Watermark Issue 19.11: LIsa Lampanelli

DAYTONA BEACH • ORLANDO • TAMPA • ST. PETERSBURG • SARASOTA • ISSUE 19.10 • MAY 10 - MAY 23, 2012 • WATERMARKONLINE.COM

YOUR LGBT LIFE.

ORL ANDO

FRES IGANY GGLOEBAL

GO

MAN: HOMOPHOBIC SLURS LED TO

ATTACK

a s i Lampanelli L IN TARPON SPRINGS

The comedian dishes on The Celebrity Apprentice in her first gay press interview since Trump gave her the boot

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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DEPARTMENTS 6 // MAIL 9 // ORLANDO NEWS 13 // TAMPA BAY NEWS 17 // SARASOTA NEWS 20 // STATE 23 // NATION & WORLD 31 // ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT 51 // EVENT PLANNER 53 // TAMPA BAY OVERHEARD 57 // ORLANDO OVERHEARD 60 // TAMPA BAY MARKETPLACE 61 // TRANSITIONS 63 // ORLANDO MARKETPLACE 68 // CLASSIFIEDS 70 // GALLERY W

PAGE

23

I am absolutely comfortable with...

men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another…

—VICE PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN

ON THE COVER

PAGE Just days after hearing

say, “You’re Fired,” 31 Trump Lisa Lampanelli dishes on

what really happened on Celebrity Apprentice and what we can expect when she performs in Orlando and Tampa this month.

Preview

PAGE

37 FRINGED!:

The Orlando Fringe Festival returns for its 22nd season and once again offers plenty of LGBT fare. We take a look at some of the out-of-town acts bringing LGBT content to the popular festival this month.

W A T E R M A R K I S S U E 1 9 . 1 0 // M AY 1 0 - 2 3 , 2 0 1 2

ORLANDO NEWS

TAMPA BAY NEWS

TALKING POINTS

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

Read it online!

SCAN QR CODE FOR

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In addition to a Web site with daily LGBT updates, a digital version of each issue of the publication is made available on WatermarkOnline.com

PAGE Rollins College’s Provost

09

Carol Bresnahan talks about LGBT issues on her campus; Orange County is finally taking steps toward a Domestic Partnership Registry; teams gear up for the Orlando AIDS Walk; more.

PAGE Dan Turgeon of Tarpon

13

Springs says he was a victim of a hate crime outside a Pizza Hut, but no charges were pressed against his attacker; 2012’s Pride & Passion could be the biggest one yet, based on early ticket sales; more.

PAGE In a surprise ending to

29

Season 4 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, Sharon Needles walks away with the title; Batman, a comic writer says, is just about as gay as he can get; reality television takes on same-sex wedding planning; more.

PAGE Lisa Lampanelli brings her

to stages in Tampa 31 standup and Orlando this month;

Orlando’s Fringe Festival is as gay as ever this year as out-of-towners bring in their original work; summer is here, which means its time to read at the beach; more.

VISIT WATERMARKONLINE.COM TO WIN FRONT ROW TICKETS TO KATHY GRIFFIN AT RUTH ECKERD HALL JUNE 1.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Marriage licenses born of bigotry

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

After reading Steve Blanchard’s “Editor’s Desk” [Issue 19.09] I felt the need to share my point of view on the issue of gay marriage.

While I whole heartily agree with Steve that current laws against same-sex couples are discriminatory because they do not bestow certain government rights and privileges that heterosexual couples enjoy, (legal, tax, etc.), I feel the whole debate from both sides has missed the bigger picture: Why do couples, gay or straight, have to pay for a license from the government in the �irst place?

Sometimes in society, certain habits are so engrained that we never question as to why something is. For many generations, couples would just marry in a church and it was more a spiritual ceremony than legal document. That all changed after the Civil War when states rushed to pass marriage licensing laws in order to ban white women from marrying minority men. So the whole notion of a marriage license was borne out of bigotry and continues today. The real crime committed was government’s takeover or involvement in a ceremony that was just a spiritual act. This government intrusion has caused us as Americans to angrily argue among ourselves to force a de�inition of marriage.

If marriage would have been just left to the churches, spiritual places or just two people who are in love, this debate would not be.

Certain conservative churches will never perform gay weddings while other much more liberal institutions would be would be �ine with it. If you don’t like the way your church feels about samesex marriage, don’t belong to that organization.

MIKE VAN DEN ABBEEL VIA E-MAIL

“I hope anti-g ay people in positions of powe ongoing disreg r realize their ard for LGBT people fuels the next gener ation of big bullie s.”

—GRETA GABRIEL

STARTING

the uneducat ed who are not familiar with people or their LGBT situations.

I hope anti-gay people in positions of power realize their ongoing disregard for LGBT people fuels the next generation of big bullies.

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climate, businesse s struggle

it’s a place we frequent?

Because it considers itself a part of our community?

If a straight ran derogator news company y stories only about gay businesse would be protestin s, we signs, the works. g, picket that story due You ran to the gay association.

We would not tolerate the discrimination from anyone else, why should we accept it from you.

DALE BOGGS ST. PETERSB URG

Remember the AIDS pandemic HIV/ Every year on the

committed, CONTRIBUTORS same-sex couples as equal to their counterparts. opposite-sex Even though sex marriage sameABBY DEES was already A new trend in our state, outlawed is a civil rights Central Florida sweeping through the passage of Amendment protects sameattorney-turnedsex and opposite2 showcasing was a symbolic one, sex couples author who alike. Local the has governments of our neighbor narrow-mindedness been in the are implementing LGBT s. rights trenches Fortunately, for 25-plus Registries at Domestic Partnership years. She an impressiv is more dif�icultstopping progress lives Angeles and e rate.

Orlando wasn’t than Nashville. Page in Los many would hope.

21 embrace a DPR, the �irst city to Four years its city commissibut the initiative of after Amendm KEN KUNDIS 2, the domestic on late last ent sprouted infectious year has is a Florida is in full swing. partnership trend native movements surrounding Cities are letting and a long-time in counties and committed couples choose most recently cities— contributor to make medical in the City of who can Watermark. to the west Tampa decisions for and Volusia and who should them Steve Blanc County to the east.

New York City. He lives in of-life decisions be in charge of endhard Page 23 Other nearby , if EDITOR communities—St. The “fear” that tragedy strikes.

Petersburg, SteveB@W atermarkO Clearwater, marriage equality DPRs will lead to ANTHONY nline.com Gulfport and Orange are unfounde County—are so much so PAULL working toward such that any oppositio d; ordinances, them is incredibly is a columnist, n to and it’s awe-inspiring. minimal or—as author, filmmaker in Tampa’s case—non-existen It shows just and community how t. far Florida Granted, local has come in lives in Sarasota.volunteer who a few short T THE AGE governments Page 30 years. are OF 25, I AWOK Like so many pretty direct hospital bed in when E IN the A Greg LGBT they Burton, Erik Caban, after spendi remind us communi I watched results ty, ng several hours Scottie Campbell, my previous that DPRs are roll in evening of in the night Kirk Hartlage, Rev. Amy Dees, no way rede�inin didn’t know of the g why I was there. in the emergency room. 2008 President marriage.

Joseph Kissel, KenPhyllis Hunt, ial I election at the hospita I just knew Kundis, Mary Meeks, Stephen But I can’t help with mixed I had arrived feelings l the but think it’s David Moran, Anthony Miller, headache accom night before with an surprise and a incapacitating disappoinoftment Paull, panied with step in the right Greg Stemm, when nausea and When I awoke I realized Amendm direction.

Louanne Walters, Brett Stout, fatigue. in my room, ent the �irst face Stephen Warne 2 was going This is not a I saw was that been like to to pass with of my partner. know that he more than 60% of the case of separate out of the loop was vote. any documen We didn’t have when it came I just knew—k tation giving my medical registry is not but equal. The to new—that permission PHOTOGRAPHY him condition or amendment based on orientatio an to be there that doctors to or my the gender identity. refused and unable to be outlawing same-sexstate constitution It is based on n legally joined we were my care. I was to get his input on commitm Nick Cardello, Angie marriage or the state. Fortunate in any equivalent any and local ent between two people realize that. incredibly lucky, and I thereof ly, the hospital Julie Milford, Travis Folks, Tom Eckert, understood governments by at least 41% would be rejected staff Moore, that we were doing what Chris Stephenson But luck doesn’t they can to and gave him a couple protect Sunshine State. of the voters in the access to me—even often for thousand happen very Knowing that No longer do their citizens. before I was would take s of unmarrie it diagnosed with couples across more than half nurse’s interpretwe have to rely on a d meningitis viral residents the of the state, ation several days DISTRIBUTION thanks to of our “patient privacy” of a Power Attorney documen later.

I was never the obnoxiou peninsula to pass t or the chancesof access to loved laws that prevent forcefully separated s of a homopho from my partner con�ident it amendment, I was ones in times bic doctor refusing Debbie Oliver, Phil emergency. would fail and for longer than to listen to of Garris, Ken Caraway the overnight our milestone in become a stays in the the progress But things are We can �inally signi�icant others.

I can’t imagine hospital. equality in for LGBT �ind some comfort change—faster starting to what it would Florida. when it comes have than you might But that wasn’t to a few basic think. concerning rights the case. our CONTENTS Nearly 63% of WATERMARK experiences. most vulnerable by federal copyright are voted against of the population law and mayprotected reproduced not be recognizing And that’s one permission in whole or part without of the publisher. the article submissions Unsolicited symbolic gesture. powerful, unless accompanied will not be returned stamped | by a

editor’s

A

ISSUE

19.09

Desk

Fortunately , stopping progress is more difficu lt than many would hope .

|

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The official views of WATERMARK expressed only in editorials. are in signed columns, Opinions offered letters and those of the articles are represent thewriters and do not necessarily opinions of owner or management. the newspaper’s to edit or reject We reserve the right any material publication. submitted for WATERMARK is not responsible damages due for the costto typographical errors, for of replacing WATERMARK ads createdexcept by that have such errors.

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7

“Why do couples, gay or straight, have to pay for a license from the government in the first place?”

—MIKE VAN DEN ABBEEL

Don’t underestimate documentation Steve Blanchard’s “Editor’s Desk” [Issue 19.09] proves my point. When my �irst lover collapsed in 2001, we had living wills, were each other’s healthcare surrogates and had DPOAs. Over the next three months before he died, I had complete and total control, and this was at Florida Hospital South.

Even though I made sure to include his family in all major decisions, I had the �inal word. These documents were my redemption. The only bump was when the doctors asked me to sign a Do Not Resuscitate order.

That was the one thing I refused to do because I couldn’t. Any couple that is in a committed relationship should have these documents on hand at all times.

My current partner and I just had ours updated last year. We even have copies of everything in both cars in the event of an accident and we can’t communicate.

I can’t preach this enough.

When and if Florida allows same-sex marriage, only then will these documents no longer be needed.

Telling the doctors that my partner had suffered enough took all the courage and love I had for him. He

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died 11 years ago, but he is not gone. He is just waiting on me to catch up with him.

EDWIN J. CRAWFORD VIA E-MAIL

Don’t support HRC’s BoA card I recently received an invitation from the HRC to sign up for the new HRC Credit Card. The new card is issued by Bank of America.

Why would HRC align itself and its members with an unethical banking institution?

Does the HRC remember the fees Bank of America was trying to impose on its cardholders earlier this year?

Please do not support the new HRC credit card. You have to read the paperwork to see its Bank of America.

EMMETT O’DELL ORLANDO

Desperate to say thanks Thank you, Thank you, Thank you to Erik Caban. The article [on Desperate Plastic, issue 19.08] was superb! It was very impressive writing.

I’ve seen both the print and online versions and think they are great and we’ve had lots of compliments. Thank you so much!

RODGER HELT DAYTONA BEACH

editor’s

Steve Blanchard EDITOR

SteveB@WatermarkOnline.com

T

Desk

HIS SUMMER I’LL MORE THAN LIKELY

�inally have to face the inevitable. I may have to come out to my nieces. I blame the lure of Mickey Mouse.

I’m not ashamed of who I am or who I love. But my nieces have been sheltered from their uncle’s “lifestyle” over their entire lives.

When my older niece was born nearly 12 years ago, I had already relocated from Missouri to Florida.

Since then, I’ve seen her and her younger sister sporadically over their lifetimes, usually during quick weekend visits home or at a family wedding. Two years before my eldest niece was born, a phone call from my sister led to me coming out to her. She was supportive for about 30 minutes—literally—until her husband convinced her that I

WATERMARK STAFF

shouldn’t be around their future children. A day later, my sister amended the rule to say that I was indeed always welcome around her children—but “whomever” I was with would not be.

Fourteen years later it doesn’t seem to matter that the “whomever” she referred to has been a part of my life longer than her children have been a part of hers, but that’s beside the point—at least in her mind.

I’d like to think my nieces see me as a “fun” uncle, always willing to build forts out of couch cushions or to have an imaginary tea party

on the �loor of the playroom. But they don’t know the real me—and when they visit Disney World with their parents (and both sets of grandparents) this June, it will be the �irst time I’ve seen them in more than three years.

It’s not because I haven’t tried.

The last trip home for me was in 2009—and I took my partner with me. It was a test, of sorts, to see how my parents could handle having their gay son and his partner in their home. It went well, overall. While we opted to sleep at the home of my best friend’s family, we spent a large amount of time in the house I used to call home and ate several meals with my parents over that week-long visit to St. Louis.

My sister—who lives 15 minutes away from the house we used to share—knew we were at our parents’ house, but couldn’t seem to get away long enough to bring her daughters to see me. She blamed the snowy weather—the same weather my partner and I navigated daily so we could see my parents. The roads weren’t that bad.

I’ve driven to the Panhandle several times to see my vacationing family—nieces included—over the

past 12 years. This time, however, my family will be in my own back yard and my nieces are now old enough to ask their uncle speci�ic questions.

“Why aren’t you married?” and “Do you have a girlfriend?” will probably be on the top of their lists for Uncle Steve. This means I have to �ind the right, honest answers that avoid an asterisk in our collective memory denoting this summer as “the one where Uncle Steve told the girls he’s gay.”

This is also an opportunity, however, for my nieces to learn that LGBTs aren’t bad people—which is what they’ve learned in church.

By answering their questions honestly—“I am married, but not to a woman”—I’ll give them a chance to put a face to an issue they will encounter throughout their lives.

We know those who personally know a member of the LGBT community are far less likely to work against laws granting protections to us— and my nieces are the next generation of voters and lawmakers.

As you’re reading this, I guarantee those two adorable girls are thinking about the �light to Florida, their scheduled dinner with the Disney princesses (okay, only one is excited about that, but that’s a whole different column), the fun rides awaiting them in Central Florida’s theme parks and seeing their Florida Uncle.

I’m sure their parents and grandparents are excited as well.

But for me, this vacation could be a major turning point in my relationship with my family—and a real test of that Disney magic. |  |

I have to find the right, honest answers that avoid an asterisk in our collective memory denoting this summer as “the one where Uncle Steve told the girls he’s gay.”

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

CONTRIBUTORS JOE KISSEL

is a former resident of St. Petersburg and is a journalist, musician, filmmaker and fitness trainer. He lives in New York City. Page 13

JIM WALKER

is a former anchor/ reporter with more than 20 years of experience in television news and two Emmy nominations.

He recently began his own news/commentary at Blog.

JWLooseCannon.com. Page 21

KIRK HARTLAGE

is an Orlandobased journalist an DJ and a former full time employee of Watermark. He specializes in celebrity interviews. Page 27

Greg Burton, Erik Caban, Scottie Campbell, Amy Dees, Kirk Hartlage, Rev. Phyllis Hunt, Joseph Kissel, Ken Kundis, Mary Meeks, Stephen Miller, David Moran, Anthony Paull, Greg Stemm, Brett Stout, Louanne Walters, Stephen Warne

PHOTOGRAPHY Nick Cardello, Angie Folks, Tom Eckert, Julie Milford, Travis Moore, Chris Stephenson

DISTRIBUTION Debbie Oliver, Phil Garris, Ken Caraway CONTENTS of WATERMARK are protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publisher. Unsolicited article submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Although WATERMARK is supported by many fine advertisers, we cannot accept responsibility for claims made by advertisers.

