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Decision soon on Capital Pride, as NYC cancels its events

Trans woman stabbed to death in Baltimore

Mayor Bowser extends emergency order to May 15

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com

JOHANNA METZGER was stabbed to death earlier this month.

(Photo via Facebook)

As the coronavirus shutdown enters its sixth week, D.C. has seen more than 3,000 confirmed cases and 112 deaths as of Wednesday. Last week, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced that she has extended the city’s emergency order requiring all nonessential businesses, including restaurants, bars, and nightclubs, to shut down on-site operations until at least May 15.

The extension came in the form of a new mayoral order that extends the city’s state of emergency and public health emergency through May 15 to assist in D.C.’s effort to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The new order, which Bowser announced at a news conference, also expands her earlier order requiring the wearing of a face mask or face covering to employees, customers, and visitors of hotels, retail food sellers, taxis, ridesharing companies, and other private transportation providers.

Meanwhile, Capital Pride Alliance, the group that organizes D.C.’s annual Pride parade, street festival and other related events, announced on March 30 that it was postponing its Pride events but did not say when or definitively whether they would be rescheduled for later this year.

“We will collaborate with all the agencies and our partner Prides to identify new dates and potentially new ways that our community can come together in Pride,” said Capital Pride Executive Director Ryan Bos at the time the D.C. postponement was announced. Bos told the Blade this week that Capital Pride would release a statement next week about plans for D.C.’s 2020 Capital Pride.

Heritage of Pride, the group that organizes New York City’s annual LGBTQ Pride events, announced on Monday that in collaboration with city officials it has decided to cancel all 2020 Pride events originally scheduled for June 14-28 due to dangers posed by the coronavirus outbreak.

“As the days have passed, it has become more and more clear that even with a decline in the spread of COVID-19, large-scale events such as ours are unlikely to happen in the near future,” said Maryanne Roberto Fine, cochair of New York City Pride.

A scene from New York City Pride; this year’s event has been cancelled.

(Blade file photo by Michael Key)

“We understand that we need to reimagine NYC Pride events – and have already begun to do just that,” Fine said in an April 20 statement.

Among the New York events cancelled for June was the annual LGBTQ Pride March, which was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Christopher Street Liberation Day March of 1970. That event, which took place one year after New York’s Stonewall riots, became the nation’s — and possibly the world’s — first largescale march for LGBTQ rights.

New York Pride spokesperson Cathy Renna said New York Pride’s general membership was scheduled to meet virtually Monday night to determine whether some of the Pride events might be rescheduled for later this year if the epidemic begins to subside. Renna noted that New York City officials would make the final decision if and when any large-scale event could take place in the city later this year based on the status of the epidemic.

The cancellation of the New York City Pride events for June comes less than a week after San Francisco announced the cancellation of its Pride parade, one of the nation’s largest, and other Pride events. Numerous other cities in the U.S. and Europe have announced either the cancellation or postponement of their 2020 Pride events.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio issued a statement on Monday emphasizing the

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importance of the New York Pride events.

“New York City is the birthplace of the modern LGBTQ rights movement,” said de Blasio. “We’ve come a long way since the first Christopher Street Liberation Day March 50 years ago, which is a testament to the bravery and resiliency of LGBTIA+ New Yorkers in the struggle for equality,” he said.

“While this pandemic prevents us from coming together to march, it will in no way stop us from celebrating the indelible contributions that the LGBTIA+ community has made to New York City or from recommitting ourselves to the fight for equal rights,” he said.

Alphonso David, president of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ civil rights group, issued a statement on Monday noting the impact the cancellation of Pride events will likely have on the LGBTQ community.

“In many places around the country, Pride parades and festivals offer LGBTQ people a chance to gather with their community and feel free to fully express themselves,” he said. “For this reason, it is disappointing – but ultimately appropriate – to see so many of these events cancelled.”

Added David: “As we see our way through the COVID-19 crisis, we cannot be too careful. We know that LGBTQ people are at a greater risk of both the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, so we as a community must do all we can to stay safe and healthy.”

A transgender woman from Pennsylvania was murdered in Baltimore on April 11, Baltimore City LGBTQ Affairs announced on Facebook.

According to a blog post by the Human Rights Campaign, Johanna Metzger “is believed to be the sixth transgender or gender non-conforming person violently killed this year in the U.S., and the eighth death in Baltimore since HRC began tracking this data in 2013.”

WMAR, a Baltimore television station, reported Metzger — who, according to her mother, was a college graduate and selftaught musician — was staying at a Baltimore rehabilitation center when she was fatally stabbed in the 2200 block of Highview Avenue.

“FreeState Justice is deeply saddened by the loss of Johanna Metzger,” said C.P. Hoffman, legal director of FreeState Justice, a Maryland-based nonprofit organization specializing in LGBTQ-related legal advocacy, in an email on Friday. “Far too many members of our community experience violence and harassment on a daily basis simply because we are transgender, and some of us — like Johanna, Bailey Reeves, Zoe Spears, and Ashanti Carmon — ultimately pay with our lives.”

Further details about the crime have yet to be made public, but in announcing Metzger’s death, the staff of the Baltimore City LGBTQ Affairs office noted that they were “working with BPD to get details surrounding her homicide and with Baltimore Safe Haven to coordinate a response.”

The Washington Blade has reached out to the Baltimore Police Department for comment.

Baltimore Safe Haven, a local LGBTQ community center, held a vigil for Metzger.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Metzger’s life was honored via Zoom.

“The trans community, LGBTQ, nonconforming community matters, and they need to step up and address this throughout the city,” Baltimore Safe Haven founder Iya Dammons said during the vigil.

Baltimore Safe Haven describes itself on its Facebook page as “a nonprofit organization focused on providing outreach, drop-in and housing services for Baltimore’s most vulnerable LGBTQ community members.”

To donate to Baltimore Safe Haven, visit its Donorbox page.

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Rehoboth to D.C. visitors: ‘Consider staying home’

Beach town fears COVID-19 surge could overwhelm infrastructure

By LOU CHIBBARO JR. lchibbaro@washblade.com The small Delaware coastal cities of Rehoboth Beach and nearby Lewes are known as popular destinations for LGBTQ summer visitors as well as second home owners and year-round residents.

Similar to their counterparts in other Delaware coastal communities, the LGBTQ supportive mayors of Rehoboth and Lewes are struggling over efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus in an area with just three small hospitals.

The two have said the ongoing public health emergency is forcing them to call on the throngs of out-of-state visitors and second home owners, including LGBTQ people that begin to flock to their cities in the spring and summer, to consider staying away.

“We realize that individuals love to visit the coastal region, and want to visit their second homes for a change of scenery,” said Rehoboth Mayor Paul Kuhns. But Kuhns added, “We ask everyone to please take a proactive approach as we work together to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

Kuhns and Lewes Mayor Ted Becker have each pointed to Delaware Gov. John Carney’s updated Declaration of a State of Emergency issued on April 6 ordering the banning of all short-term rental units including vacation home rentals, hotels, motels, and condo rentals to help fight the spread of COVID-19 by discouraging out-of-state visitors from coming to the beach towns. The ban was put in place until May 15, but state observers expect Carney to extend it beyond that date.

Kuhns and Becker told the Washington Blade that the governor’s declaration doesn’t include an outright ban on outof-state visitors or second home owners or long-term renters from coming to Rehoboth or Lewes. But the two noted that an earlier version of the governor’s declaration, which is still in effect also until May 15, requires all out-of-state people coming into any part of Delaware to self-quarantine for 14 days.

The Delaware News, a state daily newspaper, has reported that Rehoboth police and Delaware State Police have been enforcing the 14-day quarantine order by “monitoring” and sometimes stopping cars entering the Rehoboth city limits with out-of-state license plates to make “inquires” about the visitors’ ability to self-quarantine. Delaware police in other small towns have pulled over drivers with out-of-state tags. One such Maryland driver who spoke to the Blade on condition of anonymity, said he was pulled over in Dagsboro, Del., a small town in Sussex County, while driving to his second home. An officer questioned him about his destination and finger-printed the driver.

“We are in a health emergency,” Kuhns told the Blade in an email message. “We are following the guidance of the Governor and his staff as they work together with five other states in his regional coalition,” Kuhns said.

“We have made difficult decisions, closing the beach and boardwalk to all activities including exercising and dog walking, playgrounds, and non-essential businesses, for the health and safety of our community,” he said. “The healthcare infrastructure is somewhat limited here, and it can handle the people that live in the area, but it becomes very heavily taxed if it’s very crowded,

Team Rayceen, Blade to host Ward 2 candidate forum

‘We are in a health emergency,’ said Rehoboth Mayor PAUL KUHNS. (Blade file photo)

and that’s a big fear,” Kuhns said.

“There is a rationale behind this,” said Mayor Becker of Lewes. “It is not to be punitive but it’s to preserve the medical resources that are here, recognizing that there are many, many people that are part-time residents from major metropolitan areas where there are more medical resources,” he said.

Becker and Kuhns noted that like D.C and other major metropolitan areas, the Delaware governor’s emergency declaration also required the closing of all non-essential businesses such as most retail stores, restaurants except for carryout food service, and bars and theaters.

Among the offices forced to close is Rehoboth’s LGBTQ community services center CAMP Rehoboth. Chris Beagle, the organization’s board president, said many of its programs are operating remotely or with virtual meetings and events.

