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Massive voter turnout portends good omen for Texas and beyond

6 THE GAY-ETY STARTS HERE!

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≈ Houston Rainbow Herald ............... 4

Photo: Netflix

≈ Foodie Diaries................................. 11

≈ What A World................................ 20

INDEX Editorial Crossword Guide to the Clubs

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A different ide of

JIM

Boys in the Band actor on reviving the gay classic, his personal takeaway and playing bitchy queens

PARSONS

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PAGE 2 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

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BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including:  Those in the “Most Important Information About BIKTARVY” section.  Changes in your immune system. Your immune system may get stronger and begin to fight infections. Tell your healthcare provider if you have any new symptoms after you start taking BIKTARVY.  Kidney problems, including kidney failure. Your healthcare provider should do blood and urine tests to check your kidneys. If you develop new or worse kidney problems, they may tell you to stop taking BIKTARVY.  Too much lactic acid in your blood (lactic acidosis), which is a serious but rare medical emergency that can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: weakness or being more tired than usual, unusual muscle pain, being short of breath or fast breathing, stomach pain with nausea and vomiting, cold or blue hands and feet, feel dizzy or lightheaded, or a fast or abnormal heartbeat.  Severe liver problems, which in rare cases can lead to death. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you get these symptoms: skin or the white part of your eyes turns yellow, dark “tea-colored” urine, light-colored stools, loss of appetite for several days or longer, nausea, or stomach-area pain.  The most common side effects of BIKTARVY in clinical studies were diarrhea (6%), nausea (6%), and headache (5%).

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BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS. HIV-1 is the virus that causes AIDS. Do NOT take BIKTARVY if you also take a medicine that contains:  dofetilide  rifampin  any other medicines to treat HIV-1

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Tell your healthcare provider if you become pregnant while taking BIKTARVY.  Are breastfeeding (nursing) or plan to breastfeed.

Do not breastfeed. HIV-1 can be passed to the baby in breast milk.

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Your healthcare provider will need to do tests to monitor your health before and during treatment with BIKTARVY.

HOW TO TAKE BIKTARVY GET MORE INFORMATION

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

Get HIV support by downloading a free app at

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

 This is only a brief summary of important information about BIKTARVY. Talk to your healthcare provider or pharmacist to learn more.  Go to BIKTARVY.com or call 1-800-GILEAD-5  If you need help paying for your medicine, visit BIKTARVY.com for program information.

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Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 3

CHAD LIVING WITH HIV SINCE 2018 REAL BIKTARVY PATIENT

KEEP CREATING.

Because HIV doesn’t change who you are.

BIKTARVY® is a complete, 1-pill, once-a-day prescription medicine used to treat HIV-1 in certain adults. BIKTARVY does not cure HIV-1 or AIDS.

Ask your healthcare provider if BIKTARVY is right for you.

See Chad’s story at BIKTARVY.com.

Featured patient compensated by Gilead.

Please see Important Facts about BIKTARVY, including important warnings, on the previous page and visit BIKTARVY.com.

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PAGE 4 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

HRH REPORT

Publisher / Executive

LAURA M VILLAGRAN Business Development Manager

RANDALL JOBE

Copy Editor

NANCY FORD Scene Writers

RAFA ESPINOSA

JIM AYRES JANICE ANDERSON

News Features

Distribution

Production

JOHNNY TRLICA

MIRIAM ORIHUELA ELIZABETH MEMBRILLO

TH E S TA R CO NTR I B UTI N G W R ITE R S JIM AYRES by day is an employee benefits and human resources writer. By night he turns his creativity toward the local food and restaurant scene. Do you know of a restaurant that needs a review? Info@montrosestar.com NANCY FORD has enjoyed a front row seat to the most remarkable and sparkly Cultural Revolution in the history of mankind. “What a world!” She reflects appropriately. After moving to Houston from Ohio in 1981, Ford became a highly visible player in Texas’ LGBT publishing circles as an editor and contributor to myriad other local and statewide LGBT magazines and newspapers.

RANDALL JOBE has been a fixture in the Houston LGBT Community for several decades in marketing and promotions for top nightclubs, as an actor/director/writer for dozens of theatrical productions, and is also known for his whimsical art pieces. He is the author of the 12-part series “This Old Queen”, which summarized his many experiences living in the gay Mecca, Montrose.

VIC GERAMI is journalist, media contributor and Editor & Publisher of The Blunt Post. Vic grew up in LA and has a BA in Theater Arts. He spent six years at Frontiers Magazine, followed

by LA Weekly and Voice Media Group. His syndicated celebrity Q&A column, 10 Questions with Vic, is a LA Press Club’s National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Award finalist. Vic is a contributor for Montrose Star, DC Life Magazine, Out & About Nashville, Q Virginia, GNI MAG, QNotes, Windy City Times, WeHo Times, GoWeHo, Los Angeles Blade, Asbarez, California Courier, Desert Daily Guide, Armenian Weekly, GED, The Pride LA, IN Magazine and The Advocate Magazine.

FOREST RIGGS is no stranger to the adventures of life, he bills himself as a “raconteur with a gypsy spirit.” A former educator, public speaker, hospital administrator, counselor and gay owner, he was instrumental in the formation of OutSmart Magazine in the early 1990s. He has written for several newspapers, magazines and other publications. Recently he completed a collection of short stories about his beloved Galveston and is working on a novel. He currently resides on the island where he can be found wasting bait and searching for the meaning of life.

JOHNNY TRLICA has called the Houston area home all of his life. Four years ago he founded and still edits the Houston Rainbow Herald and has worked in the apartment leasing industry for the past two years. His passion is keeping the battle for LGBT rights at the forefront of today’s headlines and fighting complacency in the LGBT community.

©2020 GLYP Media. All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reproduced without written permision from the Publisher.

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OMMENTARY: IT’S THE THRILL OF VICTORY,

the agony of defeat. And when the contest is over, we meet at midfield, shake hands and go to happy hour together. In sports, yes, but not in politics. Politics is a blood sport and to the victor go the spoils.

Long before a winner was declared in the presidential election, some people were calling for peace. A popular meme read, “After the election…

If you win, don’t gloat. If you lose, don’t despair.

This has been hard on all of us. Treat others the President-elect Joseph Biden delivers acceptance speech, way you want to be treated. We all will need it.”

November 7, 2020.

While we appreciate the Golden Rule, it will take some time to come around to that line of thinking. Besides, the defeated president mocked reporters and Joe Biden for wearing should be the one leading on uniting the nation them. It was mostly Trump supporters refusing since he, more than anyone, divided it. to mask up at stores and restaurants, throwing For the past four years, we have been harassed hissy fits that would embarrass a three-year-old. with names like demoncrats, libtards, snowflakes, Trump mocked Michigan Governor Gretchen demorats, and others not as nice.

Whitmer for trying to keep her constituents safe Trump used schoolyard names for his and bragged about how “his” FBI caught the rightopponents. Crooked Hillary, Crazy Bernie, Shifty wing militia that sought to attempt to kidnap her, Adam Schiff, Pocahontas Elizabeth Warren, put her on trial and execute her. And his cult-like Crazy Nancy Pelosi and, most recently, Sleepy followers chanted “lock her up.” Owning the libs.

Joe Biden and questioning his mental capacities.

