SGN October 20, 2023

ISSUE 41

C E L E B R AT I N G

VOLUME 51

49 YEARS

F R I D AY

IN

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SE AT T L E & T HE PACIF IC NOR T H W E S T ’S L GB T Q I A + NE W S & EN T ER TA INMEN T SOURCE SINCE 19 74

LGBTQ+ REAL ESTATE ALLIANCE RAISES FUNDS FOR LAMBERT HOUSE

by Benny Loy SGN Acting Editor On October 14, the LGBTQ+ Real Estate Alliance’s Western Washington Chapter held a drag brunch fundraiser at Smarty Pants Bar in the Georgetown district of Seattle to benefit the northwest’s cornerstone social support and safe space for LGBTQIA+ youth, Lambert House.

see FUNDRAISER page 4

Photo by Lauren Vasatka

Lambda Legal: Making LGBTQ+ history Anti-LGBTQ+ vandals continue to target Spokane for 50 years A defaced rainbow crosswalk – Photo courtesy of Odyssey Youth

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer Spokane, Washington, has been facing a string of escalating anti-LGBTQ+ vandalism attacks. In October alone, the Odyssey Youth Center, an organization that provides resources and community to Queer and Trans youth, has been vandalized four times.

Tyron Garner (left) and John Geddes Lawrence (right) celebrate their Supreme Court win in the landmark Lawrence v. Texas case in Houston, 2003 – Photo by Erich Schlegel / AP

The incidents have included slurs and hate by Lindsey Anderson speech spray-painted on building signs and SGN Staff Writer windows. Other acts have included defacing LGBTQ+ murals and spray-painting a For the last 50 years, one organization rainbow sidewalk in the South Hill neigh- has been essential in protecting LGBTQ+ borhood; the latter has also been the victim rights and pushing for national change. In of pickup trucks, which have left black skid 1973, Lambda Legal opened its doors in New York City to fight for change through see SPOKANE page 7 the courts of the United States.

“If you look at the history of our movement, many, if not most, of the [advances] we’ve achieved have come through litigation, not legislation,” said CEO Kevin Jennings. “Lambda Legal has been at the forefront of that litigation. So, the history of Lambda is incredibly impressive.”

see LAMBDA page 8

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Publisher Mike Schultz Acting Editor Benny Loy Copy Editor Richard Isaac Advertising Maggie Bloodstone, Advertising Manager National Advertising Rep. Rivendell Media (212) 242-6863 Staff Writers Lindsey Anderson • Mike Andrew Sara Michelle Fetters • Daniel Lindsley Isabel Mata Contributing Writers Alice Bloch • Maggie Bloodstone Kylin Brown • Sharon Cumberland • Clar Hart Jack Hilovsky • Teddy MacQuarrie Cameron Martinez • Nemesis • Kai Uyehara Interns Ian Crowley • Kali Herbst Minino Social Media Team Lindsey Anderson • Cameron Martinez Nemesis Photographers Lauren Vasatka • SGN Staff Comics Clar Hart Production Mike Pham SGN is published by Mike Schultz. © 2023. All Rights Reserved. Reprints by permission.

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FUNDRAISER continued from cover

The alliance is a nonprofit member organization that advocates for fair housing and works to empower LQBTQ+ community members to pursue home ownership.

Lambert House, a nonprofit that has been providing services since 1981, offers in-person and online programs to local and international Queer youth, plus access to resources, education, and a greater sense of community through peers and mentors. Its goal is to reduce homelessness, substance abuse, and self-harm among LGBTQIA+ youth.

The drag brunch was the first event the chapter, established in March this year, has put together. The board president, Dan Darr, was excited to mention that it is “the fastest growing chapter in the nation” and that it was recently recognized at the national conference. The chapter aims to increase its membership to 150 members by the end of Pride next year.

Darr and Board Secretary Jeanie Kendell related how the alliance has benefited their careers and improved the lives of fellow LGBTQ+ people. “I’d say about 85% of my clients are Queer,” said Darr, a real estate broker in Ocean Shores, Washington.

“It’s a great resource,” said Darr, describing how real estate allies refer LGBTQ+ homebuyers to Alliance members.

Kendell, one half of a Seattle realtor power couple along with her wife, added that most of her clients were also Gay. The event sought to raise money for Lambert House through the event’s ticket sales, donations, and an auction, which featured a stay at a vacation house, gift cards, bottles of wine, and more. The bar’s seats and patio filled with guests while DJ Bugzy Beatdown finished setting up the speakers.

The first drag performance began, with LaRue lip-syncing to the classic “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now” by Celine Dion. LaRue has a contagious manic energy that, combined with her impressive, exaggerated facial expressions, makes for a hilarious watch.

Paradisco was saucy and sexy, dancing to “This Is What You Came For” by Calvin Harris, featuring Rihanna. She wore a gold jumpsuit but unzipped it to reveal a skimpy leotard underneath. Both crowd-pleasing queens were showered in dollar bills by the brunch guests.

It was then time for the speakers, Ken Shulman, executive director of Lambert House, and Steve Marose, an influential LGBTQ+ activist.

“Youth come to Lambert House primarily to make friends. They feel lonely.

They feel afraid they’re not going to have a community,” said Shulman. “Some of them face parents who are very cruel when the child comes out, or if the parents find out that they’re LGBTQ. We offer them a lot of

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(From top, l-r) LaRue shows the way to the event; Jeanie Kendell (l) with wife Crys Busby, and Board Member Sean Morris; Ken Shulman Executive Director of Lambert House; LaRue collects donations; event attendees enjoy the performances. – Photos by Lauren Vasatka

different ways to join together.”

He then related several stories on how Lambert House’s services have changed young lives. One standout example was of an exemplary student who had been kicked out of his family’s home because of his sexual orientation. Lambert House aided him by not only finding him housing but also helping him get a full-ride scholarship to the University of Washington. That student went on to attend graduate school at Harvard.

Marose then took the mic, saying, “I want to share a story of hope and resilience.”

In 1988, he joined the Air Force as an aircraft maintenance officer, before the ban on LGBTQ+ people serving in the military was lifted. So, when his covert orientation was discovered in 1990, he was sentenced

to two years in prison for three counts of consensual sodomy.

“After my release, old friends told me a light had gone out of me at that time,” Marose added. “But, you know what? Another had been ignited, because I emerged as a militantly out Gay man.”

After the speakers finished, the final performance uplifted the audience. LaRue made an angelic costume change and lip-synced to “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion.

LaRue, who was once a youth beneficiary of Lambert House, expressed her gratitude for the nonprofit, saying, “In more ways than one, Lambert House has saved my life.”

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“Sometimes you just want to be an artist” On the Edge brings Latinx performance art to Seattle

by Kali Herbst Minino SGN Intern “I think people are used to a certain kind of look or a certain type of message or certain kind of format for Latino artwork — Day of the Dead, lots of sugar skulls — and we presented something that was completely different. A little more conceptual, a little more articulate,” said Xavier Lopez, director of On the Edge: The 2nd International Latinx Performance Art Festival.

Lopez was referring to the first festival, all the way back in 2016. The three-performer event held in a small gallery space was the first of its kind for Seattle, and it caught the attention of Marvin Carlson, a distinguished professor at the City University of New York, in his book Performance: A Critical Introduction.

Since then, Lopez has been trying to put on the second iteration. A call for artists was posted shortly before COVID-19 shut down the country. It took a couple of years more, but the second festival was held in Pioneer Square over three days, starting Oct. 5, with performances by nine artists.

An uncompromising stress on the intersectional Lopez placed emphasis on creating an unrestrictive definition of “Latinx” while curating the event. The 2023 call for artists asked entrants to include an explanation about how their art represents the finest in Latinx performance, which the post says is defined “in the most inclusive, intersectional, and open terms possible.”

Katherine Adamenko – Photo by Sonia Aguilar

Headline performer Katherine Adamenko said that Lopez — and that inclusive philosophy — was the reason she chose to fly from New York to perform.

“I loved it because I was worried, ‘Am I Latin enough?’ and his aesthetic and his whole identity theory is so inclusive,” Adamenko said. “I don’t have the Latin last name, so I don’t have that immediate identification… Sometimes you just want to be an artist. Your culture will influence you, and certainly there’s aspects of my culture that influence the work that I do, but it’s not necessarily working in tropes for it.”

She wasn’t the only one with apprecia-

tion for Lopez’s definition. Interdisciplinary artist Tatiana Garmendia told the SGN she decided to participate simply because Lopez asked.

“When you come to the Pacific Northwest, the only definition you have of Latinx is Mexican. It’s like ‘Day of the Dead,’” Garmendia said. “I love the Day of the Dead, but you know, we’re not monolithic.

We’re a huge group of people.”

“There is an excitement that is certainly building,” Lopez said. “There are a lot of Latino painters, writers, but not so many Latinx performance artists.”

Intersectional lineup That intersectional philosophy was evidenced in the event’s nine artists, including feminist pieces, butoh performers, and a goth DJ. “Too often culture tries to simplify people’s stories into one- or two-line statements,” Lopez said. “I specifically didn’t want to have mariachi music or anything traditional. I wanted it to be something else, something that is unique and tells a different story than people are expecting.”

Adamenko said her art focuses on beauty, especially recently. She performed all three days, and pulled from a 20-year project tying together projects with themes of perceived madness in women.

“They’re vignettes, and they’re tied by a general theme, and they’re character-driven.

I love to work with characters,” Adamenko said. “They’re little peeks into a person’s life, almost always the women’s life.”

Garmendia said she’s been working on “the alchemical bride”: While doing research on alchemy, she stumbled on a collection of bridal magazines in Goodwill.

The mix of the two inspired her work.

“I was like, ‘These are not ordinary people.’ These dresses are enormous [and] extravagant, and they involve the body in a ritual way. You can’t move like you normally move,” Garmendia said. “There’s all this symbolic action with just wearing a wedding dress, and then there’s the grossness. It’s a really big business.”

Though he was directing the event, Lopez also performed. He described his piece as super personal, fun, and touching.

Seattle comedian releases debut music video “And since the pandemic, especially when [it] started, there has been so much miscommunication in America. Communication is needed to make the world a better place. Jokes like this make it so much less serious and showcase that we’re more similar than different.”

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer Comedian Bernice Ye first found success on Seattle’s comedy circuit, honing her craft performing in shows such as Model Minority and Men Aren’t Funny. One of her favorite sets was a story about Asian chicken salad.

“This Asian chicken salad joke I’ve been telling, I feel like it works everywhere.

It’s universal,” she said. “I’ve been telling it so many times that some part of me was like, ‘How can I make it more interesting for everybody and more interesting for me?

How can somebody come to my show once, and the second time they [attend], they’re still enjoying it?”

Ye found her inspiration in another Seattle star. “I was listening to ‘Downtown’

by Macklemore, and he’s just rapping.

I was thinking, ‘You know what, I don’t have anything to sing, but I’m just going to put my Asian chicken salad joke in it, because I can remember that as lyrics.

