.’s 1960s pop explosion as folk went electric by virtue of hitmaking acts including the Byrds, the Beach Boys, Buffalo Springfield, and the Mamas and the Papas. This look at the origins of the California Sound features Jakob Dylan, who uncovers never-before-heard personal details behind the bands and their songs and how the music continues to inspire artists today — everyone from Beck to Regina Spektor, Norah Jones to Fiona Apple. Echo in the Canyon also includes the very last film interview with Tom Petty.

Opens Friday, June 7. Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www. landmarktheatres.com.

FATHER OF THE BRIDE

Next up in the popular Capital Classics series at Landmark’s West End Cinema is the comedy that came in at No. 83 on “AFI’s 100 Years...100 Laughs” list from 2000. This is the Vincente Minnelli hit from 1950 starring Spencer Tracy and Elizabeth Taylor — and not Charles Shyer’s dreadful 1991 remake with Steve Martin and Kimberly Williams. Halfway between this year’s Capital Pride weekend and Father’s Day comes a rare chance to see the original take on Edward Streeter’s novel of the same name. Wednesday, June 12, at 1:30, 4:30, and 7:30 p.m. 2301 M St. NW. Happy hour from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $12.50. Call 202534-1907 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

NETWORK

The American Film Institute continues its important “The Fourth Estate Film Series” showcasing a handful of Hollywood’s most acclaimed journalism-themed hits, with The Front Page and His Girl Friday still to come. Next up is Sidney Lumet’s brilliant, prescient examination of the modern news media, depicting a cruel, ratings-hungry world in which populism is exploited for profit. The 1976 classic garnered 10 Oscar nominations and acting wins for Peter Finch as Howard “Mad as Hell” Beale, Faye Dunaway, and Beatrice Straight, as well as for Paddy Chayefsky’s screenplay. The screening is followed by a discussion with Chuck Todd of NBC’s Meet The Press, Beth Reinhard, Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post reporter, and Clarence Page,

as Marvin. “The score really has some of the most beautiful melodies in the musical theater catalog,” Adams says. “And that’s the thing — people get wrapped up in the emotion that’s carried in the songs. It’s just fantastic. But as a full piece, to see it — God, it’s a ride.”

Opens Tuesday, June 11. Runs to Sunday, June 23. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. Tickets are $49 to $139. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

DUSTIN PITTMAN

FAME

HALSTON

Acclaimed filmmaker Frédéric Tcheng focuses on America’s first superstar designer, weaving together rare archival footage and intimate interviews with everyone from collaborator and close friend Liza Minnelli to filmmaker Joel Schumacher to his favored troupe of models known as the Halstonettes. The Iowa-born Roy Halston Frowick created a multimillion-dollar empire and personified the dramatic social and sexual revolution of the last century — as a regular habitué of Studio 54 and as an openly gay man who was taken far too soon, in 1990 at only 57, as a result of an AIDS-related illness. Opens Friday, June 7. Landmark’s E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit www.landmarktheatres.com.

Chicago Tribune columnist, moderated by Paul Glastris, editor-inchief of the Washington Monthly.

Thursday, June 13, at 7 p.m. 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring.

Tickets are $13 general admission.

Call 301-495-6720 or visit www.afi. com/Silver.

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

Landmark's E Street Cinema offers its monthly run of Richard O’Brien’s camp classic, billed as the longest-running midnight movie in history. Landmark's showings come with a live shadow cast from the Sonic Transducers, meaning it's even more interactive than usual. Friday, June 7, and Saturday, June 8, at midnight. Landmark's E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW. Call 202-452-7672 or visit landmarktheatres.com.

UNION MARKET DRIVE-IN: CON AIR

Nicolas Cage is a newly paroled ex-con and former U.S. Ranger and John Malkovich as the criminal mastermind in this 1997 Jerry Bruckheimer-produced action blockbuster, directed by Simon West, next up in the monthly warm weather Drive-In Series at Union

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Market. You don’t have to have a car to take it all in — just grab a viewing spot in the free picnic area.

Food and beer are available, delivered to you or your car window by the DC Rollergirls. Other films to screen on first Fridays this summer include A League of Their Own, Jaws, Coco, and The Wiz. Friday, June 7. Gates at 6 p.m., with the movie starting after sunset at 8:45 p.m. In the parking lot at 1305 5th St. NE. Free for walk-ups or $10 per car. Call 800-680-9095 or visit unionmarketdc.com.

STAGE A MISANTHROPE

Matt Minnicino’s new contemporary distillation of Molière's classic comedy The Misanthrope is the last show of WSC Avant Bard’s 29th season. Where the 17th-century original skewered the hypocrisy of the French aristocracy, A Misanthrope is set in the present, and further characterized per official publicity materials as “a sendup of trendy suck-ups and phonies during a booze-fueled pool party with the wealthy and wanna-be famous.” The 90-minute intermission-less production is over-

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

seen by Megan Behm, directing a sizable 10-member cast including Sara Barker, Elliott Kashner, Thais Menendez, Tendo Nsubuga, and Hannah Sweet. In previews. Runs to June 30. Gunston Arts Center Theatre Two, 2700 South Lang St. Arlington. Tickets are $40. Call 703-418-4804 or visit www.wscavantbard.org.

FALSETTOS

It’s a notable achievement that William Finn and James Lapine’s musical is touring the country now, nearly 30 years after the show became one of the first to present gay life and same-sex love on Broadway. Yet far from being outdated, the two-time Tony-winning musical has proven it still resonates with contemporary audiences, even those seeing it for the first time in the current Lincoln Center Theater production, once again directed by Lapine. For one thing, there’s the story, which fundamentally is about the rewards and ramifications of coming out and being true to oneself — as timely as ever. And then there’s the music, which elevates the show to another level, says Nick Adams, currently playing the role of Whizzer opposite Max von Essen

Alan Parker’s Oscar-winning 1980 movie about talented, hyper-emotional, horny New York City high schoolers learning drama, dance, and music cast a perfect mold for theatrical reinvention. The magnetic energy and appeal harnessed by director-choreographer Luis Salgado and his estimable cast in GALA Hispanic Theatre’s production creates strong connections. The show is performed in both Spanish and English (all supertitled), and the cast slides easily between both tongues, registering a profound and accurate representation of today’s American high school. To June 9.

3333 14th St. NW. Tickets are $65.

Call 202-234-7174 or visit www. galatheatre.org. (André Hereford)

GREASE

Go for a drive up to Columbia if you’d like to go back in time — all the way back to the 1950s — for Toby’s Dinner Theatre’s production of Grease, the hit musical circa 1971 by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical-writing duo set the show in a mid-20th century American high school — one where even cool kids can’t resist breaking out into the sing-along fun of such hit staples as “Summer Nights,” “You’re The One That I Want,” and “Hopelessly Devoted to You.” Mark Minnick directs and choreographs a that stars Matt Hirsh as Danny and Nicki Elledge as Sandy. To July 28. 5900 Symphony Woods Rd. Columbia, Md. Tickets are $47.50 to $63, including buffet-style dinner and coffee and tea. Call 301-5966161 or visit www.tobysdinnertheatre.com.

HELLO, DOLLY

Tony-winning Broadway legend Betty Buckley (the original Grizabella in Cats) stars as Dolly Levi, following in the formidable footsteps of Bette Midler and Bernadette Peters (and way before them, Carol Channing and Barbra Streisand). The touring production of Jerry Herman’s masterpiece, per Jerry Zaks’ swell Tony-winning revival, now settles in for a monthlong run at the Kennedy Center.

Also starring Lewis J. Stadlen. To July 7. Opera House. Tickets are $49 to $159. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

more than their marriage. To June 9. Studio Theatre, 1501 14th St. NW. Call 202-332-3300 or visit www. studiotheatre.org.

MUSIC

TERESA CASTRACANE

BRANDI CARLILE W/LUCIUS

DESCRIBE THE NIGHT

The stories of seven lost souls are connected across decades by history, fiction, lies, and blood in the latest play from Pulitzer Prize-finalist Rajiv Joseph (Guards at the Taj), based on the diary of Russian Jewish writer Isaac Babel. Recipient of the 2018 Obie Award for Best New American Play, Describe the Night makes it D.C. debut in a Woolly Mammoth Theatre production directed by John Vreeke and featuring Tim Getman and Kate Eastwood Norris as part of a cast also including Moriamo Temidayo Akibu, Regina Aquino, Danny Gavigan, Jonathan David Martin, and Justin Weaks.

Now to June 23. 641 D St. NW. Call 202-393-3939 or visit www.woollymammoth.net.

KLYTMNESTRA: AN EPIC SLAM POEM

Danielle Drakes directs the latest Theater Alliance production, a dynamic one-woman show written and performed by local black trans woman Dane Figueroa Edidi. A saga of strong women, the men who seek to destroy them, and the dangerous extremes this kind of society can have if left unchecked, Klytmnestra is a multicultural retelling of the classic Greek myth written to vindicate a mother slain by her own son’s hand, incorporating Kabuki and African dance elements along the way. Now to June 16. Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place SE. Tickets are $30 to $40. Call 202241-2539 or visit www.theateralliance.com.

RICHARD III

Synetic Theater offers its 14th “wordless Shakespeare” production, an athletic, futuristic, cyberpunk adaptation of King Richard III’s Machiavellian rise to power, highlighting the terrifying extremes

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made possible through the abuse of modern technology. Synetic’s Paata Tsikurishvili directs Alex Mills in the title role, with Irina Tsikurishvili portraying Queen Elizabeth. The cast also includes Matt Stover, Maryam Najafzada, Thomas Beheler, Philip Fletcher, Jordan Clark Halsey, Aaron Kan, Tim Proudkii, Nutsa Tediashvili, Ana Tsikurishvili, and Scean Aaron.

To June 16. 1800 South Bell St., Arlington. Call 800-811-4111 or visit www.synetictheater.org.

THE CHILDREN

David Muse directs Lucy Kirkwood’s taut and disquieting thriller, a hit in London and New York, about responsibility and reparation, and what one generation owes the next. Jeanne Paulsen and Richard Howard play a married pair of retired nuclear physicists whose peaceful existence in a remote cottage on the British coast is upended by a former colleague, played by Naomi Jacobson, who offers a proposal that threatens

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Twins Phil and Tim Hanseroth write, sing and play with lesbian frontwoman Brandi Carlile, whose music is an intriguing country-rock blend, with additional influence from gospel and folk — think Indigo Girls blended with Johnny Cash and a touch of Elton John. And then there’s Carlile’s eminently captivating voice, supple and expressive, not too dissimilar from Sia’s. Carlile continues to tour in support of sixth set By The Way, I Forgive You, full of dramatic story-songs. The four-piece indie-pop band Lucius, known for the tight harmonies between dual lead vocalists Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, opens.

Friday, June 14. Gates at 5:30 p.m.

Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia, Md. Tickets are $46 to $76. Call 800-551-SEAT or visit www.merriweathermusic.com.

CAPITAL JAZZ FEST

As much about pop and R&B/soul as it is jazz, this annual three-day festival returns to Merriweather Post Pavilion, kicking off Friday, June 7, with gates at 6:30 p.m., for performances by Gladys Knight and Babyface. Highlights to come Saturday, June 8, include Gregory Porter, India.Arie, Gerald Albright with special guest Selina Albright, “Something She Can Feel: A Tribute to Queen Aretha,” and Regina Belle on the Pavilion Stage, and Brian McKnight, Marsha Ambrosius, Kenny Lattimore, and Leela James on the Symphony Woods Stage. Sunday, June 9, offers Patti Austin, Black Violin, The Baylor Project, and Isaiah Sharkey on the Pavilion Stage, and George Clinton’s Farewell Tour featuring Parliament/Funkadelic, Stephanie Mills, and Raheem DeVaughn on the Symphony Woods Stage. 10475 Little Patuxent Parkway, Columbia.

Tickets are $59.50 to $225 per day.

Call 800-551-SEAT or visit capitaljazz.com.

DC JAZZ FESTIVAL

Billed as the fastest-growing jazz festival in the U.S., as well as the largest and most diverse music festival in D.C., this 15th annual event offers 150 performances in 40 venues around town, from the Phillips Collection to Twins Jazz Club. On Friday, June 7, Hamilton Live kicks off a string of shows over the next week with the Anat Cohen Quartet, followed by Cecile McLorin Salvan with Fred Hersch on Saturday, June 8, and Hailu Mergia, on Sunday, June 9. Sunday also ushers in the launch of the Nat

King Cole Centennial Series on the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage with a concert from Kelly Green, followed on successive days by Amy K. Bormet, Trent Cokley, Noa Fort, Barry Gurley, Micah Smith, Alison Crockett, and concluding Sunday, June 16 with the Eric Byrd Trio.

Other highlights over the next week include: Jazz in the ’Hoods concerts with Julia Nixon at Asbury United Methodist Church on Friday, June 7, Eliot Hughes & Brad Linde at the Atlas Performing Arts Center on Monday, Jun 10, and “Finding Strayhorn: Exploring the Billy Strayhorn Collection at the Library of Congress” on Wednesday, June 12; the “Celebrating Randy Weston” concert with Vijay Iyer, Marc Cary and Rodney Kendrick TK Blue, Alex Blake, and Neil Clarke, at the Kennedy Center on Sunday, June 9, Etienne Charles Creole Soul on Thursday, June 13, at City Winery, and the Kevin Cordt Quartet Friday, June 14, at Mr. Henry’s. The second weekend of the festival, presented by EventsDC, offers marquee events at venues on the Southwest Waterfront, chiefly the free DC JazzFest performances on outdoor stages at the District Wharf, along with concerts by Snarky Puppy and José James on Friday, June 14, and Jon Batiste & Stay Human and Brass-A-Holics on Saturday, June 15, at the Anthem. The festival closes Sunday, June 16, with a Great Masters of Jazz concert in tribute to Quincy Jones, Roy Hargrove, Nancy Wilson, Shirley Horn, and Fred Foss, in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Call 855-332-7767 or visit www.dcjazzfest.org.

IBEYI

An electronic soul-fired duo of sisters with African roots but based in France, Ibeyi will put you in mind of Les Nubians, the neo-soul partnership between the Faussart sisters who scored improbable success in the U.S. two decades ago, despite singing only in French. But while Parisian-reared twin sisters Lisa-Kaindé Diaz and Naomi Diaz continue to sing in French, they also now sing in English, Spanish and Yoruba — the language of their Nigerian ancestors. And their music, with Lisa on piano and Naomi on percussion, reflects their pedigree as daughters of the late Cuban percussionist Anga Diaz, a member of the Buena Vista Social Club, and of French-Venezuelan singer Maya Dagnino. Sunday, June 9 at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Doors at 7 p.m.

Tickets are $25. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.930.com.

MARYLAND LYRIC OPERA: AN EVENING OF PUCCINI

Excerpts from La boheme, Madama Butterfly, and Tosca — three of the Italian opera master’s most beloved emotion-filled works — will be performed by featured

Dr. Alexandria. Tickets are $25.

Call 703-799-8229 or visit www. wmpamusic.org.