It isn’t just the president who shows a lack of His tribe laughed uncontrollably at the taunts. character. The hypocrisy of the GOP was on full Trumpers spent the past four years display when the Senate confirmed a Trumptelling us, “Fuck your feelings.” The flags appointed Supreme Court judge a week before the and T-shirts were visible at every Trump election this year. In 2016, they refused to do the rally and readily available on Amazon. same for a Barack Obama nominee because “it Right-wingers embraced anything that would was an election year.” Republican voters re-elected “own the libs,” even if it were harmful to the country Senators Mitch McConnell and Lindsey Graham or themselves. They placed twisting the knife in despite their open hypocrisy. Take that, you libtards. liberal’ stomachs as a top priority. Trump delivered.

President-elect Biden is encouraging all But now they want us to put the election behind Americans to unite. “With the campaign over, us and have a Kumbaya moment together? it’s time to put the anger and the harsh rhetoric When Trump won the presidency in 2016, he behind us and come together as a nation. It’s was anything but reconciliatory. Fully a month time for America to unite. And to heal. We after his election win, the president-elect went are the United States of America. And there’s on a victory tour. At every stop he used each nothing we can’t do, if we do it together.” opportunity to gloat about his come from behind We will eventually heed our new president’s victory and boasted about the emotional pain advice, but for now, we need a little time to he had inflicted on Democrats by winning. The gloat. After years of mocking, ridicule, taunts, crowds ate it up because he was owning the libs. and gloating, one doesn’t walk away from Throughout his presidency, Trump gloated an abusive relationship without scars. that just by occupying the White House, he was infuriating his critics. He’d say, “I’m here and they’re Epilogue not.” This year on the campaign trail, he’d stand in Writing this column has been especially difficult front of his admirers and wallow in recounting the as I have several family members and friends anguish of his opponents on election night 2016. The who supported Trump. They are some of the crowd was in a frenzy as he was still owning the libs. most kind and gentle people I know. They were While COVID-19 was spreading across the not the people riding around with “fuck your nation the president failed to take the pandemic feelings” flags and yelling, “lock her up” at rallies. seriously and admitted he “downplayed” it.

But make no mistake, they supported His documented lies directly led to the deaths “a race baiting, xenophobic religious bigot,” of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

(Lindsey Graham’s description), who was Republicans rose to their leader’s defense with leading us down the road to fascism. They statements like, “it’s not his fault,” and “it’s no can reconcile that with themselves. worse than the flu.” Anything less than complete Humans often are characterized by the company submission to their leader would be caving to the they keep. Are we to judge people by who they vote demoncrats, who were exaggerating the virus for as well? Perhaps this is a good time for all of us to make Trump look bad, according to them. to take time to reflect and examine our core values.

Trump made the simple act of wearing a Does character still matter? Then maybe we can put mask a culture war. Those of us who chose to this national nightmare behind us and move on. e wear masks to protect others as well as ourselves The views expressed in this article are entirely those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views of MONTROSE STAR. Johnny Trlica is the administrator of the Houston became to subject of ridicule. Trump himself

Photo Andrew Harkin

OFFICE 713-942-0084 EMAIL TheMontroseStart@gmail.com

Taking time to gloat and let scars heal

Rainbow Herald Facebook page. Reach him at HRHeditor@gmail.com.

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OP-ED

Creep of the Week

Donald Trump e By D ’ An n e W i tkow s k i

O

N MONDAY, OCT. 27, DONALD

Trump swore in his third Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney Barrett under the cloak of night.

And like many things that necessitate darkness, it was a sordid affair that will leave a lasting stain.

And let’s be clear: this is not an accomplishment, despite what Republicans might claim. We do not say that a bank robber’s sudden windfall is an accomplishment. We do not say that a child’s pack of grape Bubbilicious stolen from Kroger is an accomplishment. Nor should we say that the Republican packing of the Supreme Court, not to mention so many lower courts, in the U.S. is an accomplishment. It is a fact, yes. It is an intentional action yielding their desired result. But there is nothing to be proud of here. The immorality of the Republican Party in staggering.

You’ll remember, of course, that in President Barack Obama’s last year in office, the Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell, refused to consider his Supreme Court nominee, Merrick Garland. They said that in an election year the people should decide who should be the next president, and the next president should get to nominate someone for the court.

And we all know how that turned out.

Note that Garland was appointed in March. MARCH. His appointment was blocked by the Republicans for over six months. It was too close to the election, McConnell said.

Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 5

Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on Sept. 18.

McConnell and the Republicans rammed through Coney Barrett’s nomination in less than a month, because they have no principles. No morals. They care only about power.

The most corrupt and incompetent and irresponsible president in history was able to put three justices on the Supreme Court. These justices were chosen specifically because they will vote against LGBTQ rights, against reproductive freedom, against access to health care, against voting rights.

But let’s not forget that there’s an election happening right now. Hell, by the time you read this, election day may have come and gone.

The other day a pickup truck drove past me with two giant flags flying from the back. One was a black-andblue American flag, the other was the traditional American flag with the words, “Trump 2020 F*UCK YOUR FEELINGS.” These flags truly represent everything the Republican Party — and let’s be clear that Trump is NOT separate from the Republican Party, he is the ultimate symbol of what this party is — stands for.

First, the so-called “Blue Lives Matter” flag. It is intended to be a show of support for law enforcement in response to the Black Lives Matter movement. It is fitting that this flag is black and blue, like a bruise. Of course, if your response to the idea that Black lives should matter and that the police shouldn’t be able to kill them with impunity is to say that, no, actually police officers killing Black people is fine with you, then you’re probably racist. If you really want to support law enforcement, then support policies that would make them and the communities they serve safer and more secure like training in deescalation, licensing requirements, transparency, and accountability.

Secondly, the stars and stripes with “F*UCK YOUR FEELINGS” scrawled across it is the equivalent of wearing the flag as a diaper. Trump’s self proclaimed patriots love to shout about respecting the flag when Black athletes are kneeling to protest police brutality, but are more than happy to use the flag as a billboard for their hated and general assholery.

The U.S. is a flawed country, no doubt.

But we were built on ideals that are worth trying to live up to. We’ve moved backward under Trump.

That said, the Democrats are a flawed party. But they are the only party that thinks this country’s ideals are aspirational. They are the only party with candidates who care about people. They are the only party that believes in science.

They are the only party that believes that COVID-19 is real and that we must do everything we can to slow the spread and save lives.

Republicans, who consider themselves the “tough guys” because they have open disdain for caring about other people, have given up on trying to control the virus. The biggest health crisis this country has faced in my lifetime and the Republicans have said, “Nah, that’s too hard.”

They are losers and failures. And that should be reflected in the election results across the board.

It’s not over on Nov. 3. Even if Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are elected and Trump and Pence lose as they so rightfully deserve to lose. The hatred and the violence and the false reality that have been encouraged and given legitimacy by the Fox News Administration isn’t going away any time soon, and Trump is going to ramp up his trashing of the country on his way out.

Buckle up. e

NOVEMBER 11, 2020 | VOL. XI, 17

COOKING WITH PAULA DREAM Comfort food for a comfortable autumn

10

D’Anne Witkowski is a poet, writer and comedian living in Michigan with her wife and son. She has been writing about LGBT politics for over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski.

MY LIFE BEHIND BARS ‘The Horror! The Horror!’

A recollection of Halloweens past

14

CONTENTS HRH Report.......................................................... 4 OP-ED.................................................................... 5 OP-ED.................................................................... 6 Cooking with Paula Dream........................... 10 Foodie Diaries.................................................... 11 My Life Behind Bars........................................ 14 Across the Causeway..................................... 17 Crossword Queeries....................................... 18 What a World.................................................... 20 Deep Inside Hollywood................................. 21 Guide to the Clubs.......................................... 22 ©2020 Montrose Star All Right Reserved Montrose Star™ Newspaper since 1976, is owned

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CORRECTIONS & AMPLIFICATION November 11, 2020. None as of press time.