I started to sing it, and I didn’t know if it worked, but I had a lot of fun.”

Although Ye doesn’t have a background in musical performance, she enjoyed putting her joke to a beat and shared the song with her friend Junan Wang, who encouraged Ye to explore creating a comedy rap video.

Crowdfunding a passion project In 2022, Ye moved to LA, where she met aspiring rapper and actor Cole Connor.

“We met up for New Year’s, and Cole said, ‘What’s your New Year’s resolution? What do you want in the new year?’” Ye related.

“And I said, ‘Maybe we should make a short film together to show off our acting, and I have this joke I want to make into a rap.’ He had an open mind, and one thing led to another, and we had the comedy rap.”

The production started small but eventually became a professionally shot and choreographed video, with Wang directing. At first, Ye and Connor sat down and agreed on a modest $3,000 budget. As they brought on more team members, the production costs grew. Some team members even offered to take a pay cut, as long as

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Image courtesy of Bernice Ye

Ye would invest money in professional hair and makeup for the final shoot.

After tweaking the budget, they arrived at a goal of $5,000 and started crowdfunding. “I had to work very hard to get the word out, but when people were willing to jump in and support, we passed our goals little by little,” Ye said.

“Sometimes I would post a story and say, ‘We’re almost at 70% goal’, and someone would donate and help us. The love and support were the fuel to help me keep going.”

Chinese American roots Ye and Wang were surprised that their project resonated with many first-generation Chinese American immigrants. While Ye’s video is funny and visually stunning on the surface, at its core it’s a story about the American immigrant experience and how Chinese Americans, in particular, are treated.

“It’s not only Asian American, its firstgeneration Asian American, Chinese American. I’ve never been able to say, ‘Okay, I’m going to just send Chinese characters,’ and we’re making art.”

The video features references to modern Chinese culture and authentic calligraphy that feels like fun Easter eggs for Chinese

American viewers. “We talk about cultural references. Junan and I would debate, like, ‘Hey, we can’t go too deep into just Chinese,’ because from my experience performing comedy in America, you also need to find a way that people can feel it is familiar and new. This is a group of people where we can all discuss, brainstorm, and figure out how to present that to a broader audience.”

As the production evolved, Ye pulled in multitalented performers into the mix.

Wang insisted on professional choreography, so the video was choreographed by Sophia LaVonne, an LA-based dancer who has previously worked with BET and Nike.

“As a Gay person, I cannot see a music video without good dancing. This needed to have choreography,” Wang said with a laugh.

Wang believes so many talented people were willing to throw themselves into the project because of Ye’s dedication and ability to create such raw humor in a second language.

“The reason I found working on this music video for Bernice so inspirational … is because it’s so rare to see, as Chinese immigrants, someone able to do comedy in a second language and be able to bridge the culture,” Wang said.

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Influenced by Queer culture The video brings together many beautiful elements and pulls inspiration from contemporary American and Chinese performances.

Ye believes having a Queer perspective was essential in bringing her story to life.

“After going through this project, I cannot imagine if my director was a straight man,” she said. “The relationship Junan and I have, sleeping in the same bed for a bit, talking about ideas, I just feel so comfortable, and he has that style… I just can’t imagine any straight man can have that.”

Wang’s identity as a Gay man influenced the style he puts into his work and also helped him find bridges between Chinese and American culture. “I came out of the closet in China, and it was a bit tough,” he said. “My parents are traditional, and it took a while for them to accept it. Eventually, they were okay.

“After I came here, I met my partner, and I realized even though we’re from different countries — he’s from the Midwest — our experiences are not that much different.

In a way, it connected us.”

Wang’s partner introduced him to American Gay culture, particularly Drag Race. He loved the high camp, colors, and movement of Queer performances. “A lot of things I feel have subconsciously influenced how we make decisions in our music videos. I feel like there were a lot of Queer vibes on set. It was very creative, and I love that,” he added.

Wang is currently working on developing a start-up clothing brand in New York City, while Ye is performing weekly shows in LA and plans on returning to Seattle’s stand-up scene eventually.

“Seattle will always be home,” she said.

“Asian Chicken Salad” is now out on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Music.

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Regional News

Last minute Northwest haunts to celebrate the spooky season

Mason Block (Sycamore Square) in Bellingham – Image courtesy of Fairhaven History

Admiralty Head Lighthouse – Photo courtesy of WA Digital Archive

by Cameron Martinez SGN Contributing Writer Halloween, or as the Celtic people called it, Samhain, originated as a Gaelic festival during which it was believed that the barriers between the physical world and the spirit world would break down. While this may or may not be true, the fascination with the supernatural is still genuine, so I’m sharing three of my favorite haunted spots in northwest Washington to visit during this spooky time.

When and if you go to these places, please remember to be respectful of those who lost their lives there.

Sycamore Square, Bellingham Sycamore Square is a large, four-story building located in the historic Fairhaven neighborhood of Bellingham. Originally called Mason Block, it was completed in 1890 and has always been home to small businesses — and at one point, “the Lady in Green.”

Sometime during the turn of the 20th century, apartments began to be rented on the upper floor. “The Lady in Green,” or Flora Blakely, lived in one of these fourthfloor units, where it is believed by Bellingham historians and the Good Time Girls (a group that offers guided historical tours) that she took her own life due to being mentally distraught over the death of her child. Her funeral was also held in Sycamore Square.

There is a framed story displayed in Sycamore Square titled “Sycamore Square Ghost Story: ‘Lady in Green.’” The author is not listed. Here is a chilling excerpt: “I was painting an office on the second floor. At the time, there was no air conditioning on that floor, and the temperature must have been even hotter on my ladder near the ceiling. All evening, I had an uneasy feeling that someone was right behind me, but the room remained quiet and empty… Suddenly I stepped into a cold spot… A chill ran up my spine, and the hair rose on the back of my neck. I was absolutely certain I was not alone — when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw a young woman wearing a long, green velvet dress, the type that women wore at the start of the 20th century… I turned to see who was there, but the apparition vanished as quickly as it appeared.”

The ghost has also been known by tenants to turn chairs toward the window facing Bellingham Bay. The view is great, so I don’t blame her.

A disembodied female voice is heard The new treatments conducted at Northscreaming and apparitions have been seen.” ern State were questionable, however, to say One listener who wrote into the pod- the least. According to a Seattle Times projcast claimed that when they saw her, she ect on the asylum, some of these included Admiralty Head Lighthouse, appeared to be a 19–20-year-old woman the removal of thyroid glands, appendixes, Coupeville with a flapper-style haircut and a calf- and tonsils; deliberately infecting patients Admiralty Head Lighthouse is in the length dress. with malaria; hours-long baths in hot water; northern part of Fort Casey State Park on Ghost or no ghost, this chilling reminder comas induced by insulin injections; sterilWhidbey Island. The park itself is creepy of war-torn history has turned into a gor- ization; and lobotomies. because it’s an old, concrete military base geous park with spectacular views of the Many people who were sent to the that was created to stop invaders from Salish Sea. hospital also died and were subsequently coming through the Strait of Juan de Fuca. buried on the grounds, but the graveyard is Some of the old guns are still in place for Northern State Hospital, haphazardly marked and mostly covered in children to play on too.

Sedro-Wooley a layer of dirt and grass.

While this Spanish-style lighthouse hasn’t Last but certainly not least is my favorThe area has since been turned into been active since 1922, there is another active ite haunted place: Northern State Hospital, a massive park, with the rotting buildings entity on the premises: a woman who can be a mental hospital that was operational from standing front and center as a reminder of seen from the top of the building.

1913 through 1972. the tragic past of the land.

In episode 170 of the podcast History It was seen as a revolutionary type of If you really want to be freaked out, Goes Bump, accounts of her hauntings are treatment facility at the time because, on I recommend going to the building on the detailed: “Some people claim to have seen top of conducting new treatments, the very northern end of the park, on the tree the figure of a woman leaning over the top patients there operated an entire farm as a line. Something about that place makes me railing. The things that people report expe- form of occupational therapy. The town of want to jump out of my skin. riencing at Fort Casey are weird noises and Sedro-Wooley benefited from the relationHappy haunting! weird drawings on the walls. Something ship, as it provided a lot of food and jobs to like claws is heard scratching on the walls. the townspeople.

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Northern State Hospital – Photo courtesy of WA Digital Archive

If you’re ever up there but don’t encounter a ghost, you’re guaranteed to find a fantastic grilled cheese at the Black Cat restaurant.

C E L E B R AT I N G 4 9 Y E A R S!

a rise in overt attacks and bigotry [against] the LGBTQ community, which is a trend that we’re seeing nationally,” Councilmember Zack Zappone said at the meeting. Zappone is one of two members of the Spokane City Council who identify as LGBTQ+.

The council voted on a resolution Monday to condemn the surge in hatred against the Queer and Trans community. The resolution included changing the city’s lobbying agenda to ask the state legislature to institute a state hate crime hotline and to make hate crimes on public property a felony.

“I think this resolution shows that the City Council is against those sorts of acts of hatred and bigotry,” Zappone said.

SPOKANE

continued from cover marks over the already vandalized rainbow.

Residents of the neighborhood also reported having Pride flags stolen or slashed, and pumpkins smashed.

“The fact that this has happened, now three nights in a row, and the fact that this happened a month after the initial vandalism as well, this is a pattern, this is a repeat, which is very intimidating, to say the least, and terrifying to say the most,” Odyssey Youth Movement executive director Ian Sullivan told local news outlet KHQ on Monday, October 9.

Short-lived camaraderie Following a third incident at the Odyssey Youth Center, members of the Spokane community came out on Wednesday, October 11, for an act of unity. Neighbors worked to clean up the crosswalk and held a Pride event sponsored by a local bookstore, Wishing Tree Books. Those who showed up wore rainbow colors and signed cards to send to members of Odyssey to show their support.

The love was short-lived, however. That night, the vandals struck again.

People dressed in all black donned ski masks as they egged Wishing Tree Books, which sells LGBTQ+ reading material for children. The vandals also egged and tagged Odyssey Youth Center and the rainbow sidewalk again, and attempted to paint over a Pride mural in Riverfront Park.

Also, Ring doorbell footage from Spokane City Councilmember Paul Dillon showed one masked assailant come onto his

Photo courtesy of Odyssey Youth

property and snag his Pride flag. Dillon has our home, and we are not backing down. had four Pride flags stolen in recent months We are here to support LGBTQ+ communities, businesses, [and] organizations, and and often sees his campaign signs slashed.

“It’s part of a larger concern [about] a our neighbors, and we are going to rally coordinated attack on the neighborhood together to make this the safest, most incluand specifically targeting the LGBTQ+ sive neighborhood that we can, and [we] community,” Dillon told the local Spokes- will not be pushed into the darkness.”

Spokane police are investigating the vanman-Review newspaper. “It’s just hard to not feel like the neighborhood is under dalism incidents but said that at this time, they are not considering them a hate crime. attack right now.”