The Washington Blade has postponed its annual Rehoboth Summer Kickoff Party held at the popular gay bar and restaurant Blue Moon, which had been scheduled for May 15 featuring an appearance by Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester. The tentative new date for the event, which is being listed as an end-of-summer party, is Sept. 11, one week after Labor Day weekend.

D.C. gay attorney Ed Grandis along with his husband bought a second home on the outskirts of Rehoboth Beach more than 10 years ago. Grandis said he and his husband decided to temporarily leave D.C. to stay in their Rehoboth home. He said his law practice in D.C. came to a near standstill due to coronavirus shutdowns and restrictions. He is conducting services for his few remaining clients remotely from Rehoboth, he told the Blade.

Grandis said he fully agrees with the sentiment of full-time Rehoboth residents that summer renters, visitors and even home owners should postpone plans for coming to Rehoboth and other nearby beach communities until the epidemic subsides.

“My sympathy is for protecting life,” he said. “If we have to be a bit draconian for health reasons that may be something we need to do.”

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RAYCEEN PENDARVIS (Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Washington Blade and Team Rayceen, the events group run by LGBTQ activist and entertainer Rayceen Pendarvis, will host an April 30 virtual forum for the Ward 2 D.C. Council candidates running in the city’s June 2 primary and the special Ward 2 Council election on June 16.

Pendarvis, who has interviewed each of the nine candidates running for the Ward 2 seat over the past few weeks, will serve as moderator of the forum. A Blade reporter will join Pendarvis in asking the candidates questions about LGBTQ and other issues facing the city at this time.

The forum will take place from 7-9 p.m. on Thursday, April 30, and can be accessed through the Blade’s and Pendarvis’ Facebook sites: facebook. com/WashingtonBlade and Facebook. com/Rayceen.Pendarvis.

The candidates expected to participate in the forum include Brooke Pinto, Daniel Hernandez, Jack Evans, John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, Katherine Venice, Kishan Putta, Patrick Kennedy, and Yilin Zhang.

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LGBTQ businesses improvise to stay afloat amid pandemic Some fear a second-wave ‘killing blow’ in the fall

By CHRIS JOHNSON cjohnson@washblade.com With the economy frozen amid the coronavirus crisis, small businesses across the country are feeling the pinch and LGBTQ-owned companies — some of which have dramatically altered their business models to stay afloat in trying times — are no exception.

Faced with their traditional sources of revenue being cut off amid governmentimposed shutdowns aimed at containing COVID-19, LGBTQ business owners who spoke to the Blade said they’ve had to improvise by facilitating different services than they did in their roles prior to the epidemic.

Amy Tiller, a lesbian and co-owner of the Portland, Ore.-based Inspired Results, said her company immediately pivoted from brand management in print and apparel for client businesses to sending supplies of PPE to hospitals in regions hardest hit by the coronavirus.

“We did a couple of large volume orders for hand sanitizer and gloves and things like that, and then people just started you know started referring us to other health care companies,” Tiller said.

“It just became this thing in a matter of weeks that we were securing for traditional hospitals and clinics as well as senior living communities, as well as also we do a lot with our local retail grocery stores.”

The clientele base for Inspired Results, Tiller said, was around 70 percent in health care related industries, so pivoting to PPE was a natural shift, and the business that followed “just kind of blossomed.”

“We will quite literally send out millions of pieces of PPE between gloves, sanitizer, face masks and gowns — primarily those four are huge — and kind of with no end in sight,” Tiller said.

Typically, Tiller said a day for Inspired Results consists of sending emails at 3 a.m. to China, where the supply chain starts, to ensure the PPE is available for clients, which she said has built off the company’s mission to supply those in need without price gouging.

“I think that that has really resonated: The combination of speed, agility and access to the supply, combined with the fact that we’re not going to charge you $10 for a gown,” Tiller said. “We just won’t deal with suppliers that are doing that.”

Among her clients across the country, Tiller said, is a large health system in the United States as well as other highly regulated industries in health care, logistics companies and telecom.

The shift, Tiller said, has made her clients take a second look at the company and realize it has more to offer beyond its initial focus on brand management.

“It’s felt really good to be able to be there for them in their time of need and I think that they see us differently as well,” Tiller said. “Like, one you could do so much more than maybe what I thought your capabilities were before because like big organizations are using us for one or two things, right? Now, it’s kind of opened up this world now.”

The change in business model for Inspired Results is just one many for LGBTQ-owned businesses throughout the country, many of which are coordinating with the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce for assistance.

Jonathan Lovitz, senior vice president for the National LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce, said his organization has been coordinating with the U.S. Small Business Administration to ensure they get that help.

“As the business voice of the LGBT community, the NGLCC is uniquely positioned to connect public and private sector resources to our network of affiliate chambers and partner organizations who urgently need the economic relief and emotional connection our community can always be counted on to provide,” Lovitz said.

Prior to enactment of the $2.2 trillion CARES Act, the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce sent letters to members of Congress demanding the inclusion of LGBTQ entrepreneurs as well as support for non-profit, micro businesses and independent contractors.

Justin Nelson, president of the National LGBT Chamber of Commerce, said via email the CARES Act and initial call with SBA were “positive first steps to ensure our community is financially protected during this crisis,” but more is needed.

“Many were left out and more will certainly be needed, especially as many of our business owners faced difficulty

1 0 • WAS H I NGTO NBLA DE.COM • A PRIL 24, 2020 • N ATI ONA L NE W S

LUCAS MENDIETA (left) and NATHAN PERRY own Cutting Edge Elite in New York.

(Photo courtesy Cutting Edge Elite)

in applying for these essential funds,” Nelson said. “This is why NGLCC, in collaboration with the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce (USHCC), U.S. Black Chamber of Commerce (USBC), and the Asian/Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce (ACE) and over 100 of our collective affiliate chambers will continue advocating for expanded funding for small business relief in upcoming rounds of relief, the inclusion of 501(c)(6) organizations in relief for nonprofit organizations, and the eligibility of— and increased assistance for — diverse small and micro businesses.”

Other businesses are finding other ways to cope during the COVID-19 epidemic, even at the expenses of profit margins if it means keeping workers on payroll.

Nathan Perry, who’s gay and co-owner of the Brooklyn-based Cutting Edge Elite, said his company — a staffing agency for New York residents seeking to moonlight as hospitality workers at events — has shifted to find them work without any profit.

“Recently, with everything that’s happened, obviously, events wiped out completely,” Perry said. “So sales, 100 percent gone, and nobody should be having a party right now, frankly, but it was our mission to our staff, so now it’s just our mission to get them work without any profit.”

Among the staff at Cutting Edge Elite are New York performers in the gig economy, some of which are doing theater work. As a result, Perry said many of these workers don’t qualify for unemployment benefits.

Perry said he created a relief division,

priced it at cost to cover their staff wages and employer tax insurance and then moved to “getting them out there to good work.”

“I think from a mental health perspective this is hard on so many levels,” Perry said. “And one of them is just not having work during this tragedy, which leaves you stuck at home watching CNN way too many hours, and our staff are among the most financially vulnerable.”

Lucas Mendieta, who’s gay and also a co-owner of Cutting Edge Elite, said among the new clients for staffers includes the New York Department of Aging. And the tasks have changed as well.

“We’ve had some staff that are helping out in-house with getting meals ready and then other ones … just to get food out to a lot of older people who just aren’t able to leave their homes,” Mendieta said.

Although $350 billion was made available for small businesses under the third installment of the CARES ACT, many companies have yet to see that relief.

Perry said Cutting Edge Elite applied for relief under the Paycheck Protection Program, but as of last week had yet to hear any news.

“We know we can last about eight weeks with zero business and everyone at this level,” Perry said. “We put in for that PPP application, as well as the SBA disaster relief as well as the NYC continuity fund.

Haven’t heard a peep from our bank.”

With the money depleted for the Paycheck Protection Program, the Senate after negotiations approved this week on a bipartisan basis an additional $480 billion for the initiative. The measure is now pending before the House, which is expected to approve the measure this week.

LGBTQ businesses are adjusting to new realities under the coronavirus as debate rages on — with passionate advocates on both sides — over when is the right time to reopen the economy.

Medical experts are saying testing in the United States must be ramped up two or threefold before that can happen safely, while many throughout the country agitate over getting back to normal and fume over travel restrictions.

CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

Trans service members fight COVID-19 under ongoing ban ‘Hold your head high’ and wait for election to reverse policy

By PHILIP VAN SLOOTEN

In the year since the Department of Defense’s restrictions on transgender service members went into effect, some who were “grandfathered in” now find themselves fighting COVID-19 while others are barred from serving despite having medical training.

The DoD’s restrictions, detailed in its directive-type-memorandum 19-004, went into effect on April 12, 2019 in response to President Donald Trump’s July 26, 2017 tweet stating the U.S. military would no longer “accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in any capacity.”

However, a year after the ban went into effect, transgender service members continue to serve in multiple capacities, including “directly supporting COVID-19 relief and recovery as medical professionals, logisticians, security forces and administrators,” according to SPART*A, a trans service member support organization.

For example, Navy Hospital Corpsman Alonna Lovanh is an out trans woman who tests patients for COVID-19 as a medical laboratory technician.

While she analyzes patient samples, Lovanh must keep an Exception to Policy memo in her uniform “in case anybody asks me about my hair. I can say it is in the correct standards in accordance with my gender because I am female.”