PAGE 6 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

OP-ED

Massive voter turnout brings victory to Joe Biden e B y Colby E t h e rt on

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S SOON AS EARLY VOTING

started on October 13, Texas saw record numbers of people coming out to vote. By October 30, Texas had exceeded 100 percent of its total 2016 turnout with more than nine million Texans casting their ballots before Election Day. Those incredible numbers hopefully point to a shift in higher voter participation not just in our state, but also around the country.

The number of registered voters that show up for presidential elections tends to hover between 50 and 60 percent, a number all too low and even lower in midterm elections. The 2018 midterms had the highest voter turnout in four decades, and even then, turnout was only 53 percent. According to the Associated Press, the tallied votes accounted for 62% of the eligible voting-age population in the U.S as of Sunday, Nov. 8. That’s a 0.4 percentage point increase so far over the rate hit in 2008, when the nation elected its first Black president.

In Texas, at least 66% of the 17 million registered voters cast ballots in the 2020 general election, also according to AP. That’s 6.6 percentage points higher than total turnout in 2016.

What is it that has energized Texans when it comes to our elections? On one hand, I think our newfound status as a battleground state has partly influenced that; Texas has traditionally been a stronghold for Republicans. As we continue to expand in population, become more diverse, and voting becomes easier for everyone, the more our state moves toward becoming purple.

There’s a feeling among left-leaning voters that our votes count more than ever. It’s surreal to think that Texas may now be considered a swing state in upcoming elections, though it’s also possible that we have this unusual distinction in 2020 because of the divisive, hateful rhetoric that Donald Trump has amplified. It’s possible that Texas may move back toward familiar Republican territory if that party fields someone “normal” (though just about anyone would seem normal in comparison to Trump) in a future election.

But the gains Democrats have made cannot be ignored. Our voice is growing and will continue to do so. We saw that in the upset of Lina Hidalgo’s win in Harris County, and Lizzie Fletcher’s win over 9-term incumbent John Culberson in Texas’ 7th congressional district.

Nationwide, records have been shattered with the unprecedented early voting and voting by mail numbers. This is largely fueled by the ongoing pandemic.

Unfortunately, we are seeing Republicans in power resort to the dirtiest tactics possible to undermine and disenfranchise voters. Republicans tried several times

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to get drive-through voting in Harris County halted, and in late October once again asked the Texas Supreme Court to intervene, this time requesting that the hundreds of thousands of votes cast via drive-through voting be invalidated.

In Minnesota, voters potentially have not had their votes counted after Election Day. The Supreme Court ruled that in Wisconsin, votes that arrived after Election Day (even if they were postmarked Nov. 3 or earlier) would not count.

This is voter suppression, pure and simple. What we are seeing is a Republican party terrified by the unprecedented turnout we’ve seen thus far. Republicans know that the more people that get out there and vote, the less of a chance they have of holding on to power. The comical thing is that votes arriving after Election Day and continuing to be counted afterward is a completely normal aspect of elections, and it suddenly becoming an issue now is telling: Republicans see the writing on the wall. Whether by limiting polling locations, cutting into early voting or strict signature-matching requirements for mail-in ballots, Republicans at every turn have tried to make it harder to vote for everyone. Trump exacerbates this with his encouragement of his supporters to go to the polls to poll watch, a clear attempt to intimidate those who don’t support him.

If there is one silver lining to the blatant attack on voting rights that Republicans have launched, it’s that perhaps this issue will be met head-on with the gumption that it deserves with a Democratic White House, House of Representatives, and Senate. Something like automatic voter registration would probably terrify a lot of rank and file Republicans, with inevitable claims that it opens the door for voter fraud —of which there is no evidence. Voter fraud is incredibly rare in the United States).

Truly, increased voter participation can only be a good thing. Countries like Australia and Germany all have north of 90 percent voter participation.

What a win it would be if the U.S. could someday match those numbers.

It took four days to determine that Joe Biden will be President.

Perhaps now we can begin to undo the damage of the last four years.

But this sweeping Democratic Party victory won’t mark the end of our fight as there are cases being addressed by the Supreme Court in November that will have huge ramifications on our nation — namely, the future of the Affordable Care Act and a case in Philadelphia that could threaten anti-discrimination protections for LGBTQ parents seeking to adopt.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Montrose Star, and are entirely those of the writer. e

Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 7

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e By Ch ri s Az z opa rdi

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LOT HAS HAPPENED THIS YEAR,

and that’s aside from Jim Parsons dancing around in a bra. That bit, of course, graced screens across the world thanks to Netflix’s Hollywood, the Big Bang Theory actor shedding his well-established onscreen TV persona to play a sleazy Hollywood agent in the flashy revisionist drama. The Ryan Murphy series garnered him an Emmy nomination, but best of all: It wouldn’t be the only time in 2020 that Parsons would be taking on the role of a bitchy queen.

In Netflix’s The Boys in the Band, again produced by Murphy, Parsons is a standout among standouts in the remake of the pioneering 1970 gay-centric drama, directed by William Friedkin. Initially staged as an Off-Broadway play in 1968, the film is based on Mart Crowley’s screenplay, written about a group of gay friends and frenemies living in New York City. An awkward birthday party for their friend Harold, a self-proclaimed “ugly, pockmarked Jew fairy,” becomes the breeding ground for savage takedowns, as they tear into each other, exposing the kind of self-hatred familiar to gay men trying to survive the oppressive state of pre-Stonewall America. Parsons plays seething party host Michael, a semilapsed Catholic whose aggressively nasty observations about his friends reveal more about him than it does about them.

In the remake, Parsons reprises his role alongside the original – and entirely openly gay – cast of the 2018 Broadway revival: Zachary Quinto, Matt Bomer, Andrew Rannells, Charlie Carver, Robin de Jesús, Brian Hutchison, Michael Benjamin Washington and Tuc Watkins. Parsons’s out Hollywood co-star Joe Mantello, who directed the Broadway revival, once again directs.

On Zoom recently, Parsons talked about the revealing conversations he shared with Crowley about The Boys in the Band before his death in March and how working on the project led to a deeper understanding and questioning of his own self-worth.

Being the bitchy queen doesn’t seem like something that comes naturally to you.

Apparently I have an affinity with it, or an interest in it. Or Ryan Murphy

has an interest in forcing me to do it! I’m not sure which. Ha!

What has that experience been like for you?

It’s been heaven. As an actor, I’ll be honest with you: Both of these men are complicated characters, and the two roles this year in Hollywood and in Boys in the Band were very different in many ways, but they had a similar feeling to me. Going into the projects, there was a mystery and an unknown quality about the challenge that lied ahead. I felt confident that I would be able to get there with both of them, but it was exciting to know it wasn’t a done deal. I was going to work to get there, and I was going to have to, most importantly, get on set and start doing these scenes for both these characters and see what happened, and that was exciting.

Your role in Hollywood earned you an Emmy nomination, which must have felt validating after being uncertain about playing that role.

That was a great feeling.

Playing more challenging characters such as these, when do you know, “OK, I think I’ve got it”?

I feel like that specific feeling comes in little spots through the process, where you just feel good about something. But in general, everything I do, by the time it’s all done and the months go by until it’s released, suddenly I start having trouble remembering any of the good moments and I’m like, “Oh god, oh god. It’s coming.”