Publication of the name or photograph of any person or organization in articles, advertising, or listing in WATERMARK is not to be construed as any indication of the sexual orientation of such persons or members of such organizations.

WATERMARK is published every second Thursday. Subscription rate is $55 (1st class) and $26 (standard mail).

The official views of WATERMARK are expressed only in editorials. Opinions offered in signed columns, letters and articles are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the opinions of the newspaper’s owner or management. We reserve the right to edit or reject any material submitted for publication.

WATERMARK is not responsible for damages due to typographical errors, except for the cost of replacing ads created by WATERMARK that have such errors.

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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NEWS

ROLE MODEL: Provost Carol Bresnahan on the campus of Rollins College: “This really is a fine institution.” PHOTO BY TOM DYER

Academic Mission Provost Carol Bresnahan is making a difference at Rollins College Jamie Hyman

JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

W

INTER PARK | The crepe myrtles are starting to bloom on the campus of Rollins College. Hastily packed boxes will soon appear in front of emptying dormitories, awaiting parents in minivans to cart sweaters and sophomores home for the summer.

It’s the end of the 20112012 academic year, Dr. Carol Bresnahan’s �irst as provost at the ascending 120-year-old college.

“Provost means ‘jailer’ in Medieval French,” Bresnahan laughed, “but a better description would be ‘vice president for academic affairs.’ I work with students and faculty to facilitate the academic mission of the college. It’s a great job.”

As an out lesbian in the highest academic position at the college, the 56-year-old Bresnahan is evidence of Rollins’ commitment to diversity at all levels. She’s also

a powerful role model for its active LGBT community.

“Dr. Bresnahan’s presence has a real impact,” said Sarah Mills, co-president of Spectrum, an LGBT and allied student organization.

“It demonstrates that Rollins is an inclusive and accepting campus where faculty, staff and—most importantly—students feel welcome.”

Jamie Hyman

of Toledo she went from tenured professor of history to department chair to vice provost for academic affairs. From 2008 until last year she was provost and executive vice president at The College of New Jersey.

But Toledo is where Bresnahan got her �irst taste of activism. It’s also where she met her partner of 12 years, Michelle Stecker, then a law student and Presbyterian minister with a doctorate in history.

In 2004, the couple was outraged when Ohioans overwhelmingly voted for the “Issue 1” ban on recognition of same-sex marriages.

Adding insult, UT’s board of trustees quickly pulled support of pending domestic partner bene�its for faculty and staff.

Stecker attended a board meeting with duct tape over her mouth.

Bresnahan made calls and rang doorbells.

“It struck me how important this was to our lives, and how little my friends knew about it,” she remembered. “All they had was misinformation.”

“I would never work at a school without partner benefits. I’m done fighting for them.”

—CAROL BRESNAHAN

ACADEMIC ACTIVIST

Bresnahan’s impressive credentials include a bachelor’s degree from Smith College and a master’s and doctorate from Brown University. At the University

Orange County a step closer to domestic partner registry

orlando

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs

Continued on page 10 |  |

JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

O

RLANDO | It looks like Orange County is �inally making some moves on a domestic partner registry.

According to Orlando Anti Discrimination Ordinance (OADO) committee member Mary Meeks, the county’s proposed domestic partner registry will be published May 10 and will appear on the Board of County Commissioners agenda May 22.

On Feb. 21, after more than two hours of discussion, Mayor Teresa Jacobs and the commissioners held a “vote of con�idence” stating that they’ll move forward with the registry.

“After a year and a half of negotiations with Mayor Jacobs, OADO is excited that Orange County will join the growing group of Central Florida governments that are following Orlando’s lead and will implement a domestic partnership registry that will improve the lives of so many Central Florida families,” Meeks said. “We are extremely proud of this community for standing strong and demanding these protections, and we encourage everyone to be there on May 22 - wearing red—to be a part of this historic event.”

Orlando’s domestic partner registry kicked off Jan. 12 and covers protections such as hospital visitation, rights to health care decisions, correctional facility visitation, rights to funeral/ burial decisions, guardianship and the right for both domestic partners to participate in the education of their children. |  |

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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orlando NEWS

AIDS Walk Orlando to travel new route Jamie Hyman

JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

ORLANDO | The Hope and Help Center is gearing up for its 17th annual AIDS Walk Orlando and there are a few changes from previous years.

According to events manager Linda Santiago, rather than walking around Lake Eola, walkers will take a 2.4 mile walk through downtown.

“We outgrew Lake Eola with the number of walkers we have,” Santiago said. “It just makes sense and we also want to gain more exposure.”

The event isn’t abandoning Lake Eola entirely, though—the event will wrap up with a concert by Sisaundra Lewis at the lake’s amphitheatre.

The event is Hope and Help’s second-largest annual fundraiser, following the Headdress Ball.

Last year’s event raised $165,000.

“Ninety cents of every dollar raised goes back to client services,” Santiago said.

AIDS Walk Orlando will also have a slight schedule shift this year—registration will begin at 7:45 a.m., �ifteen minutes earlier than last year, and the walk itself will begin at 8:30 a.m., a half hour earlier than last year.

Santiago said walkers can expedite their start by turning in funds raised at the Hope and Help of�ice, which will be open from 8 a.m.-7 p.m. the week of May 14.

“We’re open so everyone doesn’t have to stand in the registration line [the day of the event],” she said.

“If you get [donations] in ahead of time, you can get there, start walking and then enjoy the concert.”

It’s not too late for teams to register at AIDSWalkOrlando.org. |  |

IN OTHER NEWS PRO-LGBT GROUP PLANS COUNTER GAY DAYS PROTEST A group of LGBT activists calling themselves “Non-AHoles” are raising money to fly a banner over Orlandoarea resorts that reads “Warning: Homophobes Loose in Orlando. Hide Your Kids” during Gay Days weekend. The move is in response to the Florida Family Association’s plan to fly a banner “warning” families about the popular weekend.

UCF GIVES HONORS WITH FIRST LAVENDER CELEBRATION On May 6, Lavender, the UCF LGBTQ group, held its first ever Lavender Celebration, a graduation ceremony of empowerment recognizing LGBTQ and allied students for their academic and personal accomplishments. This year’s keynote speaker was MBA president Gina Duncan.

10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

BUNDLES OF JOY:

Davenport couple Jenn Klawitter and Carrie Bell are pictured with Olivia Hope, one of their four infants born March 29. The quadruplets—three girls and a boy—were born severely premature at 27 weeks and are still in the NICU at Winnie Palmer Hospital.

|  | Rollins Provost from pg.10

The board �inally acquiesced in 2006—by one vote—making UT a groundbreaker in a state �illed with respected colleges and universities.

The experience left an impression on Bresnahan.

“It would not have happened had gay people not pushed the university president and board to do what they instinctively knew was the right thing to do,” she said.

But she notes that the battle is not over in academia. Earlier this year Michigan passed legislation denying partner bene�its to state employees. Only a last-minute amendment prevented it from applying to the state’s massive university system.

ROLLINS ROLE MODEL

But that’s not the case at Rollins.

The college, where more than half of the 1,800 undergraduate students come from out of state, has non-discrimination protections for more than 700 faculty and staff that include sexual orientation and gender identity. And rest assured that Rollins also offers domestic partner bene�its.

“I would never work at a school without partner bene�its,” Bresnahan said. “I’m done �ighting for them.”

Rollins College President Lewis Duncan has been an outspoken

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

ally of the LGBT community, and his new provost. Duncan and his wife, Dr. Paula Hammer, recently attended a “Lavender Graduation” celebration for LGBT seniors sponsored by Prism, a new 60-member support organization for LGBT and allied faculty and staff that Bresnahan helped found.

“Since Carol joined the Rollins community last year, she has been embraced by students and faculty,” Duncan said in a statement to Watermark. “Her leadership skills and championship of diversity and inclusion have quickly made her a role model. Our campus is enhanced by her presence.”

Rollins also has innovative academic programs that explore progressive topics. A fall lecture by feminist icon Gloria Steinem attracted thousands. As a visiting assistant professor of history, Stecker teaches classes in women’s history and gender and sexuality.

In March she supervised a wellattended seminar on ‘God, Gays and Marriage.’

Bresnahan notes that Stecker accompanied her throughout the interview process at Rollins.

“One always has some trepidation that it will impact decisions,” Bresnahan said. “But I was con�ident that they had done their research, knew who I am and still wanted to talk with me.

I certainly wasn’t going to come down here and be closeted.”

watermarkonline.com

AT HOME IN WINTER PARK Bresnahan says she and Stecker are enjoying Winter Park, where the “town-ground” relationship with Rollins is strong. They purchased a home less than a mile from campus.

“In a way I feel like I’ve come full circle, to a situation much like my undergraduate experience at Smith (in Northampton, Massachusetts),” she said.

Indeed, Rollins has shed its reputation as a party school where wealthy kids drink and dine on Park Avenue while coasting to a four-year degree. Bresnahan notes that admission is more selective and tenure requirements for faculty are rigorous.

“The school glistens now,” she says. “Our graduates are doing spectacular things.”

Quietly, Rollins has become an acknowledged area leader on LGBT and diversity issues. The college sponsored one of the largest contingents at last year’s Come Out With Pride Parade.

“I marched, too,” Bresnahan says.

“It was my �irst pride parade!”

And membership in Spectrum rivals the LGBT student group at nearby UCF, one of the largest schools by enrollment in the nation.

“It means a lot to me that Rollins and its leadership are so out in front on equality,” Bresnahan said. “This really is a �ine institution.” |  |

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermarkonline.com

KISSELL@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

T

CRIME SCENE: Dan Turgeon returns to the Pizza Hut where he said he was subjected to hate speech and struck in the back of the head. PHOTO COURTESY JIM HEUBNER

Man says attack was a hate crime No charges in altercation he says started with anti-gay slurs Joe KIssell

KISSELL@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

T

ARPON SPRINGS, FLA. | When Dan Turgeon and Jim Huebner stopped by a Pizza Hut Feb. 10, they had no idea the night would end with a visit to the hospital and questioning by local police.

But that’s exactly where the couple found themselves after Turgeon said he was called a “faggot” by a 19-year-old wearing a Pizza Hut uniform and attacked from behind in the parking lot.

“This kid is running around. Hit me, called me a ‘faggot’ and nothing is happening to him,” Turgeon said.

Tarpon Springs Police did not charge the alleged attacker with any crime, but Turgeon said he injured his hand during the scuf�le and is

unable to do his work as a veterinary tech. Despite what he describes as an erroneous police report and no charges, Turgeon isn’t giving up his �ight for justice.

“If he murders someone at some point,” Turgeon said of the man he claims attacked him, “it would be on my hands.”

The night began as almost any other for the couple. But when they discovered their favorite Subway was closed, Turgeon and Heubner decided on pizza or dinner. Thirty minutes after making their order, Turgeon said he was knocked to the ground in the parking lot while Heubner watched in horror. When police arrived, Turgeon expected to go to jail with his alleged attacker.

“I was fully expecting them to arrest us both,” Turgeon said, adding that he gave Heubner his wallet in case he needed to be bailed out

of jail. “I thought I was going to get a simple battery charge and he was going to get an aggravated battery charge. Instead, nobody was charged.”

The incident began at 9:15 p.m.

Feb. 10, when Turgeon ordered a Big Box meal and encountered a rude, eye-rolling employee at the register, he said.

“She was not pleasant the whole time,” he said.

After paying, the couple left to buy drinks from a nearby Sweetbay.

Upon returning, and after mulling it over in the store, Dan said he wanted to speak with the manager, who ended up being the same woman he encountered before.

Turgeon said he told the 21-yearold employee—who refused to give her name—that she was “acting bitchy” toward the couple. According a police report, the employee also heard the word “c*unt.”

But that’s not true, says Turgeon.

“I never use the ‘c-word.’” He said

Continued on page 14 |  |

AMPA | Lovers of the arts, mingling and community will gather May 19 at the Tampa Museum of Art to kick off St. Pete Pride month during what organizers say will be a sold-out event.

That means an estimated 800 people will provide support for educational programs at the museum as well as last year’s retrospective of New Yorkbased artist Janet Biggs’ video exploration of gender identity.

“It’s becoming the premier event during the year for the LGBT community,” said Pride & Passion chair Robin Sharp. “Last year we had nearly 640 in attendance and this year we’re anticipating selling out,” she said.

In its seventh year, newcomers to “Pride & Passion” and the museum at night will �ind it an aesthetic experience on par with the �ive collections within.

New to gallery is the furniture design exhibition “A Hundred Years — a Hundred Chairs” from the Vitra Design Museum. Gorgeous examples from the past century will appeal to the discerning eye for design.

In the evenings, the museum provides a perfect spot for such a large gathering of the LGBT community.

“Last time just as many people were outside as inside,” said steering committee volunteer Mariruth Kennedy.

The fundraising arm of the Tampa Museum of Art prides itself on its year-over-year success and the way the event leadership is refreshed every three years, ensuring new ideas and fresh vitality, said Sharp.

Tickets for the event are $75 for individuals and $150 for two. That price includes a one-year museum membership as well as food by Timpano Italian Chophouse; wine, beer, and specialty cocktails; music by DJ Michael Terrance and a performance from the New Century Dance Company.

“It’s the second-largest fundraiser for the museum,” said Sharpe of the museum, which is under the leadership of Todd Smith.

The importance of art comes through the ways people identify through it, she said.

“And not just the LGBT community,” she added.

“We want this event to attract a lot of different types of people. All great cities have a great museum.”

Pride & Passion is produced by a volunteer steering committee and a host committee..

For tickets and more information, visit TampaMuseum.org and look under the “events” tab. |  |

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

tampa bay

Joe KIssell

NEWS

Pride & Passion returns May 19

13

tampa bay NEWS

|  | Tampa Bay Partner

Pinellas County could embrace DPR Staff Report

C

LEARWATER | Following a trend that seems to be sweeping across the state, the Pinellas County Commission recently directed staff members to research the concept of establishing a countywide Domestic Partnership Registry.

According to a report in the Tampa Bay Times, commissioners mentioned the concept during a recent workshop.

“It’s one of those issues that makes sense to have a countywide standard instead of having the individual cities pass ordinances,” said County Commissioner Ken Welch, who proposed the idea. “Hopefully we come back with an ordinance that meets the need countywide.”

Currently, domestic partnership registries are under consideration in Clearwater, St. Petersburg and Gulfport.

All three cities are expected to approve a form of the ordinance, which would grant couples—both same-sex and opposite sex—rights to end-of-life-choices, funeral arrangements, emergency medical decisions and input when it comes to the education of the couple’s children.

If the county moves forward, Welch said it may need to �ind a way to allow cities within the county to opt out of such a registry. Welch said he hopes cities would not use that option and instead follow the ordinance.

So far, no mention of a Domestic Partnership Registry has been made in Hillsborough County, which has a reputation for conservative policies.|  |

Rudisill to leave St. Pete Pride post after June Staff Report

S

T. PETERSBURG | This summer’s St. Pete Pride celebration will be the last one for Chris Rudisill as executive director of the organization. He announced May 4 that he has accepted the position as the new Director of LGBT Programming with Metro Wellness & Community Centers. Rudisill will continue to work through this, his third Pride season. He will stay on with St. Pete Pride until July 15, 2012 and will start his new position at Metro Wellness & Community Center on August 1, 2012.