When Lovanh spoke with the Blade, she rarely used the word transgender and spoke with a confidence that emanated from the memo in her pocket exempting her from the ban’s restrictions and allowing her to continue receiving necessary medical treatment. Other trans service members are not as fortunate.

“April 12 created a break between those who already transitioned and those who had not yet,” she explained. “Those who are nonexempt, they have been told they are not allowed to take medications or transition.

They would not be allowed to get medical aid as provided by the military. But for me, since I am exempt, I have a care plan for where I am in my transition, to include my medications.

But those who are nonexempt, they do not really get a care plan.”

Lovanh’s work, and other COVID-19 relief efforts by trans troops, highlight contradictions addressed by ongoing legal challenges to the ban. Though the DoD states the restrictions do

not constitute a “ban,” they restrict the ability of transgender people to serve authentically even during a global crisis.

“It prevents transgender people from joining the military or commissioning,” explained Peter Perkowsky, the legal and policy director of the Modern Military Association of America. “Unless you agree to serve in your birth sex and are certified ‘stable’ for 18 months in your birth sex. That’s why it’s a ban [for people who have or want to transition].”

Melody Stachour, a transgender Navy chief petty officer who is also exempt from the ban’s restrictions, stated these restrictions feel more intense than those under the now rescinded “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” law banning open service based on sexual orientation.

“Then you would change the pronouns of your partner in order to keep serving,” she said. “Now you have to change your own.”

Last year’s April 12 deadline for transgender troops to medically or socially transition prior to the ban’s implementation created two separate but supposedly equal groups of trans service members. The DoD categorizes them as either “exempt” from the restrictions (i.e. “grandfathered in”) or “nonexempt” and restricted from medically or socially transitioning from their assigned sex at birth.

Perkowsky pointed out the ban violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution by creating a sex-based and gender-based classification as well as a due process issue.

“The question becomes whether the government has a legitimate basis to make this decision,” he said, also stating the “special accommodations” a Pentagon spokesperson told NBC News the memo “removes” involves medical care all military personnel should be able to receive and not be restricted from.

Other restrictions include not having a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, which the American Psychological Association defines as “discontent with the physical or social aspects of one’s own sex,” and not having a history of “cross-sex hormone therapy” or of genderaffirming surgery, all of which are considered “disqualifying” under the new guidance.

“Individuals who are not exempt must adhere, like all other service members, to the standards associated with their biological sex,” states the DoD memo.

However, Stachour said the new

classifications and restrictions only apply to transgender service members.

Over the past year the policy states that if you were not ‘out’ prior to it, then you were not allowed to serve [openly] and you were not allowed to join the service if you transitioned,” she told the Blade.

While the guidance states service members may not be discharged on the basis of gender identity, it states they can be discharged or face “appropriate disciplinary action” if they are “unable or unwilling” to meet standards “associated with their biological sex.”

A nonexempt transgender service member initially reached out to the Blade to discuss life under the DoD restrictions, but later changed their mind out of fear of discharge or other negative consequences if outed.

The current policy does state that transgender service members or potential recruits may seek waivers from these restrictions, but no waiver has yet has been approved or denied.

Although, according to SPART*A, many have applied in the past year.

Bree Fram, SPART*A’s communications director and a transgender Air Force lieutenant colonel who is exempt from the ban, told the Blade they were aware of around “20 or more” nonexempt trans service members who applied for waivers.

“They are understanding that they are taking a risk and should they be denied, they can be separated,” Fram explained. “Once that waiver is denied, they can face discharge. Anyone who is putting a waiver in should consider that at the end of that process could be a discharge.”

However, many nonexempt trans service members are willing to accept the risk because an approved waiver grants them the protections and stability of exempt status.

“The waiver allows you to be an exempt individual,” Fram said. “And fall under those criteria for stability.”

According to the DoD’s governing memorandum, “Service members who are exempt may not be separated, discharged, or denied reenlistment or continuation of service solely on the basis of gender identity,” and they will be treated “in a manner consistent” with a cisgender service member.

“In case I wanted to go use the female head,” Lovanh said. “I can show anyone who

Air Force Lt.Col. BREE FRAM warned that anyone who is seeking a waiver to the military’s trans ban should consider that at the end of that process they could face discharge.

(Photo courtesy of Fram)

questions me the [Exception to Policy] memo and say I am allowed to be here because the Navy recognizes me as female.”

But the process for obtaining a waiver is long and difficult, and in the past year only one has made it to a branch Secretary’s desk.

Even the current pandemic crisis has not eased the process for those with medical expertise. Fram told the Blade of a doctor who is having difficulty getting a waiver to join the service.

“I know a trans physician who can’t get traction from a recruiter to get into the service though he could be valuable in the fight against COVID-19,” she said.

The physician, who asked not to be identified so as not to further complicate his entry efforts, stated he had spoken with “every single branch and every form of service” to include active duty and National Guard components with similar results.

Stachour, who serves as a mentor for both lower-ranking officers and enlisted sailors, said the current crisis also prevents her from administering effective face-to-face career guidance to those she works with.

“One of the biggest struggles for the folks assigned to me,” she said. “is I don’t see them as much as I used to … so I wind up reaching out during my off hours. I can’t get a quick two minute update when we are walking out to our cars. The interpersonal mentoring is challenged.”

Both Stachour and Fram were chosen by cisgender senior leadership to serve as advisers partially because of their being transgender and the unique and empathetic experience it brings.

CONTINUES AT WASHINGTONBLADE.COM

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Miami designer makes masks to fight coronavirus MIAMI — Given the growing demand for masks due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Cuban-born fashion designer Alberto Ravelo decided to do his part by making this vital garment, but with attractive and unique designs.

“I was motivated to make them because of the social responsibility that we have to stop this crisis, because of the shortage of masks that currently exists and to educate society on how to protect themselves with the resources that we have at our disposal,” Ravelo told the Blade in an exclusive interview.

It is the first time the designer, who lives in Miami, launched a collection like this. He has created several patterns in different styles; some more complicated and others simpler, but he says all of the masks are equally effective.

“I make the masks at home with materials that certain people have donated to me, like sheets, T-shirts and cloth,” he says. “The donations arrive washed and I hygienically handle them at home on clean surfaces and I am constantly washing my hands, but I recommend that people who receive them wash them before wearing them.”

It is precisely the cloth masks, made from fabrics found at home or made at home from common materials that are inexpensive to buy that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended to stop the virus’ spread.

Surgical masks and N-95 masks that many people use are critical supplies that should continue to be reserved for health care workers and other emergency response medical staff as the CDC recommends.

Ravelo initially began the project to help A Zero Waste Culture, a non-profit organization that supports the fight against climate change. A Zero Waste Culture plans to donate the masks. The designer will also receive orders through his Facebook and Instagram accounts. Customers can choose their design and materials.

YARIEL VALDES GONZALES

Some question gender-based COVID prevention Transgender activists in Latin America have expressed concern over rules that allow people to leave their homes during the coronavirus pandemic based on their gender.

A “pico y género” rule that took effect in Panamá on April 2 allows men to leave their homes on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays in order to buy food and medications and to go to the bank. Women can leave their homes on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Reuters reports Panamanians, regardless of their gender, cannot leave their homes on Sundays.

The Peruvian government implemented a similar “pico y género” rule earlier this month.

Gabriela Oporto Patroni, a lawyer with Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos, a Peruvian LGBTQ advocacy group known by the acronym PROMSEX, said police officers and soldiers in several Peruvian cities harassed trans women who had left their homes to buy food and medicine on days when women

were allowed to do so.

Oporto said many of these incidents were recorded and posted to social media.

“It has caused problems for many trans people, people with non-binary gender expression,” Oporto told the Blade on April 14 during a WhatsApp interview from Lima, the Peruvian capital.

Claudia López, the first woman and first lesbian elected mayor of the Colombian capital of Bogotá, implemented a “pico y género” rule in her city that allows women to leave their homes on even days and men to leave their homes on odd days.

Fundación de Grupo de Acción y Apoyo a Personas Trans, a Bogotábased trans advocacy group known by the acronym GAAT, in a press release notes authorities will enforce the rule based on a person’s gender identity. GAAT nevertheless notes the regulation “opens the door to situations of discrimination and police abuses.”

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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‘I was motivated to make them because of the social responsibility that we have to stop this crisis,’ said fashion designer ALBERTO RAVELO. (Photo courtesy Ravelo)

Trump suspends immigration for 60 days Advocacy groups this week sharply criticized President Trump over his executive order that will effectively stop immigration into the U.S. “In light of the attack from the Invisible Enemy, as well as the need to protect the jobs of our great American citizens, I will be signing an executive order to temporarily suspend immigration into the United States,” proclaimed Trump late Monday in a tweet that referred to the coronavirus pandemic.

Trump during the White House Coronavirus Task Force’s daily press briefing on Tuesday announced the “temporary suspension of immigration into the U.S.” will remain in place for 60 days.

The New York Times reported the order only applies to those who are seeking green cards that would allow them to permanently live and work in the U.S. It is not immediately clear if the order would apply to refugees or asylum seekers.

Trump said he would sign the order on Wednesday. Visit washingtonblade. com for updates.

Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf on Monday announced the U.S.-Canada border and the U.S.-Mexico border will remain closed to non-essential travel for an additional 30 days. Wolf at the March 20 press conference that announced the closures said undocumented immigrants will not be allowed into the U.S.