When I worked on Hollywood on the character Henry, that was a longer process than the film because it was episodes and it went on for about six months. We were about midway through the process when I actually wrote Ryan Murphy an email just telling him how appreciative I was of the experience, and it was because I had crossed some bridge about working on that character. It had really clicked in me what a special opportunity this was, this character, that I just hadn’t seen as clearly when I first started.

going into the beginning of the rehearsal process, knowing that you’re dealing with a character who is compensating as much as he can. I always had this phrase in my head every time I was working with the character: He’s just dancing as fast as he can in order to keep things afloat. But it’s so superficial because there’s this elemental part of himself that he is completely unhappy with and so, as happens in this, just the right amount of things break the wrong way and he’s cracked.

What’s interesting about both characters is that Henry in Hollywood was based on a real man, Henry Wilson, the man who invented Rock Hudson, and so I had this beautiful book by Robert Hofler that is Henry’s biography.

Robert had done so much research about who he was and when he was young and when he got old, and we focus on one specific part of Henry – and invented so much around it too; it wasn’t all pure truth – so to have all that information gave me a humane quality to Henry that I understood.

Michael was a little different. Even though I consciously knew that he was a rough stand-in for the writer, Mart Crowley, I didn’t want to presume how much, nor did I want to put that responsibility on myself. At the time, both for the play and the movie, Mart was alive and I just thought, “Don’t even think about it.” But it kind of couldn’t help creeping in, and the more chances I had to be around Mart and talk to Mart and exchange emails with Mart, one thing after another began to click and I was like, “The character of Michael is a writer just like Mart is.” From this distance, now that we’ve had this put to bed for so long, although it’s just now being released, I see a version of it where this is partly the story of Mart before he was able to write Boys in the Band.

For me, the main magical thing about Boys in the Band comes from the fact that Mart was finally able to reveal himself and his situation and the people that he knew and loved with so much brutal honesty. I think that’s why it connected with so many people. I think that’s why it stood the test of time. I think that’s why, as a piece of literature, it has stayed bubbling in our consciousness this long, and lo and behold has expanded

With Michael, the reasons for his ruthless disdain really reveal themselves at the end of the film. When you’re playing characters as vicious as Michael and Henry, what’s your process for exposing the layers of humanity beneath the surface of these characters’ rough edges?

In the case of Michael, I think that’s a big part of what you carry with you v Facebook.com & t Twitter Find us on P

Photo Netflix

PAGE 8 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

to become something that’s not just about gay men. It’s become something that’s about all people suffering under oppression and shame. And that’s the way the world went, but I don’t think, unless you’re willing to open a vein the way that Mart was, that, going back to Michael, I believe that you can’t create something that impactful and be that honest until you accept yourself for everything that you are. That’s where we leave Michael, with Harold telling him, “You will always be a homosexual.

There’s nothing you can do to change it.”

And we don’t see Michael transition into a healthier, self-loving person, but the more I think about it, the more I think that if he’s truly a stand-in for Mart, then that’s where Michael goes. Maybe he goes off to write his Boys in the Band.

It’s interesting to me to think that the film, when it was released in 1970, before the lexicon of LGBTQ identities expanded, resonated with an especially niche group of people. And that was, specifically, gay men. Now, that specific demographic seems almost antiquated because identity is far less restrictive.

One of the things I’m realizing – and please understand that so many things that I’m realizing I’m realizing them in the moment as we are now able to talk about the release of this film and the evolution that this story that Mart created has gone through – that no writer or anybody could predict because you don’t know what’s going to happen in the world.

Stonewall happened shortly after Boys in the Band. It was a moment that created a real backlash from the gay community against Boys in the Band, and for all the complaints, the main one was, “We don’t want to be represented like this, as unhappy, self-hating, have-

MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020| PAGE 9

youth, and that’s what you get. Ha! But no, definitely, it was one of the most profound things about going through this process, and I’m not even speaking about whether or not this is reflected in the final product on film. I’m really talking about my own personal experience of working on this: I feel we have the luxury now of not needing for safety and for personal comfort to be surrounded by your tribe of gay men.

Many people have plenty of gay friends, and so many people solely, but it’s not for the same reasons in my opinion that it would’ve been in the late ’60s, early ’70s where it was like, “Truly, we have to stick together.” That’s wonderful. But what I realized working with these guys is there’s a language spoken. I don’t know if it’s all gay men all over the planet. All gay people. I don’t know if it’s strictly specific to a gay American male. I will say it’s the only time I’ve gone to curtain call and repeatedly – and I don’t even know why because I hate saying this, but I’m like, “Hey heney!” I mean, I never talk like that. Ha! But every once in a while, I would grab Zach Quinto’s hand on stage before the bow and I’d go, “Hi heney!”

to-hide at-home (people).” And I totally understand that. Especially in that infantile time, that embryo of this independence starting to form, you need all the nutrition you can get, ha!

But because of the efforts of so many, we have come far enough that we are more than OK to look at an honest portrayal of a real side of what it was to be gay. And even though it’s not as intense in this way, there’s residual (issues).

One of the things I discovered going through this and having the luxury to spend so much time with this part, both in the play and in the movie, was how much of those feelings that I thought I didn’t really have because of my age and the acceptance in the world.

Bullshit. I do. I do. It’s not as intense.

It’s a different world. But it’s not gone completely. And there is still a part of me that, as a gay person, I see more clearly having played Michael for so long. (I’m) still dealing with – and it’s truly OK, consciously I know this – but there’s that little voice inside sometimes that still goes, “Am I enough? Am I OK?”

I recognize that, with my very good friends especially, there’s a language that we speak with each other that’s tart-tongued and lovingly bitchy. I’m wondering if the way these gay men talk to each other on-screen translated off-screen since you worked with a cast of all gay men.

(Smiles.) You know what? I don’t know if it was because of who we are or because of the time we’re living – ha!

– or because we were actually working together: It was certainly not as biting; it’s a lot kinder, although Charlie, sweet thing, may disagree. He takes a beating from us! But you know what? That’s

Ryan Murphy has said we need more stories about the history of LGBTQ people. Aside from starring in Boys in the Band this year, you are producing the LGBTQ docudrama Equal for HBO Max. What are some other LGBTQ stories you would like to see revived for new generations of LGBTQ people to experience?

That’s hard to say. You know what’s funny to me, and I don’t know what this says about me, exactly – well, it says that I’m a child of privilege, that I’m a gay man of privilege living in the world that I’ve grown up in. But I’ve been so fortunate that the people that I’ve worked with have called on me to be a part of these things, whether it was Normal Heart or Boys in the Band.

Even Equal was something that was being created and thought of and they included me in on it. So I have been blessed with this story lesson since I was, again, just too privileged and going about my own daily business in order to go research on my own.

But I guess my answer is twofold: I don’t know what the next story is that should be revived, and the second thing is that I do realize the importance because of the impact that it’s had on me being exposed to these stories, and a strength and a wellroundness that I feel as a gay man by understanding more specifically the historical context within which I walk as a gay man in 2020 now. It’s crucial for making me the person I am.

And I get sweaty palms at the thought of, were it not for the slidingdoor moments of these people asking me to do this, I might miss it, or not understand it, or feel it the way that I do now. So I hope that these projects go out to people and give a similar level of that.

I don’t want to say education because it’s entertainment and I want people to watch it, for Christ’s sake. Ha! But I hope that we’ve portrayed it in a way that is realistic and humanizing enough that you can’t help but get the point. e As editor of Q Syndicate, the LGBTQ wire service, Chris Azzopardi has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @chrisazzopardi.

