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POSITIVE THOUGHTS

Fighting for our shot

How HIV activists won their fight for inclusion in a major COVID-19 vaccine study

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Wednesday December 9, 2020 e VOL. XI, 19

Queering Christmas INDEX Editorial Crossword Guide to the Clubs

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Kristen Stewart on what’s personal about playing queer in her gay Christmas rom-com and how ‘the time calls for it’

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PAGE 2 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

IMPORTANT FACTS FOR BIKTARVY®

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

(bik-TAR-vee)

MOST IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT BIKTARVY

POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS OF BIKTARVY

BIKTARVY may cause serious side effects, including:

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%).

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

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

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

BEFORE TAKING BIKTARVY Tell your healthcare provider if you:  Have or have had any kidney or liver problems, including hepatitis infection.  Have any other health problems.  Are pregnant or plan to become pregnant. It is not known if BIKTARVY can harm your unborn baby.

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

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

These are not all the possible side effects of BIKTARVY. Tell your healthcare provider right away if you have any new symptoms while taking BIKTARVY.

Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take:

Take BIKTARVY 1 time each day with or without food.

 BIKTARVY and other medicines may affect each other.

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

MyDailyCharge.com

BVYC0220_BIKTARVY_C_10X13-65_MontroseStar_Dimitri_r1v1jl.indd All Pages

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.

BIKTARVY, the BIKTARVY Logo, DAILY CHARGE, the DAILY CHARGE Logo, KEEP ASPIRING, LOVE WHAT’S INSIDE, GILEAD, and the GILEAD Logo are trademarks of Gilead Sciences, Inc., or its related companies. Version date: February 2020 © 2020 Gilead Sciences, Inc. All rights reserved. BVYC0220 04/20

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Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 3

DIMITRI LIVING WITH HIV SINCE 2018 REAL BIKTARVY PATIENT

KEEP ASPIRING.

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 Dimitri’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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5/12/20 10:55 AM

PAGE 4 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

HRH REPORT

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RAFA ESPINOSA News Features

JOHNNY TRLICA

just me and her and a bottle of MD 20/20.

The greatest Christmas OMMENTARY: BEFORE THIS YEAR, 2020 WAS There have been many other memorable Christmases synonymous with cheap liquor and bad in my life, but the most memorable one came in 2005. hangovers. Pandemics were only read about in That was Mama’s last Christmas with us. She had been medical journals and fascism was what we watched on incredibly ill for most of the year and was living in a the History Channel. nursing home. She had to relinquish her apartment While over 70 million Americans looked at the last that she loved so profoundly and was forced to liquidate four years and said, “Yes, give me four more years of her possessions. Everything from furniture to kitchen that,” an overwhelming six million more said, “Enough!” utensils, blenders, dishes and pots and pans were sold.

There are two lights at the end of the tunnel: a vaccine Miraculously Mama began to get better around and a competent administration. Realizing family Thanksgiving. She spent that day at my oldest sister’s gatherings will be different this holiday season, one home and seemed like her old self. She had a spring thing remains unchanged — Christmas is a time in her step and was too healthy to be living in an to reflect. It’s a time to recall cherished memories “old folk’s home.” I asked Mama if she would like to and precious loved ones. Here are two of mine. move in with me if I got us an apartment in or near Drowning our sorrows in 2020 Rosenberg. She was ecstatic at the possibility of With over 250,000 deaths from Covid-19 this leaving “the home” as I jokingly referred to the facility year, many families will have empty chairs at the with her. We could move in the day after Christmas. table or around the Christmas tree. 1992 was like On Christmas Eve the family gathered as we always that for my family. It was barely a month after my did. This time it was at my second oldest sister’s home in Sugar Land. We ate, laughed and caught up with sister Robin had passed away, at 34. She had spent each other’s activities. After a few hours we began the year fighting breast cancer while pregnant. the gift exchange game, via a “Dirty Santa” game.

On Christmas Eve the family gathered at our parent’s Rosenberg home, just as we always did. But this year, Numbers were drawn, gifts were opened, and some there was a noticeable absence. We went through were “stolen.” When all the gifts were exposed there the usual routine of exchanging gifts, visiting with were mostly kitchen items resting in everyone’s each other and eating, but it just wasn’t the same. laps. There was a blender, dishes, pots and pans My three siblings departed early with their families and an assortment of other related items. and Daddy had gone to bed. That left me and Mama.

Then as if on cue, everyone got up and handed over She was in no hurry all the Christmas to go to bed and I had gifts to Mama and no one to go home me. We were both in to. Funny how some total shock, but not things never change. I really surprised. They asked her if she had knew I was not an Ina something to drink. She Garten when it came replied, “I think Daddy to finding my way has some MD 20/20 in around a kitchen and here.” I suggested we my new roommate have a drink together. and I would need We sat at the kitchen those items. table, opened the cheap On the day after bottle of hooch, poured Christmas, the whole ourselves a glass and family showed up proceeded to have one at my Montrose of the most memorable apartment to help nights of my life. We pack up the U-Haul got smashed! and move me to We started with Rosenberg to be small talk, but after with our mother. our second glass of Mama checked out 20/20, Mama confided of “the home” and about how much she never returned. missed Robin and She put all those worried about what Christmas gifts to would happen with the use over the next four children she left few months as behind. The eldest was she cooked, sewed five and the youngest and did all the arts only two and a half and crafts things months old. She was she loved doing so concerned how their much. Although father would care for our time together them and that Robin’s kids would never know as roommates was brief, it’s an experience how wonderful and caring their mother was.

I would not trade for anything.

By 2 a.m. we had polished off the entire contents I will always cherish that Christmas, when our of Daddy’s bottle, nibbled a few snacks and family pulled together to make my mother’s shed a few tears. The next day, Mama and I last Christmas, the greatest Christmas. e shared the hangover from hell, but it was worth 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 it. We never forgot about that night when it was e By Johnny Trlica

Publisher / Executive

Business Development Manager

Yuletide Memories: Empty chairs, 20/20 and the greatest Christmas

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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.

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OP-ED

CREEP OF THE WEEK

Donald Trump

e By D’Anne Witkowski

R

EMEMBER AFTER THE 2016

presidential election when Trump supporters reached out to Clinton supporters in an effort to understand and sympathize with our pain and fear?

To better understand us so that we could remind each other that we are all Americans and we need to work together for the good of the nation?

Yeah, me neither.