The vandals have targeted the Perry City Council addresses attacks District, one of Spokane’s most diverse On Monday, October 16, the Spokane neighborhoods, located on the south side of the city. “I think that the Perry District City Council addressed the uptick in antiis a beautiful place,” Dillon said. “This is LGBTQ+ harassment. “There appears to be

Pushback from community Though the resolution was mostly symbolic and initiated no immediate policy changes, it was still contested. Councilmember Jonathan Bingle voiced concern for the resolution’s brief mention of hate speech, saying, “This would change my vote on this if you consider it to be hate speech to say that, for example, a man is a man and a woman is a woman.” Bingle ultimately voted in support of the resolution.

The District 1 councilmember wasn’t the only one with reservations about the resolution. Community members who showed up at the meeting voiced concern. Some argued that the council had previously targeted Christians when they denounced Spokane Mayor Nadine Woodward’s participation in a Christian nationalist event.

Others argued that their First Amendment rights included the religious freedom to disapprove of the LGBTQ+ community.

Enjoy the beauty of autumn at Snow Lake, even in the rain

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer A bucket-list item of mine is to travel to New England to see the autumn foliage.

Basic, I know. But as it turns out, there’s a charming and colorful adventure just outside of Seattle that would bring Vermont to her knees.

Just an hour from the city, in the foggy woods of Snoqualmie Pass, is a trail that leads to the hidden Snow Lake. An adventure pass is not required to access it, but all guests must pay a $5 parking permit. Trust me, the views are worth the price of a bad cup of coffee.

My adventure dog, Benji, and I arrived at the trail around 1 p.m. Snow Lake is a real hike, about a seven-mile round-trip, so I had been hoping to make the drive to the mountains on a blue-sky day. However, as October settles in, those are becoming more rare.

I wouldn’t have traded a thing about our trek into the mountains that day, though.

The emo clouds looked like smoke rolling off the peaks of the distant hills and provided a beautiful contrast to all the gorgeous fall colors.

Now, I have to admit that this hike intimidated me. The terrain is not too difficult, but I worried about what dangers might lay ahead in the woods for a solo gal hiker and her 18 lb. dog. I grew up watching a lot of Dateline. So, armed with the Birdie alarm my mom got me for Christmas (she watches even more Dateline), I embarked, even if I was still worried about predators — both human and animal.

While I would still urge all solo hikers to take caution, I eventually found I had nothing to fear. All the others we passed on the trail were cordial and encouraging.

The most dangerous animals we encountered were North American pikas, which squeaked and squealed along jagged rocks.

Despite their diminutive size, Benji still attempted to protect me and chased them off. His protective nature eased my worries.

The path to Snow Lake was winding, twisting through sprawling forests of amber vines, climbing up steep hills, and weaving past divots. About halfway through, we were caught up in a downpour. Soaked to the bone, Benji and I continued nonetheless, more determined than ever to make it to the famed lake.

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Photo by Lindsey Anderson

A dog’s tips for serenity As we climbed higher in elevation, I noticed my dog behaving strangely.

Each time we came to a clearing, he would peer out into the vast forest. I’ve never seen a dog contemplate life before. He seemed just as thrilled as I was to take in the autumnal sights, yet aware that the beauty of fall is fleeting.

Despite not knowing where we were going, Benji became more determined to lead the way. He grew impatient with the winding switchbacks down the mountain, and despite signs that warned not to verge off the trail, he did take a shortcut or two.

The most breathtaking part of the hike came several yards before we arrived at the lake. Hidden behind trees and marsh is a crystal-blue inlet. A small waterfall feeds the lagoon, framed by orange- and yellowleaved trees. I let Benji off his leash for a moment, and he happily pranced in and

out of the water, climbing along the rocks lining the edge of the falls.

I took in a breath and let the serenity of nature engulf me. My damp clothes, my writing deadlines, and even the fear of a mountain lion stalking us all lifted from my body like the steam coming out of the hills. Standing at the hidden shore, with just my dog, I felt at peace.

After nearly three hours of hiking, we made it to the lake. The trees reflected on the surface like a mirror. Benji dashed in and out of the water, not even noticing the frigidity of October. I skipped flat rocks across the mirrored surface, shattering my own reflection. Though I could have spent hours at the lake, the evening was creeping up on us, and I did not want to get caught on the trail in the dark.

The nice part about Snow Lake is the hike is one way. Once we reached the lake, we retraced our steps. Going back the way we

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came prevented me from getting lost (again) but also allowed us to take notice of things we’d missed the first time. The whole way to the lake, I had had my nose pressed against my camera, trying to preserve the moment to microdose for serotonin later. On the way back, I stashed the camera in my bag and enjoyed the wilderness with my whole body.

I noticed so much more. Benji continued looking back at me, ensuring I was still with him. Droplets of water provided percussion for the songs of woodpeckers and grouse. Pikas scurried through holes in rocks, gathering grass for their ground nests. Red leaves fluttered to the ground as a gentle wind brushed through my hair.

By the end of the hike, Benji and I were sore, soaked, and ready for a ten-hour sleep.

While it took a day or two for my body to recover, a trek to Snow Lake was just what my soul needed.

SGN

7

National News

LAMBDA

continued from cover Fighting from the beginning The organization has been fighting from its very conception. When it first applied for charity status, New York rejected Lambda Legal’s application.

“The state of New York ruled that our work was neither benevolent nor charitable, and there was no need for our organization,” Jennings said. “So, we were our first client.”

Lambda Legal sued the state and won.

That case was just the beginning. The organization has fought many historic battles for the LGBTQ+ community since.

In 1983, it won the country’s first lawPhoto courtesy of Lambda Legal suit regarding the rights of HIV-positive patients. Just two years after AIDS was Stepping up efforts speak for themselves. There have been first reported in the US, it teamed up with Lambda Legal’s defense team includes nearly 600 anti-LGBTQ+ bills introduced the attorney general’s office in The People just 30 attorneys. However, with active into 47 state legislatures this year, and in vs. 12 West Tenant Corporation when an cases in many states currently, the team over 20 states, they’re now law.”

AIDS physician was nearly evicted from would be nowhere without the countless “We have our work cut out for us, and … his clinic for treating HIV-positive patients. hours of work donated by pro bono attor- one of our top priorities right now is to use neys and firms across the country. the courts to stop the imposition of laws Standing with HIV-positive people “We’ve had wonderful support from law that cause enormous harm to our commuLambda Legal is still fighting for the firms across the country, like Perkins Coie, nity, especially to our Trans and Nonbinary rights of HIV-positive people today. “Now, from Seattle,” Jennings said. “We’re fairly members,” he continued. “As I mentioned, the problem is that discrimination contin- small: we only have about 30 attorneys, and those laws have passed now in over 20 states. ues, and the two biggest perpetrators of this we’re arguing over 80 lawsuits in over 20 We are actively litigating in over 20 states discrimination are the US military and the states. We could never do that with only 30 right now, trying to stop them. We expect this police,” Jennings said. attorneys. We can only do that through the will go to the Supreme Court, and it’s both a Currently, the organization is fighting pro bono help we receive.” terrifying and exciting time, simultaneously.” a legal battle with West Point Preparatory With a steep increase in legislative Academy after it revoked the admission of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community, “The freedom to be who you want” a student upon learning that he had tested Lambda Legal has stepped up its efforts to While Washington is a fairly progrespositive for HIV. “It turns out our military challenge as many unfair laws as possible. sive state, Lambda Legal is working hard has an antiquated policy that bans enlist“We adopted a strategic plan about three to fight discriminatory laws passed in ment by people who are HIV positive,” Jen- years ago, whose focus is to win new pro- neighboring areas. “Right now, we are trynings said. Lambda Legal is hoping to get tections for the most vulnerable… while ing to put out fires in places like Idaho and those policies struck down. defending our community from attacks,” Montana, while people like Sen. Peterson The organization is also fighting the Jennings explained. “Among some of the are making Washington state a safe space Nashville Police Department, in which most vulnerable groups are Trans people, for LGBTQ+ people,” Jennings said. “The another client was terminated due to their LGBTQ+ youth, LGBTQ+ seniors, and neighbors are going in the opposite direcHIV status. people living with HIV. And the attacks tion, so we are primarily focused on places

like Idaho and Montana more than Washington state at the moment.”

The organization has scored some recent victories in the conservative parts of the Northwest. This month, it secured a preliminary injunction in Montana against a gender-affirming care ban.

“Lambda Legal has fought for freedom for 50 years,” Jennings said. “First, it was the freedom to love who you wanted, then it was the freedom to marry who you wanted, and now it is the freedom to be who you want.

“We are fundamentally about freedom, and our opponents are fundamentally about telling other people how to live their lives and using the government as a tool to do so. I think that is very disturbing.”

Essential to LGBTQ+ history Lambda Legal has been an essential part of LGBTQ+ history. Along with the American Civil Liberties Union, it represented John Geddes Lawrence Jr., a man arrested in Texas under anti-Gay sodomy laws in 2003. It successfully argued against the law, which was struck down by the Supreme Court. The organization was also an influential co-counsel in the 2015 Supreme Court case Obergefell v. Hodges, which secured marriage equality.

While Jennings admits the organization has felt discouraged by the conservativeleaning court’s ruling in recent cases, such as Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v.

Wade, he still has hope.

“Lambda Legal has had to fight hard from day one. I know we’re in the middle of a very hard and very dark time in the country right now,” Jennings said, “but you know what? Lambda Legal has been through hard and dark times before.

“We’ve been here for 50 years. We’ll be here for another 50, and we’ll do whatever it takes to continue to be here for LGBTQ+ people, and whatever it takes to be here for people with HIV. We’re not stopping now.”

National news highlights

by Teddy MacQuarrie SGN Contributing Writer White House honors Matthew Shepard on 25th anniversary of his death President Joe Biden on Thursday issued a statement marking the 25th anniversary of the death of Matthew Shepard, the result of an anti-Gay hate crime that “shocked our nation and the world.”

“Matthew’s tragic and senseless murder shook the conscience of the American people,” the president said. “And his courageous parents, Judy and Dennis Shepard, turned Matthew’s memory into a movement, galvanizing millions of people to combat the scourge of anti-LGBTQI+ hate and violence in America.”

That work, Biden said, is far from finished, “as threats and violence targeting the LGBTQI+ community continue to rise,” adding, “I once again call on Congress to send the Equality Act to my desk so that we can ensure LGBTQI+ Americans have full civil rights protections under our laws — because every American is worthy of dignity, acceptance and respect.”

Biden noted his involvement, when vice president, in enacting the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which was signed into law by then-President Barack Obama in 2009. It expanded federal hate crime laws to include those motivated by the victim’s sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability.

“This legislation is a lasting tribute to Matthew, a testament to the relentless advocacy of Judy and Dennis, and an important step forward for our country,” Biden said. “I was proud to honor Judy and Dennis as uniters — Americans who stand against hate and heal our divides —

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Matthew Shepard – Photo by Gina van Hoof

at the United We Stand Summit here at the White House last year.”

