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18

No one chose to be gay.

We are what God made us.

We don’t need to be fixed.

We aren’t broken…

—REP. KAREN PETERSON OF DELAWARE

ON THE COVER

PAGE The Boy Scouts of America

vote to allow gay 27 could scouts, but ban gay adult

Scoutmasters, who get the hook in this satire illustration of Boys Life Magazine, the official publication of the Boy Scouts of America. Many former scouts say the new policy won’t go far enough and will only encourage scouts to stay in the closet.

Illustration

by Jake Stevens

SCAN QR CODE FOR

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Preview

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33

TOO GAY?: In Behind the Candelabra, Michael Douglas plays Liberace and Matt Damon his young lover, in a biopic deemed too gay by major studios. Director Steven Soderbergh talks about the HBO film debuting May 26.

WATERMARK ISSUE 20.10 //MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013

ORLANDO NEWS

TAMPA BAY NEWS

PAGE The Lake County School

PAGE The second Red Ribbon Run

QUIDAM

GALLERY W

Read it online!

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

08

Board continues to avoid sanctioning a GSA at a middle school; A new mother and her wife must face raising a new child after a leg amputation; Rollins celebrates Lavender Graduation; more.

12

brings out more than 150 participants at Al Lopez Park; the fourth Annual Harvey Milk Festival prepares for its largest crowd ever in Sarasota; Pinellas elected officials plan to celebrate Milk’s birthday; more.

PAGE Cirque du Soleil stops at

38

UCF Arena in Orlando with Quidam, an imaginative, colorful display taking place within a young girl’s imagination; Orlando’s Fringe Festival returns for its 22nd year, and we take a look at the gayest offerings; more.

PAGE The Red Ribbon Run

to Tampa April 62 returned 28 as a certified 5K run,

bringing seasoned and amateur runners alike to Al Lopez Park. More than 150 runners helped raise $10,000 for HIV/AIDS organizations, and we were there to capture the action.

WATERMARKONLINE.COM HAS A NEW LOOK, A NEW FEEL AND TONS OF NEW FEATURES! CHECK IT OUT TODAY! MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

It’s your money.

ADVERTISERS ARE A LIFELINE

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READ WATERMARK WEEKLY AND ALWAYS ENJOY YOUR STORIES. But I want to take a few lines to say how thankful I am for your advertisers.

Back in July 2012, my 73-year-old ass was in great jeopardy and I desperately needed a lawyer. I met a few, sent to me by others also needing legal help, and all failed to agree with my personal feeling of “not guilty.” Then I went to Watermark and found Blaine McChesney.

When my life prevailed in a “not guilty” or better, he became my savior and I am now again a free man.

I am more than happy to say, “Thank the gods for Watermark. Many years ago I found my CPA, Barber & Latto, also in Watermark, and they handled my money business for �ive years.

So again, I am thankful to Watermark’s advertisers.

And Steve Blanchard, your editorials are great.

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READ TOM DYER’S PUBLISHER’S PERSPECTIVE ABOUT DUNCAN IN WATERMARK

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

“I have experienced the pain of losing a canine member of the family, and it hurts no less than any other family loss.”

—JOHN PAONESSA

[ISSUE 20.09]. First, I want to say I am so very sorry for his loss. I have experienced the pain of losing a canine member of the family, and it hurts no less than any other family loss.

It sounds like Tom had 10 wonderful years with Duncan, and how blessed and happy Duncan must have been to have him as his dad. They are our children, with that unconditional love that knows no boundary.

I enjoyed seeing Tom and Duncan as I walked my little guy, Pucker, around Pennsylvania and Melrose.

I have been told that our little furry children are waiting at the gates of heaven, and are the �irst to welcome us in. I hope that is true, and Duncan will be there, wagging his tale, ready to see Tom again.

I hope Tom �inds comfort in knowing he gave Duncan the very best life he could have ever known.

JOHN PAONESSA ORLANDO

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MOVED TO TEARS

I

JUST FINISHED TOM DYER’S PUBLISHER’S PERSPECTIVE ABOUT THE LOSS OF HIS BELOVED DUNCAN and wanted to send you my condolences and tell you I was moved to tears by your beautiful story.

My �irst kitty that I had on my own, Phil (I got him when he was two and I was 19), was with me for 16 years and moved with me from North Carolina, to Florida, to England, and back to North Carolina. He was the most consistent person in my life for all that time and when he died, 2 1/2 years ago, I thought it would destroy me. I still have a hard time looking at pictures or videos of him because I miss him so much.

I understand and sympathize with Tom in his grief and I was so appreciative of his story.

Tom, please know that you are in my thoughts.

ANN E. CURRIER ORLANDO

editor’s

Steve Blanchard EDITOR

SteveB@WatermarkOnline.com

M

Desk

ORE OFTEN THAN NOT, AN

opportunity to educate others walks across the room and literally plants itself directly in front of you. I see those opportunities as tests, and like most tests, some are more dif�icult than others.

But it’s not the ease of the test that distracts me after such an opportunity presents itself. It’s how I react to it that tickles the back of my brain for hours, weeks, or even months to come.

We’ve all had those situations come before us where we react instinctually only to think back on the encounter with the all too familiar phrase beginning with, “I wish I would have...” I had one such test land before me just a few days before typing this column.

It takes a lot to offend me. I am told often that I am one of

WATERMARK STAFF

the most laid back, gentle souls anyone could meet. I wear that as an honor and credit my father for passing on his disposition to his son. But there is a signi�icant difference between being laid back and getting walked upon.

And as an outspoken of the LGBT community, I’m tired of getting trampled, especially in an age of so much progress.

As a proud �itness nut, my workouts are typically an uneventful, sweaty 90 minutes of heavy lifting and 80s and 90s music pumping

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through my ear buds.

But as colleges begin to let out for the semester, younger people, mostly male, have trickled in, usually causing minor congestion.

When I heard that one of these college-aged men had derogatory things to say about another gay member using the club, I turned off the music and paid closer attention to my surroundings.

I’m glad I did.

The person who was the target of some homophobic remarks mentioned to me what happened, nodding in the direction of the offending party as he expressed concern that his boyfriend may make a scene.

Blame luck, fate or coincidence, but I soon found myself within a few feet of the group.

The term “faggot” isn’t only offensive, it’s juvenile, no matter who’s using it. Too often we shrug off offensive language and blame the guilty party’s lack of education or upbringing for his or her behavior. But why don’t we step in as educators?

If that term was hurled at me, wouldn’t I want someone to step up and correct the bad behavior? Should I stop him and casually suggest he apologize to the target of his language? Or should I take a more aggressive route and ask him why he didn’t use that language in describing me, someone nearly 100 pounds heavier than him?

As a spokesperson for the LGBT community, how will

my actions be perceived? Will I think back on this incident and wish that I had done something different?

These were the questions swirling around my head as I kept an eye on the nearby group.

Fortunately, patience prevailed and a staff member confronted the offending party, privately, in the back of the gym. Afterward, I thanked the staffer for handling the situation without offering speci�ics, but I continued to pay close attention to the group.

And that’s when I heard the same young man use an expletive-laced sentence complete with the word “faggot” once again. So much for the enlightened, younger generation.

My body reacted before my brain could vote on the matter.

I found myself stepping toward him, calmly asking if he had something to say to me, since I was the only gay man within earshot of his voice. His response was a stuttering, “No, man... no, I was listening to music,” and stepped away.

I know my height and size intimidated him, and that’s exactly what I was going for. I’m not invincible but I’ve decided to use my presence to combat stupidity, and I challenge anyone who values equality and loathes discrimination to do the same.

The only way we will continue to make progress is if we make a stand every time we hear hateful rhetoric toward LGBT people. My one encounter will not change the world, but I now know one person who will think twice—and maybe look around a bit more thoroughly—before insulting the LGBT community in the future. |  |

I’m not invincible but I’ve decided to use my presence to combat stupidity.

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

CONTRIBUTORS ZACH CARUSO

is a musician and journalist from New Jersey who now lives in St. Petersburg. He has a bachelor’s degree in Journalism and an MA in writing. Page 12, 38

PEGGY GREEN

is a chaplain and a ClearHeart Coach, serving the LGBT community and helping people and their families find grace and peace at the end of life. To reach her, visit ClearHeartCoaching.com. Page 21

CHRIS AZZOPARDI

is the editor of Q Syndicate, the international LGBT wire service and has interviewed a wide range of celebrities, including Cher and Lady Gaga. He lives in Canton, Mich., and can be reached via his website at Chris-Azzopardi.com. Page 33

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

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7

orlando

STILL WAITING: Despite a settlement with the ACLU to allow Bayli Silberstein to start a Gay Straight Alliance at a Lake County

NEWS

Middle School, school board officials are still stalling on its creation.

STANDING TALL: Gina Salvatoriello, right, holds baby Bryn while standing next to her wife, Mel Meadows. PHOTO COURTESY GINA SALVATORIELLO

A new mom faces life after amputation Steve Blanchard

O

RLANDO | It’s no secret that newborn babies are challenging. There are the diaper changes, the crying, the feedings and the disrupted sleep patterns. But Gina Salvatoriello and Mel Meadows, proud parents of 14-month-old daughter Bryn, have the added struggle of life-altering surgery.

Salvatoriello’s right leg was amputated May 9, almost 12 years after she suffered life-changing injuries in a car accident outside Dallas, Tex. “I don’t remember all of it, but it comes back in �lashes,” Salvatoriello said two weeks before her scheduled amputation. “I remember seeing the sky out the front windshield, waking up and worrying that the car was on �ire. When I woke up again I was in the trauma unit.”

Salvatoriello was stopped behind interstate traf�ic when a vehicle behind her failed to stop and rear-ended her, pushing her into the median, where she was hit by another vehicle head on. The accident broke her right leg so severely that �irst responders removed her car’s brake pedal along with Salvatoriello.

“My leg was wrapped around it,” she said. “I didn’t have any brain trauma or a broken back, so I thought I was lucky. All of my injuries appeared to be orthopedic.”

But three months after the accident, doctors discovered Salvatoriello had a rare neurological disorder that would make healing almost impossible.

She has Re�lex Sympathetic Dystrophy, also known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.

CRPS and RSD is characterized by a severe burning pain, tissue swelling and extreme sensitivity to Continued on page 10 |  |

8

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Holding Out on LGBT Youth Despite settlement, Lake County School Board members still resist GSA Staff report

EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

PHOTO BY JAKE STEVENS

T

AVERES | Despite settling a lawsuit with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) that paved the way for a Gay -Straight Alliance (GSA) to meet at Carver Middle School, the Lake County School Board is still holding out against GSAs. On May 6, the School Board members discussed the rules governing student clubs on campus for the next school year but did not come to any conclusions. The discussion came almost immediately after the Board settled a lawsuit with the ACLU that would allow 8th grader Bayli Silberstein to form a GSA that can meet for the remainder of the current school year, which ends in June.

At the May 6 meeting, school district attorney Stephen Johnson said that at the board’s May 13 meeting, he would bring more information about what clubs do and do not meet the criteria of the most-discussed plan, which would limit middle school clubs to those promoting critical thinking, community services, business, athletics and art. Right now, it’s unclear whether a GSA would �it

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

into any of those categories.

The battle for the school club goes back to Nov. 2012, when Bayli Silberstein, 14, �irst requested permission to form the club. On Jan. 23, the ACLU sent a letter to Lake County School Board attorney Stephen Johnson, demanding the district follow through on Silberstein’s request

district attorney presented three options: allowing non-curricular clubs at the districts’ high schools while closing them to middle schools, allowing non-curricular clubs at both high schools and middle schools, or closing noncurricular clubs to both high schools and middle schools.

Board members Rosanne Brandeburg, Debbie Stivender and Chairwoman Kyleen Fischer were the votes in favor, while Tod Howard and Bill Mathias voted to ban non-curricular clubs in middle schools but to allow them in high schools.

Matthias, who represents District 1 in Lake County, has been a vocal opponent of a countywide policy permitting Silberstein to form a GSA at Carver Middle School.

The ACLU of Florida �iled a lawsuit on May 1, claiming that the School Board, District Superintendent and Principal of Carver Middle School violated Silberstein’s rights under the federal Equal Access Act and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.

On May 2, the School Board relented.

According to the ACLU, the parties in the case had entered into a consent decree allowing Silberstein to form the club for the remainder of the school year. |  |

One plan would limit middle school clubs to those promoting critical thinking, community services, business, athletics and art. for a GSA to “confront bullying, educate the school community, and promote acceptance and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender students.”

According to Silberstien, school of�icials ignored her request.

After the ACLU sent the letter, the School Board proposed a plan to ban all non-curricular student clubs, rather than allow the GSA. On March 11, the board voted 3-2 in favor of allowing noncurricular clubs, which would pave the way for the GSA. The

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orlando NEWS

|  | Gigi Salvatoriello

AIDS Walk Orlando features celebrities, after party Jamie Hyman JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

O

RLANDO | A star-studded line-up and the �irst-ever after party are in store for what organizers are calling the biggest AIDS Walk Orlando yet. The May 18 walk bene�its the Hope and Help Center of Central Florida, Inc., a local organization dedicated to HIV/AIDS prevention and support.

According to Hope and Help events manager Chris Hessler, Congressman Alan Grayson will speak to kick off the walk and Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer will make the closing remarks. The men of Rock Hard Revue will perform on the main stage and Dwight Eubanks, from The Real Housewives of Atlanta, will walk and speak as well.

TheParliament House will host the after party and will help participants avoid the frustration of locating downtown parking.

“We’ve never had an of�icial after party before,” Hessler said. “Since parking downtown is so dif�icult and expensive, they’ll be able to park at PH for free and take the [free] shuttles back and forth.”

This year’s goal is $250,000 and the hope is 3,000 walkers will participate. At press time, Hessler said about half that have already registered.

“We have 130 teams,” he said. “There’s always a very big push the last couple of weeks.”

AIDS Walk Orlando 2013 begins at 8 a.m., Saturday, May 18. The walk starts at the Walt Disney World Amphitheatre at Lake Eola Park downtown. To register, visit AIDSWalkOrlando.org. |  |

CELEBRATING UCF

University of Central Florida alumnus Representative Joe Saunders (D-Orlando, center) honors the passage of a bill celebrating the 50th anniversary of UCF on April 25. HR 9119 designates June 10, 2013, as “UCF Day” in Florida. The bill was also sponsored by Mike La Rosa (R-St. Cloud). Senator Andy Gardiner (R-Orlando) also led a Florida Senate commemoration with SR 1780. PHOTO COURTESY JOE SAUNDERS

10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

from pg.8

touch. It is also exasperated by trauma, and Salvatoriello’s case has progressed to Stage Four.

“I was told I would never get out of my wheelchair,” Salvatoriello said. “I went to every possible surgeon in the country. I was in Texas, Florida, Massachusetts, Michigan and Ohio. Eventually the doctors got me out of the chair.”

And while she was able to walk again, Salvatoriello, an accomplished artist and philanthropist, still battled constant pain, and as weather changed, her symptoms would get worse. So bad, in fact, that uncontrollable contractions of the joints disrupted blood �low and rebroke bones in her ankle.

The only option, doctors told her, was to amputate her leg.