I do remember seeing a lot of “suck it up, buttercup” memes and coffee mugs that read, “Liberal Tears” and shirts with, “Trump 2020: Make Liberals Cry Again” and “Grab ‘Em By the Pussy Again.” I remember seeing banners and American flags with, “Trump 2020: Fuck Your Feelings.” I remember that the “lock her up” chants never went away and, in fact, expanded to include Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

I remember Trump boasting that he not only won the electoral college but that he also won the popular vote because the millions more votes Clinton got were all illegally cast. I remember Trump calling the press the enemy of the people. I remember him referring to his Democratic challengers as crooked, sleepy, nasty, crazy, brain-dead, weak, little, boring, shifty, dopey, sick, stone-cold phonies, clowns, monsters,

Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 5

lightweights, puppets, corrupt, phonies, huge Satan worshipping ring of pedophiles. flunkies, horrible, jokes, stupid, dumb, That is a genuinely horrifying concept sneaky, lying and low-IQ individuals. made all the more horrifying by the fact I remember when Donald Trump called that there are people who really believe it. for Hillary Clinton to be imprisoned, So while I am so relieved that Biden beat which is not hard to remember since he Trump, there is a lot more damage Trump is still demanding that not only Clinton could, and will, do between now and Jan. but Obama, too, should be locked up.

20. People rejoicing that our long national So forgive me that I’m not running out nightmare is over are, sadly, incorrect. to find a Trump supporter to hug now So stop asking women, people of color, that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have LGBTQ people, gender non-confirming decisively won the 2020 presidential people, immigrants, people with election. It’s not that I don’t know any. I disabilities and every other group that have aunts who are big Trump fans. One has been marginalized and harmed by of them posted a plea on Facebook on this administration to comfort their Nov. 4 for people to get down to Detroit oppressors. You can’t meet someone half to scrutinize the ballot counting going way when they’ve already gone around on there, the implication being, of course, the bend and believe that you aren’t fully that Black people were attempting to human. What these folks need isn’t a rig the election by voting and having little love and understanding, it’s a reality those votes counted. Truly scandalous. check. Maybe some therapy to explore I don’t need racist people in my life. I don’t why they are so hateful and prone to con need folks who find it insulting to hear my men. I’m not going to enable them by wife referred to as “wife” and for what we pretending that my belief that belief that have to be called a “marriage.” I don’t need public education should be fully funded people who applaud stealing the children is equally valid as their believe that public of immigrants and asylum seekers as they schools are dens of sin that teach children cross the border. Who believe that vaccines to be homosexuals. Or my desire to see are some kind of sinister plot. Who think COVID-19 under control so that we save that COVID-19 isn’t a big deal and who lives is on one side of the coin, and that don’t think wearing masks to save lives is Gov. Whitmer’s mandate that everyone in worth it. I don’t need toxic people in my life. Michigan wear a mask makes her Hitler.

And no doubt Trump supporters are You won’t see me drinking out of a mug scared. Clearly. They are not ready that says, “I love the taste of conservative to concede this election. They are tears in the morning,” but you also won’t shocked that one of the most unpopular find me trying to placate supporters of the presidents in history not only didn’t win most corrupt and hateful administration but that he didn’t win by a landslide. in my lifetime now that they’ve lost.

I’d be scared, too, if I believed that Black You will find me, however, continuing to Lives Matter is a terrorist organization fight so that they continue to lose. e rather than a declaration of a fact too long 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 ignored in this country. I’d be scared, too, over a decade. Follow her on Twitter @MamaDWitkowski. if the Democratic party was actually just a

DECEMBER 9, 2020 | VOL. XI, 19

COOKING WITH PAULA DREAM Apples are the eye of these recipes

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MY LIFE BEHIND BARS ‘Secret’ only applies to deodorant

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CONTENTS HRH Report ......................................................... 4 OP-ED.................................................................... 5 Positive Thoughts.............................................. 6 Cooking with Paula Dream .......................... 10 Foodie Diaries................................................... 11 What a World .................................................... 12 My Life Behind Bars ....................................... 14 Across the Causeway.................................... 17 REVIEW............................................................... 19 Crossword Queeries..................................... 22 Deep Inside Hollywood ............................... 25 Guide to the Clubs......................................... 26 ©2020 Montrose Star All Right Reserved Montrose Star™ Newspaper since 1976, is owned

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CORRECTIONS & AMPLIFICATION December 9, 2020. None as of press time.

PAGE 6 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

POSITIVE THOUGHTS

Fighting for our shot How HIV activists won their fight for inclusion in a major COVID-19 vaccine study e By Rick Guasco

V

ICTORY CAME IN THE FORM OF A TWEET POSTED

in the middle of the afternoon on Aug. 5: Pharmaceutical company Moderna was dropping its exclusion of people living with HIV (PLHIV) allowing those whose immune system was stable while on antiretroviral treatment to take part in the drug maker’s Phase 3 study of a leading COVID-19 vaccine candidate.

The reversal was a huge win for a group of HIV advocates scattered across the country who had pulled together to urge the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to convince Moderna to change its protocol.

The Cambridge, Massachusetts-based company had already started recruiting 30,000 U.S. volunteers for a Phase 3 clinical trial of mRNA-1273, one of the more promising COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

Jeff Taylor, of the HIV+Aging Research Project who lives in Palm Springs, discovered that people with HIV were excluded from the study.

“I didn’t realize they were starting to recruit already, so I checked out the clinicaltrials.gov listing,” Taylor said. “I alerted my activist colleagues, who swung into action. Lynda Dee led the charge in contacting officials at NIAID and at the company itself. We rapidly put together a sign-on letter that we distributed widely.”

A quick sequence of events followed. Dee emailed Richard Jefferys, of the Treatment Action Group (TAG), a community-based research and policy think tank devoted to better medical research on HIV, HCV and tuberculosis.

Together, Dee and Jefferys drafted a letter to Francis Collins, MD, PhD, director of the NIH. To ensure diverse representation in the sign-on letter, they reached out to Daniel Campbell, of the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition; Guillermo Chacón, president of the Latino Commission on AIDS; and NMAC’s Moises Agosto, among others. Nelson Vergel helped with the Change. org petition, which drew more than 1,100 signatures.

“It was extremely important for people living with HIV to be included in the Phase 3 trial because we need safety and efficacy data on PLHIV,” said Lynda Dee, a long-time advocate at AIDS Action Baltimore.

“Without this essential data, how would we know if the Moderna vaccine is safe and if it works in PLHIV?” The Infectious Diseases Society of America/HIV Medicine Association sent a letter of its own to NIH director Collins and to officials at Operation Warp Speed, the White House’s effort to speed up COVID-19 vaccine development.

Dee credits Carl Dieffenbach, director of NIAIDS’s Division of AIDS (DAIDS) for working “diligently” to “persuade” Moderna. The federal government has committed up to $955 million for the drug maker to develop mRNA-1273. Moderna’s study makes use of the federal government’s existing network of DAIDS clinical trial sites across the country.