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PAGE 10 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

COOKING WITH PAULA DREAM

Comfort food for a comfortable autumn e B y P aul a Dre am

W

(AKA Kale Haygood)

ELL, GUYS AND GALS, HERE WE

are: Another holiday has passed and one of my favorites is just around the corner.

The recipes I am giving you in this issue are some of my favorites for the fall season. Of course, I love chicken (don’t say anything!) any way you prepare it. But on a cool fall evening, the tomato soup really does me right. And in keeping with the season, the pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing can’t be beat for breakfast or just a snack. Like my Dad would say, “Easy as falling off a log.”

Folks, more than ever, please support our advertisers and our family of businesses who have struggled to re-open their doors, or just to keep them open. Additionally, many folks have lost their jobs or been furloughed with no or little income. Donate if you can to the Pride Pantry at Barcode (817 Fairview Ave.) that my buddies Joe and Keith have been instrumental in organizing. Thank you all so much.

I look forward to seeing you all out at the watering holes when it’s safe!

IRON SKILLET SPINACH CHICKEN

2 7 10 Montrose Blvd.

Houston, T X 7 7 006

713.526.0202 Order Online www.pepperonis.net

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons kosher salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 2 tablespoons butter Flour for dredging 1/2 cup shallots, minced 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup dry white wine 1 cup heavy cream 4 cups fresh baby spinach 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, hopped Lemon wedges Add olive oil to a large iron skillet on medium-high heat. Sprinkle chicken breasts with salt and pepper. Dredge chicken in flour, shaking off excess flour. Place chicken in skillet, cooking about eight minutes per side, turning once, until browned. Remove and keep warm on a plate. Turn down heat to medium and add butter to melt. Add shallots and garlic.

Cook one to two minutes, continually stirring. Add wine, scrapping skillet bits.

Simmer until liquid is reduced in half. Add heavy cream. Cook five minutes, stirring

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continually until thickened. Remove skillet from heat. Sauté spinach in skillet until wilted. Cut chicken across the grain in strips and return to skillet. Sprinkle top with parsley. Serve with lemon wedges.

ROASTED TOMATO SOUP

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1 yellow onion, coarsely chopped 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped 2 tablespoons thyme leaves, coarsely chopped 2 jars (12 ounces) roasted bell peppers 1 can (28 ounces) can whole peeled tomatoes 2 cups chicken stock Heat olive oil on medium heat in a large pan. Add onions; sauté until tender. Add garlic, basil and thyme, and cook for about two minutes. Stir in red peppers and tomatoes with juice. Simmer for a couple of minutes. Add chicken stock and allow to simmer about 5 more minutes. Place all of the ingredients into food processor and puree, or use an immersion blender.

Return to saucepan. Soup is done. Serve with homemade biscuits or cornbread.

CREAM CHEESE ICED PUMPKIN MUFFINS

3 cups flour 1 tablespoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon ground ginger 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg 2 teaspoon baking soda 1 1/2 teaspoon salt 3 cups sugar 1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin 4 large eggs 1/2 cup vegetable oil 1/2 cup apple juice 1/4 cups walnuts, finely chopped Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using cupcake liners, prepare muffin tins for 30 cupcakes. (I have found that using cooking spray on cupcake liners works great for releasing muffins from liners.)

Stir flour, spices, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. In another bowl combine pumpkin, eggs, sugar, oil and juice; beat until just blended. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring until just moistened, and then add walnuts.

Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups, filling about three-quarter’s full.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until they pass toothpick test. Allow to cool 10 minutes before removing from muffin tin.

Cream Cheese Icing

1 block (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened 1 stick butter, softened 4 cups powdered sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract Beat cream cheese with a mixer for about 30 seconds. Add butter and beat together.

Add the powdered sugar and vanilla. Beat until fluffy and smooth. Top cupcakes. e Paula Dream, AKA Kale Haygood, owns Beyond Service, a Montrosebased, home-cooking catering company. For more information, call 713-805-4106 or email barrykale@yahoo.com.

FOODIE DIARIES

AROUND TOWN

When it comes to dining, this city never sleeps e By J i m Ay re s

H

Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 11

have not been a complete culinary blowout for me. Surgeries, work and COVID have co-conspired to keep me sedentary, so I’m not eating as much as I could. But that Perry’s promotional email reached out from my inbox and grabbed me. Fifty percent off that famous pork chop? I couldn’t resist.

Of course, I didn’t expect that it would be as fine a specimen as what I’d get in their dining room. But not only was I pleasantly surprised, the big hulking thing was exactly what would be served at the restaurant.

Warm, juicy, thick with delicious meat, this chop made me giddy that I was carving it in my own kitchen.

And it was delicious. Easily enough for two or even three meals. The wedge salad and whipped potatoes were also first rate. To repeat my experience, order the Autumn 3-Course Dinner for $45. It’s well worth the splurge.

On the other end of the spectrum If you’re a DoorPass member (that’s DoorDash’s loyalty program) you get free

APPY THANKSGIVING,

MONTROSE STAR readers! I’m writing this at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3. That means shortly afterward, we’ll either still have much to be thankful for, or a whole bursting-at-the-seams horn o’plenty to rejoice and be thankful for.

Just a few notes about dining around town as I gear up for the “I’ll have seconds and thirds” guzzle fest that is the holiday season.

Perry’s pork chop: Delivered If I’m honest, the last few months

Heights Asian Café

Perry’s Pork Chop

delivery from most restaurants with a $12 order. A few restaurants don’t participate, and that unfortunately includes The Burger Joint. But a block away, the Hay Merchant does. I ordered the Cease and Desist burger, with Underbelly’s famous Vinegar Pie for dessert.

Hay Merchant, you can do a lot better than the burned 45 rpm single of a patty delivered to me. Friends, it was awful — and this coming from a place that has won numerous media (or should I say PR) awards for that very burger.

The Vinegar Pie, as always, was magnificent. I’ve always wondered how they make that glorious layer of amber sugar glass that goes between the filling and the crust. I looked it up, and let’s just say, I’ll let the pastry chef continue making it for me.

An unexpected treat Two Sunday evenings ago, I did make it out to Heights Asian Café (2201 Yale) to meet friends for dinner. The bounty here was excellent. We started with Pork Lettuce Wraps (fun to assemble,

fun to eat). The big iceberg lettuce leaves were as crisp as could be, and the ground pork glistened with a sauce that brought forth deep umami flavor.

A vermicelli bowl, full of chicken, vegetables, noodles and broth, was the most comforting dish I’ve had in many months. It was certainly enough for two, but I slurped the whole bowl down with complete joy and no guilt.

Really, it’s an extremely healthy dish!

Thanks for reading! Who knows what I’ll have for you in my holiday column, but it’s sure to be tantalizing. e

Hay Merchant’s Cease and Desist Burger

EXCITED FOR BRUNCH? SO ARE WE! SUNDAY BRUNCH 11AM - 3PM LAURENZOS.COM / 4412 WASHINGTON AVE / 713.880.5111

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Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 13

Legacy Midtown Main is a premiere TESTING ONLY loca�on for FREE rapid HIV, STD and Pregnancy Tes�ng—plus Same-Day PrEP. Walk-ins welcome!

Click here or call (713) 814 3300 for more informa�on.

Tes�ng and PrEP available at:

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Fi�h Ward 3811 Lyons Ave. Houston, TX

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PAGE 14 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

MY LIFE BEHIND BARS

part EIGHT ‘The Horror! The Horror!’