WASHINGTON PERFORMING ARTS GOSPEL CHOIRS: LEVEL NEXT

KIM HOOVER: GIRL SQUAD

A mother goes missing from a small town during a lazy summer in 1970s Texas, and the quest to solve the mystery propels the gender and sexual awakening of her daughter Cal, her best friend Rachel, and her future girlfriend Jane. Author Kim Hoover, a lawyer by training who raised two daughters with her wife in D.C. before they uprooted to Miami, returns home for a discussion and signing of her new book, which Kirkus Review identifies as “a mystery/thriller wrapped in a hopeful coming-of-age and coming-out tale.” Tuesday, June 11, at 6:30 p.m. Kramerbooks, 1517 Connecticut Ave. NW. Call 202-387-1400 or visit www.kramers.com.

vocalists sopranos Maria Natale and Youna Hartgraves, mezzo-soprano Catherine Martin, tenors Yongxi Chen, Mauricio Miranda, and Marco Cammarota, and baritone SeungHyeon Baek. They will be accompanied by the 50-member Maryland Lyric Opera Orchestra under the baton of Louis Salmeno, along with concertmaster Jose Miguel Cueto and lighting designer Joan Sullivan Genthe. Friday, June 7, at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday, June 9, at 2 p.m. Kay Theatre in the Clarice at the University of Maryland, University Boulevard and Stadium Drive. College Park. Tickets are $10 to $60. Call 301-405-ARTS or visit www.theclarice.umd.edu.

NATIONAL SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA: DVOŘÁK’S NEW WORLD SYMPHONY

Antonin Dvořák’s folk-inspired Ninth Symphony closes out the National Symphony Orchestra season under the helm of Gianandrea Noseda. The Czech master’s grand and dramatic work comes as part of a program with two additional folk-inspired classical works: Manuel de Falla’s “Seven Popular Spanish Songs” featuring mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard and Aaron Copland’s cowboy ballet Billy the Kid, which evokes the grit of the

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Wild West anti-hero and the optimism of the everyman. Thursday, June 6, at 7 p.m., Saturday, June 8, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, June 9, at 3 p.m. Kennedy Center Concert Hall. Tickets are $10 to $89. Call 202-467-4600 or visit www.kennedy-center.org.

THE WASHINGTON CHORUS

The two-time Grammy Awardwinning symphonic choral organization featuring more than 130 singers will give voice to the full range of the human experience in a season-closing concert pairing two deeply moving works from the 20th century. The program features French composer Maurice Duruflé’s ineffably beautiful Requiem along with Scottish composer James MacMillan’s Cantos Sagrados, a modern masterwork reflecting on political oppression in Latin America. Special guests for the concert include organist Todd Fickley, mezzo-soprano Katherine Pracht, baritone Kerry Wilkerson, and cellist Katlyn DeGraw. Sunday, June 9, at 5 p.m. National Presbyterian Church, 4101 Nebraska Ave. NW. Tickets are $35 to $45. Call 202342-6221 or visit www.thewashingtonchorus.org.

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN PHILHARMONIC: SPOTLIGHT ON WOMEN COMPOSERS

Women composers are woefully underrepresented in the performance repertoire of the largest American orchestras — we’re talking a mere 1.8 percent — a trend that this progressive-minded organization, under Music Director Ulysses S. James, has been intentionally bucking over the past year. A whopping 14 of 16 works on the Washington Metropolitan Philharmonic’s current season docket were composed by women, two of which comprise the season’s final all-female program. Amy Beach’s Symphony No. 2 in E Minor aka her Gaelic Symphony, based in part on four Irish folksongs, established her as a prominent female composer of the early 20th century. The work is performed along with Eugène Ysaÿe’s Amitie, Poem for Two Violins and Orchestra, an evocative symphonic poem dedicated to a longtime friend of the composer’s and featuring the acclaimed violin/viola Marcolivia Duo of Marc Ramirez and Olivia Hajioff. Saturday, June 8, at 7 p.m.

Church of the Epiphany, 1317 G St. NW. Also Sunday, June 9, at 3 p.m.

The George Washington Masonic Memorial Theatre, 101 Callahan

Fixtures of the regional gospel scene, with more than 50 years of gospel music history between them, the two namesake choirs of the organization Washington Performing Arts — the Men and Women of the Gospel and the Children of the Gospel — take the stage together for an evening of celebration and affirmation, closing out the season with a bang. Grammy-nominated singer and D.C. gospel legend Richard Smallwood and the D.C.-based singer and choir director Monique Steele-Griffiths will make special guest appearances at the concert, intended as both a showcase of gospel’s proud legacy as well as a glimpse into its future. Theodore Thorpe III leads the adults while Michele Fowlin is the artistic director for the children. Friday, June 7, at 8 p.m. Music Center at Strathmore, 5301 Tuckerman Lane, North Bethesda. Tickets are $40 to $75. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

COMEDY FUNNY WOMEN OF A CERTAIN AGE

“Funny never gets old” is the tagline to this all-female comedy show focused on comics over the age of 50. As seen in a recent Showtime comedy special, the lineup includes Carole Montgomery, Vanessa Hollingshead, and Kerry Louise.

Sunday, June 9, at 7:30 p.m. The Birchmere, 3701 Mount Vernon Ave., Alexandria. Tickets are $35.

Call 703-549-7500 or visit www. birchmere.com.

ART & EXHIBITS BIENNIAL EXHIBITION OF THE CREATIVE CRAFTS COUNCIL

This 32nd biennial event showcases some of the finest crafts and craft makers from Maryland, Virginia, and D.C., including handmade jewelry, ceramics, textiles, and woodwork. Opening Reception is Thursday, June 6, at 7 p.m. To July 31. The Mansion at Strathmore, 10701 Rockville Pike, North Bethesda. Call 301-581-5100 or visit www.strathmore.org.

A MONUMENT TO SHAKESPEARE

A temporary exhibition highlighting how Henry Clay Folger and his wife Emily Folger set out to create their shrine to the Bard as a gift, in 1932, to the American people — examining the Folger Shakespeare Library’s architecture and looking

THE LIFE OF ANIMALS IN JAPANESE ART

PHOTO COURTESY OF FOOD & FRIENDS

This major exhibition at the National Gallery of Art covers 17 centuries of animal-inspired art — from the 5th century to the present — and across a wide variety of media, everything from sculpture to painting, ceramics to textiles, metalwork to woodblock print. In total, the exhibit includes more than 300 works spread across 18,000 square feet. Artists represented include Sesson Shūkei, Katshushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Kusama Yayoi, Issey Miyake, Nara Yoshitomo, and Murakami Takashi.

Now to Aug. 18. Concourse Galleries in the East Building, 3rd Street at Constitution Avenue NW. Call 202737-4215 or visit www.nga.gov.

ABOVE AND BEYOND POLITICS & ART: DISTRICT VOX

CHEF’S BEST DINNER & AUCTION

Forty chefs and mixologists from restaurants in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia assemble to prepare dishes and cocktails for attendees — in the process raising funds to support the work of presenting nonprofit Food & Friends. Kevin Tien of Hitmitsu serves as this year’s Chef Chair, recruiting as key participants Autumn Cline of Emilie’s, Amy Hosseinnian of Buffalo & Bergen, Ari Gejdenson of Mindful Restaurants Group (Acqua al 2, Ghibellina), Cable Smith of The Royal, and Olivier Caillabet of Toki Underground. U.S. Representative Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), chair of the Congressional House Hunger Caucus and co-chair of the Food is Medicine Working Group, is this year’s featured speaker. The night also offers the chance to bid on silent and live auction items from fantastic trips to one-of-akind experiences and private dining opportunities. Monday, June 10. Doors open at 6:30 p.m., with live auction bidding around 8:30 p.m. Marriott Marquis Washington, DC, 901 Massachusetts Ave. NW. Tickets are $350. Visit www.foodandfriends.org/ChefsBest.

to its future. To Jan. 5. 201 East Capitol St. SE. Call 202-544-7077 or visit www.folger.edu.

LGBTQ+ ART SHOW

Housed in the former Palmer Ford building along with the original Vigilante Coffee, Maryland’s Studio SoHy — short for South Hyattsville — readies its next exhibition: a group show curated by KAY with a focus on works by 13 local LGBTQ artists as diverse as they are and the community is. 4327 Gallatin St., Hyattsville, Md. Visit www.studiosohy.com.

MAY IS ALL ABOUT TRANS: ART EXHIBITION

This year’s month of programming celebrating D.C.’s transgender community, launched by Trans Pride founder SaVanna Wanzer, introduces an exhibition featuring 30 pieces of art from a diverse and talented group of 15 area artists identifying as transgender, non-binary, genderfluid, Two-Spirit, and/or agender. Westminster Presbyterian in Southwest D.C. hosts a show featuring: Alex Ramirez, Ameirah Neal,

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Autumn Towne, Dorian Blue, Edith Flores, Kay Wrenn, Sir Max Even, Molly Stratton, Nona Conner, Star Bennett from Check It Enterprises, and Zayn Thiam, plus Ahanu, Alexa Elizabeth Rodriguez, Kariwase Duprey, and Xemi Tapepechul from the Nelwat Ishkamewe Two-Spirit Art Collective. To June 14. 400 I St. SW. Call 202-484-7700 or visit www.mayistransdc.com.

PERFUME & SEDUCTION

The captivating evolution of perfume bottles and accessories from the 18th through the mid-20th centuries is told through the display of nearly 150 pieces, those taken from Hillwood’s collection as well as from Givaudan, the Swiss manufacturer of fragrances and cosmetics. Complementing the exhibition are a “scented suite of workshops.”

To June 9. Hillwood Estate, 4155 Linnean Ave. NW. Suggested donation is $18. Call 202-686-5807 or visit www.HillwoodMuseum.org.

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

QUEER AS GERMAN FOLK: CELEBRATING 50 YEARS OF TRANSATLANTIC RAINBOW FRIENDSHIP

The Goethe-Institut Washington and the DC Center for the LGBT Community have teamed up for a joint, two-part exploratory exhibition featuring a hands-on deconstructed archive that visitors can browse at their own pace and according to their own interests. The archive includes materials drawn from the Schwules Museum Berlin as well as D.C.based archives and partner resources such as the Rainbow History Project, Whitman-Walker Health, local photographer Elvert Barnes, and the DC Public Library. The similarities and differences in the push for LGBTQ equality in both capitals will be highlighted. Now to Aug. 23. Goethe-Institut/German Cultural Center, 1990 K St. NW. Ste. 03. Also The DC Center, 2000 14th St. NW. Ste. 105. Free. Visit www. goethe.de/washington and www. thedccenter.org.

Now in its 5th year, this annual “Made in D.C.” performing arts showcase features 15 acts from across the city and genre, representing everything from hiphop and spoken word to folk/ bluegrass and rock. Presented by Councilmember David Grasso and Washington Performing Arts via its Mars Arts D.C. partnership with Virginia candy giant Mars, Incorporated, the 2019 concert lineup includes performances from Flo Anito & Seth Kibel, Hannah Jaye and the Hideaways, the Heritage Signature Chorale, Konshens The MC/Classically Dope, Nelwat Ishkamewe, Songrise, students from the Carlos Rosario International Public Charter School, and Uptown Boyz. Rayceen Pendarvis of The Ask Rayceen Show serves as emcee.

Thursday, June 13, from 5:30 to 8 p.m. John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. Tickets are free, but registration recommended.

Call 202-785-9727 or visit www. washingtonperformingarts.org.

WIKIPEDIA EDIT-A-THON: LGBTQ+ EDITION

The Smithsonian American Art Museum hosts a workshop at which participants — of all levels of technological proficiency — will learn to edit and create new articles on Wikipedia, specfically about artists and on themes from the LGBTQ community. The free program kicks off with a special tour of works

by LGBTQ artists from the museum’s collection. Saturday, June 15, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. MacMillan Education Center, 8th and F Streets NW. Free but registration recommended. Call 202-633-1000 or visit www.americanart.si.edu. l

theFeed

FALSE FLAG

Donald Trump accused of “gross hypocrisy” and “gaslighting” after finally recognizing LGBTQ Pride Month. By Rhuaridh Marr

D

GAGE SKIDMORE

ONALD TRUMP HAS TWEETED HIS SUPPORT for LGBTQ people as Pride Month officially commences. Trump, who has thus far in his presidency refused to acknowledge June as official LGBTQ Pride Month, said that the country should recognize the contributions of LGBTQ people, while touting efforts by his administration to decriminalize homosexuality globally.

“As we celebrate LGBT Pride Month and recognize the outstanding contributions LGBT people have made to our great Nation,” Trump tweeted, “let us also stand in solidarity with the many LGBT people who live in dozens of countries worldwide that punish, imprison, or even execute individuals on the basis of their sexual orientation.

My Administration has launched a global campaign to decriminalize homosexuality and invite all nations to join us in this effort!”

The campaign, which is being spearheaded

by U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell, is reportedly working with European allies on how best to put political pressure on nations — especially those in Africa, the Middle East, and the Caribbean — where homosexuality, transgenderism, or same-sex relations are punishable by prison time or death.

However, Trump somewhat marred its rollout when he seemed completely unaware of the campaign’s existence when speaking with reporters in February.

And while Trump tweeting his support for LGBTQ Americans is admirable — and long overdue — it also comes at a time when his administration is being heavily criticized for its hostile attitude towards LGBTQ rights. Just last week, the State Department announced the creation of a new panel that will push anti-gay “natural law” in discussions about human rights. The Trump administration is also being sued for a recently enacted rule that allows healthcare providers and workers to deny care to LGBTQ people if they have a religious objection. And last month,

the administration announced plans to allow shelters to discriminate against homeless transgender people, denying them access to shelters that match their gender identity.

That’s just scratching the surface of the bigoted actions taken by Trump’s administration since he took office in 2017, such as rolling back protections for transgender students, banning transgender people from the military, revoking citizenship from the children of gay couples, consistently nominating anti-LGBTQ people for federal jobs, opposing the Equality Act, and allowing healthcare workers to refuse care to LGBTQ people.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Trump’s LGBTQ Pride Month tweet drew raised eyebrows and condemnation from LGBTQ organizations. Human Rights Campaign President Chad Griffin called Trump’s tweet “gross hypocrisy.”

“You can’t celebrate Pride and constantly undermine our rights — including attacking #TransHealth, discharging #TransTroops, refusing to protect LGBTQ youth, and cozying up to dictators who brutalize & marginalize LGBTQ people,” Griffin tweeted.

“This is gross hypocrisy, with an emphasis on gross.”

“This is gaslighting,” tweeted Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD. “Trump and his Administration have attacked the LGBTQ community in policy and rhetoric more than 110 times. We will be holding the media accountable to ensure that they’re telling the truth about his anti-LGBTQ record.”

At least one anti-LGBTQ ally of Trump has also expressed their anger with his Pride Month tweet. The American Family Association, which has a history of antiLGBTQ actions and statements, demanded that Trump “stand firm” against the pro-LGBTQ Equality Act and complained that “unnatural” homosexuality was being celebrated.

“Homosexuality is not something the president should celebrate,” said AFA President Tim Wildmon. “It’s unnatu-

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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theFeed ral, unhealthy and immoral behavior. We hope he will continue to stand firm against the so-called Equality Act (H.R. 5) and any legislation that threatens religious freedom. Such legislation will use the full force of the federal government to punish Americans who don’t embrace the LGBT political agenda.”

However, Kellyanne Conway, counselor to Trump, told reporters on Friday that Trump should be “lauded” for his efforts, noting that he entered office as a supporter of marriage equality, while former President Barack Obama didn’t publicly support it until 2012. “He’s the first president to start as president for approving of gay marriage,” Conway said.

“That’s something that he should be lauded for in history.”

Former Log Cabin Republican president Gregory T. Angelo thanked Trump in a tweet, saying he had “been waiting all my life for a Republican to show this kind of leadership.”