“God bless Judy, Dennis, and all those who are grieving and remembering Matthew today,” he said.

Philadelphia police issue arrest warrant for suspect in Gay journalist’s killing The Philadelphia Police Department has issued an arrest warrant for 19-year-old South Philadelphia resident Robert Davis as a suspect in the October 2 killing of Gay journalist Josh Kruger, who was 39.

Lieutenant Hamilton Marshmond of the department’s homicide unit told reporters from the Philadelphia Inquirer that the motive for the killing remains under investigation. According to Marshmond,

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it’s unclear how Davis got into Kruger’s home, which showed no signs of forced entry. He said video of Davis near the area at the time of the shooting, and tips from Kruger’s friends and family about their earlier interactions, led investigators to him.

Kruger was gunned down late at night on October 2, suffering seven wounds to the chest and abdomen. Police believe Kruger was shot in his home and went outside to seek help. He was taken to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, where he died about 2:15 a.m.

Kruger, a former city employee and well-regarded journalist, had detailed his struggles with addiction, homelessness, and living with HIV. He had been in recovery from addiction for several years.

In the weeks before his death, Kruger detailed fraught interactions with a former partner who had gained entry to his home with a copy of his keys, a rock being thrown through his window, and a stranger who had entered his house looking for his former partner and threatened him.

Complicating the investigation, family members of Davis have told police and reporters that Kruger and Davis shared a sexual relationship since Davis was 15, and have claimed that the two used recreational drugs together. Police have told reporters that methamphetamines were found in Kruger’s home on the night of his death and also that Kruger was trying to help the younger man.

Sources told the Inquirer that police found “disturbing” images on his phone, although it’s not clear if they involve Davis. Relatives have also told the Inquirer that Kruger had threatened to post explicit videos of Davis online.

Lt. Marshmond said Davis was known to police and had been arrested before but declined to elaborate on officers’ earlier interactions with him. Court records show that Davis was arrested in August and charged with criminal trespassing and mischief, but the District Attorney’s Office withdrew the charges at a preliminary hearing the following month.

He warned that Davis “is considered armed and dangerous,” and that anyone who sees him should not approach him but instead call 911. Police have set a $20,000 reward for information leading to Davis’s arrest.

Damica Davis, Robert Davis’s mother, told the Inquirer that if Davis is guilty of killing Kruger, nothing justifies it.

“It’s tragic what happened,” she said, “but I feel like my son is a victim in this as well.”

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International News

International news highlights

Photo by Kacper Pempel / Reuters

by Teddy MacQuarrie SGN Contributing Writer Poland’s Queer community heartened by right-wing election losses Poland’s embattled Queer community felt a sense of relief on Monday as exit polls following Sunday’s election indicated that the anti-Queer Law and Justice party will lose its government majority.

In the wake of a significant 72.9% voter turnout, the far-right party is expected to win a plurality of seats but not a majority, impeding them from being able to form a government. Opposition parties are expected to form a coalition, ousting the Law and Justice party from power.

The defeat of Poland’s far-right party comes after eight years of antagonism targeting the nation’s Queer community, including the imposition of “LGBT-free zones,” which were declared unconstitutional by one of Poland’s top courts in June 2022.

Bart Staszewski, a Queer activist focused on fighting the government’s policies, told PinkNews that the election should put an end to the right’s “political games.”

“After eight years of horrible right-wing government that was targeting the LGBT minority like never before, now we wake up to this [reality],” Staszewski said.

“There were horrible attacks, horrible quotes from Polish politicians like Andrzej Duda, who said there is no LGBT people, there is an ideology… This is just a small part of what we have suffered from, and this was our reality on a daily basis.”

He added, “I felt like a second-category citizen, and we were treated like secondcategory citizens. The government is telling you that you don’t deserve equal rights, that you are not creating families, that you are an agent of the West trying to fight family values or tradition.

“The atmosphere was hostile. We felt that they don’t want us here, but we still were here, we still were fighting for our country, because we are part of it.”

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He is now urging the parties that form the next coalition to focus on “restoring” human rights to Poland’s most vulnerable communities.

“We know it will be a tough game with politicians who always have something more important do,” he said, “but I can promise everybody we will fight for the future of all LGBTQ+ people in Poland.”

Mauritius’s top court decriminalizes same-sex relations The Supreme Court of Mauritius has struck down a colonial-era law criminalizing same-sex relations, bucking a trend elsewhere in Africa, where a string of countries have passed or proposed antiQueer legislation.

In a ruling on two cases brought by members of the Gay community in the Indian Ocean island nation, the court said

that Section 250 of the Mauritian criminal code, which dated back to 1898, during British colonial rule, was unconstitutional.

“Section 250 was not introduced in Mauritius to reflect any indigenous Mauritian values but was inherited as part of our colonial history from Britain,” the court said in a ruling handed down on Wednesday.

Jean-Daniel Wong, the manager of the Arc-en-Ciel Collective, the largest Queer advocacy group in Mauritius, said the ruling was a huge relief.

“As an out Gay man in Mauritius, personally, there was kind of this Damocles sword hanging over our head,” he told Reuters. “There is still a lot to do but ... we have faith in our public institutions.”

He said the group’s next priorities were to achieve legal recognition for Transgender people, legalize same-sex unions and fight hate crimes based on sexuality.

The government, the defendant in the cases, had said that while it was sympathetic to the arguments put forward by LGBT citizens, the values of wider society meant that the time was not right to change the law through Parliament.

But the Supreme Court said the old law “criminalizes the only natural way for the plaintiffs and other homosexual men to have sexual intercourse, whereas heterosexual men are permitted the right to have sexual intercourse in a way which is natural to them.”

The Mauritian ruling stands in sharp contrast to developments elsewhere in Africa, most recently in Uganda, which passed one of the world’s harshest antiLGBT laws in May, imposing the death penalty for some same-sex acts.

Photo by Jean Alain Laportine / Reuters

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Op-Ed Can I be friends with someone I have romantic feelings for?

Dear Izzy,

by Isabel Mata SGN Staff Writer Ask Izzy is an advice column about relationships, mental health, and sexuality. Written by Isabel Mata — a Seattle-based lifestyle writer, podcast host, and mental health advocate — Ask Izzy offers tangible expert advice so all readers can have stronger relationships, better sex, and healthier mindsets. Submit your question today by scanning the QR code below.

I have unrequited love for a friend who’s already in a relationship, but I can’t get him out of my mind, and it’s messing with both our relationship and those I have with others. Context: My friend “Adrian” and I have been friends since my sophomore year. I’ve always had feelings for him, but it got complicated when I discovered he has a GF. Any advice on trying to get him out of my mind?

— Unrequited Love Dear Unrequited, Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing your experience with me. This sounds like a tricky situation straight out of a movie, but luckily, there is a solution. Unfortunately, you may not like it.

If you actually want to get Adrian out of your mind, you have to walk away, at least for a little bit. If this has been going on for a while, which it seems like it has, then you need to separate yourself. The longer you wait and watch his relationship from the outside, wishing it were you instead, the more likely you are to get hurt.

Now, I am not saying you have to ghost him. No, in fact, I think you should sit down and have a conversation explaining your feelings and how the relationship is no lon-

Photo by Mizuno K / Pexels

ger serving you. How he responds will dictate the future of your friendship.

The reality is that friendships only work if both parties are on the same page about the nature of the relationship and if you share the same values. If you are constantly hoping that the friendship will turn into more, you will always be disappointed and hurt when it doesn’t, given that he is already

committed to someone else.

While Adrian is not responsible for how you feel, he is responsible for not leading you on, which, to be honest, it seems like he might have.

The only way to actually move on and possibly be friends down the line is to take some space from Adrian. As it stands right now, he can not give you what you want,

and the longer you hold on to the notion of “someday,” the worse it will end up for you.

Save yourself the pain of constant rejection by seeking out alternative systems of support. Lean on the people you care about, while reminding yourself that you deserve to be loved in a way that serves you. Adrian cannot provide that. As much as you want to remain friends now, doing so will only cause more harm than good.

Another thing you can actively do to move on is write down a list of the characteristics you love about Adrian. Pair that with other things you are looking for in an ideal partner. And don’t settle for less!

It may not feel like it now, but there are other people out there who fit the bill. But you will never know unless you open yourself up to find them.

JESSE’S JOURNAL

Halloween: The great Gay holiday

by Jesse Monteagudo Special to the SGN Like other groups, our LGBTQ community observes and celebrates various holidays: Pride Month, National Coming Out Day, Transgender Day of Remembrance, etc. But our most popular holiday predates recorded history and captures the essence of sex and gender variance to a much greater degree than any activist holiday: Halloween, “the great Gay holiday.”

Once thought to be for children, it is now almost as popular with adults. According to Nicholas Rogers, author of Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night, it “has become a major party night for adults, arguably the most important after New Year’s Eve. The amount of money spent on Halloween has more than doubled in the last decade, making it the second retail bonanza after Christmas.”

Halloween (or Hallowe’en) is a corruption of All Hallows’ Eve, which is traditionally observed on the night before All Saints’ Day (All Hallows’ Day). Like other Christian holy days, Halloween was adapted from a pagan festival, in this case the Celtic feast of Samhain (pronounced SAH-win). Rich Wandel, an openly Gay high priest of Wicca, told the authors of The Gay Almanac that “Samhain is a time of connection to those who have gone before

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Halloween, 1976 – Photo courtesy of Shades of LGBTQI, San Francisco Public Library

and will return again. It is my favorite ritual and is one we never let the students lead.

We do it ourselves, because it is important, particularly in terms of the many friends that all of us in our communities have lost.”

While Halloween is enjoyed by everyone, Rogers reminds us that “it has been the gay community that has most flamboyantly exploited Halloween’s potential as a transgressive festival, as one that operates outside or on the margins of orthodox time, space, and hierarchy. Indeed, it is the gay community that has been arguably most

responsible for Halloween’s adult rejuvenation.”

In Another Mother Tongue, her cultural history of Queer communities, Judy Grahn wrote about its significance to LGBTQ people, who in many societies served as priests, witches, shamans, healers, and intermediaries between the mortal and spirit worlds: “Impersonating a spirit is the only safe way to travel outdoors on Halloween. And who could better imitate spirits than the gay people whose traditional priestly role required just such intercourse

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with the spirit world? The qualities of impersonation and the dangerous business of crossing over from one world to another help explain why Halloween is the most significant gay holiday.”

According to William Stewart, “Hallowe’en has always been a time of year when the gay communities experienced greater freedoms. Even in the 1940s and 1950s when police harassment of gay bars was at its height, Hallowe’en was the one fairy-tale evening when the drag queens could come out with impunity.”

Halloween’s appeal to the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer communities goes beyond the holiday’s historical or spiritual connotations. I believe that it has a lot to do with our role as outsiders in society, our propensity for cross-dressing and gender-bending, our love for the unusual and the fantastic, our ability to find humor in the absurdities and misfortunes of life, our fascination with festive costumes and the world of make-believe, and our special capacity to have fun.