A recollection of Halloweens past

Young Britney was my crowning glory. I recreated one of her album covers complete with a bare midriff and an entire shaved upper body and held my stomach in for six agonizing hours. You know a theme stinks when there are 50 employees in similar costumes and the customer mantra all night is, “Who are you supposed to be?”

I’m supposed to be polite to the customers, but screw that, screw you and screw this theme. Happy f*cking Halloween.

Of course, it wasn’t all bad. There did come a certain pleasure seeing sexy

I spent two decades emceeing multiple costume contests, indoors on a microphone and outdoors on a screeching megaphone. The street would be closed and dozens of optical disasters would trounce across a wobbly makeshift stage, vying for trophies and often substantial cash prizes.

At one outdoor contest, the brown-nosing owner told me that a local Senator known for attending “the opening of an envelope” was going to say a few (yeah, right) words to the crowd. He shook a finger at me and said, “No funny business. Introduce her.

doctors, sexy super heroes and countless gay boys attempting to be sexy girls. The lesbians, not so much. It’s disheartening to compliment a plaid-covered lesbian of her construction worker’s costume only to discover it’s her daily attire. My bad. And if RuPaul had been passing judgment on the countless beauty school dropouts, he would have a bevy of beauty wannabe’s sashaying away.

I worked for one occasionally benevolent owner who watched a young queen wearing a single mattress with arm and neck holes and oversized ears dashing as fast as the costume allowed across the packed street. He said, “Everyone thinks they’re a winner.”

“Yeah, and most think they have an above average penis,” I said.

Let her speak. Thank her. Nothing more!”

After her not-so-brief words fell on deaf ears and over-painted faces, I thanked her and added, “Hand her a trophy, ’cause that’s the best Sheila Jackson-Lee you’re gonna see tonight!”

I caught the owner’s death stare and bulging purple neck vein threatening to blow. Fellow employees used to be convinced that I would someday infuriate him to the point the vein would burst.

Unfortunately, it was not that day.

I lived to celebrate many more festive Halloweens watching the enthusiastic, creative and Stranger Things concepts that continued to surprise. Leave it to a queen to put lipstick on a pig and call it Cher.

Boo, bitches! e

e B y R an dal l J obe

I

N OUR GAY WORLD OF “THROW ON A

costume at the chipping of a manicured nail” or “I saw this bed sheet and had to turn it into a Dior knockoff,” the very idea that Halloween could be cancelled by a world-wide pandemic is a reason to scream.

Bottom line, queens love Halloween. A national gay holiday, it’s worshipped like gay Pride and Judy Garland’s birthday.

The thought of not adding the word “sexy” to any number of costumes (sexy cop, sexy fireman, sexy deli counter worker) is equivalent to being told you shouldn’t kiss strangers. Horrifying!

After years of working in the bars, I estimate that I have celebrated at least 30 Halloweens over a minimum 60 terrorfilled nights. In the bar business you milk Halloween like a cow, regardless if how sore her teats might be. It’s standard to celebrate the weekend and multiple days before the actual Halloween. Any attempt to stretch it to the day after is, well, sacrilege. Sometimes

it encompasses five nights of too much bad drag and enough bare flesh to circle the globe twice, leaving a comet trail of glitter.

In the clubs, we love a good theme.

However, at times, even with collective minds, it can be Whitney-Houstondancing lame. One multiple celebration the big boss ignored the staff’s creative suggestions and mandated an idea that came to him after too many sleeping pills and chocolate. “Night of a Thousand Britney’s” was born to honor the queen-of-the-moment pop star.

It fell over a measly three nights and I, not being one to repeat a costume, was panic-stricken. If there ever was a person who should not dress as a big-titted, pouty-mouthed, bleachedto-filth blonde, it was me. But, always the trouper, I put together versions of a young, a middle-aged and an old Britney’s.

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Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 15

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≈ Crossword Queeries ........................

18

The Boys in the Band MONTROSE STAR.COM

ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY

Let us all give thanks e B y Fore s t R igg s

T

HE ELECTION IS OVER! AFTER MANY LONG

months of mud-slinging, vitriol-infused speeches and ideologies that shock the very core of most folks’ understanding of democracy and how it is supposed to work, a new president has been elected by a majority vote. As this column is being written before Election Day, at this point I am unsure as to how it came out.

One thing I am sure of, no matter who won, America must heal from this horrible election year’s societal destruction and get back to doing what we do best: moving forward in a positive and cohesive manner. I feel pretty correct in saying that most all of gay Galveston supports Mr. Biden for a multitude of reason that are near and dear to the LGBT communities around the country: samesex marriage, SCOTUS judge nominations, health care, education and the economy. The two major presidential candidates could not be farther apart in their ideas and future plans regarding these and other issues.

During this election process (which, by the way, takes entirely too long in our country), Americans have essentially stepped into another quagmire—a Civil War, of sorts; it’s not the North against the South, but Democrat against Republican. I have seen friendships erode, faiths questioned, basic human rights challenged, political correctness used to the point of becoming sickening, actions (on both sides) that heretofore would have been criminal and perhaps inhumane, simply over looked or accepted as the new norm for America. The news media, social media and other forms of communication have swelled the “battle” into monumental proportions.

No one has remained unaffected in this election.

It’s true, there were some major issues at stake with this election and the person that was elected by a majority vote now faces huge obstacles and hurdles if they are to effectively govern these non-united United States. We have now, after a great battle, swum into the murky waters of yet another Reconstruction.

THE GAY-ETY STARTS HERE!

Wednesday November 11, 2020 e VOL. XI, 17

than the issues. Folks watching the debates, hoping to hear candidates expound on the their plans for the future regarding great issues of concern, were treated instead to a battle between two people simply trying to outshine the other; of course, people took sides based on just how the candidate came across as a person. Oh, there was some occasional talk around a real issue, but it never evolved into to real “how to” answers and ideas for problem solving.

Well, the deed is done. The votes have been cast and a president has been elected. Now what do we do? It is critical at this point that we come together as Americans, support our elected leader, show solidarity to the now doubting world and work hard to move forward in a positive direction. Oh, there will be sh*t, you can bank on it: hearings, challenges, investigations, more bi-partisan bickering and roadblocks in Congress based on who won, rather than what is best for our country. All of this only serves to slow the process of working toward common goals that we all have and feel are important for America.

We have moved many years past that original Thanksgiving when our ancestors sat down, united and gave thanks for all they had achieved and accomplished. Faced with the most difficult circumstances and challenges imaginable, they still managed to come together and with feelings of gratefulness and pride, share their meal and rejoice.

This is what we must do now. Put aside differences, barriers, anger-fed ideologies and come together with respect and acknowledgement for our accomplishments and unite in our plan to go forward, healing Image via SpaTech the wounds in our nation. The meal can be symbolic, however the rejoicing must take place and from it, dreams and wishes become reality. rights and fairness to be the common practice of our Thanksgiving is a very special holiday and one Democratic nation rather than anger, hatred and that enables people to make memories and come division. We have worked hard, on all levels, toward together, sharing and uniting, not dividing and this common goal and have witnessed changes both battling. This is the message of the holiday that great and small. Just like within the political arena of we must each remember every year, but especially the United States, within the LGBT communities there this year. LGBT folks love to gather on this day exists some polarization and differences in ideology, and share food, drink and love. We have done it tactics, delivery and representation. The conduit, or forever and must continue to do it — albeit masked glue, is the desire to better our society and improve and safely socially distanced. We remain strongest the quality of life for all. Many tracks lead to the top when we are united in our common goals. of the mountain; the important thing is to get there.