“As President Trump stated last week, border control, travel restrictions, and other limitations remain critical to slowing the spread of coronavirus and allowing the phased opening of the country,” said Wolf on Monday in a tweet.

The suspension of international flights and border closures have essentially stopped immigration into the U.S. Trump’s announcement also coincides with continued criticism of the White House’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday said there are 253 confirmed coronavirus cases among detainees who are in their detention centers. Immigration Equality is among the groups that continue to demand ICE release people with HIV and detainees who are at increased risk for th virus.

OutRight Action International Executive Director Jessica Stern in a statement to the Blade on Tuesday noted “immigration processes are largely frozen across the world; many borders remain closed and international travel is negligible.”

“As such, President Trump’s tweet announcing an upcoming executive order temporarily banning all immigration is redundant and only serves to blame foreigners for effects of the pandemic, instead of seeking solutions to the global problem,” said Stern.

MICHAEL K. LAVERS

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Should Biden pick Lori Lightfoot for VP?

Census 2020 is complicated, but it counts

She’s qualified, but Chicago needs her too much now

Critical funds for LGBTQ Americans at risk

With former Vice President Joe Biden now the last person standing out of the historically large and diverse Democratic primary field, it’s time to seriously start thinking about who his vice president should be.

Anyone who is vaguely familiar with out lesbian Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot probably knows that she would be a strong vice presidential candidate. She has it all. She’s a woman. She’s racially diverse. She’s from the Midwest. And to top it all off, she’s competent. But with all that being said, anyone who is more intimately familiar with her probably knows that she is also the worst possible choice for a completely different, and perhaps surprising, reason.

For those who aren’t familiar with Lightfoot, she assumed the mayorship of Chicago last May. Since then, she has steadied the city following Rahm Emanuel’s rather rocky tenure.

While there’s no denying that Biden did an admirable job as vice president, there were times when he faltered. The most painful of which were when his personal gaffes took away from the serious work that President Barack Obama was doing. Lightfoot, like Obama, is a workhorse of a politician.

Not prone to rhetorical mistakes and awkward personal interactions, she has a history of getting things done that stretches back to her days as an assistant United States attorney.

Surely, someone with a track record of providing reasoned governance like Lightfoot will be able to temper some of the rougher edges that make “Uncle Joe” seem so authentic.

Many of the people who have floated California Sen. Kamala Harris as a potential vice presidential pick have stressed her strength as a candidate because of her past as a prosecutor.

She will be able to prosecute the case against Trump, they say. So too can Lightfoot, but without the baggage.

Unlike Harris, she didn’t attempt a clumsy prosecution of Biden’s track record regarding civil rights.

For those who are still unconvinced, take a look at her swift response to COVID-19. When the data coming out of her city showed that African Americans were dying from the virus at higher rates than other communities, she and the city went to work to mitigate the risk of exposure by running bigger buses, the primary source of transportation for communities of color, to allow for more social distancing. Importantly, she also ordered providers to start gathering complete demographic data from patients in order to better understand just how significantly the virus is impacting African Americans.

There’s just one reason that Lightfoot should not be the vice presidential choice: Chicago needs her too much.

She has only been mayor for just shy of a year now. She’s still settling in and making her mark on the city. If she were to become vice president, she would no longer be around to oversee all of the new and vitally important initiatives she has launched while in office.

Although the country needs Lightfoot, a steady hand who will guide us through the uncertain times that we’re facing, so too does Chicago. While she might not be the right choice at this time, someone like Lightfoot certainly is.

With all of the uncertainty at the moment, we have to wonder when Biden’s choice will be announced.

Surely, an announcement at the Democratic National Convention in August will be too late. If he goes ahead and announces a candidate like Lightfoot as his vice presidential pick now, the country will be assured that it will once again be in competent hands if it can just hold on another nine months.

1 4 • WAS H I NGTO NBLA DE.COM • A PRIL 24, 2020 • V I E W POI NT

By now, everyone should have received a mailing from the U.S. Census Bureau to get counted. I have complicated feelings about the census.

While the census is critically important to ensure a fair allocation of funding for services and political representation, it will not deliver the full acceptance and freedom of the LGBTQ community. After all, it’s a government survey. It will not capture the breadth of human experience in America today. So why are my feelings complicated?

Some aspects of my identity are reflected in the census. I’m gay. There is no census question asking about sexual orientation. Yet, the relationship question counts same-sex married spouses and unmarried partners.

While being a same-sex couple is a poor proxy for sexual orientation, the 2010 census uncovered more than 700,000 same-sex couples in the U.S. I’m a dad of an adopted AfricanAmerican child. Many LGBTQ people build families through adoption. The census counts transracial families. In fact, every year census data is used to allocate $8 billion for foster care and adoption assistance that can help queers start families.

At the same time, my community is erased. Trans and gender non-conforming people must respond to a binary sex question. They must choose between their sex assigned at birth or how they identity today. The census asks about biology, not identity, and today while Facebook has more than 52 genders, the U.S. government only has two. It sucks.

Even India, Nepal, Pakistan (and Washington and Oregon) recognize a third gender. I and my organization, the National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance have urged the Census Bureau to recognize all of our community.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, health care is especially critical. The census is used to allocate $311 billion in medical assistance annually, according to the George Washington University Institute for Public Policy. More resources flow to where

there is greater need based on the relative size of the population.

I teach a class on Asian American Queerness at Hunter College CUNY. So many of my students benefit from the $29 billion in financial aid (Pell Grants) for college every year.

The census continues to be used to allocate $645 million in HIV funding. I could go on and recount the importance of an accurate census: • $457 million for community mental health services; • $133 million for domestic violence prevention programs; • $48 million for community arts programs and for queer and trans artists; • $4.7 million to prevent abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elders.

The more people who respond to the census, the more likely resources will flow to under-resourced communities.

But for me the most importance aspect of the census is the political influence that the data drives. The census can be a check on the outsized political influence that some intolerant states command when apportioning congressional seats among the states based on population.

Census data is also used to redraw congressional, state legislative and city council district boundaries to make them equal in population. Sure, some districts can be gerrymandered. But voting rights advocates can also use the data to draw districts that give communities of color, and those who have be traditionally underrepresented, a voice in the halls of power.

The census is required by law. People can be fined $100 for not responding.

Federal law also ensures that personal information is private and may not be shared with the immigration service, IRS, or law enforcement.

NQAPIA is monitoring the census to keep our community safe. We have lawyers ready to sue if there are breaches and who are available to answer questions. You can report problem to us at http://bit.ly/2ULyiLy. The census holds a lasting impact. To be missed is to be gone for the next 10 years.

Let’s be counted.

PETER ROSENSTEIN

KATHI WOLFE

is a regular contributor to the Blade and winner of the 2014 Stonewall Chapbook competition.

is a longtime LGBTQ rights and Democratic Party activist. He writes regularly for the Blade.

Shakespeare was productive in quarantine

Trump fails again on COVID-19

You don’t have to write ‘King Lear’ to make good use of time

President’s inaction makes him a mass murderer

An epidemic strikes. No one wants to catch the terrifying disease. People quarantine themselves. Some are alone.

Others are stuck inside with anxious spouses and restless children. Theaters, bars and other businesses are closed.

Passersby give you the side-eye if they think you’re spreading the disease.

Washington, D.C., New York or San Francisco in the COVID-19 age? No! This is what life in London was often like during the latter half of the 16th and early 17th century. One of those living in and observing this time was William Shakespeare.Washing our hands, it’s easy to feel that we’re the only ones struggling with a plague. But, nearly 500 years ago, Shakespeare, who lived from 1564 to 1616, not only endured, but thrived through plague after plague.

We don’t know much about Shakespeare’s personal life or sexuality.

In his day, people didn’t talk about sexual orientation or identify as queer.

But I’m proud to claim the queerness in his plays and poems. His work from “Twelfth Night” to his sonnets has a queer quotient. It’s brimming with wit and gender-bending. In some of his sonnets a narrator addresses a man – a “fair youth.” In Sonnet No. 20, the narrator calls the handsome man a “master mistress.”

Shakespeare’s life was intertwined with epidemics (of bubonic plague) from the get-go. Luckily, (for him and the universe!), Shakespeare survived an outbreak of plague that occurred in his birthplace of Stratford-upon-Avon when he was three months old. But his two older siblings died from the disease.

Over the centuries, outbreaks of plague killed at least a third of the people of Europe. It was caused by rat fleas. But, people didn’t know that then. Some thought it was caused by “sin.” Others believed you could get the plague from dogs. Sure, social distancing is hard, but be glad that you

weren’t a puppy during Shakespeare’s era. “As grim as plague was for humans, it was worse for dogs,” writes theater historian James Shapiro in “The Year of Lear,” “erroneously convinced that dogs spread plague, London authorities had them rounded up and slaughtered.”

You wouldn’t have wanted to be human then, though. As it is with COVID-19, there was no treatment or cure. The horrific symptoms of the plague included, “fever, a racing pulse and breathlessness, followed by pain in the back and legs, thirst and stumbling,” Shapiro wrote in The Guardian.

There were several severe outbreaks of plague during Shakespeare’s lifetime (including in 1582, 1592, 1603, 1605 and 1606). As is the case with us and COVID-19, when the plague raged the only recourse was self-isolation and social distancing. Theaters and other public places were closed down.