“I have 19 pieces of hardware in my foot and ankle and my bones are still dying,” Salvatoriello said.

“The hardest part of this for me personally is that I’ve fought so long and so hard to keep my foot and leg attached through such drastic measures. And to lose it feels like the last 10 years of torture has been for nothing.”

SHARING HER STORY

Throughout her life, Salvatoriello has kept her personal issues to herself. Very few know of her battle with CRPS and when she was asked about her limp, she would simply share that she broke her ankle.

But now that she and Meadows have a new baby to care for, she’s reaching out to the community for help.

“More than the thought of the leg being gone and the physical pain or knowing I’m not going to be able to walk on my own again...what’s freaking me out most is that I won’t be able to reach the microwave to heat up a bottle or that I can’t get to her diaper changing station from a wheelchair,” Salvatoriello said. “I won’t be able to put her in her crib and how do I get her in and out of her car seat from my wheelchair?

And then, how will I drive to get us to our doctors’ appointments?”

The daily logistics of raising a small child are mindboggling when considering how to execute them from a wheelchair. But it’s the future, big life moments that make Salvatoriello emotional.

“I’m not going to run down the

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

soccer �ield and cheer her on,” Salvatoriello said, wiping away tears. “Those things are dif�icult. I thought she would be two or three by the time we got to this point.

This came on us faster than I ever expected. How am I going to sooth her if I can’t walk the �loor?”

And how, both women wonder, are they going to afford to make the changes to their home and vehicles to accommodate Salvatoriello’s life as an amputee?

“I have to have a ramp to get into the house,” Salvatoriello said. “We have to have doors widened and we have to remodel the kitchen so I can reach things. That’s expensive.”

And the medical treatment themselves have had to be mostly paid for out of pocket because so many of them are still considered “experimental.”

HOPING FOR HELP

The easiest way to help Salvatoriello and Meadows is through �inancial donations. A search on YouCaring.com for her last name will bring up a donation page, where money can be sent directly to her account.

But the women also need physical and emotional help.

“It would be great if there was

want to be seen in my wheelchair. I also never wear shorts because of the scars on my legs. It was easy to mask my issues. But that’s just not the case anymore. It’s like coming out again, and I need help.”

SUPPORT SYSTEM

Fortunately for Salvatoriello, her partner of nine years has been by her side throughout most of her medical journey. Watching the person you plan to spend the rest of your life with struggle through medical issues can be almost as dif�icult as experiencing the issues yourself.

“It’s really dif�icult,” Meadows said. “I want to sit there and be there for her and be stoic and not get myself upset. I’ve been clammed up about it because you always wonder, ‘do I bring it up or not?’ You don’t want to ruin a good day by asking if today is the day we should move the dishes lower in the kitchen so she can reach them from her chair. But we have to address these things. It’s happening and there are so many things we weren’t expecting to be bombarded with.”

The one thing that keeps both women going, they say, is the addition of their daughter, Bryn, to the mix. The 12 week old little girl is happy, healthy and smiles at both mothers throughout the interview for this story.

“I’m absolutely amazed every day by this little girl and how much she has me wrapped around her �inger,” Meadows said. “We always wanted a family and our concerns with Gina getting pregnant were how the weight gain would affect her leg. We never thought we’d be dealing with an amputation within weeks of bringing a newborn into the house.”

But the women have no regrets about their newest addition.

“She keeps us so busy that you can’t help but take your focus off of the horrible things we’re facing and concentrating on her,” Meadows said. “That little smile makes it all worth it, and if anyone can turn a negative into a positive it’s my wife, that’s for sure.

To help Salvatoriello, visit Facebook.com/GiveGinaALegUp. |  |

“What’s freaking me out most is that I won’t be able to reach the microwave to heat up a bottle or that I can’t get to her diaper changing station from a wheelchair.”

—GINA SALVATORIELLO a resource out there I haven’t discovered yet that can help us take care of the baby,” Salvatoriello said.

“I’ve been caught in an endless loop of automated responses and red tape. I’m laying on my back for six weeks. How do I logistically take care of the baby? how do I take care of myself? Mel has to work to keep us a�loat.”

Salvatoriello said she’s never asked for help before. But she realizes that she’s reached a point in her life that she must reach out to the community in which she has been so involved since her high school days.

“I never wanted it to seem like I wanted pity, and I don’t want it,” Salvatoriello said. “In winter, when I’m in the most pain, I simply didn’t go out anywhere because I didn’t

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

11

tampa bay NEWS

4th Harvey Milk Festival could be largest yet Zach Caruso ZACH@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

S

ARASOTA | May 16 marks the start of the fourth annual Harvey Milk Festival in Sarasota, and Harvey Milk Festival, Inc. President Shannon Fortner is enthusiastic about this year’s potential turnout.

“We’ve nearly doubled every year,” she said. “The �irst year we had around 1,200 people come out, and the second year we went up to about 2,500 people.

Last year we moved to Five Points, because I wanted it to be in a more central location where we could really celebrate, and we ended up having about 5,000 people.

I don’t know if we’ll double that number this year, but who knows, maybe.”

The three-day music and arts festival culminating with a day-long street festival May 18 is a celebration of California politician Harvey Milk who, in 1977, was the �irst openly gay person to be elected to public of�ice. Fortner says that the main goal of the festival is to get community members involved and hopefully continue Milk’s work.

“We’re launching the I Am Harvey Milk project again that I started in 2010,” she said. “A patron can go into a tent, and �irst they’ll listen to audio of Harvey Milk giving a speech, then they can step onto the soapbox where there will be an outline of Harvey Milk’s shoes, and they’ll be able to embrace their inner activist.”

The patron will then be able to take the in�luence of Milk’s words, and speak their own.

“We’ll �ilm and record it and basically make a short compilation video of everyone’s best quote, and it will just show how people embrace moving forward and continuing Harvey Milk’s work, and maybe inspire people to even take action themselves.”

Fortner got the idea for the festival in 2010 when then-governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger announced that there would be a Harvey Milk Day. “It was mainly just California that was doing events for it and some vigils and other small things scattered around across the country,” she said. “So I contacted and spoke with an event organizer in California and explained that I wanted to organize a huge music festival with art and things like that to be a part of the Harvey Milk Day celebration, and they were very supportive. I then had maybe about a month to organize it.”

Calling on friends and community members, Fortner worked tirelessly to get the event up-and-running, and was happy to see the support and embracement from the community.

“They just ran with it, they totally embraced it and were ecstatic to be a part of it,” she said.

Fortner’s passion and dedication to the cause is not only admirable, but almost cosmic when you consider one interesting piece of trivia.

Continued on page 14 |  |

12

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

RUNNING CREW: Some participants of the 2013 Red Ribbon Run line up after the certified 5K at Al Lopez Park on April 28.

PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD

Running with a Purpose 2013 Red Ribbon Run raises $10,000 Steve Blanchard

EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

T

AMPA | An early morning crowd of more than 150 runners and walkers helped raise $10,000 for HIV/AIDS charities at Al Lopez Park on April 28.

The second Red Ribbon Run raised funds for both Metro Wellness and Community Centers of Tampa Bay and the AIDS Institute. Metro deals with HIV client services and the AIDS Institute is an AIDS advocacy group in Washington, D.C. The 2013 Red Ribbon Run went off without a hitch.

“Everything went very well,” said organizer Kathie Michael, who works with Metro. “No one even asked for a Band-Aid.” Michael said Metro learned a lot while planning this year’s run, especially since its the �irst time the organization has produced a certi�ied 5K event.

“It’s not the same as a fun run,” Michael laughed. “Runners will go online and �ind calendars of certi�ied runs, and we were one of those runs this year. We had 36 people sign up the morning of the run, and producing a certi�ied run de�initely helped us increase our exposure.”

The S2 Timing Company was

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

on board to keep of�icial records of the run, which participants can use as they prepare for other, longer runs, like marathons.

“We’ve got a lot of experience under our belt now and I think runners would prefer it as a Saturday event next year,” she said. “Sunday was tough because people have other commitments like church. But we had a limited window of days to utilize, and that’s just how it fell this year.”

individual fundraiser was Bill Kanouff, who raised nearly $700.

Kanouff was featured on the cover of Watermark’s 2012 year-end issue as one of the year’s most remarkable people after battling back from a leg amputation. This was his �irst of�icial run since losing his leg in November 2011.

“I think I did okay,” Kanouff said after the run. “I ran quite a bit of it but had to walk some too, which I expected. But it felt great to be out here and I enjoyed it.”

A diverse group of people helped make the run a success this year, and Michael said the youngest runner was 7-years-old.

The oldest was 70.

The team that raised the most money was Scott Carter from Salon Inga, which raised $2,235.

In 2011, Metro held its �irst Red Ribbon Run, which was not a certi�ied 5K. That run was held within the Lowry Park Zoo on Dec. 1, World AIDS Day. No run was held in 2012 because organizers wanted a spring event.

“I want to thank everyone who supported, participated and volunteered,” Michael said. “It was a great showing and I really appreciate everyone supporting Metro and the mission we’re on.”

Of�icial results from the 2013 Red Ribbon Run are posted at TampaBayRedRibbonRun.org. |  |

“Everything went very well; no one even asked for a Band-Aid.” —KATHIE MICHAEL, RED RIBBON RUN ORGANIZER The run will return next year, Michael said, and she hopes for a late March or early April date.

“We got a lot of really good feedback,” Michael said. “The runners liked it and seemed to really like that 101.5FM was out there. We also did quite a bit of HIV testing while we were there, which is why we brought the RV unit.”

In all, 152 runners and walkers took to the course. The �irst male to cross the 5K �inish line was Bryan Garcia. The �irst female was Jacemo Andino. The highest

watermarkonline.com

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

13

tampa bay NEWS 14

Dining Out for Life sees a boost in participating restaurants |  | Harvey Milk Festival from pg.12 “I share a birthday with Harvey Milk,” she said with a laugh. “It’s a crazy connection.”

And though it is a daunting task to organize the event, each year she seeks to expand and grow not only the festival, but it’s level of involvement in the community.

“It’s a lot of work, a lot of sleepless nights,” said Fortner. “The second year I registered us as a non-pro�it, and the third year we became a 501-c3. We’re even talking about doing a scholarship for LGBT youth, so that’s something we are trying to work towards now, just to keep growing and getting others involved.”

In addition, Fortner feels that this year has an especially important signi�icance.

“We just had Rhode Island and New England pass marriage equality, so I feel like this is just a really important year and I hope that we get a lot of people that want to come out and celebrate with us,” she said.

And this year’s events promise to be fun for all ages.

“We have a guest speaker from ALSO Youth [Tesla Gunderson], a candlelight vigil, and we’re trying to unite and get more organizations involved and trying to get kids involved,” said Fortner. “I’m hoping that with this being such a momentous year, this festival will help show people that we [as a community] are the movement, and we are the ones that are making things change, and that we can make others open their eyes.”

For more information on the Harvey Milk Festival and a lineup of entertainers, visit HarveyMilkFestival.com. |  |

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Steve Blanchard EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

T

AMPA BAY | Restaurants on both sides of the bay donated portions—or all—of diners’ food bills to the AIDS Service Association of Pinellas on April 26 as part of Dining Out For Life 2013.

According to organizers, 13 more restaurants participated this year than in 2012, meaning �inancial returns could be slightly larger than in previous years.

“We had 64 restaurants this year,” said Jay Aller, Resource Development Manager for ASAP. “Not all of the restaurants we had last year came on board from last year because they had either closed or were struggling too much. So we had a lot of new participants, which was great.”

Aller, who coordinated the event, said that most ambassadors, who greeted diners and explained the program, reported higher levels of diner participation this year. Aller said the restaurants he was able to visit during the day were busier than in years past.

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

“I hit 42 restaurants that day and each one was busier than I’ve seen before,” Aller said.

Restaurants that participated donated at least 25% of food service bills to ASAP. Two restaurants—Frog Pond on Reddington Beach and Chattaways in St. Petersburg— donated 100% of sales that day.

“The wait for food at Chattaways was about two hours because they were so busy,” Aller said. “It shows that people were paying attention to where their donations went that night. Ambassadors didn’t hear anyone complaining.”

Some participating restaurants and businesses

utilized entertainment to raise additional funds. Drag performers at Hamburger Mary’s in Ybor City, Quench Lounge in Largo and the Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg donated their tips to Dining Out For Life and other ambassadors did opportunity drawings to raise money.

“I have to thank all of the ambassadors,” Aller said. “Without their help at the restaurants and talking about ASAP, this event couldn’t happen.”

Aller said he hopes to have �inancial totals by the end of May, and he’s hoping to hit ASAP’s 2013 goal of $50,000. |  |

Staff Report

Birchwood Inn on Beach Drive will raise money for Pinellas Youth Pride and You Are Valued, both non-pro�it organizations.

The celebration is hosted by St. Pete Pride, GayStPete.com and Metro Wellness and Community Centers of Tampa Bay. Tickets are $50 and are available at StPetePride.com. |  |

Pinellas officials to celebrate Harvey Milk

S

T. PETERSBURG | Local elected of�icials and candidates for 2013 elections will attend a mingle celebrating the life of Harvey Milk on the late politician’s birthday, May 22. The party at the all new

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15

ME

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Biltmore Hotel launches gay and lesbian wedding campaign

NEWS

Staff Report

C

ORAL GABLES | The iconic Biltmore Hotel in South Florida is now actively campaigning to bring samesex couples to its property to celebrate their unions.

According to The Miami Herald, the Biltmore launched its “Love is Love” campaign to attract couples of all orientations to the popular wedding venue. The Kikpton, W and Wyndham hotel chains have also marketed directly to same-sex couples.

“The Biltmore has welcomed [gays and lesbians] for years,” said Wendy Kallergis, president of the Greater Miami & The Beaches Hotel Association.

The Biltmore introduced it’s “Love is Love” wedding campaign at a brunch for the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival on May 5. Each attendee received a postcard featuring romantic photos of three very different wedding parties: two gay men, a straight couple and two lesbians.

“I had people after the brunch come to me and say that they were going to frame them,” said Natalia Plasencia, the Biltmore’s associate director of catering. ” |  |

Leon County celebrates DPR with ribbon cutting Staff Report

T

ALLAHASSEE | Leon County kicked off its Domestic Partner Registry with a ribbon cutting on May 1st. In the �irst week, 28 couples signed up to be a part of the registry.

Leon County Commissioners Nick Maddox and Mary Ann Lindley were among the speakers at opening ceremonies in the plaza across from the Leon County Courthouse.

The registry is not limited

to Leon County residents. Any unmarried couple can sign up, though both partners must do so in person. Leon County’s registry is open to couples 18 or older, are not married and not related by blood, who live together and consider each other an immediate family.

Couples must complete a Domestic Partnership Registration Af�idavit, provide a Florida driver license or ID card, sign the af�idavit under oath and pay a $50 fee. Once it is recorded into the Clerk’s of�icial record, the partners will receive

a certi�icate of registration and laminated cards recognizing their domestic partnership.

The domestic partnership registry offers families the following protections including: the right to hospital visitation, the right to make healthcare decisions for a partner who is incapacitated, the right to be noti�ied, as a family member, in an emergency affecting their partner, the right to oversee funeral and burial arrangements for each other and the right to take part in the education of a partner’s child. |  |

It would block local sick leave laws until a task force could report back to lawmakers in 2014 on whether to draft a statewide policy.