“Moderna got a small fortune from the government and is using DAIDS clinical trial networks to conduct their studies on the taxpayers’ dime,” Dee remarked.

An estimated 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While it is unclear whether HIV by itself makes a person more vulnerable to COVID-19, the majority of people with HIV are now over age 50 and many live with co-existing conditions (or comorbidities) such as diabetes or cardiovascular disease, which can put them at greater risk.

The study’s original exclusions disqualified anyone who is in an “Immunosuppressive or immunodeficient state, including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection.” However, the study’s inclusion criteria include, “Healthy adults or adults with pre-existing medical conditions who are in stable condition.”

“From what’s known about people with HIV on stable treatment with CD4 counts in the normal range (which is quite wide), there’s no issue with mounting protective responses to routine immunizations,” Jefferys said. “So, there’s no obvious reason why people with HIV shouldn’t have the option to participate in a COVID-19 vaccine efficacy trial if they choose.”

Dee compared Moderna’s exclusion of PLHIV to Gilead’s study of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF, Descovy) for HIV prevention (PrEP), which did not include cisgender women. Men who have sex with men (MSM) and transgender women took part in the study, leading to last year’s FDA approval of TAF for PrEP, but not for use in receptive vaginal sex. “No data in women, no FDA approval [for women],” Dee said.

Taylor raised another consideration. “If there’s no data about PLHIV, insurance companies and other payers might refuse to cover the cost of any vaccines approved, in an effort to save money until there’s data proving efficacy in this population.”

Communications among pharmaceutical companies, federal agencies and the HIV community need to be improved, the activists said. Their battle underscores the need for community involvement in designing and developing clinical trials.

“HIV activists have a 35-year history of responding to inequities and bad science in research, and have a lot to offer researchers and biotech to ensure they do research right,” said Taylor.

Other companies developing COVID-19 vaccines such as Sanofi, NovaVax and Johnson & Johnson are all including PLHIV in their studies, according to Dee, as will another Phase 3 study of a vaccine from the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. Soon after the Moderna announcement, Pfizer responded to a separate letter it had received from the activists.

“Pfizer has already been in the process of amending the protocol to clarify that people with stable HIV, HBV and HCV infections can enroll in the study,” said the letter, signed by the company’s senior vice president of vaccine clinical research and development. “This will require discussions with regulators, who will ultimately make the decision whether this clarification can be included.”

“I very much hope it encourages other COVID-19 vaccine developers to review exclusions for their large-scale efficacy trials – not just for HIV, but other infections such as hepatitis B [HBV] and C [HCV], and populations often studied as an afterthought, such as pregnant women and children,” said Jefferys.

To volunteer for a COVID-19 prevention study, go to coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org. For more information on ongoing and upcoming clinical trials for treatment and prevention of COVID-19, go to clinicaltrials.gov and enter COVID in the search term.

Rick Guasco is the creative director of Positively Aware. This column is a project of Plus, Positively Aware, POZ, The Body and Q Syndicate, the LGBT wire service. Visit their websites — http://hivplusmag.com, http:// positivelyaware.com, http://poz.com and http://thebody.com — for the latest updates on HIV/AIDS.

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Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 7

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Queering Christmas

PAGE 8 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

Kristen Stewart on what’s personal about playing queer in her gay Christmas rom-com and how ‘the time calls for it’ e By Chris Azzopardi

K

RISTEN STEWART IS WAVING

around what appears to be a joint.

Even her Happiest Season co-star Mackenzie Davis, who’s seen on Zoom with Stewart, doesn’t quite know exactly what Stewart has lit. “Oh my god,” Davis says. “I thought that was a blunt.”

It is actually Palo Santo, a South American tree that translates to “holy wood.” But for a moment, Stewart gets silly and pretends her soothing wood stick is an actual joint, moving it toward her mouth as if she’s going to smoke it. They both crack up at the thought of Stewart maybe getting blazed during our interview. “Just cleansing the energy!” Stewart assures.

After her Twilight years, a Charlie’s Angels reboot and a range of indies, Stewart’s latest movie, Happiest Season, feels a lot like taking a whiff of some Palo Santo – an energy-cleanser. For 102 festive minutes, it restores some of the downer pandemic energy of 2020 with comfort, joy and the promise of a yuletide so gay it makes sense that Clea DuVall, the openly lesbian actress who starred in the 1999 queer camp classic But I’m a Cheerleader, directed and co-wrote it.

The film is the first of its kind: a major studio-backed holiday rom-com with a queer love story at its center. In the movie, Stewart stars as Abby, whose

girlfriend, Harper (Davis, who is straight and adored by the LGBTQ community for playing queer in the “San Junipero” episode of Black Mirror), invites her home for Christmas. At first, she’s not sure about meeting Harper’s family, but then decides she’s all in. Abby even plans to propose to her (with guidance from BFF John, played by Dan Levy). But what Abby doesn’t know until they’re en route: Harper hasn’t come out to her family.

Shot in February just before the film industry was forced to shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic, the movie was originally slated for a wide theatrical release backed by Sony’s TriStar Pictures.

But with many theaters still shuttered, Happiest Season has found a new (streaming) home for the holidays on Hulu.

During our recent Zoom call, Stewart and Davis talked about moving beyond the fetishizing of lesbian relationships, why they love gay bars and how Stewart plans to continue to use her A-list power to radicalize conventional genres with queerness.

As a kid, could you have imagined a world in which a movie like this existed?

Kristen Stewart: Yeah! That’s kind of why it seems a little bit overdue now.

But we have a bunch of really rad stories, like fringy independent films that I grew up with that didn’t lack in joy or sort of

splendor, even Clea’s movie that I love so much, But I’m a Cheerleader. They’re very much together and happy and run off into the sunset. But that’s a tiny, little movie and not everyone has seen it, and it’s so nice to think that you don’t have to go out and search for this movie.

It’s inviting, it’s warm, it’s open. And yeah, helpful!

I was into strange movies when I was little; that’s not the most normal thing, do you know what I mean?

But I’m a Cheerleader is seminal and it’s iconic, but I wish it was bigger and this is, so that’s rad.

Stewart: You know what’s cool? Now they have to be, or else they get left behind! Ha!

This is a big year. You’re part of a queer Christmas movie movement. Lifetime, Hulu, Hallmark are all doing them.

Mackenzie Davis: Hallmark’s doing a (queer) Christmas movie?

Stewart: Ohh… really? But we want to be the only one!

Davis: No, no, no. We’re the first. No. I’m just shocked that Hallmark is doing that. They are historically not progressive, to say the least. Ha! That’s so cool.

Kristen, this movie is a big deal to a lot of LGBTQ people. But for you, what is the significance that you are an openly queer A-lister playing a queer character in a major studio queer Christmas movie?