Let’s get back to celebrating what is good and Sadly, with the aid of media, this recent election makes us strong. Happy Thanksgiving. e process complete with failed debates, missed A resident of Galveston where he can be found wasting bait and searching for the meaning of life, Forest opportunities, denials and constant deflections focused Riggs recently completed a collection of short stories about his beloved island and is working on a novel. more on the personalities of those involved, rather Can it happen and will it be successful is the great question of next several years. So much anger, hatred, bigotry, divisiveness and downright meanness has been birthed, re-birthed and spread that our country is in a very pivotal situation. Perhaps, in the past, when we have only placed Band-Aids over deep and old wounds, the scabs have been picked off and the festering carbuncles of society’s ills are once again open and oozing their poison. We see these, they are real; now must act to finally heal these ills. This election year has shown us that as great as we think we are, there is still great work to be done and a great deal of it in areas of basic human rights.

LGBT communities across the continent have long been aware of the disparities and disenfranchisement that is found throughout these United States, and the world. The LGBT communities and their allies have long advocated for unity, acceptance, equal

PAGE 18 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

CROSSWORD QUEERIES

The Boys in the Band Across 1 Lawman who shot off at O.K. Corral 5 “How queer!”

9 The whole shebang 14 Former Time film critic 15 Denver elevation, roughly 16 Toklas of expats 17 Dry wines for lovemaking?

18 Wings for Julia Morgan 19 Bass formerly of NSYNC 20 Start of a quip about the advantage of masturbation, according to Michael

at a gay bar

ladyfingers, e.g.

59 End of the quip

25 Take care of

61 Triangle-shaped

26 The Jungle

peninsula

novelist Sinclair

64 Bus Stop playwright

27 “What

65 Karen Carpenter,

29 Lesbian couples

for one

in Bambi?

66 Hard woody nut

31 Lev Raphael’s

67 Drumbeat succession

Little Miss

68 Type of job

32 Lollipop cop

69 Joltin’ Joe

33 Drag queen Mann

70 Fruity drinks

34 Macho dudes

71 Cleo told them

35 Western wine valley

“Bite me!”

37 Character for Keanu 38 Where Boy Scouts sleep together

Down 1 Emma Stone’s

23 Meryl Streep’s

beard movie

Out of

2“

24 Pants dropped

3 Happen again

25

generis

Aquarius”

4 Joe who played

28 Like lace with arsenic

gay in JFK

30 Beds, with “with”

5 City hue in Oz

32 Actress Madeline

6 Gold layer

36 More of the quip

7

39 Cager Shaq

(suddenly)

41 Shoe store spec

8 Ferro’s The Family

42 Make a pass at

of Max

43 He plays Michael in

9 Lifeboat actress

The Boys in the Band

Bankhead

46 M. Butterfly star John

10 Big name in oil

47 Military position

11 Kind of man, in Oz

48 Photographer Corinne

12 Jock org. for FSU

50 Dorothy’s home st.

13 Jason of Chasing Amy

51 Sauna bath sites

21 Prefix for system

54 Enjoys orally

22 Enjoy some

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to do?”

once

40 Using a Wonder Woman accessory 44 Debtor’s car, maybe 45 Scarlett, and others 49 Where to find It. 52 The Seven Samurai director Kurosawa 53 Ecclesiastical gathering 55 Addis , Ethiopia 56 Chops down 57 Mapplethorpe’s opening size 58 Packs away 59 Byron poem 60 Look up and down 61 McCullers’ Ballad of the

Care

62 Here, to Colette 63 Marseilles moniker

Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 19

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PAGE 20 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

WHAT A WORLD

Lest we forget e By N anc y Ford

A

HHHHH. THAT’S THE COLLECTIVE

sound of America exhaling — something most of us have been waiting to do for more than four years.

Suffice it to say: tensions have been high.

The election broke all records in terms of voter turnout, from voters on both sides.

You know what else was high?

Optimism. Congratulations, PresidentElect Joe Biden and Vice PresidentElect Kamala Harris. It’s time to pop the champagne that’s been chilling.

You know what else has been chilling?

The fact that this election was such a squeaker. Biden should have skated, waltzed, strolled — pick any verb that refers to nonchalance — to victory.

But no. Trump’s red-hat wearing, MAGA-deluded, Kool-Aid drinking, COVID-spreading, pistol-packing bunch showed up at the polls in nearly equal numbers to the Biden’s granolamunching, Commie-sympathizing, tree-hugging, yoga-practicing, Kumbayasinging followers. That means that even after all of Trump’s lying, dirty dealing, dictator sucking and climate-change denying, nearly half of voting Americans

believe that four more year of the Trump Train Wreck is ordained by God. Don’t misunderstand. I am over the moon about our nation’s imminent return to stability and civility that a Biden/Harris administration will bring. I don’t mean to rain on our electoral victory parade.

But it’s important to remember the words of writer and philosopher George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

With that in mind, let’s remember some of the numbers that will define Trump’s reign of terror.

As November wears on, nearly 250,000 Americans have died from a disease that Trump promised would magically disappear on November 4 (spoiler alert: it didn’t). That death count echoes the number of Iraqis that perished under the regime of Saddam Hussein. The number of new cases of COVID–19 in the U.S. reported during Election Week broke records nearly every day, according to Johns Hopkins University. Those figure mark the first times the country’s daily new cases reached six figures — the highest since the pandemic began.

Trump paid $750 in federal income tax in 2017. How about if next April 15, we all rig our tax returns to indicate we owe a mere $750 to the IRS? Surely we can calculate fear and loathing as a deduction.

White Nationalist organizations have increased by 55 percent in the United States. More than 1,000 active groups were counted by the Southern Poverty Law Center, back in 2018. Imagine how many there are now. That’s a lot of Nazis,

bad haircuts and misspelled tattoos.

According to the New York Times, the Trump administration “has dismantled major climate policies and rolled back many more rules governing clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals.” In just four years, Trump gleefully reversed and revoked more than 70 environmental rules and regulations under Trump.

Add to that another 26 rollbacks that are still in progress. Wheeze deep.

Taking direct orders from the far, far right Federalist Society, Trump has elevated 216 judges to the Federal bench, all of whom are 1950’s-level conservative. That figure could rise to 230 by the time Trump leaves office on (fingers crossed) January 20, 2021.

Among those new judges is U.S. Supreme Court is Associate Justice Amy Coney Barrett, a Handmaid’s Tale prototype who took the seat vacated by the late Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. According to the dictates of her self-professed spiritual beliefs, Barrett had to obtain her husband’s permission to work outside the home.

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No less than 545 wouldbe immigrant children are being held in cages on the U.S./Mexico border and will likely never be reunited with their parents. So much for family values.

A new book, All the President’s Women: Donald Trump and the Making of a Predator

by Barry Levine, tallies no less than 26 incidents of “unwanted sexual contact” and 43 instances of inappropriate behavior committed by Trump. Those accusations detail assaults ranging from forcible, non-consensual kissing to the rape of a minor. But Barack Obama wore a tan suit that one time in the Oval Office. Scandal.

Since taking office in 2017, Trump has actively and intentionally thrown the LGBTQ community under the wheels of his rabid evangelical voter base, rolling back decades of progress made toward LGBTQ equality in the workplace, health care, the military, schools, housing, and our families.