Companies like Walt Disney and Darden Restaurants pushed the legislation after more than 50,000 Orange County residents signed a petition last year to ask voters to require some businesses to offer

paid sick-leave to employees.

The Orange County Commission blocked the vote, but a three-judge panel subsequently ordered that it be placed on the 2014 ballot. If the bill becomes law, that decision will be rendered meaningless. Governor Scott is expected to receive the bill for his consideration by the end of the month. |  |

Gov. Scott could block sick-leave bill Staff Report TALLAHASSEE | Governor Rick Scott will soon decide whether to block local governments from enacting sick-leave policies like the one proposed in Orange County. The Florida House passed the bill May 2 after a compromise with the Senate.

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watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.5/5/13 9:39 17 PM

nation+world NEWS

IN OTHER NEWS MINNESOTA REPS BACK MARRIAGE EQUALITY

Wire Report

Minnesota State Rep. Joe Radinovich, a freshman state representative, and Rep. Tim Faust, who’s also a Lutheran pastor, say they’ll vote to legalize same-sex marriage. Both are among a group of rural House Democrats from socially conservative districts whose votes are pivotal to the marriage bill’s success or failure. “This was not an easy decision, but at the end of the day I’d rather protect my integrity than my job,’’ Radinovich said.

U.K. LAWMAKER DENIES SEX ASSAULT, RAPE ALLEGATIONS A senior British Conservative Party politician arrested on suspicion of rape and sexual assault said May 5 the allegations against him are “completely false.’’ Deputy House of Commons Speaker Nigel Evans, 55, was arrested May 4 and questioned about allegations of sex offenses made by ``two people well known to each other’’ and who until a day earlier he had regarded as friends. Evans has served in Parliament for two decades and is one of Britain’s most prominent gay lawmakers.

HARVARD PROFESSOR APOLOGIZES FOR KEYNES COMMENTS Niall Ferguson, a Harvard history professor and author, apologized on May 4 for saying economist John Maynard Keynes was less invested in the future because he was gay and had no children. The British-born Ferguson said his remarks at an earlier conference were “as stupid as they were insensitive.’’ Ferguson made the comments during a questionand-answer session after a prepared speech at the Altegris Strategic Investment conference on May 2.

COUNTRY MUSIC STARS BACK ILLINOIS MARRIAGE EQUALITY Four country music stars have announced their support for legislation that would legalize same-sex marriage in Illinois.

“Big’’ Kenny Alphin of the musical duo Big & Rich, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmy Lou Harris and Rodney Crowell signed an open letter released May 2. They say “gay or straight, when two people are lucky enough to find each other and want to commit their lives to one another, it is nothing less than a blessing to us all.’’

WASHINGTON GOP SEEKS EXEMPTION TO NON-DISCRIMINATION LAW Several Republican lawmakers have filed a bill seeking an exemption to Washington state’s anti-discrimination laws in response to legal action taken against a florist who denied service to a gay couple for their upcoming wedding. The bill introduced by Sen. Sharon Brown would allow businesses the right to deny services or goods if they felt doing so was contrary to their “sincerely held religious beliefs, philosophical beliefs, or matters of conscience.’’

EX-IOWA OFFICIAL GUILTY IN SAMESEX MARRIAGE FRAUD CASE Former Grundy County deputy clerk Brigitte Van Nice pleaded guilty May 6 to misdemeanor forgery for filing false documents to issue an invalid marriage license to a same-sex couple from Florida. Van Nice was arrested and suspended from her job in October after investigators said she issued a marriage license to two Florida men who had never set foot in Iowa. The men discovered they had never legally been married when they went to get a divorce.

18

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

Rhode Island set to allow same-sex marriage

P

ROVIDENCE, R.I. | Rhode Island will soon allow gay and lesbian couples to wed, after a 16-year effort to extend marriage rights in this heavily Roman Catholic state.

Marriage equality advocates erupted into cheers May 2 following a �inal 56-15 vote in the Rhode Island House, and then again an hour later when Gov. Lincoln Chafee signed the bill into law on the Statehouse steps.

“Democracy feels good, doesn’t it?’’ said House Speaker Gordon Fox, D-Providence, who is gay. Fox

struggled to keep his composure as he addressed the crowd at the Statehouse, looking over at his longtime partner, Marcus LaFond.

“This tells me our relationship does matter. It means that we mean something.’’

The �irst marriages will take place Aug. 1, when the new law takes effect.

Once consigned to the political fringe, marriage equality advocates succeeded this year thanks to a sprawling lobbying effort that included support from organized labor leaders, religious clergy, leaders including Chafee and Providence Mayor Angel Taveras and hundreds

of volunteers. Their efforts overcame the opposition of the Roman Catholic Church and lawmakers including Senate President Teresa Paiva Weed, who voted no but allowed the issue to come to a vote anyway.

Advocates in Rhode Island say that while they’re proud the state is the 10th to legalize same-sex marriage, they expect other states to quickly follow as support for marriage equality grows around the country. According to polling experts at Gallup, 53% of Americans support giving gay and lesbian couples the right to marry, up from 27% in 1996. |  |

couples. Minutes later they were joined in a ceremony of�iciated by Denver Mayor Michael Hancock.

“Our commitment doesn’t change, but we will have a burden lifted off our shoulders,’’ Anna Simon said. “Loving and committed couples need legal protections.’’

Colorado’s civil unions law allows unmarried couples, both gay and heterosexual, the ability to form civil unions and get rights similar to those of married couples.

They include transferring property, making medical decisions, adopting children and qualifying for health insurance and survivor bene�its.

The statewide advocacy group One Colorado hosted the festivities, and the Denver clerk’s of�ice

remained open until 3 a.m. to issue civil union licenses to couples eager to take advantage of their rights under the new law.

Hancock said he was honored to be part of the landmark event.

“I feel a tremendous amount of pride for the people of Denver to work with their legislators to �inally pass this piece of legislation to allow people to love and live as they so choose,’’ he said.

Gov. John Hickenlooper signed the bill in March, marking the culmination of a dramatic shift in Colorado, where in 1992 voters approved a ban on discrimination protection for gays and in 2006 made gay marriage illegal under the state constitution. |  |

“No one chose to be gay. We are what God made us. We don’t need to be �ixed. We aren’t broken…

My partner Vicki and I have been together for 24 years. Last year, we entered into a civil union,” Peterson said. “If my happiness somehow demeans or diminishes your marriage, you need to work on your marriage.”

Delaware’s same-sex marriage bill was introduced in the Democratcontrolled legislature last month, barely a year after Delaware began recognizing same-sex civil unions.

While the bill does not give same-sex couples any more rights or bene�its under Delaware law

than those already available to those in civil unions, supporters say same-sex couples deserve the same dignity and respect as married couples.

Under the bill, no new civil unions would be performed in Delaware after July 1, and existing civil unions would be converted to marriages over the next year.

Supporters say the bill protects religious freedoms and the freedom of speech of those opposed to same-sex marriage.

The bill does not force clerics to perform same-sex marriages that con�lict with their religious beliefs. |  |

Colorado ushers in new civil unions law Wire Report DENVER, COLO. | The �irst gay couple granted a civil union in Colorado said their vows before hundreds of people early on May 1 at a downtown Denver municipal building where couples and members of the public gathered.

The new law legalizing civil unions took effect at 12:01 a.m., and both Denver and Boulder began issuing licenses immediately.

Fran and Anna Simon were the �irst to receive a civil union certi�icate from a Denver clerk at 12:02 a.m., following an expectant countdown to midnight led by other

Delaware Senate approves same-sex marriage bill Wire Report DOVER, DEL. | The Delaware Senate approved a bill authorizing same-sex marriage by a vote of 12-9 on May 7. The bill narrowly won passage in the House in April.

The bill was immediately signed

by Democratic Gov. Jack Markell, a supporter of marriage equality, making Delaware the 11th state to recognize same-sex marriage.

In an unexpected twist, Rep. Karen Peterson came out as lesbian during the debate on the bill.

Peterson is the �irst openly LGBT legislator in Delaware history.

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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guestcolumn

A

At the end of life: Grace, peace and voice

Peggy Green

S YOU SLIP TOWARDS THE

end of your days, what do you need in order to know that the work you came to do is done?

At the far end of that tunnel of light, looking back, what do you have that will help you behold a life well lived, a love well given, a journey completely and courageously taken?

Maybe you’ve yet to do what you came to do; maybe you’ve yet to become who you came to become. Or maybe this diamond in the rough of an un�inished life is more polished than you think. How can you know? What would it take to leave this life feeling ready to go?

As a Palliative Care chaplain turned end-of-life coach, I follow where the client leads.

From that leaning tower of papers on the desk to the unanswered letter from that still, small voice, I coach the client in such a way that needs are spoken and steps are taken. From Advance Directives to reconciliation with a loved one, I help LGBT people, and I help their families �ind the voice that brings grace and peace at the end-of-life.

Not about isolation or endless striving, to be described as graceful often means that you rose to the challenge of dif�icult decisions in a way that looked effortless to an observer. To be graceful at the end-of-

life means, not that you tore up your adductors with Herculean strides into the end zone all alone but that you took courageously achievable steps with your cheerleader, soccer mom and coach on the sidelines. To be graceful at the end-of-life means that when it was time to pass on your knowledge, you found the middle school poet, baf�led by math, and taught her to two-step to the rhythm and rhyme of coef�icients and Cartesian coordinates. To know Grace at the end-of-life means you likely had help with the little ThankYou and the big I’m-Sorry whose time had come, and because of them, when you reached the �inish line, you were prepared to cross it.

The thing about dying is that we want to go peacefully. But how does that work exactly? Do we reach the end the way we reach for a beer, reach for a diploma, reach for the �ingers of the long lost unforgiven?

My grandfather faced that tunnel of light a half-dozen times before he �inally entered it. Each time he went to the hospital, he decreed, “Next stop: Holy Cross,” nodding to the Catholic cemetery across the street. But every time he left St. John’s Hospital— shingles, needles, emphysema and all— he’d go back home where he’d ignore, with religious conviction, the fact that my sister was trying to visit him. The last time he woke up in St. John’s, rattle in his lungs, he railed at the priest: Why does it take so long to die?

And the priest, a hospital chaplain who never failed to bring Communion, �ingered the rosary in his jacket pocket, hoisted a chair on a toe and a knee, and quietly slipped it closer in. “Mike,” he began, “heaven is not a house of bitterness.”

Having facilitated years of dialogue between gay people and evangelicals— and having helped people in hospitals write reconciling letters to estranged family members—I know one thing: To have peace in our hearts, we need peace in our relationships.

You broke my heart, my grandfather told her, lungs full of liquid, voice full of cracks. He was real.

He was hurt. And my sister came to speak to that.

Sometimes, all the unforgiven needs is a chance to say, I didn’t mean to, or Please forgive me, or I was a jerk. And sometimes, the unforgiven does her part the moment the unforgiving forgoes lifelong blame in favor of one true thing— like a broken heart, hidden from sight, coming to voice.

After years of dialogue between “culture warriors” gay and straight,

I can tell you that reconciliation is not as hard as people think.

left and right, I can tell you that reconciliation is not as hard as people think. All it takes is the desire to hold peace of mind in higher esteem than ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. Because the thing about dying is that we want to go peacefully. How does that work exactly?

Here’s what I know: After two years of �ighting to complete the journey from St. John’s hospital to Holy Cross cemetery, my grandfather reconciled with my sister, and he died the next day.

In the years since my grandfather died in peace, I’ve begun to wonder what it is about reuniting with those by whom we feel most betrayed, what it is—about reconciling—that we allow

ourselves to remember as we approach the passage between life and death.

What is it—as we prepare to leave the body behind us—that we cannot bear to recall until we begin to die?

And what if we decided not to wait?

What would happen, at the center of the ordinary life, if the disciplined heart refused to forget?

Peggy Green will host her workshop, “How to Reconcile,” at Metro Wellness in St. Petresburg on May 14 at noon.

For details, visit MetroTampaBay.org/ event/how-to-reconcile. |  |

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WatermarkOnline.com: Shiny and new!

Jamie Hyman ONLINE MEDIA DIR. JAMIE@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

A

COUPLE OF YEARS AGO,

I was introduced at a local event and the emcee made a joke that I work for Watermark, “that great little gay paper that no one ever, ever reads.”

As I laughed along with the crowd, I thought to myself, “Lady, my inbox tells a very different story.”

In truth, the Watermark editorial staff creates content for an extremely invested, active, opinionated group of readers. We got a lot of feedback. And in the time since our last website revamp, I have listened to what our readers have to say—what they loved about the site, what they struggled to understand and what they just plain didn’t like.

After evaluating all of this and weighing our options, we settled on a new content management system, a redesign with some sweet upgrades and what is possibly the most dramatic change—a new approach to how content is presented to site visitors. Once the strategy was in place, the Watermark code monkeys worked all hours to make it a reality.

I am pleased to announce the re-launch of WatermarkOnline.com. The site is running and active now. So what’s different?

The Look: I have to hand it to Watermark’s art director, Jake Stevens—the new design is gorgeous.

The old design wasn’t too shabby, but the new look

is brighter, cleaner and set up so that the information our readers want the most pops off the screen.

Not only is it pretty, but the new WatermarkOnline.com is responsive.

Resize the screen to any size or shape—the site plays along and looks good doing it. Responsive design also means it’s going to look great on your monitor, smartphone and tablet.

The Content: Previously, Watermark’s high-quality news and updates were presented in a rather �lat way, almost as if the newspaper was cut apart and then pasted into slots on a website. Now, there’s a comfortable blog format with the newest post always at the top and all updates listed chronologically. Don’t worry that you’ll miss important stuff because you don’t have time to scroll down. Key stories are highlighted with a series of boxes across the top.

Additionally, there’s a navigation bar that breaks the content down by categories, and each story is tagged so that visitors are one click away from viewing all of the stories that share the same tag.

Want to check out content by date, not by subject? Our archives are now browse-able by month and year. The new content presentation strategy is modern, dynamic and the next logical step as Watermark’s web presence continues to evolve.

The Features: Yes, there are new toys. One of the biggest complaints was that the old events calendar used a confusing process and was dif�icult to navigate. With our new Calendar of Events, once users create an account and login, adding events is simple, clear… and fun. A state-ofthe-art directory of LGBT businesses is built and is getting populated. The distribution map is beefed up and it’s easier than ever to �ind out the closest spot to pick up a print edition of Watermark. There are clear paths to inquire about advertising, give our editorial staff a news tip, sign up for our weekly eNewsletter or contact us about anything, really.

The Advertising: Not only does the redesign frame the online ads beautifully, but now advertisers can target ads by geographic area.

As most of you know, Watermark’s coverage area ranges from Tampa Bay all the way across the state to Daytona Beach. With geotargeted ads, site visitors will only see advertising that pertains to their geographic area. It’s a win-win.

The Classi�ied Ads: The classi�ied ad listings have been improved.

They’re attractive, user-friendly and guess what? They’re free

now. Enough said.

The Images: Our Shot on Site photo albums are now gorgeously-designed galleries with slideshow capabilities.

Users can comment on individual photos as well as the album itself.