Stewart: It’s really fun. I love playing characters that feel sort of further away from my natural wheelhouse because I like to expand my horizon, and also kind of deeply explore uncharted territory within myself that exists but might not be the most obvious.

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MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020| PAGE 9

But what feels great is leaning fully into what’s easy and obvious and comfortable when it is supported and recognized and loved. I’ve never had that on such a big movie that people were willing to put so much money into. Because that is a huge risk! And, like, the fact that people are taking risks for, well... look, it’s not a huge risk. It’s that the time calls for it. And there’s a huge gaping desire for it. And that is something I feel because I live in this world.

So the fact that I got to play this part after being in so many big movies where I never feel like I’m not being myself or trying to pass or anything like that, but I do feel like I’m ambitious about hitting marks that people don’t think I can hit.

So this one was not that, this was the opposite of that. It was, no, no, no; I get to be the star of a big movie, and also get to be this person? It felt great.

With Runaways, I remember a lot of talk about your kiss with Dakota Fanning. It seems dated to be talking about a girl-on-girl kiss at this point. Obviously you two kiss in this movie, but with Happiest Season, do you get the impression that people and the press are less like, “A gay kiss! What was that like?” and is that a relief?

Stewart: Yeah, nobody’s asked that.

Davis: Oh, god. It hasn’t been brought up. Culture’s moved so fast after not moving (laughs) at all for a very long time. But in the last 10 years it feels like so much has changed.

Stewart: No, nobody has fetishized it in (that) way. I have experience with that being, like, “So tell me about the …,” especially depending on who it’s coming from. You sit down with some news outlet man who’s been a news outlet man for, like, 50 years…

Davis: Ha! Stewart: … and you’re like, “Don’t ask me that.” Wow, that’s so weird. Makes me feel really weird.

Yeah, we haven’t had that.

Davis: I just wanted to change the subject so badly when Matt Lauer (asked) Anne Hathaway about when she was not wearing any underwear. It’s like the absolute worst moment I’ve ever witnessed.

Even though this is based on Clea’s story, it will be relatable to a lot of queer people, like myself.

What parts of this Abby-Harper dynamic of coming out and self-acceptance did you identify with the most?

Stewart: Look, doing things that are really normal and natural to you physically and then having to sort of curb those instincts around people because you don’t want to make other people uncomfortable so you are willing to make yourself so uncomfortable for other people’s benefit is something that I have done (and) probably still (do).

I tried to go on a houseboat trip recently and it was in northern California, like around Tahoe. It’s a really Trumpian area up there, and I was like, “We gotta get the fuck outta here.” I was holding my girlfriend’s hand, just walking around. I’m not saying every single person… I don’t even know what I’m saying. But I didn’t feel safe. I don’t mean to imply that I know where that would’ve gone, but even just emotionally, it was a violent experience.

In the movie, it’s really nice to be able to laugh at certain feelings that are more heavy because when you repossess and then sort of release a feeling, it feels cool and triumphant and like I’ve won something back. There were things in the movie – just little moments – where we have to drop each other’s hands or, even though we know we’re lying for just a brief period, the lie hurts and, yeah, I’ve never gone home with someone and had to lie.

I’ve never specifically had to keep myself in a closet with a person, but all of that, as somebody who’s grown up queer – not to put any limits on my own sexuality – I’ve dealt with that forever.

And that’s triggering. But, specifically, just the general experience of being gay and thinking that maybe people think you’re gross or weird is something that is nice to laugh at in this environment.

In the film, you’re at a gay bar and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon are performing. What’s the best time you’ve had at a gay bar?

Stewart: Even before I knew I was gay – even before I had a girlfriend!

– I was like, “Oh my god, this is the most fun I’ve ever had at a bar ever!

Why are you all the best people?!”

Davis: Yeah, being a female and experiencing men at bars and being in a space where you can...

Stewart: Dance!

Davis: … be completely unleashed and not fucking worry about anybody touching you or approaching you or coming up behind you is especially – when I was younger it was just such a safe, incredible feeling. It felt very great. And also not worrying about how you looked because nobody wanted to fuck you.

Stewart: Ha! I know! You never want to take up space where you don’t belong, but it’s typically not an alienating group, not to generalize, and it’s such a nice feeling to go into a queer bar and be like, “Doesn’t matter, whatever, no one’s coming for you.”

Kristen, after playing queer in Charlie’s Angels and now in Happiest Season, do you plan to continue radicalizing conventional genres with queerness? Basically, will you continue trying to actively make Hollywood gayer?

Stewart: Yeah! Yeah, naturally. But, like, it’s funny when you start just applying restrictive rules on who is allowed to have what perspectives. I still want to play straight sometimes, if that’s OK! Ha! But I will say that, primarily, it’s really important for me to really pick and choose those opportunities and not have it be the default-given setting that someone is straight in a movie when maybe it’s not a romantic movie.

If it’s not about the romance, then why am I playing straight? Because it’s normal? Well, that’s a ridiculous idea. Because in Charlie’s I didn’t have any romantic (interest). I had no one in the movie. But I just thought it was important to drop an Easter egg and be like, “No, that doesn’t mean you can have me, boys.” e This interview has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity. Zoom video interview with Kristen Stewar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-LSp9vaQs5s&t=71s 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 December 9, 2020

COOKING WITH PAULA DREAM

Apples are the eye of these recipes e By Paula Dream (AKA

Kale Haygood)

H

OLIDAY GREETINGS TO

everyone. Wow, what a year this has been! And where did the time go? Here we are into the holidays already. Hopefully you have stayed well and Covid will soon be on its way out.

Even though our traditional gatherings may be hampered a bit, maybe a smaller intimate gathering will be in your future. There’s always the question: “What can I bring to the table?” I’m giving you three recipes that are simple and you probably won’t have to worry that someone else will be bringing the same thing.

Enjoy your holidays the best that you can.

In a medium size bowl, whisk together first six ingredients to make dressing.

In a larger bowl combine remaining ingredients. Add dressing and mix to coat all ingredients. Chill before serving.

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FARM COLE SLAW

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4 cups cabbage, shredded 1 large apple, chopped ¾ cup raisins ½ cup celery, chopped ¼ cup purple onion, chopped ¼ cup mayo 2 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoon sugar 1 tablespoon olive oil ½ teaspoon salt ⅛ teaspoon salt In a large bowl combine all ingredients and toss to make sure shredded cabbage is well coated with wet ingredients. Refrigerate at least one hour before serving.

