SGN April 19, 2024 Section 2

3, 1984

BY STEVE FOILES

The San Francisco Chronicle’s gay reporter, Randy Shilts, has charged that “the Reagan administration has been lying through its teeth about the adequacy of AIDS funding for two years.”

In a copyrighted article in the New York Native, Shilts said that:

◦ Government officials lied to Congress about shortages in AIDS funding while secretly begging for their superiors for more money.

◦ The AIDS Task Force of the Centers for Disease Control has been seriously short of funds since the beginning of the epidemic.

◦ Money that was spent for AIDS research by the CDC has to be pirated from funds for other serious diseases.

◦ No significant amounts of money were given to researchers for AIDS until March 1983.

Bureaucratic bungling has prevented any effective organization of AIDS research efforts right up to the present day.

When the Chronicle requested internal government memos under the Freedom of Information Act in September 1983, the Reagan administration refused to provide

them because, Shilts says, they did not want Congress or the public to know about the campaign of confusion and lies which has reigned in the so-called fight against AIDS. The Chronicle appealed the refusal.

Finally, in December 1983, the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Margaret Heckler, released 203 pages of interdepartmental memos on AIDS funding to the Chronicle

priated in a secret subcommittee vote).

Aside from the obvious results — that the fight against AIDS has been effectively stymied since June 1981, when the CDC’s AIDS task force was first set up, and that the Reagan administration has been shown up [sic] to be a liar — the revelations mean that “the government has [irretrievably] lost its credibility in the scientific community.”

According to Shilts, the memos were released only because the administration’s lies were being revealed anyway in a report by the Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations and Human Resources, chaired by Rep. Ted Weiss. […]

Last month, Rep. Weiss said it was “appalling” that “this epidemic has been going on for more than three years and they [the federal government] still doesn’t have a plan.” […]

Congress emerges the hero from this brouhaha. Despite lies from officials and a Presidential veto of funding, [Congress] has [forced] millions of dollars for research on the strangely reluctant administration — $12 million in fiscal year 1982, and $40 million in fiscal year 1983 (which the House appro-

Although money is now flowing to researchers, almost three years after the epidemic was first detected, the fight against AIDS must be wrested away from the control of the Reagan administration. Dr. David Ostrow, a top expert in sexually transmitted diseases among gay men, wants the program to be handed over to scientists who do not work for the federal government. Rep. Weiss wants all funding for AIDS research to come directly from Congress to prevent Reagan’s people, and government scientists afraid for their jobs, [from] further subverting the almostaborted fight against AIDS.

To view the article in full, go to https://issuu.com/sgn.org/docs/sgn_ february_3_1984.

REPEAL

CONTINUED FROM COVER

Since then, it was repealed by Washington State Legislature, which will take effect on June 6.

The lewd-conduct regulation, passed in 2001, prohibited establishments with a liquor license from allowing clothing that exposed “any portion of the breast below the top of the areola or of any portion of the pubic hair, anus, cleft of the buttocks, vulva, or genitals.” This means that before it was repealed, citations could be issued to Queer bars if anyone was wearing jockstraps or had exposed nipples.

In the letter mentioned above, the LCB detailed its decision not to issue citations from that particular weekend. Citations of

“We have power when we come together to fight back. We have power when we come together to celebrate.”

a similar nature, however, are not new and are not reserved to the events this January. They have been around for a long time and had repercussions prior to this year. The Stranger reported that the Cuff Complex had been cited during Pride 2022 for a customer wearing a jockstrap, which led to jockstraps being banned at the club.

The decision to repeal WAC 314.11.050 came alongside what’s been called the Strippers’ Bill of Rights, which focuses almost entirely on labor protections for entertainers. It addresses mandatory training on dancers’ rights, workplace injuries, the risk of human trafficking, financial aspects of the job, needed resources,

accessible panic buttons in areas where the worker might be alone with a customer, and limits on fees that clubs charge dancers. According to reporting by The Stranger, it also allows strip clubs to sell alcohol.

After the LCB letter was published, the Cuff Complex posted colorful copies of it over its front entrance. The new decorations were accompanied by an Instagram post with the caption “We have power when we come together to fight back. We have power when we come together to celebrate. We have papered the front of the Cuff with the LCB’s letter as a reminder of these things... and as a reminder to any ‘enforcement’ before they enter our community space that hole patrol badges have expired.”

For now, the sheets have come down, and Capitol Hill’s Queer establishments have secured a solution to a longtime problem.

Queercon: Education, inclusion, connection at grassroots comics convention

BY DANIEL LINDSLEY SGN STAFF WRITER

On Saturday, April 27, QueerCon, the Pacific Northwest’s premier LGBTQ comics convention, will return to the main Bellingham campus of Western Washington University (WWU). Running from noon to 5 p.m., the event will feature Queer artists, vendors, clubs, and more, plus an afterhours drag show by the college’s Royal Gambit club and “Queer Star Stories” in the virtual planetarium.

Con-going Queer people might be accustomed to the weekend-spanning titans of Emerald City Comic Con, PAX West, SakuraCon, and others. But those same people would also be well acquainted with big crowds and high ticket prices.

By contrast, QueerCon is short, sweet, and about as grassroots as they come. It’s organized and staffed by volunteers, most of them students and faculty, and it’s funded largely by donations and sponsorships from local businesses and organizations.

Tickets range from free to $10, depending on one’s age and student status. Organizers said that admission for independent vendors and artists is usually free — far more affordable than, say, a table in Emerald City Comic Con’s artist alley, which can cost north of $400 according to some sources (to say nothing of the cost of travel).

While the organizers can’t require attendees to wear medical masks, they are “strongly encouraged,” since they’re a crucial safety measure for people who are immunocompromised, whether they’re attending or not.

Accessibility and inclusivity

Accessibility and inclusivity are part of the “ethos of QueerCon,” said Matthew, a WWU graduate and co-director of the event.

“A lot of other cons are a lot more corporate and capitalistic,” he said. “QueerCon has always been a lot smaller... so there’s been that ability to really focus on the needs of everyone as much as possible, as opposed to pushing for something bigger... which does eventually limit accessibility.”

GIM, the co-director for the college’s brand-new Institute for Critical Disability Studies, has been with QueerCon since it began back in 2016.

“We are a community event, but we’re centered in Bellingham and … at Western Washington University,” they said. “We’ve evolved to fit the interests of the students in the local community, and the interests of people organizing the event.”

Regarding those interests, QueerCon is a golden opportunity. Many panels at larger conventions are educational, especially the ones that discuss LGBTQ issues. But WWU is an institution dedicated specifically to educating, and it’s full of people who are there to learn.

As a result, many of the talks and panels have an agenda beyond entertainment. They’re an outlet for Queer students and faculty alike to apply their expertise in ways they otherwise might not, and enrich others’ perspectives in the process.

For example, “Melinda Husky — the vice president for enrollment and student services... [and] a scholar in Queer issues — is going to be giving a talk about early fan fiction,” GIM said. “Like 1980s, pre–World Wide Web.”

Making connections

Free from the noise and jostle of the crowds that mill through larger conventions, attendees and vendors alike also have more space to form lasting connections.

“There’s a lot of community building that goes on behind the scenes,” Matthew said.

“We are a community event, but we’re centered in Bellingham and … at Western Washington University. We’ve evolved to fit the interests of the students in the local community, and the interests of people organizing the event.”

“We’ll have artists who happen to be tabled close to each other [one] year, and then next year they’re working together, or they’re tabling together.”

GIM added, “The humans are the most important part of this.”

“Every year, there are some folks — particularly students, but even [other] commu-

nity members — for whom this is their very first time tabling as a vendor, showing off their work,” they added.

Even the sponsors are “people that we’ve known a long time,” Matthew said, such as Back Door, a Gay bar that was established the year after QueerCon started.

GIM said that in one kind of fundraiser, “the bartenders take names that the QueerCon student leaders have brainstormed and turn them into mocktails and cocktails.... Then people vote for them with their dollars, and the winner gets to be the official QueerCon cocktail that year.”

“Major shout-out to Comics Place in particular,” they added. “They’ve been with us every year since we started out.”

QueerCon’s greatest strengths also present some of its greatest challenges. Students and faculty both lead busy lives — and that’s without volunteer work. Many of QueerCon’s most experienced staff move away and get even busier once they graduate, and that kind of turnover demands extra recruitment and training year-round.

But volunteers are bound to be passionate, and many do return. Each year is “kind of like a family reunion,” Matthew said.

“With my background, I don’t have a lot of Queer elders,” he said. “I discovered my queerness not very long ago. And so to see an emphasis through QueerCon [on working] on connecting the generations, connecting all those different parts of the Queer community, is really cool to see.”

You can purchase tickets and find out more about WWU QueerCon at https:// wp.wwu.edu/wwuqueercon.

“We have a chance to break a little bit of a glass ceiling…at a time when visibility is more important than ever,” Upthegrove told the SGN. “We are seeing bans of LGBT books around the country. We’re seeing a backlash against the Transgender community. We see attempts to make our community invisible through bans on curriculum, and visibility — including among elected leaders — I think is critical right now.”

Getting out to vote is more important now than ever before. While Upthegrove is concerned about Biden facing Trump in this year’s presidential election, he is unsure of how the events in Gaza — and the number of uncommitted votes in the primaries — will impact local elections.

“There are other important things on the ballot. There’s efforts to repeal the strongest climate change law in the nation — it’s going to be on the ballot,” Upthegrove said. “There’s an effort to repeal the capital gains tax, a tax on millionaires that funds our schools. Progressives ought to show up and vote against repealing those things.”

The November ballot will include other races, like those for city councils and school boards, which can impact community and individual experiences.

“Who you elect to your school board can have an impact on whether LGBTQ families feel welcome at your school. Who you elect to the legislature can really impact state laws [about] the Transgender community. Up and down the ballot, there are important decisions, and it’s so important that people get out and vote,” Upthegrove said.

Upthegrove lives with his husband Chad, his cat Dobby, and his dog Benji. While he’s not running his race as an openly Gay candidate per se but rather based on his qualifications, he believes increasing the number of elected officials who identify as LGBTQ is badly needed.

“I also bring that life experience, and it’s life experience that will allow me to be a voice for the LGBT community on a platform and stage that can be helpful, and I’m excited about that,” he said.

Environmental advocacy

Upthegrove spent his high school and college summers teaching environmental science to youth near the Hood Canal and led weeklong treks through the North Cascade Mountains. While engaging in environmental activism at the University of Colorado, he received a degree in environmental science and biology, while also falling in love with politics. He later earned a graduate certificate in energy policy. Upthegrove’s summers spent in college working with a group of teenagers contributed to his love of backpacking. He and the group would leave for six days to disconnect in nature, crossing mountain passes, camping out in meadows on mountaintops, watching shooting stars, and exploring small remnants of glaciers.

“I love going on a longer trip, like for a week, where you set a break camp each night out in the wilderness,” Upthegrove said.