Stanley Solomons, Board of Directors President for St. Pete Pride, was happy for Rudisill but is sad to see him go.

“We wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors at Metro and we look forward to continuing to work with him in that capacity,” The organizations will continue to work together as partners in the community, along with many other organizations to ensure quality services and programs for the LGBT community in Tampa Bay.|  |

14

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Registry from pg.13

that is just one of many errors in the police report.”

Turgeon said that the woman told him, “I’m not giving you my name, faggot.” To which Turgeon said he responded by saying, “Yes, I’m a proud gay man.”

The police report, however, says that Turgeon’s response was that he was in “a homosexual relationship with his partner, James.”

The altercation resulted in three young men in Pizza Hut shirts coming to the front of the store, asking the couple to leave.

After threatening to call corporate, Turgeon and Heubner left—but the men say the three young men followed them to the parking lot.

LOT ASSAULT

Once outside, Turgeon said he turned around to confront the three men in Pizza Hut shirts.

“You need to get out of my face,” Turgeon said, �inding himself nearly nose-to-nose with a 6-foot, 150-pound 19-year-old from New Port Richey.

“I was afraid for my life,” he said. “So I shoved him out of the way.”

According to Turgeon, he and his partner returned on their path to their vehicle when he heard, “Take this, faggot!”and the 19-year-old struck him in the back of the head.

Huebner says he watched as his partner went down; his attacker already being restrained by the others.

“They backed up, realizing this thing had just got more serious,” Heubner remembered. “And they said, ‘Go ahead and call the police!’”

VICTIM OR AGGRESSOR?

After meeting with Turgeon and Huebner at the Tarpon Springs Police Department, two of�icers spoke with the manager at Pizza Hut. According to a police report, the manager “did not know how Daniel obtained his injuries and denied the fact one of her employees followed Daniel into the parking lot.”

Mary Englehart with the State Attorney’s Of�ice investigated the case after the Tarpon Springs Police Department forwarded it to her of�ice. She said that because Turgeon told the of�icers he was

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

DOCUMENTED INJURY: Dan Turgeon’s injuries are photographed by a Tarpon Springs police officer at Hellen Ellis Memorial. Turgeon suffered scrapes and cuts as well as a broken hand after he was knocked to the ground at a Pizza Hut. PHOTO COURTESY TARPON SPRINGS POLICE DEPARTMENT

the �irst to make physical contact after hearing the homophobic slurs, he was the aggressor in the con�lict.

“I told the truth but I should have lied,” said Turgeon. “They did.”

Unfortunately for Turgeon, there were no other witnesses to the altercation. Della Connoly, assistant county court division director, agreed with Englehart’s decision to not press charges.

“He (Turgeon) was the aggressor,” said Connolly.. “A push is considered a battery. We would

�ired. When Watermark asked to talk about the incident, the manager hung up the phone.

Turgeon said he has spoken with a regional manager of Pizza Hut and learned that his alleged attacker wasn’t a staff member of the store, but was there helping his girlfriend—the manager—that evening.

The police report, however, said that Turgeon’s attacker had on clothing identifying him as a Pizza Hut employee and that he returned to cleaning the kitchen after the interview. “Emotionally, I don’t feel all there,” Turgeon said, adding that he has battled depression since the attack. He said he feels abandoned by the police, the state attorney’s of�ice and Pizza Hut management.

“I feel like nobody cares,” he said. “He took away from me something he shouldn’t have.

When I saw him later walking down the street with not a care in the world thinking he could get away with it, it really ticked me off. We’ve got a guy walking around thinking he can hit a gay man and get away with it.”

In the meantime, Turgeon is nursing physical and emotional wounds, and is still unable to work.

“Nobody cares if I can’t do my job,” Turgeon said. “Nobody really cares that it’s a hate crime. Turgeon is in the process of initiating a civil suit with St. Petersburg attorney Scott Jeeves. |  |

“If he murders someone at some point it would be on my hands.”

—DAN TURGEON not be able to prove this case beyond a reasonable doubt in court.”

NO CHARGES

After the police left Turgeon and Heubner, the couple went to a nearby hospital, where they learned Turgeon’s hand was broken in his fall.

Phone calls to a Pizza Hut representative were not returned but Turgeon said that the company is in the process of picking up his medical tab.

When the Tarpon Springs Pizza Hut was contacted for this story, a manager on duty said the female manager who wouldn’t give her name during the altercation was

watermarkonline.com

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermarkonline.com

EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

S

ARASOTA | For three years, the residents of Sarasota have honored the memory of one of America’s most popular gay politicians with its Harvey Milk Festival.

The festival returns May 10-12, culminating in an outdoor event at Five Points Park, complete with vendor booths and live music on Saturday, May 12.

“This is a music festival that creates a place for artists who support equality,” says Harvey Milk Festival board president Shannon Fortner. “Harvey Milk was out and pushing for LGBT issues in the 1970s. That’s amazing. He has become an

inspiration for the country.”

The festival’s message of equality has signi�icant meaning to Fortner because she and her partner of six years have had to live separately—divided by the Atlantic Ocean—because the United States’ immigration laws won’t allow for the two’s relationship to be recognized as a marriage. Fortner also happens to share the same birthday as Milk—May 22.

“This year is bigger than the previous two years,” Fortner said. “We have two headliners and we have a new home at Five Points Park. It’s more accessible.”

The festival’s previous home in the Rosemary District made it dif�icult to grow it, Fortner said, because it was removed

from downtown traf�ic. The new location should bring in a large number of new visitors simply because the festival is more out in the open this time around.

Headliners Breton—a band from the United Kingdom—and the Minneapolis synth-pop trio CLAPS should also help boost attendance.

“We’re the only Harvey Milk event in Florida that is a music festival,” Fortner said. “Other cities have small parties or candle vigils. But we have the live music and we’re incorporating �ilm and art as well.”

She hopes the larger acts will help attract local and national media attention to Sarasota’s Harvey Milk Festival. So far, it seems the city would welcome

NOTABLE PERFORMANCE: The crowd enjoys one of the musical acts at the 2011 Harvey Milk Festival.

that exposure. Fortner said the City Council and Mayor’s of�ice have provided proclamations and previous mayors have been at the event.

“Sarasota is a place where everyone is open-minded and it’s a great home for an event like this,” Fortner said. “It’s a free event honoring Harvey Milk. We have music, food, a candlelight vigil—and we’re kid friendly. What’s not to like?”

In addition to the street festival, there is a screening of the documentary Hit So Hard: The Life and Near Death Story of Patty Schemel at the Selby Library on May 10 at 5:30 p.m., and an equality gallery called “The Silent T” to represent the transgender community at Ivy on May 11 from 6-10 p.m.

For more details, visit HarveyMilkFestival.com. |  |

sarasota

Steve Blanchard

NEWS

Harvey Milk Festival returns to Sarasota May 10-12

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19

state NEWS

Methodists vote to keep anti-gay stance Wire report

Norm Kent

TAMPA | The United Methodist Church is keeping doctrinal language that calls same-sex relationships ``incompatible with Christian teaching.’’

Methodists took the vote Thursday in their national legislative meeting in Tampa, Fla. Delegates voted by roughly 60% to 40% to reject proposals that would have softened the language on homosexuality in their Book of Discipline. Gay advocates protested by singing hymns that brie�ly shut down the assembly.

The denomination has been debating the issue for four decades.

The United Methodist Church has nearly 8 million U.S. members. Their membership inside the U.S. is shrinking, while growing overseas in conservative countries. In debate Thursday, one delegate from Africa compared homosexuality to bestiality.

The meeting, called General Conference, is held once every four years. |  |

Gainesville gala nets $36,000 for EQFL Staff Report

More than $36,000 rolled through the doors during Equality Florida’s gala in Gainesville May 5. More than 250 people attended the event, held at the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus.

Nadine Smith, executive director of the St. Petersburgbased group and one of its co-founders, recalled how dif�icult it was to �ind board members for the �ledgling rights group back in 1997.

“It was hard to �ind people for our board who would let their full names be used,” she said, explaining that they feared losing their jobs if they were identi�ied with an LBGT group.

Now, Smith pointed out, more and more cities are adopting domestic partnership registries. Anti-bullying efforts have made it so that more than 60% of Florida school children go to schools where anti-harassment policies speci�ically protect LGBT students. And discriminatory policies such as the ban on adoption by gays exist only in Florida’s history.

Two of Gainesville’s own were recognized with the group’s Voice for Equality Awards.

Outgoing Gainesville City Commissioner Jeanna Mastrodicasa, a UF administrator, and community leader Terry Fleming, who runs the Pride Community Center of North Florida, were presented with trophies for more than a decade of work on behalf of lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgendered rights. |  |

20

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Club sues after city orders stop to nude dancing N

ORTH MIAMI BEACH | When Swinging Richards of North Miami Beach opened last fall with promises of full frontal male nudity, many bewildered bar owners and patrons wondered just how they could do it, as a 1994 city ordinance had banned nudity in its alcoholic beverage establishments.

No one has to wonder any longer.

The City of North Miami Beach said the club never had a right to allow nudity from its inception. The club could not disagree more, and is going to court to prove it, stated attorney Jamie Benjamin, whose �irm, along with co-counsel Norman Powell, �iled the federal suit.

“For 22 years the city of North Miami Beach licensed adult nude entertainment at that location, but as soon as one ‘Swinging Richard’ appeared there, the city began a campaign to shut them down. It is blatant sex-based discrimination, targeting gay life,” the suit said.

Without fanfare in February, city attorneys put the club on notice that its nude dancing was illegal, and ordered it to cease and desist, or have their dancers and management face arrest and prosecution.

“Nothing,” the club’s ads say, “should get between you and a good time.” Apparently, the city doesn’t agree.

The city had �irst imposed a deadline of March 23 to stop the nudity, but then granted an extension to April 27. Enforcement of the law, the city said, would begin Wednesday, May 16. The club’s attorneys have �iled a federal lawsuit against North Miami Beach seeking an injunction to prevent enforcement of the 1994 law banning nudity.

The law �irm of Benjamin & Aaronson of Fort Lauderdale has laid out a number of novel legal arguments asserting that the city has no basis to enforce the law.

In their �irst count, the attorneys say the law unconstitutionally discriminates against homosexuals and “male patronage,” since the establishment at 17540 Biscayne Boulevard previously—two decades

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

HERE’S A TIP: Comedian Leslie Jordan enjoys a performance at Swinging Richards in December. PHOTO COURTESY GSFN ago—allowed totally nude dancing by females.

“The change in the gender of the performers and the sexual orientation of the clientele are the only changes made at the Plaintiff’s establishment,” the law �irm argues in its complaint. The �irm asserts that the city is trying to treat gay men differently from straight men.

Second, the club argues it should be exempt from enforcement of the nudity ban because its particular location has “a history of nonenforcement spanning two decades.”

It is seeking a declaratory judgment from the district court that they are

of the law is vague, or not narrowly tailored to meet legal standards of enforceability. Thus, they argue the vagueness leaves dancers and management confused as to what is legal conduct and what is prohibited.

Consequently, they are asking the court not to allow the city to enforce the law, which leaves a reasonable person confused as to what the standards are.

Once served with the lawsuit, North Miami Beach attorneys will have 20 days to answer and �ile its motions to dismiss and af�irmative defenses. They are expected to claim the law was properly enacted and is legally enforceable, and the club had no right to open its doors and to allow nude dancing in de�iance of the ordinance.

If the club prevails initially, nude dancing will continue as is. If not, the dancers would have to bare just a little bit less.

Matt Colunga, 35, is the General Manager of Swinging Richards and has been with the company for 15 years.

“I feel our club is good for gay South Florida tourism and gay life. We have a wonderful club and we offer people a good time in a safe environment during a rough economic time,” he said. “Our community should pull together and help �ight the city.” |  |

“Our community should pull together and help fight the city.”

—MATT COLUNGA, SWINGING RICHARDS GENERAL MANAGER

exempt from the ordinance, based on having complied with earlier licensing requirements.

A third legal argument asserts that the ordinance is legally unenforceable because the dancers’ performances are “constitutionally protected” by the �irst amendment.

The nude dancing is a right equivalent to free speech, and the city attempting to stop it is tantamount to illegal prior restraint.

The lawyers also argue that the ordinance is “legally defective” and thus inherently unconstitutional.

Within that argument, counsel states that the terms and wording

watermarkonline.com

Editor’s note: Norm Kent is the publisher of South Florida Gay News and this article is used with permission.

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nation+world NEWS

Amendment One set to pass in N.C. Staff Report

R

ALEIGH, N.C. | At press time, an amendment that de�ines marriage as a union between one man and one woman was poised to pass with an overwhelming number of votes May 8.

North Carolina already bans gay marriage by statute.

Amendment One goes beyond con�ining marriage to heterosexual couples; it amends the constitution to also makes marriage between a man and a woman “the only domestic legal union” recognized in the state.

Opponents argue that the ban will endanger legal bene�its for unmarried couples, gay and straight, as well as protections for victims of domestic violence.

Retiring Gov. Bev Perdue (D) called the vote on Amendment One “Our Rosa Parks moment” in an interview with NBC’s

Chuck Todd on May 8.

With nearly 25% of the polls reporting, the amendment was set to pass with nearly 60% of the vote. It’s a blow to same-sex marriage advocates who campaigned to defeat the measure this year.

“Most of our money came in the �inal six weeks,” said Jeremy Kennedy, campaign manager for the anti-amendment Coalition to Protect North Carolina’s Families. “We needed more resources early on.”

Amendment opponents argued that the high early turnout suggests a possible upset, as polls forecast a smaller electorate. Supporters argued the opposite.

“Polling shows that despite racial differences, despite party differences, across gender lines, North Carolinians are supportive of the de�inition of marriage as between one man and one woman,” said Rachel

Lee, spokeswoman for Vote FOR Marriage NC. On the same day as the vote, a new Gallup Poll showed that the nation is evenly split on the issue of same-sex marriage.

Half of Americans believe gay marriage should be legal, the poll found, but nearly as many are opposed. It underscores “just how divided the nation is on the issue,” a statement released by Gallup said.

The poll showed that 50% of Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal and bestow the same rights as traditional marriage, compared to 48% who don’t.

The poll shows that support for gay marriage fell slightly from the record high 53% released by Gallup in 2011— which was the �irst time a majority of Americans favored same-sex marriage. Opposition in 2011 was 45%, so the new poll showed a 3% increase in

the opposing numbers.

The poll, conducted May 3-6 of a random sample of 1,024 adults, had a maximum margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, Gallup said.

“This year’s results underscore just how divided the nation is on this issue.

As a result, President Barack Obama’s campaign strategy team obviously is continuing to grapple with how to handle it— with the vice president on the one hand essentially endorsing legalized gay marriage, while the administration on the other hand stops just short of the same pronouncement,” the poll said in a statement, referring to Vice President Joe Biden’s comments on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was “absolutely comfortable” with gay marriage.

Voters in 28 states have instituted constitutional bans on same-sex marriages,

according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Eleven of those bans were instituted in 2004; some Democrats say anti-gay initiatives helped drive turnout for then-President George W. Bush.

But support for these measures is declining over time. In 2004, gay marriage bans passed on average with 71% of the vote, but in 2008 the average was 57%, according to HRC. However, in Southern states like North Carolina bans tend to pass by wider margins.

Several notables on both sides of the issue argued about the amendment this month. Rev. Billy Graham, 93, argued that banning same-sex marriage was Biblically sound. On the other hand, President Bill Clinton stood against the amendment. |  |

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W

ASHINGTON, D.C. | Vice President Joe Biden says he’s “absolutely comfortable” with gay couples who marry getting the same civil rights and liberties as heterosexual couples, a stand that gay rights advocates interpreted as an endorsement of same-sex marriage.

But the White House, eager to avoid a debate on a hot-button social issue in an election year, insisted that Biden was not breaking ranks with Obama, who does not support gay marriage.

