Watermark Issue 23.18: Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival

A State of

HE ALING

The Tampa Bay International Gay and lesbian film festival is back on both sides of the bay with ďŹ lms to heal and celebrate the LGBT community

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deparTmenTs 6 // mail 7 // ediTOr’s desk 8 // OrlandO news 10 // Tampa Bay news 14 // sTaTe news 16 // naTiOn & wOrld news 33 // arTs & enTerTainmenT 39 // cOmmuniTy calendar 41 // Tampa Bay OuT+aBOuT 43 // OrlandO OuT+aBOuT 45 // annOuncemenTs/ wedding Bells 48 // Tampa Bay markeTplace 50 // OrlandO markeTplace

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Peace isn’t about everybody agreeing, peace is about everybody respecting their differences. that’s always been a fundamental tenet of the festival that we set out to achieve every year.

—nina streich, gLobaL peace fiLm festiVaL executiVe producer

On THe cOver

PAGE sTraigHT OuTTa Tiglff:

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PAGE LET’S ALL GO TO

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THE MOVIES: The Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival launches in Tampa and closes in St. Petersburg as the bay celebrates 27 years of LGBT movies.

scan Qr cOde fOr

waTermarkOnline.cOm

Film and television actor Leslie Jordan brings his one man show to the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Oct. 5.

waTermark i ssue 23 .18 //sepT emBer 8 - sepT emBer 21, 2016

seeing red

Bend iT like Beckner

peace Be wiTH yOu

leT us enTerTain yOu

PAGE The MBA’s RED Group was recognized by the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce in Palm Springs, CA.

PAGE A small, vocal minority kept LGBT Pride and History Month from being recognized in Hillsborough County.

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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

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Orlando’s Global Peace Film Festival celebrates its 14th year showing 29 films in eight different Central Florida venues.

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The Venice Theatre has a diverse season for you with shows like Sister Act, Billy Elliott and The Toxic Avenger.

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GIvE us a fOllOW On TWITTER anD InsTaGRaM aT @WaTERMaRkOnlInE anD BE suRE TO lIkE us On facEBOOk. watermark Your LGBT life.

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“Proof you can be gay and a fascist.”

watermark Your LGBT life.

On MaTT BOMER BEInG cRITIZED fOR TakInG a fIlM ROlE WhERE hE Plays a TRansGEnDER WOMan:

“Imagine if a white man casted another white man to play extremely stereotypical black drug dealer in black face, and then when a well—respected PoC tweeted at the actor to voice disapproval the actor BLOCKED her. This situation is like that but even worse, because it perpetuates the idea that trans women are just men pretending to be women.

I wish they would stop saying he’s playing a transgender woman and call it something else, because we don’t want this representation.”

—JULY THOMAS

On ThE unIvERsITy Of vERMOnT aXInG a nORTh caROlIna GaME OvER anTI—lGBT laW:

“Sadly, our governor still think it’s OK to have House Bill 2 because of the OTHER details that is included in it.”

—SEAN MCLEAN

On hIllaRy clInTOn anD Dan savaGE cOMMEnTInG On flORIDa hOsPITals nOT BIllInG PulsE vIcTIMs:

“Savage’s post was not an attack on the decision of Orlando Health and Florida Hospital, it was an indictment of the circumstances surrounding gun violence in this country. And however generous and

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gracious this action is (and it truly is), it is just a step up from sending “thoughts and prayers” to the victims, this is “thoughts and prayers and money”. It does nothing to get at the root cause of the gun violence — the proliferation of weapons of war on our streets and in our communities, the fear of thy neighbor that is hyped by gun manufacturers and the NRA, and the pure hate of the perpetrators of violence.”

—ROBB HUDSON

“Please READ Savage’s piece. He’s not attacking anyone but conservatives who are preventing gun safety laws and a fair healthcare system.”

—RYAN FEINBERG

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—MANDY REE

editor’s

Billy Manes EDITOR

BIlly@WatermarkOnline.com

S

Desk

ometimes this news racket –

even when wrapped in the fruit roll-ups of entertainment flack-skirting – can get a little taxing. It’s not that I’m complaining – or that it’s April (har-har) – but Florida news has been carrying some heavy baggage lately, and it’s showing on the sideeyes of your Watermark crew. You shouldn’t make us ugly. You wouldn’t like us when we’re ugly.

But, as with several issues preceding this big one, we’re looking for ways out of the misery, looking for a bit of soul searching and healing, and we’re also looking into the hilarious eyes of Leslie Jordan, comedian to the stars. This week’s issue weighs heavily on the film side, including features on both the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and Orlando’s own Global Peace Film Festival. There are some

watermark staff

intersections to be had here – namely, the Pulse tragedy has not lifted like a cloud; it is preserved in both film and personal history, in memory and in name – and we are all more curious, more inclined to know about one another than ever before. That, at least to this sometimes humble editor, means something.

Living in the shadow of a global news phenomenon – or, more specifically, a massacre – is a precarious sort of choreography.

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On the one side of your head, the hubris of it all sets in: When will it end? On the other side, the sympathy won’t stop: Please, let it never end. If that sounds callous, it isn’t meant to. But so many conversations I’ve had recently have been about moving on beyond the flowers, the posters, the scene of the crime. So many thoughts have been about noises – I was at a play at a gay bar over the weekend that utilized gunshot in its soundtracking and almost had to leave – that I’m not even certain where to stand anymore. I want to stay home.

So I won’t. That would be dumb.

What I will do is step outside and find the genius that motivates me to pay attention. I’ll grab a drink with a friend who makes me laugh in a really stupid way. I’ll purchase some pants at a thrift store that don’t exactly flatter my missing figure. I’ll buy a fucking Carpenters record at the local vinyl depot, because I’ve only just begun. If we’re going to grow from these moments, I feel like we need to embrace some of the pain that has been delivered, hug the horror, make it go away.

This year’s TIGLFF (documented heavily within) is working with that narrative: healing through art. I can’t really think of a better way to honor this state’s – indeed, our community’s – terror than with a cocked brow of artistry and kindness. Likewise with the Global Peace Film Festival: It doesn’t get better unless you know what needs to be improved.

Oh, and there are things that need to be improved. The story of the Wilton Manors man who is threatening a massacre on a greater level than that of June 12 is here (but in jail) – because you should know – as is the story of the Metropolitan Business Association making strides after some stumbles in the past in Orlando. We take a peek back

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watermark Your LGBT life.

at the elections, we dip our feet into Venice, Florida, we talk political change and personal victories. In short, we play Watermark in the way that we want to play Watermark: fair and (mostly) kind.

Mostly, though, we’re just proud of a resilient community that likes to give back. We’re charged by the ambitions of artists and politicians alike. We’ve seen the best in people lately,

Living in the shadow of a global news phenomenon – or, more specifically, a massacre – is a precarious sort of choreography. On the one side of your head, the hubris of it all sets in: When will it end?

On the other side, the sympathy won’t stop: Please, let it never end. and – even under circumstances that have every right to break us in half – we’ve come out stronger and more compelled to make a difference. That’s not to glaze over the grief that much of the community is going through; it’s just a hand held out to offer support.

Thanks for everything that our LGBT brothers and sisters have done; thanks to all of our allies.

We are not going to ugly cry so you can call us ugly (you wouldn’t like that). We’re going to keep going. As with TIGLFF, as with the Global Peace Film Festival, the show must go on.

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contributors Scottie Campbell

is a longtime community activist and a friend to the LGBT community. His work has resulted in a thriving community in the Lake Ivanhoe region and his wit has melted at least a few Orlando candles. Page 19

Jason Leclerc

is a near lifelong resident of the I-4 corridor, currently in South Tampa. He publishes poetry online at PoetEconomist. blogspot.com. His first book, Momentitiousness, was published in 2014. His new book, Black Kettle, will be published in 2016. Page 21

Samantha Rosenthal

attended University of Central Florida and is a former Watermark editorial assistant. She is currently a freelance writer and regularly covers Wedding Bells. Page 45

Aaron Alper, Scottie Campbell, Susan Clary, Krista DiTucci, Kirk Hartlage, Joseph Kissel, Jason Leclerc, Mary Meeks, Stephen Miller, David Moran, Gregg Shipiro, Greg Stemm, Dr. Steve yacovelli, , Michael wanzie

photography Brian Becnel, Nick Cardello, Angie Folks, Bruce Hardin, Julie Milford, Travis Moore, Chris Stephenson, Lee Vandergrift, Tinkerfluff

distribution LVNLIF2 Distributing, Lisa Jordan, Jill Bates, Ken Carraway CONTENTS of WATERMARK are protected by federal copyright law and may not be reproduced in whole or part without the permission of the publisher.

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central florida news

Orlando-area residents affected by gun violence join Pride Fund Board Chelsea Santiago

O

rlando | While Orlando still reels from the attack on Pulse nightclub, several Orlando residents are taking action. In a press release early September, Pride Fund Board of Advisors said they were thrilled to have five new members join to help fight for commonsense gun reforms.

One of those members is the owner of the late Pulse Nightclub, Barbara Poma, who created Pulse as a safe space for the LGBT community.

“We chose the name ‘Pulse’ to celebrate life in this safe space, and that was violated in an unimaginable way,” Poma said in the press release, “I’m working with Pride Fund to support candidates that want to fight the gun lobby so we can reclaim our safe spaces: our night clubs, our movie theaters, our schools.”

Billy Manes, Editor-in-Chief of LGBT magazine Watermark; Brandon Wolf, a survivor of the Pulse shooting; and Celia Ruiz and Siclaly “Laly” Santiago-Leon, both of whom lost loved ones during the Pulse shooting; have also joined the board for Pride Fund to End Gun Violence PAC. “I know now that 85 percent of suicide attempts by firearm result in death, while only 2 percent of suicide attempts by overdose result in loss of life,” Manes, who lost his husband when he committed suicide with a firearm, said in the press release, “Pride Fund is supporting candidates who want to tackle the big issues at the intersection of gun control, LGBT violence and mental health, making our communities safer for everyone.”

Museum curators gather, preserve history of Pulse nightclub

MBA takes award, grows.

MBA finds sunshine in Palm Springs LGBT chamber is recognized for its networking program, RED Billy Manes

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Wire Report Orlando | The Orange County Regional History Center is preserving memorials honoring the 49 victims of the mass shooting at the Orlando club.

The Orlando Sentinel reports the curators have carefully collected more than 3,500 items related to the massacre.

At least once a week, history center staffers visit the still-growing memorial outside Pulse to collect pictures, posters and other tributes before they are lost to the Florida sun and rain.

Museum officials say most people who contributed to the memorials had never met any of the victims but were compelled to honor them.

“It’s obviously a historical event,” curator Pam Schwartz said of the mass shooting, the worst in U.S. history. ``But the community’s response has been so immense that it’s really its own event.”

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A new flame:

u Mueller-Kaul isn’t one to sound overexcited. As board president of Orlando’s LGBT chamber of commerce, she’s got some ghosts to address.

Though the Metropolitan Business Association has broken so much ground in the Central Florida region, it’s also broken a heel or two.

“Advocacy is something we really need to work with,” Mueller-Kall says. “I know it’s not all rosy. There are still people who are suspicious.”

The story of the MBA runs deeper than platitudes, of course, and that’s something Mueller-Kaul is well aware of. A series of unfortunate events – unplanned exits, bounced checks – have left the organization with a fight-or-flight sensibility.

watermark Your LGBT life.

The fight, though, appears to be paying off. On Aug. 25, the association received the prestigious award of “Excellence in Programming” for its Referral Exchange Networking Development Program (RED), an award that comes with a $2,500 grant. It’s not much, Mueller-Kaul says, but enough to show that things are on the upswing. The grant comes from LGBT-friendly bankers Wells Fargo.

“Getting this award definitely does mean something, and getting the grant, too,” she says.

“Especially in the weeks after Pulse, when people stopped working their day jobs. Then we still had to run the chamber. …

Wells Fargo doesn’t put its name on anything it hasn’t researched.”

The Aug. 25 ceremony at the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce International Business and

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Leadership Conference in Palm Springs could prove a turning point for the organization.

Publicly marred by accusations of impropriety under former leadership, the group has been trying to keep its brave face on and stick to its purpose: networking.

“MBA Orlando has developed an innovative approach to networking and lead generating groups,” NGLCC Senior Vice President Sam McClure said in a statement. “They have engaged their community and NGLCC is impressed with their program’s success. We are proud to honor the hard work that went into the RED program.”

The award comes at a time when the MBA is rising. Last month’s Pride in Business Gala was the first to be profitable, Mueller-Kall says. The splashy event raised about $15,000.