While others might treat Halloween as just trick-or-treat for children, LGBTQ people observe and cherish it as a day and night in which we can do away with dull, ordinary, dumb reality and be our fun, exotic, erotic selves.

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Op-Ed

Secrets from the past

Grady Family Reunion, September 2023 – Courtesy photo

Last night I attended a preview performance of the ACT/Fifth Avenue Theatre co-production of Cambodian Rock Band, a “play with music,” which had its premiere at Signature Theatre in New York and went on to Ashland’s Oregon Shakespeare Theatre before its arrival in Seattle.

Written by Lauren Yee and featuring songs

by Dengue Fever, it is a riveting memory play about a father-daughter relationship, the power of music to heal and conceal, and forgiveness. The show delves into the horrific slaughter of 12,000 innocents by the brutal Khmer Rouge in Cambodia in 1978, following the end of the Vietnam War. It’s also about secrets that we keep from those we love, including secrets a father kept from his daughter about the killing fields he experienced.

Last month I traveled to my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio, to attend a family reunion on my mother’s side of the family. These reunions used to occur annually while I was growing up but ended at the turn of this century, around the time both my parents passed.

Just before the pandemic, I started a conversation with a few cousins about bringing the Grady clan together again, and so the first reunion of the 21st century happened in 2021. Several of the older cousins have studied our family ancestry reaching back to the late 1800s, when my maternal great grandparents emigrated from Ireland. But there were new discoveries to be made that very weekend.

A black-and-white photograph of my mother with a dark-haired man who was not my father appeared the night before the gathering in a trove of pictures my cousin Lori from Indiana brought with her.

We had no idea who he was. We had never seen him before, and he wasn’t a relative.

The next day, as we were sitting at a picnic table in the outdoor pavilion we’d rented for the reunion, my cousin

Mary Anne approached me with the mystery photograph I’d seen only the day before.

“Jack, we know who this man is with your mom,” she said with such certainty.

“I babysat his six children; they lived down the street from us.” She knew his name, that the picture was taken in 1940, when my mother was 21, and that they’d been engaged but he broke it off when my mother contracted tuberculosis and had to spend 28 months “recovering” in a sanatorium.

His family convinced him to break off the engagement, according to my cousin’s neighbor, who also happened to be a friend of my mother, because they felt my mother would be sickly the rest of her life. He went off to serve in WWII, returned with his hair turned all white, and married another woman with whom he had those six children my cousin had babysat down the street.

I was in awe of this revelation, a secret neither my mother nor anyone else in the family had revealed to me. I did know about her ordeal and recovery from TB at such a young age. My mother had an infected lung collapse, then a brutal surgery that left a dramatic scar on her back. But her vivacity could not be denied; a lifelong tennis player and ice skater, she introduced me to both in addition to cross-country skiing, which she took up later in life. My love of the outdoors and sporting activities I inherited from her.

It’s amazing when you learn a revelation about a parent that you didn’t know in their lifetime. I began to think how foolish the man was who broke off the engagement to my mother. And then I thought that I wouldn’t be here if that hadn’t happened.

How random it all seems.

Much like when I learned a secret about my father only one week after his death.

Like my mother’s initial fiancé, my father served in WWII. Upon his death in 2001, a reporter for the Cleveland Plain Dealer unearthed that his armored division was responsible for helping to free several concentration camps at the end of the war.

When I read this in print, I was aghast.

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by Jack Hilovsky SGN Contributing Writer

SGN

Mom and McFarland, 1940 – Courtesy photo

He never shared this information with me.

I only knew he was in the signal corps division and served as a code breaker in his unit.

One of the last films I saw with my dad was Saving Private Ryan, and he walked out at the end of the film, when the surviving soldier visited Normandy and walked among the graves of his fallen brethren. I could feel the emotional weight my father carried that day. And yet there was more I didn’t know until he was gone.

We all carry secrets, some lighthearted, others more of a burden. My biggest one was during my teenage years and into college. I was Gay. I liked boys. But I felt like, other than my best friend, with whom I had a physical relationship, I couldn’t tell anyone. Not my parents, not my other friends, not my extended family.

When I finally came out in 1987, it was such a relief to make it known, to let go of all those years when I felt hidden.

My parents struggled with my news — they had their own secrets — but the rest of my social circle, my friends and family, rallied.

I felt free.

I find it cathartic that theater and film allow us to reexamine our own lives, our histories, and shed light and understanding that we all aren’t that different. We love, we hurt, we hide, and we hopefully see the light of day. Cambodian Rock Band did that for me last night. While painful or unsettling, uncovering secrets can also bring new understanding and gratitude.

Jack Hilovsky is an author, actor, and blogger who has made his home in Seattle since 1986. His first book RJ, Farrah and Me: A Young Man’s Gay Odyssey from the Inside Out, was published in June 2022.

It can be found at Elliott Bay Book Co., Madison Books, Nook & Cranny, and University Bookstore, among other local booksellers.

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Arts & Entertainment

Handel’s Alcina at Seattle Opera offers musical thrills and gender muddles

by Alice Bloch SGN Contributing Writer ALCINA Music by George Frideric Handel Libretto by Antonio Fanzaglia Seattle Opera McCaw Hall, Seattle Center Opening weekend (October 14 and 15) Most of us know George Frideric Handel primarily as composer of the oratorio Messiah, but he wrote hundreds of other works, including 42 operas, many of them rarely performed in the United States. However, interest in those is increasing, partly because of the influence of today’s Queer liberation movement.

In the program notes for the current, firstever Seattle Opera production of Handel’s Alcina, Joshua Gailey writes, “Although cross-dressing was a common attribute of 17th- and 18th-century opera seria [serious opera], the level of gender play in Alcina is nonetheless striking for modern audiences, and has even led some reviewers to regard Handel as the queerest of opera composers.” Music to our ears, no?

In Handel’s time, the character Ruggiero, the male lead of Alcina, would have been played by a castrato, a male singer castrated before puberty to keep his voice high.

Mercifully, that practice was outlawed in the 19th century, and today this character is played by either a mezzo-soprano (a woman with a vocal range lower than that of a soprano) or a countertenor (a man with a vocal range higher than that of a tenor).

In Seattle Opera’s production, countertenor Randall Scotting plays Ruggiero.

Ginger Costa-Jackson (Bradamante) in Alcina at Seattle Opera – Photo by Sunny Martini

The story of Alcina centers on the female character Bradamante (mezzo-soprano Ginger Costa-Jackson) successfully disguising herself as her brother Ricciardo while searching for her fiancé Ruggiero, who has

Clockwise, from left: Nina Yoshida Nelsen (Melissa), Vanessa Goikoetxea (Alcina), John Marzano (Oronte), and Ginger Costa-Jackson (Bradamante) in Alcina at Seattle Opera – Photo by Philip Newton

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been bewitched by the powerful sorcerer Alcina (soprano Vanessa Goikoetxea).

Confusion ensues as Bradamante attracts the amorous attention of Alcina’s sister Morgana (coloratura soprano Sharleen Joynt).

This production includes another gender switch: the bass role of Melisso, protector of Bradamante, becomes the mezzosoprano role of Melissa (Nina Yoshida Nelsen).

Aria after aria Alcina is basically a string of gorgeous arias, with a short ensemble piece at the beginning and another at the end. There isn’t much plot, just some moody, lustful, obsessively jealous characters falling in and out of love with each other instantly and repeatedly. It’s enough to give a person whiplash.

Handel’s arias present an extreme challenge, requiring exceptional vocal agility and control. Normally, Seattle Opera double-casts major roles, to give singers a chance to rest their voices between performances. Presumably for financial reasons during this period of recovery from the pandemic, only one cast was engaged for Alcina. I was amazed to hear these singers pull off such demanding vocal feats two days in a row during opening weekend.

The most compelling performance was that of Costa-Jackson, who sang splendidly and acted with great intensity and focus; her butch demeanor was unusually convincing.

Goikoetxea also lit up the stage with her vocal fireworks and combination of allure, ferocity, and finally despair. Both CostaJackson and Goikoetxea have already sung well in a number of Seattle Opera productions, and I consider their opening-weekend performances in Alcina their best so far.

Joynt’s performance as the hapless Morgana was excellent overall, marred only by a few harsh high notes. As Morgana’s even more hapless fiancé Oronte, John Marzano deployed a sweet, versatile tenor voice.

Melissa is a relatively small role, but Yoshida Nelsen sounded so beautiful in her one aria that I wished she had more than one.

The vocal performance of Scotting was uneven, with frequent intonation problems.

It occurred to me that the gender-bending aspect of Alcina would be even more interesting with a mezzo-soprano playing Ruggiero.

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Brava, maestra!

Christine Brandes, who excelled as a singer in a number of past Seattle Opera productions, now excels as a conductor.

Baroque music is notoriously difficult to play and conduct, but Brandes and a superb ensemble of Seattle Opera musicians made it look and sound easy. “The music is so clean,” said my companion.

Some of the most memorable arias in Alcina are the slow ones, in which the singer is accompanied by only a few instruments. The violin and cello soloists did full justice to these lovely passages, as did John Lenti on baroque guitar and theorbo (a lutelike instrument with an insanely long neck) and flutists Jeffrey Barker and Bridget Pei. A brief mention of hunting occasioned a spirited horn duet played by Jeffrey Fair and Danielle Kuhlmann.

Minimalist production Stage director Tim Albery, who originated this production last year at the British company Opera North, keeps the drama from becoming completely static by filling each aria with action. There’s nothing wrong with adding action, but it has to make sense. I lost count of how many times someone picked up a sword and then put it down without using it. Lights descended almost to the floor and then rose again. When characters became upset, they moved chairs around the stage.

Toward the end of the opera, they removed clothing while singing; in some cases, they then put the clothing back on. Oronte, who had stripped to his skivvies, set a small fire for no apparent reason.

The minimalist set — chairs, a bear rug, and video projections — looked cheap.

When an audience member asked Albery about the set, he said, “We created it at a time when we had no money.” He also said he was a “less is more” kind of director.

In spite of the deficiencies in the production, Alcina is worth attending for wonderful music, remarkable performances, and delightful gender play.

Performances through October 28. For more information and to purchase tickets, visit https://seattleopera.org.

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Arts & Entertainment

Hope, humor, and honesty: The one-woman Pink Hulk tackles cancer at the Seattle Public Theater

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer On Monday, October 16, a new one-woman show premiered in Seattle. The Pink Hulk was written by, produced by, and stars Valerie David, a three-time cancer survivor.

Full of hope, humor, and honesty, it’s about more than just her battle with breast cancer, however.

“It’s not a ‘why me’ — it’s an uplifting show, it’s a funny show,” David said. “It’s my pursuit to find guys and love. That’s a universal message. We’re all finding love in our lives. We all have struggles in our life. This… is to help people with those struggles.”

The play explores aspects of cancer often overlooked by the general public. It opens up an honest conversation about patient advocacy, medications and side effects, and the mental and physical effects of cancer.