Later, during his 12 years as a member of Washington State’s House of Representatives, he served as the chair of the Select Committee on Puget Sound. In his position as the chair of the Environment Committee, Upthegrove worked across the state on pollution and climate change issues, like helping lead the effort to close Washington’s last polluting coal plant.

As chair of the King County Council, a large portion of Upthegrove’s work has been leading the King County Flood Control District.

“I took over the leadership of that government and we doubled our funding for salmon recovery,” Upthegrove said.

“I think voters deserve a lands commissioner who not only has strong environmental values but also the relevant background and experience to put those values into action,” he added.

Top environmental priorities

If elected, the current county councilmember would work to protect clean air, clean water, and habitat. Another primary focus of his is to improve wildfire prevention and

“Voters deserve a lands commissioner who not only has strong environmental values but also the relevant background and experience to put those values into action.”

response, since wildfires are not only a public safety threat but also a public health one.

“I need to use my experience to come fight for the resources from the legislature for the fire department to be able to do their jobs,” Upthegrove said.

Combating wildfires, Upthegrove said, is prevention, like taking care of the forests and ensuring that they’re not susceptible to fires starting and rapidly spreading. This can sometimes mean thinning, clearing, and pulling out smaller trees.

“It’s a cliché, but one ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. It is much more affordable to invest in those prevention efforts,” Upthegrove said. “Natural resource agencies don’t always get the attention that they deserve from the legislature, and I think the case to make for funding for wildfire prevention is getting easier, because the problem is getting worse.”

Expanding recreational opportunities on public lands would create more chances for youth to engage with nature, particularly during a decade when most have had their eyes glued to their cellphones.

“I want to try to build on a program that King County already does. It’s called Trailhead Direct,” Upthegrove said. “King County, through our Metro bus system,

provides shuttle buses from certain urban areas into the most popular trailheads, [like] Mt. Si and Tiger Mountain.”

Upthegrove would like the state to fund mentoring groups working with marginalized populations in urban areas, and assist cultural organizations with programming and to expand upon the work of community-based organizations.

If elected as lands commissioner, Upthegrove would also work to expand the number of miles of trails and camping sites over time, budget and resources permitting.

“I think that’s how you build the next generation of environmentalists. It’s not by preaching at them. It’s getting young people out in the woods, and letting them experience the beauty of nature, and it captures their imagination and brings this sense of connection to something larger than yourself,” Upthegrove said.

What’s at stake in this election

A citizens initiative, known as I-2117, got enough signatures to challenge the state’s Climate Commitment Act, which generates billions of dollars for public services and investments in natural resources and related agencies. The act is designed to reduce carbon pollution, and protect air and water quality.

DAVE UPTHEGROVE

“I’m the only candidate endorsed by our statewide environmental group, Washington Conservation Action, and the only candidate not accepting contributions from the timber industry, their corporate executives, and their lobbyists,” Upthegrove said.

While a handful of candidates are competing for the Commissioner of Public Lands position, Upthegrove has his eye on two candidates: Jamie Herrera Beutler, a Republican who previously served in the US House of Representatives, and Sen. Kevin Van De Wege who is a conservative Democrat.

Herrera Beutler received $500 in campaign donations from William Turner, a Washington and Oregon timber manager for Sierra Pacific Industries. Turner also contributed $355 to Van De Wege’s campaign. Timber harvesting, much of which occurs in the Northwest, can lead to the loss of biodiversity and have negative impacts on Indigenous and other communities who depend upon forests for their cultural practices, resources and livelihoods.

Getting involved

While donations are constantly needed — apart from those from the timber industry — those interested can visit https://DaveUpthegrove.org to follow his social media channels and learn about the house parties and events he will be hosting and attending.

“People can send messages on the website, and it comes right to my phone if they want to volunteer, or want more information about something,” Upthegrove said.

Shortly after she joined the USWNT, soccer fans noticed that Korbin Albert’s internet presence did not align with the team’s values. On TikTok, Albert reposted transphobic videos from conservatives, including one that referred to the term “cisgender” as disrespectful and another featuring an activist from the ex-Gay movement promoting conversion therapy practices. She also shared videos of her family mocking pronouns by declaring theirs are “USA.”

Albert didn’t limit her hostility to TikTok. The midfielder also liked an Instagram post made following Rapione’s final Seattle Reign game, which thanked God for “taking time off performing miracles to make sure Megan Rapinoe sprains her ankle in her final-ever game.”

On April 6, Albert subbed in at the end of the US vs. Japan game to an eruption of boos.

Reactions

Fans aren’t the only ones to comment on Albert’s homophobia and blatant disrespect toward the LGBTQ+ community, which makes up a large percentage of both USWNT players and fans. Hours before the US vs. Japan game, the team issued an official statement. Though not mentioning by name, it alluded to Albert’s actions on social media.

“The women’s soccer community is one of joy, excitement, kindness, and love. We have worked to ensure our community is safe, inclusive, and welcoming to everyone. As allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community, those efforts will not stop,” the statement read in part. “Across the country, human rights are being stripped away. LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. Today and every day, the USWNT players will stand up for those rights.”

Team captains Lindsey Horan and Alex Morgan also spoke out in support of the LGBTQ+ community. Though neither identify publicly as such, they made it clear they

“Across the country, human rights are being stripped away. LGBTQ+ rights are human rights. Trans rights are human rights. Today and every day, the USWNT players will stand up for those rights.”

stand with their teammates and fans who do. “We’ve worked extremely hard to uphold the integrity of this national team through all of the generations, and we are extremely, extremely sad that this standard

was not upheld,” Horan said. “Our fans and our supporters feel like this is a team that they can rally behind, and it’s so important that they feel and continue to feel undeniably heard and seen.”

“We stand by maintaining a safe and respectful space, especially as allies and members of the LGBTQ+ community,” Morgan added. “This platform has allowed us to highlight causes that matter to us, something that we never take for granted. We’ll keep using this platform to give attention to causes.” She also confirmed that internal discussions have been going on within the team regarding the issue.

Rapinoe speaks out

Rapinoe also spoke out publicly after Albert’s posts came to light. On March 28, she posted to Instagram with a message to her fans, which read, “For people who want to hide behind ‘my beliefs,’ I would just ask one question: are you making any type of space safer, more inclusive, more whole, any semblance of better, bringing the best out of anyone? [B]ecause if you aren’t, all you believe in is hate. And kids are killing themselves because of this hate. Wake TF up! Yours Truly, #15.”

She also added a note, which read, “For all my trans homies enduring this horrific treatment day in and day out, I see you and hear you and I am WITH YOU.”

Shortly after Rapinoe’s post, Albert issued an apology to her Instagram story, which was deleted 24 hours later. “I want to sincerely apologize for my actions on social media,” she wrote. “Liking and sharing posts that are offensive, insensitive, and hurtful was immature and disrespectful, which was never my intention. I’m disappointed in myself and am deeply sorry for the hurt that I have caused to my teammates, other players, fans, friends, and anyone who was offended. I truly believe that everyone should feel safe and respected everywhere and on all playing fields. I know my actions have not lived up to that and for that, I sincerely apologize. It’s an honor and a privilege to get to play this sport on the world stage, and I promise to do better.”

Albert isn’t the first USWNT player to express hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community, but this time, the team has made it clear there is no tolerance for intolerance.

ALBERT (SECOND FROM LEFT) WITH USWNT TEAM MEMBERS IN MARCH 2024 – MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ / AP

MEGAN RAPINOE – PETER CZIBORRA / REUTERS

National news highlights

BY SHELBY OLSON SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Louisiana anti-LGBTQ bills advance from Senate

On April 3, a GOP-dominated Louisiana Senate debated two bills targeting the LGBTQ community. The House Committee on Education quietly had advanced the bills during the session, which notably had very few public audience members due to severe storms.

The first bill would ban K-12 public school teachers from discussing gender identity or sexual orientation in the classroom, similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law and many other similar proposed state bills. Teachers would be prohibited from discussing these topics “in a manner that deviates from state content standards or curricula developed or approved by the public school governing authority,” as well as discussing their own gender identity or sexual orientation.

The second would require teachers to use the pronouns and name that align with a student’s sex assigned at birth. The one exception to this would be written parental consent, which can still be overridden by the teacher, if doing so does not align with their “religious or moral values.”

Last year, two nearly identical bills were vetoed by Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards. This year, with the support of the new GOP governor, Jeff Landry, lawmakers are reconsidering the legislation.

On April 4, an additional measure to make LGBTQ discrimination in the workplace illegal failed to pass. The measure would have prohibited employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Louisiana’s current employment discrimination law does not explicitly protect either category.

Major sports association bans

Trans women from participating

On April 8, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletes banned Transgender women from participating in women’s sports. NAIA, which represents small colleges and universities, has stated, “Student-athletes whose biological sex is female may participate in NAIA-sponsored female sports.”

policy, which “will be subject to review in light of any legal, scientific, or medical developments,” will take effect August 1.

Colorado:

Five Trans migrants in ICE custody mistreated at detention center

Despite considerable scientific proof that Transgender women have no inherent biological advantage over cisgender women in sports, NAIA asserts that this policy will prevent competitive advantages.

In just the last few years, 24 states have passed laws restricting Transgender students’ participation in sports. The NAIA

On Trans men and Trans-masculine people, the policy specifies that “any student who has not begun any masculinizing hormone therapy may participate without limitation.” If, however, a student has begun such therapy, they may attend “all activities that are internal to the institution” but not interscholastic events. It further states, “Any NAIA institution that has a student-athlete who has begun masculinizing hormone therapy must notify the NAIA national office.”

Five Transgender and Nonbinary migrants in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody reported being mistreated at an immigration detention center in Colorado.

On April 9, immigrant rights advocates filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Homeland Security, citing medical neglect, inadequate access to necessary medical and mental health care, and dehumanizing treatment, and

calling for change in ICE’s handling of Transgender immigrants.

The detainees are currently held at the privately run Aurora Contract Detention Facility, which incarcerates people with pending or recently concluded immigration legal matters. The facility has received several complaints in the past for instances of abuse, neglect, excessive force, and racial discrimination, among other violations of human rights.

One of the five detainees reported that she and other Trans women are locked in their dorm for 23 hours a day. “I thought they’d take care of us, give us more freedom, recognize that we have suffered the most, we are the most vulnerable,” she said. “We came from our countries being horribly treated, and we get here and they treat us horribly.” Other detainees have been threatened with solitary confinement, and one reported hesitating to start hormone replacement therapy for fear of being placed in solitary.

Another detainee of over two years reported not being treated for hypertension while experiencing dangerously high blood pressure. She said that the lack of access to exercise, poor food, and the stress of her prolonged detention led to her health deteriorating. Three of the five complained of a female guard who harassed them by taking their personal hygiene products and replacing them with menstrual products, saying they’d need those things if they were real women.

The complaint states, “Our clients and medical experts reveal that ICE cannot safely and humanely incarcerate people who are transgender and nonbinary (‘TNB’)” and calls for “the immediate and permanent end to ICE’s practice of detaining TNB people in civil immigration custody.”