And for a group that prides itself of face-to-face coffee meetings and greasing the stiff wheels of business, Mueller-Kall is seemingly up to the task. Yes, you need volunteers, but you also need access to the city and county, something the MBA certainly does have. This award only makes that drive stronger.

“Getting this award, it really is a big deal,” she says. “I’m particularly proud of this one.”

watermark Your LGBT life.

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tampa bay news

GLSEN Kicks off new school year with a new fundraiser Chelsea Santiago

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ampa | School can be a challenging time for any student, and for those struggling with bullying, it can make school an even bigger challenge. LGBTQ students in the Tampa Bay area are finding some relief thanks to GLSEN. GLSEN is an organization that focuses on safe schools for all students regardless of gender identity.

“Or really anything that might make them different,” David Coffey, one of the board of directors at GLSEN Tampa Bay, says. “And of course the goal there is to combat the bullying against those types of students as well.”

With the school year just starting up again, GLSEN is finding new ways to help students combat bullying. The Tampa Bay chapter of GLSEN supports 40 to 50 GSA’s, or gay-straight alliances, which work to address anti-LGBT name-calling, bullying and harassment in middle schools and high schools, both public and private. This number is constantly growing as new GSA’s are formed for newer schools and schools that were never reached out to before are addressed, according to Coffey.

To help sponsor the GSA groups, GLSEN is holding their first annual back-to-school anti-bullying fundraiser Friday, Sept. 16.

“We’re bringing together educators and supporters within a community to do a couple of things, and that’s to raise awareness about the organization itself and to help broaden the [anti-bullying] message,” Coffey says.

The event will be held at Jackson’s Bistro from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. and will include an evening of cocktails, raffle prizes, entertainment and a silent auction. The funds will go toward scholarships for the students as well as to the schools GSA’s to help sponsor clubs and organizations within the school.

GLSEN will also be holding an event Sept. 24 at Tampa Prep, a private school in the Tampa Bay area, which will bring the GSA’s together. During the GSA Connect event, they also hope to bring together the educators and students together. Students will be able to watch an anti-bullying film called Out and Around and then have a chance to talk with the producers of the film during an interactive Skype session, according to Coffey.

According to the GLSEN web page, eight out of 10 LGBT students are still harassed at school each year because of who they are. GLSEN was founded by a small group of dedicated teachers under Kevin Jennings in 1990 and has continued to expand their reach over the decades in their efforts to help LGBTQ youth. They are now the leading national education organization striving for the safety of all students from discrimination and bullying at school.

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ONE VOICE: Kevin Beckner was the only commissioner to raise the issue of recognizing an LGBT Pride and History month.

Silent majority A small, vocal minority in Hillsborough County kept Commissioner Beckner’s LGBT Pride and History Month from even seeing light Jeremy Wiliams

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AMPA | Kevin Beckner was elected as an openly gay commissioner to the Hillsborough County Commission in 2008. He was then re-elected in 2012, and in his time as one of seven commissioners for the county, he has stood up for LGBT rights and equality.

Beckner was essential in getting the ban on recognition of LGBT pride lifted, amending the non-discrimination ordinance to include sexual orientation and gender identity and creating a domestic partnership registry. With each of these,Beckner had the support and backing of most of his county commissioners, something he did not have at a council meeting July 20 when he proposed a discussion to declare June as LGBT Pride and History Month and to name a day of remembrance for the Pulse victims.

The other commissioners remained silent, not one even seconding the motion for discussion.

“We know there was a concentrated and deliberate effort by an organized group out there to target some of the other commissioners,” Beckner says.

The commissioners received emails

watermark Your LGBT life.

and phone calls from about two dozen people , mostly calling on behalf of their church, to oppose an LGBT Pride and History Month.

I’m fed up to the teeth with all the special interest groups who insist in getting in our faces all the time,” wrote Victoria Mang of Tampa in an email to each of the commissioners.

“What will be next, July will be Hillsborough County Bestiality Pride Month? August will be ‘Black Lives Matter Rage Appreciation’ month?

Good grief, this is absolute lunacy. How about something really important like Christianity Appreciation Month or maybe Marriage Appreciation Month?” wrote Hillsborough County resident Bill Hilbrands.

Most of the Hillsborough residents who emailed the commissioners on the topic of an LGBT Pride and History Month included their age, race and the church they attend in the messages. Of the ones who included their personal information, they were all over 40, white and attended a Christian denomination church.

A few dozen emails and voicemails are not an indication of how the more than 1.2 million residents throughout Hillsborough County feel; the other commissioners allowed this small

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group to keep them silent.

“That’s part of the problem we have had in the past,” Beckner says. “If you look at some of the other initiatives that had failed regarding LGBT Pride, there is that small vocal minority that sometimes carries the influence to other commissioners.”

Watermark reached out to each of the Hillsborough County commissioners for this story. As of press time, Beckner is the only one who contacted us back.

“We have made a lot of progress here in Hillsborough County but I tell people there is still a lot of work to do,” Beckner says.

Beckner feels that if the community is to continue moving forward they need to be involved with every decision the commissioners make about the county.

“We were able to overcome that [vocal minority against us] because of the overwhelming support that we received from the business community and it was the business community that helped us pass the non-discrimination ordinance and the domestic partnership registry. They had a major influence on those initiatives.”

Beckner finishes his second term as a Hillsborough County Commissioner this year but that doesn’t mean his fight for LGBT equality in Hillsborough County is over.

“We need to continue as a community to work to elect progressive individuals into office locally that can continue to watch the mantel and keep guard so we don’t step backwards,” Beckner says. “That is the main focus on the electorate level, but as I said the larger work is changing hearts and minds and that’s done within the communities, not in the confounds of government.”

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13

state news

mOre cOnfusiOn Over crOwdfunding in flOrida Tragedy Wire Report

T

he more than 430 fundraisers posted on the GoFundMe website after the mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando have exposed weaknesses inherent in these popular do-it-yourself charity campaigns: waste, questionable intentions and little oversight.

The fundraisers – an average of more than four for each of the 49 killed and 53 wounded – include travelers asking for cash, a practitioner of ancient healing, a personal safety instructor who sells quick loaders for assault rifles, and even convicted identity impostors.

“There was a deluge,” said Holly Salmons, president of the Better Business Bureau for Central Florida. “It was almost impossible for us or anyone else to be able to vet.”

The crowdfunding sites operate outside traditional charitable circles and often beyond the reach of government regulation. Appeals can be created in minutes by almost anyone and shared around the world.

The officially sanctioned Equality Florida campaign raised more than $7 million via GoFundMe, but another $1.3 million went to smaller appeals – mostly set up by people with little or no charity experience.

The Associated Press examined 30 campaigns chosen from throughout the lengthy list produced by a GoFundMe search for “Orlando shootings.” Within a month of the June 12 shootings, they had raised more than $265,000.

Half said donations would be used for legitimate-sounding purposes: to cover funeral, medical and other costs. Some campaign organizers were relatives of the dead or wounded. A high school basketball coach raised $15,297 for the family of Akyra Murray, a star player who had just graduated before dying in the attack.

But most campaigns lacked key details, such as exactly what the donations would cover or even who was asking for them. Only nine of the 30 organizers agreed to interviews.

One man wanted money for travel costs to Orlando to shoot independent news video. He hadn’t raised anything two months later. Another organizer raised just $25 for travel money to hold a community healing ceremony inspired by ancient shamanic rituals. She dropped that plan in favor of sending painted rocks with an inspiring word of support.

Several big funds have joined forces in an official centralized campaign that raised more than $23 million, including the $7 million from Equality Florida’s GoFundMe campaign.

The donations to the central fund are generally tax-deductible, since they go to registered charities.

Donations to a crowdfunding site are typically not tax-deductible, unless the organizer is a tax-exempt charity.

The bigger charities – unlike many crowdfunding campaigns – give timetables for distributing aid, and detail recipients and how decisions are made. Ken Feinberg, administrator for the centralized fund, has already held two town hall meetings with survivors and family members of the victims.

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flOrida man making pulse-like THreaTs arresTed By fBi Lou Chibbaro Jr., Washington Blade

A

man who posted messages on Facebook last week threatening to carry out a Pulse nightclub type shooting against LGBT people on Labor Day in the gay enclave of Wilton Manors, Fla., was arrested by the FBI in Orlando on federal charges of making threats to injure people.

Craig Allen Jungwirth, 50, who had been promoting a gay event in Wilton Manors and nearby Fort Lauderdale known as Beach Bear Weekend, was initially arrested on Saturday, Sept. 3, by the Florida Highway Patrol in Osceola County, Fla. near Orlando on an unrelated charge of driving with a suspended license, according to Orlando police.

An arrest affidavit released by the FBI the following day says FBI agents arrested Jungworth on a federal charge of making threatening communications after his arrest for driving without a valid license. The affidavit says the FBI arrest followed a joint investigation by the FBI and the Wilton Manors Police Department into Jungwirth’s alleged threats.

A press release issued by Wilton Manors police on Aug. 30 says the department opened its own investigation that day and alerted the FBI and Florida state police after being informed by members of the LGBT community that Jungwirth had allegedly made a series of Facebook postings threatening to “exterminate” LGBT people in Wilton Manors possibly over the Labor Day weekend.

“Wilton Manor Police Department will have increased patrol and visibility throughout the holiday weekend, working with local bars and restaurants in an effort to beef up private security,” the Aug. 30 press release said. “In addition, we have reached out to our local law enforcement partners and asked

watermark Your LGBT life.

Craig Allen Jungwirth

that they consider providing additional assistance.”

The six-page FBI arrest affidavit quotes one of Jungwirth’s Facebook postings as saying, “None of you deserve to live. If you losers thought the Pulse nightclub shooting was bad, wait until you see what I’m planning for Labor Day.” According to the affidavit, another one of Jungwirth’s alleged postings said, “You can never catch a genius from MIT and since you faggots aren’t dying of AIDS anymore, I have a better solution to exterminate you.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reported that investigators confirmed that Jungwirth had attended MIT. “On August 30, 2016, Craig Jungwirth was identified by the Wilton Manors Police Department as a known individual and past city resident who had previously been the subject of numerous complaints involving the harassment and stalking of Wilton Manors residents,” the FBI arrest affidavit says.

South Florida Gay News, which was the first to report the Aug. 30 Facebook postings under Jungwirth’s name making the alleged threats, reported earlier this year that multiple complaints had surfaced over the way Jungwirth was operating Beach Bear Weekend. The SFGN also reported that at least two people

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

who had dealings with him in Florida and Massachusetts filed court petitions for restraining orders against him on grounds of threatening behavior.

SFGN, which took screen shots of Jungwirth’s Facebook postings, quoted another one as saying, “I’m gonna be killing you fags faster than cops kill niggers. It’s time to clean up Wilton Manors from all you AIDS infested losers.”

An FBI spokesperson told the Sun Sentinel that Jungworth was being held since the time of his arrest in the Seminole County Jail in Sanford, Fla., near Orlando.

Jungwirth was expected to appear in federal court in Orlando Sept.

6; however, the court appearance was cancelled after Jungwirth asked to go to the hospital after complaining of chest pain according to WESH2 News.

The FBI arrest affidavit says Jungwirth denied making the threatening Facebook posts when questioned by FBI agents. It says he refused to speak further with agents and requested they contact his lawyer. The Sun Sentinel reported that the lawyer, Ron Baum of Ft. Lauderdale, couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

The arrest affidavit says that at the time of his arrest Jungwirth had been living at the residence of his mother, Maryann T. Jungwirth, in Orlando.

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

15

nation+world news

in other news

North Carolina transgender restroom trial delayed

Openly gay Republican wins Arizona GOP primary

Wire Report

Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu defeated four other Republicans in his bid to be the GOP nominee for the First Congressional District in Arizona Aug. 30. He’ll face Democrat Tom O’Halleran in the general election. Babeu was attacked by one of his opponents for the “baggage” he would hand to a Democratic opponent in the general election. He was forced to publicly acknowledge being gay and drop a congressional bid in 2012 after pictures surfaced of him in his underwear that he had posted on a dating website and allegations that he threatened a former lover. Babeu called his victory “historic” and said it showed that while Republicans are often portrayed as intolerant, they were willing to look past his sexual orientation.

FBI won’t pursue hate crime charges in scalding assault on gay couple The FBI has decided not to pursue hate crime charges against a Georgia man found guilty of throwing scalding water on a sleeping gay couple. Martin Blackwell was sentenced to 40 years in prison this week for aggravated assault and aggravated battery. The FBI opened a hate crime investigation after the February attack. But spokesman Kevin Rowson said Aug. 26 that with Blackwell sentenced in state court, the agency decided not to pursue the case. The 48-year-old long-distance trucker poured scalding water on his girlfriend’s son and boyfriend as they slept. Both men suffered extensive burns requiring multiple surgeries.