And Ambassador Grenell urged “everyone” to support the administration’s plans to decriminalize homosexuality.

“Thank you, @realDonaldTrump for your total support from the very beginning,” Grenell tweeted. “71 countries make homosexuality a crime. This is unacceptable and everyone should join your decriminalization campaign to end this outrage.” l

SWIPE RIGHT

Tinder will allow users to select up to three sexual orientations to boost inclusivity. By Rhuaridh Marr

D

ATING APP TINDER IS RELEASING AN UPDATE that will allow users of the service to select up to three different sexual orientations. The update, developed in conjunction with LGBTQ media advocacy organization GLAAD, is designed to provide greater inclusivity for users by allowing them to choose the orientations they best identify with. Users were previously limited to heterosexual, gay, and bisexual options, with Tinder offering “men,” “women,” or “both” under the “orientation” setting.

Now, users will be able to choose from Straight, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Asexual, Demisexual, Pansexual, Queer, and Questioning, to fine-tune how they identify. New users will be offered the options when signing up for a profile, while existing users can edit their profile to change their orientation.

Users will also be able to show their sexuality on their profile, and choose to show profiles that match their orientation options first. The update will be rolling out in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Ireland, India, Australia and New Zealand throughout June.

“We want all of our users to feel empowered expressing who they are while connecting with new people — and we’re always working to make that easier for our users on Tinder,” 28

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Elie Seidman, CEO of Tinder, said in a statement. “Dating apps are invaluable platforms for connecting the LGBTI community, and we’re beyond proud to continue our efforts, in partnership with GLAAD, to improve the community’s experience on Tinder.”

Tinder said that the orientation options could evolve over time, based on feedback from users. Rich Ferraro, GLAAD’s Chief Communications Officer, said Tinder was continuing to show “a dedication to inclusivity with updates that reach millions of people and create safer spaces for LGBTI users.”

He added: “Their latest work to expand additional sexual orientation options is an impactful change that helps LGBTI people authentically express their full selves and gives LGBTI users more control over potential matches.”

In 2016, Tinder introduced a More Genders option, after a report found that trans users were experiencing rampant transphobia, with many being reported and even banned from the app. Then-CEO Sean Rad said acknowledged that “there’s a transgender community on Tinder and we haven’t done enough to give them a good experience.” He added that including the More Genders option was “not only good for the Tinder community, but it’s the right thing to do for the world.” l

Valedictorian Validation When Matt Easton came out during his speech at the “LGBTQ-unfriendly” BYU, he became a catalyst for change.

Interview by Randy Shulman Photos courtesy Matt Easton

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HEN MATT EASTON GOT THE CALL TELLING him he’d been chosen as one of this year’s Capital Pride Parade Grand Marshals, he was flooded with emotion. “I’ll be honest, I started crying,” says the recent graduate of Brigham Young University. “I couldn't believe it. I looked at the list of Grand Marshals that had come before, and there were all these inspiring people who I've looked at and who I have drawn strength and courage from. So to be considered among them — I was blown away.

I'm just super-humbled. Humbled and honored and excited.”

Easton burst into the public sphere when, this past April, he came out publicly during his Valedictorian speech at BYU. It was a bold, courageous move, and a risk for the political science major who had spent four years closeted at a college operated by the Church of Latter Day Saints and ranked by the Princeton Review as the second-most LGBTQ-unfriendly college in America. (College of the Ozarks, in Point Lookout, Missouri, is the first.)

Easton’s coming out made national headlines, he was invited on Ellen to tell his story, and the 24-year-old began to advocate for what he calls “living authentically.” He acknowledges he is but one drop in a very big pond, but hopes his action will have a ripple effect, helping to enact a gradual shift of attitude toward LGBTQ people from the Mormon community as a whole. Still, he doesn’t delude himself and agrees that any change on that order is going to move glacially.

“I was super afraid,” he says of the days leading up to the speech. “And even coming out after I graduated, I have had negative responses, mostly from people within my faith community.

That's been really hard to swallow, because the people who raised me, the values that they taught me, the man I am today, I owe largely to this community. And to feel most, if not all, of the negativity coming from them, is painful.”

It’s not all been negative, he’s quick to add, “I also need to acknowledge that the vast majority of people in my faith community have given me positive responses.”

His immediate family, who Easton had quietly come out to a few years earlier, has been his rock of support. “The night before

the speech, I told my dad, ‘I'm going to come out in my speech tomorrow, by the way,’ and he was like, ‘Oh. Okay.’ Then, I told him I was worried how my more orthodox family members or people I really cared about would react. My dad just said, ‘You know, Matt, if people have a problem with what you're going to do, that's a problem with them, not a problem with you.’”

Easton remains strongly committed to his faith, and yet remains conflicted about his future as a gay man. Will he stay with the church and abide by its strict laws? Will he vocally advocate for change within its doctrine? Or will he leave, like so many other gay Mormons, so he can partake in a rich, rewarding life with a same-sex partner?

“I'm still figuring it out,” he admitted last Saturday afternoon, as he prepared to attend his first-ever Pride in Salt Lake City, later reported as the most successfully attended Pride in Utah’s history, with attendance topping 60,000. “I have prescribed completely to this religion for my entire life. It's only recently that I've even been able to come out or say that this is my identity and who I am. It's something I work through daily. For now, I'm focusing on my relationship with God and my relationship with my family. I'm just taking it a day at a time.”

Coming to Capital Pride — he’ll be here for both the Parade and Sunday’s Festival — will no doubt be an eye-opening experience for Easton, as he’ll feel what so many do at this event: engulfed by a feeling of love and belonging in an environment that is unique to the weekend.

“I'm excited to meet other people, to share my story, and to hear other stories,” he says. “Man, I just feel like a little fish in the middle of the Rocky Mountains of nowhere, so it's definitely really cool to feel that a huge fish, an institution like Capital Pride, noticed me. It’s very validating.”

METRO WEEKLY: Let’s talk a bit about your upbringing.

MATT EASTON: I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both

of my parents come from several generations of Mormon family, so my religion and my faith has been a very large part of my entire life. For a Mormon family, we’re not too big. I have three siblings. But both my mom and dad have six siblings, so I have 24 JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

31

aunts and uncles, and 56 a primal, human need. first cousins. It's a very They’re saying you can large extended family. identify as gay but you I lived in a very relihave to abstain comgious household. We pletely from any parwould attend church ticipatory aspect of the every week and attendromantic side. How do ed activities throughyou even change a reliout the week. Many of gion's viewpoint on that? our discussions were EASTON: A very good focused around the question. You're not principles of our faith. the first to ask and you The Mormon faith — or won't be the last. It is the LDS Church, they tough. For myself, and call it now — shaped for many people in my my identity. But it also community, it's somemade it really difficult thing we struggle with. for me to accept and I don't know an answer. understand this other MW: So it begs the quespart of me, which was tion, can you fully be a “I honestly thought that they were going to stop me. my sexuality. part of your faith if your But I didn’t say anything that goes against what curMW: How old were you religion doesn't allow when you realized you you to completely be who rent LDS doctrine says. I didn’t try to do that. All I might be gay? you are? How do you recsaid in my speech was ‘I’M GAY, THIS IS WHO I AM, EASTON: I knew from a oncile that?

AND THAT’S WHO GOD MADE ME.’” young age. I definitely EASTON: It sounds like developed crushes — you're guiding me into celebrity crushes or boys that I thought were cute. But I don't a very anti-religion discussion. And I want to make it very clear think I had the vocabulary to express what it was. It was some- that I'm not interested in bashing the faith of my family or disthing we didn't really talk about in my house or in my commu- respecting the community that I've grown up in. So please don't nity. I always had this idea that I would marry a woman, have a frame this article in that way, because I think that would be big Mormon family, just as my parents and my siblings and my inauthentic to who I am. cousins had done.

MW: I'm not trying to get you to renounce your religion. I’m just After high school, I decided to serve a mission for my church. trying to explore how you personally reconcile what seems to be an I was sent to Sydney, Australia for two years, from 18 to 20. I impossible situation. So let me ask it this way: What is it about the had a really wonderful experience doing that, but again, it wasn't Mormon faith that keeps you engaged with it despite its views on really a place where I had the chance to address my sexuality, or homosexuality? to even think about it. I kind of thought I'm going to move to this EASTON: My answer to that is that I'm still figuring it out. I have mission, then I'll make it to college, and then I'll think about it. prescribed completely to this religion for my entire life. It's only So after my mission, I got to college and my friends started recently that I've even been able to come out or say that this is dating. A lot of them were getting married, and I thought, "Oh, my identity and who I am. For me, it's something I work through my gosh, this is the time I've got to figure out who I'm going to daily. For now, I'm focusing on my relationship with God and be and what I'm going to do, because these decisions are coming my relationship with my family. I'm just taking it a day at a time. up fast and it's not something I can avoid any more." It really I'm really fortunate that my family has been very supportive. wasn't until I got to BYU that I started to think about and face my They just want what's best for me. I do recognize that that's not sexuality a little more head on. But it was also quite complicated something that everyone has the opportunity or the privilege of because at BYU, it's not exactly an environment that's conducive having. to exploring your sexuality, which made it a little more difficult MW: A religion can't just take hundreds of years of doctrine and for me than it might have been elsewhere. suddenly do a hard U-turn and reverse course. Change is gradual, MW: The Mormon faith historically has frowned on homosexuality. if at all. Do you think sticking with the LDS Church allows you to EASTON: Yes. Only recently — probably within the past, I don’t be an agent of change? Do you see yourself as someone who can know, 5 or 10 years — has the church begun to say being gay is help your religion better understand the truth behind what being not something you choose. Before then, the rhetoric was sort LGBTQ is? of that gay people are choosing to follow this path, and it's not EASTON: I really hope so. Even during my four years at BYU, I natural. But the Mormon Church — the LDS faith — now does felt a shift on campus, a change in the rhetoric, the way we talk say being born gay is not something you control or you choose about LGBTQ issues. For the first time this past year, the school and that there's nothing wrong with it. You're not sinful for featured a gay student on their Instagram story, then our mascot being gay. But it does explicitly state that you cannot engage in came out after he graduated. Then I came out. And just a few homosexual activity. That means kissing someone of the same weeks ago, the Utah County Commissioner, a very Republican gender, dating them, marrying them, having sex with them. All LDS man, came out as well. I feel a wave of change. I really of that is explicitly forbidden in the religion. You can be gay, but believe and I hope that this change is coming and continues to you can't live gay. happen.

MW: That’s quite the paradox. The doctrine is denying gay people I hope that by coming out in my speech and by being a part 32

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

“During my four years at BYU, I felt a shift on campus, a change in the way we talk about LGBTQ issues. The school featured a gay student on their Instagram story, then our mascot came out. Then I came out. I REALLY BELIEVE THAT THIS CHANGE IS COMING.”

of this movement of other gay Mormons coming out as well, and being more true to themselves and more open and authentic, that change will continue to happen.

MW: You were not out during your school years. How difficult was that for you?

EASTON: Oh, my goodness, it was really hard. There was a lot of fear surrounding talking about my identity. I was constantly worried. Who can I trust? If I share with them that I'm gay, will they want to kick me out of BYU? MW: Did you feel you’d be bullied or harassed by your fellow students?

EASTON: I definitely think that was a strong possibility. My freshman year, there was a boy in my international politics class. It was my second semester, his last semester. During that semester — I think it was in February — he decided to come out.

He did it on Facebook. He was just like, “You know, this is who I am.” A short time later, before the end of semester, because of the response that he got, he ended up committing suicide.

So, I mean, that was a reality right in front of my face. The only gay person I knew at the time came out and that was the course of action he took. I saw that and I thought, “Is that my future? Is that all that I'm headed towards? Is there nothing brighter for me, nothing better for us as gay students?”

I will say among the group of friends who I came out to in my junior year at BYU, they were very loving and accepting, very open-minded — but I had to search for them. I don't think it's necessarily the status quo [to be accepting of the LGBTQ community] at BYU. Beyond that, I didn't have much of a network or support. I think in large part it's because there's just not a lot of visibility at BYU. I didn't know a lot of gay people there. I didn't know that I could be out and open and probably be okay. I think that that was one of the hardest things. There's not even an LGBTQ club on campus. There was one a couple years ago, and BYU removed it. It was this feeling of being alone, like maybe I was the only one, that made it so hard.

MW: Why the decision to come out, and especially in the way that you did?

EASTON: It was not an easy decision. It's something that I thought a lot about, I prayed a lot about. I found out that I was valedictorian, and then about two weeks later, I found out that I would be the one who got to speak, so I had about three or four weeks to prepare a speech. I thought, “I've been given this platform, and I can give another valedictorian speech, just like anyone else, something nice that people will enjoy, but probably forget about in a day. Or I could take this platform and maybe, hopefully make something good from it, make something a little more lasting.”

I was sitting at the edge of my graduation looking forward, and I thought, “Am I going to keep living my life secretly, living in fear of what my family or my friends think?” I just realized I cannot do that. I’d done it for four years and I didn’t want to do it any longer. I thought if I came out here, there would be no looking back, and it would help me to get out of the closet and live more authentically.

I spoke a little bit about this on Ellen, but I also was very concerned about other students who are in my same situation — you know, freshmen who are at BYU who are also gay who maybe just came back from their missions and are just beginning to address their sexuality. I had a lot of dark nights, and a long time 34

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

of feeling really alone, and so I thought if I could give this speech and say something that those freshmen or sophomores at BYU — those queer students — are going to hear, they're going to feel a little less alone. It's not just that we can survive BYU, it's that BYU needs us. Our school needs the brilliant minds of other queer students. I wanted to help them know that they are important. We're not just something to be cast to the side.

MW: Did anybody afterwards criticize you or come to you and say you shouldn't have done that?

EASTON: Yeah, people have. It's mostly just been trolls on the internet, old people who read a headline and didn't listen to the whole speech and feel the need to message me. But the people who are important to me — my professors, my aunts and uncles, people who I actually care about — I've had nothing but support from.

MW: Were school officials aware of what you were going to do ahead of time?

EASTON: They were, yeah. The assistant Dean read it and approved it. I thought, “You know, he's probably going to say ‘Maybe it's a little too controversial.’” But I didn't get a single critique back. He just sent me an email that said, “This is awesome, I think everything that you want to say is appropriate, so go for it.”

I'm going to be honest: I was very surprised. I honestly thought that they were going to stop me. But I didn't say anything that goes against what current LDS doctrine says. I didn't try to do that. All I said in my speech was “I'm gay, this is who I am, and that's who God made me.”

MW: How devout are you currently?

EASTON: I'm still attending church. I think to reiterate what I said earlier, now is a time that I'm really focusing on my relationship with God and my spirituality. I'm still working through my feelings with my religion and these questions of do I want to remain in this religion? Is it going to be a better quality of life for me to leave? I'm not certain yet, if I'm being completely honest.

So, for right now, what I'm doing is focusing on what I do know and what I do believe. These other questions, I'm okay with taking them piece by piece.

MW: Is a relationship and possibly marriage to a man something you can even envision for yourself down the line?

EASTON: I've spent so many nights, in college or even growing up, where I've spiraled into these huge cases of hypotheticals or possibilities. I get so caught up in looking forward to the future that right now, all I'm really focused on is stepping back and focusing on the day-to-day. That's a very roundabout way of answering your question.

MW: What does Pride mean to you?

EASTON: For me, pride means authenticity. It means being proud of who you are and accepting exactly where you're at. This is the first time I've really felt proud of who I am. It feels really good.