The Interaction: We now use a state-of-the-art Disqus commenting system. If you comment on other websites, chances are you already have a Disqus account and can automatically comment at Watermark Online. As always, users can login in via Facebook if that’s their preference.

In the works: We have a lot in the works: podcasts, video and the ability to create special sections focused

on the major LGBT events and that you care about most The revamp has been a long, worthwhile process. As with any massive project, there will be glitches, and if you see anything weird, we’d love it if you’d let us know. Don’t think we just want you to troubleshoot! We want you to visit, click around and check out what we’ve done. Spend some time, make a comment, promote an event and let us know what you think of the new WatermarkOnline.com.

We think you’re going to like what we’ve done with the place. |  |

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The revamp has been a long, worthwhile process.

TAMPA | ST PETE | CLEARWATER SARASOTA | ORLANDO www.ceviche.com MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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TALKING POINTS

He seems like a terrific young man and I told him I couldn’t be prouder of him. ...

I think it’s a great thing.

2.1

—PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA, DISCUSSING NBA PLAYER JASON COLLINS, WHO SHARED WITH SPORTS ILLUSTRATED THAT HE IS GAY.

IT’S THE MONTH TO CELEBRATE SELF-LOVE

MAY IS NATIONAL

Number of partners per year MASTURBATION MONTH! reported by gay men from W 2006-2010.

This is a drop from 2.9 partners reported in 2002.

—According to National Surveys of Family Growth

ONDERING WHAT TO DO ON THESE RAINY SPRING DAYS? Spend a little quality time with yourself. May is National Masturbation Month, so it’s time for a guilt-free guided tour of your body. California adult toy store Good Vibrations created “May-sturbation” in 1995 after then-Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was �ired for suggesting that masturbation should be taught in school. The month ends with a Masturbate-a-Thon in San Francisco. It’s like a walka-thon but your feet don’t hurt at the end. |  |

PEOPLE ARE TALKING AT WATERMARKONLINE.COM ON JASON COLLINS, NBA PLAYER, COMING OUT:

SEE YOUR COMMENT HERE! Head over to

watermark online.com and tell us what YOU think.

“Jason is the man! My Hero!”

—HOOSIER BRETT

ON WHETHER SOCIETY ACCEPTS LESBIANS MORE THAN GAY MEN: “Two gay men kissing is ‘disgusting’ but two women kissing is ‘hot.’ But when two men or two women get married, they’re both typically considered ‘abominations’ or whatever bible thumpers decide is the ignorant slur of the week.”

ON LAKE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD SETTLING A LAWSUIT WITH THE ACLU, ALLOWING A GSA AT CARVER MIDDLE SCHOOL: “And it seems to me that Lake County has had some trouble admitting that lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered students even exist! We’re here! We’re Queer! Get over it already!”

—BARBARA L. CLANTON

—KYLE E. SHELTON

HAVE YOU VISITED THE ALL-NEW WATERMARKONLINE.COM YET?

If not, you should today! Experience immersive photo galleries, mobile and tablet friendly browsing, breaking news updates and much, much more!

SILENT SOLIDARITY

WITH HIS LGBT IDENTITY

N

BA PLAYER JASON COLLINS, WHO CAME OUT IN SPORTS ILLUSTRATED THIS MONTH, said he showed his solidarity silently when he chose to wear the number “98” jersey with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards. He wanted to honor Matthew Shepard, the University of Wyoming student who was kidnapped, tortured and lashed to a fence because of his sexual orientation in 1998. “When I put on my jersey I was making a statement to myself, my family and my friends,” he said. |  |

CHURCH CANCELS

NFL PLAYER’S

DREAM WEDDING GURU

SPLITS

APPEARANCE AFTER FROM PARTNER CONGRATULATORY TWEET

S

OMETIMES IRONY ISN’T SO DIFFICULT TO DEFINE. Take, for example, a church telling former FSU and Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler that he must either apologize for congratulating Jason Collins for coming out while still active in the NBA or forego speaking at an anti-bullying event.

That’s exactly what happened when members of a Wisconsin church spotted the simple tweet in late April. Butler says the church is bullying him and tried to resolve the issue with a “We agree to disagree” statement. The pastor replied, “No, I’m right and you’re wrong.”

Butler will not be speaking at that church. |  | MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

W

E TELEVISION HOST DAVID TUTURA, WHO INCIDENTALLY IS MAKING A TOUR STOP IN LAKELAND THIS MONTH, has split from his partner of 10 years. The handsome star makes dream weddings a reality for couples on his show, but couldn’t �ind the magic in his personal life.

His former partner, Ryan Jurica, are expecting twins via a surrogate mother this summer, but in papers dissolving their domestic partnership, Jurica accuses Tutura of sex addiction, a charge Tutura denies. A custody battle has ensued, and it’s still unclear who will have custody of the unnamed twins. |  |

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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IN DEPTH BOY SCOUTS

RENOUNCED TITLE: After spending most of his life in the Boy Scouts, Sean Cuddihy, pictured at left in the photo above with his partner Luis, returned his Eagle Scout honors (at left) to the BSA along with a letter explaining how the organization’s gay ban influenced his decision. He is also pictured with his parents and younger brother, who are also active in the Boy Scouts.

A matter of

HONOR

affecting real scouts. The ban is an archaic policy.”

SCOUTING FOR INEQUALITY

A new policy would allow gay Scouts, but gay adults would be banned

E

David Moran DAVID@WATERMARKONLINE.CO

VERY BOY SCOUT TAKES AN OATH

when they become a part of the historic organization to help other people at all times, to keep himself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.

And it’s with those last two words of the oath that The Boy Scouts of America has found itself amid a national controversy.

For decades, the BSA has used that oath as a basis to eliminate gay scouts and adults from within its ranks. Young men under the age of 18 who are active in the BSA can be unceremoniously dismissed if they reveal they are gay. Adult leaders, den mothers and scoutmasters can also be

dismissed if it is discovered that they are in same-sex relationships.

The argument on whether the oath is historic and precious or outdated and discriminatory has brought the Boy Scouts to the front pages of newspapers and websites and former members have expressed disappointment in the private organization.

But in April, the BSA announced it could change its stance on gays by allowing gay

scouts under the age of 18 within its ranks. However, it would still prohibit gay adults from serving in leadership roles, which means when a gay boy hits the age of 18, he will no longer be welcome at Scouting events.

The proposed policy change has received mostly negative reactions. Those hoping for an inclusive scouting organization say it doesn’t go far enough and sends mixed signals, and those wanting to continue the ban on LGBT involvement say a change isn’t even necessary and hurts the “morally straight” code of the organization.

“The BSA’s proposal would be a step forward from their current position, but only a step,” said Eagle Scout Zach Wahls, Scouts for Equality founder. Wahls made

headlines in 2011 when his speech before the Iowa House of Representatives in support of marriage equality became a YouTube sensation. Wahls was raised by two women.

The change in policy would continue to ban LGBT scout leaders like Wahls’ two moms and lesbian den leader Jennifer Tyrell, who was kicked out of her 7-year old son’s Cub Scout troop in Ohio last year.

Wahls credits Tyrell’s unfair ousting from her son’s troop as the tipping point for the recent wave of nationwide, grass-roots opposition to the BSA’s gay ban, including the founding of Scouts for Equality.

“This is no longer a faceless policy hurting nameless people,” Wahls said. “This is a real policy

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

Much has been said about the national debate over the Scouts’ ban on gays, but it is also a contested issue within the local BSA councils across Central Florida.

“We are still in the process of gathering information,” said Bill Davis, Scout Executive for the West Central Florida Council in St. Petersburg. “Some people are saying to keep the membership standards as they are and some are saying to change them to be more accepting.”

When asked if he thought the current policy was discriminatory, Davis cited the 2000 Boy Scouts of America v. Dale court case.

“Not according to the Supreme Court,” he said. “The Supreme Court decided a number of years ago that the [BSA] had the right to determine its own membership standards as a private organization.”

George McGovern, the Scout Executive for the Gulf Continued on page 30 |  |

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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Ridge Council based in Tampa, did not comment directly on the BSA gay ban or the new policy proposal, instead directing questions about the ban to BSAMembershipStandards.org.

“At this point there is not much to add to the discussion because the vote has not happened and to comment on an unknown at this point would be supposition,” said McGovern.

Bill Gosselin, Director of Operations for the Central Florida Council of Boy Scouts of America, told Watermark in March that the Central Florida Council in Orlando does not have an of�icial stance on the issue.

“It’s an open discussion,” he said. “We are not taking any sides on this point.”

Gosselin added that the current policy also prohibits Boy Scout troops from collaborating with openly LGBT individuals and organizations in the community as well.

“We don’t ask or inquire, but if someone’s sexuality becomes a distraction [to scouting] then it becomes an issue,” said Gosselin.

But Gosselin didn’t offer any examples of how someone’s sexuality would be a distraction in the organization, in terms of scouts and troop leaders who identify as LGBT but still act ethically within the organization, like Jennifer Tyrell, Zach Wahls’ moms or former Eagle Scout Sean Cuddihy.

watermark YOUR LGBT LIFE.

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This gay ban is personal for the Cuddihy family of Orlando, who have long been active with the Fort Gatlin District Troop 184 in the Central Florida Council. The family’s oldest son, Sean, renounced his Eagle Scout distinction in December in an open letter to the BSA because of the ban. He also returned his Eagle award to the national of�ice.

Even with the proposed

change in policy, Cuddihy, who has been active in the scouts most of his life, would still be banned from the organization because he is gay.

Sean Cuddihy is one of 383 Eagle Scouts who renounced their honors in protest of the organization’s policy on gays. He is one of eight Eagles in Florida to do so.

Sean Cuddihy’s father Glenn, showed solidarity by also returning his scouting uniform with a letter of support for his son.

“I am ashamed of the Boy Scouts of America leadership,” Glenn Cuddihy wrote. “The Boy Scouts of America leadership blatantly discriminates against deserving people, and refuses to evolve with the rest of the world.”

Glenn Cuddihy wrote that his son lives by and meets the intent of Scout Oath and Scout Law and is well-deserving of his Eagle award.

In Boy Scouts, the Eagle Scout is the most prestigious rank a scout can earn and it is also a lifetime honor. There is a saying in the BSA: “Once an Eagle, always an Eagle.”

That is, unless you are gay.

Since the Eagle Scout rank was introduced in 1911, more than 2 million young men have earned the distinction.

UNTIL TODAY, I WAS A GAY, EAGLE SCOUT

Sean Cuddihy knew he was a scout before he knew he was gay. Scouting runs in his blood. His grandfather was a Boy Scout and is a Life Scout. His dad was a Boy Scout and continues to volunteer as a Scoutmaster.

His brother is also an Eagle Scout in his troop. Both his grandmother and mother have served as den mothers.

He holds onto childhood memories of scouting as some of his happiest, and he recalls spending time with his dad, brother and close friends.

“It was family time, friend time,” he said. “I don’t know what else a kid can

watermarkonline.com

ask for.”

Cuddihy joined the Fort Gatlin District Troop 184 in Orlando nearly two decades ago. His Boy Scout troop quickly became a de�ining part of his life.

Sean Cuddihy said that at age13 he knew he was gay. But he tried to convince himself he was straight and dated girls and remained in the closet.

OUT AS A SCOUT

Cuddihy knew that if the Boy Scouts leadership found out that he was gay, he could be banned from the organization he loved.

“I wanted to go camping and hang out with my friends [in Boy Scouts] but I also couldn’t ask someone I liked to prom for fear of getting kicked out of the organization,” said Cuddihy.

Scouting was such a central part of his family life and his friendships. He had too much to lose.

“I wasn’t out at any point while I was still active in Boy Scouts,” he said. “It was de�initely one of the things that really encouraged me to try to suppress my gay identity.”

Cuddihy believes he was fortunate and less vulnerable than others who remained in the closet, thanks to his supportive parents.

But being a gay Boy Scout under the organization’s current gay ban didn’t make it any easier for Cuddihy. By the time he earned the Boy Scouts’ highest honor of Eagle Scout in 2007, it was more dif�icult for him to feel comfortable as a scout.

When he aged out of the organization at 18 he came out to friends and family.

But rather than feeling relief, he grew more concerned with the organization’s ban and his rank as an Eagle Scout for Life with an organization that outwardly discriminates against gay people.

CHOOSING LOVE

After Cuddihy �inished high school in Orlando, he attended Harvard,

Thank you for your service to and on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America. I had the privilege of participating in your organization throughout my childhood, and I owe you and your predecessors a great deal of gratitude for my experiences therein. My name is Sean and, until today, I was a gay Eagle Scout.

—SEAN CUDDIHY, IN HIS DECEMBER 2012 LETTER TO THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA NATIONAL COUNCIL RENOUNCING HIS MEMBERSHIP AS AN EAGLE SCOUT, TROOP 184, ORLANDO eventually graduating with honors and moving to Washington, D.C. There, for the �irst time, he met other gay Eagle Scouts. He also met his partner, Luis, of four years.

The BSA’s discriminatory policy forced Cuddihy to choose between his life-long love for scouting and the love of his life.

“I was uncomfortable having people know that I was af�iliated with an organization that had such a strong position denouncing things that were really important to my life,” said Cuddihy.

Following his heart and his conscious, Cuddihy said he could not continue to be a part of an organization that rejected LGBT people and his relationship with his partner.

He disagrees with BSA leaders like On My Honor coalition founder John Stemberger who say that the ban is not discriminatory nor has a negative impact on gay youth.

“I think it is absurd to say it is not discriminatory,” Cuddihy said. “That’s absolutely destructive to deny that it is.”

It’s not only gay former scouts who are protesting the gay ban.

Like Sean Cuddihy, Dr. Joel Beatty, who was raised in Pinellas County, recalls his experiences as a Boy Scout fondly even though he also has

renounced his Eagle.

He and his two brothers were one of the �irst families in Pinellas County with three sons who all earned the Eagle Scout distinction. Beaty joined BSA troop 294 when he was 7 years old and earned his Eagle award in 1979.

Today, Beatty is a physician in LeGrange, Ga. He has been married to his wife Theresa for 25 years and has three sons, ages 20 to 31.

Beatty renounced his Eagle as an example for his children.

“If only the LGBT population stands up against this policy then we have a pretty pathetic society,” said Beatty. “When people look back at this, I want them to know that not everyone in my generation was a product of their time. There were Eagles that did speak against it not because they were LGBT, but because it was the right thing to do.”

A FATHER’S PROTEST

Glenn Cuddihy continues to volunteer with the BSA, championing for equality within the ranks of the organization so possibly one day his son can be a Scoutmaster alongside him and his younger son, Scott.

“When I �irst told [my Dad] that I was going to renounce my Eagle, he talked about entirely

renouncing his af�iliation,” Sean Cuddihy said. “But he and I both agreed that he could do so much good for the organization if he continued to volunteer. I think he effectively registers his protest without cutting all ties.”

Glenn Cuddihy said he has had reservations for years about being part of an organization that discriminates against his son. But the ban never seemed to be an issue because his troop has never denied anyone membership.

Since his son came out and made the decision to renounce his Eagle, Cuddihy has written letters to the Central Florida Council, the BSA national leadership as well as his representatives in Congress and President Barack Obama.