Salem supports New England’s largest LGBT newspaper after explosion destroys box Rainbow flags are being flown in one New England city to support an LGBT publication after one of its newspaper boxes was destroyed in a possible hate crime. City and community leaders unveiled a new box for The Rainbow Times Aug. 28 after the explosion in Salem, Massachusetts.

The Rainbow Times calls itself New England’s largest LGBT newspaper. Investigators say surveillance footage shows about seven people approach the box Aug. 23 and place explosives inside it. Police are investigating it as a hate crime.

Australian prime minister urges public vote on same-sex marriage Australia’s prime minister has urged his political opponents to allow Australians to endorse gay marriage through a popular vote instead of putting the divisive issue into lawmakers’ hands. Most opposition lawmakers, who support gay marriage, oppose the government’s plan to ask the public in a plebiscite whether the Parliament should create marriage equality. The opposition Labor Party, the minor Greens party and two independent lawmakers Aug. 31 proposed bills to allow Parliament to decide the issue without consulting the public. Gay rights advocates are generally opposed to the plebiscite, which they argue was initiated by lawmakers who hope it fails.

16

R

ALEIGH, N.C. | The trial over a North Carolina law restricting restroom access for transgender people is being pushed back by several months, attorneys challenging the law said Sept. 2.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Joi Elizabeth Peake granted a request from the state’s Republican leaders to delay the North Carolina trial while the U.S. Supreme Court considers whether to hear a Virginia case on transgender restroom access, according to a brief entry in the federal court docket.

James Esseks, an ACLU lawyer on the team representing three transgender residents, said the judge’s order means the case will be pushed back from its November trial date until May 2017. Justice Department spokesman David Jacobs also confirmed in an email that the trial was being delayed until May. The so-called HB2 law requires transgender people to use restrooms in schools and many other public buildings that correspond with the sex on their birth certificate, not their gender identity. Passed in March, it also limits other antidiscrimination protections for LGBT people.

The state’s Republican governor and legislative leaders argue the law is needed to protect privacy and safety by keeping men out of women’s restrooms. Transgender residents challenging the law say that restroom safety is protected by existing laws, while the North Carolina measure is harmful and discriminatory.

The Republican leaders had asked the court to halt the proceedings while the Supreme Court decides if it will take the Virginia case, which centers on a transgender high school student who is asking officials to allow him to use a male restroom.

Meanwhile, the transgender plaintiffs in North Carolina received a favorable ruling when a judge ruled last week that they must be allowed to use restrooms conforming to their gender identity at University of North Carolina campuses. They have asked an appeals court to expand the scope of the ruling to all transgender people in the state, not just those involved in the lawsuit.

Last week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Schroeder partly granted a preliminary injunction for three transgender plaintiffs, saying they have a strong chance of proving their arguments that HB2 violates Title IX, a federal law

prohibiting gender discrimination in educational institutions.

However, Schroeder said the plaintiffs haven’t shown they’ll likely succeed with their claim that HB2 also violates constitutional equal protection rights, and he reserved judgment on another constitutional claim related to due process.

The transgender residents are asking the 4th Circuit to rule in their favor on the equal protection claim, which would expand their preliminary injunction to all transgender North Carolina residents, their lawyers have said.

Lawyers for Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and state legislative leaders wrote in a filing earlier this week that the ACLU had dropped its opposition to delaying the trial, and that all parties wanted to discuss the schedule at a status conference before Peake on Friday.

Esseks said the ACLU is agreeing to the delay because it wants to give the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals time to consider the plaintiffs’ request.

Schroeder is presiding over ACLU and Justice Department cases challenging the law, with assistance from Peake. Another case filed by McCrory in a separate federal court is moving more slowly.

has covered it and made it about something that it absolutely isn’t.

We need to have a more thoughtful, two-sided conversation about racial issues in this country.

“Being a gay American, I know what it means to look at the flag and not have it protect all of your liberties. It was something small that I could do and something that I plan to keep doing in the future and hopefully spark some meaningful conversation around it. It’s important to have white people stand in support of people of color on this.

We don’t need to be the leading voice, of course, but standing in support of them is something that’s really powerful.”

The 31-year-old Rapinoe has played for Seattle since 2013, after a stint with the French team Olympique Lyon. A standout at the University of Portland, she made her with the senior U.S. Women’s national team in 2006. Known for her creativity on the field, she has played

in two Women’s World Cups and two Olympics.

She injured her knee last December during training and required surgery, but was able to come back and play in the Rio Games. The United States, which had won three straight gold medals in the sport, was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Sweden.

Since coming out in 2012, Rapinoe has been devoted advocate for LGBT rights and has worked with the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network (GLSEN) and other organizations.

Rapinoe also has been vocal about pay equity, and was among five national team players who lent their names to a complaint filed with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging wage discrimination. The players claim that members of the team make in some cases up to four times less than their male national team counterparts.

Soccer star Rapinoe kneels during national anthem Wire Report CHICAGO | U.S. soccer star Megan Rapinoe knelt during the national anthem before the Seattle Reign’s game against the Chicago Red Stars “in a little nod” to NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.

Kaepernick’s refusal to stand for the anthem to protest racial injustice and minority oppression came to public notice when he remained seated on the bench before a preseason game against Green Bay. On Sept. 1 in San Diego, he and safety Eric Reid kneeled during the anthem before a game against the Chargers.

“It was very intentional,” Rapinoe told American Soccer Now after Seattle’s 2-2 tie in the National Women’s Soccer League game. “It was a little nod to Kaepernick and everything that he’s standing for right now. I think it’s actually pretty disgusting the way he was treated and the way that a lot of the media

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viewpoint

Photo by Jess regan

Scottie Campbell

The Tender

activist Making a stand by sitting

I

grew up in a military

household. My biological father – more aptly referred to as ex-father – and my stepfather – more rightly referred to as Dad – were both in the Air Force, so I spent the first 21 years of my life on military bases.

Though the teen-angster in me often bemoaned the lifestyle of having my ID checked by a soldier with an M16 just to go to school, today I consider myself lucky for the opportunities afforded to me as an Air Force brat.

Our National Anthem played a large role in our lives. When we went to the movies on base, we stood for the national anthem before it began. Everything would stop for the National Anthem each day when it was broadcast on loudspeakers; we all would stand still where we were, cars would stop and the same thing would repeat for a broadcast of “Taps” at night.

Hearing that, an outsider might assume I was somehow programmed by this experience, but I can assure you that I am a present being when the National Anthem is played, and I stand, usually with my hand over my heart. Often during these times, I’m contemplating why I stand: Sometimes I’m thinking about the combat Dad went through on behalf of our country, and sometimes I’m wondering how people weren’t raised to respect the National Anthem instead of running their mouth or hunt Pokemon while it’s playing.

I’m reminded of a line from Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: “Where you’ve nothing else construct ceremonies out of the air and breathe up on them.” Having our diverse traditions is what makes America rich, but in rising for the National Anthem there is a communal moment of saying, “For better or worse, we’re in this together.”

Initially, when I heard about NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick protesting by sitting down during the National Anthems of games he is playing in, I was taken aback. I had a knee-jerk, “Oh, you just don’t do that,” reaction, and that visceral response is probably why Kaepernick’s stand to sit is making an impact on America and starting conversations. Kap, as sports fans call him, is biracial and was adopted and raised by white people alongside white siblings, which gives depth to his decision to make this protest for civil rights; a move he considered for a while and after consulting his family.

“I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color,” Kap said in a NFL Media interview. “To me, this is bigger than football, and it would be selfish on my part to look the other way. There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”

His action has inspired many of us to take a closer look at the poem called “Defense of Fort M’Henry” that serves as the lyrics to the “Star-Spangled Banner,” and its author Francis Scott Key, who turns out to have been a bigoted asshat. To be fair, he did advocate for people to be nicer to slaves, but he wasn’t against slavery, and he thought black people were intellectually inferior. Swell guy.

My friend Kyle gave me a history lesson on Mr. Key and the racism tucked in the stanzas we don’t pay

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attention to in the National Anthem. Apparently, Key was part of a regiment that had its ass handed to it during the War of 1812 by a group of former slaves turned Marines. Key was apparently so bitter about

beyond this history. We can hope if Key lived in a different time, he would have had different thoughts.

We can put our full concentration on the one lovely stanza we sing. Still, Kap’s point will remain: The

people coming together as a coalition to rise up against the hatred?” Ironically, I think homophobia and racism within oppressed groups is to blame to a certain extent.

“The white cracker who

the experience that he wrote these Marines into a poem, as you do. “No refuge could save the hireling and slave,” wrote Key in the third stanza. “From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave.” (As you can see, Key was adept at revisionist history, which would have made him a prime candidate for president had he lived in 2016.)

Perhaps we can look

promises reflected in the National Anthem are not being fulfilled. I get it, and now when I stand for the National Anthem, I’ll also be contemplating his right to sit.

Kyle posited the question: “What would happen if this was a gay man taking this stand?” I had no answer, he had no answer, but it still makes me wonder. More to the point, Kyle went on, “Why aren’t all oppressed

wrote the National Anthem knew what he was doing,” Belize says in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America. “He set the word ‘free’ to a note so high nobody can reach it.” A point well made, of course, but there are times when accurately hitting that high note doesn’t matter. It’s when we’re in a stadium, or other public setting, singing it at the top of our lungs, together.

The promises reflected in the National Anthem are not being fulfilled. I get it, and now when I stand for the National Anthem, I’ll also be contemplating [Colin Kaepernick’s] right to sit.

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // Issue 2 3.18

and Vegeterian Cuisine Greek, Mediterranean, viewpoint

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The other side

of life

L

Conversion therapy ong before I became

aware of consciousness – an occurrence part way through my 11th grade year, perched between The Scarlet Letter and Leaves of Grass – I was merely aware. Around the age of three, I discovered that I was male and that the possession of an extra appendage made me fundamentally and anatomically different from mothers and sisters.

I knew, even then, that it made me powerful.

Shortly after that, around the age of five, I realized that the love that was showered upon me was a special gift – an entitlement bestowed – from God. I knew that I was loved by Jesus and by others who carried Jesus in their hearts. I knew that I was Christian. At the age of seven, a first grader mesmerized by a charming and optimistically charismatic Ronald Reagan, I knew that I was a Republican. Certainly, I’ve learned (and continue to learn) much more about myself as I’ve acquired more life experiences: I am white, I am American, I am gay. I respect hard work and call out for personal responsibility. I believe incentives matter and that respect for all life is fundamental to village life.

Then, with the help of Hawthorne and Whitman, I realized nuance; that I was privileged and that I was obligated to share the bounties of my blessings with others. Then I became aware that these absolute pieces of me came with a certain ephemerality – if not dilettantism.

Genetics affected each of these traits, making them fundamental to my makeup from my first

meiotic moment.

Except one, of course.

And for that one, I’ve endured decades of increasing marginalization.

I have watched others like me endure harsh treatments by the forces that wrested control of culture. Academics have conducted the equivalent of ice-pick lobotomies – re-assessing history in light of an alternate vision of the future – upon those who’ve shared my proclivities.

The mainstream media has treated my affliction as though a psychiatric disease, advocating digital castration in an attempt to mitigate the power underwritten by my affinities. Friends and family who claim to “love the sinner and hate the sin” have thrown me into the dark closets of masturbatory reconditioning, hormonal treatments, and good old-fashioned prayer.

I’ve been bullied and humiliated; I’ve been made into a caricatured boogey man for those who’d rather wrest power than share it. Through all of these “treatments” and “therapies,” I have been true to myself, asserting and re-asserting – even in the most painful situations – that “I was born this way.”

It seems, despite the pseudo-science to which I’d previously clung, that I was less-than-perfectly-correct.

With all of these forces at play, doubt implanted, I slowly evolved with the times, still gripping the fundamentals of who I was.

The ultimate conversion therapy, emerging from the darkest, smokiest casino’s corners where reality TV and failed business speculation meet to create walls, childish insults, misogyny and obtuseness, has gotten me: It has redefined my genetic makeup.

I’ve been cured! (But, I’m a cheerleader).

Truth told, the party left me, not vice-versa. I’m not sure that I’ve actually changed so much as the double-helix of Republican

watermark Your LGBT life.

has been fundamentally converted. The uncontrolled replication of the mutated genes has manifested itself, coagulated around lily-white blood cells, as a tumor hardened against diversity (and sanity).