Biden told NBC’s Meet the Press May 6 that marriage should be about being loyal to someone you love, whether that marriage is between a

man and a woman, two men or two women.

“I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties,” said Biden.

Gay rights advocates said Biden’s comments signaled unmistakable support for gay marriage, which they said made him the highest-ranking member in the Obama administration to take that position. “’’I’m grateful that the vice president of the United States is now publically supporting marriage equality and I hope very soon the president and the rest of our leaders,

Republicans and Democrats in Congress, will fall in line with the vice president,” said Chad Grif�in, a member of the Obama campaign’s national �inance committee.

Following Biden’s comments, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, a member of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet, also came out in support of gay marriage.

In a May 7 interview on MSNBC, Duncan was asked if he believes same-sex couples should be able to legally marry. He responded: “Yes, I do.”

While Obama opposes gay marriage, he says his personal views on the matter are “evolving” and has noted that polls show Americans are increasingly supporting same-sex marriage. |  |

Romney says he wanted gay spokesman to stay on job Wire Report PITTSBURGH, PA. | Walking a careful line, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said May 4 he had wanted an openly gay spokesman who resigned from his campaign to stay on.

In an interview with Fox News, Romney said his campaign hires people “not based upon their ethnicity, or their sexual preference

or their gender but upon their capability.’’ He called the former spokesman, Richard Grenell, a “capable individual’’ and said many senior campaign aides urged him not to leave.

Grenell was hired in late April to speak for Romney on national security and foreign policy issues.

A vocal supporter of gay marriage, which Romney opposes, Grenell resigned May 1 after conservative

critics raised questions about his sexual orientation and his conservative credentials. Grenell’s departure came after he was conspicuously absent from a week of campaign discussion dominated by national security issues.

Grenell said in a statement that he felt his ability to do his job was ``greatly diminished by the hyperpartisan discussion of personal issues.’’ |  |

NC pastor: Telling parents to punch kids was joke Wire Report FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. | A North Carolina pastor said he was using hyperbole and regrets his choice of words when he told parents during a sermon on marriage to punch any sons who make gestures that might indicate they are gay.

Berean Baptist Church pastor Sean Harris preached April 29 about marriage before the May 8 vote on a state constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. ``Dads, the second you see that son

dropping the limp wrist, you walk over there and crack that wrist,” he said in the sermon, posted online.

“Man up. Give them a good punch.

Okay?’’

The Fayetteville pastor said he does not advocate hitting children, but says parents should reinforce traditional gender roles in children.

“Those weren’t planned words, but what I do stand by is that the word of God makes it clear that effeminate behavior is ungodly,’’ Harris said.

Harris said parents should encourage girls to play sports, but

instruct them to be feminine.

“When your daughter starts acting too butch, you rein her in,’’ the preacher said. ``Sometimes you are going to act like a girl and walk like a girl and talk like a girl and smell like a girl and that means you are going to be beautiful. You are going to be attractive. You’re going to dress yourself up.’’

Tony Cartledge, a divinity professor at Campbell University, called Harris’ sermon ``one of the most disappointing and un-Christlike diatribes I have ever heard.’’ |  |

Colorado Democrats have advanced a bill to allow civil unions for gay couples past two Republican-led House committees, getting it closer than in any other year to becoming law. The finance committee approved the measure with a 7-6 vote May 4 after the bill passed the House judiciary committee a day earlier.

NEB. AG: CITY ORDINANCES PROTECTING GAYS ILLEGAL Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning says cities can’t adopt ordinances protecting people from LGBT discrimination because the state’s anti-discrimination laws don’t extend to sexual orientation. Bruning says that voters can approve changes to city charters extending such protections, but local ordinances like one in Omaha barring employers from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation are illegal.

PRO-GAY YEARBOOK ARTICLE RILES TENN. H.S. A yearbook article titled ``It’s OK to be Gay’’ that profiles the experiences of gay student Zac Mitchell at Lenoir City High School has ignited both anger and support in the community. Loudon County School Board member Van Shaver used his blog to call for a criminal investigation into the yearbook faculty adviser, James Yoakley. “What I am intolerant of is an adult, a teacher no less, inflicting their personal beliefs and sexual orientation decisions on impressionable students,’’ Shaver said.

nation+world

Wire Report

COLO. CIVIL UNIONS BILL GETS OK BY ANOTHER PANEL

NEWS

Biden OK with equal rights for married gay couples

IN OTHER NEWS

CALIF. JUDGE SCOLDS PROSECUTORS FOR DISMISSING GAY JUROR A San Diego judge has dismissed an entire jury panel after prosecutors dismissed a gay man as a potential juror in a same-sex marriage case. Superior Court Judge Joan Weber ruled May 1 that defendants in the case were denied a representative jury and called the city attorney office’s actions ``shocking.’’ The case stems from the 2010 arrest of nine people at the city clerk’s office where they protested Proposition 8, California’s same-sex marriage ban.

EX-RUTGERS STUDENT WANTS HATE CRIME CONVICTIONS DISMISSED Former Rutgers University student Dharun Ravi, who was convicted of hate crimes for using a webcam to watch his roommate kissing another man, filed on May 1 a request to overturn the jury’s verdict. Jurors found Ravi guilty of all 15 counts associated with using his webcam to spy on Tyler Clementi in September 2010, just days before Clementi committed suicide.

SCOUT OFFICIAL RESIGNS, SUPPORTS OUSTED GAY LEADER Board member David Sims, of the Ohio River Valley Boy Scouts Council, has resigned in protest over the removal of lesbian den mother Jennifer Tyrrell because of the group’s ban on gays. Sims resigned from the council’s board April 27 after learning Tyrrell’s story. Sims’ resignation letter says he understands Tyrrell’s removal is legal but opposes it because he believes it is discrimination.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermarkonline.com

loosecanon

It’s about discrimination, not public sex

Jim Walker WALKER@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

T

HIS IS NOT ABOUT PUBLIC

sex. It is about discrimination, and the self-righteous, pious and hypocritical attitudes of many in our community.

The story made headlines around the world, but for me, it was personal because the men arrested were my close friends, Dennis and John. The couple, partnered for 17 years, was on their �irst all-gay Atlantis cruise. They were on the sixth �loor balcony of the Celebrity Summit as it arrived in port on the Caribbean island of Dominica.

Some fellow passengers, as well as people viewing from the dock, say the couple was having sex. Others reported they were simply without clothing. Whatever the case, Dominican police entered the ship and arrested the couple for public indecency and “buggery,” a term used to describe sodomy that goes back hundreds of years.

Perhaps you’ve seen widely-circulated picture of Dennis and John on the balcony. It was obviously taken from a distance away with a zoom lens. I say that because balconies on this ship begin on the sixth �loor.

Hard to imagine how anyone could see much detail from at least 150 feet below.

Dennis and John were hauled off to a dirty, disgusting third-world jail where they spent the next 19 hours. They

were denied legal representation and subjected to a four-hour interrogation by a high-ranking police of�icial who threatened to take them to a clinic and have them medically examined for proof of homosexual activity. They were also paraded around like circus oddities. My friends plead “guilty” to the lesser charge of public indecency and were forced to express remorse, then were scolded by the judge who referred to them as “vagabonds and rogues.” The couple paid �ines totaling several thousand dollars and missed the rest of their vacation.

In the weeks since this incident, I have defended my friends, and criticized the government of Dominica, as well as Atlantis Events. Here are my key points: Dozens of cruise ship visit this port every year loaded with heterosexuals.

I’m quite sure drunken straight couples have been spotted having sex on cruise ship balconies many times while in port in Dominica.

Why have these heterosexuals never been arrested? And if so, why have we never heard anything about it? Answer: Because Dominica is a �iercely homophobic country with discriminatory, archaic laws that single out gays—laws like “buggery.”

I love Atlantis Events and the cruises they provide, but knowing that Dominica hates and discriminates against gays, why would a gay cruise charter company knowingly agree to an itinerary that includes a stop in a potentially hostile country? It is for that reason gay cruises do not go to Jamaica. The laws in Dominica are just as archaic.

Backwards countries like Dominica that have laws on the books criminalizing gay sex should face sanctions. They should be cut off from doing any business with the U.S., including cruises that originate in U.S. ports, even if registered elsewhere. If we cut off their economic lifeblood, perhaps they’ll get the point and catch up with the rest of the world.

Let me say it again: This is not about having sex in public. This is about a country that clearly chose to target our community and make an example of two men doing something that a man and woman would easily get away with.

Until 2003, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws in Lawrence v. Texas, 13 states still had laws on the books outlawing same-sex

sodomy. Sodomy laws, like those in Dominica, have been used for decades as the basis for denying us all kinds of protections in this country.

Yes, John and Dennis made a less than ideal choice by having sex on the balcony while in port—but the reaction of Dominican authorities was more than extreme. A simply warning would have been suf�icient. Instead, the government of Dominica chose to make a statement about its hatred of gays by arresting them.

Since the incident, the selfrighteous in our community are riding around on their moral high horses saying “I would never do such a thing.

How disgusting.” Those same people are checking into the bath house Friday night for a full-out Meth orgy, or they’re going to a park to play in the bushes.

I would add that, as I mentioned above, less than 10 years ago, many of those expressing outrage could have been arrested for sodomy inside the privacy of their own homes. Where it took place wouldn’t have mattered.

Going forward, I will carefully review the itinerary of any cruise I take. If it stops in a country with homophobic laws, I won’t be spending any money there. I won’t even be getting off the ship. |  |

The self-righteous in our community are riding around on their moral high horses… those same people are going to a park to play in the bushes.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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25

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perspective

PUBLISHER’S

Midlife Crisis

Tom Dyer TOM@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

L

AST YEAR I CO-HOSTED A

radio show called The Qiew that was broadcast on Central Florida’s Big 810 AM. For an hour every Saturday afternoon, Paul Karle, Randy Stephens and I played Ryan Seacrest— or in my case, NPR’s Terry Gross.

We interviewed the likes of Larry Kramer, Bruce Vilanch and Leslie Jordan… as well as the entire cast of Logo’s The A-List New York. We had fun, and there were some memorable moments. We’re talking about bringing it back soon on a monthly basis.

One guest stands out—not because of what he said (riveting in hindsight), but because of his suicide just a few weeks after the interview.

Bob Bergeron was a therapist and motivational speaker who’d written a book scheduled to be published early this year.

The Right Side of Forty: The Complete Guide to Happiness for Gay Men at Midlife and Beyond was to be a guide to the gay golden years culled from Bergeron’s 25 years of practice with gay men, mostly in New York and Los Angeles.

Randy and I—both 56—prepared to take notes as the sound engineer connected Bergeron by phone from his Chelsea apartment. We’d visited his web site, and could thus conjure visuals. Whatever the strikingly handsome

and �it 49-year-old was doing, we wanted to learn the secret.

“Self-improvement is still possible,” an energetic Bergeron told us. “Growing older gives us real opportunities to deepen the way we relate with men of all ages.”

When the 15-minute segment was over, I forgot about Bergeron until April 1, when I read in the New York Times that he’d killed himself on New Year’s Eve. The article described an awkward and insecure teenager who found the gym and transformed himself into a con�ident, popular object of desire. So much so that on vacation in Mykonos, Greece, patrons in a gay bar bowed down to him.

Bergeron moved to New York with a successful partner, obtained a masters degree in social work and went into private practice counseling mostly upscale gays about mostly relationship-oriented issues. The relentless examination of the gay male lifestyle apparently fueled his own insecurities about growing older.

“By my thirties, with close to a decade of experience as an openly gay man, I had comfort and con�idence navigating my gay world,” Bergeron wrote on BobBergeron.com, which remains up. “Then I turned 40 and the rules changed. By cruel irony, I began feeling less secure around younger gay men and even gay men my age or older.”

Bergeron is quoted as saying, “I peaked when I was 30 or 35.”

The Right Side of Forty was his attempt at reconciliation, but in it Bergeron encouraged frenetic backpedaling—“As a blueprint, reclaim the things that made you happy in your 20s.”—instead of con�ident navigation forward to uncharted waters. He shared Internet dating tips, cruising techniques and coping mechanisms for the older, less attractive you.

Perhaps as the publication deadline approached, Bergeron realized that the lessons contained therein didn’t work. He had over 1,000 friends on Facebook, but no one to talk with as the New Year approached.

In a suicide note left on his kitchen counter Bergeron wrote, “It’s a lie based on bad information.” An arrow pointed to his book.

Re-listening to our interview, Bergeron’s words become haunting.

“Men are visually stimulated and gay men are attracted to other men, so the pressure to be attractive is

powerful,” he told us. “Images in magazines and on television fuel that.

Look at Taylor Lautner and then look in a mirror and you want to jump off a building! My book contains strategies for remaining attractive to a broad range of men.”

In the Times, Bernstein called it “therapy from the outside-in.”

And touchingly to Randy and me: “Read the book. There are lots of ways that you can make your 2012 better.”

Suicide almost always carries an undercurrent of emotional manipulation. But I respect Bergeron’s furious attempt to understand and overcome his depression. As a solution,

he sought to recast the things that had worked for him in the past: physical beauty, sexual attractiveness and the admiration of others. Perhaps he should explored different forms of grati�ication and spiritual growth.

Now in my late 50s, I can see that this journey from youth to old age is inevitable, de�ining, and to be embraced for the life lessons contained therein. They are lessons that could be taught in no other way. Perhaps members of the LGBT community, less obstructed by cultural roles and norms, can lead the way.

And in that respect, maybe Bergeron was on to something. |  |

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People with HIV are fathers, grandmothers, friends and neighbors. They are people you pass on the street and people you meet. And they have one important characteristic in common with us all: they are human beings.

The Faces of HIV project offers an intimate look at Florida residents living with HIV and AIDS through captivating portraits, insightful interviews and poignant journal writing. To watch their stories, read their journals and to view the mobile art exhibit schedule, visit wemakethechange.com/faces.

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watermarkonline.com

2/24/12 1:10 PM

TALKING POINTS What kind of holy man—what kind of man of God

lies about what he has said

in a videotaped sermon when he is apologizing for what he said in that sermon?

44% The amount by which the use of the drug Truvada reduces a person’s risk of HIV infection.

$10,000 THE COST PER YEAR OF THE DRUG—OR $26 PER DAY. —According to a study published in the April 17 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine

GAY.COM GOES MOBILE

—MSNBC’S LAWRENCE O’DONNELL, REFERENCING NORTH CAROLINA PASTOR SEAN HARRIS’ SERMON DIRECTING PARISHIONERS TO HIT BOYS WHO ‘ACT FEMININE.’

NEEDLES WINS RACE

PEOPLE ARE TALKING ABOUT WATERMARKONLINE.COM ON CHRIS RUDISILL’S MOVE FROM ST. PETE PRIDE TO METRO CHARITIES: “St. Pete Pride’s loss is Metro’s win. But Chris is an honest guy so we all win.”

—Charles Baer

ON CHARGES IN FAMU STUDENT’S HAZING DEATH: “This activity still thrives across our nation, even in the light

of this tragedy, overwhelms the emotions waiting for the next Watermark story to appear of another death.”

—Todd Kottmeier

ON THE CALL TO REVIEW THE BOY SCOUT’S BAN ON GAYS: “[I went] from Webelos, Cub Scout and then Boy Scouts and earned an Eagle Scout badge to eventually become a troop leader. Until I realized how discriminating they were and

T

HE NEWEST DRAG SUPERSTAR WAS UNVEILED during the April 30 �inale of RuPaul’s Drag Race—and she de�initely breaks the mold. Sharon Needles was announced as the winner over the show’s other two favorites—Chad Michaels and Phi Phi O’Hara. The win sets a new tone and a new era in the four-year-old drag reality competition show.