ICE spokesperson Steve Kotecki stated that “ICE is committed to ensuring that all those in its custody reside in safe, secure, and humane environments,” and that the agency “regularly reviews each case involving self-identified transgender noncitizens and determines on a case-by-case basis whether detention is warranted.”

The DHS’s Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties has said it will evaluate the complaints and determine if it should open an investigation.

EQUALITY FEDERATION

CHARLIE REIDEL / AP

International news highlights

BY SHELBY OLSON SGN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Germany makes it easier to change legal name and gender

On April 12, the German parliament passed a law that will make it easier for Transgender, Nonbinary, and Intersex people to change their name and gender. The “self-determination law” was approved 374 to 251 with 11 abstaining, and will take effect Nov. 1. Germany will join Denmark, Finland, and Spain, among others, with similar legislation.

The law allows anyone to legally change their gender and first name. Applicants will have to notify registry offices three months in advance but will not be required to take any additional steps.

The previous “Transsexual law,” in place since the 1980s, required applicants to undergo assessments by Trans experts, and to receive an approval from court, before legally changing their gender. Prior to this law, Trans people were required to undergo sexual reassignment surgery before changing any documents, and even in some cases to get divorced or sterilized, provisions which significantly harmed the Trans community.

Nyke Slawik, a Transgender woman elected to the German parliament in 2021, has endured these struggles around legal identification. “It is about time that we put an end to the unnecessarily long expert opinions and court proceedings to change names,” she said. “And that we finally respect the dignity of Transgender, Intersex, and Nonbinary people today.”

The law does not relate to gender reassignment surgeries, focusing only on legal identity. It will apply to adults, but teenagers 14 years and older may change their legal name and gender with parental approval. If a parent disagrees with the choice, the applicant may take the case to family court. For those under 14, parents and guardians will have to apply on the child’s behalf.

The law has encountered conservative opposition, like many of the socially liberal reforms under Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government.

Vatican condemns gender-affirming surgery, gender theory, and surrogacy

The Vatican has issued a new Infinite Dignity doctrine, at Pope Francis’s behest, declaring gender-affirming surgery, surrogacy, and gender theory as “grave threats” to humanity. The doctrine, a 20-page document detailing violations of human dignity, lists these “threats” among such things as sexual abuse, poverty, war, assisted dying,

and abortion. The document took five years to put together, and was ultimately approved with his signature.

To Pope Francis, the difference between the sexes is “the greatest possible difference that exists between living beings.” For threatening that distinction, he considers gender theory an “ugly ideology,” stating that “canceling out the differences means canceling out humanity.”

The document also condemns the idea of a person changing their gender, stating that “any sex-change intervention, as a rule, risks threatening the unique dignity the person has received from the moment of conception.” The concept of self-determination in gender theory seems to lie at the root of this condemnation. “Desiring a personal self-determination,” the document continues, “apart from this fundamental truth that human life is a gift, amounts to a concession to the age-old temptation to make oneself God.”

In line with denouncing matters of personal choice, including the church’s stance against the right to abortion, the doctrine also condemns surrogacy for its supposed violation of the dignity of the woman involved. Pope Francis has had a reputation thus far for uplifting oppressed groups, particularly poor and immigrant communities, with past efforts to appeal to the LGBTQ commu-

nity. Last year, he approved a document that allowed priests to give blessings to same-sex couples. It also granted Transgender people the ability to get baptized, become a godparent, or act as a witness for weddings. He also condemned laws that criminalize same-sex relationships as “unjust,” regarding homosexuality not as a crime but as a sin, and considers the mistreatment of LGBTQ people a sin as well. The Infinity Doctrine takes an entirely different direction from these endeavors.

Uganda cites US anti-abortion ruling to uphold Anti-Homosexuality Act

On April 3, Uganda’s highest court cited the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson ruling to reject a petition to overturn the Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 (AHA23). Originally adopted in May last year, the act is considered among the harshest anti-Gay legislation in the world. It sentences those in same-sex relationships or “promoting homosexuality” to up to 20 years of prison, and in some cases death.

In 2022, Dobbs v. Jackson overturned Roe v. Wade, removing the right to an abortion. In upholding AHA23, the Ugandan court stated that Dobbs “considered the nation’s history and traditions, as well as the dictates of democracy and rule of law, to overrule the broader right to individual autonomy.”

The Dobbs decision has been praised by supporters of anti-LGBTQ legislation for its notable ability to reverse personal liberties. Back in February, the Supreme Court of Alabama used Dobbs to support its declaration of frozen embryos as people, which resulted in the shutdown of fertility clinics and IVF procedures.

Report in England leads to scaling back gender services for Trans youth Back in 2019, retired pediatrician Dr. Hillary Cass was selected to lead a review of gender-affirming services provided by the UK’s National Health Service, which largely involve puberty blockers and hormone therapy, and to publish her findings. After five years, Cass has concluded that Trans children are not benefiting from these “unproven treatments” but that they deserve better care. She attributed this lack of sufficient care to poor evidence and toxic debate.

“For most young people, a medical pathway will not be the best way to manage their gender-related distress,” Cass said. “For those young people for whom a medical pathway is clinically indicated, it is not enough to provide this without also addressing wider mental health and/or psychosocially challenging problems.”

Part of this review has been a call for more holistic care and pushing back against puberty blockers. Cass claimed that the lack of research and the fear stemming from the larger debate about Trans rights are the reasons many patients are passed straight on to gender services.

The review has received praise from antiTrans psychologist Dr. David Bell and “gender abolitionist” Julie Bindel, as well as conservative news sources. Cass has emphasized that these findings were not intended to invalidate Trans identities or inhibit anyone’s right to transition. Her report stressed that “while some young people may feel an urgency to transition, young adults looking at their younger selves would often advise slowing down. … The reality is we have no good evidence on the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress.”

Cass included in her report that six of the seven NHS gender services specialists in England had refused her request to obtain the health outcomes of those treated by gender identity services for analysis and improvement of future care.

Since the release of Cass’s review, the use of puberty blockers in the UK for those under 18 has been halted except for clinical trials.

GERMANY – ANNETTE RIEDL / AP

UGANDA – THEMBA HADEBE / AP

Five ways to connect when you are feeling lonely

In an era defined by digital connectivity, the antidote to loneliness lies in rediscovering the essence of genuine connection

As someone who struggles with depression, there are days when I wake up and feel clouded by a thick fog. My chest feels heavy, my pace slows down, and everything feels dark. On those days, it’s really easy for me to succumb to the voice in my head telling me I am so very alone, that no one else on this earth could possibly understand how I am feeling. Even though I have a beautiful life, a husband that adores me, and cats that can’t seem to leave me alone for five minutes, I still can’t shake the loneliness that plagues me on those dark days.

But the truth is, I am far from the only person experiencing this feeling, which can be defined as a lack of meaningful or close relationships or sense of belonging. According to an 80-page report pulled together by the US Surgeon General in May of 2023, the rate of loneliness among young adults has increased every year between 1976 and 2019, and we are currently at an all-time high.

This stark reality is a testament to increasing disconnection amid our hyperconnected world. More than ever before, we’re tethered to devices, endlessly scrolling through curated feeds in an attempt to feel something, anything — and yet loneliness persists like a shadow.

This leads me to ask the question: why are we so lonely? Ironically, it’s the very technology designed to connect us that often leaves us feeling isolated. In our pursuit of constant connection, we’ve sacrificed depth for convenience. Social media, texts, and emails offer instant communication but lack the richness of face-to-face interaction. We’ve traded genuine connection for the illusion of it, leaving us craving something more authentic.

Luckily, in this digital labyrinth there exists a simple solution: intentional connection. In a recent TikTok, Simon Sinek, renowned author of Start with Why and The Infinite Game, emphasized that it only takes a few minutes to truly connect with someone. “When someone is struggling or in need, all they need is eight minutes from a friend to hold space for them, to make them feel better.” In that space, the focus isn’t on giving advice, tasks, or agendas; it’s solely about being present, listening, and seeing one another for who they truly are. But how do we implement this in our daily lives? Is it really as simple as asking a friend or family member for eight minutes of their time? While that’s one way to connect, here are a few more easy ways to bridge the gap of disconnection and combat loneliness:

• Unplug and engage: Turn off the phone and engage in real-world activities. Attend a local event, join a club, or simply strike up a conversation with a stranger at your

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.

favorite café. By immersing yourself in the present moment, you open the door to genuine connections.

• Practice active listening: When engaging in conversations, make a conscious effort to truly listen. Instead of waiting for your turn to speak, focus on understanding the other person’s perspective. Ask open-ended questions and show empathy. Authentic connections blossom when both parties feel heard and understood.

• Share vulnerability: Social media is an echo chamber hidden behind a façade of perfection. Allow yourself to be vulnerable and share your struggles, fears, and aspirations with trusted friends or family members. Vulnerability cultivates deeper connections by fostering empathy and understanding.

• Embrace random acts of kindness: Extend kindness to others without expect-

ing anything in return. Small gestures, such as offering a genuine compliment or lending a helping hand, can brighten someone’s day and forge meaningful connections. Acts of kindness create ripple effects of positivity, fostering a sense of community and belonging.

• Prioritize quality time: In a world inundated with distractions, carve out dedicated time for meaningful interactions. Schedule regular outings with loved ones, whether it’s a weekly dinner date or a weekend hike. Quality time strengthens bonds and nurtures authentic connections, reminding us of the importance of human relationships in combating loneliness.

In an era defined by digital connectivity, the antidote to loneliness lies in rediscovering the essence of genuine connection.

By embracing intentional interactions, practicing empathy, and prioritizing meaningful relationships, we can bridge the gap that separates us and cultivate a world rich in authentic human connection.

MIKOTO.RAW PHOTOGRAPHER / PEXELS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Two-time Grammy winner Peabo Bryson returns to Jazz Alley, May 2–5

BY MK SCOTT SPECIAL TO THE SGN

It was 1984 when I first heard the name Peabo Bryson. His hit song “If Ever in Your Arms Again” had peaked at number 10 on the Hot 100 and number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for four weeks. In July that year, a new soap opera, Santa Barbara featured the song as the love theme for the characters of Joe and Kelly. Continuing the trend, in 1985, Bryson sang the theme to the soap One Life to Live, which was used until 1992. In that year, his song “I Found Love” was used on All My Children for Erica and Dimitri during their love story set in Budapest; the song was nominated for a Daytime Emmy in 1993.

Then he went from soaps to Disney: the pop versions of “Beauty and the Beast” (with Celine Dion) and Aladdin’s “A Whole New World” (with Regina Belle) each won Grammys.

For Missing You — the 20th album of his career, his first in eight years, and his first for Peak Records — Bryson continued to do what he does best on 11 tracks that showcase the broad palette of his skills. He’s at his intimate best, a legendary vocalist offering a timeless mix of pop and soul as only he can. Bryson has amassed a loyal fan base, critical acclaim, and an avalanche of awards by being one of the “truly best friends” a song could ever have.