History tells us that conversion therapies are often met with high rates of recidivism, especially when a suitable substitute isn’t presented: I already

capital D as an option either.

My conversion from the former does not imply the conversion to the other.

Perhaps, thinking of conversions, there could be a genuine “pivot” toward sanity within the remnants of the party’s standard bearers. Though I doubt it, there may be something salvageable in all of this.

In this unconventional campaign season, where the

call out for cures that are being both poked and ignored without solution: palliatively. Instead, we are obsessed with personalities, conspiracies, emails, walls, insults, and fear-mongering.

There is an irreparable hole in the core of what remains of me – us. Forces rush to fill that vacuum with other possible identities, other ways to supplant – CRISPR-like – the damaged

have Jesus, I don’t want to smoke, and becoming black or straight are equally impossible. I can’t imagine that the Republican Party will ever again be the party of Reagan or Kemp (or Lincoln). Though the most strident anti-name-its are former-name-its, I don’t see supplanting R with

only part of the Constitution that seems to matter is the Second Amendment (since the three-fifths compromise expired), the party could radiation-blast back from the brink. Maybe the strange cancer that has invaded our DNA can be eradicated as the demons of racism and economic marginalization

chromosomes, but the science of politics is caught in a practically empty Hadron collider.

It’s not conversion therapy that we need, it’s chemo. Short of a cure, I fear, the best we may ever again manage is remission. Short of that, we’ve hospice.

Truth told, the party left me, not vice-versa. I’m not sure that I’ve actually changed so much as the double-helix of Republican has been fundamentally converted.

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

talking points

53

Anyone could’ve been hurt by this irresponsible and cowardly act

Of ThE

PUBLICLY

OUT LGBT ATHLETES aT ThE RIO OlyMPIcs,

25WONOFA THEM MEDAL IncluDInG

10 GOLD. —OutSports.com

and we should all unite as a community to find the perpetrators.

We, at The Rainbow Times, will not be censored. We will continue our diligent work and we will not be silenced by ignorance or hatred.

—griceL martinez ocasio, the rainbow times pubLisher, after 7 peopLe pLaced a bomb in one of their newspaper boxes in saLem, mass.

MaTT BOMER casT as TRansGEnDER WOMan

M

att bomer (AMERICAN HORROR STORY, MAGIC MIKE)) has signed on to play a transgender woman in the upcoming drama Anything, based on the Tim McNeil play of the same name. McNeil will direct the adaptation. The film will also star fellow AHS actor John Carroll Lynch as a Mississippi man who moves to Los Angeles after his wife dies and begins a relationship with Bomer’s character. Not everyone is pleased with the casting decision, and transgender actress Jamie Clayton took to Twitter tweeting, “I really hope you both choose to do some actual good for the trans community one day.” Clayton tagged Bomer in the post along with cisgender actress Michelle Rodriguez who plays a transgender woman in the 2017 film (Re) Assignment. Bomer promptly blocked Clayton on Twitter. A release date for Anything has not been announced.

tHe GoLden GirLS acTREss lEavEs DOnaTIOn fOR lGBTq hOMElEss yOuTh

T

HE GOLDEN GIRLS star bea arthur is helping bring new hope to LGBTQ homeless youth in the New York City’s East Village area after her death. The Bea Arthur Residence is under way, hopefully to be completed by February 2017. It is named after the late actress who, upon her death in 2009, donated $300,000 to the Ali Forney Center. The $3.3 million project was due for completion this summer but ran into delays.

“These kids are literally dumped by their families... this organization really is saving lives,” she said in 2005. Thanks to Arthur’s generous donations the shelter will provide 18 beds, on-site counseling and case management to the city’s homeless LGBT youth housed there.

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fRank OcEan DEBuTs BLonde, hIs fIRsT alBuM In fOuR yEaRs

T

he wait for frank ocean’s latest album is finally over. The openly gay singer’s 17-track album Blonde was released Aug. 20 on Apple Music, one day after the R&B singer released a 45-minute “visual album” on the streaming service. Blonde is Ocean’s second studio album and is his follow-up to his successful 2012 debut album, Channel Orange. That album featured the hit song “Thinkin Bout You” and earned him two Grammy Awards, including best urban contemporary album. To celebrate the release of Blonde, pop up stores were created in Los Angeles, New York, London and Chicago. Fans have been anxiously awaiting Ocean’s new album, which many expected weeks earlier amid teases by the singer.

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rUPAUL’S drAG rAce quEEns Pay TRIBuTE TO RED caRPET DIvas aT MTv vMas

T

he mtV Video music awards may have been all about Beyonce and Britney Aug. 28, but the red carpet (the actual carpet color was white) was all about the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 2 and their outfits paying homage to divas of the past. Coco Montrese channeled Lil’ Kim with her 1999 purple dress and exposed boob.

Phi Phi O’Hara was dripping in Grade A beef sporting Lady Gaga’s infamous meat dress from 2010. Ginger Minj went old school to the very first VMAs with Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” wedding dress. But the best tribute goes to Alaska 5000 who embodied Britney’s 2001 outfit wearing next to nothing except a bikini and a snake. Slay!

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In-DEPTh: TIGlff

Healing A STATE OF

The Tampa Bay International Gay and lesbian film festival is back on both sides of the bay with films to heal and celebrate the LGBT community

A

Jeremy Williams

rt has a power to it that heLps

move emotions in a person and a community, and no medium in art does that more powerfully than film. For the 27th year, the Tampa Bay area looks to honor that medium with the International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival, better known as TIGLFF.

TIGLFF will run 65 films – 32 feature length and 33 shorts – and 35 programs representing 18 different countries from September 30 to October 8 on both sides of the bay, including the venue where it all started, the Tampa Theatre.

While the theme for TIGLFF, CommUNITY, was announced back in May, it takes on a deeper meaning since the mass shooting at Pulse in Orlando that killed 49 people and injured 53 June 12.

The festival looks to not only celebrate diversity in film, but also to honor and heal the community.

“From the beginning [of TIGLFF] on opening night, we’ll start the healing by doing a short film on Pulse and looking back on the year and what the community has been through,” says Scott Skyberg, TIGLFF’s executive director.

“You’re going to see the struggle with the trans community in some of the films, and the struggles that LGBT youth have in dealing with and coming to terms with gender and sexuality – how they can communicate with others.”

TIGLFF has always looked at film

watermark Your LGBT life.

as a way to remember and heal after tragedy in our community. Earlier this year, TIGLFF held a screening of Upstairs Inferno, a documentary about the UpStairs Lounge, a gay bar in New Orleans that was deliberately set on fire in 1973, resulting in what was the largest gay mass murder in U.S. history until this past June.

“To see these films, with friends in a safe environment, and have a chance to heal or mourn with people who understand and may be going through the same thing,” Skyberg says, “it allows us to move through mourning and healing together, and even uncover some of those feelings that someone didn’t know they had – or go through the healing that they think they didn’t need to go through.”

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Crossing Crossin

JORDAN Leslie Jordan takes the stage for the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival.

L

Jeremy Williams

esLie Jordan is the smaLL-in-

size, grand-in-stature comedic actor whom you have seen in nearly everything on television since the ‘90s. From American Horror Story to his Emmy Award winning turn in Will & Grace, he’s the big mouth full of Southern charm.

Now on the road with his new one-man show Straight Outta Chattanooga, Jordan’s star is burning brighter than ever, and the belle of the ball is bringing that show to the Tampa Theatre for the Tampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival Oct. 5.

Before he hits TIGLFF, Jordan cozied up to Watermark for a little girl talk and a nice cup of tea. Well bless our hearts.

I’vE hEaRD ThEy sWEaR yOu all TO sEcREcy, lIkE yOu sWEaR yOuR fIRsT BORn chIlDREn, WhEn yOu’RE On shOWs lIkE

[AmericAn Horror Story].

We do! We have to sign [a non-disclosure agreement] and I got in trouble for talking before.

I was in Washington, D.C., for Capital Pride, and they asked me what’s up with the show, and I said, “Well, American Horror Story will have Lady Gaga, and it went on the internet and they jumped on me and said, “You don’t announce!”

But that shit had already been announced. But, anyway, we can talk about everything but that, cOnTInuED On PG. 29 | uu |

watermark Your LGBT life.

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| uu | Leslie Jordan from pg.27

but it starts on Sept. 14 and my character I think shows up by the third episode. But that’s all I can say.

How did you get involved with American Horror Story in the beginning?

Cause you had a small part in season 3 also.

You know, I’m at a point in my career, the wonderful part is I rarely audition; they just call and say they’ve just written you into this show. Mr. [Ryan] Murphy has a home in P-town, and I think that maybe he’s seen my show and he just knows of me and he loves to write for people. I’d never met him and never laid eyes on him.

I’ve done that a lot in my career.

I did that with David Kelly. I did every show he ever wrote, and I never met him or laid eyes on him until I started on his show, but yet he wrote for me. You know Ally McBeal and Boston Legal and all these shows. So I don’t know why that happens to me.

All of a sudden it happened very quickly. I was in New Orleans and I was there for a really long time, like nine weeks. Even though the part wasn’t that big, I was around a lot. I worked with Jessica Lange and Francis Conroy, but then I got to watch – you know I’d show up early and get to watch Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, both of whom are back this year; I think that’s been announced. Kathy Bates and Angela Bassett, Lady Gaga is of course back and…whew get ready, Cuba… Cuba’s been added to the cast; I think that’s been announced. Cuba Gooding Jr., Wes Bentley has come back so, whew, get ready, this may be the one.

Anytime Ryan Murphy announces a new project it seems like the same group of actors are attached.

What is it about him that makes actors want to repeatedly work with him?

I think he’s just really good. I remember watching Nip/Tuck and thinking to myself, “Who writes this?” And I thought I wonder if he’s gay or not. And then the season progressed, and I thought he must be gay because there were like odd little things.

There was one episode where someone got screwed up the ass or something. My friend Del

I had a lot of love; I had a lot of support,

but you have a lot of inner turmoil.

You didn’t even know back in my day there was ‘queer.’ I didn’t know what that was. I knew Liberace, I knew Paul Lynde, I knew effeminate. And then you get to a certain age and you realize, ‘Oh, I’m kind of effeminate.’

—Leslie Jordan

Shores does that too: using new actors is a very scary proposition.

When you audition, you’re in a room with a piece of paper and you’re just reading a script, and if you don’t know that actor and then they get on the set and can’t walk and talk at the same time, [it doesn’t work]. So if you use people you’ve seen before or you know their work, I think it’s a wise thing to do.

It used to drive me crazy, because I started out in commercials, and here they would work on a commercial campaign for a full year and at the very last minute they would hire the talent. That was like the last thing on their mind.

I’m thinking you’ve built this campaign and now you’re just getting to the talent… and we were called “the talent back then.” They would say “Well get the talent in,”and I’d say, “My name’s Leslie and I’m not really that talented. I’d rather you know my name.”

Tell me how you got to meet Del Shores and how the part of Brother Boy [in Sordid Lives] came to you.

I was taking an improv class with a girl, and she said, “You’ve got to see this play; it’s called Cheatin’.”

It was the very first thing that Del Shores wrote. I saw it five times; I never met him. Then one day that girl in my improv class said they were casting for that show, so I got me an audition. I walked into my audition and they said, “OK, go,” and I said, “Mornin’ Sid, nice day ain’t it?” and Del fell off the couch laughing and wouldn’t stop. I thought he was mentally challenged, I thought,“What is wrong with him?” He’s just laughin’.

He was engaged to be married at the time to a woman, and it never crossed my mind that Del might be gay. He was real different back then; he was kinda pussy whipped. Anyway, I was at their wedding. I’m godfather to his children. When he came out

watermark Your LGBT life.

10 years later, I was at his second wedding to thatunmentionable young man. Then he put him in [Sordid Lives: The Series], and that was the triple threat: She can’t act, she can’t sing and she can’t dance. That’s all I’m going to say about Mrs. Dottley. We got rid of her. He broke my best friend’s heart, so you can print whatever you want on that one. And so that was that and I got to play Brother Boy.

So you’ll be at TheTampa Bay International Gay and Lesbian Film Festival with a lot of shows going on before and after. You’re on quite the tour aren’t you?

You know when I won the Emmy in 2006, I really thought I was going to get to kick back, and it was all going to come to me. And I called my manager a year later and said, “I can’t eat this Emmy, honey! You need to get me some work.” So I’m up to almost 44 venues a year and people come

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to us. You wouldn’t believe it. I was filming for American Horror Story, and then I was at the Lazy Bear Weekend up in Guerneville, California. The Bear festival is this week, all this week. Them stinky bears up there. I told them, “Girls, you stink!” Then I was in Dallas, and I was in Provincetown.