I had no idea what it could feel like, and I never want to let go of that. l Matt Easton is one of the Grand Marshals of this year’s Capital Pride Parade, along with Earline Budd, Brandon Wolf, and Hailie Sahar and Dominique Jackson from the FX show, Pose. The Parade kicks off Saturday, June 8, at 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of 23rd and P St. NW. See page 10 of this magazine or visit www. capitalpride.org.

Community THURSDAY, June 6 The DC Center holds a meeting of its ASIAN PACIFIC

ISLANDER QUEER SUPPORT GROUP. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Weekly Events ANDROMEDA TRANSCULTURAL HEALTH

offers free HIV testing and HIV services (by appointment). 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Decatur Center, 1400 Decatur St. NW. To arrange an appointment, call 202-291-4707, or visit www.andromedatransculturalhealth.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB practice

session at Takoma Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS run-

ning/walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards. Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

DC LAMBDA SQUARES, D.C.’s

LGBTQ square-dancing group, features an opportunity to learn about and practice various forms of modern square dancing. No partner required. Please dress casually. 7:30-9:30 p.m.

National City Christian Church, 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-930-1058 or visit www.dclambdasquares.org.

DC SCANDALS RUGBY holds

practice. The team is always looking for new members.

All welcome. 7-9 p.m. Harry Thomas Recreation Center, 1743 Lincoln Rd. NE. For more information, visit www. scandalsrfc.org or dcscandals@ gmail.com.

THE DULLES TRIANGLES

Northern Virginia social group meets for happy hour at Sheraton in Reston. All welcome. 7-9 p.m. 11810 Sunrise Valley Drive, second-floor bar.

For more information, visit www.dullestriangles.com.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2:30-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW, and 9 a.m-12 p.m. and 2-5 p.m. at the Max Robinson Center, 2301 MLK Jr. Ave. SE. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

ON THE MARCH

Thousands of self-described “dykes” will rally to protest the displacement of low-income people by gentrification.

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CHOING THE ACTIVISM THAT SPARKED THE Stonewall Riots and gave birth to the modern-day LGBTQ rights movement, hundreds of people will take to the streets on Friday, June 7, as part of the DC Dyke March. “A joyful protest is the vibe we’re going for,” says march organizer Mary Claire Phillips, who likens the event to a political rallying cry. “We’ve made the point that this isn’t just a parade.”

The march carries on the tradition of the first Dyke March in April, 1993, which saw 20,000 self-described “dykes” march from Dupont Circle to the White House — although it was largely overshadowed that weekend by the March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights, which attracted nearly one million participants.

But similar dyke marches have continued to take place in other cities, and organizers were eager to bring it back to its roots in D.C. Setting off from McPherson Square Park at 5:30 p.m., the march will end with a rally at Dupont Circle. Like the original Dyke March, it will be permitless — though organizers have designated a police liaison in case marchers encounter any problems along the mile-long route.

It will also have a theme — this year it’s “Dykes Against Displacement,” focusing on a study showing that D.C. is experiencing the highest “intensity” of gentrification of any U.S. city, and another study that found low-income residents in D.C. are being pushed out of their neighborhoods at some of the highest rates in the country.

Marchers will also be raising money, to be split evenly among six community partner organizations that have worked on issues related to affordable housing: No Justice No Pride, Casa Ruby, HIPS, ONE DC, Black Lives Matter DC, and Empower DC. Phillips emphasizes that the march is all-inclusive, and not just for those who identify as cisgender lesbians.

“We want to reiterate to our queer community that ‘dyke’ is a political identity: anyone who is part of a marginalized sexuality or gender identity can identify as a dyke,” she says. “It’s an all-inclusive term, and it’s for the collective queer community, and fighting until every last one of us is celebrated and feels secure.” —John Riley The DC Dyke March is Friday, June 7, from 5-8 p.m., kicking off from McPherson Square Park, near the intersection of Vermont and K Streets NW, at 5:30 p.m. Online donations benefiting partner organizations will be accepted via Venmo (dc-dykemarch) or PayPal (DCDykeMarch).

Visit www.dcdykemarch.com.

KARING WITH INDIVIDUALITY (K.I.) SERVICES, 20 S. Quaker Lane,

Suite 210, Alexandria, Va., offers $30 “rapid” HIV testing and counseling by appointment only. 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Must schedule special appointment if seeking testing after 2 p.m. Call 703-823-4401.

METROHEALTH CENTER

offers free, rapid HIV testing.

Appointment needed. 1012 14th St. NW, Suite 700. To arrange an appointment, call 202-849-8029.

STI TESTING at Whitman-

Walker Health. 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. and 2-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit www. whitman-walker.org.

US HELPING US hosts a

Narcotics Anonymous Meeting.

The group is independent of UHU. 6:30-7:30 p.m., 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. For more information, call 202-446-1100.

FRIDAY, June 7 GAY DISTRICT, a group for

GBTQQI men between the ages of 18-35, meets on the first and third Fridays of each month.

8:30-9:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.gaydistrict.org.

Join LGBTQ people all over the D.C. area as they celebrate the start of Capital Pride with a PRIDE KICKOFF HAPPY HOUR SOCIAL at Pinzimini Lounge in the Westin Arlington Gateway. Ballston Metro is two blocks away. Free to attend.

Everyone welcome. 6:308:30 p.m. 801 N. Glebe Rd., Arlington, Va. For more information, visit www.gogaydc.org.

The DC DYKE MARCH, a public act of protest and a celebration of the dyke community, marches through Northwest D.C. to call attention to the issues of gentrification, displacement, and homelessness and its impact on the LGBTQ community. Bring signs, noise makers, banners, and more. 5-8 p.m.

McPherson Square, at Vermont and K Streets NW. For more information, visit www.dcdykemarch.com.

Women in Their Twenties (and Thirties), a social discussion and activity group for queer women, holds a WITT PRIDE

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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HAPPY HOUR at Local 16. No

Cover. $6 Drink specials available.

7:30-11 p.m. 1602 U St. NW. For more information, email Annie, anniebrown225@gmail.com.

Weekly Events BET MISHPACHAH, founded by

members of the LGBT community, holds Friday evening Shabbat services in the DC Jewish Community Center’s Community Room. 8 p.m.

1529 16th St. NW. For more information, visit www.betmish.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a prac-

tice session at Howard University.

6:30-8 p.m. Burr Gymnasium, 2400 6th St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

HIV TESTING at Whitman-Walker Health. 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at 1525 14th St. NW. For an appointment, call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

PROJECT STRIPES hosts LGBT-

affirming social group for ages 11-24. 4-6 p.m. 1419 Columbia Road NW. Contact Tamara, 202-3190422, www.layc-dc.org.

SMYAL’S REC NIGHT provides a

social atmosphere for LGBT and questioning youth, featuring dance parties, vogue nights, movies and games. 4-7 p.m. For more info, email rebecca.york@smyal.org.

SATURDAY, June 8 ARTY QUEERS, D.C.’s LGBTQ+ Art

Market, allowing LGBTQ artists to showcase and sell their works, is held on the second Saturday of every month at The DC Center. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

To register as an artist, visit www. thedccenter.org/events/artmarketregistration. For general information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

Capital Pride Alliance invites the community to attend the ANNUAL CAPITAL PRIDE PARADE as it makes its way along a 1.5-mile route leading through the Dupont and Logan Circle neighborhoods.

4:30-8 p.m. Parade starts at 21st and P Streets NW, ends at 14th and R Streets NW. Visit www.capitalpride.org.

CHRYSALIS arts & culture group

visits the National Archives downtown to see its new exhibition, Rightfully Hers, in honor of the centennial of the passage of the 19th Amendment on women’s suffrage. Free admission.

Refreshments follow. Gather at 11:30 a.m. just past security inside the Constitution Avenue entrance between 7th and 9th Streets NW. For more information, contact Craig, 202-462-0535 or craighowell1@verizon.net.

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The DC Center hosts a monthly meeting of UNIVERSAL PRIDE, a group to support and empower LGBTQIA people with disabilities, offer perspectives on dating and relationships, and create greater access in public spaces for LGBTQIA PWDs. 1-2:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, contact Andy Arias, andyarias09@gmail.com.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Montgomery College Aquatics Club. 8:30-10 a.m.

7600 Takoma Ave., Takoma, Md. For more information, visit www. swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards.

Route distance will be 3-6 miles.

Walkers meet at 9:30 a.m. and runners at 10 a.m. at 23rd & P Streets NW. For more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

SUNDAY, June 9 Capital Pride Alliance presents the CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL, complete with booths and tables representing local and national organizations, businesses, and community groups, complete with two beer gardens and performances by entertainers on three different stages, including the Capital Pride Music Festival on the Main Stage.

Sunset Dance Party follows. Noon to 10 p.m. Pennsylvania Avenue, between 3rd and 7th Streets NW. For more information and a schedule of performances, visit www. capitalpride.org.

The DC Center seeks volunteers to help with TABLING AT THE CAPITAL PRIDE FESTIVAL, sharing information on the Center’s various programs and services.

Noon to 7 p.m. Pennsylvania Avenue NW, between 3rd and 7th Streets NW. Register at www.thedccenter.org/events/pridefest2019.

Weekly Events LGBT-inclusive ALL SOULS

MEMORIAL EPISCOPAL CHURCH

celebrates Low Mass at 8:30 a.m., High Mass at 11 a.m. 2300 Cathedral Ave. NW. 202-232-4244, www.allsoulsdc.org.

BETHEL CHURCH-DC progressive and radically inclusive church holds services at 11:30 a.m. 2217 Minnesota Ave. SE. 202-248-1895, www.betheldc.org.

DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Wilson Aquatic

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

Center. 9:30-11 a.m. 4551 Fort Dr. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

DC FRONT RUNNERS running/

walking/social club welcomes runners of all ability levels for exercise in a fun and supportive environment, with socializing afterwards.

Route distances vary. For meeting places and more information, visit www.dcfrontrunners.org.

DIGNITYUSA offers Roman

Catholic Mass for the LGBT community. All welcome. Sign interpreted. 6 p.m. St. Margaret’s Church, 1820 Connecticut Ave. NW. For more information, visit www.dignitywashington.org.

FAIRLINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH is an open, inclusive church. All welcome, including the LGBTQ community. Member of the Reconciling Ministries Network. Services at 9:30 and 11:00 a.m. 3900 King Street, Alexandria, Va. 703-6718557. For more info, visit www. fairlingtonumc.org.

FIRST CONGREGATIONAL UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST

welcomes all to 10:30 a.m. service, 945 G St. NW. For more info, visit www.firstuccdc.org or call 202628-4317.

FRIENDS MEETING OF WASHINGTON meets for worship, 10:30 a.m., 2111 Florida Ave. NW, Quaker House Living Room (next to Meeting House on Decatur Place), 2nd floor. Special welcome to lesbians and gays. Handicapped accessible from Phelps Place gate.

Hearing assistance. Visit www. quakersdc.org.

HOPE UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST welcomes GLBT community for worship. 10:30 a.m., 6130 Old Telegraph Road, Alexandria.

Visit www.hopeucc.org.

HSV-2 SOCIAL AND SUPPORT GROUP for gay men living in the

DC metro area. This group will be meeting once a month. For information on location and time, visit www.H2gether.com.

INSTITUTE FOR SPIRITUAL DEVELOPMENT, God-centered

new age church & learning center.

Sunday Services and Workshops event. 5419 Sherier Place NW. Visit www.isd-dc.org.

Join LINCOLN

CONGREGATIONAL TEMPLE – UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST for

an inclusive, loving and progressive faith community every Sunday. 11 a.m. 1701 11th Street NW, near R in Shaw/Logan neighborhood. Visit www.lincolntemple.org.

LUTHERAN CHURCH OF REFORMATION invites all to

Sunday worship at 8:30 or 11 a.m.

Childcare is available at both services. Welcoming LGBT people for 25 years. 212 East Capitol St. NE. Visit www.reformationdc.org.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA services at 11 a.m., led

by Rev. Emma Chattin. Children’s Sunday School, 11 a.m. 10383 Democracy Lane, Fairfax. For more info, call 703-691-0930 or visit www.mccnova.com.

METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH OF WASHINGTON, D.C.

services at 9 a.m. (ASL interpreted) and 11 a.m. Children's Sunday School at 11 a.m. 474 Ridge St. NW. For more info, call 202-638-7373 or visit www.mccdc.com.

NATIONAL CITY CHRISTIAN CHURCH, inclusive church with

GLBT fellowship, offers gospel worship, 8:30 a.m., and traditional worship, 11 a.m. 5 Thomas Circle NW. For more info, call 202-232-0323 or visit www.nationalcitycc.org.

RIVERSIDE BAPTIST CHURCH,

a Christ-centered, interracial, welcoming-and-affirming church, offers service at 10 a.m. 680 I St. SW. For more info, call 202-5544330 or visit www.riversidedc.org.

ST. STEPHEN AND THE INCARNATION, an “interracial,

multi-ethnic Christian Community” offers services in English, 8 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and in Spanish at 5:15 p.m. 1525 Newton St. NW. For more info, call 202-232-0900 or visit www.saintstephensdc.org.

UNITARIAN CHURCH OF ARLINGTON, an LGBTQ welcom-

ing-and-affirming congregation, offers services at 10 a.m. Virginia Rainbow UU Ministry. 4444 Arlington Blvd. For more info, visit www.uucava.org.

UNITARIAN UNIVERSALIST CHURCH OF SILVER SPRING

invites LGBTQ families and individuals of all creeds and cultures to join the church. Services 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. 10309 New Hampshire Ave. For more info, visit www. uucss.org.

UNIVERSALIST NATIONAL MEMORIAL CHURCH, a welcom-

ing and inclusive church. GLBT Interweave social/service group meets monthly. Services at 11 a.m., Romanesque sanctuary. 1810 16th St. NW. For more info, call 202-3873411 or visit www.universalist.org.

MONDAY, June 10 The YOUTH WORKING GROUP of The DC Center holds a monthly

meeting focusing on upcoming projects and initiatives aimed at positively impacting the lives of D.C. area LGBTQ youth. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more information, visit www. thedccenter.org/youth.

Weekly Events DC AQUATICS CLUB holds a

practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit www. swimdcac.org.

DC’S DIFFERENT DRUMMERS

welcomes musicians of all abilities to join its Monday night rehearsals.

The group hosts marching/color guard, concert, and jazz ensembles, with performances year round.

Please contact Membership@ DCDD.org to inquire about joining one of the ensembles or visit www.

DCDD.org.

US HELPING US hosts a black gay

men’s evening affinity group for GBT black men. Light refreshments provided. 7-9 p.m. 3636 Georgia Ave. NW. 202-446-1100.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome.

Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org.

TUESDAY, June 11 Join Capital Pride and The DC Center’s Center Faith group as they host the annual CAPITAL PRIDE INTERFAITH SERVICE, a non-denominational “integrated service” celebrating the ways in which various faith traditions embrace the LGBTQ community. 7-8:30 p.m.

Adas Israel Congregation, 2850 Quebec St. NW (Cleveland Park Metro). Contact Eric Eldritch at e.eldritch@thedccenter.org.

The DC Center holds a roundtable discussion as part of its COMING OUT DISCUSSION GROUP on the second Tuesday and fourth Thursday of each month. This group is for those navigating issues associated with coming out and personal identity. 7-8:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

The DC Center is seeking volunteers to cook and serve a monthly meal for LGBTQ homeless youth at the WANDA ALSTON HOUSE on the second Tuesday of each month.