“My issue is with the BSA leadership that sets a national policy for discrimination, not the people that bene�it from the great program we offer,” Glenn Cuddihy said. “I believe I can help our kids grow into strong leaders and simultaneously help lead positive change by example and my actions.”

SCOUTING’S FUTURE

The future is uncertain for the Cuddihys as the BSA national leadership prepares to vote on revising the organization’s policy on May 23 at an annual business meeting.

Glenn Cuddihy, his son Sean, and Zach Wahls have stated that the new policy proposal allowing gay scouts but banning gay adults in leadership roles is a step in the right direction. “[The new policy] still excludes great people like Zach Wahls’ moms and Jennifer Tyrell,” Sean Cuddihy said. “It still sends vulnerable LGBT kids the damaging message that they’re inferior, or even dangerous. It maintains pressure on gay Scouts to stay in the closet, because otherwise they won’t be allowed to give back to their Troops as young adult leaders once they turn 18.”

That’s what concerns Sean Cuddihy.

“I’m disappointed that even if we and our allies gain some ground, I still won’t be able to give back to the BSA as I’d like to or, someday, to serve as a Scout leader for any sons of my own,” Sean Cuddihy said. “But I’m also certain that our efforts won’t end with this vote.” |  |

Discrimination doesn’t exist in The Girl Scouts

A

David Moran DAVID@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

MIDST ALL OF THE MEDIA

attention given to the Boy Scouts of America’s ban on gay members and its reconsideration of a policy that allows gay youth, but not gay adult leaders within its ranks, the Girl Scouts of America has sat by quietly.

That’s because the GSA is not directly af�iliated with the BSA, and it operates by its own set of rules and policy guidelines.

But in 2011, the Girl Scouts of Colorado stirred some controversy when it allowed a transgender child to join one of its troops. At the time, the Girl Scouts of Colorado reiterated the national policy in a statement which does not discriminate against girls based on sexual orientation or gender identity.

“Girl Scouts is an inclusive organization and we accept all girls in Kindergarten through 12th grade as members,” the statement read.

John Stemberger, the notorious anti-gay crusader in Florida many credit with convincing voters to pass a 2008 marriage amendment de�ining marriage as only between one man and one woman, is also the founder of On My Honor. That group is a coalition of Boy Scouts members and leaders who want the organization to continue banning gay members of all ages.

At the organization’s launch press conference in March, Stemberger said that allowing openly gay people in Boy Scouts would open the door for transgender people to join, which he considers a bad step.

Zach Wahls, the Executive Director for Scouts for Equality, said that the BSA national leadership does not have a policy regarding whether transgender people are allowed or prohibited to participate in Boy Scout troops.

Grace Gonzales, Vice-President of Marketing and Community Partners for the Girl Scouts of Citrus,aid the group does not have a stance on the Boy Scouts’ current ban on gay members. She did say that the Girl Scouts organization strives to be non-judgmental.

“We don’t take a position or develop materials [speci�ically about LGBT issues],” she said. “We feel that our role is to develop selfcon�idence and decision-making skills…life skills.”

Gonzalez said that parents or guardians are responsible for teaching their kids about sexuality.

Unlike the Boy Scouts, Gonzales said the Girl Scouts work with the placement of openly gay and transgender youth in troops on a case-bycase basis to ensure their emotional and physical safety.

In regards to troop leaders and volunteers, Gonzales said the organization’s leaders don’t ask about sexuality or gender identity.

“As long as they �it the requirements of our positions and have the girls’ best interests [in mind], we just feel that it’s not any of our business,” she said. “[Being LGBT or not] is not a requirement and it’s not a negative either.”

The Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA were founded as two separate organizations and continue to operate that way. Scouts Canada, on the other hand, is not based on gender at all and allows boys, girls and gender non-conforming youth to fully participate.

The Canadian scouting organization also does not discriminate based on culture, religious belief or sexual orientation. |  |

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

Felicia Boswell, Bryan Fenkart and the National Tour Cast of MEMPHIS. Photo Credit: Paul Kolnik

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ARTS &

ENTERTAINMENT FABULOUS MUSIC:

Michael Douglas, left, plays Liberace and Matt Damon is his lover, Scott Thorson, in Behind the Candelabra premiering on HBO May 26.

gayness onset, diversity in �ilm and why Damon wanted to �launt the junk in his trunk.

WATERMARK: STEVEN,

YOU’VE MADE THE GAYEST MOVIE OF YOUR CAREER.

andelabr a C BEHIND THE

DIRECTOR TALKS LIBERACE BIOPIC AND WHY HE’S PROUD TO CALL IT HIS LAST FILM … FOR NOW.

S

Chris Azzopardi CHRISAZZOPARDI@PRIDESOURCE.COM

TEVEN SODERBERGH KNOWS WHO’S

signi�icantly responsible for the major success of his male-stripper romp Magic Mike: gay men eager to ogle the barely-covered bits of Channing Tatum and his hunky posse. The Oscar-winning director’s upcoming feature will obviously court the same audience—and not just because Matt Damon lets it all hang out, too.

Behind the Candelabra is so gay that major Hollywood studios would have nothing to do with the Liberace �ilm. Premiering May 26 on HBO, the revealing biopic stars Michael Douglas as the shiny showman who died

of AIDS complications at age 67 and Damon as his much younger beau, Scott Thorson.

In our interview, Soderbergh spoke in depth about their real-life relationship, the “�lamboyancy scale” used to guide the actors’

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STEVEN SODERBERGH: That was my intent.

WAS IT?

In a way. It was an opportunity to make use of all the hours that I’ve spent watching melodramas like Sunset Boulevard— anything connected to a certain aesthetic that we associate with camp or just glamour.

I had spoken to Michael [Douglas] about it conceptually when we were doing Traf�ic, but when I started researching Liberace, I was really having trouble �iguring out what the angle should be. I didn’t want it to be a traditional biopic.

It was a friend of mine in New York who made me aware of Thorson’s book (Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace).

Once I read that, it solved all my problems. That was six years ago.

So we’re sort of experiencing everything through his eyes. He’s Alice going down the rabbit hole.

WHAT DID YOU KNOW ABOUT LIBERACE BEFORE READING THORSON’S BOOK?

I’m old enough to have seen him on TV when he was still performing. I was, however, young enough to not really be able to articulate what was distinctive about him. (Laughs) But I remember my parents always made a point of turning on that channel if they knew he was going to be on somebody’s show or if he had a special. I had this vague sense of him being a very �lamboyant entertainer.

In 2000, as I started to learn more about him and gather material, what

Continued on page 46 |  |

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Tickets available by calling the Hard Rock Live Box Office at +1-407-351-5483 HARDROCKLIVE.COM Artist & Showtimes Subject to Change • No Cameras, No Backpacks, No Videos

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

watermarkonline.com

5/7/13 10:52 AM

Mark Wahlberg as a ‘roider in Pain & Gain.

Pain & Gain

Oblivion

Starring Mark Wahlberg, Dwayne Johnson, Anthony Mackie, Tony Shalhoub, Ed Harris

Starring Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Melissa Leo

D ALAS, POOR TONY: Robert Downey Jr. does Shakespeare in Iron Man 3.

Screened Out MOVIE REVIEWS

A Long List of Leading Men

R

OBERT DOWNEY JR. STARTS IT

Iron Man 3 Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce, Rachel Hall

all with a voice-over monologue while Iron Man suits blow up in slow motion. The speech is only mostly serious— because, c’mon, this is Tony Stark—but it’s still a bit of a downer.

Stephen Miller

STEPHEN@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

Not that IM3 is a bad popcorn �lick. Most audiences won’t notice the dour tone or the plot holes when big things blow up so vividly.

Downey’s brilliant but unstable Stark spent the last �ilm—The Avengers—saving the world from gods and aliens. Now, understandably, he’s prone to panic attacks and midnight tinkering on metal suits. It’s a far cry from his playboy days years ago, mistreating scientist Hall and leaving nerdy Pearce freezing, waiting for an unrequited meeting.

In retaliation, Hall and Pearce have created

super-humans, walking furnaces that can heal themselves. They are selling their secrets to an Arab terrorist (Kingsley).

IM3 is supposed to be about how we make our own enemies, which sounds a lot like another, better superhero �ilm, The Dark Knight Rises. Director Shane Black (who helmed Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) does an admirable job bringing this stuff from storyboard to �ilm. (Because, honestly, no one wrote a script; they drew pictures for the whole shebang, then went directly to the special effects people.)

It’s big, loud, and distracting, and the acting is solid. However, Stark seems to have lost his drive and his charm, not to mention his new superhero friends. |  |

Tom Cruise faces Oblivion.

A

S FAR AS MIND-BENDING, IRECTOR MICHAEL BAY DYSTOPIAN SCI-FI FLICKS IS APPARENTLY MAKING GO, Oblivion rates snugly FUN OF HIMSELF HERE, in the middle. The visuals are which makes this �ilm a parody of a absolutely beautiful, and the score— travesty. It’s amazing that it works at by alternative band M83—is cool. all, if only barely.

However, characters are secondary to Pain & Gain is an ultraviolent, special effects. idiotic retelling of three, Stooge-y Bah, maybe I’m being too picky, steroid addicts who went on a 90s because Oblivion is certainly eyecrime spree in Miami. Wahlberg popping, loud, and mildly interesting. convinces Johnson and Mackie to Cruise is a technician who monitors help him kidnap rich client Shalhoub post-Apocalypse Earth after and force him to sign over a war with an alien race has his money. They succeed, only to fail. Shalhoub will RATINGS GUIDE mostly destroyed the planet.

In many ways, Cruise is like stop at nothing to get his Wall-E, except somewhat revenge, while private human; our multimillionaire detective Harris tries to sort See it now! Buy actor’s job is to �ix automated the whole thing out. the DVD! Quote drones and keep fusion Everyone wants lines at parties! generators running. (Oh, something here. Wahlberg and he’s obviously also wants the entitled life he Definitely worth brilliant at reconnaissance feels he deserves. Johnson the price of and hand-to-hand combat.) wants help with his steroidadmission Those generators are sucking induced sexual problem. the oceans dry to make fuel Paul wants his crimes to It’s useful as a for humans to travel to one be okay with Jesus. distraction of Saturn’s moons.

Bay, though, wants more.

Of course, there’s dirty He wants respect for giving work afoot—the sort of stuff audiences what he believes Maybe if someone else pays and you that reminds us of 2001, they crave in serious but need a nap The Matrix and I am Legend, dumb �ilms like Armageddon etc. In that way, Oblivion is and Transformers. We’re a stunning “greatest hits” of supposed to laugh at these Slightly worse other sci-�i �licks. buffoons—at their sense than eternal However, remember in of aggrandizement, their damnation Independence Day where we sexual inadequacies, their conquered a superior alien race with wobbly Christianity. We’re supposed a laptop? Also, remember in the last to cheer the ridiculous special effects two Matrix �ilms, wondering why and revel in sickening violence. It’s all the system didn’t just shut down and well made and about as unsubtle as a reboot itself? Oblivion—directed by sledgehammer to the forehead.

Joseph Kosinski (Tron: Legacy)—has That’s why it’s so easy to feel a little those sorts of plot holes. insulted. The rich lifestyle, the broad Perhaps, if amazing special effects comedy, and the detailed violence are all can short-circuit your brain’s need for there to tell us it’s our fault for buying character development and common tickets, and not Bay’s that he’s always so sense, you’ll enjoy Oblivion. |  | excessive and insensitive. |  |

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ORLANDO GAY CHORUS presents

Greek, Mediterranean, and Vegeterian Cuisine

Y D A E R E R ’ WE P U E S O L C R U O R O F A tribute to the music of the movies Saturday, May 18, 7:30 pm Sunday, May 19, 4:30 pm

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Tickets are $25 in advance, available from Chorus Members or online $30 at the door.

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Orlando Gay Chorus is a 501 (c)(3) not-for-profit arts and humanitarian organization operating under Florida Statutes

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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In the Black

—BLUE AND TOD (ORLANDO) Winners of last years’ Patrons Pick, Orlando Fringe icons Baby Blue and Tod Kimbro reinvent cabaret once again. Blue will surely continue to push boundaries, mixing Tod Kimbro’s camp cabaret and Blue’s burlesque camp �lawlessly.

Festival” is not a real pageant.

The seven-year-old girls and their mothers will be played by a rotating cast of Orlando’s funniest performers. In the show, worldfamous toddler pageant creator Lionel Del Frisco (Jones) hosts America’s most heavily prescreened and rehearsed “Little Miss” pageant in existence.

Pretending Things are a Cock

Burnt at the Steak —CAROL ANN VALENTINO (NEW YORK)

22 YEARS!: The Orlando International Fringe Festival returns to Loch Haven Park and adds new venues within walking distance.

Puttin’ on The Fringe THEATER

This critically acclaimed, award winning one-woman musical features 18 hilarious characters portrayed through song, dance, comedy and audience improv. Valentino’s true sizzling reenactments of managing a multi-million dollar steakhouse in NYC will leave you inspired and hungry for more.

My Pussy is Purrin’ Again

The 22nd Annual Orlando Fringe Festival arrives in Orlando May 15

O

Erik R. Caban ERIK@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

RLANDO | MY, HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED.

In 1992, when three guys got together to put on the �irst Fringe Festival in downtown Orlando, nobody knew what to expect. Talk of 28 performing companies from around the world putting on 160 shows seemed mind-boggling.

And when 14,000 people showed up downtown that spring to catch one or more of those shows or simply to take in the sights, everybody was pretty darn impressed. Fast forward 21 years later and the Orlando International Fringe Festival is an institution, the highlight of the theater year.

This year will also mark the festival’s new expansion into nearby Ivanhoe Village, increasing the number of shows it offers. The

move follows a 23% increase in attendance at last year’s festival and will contribute to the organization’s strategy to boost visibility of the annual art celebration.

The new venues are within walking distance of the Fringe’s home base of Loch Haven Park.

Theatre Downtown, at the corner of Princeton Street and Orange Avenue, is about a half-mile away; The Venue, opened by Blue Starr in 2012 at 511 Virginia Drive, is slightly less than a

mile from the park.

A de�ining feature of the Fringe Festival, now in its 22nd year, however, is all the LGBT acts by local favorites as well as international fare. In fact, Fringe was listed as one of the reasons Advocate voted Orlando the fourth gayest city in the nation in 2011, calling the annual festival “one of the gayest in the country.”

“I am always excited about our LGBT offerings,” says Fringe General Manager George Wallace.

He says to be on the lookout for returning Fringe favorites Blue and Tod, Michael Wanzie, Jeff Jones and Mitzi Morris.

Wallace simply states, “Expect bigger and better.”

Next to Orlando’s Come Out With Pride and GayDays, Fringe is the area’s biggest feast for the gay senses. Here are some not-to-bemissed LGBT performances:

—JON BENNETT (AUSTRALIA) Bennett brings his Just For Laughs, Best Comedy Award nominated show of over 200 pretend cocks to Orlando Fringe. A unique standup experience, PTAAC is part photographic display, part potholed journey into the idiosyncratic world of Jon Bennett.

Made for Each Other

—JOHN FICO (NEW YORK) This is no preachy piece of theatre, but a frequently hilarious and thoroughly thoughtful analysis of a relationship centering around a gay wedding and Alzheimer’s.