I mean, it’s a life that I never imagined, but it’s hard. I’m 61.

But I’m in L.A. right now, and I have about three days off and I need a colonoscopy. I had one and my doctor wants me to get another one. I’ve already canceled this three times, so I’m getting my colonoscopy, then I leave immediately again.

Tell me about the one man show you’re touring right now.

It’s a brand new show. I found out that I live in an apartment where Tupac used to live, and I didn’t believe it, so I asked the post lady and she said yes. So we came up with this idea. It’s called Straight Outta Chattanooga. It’s stories about me getting out of Chattanooga; like, what does it take for a little gay boy, 17 years old, to be brave enough to get out of Chattanooga? And I include a lot of the stories about me. I don’t know if you know this, but if you Google my name and Starbucks together you’ll see I had a huge ruckus out at a Starbucks. This boy called us faggots, and no one was sticking up for us. So I told them to shut the fuck up and get the fuck out and I threw my tea on him. Then TMZ and 10 cop cars showed up. It was a huge ruckus.

It fell out into the street. I was going to be arrested for throwing the first punch. But, anyway, I’ve all these stories about what a thug I am. It’s just fun; it’s the best show I’ve written.

I opened Straight Outta Chattanooga in D.C. the same weekend as the tragedy in Orlando. So I did my show on a Friday night, Saturday we had the parade and then the tragedy happened, I woke up on Sunday morning to all that news, and it struck me how important Straight Outta Chattanooga is. It had this added relevance because we lost so many people and we lost their stories. It just has this added relevance to me.

While I was there in D.C., they invited some of us gays, Ty Herndon, [and] we were all going to sing the National Anthem at the Continued on pg. 31 | uu |

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watermark Your LGBT life.

Jose R. Prieto, M.D. Ileana M. Acevedo, M.D. Jose E. Vasquez, M.D. Derrick D. Thiel, D.O. Enid V. Klauber, M.D.

www.BAYIDA.com | 813-681-6474 214 Morrison Road, Suite 104 Brandon, Florida 33511 Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

| uu | State of Healing fROM PG.25

brother thug: leslie Jordan brings his gangsta stories of living in Tupac’s old apartment to TIGLFF with his one-man show Straight Outta Chattanooga.

| uu | Leslie Jordan fROM PG.29

ball park, and I got to throw the first pitch out [in front of] 38,000 people. They walked us out onto the field, and I thought, “Oh Honey, I’m never gonna throw this ball,” but something other worldly came over me and I hurled that ball and Sammy Sosa, one of the catchers, caught it, and he goes, “Dude!”

You know, I threw my leg up like those pitchers do, I’m used to that, holding my legs up. My leg went straight up, and I hurled that ball.

It’s on the internet you can find it. yOu MIGhT havE a sEcOnD caREER In lInE fOR yOu.

As a pitcher, because God knows I’ve been the catcher.

hOW Much Of BEInG a Gay Man BORn anD RaIsED In ThE sOuTh affEcTED yOu as a PERsOn anD affEcTED yOuR cOMEDy?

It isn’t so much being raised in the South as it is raised in the church.

My family was pretty devout; we went to church quite a bit. You know my parents were good. I mean, I had the best parents in

the world because my mother was 19 when she had me and my daddy was 21. They were just these little… daddy was the baby in his family, momma was the baby of nine, so when the babies had a baby: Oh my God, I was so spoiled. So I had a lot of love; I had a lot of support, but you have a lot of inner turmoil. You didn’t even know back in my day there was “queer.” I didn’t know what that was. I knew Liberace, I knew Paul Lynde, I knew effeminate.

And then you get to a certain age and you realize, “Oh, I’m kind of effeminate.” And you got all that turmoil from the church. I don’t remember them ever saying that what I was was a sin but you felt it. They didn’t talk about homosexuality.

That’s a big thing of my trip down the pink carpet is that I couldn’t embrace my struggle because it was so shameful. It’s not even like an African-American or Latin child, who has been told their history and this is what we’re up against but we’re all in this together, you know. I had nobody. I thought I was the only queer on the planet, and I think that has factored in

a big way. Because, first of all I learned to be funny, to keep the bullies at bay; that was a very big defense mechanism. And I have brought that into my adulthood, and I think because we all have found our voice, that’s part of the discontent of these fat, white people that want to talk. They’re like, “Enough with you.” I want to ask them one question: “When was American great?” They say, “Let’s make America great again.”

Oh, when the women and blacks couldn’t vote? When exactly are we talking about that America was great? When there were dead queers in the alley? Explain to me exactly.

But you know what? I wouldn’t change a thing. Because I am 61 years old, and I am closer to my authentic self then I have ever been. There’s no area of my life now that I’m uncomfortable in. And the wonderful part about that is I’ve achieved everything I’ve set out to achieve career-wise, but I ain’t anywhere near where I think I’m going to be. People think, “Oh, well you’ve done this and that.” Honey, wait.

I’m just on fire right now and it’s all good.

watermark Your LGBT life.

It’s not just film, it’s the arts in general that enable us to deal with suppressed emotions and face a tragedy – from still art and photography to theater and live performances – but film seems to have more mass appeal, because it can get to most anybody.

“Once you see a film on the screen and it strikes you in that moment and you’re among your community who is trying to heal, as a whole, I think it is very progressive in helping a person to move through that,” Skyberg says. “You’re going to see some of it this year [dealing with Pulse], but in the upcoming years, I think you will see a lot more of it.”

Several documentaries have already made their way to the small screen, with MTV’s True Life series doing an episode on Pulse survivors and Ellen Page and Ian Daniel’s Viceland docu-series Gaycation looking at the affected communities in Orlando after the tragedy, but as filmmakers become more involved with those impacted and hear their stories, audiences will start to see more feature-length and film shorts flooding into the festival circuit.

“I already know several filmmakers and artists working on [Pulse-related] projects, and there are things in development that [TIGLFF] will be looking at in the next couple of years as they become available,” Skyberg says. “Films on other LGBT issues, like the epidemic of trans murders in this country, are also starting to work their way out to festivals and the public, so I think we will see more of those films in the coming years too.”

Skyberg looks forward to seeing projects come forward in the upcoming years from filmmakers directly affected by tragedies like Pulse.

“That’s a whole other process of healing going on,” Skyberg says. “It’s very powerful to sit as an audience member and see the process of their healing on the big screen, so we’ll be looking at them as they come available, not only for the festival but also for our monthly film series as well.”

The theme of commUNITY is putting the emphasis on “unity,” and leading up to and during the film festival, TIGLFF will be partnering with LGBT groups and organizations for many events.

TIGLFF will start atop the Bank of America building at the Tampa Club for the film festival’s launch

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party Sept. 17.

“It’s going to be a great. We will run trailers for the films that will play during the festival, as well as play some of the shorts,” Skyberg says. “We will also have a silent auction that will feature a piece from world-renowned artist Alberto Murillo.”

The festival goes back to its roots, opening September 30 at the Tampa Theatre, where TIGLFF will partner with Equality Florida.

“Opening night will be a celebration in the community as we take a moment to have that peace and reset for Orlando and go into celebrating the achievements in LGBT film,” Skyberg says.

After an introduction from Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn and Equality Florida chief executive officer Nadine Smith, the opening film will be Eddie Rosenstein’s The Freedom to Marry, a documentary that takes us behind the scenes, in real time, capturing the fears, determination and the unfathomable hard work of Evan Wolfson and Mary Bonauto, two of the attorneys who argued before the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of Obergefell v. Hodges for the right of same-sex couples to marry.

Rosenstien, Wolfson and Bonauto are all expected to be in attendance.

The feature documentary will be preceded by Vicki Nantz’s short film We Are Gay, We Are Proud, We Are Orlando, which looks at the aftermath of the worst anti-gay hate crime in our nation’s history and celebrates the indomitable LGBT community and the grieving city that stood against hate.

TIGLFF will close the festival on the other side of the bay at the Sundial in St. Petersburg on Oct. 8 with a pair of comedies: Ingrid Jungermann’s Women Who Kill and the third installment of BearCity from director Douglas Langway.

Women Who Kill stars Jungermann and Ann Carr as ex-girlfriends who now host a local true crime podcast that looks into the possibility that one of their love interests may also be a murderer.

Women Who Kill will be followed by two shorts: Ella Lentini’s Piece of Cake and Jeremy Dehn’s Happy F-ing Valentine’s Day. BearCity 3 stars Daniel Franzese (Mean Girls, HBO’s Looking) and Kathy Najimy (Sister Act, Hocus Pocus) and take a looks at love, marriage, divorce and bankruptcy among the men of the BearCity gang.

BearCity 3 will be followed by the musical short Son of a Preacher Man, Tom Goss’ gay spin on the Dusty Springfield classic.

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OCTOBER 8 WE CELEBRATE OUR DIVERSITY WE HONOR LOST FRIENDS WE HEAL ORLANDO

Enjoy open bar in our A/C tent & view the parade in new grandstands

Over a dozen celebrity chefs, one amazing culinary experience!

Take part in a festival with 100+ vendors and 150,000 attendees

W W W.C O M E O U T W I T H P R I D E .C O M / WAT E R M A R K pride parade • entertainment • fireworks • festival & marketplace • family-friendly activities 32

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aRTs anD EnTERTaInMEnT

IT STARTS HERE Orlando’s Global Peace Film Festival hits home

A

Anna M. Johnson

s the worLd turns: the first

Global Peace Film Festival was in December 2003 in Orlando. This year will be its 14th year, and it will be showing 29 films in eight different venues over the course of six days in late September. Nina Streich has been the executive producer of the festival since its inception, and she is proud to still hold the title for this year’s celebration. watermark Your LGBT life.

The founder of the festival started it in 2003 to challenge America’s involvement in the Iraq War as a means of promoting peace. Streich says that she had business interests in Orlando at the time and saw it as a burgeoning market. The festival has stayed in the City Beautiful since, and now has most of its executive board located here.

All of the films are chosen by Streich, or by the festival’s artistic director, Kelly DeVine, because of their intrinsic value as works that promote unity. The topics of

this year’s selections range from a critical analysis of America’s food-production system to the story of the first all-women racecar driving team in the Middle East.

The film festival includes five LGBT-focused films: Love is Strange, Memories of a Penitent Heart, The Pearl of Africa, Puzzles: When Hate Came to Town and We are Gay, We are Proud, We are Orlando, a 16-minute short from which the proceeds will be

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donated to the OneOrlando Fund.

Orlando Commissioner Patty Sheehan and Watermark Editor Billy Manes will be honored for their post-Pulse efforts. There will also be two free showings of Newtown, an 85-minute movie that examines the aftermath of the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting.

Streich was the New York City Film Commissioner when she was asked to join the GPFF and still credits her background in government with her ability to ask the right questions and to get things done. She now works full time as the GPFF’s executive director while still based in New York City.

Is the festival fairly well-known?

While we have seen attendance and sponsorship grow steadily over the years, there is just so much going on in Orlando. It’s easy to miss this or that, so I understand both if people have heard of the festival and if they haven’t. I was actually just talking to a class at Rollins the other day about marketing, and one of the things that I said was, “If you go and stand on the corner of Orange Avenue and Pine Street, and there’s an Orlando Magic game going on in the Amway Center, I’m sure you can find someone who didn’t know it. And if you say something about the Magic, they wouldn’t know it was a basketball team.” It’s because it’s just not in everybody’s immediate interest – similarly to how someone could have never heard of the GPFF or of the huge Florida Film Festival.

That’s why effective marketing is so important.

What is unique about the GPFF as opposed to other film festivals?

Well, we show mostly documentaries, which can be another challenge, because some people say, “I’m not really into documentaries.” So, then I ask them, “Have you seen any documentaries recently?

Why don’t you try it?” I also say to people, “Reality TV is a kind of documentary. You do ingest documentaries.” I call documentaries the real reality TV, because the only difference between them and popular TV shows is the matter of the method of delivery system for the media

We’re trying at the minimum to create meaningful dialogue that actually allows people with very different opinions to at least come together on things that they can agree upon.

Why has the festival stayed in Orlando? Why not move to New York or Los Angeles?

I live on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, which is very Democratic. My vote is counted up there, but it also doesn’t count.

If I don’t vote up there, it’s just going to be one less vote in an overwhelmingly Democratic majority. So, doing something down here that could possibly make a difference was something that, especially with the Iraq War still going on, and the electoral politics of Florida, if it made a difference even to a very small number of people, it could a make a bigger difference down here than it could ever make up there.