Cookie base: 1 bag (17 ounces) sugar cookie mix ½ cup butter Filling: 5 cups Granny Smith apples (usually 5 or 6, peeled and chopped) ⅓ cup sugar 3 tablespoons flour Topping: 1 cup packed brown sugar 1 cup old fashioned oats 3/4 cup flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter Heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray a 13”x9” dish with cooking spray. In a large bowl, mix cookie base ingredients, using a fork until well combined. Press into bottom of dish. In a medium size bowl, toss filling ingredients. Spread over base, evenly. In a medium size bowl, mix brown sugar, oats, flour and salt. Cut in cold butter, using a fork until mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle over filling. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until topping is golden brown and apples are tender. Allow to cool completely before cutting into bars.

APPLE WALNUT SLAW

¾ cup mayonnaise ¾ cup buttermilk 4 to 5 tablespoons sugar 4½ teaspoons lemon juice 3/4 teaspoon salt ¼ to ½ teaspoon pepper 6 cups cabbage, shredded 1½ cups carrots, shredded 1/3 cup purple onion, finely chopped 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped ¾ cups raisins 2 medium apples, chopped v Facebook.com & t Twitter Find us on P

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.

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

FOODIE DIARIES

DISH SOCIETY

Dishing up some good eats e By Jim Ayres

H

APPY HOLIDAYS, MONTROSE

they may be using the patio chairs and tables inside for now. They’re still comfy enough, and I’m sure they’re much easier for the staff to clean and sanitize.

I needed a cocktail, and Dish Society offers a Tito’s Cherry Limeade that I just had to try. All the usual ingredients of the classic cooler were there, along with vodka, of course. A little on the sweet side, the cocktail was nevertheless refreshing

STAR readers! I hope you all had a filling Thanksgiving and are looking forward to the year-end observances. We’ll be staying in and away from each other, so don’t underestimate the value of a phone call to someone you might not have talked with for a while.

Normally, I’d be sharing a year-end list of my Houston dining favorites.

This year has been different and so will this column. Restaurants faced long stretches when they were delivery or pickup only, when they were able to operate at all.

Add a couple of foot surgeries to the mix, and I just didn’t eat out very much this year. Oh, I had a lot of deliveries, but that’s no substitute for a shared social experience.

I did find time recently to stop

by Dish Society’s new Heights location. And I loved it so much I went to their San Felipe location for breakfast two days later!

My late lunch was amazing. Dinein is available, though it appears Dish Society breakfast sandwich

Dish Society Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich

cheese, and a little spicy thanks to chili lime salt.

Dish Society’s deft touch with food certainly extends to its breakfast and brunch offerings.

I was thrilled to see that my breakfast sandwich came in the same pretzel roll as my chicken did. If anything, this one was even softer and chewier than the one before. Love it!

You’ll get local ham, sunny side open range egg and Swiss cheese inside. It’s exactly right for a hearty breakfast. There’s also a side of skillet potatoes, but they’re cut in such a small dice that they’re hard to eat. Nothing special. I’m so glad I got another bowl of that delicious elote!

Dish Society’s tightly edited menu makes it a Houston original. And if The Heights or The Galleria aren’t convenient for you, they’re also open downtown and in Memorial and Katy, with a West University location coming soon. e

and started my sunny meal in style.

The menu adds a pro tip to the Grilled Chicken Pesto Sandwich: order it fried.

I did. Wow, is this one good sandwich!

Frying not only makes the chicken breasts crispy, but also adds needed moisture. Pecan-basil pesto and goat cheese all nestle together inside chewy pretzel bread. No wonder it’s listed as a house favorite.

The sandwich comes with house made chips, but I asked my nice hipster server to bring them ahead. They’re exactly what you’d expect house made chips to be. That’s OK though, because the real side star was a big bowl of deconstructed elote.

Deconstructed? Yes, the corn is served off the cob, thank goodness. Otherwise, it’s the street snack we all know and love, sweet from the corn yet rich with crème fraîche, garlic aioli and cotija Dish Society elote

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

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PAGE 12 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

WHAT A WORLD

Hailing the heroes of 2020 e By Nancy vFord

N

EARLY TWELVE MONTHS AGO ON

New Year’s Eve, my partner and I stayed home and quietly toasted the exit of 2019, confident that 2020 would be a vast improvement over a year that included a presidential impeachment, massive earthquakes, mass shootings, the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral.

And who could forget Gayle King subdue a ranting, out-of-control R. Kelly simply by calling him “Robert”?

But we were wrong, weren’t we? Little did we know as we blithely sipped our champagne that night that 2020 was revving up to make 2019 look like a Sunday School picnic.

For better or for worse, several individuals emerged that exemplify this jaw-dropping year. We salute them all, and thank them for providing blessed distraction when we needed it most.

• Dolly Parton. In November, the Country Queen of Rhinestones and Sass cemented her saintly status by contributing a cool $1 million to fight Covid-19. What does this have to do with LGBTQ stuff? Absolutely nothing, except maybe the fact that she has been long rumored to be in a lesbian relationship

with her lifelong best friend Judy though Carl Dean, Dolly’s husband of 54 years, might dispute that. Whatever.

More germaine is Dolly’s unconditional support of the LGBTQ community.

In August, she was honored with a GLAAD Media Award for an episode of Dolly Parton’s Hearstrings that focused on a gay couple who comes out at a family wedding. And weee-eeee-e-eee will always love you, Dolly.

• Pete Buttigieg. We got to know the proudly gay South Bend, Indiana mayor in 2019 when he flung his hat into the Democratic Presidential primary, which he lost to Joe Biden. But did he really lose? Maybe not.

This year, Mayor Pete became the Democratic Party’s de facto voice of reason on myriad cable news shows, answering questions with all the intelligence, sensitivity and wit one should expect from an elected official. We expect great things from this man. A high-profile cabinet position in the Biden Administration would remind America’s allies and adversaries alike that America is back, baby, and can use big words and complete sentences.

• Mary Trump. Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man was penned by Mary Trump based on her personal experience not only as Donald Trump’s long-estranged niece, and but also her professional experience as a clinical psychologist. The first time we encountered Mary our gaydar started clanging louder than a priest at the Tony Awards, making her merciless excoriation of Uncle President sublimely delicious. Even more delicious: the book sold 1.35 million copies in its first week of publication, crowning Mary the Trump family’s best selling author.

• Rachel Maddow. We’ve loved Rachel for a long, long time, based on her genius-level wisdom and ability to communicate the intricacies of even the most convoluted political news stories in language that even Eric Trump can understand. And we love her off-the-cuff references to her committed relationship to her partner Susan. Susan contracted Covid-19 in October, forcing Rachel into quarantine to care for Susan, even vacating her MSNBC anchor desk on election night — the Super Bowl for cable news.