A Field Guide to the Gays —D’YAN FOREST (NEW YORK) Forest returns to Orlando Fringe, this time to tell the tale of a vibrant, 78-year-old woman, discovering the purrin’ stirrin’s of sex at age 12 at Camp Takawalananakiki! The heroine admits to the many lies of her life and discovers no matter how the world has tried to stop her adventurous soul—her pussy’s purrin again! Comedy, song, dance, and a glockenspiel, too. “You can’t go wrong with D’Yan Forest, who is a 79 year old bisexual ukulele player from New York City,” says Wallace.

Little Miss Fringe Festival

—JEFF JONES (ORLANDO) Jeff Jones returns for the crowning of the 2nd Annual Little Miss Fringe Festival. No, “Little Miss Fringe

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

—LOGAN DONAHOO (WINTER PARK) A One-Man Multimedia Safari Into The Gay Community! Loud, irreverent, and hilarious, Logan Donahoo lovingly guides you through this off-kilter world of slang, history, drag queens, bears and more! Like stealing hot-pink �ire from Mt. Olympus, you too can now learn about all those things in the queer culture that you were too afraid to ask.

Continued on page 40 |  |

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WRAPPING UP: Orlando is one of Quidam’s final US stops before it visits Europe for a two-year tour.

IMAGINATION: Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam takes place in the imagination of a young girl, who feels ignored by her parents.

Healers of the Stage PERFORMANCE

Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam offers a universal message of renewal

O

Zach Caruso ZACH@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

RLANDO | IT MIGHT BE TOO LATE

to run away and join the circus, but this month you’ll have a few opportunities to at least go and see one. Cirque Du Soleil’s Quidam is hitting Orlando for an eight-show run from May 15-19 at the UCF Arena in Orlando.

The show features a variety of jaw-dropping acrobatics, juggling, balancing acts, and feats

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of strength, and providing the live soundtrack for the show is Josue Anuar, the main vocalist

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of the production.

“I’m the voice of the principal character,” he explains. “She is basically creating a world with her imagination, and so I’m the voice of her thoughts and fantasies.”

The story of Quidam centers around a young girl named Zoe who, feeling ignored and alienated by her parents, dreams up a world named “Quidam” to which she can escape. Anuar feels that the show’s message is universal and can be enjoyed by people of all ages and walks of life.

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

his reunion with the Sunshine “The show is very human,” he says. “It really deals with human State will be bittersweet. life and emotions, and I think it “I’ve been in Orlando a few applies to everyone.” times, gone to Disney World and “We are healers,” he continues. all, and when I was 12, I was “I feel that sometimes when part of a contest on a Spanish people come to the show and TV show called Sabado Gigante they are having a bad week, or in Miami,” he says. “Then, when are dealing with a lot of negative I worked for Royal Caribbean, things in their lives, we remind my training was in Hollywood, them that life is beautiful and Fla. So I’m very much looking exciting. They come away feeling forward to coming back to the happy, even renewed.” area, I really like Florida.”

Anuar’s journey to spread that “But Orlando is going to be happiness and sense of renewal my last week with Quidam,” he was a long road, spending two continues. “After that, I’m off to years auditioning Australia to sing in before landing Dralion.” his contract with Not only will Quidam. Having Anuar be saying now been with goodbye to this the production production of for quite some Quidam, but the time, his preshow itself will show routine has soon be saying been re�ined to goodbye to the a science.

US. The team of “We usually performers and have Monday and —JOSUE ANUAR, QUIDAM’S crew will have a Tuesday off, and MAIN VOCALIST two week break from Wednesday after Orlando, then to Sunday we are resume 10 more weeks in the US. training and doing the shows,” After that, Quidam will be off to he says. “So I like to get to the Europe for a two year tour. show about two and a half hours To catch it before it leaves, before the start. I sit and get into visit UCFArena.com for ticket makeup and costume, do about information and show times. |  | 30 minutes of warm ups, have some hot tea with honey, and MORE INFORMATION then do some meditation to get to a neutral, clear-minded point WHAT: Cirque du Soleil’s Quidam for the show.”

WHEN: May 15-19 Anuar is looking forward to WHERE: UCF Arena, Orlando returning to Florida, as he has TICKETS: UCFArena.com spent some time in the area, but

“The show really deals with human life and emotions, and I think it applies to everyone.”

watermarkonline.com

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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|  | Orlando Int’l Fringe

Preview from pg.37

Circle

—JOHN MONTGOMERY THEATRE COMPANY (NEW YORK) Sex. Power. Intimacy. Desire. Threetime Canadian Comedy Award Nominee Christel Bartelse of last year’s Oneymoon and �ive-time Best in Fest Winner Bob Brader Spitting In The Face Of The Devil plays eight characters—gay, straight and bi—linked in a hilarious daisychain of sexual encounters from New York to L.A. and back in this award-winning comedy.

I U WE!

—MOLLY CONOLE (WINTER PARK) Females, fun, foibles, family— it’s Fringe-in’ hilarious! Three generations of women explore the kaleidoscope of life’s journey in this wacky, thoughtful and ultimately uplifting original musical revue

by Molly Conole. For mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmas, those related to women, who’ve heard of women or desire to fathom their inner female fabulousness.

Celebrity Match Game the Musical and Game Show

with gadgets, gambling, and glamour. Smoother than James Bond and sexier than Emma Peel, super-spy Mitzi Morris goes undercover—and under the covers—to save the free world from nefarious evil-doers!

God is a Scottish Drag Queen —MICHAEL WANZIE (ORLANDO) A hilarious musical expose into the fragile lives of Match Game panelists. Audience contestants vie for a $100 cash prize while the stars struggle to transform a game show into a theatrical extravaganza on the �ly. Featuring an all-Fringe veterans cast: Doug Ba’aser, Mark Baratelli, Gidget Galore, Jeff Jones, Janine Klein, Carol Lee, Elizabeth Murff, Wanzie and Douglas White.

If Looks Could Kill!

—MITZI MORRIS (NEW YORK) Mitzi Morris, star of last year’s Fringe sensation “Dazzled to Death!” returns to Florida in this 1960s musical spy adventure

—MIKE DELAMONT (CANADA) “For those of you who want some international �lavor, this looks to be interesting,” says Wallace. This Just For Laughs Best Comedy Award Nominee and 2012 Pick of the Fringe Victoria and Vancouver delivers “God,” dressed in a �loral power-suit, skewers everything from Bieber to the Pope. The New York Times calls it “A cross between Dame Edna and Billy Connolly with a dollop of Eddie Izzard.”

Pillow Talk

Stained Glass Windows

—PETER TOLAN (ORLANDO) Doug and Aaron are on a road trip across America and stop for the night at Aaron’s grandmother’s home in an Arizona trailer park. So, what happens when you have two guys, one bed, and a night full of surprises? Find out in this mature comedy that will have you “up” all night talking about it! “[I think this] will be a big hit with the gay community,” says Wallace.

—STEVE SHERMAN (ORLANDO) In this new work by playwright Sherman, he explores the experience of a young man coming out to the most dif�icult audience of all—his family. During the course of the play, the characters ask what it means to be “normal” and how a family can repair the feeling of not really knowing one another. |  |

Escape Reality

—NICK COMIS (ORLANDO) Escape Reality with Nick Comis, resident LGBT nightclub VJ and Las Vegas illusionist. Nick has traveled the country performing large scale illusions, mind readings and his signature death defying chainsaw escape.

Stay up to up-to-date with the latest Fringer offerings! Head to watermarkonline.com.

MORE INFORMATION WHAT: Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival WHEN: May 15-28 WHERE: Loch Haven Park SCHEDULE AND TICKETS: OrlandoFringe.com

Appearing at the King Center in Melbourne Just a Short Drive East to the Coast!

Thursday • May 23 • 8 pm DREAMGIRLSONTHEROAD.COM

THE ONLY OFFICIAL SOURCE FOR KING CENTER TICKETS Located on the corner of Post & Wickham Rds in Melbourne

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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FANS ARE REJOICING THAT THERE IS FINALLY A NEW BOOK. WHAT DO THREE FULL-LENGTH BOOKS IN 20 YEARS SAY ABOUT YOUR CREATIVE PROCESS?

Well, clearly this turnaround time suggests I’m slow, right? [Laughs] But I’m also deeply meticulous when it comes to form, image, language.

I’m as interested in sound and structure as I am in subject, which is work that can take a long time to create. Also, I believe revision is writing and I often don’t know what I’m chasing until I’m several drafts in, and as my work has become more ambitious I’ve layered in a great deal of research. So there are many reasons for the time it’s taken me so far to �inish a book. Still though, when I do have the opportunity to write full time I can be quite productive. I just don’t have that opportunity very often, because I teach full time.

PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF YOUR NEW BOOK BODY GEOGRAPHIC.

LIFE LESSONS: Author and teacher Barrie Jean Borich lives in Chicago with her partner, Linnea.

Body of work BOOKS

Lesbian writer Barrie Jean Borich’s third book is a queer travelogue

I

Gregg Shapiro GREGSHAPIRO@AOL.COM

N THESE DAYS OF SHRINKING ATTENTION

spans and dwindling memories, saying that something was “worth the wait” can be a tricky statement. The �ickle entertainment-seeking public is increasingly impatient, �inding it easier to move on than to wait for the next movie from their favorite �ilmmaker, the latest song or album from a favorite musical act they enjoy, or the new book by a writer they regularly read.

But “worth the wait” has rarely been truer than it is in the case of Body Geographic (University of Nebraska, 2013), the third memoir by lesbian writer Barrie Jean Borich.

42

A queer travelogue incorporating personal and historical details that is seamlessly woven into a one-of-a-kind atlas quilt, Body Geographic contains echoes of

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Borich’s �irst two books Restoring The Color of Roses (1993) and My Lesbian Husband (2000). But Body Geographic unfolds differently, spins on its own unique axis and is veined with roads traveled and landscapes claimed and reclaimed.

WATERMARK: WAS IT INTENTIONAL OR JUST A COINCIDENCE THAT YOUR THIRD BOOK BODY GEOGRAPHIC IS BEING PUBLISHED 20 YEARS AFTER YOUR FIRST BOOK RESTORING THE COLOR OF ROSES?

BARRIE JEAN BORICH: I hadn’t realized this until you pointed it out.

Wow, 20 years. It’s a coincidence, yes, but now that you’ve made me aware I’d say it’s a weirdly appropriate coincidence.

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The book is structured as an atlas.

Each chapter was made to imitate the form of the map. The most used map structure I’ve used in the book is the road map with insets of city detail, so for instance in the essays I’ve called “maps” the structure is a main narrative interrupted by other narratives or ruminative and/ or lyric insets that in some way move in closer or take another view.

Other structures include a legend, a palimpsest map, a panorama view map, and a couple Trip Tiks, all of these forms indirectly mimicking the ways maps reveal and obscure the nature of places. And �inally I’ve included actual maps I found in archives and sources.

YOU MENTIONED RESEARCH, SO IN TERMS OF THE MAPS AND HISTORICAL INFORMATION, HOW MUCH RESEARCH WAS INVOLVED IN THE BOOK?

A great deal. I read books about maps and early 20th century immigration and the meaning of place and the Columbian exposition.

I spent time in immigration archives and city history archives and mining archives. I read oral histories from Eastern European immigrants to Chicago, memoirs by Yugoslavian immigrants, old country newspapers. I pored through digital map archives, went to drag king shows, interviewed my great aunt and my grandmother. I followed my interests and intuitions, which means I was massively inef�icient, but then found things I wouldn’t

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have known to look for. I’m not a scholar but rather treat research as a discovery process.

KEEPING WITH THE GEOGRAPHY THEME, AFTER SEVERAL YEARS IN MINNEAPOLIS, YOU HAVE RECENTLY RETURNED TO CHICAGO TO RESIDE AND TEACH AT DEPAUL UNIVERSITY. WHAT DO YOU THINK THE SIGNIFICANCE IS TO YOUR RETURN TO CHICAGO AND THE WRITING OF THIS BOOK?

A good number of people who’ve read the book have told me they are glad I’m �inally back in Chicago, so I guess Body Geographic accurately renders my long held desire to return. And the greatest signi�icance is, I guess, that I’ve always said I would come back some day, and now I have. So I don’t have to regret the dream deferred.

But at the same time, that I have returned is a curious postscript to a book that ends deeply grounded in Minneapolis, on my favorite street in Minneapolis, Lake Street, where I kept a writing studio for many years. I didn’t come back to Chicago because of my book. I came back for a good and challenging job that I knew had a good chance of pushing me forward as a teacher and artist, at a point in my life where I was restless and in search of career revitalization. So in terms of Body Geographic my return to Chicago is either a great irony or the completion of a circle.

IN WHAT WAYS WOULD YOU SAY BEING PART OF THE ‘LOST GENERATION’—NOT A BABY BOOMER, NOR GEN X, SHAPED YOU AS A PERSON AND AS A WRITER?

I hadn’t heard that term “Lost Generation” to describe our age bracket, so thanks for that, as I have been long aware that we are neither Boomers nor Xers. Another queerness I suppose? I’m always at once resentful and grateful for all the ways I’ve fallen through the cracks in my queer lifetime. But how did this form me?

Well, I suppose I’ve always known with absolute certainly that I could map out the life I wanted to live, that there was no center, no sure thing, no one way to be or journey.

Remember back in high school, standing in line at the Biograph on Lincoln—a location ironically that’s now just a few blocks from my of�ice at DePaul—when the Rocky Horror Show Picture Show phenomenon was still brand new?

Those are the moments that made our nameless generation. I left home knowing, on some level, that we could make ourselves over in any

I’ve always known with absolute certainly that I could map out the life I wanted to live, that there was no center, no sure thing, no one —BARRIE JEAN BORICH way to be or journey. way we chose. And of course I saw right away, in that line at the Biograph for instance, with all those Frankenfurters and Columbias and all that toast and rice and creative self-identifying, how much the non�ictional world begs to be written about.

YOU WRITE ABOUT ATTENDING A POETRY READING

BY YOUR YOUNG NIECE ADRIA, COMPARING HOW DIFFERENT YOUR LEARNING EXPERIENCE WAS, AS EXEMPLIFIED IN THE LINE, “WE HAD NOT POETRY-WIELDING TEACHERS.” AS SOMEONE WHO IS HERSELF AN EDUCATOR, PLEASE SAY SOMETHING ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THOSE KINDS OF TEACHERS ON YOUNG STUDENTS.

her constantly. Do I think it matters that she’s queer? Well, as much as I’ve long loved knowing that fact about her, I don’t suppose her queerness is the reason I love her music. Or is it?

Her strangeness and the intense and literary focus of her themes seems to me a kind of queerness. Jazz is not your typical queer genre, and even more so it is a stunningly masculinist enterprise. More than once, at a jazz club, Linnea and I have just shaken our heads as we realize that once again we are present for �ine and gorgeous artmaking where the men on stage outnumber the women in the audience, which makes the big queer genius of someone like Patricia Barber all the more magni�icent to witness.

Patricia Barber may be my single favorite artist of all time. I listen to

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YOUR FAMILY IS A POWERFUL PRESENCE IN THE BOOK. DO YOU KNOW IF ANY OF YOUR FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE READ IT YET?