As I’ve gotten to know people in the community, too, I just felt

like it’s so much more important.

If you want to make change in the world, you don’t stay in your comfort zone.

What kind of change are you looking to create?

We’re trying at the minimum to create meaningful dialogue that actually allows people with very different opinions to at least come together on things that they can agree upon. That’s what peace is about – peace isn’t about everybody agreeing, peace is about everybody respecting their differences. That’s always been a fundamental tenet of the festival that we set out to achieve every year. Our country is getting to be more polarized with all the different media outlets labeled as being either conservative or liberal, and depending on something as simple as what news channel you choose to watch, you and your neighbor may as well be on different planets. Once, I got someone who identified as a staunch Republican to come to the festival and heard feedback of, “Oh, you’re not telling me what to think.” That’s what we aim for – creating common ground for everyone.

I’ve always said, “Peace starts within each and every one of us.” That’s why the motto of the festival last year was, “Watch Films, Get Involved, Change Things,” and why this year it is, ‘It starts here. Because it really does. Peace can start with one person in one community watching one film.

watermark Your LGBT life.

Global Peace Film Festival

Love is Strange directed by Ira Sachs September 20 at 6 p.m. at the Enzian Theater

John Lithgow and Alfred Molina play a couple who take advantage of the new marriage laws in New York after 39 years together and get married at City Hall. One gets fired from his longtime job as a choir director for a co-ed Catholic school on account of his vows. The two can no longer afford their apartment. Only days after they have gathered to celebrate the nuptials, this tight-knit community of family and friends now has to come together again to help figure out how to help their two friends.

Memories of a Penitent Heart directed by Cecilia Aldarondo September 23 in the SunTrust Auditorium at 8:00 p.m.

September 24 at the Plaza Cinema Café at 5:30 p.m.

— Nina Streich

we ingest. So there’s that. We also try to program films that are about how people have taken on an issue and used it to make change in their community. We had a film a few years ago called Mariachi High. The film was about a poor border town in Texas and the mariachi band started by students in their local high school.

The upshot of the film was that it portrayed these young Latino kinds in a very positive light in their band. So often Americans see Texas border town Latino boys illustrated by media as drug dealers or gang members – predominantly negative. Not only did this film show these kids in a positive light, but it also showed how being in a mariachi band helped them stay away from negative influences, like drugs.

That’s a peace film.

Don’t miss these LGBT Films at

Memories of a Penitent Heart cracks open a Pandora’s Box of unresolved family drama. The film charts the director’s excavation of buried family conflict around her uncle Miguel’s death, and her search for Miguel’s partner Robert a generation later. A story about the mistakes of the past and the second chances of the present, Memories is a cautionary tale about the unresolved conflicts wrought by AIDS, and a nuanced exploration of how faith is used and abused in times of crisis.

The Pearl of Africa directed by Jonny Von Wallstrom September 24 at the Bush Auditorium at 1:30 p.m.

September 25 at the Gallery at Avalon Island at 1:30 p.m.

The Pearl of Africa is a love story about a 28-year-old Ugandan transgender girl and her boyfriend: Cleo, a biologically born male, but against all odds transitioning into the woman she knows she was born to be, and Nelson, on the surface seem like any couple falling in love. But Cleo is a trans activist and Nelson is a straight guy who used to believe that trans people were abominations. Their story unfolds in Uganda, once called ‘the Pearl of Africa’ by Winston Churchill for its vast diversity of flora and fauna, one which is now known as one of the world’s most transphobic places.

Puzzles: When Hate Came to Town directed by Tami Gold and David Pavlosky both screenings are with We Are Gay, We Are Proud, We Are Orlando.

September 22 at the Bush Auditorium at 6 p.m.

September 25 at the Plaza Cinema Café at 5:30 p.m.

Puzzles: When Hate Came to Town tells the story of a hate crime in a LGBTQ bar called Puzzles Lounge in New Bedford, Mass., when a teenager entered and brutally attacked its patrons. PUZZLES explores the correlation between economic hardship and homophobia, intolerance, and, ultimately, violence.

Newtown directed by Kim A. Snyder September 24 at the Plaza Cinema Café at 7:45 p.m.

September 25 at the Bush Auditorium at 5 p.m.

Filmed over the course of nearly three years, Newtown uses deeply personal, never-before-heard testimonies to tell the story of the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary mass shooting, the most schoolchildren shot to death together in American history. The film documents a traumatized community still reeling from the senseless killing, fractured by grief but driven toward a sense of purpose.

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // Issue 2 3.18

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Join the Premier Chamber in the Bay Area where our diverse membership puts the Diversity in Tampa Bay.

www.diversitytampabay.org

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theater

The Emergence of Venice Kristofer Geddie and the Venice Theatre would like to diversify your theater-going experience

(above)

Geddie it done:

Kristofer Geddie is the director of diversity for the Venice Theatre; as well as sings, dances and acts in several productions.

V

Jeremy Williams

enice, Florida, is a quaint little

town of a little more than 20,000 people just south of Sarasota. It isn’t as worldly known as some of the bigger cities surrounding it – Tampa, St. Petersburg or Orlando – but the small Gulf Coast town is home to one of the most well-known theaters in the U.S., the Venice Theatre.

“Who knew that would happen here? Before I came here I never knew that Venice’s community theater was one of the largest in the country,” says Kristofer Geddie, Venice Theatre’s director of diversity.

Venice Theatre, which was started in 1950 by a group of volunteers at the Venice Airport, is actually the largest per capita community theater in the United States.

Even with a demographic of 98 percent of Venice residences being white and 80 percent being over

the age of 45, two statistics that have a tendency to point to social conservatism, Geddie says that Venice is as open and accepting as any place he has lived. That is saying something as Geddie is an openly gay, black man who came to Venice by way of New York City.

“In 2010, I came down [to Venice] because they were doing a production of Ragtime and I knew friends who said it was a great place, and that they needed black men for the production,” Geddie says. “I was

watermark Your LGBT life.

getting ready to start grad school, and I thought, ‘I’ll do one more show before I do it.’ I came down for six weeks and I never left.”

While the cold New York winters were enough of a reason to stay in Venice, Geddie says the deciding factor to make a home in the small coastal city was the residents’ love for theater.

“New York had become just about the work; everyone was going to auditions and rehearsals and it lost all the pleasure,” Geddie says.

“Here the people were in shows and going to rehearsals because they wanted to be here. It’s community theater; people weren’t getting paid to be here, they just wanted to be here doing this show. It was such a different concept, this right here is what love of theater actually is.”

Geddie’s love of theater was fostered in him at a young age, starting with his parents in their home in Fayetteville, North Carolina.

“It was interesting because my parents were the kind of parents who said no sports in our house, so you had to do something in the arts because that broadened your mind,” Geddie says. “So there was never an option of not doing something in the arts, so luckily I loved it and didn’t have to be forced to do it.”

Geddie grew up taking piano lessons and performing dance and theater on stage. His love of the arts and talent took him across the world, including across Europe on tour with a production of Jesus Christ Superstar.

Geddie chronicled his journey from Fayetteville to Venice in a cabaret show earlier this summer, singing songs from his Southern upbringing to the big budget Broadway shows he performed for audiences around the world, but his greatest passion right now is being able to bring art to those who may not necessarily have that opportunity without him.

“I’m working on getting more school kids in to see shows,” Geddie says. “I’m always trying to figure out ways to get them involved early.”

Geddie also recognizes that there is a lack of diversity in the town of Venice and that some extra attention

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is needed to make sure that those of different ages, cultures and backgrounds have an opportunity to see shows that speak to them.

“We are trying to find a way to tell those stories and how we do that effectively without being offensive,” Geddie says. “It’s not something that’s a perfect model; it’s not something that we’re perfect at. It’s something that we’re striving to do because our world is changing and if we don’t change with it we’re all going to suffer. I don’t get to just look outside the box but I get to throw the box away and I love it.”

Venice Theatre is showing its diversity in a big way bringing shows like Sister Act and Billy Elliott to the theater this fall, plus having successful runs of Ragtime and Hair, the latter of which was directed by legendary stage and television actor Ben Vereen. Vereen’s production of Hair was the most successful show in Venice Theatre’s more than 65 year history.

“Being able to work with Ben Vereen, I mean he is one of the reasons I started performing,” Geddie says. “We brought him here to do a concert and he like most people fell in love with Venice. He adopted us and we adopted him.”

Even though he keeps busy as director of diversity, Geddie has not abandoned his love of acting. He will appear in the Venice Theatre’s production of The Toxic Avenger.

“This show is based on the 1984 B-, or more accurately C-, movie.

They made three of them and I wouldn’t suggest watching them because you’ll have a long night ahead of you!” Geddie says. “I think it’s one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen but the musical is amazing.”

The Toxic Avenger was written

by Joe DiPietro and David Bryan, the duo who wrote the Broadway musical Memphis, and is based on the 1984 film of the same name.

“They took the concept of someone trying to save New Jersey from toxic waste, which is timely, and they reduced all the characters to a five-person show,” Geddie says.

“So there’s the Toxic Avenger and his girlfriend, then another woman who plays the mayor and the Toxic Avenger ‘s mother; and then there’s two guys left in the cast and their character names are White Dude and Black Dude and they play all the other characters in the show. I am the black dude.”

The Toxic Avenger will play at the Venice Theatre Sept. 30-Oct. 23.

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // Issue 2 3.18

arTs+enTerTainmenT ORlanDO A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Sept. 2- 24, Stonewall Bar, Orlando. 407-860-1066; UnseenImagesTheatre.org Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Sept. 8- 9, Northland Church, Longwood. 407-937-1800; CFCArts.com Jekyll & Hyde The Musical, Sept. 9- 23, Central Christian Church, Orlando. 407-444-2483; GoatGroup.com

community calendar

EvEnT PlannER

ORlanDO

One Voice Orlando – A Celebration in Song

lEvInE On a PRayER

sunday, sept. 11, 8:00 p.m. dr. phiLLips center, orLando Opera Orlando invites you to a benefit concert in an effort to raise funds for charities and organizations that help support, unify and heal Orlando in times of violence and tragedy. Hosted by the legendary Sherrill Milnes, a 50-piece orchestra conducted by David Charles Abell and a 150-voice choir will accompany performers. Tickets start at $25. For more information visit OperaOrlando.org/One-Voice.

Headdress ball: LOVe

Maroon 5 w/ Rock City &Tove Lo, Sept. 9, Amway Center, Orlando. 407-440-7000; AmwayCenter.com Willam & Jackie Beat lIVE, Sept. 10, Parliament House, Orlando. 407-425-7571; ParliamentHouse.com God Is A Scottish Drag Queen, Sept. 10, The Plaza Live, Orlando. 407-228-1220; PlazaLiveOrlando.com latin Freestyle, Sept. 10, The Abbey, Orlando. 407-704-6261; AbbeyOrlando.com International Food & Wine Festival, Sept. 14- Nov. 14, Epcot, Walt Disney World.

407-824-4321; Disneyworld.

Disney.Go.com Halloween Horror nights, Sept. 16- Oct. 31, Universal Resort, Orlando. 407-363-8000; UniversalOrlando.com #FlexFridays Goes Pink: Mean Girls w/ Jonathan Bennett, Sept. 16, Southern Nights, Orlando. 407-412-5039; SouthernNightsORL.com united We Brunch, Sept. 17, Orchid Gardens at Church Street, Orlando. 407-377-0400; OrlandoWeekly.com Go Party Food Truck Festival, Sept. 17, Festival Park, Orlando.

407-907-8162; GoPartyLive.com FanFest Orlando, Sept. 17, Orange County Convention Center, Orlando. 407-685-9800; OCCC.net

saturday, sept. 17, 5:30 p.m. worLd center marriott, orLando

Frontman Adam levine and Maroon 5 will be joined on stage by Rock City and Tove Lo at the Amway Center in Orlando Sept. 9.

Orlando’s most outrageous black-tie event is back and, this year, love is in the air. This year’s Headdress Ball will feature the most spectacular dance routines, exotic headdresses and exciting atmosphere to date. All proceeds will benefit the Hope and Help Center. For more information and to purchase tickets visit HeaddressBall.org.

TaMPa Bay 90’s nickelodeon night, Sept. 20, The Abbey, Orlando. 407-704-6261; AbbeyOrlando.com

Speakeasy, Sept.