I chatted with him via Zoom in the past week. Here are excerpts of what he had to say on various topics:

On the show

It’s matured over time. And we’ve changed some things here and there to try to make it more interesting. Portions of it feel unplugged, because there’s quite a bit of dialogue, followed by music and explaining the music and my connection to those particular artists and all that. So it’s quite informative, but also it’s philosophical… It’s about me and my views on love and the industry and all that stuff…

When you’re around for a long time, you have something to say, and you have stories to tell. So there are some amusing stories about iconic people... And then I play their music... Most of them have gone on to their glory and their rest, and I want to celebrate that. I think it’s important that we always remember, because nothing ever dies as long as you remember.

On Jazz Alley

I enjoy going to Jazz Alley just in general. It’s a great place. The patrons are very astute music lovers. It’s different when you perform in front of an audience that is musically and historically astute, where music is concerned. It’s a pleasure. They enjoy mostly everything that you do, and especially if you do something that’s unexpected. They’re very appreciative of the artistry of music and all that, and that’s something that you don’t see these days.

On constructing a hit

Oh my God, I had to sing [“If Ever in Your Arms Again”]. I sang it every day, eight hours a day for about four or five days. There were 120 something vocal tracks, and [Michael Masser] made a comp using all of them. … Anything that had any extra feeling in it, he took it out. … He wanted it to be straight. … He suddenly turned [it] into like a musical from Neil Simon.

On Roberta Flack

I still to this day have no idea of why she chose me [for “Tonight, I Celebrate My Love”]. Wow. It was an absolute and complete surprise to me. … When…you realize that part of them choosing you is to replace perhaps … one of the greatest singers of all

time — and that would be Donny Hathaway — I mean, those are some shoes [to fill], that’s not for the faint at heart. You better know what you’re doing, and you better be committed to it, and you better have the goods, or it’s not going to work.

I didn’t even like [the song], by the way. I was only recording it because she wanted to do it. Really. I didn’t get it. I didn’t get it. I didn’t get it partially because Michael Masser was singing the melody to me, and he’s … in my top three worst vocalists on the planet. … “The Greatest Love of All,” “Touch Me in the Morning,” he wrote all these iconic songs. But as a singer, oh my God, just horrible.

On Burt Bacharach

He’s a micromanager. It’s just in his nature. All the great producers and writers are like that. They micromanage in some way, shape, or form. … First, he was leaning over Greg Phillinganes playing the song while we were recording the track. Then Greg said, “You want to play?” And he said, “No, no, I want you to do it. I want you to do it. I want you to do it.” But he kept doing it. And then he started singing the melody to me … I think it was for the Harry Hamlin movie [1982’s Making Love] or something like that. … It was a great song. … Here’s the thing. He was trying to sing the melody to me, and I started laughing. Yeah, it was so funny. I said, you are the second worst thing I’ve ever heard in my life. And it got really quiet in the recording booth.... And so he hit the talkback and said, “Well, who’s the first?” And I said, my manager is the first. … He didn’t take offense to it. He knows he’s a really terrible singer. I kept the work tape for years and for decades afterwards. And when I felt bad or was depressed or something, I would play it and it would make me laugh. I mean, it would still make me laugh. But that didn’t take away from his talent. And it didn’t ruin our relationship. He later on in life asked me to come out and record “Alfie.”

On Celine Dion

She is a singular talent and a singular personality. She is unique in every single way. She lives to sing. I don’t care what anybody tells you. It’s like breathing air for her.

If I would give her any advice at this particular point in her life, [it] is to never stop singing. I don’t care what. Because … she’s a person that won’t speak all day long, saving her voice for the singing. Because you can hurt your vocal cords [by] laughing and chatting with people. You can — it can happen. I was on tour with her, and she’s one of the few people on this planet… she was like Marcus Aurelius. Nobody ever heard Marcus Aurelius raise his voice to another human being, and that’s what Celine is. That cutesy, cutesy, soft thing that you see — it’s not fake. That’s exactly who she is 24-7. She was telling me about an experi-

ence she had when they were doing this Divas [Live in 1998] thing. … Celine said Aretha was thinking of all these things that they could do and all that kind of stuff, and they were all listening. And Brandy was standing there and… said, “Why are we listening to her?” And Celine said she took three giant steps backwards and threw both hands up. … The rumor is that Aretha went outside and coughed up a few oysters and came back inside and laid waste to everybody. They woke up the tiger. Never, never wake a sleeping tiger. Let it sleep.

On Julie Andrews

She got to sing a little bit of “We Kiss in the Shadows,” but that was the first rerecording of The King and I in 35 years. And while I was recording it, Julie Andrews was in the booth with me. Wow. I know, right? Yeah, oh my God. Nobody knew that.

So it’s being recorded, the music and the dialogue is being recorded both live.... So you got the entire Hollywood Bowl orchestra out there. So they started the song. … I listened to her do her dialogue prior to… my singing. And so when she finished her dialogue, she just kind of turned to me and extended her hand. I had no idea what she wanted, so everything stopped. And it started again. And she did her dialogue again, and then she extended her hand out to me like she was waiting on me to say something. I had no idea what she was waiting for. So I said, “I’m sorry, are you waiting on me to say something?” And she looks at me and she says, in a very sweet way, “You’re Lun Tha, darling.” And I said, “Excuse me?” She said, “You have dialogue.” And so she pointed to [where] Lun Tha has dialogue, but nobody mentioned dialogue to me. No, I had no idea. It’s one of those moments where you die right then and there and stay dead and never rise again — or you … rise to the occasion. And so she looked at me — she was very sweet. She said, “You need a minute?” I said, “Please.” And so I’m looking at this dialogue. I mean, I’d seen the film and all that... So wait a minute — you’re asking this guy right now from Greenville, South Carolina, trapped in a recording booth with the great Julie Andrews, to look at a script in this moment, and suddenly become, transform himself into a 14-year-old Siamese teenager. Really? Really? Would you like to be in that moment? Would you like for that to be you? Of course you would. I still crack up every time I play that thing. So the orchestra starts again, and she does her dialogue, and she points to me. And by the way, she only gave me 60 seconds, not a second more. She asked me if I needed a minute, and she gave me a minute. I can’t make this stuff up. So she did her dialogue, and she points to me. I turned around, looked her square in the eye, and said, “I am Lun Tha. You are a teacher.” Hey, I’m suddenly a 14-year-old Siamese teenager! We have been friends from that moment to this one.

On Barbara Bush

After that, I did Christmas in Washington, and I got a chance to actually sing with Neil Diamond and Julie Andrews. And you know, I admired Bush Sr. as a president. I thought he was strong, and he made me feel safe. But he was not my choice. So… the press secretary knocked on my dressing room door and said, “Mr. Bryson, photo op with the president.” .... So I waited. …Ten minutes later, he comes back and he says nothing. He’s just standing near my door. And suddenly a SWAT team burst from behind him into my dressing room with drug-sniffing dogs. And he said nothing. And I said nothing.

He said, “Photo op with the president.” This time he was being emphatic. He wasn’t asking. …So I’m standing between the president and his wife. And I don’t know, the devil gets in me sometimes. … So I said out loud — I was holding one in each arm and I said, “Well, one good thing about this moment is that we’ll never have to meet like this again.” And the next thing I knew, I was bent over. Something had hit me right in my doggone liver or my kidney or somewhere around in there.

And a voice said, “Straighten up and act right.” I said, “Yes, ma’am.” Barbara had hit me and folded me up like a cheap accordion … What do you do? I knew who the real president was in that moment. It wasn’t him. It was Barbara Bush.

Let me tell you something. She was like every aunt or grandmother or cousin I’ve ever had that was no nonsense. She was all no nonsense. I said, “Yes, ma’am.” And I stood up and cheesed like, well, I was cheesing personally, because I was in pain.

On Kenny G

He’s phenomenal in that regard in terms of performance and all that. I did 80-some dates with him. It was great. It was a great experience for me. And it exposed me to an audience that knew my music but didn’t know my face and didn’t know my performance. So it was the right thing to do for him and for me.

On being an LGBTQ ally

Always have been. I started supporting people’s rights to choose long before that was an actual slogan, and I lent my talents pro bono to the original Gay Pride, the one that Harvey Milk started. Oh, wow, San Francisco. It’s what you do. It’s right to choose. It’s right to choose. And rights are rights. Yeah. That’s, you know, that’s how I see it. You grow up, you grow out, and you grow wiser. You know, it’s a right to choose. Nobody has the right to bother that.

Catch Peabo Bryson May 2-5 at Dimitriou’s Jazz Alley. For more info, go to https://jazzalley.com.

MK Scott is a Seattle-based arts blogger and the editor-in-chief at Out NW Magazine

PEABO BRYSON – JAZZ ALLEY

Dev Patel’s strikingly personal Monkey Man an action-heavy fight for acceptance

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER MONKEY MAN Theaters

Dev Patel’s action-heavy directorial debut Monkey Man crams a lot into its breakneck, 121-minute running time, ambitiously attempting to meld three of four stories into a coherent whole. While the Academy Award–nominated actor (for Lion) isn’t entirely successful, there is so much flamethrowing storytelling panache that I still walked out of the theater impressed.

The film’s foundation is built on a familiar tale of revenge, all of it centered on an underground fight-club baddie wearing a monkey mask nicknamed “Kid” (Patel), who is routinely tasked with dominating his bouts before throwing them in the latter rounds by the venue’s South African emcee Tiger (Sharlto Copley). But Kid’s true goal is to get close to the corrupt chief of police Rana (Sikandar Kher). He’ll do whatever he has to if it means he’ll get to put a bullet between the eyes of the man responsible for murdering his mother Neela (Adithi Kalkunte), even if the cost is his own life. All of that basically makes up the first third of the picture. Patel doesn’t spend a ton of time fleshing things out in any detail. Kid goes from being at the fight club to worming his way into the swanky King’s Club (which doubles as a den of inequity for India’s ruling elite), run by the ruthless Queenie (Ashwini Kalsekar), to finally

making friends with slimy underworld gofer Alphonso (Pitobash). The latter is the one person who can get the single-minded young man next to his intended prey — and all hell inevitably breaks loose once this does indeed happen.

The next section finds Kid rescued by a close-knit band of hijra, third-gender outcasts who were once revered in Hindu culture but now mostly live in seclusion for fear of persecution (or worse). Led by the kindly Alpha (Vipin Sharma), this commu-

nity of mystics nurses the film’s protagonist back to health both physically and spiritually. They force Kid to face his childhood trauma while also opening his eyes to the bigger political and cultural picture currently happening in India. Turns out that revered guru Baba Shakti (Makarand Deshpande) is not the benevolent holy man he pretends to be but instead the manipulative, Machiavellian brains behind multiple evils, and Rana is the powerful enforcer happily carrying out his bidding.

The final third is where everything comes together, pretty much at the exact same time. Events get wrapped up at the fight club with Tiger. Kid returns to King’s Club to finish what he started, only this time for the good of all. The hijra embrace their historical roots and become heroines fighting, not just for their own right to exist but for all of India’s forgotten and marginalized citizenry cowering silently in the shadows.