MAP TO SELF: Barrie Jean Borich’s Clearly, those third memoir, Body Geographic, contains teachers change echoes of her first two books but its kids’ lives narrative resembles an atlas. absolutely, as do My dad read it in the queer aunties manuscript form and and uncles who pronounced it “A Tale of Two Cities.” love to bring the kids in our worlds My Aunt read it and said she was sorry closer to what we see as the worthy the book ended and that she’d felt I was thrills of living. The niece you mention telling her story as well as my own (as of here is now a serious musical theatre course I am, the fancy Gram Rose I write major in college, and another of [my about in the book being her mother.) partner] Linnea’s and my nieces graduated with a degree in photography HAVE YOU BEGUN TO THINK and her sister is also majoring in theatre. ABOUT YOUR NEXT BOOK? We hope the choices we made in our I’m working on a project tentatively lives help these kids in our families see titled “OH” about humans �inding that it’s possible to pursue that which joy and sustenance in urban makes us feel most alive. environments. Which will, of course, now have to be some kind of “the native YOU WRITE ABOUT YOUR FATHER’S returns” tale. |  | AND YOUR RELATIONSHIP TO JAZZ. DOES JAZZ STILL PLAY A ROLE IN YOUR MUSICAL LIFE AND, IF SO, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OPENLY QUEER JAZZ ARTISTS SUCH AS PATRICIA BARBER, TERRI LYNE CARRINGTON, GARY BURTON AND LEA DELARIA?

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|  | Candlabra from pg.33 was great was discovering that he was an amazing technical musician, an incredible keyboardist. I found it fascinating that somebody with that sort of skill set was very happy to hide it behind a real genuine desire to put on a very popular and entertaining show. He wouldn’t have been as interesting to me if it turned out that he was a so-so keyboardist.

HOW DID MICHAEL PULL OFF THE PIANO-PLAYING PARTS?

Oh, lots of tricks.

THEN YOU FOOLED ME, BECAUSE AT ONE POINT HE’S PLAYING 16 BEATS TO THE BAR FOR “BOOGIE WOOGIE” AND YOU CAN CLEARLY SEE MICHAEL’S HANDS ON THE PIANO.

In my mind, that was a very important scene. Because if we don’t sell that, then we have a problem.

There was a lot of effort expended on that particular scene. Michael had to spend a lot of time making sure that he was doing the right thing so that the effects would work properly.

He couldn’t just sit there. He had video of the pieces and he had to make sure his hands were very close to being perfectly placed so that we could make it work.

DID YOU DISCUSS WITH MICHAEL HOW FLAMBOYANT HE COULD GO WITH LIBERACE?

Sometimes I’d use a number. I’d go, “Oh, I think he should be at a 7 here.”

A 7 ON THE FLAMBOYANCY SCALE?

Yeah. But more often than not, he and Matt would both tell you that once you put on the out�it and the hair and everything, you’re kind of there. I don’t remember having to really talk about how gay I wanted them to be. (Michael) would just show up in that out�it with that hair and it was happening.

WAS THERE A SCENE WHERE YOU TOLD THEM TO TAKE IT TO A 10?

The �irst meeting where Lee (the name close friends called Liberace) �irst meets Scott backstage, I would’ve said to Michael, “Okay, this is about as far as I want you to go.”

Take it as far as you feel comfortable.

AS THE DIRECTOR, WAS IT A CHALLENGE TO MAKE THIS RELATIONSHIP SEEM REAL?

The key, which they understood intuitively, was: The chemistry was going to come from the comfort level, and the more comfortable

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STORYTELLER: Director Steven

Soderbergh knew he wanted to make a Liberace biopic after reading Scott Thorston’s Behind the FANCY FINGERS: Through some perfectly planned choreography and special effects, Michael Douglas appears to really play the piano. Candelabra: My Life with Liberace.

I don’t remember having to really talk about how gay I wanted them to be.

Michael Douglas would just show up in that —STEVEN outfit with that hair and it was happening.

SODERBERGH they felt with each other and the more that it seemed, “Oh, this is how people act when there is not a camera around,” that’s what would sell it. Just being totally inside of it and never stepping out of it and looking back at it. You have to just jump into the hot tub, and that’s what I think really sells it when I see the movie. They seem so comfortable with each other.

AND ONLY ONE TAKE FOR THE SEX SCENE WHERE MATT IS ON TOP OF MICHAEL—REALLY?

(Laughs) I said, “Okay, Mike, you’ve got to be able to reach the amyl nitrates, so you should be here. Matt, you’re going to be on top of him here. I’m going to drop the camera down here.” We did a take, there was a long pause and I was just like, “I don’t have any notes. That’s that.”

STUDIOS TURNED DOWN THE FILM BECAUSE THEY SAID IT WAS “TOO GAY.” WHAT EXACTLY IS “TOO GAY”?

They weren’t convinced that anybody who’s not gay is going to want to see it. That was really their attitude. It’s not like, “We don’t like gay people.” They had

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concerns about how to sell it. And when you’re just looking at it on paper, and then when you see what Michael and Matt did, I get why they couldn’t see it. I was just frustrated that they didn’t believe that we could see it.

WHAT DO YOU THINK IT SAYS ABOUT HOLLYWOOD AND SOCIETY WHEN A MOVIE ABOUT TWO GAY MEN WON’T GET PICKED UP BY A MAJOR STUDIO BUT A MOVIE THAT EXPLOITS VIOLENCE DOES?

That’s more about the culture at large than it is about the studios.

They don’t give a shit. If movies like this were making a lot of money, that’s all they’d be making.

The reason you don’t see more movies made with non-white protagonists as leads is because, in our culture, non-white audiences go in signi�icant numbers to see movies with white protagonists, but white audiences do not return the favor. It’s not reciprocal, and that’s the only reason that movies lack so much diversity.

DID YOU KNOW GOING IN THAT A MOVIE ABOUT LIBERACE WOULD BE A TOUGH SELL?

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Yeah, I knew it would be tough, but I didn’t think it would be impossible. If it wasn’t for HBO, I don’t think we would’ve been able to get it made.

HOW DID YOU PERCEIVE THEIR RELATIONSHIP?

I took the relationship at face value, and I believed that it was a real relationship and that they did love each other. It’s a very weird environment in which to maintain any relationship, but I felt that it was a sincere relationship and that they were both broken but in different ways. So there was a kindred feeling somehow.

DO YOU SEE THIS FILM AND LIBERACE’S LIFE AS A CAUTIONARY TALE AT ALL?

No. I guess when I look at it, there’s just more of a frustration that there was this added pressure because of the time period—the pressure of hiding the relationship and then, of course, the threat of mortality that was circulating amongst the gay community during that period.

I mean, I lived for nine months with my sister in San Francisco

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during the summer of ’80 through the spring of ’81 on Market Street. If I was gay, I’d be dead.

That was ground zero.

WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE FOR YOU?

It was interesting to be 17 and walk down the street and have somebody look at me in the way that I’d be looking at girls. (Laughs) That was the �irst time being exposed to that, but it wasn’t a problem. The friends I did have that were gay and sexually active were really, really paranoid and being super safe. They were scared.

It’s a classic case of everybody realizing everything too late. I always wish we could think 50 years in the future when we look at what’s going on right now in terms of equal rights. I’m just sitting here going, “50 years from now, we’re going to be wondering why we were even arguing about this.” Why can’t we just pretend that its 50 years later and just end it now?

ARE YOU STILL RETIRING?

In terms of movies, it’s going to be a break. I don’t know how extended.

I’m just taking a break from that speci�ic kind of work for a while to see if I can tear everything down and rebuild it. See if I can come back different. |  | To read bonus content from this interview go to watermarkonline.com.

HOPE WILL NEVER BE SILENT

TICKETS STARTING AT $35

MONDAY MAY 20, 2013 8:30AM  10:00AM

DUBSDREAD COUNTRY CLUB 549 W. Par St, Orlando, FL 32804

GUEST SPEAKERS

Congressman Alan Grayson and Stuart Milk

$40 TICKETS AVAILABLE ONLINE:

HTTP://WWW.THECENTEROFORLANDO.ORG

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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MaD COw TheaTre PresenTs

Opening June 7, 2013

Music by Henry Krieger Lyrics and Book by Tom Eyen

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Call the Box offiCe at 407.297.8788

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ARTS &

ENTERTAINMENT EVENT PLANNER

David Tutera

QUICK PICKS Orlando Memphis

MAY 14-19 Bob Carr Performing Arts Center 407-849-2577 Ticketmaster.com

Celebrating Central Florida’s Next Artists

THROUGH MAY 19 Maitland Art & History Museum 407-539-2181 ArtandHistory.org

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AVID TUTERA, BEST KNOWN

for his TV show, My Fair Wedding, where he turns wedding theme disasters into dream weddings, has taken his advice on the road.

Daytona Beach You Can’t Take It With You MAY 10-19 Daytona Playhouse 386-255-2451 DaytonaPlayhouse.org

Though he and his longtime partner, Ryan Jurica, �iled paperwork in late April to dissolve their union, the show must go on. See Tutera in the �lesh and hear his

St. Petersburg John & Jen

MAY 3-26 Freefall Theatre 727-498-5205 FreeFallTheatre.com

Sarasota

Celtic Woman

MAY 9 Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall 941-953-3368 VanWezel.org For more events or to submit your upcoming show, concert or performance, visit

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LAKELAND

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ORLANDO Orlando Gay Chorus

HE ORLANDO GAY CHORUS WILL TAKE ITS AUDIENCE ON A HOLLYWOOD MUSICAL JOURNEY this spring with We’re Ready for our CloseUp: A Tribute to the Music of the Movies. Under the direction of Artistic Director and Conductor Jim Brown, the chorus will sing a variety of songs from the early days of

the movies up to the present, and many of the songs will transport you to speci�ic times in your life.

The chorus will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 18, and at 4:30 p.m. Sunday, May 19, at Plaza Live on Bumby Avenue in Orlando.

For tickets, visit OrlandoGayChorus.org. |  |

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TAMPA BAY Una Voce

HE MEN OF UNA VOCE: THE FLORIDA MEN’S CHORALE, INVITE YOU TO ENJOY SOMETHING WONDERFUL, their spring concert celebrating the collaborative works of Rodgers & Hammerstein May 10-12.

The chorus will perform selections from Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Paci�ic, The King and I and The Sound of Music.

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wedding advice during his Dream Bigger Tour at the Lakeland Center at 8 p.m.

Wednesday, May 10. For dinner and show tickets, visit TheLakelandCenter.com. |  |

The songs are timeless, as are the shows from which they come. Later this spring, Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella will take on Broadway. Locally, Una Voce will perform at The Palladium Theater in St. Petersburg and at Hillsborough Community College in Ybor City.

For tickets and speci�ic show times, visit Una-Voce.org. |  |

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Tampa Bay

1- FAN FAVORITE: Muffy Vanbeaverhousen mingles with some fans at Bradley’s on 7th in Ybor City April 27. PHOTO COURTESY CARRIE WEST

2- TOASTING FRIEND: Friends gather outside the Ybor City Wine Bar for a champagne social on April 30. PHOTO COURTESY CARRIE WEST

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3- ATTENTION RUNNERS!: Red Ribbon Run organizer Kathie Michael explains the route to participants at the starting line at Al Lopez Park on April 28. PHOTO BY STEVE BLANCHARD 4- FIRST PLACE: Bryan Garcia is the first to cross the finish line at the Red Ribbon Run at Al Lopez Park on April 28, benefitting Metro Wellness and Community Centers and the AIDS Institute. PHOTO

BY STEVE BLANCHARD

5- TIME TO MINGLE: Cathy Everingham and Suzanne Noe participate in May’s First Thursday Mingle at the Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg on May 2. PHOTO COURTESY PROSUZY.COM 6- TEAMWORK: Team Metro lines up in front of the organization’s mobile HIV testing unit at Al Lopez Park before the April 28 Red Ribbon Run. PHOTO COURTESY METRO WELLNESS AND COMMUNITY CENTERS

7- SPECIAL GUESTS: (L-R) Susan Gutierrez introduces Elaine Hartin and Heather Hoe during a benefit for the couple at The Broken Tusk in St. Petersburg on April 28. PHOTO COURTESY THE BROKEN TUSK 8- CELEBRATING WITH A PURPOSE: This group of friends enjoy each other’s company at Georgie’s Alibi in St. Petersburg during Dining Out For Life on April 25. PHOTO COURTESY TINKERFLUFF.COM

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OVERHEARD MACKENROTH, WILLIAMS TO HEADLINE METRO GALA

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HEN METRO WELLNESS AND COMMUNITY CENTERS CELEBRATES ITS 20TH ANNIVERSARY GALA this September, it will have two very well known voices behind the microphone. Model, HIV activist and Project Runway alum Jake Mackenroth and comedienne Karen Williams are both scheduled to appear at the Sept.

14 Gala at the Tampa Bay Garden Club on Bayshore Boulevard in Tampa. Both celebrities have worked to erase the stigma of HIV through appearances,

advocacy work and educational events. The two are just a part of the entertainment lined up for the Gala, which will also feature a silent auction. Tickets start at $100 and are available at MetroTampaBay.org.

FLIP YOUR WIGS!

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HE TAMPA BAY CHAPTER OF THE SISTERS OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE WILL BRING ITS WIG DRIVE EXTRAVAGANZA to the Flamingo Resort in St. Petersburg throughout Mother’s Day weekend, which is May 10-12.

The annual fundraiser bene�its Faces of Courage, a non-pro�it organization in Tampa Bay that offers free events and camps

for women with children with cancer and blood illnesses. And speaking of camp, it doesn’t get campier than when the Sisters are in charge of a fundraiser. Expect plenty of special entertainment with Bingo on Friday, a Hot Dog confessional poolside from 2-4 p.m. on Saturday and a special Dine with the Sisters event at the Flamingo’s restaurant on Saturday night beginning at 6.

The big attraction of the weekend is the Wig Drive Extravaganza Show poolside on Saturday night at 9 p.m., featuring the Amorettes of Atlanta, appearing for the �irst time in Tampa Bay. A full schedule of events is available at TampaBaySisters.org or FlamingoFla.com.

SKYLINE FIFTH GETS FACELIFT

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BROKEN TUSK HOSTS BENEFIT

HE DUST AROUND SKYLINE FIFTH IN ST. PETERSBURG HAS FINALLY WRAPPED, and in its wake is a completely remodeled lobby and hallways as well as new landscaping outside of the towering building. The complex opened a few years ago and marketed directly to the gay community, earning the nickname of “Homo Heights.” A large number of LGBT residents still call Skyline Fifth home, and continue to tour the facility, according to newly appointed property manager Jay Thompson.

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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EARLY $800 WAS RAISED IN ONE NIGHT AT THE BROKEN TUSK, where several area entertainers performed and donated their tips to Elaine Hartin, who was injured in a car accident in April. The wreck caused Hartin, who attended the fundraiser, to miss several weeks of work, making paying bills dif�icult for her and her family. Entertainers included Vinni Marconi, Muffy Vanbeaverhausen, Nathaniel Marshall, Blayze Elijah Gomez, Franki Markstone, King Aramis, Gemini Stoarm, Raven Lace, Savanna Starr and Kori Stevens, among many others. |  |

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CLUB ORLANDO COME OUT TO PLAY! Gyms come and go……

Club Orlando’s Gym has been here for 14 years and is still going strong!