14, Liquid Nightclub, Tampa. 813-248-5043; LiquidTampa.com

Business networking with St. Pete united, Sept. 17, Flamingo Resort, St. Petersburg. 727-321-5000; FlamingoFla.com

Taste of Downtown, Sept. 22, City Hall, Orlando. 407-228-3891; DOPOrlando.com

Punky’s Bingo4Charity Benefiting TheSmartRide and TBAC, Sept. 14, Punky’s, St. Petersburg. 727-201-4712; PunkysBar.com

Annual Steampunk Ball, Sept. 17, The Castle, Tampa. 813-247-7547; CastleYbor.com

TaMPa Bay GayBOR Monthly Meeting, Sept. 8, Cigar City CIder& Mead, Tampa. 813-247-6233; GaYBOR.com lance’s Artist Opening Party, Sept. 9, Quench Lounge, Largo. 727-754-5900; QuenchLounge.com Carmi’s Playlist, Sept. 9, The Space at 2106, Tampa. 813-575-0230; TheSpaceAt2106.com Balance Tampa Bay’s September Service Toymakers, Sept.

10, Francis House, Tampa.

813-237-3066; FranciseHouse.org Tampa Bay leather Social, Sept. 10, The Body Shop, Tampa.

813-300-3664; FetLife.com

TIGlFF & Balance Tampa Bay’s Co-Sponsored September Social, Sept. 15, Quench Lounge, Largo.727-754-5900; QuenchLounge.com Back to School 2016 Fundraiser, Sept. 16, Jackson’s Bisto Bar & Sushi, Tampa. 813-277-0112; GLSEN.org/Chapters/TampaBay Hootie& the Blowfish, Sept.

16, Mahaffey Theater, St. Petersburg. 727-892-5798; TheMahaffey.com Southern nights Tampa Presents Dominion, Sept.

16, Southern Nights, Tampa. 813-559-8625; SouthernNightsTPA.com

Gatsby Gala, Sept. 17, ARTpool Gallery, St. Petersburg.

727-324-3878; ARTpoolGallery.com IlDivo, Sept. 21, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. 727-971-7400; RuthEckerdHall.com

saRasOTa Venice Theatre’s Education Open House, Sept. 10, Venice Theatre, Venice. 941-488-1115; VeniceStage.com Harvey Milk Festival ‘Cause An Effect’ Fundraiser, Sept. 13, Chipolte, Sarasota. 941-228-4872; HarveyMilkFestival.org Sylvia, Sept. 15- 29, Manatee Performing Arts Center, Bradenton.941-749-1111; ManateePerforming ArtsCenter.com

To submit your upcoming event, concert, performance, or fundraiser visit watermarkonline.com.

metro Wellness Homecoming Gala saturday, sept. 10, 7:00 p.m. morean center for cLay, st. petersburg Metro’s annual fundraising gala is taking you back in time to the 1950s to give you a poodle-skirt twirlin’, lettermanjacket sportin’, sock-hoppin’ good time daddy-o! This Homecoming Dance will have music, dancing, food, drinks, entertainment, a silent auction, a raffle and more.

The gala benefits LGBT programming at Metro, including LGBTQ youth, SAGE Metro Tampa Bay elders and various trans programs offered in both St. Petersburg and Tampa. To purchase tickets, visit MetroTampaBay.org.

tampa bay Diversity Chamber of Commerce monthly Dinner meeting tuesday, sept. 13, 6:30 p.m. the tampa cLub, tampa The Tampa Bay Diversity Chamber of Commerce is hosting their dinner meeting and networking social at The Tampa Club for the month of September. Come mingle, connect and see what your fellow businesses have going on. Tickets for members are $35, and guest tickets are $45. The evening includes dinner and speakers.

This month’s will focus on the legal community. For more information, visit DiversityTampaBay.org.

evenT planner and cOmmuniTy calendar is BrOugHT TO yOu By curTis prOTecTive services • 1-800-551-8368 • curTissecuriTy.cOm watermark Your LGBT life.

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

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overheard

A

PROuD MaRy’s WhEEls aRE TuRnIn’

fter a summer of teasing from Mary letting the St. Pete area know that a new Hamburger Mary’s would be moving into the neighborhood, it finally happened. Hamburger Mary’s—or as this location is known, Sunshine City Mary’s—is opened for business. If the first few weeks are any indication, that business won’t be slowing down anytime soon. The doors opened Aug. 25 and the guests started coming; including a “welcome to the neighborhood” greeting from Punky’s Brian Longstreth. Sunshine City Mary’s is located across from Tyrone Square Mall in the old Hooters building. Anyone who has been to any of the Hamburger Mary’s locations across the country, or one of the other two Bay Area locations, knows that a trip to Mary’s isn’t just about the food (don’t get us wrong, the food is reason enough to go), it’s the show that goes with it. The entertainment director for Sunshine City Mary’s is a talent you may have heard of before, RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Three finalist and 2016 Miss Gay Days, Miss Alexis Mateo. Mateo will be showcasing some of the Bay Area’s best and brightest talents including Dena Cass, Alicia Markstone, Ashlee Bangkx, Kenya Black and more. If you haven’t made it out yet be sure to call ahead, especially if you want to take in one of the amazing shows like Tea with the Queens on Thursday nights and Sunday School Brunch.

Mmm, brunch.

POlITIcs Is a BaTTlEfIElD

T

TaMPa Bay OuT+aBOuT

he battLes were waged and the dust has settled and we have withstood another round of elections in the Bay Area, and throughout the state and country.

But it’s over, hooray! Well, not completely over.

That was just the primary, folks. The groups of people fighting it out for your vote over the last few months were on the same side. Although it seems many in Tampa Bay didn’t realize primaries were even occurring, with only 28 percent of registered voters in Pinellas County actually voting and less than 19 percent in Hillsborough County. Now we move on to November’s general election with Democrats against Republicans and a few third-party rabble rousers thrown in for good measure.

After all the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, neither Dan Fiorini or C.J. Czaia were able to muster a fight against Wengay Newton, who will now go up against Republican Cori Fournier for the soul of District 70.

Hillsborough County Commissioner Kevin Beckner lost his bid for clerk of courts to incumbent Pat Frank after another contentious race that had Beckner’s husband, Gil Sainz, taking multiple shots at Frank on social media about her time as clerk of courts. Gird your loins, we have two more months left!

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hey you guys: (L-R) Jeremy Wade neiman, Jason Fields and Anthony Citrola at Untied Skates of America in Tampa for Pride Skate Aug. 25. PHOTO COuRTESy OF JEREMy WADE nEIMAn

2

modeL Voter: nick Janovsky gets the vote out on Manhattan Ave in Tampa Aug. 28.

PHOTO By nICK JAnOVSKy

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queen of shade: Matthew McGee as Queen Victoria in freeFall’s The Priates of Penzance in St. Petersburg Sept. 4. PHOTO COuRTESy

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OF MATTHEW MCGEE

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good news bears: TIGLFF is presented with a check for $1,500 from the Tampa Bay Bears at freeFall Theatre Aug. 25 in St. Petersburg. PHOTO

By JAKE STEVEnS

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mary’s in the hood: Punky’s Brian longstreth (center) welcomes Hamburger Mary’s nikko Panagos (L) and Kurt King to the neighborhood at Mary’s new St. Petersburg location Aug. 25. PHOTO

By MARK WEST BIAS

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baLanced HOME: Balance Tampa Bay presents check for $30,000, raised from the Masquerade Ball: Rio, to Francis House in Tampa Aug. 25. PHOTO By JEREMy WIllIAMS

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southern charmers: Chris Hannay (L) and Scott Downen at Southern Nights’ #FuegoFridays in Tampa Aug. 26. PHOTO COuRTESy OF

SOuTHERn nIGHTS TAMPA

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wish upon a star: Watermark’s former editor Steve Blanchard (L) and Jay Dilley travel to the most magical place on Earth, Disney’s Magic Kingdom Sept. 4. PHOTO COuRTESy

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OF STEVE BlAnCHARD

7 watermark Your LGBT life.

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41

THE BARBER FUND HELPING THOSE LIVING WITH CANCER

www.thebarberfund.org WE HONOR THEIR COURAGE. WE HONOR THEIR STRENGTH. WE HONOR THEIR FIGHT!

ONE LOVE!

In Memory of John “Tweeka” Barber 1972 - 2011

DYER&BLAISDELL, P .L. DYER&BLAISDELL, P .L. Attorneys at Law Attorneys at Law

Experienced, Experienced, understanding understanding counsel on counsel on matters related matters related to family, estate, to family, estate, and beneficiary and beneficiary planning, including: planning, including: • • • • • • • • • •

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W. Thomas Dyer W. Thomas Dyer TDyer@DyerBlaisdell.com TDyer@DyerBlaisdell.com

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THE HIRING OF A LAWYER IS AN IMPORTANT DECISION THAT SHOULD NOT BE BASED SOLELY UPON ADVERTISEMENTS. BEFORE DECIDE,ISASK TO SEND DECISION YOU INFORMATION ABOUT OUR AND EXPERIENCE. THE HIRING OFYOU A LAWYER AN US IMPORTANT THAT SHOULD NOT BEQUALIFICATIONS BASED SOLELY UPON ADVERTISEMENTS. BEFORE YOU DECIDE, ASK US TO SEND YOU INFORMATION ABOUT OUR QUALIFICATIONS AND EXPERIENCE.

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overheard

ORlanDO OuT+aBOuT

MaRy GETs suPERsIZED

T

he downtown orLando hamburger mary’s is often at capacity with its theme nights such as trivia and Broadway Brunch. The daytime business crowd also seems to flock to Mary’s. So it’s no surprise that Orlando’s location is following in the high heels of the Tampa location with a neighborly expansion.

A while ago it was rumored Hamburger Mary’s may open a second location in the I-Drive area, but we weren’t able to receive confirmation.

The former Church Street tavern, and previously the Dessert Lady’s location, will now be home to an expanded version of Hamburger Mary’s called Mary’s Sidebar Café.

Much has to be said for Hamburger Mary’s over the last decade, one of the few non-bar nightclub venues to not just open but thrive in Downtown Orlando.

Kudos girl!

T

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WElcOME TO ThE junGlE, aGaIn

he center’s big fundraiser that had been scheduled for June was understandably postponed. Well, the event officially has a new name, date and location.

The Enchanted Jungle, also promoted as Jungla Encantada (for our speakers of the Español persuasion), will be a celebration of life, love and a return to the dance floor.

Despite it being scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 4th at VENUE 578 (the old Firestone), we expect it to get very hot and steamy in that jungle. No details yet as far as the entertainment or cost, but we’re just happy we saved our leopard print outfit.

I

2

Pac Is WITh hER

n a press reLease sent out on tuesday, the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence PAC announced its endorsement of Hillary Clinton for president.

Secretary Clinton met with Pride Fund Executive Director Jason Lindsay in Tampa on Tuesday and formally announced the endorsement. Full disclosure: Watermark editor Billy Manes is on Pride Fund’s advisory board.

“We are endorsing Hillary Clinton for the presidency because her record on gun policy and LGBT rights reflect the will of the American people, not the gun lobby,” said Lindsay, an Iraq war veteran, in the release. “Hillary Clinton has committed to achieving clear policy reforms, like putting comprehensive background checks in place and closing loopholes that put guns in the hands of violent criminals and terrorists.”

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caLifornia dreamin’: MBA Orlando received the excellence in programming award from the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce for their work with the RED Groups and received a $2,500 grant from Wells Fargo in Palm Springs, CA Aug. 25. PHOTO COuRTESy OF RICK ClAGGETT

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the big easy: (L-R) landon St. Gordon, Donald Rupe, Adam Prosper ledo and Joe Saunders enjoy Southern Decadence in New Orleans Sept. 4. PHOTO COuRTESy OF JOE SAunDERS

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Voter Victories: (L-R) Carlos Guillermo Smith, Zoraida Rios-Andino and linda Stewart celebrate victory in the primary election in Orlando Aug. 30. PHOTO COuRTESy OF

CARlOS GuIllERMO SMITH

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you must be this taLL to ride: leslie Jordan promotes Sordid Lives at the Footlight Theatre while performing his own show at the Parliament House Orlando Aug. 24. PHOTO

5

sean of the dropdead gorgeous: Gidget Galore (L) and adult film star Sean Duran at Parliament House Orlando for Flesh Friday Aug. 26. PHOTO COuRTESy OF PARlIAMEnT HOuSE

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first impressions: Fort Lauderdale’s celebrity impersonator Michael Walters as Dame Edna at I-Drive 360/Tin Roof with the Sunburst Convention of Celebrity Impersonators in Orlando Aug. 31. PHOTO By DAnny GARCIA

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meeting minutes: (L-R) Ed Wylam, David Parker, Timmy liyakasa, Patty Sheehan, Thad Czapka, John Ruffier, Ralph Cutrone, Jeffrey Saindon and Scott Mcleod at the Federal Club HRC meeting Aug. 28. PHOTO COuRTESy OF RAlPH CuTROnE

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strip tease: Blue Star dazzles in white (before Labor Day) for Girl the Party at Southern Nights in Orlando Sept. 3. PHOTO COuRTESy OF GIRlTHEPARTy.COM

COuRTESy OF PARlIAMEnT HOuSE

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5th Annual

Volusia Pride

Festival

Saturday Oct. 22 1-5pm

Old Fort Park • New Smyrna Beach Featuring BECKY Brabham

With a special Tribute to PULSE victims More than 70 vendors • Entertainment • Food • Fun

Private Personal Training • Yoga • Small Group Fitness

Private Personal Training • Yoga • Small Group Fitness www.jacobdickson.com

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www.jacobdickson.com

603 Virginia Drive

watermark Your LGBT life.