“Other drag queens thought I wouldn’t get this far,” Needles said after her win. “We’re a room full of men wearing teenage girl clothes. How am I the weird one?

RuPaul’s Drag Race returns to LOGO this fall with it’s �ifth season. |  |

Gay.com was one of the first hook-up—we mean ‘networking’—sites on the scene when the internet exploded in the 1990s. Now, the iconic site is adjusting to the new technology era by unveiling its mobile version. According to a press release, Gay.com members can now log on through their smartphones or tablets to connect with other members.

Members can simply activate the GPS function on their device, log into Gay.com and browse nearby members.

not just against gays but other minority groups as well. I quit the scouts & never looked back!”

—Eman Santos

ON DOMESTIC PARTNER REGISTRIES AND THEIR SPREAD ACROSS FLORIDA: “May 2012, Orange County still lags behind after a year of vetting, as other municipalities leave us behind in their dust.”

—Tom Woodward

THAT’S ‘FABULOUS BATMAN’ TO YOU

GAY-MARRIAGE TO HIT REALITY TELEVISION

M

TV, THE NETWORK THAT USED TO BE ALL ABOUT MUSIC, is continuing it’s relationship with reality television by creating a new show involving Beau Fodor, Iowa’s Gay Wedding Planner.

Fodor, who has been featured in Watermark, says that MTV contacted him about a show surrounding 20-something gay, newly engaged or married couples. Filming is slated to start this summer across Iowa, Washington and the East Coast.

MTV hasn’t released a title for the show yet, but the �irst episodes could be released as early as this winter. |  |

C

OMIC BOOK GEEKS ARE IN A TIZZY THIS MONTH after Action Comics writer Grand Morrison told Playboy Magazine that Batman is “very, very gay.”

“Gayness is built into Batman,” Morrison told the mag. “Obviously as a �ictional character he’s intended to be heterosexual, but the basis of the whole concept is utterly gay. All these women fancy him and they all wear fetish clothes and jump around rooftops to get to him. He doesn’t care— he’s more interested in hanging out with the old guy and the kid.” |  |

WATERMARKONLINE.COM POLL An HIV-positive Iowa man sentenced to 50 years in prison for having unprotected sex with multiple people despite knowing his status recently filed for post-conviction relief because he’s sick.

IS HIS SENTENCE JUST?

Absolutely! It is attempted murder. Enjoy your life in jail, jerk!

Maybe.

He should have gone to prison but the 50 years is an excessive sentence.

Yes.

For someone who knowingly don’t disclose his status and doesn’t use protection, a long prison sentence is appropriate justice.

No.

If his partners weren’t responsible enough to use protection, then why should he serve a sentence for not disclosing?

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FINAL WEEK!

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ORLANDO / C M Y K 9.875" X 10.375"

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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©DISNEY

88957 / WATERMARK RUN DATE: THURSDAY, MAY 10

THE GAY EXIT

INTERVIEW In a gay press exclusive, Lisa Lampanelli takes us inside her recent ouster from The Celebrity Apprentice

L

Kirk Hartlage KIRK@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

ISA LAMPANELLI, YOU WERE JUST

�ired from The Celebrity Apprentice.

What are you going to do now?

Well, she may not be going straight to Disney World, but she is coming to Orlando and Tampa next weekend for two nights of her signature Queen of Mean stand-up comedy. She never travels anywhere without her acerbic tongue, and both of her Central Florida dates are sure to be �illed with plenty of dirt about her fellow contestants.

In case you haven’t been watching what has been its best season ever, the NBC Sunday night reality competition show/product placement variety hour features celebs auditioning for a de facto position in Donald Trump’s organization while raising money for charity in the process. After making it to the �inal four, having just won $100,000 for the Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Lampanelli was dismissed in the May 6 episode because she often led with her emotions, a charge for which she makes no excuses.

Following Sunday’s elimination episode, Lampanelli’s Monday was a day-long barrage of media interviews about her experiences on the show. By her own description she ended the day on a high note, and saved the best for last: a gay-press-exclusive conversation with Watermark.

Continued on page 48 |  |

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John Cusack in The Raven.

The Raven Starring John Cusack, Luke Evans, Alice Eve

Judi Dench in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel.

Screened Out MOVIE REVIEWS

Pensioners, Poets and Pirates!

A

MOVIE ABOUT TROUBLED

people with serious problems doesn’t have to be dour. It can, in fact, be funny and cute, like this Starring Judi Dench, Bill Nighy, Maggie one. Perhaps, I’m a little disheartened, Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Dev Patel, Celie because cash-strapped English retirees Imrie, Penelope Wilton, Ronald Pickup are forced to relocate to dirt-poor Jodhpur, India. Still, director John Madden (Shakespeare in Love, The Debt) ably adapts the light, �luffy book into a quality movie.

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel

Stephen Miller

STEPHEN@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

Widow Dench �inds out her husband left her penniless. Sour couple Nighy and Wilton lost all their money to a daughter’s startup scheme. Sour, dour Smith desperately needs a hip replacement and cannot imagine waiting the six months in England.

Wilkinson and the rest go to pursue dreams of love and even sex in this scrubby city halfway across the globe, where Patel (Slumdog Millionaire) is trying to keep

his hotel from being bulldozed.

I predict this will be very popular stuff. Marigold is chock full of great London actors, and Madden is a wonderful director. The setting is beautiful, and the comedy—the airy, farcical and often cliché laughs—will make Marigold a crowd-pleaser.

The jokes almost completely let us forget old people’s poverty, India’s ugly caste system, and the ostracism of gays by both Indian and English culture. Yet, in those few moments when the movie lets the audience feel characters’ pain—when the story is less adorable and more honest—the Marigold is the best and most exotic. |  |

The Captain of The Pirates! Band of Misfits.

The Pirates!

Band of Mis�its Voices of Hugh Grant,

Imelda Staunton, David Tennant The Raven has the seed of a brilliant idea—literati have always Probably, there is very little wondered about Edgar Allen Poe’s last glamorous about being a real pirate. days—and it’s obviously written by Somewhere, however, between Robert some huge fans. However, the script is Lewis Stevenson and Errol Flynn, the full of jumps of logic, melodrama, and life of pillaging, killing, scurvy, and historical anachronisms. It needed a replacing missing limbs with hooks and great director to carve out a great �ilm. wood became cool. The next natural Instead it got James McTeigue, whose progression is to make fun of it. uneven career is mostly marked by his Aardman Studios rehired Chicken uneven V for Vendetta.

Run director Peter Lord to helm this Poe (Cusack) is a druglight, kid-friendly swashbuckler. addicted dipsomaniac Pirate Captain (that’s his and brilliant author of name—Grant voices the RATINGS GUIDE the macabre. He staggers character) and his band of around 1840s Baltimore swarthy goo�balls sail the high besmirching other writers. seas. The captain is obsessed Overflowing He’s also fallen in love with with winning Pirate of the Year, with glittery the beautiful Emily (Eve). At so he will do anything to defy fabulousness the same time, a maniacal mean Queen Victoria (Staunton) mass murderer has started and get the adulation.

Pretty damn killing, based on Poe’s grisly Perhaps the arc of this good, but it’s no stories. To save his love and animated yarn is a little too Sunset Boulevard catch the criminal, Poe must predictable. Yet, within all the team up with inspector silly humor are hidden smaller An entertaining Evans. treasures of real surprise and enough flick Cusack does the best he discovery. The ship’s parrot with perhaps can with the stilted dialogue. is actually a dodo. Charles a few holes It all feels like a keener eye Darwin (Tennant) and his silent, and ear could’ve saved this manservant-chimpanzee are Ever so slightly with small revisions. Society also fun. Small plot twists are watchable, just girl Eve at one point says a blast. for that hot actor “okay” repeatedly, though The stop-motion animation the word was only recorded is so excellent here, my friend Two hours of 20 years earlier among the David and I argued after your life you’ll Chocktaw Indians and not the movie over what was never get back widely used as an American claymation and what was idiom until the 20th century. digital. The 3D effects are fun, Even the mystery is a chop job because though probably not entirely necessary the revelation of the killer a bit too pat. to enjoy the �ilm. The action sequences Director McTeigue has a great sense are hilarious, and the humor is rightfully of style, but that’s about it. He didn’t irreverent. �ix the problems with the clever script, In all, it’s worth the booty you’d and he certainly doesn’t do much to spend for the ticket. Or just grab a make this revisionist history concise or cutlass and force your way in, really.

That’s the glamorous thing to do. |  | emotionally compelling. |  |

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21s t A N N UA L OR L A N DO I NTE R NATIONA L

FRINGE

MAY 16–28

ORLANDOFRINGE.ORG FOR MORE INFO

gu i d e

the queer bar PreSeNtS

“Out Of the Closet” sONGs AND PIANO BY BOB AZZARITO

Sip a free drink at the piano bar. Enjoy songs/stories about life in & out of the closet. Laugh. Celebrate. Share.

Check www.orlandofringe.org for specific dates & times. Tickets $10

ONEymoon (A Honeymoon for One) STARRING CHRISTEL BARTELSE

starring CHRISTEL BARTELSE

B R OW N V E N U E

Thurs May 17 @ 10:30pm Fri May 18 @ 5:15pm Sat May 19 @ 7:15pm Wed May 23 @ 7:15pm Sat May 26 @ 4pm Sun May 27 @ 5:45pm

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orlandofringe.org

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21S T A N N UA L OR L A N DO I NTE R NATIONA L

MAY 16–28

FRINGE

ORLANDOFRINGE.ORG FOR MORE INFO

GU I D E

Classically Demented

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YOW DANCE presents A DARKENED FABLE OF STORYBOOK CHARACTERS YOU THOUGHT YOU KNEW

5/18 FRI., 7:30PM | 5/20 SUN., 9:45PM | 5/22 TUE., 11:00PM 5/25 FRI., 5:15PM | 5/26 SAT., 3:00PM | 5/27 SUN., 8:45PM

orlando repertory theatre 1001 East Princeton Street Orlando, FL 32803 SILVER VENUE | TICKETS: $10 | STUDENT/HOSPITALITY DISCOUNT: $8 ONE-TIME PURCHASE OF $8 FRINGE BUTTON REQUIRED TO ATTEND ANY FRINGE PERFORMANCE; TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE AND AT THE DOOR WWW.YOWDANCE.ORG | INFO@YOWDANCE.ORG | YOW DANCE IS A 501(C)(3) COMPANY

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San Francisco

JAMES JUDD Funny Stories WHAT’S YOUR SHOW ABOUT?

My show is called Funny Stories, and that’s what it is—funny stories from my life. I’m gay and so is Eric, my pre-Prop 8 semi-legally recognized husband. All of the stories in my show are autobiographical.

I may throw in a few other bits, like the story about the time Rosie O’Donnell hit on me, or the 10 Spanish phrases that every traveling gay must know, like, “I need pill!’ and “What about my needs?”

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO AT FRINGE?

This is my third appearance. The professional attitude and dedication of the staff and volunteers is stellar. Plus, the audiences of the Orlando Fringe are smart. Also, I’m shacking up in a condo with friends from Florida, North Carolina, Boston, and Medellin. If you need to �ind us we will be at the Parliament House after 9 p.m. Monday-Sunday. I hope I see some awesome drag. Let’s be honest—there’s a reason why there are lots of Florida Queens on RuPaul’s Drag Race and zero from San Francisco. Maybe the humidity brings out the �ishiness.

HERE WE GO AGAIN: The 22nd Annual Orlando Fringe Festival arrives at Loch Haven Park May 16-28.

Going Gay Global!

THEATER

A

DEFINING FEATURE OF THE

Orlando International Fringe theatre festival, now in its 21st year, is all the gay acts from home and abroad. This supremely weird and fun festival—the oldest of its kind in the nation—takes over Loch Haven Park May 16-28.

“Demographically, LGBT audiences make up 24% of our patrons and purchase more tickets per person than any other segment of our community,” states incoming Festival Producer

Michael Marinaccio. “As Orlando Fringe reaches out to new audiences and demographics, we continue our commitment to supporting one of the most loyal and valued segments of our Fringe

D’YAN FOREST I Married a Nun

National LGBT acts invade Orlando Fringe Festival May 16-28 Stephen Miller STEPHEN@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

New York City

TELL US A LITTLE ABOUT YOU AND YOUR SHOW.

community.”

In fact, the Fringe was listed as one of the reasons when Advocate called Orlando the second gayest city in the nation.

Because Central Florida possesses such strong performers—from theaters and theme park alike—often the national acts get a late start. Outof-towners succeed on word-ofmouth, a high staple emerging from the Fringe’s “Green Lawn of Fabulousness,” where performers and patrons mingle.

This year, Watermark features six national LGBT acts, to get the buzz going early!

It’s about marrying a nun. I did! Then she left me—not for God—but for some grandkids. So, I high-tailed it off to the demimonde of Paris where I visited the strip clubs and swingers clubs and had a very good time. The production company in one word is: Me! Originally, I’m a Boston girl who found her heart and sexuality in Paris and brought it back with me when I moved to New York City.

YOU DEVELOPED YOUR SHOW THROUGH WRITERS’ GROUPS, RIGHT?

What has fascinated me is how all people—young, old, straight—in my different writing groups have all been so encouraging with the development of this show. I thought the story of a woman in her 70s going to swingers clubs would be too much, but they kept saying, “We want more!”

HAVE YOU BEEN TO ORLANDO BEFORE?

A few years ago, one of my �irst French loves insisted I take her to Disney World where she fell in love with Minnie Mouse. I never forgave her. This time, I’m tracking down Minnie Mouse and having fun.

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Continued on page 39 |  |

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,8

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,K O

L R

R A L P N E V A H

watermarkonline.com

N A

O D

I also discovered a love for penises, which Jesus is totally not down with.

— KEVIN THORNTON OF STRANGE DREAMZ |  | Fringe Festival from pg.37

New York City

Nashville Tennessee

Aspen, Colorado

PAUL CONSENTINO

ALEXA FITZPATRICK

KEVIN THORNTON

Bad Connections?

Tangled Ribbons

Strange Dreamz

IN YOUR SHOW YOU PLAY NINE DIFFERENT CHARACTERS. IS IT DIFFICULT?

YOUR SHOW WAS BORN OUT OF YOUR EXPERIENCE RAISING MONEY FOR AIDS AND BREAST CANCER GROUPS.

WHAT CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT YOUR SHOW?

I’ve found the responsibility of holding the audience’s attention for 90 minutes to be both overwhelming and exhilarating. After performances, people have asked, “Aren’t you exhausted?” I’ve found that I’m not. My training as an actor has taught me to learn to relax on stage, and to allow the characters, their voices, and the storyline to �low through me. And what wonderful words and characters to let �low!

TELL US ABOUT HOW YOU MET THE SHOW’S WRITER:

Michael Levesque directed me in a production of Godspell when I was 15 in San Jose, Calif. Twenty years later, in New York City, Michael casually mentioned to me one day in that he was “available for hire” as a playwright. And that was about it; Michael came up with the intricate plot and fully �leshed out, richly detailed characters.

BAD CONNECTIONS? HAS ALREADY BEEN A HIT AT THE HOLLYWOOD AND EDMONTON FRINGES, WITH SOLD OUT AUDIENCES AND CRITICAL PRAISE. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO IN ORLANDO?

Really, just meeting some great people and sharing this wonderful piece of theater with them!

Yes, it’s based on the nine years I spent traveling around the country producing events for a cure.

My story mainly focuses on one summer—my second year with the company. I refer to it as my summer of sex, drugs and events for a cure because we were like roadies for a cause.

IT SOUNDS LIKE AN INTERESTING LIFE.