Why am I telling you this? Because I’m in awe of how creative Shakespeare was during his periods of self-isolation.

True confession: I was bored to death when we read “Hamlet” in high school English. The language seemed way too old – too stilted. I didn’t care about “to be or not to be.” I only wanted the class to end. But after I saw “Hamlet,” “As You Like It and other of his plays performed on the stage (where his words on the page came vibrantly to life), I joined the multitudes of Shakespeare aficionados.

Since we’ve been on lockdown, I’ve had to push myself to write grocery lists. Even dreaming of making art seems daunting. This wasn’t a problem for Shakespeare. While he was quarantined during plague outbreaks, he wrote “King Lear,” “Macbeth,” “Anthony and Cleopatra,” “Coriolanus” and “Timon of Athens.”

Most of us in our COVID-19 era won’t give Shakespeare a run for his money.

We won’t write the next “King Lear.” Yet, we can be creative – through singing, dancing, drawing – writing a poem. And we can cheer on the artists who nourish and nurture us by making art.

A physician friend recently asked me if I knew why Trump didn’t begin a Manhattan Project to speed development of a vaccine and therapeutics for COVID-19. It is a great question and another dramatic failure this administration will have to answer for. The Manhattan Project “was a research and development undertaken during World War II that produced the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States with the support of the United Kingdom and Canada.”

Instead, last week the Washington Post reported in a column titled “Chaotic search for virus treatments undermines effort” that “with more than 500 human clinical trials worldwide, the lack of coordination puts the world at risk of ending up with a raft of inconclusive and conflicting studies and little idea of what interventions work for the next wave of illness.”

They go on to write that finally “Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s largest biomedical research agency, acknowledged researchers’ frustrations but said in an interview Wednesday he has been working behind the scenes to launch an unprecedented public-private partnership to address the problems.

He said the framework involves top pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson, domestic and international government agencies including the European Medicines Agency, and academic research centers.”

So why didn’t the president have a national strategy before this and why he didn’t start a Manhattan Project to coordinate all the research into finding both a therapeutic and a vaccine?

Had this been done in February when the government knew what we were dealing with think how far ahead we would be at this time. Yet the president dithered and did nothing. Actually instead he kept claiming to have the

constitutional authority to open the economy on his own and to close the Congress, both of which he has no ability to do. You have to wonder if Trump ever even read the Constitution.

This president is a moron and continues to prove it each day at the ridiculous press conference/political rally he holds each afternoon. He can also be considered a mass murderer. He has blood on his hands for how he has mishandled every aspect of this crisis.

We cannot blame him for COVID-19.

He didn’t cause it. But we can and should blame him for his response — or egregious lack of one. He avoided using the full powers he has under the Defense Production Act, which “was enacted after the Korean War to ensure that the United States has enough supplies for its defense” early enough to make a real difference. We could have had more ventilators and enough PPE and swabs for testing, which would have saved lives including those of some of our dedicated healthcare workers. Instead we saw him play with business leaders, who he claimed as friends, and lacked the courage to act decisively. He plays at wielding power but won’t use it for the good of the people rather when he does use his power it redounds to his own good.

The bottom line for his every response to COVID-19 is whether it is useful as a marketing tool for Donald Trump. Even then he is proving his lack of smarts as his polling numbers are now dropping.

He clearly doesn’t read anything and has no knowledge of the basic facts of the Constitution or other laws. He has surrounded himself with a cadre of sycophants who fear “telling truth to power” as they know if their truth doesn’t agree with his they will be out the door in a minute. What that has meant is experts like doctors Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx have to play to his ego simply to get him to listen to facts.

Despite Trump, we will survive this pandemic but we must vote to rid the nation and the world of scum like him on Nov. 3.

V I E W POI NT • A PR IL 2 4 , 2 0 2 0 • WAS H IN GTO N B LAD E.CO M • 1 5

HOME & GARDEN

Navigating D.C.’s housing market in COVID era Coronavirus impacting cities in different ways

By KHALIL ALEXANDER EL-GHOUL it is quite the opposite. People are trying to get into the D.C. greater metropolitan area.

The cherry blossom trees are beginning to bloom and the weather is warming up in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Springtime is generally the time D.C.’s housing market hits a high. How will COVID-19, more commonly known as coronavirus, affect the market?

The two main concerns Americans have right now are health and the economy. Schools are closed and places of business have shut their doors and many may never reopen. But what does that really mean for the housing market? And although a recession would have catastrophic consequences for our economy, historically speaking the housing market isn’t closely aligned with the ebbs and flows of the stock market, not including the housing market crash of 2008, which was unlike our current predicament. The 2008 recession was led by real estate that lasted 18 months.

Although we are likely in a recession right now, it is too early to see what kind of effect it will have on home prices.

SHOULDN’T THE FINAL MEMORIES OF A LOVED ONE THE FINEST?

D.C. market stronger than other cities BE AMONG It is looking like the greater metropolitan D.C. area may get through this pandemic in better shape than many other areas of the country due to our unique local economy. Local Realtors are reporting requests for showings and listings.

This is most likely due to the housing shortage D.C. is facing.

D.C. has faced a shortage of housing for years. The people in this area are in need of housing and the coronavirus is not eliminating that demand. The lack of inventory is the reason D.C.-area homes are expensive and coming into spring 2020, many expected record sales prices throughout the region.

This housing shortage isn’t expected to go away anytime soon, even with our current pandemic. The nation’s capital and its contracted companies alone employ thousands of people, many essential with work-from-home capacity.

Because of the federal government and internet-based

SHOULDN’T THE FINAL MEMORIES OF A LOVED ONE BE AMONG THE FINEST?

Spring is here but coronavirus has thrown uncertainty into a normally exciting, busy time for the housing market.

companies in the D.C. area, when the stock market falls it doesn’t hit quite as hard in D.C. According to Clint Mann, Urban Pace’s president of sales and marketing, new home sales are trending to beat projections. Just last weekend, eNvy, a new condo development in the city’s Ballpark District, received more interested buyers than it has in all of 2020. This may be due to a younger population interested in purchasing a condominium and their belief they will not get sick from the virus. Regardless of our current situation, this is not a city where people are rushing to get out. In fact,

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A ceremony that is as unique as the individual. We’ll help you plan

Should I enter the market?

We have known D.C. to be a seller’s market for quite some time. Will it continue to be? That is impossible to predict at this uncertain time, but there is a chance that it will continue. Much of this is dependent upon mortgage rates. Right now they are up, down, and then up again due to our uncertain situation. People are asking, “should I buy a house?” “Should I sell my house?”

COVID-19 is terrifying, there is no question about that. However, anyone entering the housing market may find themselves with the benefit of low rates and less competition. If you have to have to sell a home, you will very likely find a willing buyer.

If you spend any time at all online or watching the news you will see news reports that will tell you America is on its way to another recession and other reports predicting everything will level off and we will survive this pandemic and economic crisis just fine.

You need to determine why you are selling or buying a home. Pay attention to national and local trends. We at Glass House have helped several buyers and sellers during this time and each situation is unique. We have our finger on the pulse of the local market and are well equipped to help you determine whether buying or selling is right for you.

Khalil Alexander El-Ghoul is principal broker with Glass House Real Estate. Reach him at khalil@glasshousere.com or 571-235-4821.

10 202.262.7762 202.262.7762 michael.moore@compass.com

10

Michael’s average Michael’s average days on market

days on market

michael.moore@compass.com

103.4% Leveraging repeat business and a steady stream of referrals, Michael’s past repeat performance has and paved way stream for the success Leveraging business a the steady of referrals, he enjoys today.

Adopting a hands-on approach, Michael ensures Michael’s past performance has paved the way for the success that each transaction is seamless from start to finish.

Michael’s average 103.4% list to sale price Michael’s average

list to sale price

he enjoys today. Adopting a hands-on approach, Michael ensures that each transaction is seamless from start to finish.

Michael loves that in real estate, no one day is the same, and he’s prepared for anything — whether it be an unexpected barrier to Michael that in to real no one dayfor is the same, and he’s tackle or aloves new chance goestate, above and beyond his clients.

prepared for anything — whether it be an unexpected barrier to tackle or a new chance to go above and beyond for his clients.

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Compass is a licensed real estate brokerage that abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Compass is licensed as Compass Real Estate in DC and as Compass in Virginia and Maryland. 1232 31st Street NW, Washington, DC 20007 |202.448.9002

Compass is a licensed real estate brokerage that abides by Equal Housing Opportunity laws. Information is compiled from sources deemed reliable but is not guaranteed. All measurements and square footages are approximate. This is not intended to solicit property already listed. Compass is licensed as Compass Real Estate in DC and as Compass in Virginia and Maryland. 1232 31st

SPRING HOME & GARDEN 2020

Blossoming abode

By CHRISTOPHER JAMES DeSIMONE

In Fairfax County, three miles south of Alexandria on land dedicated to several orchards and farms into the early 1900s — and home to two airfields in the 1950s — Groveton has grown into a racially and economically diverse neighborhood that has experienced a revitalization of sorts due with expansion at Fort Belvoir.

Stephen and I purchased a small ranchinspired brick home in 2007. Constructed in 1937 — the year Amelia Earhart disappeared and the year the Hindenburg blew up — the house was in desperate need of gentrification. We think we were successful in resurrecting a local treasure.