7-8 p.m. For address and more information, contact the support desk at The DC Center at supportdesk@thedccenter.org.

The DC Center’s TRANS SUPPORT GROUP provides a space to talk for transgender people and those who identify outside of the gender binary. 7-9 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

WEDNESDAY, June 12 DC BIKE PARTY, the District’s

monthly riding party, hosts its 6TH ANNUAL PRIDE RIDE with “special guest star” music curation from CTRL DC. Meet in Dupont Circle wearing whatever makes you happy, from rainbow colors to glitter to hearts to stars. Afterparty to follow at Trade, 1410 14th St. NW. Ride kicks off at 8:00 p.m. sharp. 7:30-11:30 p.m. For more information, visit www.facebook. com/DCBikeParty.

Weekly Events AD LIB, a group for freestyle con-

versation, meets about 6-6:30 p.m., Steam, 17th and R NW. All welcome. For more information, call Fausto Fernandez, 703-732-5174.

DC AQUATICS CLUB (DCAC)

holds a practice session at Dunbar Aquatic Center. 7:30-9 p.m. 101 N St. NW. For more information, visit www.swimdcac.org.

FREEDOM FROM SMOKING, a

group for LGBT people looking to quit cigarettes and tobacco use, holds a weekly support meeting at The DC Center. 7-8 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105. For more information, visit www.thedccenter.org.

HISTORIC CHRIST CHURCH

offers Wednesday worship 7:15 a.m. and 12:05 p.m. All welcome.

118 N. Washington St., Alexandria.

703-549-1450, www.historicchristchurch.org.

JOB CLUB, a weekly support program for job entrants and seekers, meets at The DC Center. 6-7:30 p.m. 2000 14th St. NW, Suite 105.

For more info, email centercareers@thedccenter.org or visit www.thedccenter.org/careers.

STI TESTING at Whitman-Walker

Health. 10 a.m.-3 p.m. at both 1525 14th St. NW and the Max Robinson Center, 2301 Martin Luther King, Jr. Ave. SE. Testing is intended for those without symptoms. For an appointment call 202-745-7000 or visit www.whitman-walker.org.

WASHINGTON WETSKINS WATER POLO TEAM practices 7-9

p.m. Newcomers with at least basic swimming ability always welcome.

Takoma Aquatic Center, 300 Van Buren St. NW. For more information, contact Tom, 703-299-0504 or secretary@wetskins.org, or visit www.wetskins.org. l

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

39

Pride of the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi talks about her deep, longstanding ties to the LGBTQ community, and why passing the Equality Act is so incredibly important.

Exclusive Interview by John Riley Photographed at the U.S. Capitol by Todd Franson

A

FTER THREE DECADES IN THE ROUGHand-tumble world of politics, it would have been easy for Nancy Pelosi to become a cynic. After six presidents, three wars, two recessions, and the rise of the Tea Party, the far right, and Trumpism, Pelosi could have soured on the power of politics to effect change for the better.

But that seriously underestimates the current and twice-elected Speaker of the House, the first-ever woman to hold that title, the highest-ranked elected female politician in American history, and the person who is second-in-line to the presidency — the highest a woman has ever been in the order of presidential succession. Instead, Pelosi continues to believe in politics, in Congress, and in the ability of lawmakers to improve life for everyday Americans.

“I see everything as an opportunity,” she says during a phone interview from California, conducted during the downtime in a packed schedule that keeps the spry, witty, fiercely intelligent 79-year-old constantly on the go. “An opportunity, given to those who happen to be at the right place at the right time, to do something good and get results for the American people.”

Born Nancy D’Alesandro in Baltimore in 1940, Pelosi grew up as the youngest child, and only daughter, of Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr., a Democratic congressman from Baltimore who later went on to become the city’s first Italian-American mayor. While entering politics wasn’t something she considered until her youngest child was a senior in high school, Pelosi was immersed in the political sphere, and those Democratic values, coupled with a Catholic upbringing and its focus on social justice, informed her views on organized labor, women’s equality, immigration, concern for the poor, and the importance of the social safety net. And it’s those same views — and those of the Democratic Party writ large — that Pelosi believes can help cure political cynicism nationwide.

“I welcome the opportunity to differentiate between Democrats and Republicans,” she says. “I think there are enough differences to give [Democrats] an opportunity to win elections and to be empowered to make a difference in the lives of the American people. And we do have a responsibility to the public to remove some of the cynicism that is there.”

Despite an initial uncertainty about running for Congress in 1987, Pelosi now finds herself in the catbird seat through a confluence of political events, most recently and notably the election 42

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

of President Donald J. Trump and the Democratic “wave” of candidates who swept the midterms in 2018, which resulted in the congresswoman being elected as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives for the second time. Her dual position as both Speaker and as the top House Democrat puts her in a unique position, not only allowing her to set the legislative agenda for the country, but casting her as a foil to Trump, a role she relishes, particularly when it comes to contrasting their visions for the country.

In many ways, Pelosi and Trump make the sort of “odd couple” pairing Hollywood scriptwriters dream about. While Trump is impulsive, easily distracted, and indecorous, Pelosi is measured, sober, and laser-focused on what she hopes to accomplish — though not above the occasional pithy jibe aimed squarely at the president. While he tweets with reckless abandon, Pelosi is cautious, reserved, preferring to be seen as a steady hand or calming influence.

That’s not to say Pelosi doesn’t attract a flood of naysayers who criticize every move she makes and every syllable she utters. Her Reublican detractors are all too eager to cast her as an out-of-touch Beltway insider, a bumbling bureaucrat, or a radical “San Francisco liberal.” Yet even the latter moniker seems to have lost the sting it once held as recently as 2010, when Republicans seized control of Congress by urging American voters to “Fire Pelosi.” Instead, right-wing pundits seem more interested in trying to provoke a civil war within the Democratic Party, casting Pelosi as the straight man to the more intemperate, liberal-leaning members of her party.

But Pelosi isn’t anybody’s fool, and isn’t playing to a predetermined script. She’s smart, quick-witted, adaptable — a master legislator who has, time and again, successfully wrangled concessions from Republicans to advance Democratic priorities.

“I can’t imagine what it’s like to be her,” says Rep. Mark Takano (D-Calif.), the first openly gay person of color to be elected to Congress in 2012. “Just the sheer number of issues that she’s got to be familiar with in terms of policy. She always says you’ve got to be a master of the politics, but also the substance of the policy you’re working on. Nancy is as on top of it as anybody I’ve ever seen.”

What’s most impressive about Pelosi to Takano are her leadership capabilities. “We could use her as President right now.

She’s very measured as a leader. She’s not impulsive. I think at heart she’s a progressive, but she’s also practical about how

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43

you build support for a progressive agenda. She has that sort of the campaign was, whether it was presidential, gubernatorial, motherly...quality of someone who’s raised children, and knows or local. that you can’t buy them candy just because they want it.

MW: What eventually made you move to California?

“She understands that you build things with relationships. PELOSI: My husband. We met in college. When we were marIt’s a function of being in a 435-member chamber of the House, ried, we lived in New York City. Four of our five children were but it’s also the way she operates,” he continues. “Keeping sup- born in New York City. My husband was born and raised in San port for the Affordable Care Act and not letting it be gutted even Francisco. When he thought it was time to go home, we all went when both Houses of Congress were controlled by Republicans. home to San Francisco — heaven on earth.

This was a masterful job of her working with outside groups in MW: And then you were a stay-at-home mom for a number of terms of national mobilizations. Getting through a positive agen- years. da instead of stopping a negative one from happening.”

PELOSI: Yes, I had five children in six years. That didn’t mean Throughout her three decades in Congress, Pelosi has become that we didn’t have events in our home to organize for the known as a strong ally of the LGBTQ community, supporting marriage equality at a time when it “If you told me then, 30-some years ago, that we was widely unpopular and being a consistent would still not have a cure for AIDS today, advocate for nondiscrimination protections for I’d have never believed you....

LGBTQ people — something she has prioritized this year in pushing for the Equality Act. Under her leadership, the bill, which amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity, passed the House of Representatives last month, with every single House Democrat and eight Republicans voting in favor of the measure.

“Nancy has a stellar record of putting our rights and our equality right up on the top of the agenda,” says Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (D-N.Y.), who is gay. “The fact is, I can't think of an American Democrats, our candidates or causes, but I was a stay-at-home political leader who has a stronger record on LGBTQ issues. mom.

Certainly someone who comes from the straight community, if MW: You ran for Congress when your youngest child was in high you look not just [at] her rhetoric, but her record. She's a true school. What made you eventually decide to pull the trigger on leader. Both a pioneer, and a current partner.” that run?

Maloney, who first met Pelosi while running for Congress in PELOSI: Well, I never intended to run for anything. I considered 2012, says she always asks him about his husband and their chil- myself a rather shy, private person. I did like advancing other dren, and even gave a toast at his wedding in 2014. people. That, I enjoyed, because I could be more behind the “She values family a lot,” he says. “Her own family is very scenes, but also promoting the cause and the candidates of the important to her, and I think she sees LGBTQ families as equally Democrats. But I didn't make a decision to run — it was almost deserving of respect and love. She showed that to me from the made for me — when I was encouraged to run, which I hesitated day we met, and every day since. to do. But Sala Burton, our Congresswoman, was insistent that I “I’ve been around a lot of politicians who are ‘good’ on our put my hat, so to speak, in the ring. issues, and there’s very few who don’t just say it, but who feel I didn't know whether I would win or not, but I knew if ran it, and who live it the way she does,” he continues. “She's real- I would try to win, and I did. But it wasn't anything I prepared ly a rockstar when it comes to issues of LGBTQ equality. She for or anything that I hoped for. It just happened in January. On deserves all the praise she can get.”

February 1, she passed away. By April 7, I was the nominee of the Democratic Party in San Francisco, and by June 2, I was elected.

METRO WEEKLY: Let's talk about your childhood. What was your It happened very quickly. I would not have been motivated on upbringing like? What were your family's values? my own to say, “I think I’ll run for Congress.” Other people were NANCY PELOSI: I was born into a family that was devoutly encouraging me to do so, so I did.

Catholic, proud of our Italian-American heritage, fiercely patri- MW: As a female politician, what traits or viewpoints do you think otic, and staunchly Democratic. That was our family. From a that you bring to the table that are different from those of your personal standpoint, our religion — and of course our patriotism, male counterparts? too — taught us to respect the dignity and worth of every person, PELOSI: Diversity. With all the respect in the world for what my that we have responsibilities to each other, and that public ser- male colleagues bring to the table, this is where I say to women vice was a noble calling. candidates all the time, “We need you to run. We need that MW: Your father was involved in politics as a congressman and diversity of opinion.” mayor of Baltimore. Were you ever involved in any of his camWhen I became leader, people would say to me, after a meetpaigns when you were younger? ing, “Do you know how different that meeting would have been PELOSI: We were always giving out buttons or placards, which if a man were conducting it?” Because I do think that women are signs, and bumper stickers, and the rest. But we were first have a consensus-building attitude of listening and prioritizing and foremost a family, even though my father was mayor. So working together collaboratively, maybe more than people are it was Mayor outside, it was Daddy at home. There never was used to. I’m not saying men don’t do it, but I’m saying women a time when you entered our home that, in the vestibule, there maybe do it more. weren’t buttons, placards, or stickers and the like for whatever And so what I say to women is, “It's not that women are bet-

WHILE WE HAVE IMPROVED THE QUALITY OF LIFE, WE STILL HAVEN’T ELIMINATED HIV THE WAY I WOULD HAVE HOPED FOR.”

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not have a cure for AIDS today, I would have never believed you because we thought, “We have to get to work on this. We have to get the money, for research, for care, and for prevention.” And we still, while we have improved the quality of life, we still haven’t eliminated HIV the way I would have hoped for, projecting out ten years at that time.

But I think of Scott Douglas, whom I loved. I knew him through the Carter campaign in the ’70s. I would visit him all the time and I’d say, “How are you today, Scott?” and he’d say, “I’m so disappointed. I thought today was the day I was going to meet John F. Kennedy and all of these champions that I love.”

But we just kept increasing his morphine so that he could be comfortable until the time sadly finally came.

I remember somebody that I knew very well. I don’t know whether they were gay or not, it didn't really come up. But he was HIV-infected, and I went to a meeting and went over and

PHOTO COURTESY OF NANCY PELOSI

ter than men, it's just a difference, and that difference is important at the table,” just as when you have people of color [and] LGBTQ people at the table as well.

MW: You've been a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community. Do you remember the first gay or transgender person who came out to you?

PELOSI: I’m not sure anybody actually came out to me. I think they just were who they were and I respected that. I do know of stories of people who told me when they first came out to their families, they were telling them that not only were they gay, but they were infected with HIV, which was a hard story to tell to some families. But I don’t know if anybody actually came out to me and we met that way. I mean, we just all respected each other and that’s the way it was.

You have to know that in San Francisco, in those days, before HIV and AIDS and the rest, the LGBTQ people I knew were active in the community. I knew them from social services, I knew them from other community events, I knew them from sports. They were involved in everything. And then all of a sudden, it became a big community, but everybody knew them separately and apart from being part of the LGBTQ community.

Two of my first mentors in the LGBTQ community were Phyllis Martin and Del Lyon, who were a couple for 55 years. Del Martin passed away a number of years ago. But they really taught me a lot about lesbian health issues and bereavement challenges, and how important it was for the community to have the respect it deserved, and what some of the practical ramifications were of not having that. I don’t ever remember not being involved with the LGBTQ community for one thing or another, because the community was involved in so many ways in San Francisco.

I do remember one person who came out to me, now that you mention it. It was a person who worked for me. I knew her as a mom with children, and then one day, she said to me, “There's something I have to tell you.” But by the time she told me that, it really didn’t matter. It was like, “Good for you!

Congratulations!” It wasn’t, “Oh dear, can I help you in any way?” It was her joy to be sharing this transition, this passage that she had made.

MW: You mentioned that you knew people that were coming out to their families and also admitting that they had HIV. Do you remember when you first started hearing about the disease, and what made it so personal to you when you were fighting for HIV/ AIDS funding in Congress?

PELOSI: Well in our community, all of a sudden, there were stories of what was happening at UCSF, that they were seeing evidence of a disease that could not be identified, except that it was related to the breakdown in the immune system. And then people were susceptible to any and all kinds of things.

Around the same time, people all around us, close friends and the rest, were being diagnosed — and at the time, sadly, this was a death sentence. We were going to funerals more than once a day, certainly multiple funerals in a week, of dear, darling friends, or people that we had worked with. I remember so many people who had come to my home to help me with family celebrations or Democratic celebrations or whatever it was, and the shock of knowing that they were HIV-infected, it was very, very, very sad.

If you told me then, 30-some years ago, that we would still

Pelosi at the 1987 March on Washington for Lesbian & Gay Rights

embraced him and everybody was so like, “What? Embracing somebody with HIV/AIDS?” And these were people who were in the gay community, and they were surprised that somebody not in the community would embrace somebody. And I thought, “Why wouldn't I? This is my friend and he needs to be embraced.”

In any case, it was a lot descending on us at once, and people leaving us rapidly, and it was horrible. So it was something that we had to do something about. I remember when we were trying to attract the Democratic National Convention to San Francisco. I was the chair of the California Democratic Party at the time, and I was having events at my home for those people who would be choosing the site selection. I was trying to make it as much a community-wide thing, not just people who would be making contributions, but a community-wide invitation to come to San Francisco. Well, we took so much heat from other people in other cities saying, “Why would you want to go there? It's dangerous,” and this or that. It only strengthened our resolve to host the convention in spite of some of the doubts people might have had.