On any event there were 50 to 60 of us, living on rock and roll style tour buses. We ranged in age from about 23 to 45, were all attractive and �it (because you need to be to work that hard, the �it part that is; attractive came from how much everybody cared about the world) and mostly single (because who else can go on the road for seven straight months?). We spent �ive days of every week producing AIDS Rides and Breast Cancer Walks, both events that change people’s lives. Then we’d spend two days in strange cities blowing off steam from producing events that change people’s lives.

My new show is a concert/stand-up hybrid. I’ve been on the road since 2009 developing the style and material. Audiences may remember my 2011 show I Love You (We’re F*#ked), which did pretty well at Orlando Fringe. This year I went for less of a storyline and (hopefully) just a lot more funny.

I really tried to push boundaries this time with themes of sex, race and AIDS. Oh, and TLC. Yes, the 90s R&B girl group.

WHAT MAKES YOUR SHOW INTERESTING FOR LGBT AUDIENCES?

The show isn’t a “gay show,” per se. However, there are lots and lots of gay-related topics, simply because that’s my perspective. I talk very openly (probably too openly) about my life: sex, love, all of it. I was raised on the Indiana/Kentucky border by two good Midwestern people and Jesus Christ.

Learned the few chords my dad knew on my grandpa’s Gibson [and] spent years singing and writing. During that time I also discovered a love for penises, which Jesus is totally not down with. So I chose cock over Christ. That’s funny, right? I took that funniness and translated it to the stage. And that’s what I do now. |  |

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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DIVERSE GROUP: Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota, is composed of more than 50 men and women, who at one time were part of separate choruses.

Gershwin to GALA CHORUS

Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota celebrates 15 years

S

Anthony Paull PAULL@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

ARASOTA | DIVERSITY: THE VOICES OF

Sarasota will celebrate its 15th anniversary as a revered gay-friendly Southwest Florida chorus by presenting ‘From Gershwin to GALA’ at the Beatrice Friedman Symphony Center at Holley Hall on May 19.

If it seems hard to believe that Diversity is already celebrating 15 years—you’re not alone. The history of the chorus explains why the singers feel like they’re in a time warp. David Phillips, executive director of the chorus and a charter member, explains how the milestone has already been reached.

“I joined when the chorus began

42

back in 1997,” Phillips says. “Back then it was called The Gulf Coast Men’s Chorus. We combined with Harmony: The Women’s Voices of Sarasota in 2008, becoming Diversity.”

Phillips says that Diversity holds auditions throughout the year and invites interested, potential members to visit the chorus’ website at DiversitySarasota.org.

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Phillips said he was attracted to the chorus in the 1990s because he has studied music his entire life.

“After I retired, I moved to Florida and auditioned,” he says.

The concert will be a preview of Diversity’s performance at the 2012 GALA Chorus Festival held in Denver, Colo., this summer. GALA, an international association of LGBT choir groups, holds such a festival every four years, attracting 180 singing groups and 5,000 singers from around the world. In the past, Diversity has participated in GALA festivals in Montreal and New York City at Carnegie Hall.

Artistic Director Derek Edward Weston plans to commemorate Diversity’s role in GALA by selecting pieces for the Holly Hall performance that illustrate how the

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

from West Side Story. The selections chorus has evolved over the last 15 are comprised of tearjerkers and years.

“Through this journey, the music some songs for laughs. The Diverse Experience, a core group of 10 has changed from the songs of the people within the chorus, will have civil rights movement to some of some special selections as well.” the inspirational projects that are While the local concert is to commissioned by GALA choruses thank fans and celebrate 15 years today,” Weston states. of music in Sarasota, this Diversity is summer’s GALA is where the comprised of chorus’ collective focus more than 50 lies. Memories of past male and female GALAs make Phillips singers, gay and more excited straight alike. about the 2012 Phillips feels the event. combination of “There are fellowship and thousands of talent from every singers there, walk of life is what and each chorus gives the choral gets a half-hour group its edge.

—DAVID PHILLIPS, to perform,” “We have EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Phillips explains. rehearsals every “It’s a great, big Tuesday night,” event held in huge Phillips explains. “The Artist concert halls. There’s a tremendous Director preselects the material amount of camaraderie when the and hands out the sheet music. We chorus performs. It’s an amazing rehearse at St. Andrews Church experience, and I feel honored to be and each rehearsal lasts about two a part of it.” |  | hours.”

That weekly rehearsal will come in handy when the chorus takes MORE INFORMATION the stage of Holly Hall. Phillips says the chorus is preparing everything WHAT: Diversity: The Voices of from George Gershwin staples to Sarasota—From Gershwin to GALA Cole Porter numbers.

WHERE: Beatrice Friedman “We’re also singing ‘What a Symphony Center at Holly Hall, 709 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota Wonderful World’ by Nat King WHEN: Saturday, May 19, 8 p.m.

Cole,” Phillips says. “Then we have songs like ‘Singing For Our Lives’ TICKETS: $22 at DiversitySarasota.org and ‘The Great Peace March’ by Holly Near. Plus we have excerpts

“There’s a tremendous amount of camaraderie when the chorus performs.”

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Mad Cow Theatre presents

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QUIET TIME: Summer is a time for relaxation, but for those who want to keep their minds stimulated, reading is the perfect summertime activity.

Summer Reads

Lesbian fans of the male-dominated lycanthrope myth will appreciate author Allison Moon’s take on the genre with her new novel, Lunatic Fringe, a paranormal tale where strong female characters play rough, �ight hard, and satisfy their animal instincts under the canopy of a moonlit sky. When protagonist Lexie Clarion starts college in a rural Oregon town, she’s quickly adopted by a group of radical lesbian separatists known as the Pack who make it their mission to put an end to menacing wolf attacks. But when Lexie discovers that she’s a werewolf herself during a night of passionate sex with a mysterious woman (who’s also a wolf), she’s forced to hide her secret to avoid the ire of the fur-hungry ladies.

BOOKS

A Mini-Guide to LGBT books to take to the beach in 2012 Mikey Rox

W

ROX@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

HEN YOU HIT THE BEACH THIS

season, don’t forget to bring a good book. Here are our picks for Summer 2012’s hottest LGBT titles.

CONCIERGE CONFIDENTIAL: THE SECRETS OF SERVING CHAMPAGNE BITCHES AND CAVIAR QUEENS

Author Michael Fazio may have provided white-glove service to his high-end clientele while working as a concierge, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t get his hands dirty. In this revealing, eyebrow-raising anthology of sorts, Fazio dishes on what went down at Manhattan’s Intercontinental Hotel as he ful�illed the extravagant, WTF requests of its guests, like purchasing antique Russian swords at a moment’s notice and �illing a bathtub with Godiva chocolates for a romantic

anniversary evening. Fazio, who co-authored the book with Michael Malice, also delves into his past as a Hollywood P.A., a steppingstone that left more than a bitter taste in his mouth for celebs that include Rosie Perez and Salma Hayek. Yep, he names names.

BENEDICTION

In his debut novel Benediction, author Jim Arnold heads straight for the heart with a story of love and loss. Ben, a successful actor, beds hot-to-trot neighbor Jake while simultaneously enjoying a friends-with-bene�its relationship with Latin lothario Eric. Life couldn’t be better.

But, of course, all good things

LUNATIC FRINGE

must come to an end. Ben is blindsided by a prostate cancer diagnosis that sends him into a tailspin just as he’s about to embark on a festival tour to promote his new movie. As Ben struggles to �ight for his life, he also realizes that the old saying is true—everything happens for a reason.

SCANDALOUS!: 50 SHOCKING EVENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT

If E!, VH1, or truTV ever pull the plug on their sensational Sunday-afternoon specials like the 10 Most Shocking Hollywood Divorces (an oxymoron if there ever was one) or the 40 Most Shocking Hip-Hop Moments, Scandalous!: 50 Shocking Events You Should Know About will dull the pain of guilty-pleasure withdrawal with more than 200 pages of salacious stories that include the invention of the Ponzi scheme, the kidnapping

Continued on page 46 |  |

JOURNEY TO TRANSGENDER IDENTITY GRRL ALEX: AA PERSONAL

Even without the book, author Alex Drummond makes a bold statement about transgender identity in his feminine attire and full beard: He’s her own person, and (s)he will not conform.

[Her words, not ours.] And so goes this look into the author’s life that chronicles a transgender journey from age 4 to the present.

Drummond, a psychotherapist, also delves into transgender theory with a few chapters that detail research into cognitive behavior. A deeply moving personal narrative, Grrl Alex is a mustread for anyone who’s questioning their own gender identity.

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Fazio dishes on what went down at

Manhattan’s Intercontinental Hotel as he fulfilled the extravagant, WTF requests of its guests—

THE MILES

This brand new title from author Robert Lennon hits the ground running—pun intended. The Miles follows Liam Walker, a day-in-day-out drone who is unsatis�ied with his job at the same magazine, life in a drab apartment, and an inability to forge a long-term romantic relationship. Walker decides to make a major lifestyle change when he commits himself to preparing for the New York City Marathon. After joining a running club whose members impact his life in ways he didn’t expect, Liam begins to understand that there’s a congruency between �igurative and literal romances, heartaches, rivalries, and injuries, both on and off the track.

and yep, he names names.  CONCIERGE CONFIDENTIAL: THE SECRETS OF SERVING CHAMPAGNE BITCHES AND CAVIAR QUEENS

|  | Summer Reading from pg.45

KAMIKAZE BOYS

Too often, committed couples are viewed as “boring,” but that’s not the case in Jay Bell’s new book. David and Connor are an awesome team. They’re loyal to a fault, and that’s where the story comes in. It’s the world around this couple that’s the problem, and when somebody or something threatens the person you love, you react. Naturally this leads to all sorts of trouble, which gives us our con�lict and makes for one hell of a story.

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of the Lindbergh baby, the time Lana Turner’s daughter murdered her mom’s boyfriend, the whacking of Nancy Kerrigan, and Monica Lewinsky-gate, among many other oh-no-theydi’nt moments in history. An easily digestible book packed with photos, quotes and other tidbits of eyebrow-raising information, Scandalous! is marketed as teen lit but it’s perfect for a beach-going gay who lives for the drama.

BUT THIS IS DIFFERENT

Fans of the show ‘Lost’ and lovers of historical �iction will �ind themselves engrossed in this tour-de-force new novel from author Mary Walker Baron.

Forty years ago, a woman—who natives of a South Paci�ic island call Mere—seemed to appear out of thin air. Her whereabouts have been hidden from the

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

rest of the world for the past four decades, but the peaceful existence of Mere and her people is threatened when a letter arrives that causes Mere to question the commitments and promises that have de�ined her life. A brilliant reimagining of the disappearance of Amelia Earhart, But This Is Different explores the range of emotions of what it means to truly love, and ultimately lose, those individuals who make forever imprints on our hearts.

THE BEST WORKOUT IS “SEX”: A GAY GUIDE TO YOUR IDEAL MARRIAGE

Is there a better way to spend an afternoon on the scorching sand among scantily clad beachgoers than to peruse a book about sex? We think not. But The Best Workout is “Sex” by co-authors and reallife partners Alvin and Antonio Lopez-Woods isn’t about sex in the carnal sense. Rather, it’s a look into what it takes to make

watermarkonline.com

a marriage work this day in age by focusing on the positive qualities of each individual in the relationship to help build strong, long-lasting emotional and mental connections. Ideal for devoted couples committed to creating an atmosphere of love and respect in and out of the bedroom.

GAGA FEMINISM

Believe it or not, Lady Gaga is deeper than any of us originally thought, In J. Jack Halberstam’s new book, he makes sense of the tectonic cultural shifts that have transformed gender and sexual politics in the last few decades—with a focus on Lady Gaga. Using the superstar as a guide—and mixing in edge and wit—the book navigates the reader through a new vision of feminism and invites us to envision the world in which gender is blurred and we all “go Gaga.” This is one book that goes beyond gender in a way few others have. |  |

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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He’s very agreeable. I married somebody who doesn’t have these big needs to be with me all the time. He’s a very non-needy bastard, and I thank God for that because I can’t stand somebody sucking all my oxygen.

WATERMARK: YOU WERE A

WHEN THEY FIRST ANNOUNCED THE CAST WE WERE TOTALLY STOKED BECAUSE THERE WERE SEVERAL PEOPLE OUR PUBLICATION HAVE INTERVIEWED—NAMELY, DEBBIE GIBSON.

LISA LAMPANELLI: Oh no, no, no. It doesn’t ever go like that.

This is how every conversation goes: ‘Hey honey, guess what I’m doing.’ ‘What?’ Insert thing I’m doing. Insert him nodding and saying ‘Great.’ And that’s it!

Because it has nothing to do with him. It has to do with: Is it good for my career? I’ve done what I wanted for 50 years without him.

He’s just happy he doesn’t have to make the bed for 15 weeks.

Debbie Gibson is amazing. At �irst I couldn’t stand her because she comes to the �irst taping dressed in her frickin’ 80s out�its. It was like she was stuck in a time warp!

I thought, ‘Oh I’m gonna hate this bitch.’ And then she started singing! We couldn’t shut her up!

Every chance she had to sing— behind the scenes, in the vans on the way to a task—she had to sing. She wouldn’t shut her God-damned mouth! But then I thought, Hey, this broad’s pretty fun. She kind of lightened things up a little. And all of a sudden, I’m a big fan of Debbie Gibson and I’ve got “Shake Your Love” going through my mind for 13 fuckin’ weeks. I actually like and speak with her now.

|  | Lisa Lampanelli from pg.31

NEARLY-NEWLYWED WHEN THE OFFER CAME TO DO THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE. I’M CURIOUS HOW THAT CONVERSATION WENT WITH JIMMY BIG BALLS, YOUR NEW HUSBAND: “HEY HONEY, WE JUST GOT MARRIED BUT I’M GOING TO GO SPEND A COUPLE OF MONTHS AWAY FROM YOU.”

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NEXT TIME YOU DO, ASK HER ABOUT THIS: THERE WAS A PLAYWRIGHT IN ORLANDO WHO WROTE AND STAGED A JUKEBOX MUSICAL USING ALL DEBBIE GIBSON MUSIC.

Wow. So basically the musical had just two songs?

THERE WERE A LOT MORE SONGS IN THERE THAN YOU WOULD HAVE EXPECTED!

Yeah, but none I would have recognized.

WELL, NEITHER DID THE AUDIENCE…AND THAT’S PROBABLY WHY THE SHOW RAN A WEEK… END.

Oh, God bless her. I’m going to have to tell her about that.

SHE CAME HERE FOR THE DEBUT! AND SHE WAS INCREDIBLY GRACIOUS AND SO SWEET.

You know, I really do like her. I think she has one the best hearts of all the people on the show, for sure.

YOU HAVE A PAST AS A ROCK-ANDROLL JOURNALIST, AND HAVE DEALT WITH CELEBRITIES ON THE FLIP SIDE. HOW DID THAT HELP YOU ON THE SHOW?

To not look at anyone as special.

MARLEE MATLIN, I THOUGHT YOU WERE FINISHED, BECAUSE MARLEE’S PROBABLY SEEN HOW YOU TREAT SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS DURING YOUR STAND-UP ACT.

Because I’d been interviewing bands and actors since I was 18 years old. So, no one here really excites the F out of me, meeting them. We’re all on an equal playing �ield, whether you’re a housewife or you’re a freaking former late-night legend. So, guess what? We’re all the same, and you can all suck my dick, because I’m smarter than you.

IN SOME OF THE POST-SHOW INTERVIEWS THAT HAVE ALREADY COME OUT, YOU SAID YOU FELT NBC WAS VERY “HONEST” WITH HOW THEY SHOWED YOU.

Yes, 100%.

DID THAT SURPRISE YOU?

Well, you’re always a little nervous. Suppose they just show all the clips of me yelling. What if they don’t show enough of my multi-layered crying? Because I wanted all my emotions to be shown in this thing. So, I was very happy with it.