2024 National Film Festival for Talented Youth and Seattle Black Film Festival take center stage

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

Two of Seattle’s best, if sadly frequently unheralded, film festivals kick of next Thursday, April 25, and both promise a weekend overflowing in inventive, offbeat, and creatively original cinematic delights.

The 21st Seattle Black Film Festival (SBFF) soars to life at the historic Langston Hughes Performing Art Institute with a gala screening of director Contessa Gayles’s award-winning musical documentary, Songs from Hole. And the 17th National Film Festival for Talented Youth (NFFTY) embarks on its hybrid and in-person schedule with a sparkling opening night event sponsored by MoPOP at SIFF Cinema Uptown.

SBFF

The SBFF slate is a dynamic selection of

features, documentaries, and shorts from all over the world. The lineup includes the first-ever Sudanese film to play at the Cannes Film Festival, director Noor Amiry’s stirring drama of loss, heartbreak, and tragic mistakes, Goodbye Julia; a 50th anniversary screening of Mel Brooks’s legendary Blazing Saddles; and a pair of short films created by the Northwest Film Forum’s own Netsanet Tjirongo, the animated Savi the Cat and the gentrification doc Vanishing Seattle: Queer the Land

There are two venues for this year’s SBFF: the festival’s traditional home at the Langston Hughes Performing Art Institute and the venerable Washington Hall in Seattle’s Central District neighborhood. Once again this will be both a hybrid and in-person event, and tickets, festival passes, and additional information can be found at the Langston Hughes website, https://www. langstonseattle.org/sbff. Be sure to take

a close look at the schedule, however, as select titles are in-person only and will not be available for online viewing.

NFFTY

Once again, NFFTY takes over two of the three screens at SIFF Cinema Uptown and features a dizzying collection of shorts crafted by a diverse collection of filmmakers from around the globe aged 24 and younger. Opening night alone showcases offerings from the United States, Luxembourg, and Iceland. LGBTQ+ audiences should make a special effort to check out Natalie Jasmine Harris’s bewilderingly heartfelt Grace and Ella Greenwood’s poignant and powerful two-hankie melodrama, Twofold. Both films are knockouts.

As always, NFFTY offers guests the opportunity to take part in several panels and guest speaker events. Alumnus Sean Wang returns to Seattle to chat about get-

ting nominated for an Academy Award and having his feature-length narrative debut

Didi premiere at this past January’s Sundance Film Festival (note: Didi will also be playing as part of the 50th annual Seattle International Film Festival on May 18 and May 19). Other events include an evening with award-winning filmmaker, photographer, and poet Raven Jackson, a tutorial from the Vancouver Film School on crafting the perfect pitch, and acclaimed Danish filmmaker Ege Heckmann discussing the “Green Revolution” in the film and television industries.

For tickets, a full calendar of events, and additional information head on over to NFFTY’s website, https://www.nffty. org/2024-tickets. Pass prices vary between events and span the gauntlet from allaccess to individual screening options, with those aged 24 and younger receiving a significant discount.

GRACE – NFFTY GOODBYE JULIA – SBFF

MONKEYMAN – UNIVERSAL PICTURES

FILM

Unforgettables: Cinematic milestones with Sara Michelle

All About My Mother : Almodóvar’s cathartic melodrama of gender, sexuality, and family still strikes a universal chord after 25 years

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

I remember a cold late-winter day in 1992 when my mother made a seemingly innocuous, off-the-cuff remark that unfortunately cast a giant shadow on my life. I’d recently turned 18 and was home from school sick. In truthfulness, I wasn’t that ill. I was having a semirough time and needed a day off. I was still recovering from surgery to reconstruct some bones in my thumb (a football injury) and had lost my entire senior year of basketball because of it. I was also struggling with some personal issues that led to my developing an ulcer.

I’m pretty sure my mom knew something other than the flu was going on. But instead of making a big deal out of it, she just empathetically let things be. I’ve always loved that about her.

Anyhow, I was laying on the couch underneath a massive blanket, stereotypically sipping chicken noodle soup and channel-surfing from one inane daytime program to the next. This was before the days of streaming, and I was far too lazy to put on one of the many VHS tapes I owned. Instead, it was local news this, game show that, PBS pledge drive breaks here, and soap opera after soap opera there. Finally, I stumbled onto The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, and goodness knows, there’s a gigantic part of me that wonders what my life would have been like had I never done so.

It was an episode revolving around Tandi Andrews, a model and performer who appeared on several talk shows in the 1990s. This was the whole “you’ll never believe this used to be a guy!” sort of thing that all these programs seemed to take great joy in presenting, and as exploitive as they were, whenever I ran across one of these episodes, I couldn’t have pulled my eyes away from the screen even if a spaceship had landed in our front yard or a twister had ripped off our roof.

I was transfixed, and it was obvious. Mom walked into the room and wondered what the heck it was I was watching. I mumbled some sort of blasé response to try and conceal how interested I was, and I think I made the excuse that I wasn’t really watching and only had it on for noise. My mother shrugged her shoulders, turned around, and half-jokingly said on her way out of the room, “Well, at least you’re not like one of those freaks. Don’t ever do something like that.”

What’s weird is that I knew she didn’t mean it. Mom had no idea the secrets I was concealing. I’d done an almost perfect job of making sure of that. I also knew my mother was — and still is — one of the most openminded and selflessly accepting people on the face of the planet. If she had known, if I’d ever left any clues, she’d never have said such a thing. It was an attempt to be funny, nothing more, but the impact it had upon me was still massive, to say the least.

“Don’t ever do something like that.”

Fast-forward to 1999. I’d been noticeably laboring at the University of Washington. I’d already been put on academic probation once, taking myself out of classes for a couple of years before they could expel me. Now I’d returned and was not doing a heck of a lot better. I was a psychological mess, and I’d only recently gone into therapy to discuss my struggles with gender identity with someone who could hopefully help me figure stuff out.

That’s when I saw Pedro Almodóvar’s colorfully intoxicating All About My Mother. A great motion picture, yes, but I fell instantaneously in love with it for other reasons. I knew going in that Almodóvar was once again toying with gender taboos. What I did not anticipate

was how much of myself and my own complicated relationship with my mom I’d see up on the screen. It was like the acclaimed Spanish auteur had dug inside my brain and pulled out so many of my fears, dreams, anxieties, and aspirations and splashed them there for the entire world to take a nakedly raw look at.

Considering how much its tone and structure owes to titans like Douglas Sirk and especially Tennessee Williams, it’s only fitting that the film opens with its main character, Manuela (Cecilia Roth), exiting a Madrid performance of A Streetcar Named Desire with her teenage son Esteban (Eloy Azorin). An unfathomable tragedy takes his life, and this leads a grief-stricken Manuela on a cross-country trek to inform the boy’s father, who never even knew about Esteban. Like all Almodóvar endeavors, this is only a jumping-off point for all sorts of hyperemotional madness. A variety of memorable characters get involved with Manuela, not the least of whom is Esteban’s favorite actress, Huma Rojo (Marisa Paredes), Transgender sex worker Agrado (Antonia San Juan), and kindhearted Sister Rosa (Penélope Cruz). They all play an integral part in helping the inconsolable

mother heal, and all of them have their own demons that, if they cannot be overcome, at least must be reconciled if the women are going to make the most out of life.

It’s fantastic stuff. San Juan has moments that are as hysterical as they are heartbreaking, while Cruz makes the most of her small part (at least by the standards set by her vaunted partnership with Almodóvar) in the proceedings. Roth and Paredes unsurprisingly dominate, the former delivering a performance of such graceful exactitude that its full scope and breadth is beyond astonishing.

What All About Your Mother made me realize, though, was how much stock I put in a throwaway statement from years prior. I already knew I had more in common with Agrado than I was ready to reveal to my friends and family, but what I didn’t quite understand was how I’d been letting societal perception and internalized fear rule so much of my life. “Don’t ever do something like that” wasn’t just a simple statement from a loved one, it was a giant blinking neon sign ordering me to keep telling the world a lie.

When I came out to my parents a couple years later, their only anger was that I’d spent so much wasted time concealing this

truth from them. They didn’t completely understand what I was going through — no shock there — but that didn’t keep them from embracing me with acceptance and love, no questions asked. It’s been a journey, sure, but we’ve gone on it together. I was never a freak to either of them, and both my parents recognize I’m far happier, self-confident, and outgoing now than I ever was as a kid or young adult.

Did All About My Mother change my life? Probably not, as I’m sure I would have come to all of these revelations in my own time whether or not I’d watched Almodóvar’s Academy Award–winning classic when I did. But it certainly didn’t hurt, and, if anything, the director’s spellbinding melodrama has only become more thought-provoking and essential over the past quarter century. It still feels ahead of its time, and the director’s thoughts on gender, identity, sexuality, and family strike a universal chord.

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, All About My Mother is available on DVD and Blu-ray, and can be purchased digitally on multiple platforms.

Unleashing The People's Joker : Vera Drew on crafting a satirical Trans love letter to all things Batman

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

I’ve watched The People’s Joker three times now. The first was during the 2023 Seattle Queer Film Festival. I laughed, sure, but was also knocked so far sideways, I could barely process what I’d just watched, let alone talk about the experience with anyone. If anyone that asked me what I thought, all I could do was urge them to give it a look themselves, with no further explanation — the film affected me that much.

Now that the jubilantly politically incorrect satire is finally going into general release, I was able to sit down and take a fresh look (two, in fact). I laughed. I cried. I laughed some more. Mostly, I sat in silence smiling. Not only did writer-director Vera Drew deliver a beautiful love letter to all things Caped Crusader, she also playfully eviscerated modern, cookie-cutter, corporate-studio comic-book filmmaking in a way that left me speechless.

Most of all, though, she brought to life an autobiographical Trans story unlike anything I’d ever seen. Drew put so much of herself into the picture that the low-budget, do-it-yourself filmmaking style made it all feel like some surreal fever dream I didn’t want to come to an end. Combining live action, a bevy of animation styles, and all sorts of creative zaniness that frequently blew my mind, this was a one-of-a-kind achievement that I now couldn’t wait to tell everyone, everywhere to go see, so they could experience all of the flame-throwing creative exuberance for themselves.

And to think, The People’s Joker came perilously close to never seeing the light of day. Hours before the film’s midnight premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), Warner Bros. Discovery sent a cease-and-desist letter to the festival, demanding that all screenings be canceled. While the premiere went ahead, Drew made the difficult to decision to put a hold on all future showings.

But then a funny thing happened. The cult of The People’s Joker began to grow, little by little, moment by moment. Drew knew she was on solid “fair use” grounds, and all it would take was an adventurous distributor to buck the giant Hollywood behemoths and take a chance on her spunky labor of Trans-friendly Batman love (Warner Bros. did not really have a strong case). Drew took the film on the festival circuit to build buzz. She’d put too much of herself into the finished product for it to vanish into the ether as if it never existed.

So here we are today. Upstart distributor Altered Innocence snatched up the title for domestic release and has been slowly opening it in theaters across the United States throughout April. It has been met with almost universal acclaim by critics (with a current Certified Fresh score of 95% on Rotten Tomatoes) and has had its Los Angeles and New York theatrical runs extended due to audience demand.