And I remember when we had people to my home, I would introduce them to many of our friends from the community, and then I'd say, “When I dip my carrot into the dip, I'm going to go JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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he will bring it up. I think the public thinks it’s going to come up, and when it does, we’ll all advocate for it. What I'm saying to my grassroots people and to the communities beyond the LGBT community who support the Equality Act is, “Don't think he’s going to bring it up. We have to make sure he brings it up.”

And that is why public sentiment is so important, because it has broad support, as you indicated. So why would he not bring this up? This would be one of the easiest things he does.

This isn't about a symbol of what we would do next, we certainly would if it isn't passed, but it is something we expect to happen now, and it can only happen now if people weigh in.

I do believe that there must be five [Republican] senators who would say to him, “Bring up the bill.” But you know, you have to ask them what’s in their hearts and minds about the community that they would resist that. When we passed some of the other bills, we only had a few Republicans who joined us, but we only needed a few then. We need more now.

MW: What do you say to people who argue that President Trump is not anti-LGBTQ, despite his rhetoric and his administration's actions?

PELOSI: I don’t know what the basis of their statement is that he isn’t anti-gay. It breaks my heart, really, what he’s doing in terms of transgender service in the military. It’s a source of great sadness to me that he would reverse that. And then to have policies that do not encourage recognition of LGBT participation, whether it’s business-wise or any other way, in our society.

I think he is anti-gay. Well, let me say it another way: whatever he may be, and whatever that is, who knows? But I do think his actions are anti-gay and he has to be judged by his actions. And some Pelosi and Elizabeth Taylor testifying before the House Budget Committee on HIV-AIDS Funding in 1990 will say, “Oh, he didn’t mean it,” or this and that — people who were not discriminating against people because they but that they cannot possibly be judging his actions to be pro-gay were gay, but who were reluctant to be champions of HIV and or even neutral, rather anti-gay.

AIDS because it stil had the stigma at the time.

MW: With respect to the president, he often says or tweets things The Equality Act to me was very important for our country as that are provably false, but many Americans still trust and support well as for the community because even if it just was one person him. Why do you think that level of support, that level of trust, is whose discrimination was ended, that would be reason enough still so high among so many Americans? to do it, but it was for the whole community and that was import- PELOSI: Well, whether it’s high at all is the question. The fact ant. But it was also important for America to declare itself as is, he has about a third of the public which will agree with him supporting equality for everyone in our country. So that expan- on any score. It doesn’t matter what the question is: “Yes, I'm sion of freedom that the Equality Act put into policies in hopes with Trump.” They don’t have to think about it. Evangelicals are it would be law soon, it’s something that again made America largely there because of their anti-marriage equality and Roe v. more American and expanded freedom in our country. So it was Wade stance. Wealthy people are there because they want their a community acting for itself, but also patriotically for America. tax cuts. Some people are sincerely there because of their finanMW: According to polls, 70% of Americans support laws like the cial concerns, where they thought he had a message of hope, and Equality Act. Why do you think that a majority of Republicans in that hasn’t materialized, but they're still hopeful and they don’t Congress and President Trump refuse to support it? want to think that they made a mistake.

PELOSI: Why don’t you ask them, because I just don’t know. I don’t So there are different reasons. I don’t think everybody who know what’s in their hearts, because if they pretend to be people supports him is anti-gay or is racist, but I do think most anti-gay of faith, you would think that faith would lead them to respect the and racist people supported him. dignity and worth of every person and take pride in the spark of MW: The president, after months of not giving you a nickname, divinity that exists in every person. So I’m sorry, you’re just going called you "Crazy Nancy" recently and tried to question your to have to ask them. And what's sad about it is they not only act the mental capacity. Why do you think there was a sudden change in way they do, they brag about it in certain circles. his attitude, and how do you personally cope with being publicly MW: Mitch McConnell has been vocal about his intent to block a insulted like that? vote on the Equality Act in the Senate. Is passing it now more of a PELOSI: Oh, I consider the source. I don't even think of him as symbol of intent of what Democrats might do if they ever get into somebody that I would be concerned about what he thinks, even power again, rather than something that we necessarily think is though he’s the President of the United States. But the president going to pass? has been a projector. Every time he calls somebody something, PELOSI: Oh, I think that public sentiment will weigh in and that you know he’s projecting his own diagnosis. Whether it’s crazy,

PHOTO COURTESY OF NANCY PELOSI

in right with you at the same time, so that they see that we're not afraid of each other here.”

MW: You spoke very eloquently on the floor of the House of the need for the Equality Act and how important the passage of it would be.

Do you know anybody who has personally been impacted by antiLGBTQ discrimination?

PELOSI: How many hours do you have? Well, let’s go back to before I was even in Congress, when we were advocating for what would be marriage equality, but was domestic partnership at the time. That was frowned upon by some, and we were celebrating it. And then when HIV came along, we knew we had to get the resources and that’s one of the reasons that motivated me to run for Congress. That’s what I said on the floor on the House in my first comments. But even then, I saw some discrimination,

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whether it’s lazy, whatever it is, he’s just saying, “I know this is what I am, so before somebody identifies me this way, I’ll identify them that way.” He called Hillary crazy so many times because he knows that his own mental stability is gravely in doubt, as well as his integrity and any sense of decency.

So I don’t really care about what he says. And again, I got him very hurt when I said he was guilty of a cover-up. Everything in his life is a cover-up, starting with his skin and his hair, and

but yet is very bold.

MW: How has politics, or maybe even the game of politics, changed since you first took office?

PELOSI: I do think the manner in which we communicate via social media, and in real time, has made a difference, because communication is a very important part of politics. I do think that the Republicans have made it more mean-spirited by their politics of personal destruction. I think that started with Newt Gingrich in the '90s and he was very destructive.

And then in the 2000s, the difference has been “Everything in [Trump’s] life is a cover-up, starting with his one of communications. To be able to communiskin and his hair, and his actions and marriage, as well as cate in real time has its pluses and minuses — the minus being you don’t have a lot of time to check out the facts before people are putting things forward.

MW: How has being in the political arena changed you personally?

PELOSI: Well, I have been blessed by having the respect of so many people who really care about other people and want to help them. Across the aisle, I’ve worked very closely with many of my his actions and marriage, as well as his cover-up in the Russian Republican friends on religious freedom and human rights investigation, and his cover-up in hiding what he’s doing to the throughout the world. They don’t all share some of my concerns Affordable Care Act. The term “cover-up” hit directly home with about the LGBTQ community, but hopefully we can bring them him, and I think that's what triggered his response, which was around by building bridges. to turn on me what he projected to be his own diagnosis. I don’t And nothing to me is more of an honor than to walk on the have anything more to say about him. I'm done with him. floor of the House each legislative day, sent by the people of San MW: You were correct in your assessment about what issues would Francisco. So while my colleagues have given me great honors be crucial during the 2018 election, and Democrats ran on those and I thank them for that and I feel blessed by them, to speak for and were successful. What issues do you think Democrats should the people of San Francisco is the biggest honor of all. Having campaign on in 2020, and what should be their message? said that, I am grateful to my colleagues for giving me the opporPELOSI: I do think that we were successful in our message tunity I’ve had to lead, to listen, and to build consensus within because it was focused, repeated, and addressed the concerns our caucus. the American people have. One is they were concerned about MW: This is our Capital Pride issue and we wanted to ask you: health care costs and other access to affordable care and we what personal message do you have for the LGBTQ community? said, “Our agenda is for the people. Lower health care costs by PELOSI: My message to the LGBTQ community is always, lowering the cost of prescription drugs.” Two, they’re concerned “Thank you.” Thank you for having the courage to be you. Thank about their financial security, which is related to their health you for teaching so many of us how to be better by addressing and financial security. So lower health care costs, increase their concerns that you have experienced. Thank you for inviting us paychecks by building the infrastructure of America in a green in to take pride. People will say to me, “Well, it’s easy for you to way, and that’s still the message for this next campaign. And come from San Francisco, it’s so tolerant a city.” And I would three, cleaner government. Lower health care, bigger paychecks, say, tolerance has nothing to do with it. It’s a condescending cleaner government. And to do so in a way that unifies our coun- word. It’s about respect. It’s about taking pride. try, not to divide our country.

MW: What does pride mean to you?

I think the imperative of addressing the climate crisis, which PELOSI: Pride means love, respect, value. It means something is tied to building the infrastructure of America, is a big chal- very, very revered. It means, “Thank you for having the strength lenge in this campaign. Young people care about it a great deal, to be who you are and to teach us that lesson,” as well as to take and it will create good-paying jobs if we build the infrastructure pride in any association we may have with you. Which means in a “green” way. I do believe the disparity in income is disgrace- respect, love, and acknowledging differences, in the most posful and immoral in our country and addressing it by building the itive way. infrastructure of America in a green way is an answer to that, I actually have to add one word to all of this. It would be joy. as well.

Joy. I truly believe that, in the fight against HIV and AIDS, the I do believe the American people have lost confidence that activism of ACT UP and other groups outside, taught America an their interests will take priority in Congress as long as big, dark important lesson that holds us in good stead in so many ways. It’s money — rather than grassroots participation — prevails. And about how we learn from each other. The pride we take, but with that's why we supported [House Resolution] 1, to have cleaner that pride comes joy as well. So it makes me happy to think about government, to reduce the role of voter suppression and misrep- all the friendships I have in the community, and I feel blessed to resentations and the rest. have that imprimatur from them. l So I think those issues are still the same because they affect the health and economic financial stability of America’s working House Speaker Nancy Pelosi represents California’s 12th families and they help to restore confidence in government. It’s Congressional District, which includes most of the city of San a mainstream message that shares our progressive values, and Francisco. For more information, visit www.pelosi.house.gov or it’s a mainstream message that is non-menacing to the public, www.speaker.gov.

HIS COVER-UP IN THE RUSSIAN INVESTIGATION, AND HIS COVER-UP IN HIDING WHAT HE’S DOING TO THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT.”

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FRANK OCKENFELS

H

E HAD TO WAIT more than three years after coming to fame with a stunningly dramatic cover of Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own,” but Calum Scott finally got a chance to meet the Swedish superstar.

Last December, the two just happened to be visiting the same London radio station. “I was absolutely, bloody gobsmacked that she was in the same building as me,” says Scott. “I was terrified to say anything to her. She almost walked by me. Her [assistant] said, ‘Oh that’s Calum Scott, by the way.’ She came running up to me with open arms. She gave me a big squeeze: ‘It's so nice to finally meet you. I love your rendition of the song.

It's touched so many people around the world.’

“I kept it together for as long as she was in sight,” he continues, “[then] I bawled my eyes out. Because she is such a huge person within my musical life. Just listening to one of her songs and being inspired enough to cover it myself, to have the success I had with it, is a testament to her as a songwriter.”

It’s also a testament to Scott’s talents as an interpreter and an artist. His cover of the song became a hit in its own right across the globe, and helped propel Scott’s career as a young, gay pop crooner, and an increasingly confident, remarkably honest songwriter.

It’s not exactly something Scott had envisioned or even dreamt for himself before he auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent in 2015. It was there that he first debuted his Robyn cover, which sent him straight to the finals of the show and then on to a record deal.

“Prior to that, I was working for the local government in human resources,” says the native of Hull in Yorkshire, England. “I never, ever saw my life taking this route. Not only that, but I had not really done a lot of songwriting....

Great Scott Pride headliner Calum Scott is a confident, remarkably honest gay singer-songwriter — and definitely not afraid to cry.

By Doug Rule

For me, songwriting was really daunting.”

At first, he was reluctant to get too personal or autobiographical, but “as soon as I started putting honesty into my music, it just started to pour out of me.” The evidence is his 2018

full-length debut, Only Human. “The songs essentially were...journal entries that I was publishing to the world. Before release, I did go through a lot of panic and a lot of anxiety: ‘Should I release these songs?’ The struggle I'd JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

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“At any of my shows, you're guaranteed about AN 85-PERCENT, 90-PERCENT SUCCESS RATE OF TEARS.” says. “It was really emotional. I told the story of ‘No Matter What,’ and started doing the ugly cry. But it was nice to speak directly to such a huge audience [in] the LGBTQ community.

“I'm very much looking forward to coming and doing my first Pride event of this year with you guys in D.C.,” adds Scott, who will headline the Capitol Stage at Sunday’s festival. He anticipates another emotionally powerful experience, likely to the point of tears. “Any of my shows, you're guaranteed about an 85-percent, 90-percent success rate of tears.”

He plans to perform his hits, including “You Are The Reason,” which rebounded back into the Top 10 of the U.S. iTunes chart last week after the heart-rending ballad soundtracked a pivotal moment in the season premiere of America’s Got Talent. In addition, Scott says pride-goers “will definitely get a sneak peek” at some of the new material he’s currently

JUNE 6, 2019 • METROWEEKLY

FRANK OCKENFELS

had with my coming out experience. Growing up not really accepting who I was.”

Last October, to coincide with Coming Out Day, Scott released a special expanded edition of Only Human featuring “No Matter What,” a new song that touches on his coming out — from his parents, who responded affirmatively, to a few childhood pals, who didn’t. “When I told my friends, I was abandoned for it,” he says. “So I suppressed who I was pretty much through all of my teens and my twenties.”

Now the 30-year-old artist sees it as his mission to be open and honest, out and outspoken.

“Especially when I'd written ‘No Matter What,’ I was reminded that now I've got a job to do,” he says. “Which is to educate people about my experience in the hopes [they’ll respond], ‘Oh, well he's been through the same thing and now he's happier than he's ever been by talking about it and being open about it and accepting who he is.’”

Of course, it can get a bit overwhelming. “If I gave you access to my social media, [you’d see] the amount of messages that I receive on a daily basis are by the thousands,” Scott says. “Just lots of different types of feedback. Mostly people saying, ‘You've given me the strength to accept who I am,’ or, ‘I'm happier now from these songs.’ I get so much feedback, and it's what keeps me going. It's what makes me write the music I write.”

Scott also relishes the opportunity to directly connect with his LGBTQ audience through events like Capital Pride. That’s in large part due to how rewarding his first Pride performance was, at last year’s Montreal Pride.

“It was the first time I'd been able to perform ‘No Matter What’ in a Pride setting, in front of the LGBTQ community specifically,” he

developing for an eventual second album. It’s quite possible such a set will feature a duet or collaboration with his sister Jade, who was the original one with the rock star dreams in the family. In fact, “it wasn't until I started trying to emulate her and being inspired by her, that's when my real passion for music ignited. So it's all really thanks to my sister.”

Of course, there’s also the longshot possibility of a dream collaboration with a certain pop star who was another key source of inspiration: Robyn. “I would absolutely love to work with her and to write with her,” Scott says. “I think we could come up with something incredibly special.” l Calum Scott performs on the Capital Pride Concert Stage between 1:30 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, June 9. For more information visit www.capitalpride.org/concert.

A Defiant Pose Life has not always been easy for Pose star Dominique Jackson, but talent, fortitude, and determination put her on the path of success.

By Randy Shulman

D

OMINIQUE JACKSON HAS A DREAM ROLE. AND it’s not what you might expect. “Hopefully one day I’ll get to play a vampire queen,” says the actress. “Let's just put it out there.”