But no political commentary Rachel might have offered the evening of November 3 could have had the impact of her opening monologue the night she returned to her job.

Her description of watching her beloved suffer

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with Covid captured not only the nondiscriminatory nature of the virus and the horror it can wreak, but also stands as testament that love is love is love is love. Google it. Dare you not to cry.

• Joe Exotic. This platinum blonde mulleted, out and proud, former Eastvale, Texas police officer Joseph Allen Schreibvogel Maldonado-Passage has a taste for big cats, boys and bigamy. He became a global pop culture icon when Netflix unveiled Joe Exotic, a reality series featuring the nutjob who is also a country singer/songwriter and owner/operator of the Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood, Oklahoma, a tourist attraction that housed and displayed multiple lions and tigers. Here we met Joe’s husbands (five of them, with at least a couple of them in overlapping marriages), staff and Joe’s arch-nemesis Carole Baskin, who herself owns Big Cat Rescue in Florida, another menagerie for big cats.

Allegedly, one of Carole’s ex-husbands ended up as dinner for one of her big cats.

These things happen.

After gaining superstardom, Joe is serving prison time for allegedly arranging a murder-for-hire scheme to bump off Baskin who later went on to network TV fame as a contestant on Dancing With the Stars because of course she did.

We appreciate Joe and Company for proving to the world that gay people can be just as much of a train wreck as straight people. That’s true equality.

Ah, 2020, you crazy bitch. Thanks for the good times. Now get out.

Happy New Year, everybody! e

Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 13

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PAGE 14 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

MY LIFE BEHIND BARS

PART NINE

‘Secret’ only applies to deodorant e By Randall Jobe

W

ORKING IN ANY BUSINESS FOR

25 plus years, I suppose knowing more dirt on bosses and employees than you need or care to is inevitable. A lot of the information is best left unspoken (or written!) until you no longer face firing or an ass whooping. I will temper what I divulge here in order to avoid the best witness protection program.

I decided for myself that it was best to feign ignorance when it came to knowledge of some busy practices that I’m pretty sure skirted the acceptability of the law. Not information that is necessarily shared with you or sent in an email, but dealing with daily (nightly) business, keeping your eyes and ears open, it’s like osmosis and tequila: you eventually absorb It. Then you decide how much of it, if you shared it, would require sawing off a finger or denying access to your phone for an

hour. I would make an excellent spy. Under interrogation, I could forget my own name if I had to.

I have always been the person who lets very little slip by me — unless it’s red flags thrown by shady boyfriends. I seem to have a knack for reading between the lines (the subtext, in theater terminology), and wading through the bullshit that is being assimilated that follows “party lines.” I can’t imagine being a person of position in the current administration, listening to bat-shit craziness daily and being expected to ape it back to the public or the press. I would be rolling my eyes so far that I could see behind me!

A rare few, myself included, would occasionally clock the ridiculous crap and call it out, but that’s like pulling hair out of your teeth — or so I’ve heard!

Other things required a stoic silence (until now).

One day a big boss decided to beat up his ex boyfriend and my coworker.

When I answered the phone and patched it through to an office where they both were, I could not have anticipated what would happen next. Suddenly the door between our offices was flung open and my coworker was knocked up three steps, and as he scrambled to run was popped full in the face with a fist and sent sprawling several feet. I heard my own voice screaming the boss’s name which seemed to shake him from his redeyed rage, allowing the victim to hightail it out of the building (and directly to the nearest police station to file a report.)

I walked to the other side of the building, shaking like a leaf. A bit later I managed to enrage the bully when he found me and attempted to make excuses, saying, “I told him not to drag you’ll into it!”

I replied, “I wasn’t in until you kicked his ass in front of me.” For a brief moment I thought I might be next. I guess he decided he’d done enough damage for one day.

After that, things were very strained for a while and a strange set of rules were implemented that involved some courtordered social distancing (when social distancing was called a restraining order).

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Dossiers on fellow employees were fairly common, though based more on gossip than facts: boyfriend situations, drinking and drug issues, and the allimportant sexual activity, especially if it involved something kinky. To that end I heard stories that made Fifty Shades of Gray look like Winnie the Pooh, even if Pooh was digging for honey in Eyore’s happy woods. Those things are best kept in my mind’s impenetrable vault in hopes that some queen is avoiding spreading my business like peanut butter and jelly on bread: sticky and sweet, and hard to swallow.

The no-holds-barred gossip was saved for the unaware bar customer who drank too much, shared way too much and thought the bartender was his “pal and confidante.” Please, Mary, I’m waiting for my shift to end to laugh at you with my coworkers, so take your drink and move on. But not before tipping me like I’m your therapist.

The only real useful gathered gossip was who was single, who wasn’t but was willing to cheat and who was looking for someone to shower with gifts, all filed for future reference. And, of course, the all-important size of equipment.

Tested at the first opening. Chance! e

Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 15

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PAGE 16 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

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

22

Eat, Pray, Love, Direct THE GAY-ETY STARTS HERE!

MONTROSE STAR.COM

ACROSS THE CAUSEWAY

A holiday wish come true e By Forest Riggs

T

HIS YEAR, PERHAPS MORE THAN

any other, a majority of Americans wished for more than their two front teeth for Christmas! After four years of a failed and miserable presidency, one that was in no way kind to LGBTQ folks and at every turn opted to go backwards, it is slowly coming to an end — and I do mean slowly.

The presidential election held in early November showed a clear winner in Joe Biden. Turn out and numbers alone indicated the majority of voters wanted change. It was this want of change that brought about the not-so-great orange one in the first place. Even still, there are those that when asked why and what, can only say, “Hey, the economy is booming.”

This mantra was touted so much that it became believable to many. There is more to an economy than the stock market. Early on, it was obvious that once again that the rich will benefit and the rest…well, good luck.

Volumes will be written about 45 and his attacks and insults on democracy and basic decency; hopefully those that record history will show his lack of compassion and humanity that was inflicted on America during the past four years.

Come 2021, it will be nice to see a president that hugs his family, kneels down to speak with young children, tears up when confronting emotional situations and sees beyond himself.

Once again, there will be a “first dog” (actually two) in the Whitehouse.

There is something downhome and real about the Bidens. Unlike their robotic and unfeeling predecessors, Joe and Jill

Biden are more representative of everyday Americans; they show this in their actions, their words and their love for each other.

Perhaps where there has been cold and emptiness for the past four years, there will now be warmth and compassion.

The world has existed under a dark blanket since last spring. The Covid pandemic has changed everything and, until very recently, it appeared there was no hope. With the coming of vaccines, there is now a glimmer of light in the

Wednesday December 9, 2020 e VOL. XI, 19

darkness. Things will never really be the same, however the opportunity to return to a somewhat more normal existence appears to be around the corner.