According to Human Rights Campaign, his Health and Human Services Department literally erased transgender people by narrowly defining sex as “either male or female, unchangeable, and determined by birth.” How very J.K. Rowling.

Yet, the New York Times reported that twice as many queer Americans voted for Trump in 2020 as they did in 2016. WT actual LGBTQ F? We still have a lot of work to do. e

Wednesday November 11, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 21

DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD

have evolved somewhat, and now NBC has put FGT back in development as a weekly dramatic series. Legendary progressive creator Norman Lear is executive producing, and Reba McEntire is attached to star. The story will revolve around Idgie (McEntire) – whose relationship with a woman was the center of the novel – returning to the small town where the first story took place and dealing with the events of the past. It’s early yet, and the fractured entertainment landscape makes no promises, but with TV production slowly ramping up again, then this one could see its way to screens sometime in 2021. And what nice news it could turn out to be; Primetime Lesbian Reba is absolutely something to hope for.

Adam Rippon sitcom skates over to NBC e By R om e o S an V ice nt e

G

OOD NEWS OR BEST NEWS?

America’s gay figure skating Olympic medal scoring sweetheart, Adam Rippon, is developing a sitcom for NBC. Now, Rippon is unquestionably a world-class athlete. But if you’ve ever seen him on a talk show or, well, anywhere, you also know that he’s simultaneously built for the world of comedy, so this was kind of a no-brainer.

The as-yet-untitled series will be set in the world of figure skating, naturally, and center on a female skater who battles injuries, her family and other skaters on the way to ice stardom. Grace and Frankie vet Billy Finnegan will write the series from Rippon and co-creator Susan Kittenplan’s story. No cast set yet, no dates, just a great plan, and we’re readier than ready.

n the early ’90s, when Fannie Flagg’s novel, Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café was adapted to the big screen as Fried Green Tomatoes, the book’s lesbian themes were dialed way

I

MDb TV, Amazon’s free streaming

service, is teaming up with recording Iartists Tegan and Sara Quin for High

Photo KathClick.

Fried Green Tomatoes, but with lesbians – and Reba – this time?

Tegan and Sara go backto High School

Adam Rippon

down. Ladies in love became very close friends and straight audiences were allowed to feel comfortable. But that was 30 years ago, straight audiences

School, a coming-of-age comedy series based on the bestselling memoir the twin sisters co-wrote. Their situation was an unusual one, and reflected in the story: twin sisters growing up, discovering themselves in music as an outlet and an identity, all while coming to terms with being queer. Adding another layer of queer cred, actor-director Clea DuVall (Happiest Season) is writing the pilot and will also direct, all for Brad Pitt’s Plan B production company. And now that you know IMDb has a streaming

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service – admit it, you didn’t until just now – you also have a reason to go there when High School drops there.

Teen drag musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will dress up 2021

ne of the many cultural

accomplishments of RuPaul’s O Drag Race is something that few high

school guidance counselors could have predicted: the emergence of drag as a viable career path. But now we’re here in a world where Trixie and Katya have had their own TV show, books and tours, and what drag-obsessed teen wouldn’t consider the glamorous possibilities?

Well, based on a true story, they say, comes Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, the film adaptation of the hit stage musical about a 16-year-old named Jamie (newcomer Max Harwood) who, while trying to find his place in the world, decides that drag queen stardom is his future. And because this is a musical, that happy ending is assured, thanks to supportive friends and parents (Catastrophe star Sharon Horgan and Can You Ever Forgive Me? Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant co-star) who help him realize his destiny in the spotlight. And perfect timing: 20th Century Studios is set to release the film in February of 2021, in the middle of what pandemic experts are predicting will be a pretty tough winter. We’re all going to need Jamie’s queer blast of sunshine, music, dancing, and wigs by then. e Romeo San Vicente is an out-of-control Zamboni on fire.

PAGE 22 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday November 11, 2020

GUIDE TO THE CLUBS HOUSTON n MONTROSE - MIDTOWN Buddy’s 2409 Grant St Ste A, Houston (281) 310-1050 Cocktails | Beer | Karaoke |Pool | DJ’s Crocker Bar 2312 Crocker St, Houston (713) 529-3355 Large Deck | Karaoke George’s Country Sports Bar 617 Fairview Ave, Houston (713) 528-8102 Sports Bar | Pool & Darts | Patio JR’s Bar and Grill & Santa Fe 808 Pacific St, Houston (713) 521-2519 • jrsbarandgrill.com Videos | Patio | Karaoke | Shows Michael’s Outpost Piano Bar 1419 Richmond Ave, Houston (713) 520-8446 Neighborhood Bar | Pub | Piano Rebar Houston 2401 San Jacinto (281) 846-6685 RichsNightclub.com Barcode Houston 817 Fairview Ave, Houston

(713) 526-2625 • facebook.com/barcode77006

Shows | Neighborhood Bar | CD/Trans The Ripcord 715 Fairview St, Houston (713) 521-2792 • facebook.com/ ripcordhouston

Leather | Uniform | Fetish | Men

Moon Tower Inn 3004 Canal St, 77003 (832) 969-1934 • damngoodfoodcoldassbeer.com Hot Dogs | Beer Gardens

Neon Boots Dancehall & Saloon 11410 Hempstead Highway Houston, TX 77092 (713) 677-0828 • neonbootsclub.com

Neil’s Bahr 2006 Walker St, 77003 (281) 352-7456 • NeilsBahr.com Premier Nerd | Gamer

Viviana’s Night Club 4624 Dacoma St, Houston (713) 681-4101 • vivianasniteclub.com Latino | Tejano | Dance

Tout Suite 2001 Commerce, 77002 713-227-8688 • toutsuitetx.com Bakery | Cafe | Pub

n SW HOUSTON

Voodoo Queen 322 Milby St, 77003 713-555-5666 • damngoodfoodcoldassbeer.com Casual | Po’ Boys | Games n DOWNTOWN / WARDS 1-4 Tony’s Corner Pocket 817 West Dallas Street, Houston (713) 571-7870 • tonyscornerpocket.com Neighborhood Bar | Pool | Dancers n HOUSTON - NORTH SIDE Ranch Hill Saloon 24704 Interstate 45, Spring (281) 298-9035 • ranchhill.com Country | Cowgirl | Neighborhood Bar The Room Bar 4915 FM 2920 Rd, Spring (281) 907-6866 • roombarspring.com Neighborhood Bar | Shows | Dance | Mixed

n DOWNTOWN / EADO

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Lucky’s Pub - Downtown 801 St Emanuel St, 77003 (713) 522-2010 • Luckyspub.com Sports Bar | Food

La Granja Disco & Cantina 5505 Pinemont Dr., Houston (713) 518-6753 • lagranjadisco.com Latin dance club

Crystal Night Club 6684 SW Fwy, Houston (713) 278- 2582 • crystaltheclub.com Latin Dance | Salsa n HEIGHTS / WASHINGTON CORRIDOR Pearl Lounge 4216 Washington, Houston 832-740-4933 • pearlhouston.com Neighborhood Art Bar | Live Music | Women

GALVESTON 23rd Street Station 1706 23rd St, Galveston (409) 443-5678 • 23rdstreetstation. com Piano Bar | Pub | Live Entertainment Robert’s Lafitte 2501 Ave Q, Galveston (409) 765-9092 • galveston.com/robertslafitte Neighborhood Bar | Pub | Cruise | Shows Rumors Beach Bar 3102 Seawall Blvd., Galveston (409) 497-4617 • RumorsBeachBar.com Beach bar | Shows

Solution From PAGE 18

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