Her current employer — Ryan Murphy — might take notice for a future installment of American Horror Story, considering Jackson is currently stealing scene after scene in Murphy’s FX hit about ’80s ball culture, Pose. The Tobago-born Jackson, one of five Grand Marshals at this Saturday’s Capital Pride Parade, plays Elektra Abundance, a transgender house mother who finds herself in a downward spiral in season one after she undergoes gender confirmation surgery. Pose has been praised for employing more transgender actors, crewmembers, writers, and filmmakers in the history of television. But Jackson

doesn’t want to fall into a trap of being typecast.

“I don't only want to play trans parts,” she says. “I'm a woman. Eventually, I would love to just go in for the role of a woman and play one, like any of my sisters that are actors would do, who are cisgender.”

Jackson, who has spent parts of her life homeless and making a living as a sex worker, loves being part of a hit series, though finds it frustrating that storylines are generally kept secret from her and the rest of the cast.

“We are mostly surprised,” she says. “We get our scripts the week before we shoot them. So that's why I guess I'm so tired at times, because I have to learn the lines, I have to be on set — and set is a gruesome day. I didn't know what Electra's arc would be.

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of woman she is. And being able to add these pieces and traits of women that I have known for many years — like Octavia St. Laurent, Brenda Milan, Danielle Revlon, may she rest in peace, and many other women. This attitude of just being fierce and defiant against society and living your life in the way that you want to — even though it means living it off of others.”

Jackson found the most challenging part of the first season to be the scenes where Electra finds herself cast out and homeless.

“Going into Central Park, where I had actually slept when I was homeless, was kind of.... I had many mixed feelings and was fearful to play that part. I wanted my character to just continue to be fantastic and fabulous. But we had to tell the story and bring the reality of it. We had to face the facts of trans homelessness that is occurring this very day, constantly.”

Jackson is looking forward to seeing how people react when season two of Pose debuts on Tuesday, June 11. “Oh, for season two, you’re going to need Bounty instead of Kleenex,” she laughs.

“It's going to make people cry, there are going to be moments.

But I know, just from working on it, it's going to be fantastic.”

Like so many within the community, she feels frustration and anger toward the current administration’s rollback of transgender rights. Jackson views it as a direct attack.

“I don't think there is progress, because trans women are still being murdered,” she says. “We just had three in Dallas already, and I feel that under the current administration people feel that it’s okay to be prejudiced. But people don't see themselves as prejudiced or discriminating, they just see themselves as — how should I put it? — they use their religious beliefs in order to justify their convictions. It is impossible for someone to be a human being and have some type of feeling and not realize that the temperature has to change towards the LGBTQIA+ community and

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that it must continue to change.

“But some people don't want it to change,” she continues.

“They will just say, ‘Okay, we support you all, we're allies.’ But in the background, they do things to hurt us, and we as LGBTQIA+ people must consider these things and do whatever is within our power to be able to let the world continue to know that we are here and we are human beings and we deserve respect. We deserve employment. We deserve the right medical care. We deserve all of our issues to be equal to those who are privileged at this time.”

Jackson recalls moments in her life when harassers have made her feel less than human.

“It’s a really disgusting feeling,” she says, quietly. “And at times you just wanted to lash out. But now I'm a more grounded woman, so I believe in logic, I believe in facts, and I am so happy and comfortable in my truth that I am just too beautiful to be frustrated. So when I encounter these people, I smile now to myself, because I realize that this is just pure ignorance. They live in such a box that they can't understand that the world is so much greater. With every person you meet, that person can influence your life spiritually, culturally, educationally, in so many ways. So when I meet these people now, it's like, ‘I have come so far, I'm not going to even stoop to your level to argue with you, or to fight you for something that I can now fight from a higher position.’” l Dominique Jackson is one of the Grand Marshals at this year’s Capital Pride Parade, along with her Pose co-star Hailie Sahar, Earline Budd, Matt Easton, and Brandon Wolf. The Parade kicks off Saturday, June 8, at 4:30 p.m. at the intersection of 23rd and P St. NW. See page 10 of this magazine or visit www.capitalpride.org.

Scene

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The Capital Pride Honors - Friday, May 31 at Smithsonian American Art Museum- Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

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Movies

Flame Out

N

Dark Phoenix delivers only a half-good adaptation of one of Marvel’s greatest hits. By André Hereford

O FILM FRANCHISE FLUCTUATES AS WILDLY IN QUALITY, AND audience satisfaction it seems, as 20th Century Fox’s X-Men series. The mutant superhero universe, based on the Marvel comics, was molded by director-producer Bryan Singer (X-Men and X2), mauled at the hands of Brett Ratner (X-Men: The Last Stand), then successfully re-molded by Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class).

Singer returned to the director’s chair for the first-rate X-Men: Days of Future Past, then followed that up with the laborious epic X-Men: Apocalypse, a movie not even Oscar Isaac could save. So, the pendulum naturally has swung back from the travesty that was Apocalypse to somewhere in the middle for the X-Men’s latest, Dark Phoenix (HHHHH).

A leading collaborator throughout the series, Simon Kinberg — who wrote Apocalypse and The Last Stand, and has had a hand in practically every X-Men-related feature, including neo-Western masterpiece Logan — takes the helm for the first time as director. He also takes a second swing at the storyline that many fans believe he and Ratner screwed up back in ’06, the Dark Phoenix Saga, hands-down one of the most cherished plots in the Marvel canon.

The team’s powerful psychic Jean Grey, played by Game of Thrones star Sophie Turner, comes into contact with a cosmic entity that enhances her astounding telepathic and telekinetic abilities, with deadly consequences. As described by one awed onlooker, all Jean’s desire, rage, and trauma are unleashed.

Set mostly in 1992, Phoenix continues the period adventures of the First Class films, which have cast mutants Charles Xavier (James McAvoy), Raven/Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence), and Eric Lehnsherr/Magneto (Michael Fassbender) as the focal points of the team’s alternately familial and conflicted alliances. Although this time, Kinberg corrects what’s generally perceived to be the grave mistake of Last Stand, by placing Jean and her true love Scott Summers/Cyclops at the center of the story.

In the earlier iteration, the comics’ classic Jean and Scott romance fell victim to the popularity of hairy third wheel Wolverine and breakout star Hugh Jackman. Now, instead of Jean extinguishing Scott offscreen, the pair’s adamantine love connection anchors the action. And Jean’s fraying bonds with mentor Xavier form the basis for interfamilial friction.

Twenty years since the X-Men’s leading man first strode onscreen, the current Scott, Tye Sheridan (Ready Player One), comes closest to carving out a compelling character of the introverted, visor-wearing hero. That’s no slight to o.g. Cyclops James Marsden — Sheridan’s just given more to do in these movies. However, he and Jean are scripted on a dull rinse and repeat here, with Scott ever more desperate to help his girlfriend, who’s combusting before his shielded eyes, and Jean wearily echoing over and over, “I don’t know what’s happening to me.” Kinberg opts for having multiple characters explain what’s happening to Jean, rather than exploring far down the intriguing path of Jean understanding exactly what power flows through her.

The exceedingly simple plot, involving hostile alien refugees led by a witchy, white-haired Jessica Chastain, doesn’t cover much emotional ground. Dark Phoenix doesn’t sprawl across galaxies, but stays compactly honed in on the matter-obliterating, mind-reading problem at

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hand. That leaves room for previously underused or misused X-Men characters to grab more superhero shine. Someone, somewhere will be thrilled to see that Marvel’s disco-era mutant heroine Dazzler (Halston Sage) makes her long-awaited feature debut. Fans might be less thrilled that she contributes nothing more than party lighting. The film makes better use of Kodi Smit-McPhee’s frisky Nightcrawler and Nicholas Hoult’s solid Hank McCoy, aka the Beast.

Based on a fight sequence that appears designed for Wolverine, Hank probably benefits the most from the absence of series stalwart Jackman. But the movie could use some of the able Aussie’s physical intensity. Either the action sequences

are muddily shot, or they’re not so persuasively acted and stunt coordinated, but they lack order, splendor, and excitement.

With the exception of a sharply edited space rescue that generates its own fierce momentum, the film’s other choppy action sequences generally devolve into montages of CGI-lit stares and gestures. Hans Zimmer’s score creates as much atmosphere as the special effects, and a great deal more than a few of the performances. While McAvoy and Fassbender seem still engaged by this material, at least one Oscar-winning X-actor looks thoroughly over running around in blue makeup and yellow contacts. Luckily that works out perfectly for the trajectory of her character. l

Dark Phoenix is rated PG-13, and opens everywhere Friday, June 7. Visit www.fandango.com.

Ciao, Luciano

The great tenor is lovingly remembered by wives and mistresses alike in Ron Howard’s charming documentary, Pavarotti. By André Hereford

O

F THE MANY HOURS THAT MUST EXIST OF LUCIANO PAVAROTTI on-camera talking about singing and himself, director Ron Howard has pinpointed just the right moment to frame the lucid, entertaining documentary portrait Pavarotti ( ).

In what appears to be a home movie, an off-camera interviewer asks the singer, late in his life, how he’d like to be remembered. Interpreting the question as a performer, he responds humbly about bringing opera to the people. Pressing further, the person asks Pavarotti how he’d like to be remembered as a man — and before answering, the man pauses. The film pauses with him, taking a deep breath before singing Pavarotti’s story with a fullness and clarity he might have appreciated.

The famously gregarious man from Modena might also have appreciated that his first wife, Adua Veroni, his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, his longtime inamorata, soprano Madelyn Renée, and all three of his adult daughters with Veroni appear on-camera to sing his praises. The truth they tell might sting a little, but even when discussing bitter arguments and separations, the women who loved him still love him, as do millions who knew only his music.

The film keeps that affection intact, by focusing as much on his music as on the biographical details of his life, and by evading discussion of exact timelines for

when certain love affairs began, and others ended. But then, no one familiar with Ron Howard’s filmography should come to Pavarotti expecting exposé. Rather, this is a film about all there was to love about Pavarotti. It’s a tribute to how he filled spaced with his large presence, charisma, and that voice.

A gift and a burden, he called his voice, and, in one scene, his nerves are palpable as he enters the stage reciting his usual maxim, “I go to die.” His passionate personality is fully on display in archival footage and news clips, and in the stories told about him by friends and colleagues like Placido Domingo, José Carreras, Angela Gheorghiu, and Bono, who offers astute insight into what made Pavarotti so great a singer.

Howard and editor Paul Crowder, who also cut the director’s award-winning 2016 documentary The Beatles: Eight Days a Week — The Touring Years, offer ample performance footage — including from the first Three Tenors concert — to drive home the argument that Pavarotti was the tenor of our age. “Luciano, the one and only,” says Gheorghiu, who also elucidates the specialness of a male voice producing a high “C.” Opera fans might wish for greater technical detail about Pavarotti’s musicianship, or more critical consideration of his abilities, than what they’ll find here. But few will be disappointed to see and hear a young, clean-shaven Luciano singing Rodolfo in La Bohème, or to bask in the glory of his solo “Nessun Dorma” at the Three Tenors concert.

By the time the film returns to the question of how Pavarotti would like to be remembered, the man’s answer, hopeful and honest, tells us all we need to know. l

Pavarotti is rated PG-13, and opens June 7 at AMC Mazza Gallerie, ArcLight Bethesda, and Angelika Film Center Mosaic in Merrifield. Visit www.fandango.com.

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Music

All Americana

A relative newcomer — also an immigrant — brings a fresh take to American’s folk tradition. By Sean Maunier

W

ORKS THAT EXPLORE AND EXAMINE THE IDEA OF AMERICA through the eyes of an outsider are in steady supply, but Kenyan-born J.S. Ondara brings something more sophisticated to the table. Since arriving in the United States in 2013, he has spent the better part of his adult life in Minnesota — incidentally, the home state of his idol Bob Dylan. This connection, at least according to Ondara, is no coincidence. Ondara is a diligent student of the mid-century folk revival, giving him a strong appreciation for the tradition’s simple yet affecting narratives and its tradition of social commentary delivered via everyday stories and scenes.

His music stands out for combining the influence of several decades of Americana with an outsider’s perspective and his own personal sensitivity and passion for the genre. His debut album, Tales of America (HHHHH), is as much a personal meditation as it is a look at the complexities of his adopted country under a magnifying glass, wavering between the curiosity of a newcomer and the complicated affection of an insider.

By grounding himself so firmly in the American folk tradition, Ondara has staked the reputation of his debut on his ability as a storyteller. Tales is a series of stories told methodically and strung together with care, delivered with a rich, versatile tenor that slips in and out of a distinctly haunting falsetto.

Most of the album consists solely of vocals paired with acoustic guitar, with only minimal padding, a little choral line here, a subtle strings section over there. Ondara moves along at an easy, unhurried pace, allowing the lyrics to deliver the emotional punch of his otherwise fairly laid-back songs. In another tip of the hat to folk

and Americana, the minimal reliance on embellishment proves to be an effective choice, allowing his voice to take center stage. Probably by design, the sparse production evokes the early career of Bob Dylan, long a source of inspiration for Ondara and an ever-present influence on this album. Ondara has named other songwriters as influences, including Damien Rice, Ryan Adams, and Neil Young, who he happens to be touring with this year.

Dylan, however, is the one he returns to over and over, taking inspiration from his simple yet powerfully evocative songwriting style.

Ondara draws from one the best tendencies of folk, observing the most ordinary everyday subjects with a sympathetic eye and pointing out their beauty, uniqueness, absurdity and even horror. “Days of Insanity” is a deadpan description of a world turned on its head, in which laconic Ondara observes that “there is a lion on the ocean bed, mating with the whale.”

“Master O’Connor,” on the other hand, is an ambiguous yet haunting song carrying an implication of assault. A vein of subtle yet pointed social critique runs through Tales, apparent from the opener, "American Dream," which turns the phrase sideways, treating the elusive idea

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as more of a vaguely sinister phantasm.

The album sets the promise and the idea of America in palpable tension with the country’s realities and contradictions, a tension that is neatly summed up in the closing track, “God Bless America.” "Will you let me in, or are you at capacity," Ondara wonders out loud, giving voice to the sense of precarity lurking in the back of his mind, his voice softening and cracking over the chorus line, "Oh God bless America, this heartache of mine."

Ondara does place himself within some narrow confines in his debut, but what he does within them allows him to put all his strengths on display. This box, after all, is one with a rich history and tradition from which he draws constantly and, in the process, makes it his own. Above all, folk is a genre that rewards keen observers with a gift for storytelling, which is what really makes Ondara shine here. Tales of America is as much an homage to an era in American music history as it is a loving and thoughtful take on its legacy.

In less capable hands, this approach could have easily produced a forgettable redux of the early years of Americana, but Ondara’s uniquely haunting vocals and subtly powerful lyrics set him apart and promise that this will be a folk artist to watch. l Tales of America can be purchased on Amazon.com and iTunes, and is available on most major streaming services.

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NightLife Photography by Ward Morrison

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Scene

Womxn’s Pride Kickoff Celebration - Saturday, June 1 at Big Chief - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

DrinksDragDJsEtc...