The only thing I was upset about in the editing was—and you’re the only one I’m telling this to—they made some people look smarter and more capable and not as lazy as they were. That was kind of a slap in the face, because they showed me exactly how I am, why don’t you show them to be the losers that they are, too? I think it comes down to NBC not wanting to hurt anyone’s career and show them to be completely horrible. So I kind of get it, but part of me is a little bit sad.

I’M SURE OVER TIME, THOUGH…

Oh, the truth always comes out.

WHEN YOU WERE IN THE FINAL FOUR AND GETTING INTERVIEWED

BY LAST SEASON’S RUNNER-UP

Oh, Marlee and I know each other from the Trump roast, so she has a pretty good sense of humor about that deaf thing, even though I’m pretty sure she’s probably faking it to get attention. I mean, you’re not like everybody else. Whatever, bitch.

I always thought she was mad cool. When they did the interviews I thought they were pretty positive in all their comments. To say that someone is too emotional, to me that’s not an insult. We’re actors, we’re comics, we’re singers. We’re supposed to be emotional. So, I was very happy with their assessment.

YOU CERTAINLY SHOWED PASSION ABOUT THE WORK YOU WERE DOING, AND CLEARLY THERE WERE PEOPLE—VICTORIA GOTTI—WHO DID NOT.

There were people there who couldn’t care less. They were just there to make themselves better known. I won’t say my charity was my number one priority there, because I’d be a liar.

Nobody’s charity was number one. The fact is we all wanted to get more famous, or get back to a place we used to be, like the Arsenios and people like that.

The Lou Ferrignos. Those people.

And that’s �ine. But it is a charity event after all. At least put in a little effort for that.

THERE ARE A TON OF CHARITIES OUT THERE, WHY DID YOU CHOOSE GAY MEN’S HEALTH CRISIS?

I had done the AIDS Walk a few years ago, and they coordinate it. I read up on that, and I liked the work they did. I could never attach myself to a charity unless I really mean it. Because I hate the people who just pick something and go, “Well, it’s good for my career.” So I started volunteering down there, serving meals and things. I also found out they were a great charity when I was protested by the Westboro Baptist Church.

BOARD ROOM: On The Celebrity Apprentice, the board room became a familiar place for Lisa Lampanelli and Clay Aiken. But no one seemed to be there more than former Miss Universe Dayana Mendoza. | PHOTO COURTESY NBC UNIVERSAL [Last May, when Westboro announced they would picket Lampanelli’s show in Topeka, Kan., she offered to donate $1,000 to a gay charity for each church member that showed up.

Though various head counts had the number somewhere in the upper 40’s, Lampanelli wrote the GMHC a check for $50,000 in the church’s name.]

I had a good history with the charity and I really believe in what they do.

YOU TOLD ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY THAT YOU WATCH THE CELEBRITY APPRENTICE EVERY SUNDAY WITH JIMMY BIG BALLS AND YOUR GROUP OF GAYS.

Oh, I am so lucky that I have the best fags right here in New York City! I have all these cornholers around me, and I feel very blessed because we watch the show, we laugh our asses off, and the glory holes are empty that night.

LAST QUESTION, AND SOMETHING SORT OF SERIOUS: WHERE DO YOU SEE THE LINE BETWEEN THE ACT THAT YOU DO, AND THE WHOLE DISCUSSION GOING ON NOW ABOUT BULLYING?

Okay, that’s just…you know I love you, but you realize how stupid that question is, right?

PUPPET MASTER: Lisa Lampanelli operates an original puppet for Henson’s

adult puppet show Stuffed and Unstrung during a challenge from this season’s run of The Celebrity Apprentice. | PHOTO COURTESY NBC UNIVERSAL OH YEAH, I DO KNOW!

I’m not saying you’re stupid, it just… It’s such obvious entertainment value. Bullying is plotting behind someone’s back to take them down if they’re weaker than you. A comic who goes on stage and makes fun of every single group, and takes no prisoners, and makes fun of themselves as equally as they make fun of everybody else? They’re pretty much bullying themselves and the whole audience clearly for entertainment effect. It’s also to

To read the extended remix of Lisa Lampenelli’s interview, including why she feels guilty about her past dealings with black men, and more on her group of gays, visit watermarkonline.com

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

make a bigger point about hey, this is the way really ignorant people talk and that’s not the way we should do things when we’re not on the stage.

The people throwing around the word “bully” these days, I think they all should get a big stick up their ass, and suck it, because I’m so sick of that word. I will not allow it anymore in my house.

Now I’m going to have to go hit Jimmy because you said it. |  |

MORE INFORMATION

WHO: Lisa Lampanelli WHEN: 8 p.m. Friday, May 18 at Hard Rock Live, Orlando; Saturday, May 19, Straz Center, Tampa TICKETS: HardRockLive.com or StrazCenter.org

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ARTS &

ENTERTAINMENT EVENT PLANNER

TAMPA

Tropical Heatwave

M

ore than 73 musical artists will conquer 13 stages this year at the annual Tropical Heatwave Music Festival in Ybor City. This year’s lineup includes LGBT artists and bands will perform in LGBT-friendly venues like The Crowbar and The Ritzy Ybor, for example.

The music starts at 2:30 p.m. at Centro Ybor and spreads throughout Ybor City well into the night, with some bands taking the stages at midnight. The music lineup offers, as usual, a who’s who of local artists. The line up includes local groups Rebekah Pulley (pictured) and Rob Pastore; Have Gun, Will Travel; Amber Lynn Nicol; Kaleigh Baker; and national bands including folkblues singer-songwriter Chuck Prophet, SoCal “beach goth” group the Growlers, and Texas group the Bright Light Social Hour.

For a full schedule and tickets, visit WMNF.org/ Heatwave. |  |

QUICK PICKS Tampa

Lady Antebellum MAY 11 Ask Gary Amphitheatre 877-870-3674 AskGary.Amphitheatre.com

Clearwater

Jane’s Addiction MAY 11 Ruth Eckerd Hall 727-791-7400 RuthEckerdHall.com

Melbourne

Straight No Chaser MAY 12 King Center 321-242-2219 KingCenter.com

Orlando Torche

ORLANDO

SARASOTA

Little Miss Parliament House

Harvey Milk Festival

Because of its swelling popularity, Little Miss Parliament House has returned to the Footlight Theater for several encores, including one on May 12.

The popular play, penned by local Jeff Jones, stars grown men as toddlers competing for the Second Annual Little Miss Parliament House crown—and everything that could go wrong, does.

Jones plays the overly

obsessive pageant owner and emcee and contestants will be portrayed by Doug Ba’aser, Ginger Minj, Chantel Reshae and Gidget Galore.

Since the cast of “contestants” is constantly changing and improvisation is the norm, each production is different. So even if you’ve seen Little Miss Parliament House, you haven’t seen the May 12 version.

Fort tickets, visit WanziePresents.com. |  |

The Third Annual Harvey Milk Festival returns to Five Points Park at 1331 Fist St. on Saturday, May 12. The annual celebration promotes emerging artists in music, art, and �ilm while raising awareness of LGBT equality. The festival is free.

The festival is held in honor of the late Harvey Milk, an American equal rights activist and politician who became one of the �irst openly gay men to

MAY 12 Will’s Pub 407-898-5070 WillsPub.com

St. Petersburg The Vibrator Play

be elected to public of�ice in the 1970s. This year’s headliner is the U.K. group Breton, a collection of �ilmmakers and musicians who create edgy, cinematic live performances to compliment its electro-house sound.

Other performers include The Pauses, Elysian Sex Drive, The Send Offs and The August Name. For a full lineup, visit HarveyMilkFestival.com. |  |

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THROUGH MAY 20 Freefall Theatre 727-498-5205 FreefallTheatre.com

MORE INFORMATION For more events or to submit your upcoming show, concert or performance, visit WatermarkOnline.com.

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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The best way to start your St. Pete Pride day!

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To become a distribution location, please contact:

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• Upcoming Events • SoStudio Tour 2012

Artists’ Open Studios Tour Saturday, May 12th, 3 pm to 8 pm

Fresh Market

Tuesdays, May 15th and 22nd, 9 am to 3 pm

Third Saturday Art Walk

Saturday, May 19th, 6 pm to 10 pm

Our Village is Your Village!

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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Tampa Bay

1- BIG KISSES!: Greg Henchar of Gay Safe Haven Radio celebrates Earth Day at the Flamingo Resort with some unusual characters. PHOTO COURTESY VICTOR LOPEZ 2- LET’S MINGLE: Women crowded into the Flamingo Resort for the First Thursday Grrls Mingle May 3. PHOTO COURTESY PROSUZY.COM

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3- PEAS IN A POD: Arica Love, center, bonds with Find A Drag Show’s Melody Lynn, left, and Jori Wilder during the April 29 T-Dance at Barbarella in Ybor. PHOTO COURTESY CARRIE WEST 4- DINING OUT: ASAP’s Jay Aller stopped by Hamburger Mary’s in Ybor City during Dining Out For Life April 26. PHOTO COURTESY CARRIE WEST 5- SINGING FOR A CAUSE: Live vocalist Iman Travesio, the Empress of the Flamingo Resort, performs during Dining Out For Life April 26. PHOTO COURTESY GSHRADIO.COM 6- RIDE TIME: Women from around Tampa Bay participated in a Bike Ride in Safety Harbor on April 28. PHOTO COURTESY PROSUZY.COM 7- CELEBRATE: Friends gathered at Ricky T’s on Treasure Island to celebrate the birthday of Phil Garris, second from left, on May 6. PHOTO COURTESY CARLA VAUGHAN 8- THANK YOU: L-R) Randy Ford received the Volunteer of the Year Award from Manatee Players staffer Rick Kerby on May 7. PHOTO COURTESY DENNY MILLER

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OVERHEARD A MODERN RAYS FAMILY DEBORAH COX AS A TOURIST? Several members of the cast of Modern Family appeared at Ruth Eckerd Hall on April 25 to thunderous applause. They discussed everything from the show’s creation to behind-thescenes hilarity before Tampa Bay Rays staffers Dave Haller and Erik Ruiz localized their appearance even more by presenting Ty Burrell, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Julie Bowen and Eric Stonestreet with Rays jerseys onstage.

The gesture was appreciated by all cast members, and Bowen later tweeted: Thanks so much to everyone who came out tonight in Clearwater FL. It turns out the Rays have great fans (and so does #ModernFamily).”

Petersburg and hopes to enjoy some of the festival and local sights while she’s in town that St. Pete Pride is gearing up for last Saturday in June. Does that huge crowds this June 30 and hopes mean we may see the “Nobody’s are high that the appearance by Supposed To Be Here” singer Deborah Cox will put attendance roaming along Central Avenue? near the 100,000 mark, which We’re not sure, but keep your eyes would be a record. peeled while you’re making your According to a calendar released way through the crowds.

by Pride, Cox will perform on the main stage at the end of the parade A MANATEE THANK YOU route at 1 p.m. The secondary The Manatee Players are known stage will stay silent during her for their over the top productions, 30 minute performance so fans accomplished actors and their don’t have to choose between the dance diva and local performers on amazing support staff. So it’s no wonder that the organization the other end of the festival. In an interview with Watermark—which honored its volunteers with a huge barbecue dinner during its annual will be released in the St. Pete Volunteer Awards on May 7.

Pride Guide later this month—Cox Several people were recognized said that she’s never been to St.

for their contributions in front of an estimated 100 supporters. Awards were presented by several Manatee Player staffers throughout the evening.

Award winners were: Teen Volunteer of the Year Ty Cocroft, Backstage Volunteer of the Year Emily Harris, Front of House Volunteer of the Year Trish Waletich, Of�ice Volunteer of the Year Mary Smith and Volunteer of the Year Randy Ford (Pictured in Shot on Site).

Several other volunteers were honored throughout the evening, including Matt Voye, Jeff Evans, Mary Lowery, Jordan Seward, Joyce Hall, Lois Huntington, Dorothy Bevacqua, Kathy Johnson, Una Gravitt, Marilyn Dietch, Linda DeMocko and Theresa Sultana.

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SHOWING SHE CARES Local entertainer Kori Stevens is at it again, bringing the local entertainment community together for a good cause.

Stevens will host “We Care!” a bene�it for AIDS Service Association of Pinellas (ASAP) on Tuesday, May 15, at Georgie’s Alibi in St. Petersburg. While details on who will actually perform that evening are still under wraps, we’re expecting to see notables from both sides of Tampa Bay—and maybe one or two familiar, painted faces from Sarasota—take the stage of the popular club.

Expect to see raf�les and prizes available throughout the night, so swing by the ATM on your way to the club. Show time is set for 9 p.m.

||

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ORLANDO

1- MAKING HISTORY: Team MyOptics secured its first ever first-place title in the Central Florida Softball League D-Division’s 2012 Spring Season on May 6. PHOTO BY ERIK CABAN 2- LEADERSHIP ROLES: Randy Stephens, executive director of The GLBT Center, received an invitation to meet with President Barack Obama during the president’s recent speech on trade at the Tampa Bay Port Authority. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE CENTER 3- VOICED OVER: Wes Miller, Shannon Bilo-Zepf, Mikhail Thompson and Sara Catherine Barnes are the voices behind Songs for a New World, on stage through May 19 at Theatre Downtown. PHOTO COURTESY THEATRE DOWNTOWN

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4- Q&A: Jeff Jones, as the emcee of Little Miss Parliament House, questions contestant Carol Lee in her quest for the biggest tiara at Footlight Theatre. PHOTO COURTESY OF JEFF JONES 5- SPECIAL DELIVERY: Christopher Bunka and Dexter Foxworth transported a donation of extra books, games and more from The Center to the Zebra House’s new location on Mills St. PHOTO BY RANDY STEPHENS 6- PEANUT GALLERY: Doug Ba’aser and Miss Sammy provided the campy commentary for Movies Out Loud: Grease 2, April 12 at Plaza Cinema Café. PHOTO BY RANDY STEPHENS. 7- SEEING LAVENDER: David Moran and Gina Duncan recognize UCF faculty and Equal advisor Michael Freeman at UCF’s 1st Annual Lavender Celebration. PHOTO COURTESY UCF LGBTQ SERVICES 8- WEAR IT OUT: What Not To Wear fashion expert Clinton Kelly emceed a fashion show at the Millenia Mall location of Macy’s May 5. PHOTO BY ERIK CABAN

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OVERHEARD THE CITY BOOTY-FUL Orlando recently earned a tawdry title. Men’s Health magazine dubbed the City Beautiful the “smuttiest city” in America. The magazine claims their researchers took into account the number of pornographic �ilms bought, rented or streamed online. They also looked into the number of adult stores and internet searches. The result? Men’s Health says Orlando is ahead of the rest when it comes to adult material. Las Vegas came in second. Tampa took eighth place and Miami is No. 12.

MAKING HIV HISTORY

The GLBT History Museum of Central Florida is now producing a showcase exhibit, both a virtual

and archival display that will provide a history of HIV in Central Florida titled, “Heroes Inspiring Hope ….Our Community Responds: A History of HIV Disease in Central Florida.” The Museum is seeking recollections, memories of experiences at events and services and memorabilia. If you’d like to help build this history and for more information, please contact Dr. Patrick Caraher at HIVHistoryCFL@ c�l.rr/com or call 407-256-3953.

KNOW YOUR COLORS, KNOW YOUR FABRICS…OR ELSE

On May 5, openly gay television personality Clinton Kelly, co-host of What Not to Wear, visited Macy’s at Millenia Mall. The fashion maven

showcased must-haves for spring for women of all shapes and sizes.

More than 100 feisty women asked questions and took note of Kelly’s witty but truthful tips.

He emphasized the importance of conveying style. For example, he wants stay-at-home wives and moms to trade in the “uniform” of track suits, hoodies and cross trainers for something equally as casual but still classy; a buttondown shirt and ballet �lats. Men also weren’t safe from his critiques.