I’m not going to lie: The People’s Joker spoke to me. I saw a lot of my teenage and young adult self in Drew’s story, and had I watched this at a younger age, I think it would have inspired me in ways I can barely fathom (let alone put into words). For a Trans viewer, as difficult, honest, and eerily triggering as certain elements may be, watching it is borderline transformative.

All of which is to say that sitting down to speak with Drew, even for only a few minutes, has been one of the highlights of my professional career. But I also think some of my objectivity was lost a little along the way, so it’s probably best to keep that in mind.

Anyhow, here are the edited transcripts from our wide-ranging conversation:

Sara Michelle Fetters: I’m sure it’s been a surreal year and a half.

Vera Drew: Yeah. It’s weird to be me right now, but I’m mostly enjoying it.

SMF: What has this whole process been like — not just the journey of making the film but just from Toronto to now? What have you been doing, feeling, and thinking as this journey has progressed?

VD: 2023 was one of the most just challenging, exhausting years of my life, because the movie was in limbo for a while. But … it wasn’t in too much of a limbo. I just didn’t know what I was going to do with it, because there wasn’t anybody that was really looking to distribute it. You get a lot of press at TIFF, and then you see “rights issue” slammed over every headline. Nobody’s really looking to buy that movie. I have way too many agents now, and they were all just using this movie as a business card for me. I was like, “I need to release this, though. I can’t put it on the shelf.”

It just feels like now’s the time for it to come out. It’d be interesting if I had to shelve [The People’s Joker] and then people revisited it in 10 years. But it would just be a window into how things are now. I feel it needed to be out there now for Trans people.

During the fog of that limbo, I was using it as an opportunity to finish the movie, just because the TIFF cut was such a fresh paint job. I needed to recast an actor, and that took a while, [as did] finishing some of the VFX [visual effects] and getting our music clearances together.

I also took it out to festivals, and we did secret screenings, which was a lot of fun. I had never heard of a secret screening

before. When I heard about them, I was like, “Why would you go see a movie you don’t know what it is?” [laughs] For us, this made sense. We could do these secret screenings but also spread some rumors, like, “Hey, maybe The People’s Joker is screening.” That was fun.

I did a little tour with the movie in Australia last April that was entirely secret screenings, but in the film festival programs, we would call the movie “a perfectly legal untitled queer coming-of-age comic-book parody,” and then the premise was “an unfunny clown moves to a city and is chased down by a caped crusader” — it was so obviously our movie. If you knew what The People’s Joker was, you’d be like, “I think that’s The People’s Joker.” If you didn’t know what it was, it would just sound like the craziest, most misguided thing you could go see on a Saturday night.

Last year was so weird and very much not what I had ever pictured my 2023 looking like. But it was a beautiful experience. This movie has always just been a snake eating its own tail, because it is so personal and based on my life. But the release of the movie has really kept that continuum of like, where does the movie start and stop, and where does my life end and begin?

It’s trippy how blurry that is sometimes. I’m having fun with it.

SMF: I admit, when I saw this film back at the Seattle Queer Film Festival last year, everybody and their sister kept wanting to ask me my opinion. But I couldn’t talk about the film. The first time I watched it, I just couldn’t talk about it. I was like, “You just need to go see it. Do whatever you can to see it. Just see it. But I can’t talk about it.”

It wasn’t until I watched it again recently before this theatrical release that I feel I’m now capable of processing

how much the film means to me. I think I would’ve been devastated had this ended up being a Todd Haynes situation, where you make a personal film that nobody can actually watch. I can’t imagine how that would’ve been for you had this been like Superstar, where it’s something that everybody talks about but nobody is actually allowed to see.

Just speaking for me, The People’s Joker means the world to me, and I’m so glad audiences are going to be able to experience it for themselves in a theatrical setting.

VD: Watching that start to happen in real time was devastating. I don’t say this to throw anybody under the bus, because I understand why people on my team started to jump ship — their bosses got scared — but I was surrounded by people at the time that were really telling me, “Let’s just hit pause. Let’s put you on a general meeting tour. Let’s get you in a writers’ room. Let’s get you some scripts.” I was like, “What about watching this movie made you think that I was looking for jobs right now? That this was a big business card for me?”

Look, [The People’s Joker] was initially a fucking joke that I made with my friend that I ultimately took way too far. It then became this really expensive form of therapy for me. I don’t know that The People’s Joker is the most personal movie ever made, but it’s certainly up there. I have the veil of superheroes to hide behind at times, but the character’s dead name in the movie is my dead name. It’s that personal. Because even last year, when we were screening it at festivals and stuff, if I’d ever do press or go on a podcast or whatever, people would always describe it as a “banned film,” or me as a “banned filmmaker.” I was like, “I made one movie. What’s going on?”

VERA DREW – PHOTO BY SOPHIE PRETTYMAN-BEAUCHAMP

It also was like a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the banning. If I had been crazy, if I had been a real freak, I would’ve just not pulled it after TIFF. I would’ve kept going with all of our festivals we had planned. But I needed to return to a place of self-care and feel good about the project again, because of what you said. I had to touch my heart … just to stay grounded, because, for me, so much of this was knowing how much this movie was going to mean to anybody on any gender journey. This movie, even if you don’t like it, it’ll pull at something that most movies don’t pull at, because nobody ever gets the chance to talk about transness in this way.

I’m so glad you got to see it again and process it. I recognize that the movie has been traumatic for some ... There were people that were anticipating this movie from its announcement. When I announced on Twitter in 2020 that I was making it, I put out this call to all these people to help us. There were people that started following the process then that were devastated when the movie got pulled from all those festivals.

But now I’m so glad it’s now out there, and I’m so glad too that it is with a Queer distributor. Altered Innocence is so amazing. Their catalog is just — I don’t know — it’s perfect. We’re right at home with them. And I mean, the fact that [Altered Innocence founder] Frank Jaffe has a porn label too, that was the first Bat Signal for me they’d be perfect. [laughs] And his porn label is called Anus Films, and it’s just the Janus Films logo but with butts! It’s a match made in heaven. This is obviously where I’m supposed to be.

SMF: In the film, your cinematic moment was with Nicole Kidman, that moment of knowing something was up. Mine was Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth, but I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. But it was followed up a few years later by Michelle Pfeiffer in Batman Returns, and when she shows up as Catwoman, that’s when I truly knew something was going on. That moment when that transformation happens in that movie — I could not stop giggling. When you show Kidman in the film, and then your bio, I couldn’t help but think, we’re on the same wavelength. We both learned something about ourselves by watching a Batman movie. [laughs]

VD: That’s so interesting! You’re defi-

nitely not the first person I’ve talked to that’s like, “I figured out some shit from these characters.” It’s the part of this that has been emotionally validating for me, because I did think on some level … that I was making a movie that people would enjoy just because of the [number] of people that wanted to help me make it. But I was also making it for 13-year-old me, … but also the 5-year-old me that saw Batman Forever and probably would’ve appreciated, instead of subtext, some like, “Hey, here is some actual text” instead. [laughs]

I think it’s just cool to hear stuff like that, because it makes me feel less alone. It’s validating. The movie is so specific and very, very autobiographical, and the fact that people can connect with a story that I really just put all out there like that, it means the world and has healed me in a lot of ways.

SMF: Here’s the thing, and I’ll be honest about this, but as a Trans film critic, one of the things that I tend to complain about in modern LGBTQ filmmaking is that so much of it is always the same stuff that we’ve been watching since the 1980s and 1990s. It’s all of these coming out stories. It’s all of this trauma stuff. I find that I want to move away from that. I want to have movies like Bit, Bottoms, Drive-Away Dolls, and Love Lies Bleeding. Heck, even The Craft: Legacy. I want to see these stories where being LGBTQ is a part of the character, but it also isn’t what defines them.

But then when you make something like The People’s Joker, I’m reminded that when stories like this one come from a place of truth and authenticity, they matter and they work in ways that are almost indescribable. They can be difficult to watch, but they can also be very, very funny. Because they are honest. Because they come from a place of truth. Because they treat the audience with intelligence and respect.

How hard was that to juggle, to know that, in some ways, you are presenting the foundation of a story that we have maybe seen before, but doing so in a way that is also different and new, telling this deeply personal “coming out” story in a way that remains so intimately personal but that can also play to a broader audience?

VD: Literally, that was the part of the movie that was maybe the easiest in a lot of

ways. I had rules that I followed for parody and fair use, but as far as creative choices, it was like, “I’m going to break every single rule Sacha Baron Cohen ever gave me in the edit bay. I’m going to break every single rule I was taught in film school. Take out a huge loan! Tell a personal story! Talk about your mom very honestly!” I was going to do it all.

The movie needed to embody anarchy. I think that is the thing that is missing from Joker portrayals a lot of the time: his genuine anarchy that is a rejection of form, a rejection of every social structure, not just some of them. Every single moment of this had possibility within it to be funny, but also to be sad, be dumb, be colorful. I wanted to talk about Trans things that I was afraid of too, because I knew people like us needed to see it. But I also just knew that you really only make good art when you’re scaring yourself a little bit.

But the thing about telling a really personal story, especially a Trans story, is you can give visibility to things that nobody’s ever talked about before in a cinematic space. I’m a dumb genre person. My movie taste is very college dorm room, and I think the thing that’s just new and exciting about me is, yeah, I want to bring honest Trans stories to that space and do it in a funny way too. I think we can talk about coming out in a way that is serious and heartfelt but also has levity to it and a realism. Realism means the dark stuff sometimes, but also an optimism and hopefully a brighter future that’s ahead, because otherwise, why am I making this and why are you watching it?

SMF: You had the festival buzz. You had the underground buzz. But because the film couldn’t really be out there yet, I imagine none of that felt definite. People weren’t truly able to put into writing what they were feeling about this film. They couldn’t really talk about it.

Now, with this release, with reviews piling in and word of mouth being what it is, with you seeing these reactions that are almost across the board euphoric, what has this been like for you?

VD: I don’t even know if I have been able to really process it emotionally. I think there’s a massive amount of relief, first of all, just because, like you said, we had the festival buzz, we had underground buzz, but I was also getting told every step of the way by a lot of people that I was surrounded by

that …the momentum wasn’t going to keep going. Because of that, I think getting to this point, I was always like, “I don’t know for sure how the movie’s going to be received.”

I don’t know. I’m not somebody who … [can] get any real fulfillment or validation just from other people’s opinions on things. I need to feel good about it for myself, because otherwise it’s just empty. There’s no joy there. It’s just fucking ego shit.

But there was so much relief when those reviews started coming in. Just seeing everybody fucking gets this and everybody just totally stoked that we did this. The Richard Brody piece [in the New Yorker]: “Best superhero movie I’ve ever seen.” I keep reading it, because I keep thinking it was something I dreamt. I don’t know. It’s really cathartic, and it’s healed me in a way. Last year was just so scary and bad. There was a lot of good and a lot of really cool shit that happened last year, and we came out on the other side perfect. It was always supposed to be like this. It was always supposed to be this weird, drawnout, strange release, so that we could end up at a place like Altered Innocence.