Thursday, June 6 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-2am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • Shirtless Thursday, 10-11pm • Men in Underwear Drink Free, 12-12:30am • DJs BacK2bACk LATINX PRIDE: LA FIESTA @DC Eagle 3701 Benning Rd. NE 13th Annual DC Latinx

Pride Party: Gritando Orgullo, 9pm-2am • Special guest performers Jessica Wild and Stasha Sanchez • Featuring Ms. DC Latinx Pride Eva Mystique and Ms. DC Latinx Pride 2018 Ricky Rosé, Juanita Dior, Lady J Monroe, and Div0id • Tickets are $12 per person, available via www. eventbrite.com NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • $15 Buckets of Bud Products all night • Sports Leagues Night NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-2am • Happy

Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm • Thirst Trap Thursdays, hosted by Venus Valhalla, 11pm-12:30am • Featuring a Rotating Cast of Drag Performers • Dancing until 1:30am SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Bottles of Wine, 5pm-close • Pride in Federal Service Happy Hour, Second Floor, 5:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price,

Destinations A LEAGUE OF HER OWN 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.facebook.com/alohodc AVALON SATURDAYS Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW 202-789-5429 www.facebook.com/ AvalonSaturdaysDC 68

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5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS All male, nude dancers, 9pm-close • “New Meat” Open Dancers Audition • Music by DJ Don T. • Cover 21+

Friday, June 7 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 Rail and Domestic • $5 Svedka, all flavors all

FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR 555 23rd St. S. Arlington, Va. 703-685-0555 www.freddiesbeachbar.com GREEN LANTERN 1335 Green Ct. NW 202-347-4533 www.greenlanterndc.com

night long • PRIDE: Rough House/Ottermatic Joint Party, 10pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Open 3pm • Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Weekend Kickoff Dance Party, with Nellie’s DJs spinning bubbly pop music all night NUMBER NINE Open 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover • Friday Night Piano with Chris, 7:30pm • Rotating DJs, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open 5pm-3am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am

RIOT! THE PRIDE OPENING PARTY @Echostage 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE Presented by Capital Pride • 9pm-3:30am • Featuring Vanessa Vanjie Mateo • DJs Honey, Dvonne, and Ed Bailey • $25-$35 cover • Visit www.capitalpride. org SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw’s Tavern Staff Drag Show, 9:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 • Otter Happy

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR 900 U St. NW 202-332-6355 www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE 1435 P St. NW 202-986-0999 www.numberninedc.com PITCHERS 2317 18th St. NW 202-733-2568 www.pitchersbardc.com

NIGHTLIFE HIGHLIGHTS Compiled by Doug Rule

RIOT! THE CAPITAL PRIDE OPENING PARTY Capital Pride Weekend kicks into high gear with the first and largest dance party of them all, one named in evocative reference to the famous Stonewall uprising that sparked our whole LGBTQ movement 50 years ago this month. Vanessa Vanjie Mateo from RuPaul’s Drag Race is the featured headline guest, to be joined in performance by a litany of local drag acts: Ana Latour, Donna Slash, Jane Saw, JaxKnife, KC B. Yoncé, Citrine, Pussy Noir, SHÉ, Sippi, and Sylvana, with music from DJs Honey, Dvonne, and Ed Bailey, decor by Kidd Madonny, visuals by BacK2bACk, and lights by Adam Campbell. Plus a Glam Box Photo Booth. Riot!, open to those ages 18 and up, is Friday, June 7, beginning at 9 p.m. Echostage is at 2135 Queens Chapel Rd. NE. Remaining tickets are $30 to $35 plus fees. Call 202-503-2330 or visit www.echostage.com.

Hour with guest DJs, 5-11pm ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets, 9pm • Guest dancers • Rotating DJs • Kristina Kelly’s Diva Fev-ah Drag Show • Doors at 9pm, Shows at 11:45pm • Music by DJ Jeff Eletto • Cover 21+

Saturday, June 8 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-3am • Video Games • Live televised sports AVALON SATURDAYS @Soundcheck 1420 K St. NW 18+ Pride Dance Party, 9pm-4am • Featuring DJs Steve Sidewalk and Drew G • $30 Cover • Drink

specials • Drag Show, 10:30-11:30pm, hosted by Ba’Naka and a rotating cast of drag queens • Open Bar on Tito’s and Jameson, 11pm-midnight CAPITAL PRIDE BLOCK PARTY @15th and P Streets NW 4-10pm • Free to public, but donations encouraged • Beverage Tent, 21+ DEFIANCE! DC PRIDE PARTY @City Winery 1350 Okie St. NE Presented by Capital Pride • 9pm-3:30am • Tickets $25-$35 • 4 Floors, 5 DJs FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Saturday Breakfast Buffet, 10am-3pm • $14.99 with one glass of champagne or coffee, soda or juice • Additional champagne $2 per glass • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Freddie’s Follies

SHAW’S TAVERN 520 Florida Ave. NW 202-518-4092 www.shawstavern.com TRADE 1410 14th St. NW 202-986-1094 www.tradebardc.com ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS 1824 Half St. SW 202-863-0670 www.ziegfelds.com

UPROAR XXL: PRIDE BIERGARTEN Uproar will operate in an expanded capacity all weekend per a temporary pop-up set up in the parking lot behind the Shaw venue. Managers have literally pitched a tent for expanded boozy cruising as well as more room for dancing to resident DJs Mike Babbitt, Travis Island, Bo Bear, Milko Santander Espinoza, and Juba. The biergarten opens at 3 p.m. every day of the weekend with a two-hour Smirnoff Open Bar — meaning the Friday kickoff will end right when DC Bëar Crüe’s popular Bear Happy Hour revs up at 5 p.m. The biergarten will remain open until 11 p.m. through Sunday, June 9. Uproar Lounge & Restaurant is at 639 Florida Ave. NW. Call 202-462-4464 or visit www.uproarlounge.com.

ROUGH HOTTERMATIC This Friday night, the Green Lantern hosts what is, in essence, a two-for-one event, as two of its regular monthly parties are combining forces for pride. Things start off on the milder side on the first floor with Ottermatic featuring DJs The Barber Streisand and Madscience. Although named for a particular type of gay man, Ottermatic is “open to all people and self-identified animals.” Certainly wilder — as well as rougher — beasts will find more to their liking on the second level, with the more sexually charged ambiance of Rough House, a party featuring sexy beats from DJs Lemz and Keenan Orr. Otter pinup Grant Collins serves as host of the dual party, which starts at 10 p.m. The Green Lantern is at 1335 Green Ct. NW. Cover is $10 and includes clothes check — although this is primarily for the Rough House crowd. Those seeking to strip down to nearly nothing are asked to stick to the second floor — “please keep jockstraps upstairs.” Call 202-347-4533 or visit www. greenlanterndc.com.

COLOR CRAWL 2019 After this year’s Capital Pride Parade — or even, shhh, in lieu of it — you could join another organized parade of sorts, a bar crawl from one air-conditioned haunt to the next in the U Street Corridor. Heralded as “one of the loudest, proudest bar crawls to come to the Capital,” teams in the #ColorCrawl2019 start touring and imbibing as early as 3 p.m., via a Welcome Party at Tropicalia — just a few blocks north of 14th and R Streets NW, where the parade is set to end. Crawlers’ last call will come at 10 p.m. at Nellie’s, via a Rooftop Finale. The exact itinerary will be announced prior to the event and based on chosen team, although other participating venues, offering exclusive drink and food specials for crawlers, include Pure Lounge, Sudhouse, and Velvet Lounge. Tickets, which are limited, cost $29 and include a free drink voucher and a t-shirt (while supplies last). Visit www.thecolorcrawl.com.

MIXTAPE PRIDE PARTY Shea Van Horn and Matt Bailer produced the final Mixtape last September, presented as a 10th Anniversary celebratory blowout — one last spin through their mix of indie-dance, electro-pop, house, and disco throwbacks. It turns out, however, that was not to be the last Mixtape — rather, it was just the last as the popular monthly party it had become known as. This Saturday, June 8, Bailer will DJ a special one-off Mixtape party featuring Lemz, Keenan Orr, and Tezrah. In the original social media post announcing it, Van Horn suggested this Mixtape pride party could become an annual tradition. Party starts at 10 p.m. 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. Tickets are $18, but few remain as of press time. Call 202-265-0930 or visit www.930.com. l

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Drag Show, hosted by Miss Destiny B. Childs, 8-10pm • Karaoke, 10pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $5 Bacardi, all flavors, all night long • PRIDE: JOX GLOW Pride Party, 10pm-close • Featuring DJs Chaim, UltraPup, and Pup Phoenix • $5 Cover (includes clothes check) NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-3am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs playing pop music all night

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NUMBER NINE Doors open 2pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon, 9pm-close • Pop Tarts, featuring DJs BacK2bACk, 9:30pm PITCHERS Open Noon-3am • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 2am SHAW’S TAVERN Brunch with $15 Bottomless Mimosas, 10am-3pm • Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Look for Shaw’s Tavern in the Capital Pride Parade

T-CABARET @Lucky Buns 2000 18th St. NW Starting at 11pm • Featuring Joey Arias • Presented by Tom of Finland Vodka • Tickets at www.dcpridepary.com TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 ZIEGFELD’S/SECRETS Men of Secrets upstairs, 9pm-close • Guest dancers • Ladies of Illusion Drag Show with host Ella Fitzgerald in Ziegfeld’s • Doors open at 9pm, Show at 11:45pm • Music by DJs Keith Hoffman and Don T. • Cover 21+

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Sunday, June 9 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 2pm-12am • $4 Smirnoff and Domestic Cans • Video Games • Live televised sports CAPITAL PRIDE SUNSET DANCE PARTY @Capital Pride Concert Stage Pennsylvania Avenue and 3rd Street NW 8-10pm • Free and open to the public FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Ella’s Sunday Drag Brunch, 10am-3pm • $24.99 with four glasses of champagne or mimosas, 1 Bloody Mary, or coffee, soda or juice • Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Gayborhood Night Piano Bar, 5-8pm • Free

Door Prize Raffle, 7pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • PRIDE: The Bear Cave, 9pm-close • Featuring DJ Popperz • GoGo Pups Indigo and Bear Roman • Karaoke with Kevin downstairs, 9:30pm-close NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Drag Brunch, hosted

by Chanel Devereaux, 10:30am-12:30pm and 1-3pm • Tickets on sale at nelliessportsbar.com • House Rail Drinks, Zing Zang Bloody Marys, Nellie Beer and Mimosas, $4, 11am-1am • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Guest DJs NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 2-9pm • $5 Absolut and $5 Bulleit Bourbon,

9pm-close • Multiple TVs showing movies, shows, sports • Expanded craft beer selection • Pop Goes the World with Wes Della Volla at 9:30pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open Noon-2am • $4 Smirnoff, includes flavored, $4 Coors Light or $4 Miller Lites, 2-9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Dinner and Drag with Miss Kristina Kelly, 8pm • For reservations, email shawsdinnerdragshow@ gmail.com

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T-DANCE @Abigail 1730 M St. NW Starting at 4pm • Hosted

by Joey Arias • DJs spinning classic disco • Presented by Tom of Finland Vodka • Tickets at www.dcprideparty.com TRADE Doors open 2pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 2-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Monday, June 10 FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Singles Night • Half-Priced Pasta Dishes • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night

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long • Singing with the Sisters: Open Mic Karaoke Night with the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, 9:30pm-close

glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer, $15 • Half-Priced Burgers • Paint Nite, 7pm • PokerFace Poker, 8pm • Dart Boards • Ping Pong Madness, featuring 2 PingPong Tables

Tuesday, June 11

NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 5-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Shaw ’Nuff Trivia, with Jeremy, 7:30pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • Taco Tuesday • Karaoke, 9pm GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4-9pm • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR Beat the Clock Happy Hour — $2 (5-6pm), $3 (6-7pm), $4 (7-8pm) • Buckets of Beer $15 • Drag Bingo with Sasha Adams and Brooklyn Heights, 7-9pm • Karaoke, 9pm-close

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NUMBER NINE Open at 5pm • Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Half-Priced Burgers and Pizzas, 5-10pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4

Wednesday, June 12 A LEAGUE OF HER OWN Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Live televised sports FREDDIE’S BEACH BAR Crazy Hour, 4-8pm • $6 Burgers • Beach Blanket Drag Bingo Night, hosted

by Ms. Regina Jozet Adams, 8pm • Bingo prizes • Karaoke, 10pm-1am GREEN LANTERN Happy Hour, 4pm-9pm • Bear Yoga with Greg Leo, 6:30-7:30pm • $10 per class • $3 rail cocktails and domestic beers all night long NELLIE’S SPORTS BAR SmartAss Trivia Night, 8-10pm • Prizes include bar tabs and tickets to shows at the 9:30 Club • $15 Buckets of Beer for SmartAss Teams only • Absolutely Snatched Drag Show, hosted by Brooklyn Heights, 9pm • Tickets

available at www.nelliessportsbar.com NUMBER NINE Happy Hour: 2 for 1 on any drink, 5-9pm • No Cover PITCHERS Open 5pm-12am • Happy Hour: $2 off everything until 9pm • Video Games • Foosball • Live televised sports • Full dining menu till 9pm • Special Late Night menu till 11pm SHAW’S TAVERN Happy Hour, 4-7pm • $3 Miller Lite, $4 Blue Moon, $5 House Wines, $5 Rail Drinks • Half-Priced Pizzas and Select Appetizers • Piano Bar with Jill, 8pm TRADE Doors open 5pm • Huge Happy Hour: Any drink normally served in a cocktail glass served in a huge glass for the same price, 5-10pm • Beer and wine only $4 l

Scene

Countdown: Pride Celebration Kickoff Party - Friday, May 31 at Smithsonian American Art Museum - Photography by Ward Morrison See and purchase more photos from this event at www.metroweekly.com/scene

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LastWord.

People say the queerest things

“We have a great military and I want to keep it that way.”

— DONALD TRUMP, in an interview with British TV show Good Morning Britain, defending his ban on transgender people in the military. Trump erroneously claimed he would have to “break rules and regulations” in order for transgender troops to receive hormone therapy and gender confirmation surgery, and once again cited the cost of the surgery as his reason for the ban.

“Such callous indifference to an outrageous question is unacceptable. ” — Florida House Speaker JOSE OLIVA and House Rules Chairman CHRIS SPROWLS, both Republicans, in a joint statement condemning Florida state Rep. Mike Hill (R), who was caught on tape laughing about killing gay people. Speaking at an event, Hill said being gay was “a choice” and unworthy of federal civil rights protections. An audience member asked if legislation should be introduced to put gay people to death, to which Hill laughed and responded, “I wonder how that would go over.”

“My mom’s a lesbian.

I think I turned out ok. ” — Actor DAVE BAUTISTA, in a tweet responding to a Catholic bishop who claimed that Pride events were “harmful for children.”

Rhode Island’s Bishop Thomas Tobin was widely ridiculed for his tweet, with many pointing to the various child sexual abuse scandals plaguing the Catholic Church.

“This is our chance to have a patriotic parade in Boston as we celebrate straight pride.”

— MARK SAHADY, vice president of Super Happy Fun America, a group created to try and launch a “Straight Pride Parade” in Boston on Aug. 31, which will follow the same route as the annual LGBTQ Pride Parade. Sahady told the Washington Post that straight people are “an oppressed majority,” and thus deserved their own parade. However, city officials said that, while the group has contacted them, no permits have been granted for the parade.

“There’s no marriage to protect.

So I don’t prosecute them as domestics. ” — CRAIG NORTHCOTT, District Attorney of Coffee County, Tennessee, telling attendees of a Bible conference that gay people do not deserve protections from domestic violence. Northcott claimed that Tennessee’s enhanced punishments for domestic violence offenders only apply to heterosexual couples, “to recognize and protect the sanctity of marriage.” Northcott continued: “I don’t prosecute [same-sex domestic violence] because I don’t recognize it as marriage.”

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