“There’s a stigma with cancer — with having any kind of chronic illness — that this person isn’t going to be well enough,” David said. “I always want people to see that this is what stage four looks like. If you could see me, you would not know this. It was very difficult, but I felt it needed to be said.”

Cancer has been a part of David’s life for over a quarter of a century. Since her first diagnosis 25 years ago, she has battled breast cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. She wrote the show after her first two diagnoses; her third came later.

“The day I was opening … in Portland, Oregon, I was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer,” she revealed. “But I’d like to reiterate that I have no evidence of disease, which is just a miracle. So, I’m very grateful.”

“I wrote this story because I want people to know that cancer doesn’t have to be a death sentence,” David added.

From page to stage The story of The Pink Hulk came to David in a flash of energy. “It went from page to stage in less than six months.

I’ve never done that before. I started it on Thanksgiving of 2015, and it was a whole production by June of 2016. It just had to come out,” she said.

Photo by Lauren Adler

While the rest of her family celebrated the Thanksgiving weekend watching football, David sat alone writing. The process was cathartic for her. “It was like a volcano erupting, and I couldn’t stop,” she added.

The show hit the New York circuit while David was still undergoing treatment.

“It was exciting for me to get this out. It was a passion. I needed this for myself, because I had just finished treatment in February of that year … after I had eight months of treatment, I started this. Maybe it was a little too soon, because it was still so fresh, but that was probably the best time to do it — while it was still going on, getting checkups, wondering if it would come back, having my hair grow back. I felt I needed it for me and others.”

Her dedication paid off, and The Pink Hulk

Photo by Emily Hewitt

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OCTOBER 20, 202 3

became an instant hit. It was nominated for Best Overal Production of a Solo Show and Best Solo Performance at the Planet Connections Festivity Theatre Festival in Manhattan; it won for Best Director of a Solo Show. “That was a big encouragement for me to keep going,” David said.

The play has evolved along with David.

“Over the last seven years, it’s changed a lot, because I’ve changed a lot,” she said. “I’ve still tweaked it, even for this show. I took out a scene, and I’m still working on it. It’s always a work in progress. As time goes on, as I’ve changed, the story has changed as well.”

Inspired by the Hulk The title of the play comes from the emotions David felt throughout her sec-

ond diagnosis. “It is a perfect title for this show,” she said. “I was angry that I had cancer the second time. I was super angry, and I felt like the Hulk, [who] became the Hulk because of the gamma rays. “[So] when I was in the radiation room getting radiation for breast cancer, there were lime-green beams criss-crossing all over the room. I felt so similar to Bruce Banner and the Hulk character, because of how it changed him and how this cancer changed me. His anger is what he uses to help people. I got angry and wanted to use [it] to help others. I felt that my own radiation beams made me who I am.”

After finding an emotional connection to the Avengers character, David made another discovery. “I didn’t know [the lymphoma] ribbon is lime green, like the Hulk,” she said with a smile.

Not only does David use The Pink Hulk to spread awareness and start conversations about cancer, but it also raises money for cancer organizations. “This time, the Pink Hulk performances are raising money for Cancer Pathways Seattle. For me, it’s not just about the show; it’s about creating awareness for the services Seattle has to help people with cancer,” she said.

Each performance also features an open discussion afterward. “We came up with things we want to talk about, like coping mechanisms and tips for when you go to your doctor,” she said. “I want people to laugh when they come to the show. I want cancer to be not as scary as it is and to give people hope … I’m in my 25th year as a cancer survivor, and I always joke that a New York bus will hit me before cancer takes me down.”

The post-performance conversations have become one of David’s favorite parts.

“There was someone who saw the show in Pittsburgh who had testicular cancer, and he said, ‘Even though Valerie and I had different cancers, I felt that I understood everything she said, and it really helped me and inspired me and made me feel not alone as well.’”

For survivors and caregivers, the conversation The Pink Hulk starts can be healing and enlightening, and it reminds them that they’re not alone in their struggles.

While cancer has certainly changed her life, David has embraced the new version of herself, learned to love life, and inspired thousands along the way.

C E L E B R AT I N G 4 9 Y E A R S!

Film

Unforgettables: Cinematic milestones with Sara Michelle The Red Shoes: On its 75th anniversary, its transformative wonders continue to dance their way into my heart

by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer I am not a dancer. While I played the trumpet throughout elementary, middle, and high school, I avoided marching band like the plague. Trying to keep time and play while parading in convoluted formations was never my thing. I couldn’t get the hang of it. While I did not have two left feet, I was far more at home shuffling across the basketball court or hustling around the track oval than I was juking, jiving, and stepping in synch while trying to perform “25 or 6 to 4,” “Land of 1000 Dances,” or the theme from Superman.

And yet, even as a teenager, and even though the 1948 classic was considered “old” when I finally got around to it in the late 1980s, I was as obsessed with directors Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Red Shoes as any twinklyeyed ballerina wannabe. Sure, my mom and grandmother loved it, but me? I was the football-playing roughneck with a crewcut.

This was a film that felt dangerous to possess.

Looking back, that level of terror that someone would find my VHS copy and think the worst of me does feel silly. Nevertheless, The Red Shoes was the one title I didn’t want anyone to know I adored.

There was something about it that felt too personal. It was like I was so intimately connected with it that if my parents or friends were to know it was in my collection, they would begin to wonder about me.

My sexuality. My gender. All of it.

Why? What is it about a story revolving around an ambitious ballerina who finds herself torn between two men — one the seductively iron-fisted director of a worldrenowned dance troupe, the other the young, up-and-coming composer who falls desperately in love with her — that shook me senseless?

Powell and Pressburger’s massively influential musical melodrama is an engrossing tale of transformation and artistic expression, and watching it felt as if the filmmakers were speaking to me and me alone.

I was lost in their catastrophic spectacle, fearful that I’d never be who I knew I was, thus forced to live vicariously through a performer who gave everything she had to step on a stage and dance The Red Shoes.

I’d already become enamored with fantasies like Labyrinth and Legend by the time I’d watched this one. Considering their genre pedigree, it was easy to conceal how much I related to and envied their female protagonists: Jennifer Connelly’s Sarah Williams in the former and Mia Sara’s Princess Lili in the latter. But both contained eerily similar dance sequences in which their heroines are hypnotized by a bewitching gown and suddenly find themselves transforming into someone new when they slip them on. I was understandably transfixed.

With The Red Shoes, here was a story with a similarly relatable main character who sees her innermost visions of who she wants realized in ways she never imagined possible. It took determination and hard work, yes, but the dream still became a reality, and while the blood-red ballet slippers of the title are a metaphor overflowing with deep, complex meaning, this was still a case where an article of traditionally feminine clothing was the gateway to something difficult, maybe even painful, yet also still extraordinary.

I feel like even those who have never heard of this drama still have a rough idea of the story. Its plot, semi-novel for 1948, has been retold so many times and in so many ways since its original theatrical release in October of that year. But central to it all is Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), a bit player in the Lermontov dance company, who aspires to become a prima ballerina. When its director Boris Lermontov

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The Red Shoes – Photos courtesy of MCA / Universal Pictures

(Anton Walbrook) decides to take a chance on the young woman, this becomes both a blessing and a curse. He instructs the equally determined Julian Craster (Marius Goring), a rising composer, to craft a new ballet for Victoria based on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Red Shoes.”

Powell and Pressburger, also known by their production company moniker of The Archers, were no strangers to creating instant critical and audience favorites. By the time this picture had been released, they’d already brought forth One of Our Aircraft Is Missing, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, I Know Where I’m Going!, A Matter of Life and Death, and Black Narcissus. Each one is a classic. All of them are incredible.

The Red Shoes was something different. It took on a life of its own, convincing generations of youngsters to enroll in ballet classes, even with its tragic conclusion of

obsession and damnation colliding headon with a speeding train. It is referenced repeatedly in everything from A Chorus Line to Looney Tunes. Heck, Gene Kelly made everyone in the cast and crew of An American in Paris watch it multiple times while they worked on that Academy Award winner for Best Picture.

That’s the historical stuff, and there have been countless pieces written on this film’s significance as it relates to dance in general (and ballet in particular). For me, though, it has always been rooted in my psyche for the way it looks at gender roles and sexuality.

It has captivated me for how it analyzes how far many are willing to go to become someone entirely new and fill a role far different than the one society specified. I didn’t relate to Victoria Page because I wanted to dance like her; I related because I wanted to be her.

In a ratty, nondescript box under my bed

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was a hidden trove of items I felt my parents could never see: Some clothes I’d secretly purchased from the Goodwill and Value Village. Shoes I’d gotten at the mall under the pretext they were for a Halloween costume. Makeup I’d been stockpiling, most of it snagged from the bathrooms of girls I knew from school (or their parents).

On top of them was that VHS copy of The Red Shoes. No one knew I had it. No one knew how many times I had watched it. No one knew that my fascination with the film had nothing to do with vibrant 20-minute ballet around which the entire story centered.

Yes. Powell and Pressburger’s melodramatic musical gem is a titanic achievement that will enthrall and fascinate new audiences for generations to come. While I love it for all the obvious reasons — the fantastic performances, the stunning cinematography, the magnificent dance sequences, the immaculate script, the flawless direction — my connection will always be personal.

In its most famous dialogue passage, Lermontov asks, “Why do you want to dance?” “Why do you want to live?” responds Victoria, answering a question with a question.

While I still can’t dance, I live because I made the choice to spit in fear’s face and move forward with my life openly and with confidence and self-determination. The Red Shoes showed me I could transcend who I was born as and become who I knew I was supposed to be. This film inspired me as a teenager, and it continues to do so today, each viewing a revelatory celebration of life, death, and rebirth I shall forever treasure.

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, The Red Shoes is available to own on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray, and DVD from the Criterion Collection. It is also available to stream on the Criterion Channel.

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Film

Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon is an epic accusatory masterpiece

Killers of the Flower Moon – Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Martin Scorsese needs no introduction.

For almost six decades, his feature films have burrowed into the human condition.

They are fearless. They are uncompromising. They are essential.

These range from the dark, dingily lit interiors of Mean Streets to the washed-out, steel-gray blues of Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore to the black-and-white pugilistic forcefulness of Raging Bull to the emotionally acidic claustrophobia of The Age of Innocence. The adrenalized Steadicam brilliance of Goodfellas is electrifying, but so is the turbo-charged, bright-green felt of The Color of Money. Scorsese has tackled religion and faith with prescient — some might even say vicious — curiosity in the spellbinding trifecta of The Passion of the Christ, Kundun, and Silence, and he’s even dabbled in psychological horror with his remake of Cape Fear and the fractured psychosis of Shutter Island.

But this is just the tip of a massive cinematic iceberg. Dark, pitch-black comedy?

Take a look at After Hours, The King of Comedy, or Bringing Out the Dead. Legendarily immersive concert films? How about The Last Waltz or Shine a Light. The highs, lows, and morally ambiguous inbetweens of the so-called “American experience”? Start with Who’s That Knocking at My Door, travel through New York, New York, take a pit stop with Taxi Driver, and stare into the abyss of unfiltered madness with Gangs of New York or Casino.