Businesses, communities and families have been devastated by the loss. In Galveston, where so much depends on the tourism and entertainment industries, the economy has been severely damaged. Many in the LGBTQ community work in hotels, restaurants and bars, not to mention at retail outlets and other venues that have suffered or shut down completely.

The few bars that are still considered “gay” bars have taken a hard hit.

Although some have gotten creative with food endeavors and other means to stay open, there is no doubt about it: the numbers are down. The LGBTQ community members love to gather with their friends to hold fundraisers, celebrate holidays and party — all things that have been severely missed since March. On that list to Santa that got the U.S. a new president, is also a wish that Covid-19 will be harnessed and life will return to a comfortable level of normal.

The things that make Galveston such a fun and sought place, have been stymied.

Festivals and events that normally draw thousands have been canceled. The island is hurting. No Octoberfest, no Lone Star Rally, no Dickens on the Strand and no Mardi Gras, just to name a few. The pandemic stopped the popular Island Pride festival and beach party, something LGBTQ leaders in the community have strived to enlarge every year and bring more awareness to the island’s diverse population. Every year the ACCT luncheon drew a huge crowd and was so anticipated and became the event enabling the LGBTQ community to shine like a diamond. Canceled!

So many components to the “good life” that is lived in Galveston were canceled or put on hold.

But Galvestonians are known for being strong and resilient. The things that Covid took (excluding lives) will come back. The events and the feelings of joy will come back bigger, stronger and more robust than ever. Galveston folks will see to this.

This year when you write the letter to ol’ Santa, thank him for the early gift of a new president, and ask for an end to Covid-19. When everything is said and done, I am pretty sure that even Santa is ready for an end to the pandemic and for things to be better.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from Galveston. e A resident of Galveston where he can be found wasting bait and searching for the meaning of life, Forest Riggs recently completed a collection of short stories about his beloved island and is working on a novel.

PAGE 18 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

New single from Morena Roas Houston-based artist Morena Roas is rolling out of 2020 with the release of new music, starting with her latest single, “Next To Ya,” for which she also has released a music video.

M

USICIAN MORENA ROAS

hasn’t let the difficulties of 2020 and COVID-19 stop her creative train from rolling into the station just before the year is finished.

Leading an impressive string of song releases, as well as the re-release of her 2019 Christmas album “My Very Merry 1st Christmas,” Roas has delivered her newest original single, “Next To Ya,” just in time for the holidays. The track pop dance track was released this past Saturday, 28 November 2020 across streaming platforms worldwide. The accompanying music video, which was directed,

choreographed, and produced by Mike Baerga, was released ahead of the single on 19 October 2020.

Morena Roas has been recording music, performing live, and hosting events and weekly shows in Houston for years. She scored a local club hit with “Molly Where You At,”the video for which was filmed in the Montrose area. The single went on to make its way through the Houston club circuit.

Roas has competed in various singing competitions, including becoming a finalist at Pride Houston’s Pride SuperStar. She has hosted various karaoke and open mic events, including her own weekly open mic, “The Floor Is Yours,” which she hosted for several years at Guava Lamp.

Roas has also performed at LGBT celebrations here in Houston, and as far away as Brazil. She will be releasing another single, for which she filmed a music video earlier in November at Sanman Studios.

She will also be re-releasing her 2019 Christmas album later this month.

If you would like more information about Morea Roas, or to schedule an interview with her, you may contact her manager, Anthony Ramirez by calling (936) 290-4015, or emailing manthonyr94@gmail.com

Morena Roas

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Her latest single, “Next To Ya”

Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 19

REVIEW

Did God Die on His Way to Houston? A Queer Tale e By Alan Little (GUEST COLUMNIST)

I

N DAVID B. MYERS’ BOOK, DID GOD DIE

on The Way to Houston? A Queer Tale, the reader is asked to “keep an open mind” when confronted with the most unorthodox, unbelievable articulations about God and his ability or lack thereof to address and subdue the suffering of mankind on earth.

Articulations made by a woman of color. A lesbian with one leg named Shekhinah who claims not that she is God, but that she once was.

When Professor James Friedman, executive director for The Center for Interfaith Action and Dialogue, receives an unexpected email from Shekhinah wanting to meet with him at a local Starbucks to discuss her decision to terminate her existence as God and to become a mortal being, the professor has no idea what to make of Shekhinah or of her absurd claims.

However, as a scholar of Judaism he is compelled to meet with her, because he recognizes the name Shekhinah as a Hebrew, post-biblical name used for the imminent dimension of God conceived as a female. And so, he accepts the invitation.

What ensues is a series of theological dialogues which leaves the reader to

grapple with the extraordinary possibility that Shekhinah may have actually once been almighty God but, according to her, not the all-knowing omnipotent God that most of us think of.

To the contrary, according to her, she was a God who had no foreknowledge of the suffering mankind would unleash upon itself once endowed with its own free will. Or that God himself would be powerless to stop it. She explained that as God she had suffered intensely, feeling every pain, every anguish of every living soul on earth, and that it was constant and unbearable for God. She explained that “There could be no peace in Heaven if there was no peace on Earth.”

And so, God’s only recourse was to commit what might be deemed divine suicide, trading his life as an eternal deity for that of a disenfranchised mortal on earth. From this post as Shekhinah, she would have a

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limited time, as mortals do, to address and subdue as much human suffering as she could out of love and compassion for that which she had created.

I found the book to be unexpectedly engaging as Shekhinah’s discussions with the professor covered a myriad of topics addressing the plights of the human condition and offering theological, if not divine, solutions.

Topics in the book range from homosexuality to the persecution of the Jews to Black Lives Matter, the Me Too movement and so much more — a great read for anyone who can keep an open mind!

Did God Die on His Way to Houston? A Queer Tale is available on Amazon. e Alan Little was born and raised in Bedford, Texas but has called Houston home since the day he arrived in Montrose in 1989. He was quickly swept up in the drag scene performing at The Exile II as Vanessa Harper, first as a cast member in Miss T’s Hot Toddy Review, then eventually landing his own weekly show there. He continued to spend his weekends entertaining the crowds both on and off stage for decades. Known for his hysterical stories which are memorialized in his journals that span some 30 years, he vividly bring back to life the bohemian nature of The Montrose as it was “back in the day.” He hopes to one day publish his memoirs as a tribute to The Montrose and all its colorful characters that helped form the richness of his youth.