407.403.0880

jake@jacobdickson.com

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // Issue 2 3.18

603 Virginia Drive

407.403.0880

jake@jacobdickson.com

announcements

WEDDInG BElls

Jane Palmer-Summers, 39, and bree Summers, 38 from Orlando, Florida

cOngraTulaTiOns

years TOgeTHer:

3 years

engagemenT daTe:

January 19, 2016

Jorge Estevez celebrates 15 yrs with WFTV The Venue celebrates 4 years Sept. 12.

wedding daTe:

Sarasota RV enthusiasts Alice D’Souza and Irene Mirkovic celebrate 20 years together Sept. 20.

July 29, 2016

wedding venue:

Cape Canaveral Beach

wedding caTerer:

The wedding party and guests went to Rusty’s Seafood & Oyster Bar to celebrate.

wedding THeme/cOlOrs:

The wedding had a beach theme with the colors white and baby blue.

firsT sOng:

“All of Me” by John Legend

inTeresTing facT:

Jane’s brother, Andrew, is engaged to a “Bree,” and her sister’s name is Nicole — ironically, Bree Summer’s sister is also named Nicole.

Parliament House Footlight Player performer Jazelle Barbie Royale took the crown of Miss Continental 2016 in Chicago Sept. 5.

“S

he’s beautifuL inside

and out,” Bree says about Jane.

Jane, who is a teacher, jokes about the first time she met Bree, a senior analyst, back in 2010 at a lake house party, but somehow Bree doesn’t recall that moment.

“When we did reconnect, I remember meeting Jane,” Bree jokes back. “It was at a friend’s birthday at Southern Nights, and we danced all night long together.”

Bree describes her first impression of Jane as her being a gorgeous and captivating woman.

“It’s kind of like I saw her soul that night – it was weird,” Bree says. “We clicked.”

Despite dancing all night long and having a connection at their friend’s birthday party, it was nothing they acted on immediately since they were both in other relationships at the time. They developed a great friendship where they could talk to each other about anything or go shopping and talk about life with each other. From there on, their relationship went from being friends to best friends to eventually dating.

Bree said that she could talk to Jane about things she couldn’t talk to anybody else about. It was like a “best-friend status” instantly.

“The moment we reconnected in 2013, I knew I wanted to marry her,” Bree says. “There was no doubt – it was that kind of connection. Again, we didn’t act on it. I just felt something with her, and I didn’t realize what it was until later on.”

Jane has a 4-year-old son named Easton, who means the world to both women; Jane says he loves Bree. That being said, it made sense to Bree to have Easton help her propose to Jane.

It was a normal day around the house, and Jane was doing chores. Her son Easton came up to her and said, “Mommy,” and she turned around, then he said “Will you marry Bree?” And Bree was there behind him on her knee, and he had the ring in his hand. Jane says it was so sweet.

They didn’t want to have too big of a wedding, so they threw around a couple of ideas. They had originally finally agreed upon going to the courthouse and then throw a party — but

Bree ended up changing that.

Bree decided to surprise Jane with a beach wedding. She was planning to have the wedding while they were on vacation at Cape Canaveral Beach for a week.

Jane started getting suspicious that something was up and asking Bree what she was planning, so she ended up telling her.

Bree ended up having the flowers, photographer and venue already planned and setup.

Bree’s parents came and put up a bamboo arch with décor on it, which they said made it very special.

When asked if either were nervous the day of the ceremony, they both almost instantly responded, “No.” “My favorite moment was having Easton involved. He walked me down the aisle and gave me away; he was also our ring bearer – he was multi-tasking,” Jane says. “We gave him a starfish and he had our rings on the arms of the starfish.”

Bree’s favorite things about Jane is that she’s so patient, generous and kind. Jane describes Bree as fun loving, outgoing and the life of the party.

“My favorite thing about Bree is her zest for life,” Jane says.

lOcal BirTHday

Diva of all divas, the Parliament House’s own Darcel Stevens (Sept. 8); St. Pete-based big bear David Reynolds, St. Pete chiropractor Karen Reese (Sept.

9); president of Falk Research Associates Thor Falk, owner of Lee Forrest Designs lee Forrest (Sept.

10); Watermark’s creative assistant Deanndra Meno, Orlando drag performer and international fame queen Joshua Eads-Brown (Ginger Minj), political activist Wes Hodge, Tampa animal lover Greg Burton, Tampa Gallery curator Albert Burruezo (Sept. 11); owner of A Comic Shop Aaron Haaland (Sept. 12); Metro’s medical director David lyter, straight ally and mama bear Dee Richter (Sept. 14); Orlando Derby girl Jill Powers (Sept. 15); Hamburger Mary’s performer Jimmi Rossi, St. Pete artist Barry Rothstein (Sept.

17); glamorous socialite Bill Jansen (Sept. 18); St. Pete comedian and photographer Jeff Klein, Orlando Do-Gooder Bob Kodzis (Sept. 19); Disney manager of corporate alliances Jason Dobbins, Gabe Medina, also known as “DJ Trypsin” (Sept. 20); JLL general manager Thearon Scurlock, Hogwarts student Heather Murphy, Walt Disney Port Orleans Resort lobby concierge Gerry D. Evans (Sept. 21).

dO yOu Have an annOuncemenT? Having a BirTHday Or anniversary? did yOu geT a new JOB Or prOmOTiOn? See your news in Watermark! Send your announcement to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com or go to WatermarkOnline.com/Submit-a-Transition.

iT’s THaT easy!

—Samantha Rosenthal

Do you have an interesting wedding or engagement story you’d like to share with Watermark readers? If so, email the details to Editor@WatermarkOnline.com for consideration as a future feature on this page.

watermark Your LGBT life.

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T A M P A

B A Y

M A R K E T P L A C E

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admin@tbglcc.org 48

watermark Your LGBT life.

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

T A M P A

B A Y

M A R K E T P L A C E

PhOTOGRaPhy

ARE YOU OUR

TYPE?

REal EsTaTE

yOuTh sERvIcEs

Would you like to make a difference erence?

Do you know how to be brilliant and compassionate?

Can you articulate that in writing?

If this were your ad, thousands of readers

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Watermark is looking for writers in the Tampa Bay region (Tampa, St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Sarasota, etc.) to share their voice.

We need you. Your community needs you. Let’s do this.

Contact Billy Manes: Editor@WatermarkOnline.com

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

orlando

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Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // Issue 2 3.18

53

uPRIsInGs

DIMInIshInG RETuRns

Knowing how at odds same-sex marriage is with our legal and cultural traditions, we should not be surprised that some homosexual activists are trying to get rid of marriage all together. Same-sex marriage isn’t about granting equality of human rights. Gays are not denied any human rights. Same-sex marriage is about getting rid of the traditional values and institutions that have guided the Western world, including America.

—sociaL terrorist phyLLis schLafLy, 1924-2016

cRIsT’s lasT sTanD

b

y now, we’re aLL aware that celebrity hairstylist Charlie Crist is diving back in the political pool. He’ll be up for a St. Pete congressional seat against Republican David Jolly (who he must have dined with at some time considering his eternal shapeshifting) in November, and up against your face for the next two months.

Politico reports that Steve Schale, a former shill for Crist, is calling this race’s tipping point, at least in terms of the Thin Man’s career.

“Truly, for him, this is win or go home,” Schale told the website..

Crist barked back that he was as strong as a political tree.

“I don’t think there’s a need to speculate about that,” he told Politico. “I don’t think it will be [my last race] because I hope to win Florida and run for re-election.”

All the tan, all the time.

54

E

Pay TO Play

Verybody’s faVorite faiLure Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is back in the headlines, and this time it’s not for trying to keep you away from health insurance or gay husbands and wives! Naturally, with Donald Trump melting in every limelight he can find, the curse of Bondi has followed. You’ll recall that Bondi solicited Trump’s foundation for campaign donations in 2013. Oh, you don’t? Because they’re pretending they don’t either.

Via an Associated Press report from that bygone era, “Florida’s attorney general personally solicited a political contribution from Donald Trump around the same time her office deliberated joining an investigation of alleged fraud at Trump University and its affiliates.”

The lovely Bondi bounded back with some nonsense about how she would “never lie.” But there was, as we all know, a $25,000 donation from Bondi to Trump and there is reporting that says that they colluded on it. Maybe there’s a class at Trump University about this?

I

MuRPhy’s laW

n eVerybody’s faVorite episode of “Wrestling with the Frat Guy,” senatorial candidates Patrick Murphy and Marco Rubio are sandboxing it out over Rubio’s true intentions in dipping backward after presidential failure. Oh, and it’s getting ugly.

First, according to Twitter and the Tampa Bay Times, Murphy came out swinging.

“I will show up & fight for Floridians for the full 6 years in the U.S. Senate,” Murphy tweeted. “I have signed the pledge & hope Rubio will do the same.”

Oof. Everyone knows that’s not going to happen. Rubio’s camp bit back hard with some Camelot allegations about Murphy’s white privilege and the yacht he rode in it upon.

“His privileged upbringing has left him with a sense of entitlement, which is why he is often too busy spending time on his yacht in Nantucket instead of working in Florida,” a flack told the Tampa Bay Times.

Murphy is now saying he’s happy to debate dullard Rubio for the sake of conversation, basically, but only if he agrees not to run for president again before six years pass. Related: Frat fights are cute.

watermark Your LGBT life.

T

Billy Manes

hough anyone who is taking the time to read this missive understands that this writer’s cynicism weighs more than two heavy bricks in two large pockets, the fact that the Aug. 30 primary only drew a 20 percent crowd in Orange County – and a similar number in Pinellas County – is a bit of a kick in the teeth. In some ways, I’ll take the blame. I was asked by numerous voters who to vote for, but I didn’t have the time to just throw numbers and precincts in their faces.

I also didn’t, perhaps, do my due diligence in making that clear.

In a primary, in a gay paper, we don’t generally parse details. You’re with us, or you’re against us. We aren’t going to vote Republican, generally, so there’s that (sorry about your logs).

The pols that have been with us were very clear in their messaging, and we likely profiled them in the past. The ones who are against us? Well, there aren’t enough ticks in a clock for us to deal with them at any reasonable length. So, on one hand, I’m issuing an apology. If any news source should be standing and screaming into the district-depths of individual primaries, it should be us, mine, the one that I edit. On the other hand, these are small towns and there are a lot of voices, many of which are familiar with my contact information, so I didn’t want to sink into the quicksand of political gamesmanship.

In fact, because of social media, I did make some personal comments on personal pages, and I may have overstepped and come off as a dick.

But voting is your biggest right, and it’s something I would hope would drive you to research. I did go through the records of the judges, the committee members, the county commissioners and the senatorial-meets-congressional froth to come to my conclusions before early voting. But that was me voting for my interests. When we endorsed Hillary Clinton at Watermark in the spring, it was as obvious as it was cathartic. But when you get into state house races or even congressional battles, things get dicey. Feelings get hurt.

Accusations get hurled.

And though there are many races – and their attached results – with which I agree, there are plenty that were dragged through various amounts of mud in order to make them untenable. I’m not happy that we lost some very important progressive voices, or even the notion of new voices coming into the fray. But, as we all know, nobody wins completely on Election Day. In fact, I can’t remember a primary from which I walked away feeling this numb, which is likely why people don’t vote when there isn’t a superstar for whom to tick the ballot. We’ll get through this, my mind’s eye says. Maybe some real character will arise; maybe some old characters will fade. We’ll do better in November. It would be almost impossible not to.

Sep t emb er 8 - Sep t emb er 21, 2016 // ISSue 2 3.18

No

ve

Vo

m

te

be

r8

th

Thank you! You helped us win the Primary by 15 points! With your continued support, we can win the November 8th Election by an even wider margin.

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