We Offer Monthly and Annual Memberships. Stop in for a tour and a complimentary work out.

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ORLANDO

1- CLUB KIDS: (L to R) Adam Margio, David West, Bill Throckmorton and Andrew Elder check Savoy under its new ownership at the nightclub’s grand reopening, April 30. PHOTO BY JEREMY WILLIAMS

2- FLORIDA SCENT: Orlando City Commissioner Patty Sheehan and Master Perfumer Christian Louis announce his perfumes, “Florida Day” and “Florida Night,” created in honor of Florida’s 500th anniversary. Louis was inspired to create the fragrances after taking a walk around Lake Eola. PHOTO COURTESY KATHY DEVAULT

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3- NEW MEMBERS: (L-R) The Ivanhoe Village Main Street Board of Directors welcomes three new members in May: Mark Inglert, Jason Lambert and Philip Torsiello. PHOTO BY SCOTTIE CAMPBELL 4- CONGRATS GRADS!: Rollins College honors LGBT graduating seniors at the 2013 Lavender Graduation ceremony May 1. PHOTO BY SUSAN CLARY 5- MIX & MINGLE: Watermark sales representative Jeremy Williams is ready to mingle with veterans at the Veterans Affairs Diversity Day May 7. PHOTO BY MARK CADY 6- RED CARPET: Ron Legler (left), co-owner of The Abbey, and Andrew Springer attend the MBA 2013 Pride in Business Awards April 26 at DoubleTree by Hilton Orlando Downtown where Legler received the Debbie Simmons Community Service Award. PHOTO COURTESY MBA 7- UNDER HIS SPELL: Even the Evil Queen, Once Upon a Time’s Lana Parrilla, can’t turn down a dance with Beast during a visit to The Magic Kingdom’s new Fantasyland April 10. PHOTO COURTESY OF DISNEY.COM

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8- TAKING THE LEAD: Orlando attorney Larry Smith is the first openly gay recipient of the American Bar Association diversity leadership award. PHOTO COURTESY LARRY SMITH

OVERHEARD EVIL REGALS UNITE

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N APRIL 10, THOSE AT DISNEY WORLD’S NEW FANTASYLAND ENCOUNTERED AN EVIL TREAT. Once Upon A Time’s Lana Parilla was filming a promo for the new park which began airing on ABC May 5.

Parrilla, 35, is the woman behind the dual personality “Regina Mills” and “The Evil Queen” on the hit show” Parrilla quickly became the character viewers loved to hate, her beauty and extraordinary costumes balancing the evil deeds perpetuated by her character. In real life, the “evil queen” isn’t all that evil. Parrilla has championed LGBT rights in several arenas, from contributing to a short �ilm addressing suicide among

LGBT youth and speaking out in support of marriage equality at the Human Right Campaign’s 2012 August Gala.

SHOW HOPE & HELP THE MONEY

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AY 4 AND 5 MARKED A WEEKEND OF AIDS WALK ORLANDO FUNDRAISERS, raising more than $1,500. At the May 4 Blue Ball bene�it, hosted by Chrysanthemum and Lacie Browning and Hope & Help’s softball team, Impact, the show featured a number of performances, giveaways and studly softball boys sporting nothing but their jerseys and underwear while selling raf�le

tickets. Sunday Surrender at Ember boasted a full house with proceeds bene�iting AIDS Walk.

“We are grateful for the support from the community and look forward to seeing them on May 18 at Lake Eola for the AIDS Walk,” said Hope & Help’s Volunteer Coordinator Duane Hoyle.

END OF AN LGBT ERA

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RLANDO HAS LOST YET ANOTHER PIONEERING LGBT BAR OWNER. Wyldes Lounge owner, Frank Guilfoy, passed on May 3, just shy of his 70th birthday. It’s rumored his battle with throat cancer is behind the bar closing in February this year before its 20th anniversary.

Wyldes Lounge was established

by Guilfoy and his late partner in 1994 and is the alma mater to a number of well-known Orlando bartenders and socialites, including Brian Humphries, Mark Matthews and Norm Gentry, who all worked as dancers at the establishment when it was located on Orange Blossom Trail.

WE’RE SO GAY

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RLANDO HAS AN UNEXPECTEDLY LARGE AND THRIVING LGBT COMMUNITY and some fantastic weather, making Orlando a welcoming tropical paradise all year long,” says The Advocate. Writer Sunnivie Brydum paints a wellbalanced and compelling rationale for gay and lesbian visitors to spend

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

time in our wonderful community in the upcoming June-July edition. In addition, GayDays tops GayTravel. com’s Top 20 list of LGBT events for 2013. That article reads, “Orlando’s Gay Days Celebration is not a single event. It is a total gay and lesbian vacation experience. Gay Days is comprised of multiple events staged at world famous attractions, gay and lesbian clubs, and unique venues secured for the purpose of creating a gay and lesbian atmosphere at Orlando’s greatest theme parks and at multiple parties occurring during this long weekend.” Gay Days began in 1991 as a single designated day (always the �irst Saturday in June) and now attracts more than 150,000 LGBT people to Orlando every June. |  |

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Anthony Quaglieri, Ph.D

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813-258-4252

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FOR MORE INFORMATION 54

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

F O O R P

tampa bay marketplace

Presents

A LOT TO CELEBRATE: Sarasota’s Harvey Milk Festival founder Shannon Fortner, center, shares a birthday

with the legendary California politician on May 22. She’s pictured with Joel Jaffe and Laura Rader at the 2012 festival.

Transitions

CHANGE-OF-LIFE COMMUNITY ANNOUNCEMENTS Anniversaries Victor Daza, manager of Orlando’s Kirkpatrick Veterinary Hospital, and his partner, founder of Neu America Art Gallery Edemuel Mora, celebrate 11 years together on May 15.

Orlando artist Crawford and his partner, Doug Walter, celebrate 16 years together on May 19.

Rich Hughes and Doug Nederveld of St. Petersburg celebrate their 30th anniversary on May 19.

Dawn Rosendahl and Cheryl Turner of Altamonte Springs celebrate their 26th anniversary this month.

After 10 years together, David Dorman and Scott Penyak of Orlando were engaged April 18. Their wedding day is May 15 in Seattle, Wash.

Passing Legendary Las Vegas entertainer Kenny Kerr passed away on Sunday, April 28, at the age of 60. Kerr was one of the first female impersonators to perform on the Las Vegas Strip, where he opened his show “Boy-Lesque” at the Silver Slipper Casino in 1977. Kerr’s impersonations included Barbra Streisand and Cher, and fans included Joan Rivers, Debbie Reynolds and Sammy Davis Jr. He was the first female impersonator to be inducted into the Tropicana’s Las Vegas Hall of Fame in 1999.

Local Birthdays USF executive administrative assistant Eric Andersson, former Tampa Bay Business Guild officer John Burchett (May 10); Tampa softball player and massage therapist Alexis Acevedo, Pasco County Democratic Chairwoman, techie

and straight ally Alison Berke Morano, Tampa political hob-nobber Scott J. Allen, 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, 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, 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, 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, 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,Human Rights Campaign Orlando co-chair and attorney John Ruffier, proud mommy Tanya Blasingame (May 21); Orlando Weekly’s droll irony spewer Billy Manes, University of Tampa professor and Equality Florida Meetup volunteer Jack Crepeau, Iowa same-sex wedding planner and former Watermark subject Beau Fodor, Sarasota University Club’s Peter McClain Jr., Harvey Milk Festival president Shannon Fortner (May 22).

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!

SOMETHING WONDERFUL

T he Music of Rodgers & Hammerstein Friday, May 10th 8:00 pm

The Palladium, St Petersburg

Saturday, May 11th 8:00 pm Sunday, May 12th 3:00 pm

HCC Ybor, Mainstage Theatre For Tickets Visit:

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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accountant

attorney

air conditioning

HOT AIR?

Call 4 Seasons for all of your air conditioning needs. 407-295-9231 www.4seasonsair.net • FL License#: CAC056308

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alternative dispute resolution

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TOO BUSY FOR TAXES? WE HAVE OPTIONS! PERSONAL/BUSINESS TAX PREPARATION, e-file QUICKBOOKS ADVANCED PROADVISOR ®

Leah G James, CPA, MSTax Judy L Hines, CQA 407.478.4513 • ContactUs@geckoCPA.com

accountant Richard A. Barber, c.p.a., p.a.

Richard A. Barber Certified Public Accountant

rabarber@att.net o. 407.327.9935 • f. 866.893.6639 803 shallow brook avenue • winter springs, fl 32708

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attorney JOHN B. DORRIS ATTORNEY AT L AW

Corporate Bankruptcy Commerical Litigation Family Mediator 111 NORTH M AGNOLIA AVENUE SUITE 1400, ORLANDO, FLORIDA 32801 DIRECT LINE: (407) 481-5868 FAX: (407) 481-5801 jdorris@lseblaw.com WWW.LSEBLAW.COM

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

Mediator #24369F

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cleaning service

T O N Y L . R I C H A R D S O N P. A .

Attorney & Counselor at Law

115 North Stewart Avenue, Suite 3 • Kissimmee, FL 34741 P: (407) 944-4511 • F: (407) 255-8940 www.osclaw.com • Tony_Richardson@osclaw.com

chiropractor DR. JARED SILBERSTEIN Chiropractic Physician

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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.

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8865 Commodity Circle Suite 3 Orlando, FL 32819 407-354-0009 Fax: 407-354-4882

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(Off of John Youn Pky near Sand Lake Road)

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(Hwy 50 and Maguire Road)

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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counselor

counselor

home improvement

insurance

407-435-9995

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MetroSurance inc Individual and Small Business

electrician

Health • Life • Dental • Disability Critical Illness • Mortgage Protection Accident Insurance • LTC Insurance Final Expense Policies Annuities • Medicare Supplements

Let Us Help Secure Your Future CRAIG GOODMAN (407) 362-1600 or (888) 683-1159 WEB: www.metrosurance.org EMAIL: craig@metrosurance.org

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SPECIALIZING IN RESIDENTIAL TROUBLESHOOTING, SERVICE UPGRADES, AND REMODELS.

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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Joy Metropolitan Community Church Reverend Terri Steed, Senior Pastor Wednesday Evening Spiritual Transformation Classes 7:00 PM Sunday Morning Worship 10:00 AM 2351 South Ferncreek Ave. | Orlando, FL 32806 Office: 407.894.1081

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religious

Piñero Preventive Medical Care

Holy Angels Catholic Community INDEPENDENT CATHOLIC CHURCH OF THE AMERICAS

Sunday Mass 12:30 pm

worship at: First United Church of Christ 4605 Curry Ford Rd., Orlando, FL 32812 407-677-0072

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youth services Serving Central Florida's LGBTQ youth for over 20 years New meeting location at Reeves United Methodist Church 1100 N. Ferncreek Ave. Peer-to-peer support group and social activities for LGBTQ youth ages 13 – 24.

info@OrlandoYouthAlliance.org

Call 407-481-2243 FOR MORE INFORMATION

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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Wire Report

W

ASHINGTON, D.C. | A groundbreaking pronouncement from NBA veteran Jason Collins—”I’m gay”—reverberated April 29 through Washington, generating accolades from lawmakers on Twitter and a supportive phone call from President Barack Obama.

Hours after Collins disclosed his sexuality in an online article, Obama reached out by phone, expressing his support and telling Collins he was impressed by his courage, the White House said.

Collins, 34, becomes the �irst active player in one of four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. He has played for six teams in 12 seasons, including this past season with the Washington Wizards, and is now a free agent.

Collins’ declaration in a �irst-

person account posted on Sports Illustrated’s website garnered particular attention from Democrats, many of whom have recently announced their support for gay marriage despite opposing it in the past. Obama announced his support last year during his re-election campaign.

Organizing for Action, a grassroots group run by Obama loyalists that grew out of his 2012 re-election campaign, offered its support for Collins as well, writing to Collins on Twitter that the group’s supporters “stand with you today.”

And �irst lady Michelle Obama chimed in on Twitter to applaud Collins.

“So proud of you, Jason Collins!

This is a huge step forward for our country. We’ve got your back!” the tweet read. It was signed “mo”— signifying that the �irst lady personally wrote the message.

Former President Bill Clinton

also voiced encouragement, releasing a statement that asks fans, NBA colleagues and the media to support and respect him. Clinton said he has known Collins since he attended Stanford University with his daughter, Chelsea.

Clinton said Collins’ announcement is an “important moment” for professional sports and the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

Collins is “a good man who wants no more than what so many of us seek—to be able to be who we are, to do our work, to build families and to contribute to our communities,” Clinton said.

“For so many members of the LGBT community, these simple goals remain elusive.”

Chelsea Clinton also tweeted her support for Collins, saying she was proud of her friend for having the strength and courage to be the

SUPPORT SYSTEM: Since

sharing that he is gay with Sports Illustrated’s website, NBA veteran Jason Collins has received overwhelming support from politicians.

�irst openly gay player in the NBA..

White House spokesman Jay Carney said Collins’ decision was another example of progress and evolution in the U.S. as Americans grow more accepting of gay rights and same-sex marriage.

He said he hoped the 34-yearold center’s NBA colleagues will also offer support.

“We view that as another example of the progress that has been made and the evolution that has been taking place in this country,” Carney said.

sports

NBA veteran Jason Collins gets presidential support after coming out publicly

Chad Grif�in, the president of Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights group, said Collins has “forever changed the face of sports.”

“No longer will prejudice and fear force gay athletes to remain silent about a fundamental part of their lives,” Grif�in said.

The NBA player also received support from Rep. Joe Kennedy III, D-Mass., his college roommate.

Kennedy tweeted Monday that “I’ve always been proud to call (Collins) a friend, and I’m even prouder to stand with him today.”

Not all feedback has been positive, however. ESPN the Magazine writer Chris Broussard told an interviewer that Collins can’t be a Christian because of his sexual orientation. He added that homosexuality is “walking in open rebellion to God and to Jesus Christ.”

ESPN later apologized for Broussard’s comments.

A Christian Group called Faithful America has expressed disappointment in Broussard and launched an online petition asking ESPN the Magazine to suspend Broussard for his homophobic comments. |  |

Proceeds from Pride & Passion support Museum exhibitions and educational programs

Tickets and information: prideandpassion.org

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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PHOTOGRAPHY: RED RIBBON RUN AT AL LOPEZ PARK, TAMPA

Galleryw Go see more photos at

watermarkonline.com

62

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MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

N

EARLY 100 RUNNERS AND WALKERS PARTICIPATED IN THE ANNUAL RED RIBBON RUN bene�itting Metro Wellness and Community Centers on the morning of Sunday, April 28.

Participants participated in either a 5K run, a one-mile run or a one-mile walk. All of the money raised went directly to Metro’s HIV/AIDS prevention and care programs.

Photography

by Steve Blanchard EDITOR@WATERMARKONLINE.COM

watermarkonline.com

Introducing the

NEW WatermarkOnline.com Gorgeous design Simpler navigation Targeted ads

MAY 9 - MAY 22, 2013 // ISSUE 20.10

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