PAGE 20 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

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Wednesday December 9, 2020 | MontroseStar.com e | PAGE 21

DEEP INSIDE HOLLYWOOD

‘Falling’ finds Viggo Mortensen behind the camera e By Romeo San Vicente

T

HE QUEER CHILD HAVING TO DEAL

with conservative parents is, at this point, a cliché in LGBTQ+ dramas about family conflict, but Viggo Mortensen’s new film, Falling, will put its own spin on the familiar narrative trope. Mortensen writes, directs and stars in the film as the gay son who chooses to care for his aging, conservative father (Lance Henriksen), transplanting Dad from a rural area to a new life in Los Angeles. We’re going to assume a sort of mutual understanding Viggo Mortensen develops between these characters, the reconciliation so many queer people long for from reactionary family members.

Ozark star Laura Linney and Hannah Gross (Tesla) round out the cast of the heartfelt drama. It premiered in January

at the Sundance Film Festival – which now seems like a decade ago – and drops in the UK in December. A U.S. release is forthcoming, probably in the new year, and maybe you’ll be able to convince your rightwing parents to watch it. Wouldn’t that be nice?

The queer Christmas movies are heating up

e told you about the Kristen Stewart/ Mackenzie Davis holiday rom-com Happiest Season (dropping on Hulu as we speak); and how the two big cable holiday movie factories – Hallmark and Lifetime – are also offering The Christmas House and The Christmas Setup, respectively.

But now, out of the blue, comes Dashing in December from Paramount, starring Peter Porte (The Young and the Restless) and Juan Pablo Di Pace (Fuller House, but gays are really going to remember

W

him best as the Aerobics Class Guy in Eric Prydz “Call On Me” video). Like all holiday TV movies, the premise is simple: two men meet on a ranch in the Midwest as Christmas approaches and one of them tries to convince ranch owner Andie MacDowell to sell the property. Short version: the holidays and rugged rural hot dudes = gingerbreadbased romance and a happily ever after.

It drops on the Paramount Network December 13. Get that boozy cocoa ready for the Zoom watch party.

Charmed reboot adds transgender actor J.J. Hawkins for season 3

ne of the more heartening developments in scripted narrative TV in the past few years has been the mini-wave of transgender and nonbinary actors being cast in shows as both trans and cis characters. It’s just starting but the ranks keep growing. And you can add newcomer J.J. Hawkins to that mix. Hawkins, a gender-noncomforming trans-masculine actor, is joining the cast of the Charmed reboot on the CW network. Entering season three after a 2018 start, the supernatural drama that stars Madeleine Mantock, Melonie Diaz and Sarah Jeffery will add Hawkins

O

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to the mix, where they’ll be the series’ first transgender character, a college student named Kevin. (Hawkins also uses pronouns he/him interchangeably).

Hawkins’ career to this point has been spent playing supporting roles as non-binary characters on series such as The Red Line and the CBS legal drama All Rise. The new season hits the air January 24, 2021, to brighten up your post-holidays malaise.

Waiting to Exhale: the TV series

recent Twitter game: name something that isn’t queer, but actually is queer. The usual responses of iced coffee, Carly Rae Jepsen and Selling Sunset were to be expected. But now that we’ve heard that a Waiting to Exhale series is in development at ABC, we’d like to play along. Naturally Lee Daniels is behind it, because he’s seemingly behind everything, and it comes with some excellent behind-the-scenes talent with a pilot from sisters Attica Locke (When They See Us) and Tembi Lock (Never Have I Ever), to be directed by Anthony Hemingway (Genius: Aretha). Terry McMillan, who authored the original book about four women navigating romance and friendship on which the 1995 Loretta Devine-, Whitney Houston-, Lela Rochon-, Angela Bassett-starring film was based, will act as consulting producer. There’s no cast yet but we have high hopes for this one. Stay tuned.

A

Romeo San Vicente has never set a bad ex’s clothes on fire. He stole them instead.

PAGE 22 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

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PAGE 24 | MontroseStar.com e | Wednesday December 9, 2020

CROSSWORD QUEERIES

Eat, Pray, Love, Direct Across

46 What an inflated

13 Powers that be

1 Klinger portrayer

doll might whisper?

21 Some O.C.S. grads

on M*A*S*H

47 Boy in a Johnny

22 ‘70s Soap title woman

5 Roman deity

Cash song

25 Forbidden acts

related to Diana

48 Fir kin

26 Taunting remarks

9 Watts in King

50 End of the quote

27 Ride them in Aspen

Kong’s hand

54 Tell pests to take this

28 Takei, on the Enterprise

14 R.E.M.’s “The

58 How Nureyev dances

29 Sinead O’Connor’s

59 Lion, tiger, or bear

country

15 Genesis man

60 Prompted on Broadway

30 Bird perch

16 Conversation filler

61 Eat, Pray, Love director

31 Rowers pull them

17 Relief of Lincoln

63 Narc’s find, maybe

32 City of Carnaval

18 Pt. of PGA

64 They’re above tenors

36 One under a captain

19 Jocks’ antitheses

65 Phallic fishes

38 Ship in a 1972

20 Start of a quote

66 Tommy may shoot it off

Roddy McDowall flick

by 61-Across about

67 Simple kind of question

39 Sound of sucking

creative risk

68 Fruit flavor for gin

43 Hot beverage carrier

Love”

23 From

Z

45 Reeves of My

(the whole shebang)

Down

Own Private Idaho

24 LGBT Money

1 Ellipse’s pair

48 Skirt folds

advises about this

2 From the top

49 Queen’s counties

28 Has a bottom line of

3 City near Tahoe

50 Emulates Harper

33 React to gay

4 Circumcision, e.g.

Lee’s bird

bashing, perhaps

5 Bat first, to Glenn Burke

51 Alaskan language

34 William Tell’s canton

6 USA’s Cold War rival

52 Erection of antiquity

35 More of the quote

7 It sends no one

53 “I Dreamed a

37 Walks unevenly

to Uranus

Dream” singer Susan

40 Jodie Foster’s

8 Em and Mame

55 Force along

Panic

9 Assyrian capital

56 Frida of self-portraits

41 Brit. word ref

10 Ferrera of Ugly Betty

57 Family Ties mother

42 Opens, as a barn door

11 On top of, to Byron

59 Schoolyard retort

44 Hard woody one

12 Foaming at the mouth

62 Rimbaud’s refusal

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GUIDE TO THE CLUBS HOUSTON n MONTROSE - MIDTOWN

n DOWNTOWN / EADO

Buddy’s 2409 Grant St Ste A, Houston (281) 310-1050 Cocktails | Beer | Karaoke |Pool | DJ’s

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

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 202 Tuam Street, Houston (346) 227-8613

https://www.facebook.com/rebarhouston/

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 Papi’s Houston 570 Waugh Dr, Latin gay club (713) 524-3359 | Dancing Drag Game shows all week long!

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 NW HOUSTON

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

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

SOLUTION FROM PAGE 24

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