“I blame Sein�ield and Friends for starting the trend of tapered jeans and sneakers,” he quipped. He explained that instead of sneakers, men should wear a boat shoe, a simple loafer or even a trendy boot. “Unless you’re a runner, you shouldn’t be wearing cross-

trainers,” he stressed. Best known for telling women what they should and shouldn’t wear on the longrunning TLC series, Kelly is also the author of Freakin’ Fabulous: How to Dress, Speak, Behave Eat, Drink, Entertain, Decorate and Generally be Better than Everyone Else. And, since this past September, he’s been one of the hosts of the ABC daytime show The Chew.

ORLANDO CONVERGES ON BRAZIL

For the �irst time, Orlando joined other top destinations marketing to gay and lesbian travelers through the efforts of a new Orlando LGBT Visitor’s Bureau. The top 10 U.S. travel destinations participate in this annual event and until this

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

year had never before included Orlando. Converge Orlando, Inc., the of�icial LGBT convention and visitor bureau for Central Florida, headed up by Executive Director Mikael Audebert represented Orlando at the Annual Global Gay and Lesbian Travel Convention in Brazil April 12. “I talked to about a dozen Brazil tour operators about Orlando before coming to the annual IGLTA convention,” Audebert said. “Having a chance to talk to about 100 people all in one place is a one-of-a-kind opportunity.” IGLTA represents over 2,200 LGBT-friendly businesses in the hospitality industry, including airlines, cruise lines, hotels, destinations, service providers, travel agents and tour operators. |  |

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attorney

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Build & Protect Your Family Today!

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Law Offices of Maria T. Bates, P.A.

1405 Dr. MLK, Jr. St. N. | St. Petersburg, FL 33704 | 727.641.9686 maria@mariatbateslaw.com | www.mariatbateslaw.com

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tampa bay marketplace

Transitions

CHANGE-OF-LIFE COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Anniversaries Victor Daza, manager of Orlando’s Kirkpatrick Veterinary Hospital, and his partner, Edemuel Mora, celebrate 10 years together on May 15.

Orlando artist Crawford and his partner, Doug Walter, celebrate 15 years together on May 19.

Rich Hughes and Doug Nederveld of St. Petersburg celebrate their 29th anniversary on May 19.

Passing Visit Orlando’s CEO Gary Sain passed away May 4. He is survived by his wife and their two daughters. As of press time, no service information was available.

Local Birthdays USF executive administrative assistant Eric Andersson and former Tampa Bay Business Guild officer John Burchett (May 10); Tampa softball player and massage therapist Alexis Acevedo, Pasco County Democratic Chairwoman, techy and straight ally Alison Berke Morano, Tampa political hob-nobber Scott J. Allen, and Tampa personal trainer Jeff Giles (May 11); Lutz real estate agent Kenny Braverman (May 12); Sarasota personal trainer, coach and medical specialist Dr. Sporty Damon Paul Harper (May 13); Suncoast Softball League player and school teacher Bob Tencza, Largo media publisher Jeff

Youngblood, roller derby secret weapon Vanessa Cattau (May 14); Hillsborough Kids advocate Malachi Ortiz and Stylist and Q Salon owner Sameer Nurani, straight ally and Friday night host Alex Copeland (May 15); St. Pete ROTC leader Frank Hay, Adorable Tampa cub and artist Ric Moreir and Bradenton-based Suncoast AIDS Theatre Project honcho Garry Breul (May 16); Orlando muscle bear and trainer Migael Schieder, Sarasota photographer and artist Ming “Troy” Ming (May 17); Gypsy Productions founder and Talent Quest Florida judging coordinator Trevor Keller, Phish Phest phenom and phab photographer Julie Milford and Come Out With Pride’s master marketer Jason Lowe (May 18); Office Dynamics employee and Temple Terrace Chamber of Commerce member Phil Lentsch (May 19); Tampa karaoke star and two-time Talent Quest Florida winner Matt Androsiglio, Tampa health care specialist Jack Goodwyn and Tampa Gay Rodeo fan Mark Gongora (May 20); Metropolitan Business Association prez Dr. David Baker-Hargrove, Orlando freelance writer and real estate agent Wes Miller, St. Petersburg personal trainer Jamarcus Mosely and Human Rights Campaign Orlando co-chair and attorney John Ruffier, and proud mommy Tanya Blasingame (May 21); Orlando Weekly’s droll irony spewer Billy Manes and University of Tampa professor and Equality Florida Meetup volunteer Jack Crepeau, Iowa same-sex wedding planner and former Watermark subject Beau Fodor and Sarasota University Club’s Peter McClain Jr., Harvey Milk Festival president Shannon Fortner (May 22); St. Pete artist and self-described social sapient Edward Perry and Historic Creations/SK Restaurant Group COO Ted Maines (May 23).

Are you making a Transition? Having a birthday or anniversary? Did you get a new job or promotion? See your news in Watermark! Send your Transition to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com or go to WatermarkOnline.com/Submit-a-Transition - it’s that easy!

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INC.

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LICENSED & INSURED • VISA & MASTERCARD ACCEPTED ANDY PRIETO • GREENALERTINC@YAHOO.COM MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

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Do This!

SAGE ADVICE FROM ‘THE TRUTH’

Document sexual harassment DEAR TRUTH,

I

am a 28-year-old single woman living in a small town north of Orlando. I started working for a new company last year after being unemployed for 18 months. My supervisor, who is at least 10 years older than me, has made no secret of the fact that he is attracted to me and would like to pursue a romantic relationship.

I’m not out at work—it’s predominantly a “good ol’ boys” network—and I’m worried that if they �ind out I’m a lesbian I’ll get “forced out” or �ired—which is legal where I live. Good jobs are scarce around here, and I’m running out of excuses to get this guy off my back. What should I do?

—Petri�ied in Putnam Dear PIP, This is a sticky situation but one that I think can be resolved without you coming out in the process. It is patently inappropriate for a supervisor to make romantic advances to an underling. At a certain point, it also becomes illegal in the form of sexual harassment.

I’m not sure how large your company is, but if there is an HR representative, I would immediately consult with that person and inform them of the situation you’re in with your manager.

Meanwhile, the next time your boss makes overtures, you need to respectfully and professionally let him know that his advances are making you uncomfortable and you were raised to believe that co-workers should remain just that. He should already know this, if he is any kind of professional adult, but he doesn’t. If this ends up with you losing your job because you don’t give in to his pursuit, you have legal remedies at your disposal. [As an aside, you should document all of these incidences so you have them at the ready if it becomes necessary.]

Here comes the Truth: You may think that getting �ired is still allowed because you’re a lesbian. That’s a debatable point of view, and for the record, I’m not sure I agree. What isn’t debatable is Florida law regarding sexual harassment.

DEAR TRUTH,

I

am a 24-year-old gay man living in Tampa, and I have always been attracted to older men. Recently, I struck up an online conversation with a 51-year-old guy and we decided to meet up in person. Long story short, Bob and I have been dating for about four months and I really like him. I’m reluctant to introduce Bob to my friends, however, because he has such a low opinion of younger gays.

Whenever we talk about current events, especially LGBT issues, Bob says that my generation “just doesn’t get it,” and insists that our “complacency” is going to “cost us our civil rights.” He says that LGBTs are more at risk than ever, given today’s politics. I understand his point of view, but I don’t want to subject my friends to his lectures and disapproval. How should I handle this?

—Caught in the Middle Dear Malcolm, Simply put, Bob is being an old fool.

He’s wrong on a number of counts: the political and social environment for gays and lesbians is much more hospitable now than it was 10 or 20 years ago. About that there can be no doubt. We have more civil rights nearly every day in the U.S., as a matter of fact. “Complacency” is a natural by-product of a lessening of societal pressure on gays and lesbians. So there’s that. But more so, if he is a good and thoughtful boyfriend, he should be respectful of your friendships and not lecture anyone about anything in social settings.

Here comes the Truth: Bob is being a grumpy middle-aged man. I don’t think his age is the issue. Condescension and sanctimoniousness comes in all colors, sizes and ages. If he wants you in his life and for your relationship to move forward, he needs to unclench and be polite and friendly to your friends. If he can’t, he may not be the right person for you.

Intractability of this sort is usually not limited to only one subject. |  |

Bob is being a grumpy middle-aged man.

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accountant

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Law Office of Michael E. Morris, P.A.

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P: 407-894-0853 F: 407-835-6613 mike@mikemorrislegal.com

www.mikemorrislegal.com

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The hiring of a lawyer is an importan decision that should not be based soley upon advertisements.

Before you decide, ask us to send you information about our qualifications and experience.

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Bankruptcy Law Group

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attorney

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BANKRUPTCY PROUDLY SERVING THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1997

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924 West Colonial Drive | Orlando, Florida 32804 The hiring of an attorney is an important decision that should not be based solely upon any information included on this page, nor upon any advertisement that you might view.

Before you decide to retain any individual attorney or law firm, you are strongly encouraged to ask that you be sent free written information about qualifications and experience.

attorney

934 N. MAGNOLIA AVE., SUITE 227 ORLANDO, FL 32803

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The hiring of a lawyer is an important decision that should not be based solely upon advertisement. Before you decide, ask us to send you free written information about my qualifi cations and experience.

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Head to WatermarkOnline.com and click on the Digital Publications link to a read a digital version of the printed newspaper!

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orlando marketplace

construction

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counselor Duncan Bowen, PhD

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CARDINAL MEMORIALS Designers of Distinctive and Innovate Memorials

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1214 N. Mills Ave., Orlando, FL 32803 • 407-898-8101

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For and in-depth listing of LGBT businesses visit

the Purple Pages on

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orlando marketplace

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[CLASSIFIEDS] central florida

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TOP GAY REALTORS WWW.GAYREALESTATE.COM Instant Free Access to Florida and the Nation’s Top LGBT Realtors.

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LSAT Tutoring & Related Matters - By Licensed Attorney, $75/hr Individual & $35/ hr Group rate, Visa/MC Accepted. Available Evenings & Weekends. Office in Downtown Kissimmee (407)301-5822

Danny Veal, Realtor GRI, CLHMS & CDPE - I made a commitment to provide a high level of professional services by securing a strong educational foundation in significant areas of real estate to better serve and protect my clients. My designations: GRI - Graduate REALTOR Institute, CLHMS - Certified Luxury Home Marketing Specialist, CDPE - Certified Distressed Property Expert. Please feel free to contact me with any of your real estate needs. www.DannyVeal.com

Did you know you could be in your new home in 45 days or less?

Call me to find out how! Buyer services are FREE! David@DavidDorman.com or 321-293-2240

DON’T MISS OUT ON THE CONVERSATION. REGISTER ONLINE AT WATERMARKONLINE.COM AND SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON STORIES APPEARING IN WATERMARK. Watermark does not knowingly print advertisements for sexual services. Beyond printed content, Watermark does not inquire into the nature of personal or professional services advertising. Payment for sexual services is illegal in the State of Florida, and respondents to classified advertising should govern themselves accordingly. As required by law (Florida Statute 480.0465), Licensed Massage Therapists include their license number in all advertising.

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Steve Blanchard

O

SEEKING GUIDANCE: Nebraska assistant coach Ron Brown leads his team in prayer before a game last season.

Huskers aide: Faith demands anti-gay stand Wire Report

O

MAHA, NEB. | Detractors of Nebraska assistant football coach Ron Brown say he crossed a line last month when he attended an Omaha City Council hearing and testi�ied against an anti-discrimination ordinance that extended protections to gay and transgender people.

In Brown’s three-minute appearance, he challenged ordinance sponsor Ben Gray and other members to remember that the Bible does not condone homosexuality. He told council members they would be held to “great accountability for the decision you are making.’’

“The question I have for you all is, like Pontius Pilate, what are you going to do with Jesus?’’

Brown asked. “Ultimately, if you don’t have a relationship with him, and you don’t really have a Bible-believing mentality, really, anything goes... At the end of the day it matters what God thinks most.’’

Barbara Baier, a member of

the Lincoln Board of Education, wrote to university administrators to request Brown’s �iring in the wake of his testimony. She noted the university-wide policy not to discriminate based on, among other things, sexual orientation.

Baier said some people could have inferred he was representing the university, not just himself, when he appeared before the council. She said Brown’s continued employment creates an atmosphere hostile to gay student-athletes.

“He says terrible things about members of my community— citizens of this country, people who have not committed any crimes,’’ Baier said. “He compares gays and lesbians to people who have committed crimes, people who are desiring to go and cause the destruction of the American family, and nothing could be further from the truth.’’

It was not the �irst time Brown has spoken out against homosexuality, and not the �irst time people have called for his dismissal for doing so.

“To be �ired for my faith would be a greater honor than to be

�ired because we didn’t win enough games,’’ Brown said in an interview with The Associated Press. “I haven’t lost any sleep over it. I realize at some point, we live in a politically correct enough culture where that very well could happen.’’

Brown is adamant he won’t change his Bible-inspired message or quit delivering it. As a Christian, he said, he’s called to evangelize.

A Lincoln city councilman has said he plans to propose a similar anti-discrimination ordinance next week and that a public hearing could be held May 7.

Brown said he is “praying about’’ speaking in opposition if his schedule allows.

Brown said the risk of losing his job pales in comparison to the price others have paid for standing up for their beliefs.

Christians throughout the world, he pointed out, have been murdered because of their faith.

“The same thing that was a sin 2,000 years ago is a sin today,’’ Brown said. “The thing that was right 2,000 years ago is right today.’’ |  |

RLANDO | Every year, the �irst weekend in June brings thousands upon thousands of LGBTs to Central Florida for theme parks and parties surrounding Gay Days. But there has rarely been sports-related activities for locals or visitors during that weekend—until now.

Pat Glenn, director of the 2012 GLBT Orlando Sports Festival, is hopeful that his staff’s unique take on a sports event will create enough buzz in 2012 to skyrocket its success in 2013.

“We decided to test market the festival over Orlando’s biggest Gay Weekend, but we ran into some challenges,” Glenn said, adding that �inding venues with availability proved dif�icult. “So we had to scale it back some.”

June 1-3, the GLBT Sports Festival will feature a softball tournament and a bowling tournament. While a majority of those registered are from Florida, there are some athletes coming in from as far away as Boston and New York.

“My goals were to bring local LGBT sports leagues together to strengthen their tournaments through marketing,” Glenn explained. “And second, I wanted to expand LGBT sports offerings in central Florida.”

Plans are already underway to bring volleyball and basketball tournaments to the 2013 festival, which is scheduled for Easter Weekend—March 29-31, 2013.

“We want to keep adding events and the idea is that it’ll help us gain traction to create some new sports leagues here,” Glenn said. “Right now Orlando is bidding on the 2018 Gay Games. Growing a sports festival here could be a springboard for landing that and other large LGBT sporting events.”

The idea for the GLBT Sports Festival stemmed from a similar event in Las Vegas, Nev., according to Glenn.

There, several LGBT leagues worked together to create one, massive sporting event over a long weekend. Five years after its inaugural event, the Las Vegas weekend is a huge success, according to Glenn.

“Through combined marketing efforts, they made their event out-of-control,” he said. “It’s completely sold out each year and that’s what I’d love to see here in Central Florida.”

There is still room to participate in the 2012 GLBT Sports Festival and interested teams and individuals can register online at GLBTFestival.com. This event is different than a sporting event marketed over Gay Days several years ago, Glenn added.

“Their idea was based on bringing individual players together to meet new people,” he said. “We’re going after individuals and teams to come participate with us.” |  |

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

sports

Festival gives athletic alternatives during big gay weekend

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PHOTOGRAPHY

Galleryw

Photography by Mark Melnick More photos at watermarkonline.com

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

T

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The iconic performance venue was packed and the audience heard both familiar and new selections.

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MAY 10-23, 2012 // ISSUE 19.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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