At the time, my husband and I had been living in the National Capital Region for 11 years. I was exhausted with the anxiety of renting. I’d been paying rent since I was 18.

And tired of noisy neighbors — loud music and late-night parties. The list goes on.

The year we decided to purchase, our leasing office proposed a 10 percent increase to our rent. Given the alternatives of cutting an already tight budget or trying to find a pet-

friendly rental that was as nice and yet not as expensive, we decided to take the plunge.

Our geographic boundaries were fairly limited. Money was the driver of the location and there weren’t a lot of locations. The market was sinking and the mortgage rates hadn’t yet caught up.

Working as our own realtors and agents we found the house. I immediately knew the potential was huge. Fortunate enough to have motivated sellers, cash back at closing enabled us to get new appliances, hire movers and make the most modest improvements.

First things first, we decided to tackle the home’s curb appeal. Sitting on a relatively barren lot of wet clay and weeds, I spent several years with a shovel in hand. The work outside was a three-season operation.

Due to budget constraints, most of my landscaping materials were sourced at the two big-box home improvement retailers near the house. The priority was to get the plantings in the ground the first year as landscaping can take years to mature, whereas a room can be

cleaned up and made to look “show ready” in a matter of days.

I’ve since had a local garden center install a Duraheat River Birch and two Kousa Dogwoods. We’ve added a spectacular Snow Fountain Weeping Cherry, two Thundercloud Plumbs and Capital Flowering Pears, and a Sweet Bay Magnolia to the lot for privacy.

The improvements to the inside of the house, which is about 952 square feet above ground plus 300 in the basement we finished, were addressed after we addressed the roof, windows and doors, and had the HVAC replaced. The house has been painted twice (inside and out) because nothing is ever just “right.” We’re now on our second round of appliances because nothing lasts. Nothing.

In just a few short weeks I’ll be outside again.

This year, I’m constructing a ground-level deck for our outdoor dining area. The house is small.

As such, we do a lot of our entertaining outside, when the weather (and humidity) permit.

The satisfaction of rehabilitating an old home is priceless. Yes, we are everywhere.

Stephen and I have met many other gay couples living in the area — at the gym or out shopping — and we have forged lasting friendships here.

We are just minutes from the District and it gives us the best of both worlds. We have outdoor space to enjoy and entertain in and space for the dog. Yet, this affords us the opportunity to enjoy the arts and entertainment (theater especially) and LGBT life inside the District.

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We understand that buying or selling a home may not be top of mind at the moment but if you do have real estate needs or just have questions about real estate, we’re always here to help.

Now is a great time to help others if you are able! Drop off groceries, walk dogs for those in need, or donate to a local food pantry. Martha’s Table is doubling down on their mission to support strong children, strong families, and strong communities through this difficult time and could use your help.

Follow us on Instagram @HagenBergstrom for more information on how to help others.

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HAGENBERGSTROM.COM © 2015 Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage. All Rights Reserved. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage fully supports the principles of the Fair Housing Act and the Equal Opportunity Act. Operated by a subsidiary of NRT LLC. Coldwell Banker and the Coldwell Banker Logo are registered service marks owned by Coldwell Banker Real Estate LLC.

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Coronavirus creativity Necessity mothers invention for D.C.-area queer businesses in pandemic era

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com

GOLDIE GRIGIO serves a customer at Duplex Diner.

(Blade photo by Michael Lavers)

With no end in sight of the COVID-19 lockdown, spotty testing and epidemiologists saying a vaccine is likely a year off, Washington’s LGBTQ entertainers and entrepreneurs are getting creative about how to forge ahead in the pandemic’s wake.

Like many restaurants, Duplex Diner (2004 18th St., N.W./duplexdiner.com) is soldiering on with a closed dining room and curbside service. Resident drag queen Goldie Grigio (aka Andrew Bair) works two Friday nights per month from 6-7:30 at the pick-up window (Venmo: @goldiegrigio) keeping, of course, at least six feet away.

Customers pay online in advance.

“She’s kind of our resident drag queen and she does lots of different things so we thought this was a fun way to tie in with the viewing party for ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race,’” says Duplex manager Kelly Laczko, a lesbian who’s worked there for eight years, including five as manager.

Most of the Diner’s 27 employees (about 60 percent of whom are LGBT, Laczko says) have been laid off. Laczko and five others are rotating to fill current shifts. Duplex is open Monday-Saturday for dinner and Saturday and Sunday all day for brunch (no dinner on Sunday nights).

Prior to the pandemic, the diner didn’t have a large carryout component but had added Uber Eats and GrubHub within the last year. Most of the menu, save about 12 items that are not conducive to takeout, are available. Drinks and alcohol are also available.

“Things have been surprisingly good,” Laczko says. “We’ve had so much love from the community and people have been amazing. We’ve gotten a lot of support so far. We are very lucky.”

As for coronavirus concerns, Laczko says it’s something she’s hyper aware of.

With 2,927 confirmed cases in the District

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and 105 COVID-19 deaths as of this week, she’s aware of the potential danger.

“Obviously it’s stressful,” she says. “I try not to be in my head too much about it. All of the staff, we’re taking all the precautions — wearing masks and gloves, washing our hands constantly, just trying to be as safe as possible. Nobody comes into the building except those of us who work here.”

Drag bingo moves online Long-time D.C.-area drag performer Regina Jozet Adams (aka Richard Armstrong) has moved her weekly drag bingo events for Freddie’s Beach Bar and The Brass Tap (locations in Annapolis and Baltimore) totally online with the bar owners’ blessings.

She has an intact day job in manufacturing but knows many area drag queens who performed full-time who are hurting.

“As a show director, I’m concerned about my girls not being able to work,” she says. “It’s hard for me to sit back when I see my girls not able to make any money.”

The Brass Tap bingo nights, which feature mostly straight crowds under normal circumstances, had just started in October and were still gaining steam but the Freddie’s one — which, perhaps surprisingly, drew about a 60 percent straight crowd — was popular, Adams says.

She hostesses the shows with Jalah Nicole at the Brass Tap and Ophelia Bottoms at Freddie’s and her drag daughter, Ashlee Jozet Adams at both locations.

There were logistical hurdles in getting the operation set up online — a wi-fi boost, two laptops, her TV and phone in addition to performance space in her living room.

She gets the bingo cards online that allow her to see the cards of those playing. She

Merchandise at Miss Pixie’s in early March, just before the lockdown.

(Blade file photo)

and her girls intersperse games of bingo with lip sync performances. She says internet delay can be “pretty intense” at times and slows down the proceedings.

Adams concedes some of the magic of live performance is lost by going virtual but bar owners and patrons spoke up and said they wanted to continue during lockdown.

So far the Freddie’s virtual bingo attracts about 10 players weekly. The Brass Tap averages just a few. It’s $5 to play.

Adams says doing the games online is fine, but she worries it may erode patronage when things get back to normal.

“I’ve been in the business since 1988 so I’ve seen it change quite dramatically,” she says. “Of course initially people will be excited to come back to the clubs once the lockdown lifts, but once the novelty of that wears off, I could see us losing another 5-10 percent of people who just want to sit at home and watch drag on their computer the same way we lost about 20 percent when ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ took off and people could just sit at home and get their drag fix. We’ve already had people say, ‘You’re gonna keep doing this, right?’”

Freddie Lutz, long-time owner of Freddie’s, has been posting comical fashion videos on his social media. He’s closed at both Freddie’s and Federico Ristorante Italiano just down the street in

Crystal City, Va., but remains hopeful.

“One loan just came through today,” he said by phone last week. “We’re gonna try to get people back in some aspect or another soon.”

Miss Pixie soldiers on Miss Pixie (i.e. Pixie Windsor) of Miss Pixie’s Furnishings and Whatnot (1626 14th St., N.W./ misspixies.com) is also keeping busy and says things are, “Good, good, good.”

Though she had to furlough her staff of 10 and says her sales overall are down 88 percent, she has been keeping busy working in the shop between five-seven hours daily, selling things on social media (her Instagram, especially, has been popular) and through her display window.

She’s offering free deliveries throughout the region (“I just drove a 10-inch brass bowl out to Centreville, Va.,” she says) and just does her best to practice safe social distancing.

“I’m surprised, the first couple of days of this, I was pulling everything out of closets thinking I’ll finally have a month or two to go through everything, then we got busy, so it’s not a bad problem. … It’s a different kind of way to work.”

She hasn’t been able to go to auctions — her usual source of inventory — but had plenty on hand and in storage to keep things going.

She also has vendors who are eager to supply her with items should the pickings get slim.

“Another guy who’s a picker for me, he just called me today and said, ‘I got a whole warehouse full, you just tell me,’ but I’m gonna wait ’til it thins out a little here first,” Pixie, who’s bi, says.

She’s on unemployment but says she can maintain her rent if she sells $1,000 per day. Her landlord balked at her suggestion of a free month. A normal Saturday pre-pandemic, she’d sell between $10,000-20,000 worth of merchandise. She sells antiques, secondhand furniture, household tchotchkes, collectibles, dishware and more. She’s applied for small business aid but received nothing thus far. But no city interference so far either.

“I’ve been kind of waiting for it but I haven’t had anything yet,” she says. “I’ve been doing a lot of deliveries but I’m not out in the big pink van. I have thought, ‘Oh my God, what am I gonna say I’m doing if I get pulled over.’ But all my deliveries are contact free. I call them up, they come out to the curb. I’m kind of walking the line. I may hear something but so far so good.”