But I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t scary. Financially, emotionally, my life fell apart multiple times in this process. And then just this past week, I don’t know, I don’t particularly love doing press, but it’s been fun on some level, because I have been able to process it with you all. I can only really talk about this movie in a way that does feel like therapy. It’s so cool.

SMF: This is going to sound weird (it’s probably oversharing) — and I have my issues with Rotten Tomatoes — but after I uploaded my review and I saw the “Certified Fresh” score trigger, I couldn’t stop giggling. I don’t know if it was my review that did it or if it was someone else’s, but it felt like it was my top-critic review that put The People’s Joker over the top. I actually started giggling and crying at the same time, because it meant so much to me to put up a review for a film that I know that I’m going to treasure for the rest of my life. It felt meaningful.

VD: Thank you. I don’t know what to say. Thank you. That’s wonderful to hear. You earned the right to say that you made this movie “Certified Fresh,” and you have my consent to put that in writing. It was you.

VERA DREW AS JOKER THE HARLEQUIN AND EMBER KNIGHT AS MX MXYZPTLK IN THE PEOPLE'S JOKER – COURTESY OF ALTERED INNOCENCE

FILM Technically precise journalistic procedural Civil War shoots too many narrative blanks

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

CIVIL WAR Theaters

For those who end up having significant issues with the film Civil War, I imagine the big consensus complaint about it is that English writer-director Alex Garland (Ex Machina, Annihilation) does not explain what the catalyst was that led to California, Texas, and Florida declaring war on the president of the United States (Nick Offerman). It is never said that the three states officially seceded from the Union. It is never mentioned that they are trying to set up their own governments. Garland refuses to even hint at what sparked the conflict or what it is they are fighting to achieve (other than the death of the president), but it is a violent insurrection nonetheless.

Instead, the filmmaker takes a more procedural approach to his scenario, similar to how Hollywood filmmakers have tackled conflicts abroad for decades, at least from the American point of view. Roger Spottiswoode’s 1983 classic Under Fire comes to mind. Like that blistering thriller (which chronicled the last days of the Somoza regime in Nicaragua in 1979), Garland chooses to see events through the eyes of a quartet of journalists, including two photographers, and in doing so crafts a drama free of political leaning and built on a foundation of nonbiased, observational distancing.

I do get why he does this. From a purely superficial standpoint, if Garland tried to give a reason why California, Texas, and Florida were all in cahoots, anything the filmmaker came up with — no matter how plausible or fun to posit — would end up being unintentionally laughable to domestic audiences. With things being how they are as of April 2024, it makes no logical sense that those three states would form an alliance, and few would buy it.

The more logical reason that Garland decided to keep the backstory indistinct is that he knows how doing this would put viewers on edge — not just those in the United States but all over the world. As polarized as this country may be right now, viewers are not used to seeing such a realistic dystopia. Garland treats the United States the same way Spottiswoode looked at Nicaragua, Peter Weir wrestled with Indonesia in The Year of Living Dangerously, and Denis Villeneuve dove into the Middle East crisis with Incendies, so those expecting something like The Purge are in for a shock.

Here’s the thing: I don’t think this drama has anything interesting outside of the obvious to say. Unlike Spottiswoode, Villeneuve, and especially Weir, I didn’t find Garland’s musings to be particularly profound. The greater point seems to be something along the lines of “war bad” and that anyone who comes in contact with it, assuming they survive, will be forever changed. Oh, sure, there’s something of an ethical discussion on how journalists cover these events (especially photojournalists), but even that analysis doesn’t dig underneath the surface, and, because of this, I never developed a lasting emotional attachment to what was going on.

Civil War still drew me in though. Most of this is due to Garland’s cinema verité approach. This documentary style is reminiscent of several real-life procedurals, most notably Michael Winterbottom’s 1997 drama Welcome to Sarajevo. It has a youare-there feel that’s immediate and visceral. Garland drops the viewer squarely in the middle of the meat grinder, starting events off with a water riot on the streets of New York that quickly transforms into a hellacious suicide bombing. It’s jarring.

It’s here where the film introduces celebrated photojournalist Lee (Kirsten Dunst) and veteran war reporter Joel (Wagner Moura), who are planning on making the dangerous drive to Washington, DC in hopes of scoring an interview with the president. They are joined on the trek by their mentor, revered New York Times journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson), and while he doesn’t approve of their plan, he’ll go along with them at least as far as Charlottesville. Young upstart Jessie (Cailee Spaeny), who looks up to Lee, manages to talk her way into the news van as well.

What happens next is your basic war-ishell travelogue. Each point on the map tests the quartet’s objectivity, and this includes one pit stop in a small Southern town where the citizens have seemingly made the collective decision to act like everything is normal and that neighbor isn’t out there shooting neighbor (just don’t look too closely at the rooftops). While the group faces several perilous encounters, the most lethal of these turns out to be a trio of soldiers led by a scene-stealing Jesse Plemons. Have the journalists stumbled into a war

crime? If they have, what are the chances those responsible for carrying it out will let the four get back on the road, knowing they’ll likely report what it is they’ve seen?

Garland’s use of sound is exquisite, and the lush, chillingly immersive camerawork composed by director of photography Rob Hardy (Mission: Impossible – Fallout) makes superb use of the gigantic IMAX frame. Editor Jake Roberts brings the same tension-filled attention to detail he did to his Academy Award–nominated work on 2017’s Hell or High Water, and there was never a moment when I felt a scene overstayed its welcome.

Best of all is Dunst. She’s spectacular. Her performance has a world-weary tenacity that’s intoxicating. Dunst does things with her body movements that continually fascinated me, and her penetrating glare felt like a punch to the gut. While Garland’s script resists fleshing Lee out, the actor picks up the slack and does all the heavy lifting herself. The photojournalist’s backstory, as purposefully obtuse as it may be, is still chillingly clear, Dunst is the mesmerizing glue that keeps all the pieces

linked together, no matter how ill-fitting.

Unfortunately, I think that the director lets his characters down, especially the women. Lee deserves better than what Garland does with her, and Jessie’s transformation into a “real” photojournalist is so one-dimensional, it’s almost insulting. There is a matter-of-fact obviousness to where developments end up that did not work for me, with Garland treating these two as if their interior lives were a waste of time that no one in the audience would be interested in exploring.

Though numerous aspects of the production are laudable, Garland’s Civil War remains a vexing mixed bag. The film is almost too observational, and its ambiguity is frustrating. If it is a treatise on journalistic ethics, then the siege of Washington, DC in the finale is so bludgeoning and didactic that whatever Garland wanted to say is lost in all the Sturm und Drang. If there are any overarching political points the filmmaker is reaching for — and I do not think that there are — they’re so vague, they might as well be invisible. As narrative conflicts go, this one shoots too many blanks to be effective.

FILM

Bleak Model House confidently struts down the horror catwalk

BY SARA MICHELLE FETTERS SGN STAFF WRITER

MODEL HOUSE Theaters / PVOD

Indie horror effort Model House is a perfect case study of judging a film for what it is and not for what you want or expect it to be. After viewing the trailer, I admit I let myself think this was going to be a silly throwaway effort overflowing with gore, laughs, and purposefully ridiculous plotting. That was not the case.

Instead, writer-director Derek Pike treats his rather shrewd premise seriously, doesn’t pull any punches for the sake of a few cheap laughs, and tasks his five terrified protagonists to play things in a grounded manner that amplifies the emotional stakes. The filmmaker attempts to craft a thriller that’s more similar to Bryan Bertino’s The Strangers than Adam Wingard’s You’re Next, and it’s my fault for going into it assuming the opposite.

In alternate hands, the scenario for Pike’s feature-length debut easily could have gone in the direction of horror comedy instead of semi-dour horror social commentary. Five models on a weekend swimwear shoot — one of whom, Zoe (CoryAnne Roberts), is a last-minute replacement — are staying together in a secluded house in an upscale neighborhood. After spending the evening goofing around and creating content for their social media accounts, a pair of masked intruders (Scout Taylor-Compton, Chris Zylka) break in and hold them hostage.

The idea is that this pair of baddies are going to compose social media posts on each woman’s account in their name and direct their numerous followers to donate money to a fake charity in honor of a recently deceased supermodel (the person Zoe was sent to replace). At first, everything goes as planned — but this wouldn’t be a slasher if all went smoothly and nobody got hurt. The models are forced to fight for their lives when the home invaders accidentally remove their masks, and it soon becomes clear at least one of the hostage-takers is perfectly fine with murdering them all if that’s what it takes to get away unscathed.

Initially, Pike plays this fairly fast and loose. Zoe is a bit of an insecure goofball, badly spraining her ankle in her zeal to make an impression during the first day’s photo shoot. She’s stuck in the house wearing a boot, hobbling around as quickly as she can while the other ladies pranced around taking photos, shooting videos, and coming up with ways to generate content to keep them in the public eye.

What I liked is that Pike refuses to laugh at these five women. While they can be slightly superficial — no shock there — they are still human beings. They each have

MONKEYMAN

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 15

Patel doesn’t quite get a handle on all of this. He introduces a series of flashbacks depicting Kid’s relationship with Neela along with her tragic encounter with Rana, and while there are times these scenes have an otherworldly, haunting splendor, they just as regularly stop the film’s momentum cold. Patel, especially during that first third, also utilizes a handheld kinetic style of action filmmaking reminiscent of what Paul Greengrass perfected in his trifecta of The Bourne Supremacy, United 93, and The Bourne Ultimatum. But the director doesn’t have the same pinpoint control of this method that Greengrass does, and because of this, there are moments when

their own insecurities. They are all dealing with side issues. But while they have some prickly fun with Zoe, they do not make fun of her. She may be new to their group, but she is still one of them and, also like them, has worked hard to get where she’s at in the industry. Zoe deserves their support and respect, so while they do play some pranks and gently rib the newcomer for her low follower count, none of it comes from a place of vitriol or cruel pettiness.

But for all the playful vibes generated during the introductory third, the mood decidedly changes when the invaders show up — but not immediately. I appreciate that Pike doesn’t just transform his story into a nihilistic exercise in abuse and carnage the very second the pair forces their way into the house. Instead, he lets this happen organically, with the five models dealing with their perilous situation in emotionally distinct ways, while their captors do exactly the same when things begin to play out differently than they planned.

Still, when this change happens, I found it jarring. A jolt of unanticipated violence begins the downward spiral into chaos,

Monkey Man becomes nothing more than a hyperactive mess.

But suddenly, a masterful car chase bleeds into an exhilarating rooftop pursuit that culminates in the shocking, quiet introduction of the hijra, and I sprang forward to the edge of my seat in fascinated awe. Patel finds his footing again. The film’s editing style, while still frenetic, now becomes more purposeful, more driven by what is happening to the characters and less to augment the action pyrotechnics. It is also here that cinematographer Sharone Meir (Whiplash, Silent Night) fully flexes his visual muscles, turning the entire climax inside the various corridors, kitchens, and party rooms of King’s Club into something out of a beauteous nightmare.