Let me be clear: it is impossible to talk about the last 50 years of independent and Hollywood film and not mention Scorsese. (It is equally unfeasible to not mention him when talking about the curation, celebration, and preservation of cinema from every region of the globe, going back a full century.) He’s an unassailable legend, and while some of the pictures he’s directed are undeniably better than others, even Scors-

ese’s misfires are worthy of multiple looks and in-depth dissection.

So, when I say that Killers of the Flower Moon, an adaptation of David Grann’s nonfiction book of the same name, is up there with the director’s best work, I do not make such a proclamation lightly. Scorsese and co-writer Eric Roth (The Insider) have constructed a work about a horrifying American historical calamity that cut deep and left scars that have lingered for generations.

It is a damning condemnation of a country built on racism, misogyny, and genocide, all showcased in a mesmerizingly intense, period Western procedural thriller so fully realized that I could feel the dirt dig its way underneath my nails and smell the sweat dripping off of the disheveled cowboys as they drank moonshine, coupled oil wells, and shot unsuspecting members of the Osage tribe in the back of the head.

Mostly taking place during the 1920s, the story follows WWI veteran Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio) as he arrives on the Oklahoma reservation to work for his uncle “King” William Hale (Robert De Niro) and brother Bryon (Scott Shepherd) by driving a taxi. The Osage are by far the richest tribe residing in the United States, their land littered with one oil well after another. Ernest falls in love with one of his frequent passengers, the confidently reserved Molly (Lily Gladstone), and before either of them knows it, suddenly they are married.

That’s the warm and fuzzy stuff, but even this romance has a simmering hint of menace devilishly residing underneath, just waiting to boil over. King is not the benevolent “white father” who has the Osages’ best interests lingering in his heart. Ernest treasures money and an easy life above all else, and he’s willing to do the unthinkable without any hesitation to get it. In other words (and to steal the title of a similarly themed masterpiece), there will be blood.

Oh, yes, there will be blood indeed.

The historical aspect of all of this is the systematic destruction of the Osage by King and his like-minded followers. They marry the wealthiest members of the tribe,

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by Sara Michelle Fetters SGN Staff Writer KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON Theaters

SGN

and through a series of accidents, unnatural “natural” deaths, and outright murders, they kill off as many of the natives as they can and leave all the headrights to every oil well in the hands of their Caucasian spouses. It is as abhorrently simple as that.

DiCaprio is at the center of all of this, and his performance ranks as one of the actor’s best. It’s a towering portrait of jittery cowardice and venal pride, with zero sugarcoating and no artifice whatsoever. DiCaprio strips himself naked and reveals levels of inhuman depravity that defy belief, which makes Ernest’s honestly heartfelt — and apparently authentic — embraces of Molly all the more sadistically despicable.

But as great as DiCaprio is — and he is magnificent — the star is unquestionably Gladstone. While there were times I wanted the story to come more from Molly’s point of view than it did, make no mistake: she is this epic’s heart and soul. Gladstone gives a titanic performance, one filled to the brim with restrained dexterity that enhances the emotional complexities of the drama. The actor made me feel things so deeply that there were instances when the snowballing, wretchedly engulfing pain became unbearable. And yet I remained frozen in my seat, eager to discover what Gladstone was preparing to show me next, her final moments with DiCaprio an explosively subtle sledgehammer of verbal and physical artistry that left me stunned.

This is not to say that Scorsese revels in the doom and gloom of this monstrous tragedy. There are moments of surprising levity sprinkled throughout, comedic bursts of ghoulish folly that only augment the terrifying reality of the carefully crafted, methodically sanctimonious, cold-blooded wrong being done to the Osages. When this house of cards collapses — and it must collapse, be certain of that — it does so because no one, not even King himself, is above letting their greed get the better of them and their self-perceived racial superiority cloud their judgment.

The technical aspects are unsurprisingly superb. The late Robbie Robertson’s final score for Scorsese (he’s previously com-

posed for the filmmaker on The Color of Money, The King of Comedy, and The Irishman, and has been executive music producer on a variety of projects, including Gangs of New York and The Wolf of Wall Street) is sensational, a sonic whirlwind that quickly becomes the picture’s heartbeat. Director of photography Rodrigo Prieto (Brokeback Mountain) uses his camera like a weapon, staring straight into this never-ending darkness with an incisive, accusatory eye.

As for Scorsese’s longtime, not-so-secret weapon, editor Thelma Schoonmaker, the three-time Academy Award winner and eight-time nominee again manages the impossible. She cuts together this 205-minute beast into a fast-paced feast for the senses in which every moment feels essential and even the quietest scenes tingle with unparalleled electricity. As soon as the film was over, all I wanted to do was watch it again right there and then, my bladder be damned, and a big part of that is thanks to Schoonmaker’s editorial brilliance.

There is a point in Flowers of the Killer Moon where history, fiction, and revisionist reenactment collide, and it is a shocking and illuminating turn of events. In a flourish of bravado that would make Orson Welles rise from his grave and applaud, Scorsese shows how even the darkest chapters of history are transformed into easily digestible bursts of pop entertainment to be consumed by dull-eyed (or, in this case, dull-eared) masses who only want to revile in the salacious grotesquerie of it all and not deal with their lazy complicity, which has allowed massacres such as this to happen for untold generations, seemingly with no end in sight.

But then the director stops things cold in their tracks. The play-acting goes away.

The façade is stripped bare. The wizard behind the curtain (i.e., the US) is shown as the charlatan it truly is. Scorsese gets the final word, and he holds nothing back. He looks the audience in the eye, daring us to turn away, knowing that if we do, then we’re not only willing to purposefully not learn from our rancid and racist history but, even more appallingly, we’re ready to forgive it, too.

C E L E B R AT I N G 4 9 Y E A R S!

Horror in the ’80s: A Queer lens

by Ian Crowley SGN Contributing Writer This article is a continuation of my Halloween miniseries, which started in the last edition of the SGN. That article looked at the Golden Age of cinema, specifically within the horror genre, specifically James Whale, one of the most prolific and successful directors of his time. Whale also happened to be an openly Gay man, creating some of the first cinematic Queer art of all time. We examined how his identity informed his works, narratively, aesthetically, and through the means of production.

In this week’s installment, we are going to be looking at a couple of movies (and their productions) from the ’80s. Once again, we will be discussing these films through a LGBTQ+ lens, illuminating how queerness influenced these classic works.

Yabba dabba...it’s the ’80s The 1980s were an incredibly challenging and grim time for the Queer community. The increase in visibility, due to changing times, political successes, and the AIDS crisis, led to a Gay panic, which influenced works at the time. This was compounded by the horrible handling of said crisis, making the decade for many Queer people a real-life horror film. AIDS was in fact sometimes used as a backdrop to horror, as in the novel It. These two forces — increased visibility and increased dehumanization at the hands of the government — came together in the 1980s to form a decade with both more LGBTQ+ representation than ever before and some of the most exploitative and offensive examples put to screen.

Exclusion of Queer narratives and characters was par for course before, but this decade ushered in an era of increased inclusivity at the expense of Queer trauma being used for cheap scares. It was quite common to see LGBTQ+ people be murdered, or punished for their otherness.

Moreover, these characters were often portrayed as debaucherous or sinful through the lens of the film. In some cases, the very fact that a character is Queer is used as grounds to justify that they are a murderer. This trope originates in many ways from 1960’s Psycho, in which the killer is revealed to be a mentally disturbed person who dresses up as his dead mother (who he deludedly believes to be speaking to him) and murders people.

The cross-dressing and his speaking to his dead mother both are portrayed as sick delusions that would qualify someone as mentally unstable.

Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddie’s Revenge Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddie’s Revenge (1985) has long been analyzed for the hidden messaging pointing to allegories and representations of queerness. There are many examples throughout, including the subversion of the “final girl” trope: the main character is a teenage boy, and it is he who ends up as the sole survivor, a role typically saved for the most innocent girl character.

This subversion — paired with scenes of the high school coach at a Gay bar, and the main character Jesse anxiously getting out of bed with a girl who wants to sleep with him, and later having hot wax poured over his shirtless body — all point to this subtext. Moreover, there is a sexual tension on display between Jesse and Freddie.

As mentioned, this movie has long been examined for its subtext, and at first it was denied by the writer and director. In the years since, though, both have retracted those statements. One acknowledged the subtext, but said that it was unintentional.

The other later claimed that he intentionally wrote the film with such subtext to highlight the reality of AIDS, the Gay panic, and the experience of young men with repressed sexual desire.

Mark Patton, who played Jesse, was closeted during filming, and worried that the movie’s subtext could lead to him being typecast as a Gay actor. He has since embraced its cultural impact among the

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Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddie’s Revenge – Photo courtesy of New Line Cinema

Sleepaway Camp – Photo courtesy of American Eagle Films

community, and even produced a documentary on the subject, titled Scream, Queen!: My Nightmare on Elm Street.

Sleepaway Camp Sleepaway Camp is a 1983 slasher, considered a classic of the genre and debuting at the height of the genre’s popularity.

It has been long been loved by some in the LGBTQ+ community due to its camp and fashion, which are geared toward the Queer gaze. Muscular men in extremely tight clothing were not necessarily everyone’s cup of tea at the time, and this sent a message to particular group of Queer people.

The film’s more enduring legacy, though, comes with the reveal at the end. In the final few moments, it is revealed that the little girl was born male, as she stands naked, exposing her genitalia. It is not specified if she is truly a Trans girl, or if she was forced to live life as a girl, but either way, it is beside the point. The reveal portrays to the audience that this child’s queerness is the reason they have committed murders; whether is was the source of their mental instability or the result, it is the reason they carry out evil.

This could be seen as just a shocking reveal (and it is worth mentioning that not all Queer people or even Trans people think this movie is fully problematic), designed to leave the audience questioning the viewing experience as they leave the theater. But given the context of LGBTQ+ history at the time, specifically the panic around Queer people, it served to confirm the horrible stereotypes of Trans people perpetuated by stories like these.

Horror is unique in its ability to shape people’s opinions of identities they have no experience with. So those who do not know

The Lost Boys – Photo courtesy of Warner Bros.

any Trans people access their only frame of reference (images in the media) to make judgment calls that inevitably affect the lives of Trans people.

Lost Boys Another horror film from the ’80s with Queer subtext is the 1987 Joel Schumacher flick The Lost Boys. This is an example of a story with no overt Queer characters; however, it makes up for that with themes, aesthetics, and of course, the man behind the camera. Schumacher was an openly Gay man who directed many popular movies.

He is also no stranger to injecting Queer sensibilities (such as camp) into his movies.

Schumacher’s foray into superhero filmmaking resulted in 1997’s Batman & Robin, which is so Gay, it presents itself as a kaleidoscopic joyride with the most over-the-top performances. In addition to that, Batman and Robin’s suits were given nipples.