Shhhh, no talking!

Also moving to 100 percent virtual is

today’s National Day of Silence, an annual GLSEN event celebrating its 25th anniversary that is a student-led protest of the “silencing and erasure of LGBTQ people.” Last year, nearly 8,000 gay/straight alliance clubs (GSAs) participated. This year, organizers predict the day of protest will be the largestever online gathering of LGBTQ youth.

Ordinarily students participating take a vow of silence for the day. But with school closed, Day of Silence this year will consist of social media campaigns, virtual meetings, artwork, videos and resource guides to “connect and empower LGBTQ youth.”

Christ Staley is a 17-year-old high school senior, lesbian and president of Spectrum, the GSA at her school, Monroe Woodbury High School, a school of 2,312 students in Central Valley, N.Y. Though she hasn’t seen a lot of anti-queer bullying in her school (she’s been out since seventh grade), she says it’s still important for the 10-15 Spectrum students to have a presence. She was pleasantly surprised last year to see so much solidarity from teachers. So many requested ally stickers they ran out.

She says the April 24 event to her will feel successful if she and her fellow members are “just able to get the message out there that LGBTQ discrimination is prevalent and we should stand together to help end this.”

Find out more at glsen.org.

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QUEERY Kyle Suib

Personal trainer Kyle Suib is committed to staying as dedicated to his fitness goals as he was before the lockdown and is using his skills to teach online classes to help bolster his flagging income.

“Commit to the self you were before the lockdown,” the 31-year-old Wilmington, Del., native says. “You haven’t changed.

You have the same fitness goals you had before. The setting has just changed. If you have a kitchen, you have a gym.”

Pre-pandemic, Suib worked as a group fitness instructor and trainer at Equinox, SweatBox and VIDA. Now he’s teaching online. Those interested can find him on social media. He’s also working on a website and YouTube channel.

“Since the pandemic, all gyms have shut down,” he says. “We were suddenly forced into a virtual class setting without any formal introduction. I also knew I could not rely absolutely on my employers due to the lack of revenue, so I decided to branch out on my own. I owe it all to the amazing people who have been taking my classes for years.”

Suib says he’s had “ups and downs” during lockdown. He’s kept busy learning to market his online class offerings.

He’s also a circus performer and tattoo enthusiast. He got his first ink in 2010, got his right leg done last year and plans more.

As for fitness, he says the best approach is to “commit.”

“Don’t just say eventually or maybe to doing something. Make the commitment because in the end, you can do it.”

Suib came to Washington nine years ago for love and work. He and his boyfriend of a year-and-a-half, Cameron Ragan, live together in Mount Vernon. He enjoys circus arts, food, dogs, training, cartoons and friends in his free time.

(Photo courtesy Suib)

QUEERY: Kyle Suib The fitness instructor answers 20 queer questions

By JOEY DiGUGLIELMO joeyd@washblade.com

How long have you been out and who was the hardest person to tell?

2009 and my mother.

Who’s your LGBTQ hero?

Bianca Del Rio What LGBTQ stereotype most annoys you?

All gays are alike. That a lack of hyper masculinity means you’re weak.

What’s your proudest professional achievement?

My proudest fitness professional achievement was actually becoming a cycle instructor. However, as a performer, my first time performing at Echo Stage was a life-changing experience.

What terrifies you?

Spiders, zombies and not being noticed.

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What’s something trashy or vapid you love?

Reality cooking shows What’s your greatest domestic skill?

I don’t have those. I walk the dogs.

What’s your favorite LGBTQ movie or show?

“The Birdcage” What’s your social media pet peeve?

Lying and political attacks on your own community.

What would the end of the LGBTQ movement look like to you?

Being able to walk anywhere and not be afraid.

What’s the most overrated social custom?

Being fake in public What was your religion, if any, as a child and what is it today?

I’m Jewish, but do not practice.

What’s D.C.’s best hidden gem?

The D.C. Capitol Ruins.

What’s been the most memorable pop culture moment of your lifetime?

Britney shaving her head.

What celebrity hardest?

Patrick Swayze

death

hit

you

If you could redo one moment from your past, what would it be?

I would have come out sooner and more confidently.

What are your obsessions?

My dogs, circus, making fitness open to EVERYONE. Finish this sentence — It’s about damn time: … you took my class!

What do you wish you’d known at 18?

I wish I knew what boys to stay away from and that hanging upside down would become my favorite thing to do!

Why Washington?

It’s certainly a bubble! I have the most amazing support network and friends here!

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CALENDAR TODAY Broadcasting Theater During a Pandemic presented by the Pandemic Players is tonight at 7 p.m. via Zoom. This workshop covers how to broadcast productions over the internet and support local theaters through the crisis. For more information or to RSVP, email pandemicplayers@gmail.com.

DJ Chris Styles presents “Virtual House Party” tonight at 8 p.m. This Facebook event features ‘80s and ‘90s house music and other throwback hits. More details are available at facebook.com/djchrisstyles.

The D.C. Center hosts the Women in their 20s and 30s social discussion group tonight at 8 p.m. via Zoom. For more information, visit thedccenter.org. or their Facebook page.

Friday Night Videos with DJ Chord and KC B Yonce is tonight at 9:30 p.m. This Zoomhosted event starts after “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and features two live performances

by KC B. Yonce. Visit their Facebook event page for details.

Saturday, April 25

The History of Tango Music hosted by Morgan Luker of Reed College in Portland is an online seminar presented by Tango Mercurio. This event is the first in a free seminar series taking place Sundays via Zoom at 5 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Tango Mercurio provides some compensation to tango artists to share their expertise and help continue the community during the pandemic crisis. For more information on this virtual discussion series, visit tangomercurio.org.

National Arab American Heritage Month continues with an online discussion hosted by Arab America tonight at 5 p.m.

Tonight’s discussion honors Arab Americans on the frontlines of the COVID-19 fight in the fields of medicine, law enforcement, grocery sales and more. The event is free but any donations received will be directed to the United Way COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund. For more information, email info@arabamerica.com.

Sunday, April 26

Cooking Class Live! presented by Nativo Condiments & Seasoning and hosted by the Argentine Chef is tonight at 6 p.m. via Facebook. The class is free but donations are welcome. Participants will learn how to make pork chops, pampas herbs parmesan, Pavlova with Dulce de leche and Aperol Spritz. For more information on this and other cooking classes, visit argentinechef.com and the Cooking Class Live Facebook event page.

Monday, April 27

Stay-At-Home Showtunes, a weekly

streaming benefit show for JR.’s furloughed staff and performers continues tonight at 8:30 p.m. at twitter.com/jrsbar_dc. Every Monday guests can tune in for a weekly video DJ, drag performances and special guests.

Tonight Geneva Confectionn joins the fray at 9:30 p.m. Virtual tips are encouraged via Venmo to @JRsStrong and other individual accounts listed on JR.s Facebook page.

Tuesday, April 28

A Conversation on Grief and Loss, a one-hour virtual discussion hosted by Compassion and Choices, an organization ensuring health care providers honor seniors’ and other patients’ end-of-life care decisions, is today at 2 p.m. This talk is part of their COVID-19 webinar series and focuses on the collective grief felt by those experiencing losses of both “normal” experiences and loved ones due to the pandemic. Visit compassionandchoices. org for more information on this and other virtual events in the COVID-19 series.

Zoom Ballet Class hosted by Jubilee Arts Baltimore is today at 4 p.m. This class is open to children ages 3-11 and is taught by preschool ballet instructor Ms.Jasmine Jackson.

For more information, visit the group’s Facebook page.

Wednesday, April 29 P&P Live!: Iris Krasnow hosted by Politics and Prose Bookstore is livestreamed tonight at 7 p.m. Krasnow, author of “Camp Girls” will discuss her fondness for the Wisconsin summer camp she first attended as an 8-year-old and still has fond feelings for today. For more information and to RSVP, visit crowdcast. io/e/iris-krasnow-camp/register.

Thursday, April 30

What Does It Mean to Finish Strong? is a webinar featuring Compassion and Choices President Emerita and Senior Adviser Barbara Coombs Lee taking place today at 2 p.m. This discussion guides participants through planning a meaningful end-of-life experience. To register for this and other events in their COVID-19 series, visit compassionandchoices.org.

The D.C. Council Ward 2 Candidate Forum presented by Team Rayceen and the Washington Blade is tonight at 7 p.m. on Zoom and Facebook. This event moderated

by Rayceen Pendarvis includes candidates Brooke Pinto, Daniel Hernandez, Jack Evans, John Fanning, Jordan Grossman, Katherine Venice, Kishan Putta, Patrick Kennedy and Yilin Zhang. For more information, visit washingtonblade.com/forum.

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RAYCEEN PENDARVIS hosts a candidate forum with the Blade for the Ward 2 D.C. Council hopefuls online April 30. (file photo courtesy Ask Rayceen Show)

Film festival goes virtual “Song Lang” is the first virtual LGBTQ film presented by the Reel Affirmations film series beginning today. Virtual tickets are $12 for 72 hours of unlimited access.

This award-winning Vietnamese film is set in 1980s Saigon during the economic difficulties prior to the lifting of the U.S. trade embargo in 1994. This film also depicts the contrasts between a gritty underworld and the gorgeous productions of a local opera troupe. Against this dramatic backdrop, a brooding debt collector and a lead actor find friendship and more.