Every scene with the hijra is extraordinary, including three background supporting per-

and while Taylor-Compton’s character has somewhat prepared for events to go haywire, the same cannot be said about her befuddled partner in crime. As portrayed by Zylka, this guy is completely out of his depth. His character has allowed himself to be talked into something that’s not going to pan out as expected, and instead of getting rich, it’s all too likely that the best-case scenario is he’ll end up in jail — if not bruised, battered, bloodied, and wrapped up in plastic, to be disposed of later right alongside the five models.

To say the film gets dark is an obvious understatement — not Martyrs, Wolf Creek, or Funny Games level of nasty, but close enough. Pike is vicious, unleashing death with a gruesome suddenness that startled me. I discovered I shouldn’t become too enamored with any of these women, and it’s honestly a little unpleasant how a couple of characters are so casually dispatched.

Because of this, the facets of the final third that do end up being silly, clever, or even comedic don’t quite work. Pike doesn’t have a firm enough handle on events to make these climactic tonal shifts

formances by hijra actors Pehan Abdul, Dayangku Zyana, and Reva Marchellin. The veteran Sharma exudes wisdom, compassion, and warmth. Patel paints every conceivable detail with an inquisitive eye, his deeply empathetic portrait of this community overflowing with tenderness, respect, and even delightful jolts of unexpected humor. This segment becomes the heart and soul of the overarching narrative, and what began for Kid as a quest for revenge now turns into something far more universally urgent and profoundly humanistic. Then there is that climax. A few goofy missteps aside (at one point Kid bleaches his fight club monkey mask white for the final battle, only to nonchalantly discard it before even stepping back inside King’s Club — and that’s only one instance of gonzo inanity), this exhilarating pugilis-

work without calling attention to themselves. It all builds to a battle of wills between Roberts and Taylor-Compton. While this isn’t surprising, that they end up on a level intellectual playing field still comes across as something of a convenient script contrivance. As good as the two actors are, their face-off frustratingly doesn’t have any oomph, and I can’t help but wonder if there were additional scenes Pike had in mind that were edited out of the final cut to get the running time down to a brisk 85 minutes.

Still, this thriller did just enough to win me over. Once I got on its wavelength, I found I was interested enough in learning how things were going to turn out to cut Pike some slack. The filmmaker shows promise, and I appreciate that he refuses to bow to audience-friendly grindhouse convention and instead showcases a bleak killer instinct that’s chilling. For those open to downbeat descents into carnage, Model House struts across the horror catwalk with cheerless confidence.

tic bloodbath is still well worth the wait. Patel stages each encounter like the finale of Bruce Lee’s Game of Death. Every floor Kid ascends to comes with its own set of adversaries, and watching how he dispatches them all — sometimes with aid, usually without — is a vivacious, swirling jump-kick to the face.

Monkey Man isn’t without its faults, and it does take some time to find solid ground. But Patel shows directorial promise, displaying a uniquely personal vision that allows his film to defy simplistic genre classifications. He isn’t afraid to confront social and political hot topics, never playing coy about how his characters feel or what they are willing to give to fight for what they believe in. This makes Patel a vital cinematic voice, and I can’t wait to see what he does behind the camera next.

MODEL HOUSE – SHOUT! STUDIOS

BOOKS

“He was a punk, he did ballet”

Anthony Nerada delivers a new Queer version of classic pop-punk anthem

BY LINDSEY ANDERSON SGN STAFF WRITER

Even before becoming a published author, Anthony Nerada was finding ways to examine well-known stories from a different perspective. One of the first he remembers writing was from the perspective of the stepsister in Cinderella in fifth grade. Several years later, he wrote another story about the Evil Queen in Snow White. Though these never saw the light of day, his first published novel, Skater Boy, follows in those footsteps by twisting the script of a well-known tale.

“Writing Skater Boy, I decided to flip the script on the classic pop song ‘Sk8er Boi’ by Avril Lavigne [whose lyrics include “He was a punk, she did ballet”] by telling the story from the punk side,” Nerada said. “I just remember being a kid in the back seat of my parents’ car, and I used to change the words and pronouns in songs so I would see my own story in the lyrics, because back then, there were no songs about boys loving boys and boys kissing boys.

“I thought, ‘Wow, this song would be such a good young adult book, but it would be an even better young adult book if I flipped it and told the story from the perspective of the punk,” he recalled.

In his debut novel, Nerada explores the punk’s perspective as he falls for a male ballet dancer from the right side of the tracks. “We never got to see that side of the story. We always see the ‘bad boy’ and brooding boy in the background as the love interest that the heroine or the hero pines for, but we never get to see why they are that bad boy and what makes them tick,” he said.

“Wes is a very grumpy, angry Gay. He was given a label early on in his life,” Nerada added. “He let that dictate everything in his life moving forward, to the point where when he does see someone he can have a future with, he can’t manage the juxtaposition of the parts of himself — the person he wants to be and the person everyone else sees him as. I want people to realize that you can be who you want to be, and it’s never too late to pursue that person.”

For the kids on the outskirts of the community

Skater Boy is a book for kids who may see themselves on the outside of Queer stereotypes. The story was inspired by Nerada’s feelings of not fitting the expectation of what a Gay guy looked like. “My ideal reader is the kid I was in high school,” Nerada said. “I never really felt that I fit

“I wanted to write this character for the kids who feel like they’re on the outskirts of the Gay community. There isn’t any one right way to be Gay.”

into the Gay community, even as a closeted kid in the early 2000s and 2010s. I loved punk music [and] I loved Broadway music, but I never felt like I could see myself in the representation told at the time. I wanted to write this character for the kids who feel like they’re on the outskirts of the Gay community. There isn’t any one right way to be Gay.”

“I hope that kids realize it’s okay to be whoever they want to be, within whatever shade of rainbow they fall under,” he continued. “I also want them to understand

through reading Wes’ journey that it’s okay to be messy, it’s okay to make mistakes, because as long as you understand what went wrong and you’re able to own up to those mistakes, live your truth, and be the person you are meant to be, I think that’s more integral.”

One of Nerada’s concerns when writing Skater Boy was that Wes wouldn’t be likable. At the beginning of the book, he’s not. “I knew that my character was not for everyone. He’s a bully at the beginning of the book, and you have to learn to love him

through his flaws. I knew that was going to be a hard sell, but seeing people understand the heart of the story was super touching. That’s why I’m on cloud nine, for sure,” he said.

Nerada spent five years working on Skater Boy. He first drafted the novel in 2019 and worked tirelessly with editors and agents until it finally hit shelves this past February. Despite the setbacks and struggles, Nerada knew he had a book that needed to be read. “Shifting my frame of mind was one of the reasons I never gave up, but it isn’t for the faint of heart,” he said. Now that he’s finally achieved his lifelong goal of publishing a novel, Nerada has no plans to stop. He’s working on his next two manuscripts — and yes, they’re just as Gay as Skater Boy

“There’s enough straight stories out in the world. It’s time for us to tell our stories, too,” he said.

Skater Boy is available now. You can find it at Elliott Bay Book Company, Queen Anne Book Company, and Charlie’s Queer Books in Seattle.

ANTHONY NERADA – PHOTO BY JORDAN DOAK

SOHO PRESS

BOOKS

Slow River : Gays in STEM (sewage treatment and emotional

manipulation)

Sex crimes and water purification in a cyberpunk dystopia

BY CLAR HART

SGN

CONTRIBUTING WRITER

SLOW RIVER

Nicole Griffith

© 1995 Nicole Griffith

$17.00

343 pages

Content warning: Incest, suicide, pedophilia, sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse

I got this book while attending a straight friend’s (doomed) destination wedding. It was the year all my straight friends got married while I struggled under the delayed adolescence of a late coming out. Wandering the streets of a strange city alone, putting off the moment I had to zip into bilecolored bridesmaid outfit after not having touched dresses for a year, I shuffled into a rainbow-colored bookshop like a lapsed Catholic post-divorce, seeking familiarity. I asked for a recommendation of something Gay to get me through the weekend of aggressive heteronormativity. Like a Queer communion, I was bestowed Slow River.

And now, five years later, I finally managed to finish the damn thing.

I do not know the ideal time to read 300 pages of abusive relationships, sex crimes, and (not joking) sewage treatment, but a weekend of being the single Queer in a room of paired straights is not it.

Slow River follows the Lesbian canon closely. We’ve got incest, sexual abuse, sad rich girls, and an inexplicable obsession with swimming. The main character, Lore, in order, gets abused by her mother (sexually), abused by her kidnappers (physically), abused by her girlfriend (emotionally), and then abused in all three ways by clients after her girlfriend drugs and pimps her out. It’s very ’90s cyberpunk. There are hackers and rich-family child abuse and sex clubs and child geniuses and white people saving the Middle East through magic

technology. Also lots of algae, which the ’90s loved like the 2010s loved shrooms.

In summary, Lore is from an evil waterpurification billionaire family and is kidnapped for ransom. Her family doesn’t pay, so she stabs one of the kidnappers, is dumped from a van, and decides to start a new life thanks to the generosity of Spanner, a hot cyberpunk hacker she just met.

Things go south in this relationship until, out of money, Spanner secretly drugs Lore to force her into sex work. Later, Lore plans a party to which they invite all of their friends, drug them, then film them having sex and sell it. Then — and this is truly the wildest part — Lore decides to go straight (career-wise only) and gets a job as a water purification specialist (the process of which is described in agonizing detail). Through the job, she finds out that her halfsister Greta is super evil and engineered the whole kidnapping thing, so Lore decides to narc on her and go back to her cushy billionaire lifestyle.

The writing is lyrically beautiful. Pieces of the character development ring sincere, such as Lore struggling with the fact that Greta gave her a lock for her room so she would not be abused as Greta was. (Greta, however, later engineers Lore’s kidnapping, as you will recall.) In her relationship with Spanner, as well, Lore struggles with the emotional complications of someone saving your life, only to later attempt to ruin it.

But with those pieces of interesting development, there are also moments of what I can only describe as “entitled richgirl shit.” Lore agonizes nearly the whole book over having stabbed her kidnapper, who was physically abusing her. However, the fact that she drugged her friends, who saved her life multiple times, then filmed them having sex and sold it is completely glossed over. When she later calls up some of her friends that she filmed, they immediately and inexplicably agree to help her. She half-apologizes to them, but really just says that she feels bad for not feeling bad. Which…what?

Spanner and Lore are both monstrous, but Spanner, who has all of her joints broken and put back into place rather than getting a desk job, is the more interesting monster. I found myself wishing it had been a Spanner redemption, rather than a Lore get-rich-quick-again plot.

There’s one piece that really hit the spot for me. Lore sees the corpse of a starved kitten that’s all skin and bones. Then she walks in to see Spanner, sitting at her desk, desperately trying to concoct one more scheme to keep them afloat. Lore feels a deep sadness for the two starved creatures, neglected by a world that should have comforted them. She says succinctly, “Kittens should be round.” And as a Gay whose Instagram feed is mostly made up of kitten fosters, that got me.