It is with the same Queer brush that Schumacher paints The Lost Boys. Beyond the style given to the titular boys being very specifically coded (leather aesthetics and piercings have a prominent place in Queer subculture), the story presents many opportunities for Queer-focused readings.

For instance, the main character is initially enticed to join the lost boys when he is seen fawning over a girl. This is his introduction to the group, but eventually it is revealed that the girl was used as bait to entrap him into an initiation, which then is only complete once his transformation happens through the death of the girl — meaning he kills his heterosexual urges to become a lost boy.

The film does not stop there, though, as in one scene, the main character’s becoming a vampire is treated by his brother as

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something to hide from their mom. This is an extremely unsubtle nod to the way someone’s queerness might be reacted to by a family member.

Schumacher was hired at the last minute to replace the original director, who, it has been reported, was going to be ground the movie much more in horror; Schumacher supposedly made the executive decision to lean more into camp and absurdity, playing with conventions to create celebrated, iconic Queer cinema.

In closing As I mentioned is the last week’s edition, queerness has been integral to horror films since their inception, either through auteurs who themselves belonged to the community and added their own perspective to the long history of LGBTQ+-made films, or through Queer bodies and stories being used (either respectfully or not) for their authenticity, style, and experiences.

The 1980s were a momentous time for the history of the community, when the conversation around LGBTQ+ issues changed forever, as did our place in popular culture. This cultural shift brought with it an impressive offering of art concerning Queer people, for worse sometimes, and for better other times.

In the next edition, I will conclude my examination of horror film history and the queerness surrounding the people, the narratives, and the aesthetics of these productions. We will dive into modern horror (mid-late 2010s to the 2020s) for a dissection of how representation has changed and examination of what horror movies today say about the LGBTQ+ community, as well as how the latter continues to push the art form forward and represent itself.

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21

Books

Courtney Gould explores grief and loneliness in hotly anticipated sophomore novel While it was difficult to work through such raw emotions, Gould has found that her latest book resonated with the right audience.

“The most touching messages I’ve gotten about the book have come from people who also lost a family member,” she said.

“They were able to find comfort in Bec’s story and understand how essential it is to move on and how unhealthy it is to linger in the past. At first, it was just something I wanted to make sense of for myself, but then I found that other people in that process have also found comfort.”

by Lindsey Anderson SGN Staff Writer Nothing is more frightening for an author than the dreaded “sophomore slump.”

Horror writer Courtney Gould was warned by friends and colleagues about the difficulties that come after producing a successful first novel. “‘Second book syndrome’ is what everyone calls it,” Gould said. “I knew going into Where Echos Die that that was a thing people had tried to warn me of. The second book is the most difficult, and you should try to write something before the first book comes out, so you’re not battling the postpublication stress of drafting a new book.”

While Gould did try to draft the manuscript for her second book before her popular debut, The Dead and the Dark, hit shelves, life got in the way before she could finish edits.

“The drafting process, when you already have a book out, does become more difficult,” she said. “You’re balancing more feedback than you’ve ever gotten back on a project before with having to go back to drafting. I had to find what I like about [my] books and what I don’t like about [my] books and just tune out the rest.”

After nearly three years and several deadline extensions, she finally released her book in June.

The role of queerness Fans of Gould’s first will find many of the same mysterious elements on the pages of Where Echos Die. While set in a different part of the country, the story still takes place in a remote small town filled with strange characters.

“I’ve always had this affinity for strange small towns, and I love those small desert towns,” Gould admitted. “I wanted it to have the vibes of the podcast Welcome to Night Vale, this small, strange town in the middle of nowhere that functions [by] its own rules and doesn’t engage with the outside world.”

Courtney Gould – Photo courtesy of the author

Unlike the rural Oregon setting of The Dead and the Dark, the home of Gould’s second novel is less impacted by prejudices and homophobia. “They are untouched by the general culture. They’ve established their own thing, and it is both enticing and dangerous,” she said.

Gould found the inspiration for the fictional town of Backravel while driving from Tacoma to Phoenix, Arizona, in 2020. “We were driving through the desert stretch from LA to Phoenix at sunset, and I was looking out at the sunset thinking, ‘Okay, this is where I want this book to be set,’” she said.

While the town in Where Echos Die is less caught up in the prejudices of rural America, Gould believes queerness plays a different role in her horror novel. “In this one, I would say that queerness is not necessarily essential to the plot like it was in The Dead and the Dark,” she said, “which was much more focused on homophobia and the impacts of homophobia on rural America. Because Backravel has those elements of a utopia, I never wanted queerness to be an issue [there], that it would be something that Bec had to hide.”

While the story’s protagonist, Bec, isn’t ostracized for being a Lesbian, she still faces struggles unique to her identity. “There is this feeling of loneliness in the Lesbian community sometimes, this sense of not feeling con-

Image courtesy of Wednesday Books

nected to the people around you and wanting to have that sense of camaraderie and empathy from another person,” Gould explained.

“I’ve seen texts about the Lesbian experience with loneliness versus other identities. I wanted that to feel very present in Bec’s story, even though she’s out and people know that about her. She still doesn’t feel like she has a real connection with other people. She feels like a floating piece that can’t find a place to land.”

Deeply personal Where Echos Die was a deeply personal project for Gould. The book became a way for her to work through her real-life grieving process on the page.

“The dedication in this book lists five people. They’re all members of my family who, unfortunately, passed away between the time I started this book and the time I finished it,” she said. “I wanted to write something I felt could help me with the process of grieving.”

What’s to come Gould’s fans won’t have to wait three years for her next book. Her third horror story, What the Woods Took, is slated to hit shelves in the fall of 2024. It follows five behaviorally challenged teens sent to an outdoor therapy program in Idaho. When something happens, the kids must band together to survive the woods and the monsters that lurk within.

“I’m super happy with it,” Gould said.

“It was a lot of fun to write, and I feel like it brought some of the fun back to writing after working through some difficult processes with Where Echos Die. I hope readers have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.”

Gould is also participating in a horror anthology titled The House Where Death Lives. Each short story in the collection is written by a different horror author and takes place in a different room of the house. “I am the attic story. It will be fun. I’m really happy with that short story and how it turned out,” Gould said.

Gould is quickly amassing a reputation for her clever horror stories, centering the Queer experience and exploring complex concepts of grief, isolation, and resilience.

Her latest book is a testimony to the pain of those left behind and the courage it takes to choose to go on.

Where Echos Die is available now.

Lesbian pulp fiction series: Boobs, boobs, murder?!, boobs

by Clar Hart SGN Contributing Writer I PREFER GIRLS JESSIE DUMONT © 1963 Jessie Dumont $14.00 160 pages Content warning: Physical abuse, emotional abuse, pedophilia, sexual assault, homophobic language Reading this was similar to watching season 1 of The Ultimatum: Queer Love. Come for the cover, despair over the depressing car crash of Sapphic relationships, be placated by boobs.

I picked this up for the cover. Was this shallow? Maybe. But could I turn down reading 1963’s I Prefer Girls —in lurid red letters on the cover — on the subway? Absolutely not. Generally, I try to choose books that were written by Queer women, which means I’ve had to begrudgingly turn down titles like Satan Was a Lesbian (although I still plan to get this on a postcard).

However, all my efforts to get to the bottom of the pseudonym “Jessie Dumont” have been in vain. They’ve written another “Lesbians be evil” book called Made in Hell, and the author blurb claims they’re a well-known Brooklynite author. But beyond that? Just static.

One thing about the author, whoever they are: they are absolutely wild about boobs.

There is no boob that goes unremarked upon. In a particularly memorable passage, two women at a party have a booboff in which they strip and flop their boobs around, followed by all the other women driven to strip and flop their boobs around, too. I could not detail a single face — but boobs? Muscly boobs, soft boobs, perky boobs, big boobs — down to the freckles on their areolas, they are lovingly detailed.

Beyond its tit obsession, this book is similar to stories like Gone Girl, Phantom Thread, and Twilight — noir “romances” in which a couple locked in mutually assured

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self-destruction mistake obsessive codependence for love.

In brief, Penny is a monstrous femme fatale who thinks people are only nice to her to try to manipulate her into having sex, so she might as well return the favor. She’s manipulative, abusive, and cruel. Her prey drive is her only hobby.

Although Penny calls herself a Lesbian, she’s open to all genders and only says about her partners, “I prefer girls, because they’re so easy to dominate.”

Marcella is Penny’s older girlfriend, whom she compulsively cheats on. Penny then meets blonde virgin Bernice. Drama ensues.

In the end, Penny ends up back with Marcella. Penny also finds out that during her own amnesiac “red-outs,” she horribly abuses whoever is nearby. Penny’s been beating Marcella for years. Marcella won’t leave her, because Marcella believes if she’s not there, Penny will take out her violence on someone else and wind up in prison.

Marcella, like many women in abusive relationships, thinks she’s the only one strong enough to be with Penny.

Ultimately, it’s assumed Penny and Marcella are locked in a death tryst until Penny kills Marcella like Edward kills Bella, the hot chick in Phantom Thread kills the old guy, and the other hot chick in Gone Girl kills Ben Affleck. If that’s your thing, congrats. It comes in Lesbian flavor now.

There should also be a word about Bernice, the damsel-in-distress. Bernice is in a relationship with Mark, an abusive man

who wants her to be his picket-fence housewife. Then she meets Penny and realizes some things. Bernice falls into the dilemma that many Queer women of then — and now — face: a sure thing with a man she doesn’t care for or the risk of a relationship with a woman she does. Unfortunately for her, that woman is the abusive Penny.

Bernice could deal with being poor and living in a shitty apartment; she could give up her material comforts for love. But that’s not a choice she’s offered. With no one on her side, she goes back to what she knows: a quiet life in the suburbs in the pocket of a controlling man.

The writing is not bad. There’s some delightful banter, like when Penny asks a man, “Are you an actor? Then roll over and play dead.” Or “I just came over to say hello.” “Great. Now say goodbye.” When Penny hits up an ex for a party invite and asks if she can bring a friend, he responds, “Do you have one?”

It also did have some lovely zingers, like “‘Is a Lesbian someone who hates men?’

‘Yes.’” Or, in reference to going to a Gay bar, the very “hey, fellow kids” phrase of “jazzing dyke-style.”

In the end, like most pulp of that era, the moral seems to intend to be “damn, Lesbians are fucked up.” From my vantage point at the peak of hundreds of devoured carcasses of happy Queer literature, I’m fortunate enough to be able to read it and say, “Damn, some people are fucked up, regardless of their sexual preferences.”

C E L E B R AT I N G 4 9 Y E A R S!

View or download at www.coastalpride.net

Episode 81: Gabbi Tuft Lindsey flexes her political science muscles with a rundown of the late Diane Feinstein's legacy, in light of some more uplifting news in the U.S. Senate. Benny is adamant that their wedding will not have a certain theme. And once again, "meme god" Cameron joins the show, this time with a mix of the Halloween-y and the wholesome. Lindsey interviews influencer, fitness coach, and former WWE star Gabbi Tuft.

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