“Song Lang” in Vietnamese is a percussion instrument used to control tempo and phrasing in Vietnamese modern folk opera. It also means “two men.”

For virtual tickets and information, visit reelaffirmationsfilmfestival.vhx.tv or thedccenter.org.

CDC run slated for May 1 A Coronavirus Relief Virtual Run/Walk to benefit the CDC Foundation’s coronavirus emergency response fund is Friday, May 1 at noon. Registration fee is $20.

This virtual charity event is to help individuals and families impacted by the coronavirus and to provide support to hospitals and other medical institutions on the front lines of the pandemic. Funds raised will be used to deploy emergency staff to critical areas, deliver food and medical treatment to those under quarantine and to help build infrastructure for virus response efforts.

To participate, register and pay the fee at runsignup.com/coronavirusreliefrun, go for a walk or run outside for 60 minutes on May 1, then share your run or walk on social media using the hashtag #CoronavirusReliefRun. The CDC advises participants to follow

state and federal mandates regarding social interaction during this event.

Visit runsignup.com/coronavirusreliefrun for more information on how to safely participate in this event.

All About Trans events planned A Transgender Native American Community Celebration hosted by We the People is Sunday, May 3 at the Eaton D.C. (1201 K St., N.W.) from 4-8 p.m. Free tickets are available at mayistransdc.com, but continue to monitor the site for pandemic-related updates.

This inaugural event is presented in collaboration with the Angel Rose Artist Collective and No Justice, No Pride and features indigenous foods, art and cultural celebration as part of We the People’s May is?

“All About Trans” programming.

This month-long series of events highlights the lived experiences of the transgender and gender-diverse communities. The organization’s goal is to highlight community contributions to society through politics, education, the arts and other areas.

For more information on this and other events, visit mayistransdc.com.

Gay Men’s Chorus postpones “Genderosity,” a glam-rock tribute performed by the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington has been postponed to June 6-7 at the Lincoln Theatre (1215 U St., N.W.) due to COVID-19 safety restrictions. Tickets purchased for the March 14-15 dates will be honored.

This event celebrates a decadent decade of music as well as gender expression and the art of being fabulous. Guests will be entertained with over-the-top costumes, dancers and disco-themed songs from “Dancing Queen” to “Vogue.” Tickets range from $25-65.

Tickets and information are available at gmcw.org.

The show must go on D.C. - area theater outfits embrace streaming performances

By PATRICK FOLLIARD With theaters shuttered, companies are moving full steam ahead with innovative digital programming, offering captive audiences a wide variety of online performing arts options during these stressful and often lonely times of COVID-19 quarantine.

The Kennedy Center is offering “Couch Concerts,” a free, live digital performance initiative. In the tradition of its popular Millenium Stage, the Kennedy Center now streams concerts directly from artists’ homes on its website at 4 p.m. ET every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

In addition, the Center offers “National Spotlight Mondays,” a digital concert series featuring two artists selected from organizations across the country to tell the story of their cities. “Community Spotlight Wednesdays” are concerts highlighting artists across disciplines including hip hop, comedy and theater. And “Artistic Partners Spotlight Fridays” is a program featuring Kennedy Center artistic partners and affiliated artists.

For more information, go to “Couch Concerts” at kennedy-center.org.

Shakespeare Theatre Company has introduced “Shakespeare Everywhere,” a new platform for engaging with audiences through digital offerings and innovative new content.

“Shakespeare Everywhere” includes STC’s terrific #ShakespeareChallenge. Initiated by STC’s Artistic Director Simon Godwin, the daring challenge features posted videos from myriad fans and performers including out Broadway actor Michael Urie.

STC also offfers the “The Shakespeare Hour,” an online conversation series hosted

by Godwin and dramaturg Drew Lichtenberg, live on Wednesday nights through May 13 at shakespearetheatre.org.

Last Thursday (the Bard’s 455th birthday), Godwin held an online streaming party where he introduced and discussed his National Theatre production of Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” (which can be seen on the National Theatre’s You Tube Channel through April 30).

Godwin’s well-received production puts an interesting spin on things: Typically, Viola must dress as “Cesario” creating a queer love triangle with Duke Orsino and the lady Olivia, but in Godwin’s production, Tamsin Greig plays a re-gendered Malvolia who also falls in love with Olivia. By most accounts, Tamsin is a fantastic physical comedian, but she also brings a real delicacy to her performance as the strict and self-denying Malvolia who begins to realize she’s in love with a woman.

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(Photo by Marc Brenner)

The Strathmore is now streaming “Live From the Living Room,” a series featuring current and former artists in residence. The Wednesday evening 20-minute concert is streamed via Strathmore’s Facebook page live from the artist’s home. Also, it’s popular Saturday morning “Family Jam Session” now livestreams weekly via Strathmore’s Facebook page.

Arena Stage is expanding its virtual programming with Molly’s Salon, a weekly conversation hosted by Artistic Director Molly Smith. Upcoming Salons are slated to feature out luminaries including brilliant playwright Craig Lucas and talented actor Nicholas Rodriguez. Molly’s Salon take place on Thursdays from 7-7:30 p.m. For more information go to arenastage.org.

Round House Theatre has rather ingeniously corralled D.C.-area playwrights, actors and designers for “Homebound,” “a 10-episode webseries that explores life under stay-at-home orders in the nation’s capital.”

The series stars resident artists Craig Wallace and Maboud Ebrahimzadeh along with local artists who lost work due the cancellation of the company’s spring shows.

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“Homebound” premieres on April 27 on the Round House YouTube page.

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The Wu touch ‘The Half of It’ director says screenplay characters eventually speak up in development

By BRIAN T. CARNEY

Writer/director Alice Wu did not set out to make a teen movie.

She started writing — in what became “The Half of It” (Netflix, May 1) — about her own coming-out story.

“My best friend in college was a straight white guy,” she says. “He helped me accept myself as gay more than anyone. But his new girlfriend was wary of our relationship, despite knowing I was gay, and slowly, ineffably, the delicate calculus of our connection eroded.”

Wu started to write about her heartbreak over the loss of their friendship, but hit a wall.

“As I started outlining it, I realized I couldn’t do justice to these themes in a 100-minute movie. I couldn’t find an ending that felt both satisfying and earned.”

Then revelation struck.

“At a certain point, your characters tell you what they want, and I thought maybe I should just set this thing in high school. I love teen movies. Only in high school is every feeling so intense. Because it’s the first time it’s happened to you, you think it’s the only time it’s going to happen to you. Everything is heightened in a way that allows you to cover a lot of emotional territory.”

“Frankly,” she says, “when it comes to love, don’t we all regress to being teenagers? Then the whole Cyrano component slipped in and the film became something else entirely.”

Cyrano is the swash-buckling hero of an 1897 play by French playwright Edmund Rostand. A brilliant poet and swordsman, Cyrano is also renowned for his remarkably large nose. He’s in love with his beautiful and intellectual cousin Roxanne, but she’s in love with the handsome and dim-witted Christian. Cyrano helps Christian woo Roxanne.

Most famously, he even hides in the shadows beneath her balcony and pretends to be Christian. Christian and Roxanne marry, but Cyrano gets a dramatic death scene where he finally confesses his love for Roxanne.

In “The Half of It,” Wu moves the Cyrano story to a small town in eastern Washington state and adds a lesbian twist to it. The famous French romance becomes a contemporary queer coming-of-age story.

Her story centers on Ellie Chu (Leah Lewis), a shy, straight-A high school senior who helps pay the bills by ghost-writing papers for classmates. One of her clients, a football player named Paul Munsky (Daniel Diemer), hires her to write love notes to their classmate Aster Flores (Alexxis Lemire). Ellie agrees, but there are obstacles. Aster is the daughter of a local minister and the girlfriend of quarterback Trig Carson (Wolfgang Novogratz). Ellie also realizes she has a crush on Aster.

Wu says the title has a double meaning. It refers to a speech from Plato’s Symposium where the playwright Aristophanes explains that humans spend their lives searching for their “other half.” Ellie tells the story over the opening credits; the story may also be familiar to LGBT audiences from the song “Origins of Love” from “Hedwig and the Angry Inch.”

But as Wu explains, the title also refers to the saying, “you don’t know the half of it.”

“Everybody has a secret they’re harboring. Paul has a lot to say, but his family doesn’t give him any space to say anything. Aster wants a different life than the one that’s been prescribed for her.”

Ellie hides her dreams and desires.

As the story unfolds, Wu focus on the deepening friendships between the characters.

“For me, she says, “the point of the film isn’t about who ends up with whom. It’s about people who collide in a moment in time.”

Wu admits that “endings are tricky because we expect answers.”

Some critics felt the ending of her first film, “Saving Face,” which premiered at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals in 2005, was “too happy.” At the time, Wu said the ending was grounded in the truth for her characters and now proudly declares that history has proved her right.

Now she’s proud of the hopeful ending for “The Half of It.” “The end of the film is each of their beginnings,” she says. “That is the happiest ending for all of them.”

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Director ALICE WU (left) and actress LEAH LEWIS on the set of ‘The Half of It.’ (Photo by KC Bailey; courtesy Netflix)

LEAH LEWIS and DANIEL DIERNER in ‘The Half of It.’ (Photo by KC Bailey; courtesy Netflix)

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